Page 49 of In Cold Blood

“Only that they were sorry and they would do everything they could to find out who had done it.”

“Could you see anything when you arrived?”

“No. They’d cordoned off a stretch at least half a mile back. It was the early hours of the morning so it was still dark.”

Noah sighed in resignation and tossed the report into one ofthe many brown boxes. “I went by the Sheriff’s Office today to speak with Roberts. He wouldn’t tell me much.”

“Do you blame him?”

“Well, I just thought that?—”

“Dad’s sway isn’t what it used to be, Noah. They respect him but that doesn’t mean he has full access to reports or evidence. They’re going to keep that under wraps. I gather you told Roberts about all of this.”

“Not yet.”

“You should. It might be of use to them.”

“They’re not the ones calling the shots. State is.”

“Then you should be more than happy to hand it over.”

“Yeah, maybe if the one heading up this investigation wasn’t a guy I butted heads with four years ago.”

“Oh, right,” he said, lowering his chin and nodding. Ray glanced at the photo of Lena. “Have you talked to her since you’ve been back?”

Noah scoffed. “I would if she would return my calls.”

“Just drop around there. Ask her. Maybe she knows what Luke wanted.”

“Yeah, that would go over well. Showing up out of the blue. Oh, hey, I noticed you weren’t at the funeral, and by the way, Luke was doing surveillance on you and your family, would you know why?” He paused. “C’mon, Ray!”

“Well, I’m sure she had her reasons for not showing up.”

“Ray. My kids’ uncle died. It wasn’t like they were living miles across the country. They are in the same county. You’d think she would have had the decency to show up.”

He lifted his hands. “Hey, I’m not one for getting involved. I have enough to deal with back home. Tanya’s back in the picture again.”

“Again?”

“It’s complicated.”

He smirked. “Isn’t it always.”

Ray sniffed and ran a hand around the back of his neck. “Anyway, she’s riding me over heading back into work so soon after the funeral. Like you were… and yet here you are… nose deep,” he looked around, “on the trail of something.” Ray looked away and then back at him and got this serious expression. “Noah, I want the bastard who killed Luke as much as you do. If I could get my hands on who did this, well…” He breathed in deeply and closed his eyes as if he was trying to center himself. “But this… whatever this is… It’s way over our heads. It was way over Luke’s head. And believe me, he was a damn fine cop. Probably the best in our family. But not even he saw this coming. I don’t want…”

Noah threw up a hand. “Save it, Ray. I know what you’re going to say.”

“I don’t want to bury another brother. Look. I’m not going to tell you to walk away because I think out of all of us, you’ve always been the one to do the opposite of what this family has wanted, but be careful. Okay? Just… be careful.” He blew out his cheeks and looked deflated. “I have to go. It’s been a long day. I said I would make Tanya dinner. Do you want to come with me? It might save me getting an earful.” He flashed his pearly whites behind a grin.

“I appreciate the offer. I can’t, but thank you.”

Ray rolled his lower lip in and nodded and patted him on the arm as he turned to head out. “It’s good to have you back, brother. Really.” He smiled and walked away.

As he was climbing down the ladder, Ray stopped and touched his forehead. “Oh, I nearly forgot. Dad wants you to drop by tomorrow evening, he says he has something for you.” Ray patted the flooring, glancing one last time at the wall of crazy and shaking his head before disappearing. Noah heard him talking to Axel before he exited.

Callie washesitant to meet Owen Parish at Ridgeway Lodge.

It seemed too informal. He already gave her serious creepy vibes, the way he looked at her longer than was comfortable. Then of course there was the fact that if Hendrix caught wind of it — she wouldn’t hear the last of it.