Page 15 of Crosshairs

He hesitated. “As friend to friend and not friend to reporter, Cora Chamberlain fell last night and hit her head. I haven’t had a chance to check on her.”

“You’ve been helping her with her book, right?”

Linc nodded, surprised she remembered.

“Was she alone?”

Again, he hesitated.

“I take it someone was with her. Rose?”

“Not when she fell.”

Sarah frowned. “What happened?” When he hesitated, she said, “Never mind, I’ll ask Cora or Rose.”

He should have known better than to mention Cora’s fall and wouldn’t have if he hadn’t been brain dead. Now he’d piqued her curiosity, and if he didn’t give her a satisfactory answer, she would go straight to the older women. “It’s nothing more than Rose couldn’t raise her sister on the phone to warn her about the tornado, and she and Ainsley went across the street to Cora’s house. They found her unconscious in the library.”

“Ainsley’s back?” She looked over his shoulder, and her eyes widened. “Indeed she is.”

He turned just as the woman in question approached the cash register and gave the waitress her order. She was dressed in her National Park Service uniform minus the flat hat and had a gun strapped to her waist. As the waitress turned in the order, Ainsley did a double take.

“Linc?” she said, then her gaze slid to Sarah.

He nodded. “How’s Cora?”

“I just left her. She’s stable but doesn’t remember any of the circumstances around the fall.”

Ainsley’s glance slid over to Sarah again, and he realized she didn’t recognize the reporter. “You remember Sarah Tolliver, don’t you? Blake’s sister.”

Ainsley smiled. “Sarah? Last time I saw you ... goodness, you couldn’t have been more than twelve.”

Sarah’s eyes narrowed. “No. I was fourteen, in my freshman year of high school. It was just before you and Linc broke up—that was, what? Fifteen, sixteen years ago? What brought you back to Natchez?”

“My job. And I’m really sorry about Blake.”

Linc barely heard Ainsley’s response as he wrestled with what Sarah had said. His instincts had been right. A person didn’t remember those kinds of details unless there was a good reason—like having a crush on someone. Now he really did need a third party as a buffer. “You want to join us?” he asked, and couldn’t help but notice the reporter stiffen.

Ainsley’s eyes darkened as her gaze shifted from Linc to Sarah and then back. She thought they were a couple.

“You won’t be intruding,” he said. “We ran into each other while we helped with the tornado cleanup and decided to grab a bite.”

“Was there much damage?”

“The storm got several houses,” Sarah said. “My report aired on the six a.m. news—you can find it on the station’s website.”

“No one was hurt, though,” Linc said. “Please, do join us.”

Ainsley checked her watch and then shook her head. “Any other time I would, but I’m meeting Sam Ryker and the Claiborne County sheriff at nine to go over the Rocky Springs crime scene.”

“What do you do?” Sarah asked.

Ainsley pointed to her badge. “I work for the National Park Service.”

“As a ...?”

“Law enforcement ranger,” she said. “I’m a special agent.”

Sarah’s face lit up. “Oh, you’re here about the girl that was murdered.” She took a card from her camera case and handed it to Ainsley. “I’d love to interview you on camera.”

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