Page 415 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

Blood-soaked water had spilled on the floor and tracked onto the rug.

Addie crouched. “Might be a footprint.”

“You gonna tell me who this guy is?” McCauley set a hand on his waist.

She wasn’t sure how to answer without making it clear someone close to her who knew Austin. Her association with Jake hadn’t helped either of them.

“I have an informant.” They’d find out soon enough it was her sister. “That’s why I knew this guy was obsessed with what happened to Jake and me.”

McCauley said nothing.

Addie turned to get a read on him just in case she needed to protect herself. But the look on his face was something else. “What?”

“Just figured you’re probably counting it a good thing there’s no way I can pin this on Jake.”

“Do you want to?” The guy was laid up in bed with stitches in his belly. Both her and McCauley knew there was no way he could’ve done this.

“Honestly? It depends how long this guy has been dead.”

Addie bit back what she wanted to say. Was it worth telling him that Jake didn’t do this in no uncertain terms? She doubted he’d believe her even if he couldn’t have—considering his injury.

The police in Benson would consider her compromised by her association with Jake. Maybe they already did.

Okay, fine. Theydefinitelydid.

McCauley worked his mouth back and forth.

“What is it?”

“Fine.” He sighed. “We think the fingerprint was planted on Celia’s body. It didn’t get there by accident.”

Addie wondered how long she should wait before requesting the Benson Police Department offer Jacob an apology.

She’d figure it out later. Right now they had a dead young man to deal with. “This guy wasn’t killed too long ago.”

“How’d you know?”

“Aside from the fact that guy shoved me off the porch? Most likely the killer, and not an opportunist.” She let that hang like a question even though it hadn’t necessarily been one. “The water in the bathtub is still warm.”

McCauley’s head snapped around to the tub.

Addie walked from the bathroom with a satisfied grin on her face. She’d seen the steam coming up from the water, which apparently the captain hadn’t. No way could they pin this on Jake. Not if Austin had been killed recently enough, the water in the bath hadn’t even had a chance to cool.

That made her feel better than anything else had in a long time.

Jacob would recover. Hopefully, by the time he’d done that, she’d have cleared up who the real culprit was for Celia Jessop’s murder.

Or the rest of her team would have.

She had to at least admit to herself that this was far beyond personal. Stella and Kyle, the two agents who’d been sent over from the field office.

The string of as-yet-unsolved murders were cases she would work like a professional. The only issue was that anything even remotely connected to Jake was a blind spot of personal involvement where her emotions had no anchor and simply jumped to his side of things.

Her mind might be able to consider logic and reason where he was concerned. Her heart? Different story.

The FBI agents who’d been sent to help her could keep things grounded. She didn’t need to be at the forefront in this. No matter what that did for her prospects of a promotion, or coveted assignment, or whatever this whole thing was about.

That stuff wasn’t even on her radar, not when she was back in Benson. This place enveloped everything. It was why she’d left in the first place.

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