Page 43 of The Sheriff & the Nurse

“Why?” His neck prickled and he shifted his complete focus to his deputy.

“The guy’s name is Landon Trupp. He’s from Boston.”

“Not the doc?”

Lily zeroed in on him and set her fork down.

“Not likely. Though Trupp was an anesthesiologist.”

“Was?”

“He’s been missing for over six months. He kidnapped, raped, and killed a nurse he worked with, blew up her parents’ home, killing both of them, and dropped off the map.”

Clint’s gut turned over. “Disturbing is right.” He focused on Lily. “Let me ask Lily about it. Do you have photos or at least a description?”

“I’ve requested them to email me all the information they have. There are some newspaper articles. I’ll send them over and more info will be coming soon.” Mark hung up.

Clint eased his chair closer to Lily’s and glanced around. The cafeteria had cleared out a bit and nobody was close to their table. He slid his arm around the back of her chair and leaned in, inhaling her unique lily scent, wishing this was the moment to declare his undying love. It wasn’t. Not even close.

“What’s going on?” she whispered, fidgeting with her ring.

“The prints from your fence post match an anesthesiologist from Boston named Landon Trupp.”

Her eyes narrowed. “That makes no sense. I don’t even know a Landon Trupp.”

“Something feels very off about it,” he admitted. “He kidnapped and killed a nurse he worked with, blew up her parents’ home and killed them, and then disappeared.”

Lily gasped and twisted the ring quicker. “That’s horrible.”

“It is.” He wrapped his free hand around her joined hands. She trembled. From his touch or fear, he wasn’t certain. “How many anesthesiologists work at the hospital?”

“Four.”

“Any of them new?”

“Jacob’s only been here a couple months.” Her eyes widened. “He flirts with me a lot, but I always turn him down. The day the poster was at my house, I told him I had a serious boyfriend.”Her hand covered her mouth. “The poster said ‘boyfriend’ not ‘fiancé’ like I told Dr. Hampshire.”

Clint nodded. He remembered Jacob flirting with her at work on Saturday. He’d wanted to put the guy in his place. “Is he here today?”

“No. He’s not even on call.”

He hit his clenched fist against his leg. This was intriguing and scary. He didn’t want to let her go back to work. “Mark sent over some newspaper articles. Let me look at them while you eat.”

“You think I can eat?” She put a hand to her stomach.

“Understood.” Clint slid his chair even closer to hers and clicked on his mail app. The email from Jacob was at the top. He clicked on it and on the first newspaper article. There was a photo of the deceased young lady—Mary Fonnesbeck. A beautiful blonde who terrifyingly bore a strong resemblance to Lily. More photos of her parents. The photo below was their perp—Landon Trupp. He was a dark-haired, chubby man with a large nose, a weak chin, and rounded cheeks. Clint zoomed in on the photo and looked to Lily. “Is this Jacob?”

“No.”

Disappointment stabbed at him. “You’re certain?”

She peered closer and shook her head. “Jacob has wavy blond hair. His nose is not like that at all, and he is thin with a beard. His cheeks are almost hollow-looking.”

“Huh.” He had nothing more eloquent to say than that. The perp sticking with being an anesthesiologist would’ve been too convenient, he supposed. Was the guy even at the hospital? He’d have to get Mark researching anyone who had relocated to Kalispell in the past six months. He’d get a hold of Aiden too, beg another favor, see what he and his people could dig up.

He studied Lily as she looked at the photo on his phone. He’d protect her and find this guy.

Then he could tell her that he loved her.

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