Page 19 of Montana Manhunt

She mumbled something unintelligible and settled back into sleep.

Rayne draped a blanket over them and took their bowls and mugs to the breakfast bar.

Since Grant and Rayne were on duty, Noah drifted into a deeper sleep. As the sun rose, he opened his eyes. Grant was at the French doors. Rayne sat in the recliner working on her computer.

As though feeling his gaze on her, Rayne glanced up. “Need anything?” she asked.

He shook his head.

Grant turned. “No problems. We’re ordering room service in a few minutes. Any requests?”

“Bagels and hot tea for Violet. Anything is fine for me.”

“You got it.” Grant turned away to peruse the room-service menu and call the front desk.

Violet sighed, hugged Noah tighter for a moment, and looked up at him. “Good morning,” she murmured.

He captured her mouth with his for a brief but hard kiss. “How are you?”

“I feel good, a minor miracle considering how hard our mission was and the lack of sleep. What about you?”

“Never better.” Noah bent his head until his mouth was close to Violet’s ear. “I loved holding you in my arms all night. You fit like you were made for me.”

Her cheeks flushed as her slight smile morphed into a full grin.

Grant end the phone call with the front desk and announced, “Breakfast will be delivered in 45 minutes.”

Violet sat up. “I should shower and change clothes.”

“Take your time, Violet. We have two hours before the detectives in charge of your sister’s case arrive for their shift, and the police station is only a few blocks from the hotel.”

“Put on your battle armor,” Rayne said. “The detectives may not want to share all the information they have on your sister’s case.”

“They’ll tell me what I want to know or I’ll go over their heads all the way to the mayor’s office,” Violet said grimly.

“You know him well?”

“Her, and yes, I do. Her daughter and Camilla and I were best friends growing up.”

Grant leaned against the recliner where Rayne sat and folded his arms across his chest. “Hold that option in reserve. We don’t want to use our biggest ace unless the detectives stonewall us.”

“It’s up to them how we proceed. I will not waste time that we could use hunting for a killer instead of placating the ego of two cops.”

“Let’s wait and see how they react to your presence and questions,” Noah said. “No need to place them in the enemy’s camp without giving them a chance to play fair.”

“Would you and Grant have been willing to give me information on my sister’s case?”

Noah and Grant exchanged glances. “Depends on the type of information you wanted,” Grant said. “We never told families everything. Some details were better off unspoken. Noah’s right, though. Wait and see how they react. We’ll make a plan from there.”

After a slight nod, Violet walked to the bedroom and closed the door.

“This will be so hard for her,” Rayne said.

“Dealing with the death of a sibling would be difficult for anyone. I can’t imagine how much more difficult the loss of a twin would be.” Grant went into the kitchen and grabbed the coffee carafe. He rinsed it out and prepped the coffeemaker for another pot of the steaming liquid.

“Wish we knew someone in the Morrison police department.”

“Hopefully we won’t need an inroad into the department other than being former cops ourselves.”

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