Page 45 of Skin Game

“No. Casey said we can fix it ourselves. I don’t really want my renter’s insurance to skyrocket.”

“Walk with me outside?” Pivoting, she reached for the door handle.

With a grumble, Gabe slipped on his Crocs and purloined parka and followed the deputy out into the rain.

Together, they walked the perimeter of Gabe’s home and his small yard. Since Eagan set the pace, it was slow, and Gabe had to force himself to stay with her. She was keeping an eye out for a clue as to where the shot had been taken from. Maybe shethought they’d find an empty shell? Gabe had no idea. He didn’t know a pistol from a rifle except by shape.

“There don’t seem to be extra footprints or any other evidence of an intruder other than the broken window. But with this weather, I would have been surprised to find much of anything.”

“Nope,” Gabe agreed. But then, he hadn’t expected to find anything either. It had started to rain again during the night and hadn’t let up. Even now, the rain was dumping down in unpleasant diagonal sheets.

“Do you think this has something to do with the young woman who visited you Monday?”

“You mean the one who is now deceased? How would I know? It’s not as if I’ve made any recent enemies. That I know of.”

“Seems like quite a coincidence.”

There was that word again.

You know how I feel about coincidence, Chance.

He did. Way too much.

Gabe swiveled to look at Eagan. “You still don’t know her real name?”

The deputy shook her head. “Her prints aren’t in the system, and she hasn’t been reported missing yet. It’s early days though.”

“Do you know anything about a family in the area with the last name of Pritchard?” Gabe asked.

“I know plenty families in the area with that last name. It’s not that uncommon around here.”

They’d returned to the front of the house. The rain abruptly began to come down harder, as if someone was pointing a hose directly at Heartstone.

“Jesus Christ,” Eagan muttered, tugging her hood forward again to better protect her face. “I read somewhere that this is the wettest spring in recent history, and I believe it. If someone takes a shot at you again, or anything else out of the ordinary occurs, please call. I don’t want to have to learn about this kind of thing from Lundin.”

Gabe nodded. He chose not to point out that he’d pretty much been living “out of the ordinary” 24/7 since he moved to Heartstone. How was he supposed to identify something unusual when unusual had become his norm?

“Do you want to come back inside? I want to run something past you, and as I said before, I have coffee.”

Eagan hesitated. Was it bribery to offer a cop coffee? Regardless, the temptation of a hot beverage must have been too strong for her to resist.

“A coffee would be lovely.”

Gabe pulled his door open and, because his mother had taught him to, held it for Eagan to pass through.

“Make yourself comfortable.”

“I’ll stand, thanks.” To prove her point, the deputy left her coat on but did unzip it.

“Yeah, I should work on getting a few more chairs. And a dining room table. Aside from Alfred, of course. No one in their right mind would want to use Alfred for sitting on.”

Removing his jacket, Gabe hung it on the hooks Casey had installed, then toed off his Crocs and left them in a haphazard pile. While Eagan was not-so-subtly taking in his luxurious digs, Gabe busied himself at the espresso machine.

“I would marry this appliance if it was legal,” he told her. “This machine makes the best coffee.”

“Then why do I see you at Norskland almost every time I go in there?” Eagan asked, coming over to stand across from him at the counter.

“Ah, good question. For conversation. The only downfall of this thing is that it doesn’t talk.”