Page 29 of In Cold Blood (High Peaks Murder, Mystery and Crime Thrillers #1)

“All right. I’ll ask him myself,” Noah said, turning to walk away.

“Noah.”

He stopped.

“I just told you.”

“You expect me to believe that out of the umpteen thousand acres out there that Jack just happened to stumble across his body? The body of a person that no one else could find and who his pal Cyrus supposedly bumped heads with? C’mon. Lena. Do I look like a fool?”

“We report what we are told. That’s what he told me.”

“Then he told you a lie. There was a reason why Luke had his eyes on Jack and Cyrus. Now perhaps he was way off base but?—”

“He was,” she said, cutting him off.

“But maybe, he just didn’t have all the pieces. I just hope for Jack’s sake, and your family’s, that he hasn’t thrown himself under the bus to help out a pal.” He paused. “What time can I swing by today to see the kids?”

“They’re with their grandmother at the moment. It will have to be Saturday.”

He locked eyes with her. There was a time they would have told each other everything. No secrets. No lies. No holding back. It was strange how two people could be head over heels in love and then feel worlds apart years later. “All right. Text me a time. I’ll be there.”

“And Noah. Don’t go bothering Jack. Please.”

He raised a hand but didn’t look back. He couldn’t promise that.

Noah returned to his vehicle that was parked just down from the sub store. As he got closer, some guy was looking as if he was about to break the window on the side of the truck.

“Hey, hey. What are you doing?”

“You know you can’t leave a dog inside.”

“The window is open.”

“Not enough. It’s a hot day.”

“And I parked in the shade. I wasn’t gone long. Besides, had you smashed that window, you might have found yourself mopping up your blood. He’s a police dog.”

“You’re a cop?”

“That’s right.”

“Where’s your badge?”

“Left it at home.”

“Bullshit.”

“Thank you for your concern,” he said, getting in the driver’s side.

He’d made a point to leave all four windows down halfway and parked below a tree where the truck wouldn’t be in direct sunlight.

He’d also left water in the vehicle in a bowl.

Still, he had to wonder how Luke managed to do this, day in and day out.

“Seems you have admirers,” he said to Axel.

Axel sniffed his pockets. Noah pulled out a treat and handed it to him. He then checked his phone messages.

Ray had texted him to remind him that his father wanted him there for dinner that evening.

He knew it wasn’t Ray’s choice. That was his father’s way.

Always using someone else to communicate.

He shook his head. Noah was just about to start up the truck and drive back to High Peaks when he saw Lena return to the newspaper.

He waited. Call it an instinct. Sure enough, she came out a moment later juggling keys, and went around the back.

She looked flustered.

Where was she heading?

Less than two minutes later, Lena pulled out of the parking lot.

Noah waited until another vehicle went past before he veered out and followed, keeping his distance.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his ex, but with all that he’d learned so far, he knew Luke’s reservations wouldn’t have been without merit.

Something was amiss and the timing of finding Keith Erikson days after Luke’s death only made him more suspicious.

When Lena headed out of Saranac on NY-896 and then merged with NY-73, he had a good feeling he knew where she was going.

Grayson’s Law Office was based out of Elizabethtown.

It was in the same county but for some reason, her father had wanted to be outside of town.

Away from the tourists, away from the bustling crowds.

He’d even gone so far as to build a house on the outskirts.

It was also where the main district attorney for the county was located, the same place his sister worked at.

Doug Grayson wanted Lena to live nearby but like Hugh, if he’d had his way, he would have had his entire family living on the same street. Lena wanted some distance, a little something of her own where she didn’t feel under the thumb .

Noah kept several vehicles between him and her black Jeep Wrangler.

The Law Office of Doug Grayson, PLLC was set back from Court Street, the main vein through town.

Like any good law firm wanting the best lay of the land, it was located directly across from the courthouse and next to a bank.

Money in, money out. Doug liked to keep his family close and his income even closer.

Noah eased off the gas, circling around the back of the bank and slotting into a space that gave him a good shot of the law office. He killed the engine and settled back.

“Well, looks like we could be here a while,” he said, seeing Lena disappear inside the law office.

He reached back and lifted the cooler he had placed in the back seat.

Inside were ice packs and a few cans of pop and bottles of water.

He took one out and ran it around the back of his neck, cracked it and refilled Axel’s bowl, then drank the rest.

No more than five minutes passed before Lena came back out but this time, she wasn’t alone.

Jack was there. He was taller than Lena.

A good six foot one, broad-shouldered, with sharp features that could have worked to his advantage if he’d ever considered modeling as a career.

His hair was thinning above his temples, and what was left of it was blowing wildly in the wind.

The two of them were discussing something, something they didn’t want Doug to hear.

Lena pointed back up the road in the direction of Saranac.

He could only assume she was sharing the conversation she’d had with him.

Jack didn’t look the least bit worried. In fact, he looked as if he was trying to keep Lena calm.

Dressed in a suit and tie, he leaned back against the wall and took out a packet of smokes.

He lit one, blew out smoke, and then took her by the arm and said something, something that made her nod and relax.

He took a few more puffs of his cigarette, then dropped it and crushed it below his shiny shoe.

Jack turned and went back inside, leaving Lena out there, one hand on her hip, the other on her forehead.

She shook her head, returned to her Jeep, and tore out of there, heading back in the same direction she came.

What made you drive forty minutes out of your way?

What couldn’t wait? Why couldn’t you have just phoned him?