Page 49 of Valor (Long Hot Summer: Christian Romantic Suspense #2)

GIBSON

I haven’t worked many murder scenes.

Living in a tiny town like Pine Creek doesn’t lead to many of those. But I can’t imagine working these types of scenes would ever get any easier. Carla Yates worked at the Pine Creek Hospital for seventeen years. She’d even helped cast my broken arm when I’d been eighteen and fallen off a horse I was saddle-breaking.

Yet here she lays, dead on the side of the road, in the same place I found Lani. Which shouldn’t be possible since that information was never publicized. Another clue. Another piece that doesn’t add up.

What I do know though, is that it’s a message. Whoever did this can’t get to Lani, so they’re letting me know they’re still out there.

Waiting.

I can even feel eyes on me as I stand here in the center of a yellow crime scene border like the focal point of some twisted art painting. Turning, I survey the surrounding area, looking for anyone who shouldn’t be here.

It’s just the woman who was out for a run at dawn and found her, CSI, the coroner, and Deputy Brown. I can feel you watching me.

“You can take her,” I tell the coroner, then take a step back from the body.

“What’s our next move, Sheriff?” Deputy Brown asks.

“We need to go see her husband,” I tell her. “Why don’t you come along with me? I don’t really care to do this on my own.”

She looks sick herself, but nods. “I’m right with you.”

“Bill, tell me you found something,” I say as the head of our crime scene team crosses over toward me.

He shakes his head in frustration, emotion warring all over his expression. He’s friends with Carla’s husband, Taylor. They went to school together. “I’m going to find them. I’m going to find who did this, but I can’t—” He takes a deep breath. “I’m going to head back to the lab. Run what I found. It’s not much, but maybe it’ll lead somewhere.”

“Let me know if this gets too close for you, okay?”

“It is personal,” he all but growls. “But that’s why I want to stay on it.”

Knowing that it’s personal for me too, I just nod. He’s the best on the team and the only one I want on this case. And given that it’s such a small town, it would be impossible to find someone not emotionally affected by the loss.

Without another word, Bill heads off toward his van and climbs inside. I turn back just in time to see the coroner zip up the black body bag.

And I know that even as I haven’t worked many murders, there’s no way it’ll ever get any easier.

“Let’s go get this over with so we can find this monster.”

* * *

“She’s d-d-dead?” Taylor Yates chokes out. “No.” He gets to his feet and heads into the kitchen. “No. She’s not dead.” He retrieves his cell phone off the counter and taps on the screen. I know he’s trying to call her.

Just like I know she won’t answer.

Still, I wait, knowing he needs this for his own processing. Even though watching the emotions play out on his face kills me.

Fear. Disbelief. Fear again. Grief.

“She can’t be gone.” He collapses, so I kneel in front of him and wrap my arms around him. Both of his arms come around me, and he crushes me against him, broken sobbing racking through him.

“I’m so sorry, Taylor. You have no idea how sorry I am.”

“I just—I just talked to her this morning. I was going to make spaghetti for dinner. We were going to watch the new episode of Tracker. She can’t be gone, Gibson. Don’t you see!” He screams it.

“I know. And I promise I will find who did this to her.”

He pulls back, face reddening. “Unless I find them first,” he snarls, rage shoving grief to the wayside. The high school football coach pushes to his feet and heads down his hallway.

“Stay here,” I tell the deputy. She nods in understanding.

I’m just stepping into his bedroom as he’s loading bullets into a magazine. A .45 sits on his bed.

“You do that, it’s murder. No matter how justified.”

“I won’t let them walk free.”

“Neither will I.” I move further into the bedroom, though I don’t go for the gun. Taylor is a good man. One of the best. And I know he won’t use it on me, even if I don’t fully doubt he’ll go looking for vengeance on the one who killed his wife.

I don’t blame him. I’d do the same.

“I won’t let her murderer go free.”

“Taylor.” I reach out and place my hand on his shoulder. “I’m good at my job.”

“I know you are.” Tears still stream down his cheeks.

“Then let me do it. I promise you, I won’t rest until I find whoever did this.”

He stops loading the magazine and turns to sit on the edge of his bed. “Does this have anything to do with what happened to Lani Hunt?”

Since I hadn’t told him where his wife’s body was found, or the significance, his question catches me off guard. “Why do you ask?”

Taylor sniffles and closes his eyes. “Carla’s been acting strange ever since—” He trails off, choking on the words. I remain silent as he gathers himself again. “When Lani was found and you guys said someone used the hospital’s equipment to hold her, Carla realized she might have seen something.”

“Seen what?” I lean in closer, as though it might help me hear better.

“It was a couple of weeks ago. She didn’t report it because it was right after inventory, and whenever they have any kind of equipment that doesn’t work properly—beds with mechanical errors, IV poles with loose wheels—they send them out for repair or replacement.” He takes a deep breath. “She said it was the usual pickup van outside, but when she’d waved and called out to say hello to Andrew, the guy who typically does the picking up, whoever was out there got right into the van and left.” He closes his eyes and shakes his head as tears stream down his cheeks. “She just figured it was a new guy stepping in, but after finding out what happened to Lani, she thought it might have meant something else.”

“She saw whoever was taking the equipment? Did she describe them?”

He shakes his head. “She didn’t get a good look at their face.”

We had a witness.

This entire time.

And now—she’s gone. But if there was one, then there must be another.

“Do you know what day she saw this?”

He shakes his head. “Maybe a week before Lani was taken? It was the day after inventory.”

Security cameras. We ran through them, but if they were altered— Tucker. We need Tucker. If someone got into the emails, they could have easily altered videos.

I file it away for later, knowing that Taylor needs me right now. “Who can I call for you?” I ask. “Your mom?” The woman is in her eighties, but she still lives here in Pine Creek and plays bridge with my mom every Wednesday night.

He shakes his head. “I need to be alone right now. I need to—God, why her? Why did He take my Carla?”

Tears burn in my eyes. “I wish I had an answer.”

Silence surrounds us as Taylor processes the loss of a woman he’s loved since they were teens at the very high school he teaches at. Born and raised in Pine Creek, that’s what they were. Soulmates from the moment they met.

And now she’s gone.

My heart breaks all over again.

“Can you pray for me?” he asks, tone broken. “Please? I—I really don’t think I can do it, and I know I need it because I am so angry. So beyond angry. At whoever did this. And at—” He trails off. “At God for taking her.” He chokes on the words, shoulders shaking as he begins sobbing again. “Why did He take her?” His hands clench into fists, so I remain where I am, one arm around his broad shoulders, as I bow my head.

“Lord, I ask that You be with Taylor during this time. While we do not understand Your plan, I know You have one. Please grant us discernment so we may see the truth in this tragedy and guide my steps so I can find out who brought it to his doorstep. God, please give Taylor strength and wrap him in your Holy Light. I ask this in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.”

“Amen,” he chokes out through the tears. “My brother,” he says.

“What?”

“You can call my brother. Tell him I need him.”