Page 74 of His Forgotten Colton Fiancee

Chapter 14

Sunshine dappled the canyon and the birds chirped overhead in outstretched pine boughs as he hiked with Quinn the next day. She’d protested that she needed exercise, so they set out to stretch their legs.

They took a break after two miles, resting on a boulder alongside the path. West drank some water, wiped his mouth with the back of one hand. He nodded at her left wrist,which she rubbed.

The bandage had been removed a few days ago, but she kept touching it, as if the sprain still hurt.

“You okay?”

“Habit.” Quinn dangled her legs over the boulder, drank some water.

“Did Demi like hiking in the woods?” West touched her right wrist, feeling her pulse beat steady.

Quinn didn’t take the bait. “How should I know? I told you, I have a memory of barelyknowing her. We weren’t close.”

Each question he asked about her sister met with a shrug or a change of subject.

They resumed hiking again, until reaching a bluff overlooking the canyon below. He sat on the park bench, patted the space beside him. Quinn joined him, sighing with pleasure.

“So lovely. Peaceful. Places like this are great for getting away from work pressure. I bet yourbuddy knew this and that’s why he bought it.”

He grunted.

“What’s one of the worst cases you’ve ever had?” She curled up her legs beneath her.

West didn’t want to talk about it. Talking about his work had been off-limits for them both. Bringing home the ugliness of his job.

“They’re all bad.”

“How do you handle the pressure of seeing these things?” Quinn studied her injuredwrist. “The cruelty that others inflict?”

“Takes time. I have an internal switch that I click on when I’m investigating.”

“But there must have been one case that got to you.”

West leaned against the bench.

“It was back East, before I moved to South Dakota. Someone had been cooking meth in an apartment complex and a mother and child were caught in the explosion and killed. I wasassigned to search the third quadrant, where they lived. Rowan, the dog I had at the time, searched every inch of that bedroom and then we found it.”

The doll had been burned in the explosion, but not destroyed. Blackened, partly melted face, one eye missing, the hair half turned to cinders. Scorch marks on the pink-and-white dress. He’d held the doll in his gloved hands for a long time, thinkingabout the little girl who once held that doll. Once held tea parties and hugged her doll, and slept with her at night until a killer erased her off this planet.

The old scar tissue on his right hand ached like a phantom limb.

“This was somebody’s life and they were just gone, in a matter of seconds. That one got to me.”

“Why?”

Maybe it was time he told her. Reveal a secret. Gether to trust him again. West studied his burned hand. No. Not now.

“Because the doll reminded me of the innocence of childhood. My sisters... They died when they were barely out of childhood.”

Quinn snuggled closer to him. “I keep feeling as if you’re not leveling with me, West. So thank you for sharing that. It helps me to get to know you all over again.”

He kissed the top of herhead, inhaling the scent of apple shampoo. “I don’t like bringing work home with me, Quinn. There’s too much ugliness in the job. I switch it off when I get home.”

They headed back to the cabin. Once there, Rex settled on the porch, lying down as he and Quinn took to the wicker love seat overlooking the canyon. For a few minutes they sat in companionable silence.

Finally she looked athim. “How can you do your job? I don’t know how you manage to face all that, seeing the bodies, the crime scenes.” She gave a delicate shiver.