Page 71 of Fire Fight

Fuck, I wanted a love like that. Their time together had been cut short, but my parents were the blueprint. The standard I held every single one of my own relationships to…which was why they’d been few and far between.

Like Mom said: she knew the first time she looked at him, and I hadn’t experienced that yet.

Or maybe, I had, and simply wasn’t willing to admit it to myself.

“Okay, so Roger was a slut,” Lane muttered. “Not helpful, but good to know anyway I guess?”

It seemed odd to me that Lane, the literal fucking cop who had been trained to peel back the layers of what people weren’t saying and expose the truth underneath, couldn’t see this potential lead that was staring him right in the face.

So I was forced to do my brother a solid.

“Who else was he hooking up with at that time, Ma?”

Lane’s head jerked in my direction so quickly, his neck cracked, and Aspen shot me a proud grin.

Jackpot.

“You don’t think one of them could’ve—” Lane started, but Mom cut him off.

“Honestly, he always had a few girls in rotation. And at that point, I’d been out of school for a few years and was busy being pregnant and a new wife. You’d be better off asking some of their other classmates.”

Lane withdrew his damn notebook and flipped through it, scanned a page, then said to Mama, “What about Angela Mickelson?”

“Why does that name sound familiar?” I mumbled.

“She was the third victim,” Aspen replied softly.

“The name rings a bell,” Mama admitted, “but I can’t say for sure whether she had any sort of relationship with Roger. I don’t remember her being in high school when Jase and I were.”

“Besides,” I pointed out, “Angela is dead. It’s not like she’s the killer.”

Lane huffed out a laugh. I knew my brother well enough to understand he was trying to save face, because he was embarrassed I’d jumped to the obvious conclusion before he had. “You don’t think this killer is a woman, do you?”

“Of course not,” I told him honestly. “There’s no way a woman could do all this.”

Trey nodded. “I’d have to agree that a woman couldn’t have done this.” He looked at Aspen. “I mean, you’re tiny, but you still weigh over a hundred pounds, right? There aren’t a lot of women that could handle lugging deadweight around like that, and not a single one of them lives in Dusk Valley.”

“What I do think, though,” I continued, giving Trey a nod of approval for having my back, “is that there could be another guy on the other side of these relationships who was caught in the crossfire, either because of Roger fucking around or because he carried a torch for Vicky, and they’re taking their aggression over the situation out repeatedly on innocent women.”

Lane huffed an irritated breath out through his nose. “When did you become a cop?”

“Learned from the best…”

“Aww,” Lane grinned, sinking back into his chair. “That’s sw?—”

“Trey,” I finished.

Trey wasn’t technically a cop, but he had spent nearly adecade in the Secret Service and the bulk of his time since in private security. Basically the same thing, right?

Plus, nothing made me happier than busting Lane’s balls.

Trey, Mama, and Aspen burst into laughter, but as quickly as he’d reclined, Lane shot to his feet.

“I’m leaving.”

“Oh, c’mon, princess,” Trey cooed. “Don’t be so dramatic.”

“I have to work early,” he grumbled, then bent to kiss Mama on the cheek before stomping out of the house.