Page 26 of Killer on the Homestead (Bent County Protectors #2)

She parked in her spot behind Fool’s Gold HQ. She noted there were a couple of vehicles in the lot. Quinn’s truck, and a car she didn’t recognize. Brand-new, it seemed.

“We’ve got a lot of surveillance equipment. I’ll grab what I want, and then we’ll head out to the ranch. Do you think everyone will be out of the bunks tomorrow morning?”

“What about tonight?”

“I can put the outside surveillance up tonight without raising any eyebrows, but I don’t think I can get anything inside as long as people are there. We’ll just have to chance giving it some time. This only works if no one knows we’re on to them.”

Rosalie unlocked the back door, gestured Duncan inside, then led him down the little hall toward the equipment room. She heard voices, so she popped her head into the main office area where Quinn was standing with Anna Hudson-Steele, who wasn’t working, considering she had her toddler on her hip.

They both looked over at her, or probably at Duncan hovering behind her.

“Just came in to pick up some surveillance equipment. Anna. That your new car out there?”

“Yeah. Had to upgrade.” She patted her stomach. “And be relegated to desk duty again for a while.”

“Aw. Congratulations. You and Hawk make cute babies.”

“That we do. That your new partner back there?” Anna asked, eyeing Duncan.

Rosalie didn’t scowl, though she wanted to. “Anna, this is Duncan. Duncan, Anna’s one of our part-time investigators. You probably know some of her older siblings. She’s a Hudson.”

“Guilty as charged,” Anna said with a grin, bouncing the toddler on her hip. “I heard you’re having problems out at your folks’ ranch. You have our sympathy there, but Rosalie’ll get to the bottom of it. Stubborn is her middle name.”

“Pot. Kettle.”

“I have mellowed in my old age and motherhood era,” Anna replied loftily.

“My butt,” Quinn muttered, making Anna laugh.

“Well, congrats again. But we’ve got to get to work.” Since Duncan was right behind her, and there wasn’t room to move in this tight part of the hallway, she pointed down the hall. “Door at the end.”

Before she could follow him, Anna called out.

“Hey, Rosalie?”

Rosalie popped her head back in. Anna pointed out where Duncan had gone down the hall, then pretended to fan herself, and Rosalie rolled her eyes and walked away, amused in spite of herself.

She went down to the storage room, unlocked it and led Duncan inside. Duncan was quiet and frowning, clearly working something over in his head while Rosalie gathered what she thought she’d need.

“What’s on your mind, Ace?” she asked once she was sure she had everything.

“The Hudsons. Their parents went missing all those years ago. For years, no one knew what happened.”

She studied him for a minute. Worry. But it wasn’t for himself, or even the truth.

He was worried about his parents dealing with unknowns for years, and she couldn’t give him a hard time for that, or let it stand.

“Yeah. But there were no bodies. They disappeared. It’s different, Duncan.

We’re going to get to the bottom of this. ”

His gaze moved from the door to her. “Because stubborn is your middle name?”

“Because, as little as it might seem right now, we’ve got plenty to go on. So let’s get on it.” They walked back out to her truck, and she drove to the Kirk Ranch with her radio on, trying to discourage conversation.

She needed to think. About camera placement. About how to untangle these strange twists and turns.

About literally anything but him .

It was dark when they arrived back at the Kirks’, which was good because she’d need dark to hide a surveillance camera outside the bunkhouse. She parked down at his cabin again. People would just think…

Well, she didn’t need to consider that. “You can stay here,” she told Duncan, maybe a little tersely, as she hopped out. She opened the back door of the truck, pulled out the equipment she’d need for an outdoor camera placement.

He came over to her side of the truck.

“I’m going with you.”

“Look, it’ll take maybe fifteen minutes when I get up there, and it’s less suspicious or noticeable if it’s just me wandering around in the dark.”

“That’s a lie and you know it.”

She stopped what she was doing and glared at him, though it didn’t matter. It was dark and the light on his porch didn’t reach all the way out here.

“You’re not wandering around in the dark with an unknown murderer on the loose, Rosalie.”

“Because you’re going to save me with your wounded arm even though I’m the one carrying?”

He sighed at her. “Because you’ll be focused on putting up the camera, and you need someone watching out to make sure no one happens upon you doing it.”

She couldn’t argue with that, even though she wanted to. But she was being prickly and petty for no good reason, and that irritated her too.

So she let him tag along. They crept across the ranch in the dark, and Rosalie was used to this kind of thing, but Duncan must have still known the ranch pretty well despite all his time away because he didn’t take any stumbles or make any noise.

There were a few old trees around the bunkhouse, and Rosalie had already decided on hooking her camera up to the one that faced the front door. If anyone noticed it, it could easily be played off as a trail camera meant to catch glimpses of wildlife, not people.

“I’ve got to use some light, so situate yourself in front of me where your body should block most of it from anyone looking out from the bunkhouse. But make sure you’ve got a good view of the door and the driveway.”

Duncan followed instructions, but unfortunately, he was right.

With his eyes watching, she could focus on the work rather than worrying if anyone was spotting her.

She wished she could get into that bunkhouse, hide a few cameras in strategic places, but she had to believe tomorrow morning would be soon enough.

What would happen in there tonight with Owen in the hospital? She didn’t think much of anything. She hoped to God nothing.

Once she was sure the camera was connected and she could access it from her phone, she tapped Duncan on the shoulder. “Good,” she whispered.

They didn’t say anything, just started walking back to his cabin. Once they were closer to his cabin than the bunkhouse, Duncan spoke.

“What about actual surveillance? Like following guys around? Watching what they do?”

“Even if you hired out all of Fool’s Gold, we wouldn’t be able to follow everyone. Maybe if we just watched who came and went, but even that’s a tall order considering most of these guys only leave the ranch sporadically.”

“Well, we don’t have to follow Terry. Maybe we can do it like that. Narrow down who it could have been.”

Rosalie nodded. “See if your dad knows where everyone was over the course of the morning. Anything we can rule out helps us focus in.”

“He’ll be in bed by now, and he hasn’t been sleeping, so I don’t want to interrupt on the off chance he is. I’ll talk to him in the morning, see what he can tell me. Maybe talk to Terry. Even if he was at the hospital all morning, he would know what everyone was supposed to be working on.”

“Good idea. I know Terry’s not on our list, but we need to be careful what we tell him, so he doesn’t inadvertently let on to whoever is doing this something we don’t want spread around. No matter who we think is innocent, we have to be careful what we say to them.”

“That’s depressing.”

“That’s murder investigations for you.”

He didn’t say anything to that as they approached his yard. But before she could break away and head for her truck, he grabbed her hand.

“I’m sure I’ve got leftovers in my fridge. Come in and eat some dinner.”

She studied the cabin. There was one light on inside, the porch light beaming at them like some sort of welcoming beacon.

Last night, she’d said yes. This morning she’d snuck out of his bed, and out of his cabin, without anything having happened last night. They hadn’t spoken about it all day. Hadn’t acknowledged it in any way. They’d focused on what was important.

She’d been given a reprieve. Time to screw her head back on and not be dazzled by him. She needed to take that save.

“I better not.” She pulled her hand out of his. “I’ll see you around, Ace.”

He frowned at her, but she turned away from him. Started walking to her truck. The sensible thing was to cut this off at the pass while she still could. If they focused on this case, then they didn’t have to deal with whatever aberration last night had been.

It was the smart, sensible, safe thing. And maybe that wasn’t her usual MO, but it had to be when it came to Duncan Kirk.

“Hey.”

“Hey what?” she asked, turning around. She’d barely gotten the what out of her mouth when his lips touched hers. His good arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her close and into this… Vortex was the only word for it, because everything else disappeared.

Over the course of the day, focusing on work and not mentioning last night at all, she’d almost convinced herself that the memory of kissing him was an exaggeration.

But it wasn’t. Nothing could be. She didn’t understand how one man could kiss her in a way that made every other kiss that came before stupid and pointless. Weak and pitiful compared to this wallop of a sensation. His mouth on hers, his arms around her. A vortex she couldn’t fight.

Didn’t want to, damn it.

He eased his mouth from hers, but he didn’t let her go. His gaze was direct and intent. “This murder mess may take precedence, but this isn’t going away. I’m not going away.”

Rosalie found herself utterly and uncharacteristically speechless. Her heart hammered, and it wasn’t just the kiss. The chemistry. It was the way he looked at her that seemed to unearth her foundations she thought were so steady.

He ruined them so damn easily. Made her want to melt when she knew all the disastrous ways believing in someone ended.

“Still going home?” he asked, one eyebrow raised.

She should, just to prove that she could. She should, because she was a smart woman who knew how to guard her damn soft heart.

But she shook her head and followed him inside.