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S ince quitting his soul-sucking job as a corporate lawyer, Kai had made a point to be outside every day that he possibly could, and even more importantly, to break a sweat three or four times a week. During his time as an attorney, he’d sat at a desk under fluorescent lights far too many hours of the day until he realized that it was dark when he arrived at the office and when he left. He’d known he needed to make some major changes in his life, but he didn’t know where to even start. It had been his grandfather’s death that had brought him clarity.

He’d quit and never looked back.

His current life had him drinking far less bad coffee, eating in restaurants much less, and allowing him to care for his body so that he might not drop dead from a heart attack before the age of fifty-five.

His stepfather had made it to sixty-two before being sidelined into partial retirement. The man was still pissed off about it, too. He actively fought against any sort of leisure and thought that Kai was wasting his life. Kai, on the other hand, had decided that he’d rather be like his Grandpa Mitch than his stepfather James. James was a good guy, but Kai wasn’t sure he had the best priorities in life.

That’s why he was leaving his house at five-thirty in the morning, while the temperature outside could still be described as “fucking cold”. He’d bundled up, but not too much, because he would heat up along his route that took him by Harper Lake. He should hit it just about the time of sunrise, and he’d often simply stand there and take it all in, awed by Mother Nature and all her glory.

It was something he’d never had the time to do in Los Angeles - bathe in the morning sunlight as those first few rays peeked over the horizon.

He’d started out slow at first, building speed as he warmed up. He was listening to his favorite playlist as his running shoes pounded the pavement and then gravel as he traveled farther from the house. He’d worked up a good sweat when he made it to the lake. He paused to watch as the sun slowly rose in the clear sky.

It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. He had plans to talk to Lulu Reilly again, but he was already working on the article in his head. He’d been skeptical, frankly, of her taking over for her father - a nepotism hire at its finest.

After spending some time with her, however, he’d decided to keep his mind more open. She was inexperienced, that was true, but she seemed to have a way with people. The town was always talking about how Presley Reilly was charming and engaging, but Lulu also seemed to have inherited that gene, too.

As long as nothing difficult was thrown at her for a while, she just might be able to pull it off.

Now that the sun was up, he could see out of the corner of his eye two more people also running near the lake. As they grew closer, he recognized Lulu and her friend Henry. They’d had dinner together with Chase Reilly at the sports bar last night.

Kai couldn’t help but wonder if Henry was a romantic partner. They didn’t appear to be lovey-dovey, but that didn’t mean they weren’t in private. He didn’t get the…vibe. Henry didn’t look at Lulu like a man who was in love with her should. She didn’t act like she was in love either. Yet, they always seemed to be together, and rumor had it, that Henry was staying in the apartment above the sheriff’s station with Lulu. Was it some weird sort of friends with benefits? And why did he even care? He had better things to be thinking about than the love life of Lulu Reilly.

“Sheriff,” Kai said when they stopped to say hello. He took out his earbuds and tucked them in his pocket. “Henry. Beautiful morning, isn’t it?”

“It’s supposed to warm up later today,” Lulu said with a smile. Her hands were on her knees as she caught her breath from the run. “And it is beautiful. I think mornings are my favorite time of day.”

Henry hadn’t said anything at all, wandering toward the banks of the lake, completely ignoring Kai as if he didn’t exist.

“Was it something I said?” Kai joked. “I don’t think your friend likes me very much.”

“Sorry,” Lulu said. “Let me apologize for him. He sometimes just kind of goes off by himself into another world. I swear he has his reasons, and they’re good ones. Once he realizes that he’s being rude, he’ll apologize. Believe me, it’s nothing personal. He’s sometimes just a little…different.”

From what Kai knew about Lulu, she would be the type to have some “different” friends. He’d heard all the stories, of course, everyone had. He wasn’t sure that all of them were true, however. Some sounded too wild and crazy to be real, and some of the others just sounded like a spirited teenage girl testing her boundaries.

In a big way. But with her daddy as a famous lawman? It made complete and total sense. She’d had some big shoes to rebel against practically from birth. He should understand, too. Hadn’t he rebelled against what his mother and stepfather expected of him? He certainly wasn’t sitting in his plush office right now.

“It’s fine,” Kai replied. “I was just kidding anyway. There’s nothing wrong with being a little different.”

“He’s a lot different.”

“That’s okay, too.”

“What are you doing out here so early? Do you come to watch the sunrise a lot?” Lulu asked.

“I run three or four days a week. I always try to time it so I’m here to watch the sunrise over the lake. I know it probably sounds cheesy, but it’s a nice way to start the day.”

“I’m sorry that I missed it. Henry and I run a few times a week as well. It’s good exercise, and I like to be outdoors.”

She and Henry ran together. Once again, Kai wondered what was up with these two, and then once again he reminded himself that he didn’t care. It was simply the reporter in him that made him nosey.

“I was hoping we could talk again today or maybe tomorrow,” Kai suggested. “I have a few more questions to round out the article. Maybe I could follow you out again to a call.”

“Sure, but I can’t promise that anything will be exciting. It might be boring just like yesterday.”

“That’s fine. It’s really you I want to learn more about. I mean, I think the whole town wants to know more about you.”

“I’m guessing the town thinks they know everything there is to know.”

She might be right, but he didn’t get a chance to reply. Henry jogged up to them, his skin a pasty-greenish shade.

“Lulu, you need to see this. You need to call it in.”

“Okay, what do I need to see? What’s going on?”

Lulu’s brow was knitted together in question, and Henry looked like he’d seen a ghost. His fingers scraped through his hair, and he kept shaking his head as if to deny whatever he was trying to say.

“You need to call it in,” Henry repeated, his eyes wide and his tone urgent. “It’s a body, Lulu. There’s a dead body down there. You have to come now.”

A dead body in Harper.

On Lulu’s second day of work.

It looked like the new sheriff wasn’t going to get any grace period whatsoever. If Lulu Reilly had any luck at all, it would be death by natural causes.

Not a murder. Definitely, not a murder.

The dead body belonged to Dana Cartwright.

Lulu’s stomach had clenched menacingly when she’d seen the identity of the victim and the bloody gash on the side of the head. She’d quickly given herself a stern talking to and steeled her spine.

She was ready for this. It had always been a possibility, although she could admit she hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly.

A murder in their little town.

Now wait a minute. You don’t know for sure it’s a murder.

Yes, I do. No one is going to bash in their own skull and then wander down to the lake to die.

No one was going to say that she hadn’t followed strict police protocol. Her first priority was protecting the crime scene. She then called in her deputies along with the county forensics team. What she hadn’t counted on was Kai Oliver - the local newspaperman - being onsite for her first serious investigation. He was watching every move she made as if waiting for her to screw up.

She wasn’t planning to do that so he could watch all he wanted. What he didn’t realize was that he was suspect number one. He’d been standing less than ten yards from Dana when they’d come up on him during their run.

One of her deputies had brought bright yellow crime scene tape with him, and they’d cordoned off the area to keep out looky-loos. In a town this size, everyone and their brother would be out to watch their brand-new female sheriff handle her first murder case. She was sure they couldn’t wait to head down to the cafe and compare her to her father.

I’d never come out of that on top.

“Can I call someone for you?” Henry offered as she readied herself to question Kai. “Your brother? Or your…dad?”

“Dad is boarding a cruise ship today,” she reminded her friend, giving him the nastiest look she could muster. “We are not calling and getting him to fly back here to handle this. I can do this. I’m a little hurt, Henry, that you’d even suggest it.”

Actually, she was a whole lot hurt, but she didn’t want to admit it.

“I only suggested it in case you wanted him,” Henry replied swiftly. “I think you’ve got this. I really do. But when it comes down to it, no one would blame you for calling in reinforcements.”

“Yes, they would. They would blame me. They would also lose all respect, if they even had any to begin with. If I call Dad, they’ll all think I can’t do this. As for Chase, he runs the local coffee shop. If he hasn’t heard already, he will. He’s busy, and I’m working so I’ll talk to him later. Now I need to speak with Kai. He was the first person on the scene.”

Her deputies were holding back the onlookers whose numbers were beginning to grow. There had only been a handful about ten minutes ago, but now there were over a dozen.

Lulu could feel the weight of their stare and judgment even from where she was standing several yards away. She walked over to where she’d asked Kai to wait.

“Do you mind if I record this conversation?” she asked, pulling out her phone.

Her dad had always used a little notebook and a pencil, but she might want to listen to this again at a later date.

Kai appeared taken aback by her request which only confirmed her suspicions that he didn’t have a clue that he could be considered a suspect. If she was honest with herself - and she always tried to be - she didn’t think Kai had killed Dana. Not unless she found out that he had some sort of motive that she didn’t know about currently.

But she was going to follow the textbook on this one. No defense attorney was going to get evidence or testimony thrown out because she’d been sloppy. Kai had been on scene, and that meant she needed to get his statement at the very least.

Means, motive, and opportunity. She needed to keep all three in the forefront of her mind.

“Do you mind if I record it as well?” Kai asked. “For the article that I’ll write.”

“Fine, I just have a few questions right now. I may have more later.”

“I have some, too,” he said before she could continue. “For the newspaper.”

She decided to ignore his questions for now. She’d answer what she could, but this was an open investigation. If he thought that she was going to spill her guts, he was mistaken.

“Let’s start at the beginning,” she said. “What time did you leave your house this morning?”

“Around five-thirty. Like I said earlier, I like to be here at the lake to watch the sunrise.”

“How long would you say you were here at the lake this morning?”

“Ten or fifteen minutes before you showed up.”

“Did you see anyone else here?”

“No, just me. I never see anyone else.”

“You saw me,” Lulu reminded him.

“Never before then. That’s why I run early in the morning. The solitude. Can I ask a question now? Am I a suspect? Do you think I killed someone?”

“Kai, you were already here. In a place with a dead body not far away. Don’t you think I’d be a stupid cop not to ask you a few questions?”

She’d decided to challenge him back, get him thinking about what it took to run this investigation. He didn’t seem like a dumb person at all. In the short time they’d spent together, he presented himself as a reasonable and intelligent human being.

Who was standing almost smack-dab in the middle of her crime scene. All by himself.

“I guess you have a point,” he conceded, twisting his lips. “But I didn’t see anyone or anything. It was dark most of the time I was there, and even then, I don’t know if I would have seen the body. From where we were standing, I couldn’t see it. Could you?”

“No, the grass is too tall around there.”

“Then you got lucky that Henry likes to wander off,” Kai observed. “It could have been days…or weeks…”

Lulu had thought about that, too. Was that what the killer had intended? Let the crime scene degrade with a bit of rain and wind before anyone found Dana?

“It was Dana Cartwright, wasn’t it?” Kai asked. “I recognized her. She works behind the bar a few nights a week at Ethan’s place.”

“I cannot comment on the identity of the victim until we have notified the next of kin,” Lulu recited automatically. “And you should know that.”

She’d thrown out that last dig because she didn’t want him to think he could take advantage of her inexperience. Everyone would think the worst of her until she proved them wrong. It had been happening pretty much her whole life. Even then, some never changed their minds, still thinking she was teenaged Lulu, sneaking out of the house and smoking behind the barn with her friends.

“I do know that,” Kai sighed. “I’m not your enemy, Lulu. I didn’t kill that woman, and I only want to help you.”

“You want to help me? Or you want an exclusive story?”

His face split into a grin, and for a moment she thought he was going to laugh out loud at her.

“What is this? Some seedy crime television show? This is Harper, Montana. There’s only one newspaper for a hundred and fifty miles, Lulu. I automatically have an exclusive. There is no one else.”

Shit, he had a point. She was the law, and he was the news.

“The local television news station might be interested.”

She sounded rather pathetic, like she was grasping at straws.

“I’m sure they will be,” he agreed. “But in the meantime, I’m here. And I’m deeply invested in finding out what happened to that woman. After all, I helped find her. But I didn’t kill her. I barely even knew Dana.”

“Means, motive, and opportunity,” she heard herself mutter under her breath. “Which do you have?”

“I guess I had the opportunity,” he replied. “I was alone here, although we don’t yet know the time of death. I have no motive. Didn’t know her. I didn’t have the means since I showed up here with nothing but my cell phone. Although I have the physical strength to make that sort of dent in a human skull.”

“You’re not exactly helping yourself,” Lulu said. “I’m not the coroner, but I think it would have taken someone decently healthy to do that. You look like you could swing a bat.”

“Lots of people in town could wield a blunt object. We’re going to need more than that to narrow down a killer.”

“We?”

“Well…you. And me, because newspaper reporters dig into a story.”

“I’m the sheriff in this town. I do the investigating. You report what I find,” she retorted. “ We are not a team. I will cooperate with the press because I want my office to run transparently. But I will not have civilians getting all twisted up into an open case. Seriously, Kai. It could be dangerous.”

“It could be dangerous for you, too.”

“That’s what I signed up for. Now, if you’ll excuse me, it appears that the county forensic team has arrived. Please step aside and let them pass. Don’t ask them any questions, and don’t get in their way. Are we clear?”

“We definitely are.”

He had cleared his throat a few times and was looking at the ground, probably trying to hide his laughter. She was being a hard ass, and he thought it was amusing or cute.

“I promise I’ll give you a more complete statement later today,” she said. “I’m serious about being transparent.”

“I appreciate that. If you don’t mind, I’d like to hang around and watch.”

“I can’t stop you.” She nodded towards the growing crowd not far away. “We have an audience. And believe me when I say, they are all watching closely.”

Waiting for me to fall flat on my face. As if I’d let that happen.

I’m going to find Dana’s killer, and everyone can go fuck themselves.

I promise, Dana. I’ll find the person who did this to you. I won’t fail.