Authors: Melody Snow Monroe
Those words resounded in his head for years. Then when he overheard his father say that only twenty percent of the money received for his Save-The-Orphans Foundation actually went to the kids, Shane knew Jessie had been right. His father was basically a thief, and his dad hadn’t earned much of their wealth.
After high school he spent years getting trained as a firefighter. As soon as he landed the job, he’d divorced himself from his father and started to live on what he earned. She’d never accuse him of not understanding what
poor
meant now.
Okay, that wasn’t totally true. He lived in Cody’s elegant home, but at least he paid rent.
Cody waved something. “I have her card. Do you think we should call her and let her know what you found out?”
Shane couldn’t remember seeing the suave and sophisticated roommate so eager to go out with a woman. Cody usually had to fend the ladies off with a stick. Maybe that was because he had everything—charm, good looks, and money.
But deep inside, he knew Cody wanted more. He longed for the stability and kind of love his parents had. Hell, Shane was barely able to remember his own mom and longed for what Cody wanted, too. Maybe that was why he spent so much time at the Callen ranch, enjoying the wonderful family dynamics.
It was clear the woman Cody wanted was Jessie, someone Shane could see both of them sharing. “Call her, though I’m not sure what I can tell her, on or off the record.”
“Maybe she did some digging today and can fill in some of the blanks. You didn’t know the Tanners that well. There might be something they kept from the outside world.”
“True.” Shane glanced at the clock. “It’s after nine.”
“So? Reporters don’t sleep.”
He hadn’t seen Cody this wired in a long time. “Go for it.”
* * * *
Jessie had just jumped out of the shower and was drying off when her cell rang. Wrapping the towel around her body, she rushed out to the kitchen to answer the call. When she worked in Denver, she’d get calls at all hours. She smiled when she saw the name on the screen.
“Cody, hello.” She was a bit shocked when her pussy dampened. She pulled off the towel and ran it through her legs, deciding the moisture must have been from the water.
“Shane just got back from investigating the fire. We thought you might like to stop by and hear what he has to say.”
It was after nine, but she didn’t mind if it meant she got to see those two hunks and get a lead at the same time. That was a win-win to her. From Cody’s calm delivery, she couldn’t tell if this was strictly business, or if he meant it as a date. She had given him her card and told him to call her. Either way, she wasn’t going to pass up the chance to reunite with them again. “Sure. Where?”
He gave her his address and she scribbled it down. “Can you give me forty-five minutes?”
She wanted to look her best.
“We’ll be here.”
Yes!
If the two men lived together, they couldn’t be married. Coming home to Intrigue may have been the smartest thing she’d done in a long time.
Yikes! She had to dress to attract, but she didn’t want them to think she was on the prowl. These men were used to sophistication, and that was what they would get. Jeans and boots seemed to be the norm in Intrigue, but a silky blouse, a casual hairstyle, and modest makeup would do the trick. She spent a bit too much time getting ready but arrived only ten minutes later than promised.
The large homestead didn’t surprise her. After all, the Callen family owned half the town. Despite the chill in the air, her palms were sweating when she rang the bell. She bounced up and down until the door latch clicked. Then she inhaled and blew out a calming breath.
Cody opened up the door and her heart stilled. She’d just seen him a few hours ago, yet the open-throated, button-down shirt tucked into low-slung jeans showed off his enticing body even more.
“Come in.” His smile caused fluttering in her stomach.
Maybe mixing business with pleasure wasn’t such a good idea. Both men, she knew from experience, had a way of jumbling her brain cells. Apparently, the eleven years she’d spent working on her career hadn’t prepared her well enough for these two hunks.
Shane got up from the chair. His hair was still damp, but the rest of him was on fire.
Focus. This is about the job.
While neither man commented on her carefully put-together outfit, Cody’s dilated pupils implied he liked what he saw. He motioned she sit on the chair opposite the sofa.
Shane moved toward the kitchen. “You want something to drink? Beer? Soda? Water?”
“Soda would be great.” She didn’t need to be getting tipsy and do something she’d regret. Shane returned and handed her a cold can of Diet Pepsi. “Wow. You remembered.” Her heart sped up until she realized he didn’t know she was even in town until today.
“Well, not exactly. Cody’s sister likes them.”
Was this awkward or what? “How is Samantha? Or were you talking about April?” She couldn’t remember the youngest sister’s name. They didn’t run in the same circles.
“April. She’s doing great.”
Shane pulled out a folder that had an official seal on the front. Apparently, he wanted to get down to business and told her what he found.
Before he got too far, she lifted her iPhone from her purse. “Mind if I record this?”
“Go ahead, but I don’t think what I say will be fit for the news. I’ve found no evidence of arson yet.”
“But you suspect it?”
“Again, this is not for publication.” He glanced to the recorder.
“I understand.”
He told her about his belief that the Tanners didn’t smoke. “It’s highly possible they were in bed making love at the time the fire occurred.”
“I don’t have kids, so I guess I’m not one to judge, but maybe they locked their door to keep Andy out in case he came looking for them. When they tried to get out, the lock jammed.”
Shane took his time before answering. “Even if that were the case, the bodies were on the bed when I found them. If the lock had malfunctioned, I would have found their bodies by the door.”
He had a point. “Maybe they were tied to the bed.”
His eyes sparked, as if he appreciated her insight. “I thought of that. I looked for some rope or cuffs but saw nothing. With the fire being so intense around the bed, if the killer did tie them down with a scarf or used plastic tie wraps, the material would have burned up. I’ll see what the lab can find on the composition of the ashes. It’s a good thought.” He smiled and her body tingled all over.
Forcing herself to focus on his words and not on what he did to her body, she sipped her drink. “That would be a long shot, I bet.”
“I agree.”
She turned to Cody, not that looking at him was any better. “I did a little background check on the Tanners this afternoon. Mr. Tanner worked at the local feedstore, and Mrs. Tanner worked as a secretary at a security firm.”
Cody scooted forward on the sofa. “Their jobs weren’t a secret. What would their occupation have to do with their deaths?”
“If this was arson, it implies someone wanted them dead. I wanted to see if their jobs would give me a clue.”
“And did it?” She wasn’t sure why his lips had turned up. Damn him. He knew she had nothing.
“No, but I won’t stop looking until Shane tells me it was a clear case of negligence on the part of the family.”
Shane’s cell rang, and he retrieved the phone from his pocket. “It’s the medical examiner’s office. I need to take this.”
It was after ten at night. It seemed as if the people of Intrigue never stopped working either.
“Yeah, Jeff? You have something for me? Uh-huh. Steel? Like thumb rings? When will you get the results? Thanks.”
He hung up and said nothing for a minute. Even Cody hadn’t moved.
“What did he say?” Cody finally asked.
“This case is getting stranger by the minute. Apparently, Greg had metal, steel to be exact, embedded in the bone on both thumbs, like he’d worn matching thumb rings.”
“Maybe you could ask the people Mr. Tanner worked with at the feedstore if they remembered him wearing that kind of jewelry.”
Shane shook his head. “I can’t imagine Greg into rings. He was a burly guy who complained all the time about having to shave every day.”
An alternative explanation came to mind. She’d seen some wild shit in Denver, but this was out there even for the large city. “I went out with some policeman once, and he took me on a raid of a sex club. They had the man in thumb cuffs and were doing some rather unimaginable things to him.” She didn’t want to explain how one man was whipping the poor guy then proceeded to fuck him in the ass, while the other demanded a blow job. After that date, she didn’t go out with the cop again.
Shane’s chest puffed out. “Greg and Rhonda weren’t into kink.”
Her mouth gaped open. “How do you know?” She slapped a hand over her mouth. “Unless you were—”
His brows pinched. “No. I wasn’t involved in a ménage relationship with them if that’s what you’re thinking. They were monogamous. Intrigue might embrace a lot of different sexual orientations, but the Tanners loved only each other.”
Her cheeks heated. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”
Shane must have realized he’d reacted a bit too strong. “Sorry, I’m still not myself.”
She wasn’t convinced the loving couple wasn’t into something kinky that went terribly wrong. If Shane couldn’t handle the discussion, too bad. She was here to get to the bottom of the situation. “This might be too much information, but I went out with a guy who I later found out visited sex clubs all the time. I had no idea he was into domination.” She held up a hand. “What I’m trying to say is that sometimes a person can hide things, even from the woman he claimed to love.”
Cody held her gaze for too long then slammed down the rest of his beer. “What else did the ME say?” He acted like her admission that she was in love with some strange guy meant nothing. That was an interesting note for her Cody file.
“The doctor is running a tox screen on them now. He said the bottle next to the bed was cough suppressant.”
“Maybe they took too much and fell asleep.” She usually didn’t draw conclusions without more facts, but Shane seemed to need answers.
“Perhaps. Stuff like that has conked me out in the past, but I can tell you I’d wake up in a hurry if the house was on fire.”
He had a valid point. “Could they have tied each other down, and when the fire occurred, they couldn’t get loose?” She waved a hand. “Never mind. That was stupid. If they were both tied down, they couldn’t have lit a cigarette.”
Cody got up and grabbed another beer. He stepped past her. “Do you smoke?”
“No.”
“I don’t either, but I imagine if you’re so sick that you need to take cough medicine, you wouldn’t be smoking.”
She dragged her gaze back to Shane. “So what’s your theory?”
“Hell, if I know. I’ll wait for the tox screen to come back, as well as see if any of the materials around the bed were soaked in something.”
“I trust they weren’t shot.”
“I’m leaving that to the medical examiner to figure out. The bodies were too burned to tell.”
“I’ll do some more digging to see if I can find out if anyone would want them dead.”