Page 73 of Snow River

“People don’t always have coherent reasons for heinous actions.Usually they don’t.”

“But hedid.He said what his reason was, and they accepted it and moved on.If he was taking the fall for someone else—for Donald Jenner, that assassin—he would want to show he had a reason.Otherwise, they might have to keep investigating.It’s the whole plausible deniability thing.The police could say they interviewed him, his story checked out, he confessed, boom, case closed.”

Which could have been completely true.The police had such a backlog of cases that when one solved itself so easily, it was tempting to take the win.

If it was out and out corruption—someone nefarious working hand in hand with the police to frame someone—it would have to be someone very powerful.As in, a wealthy senate candidate fighting for even more powerful economic interests.

“So Adam Hardwell pulled some strings with the local police.”

“That’s my theory.”

But there was a problem with this scenario.“According to the Internet, Billy Hardwell was already known to be a fuckup.What worse thing could he do that would require this degree of a coverup?”

He sat down next to Lila and drew her into his lap.As she settled her butt against his thigh, he felt his constant desire for her surge.All he had to do was touch her and he wanted to be naked in bed with her.

“Something tells me this is bigger than Billy Hardwell.”

She nodded as she cuddled deeper into his lap.“I agree.It must have been something more, something much bigger.We have to find out what it was.”

“We do?”He nuzzled his nose into the soft skin of her neck.“Why do we?”

“Because…” She squirmed in his lap, which made matters even more dire for his state of arousal, then leaned back against his arm and fixed him with a serious gaze.“Because I think that’s why I came here.”

“Hm?”He stopped his teasing.“What do you mean?”

“I knew I had to come to Firelight Ridge as soon as I saw it mentioned in an article I was reading.It was one of those intuition moments.When I feel something like that, I really have no choice.I have to go.It drives my employers crazy, but it has nothing to do with them, or with a man, or a roommate, or anything like that.It’s just a very strong instinct telling me I have to leave, and sometimes, where I have to go.”

He knew that much already, though he didn’t like to think about it.When the time came, she would leave here too.

“At first I thought my intuition brought me here for a break, because I don’t sense things as strongly here.”She rested her hand on his chest with a tender smile.“And then I thought it was because of you.”

He caught her hand and pressed it against his heart.“I like that theory.”

“Me too.But it’s not the whole story.When I tried to leave, Rita Casey’s body stopped me.Allison Casey has been talking to me.There’s something going on that I need to figure out.That’s why I came here and that’s why I can’t leave yet.”

Maybe he didn’t want this mystery to be solved, if that meant Lila would leave.Then he dismissed that selfish thought.Once a detective, always a detective.If there was a case to be solved, he would make sure to do his part.

And then a puzzle piece clicked into place.“Rita,” he said thoughtfully.“She was sketching around Snow River, we know that much.Maybe she happened to stumble across those old cabins and saw something.Maybe that’s why she was killed.”

“Or maybe she came here to follow up on something her podcaster fiancé discovered,” said Lila.

“Yes.Could be.For all we know, he came here to investigate in the first place because Rita was related to Allison Casey and knew about the story.”

“Oh my gosh.”Lila put a hand over her mouth.“I bet that’s exactly what happened.Everyone had forgotten the story until Jim Sutcliff came here.How did he even know about it, if not through a family member?But do you think whatever is going on at those Snow River cabins is the same thing from forty years ago?And what about the man who picked her up from the hotel?”

“Shit.”Her mention of the man who had picked up Rita triggered a reminder.“I got a message from Cromwell that he was going to send me an image from the bank video feed, a clear one they’ve enhanced.He wants to know if the man has been seen around Firelight Ridge.But I couldn’t get it to load.”

“Do you think Kathy still has the Wi-Fi on at the store?”

“It’s worth checking.Want to go for a little ski?”

Even though it was after midnight, they were both too caught up in their speculations and theories to even think about sleeping.They pulled on their layers of winter gear, which made them both look roughly double their actual size.

Lila wore a black down vest over a bright red sweater, and a waterproof parka with a dramatic faux-fur collar that framed her face so she looked like a Russian princess.Martha had knitted her a multicolored pointed elf’s cap with perfectly sized ear flaps and a leather tie under her chin.

When she had troubled tying it, he did it for her, such tenderness welling in his heart that he thought it might pour out of him and spill all over the floor.“There,” he said gruffly when he was done.“Not a speck of snow will get through this.”

“And if I get lost and wind up at the North Pole, they’ll welcome me right in.”A moment later, she took her turn to help him by fastening the top snap of his parka, always difficult when he’d already put his gloves on.

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