Chapter 8
Hill
Hold on a second.” I hollered the words as I hastily wrapped a towel around my waist after scrambling from the shower.
Someone was pounding on the door hard enough that I was worried the wood was going to splinter under the force. I figured it had to be Hearst with a break in the case. No one else would be trying to beat down my door with such enthusiasm. Generally folks weren’t that eager for my company.
Pushing my wet hair back from my forehead, I padded to the door, wishing the shower had been longer. I’d managed to catch a few hours of sleep here and there, but I couldn’t say they had been exactly restful. I couldn’t shake the feeling there was something really off with the newcomer claiming to be Conrad’s daughter. And no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t convince Hearst that Kody’s association with the Sons of Sorrow wasn’t anything more than coincidental. The young investigator was like a particularly stubborn dog with a bone, insisting there was a thread there we needed to unravel if we wanted to know what had happened to Kody’s father. It was hard to sleep knowing Kody was in deep with the bikers, and now there was a sinking feeling settling in my gut that I wasn’t going to like whatever Hearst had dug up. I already hated that Kody and Shot had been involved in a romantic relationship, and that it was pretty common knowledge in Loveless, which gave validation to my temporary partner’s suspicions.
“What?” I barked out the word as I jerked open the door. It was a good thing I had quick reflexes, because if I hadn’t caught Kody’s swinging fist as she started to knock again, I would’ve ended up with a broken nose.
Kody’s eyes popped wide as her gaze drifted over my mostly naked and still-damp body. I heard her inhale.
“Are you always half-naked when you’re in your room?” She pulled her hand free and stepped back to fidget with her hair.
I lifted my eyebrows and dryly asked, “Is there a dress code at this motel I don’t know about?”
Kody waved a hand in front of her face and purposely averted her eyes. “Can you get dressed?”
I chuckled. “Why are you always telling me to put clothes on lately?” Usually when I was alone with a woman she was telling me to do the opposite.
I heard her clear her throat. “I wanted to ask you about that woman, Presley Baskin. Have you eaten yet? If you put some clothes on, I’ll feed you breakfast.”
Absently scratching at my bare chest, I told her, “Give me a couple minutes. I wasn’t expecting company. I can’t do breakfast. I have an appointment out of town I need to leave for soon. But I can grab a cup of coffee if you want to meet me at the diner.”
Kody nodded jerkily and turned away. “That works.” She started to walk away, but paused and tossed over her shoulder, “You look better than you did the other day. I’m glad.”
It wasn’t the world’s best compliment, but it was an important one, because it was the first one she’d willingly given me. I shut the door and leaned forward so I could rest my forehead on the hard surface. It literally took nothing for Kody to bring me to my knees. Considering all the years I’d tried to train myself to be immune to her, one would think I would have better defenses where she was concerned, but I didn’t. Everything she did and said was like an arrow aimed directly at my heart. The damn thing was full of holes because of her.
I took a couple of minutes to towel dry my hair, brush my teeth, and run a razor over my face. I tugged on a pair of jeans, pulled on a lightweight button-up, jammed my feet into my boots, grabbed my weapon and my badge along with my hat, and headed out the door. Hearst called while I was walking across the parking lot to the diner. He wanted to make sure we were still on schedule to meet with Presley Baskin. We’d finally managed to lock the woman into an interview. She was skittish as hell and clearly reluctant to take part in our investigation. It would be very easy to attribute her unease to the recent passing of her mother and the discovery of her new family, but my gut was screaming at me that her behavior had something more serious behind it. Like maybe she knew more about what had happened to Conrad than she was letting on. Either way it was an appointment I couldn’t miss, so I had to hear Kody out and be on my way. There was no extra time to spin fantasies around her showing up at my motel room out of the blue and dropping kind words.
She was in the same booth we’d shared before. My coffee was already sitting on the table, and instead of onion rings, she had a plate full of French toast in front of her.
I slid in across from her. Gave her a quick once-over, noticing she seemed anxious. Her fingers were tapping on the table and her knee was bouncing up and down. Her eyes couldn’t seem to decide where to land and her mouth kept shifting between a flat line and a deep frown. Kody always sort of seemed electric and vibrant with energy, but today the invisible vibration was buzzing with something darker and angrier than usual. I had a feeling this wasn’t the friendly chat Kody had led me to believe it would be.
“So what do you want to ask? You know I can’t tell you anything related to the case. I don’t know how much I can tell you about Dr. Baskin.” I picked up my coffee and stared at her over the rim. “I have her contact info. You can reach out and learn about her directly from the source. Don’t you think that might be best?”
Kody stabbed at her breakfast with her butter knife. “Have you spoken with her since the funeral?” Those neon-green eyes of hers sliced into me like lasers.
“No, not yet. I’m supposed to meet with her today for the formal interview. Hearst ran basic background info on her over the last few days. Nothing unusual popped up other than the fact that she’s an incredibly smart individual and has been on the fast track in her career field for quite some time. She was recently offered a promotion to the lead medical examiner position in her county. She’s about to be the youngest lead ME in the state.” I didn’t mention that there had been some hiccups after Dr. Baskin was offered the position, or that her mother’s death had coincided with the sudden career advancement.
I watched as Kody’s fingers tightened around the knife in her hand. Her grip was so tight her knuckles turned white. “So, she’s smart. Smart enough to plan and execute my father’s murder?”
I leaned back in the booth. “Maybe. But in my experience you don’t always need to be smart to commit murder. I told you, if she’s involved in any way, I will find out and I will hold her accountable.” I arched an eyebrow at her. “Do you know something I don’t, Kody? You seem a little on edge today.”
She dropped the knife with a clatter and purposely smoothed her frowning features out. “I’m just trying to compartmentalize. Case always says you have great instincts, so I thought maybe you had some new insight which would make dealing with all of this easier.”
It sounded good, but Kody had never been a good liar. Her face was too expressive, her body language too easy to read. She was digging for something, but I had no clue what it might be.
“I can let you know what my impressions are after I speak with her today. I still think it might be a good idea for you to sit down and talk to her yourself. She’s the only one who can really fill you in on how she feels about finding out Conrad is her father and that she has a bunch of half siblings she never knew about. And if she doesn’t want to talk to you, then I guess you have your answer as to how she feels about it.”