Page 8

8

Officer Cromwell had a fringe of reddish beard and a bulbous nose that reminded Lila of a stubby pale pickle. He was leaning on one elbow at the bar, but straightened as they approached. “Heya Bear.”

“Officer Cromwell.”

Lila wondered why he made such a point of using the man’s official title when Officer Cromwell had greeted him so casually.

“Lila Romanoff,” she said as she put out her hand. “I work here.”

The officer shook her hand and ran his eyes over her in a very uncomfortable manner. She felt Bear stiffen at her side. Since she didn’t want him to lose it and do something stupid, she kept the handshake short and immediately afterwards stepped behind the bar. “Can I get you something, Officer Cromwell?”

“Can’t drink on the job.” His gaze slid to Bear, as if that was some kind of dig. “Basic policing one-oh-one.”

“Not even water? We have plenty of non-alcoholic offerings. Soda with a twist of lime, soda without lime, orange juice, apple cider?—”

He cut off her recitation of beverages. “No thanks. I like to keep my time in this wasteland as short as I can.”

Wasteland! Lila fought the urge to slap him across the face for that insult to her favorite place in the world so far.

“If you want to keep it short, you can leave out all the trash-talk,” Bear said dryly.

Bravo! That was a much better response than what had come to her mind.

“Not trash talk when it’s the honest truth.” Cromwell made a show out of shaking out a handkerchief and spreading it over the barstool. Then he set his—quite hefty—ass on it.

Lila shared a glance with Bear, and even though he wore his usual impassive expression, she knew he was just as irritated as she was. What a dick. She wiped down those bar stools every night. The point was clear. Everything in Firelight Ridge and especially The Fang was beneath him.

“Speaking of the honest truth,” he said when he was fully seated, “I’m going to need some details from you, young lady.”

“I’m over thirty.” Hardly a young lady, at least not the kind that justified that patronizing tone of voice.

“Did I ask for your age? One question at a time.”

She bit her lip. Rarely had she ever wanted to punch someone in the face the way she did this guy. “What would you like to know?”

“Let’s start with the crime scene. You were parked at the overlook just above where the body was found.”

“Yes. I pulled over for a brief stop. When I tried to leave, I realized that I was out of gas. Which was strange because—” She broke off as she caught Bear’s glare. His message was clear. Don’t say extra things. Keep it simple. “ Anyway, that’s when Bear showed up. No, wait, I fell asleep and napped for a while. Then Bear woke me up.”

“What was strange?”

Ugh, Officer Cromwell apparently didn’t miss much.

“Well, just that the gas tank indicator didn’t work. It was stuck and I hadn’t noticed.”

“Seems like you didn’t notice much. Bear said you didn’t mention seeing the body.”

“I didn’t see it.”

“It does seem odd that you were there with a perfect view of it, but you didn’t, and then just moments later, Bear spotted it. What’s your explanation for that?”

Explanation? She had none. It was what it was. She’d been focused on Bear, and her car, and her powdered donuts. She opened her mouth to tell him that, but Bear cut her off. “She doesn’t have to explain shit, Cromwell. She’s just telling you what she saw.”

“Oh ho, am I supposed to accept lessons from you on how to conduct an investigation? Should I take a hit or two first?”

Cromwell’s sneering tone made Lila recoil. What was he talking about? A glance at Bear told her he was clenching his jaw so hard he might get a cramp.

“I was probably just distracted.” Lila felt as if she was throwing her body between two gladiators. “I was leaving and I felt sad about that. I was focused inward instead of outward.”

Cromwell swung back her direction. “But you didn’t leave. You came back. Bear brought you money, and you came back. Did you make some kind of deal?”

“Deal? No. He brought me my wages and tips for the previous week. That’s our only deal. I work and he pays me.”

“In cash?”

Oh shit. True, she was getting paid under the table. Was that the kind of thing that a police officer was obligated to report? Who would get in bigger trouble if he did, her or Bear?

“It doesn’t matter how she gets paid, because everything gets reported to the IRS how it should.” Bear was starting to sound annoyed. Cromwell kept his focus on Lila.

“So you didn’t accept cash from Bear in exchange for saying you didn’t see him dumping that body?”

“ What? ”

The word came bursting out from both Lila and Bear at the same time.

“Why the hell would I dump a body and then report it?” Bear’s voice thundered through the empty bar. “Are you out of your mind?”

Behind his red beard, a sneaky smile played across Cromwell’s face. “It’s a theory.”

“A dumbass theory, but if you’re serious about it, this interview ends now.”

“I’m not interviewing you,” said Cromwell. “I’m interviewing her.” He jerked his thumb at Lila.

Her heart was jumping all over the place. She didn’t understand why Cromwell had it in for Bear, but he obviously did. “Bear didn’t dump any body. How could you ever think that? He brought me my back pay. That’s all.”

“So what changed your mind about quitting?”

Oh crapola. That was getting into the realm of the unexplainable. The powerful feeling that she had to go back. The appearance of Bear. The dream.

She gasped out loud as a memory from that dream came back to her. We have a problem on our hands. That was what Allison Casey had said in her dream. Was the woman in the river the problem, or connected to it somehow? Maybe that was why Lila hadn’t been able to leave—the presence of her body in the river below. Even though she hadn’t seen it, her intuition worked in mysterious ways.

“What’s on your mind?” Officer Cromwell demanded. “Better come out with it or it’s gonna look bad for you. You and Bear both.”

“I…I…” She scrambled for something, anything, to say that would throw him off the scent of the truth. “Well, this is very embarrassing, but I changed my mind when I saw Bear.”

The officer’s gaze slid between the two of them. “Got a little crush?”

“Yes. I have a little crush.” Hopefully Bear would see what she was doing, but she didn’t dare to look at him. “That’s why I left, because it was so hard working in such close quarters with him. But then, when he woke me up, I realized I couldn’t run from my feelings. Do you know what I mean, Officer? Is there a woman in your life?”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “No. And you should be careful. You don’t know much about this guy, do you?”

Beside her, Bear was still as a pile of rocks.

“I’ve been working for him since April.” Not really an answer, because the truth was, hadn’t she just been thinking that she didn’t know Bear as well as she wished?

“Huh. Well, get him to tell you about Bethel sometime. Quite a story.”

Bear said nothing, but she could sense the anger roiling inside him.

“Do you have any other questions for me, Officer?” she asked. “I mean, about the case? Do you know who the dead woman is yet?”

His eyes gleamed, which told her he was the kind of person who liked knowing things that other people didn’t—and liked to prove it. “It’s public record now, so I can share that the victim has been identified and her family has been notified.”

“Who was she? Was she from here?”

“No, she was from Bend, Oregon. She was a watercolor artist doing some sketches of the forest out here. A tourist, basically. Her name was Rita Casey. Gee, I really hope this incident doesn’t ruin things for you Firelight Ridge folks. It’s just not safe out here, is it? No police, no law enforcement, just chaos and murder.”

“We’ve got you, don’t we? You’re about all the law enforcement we can handle out here.” Bear launched into the process of shepherding Officer Cromwell out the door, while Lila worked on hiding her shock.

Rita Casey. Same last name as Allison. Could that possibly be a coincidence?