Before The Night Is Over (17 page)

He stopped in front of her and took her face between his hands. “She probably won’t even wake up, Laurel.” Brushing his lips across hers, he groaned as she leaned into his embrace and he wrapped his hands around her back to deepen the kiss. His tongue swept inside her mouth and she brought her hands up around his neck. Her breast pressed into his chest and his cock tightened painfully behind the fly of his jeans. This wanting her and not having her was getting to him.

Pulling his mouth from hers, he whispered, “Go on and do what you need to do. We’ll be here waiting for you.”

The blue of her eyes softened and darkened to a deep sea blue. “Are you sure?”

“
Yeah. Call me later if you can. If not, I’ll see you whenever they let you go for the night.” A frown pulled down the corners of her mouth and he fought the urge to kiss her again. “Don’t let them work you all night, sweetheart. You need sleep, too.”

“
I know, but this kind of stuff gets my adrenaline rushing. I’ll be wide awake for hours now.”

“
Maybe when you come back, we can put some of it to good use in my big bed.”

A small grin little the corners of her lips. “Maybe.” She picked up her purse and pulled out her keys. “Call my cell if you have any problems. If she wakes up or you need me for anything.”

“
We’ll be fine until you get back.”

Laurel glanced once more at her daughter and the love in her eyes made his chest ache.

“
Come on. I’ll walk you out to your car.”

She shook her head and smiled. “Bad idea. You would probably kiss me again and it would take me another ten minutes to get out of here.”

Her fingertips brushed over his lips. The groan rumbling in his chest slipped free, much to hear amusement. “You do that on purpose.”

“
Not me.” Reaching behind him, she wrapped her hands in his hair and pulled his head down to meet her lips. Long before he was ready for it to be, the kiss ended and she slipped out the door.

“
There isn’t any way in hell I’m going to get some sleep now. I might as well get some work done,” he said out loud, raking his hand through his hair. Letting his hand drifted down to his cock, he pressed hard against the erection, hoping to calm it down.

Cold shower?

“
I can’t do that. If Kimmy wakes up she’ll be scared enough already being in a strange house.”

Shaking his head and cussing under his breath about one fiery red-head and her too damned kissable lips, he walked down the hall to his office to grab something to work on while he waited. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be too long. Otherwise it would be a long night.

* * * *

Sweat dripped in Laurel’s eyes as she bent over the prone body of a young, twenty-something woman lying under a tree and half covered with compost. She wiped her forehead with the back of her arm and grumbled under her breath at the stifling heat, thinking she shouldn’t be this uncomfortable since she used to live in Los Angeles and the summers there sucked.

With a heavy sigh, she sat back on her haunches and looked at the scene surrounding her.
This is getting crazy. To have a serial killer on the loose in Red Rock? Or are these women’s deaths not even related?
Experience and the condition of the body pegged the woman's time of death approximately three hours ago.
It clears Kale of any wrong doing in this particular death since he spent the last couple of hours with me. But what about the others?

“
Hey, Laurel.”

Looking up, she noticed one of her fellow officers walking toward her with a forensic kit in his hands. Silently, she compared him to Kale and found him lacking severely. Mike was tall like Kale, but he didn’t have the bulk across his chest from hard physical labor the way Kale did, he didn’t have the dreamy, smooth chocolate colored eyes like Kale and Mike’s blond locks didn’t do it for her. She shook her head, wishing the disturbing fascination she had for Kale away so she could concentrate on the case. “Hey, Mike. Are you working this with me?”

“
Apparently. Chief called me and told me to come out here and help you.”

“
Ever done homicide work before?”

“
Are you kidding? This is Red Rock, Montana. Population twenty thousand during the rodeo.”

Laurel laughed. “True, but you didn’t answer my question.”

“
Nope. I’ve only seen a dead body twice and those were both in the morgue.”

“
All right. Let me tell you one thing. Don’t touch anything without asking me first. If we screw up any of the evidence, it could mean a conviction for a killer or an acquittal.”

“
No problem, boss.” He glanced at the body and shuddered. “Are you sure it’s homicide?”

“
No. It’s not my call to make that determination—it’s the coroners. We just gather the evidence and process it for clues. He decides what she died from.”

“
Do you think this one is related to the one we found earlier?”

“
I’m not sure, but it looks like it’s a possibility. Both bodies were found in similar locations and in similar conditions.” She tipped her head to the side and studied her newest partner. “Are you from around here, Mike?”

“
Yep. Born and raised Montana boy. Why?”

“
You might be able to help me since I’m not.”

She fired off multiple questions toward Mike until he raised his hands in surrender. “Easy, Laurel. I can’t answer your questions that fast.”

“
Sorry. I talk fast when I’m excited.”

He scrunched up his face and she laughed. “This shit gets you off?”

“
I wouldn’t go that far, but yeah, it excites me. Why do you think I worked homicide in Los Angeles.”

“
I’d heard talk about you working out there, but I wasn’t sure if it was true. I guess this answers my questions.”

For the next couple hours, they worked in compatible silence, only to have it broken now and then when Mike asked her a question. The man’s work seemed to be flawless and he made sure he didn’t do anything to compromise the case. Except his tendency to glance in her direction when he thought she wasn’t looking drove her up the wall.

Laurel stood and stretched her back. “I think we’re done for now, Mike. We’ll have to wait until they move her to finish the rest.”

“
Okay. How about we get some coffee and take a break?”

“
You go ahead. I want to get to the ground under her when they move the body.”

One of the guys who worked with the coroner had been hanging around for the last couple of hours, propped against a large tree several feet away. With a quick nod, the man started in her direction.

“
You ready now?”

“
Yes. She’s all yours.”

Mike stood beside her until they loaded up the woman and put her on their transport cart. The moment they cleared the scene, Laurel pulled the light from her belt so she could focus on the immediate spot under the woman’s body.

“
What are you looking for?” Mike asked, dropping down beside her.

“
I’m not sure, but I’ll know it when I see it.”

Within moments, she located something she had a gut feeling would be important to the case and solving how this girl ended up here dead.

A huge grin spread across her face when she pulled out her tweezers, lifted the specimen from beneath the thin layer of leaves and dirt before dropping it into the plastic bag she held.

“
What the hell is it?”

“
I don’t know, but my gut tells me it’s important.”

The massive high rushing through her veins had her running on pure adrenaline while she continued to sift through the leaves one by one, hoping to find more evidence. Mike took the other side of the resting place of the body and slowly moved things around. They gathered up one or two more things that were possibly related to the woman’s death, tucking them away in separate plastic bag, until the entire area had been sifted through.

Blowing her bangs from her forehead with a swift exhale, Laurel stood and shifted from foot to foot, trying to bring some blood flow back into her lower limbs. Daylight had begun to filter through the trees to the east and she cussed under her breath. The last thing she wanted to do was be here through the night. Unclipping her cell phone from her waist, she glanced at the screen. No calls from Kale. Hoping that meant Kimmy hadn’t awakened during the night, she fastened the phone back in the clip and brushed the dirt from her jeans.

“
I think we’ve done all we can do, Mike. I’m calling it a day. I’ve been up for twenty-four hours at least, and I need to sleep.”

“
Yeah, I’m pretty beat, too. You’ll let me know what else I need to do, right?”

“
You got it. I’m headed to the prescient to drop this evidence off and then I’m going to go pick up my daughter. I’ll see you at the office tomorrow morning. I’m telling the chief I need twenty-fours off.”

Mike laughed and said, “You do that, Red.”

Her gaze narrowed on him and she spat, “Don’t call me, Red. I don’t like it.”

Mike raised his hands in surrender and took two steps back. “Sorry, Laurel. I won’t do it again.”

“
Good. Then we understand each other.” Laurel spun on her heel, pulled her keys from her pocket and walked toward where she’d left her car parked. Snapping at Mike about the nickname sounded stupid when she thought about it now, but she couldn’t help it. No one called her Red—except Kale.

Forty-five minutes later, she pulled up in front of Kale’s house and shut off her car. Exhaustion had started to settle into her shoulders and she sighed, rubbing the back of her neck and rotating her head, trying to loosen the muscles. She'd opened the files on the cases and compared notes on each to those on the current victim when she stopped at the police station. The bodies were found in similar condition. Badly beaten and raped. Kale had an alibi for each time of death including the one on his ranch. The patrons and the owner of the bar placed him there at the approximate time of death for the victim on his ranch. The second woman—the one she and Kimmy found—he'd spent the morning with her having sex in his living room. He couldn't possibly be the killer with all these airtight alibis. Relief washed through her at the realization. At least she didn't doubt him now. But who was behind the murders?

She slipped from the car and shut the door, hoping she could get Kimmy and go home.

Shit. I don’t know if Teresa is doing anything or not. Hopefully she’ll be able to watch Kimberly.

Not sure if Kale was awake yet since the sun had barely risen over the horizon, Laurel twisted the door handle and pushed it open. The soft
snick
sounded loud to her ears when she shut it behind her and walked toward the living room.

A smile drifted across her face when she stopped at the end of the couch and took in the adorable scene in front of her.

Kale lay on his back with one arm over his head and his dark eyelashes caressing his cheeks. Kimberly’s blonde curls were spread over the arm around her back and she lay snuggled to his side, her head on his chest and her thumb in her mouth.

Tears burned the back of Laurel’s eyelids at the scene before her. Never had any man burrowed his way into her heart with one small gesture. Her daughter was her life and to have a man she barely knew jump into help her with Kimmy—well it screamed
keeper
to her heart.

Making her way to his side, she leaned over and brushed her lips over his. The thick lashes lifted when she stood up and a smile that would light the darkest days, lit up his face.