The rain let up and was now just a light sprinkle.
When she reached the man’s body, Sierra turned suddenly, and he knew from the way her eyes were round and she was trying to keep it together that she was about to vomit. He quickly pulled the barf bag out of his raincoat pocket, handed it to her, and then seized her arm and moved her away from the site.
“Sorry, Sierra. I probably should have given you pictures of him instead. You could have tried to reconstruct his features that way for the first time.”
Sierra threw up in the bag, then handed him the used barf bag, pulled a tissue out of her pocket, and wiped her eyes and mouth. “No, no, I need to do this. You know me. I’m thorough, if nothing else.”
He glanced down at her muddy heels clutched in one of his hands and the barf bag in the other.
She held out the used tissue, and he offered the bag so she could stuff it in. Then she took hold of his arm and made her way back through the mud to the man’s body.
“Who found him?” she asked, releasing Adam and pulling out the camera from the camera bag.
He hadn’t expected to bring her to the site and end up carrying her muddy high heels and barfed-in barf bag. He cleared his throat. “The police were following him in a high-speed chase, and then he lost control of the stolen car.”
“So it was an accident.”
“Right.”
“And he did it alone.” She took several pictures from different angles, her feet squishing in the mud. Her toenails had been painted a pretty red, but now every time she lifted her small feet, her toes were coated in the slick mud.
“He did.”
“Was the owner of the vehicle hurt?” She snapped another couple of shots.
“Yeah, the carjacker pistol-whipped the owner, who is in the hospital now with a concussion. He’ll survive but he was injured badly.”
“Then he’ll be glad to know this guy won’t be hurting anyone else like that.”
“I know we are.”
“Did you or anyone else know Willy planned to retire?” Sierra eyed Adam, watching his reaction.
That was the thing about wolves. They were good at recognizing if another was telling the truth, but he was surprised she would question him about that now.
Adam didn’t say anything for a moment, thinking about the conversation he’d had with their boss last night. “Willy had talked to me about it a number of times. But no one thought he would really do it. I mean, he has been saying this for a couple of years. I think it was the combination of working the last case—”
Her brows rose.
“He was tired of it. And his new grandson was just born in New Jersey and he wanted to be there. Another daughter is having a child in two months, and he wanted to help out and get to know his grandchildren. That’s all.”
“The last case?” She finished taking the pictures she wanted, then tucked the camera away in the bag, slung the strap over her shoulder, and seized his arm to make her way back to his vehicle.
“It wasn’t a bad case, but he was ready to do something else with his life. He’s sixty-five. He’s been doing this for nearly forty years. He was past wanting to retire. And then here you are, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and doing a great job.”
She rolled her eyes. “And throwing up my breakfast after seeing the remains.”
“Everyone does it the first time they see a dead body. That isn’t just on TV.”
She smiled and looked up at him. “Did you do that the first time you saw one?”
“Uh, no. Maybe not everyone. But a lot do.” He handed the barf bag to a police officer.
“Evidence, sir?” the officer asked, frowning.
“No. Just dispose of it when you have a chance, will you?” Adam didn’t want to take it with them in the SUV, not with their heightened sense of smell. “About Willy, I didn’t know he was going to leave like that. But the boss did call me last night and told me to tell you, to convince you that you should take his place in the full-time position.”
She narrowed her eyes at Adam. “You knew and you didn’t tell me?”
Adam let out his breath. “You’d just broken up with Richard. I was afraid you would be worrying about taking the job on top of that last night, and you didn’t need the extra concern. I told the boss how you felt comfortable with the prior arrangement you’d had with Willy. After the night you’d had, I didn’t feel calling you with this was appropriate.”
“You were worried I wouldn’t be able to sleep last night?”
“Something like that.” He unlocked his vehicle’s doors and glanced at her.
She was still eyeing him, but he couldn’t read her expression. “Thanks, I guess.”
He waited for her to climb into the passenger seat, then handed her heels to her. He shut her door for her and climbed into the driver’s side.
“What do you think about drawing a sketch of the guy’s face?” He started the Hummer.
“I can do it.”
“Good.”
“I don’t know if it will be as accurate as the sketches that I do from eyewitness reports,” she warned him.
He glanced down at her muddy heels in her hand. “You’ll do your best. That’s all we can ever do. Do you want me to drop by your place so you can get cleaned up? And grab a different pair of shoes?”
Her feet were caked with mud, and she had mud splatters all the way up her legs.
She hesitated, then said, “Sure, thanks. I could try and clean up in the ladies’ room, but I would make such a mess.” She glanced down at his muddy shoes. “You can clean up there too. I’m afraid I’ve made a mess in your car.”
“It’s inevitable when we’re doing work like this. Think nothing of it.” He was just glad to be working with her no matter what the circumstances were.
Chapter 9
Twenty minutes later, Sierra and Adam were at her home and she was hoping her place was halfway straightened up after last night’s wild adventure. If she’d known she was going to have company again, she would have done more. He would think she never cleaned up the place.
With the sandals she’d left in his SUV overnight in hand, she wiped some of the mud on her bare feet off on the grass before she entered the house. Adam did the same with his shoes on the grass, and then he did it again on her doormat. But then he just pulled off his shoes and walked into her house in his stocking feet.
At least the mud left on her feet was dry. She hung her raincoat on a coat tree, and he pulled off his raincoat and did the same.