Page 40 of Mountain Man Officer

“I just thought of something in the shower.”

All I could think about was her naked body slick with water. I put on my best professional face and nodded for her to continue.

“You asked… well, Ryan asked about shipments.” She moved closer, puzzling it out in her head.

“Yeah?”

“Once a week, every Wednesday, a big truck comes, and they load cash into the back of it. I always thought it was from the cash transactions—you know, customers who don’t want to pay with credit cards—but now…”

I held my breath. This was potentially the breakthrough I had been looking for. “Now?” I asked.

“There aren’t that many customers that pay with cash,” she said. “Not enough to justify an entire truck every week. I wouldn’t have said anything, but you guys said you were looking for regular deliveries. It’s not a delivery, but…”

“It’s perfect.” I fought the urge to close the distance between us, to reach a hand behind her head and pull her into another kiss. Instead, I lunged back into my office to reopen the case file. If Lindsey was right, this could confirm my suspicions of money laundering, and we could set up a sting next Wednesday to catch the culprits in the act. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” She smiled.

I turned just before shutting the door and returned to my desk chair in amazement. It seemed like everything had been smoothed out between us. I could go back to fantasizing about her without actually touching her, and no one would have to sleep in a car. Not only that, but I was about to make headway in a case that had stymied me from the beginning. No more innocent women were going to die on my watch. I got my notes together for a meeting with the chief in the morning and logged off around midnight. As I fell asleep in my own bed, my mind reverted to our kiss, somehow more tender and meaningful than the sex.

16

LINDSEY

As soon as I clocked in at work on Wednesday, I had to stop my hands from shaking. I made painful conversation with the women who sat in my chair that day.

“How’s your corgi?” I asked my ten o’clock. “How was your daughter’s dance recital?” I asked my 1:00 p.m. I barely heard their answers, just kept them talking to fill the time. Ava was off that day, and I was alone with Lena, the manager. She was sitting in the back, like she usually did, working on the company’s finances.

I had always assumed that she was keeping books or making purchases or doing something to help generate revenue for the business. Now it seemed that she might be involved in something illegal. She may have even had a hand in killing those four innocent women and getting who knew how many others hooked on a deadly substance. I had always liked the owner, Katrina, and my manager, Lena, and to discover that one of them or both could be involved in something sketchy broke my heart.

I kept drifting to the window to see if I could spot Jason or Ryan in an unmarked car. I didn’t see anybody watching the salon, and I wondered if my tip had even been worth it. What if Jason had discovered something that would explain the mystery truck? What if I had jumped the gun and pointed the finger at an innocent woman? It was enough to make my head spin, and I had to force myself to focus or run the risk of messing up someone’s hair.

At around three o’clock, Lena came out to find me. It was a slow day, so there were no customers at the moment. I was busy stocking the cabinets, arranging all the tools so that they would be easy to reach if someone new walked in the door.

“Lindsey, will you help me with the cash deposit?” the manager asked.

“I, um…” I looked around, searching for a valid excuse. I could say I had to mop the floor or clean the shampooing sinks. I could say that I had a three o’clock appointment and I had to get ready, but she would see through all of those in an instant. The truth was that I still wasn’t sure that the “cash deposit” was legal. I didn’t want to help with it. I didn’t see anyone watching, but that didn’t mean the police weren’t there.

Lena read my uncertainty, seemed to consider it, and then cast it aside. “It’ll just take a minute.”

I followed unhappily, unable to think of anything to say that would help me avoid my fate. We went into the back room, the office that Katrina, Lena, and the assistant manager shared. There were four sacks of cash on the floor. Four sacks that looked big enough to hold small children. When I lifted one, it was heavy, and I had to use two hands. Lena grabbed another one, and we went out the back door into the alley behind the shop. A van was waiting, but it wasn’t an armored cash van. When the bank got a delivery, there was usually an armed driver and a steel-plated van with the transportation company logo on it. This van was white and called up all manner of illegal activities. I tried to stay as far away from it as I could.

A guy came around and opened the back for us. He was tall and muscular, with the hint of a tattoo peeking out from his collar. I handed over my sack and went back in for the next one. Lena followed me as if nothing were out of the ordinary. We each grabbed another bag and met with the criminal in the alley. He closed the back door of the van and disappeared into the driver’s seat, giving Lena neither a friendly salute nor any paperwork to sign. I was more convinced than I had ever been that something was fishy.

I looked around before going back inside. Was Jason out here watching? If he was, I couldn’t see him. Lena passed me by, holding the door open as if the transaction had been the most natural one in the world. Then again, she did this every Wednesday, so maybe it was natural for her. One thing I knew for sure: there was no way we generated enough cash off little old ladies getting their hair done to fill four child-sized grain sacks.

I went back to the styling floor to find Daisy Potter waiting with her seven-year-old son. “Can you cut his hair?” she asked. “I promise he’ll be good, and he won’t squirm around.”

“Of course,” I said, grabbing our seating block from the corner. I placed it on the chair so that little Tommy Potter could climb up. As I cut his hair, my mind kept wandering back to the cash van.

I didn’t care what excuse Lena and Katrina could come up with—there was no convincing me that what we had just done was legal. For starters, where was the paper trail? And that driver with the neck tattoo, where had he come from? I was furious with myself for having been so blind as to never question it before. I wanted to storm back into the office and demand an explanation, but I knew that would only blow Jason’s case wide open. I had to wait until I got home that night to see if he had learned anything. If anyone was hurting people in my town, I wanted to help put a stop to it. But why did it have to be my boss?

The end of the day couldn’t come fast enough. Lena left at five, and I was alone from five to six. When I was finally able to clean up and lock the door, my hands were shaking. I wasn’t afraid but desperate to get home and unload all my suspicions. When I pulled up to the cabin, I exhaled a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding. Jason was there. His truck was in the driveway, and that meant that we could have a long debriefing session.

When I walked in the door, I found him in the kitchen. He was dressed casually in jeans and a button-down shirt. A kitchen towel was tossed over one shoulder, making him look almost like a husband. I pushed that thought away, closing the door behind me.

“Hello,” he said. “I made spaghetti.”

“Great.” I was starving. I had been panicky all day and ignored my hunger for most of the time.

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