Page 15 of Montana Manhunt

Noah had. Of course he had. Noah Mann noticed everything. All the members of Echo unit were the same way. Alert and observant.

After paying the bill, Noah helped Violet to her feet. As they walked toward the front door, a woman gasped. “Camilla? But I thought you were dead!”

Violet turned toward the woman. “Hello, Tori.” Of all people to see in Morrison, it had to be Tori, the biggest gossip in town.

Tori paled and swallowed hard. “Violet. What are you doing here?”

“What do you think? I’m here to bury my sister.”

All conversation ceased in the restaurant. The only sounds heard were the ringing of the telephone at the hostess desk and the clanging of dishes in the kitchen.

“I’m really sorry about Camilla,” Tori said. “It was such a shock, you know?”

“For me, too.” Her face felt frozen. Man, all she wanted to do was escape. She needed to leave this restaurant.

Noah’s powerful arm circled her waist and drew her against his side. “Sorry to interrupt, baby, but we need to go.” He inclined his head to Tori. “Excuse us, please.” With that, he guided Violet away from the nosy woman and out the door.

Once outside the restaurant, Violet drew in a deep breath and shuddered.

Noah’s arm tightened around her waist. “You all right?”

“Thanks to you.” Another shudder wracked her frame. “Tori is the biggest gossip in Morrison. Everyone will know I’m in town by the time the sun rises tomorrow morning.”

“Morrison isn’t a thriving metropolis,” Noah said. “At the most, you would have escaped notice until tomorrow morning, anyway.”

Accurate statement. “I wanted to catch the killer off guard.”

“There’s no guarantee he’s still in town.”

“We both know the chances of Cami’s killer being someone passing through Morrison are low.”

“But not zero. Although that scenario is unlikely, we can’t discount it.”

“Fair enough. We need to make a plan to identify this killer and catch him.”

“After we have more information. At the moment, we don’t have enough data to speculate about anything, much less formany conclusions.” Noah kissed her temple. “We’ll find him, Violet. We won’t stop until we run him to ground.”

“What if he really is a transient? He’ll be nearly impossible to find.”

“If this guy is a transient, Camilla may not be his first victim. Once we speak to the detectives in charge of the case, we’ll have more information with which to work.”

“I feel like we’re on a short clock.”

“Welcome to my world as a detective. Seth and I were always battling the clock to catch murderers before they disappeared into the muck or killed someone else.”

Violet wrapped her arm around Noah’s waist. “I don’t know how you did that job for so long.”

“Someone has to stand for the dead. Otherwise, no one is safe.”

Standing for the dead. The phrase resonated in her mind and settled deep. That’s what she would be doing. Standing for Cami. Whoever this killer was, he or she wouldn’t escape from justice. Violet would see to that herself. Even if the detectives assigned to Cami’s case gave up, she never would.

Minutes later, the operatives were back in their suite. Grant glanced at Noah. “Who has the first watch?”

“I’ll take it,” Noah said. “I’m not ready to turn in yet.”

A nod. “I’ll take over in three hours.”

“I might join you,” Rayne said. “Staying alert is easier with two people on watch.”

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