Page 33 of Wild Justice

Of course, now the ranch wasn’t all that active. After Gran passed on, the family had leased the grazing rights to others when it had become clear that Sam and Jason were getting too old, and no one’s child had stepped up to take over.

Henry placed his hand on Lulu’s arm, pausing her progress to the kitchen.

“You don’t think it’s Bennett, do you? Did he finally show up?”

“I doubt it,” Lulu replied. “Chase would have called to let me know.”

“Unless it’s a surprise.”

“It would definitely be a surprise.”

She loved her older brother, but damn, he was no day at the beach. Chase always joked that Ben was born forty years old with a cup of coffee in one hand and a briefcase in the other.

When she walked into the kitchen to join Chase, she almost tripped over her own feet. The unexpected guest wasn’t Ben. It was Kai Oliver.

And he looked good, too. He’d taken a shower since she’d last seen him, and his dark hair was slightly damp at the ends where it curled ever-so slightly. He was wearing jeans, but he’d changed his shirt from the light blue button-down from this morning to a red short-sleeved collared shirt. He was freshly shaved, as well, his square jaw free from the short stubble he’d sported only a few hours ago.

He looks better with a five o’clock shadow. No, stop looking at him. Stop thinking about how those whiskers would feel against my skin. Bad Lulu. Must not objectify the newspaper guy.

Was this some weird trick the universe was playing on her? Throwing her and Kai together constantly?

“Kai wanted to talk to me about you for his profile in the paper, so I invited him to dinner. He can ask all the questions he wants, plus he gets to see the Elvis room.”

“The Elvis room?” Kai asked, appearing confused.

He hadn’t heard. He wouldn’t be kept in the dark for long.

“You don’t want to miss the Elvis room,” Henry said with a grin. “I love wandering around in there. I always see something I didn’t notice before.”

Lulu’s beloved grandparents had been huge fans of The King, collecting memorabilia and filling a room with it. They’d visited Graceland every year, often taking their grandkids including Lulu. She’d grown to cherish that time with her grandparents, and they’d kept it up even when one of her uncles or her dad had to do the driving for the trip.

The room had been the first thing that Chase had said that he would never in a million years touch when he moved in. Like the rest of the grandchildren, he and Lulu would often come across something Elvis-related and add it to the collection.

“You don’t want to miss it,” Lulu agreed. “It’s a unique experience.”

“I made pot roast,” Chase announced, pulling a pan from the oven. “I’ve had it simmering all day. Plus, we have garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, gravy, and homemade rolls. Let’s get the food on the table and dig in. I’m starved. Kai, once we sit down, you can ask all the questions you want.”

Lulu wasn’t all that sure she wanted to hear her brother answer questions about her. It felt…strange. She wasn’t worried that Chase would say something bad about her. She wouldn’t say anything negative about him, either. But she wasn’t sure that Kai needed to know much more about her background other than she’d grown up here in Harper.

Frankly, I don’t think I’m all that fascinating. What is he going to write about? Adventures in cow tipping?

To her relief, Kai didn’t ask overly personal questions during the delicious meal. She could concentrate on enjoying the melt-in-the-mouth roast and fluffy potatoes without worry. He kept most of his queries general in nature such as what it was like growing up in a small town.

He hadn’t asked the most obvious two questions yet, and they sort of hung in the air, right over the table where they were eating. Unspoken, but still there, making their presence known.

Did you always want to follow in your father’s footsteps?

What was it like growing up with a father who was famous for helping catch not one, but two serial killers?

The latter question was usually the first out of someone’s mouth when they realized who her father was. People who had read the articles in magazines or had seen documentaries on television. Everyone had ideas and theories of how they would have solved the cases, and what they would have done.

The former seemed like a simple question, but there was far too much of her personal life wrapped up in it to answer. She wasn’t even sure she could put it into words if she tried.

“I’ve got these,” Henry announced as he jumped up, his hands full with dishes. “You’re chasing a killer, so you get out of dish duty tonight.”

“I’ll help,” Chase replied with a teasing grin to Lulu. The little shit knew what he was doing. Younger brother stuff, meddling in her life affairs as usual. “Last time you tried to put my cast iron skillet in the dishwasher.”

Chase had only been joking, but he didn’t have much of a sense of humor about the skillet he’d been seasoning for almost a decade. Lulu made a point to never get within a foot of it. It was practically her brother’s baby.

---