Page 83 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

“On my way there, which is how I got to her so quickly.”

“Where’d you been?”

It was a strange question, considering Garrett had nothing to do with anything. Rather than question the chief, he simply answered. “After I left Aspen’s—I’m her general contractor—I drove to my aunt and uncle’s house.”

“How long were you there?”

“They weren’t home.”

Now, Cote’s eyebrows lifted. For the first time, he made a note on a pad on his desk. “Did you call them?”

Garrett shifted, suddenly nervous as if he’d done something wrong. “Why does it matter?”

“Just trying to get a sense of the timeline here.”

The answer didn’t make sense, but Cote didn’t explain further.

A beat of silence passed before Garrett said, “I called, but they didn’t answer.”

Another note on the pad. “And after you picked Aspen up, you came straight here?”

Garrett was about to answer, but Cote’s phone rang. He grabbed it, spoke a moment, then set it down. To Aspen, he said, “Your car’s being pulled out. They’ll tow it to Larry’s.”

“Where’s that?”

Garrett said, “I know it. It’s in town.”

“Is it…?” She’d held up well so far, but now her voice cracked. “Do you know what kind of shape it’s in?”

“Pretty banged up,” Cote said. “You’re very lucky you got out before it went over the edge. Fortunately, it didn’t go all the way down, so we were able to pull it up. There are other places up there where the drop-off’s much deeper. Your car only fell about twenty feet before it landed head first.”

Twenty feet? Garrett hated to think what sort of shape Aspen would have been in after that, assuming she even survived. He slid closer and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Thank God,thankGodshe’d gotten out. The very thought of what could have happened if she hadn’t…

Or if that person had found her.

He couldn’t stand the thought of someone hurting Aspen. Somehow, in the space of a week, she had become immensely important to him. He could see himself falling for her. Maybe he was already halfway there.

But somebody had run her off the road. And in that spot, on the edge of the mountain, right by that steep drop-off, if she’d been going the speed limit… If she hadn’t been able to stop…

He had no doubt the person who hit her had planned for her to careen over the edge.

Someone had tried to kill her.

“What did you guys find?” Garrett asked. “Evidence of other cars, anybody else there?”

“There are other prints. Somebody was tromping around in the woods. The only question is, why. Were they there to help, or harm?”

Aspen explained again why she’d believed the second, and Cote listened carefully, nodding as if he agreed.

When she was finished, he said, “Definitely suspicious. And nobody’s called it in, either.”

Cote was taking it seriously. Thank God.

“We’re already talking to local body shops, asking them to alert us if anybody brings in a car with damage to the right side. You didn’t get a plate number, make, model?”

“It was a sedan. White, maybe, or silver. I don’t know. It was so dark.”

He made a note of that. “And you didn’t see the driver?” When she shook her head, he asked, “One person in the car? Two?”

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