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Mina planted her hands on her hips and surveyed the scene ahead of her. She’d gotten her wish. Sort of. She got the excitement she craved as multiple units sat outside the Tidewater Mansion, lightbars running, illuminating the night and declaring a murder had occurred. One discovered by Nolan Orr. By her summer fling. By the man she’d hoped never to see again. The man she couldn’t forgive.

Yet, here she was. Set to interview him.

With gritted teeth, she pounded up the steps, past the deputy on duty, and through the spacious and opulent mansion. Her sergeant had shared the preliminary details, including the big life-altering fact that Nolan and his team had found the body.

Nolan. Here. Unbelievable.

She’d known she would eventually cross paths with him. Sure she would. Her office might be in Seaside Harbor, the county seat, but she lived in Lost Lake, and the place was too small to avoid him forever.

But why couldn’t that day be in the distant future? Maybe in passing on the street in town. Not here. Not with him as a prime witness—maybe suspect—in a murder investigation where they’d be thrown together.

She paused outside the dining room. The LLL team, along with Harmony Vance, the mansion’s caretaker and leasing agent who was always on duty when the building was leased, were waiting for her. She took a breath. Then another. And stepped forward.

Her body failed her, and her feet came to a dead stop. Nolan stood on the far side of the room facing his team, who were seated around the table. A single look at his profile and everything turned to mush. Just as it had when she’d fallen in love with him.

Okay, fine. You might be over the heartbreak, but the mere sight of him can still make your knees weak. So buck up and be careful.

She took another one of those deep chest-heaving breaths and started into the room.

He turned. Locked gazes with her. Her footsteps faltered again. That compelling attraction he’d always had for her radiated across the room as if drawing her to him. She’d never been able to fight it in the past.

So what? She was a sheriff now, in charge of a murder investigation, and she would fight it today. It would take everything she was made of, but she would succeed.

Please help me not make a fool of myself with him and to see the way to successfully work with him.

She curled her fingers into fists and strode forward, passing Deputy Banfield, located right inside the door. The tall guy, built from hours at the gym, raised his shoulders in a kind of salute.

She gave him a nod of acknowledgment and a thankful smile. It wasn’t easy babysitting witnesses to keep them from comparing stories, but he’d been first on scene and had followed protocol.

Secure the scene. Make sure no one was in danger. Separate the witnesses if possible. Not possible in this case so babysitting was his only option.

She stopped in front of Nolan, widening her stance as if somehow a strong position could make up for the fact that he was more than a foot taller, and she had to look up to him.

“Nolan.” Was all she could say without her voice cracking.

“Mina,” he replied, sounding equally uncomfortable.

She ignored Harmony for now and turned to the team. “It’s good to see all of you. Not under the circumstances though.”

Gabe snorted. “I never thought we’d lay eyes on you again. Not with the way you dumped Nolan.”

She blinked at him. “What? I?—”

“Now is not the time for that.” Nolan eyed Gabe.

“It’s your deal, man, so I’ll shut up.” Gabe shrugged and sat back.

Nolan spun to face Mina. “You’ll want our statements. We’re happy to cooperate in whatever you need.”

Okay, back to the business at hand, and no explanation of Gabe’s comment. Had Nolan told his team she dumped him? If so, why would he lie about that? If he wanted to save face, he would’ve done just the opposite and explained how he’d left her. For some reason, it seemed like he wanted them to think badly of her. But what Nolan and his team thought of her was of no importance.

Yeah, keep telling yourself that .

She planted her hands on her waist. “I’ll first take a look at the scene.”

“The room is just down the hall,” Nolan said. “I can take you there and walk through the events if you would like.”

Like? Like? No. Not like at all .

If this were a normal crime scene, if such a thing existed, and she didn’t have a room full of former law enforcement officers, she would absolutely refuse the offer. But Nolan, or anyone in this room except Harmony, could be trusted not to contaminate the scene and respect any boundaries she set. But did it have to be Nolan?

“I’m sure the team needs you here.” She looked at the others, running her gaze from person to person. “Is there anyone else who would want to show me through the scene?”

She got a few mumbled nos and head-shakes. They’d obviously talked about her arrival and had decided Nolan would be in charge. Had they talked about the big breakup too? Hashing over the embarrassing event when he walked out on her without a backward glance?

“Fine,” she said to Nolan. “I’d appreciate you walking me through the evening. But only if you agree to follow any directions I provide.”

“Of course.” A forceful shove of his hands into his pockets contradicted his cheerful response. “I’m glad to do whatever you say to help find the mayor’s killer.”

She held out her hand. “Then lead the way, but stop at the door where my deputy will give you booties and gloves.”

He strode out. She was right on his tail but turned to look at the group. “I don’t have to tell you not to discuss what you witnessed, but I’m going to tell you anyway. And Deputy Banfield will remain here with you to be sure you don’t talk about it.”

She got some grumbling and a challenging look from Abby, who, as a former sheriff, was used to being in charge in such situations. She had to be jonesing to get involved, and only loyalty to Nolan could’ve gotten her to sit back and let him accompany Mina to the crime scene.

“I’ll be back,” she said to Banfield and slipped out of the room.

Nolan was already talking to Deputy Ewing and putting shoe coverings over his shiny dress shoes. She hadn’t really noticed the details of his attire, but his traditional black tuxedo looked like it was custom-made. And it likely was, the cut highlighting his broad shoulders and trim waist. He probably owned it from his days on the president’s security detail.

Man, if only she wasn’t on the outs with him, she would love to sit down and talk about when he worked the detail. Not to get gossip about the family or the president, but just to find out what it was like to protect the most powerful man in the country. Some would say the most powerful man in the world.

She put on her own booties and a pair of gloves. “Wait here while I get the lay of the land.”

She stepped inside the doorway. She ran a quick look over the room, but her gaze landed on the bald head gleaming in the overhead light and held. The mayor. She swallowed. Once. Twice. She’d expected to see him, but nothing really prepared you to see a body. Especially not of someone you knew and worked closely with.

She gritted her teeth and turned away to face Nolan. “Walk me through the night.”

He took a few steps closer to her. “We had dinner in the dining room. It was served by a man named Smythe, but we don’t know him or who sent us the invitations.”

“Perhaps from the property owner, as this is quite an elaborate scheme for one night’s rental.”

“I don’t suppose you know who owns this place.”

“Cody Palmer. I’ve never met him, but he purchased the mansion as a business investment a year ago and lives out of town. The business is registered, and we have property records, so we can easily get his information and contact him.”

“We should make that a priority.”

She ignored the we part of his statement and scribbled a reminder in her notebook. “Do you remember if the invitation envelope had a return address?”

“It didn’t,” he said. “I double-checked because I wanted to know who it was from.”

“I’d like to see the invitations and envelopes they came in.”

“No can do on the invitations. We had to surrender them to Smythe when we arrived, but maybe someone kept an envelope. I’ll ask the team. We also had to surrender our phones.”

“Seriously?” She blinked at him. “You willingly gave up your phones?”

“Only because we thought they were safe.”

“How so?”

“We put them in a Faraday bag that Smythe placed on the buffet in the dining room, in our sight at all times. When we moved to this room, he brought the bag of phones with him and set them on the table by the door. Or at least we thought he did, but turns out he swapped the bag with one holding small boxes with weights in them to mimic phones.”

Creative. “Any thoughts on who this Smythe guy is and where he went?”

Nolan shook his head. “He seemed like a butler, but he could’ve been a trained actor. After we reported the murder, we searched the house and grounds for him. Found no sign of him ever having been here.”

“Nothing? Not even in the kitchen where the food must’ve come from?”

“It wasn’t cooked down there, that was obvious. Or if he had cooked it here, he completely cleaned up, which I don’t think he had time to do. But my guess is he brought prepared meals in from a caterer and simply served them to us.”

“Still, we’ll want to process that space for forensics. The dining room too.”

“Agreed, but you should know he wore cotton gloves the whole time he was with us. If he didn’t take them off in the kitchen, there won’t be any fingerprints. That doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have left DNA.”

He could be right, but she would have to wait for the state for forensic processing when she could get started on the investigation right now. “Do you remember what he looks like well enough to sit with a forensic artist to create a sketch?”

He nodded. “I don’t suppose you have someone on staff who can do that?”

“Actually, I do,” she said. “Most sketches are done electronically these days, and I have a deputy trained to do it. I can get him into the office right after we finish up here. I can give you a ride.” She could hardly believe she was offering to spend time with him. “But you’ll have to wait in the car while I notify Becca of her father’s death.”

“I could just meet you at your office.”

“Suit yourself.” She shrugged but was disappointed. Perhaps she was hoping he would share the trauma of doing a death notification call. She couldn’t bring him into the house with her, but he would be there when she got out. And things she knew for certain about him, he was understanding and super supportive. At least, he was until he wasn’t.

He’d been carefully watching her and let out a breath. “On second thought, I will take you up on the ride.”

She waited for an explanation but didn’t get one. Okay, fine. She would move on and hope her body language hadn’t given her away. “Back to the phones. Did you find them?”

Nolan nodded. “When we left the room in search of a phone to report the murder, we found the original bag on the buffet in the dining room.”

She looked around the space. “I was told this was an escape room, so I assume the door was locked. How did you get to a phone to call us?”

“We played the game. Solved the clues.” He shrugged. “We could probably have broken down the door, but once we found the mayor, we didn’t want to disturb any more evidence if possible. We’d solved most of the mystery by the time we found him, but then we still had to do a few more things to get the door unlocked.”

He sounded so matter-of-fact in his telling of the night. She didn’t know how he could be so calm, as he surely hadn’t seen many dead bodies in the Secret Service. Likely hadn’t seen any at all. And here he was with his team locked in the room with the deceased mayor shoved in the locker. It took a strong man to handle such a situation. But then she’d known he was strong. It was one of the qualities that had drawn her to him.

Didn’t matter.

She couldn’t let that affect anything that occurred tonight or in the investigation. She had to remain objective. This was her first murder investigation, and she had a lot to prove to the county residents who’d elected her. She would not fail simply because she was crushing on a man she would never get involved with again.

Nolan explained the puzzles and mysteries they’d solved to Mina, making sure he was all business. He had to ignore the way her blond hair softly curved over her shoulder and covered up the county sheriff’s logo on her chest. The way her uniform fit her five-foot-nine body as if custom-made for her. Or the way her large brown eyes were fixed on him, her attention to his every word.

His attention faltered, and he had to stop talking before he sounded like a complete idiot. He’d already agreed to get in a car with her when he could’ve driven on his own. But he’d had visions of her going alone to do a death notification call, and she seemed as if she wanted company. If being closed in the car with her was the cost of providing some support, so be it.

All he had to do was keep his focus on the investigation. Dig deep. Remember his past as a Secret Service agent where he learned to put on a game face twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week if necessary, no matter the distractions presented to him.

Tonight it was necessary. Imperative. Assuming he didn’t want to beg her to tell him why she didn’t respond to his note explaining his sudden departure. Why she’d blown him off instead of calling him.

Mina pointed, redirecting his attention. “So the lockers opened, and you found the body. Did they all open at that time?”

Nolan shook his head. “Jude’s was first, revealing the body. Then like I said, once we got over the shock of finding the mayor, we were still faced with trying to get out of the room.”

She cocked her head. “It must’ve been rough being in such a small space with Mayor Sutton deceased in the locker.”

“It wasn’t the greatest of times, but we’d already spent fifty minutes in the room and Smythe said it should take about an hour. We figured we only had about ten minutes left and were even more determined to finish the escape and find our way out.”

“Which you did, but how?”

“We tried the other lockers again. This time they opened. They contained our framed academy graduation pictures. Each one had a letter written on the back in marker, but mine had the alphabet typed on white paper.”

“Interesting”

“More than interesting. I thought it might be a rudimentary cipher, so I laid the letters on the table. Moved forward a letter on the alphabet. No luck. Moved forward two. Still no luck. But three was the trick. The letters spelled board.”

Her gaze whipped across the room. “The bulletin board.”

“Exactly. We each took an item down to study it. The back of the daily schedule held numbers. We tried them on the door lock, and they didn’t work so I figured it was another cipher, and I used the same basic one I did for the letters except for numbers. It gave me the code for the electronic door lock.”

She tilted her head. “It’s either a coincidence that you’re good at ciphers, or the person who locked you in this room knew you were.”

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence. Not with all the other items in the room being personal to us. Some of which I’m shocked are here. Like our graduation pictures. And why make trophies that never existed?”

“Something I’ll need to investigate.” She narrowed her eyes. “This person who created the escape room could be trying to set one of you up for the murder charge. And since the items are so personal to each of you, I have to entertain the idea it could be you or one of your team.”

“No!” He shook his head hard. “I refuse to believe that. I didn’t do it, and you know the others—spent time with them. You know they would never murder someone. Besides, what motive would any of us have for killing the mayor? He’s been our ally and supportive of our team and mission since we arrived in town to set up business. He even got a special tax credit approved for our business. And if we wanted to kill him, why would we make everything in this room all about us and put his body in here?”

“Perhaps it’s something you don’t know about.”

Nolan shook his head again. “No. Emphatically no. Don’t waste your time going down that path or the real killer will go free.”

“I have to go down any path the forensics and leads take me.”

He let his gaze bore into her. “Is this about our past? Are you wanting one of us to be guilty because you feel bad for bailing on me? Bailing on them?”

Her mouth fell open. “Me bail on you ? You’re the one who left without a word. One minute we’re supposed to meet for breakfast, and the next I find out you’ve left town with no explanation.”

What? He’d explained this in his note, so why was she pretending she didn’t know why he’d had to leave? “Didn’t you get my note?”

“No note,” her steely tone cut him to the core.

He took a breath to mitigate some of the emotions taking over. “I would never leave without explaining. I had to go. An enterovirus spread from agent to agent assigned to the president, and my supervisor canceled everyone’s vacation.”

Her chin went up higher as if she wasn’t buying it. “Okay, so you had a good reason for leaving. Didn’t mean you couldn’t have told me.”

“Like I said I left a note.”

She crossed her arms. “What about just talking to me? Was that too much for me to expect?”

“I tried, but I had to leave immediately to catch the only flight available. I couldn’t call you—you lost your phone the day before. Remember? We were joking around, and you dropped it over the cliff at the overlook and into the ocean.”

Recognition dawned on her face. “Okay, but there must’ve been another way to contact me before just leaving me behind like a meaningless summer fling.”

“How? The only way was to come to your house to talk to you, but you never gave me your address. Still, I didn’t just leave. I’d seen you talking to the desk clerk a few times, and it seemed like you knew him, so I figured he might be able to tell me where you lived. But he said he didn’t know, and I didn’t have time to go looking for you. He suggested I write you a note, and he would ask around town for your address and make sure to get it to you. So I did.”

She frowned. “If it’s the desk clerk I think you’re talking about, it was Tommy. He was one of my good friends and had been to my house plenty of times.”

“Then I don’t know why he would say he didn’t know where it was.” Nolan described the guy, making sure to emphasize his red hair and freckles. “Is that him?”

“Yeah, that’s Tommy. He was the only guy with red hair at the hotel, so it had to be him.” She stared at Nolan for a long moment. “I didn’t get a note, and if you gave one to Tommy, he would’ve passed it on.”

Nolan locked gazes with her. “Are you saying I’m lying?”

She planted her booted feet on the floor, her chin raising in that stubborn look he remembered from when she got mad. “I guess I am.”

“One way to solve this,” Nolan said, trying not to get angry himself. “We find this Tommy guy and ask him about the note, though he’ll probably lie about it because he never gave it to you.”

“Just one problem with that.”

Bad news was coming. Nolan didn’t want more bad news today, but he also wouldn’t run from it. Meet it head-on and deal with it. That had always been his philosophy. “And what’s that?”

“Tommy died from leukemia a few months ago.”

Nolan’s heart sank in his chest. Since Tommy hadn’t delivered the note, he probably wouldn’t have told the truth about it. But if he were alive, there would at least be hope.

Now that he knew Mina hadn’t simply ignored his plea to call him, he would’ve liked to resolve once and for all something else that had weighed heavy on him for years.

But that, like who killed the mayor, remained a mystery.