Chapter 24

TWENTY-FOUR

Waking up in Ian’s arms was everything. The night had been everything. The way he’d held me like I was the most important thing in the world, like I was the only thing that mattered now and forever.

I welcomed the feeling, no longer scared of it, and returned it as hard as possible.

The morning dawned bright and crisp, and we reluctantly made our way down to tend to the dogs and get the day started.

Luckily , Ian’s fridge was still stocked with a few basic necessities, so I told him to sit while I prepared breakfast. It gave me something to do with my hands other than run them all over him, which is what they really wanted to do.

Memories of our night together flashed through my mind, making me blush furiously and yearn for a repeat. Many repeats. If only the day was done already! Or maybe during lunch break? If he could come by the shop…

I pushed the thoughts away and concentrated on cooking the best breakfast ever. He deserved it. Carefully buttering a slice of bread, I put it on the preheated pan and inhaled the delicious scent of browning butter.

“ What , no pancakes?” he joked.

Who would’ve thought Ian was hiding such a playful personality?

“ This is way better than pancakes,” I assured him. Going through the familiar actions of layering ham and cheese and flipping the sandwich when it was done on one side made my brain begin to focus on other things.

Like sabotage and murder.

I’d told Ian the whole story while we’d snuggled after waking up. I figured if I was going to tell it to Officer Brooks , I was free to tell Ian as well.

Ian didn’t say much as I rattled off my theories and recounted what we had done so far to find our UNSUB . I could feel the gloomy mood from yesterday slowly settle around my chest, and perhaps he could too, because when I went to sit by his side, he tugged at my hand and pulled me onto his lap.

I sat with a laugh, repositioning myself until we were both comfy. “ I’m in the way.”

“ No ,” he said very seriously. “ You’re perfect.”

A ridiculously happy grin spread across my cheeks, and I kissed his unshaved cheek. “ So are you.”

“ Is that right?” he murmured, giving me another deliciously long kiss.

Hannah had finally been booked and locked away, and once Ian had been reasonably certain she wouldn’t tattle on the shop, he’d driven back as fast as possible. Yesterday , I’d caught him right after he had arrived and was about to drive to the shop to surprise me with his return.

Best surprise ever.

I ran my fingers through his hair, combing it away from his face. “ Are you going to shift again for me?”

“ Nope .”

“ Aww , why not? I want to see your wolf again.”

“ It sheds.”

“ I’ll use the vacuum.”

He harrumphed, then pecked me on the mouth. “ Maybe for Christmas . If you’re a good girl.”

I gave him what I hoped was a sultry look but probably looked like constipation. “ I’m always a good girl.”

He snorted at that.

Growing serious, I held his face with my hands. “ Is it because of your ex-partner?” Ian’s mentor at the bounty hunters who had turned into an assassin-for-hire. “ Why you don’t want to shift?”

His hands contracted on my waist. “ He liked to send me after our marks in wolf form. It was faster, easier to track.”

“ And put the fear of everything holy in them?”

“ Yes .”

I snuggled in closer, mentally sending him all the warmth and comfort I could manage. “ You think he used you. You and your wolf.”

“ It made sense at the time.”

“ But now it’s tied to your memories of being fooled by him.” If you added to that the whole mess with his shifter father and the pack, no wonder he didn’t like to shift. I rubbed my nose against his. “ That’s okay. We can make new memories starting now.”

“ I’ll say,” he said with clear amusement. He reached around me to grab a sandwich triangle and ate it in three fast bites.

“ I should call Office Brooks , I suppose,” I said, taking a tiny bite of my own sandwich. The mix of hot bread, butter, ham, and delicious cheese melted in my mouth, but the familiar flavor was dampened by the taste of failure.

“ Not yet,” Ian said in a strange reversal of roles. “ Why did you settle on those three suspects?”

“ Lee was mad about not getting the lead, Sanders seems to have an issue with the director, and Curtis would like the whole thing to be scratched off.”

“ Nobody else had a beef with the movie?”

“ Nothing obvious. But I suppose there might be a lot of them with hidden beefs.”

“ Like Ethan .”

“ Yep .” I took another, bigger, bite of my sandwich, the gears in my brain gaining speed. “ Too many people to keep track of, especially if we don’t know who’s paranormal and not.” I sent him a hopeful glance.

“ There is no secret paranormal database, Hope .”

“ How can you lie while I’m sitting on your lap?” I let out a comically disappointed sigh. “ You’re so rude.”

He grinned. “ You wouldn’t have me any other way.”

I laughed. “ You’re right. So far, we haven’t found anything incriminating about Sanders and Curtis , but we also didn’t have anyone spying on them all day outside the set.”

“ Ethan can’t think of anyone else?”

“ No . He’s too scared about being blamed for the whole thing to come up with other suspects, I think.”

“ Any suspects you discarded? Might be worth taking another look at them.”

I thought about that. Who had we discarded? “ There was someone the crew was told to be wary of, but he got arrested.” Could he have gotten out in time to make Brett sick and murder Lee ? Murder did have the hallmarks of a stalker’s escalation. “ Then Lisa Woodward , the movie’s writer, but she wasn’t on set when some of the stuff happened. Oh , and there was also Turner .” I shifted so I could study Ian’s face better, and his arms immediately circled me. “ There’s this filmmaker called Craig Turner who was mad about being denied the license to film in Olmeda . He started a fight over it and got arrested. But he left town a while back, apparently. I guess he could’ve come back, but we didn’t see his name on the crew list.” And this had to have been an inside job.

“ Turner is in town.”

“ What ?”

“ That’s his business name. His real name is Charles McKee .”

I gaped at Ian . “ How do you know?”

“ Our families used to know each other. He contacted me after I moved back, asking if I needed any publicity videos of the cemetery. He thought I wanted to reopen the tours.”

“ Oh , Good Mother Earth .” I scrambled off his lap and grabbed my phone. There was no time to lose.

Key answered on the third ring with a groggy, “ Hello ?”

“ Key , you have that list of suspects we got from Ethan ?”

“ I guess so… Yes ?”

“ I need you to check a name. I’m texting it to you right now.”

“ All right?”

I ended the call and sent her the name, then paced around the kitchen while I waited. Ian watched me with a faint smile as he finished his sandwiches.

Feeling like I was about to start tapping my feet if Key didn’t answer soon, I snatched my last sandwich half and ate it in snappy, fast bites.

Then I had to wash my hands from butter remains. And my phone.

Key’s text came as I had begun pacing again.

He’s one of the locals hired by the production company.

I turned to Ian in triumph. “ He’s part of the crew!”

“ Doesn’t make him guilty,” he pointed out.

“ But his backstory fits guilty to a tee.” My fingers flew over the phone’s screen as I texted Key back: Gather the troops! Ian’s kitchen ASAP !

Once the text was sent, I look at Ian in triumph. “ Emergency meeting time.”

“ Sounds good.” He opened his arms again.

I went to him without a second thought.