Page 37 of Cold Light of Day

“You came to me asking for my help on the dive. You trusted me to put together a recovery and investigation team. Youknowme.” He hated the way he sounded as the words spilled out. Why was he begging? He should shift gears. “Okay, you don’t know me.” Truth.

She stared at him and frowned. “Look, can we do this later?”

He’d never seen the chief so emotional. What had happened at the city council meeting? She wouldn’t be here if she’d been fired—at least he didn’t think. He needed to redirect, refocus her attention. Like he had any idea how to comfort her. But he could try.

“Have you heard anything about the body we discovered?” he asked.

Autumn dropped into the seat behind her desk and blew out a breath.

The tension in his chest eased, if only a little.

“Nothing,” she said. “Why do you ask?”

Come on ... check your email.

“And more importantly, why do you care?” She pinned him with her gaze.

And he loved it when she did that.

He shrugged, huffed, and grinned. “I don’t know. Just...we found a body. There’s been a lot of activity since then, and I just heard the guy you had in jail is an international fugitive. Was he on some sort of list?” Like a Red Notice to all law enforcement to locate and arrest the wanted fugitive and hold him for extradition?

“Grier, how did you learn that? Tanya didn’t—”

“Come on, you know this town. I was getting gas when I heard that news.”

“It’s out of my hands now, and good riddance.”

He didn’t believe that for one second—the chief would want to know the truth, and she would keep tabs on the investigation.

“What is his name? Why is he wanted?”

She toyed with a pen on her desk and stared at it. Hard. “Look, Grier, what are you really doing here?”

“I told you already. Have you heard anything more about the body we discovered?”

“It’s part of an investigation. We don’t like to talk about investigations outside the office. And besides, you’re the one who told me it was murder. You know more than I do.”

“If you would look at your email, you might know more than me.”

She narrowed her gaze.

“I couldn’t help but see the ME sent an email. It was visible on Tanya’s computer.”

“They can’t know anything yet. They’re always behind.”

But he could tell he’d stirred her curiosity. He wasn’t sure why she was being so evasive now after she’d welcomed his help before. “Why don’t you look and see?”

“You don’t work for me, and I’m not at liberty to share.” She lifted her chin.

He might be scaring her, pushing too hard and raising her suspicions. He abruptly stood, walked to the door, and pressed his hand against the knob—

“Wait.” She sighed. “Grier Brenner. Why are you so secretive about who you were before living here? Why don’t you tell me about yourself?”

And that was the crux of the matter. How could she fully trust him without knowing his past? He didn’t blame her. His throat tightened. He wanted to tell her, but he couldn’t.

He turned and jammed his hands into his pockets, that old cliché—If I told you, I’d have to kill you—running through his mind. Seriously, if he told her, that would only put her in danger. But he’d burst in here like a fool, and he had a feeling his time was short. Without Krueger to advise him, he couldn’t know if his enemies were closing in.

“You asked me to dive and to help. Now, I’m asking you—what did the ME say?”