Page 5 of The Creekside Murder (Pacific Northwest Forensics #1)

Her fingertips traced the smooth edge of the cut in her tire. What would’ve happened if Finn hadn’t noticed the tire and she drove back to her hotel on it? Would she have made it? Would she have been compelled to stop the car to check on it?

“Someone not only knows I’m here, but this person also knows my car or maybe has been following me.” She sat back on her heels, inspecting her smudged fingers. “You know I’m right. What did you say earlier about coincidences?”

He crouched beside her, bumping her shoulder. “Somebody is trying to scare you.”

“Scare? The card and the doll were meant to scare or maybe even send a message, but this? She rubbed her fingertips on the wet grass beside the curb. “A slashed tire could’ve caused me to stop the car on the way back to the hotel, or maybe even have caused an accident. I think we’ve moved beyond psychological terror now. ”

Finn rose to his feet and stepped into the road, tilting his head back.

“Too far from campus to have any cameras on this street, but maybe one of the apartment complexes farther up the block has something pointed this way. I can check for you tomorrow. It might be as simple as identifying this guy and making him stop.”

“Or not.” Jessica lifted her hatchback and peeled back the flooring. “I have a spare, if you want to help me.”

“Or we can leave your car here and take care of it tomorrow in the light of day. I can give you a ride back to your hotel tonight, and then back again to your car.”

“I appreciate the offer, but you forget. I have a meeting with a serial killer tomorrow, and I need to leave here by five in the morning to get to the pen in plenty of time for my one o’clock appointment.”

“You’re making the five-hour drive to Walla Walla?” Finn clasped the back of his neck. “Why not take an hour flight from Seattle?”

“I drive all over the state.” She shrugged, not wanting to admit to Finn that she avoided flying when she could. She was supposed to be presenting a front of fearlessness.

“That’s crazy. I’ll book you on a flight tomorrow, and I’ll come with you.”

“Why would you do that?” Could it be that Finn was starting to believe Avery Plank didn’t commit Tiffany’s homicide, or did he want to horn in on her interview of Plank to guide the outcome?

“Because I don’t think you should do this on your own, and I’m sure as hell not sitting in a car for five hours.”

Crossing her arms, she planted her boots on the asphalt. “And I’m sure as hell not allowing you to sit in on my interview with Plank. I’m talking to him by myself.”

“I don’t want to be there while you talk to Plank, but I do want to be there when you get out of that hellhole.

You shouldn’t be on your own, and you really shouldn’t spend five hours driving by yourself musing on Avery Plank.

We can get you a new tire early tomorrow morning and head to the airport right after. ”

She screwed up the side of her mouth, studied Finn’s handsome face and relented. “Have it your way. When did you get so bossy?”

“About ten years ago after I got bamboozled by some doe-eyed teenager.”

“I was twenty-one.”

“That doesn’t make it better.” He nodded at her disabled vehicle. “Do you have all your stuff?”

She jogged to her car and ducked inside, grabbing her purse and that cursed doll from the passenger seat. As she locked up, she said, “I hope my stalker doesn’t return to do more damage.”

“Stalker? I hope not.”

“I hope that’s all he is.”

Back in his car, she directed Finn to her hotel by the water, and he insisted on walking her inside the lobby. She wasn’t about to refuse this time.

She waved at the hotel clerk and pointed to the elevator. “I think I got this.”

“I’ll look into a morning flight, and we’ll take care of your car before we head out.” He touched her arm. “Thanks for coming to me with the card. I’ll do what I can.”

“Well, you’ve already gone above and beyond. Thank you . I didn’t expect it.”

“Get a good night’s sleep. I’ll call you around seven.”

Finn planted himself in the lobby as Jessica walked to the elevator. She turned when the doors opened and lifted her hand before stepping inside.

She hadn’t expected Finn to be so interested in her theories about Morgan’s case and its connection to Tiffany’s. He’d explained it as concern for her, but something about his concern rang false.

Finn Karlsson was no longer the sweet, gullible man she’d met ten years ago. His baby-blue eyes held secrets, and she was determined to discover them…even if it meant putting her heart in danger again.

* * *

T HE FOLLOWING MORNING had been such a whirlwind of changing her tire, driving to the shop to get a new one to replace her spare and rushing to the airport to catch their last-minute flight to Walla Walla, Jessica’s anxiety about flying hadn’t had a minute to manifest itself.

Now, as the jet’s engines roared beneath her and the plane lifted, she dug her fingernails into the armrest.

She could use one of those canned Bloody Marys from the drink cart, but she didn’t want Finn to think she was a morning drinker. She also didn’t want to have alcohol on her breath when she went to the prison. She squeezed her eyes closed.

Finn bumped her shoulder. “Are you all right? I’m sure I can work something out with the prison and go inside with you.”

Ugh . He assumed her nerves were all about meeting Plank. She loosened her death grip on the armrest and flexed her fingers. “Not a fan of taking off.”

“I’m okay with taking off. I don’t like landing.” He bent forward and dragged his laptop case from beneath the seat in front of him. “Do you mind if I do some work? I canceled a class today, but I still have some papers to grade.”

She hated landing only slightly less than taking off. “Go ahead. Really, you didn’t have to do all of this. I could’ve changed the tire last night and driven down on my spare this morning.”

He widened his eyes. “You’re not meant to drive three hundred miles on a spare.”

“Just do your grading.” She flicked her fingers at his laptop, now open on his tray table. “I have some notes to review.”

She reached up and pressed the light button with her knuckle and pulled her purse into her lap.

Digging around in the depths of her bag, she found her notebook and flipped it open.

She scanned the words she’d scrawled on the page weeks ago, more to give herself something to do than as a review.

She didn’t even need this notebook. She’d had these questions memorized for almost ten years.

The airplane dipped and she gasped, closing her eyes and clutching the notebook to her chest. After a few seconds of smooth sailing, she opened one eye, feeling Finn’s attention from the seat next to hers.

He whispered, “Probably just a pocket of air.” He closed his laptop. “Did I ever tell you the story about the Ferris wheel at the state fair?”

“No.” She threaded her fingers together and pressed her hands against her midsection.

“I had been on all the hair-raising rides all afternoon, even while I filled up on cotton candy and chili dogs and kettle corn and funnel cake. But when night fell, I heard a girl from school wanted to go on the Ferris wheel with me.” He rubbed his hands together.

“As a randy fifteen-year-old boy, I figured I’d just gotten lucky. ”

She turned her head. “And did you? Get lucky, I mean.”

“Absolutely not.”

Finn then proceeded to tell her a story about his abject fear of riding the Ferris wheel and trying to impress this girl. Even though Jessica was sure he’d embellished the tale, he had her giggling and covering her eyes at his humiliation.

He followed that story with another about the first time he went scuba diving, which had tears rolling down her face. He’d obviously conquered all these fears because she knew from before that he was an adventurous outdoorsman.

While she mopped her face with the napkin from the Diet Coke she’d ordered, she heard a loud clunk and clapped her hand to her chest. “What was that?”

“The landing gear. We’re getting ready to touch down.” He gave an exaggerated grimace. “I told you this is my least favorite part of flying.”

“Do you want me to hold your hand?” She patted his hand, resting on his laptop. “We don’t want a repeat of the Ferris wheel debacle. You did eat a lot of pretzels.”

He held out his hand, palm up. “Please.”

She slid her palm on top of his palm, curling her fingers around his hand. “Just this once. You’re gonna have to learn to suck it up.”

Even though she knew he was pretending fear to make her feel better, it worked. Or maybe it was the feel of his warm, rough skin against hers. She swooned, along with the plane, but she welcomed the butterflies as long Finn held her hand.

“Thanks.” He grinned as he shoved his computer back into its case with his other hand and nudged it beneath the seat with his foot.

As the airplane whooshed downward, Finn squeezed her hand, and she didn’t mind at all—not even when the wheels touched down.

When the plane came to a stop, they unclipped their seat belts and gathered their bags. She poked Finn in the back as they made their way off the plane. “Thanks.”

“Yeah, I can’t believe a woman who isn’t afraid to face Avery Plank is afraid to fly.”

She shrugged as she hitched her bag over her shoulder. “I can’t control what happens up here.”

“If you think you can control Avery Plank, you’re in for a big surprise.” He clicked his tongue. “It’s only a ten-minute drive to the pen. Let’s grab some lunch in town before heading out there.”

They collected the rental car at the airport and Jessica checked her phone for a restaurant on the way to the pen. Ten minutes later, they were seated at a sandwich shop in the middle of town with a couple of paper cups filled with soda.

Finn sat back and folded his arms. “Are you going to flat out ask Plank if he killed your sister?”

“That’s the point.” She plunged her straw into her second Diet Coke of the day, already feeling wired.