Page 40 of Burning Hearts

Someone cleared their throat. A man.

She looked up to see two of them at the bottom of the steps. Tucker Newman, the commander, and a uniformed sheriff—or deputy. Jamie’s cheeks heated. “Hi.”

Today, Tucker seemed like any other guy you’d see at a truck-stop diner. Hair cut tight to the sides of his head, curly on top. An overgrowth of stubble he hadn’t bothered to shave. Not the commander she’d met the day before in his office. This guy would offer you a coffee in a chipped mug and chat with you about his “rig” or his “gal at home.” Yesterday he’d had on a long-sleeve shirt, but today she could see under one sleeve of his tee that he had a Celtic tattoo around his upper arm.

“Sorry to disturb you.” Tucker winked, like he knew what she’d been doing and heartily approved of impromptu prayer time. “This is Deputy Mills. He’s from Copper Mountain.”

Jamie stood. “Nice to meet you.” She shook hands with the deputy sheriff, then sat on the top step. Then she realized they might not have come here to shoot the breeze. “What can I help you with?”

Deputy Mills pulled out a little notepad and a stub that seemed to function as a pencil. He licked the tip, and she saw a flash of gray hiding in the strands of hair under the wide brim of his tanned hat. Slim hips and wide shoulders, he had to be pushing fifty at least but could probably still tackle someone the way he had on the football field in high school. Or wrestle a bear.

ThiswasAlaska.

He looked at her with dark gray eyes. “Can you confirm your name for me, ma’am?”

“Jamie Winters.”

“Not from around here?”

“I live in Last Chance County. It’s in?—”

“I’ve heard of it.” His brows pinched together. “And what is your occupation?”

Why on earth was he asking that? Even Tucker looked confused, though he probably hid it better than her. She needed to find her board-meeting, financial-downturn, poor-quarterly-projections blank expression.Everything will be fine if we weather this storm.

Jamie said, “Do I need a lawyer, Deputy?”

“I’ll advise you your rights if that becomes necessary, Ms. Winters,” he said. “I’m aware you’ve been in Copper Mountain looking for your brother. Tristan Winters, correct?”

She nodded.

“Does he work with you?”

“Tristan is not currently employed by my company, no.”

“Your company?”

She’d already explained it to Logan, and that was far different than some deputy she’d never met before. “Why are you asking all this?”

“The sheriff asked me to come out and bring you back into Copper Mountain. We got a report of a body washed up on the riverbank north of town.” He said it like things like this happened every day. “A male, deceased. I’m afraid he matches the description of your brother, and I’m here to request you identify him.”

Her head swam. If she hadn’t been sitting down, Jamie would’ve found a chair fast.

Tucker moved from hanging back to stand on her other side, across from the sheriff. Like a counterbalance to keep her steady. It worked. A man who knew prayer when he saw it was someone she could rely on when she had nothing.

Nothing but God.

She didn’t know how to ask Him to help her with this but would figure it out when her thoughts weren’t in a tailspin like a plane going down.

Deputy Mills said, “Ma’am, will you accompany me to the coroner’s office and assist us in identifying the deceased—if you can? It might not be your brother.”

“But it’s possible.”

He gave her a short nod.

Jamie stood, using the porch rail to steady herself. “I’ll just grab a couple of things and lock up.”

She moved around the cabin in a daze, shoving random things into her backpack but remembering to grab her phone from the charger. She had another meeting soon, but she didn’t have the wherewithal to figure out how long she had before it started.

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