Page 133 of Fire Fight

Face forever locked in a scream

But who could the killer be?

“I’m so confused,” Trey said.

“Me too,” I agreed.

“Don’t you see?” Aspen asked. “‘The first is key, crowned the prom queen’? They’re obviously talking about Vicky Lee. She was the first victim, and was crowned prom queen the night she died.”

“So we find outwhyVicky was killed, and we catch our killer?” Lane asked.

Aspen hitched a shoulder up in a shrug. “You tell me, Sheriff.”

I grinned. Damn she was sexy talking about murder investigations. I’d already have her over my shoulder on the way to bed if my brothers weren’t here. The look Aspen gave me told me she had the exact same idea.

“Where are we at on Missy Plano?” I asked Lane, mostly to distract myself.

“I’ve been unable to make contact. General consensus is that she’s out of town. Left with some high rolling tourist a few weeks ago and hasn’t come back yet.”

Fuck. We really needed to interview her. I had this gut feeling she had information that could change things for ths investigation. That feeling grew even stronger now that we knew Vicky Lee was likely the key to unraveling this entire thing.

“Can I borrow your computer?” Trey asked Aspen. “I want to run diagnostics on that too. Maybe it’s not your phone that’s been compromised, but your computer. I have no ideahowthey would’ve accomplished it, but we need to exhaust all possibilities.”

Aspen cursed. “I didn’t even consider that.”

Trey smiled. “That’s why they pay me the big bucks.”

I rolled my eyes as Aspen once again disappeared. “You own your own company.”

“And my clients pay me the big bucks for shit I’m doing for you guys for free.”

Fair enough.

Lane slapped our older brother on the back. “And we appreciate you for it. Take that shit home and run your little tests. I’m going back to the station.”

“What’re you going to do?”

“Dust this note for fingerprints,” he said, flipping to the backof Aspen’s notebook where the scrap of paper with that first message rested. “Then give an FBI friend of mine a call. We were in the academy together, and now she works out of Boise, so this is all well within her jurisdiction anyway. It’s about time I loop her in on these new developments.”

I nodded, grateful. Having more eyes on this meant higher chances of catching the sicko responsible, which put us one step closer to putting this entire mess behind us. I craved those days, when Aspen and I could start our life together without this shit hanging over our heads.

After Aspen returned and handed off her laptop to Trey, and I gathered her in another hug, uncaring that my brothers were in the room.

“How do you feel?” I asked.

“Lighter,” she said. “If that makes sense.”

I hummed in agreement as she tipped her head back, mouth waiting. I captured it and murmured against her lips, “Asking for help ain’t all bad.”

“No, baby. It’s definitely not.”

thirty-four

. . .

ASPEN

One of Crew’sbrothers cleared his throat, and I reluctantly peeled away from him, reminding myself we had things to accomplish and sex was sadly missing from the list.