Page 52 of Stockman's Showdown

She was toying with him.

He exhaled heavily, dragging his focus back on the job. He used the measuring tape to find the appropriate height on the pole.

‘Hold the string right here.’ He manipulated her small but strong fingers. ‘Don’t move.’

‘If you insist.’

‘Dex, I need you to move to the left. Bree, can you shift the pole slightly to your right… There.’ Again, he took the opportunity to touch her soft hips, moving her around the pole. He leaned close to her ear, her soft hair brushing his cheek. ‘Don’t move.’ He loved this game.

‘Okay. But—’

‘This is where the shot entered the body, based on his height and shape.’ He inhaled her soft feminine scent of vanilla, pecans, and something alluringly spicy underneath.

‘Way to kill the foreplay, soldier boy.’

This time, his jaw dropped.

‘Is this good?’ Dex called out from outside.

‘Yeah… No. Hold on.’ Bree was torturing him, he had to walk away from her.

He emptied the folder out on the table, shifting the images around like a puzzle to create one big picture. ‘Dex, you need to go lower. Your end represents the height of the gun’s barrel, andwhere Bree’s holding the string is where the shot entered the body.’ He tilted his head at the images, then glanced back to the window. ‘The crime scene photos show there was a stack of old oil drums stashed along that window.’

‘Wait, I’ll grab one of them. There’s some close by.’

‘Do I stand here and keep holding this string as practise for my debut as queen of the midnight infomercials, selling faux jewellery that’d tarnish in a month?’ asked Bree. ‘Or do I tie it off?’

Ryder leaned one hip against the table. ‘You can stay right there, while you seriously consider staying home tonight.’

Plonking her free hand on her hip, she scowled at him. ‘I did the right thing telling you first, before I—’

‘And I’m glad you did. Just know I’m trying to keep you safe.’

‘Pfft, I may be a fine figure, but I’m not made of porcelain, cupcake.’

‘Why do you call me that? When you know I hate it.’

‘Call you what?’

He dipped his head at her. ‘You know very well what I’m talking about. I’m not a cupcake. If anyone else called me that, I would’ve decked them on the spot.’

Her tinkling laugh was evil. Since when did an evil laugh make his skin tighten with desire?

Bree was filled with the ultimate feminine power of a goddess of war and lust, all wrapped up into one curvy package, who was skilled enough to play the long game of a master strategist. It was the sexiest thing about her, along with her soft hair that he wanted to dive into face first, and those lips he wanted to taste that came with a body he wanted to explore…

Yeah, he was into her more than she realised.

‘I’m back.’ Dex shifted an oil drum against the window. ‘What now?’

Ryder focused on the job, putting Dex and Bree into various positions. He’d given up on the original police report’s measurements, written over sixty years ago. But he did work off the images and the coroner’s report that showed accurate measurements for the entry and exit wounds on the body, using those as a guide. Once he got the right angle for the shot fired, he’d then use that as a base to work on the bigger picture.

‘It makes little sense.’ Ryder dropped heavily into his seat at the table, while Bree leaned near the door as if to make her fast getaway.

They’d been at this for a while, working on different scenarios and measurements. Dex had resumed rocking in his chair, swapping out his coffee for a beer. ‘We’ve got the measurements right?’

‘Yeah. Mine. Not the police reports.’ And he’d checked the images, sprawled across the table, countless times now. ‘Whoever pulled the trigger couldn’t have been right at the window, not when there were two rows of drums in the way.’ He tapped on the picture that had zoomed in on the drums. ‘How did they line up the sight to hit the body from that angle?’

Dex turned the various images of the crime scene that were spread across the table. ‘Hey, who’d keep an old oil drum like that without a lid, right under a window? The fumes would fill this room in no time. Unless that’s common practice for you guys?’

---