Page 45 of Burning Hearts

Deputy Mills got up from his seat across from her and came around to the spare desk. He’d parked her in front of a computer so she could look at mug shots of local guys, all to try and identify some of the men from the compound.

“Him?”

Jamie nodded. “They called him ‘Snatch,’ and I never heard anyone use another name for him. I don’t know if that’s a nickname or what. He’s the only person I recognize from the compound.”

No images of her brother.Thank You, God.

Neither had she found one of that other guy, Crew, in the local booking photos. Maybe it was just too small a pool of images and they needed to widen their search parameters.

She pushed the chair back, needing to stretch her legs since she’d actually found an image she recognized. How many had she looked through? A hundred?

Felt like it.

She stretched her arms, bent her elbows, and laced her fingers behind her head. Samuel had emailed twice. Jamie hadn’t explained to Mills why she had to get on her phone, and he’d looked at her like he was interested in her business. Thankfully, he was too polite to pry.

The Copper Mountain Sheriff’s Department had a deer head on the wall beside a huge wooden shield with their emblem. File cabinets in rows along one side butted up against a massive printer. The matronly woman who wore brown shoes and a gray skirt with a pink sweater set and pearls had a job that seemed to consist of looking over her reading glasses in Jamie’s direction while manning the front counter. Sunlight streamed in the windows, between the vertical strips of the blinds.

Jamie went to the midcentury coffee pot and poured herself a cup.

“Ah, found ’im.” Mills clicked the mouse and said, “Thanks for your help, Ms. Winters. This was a big assist.”

She’d explained to Deputy Mills thewhyof her coming up here and Tristan’s attempt to save her. However, she’d left out the part about how her brother had shot the man they had at the coroner’s office. She wasn’t going to incriminate him when it was self-defense. If Tristan wanted the cops to know, then he would inform them himself.

Her phone buzzed.

She sipped the coffee and wandered over to the desk to see what was going on at the office.

Mills peered at her screen. “Says ‘Logan.’”

She swiped up the phone. “I should be getting back to the smokejumper base.”

“Ah.” Mills sat back in his chair. “We took so long that the sheriff went out. I’m the only one here, so I can’t drive you back there I’m afraid.”

She dipped her head to her screen. “Guess I’ll have to call a rideshare.”

The matron snickered. She tugged off the glasses and dropped them to hang from a string around her neck.

“Ain’t no rideshare out here. Closest you’ll get is hiring a tourist chopper to fly you back there.” Mills eyed the phone on his desk.

“That would certainly be faster than walking.” Jamie smirked, and he blinked.

The confusion on his face cleared. “Sorry it took so long, but thanks for your help. You gonna get back okay?”

“I’ll figure it out.” She gathered her backpack and zipped up her sweater. It was past lunch, and her stomach rumbled. She turned back at the door. “Is there somewhere close by to get lunch?”

The matron looked up from her files. “Oh, uh, there’s a pizza place down the street.” She pointed to her left with a pen.

“Thank you. Have a nice day.” Jamie pushed outside.

A diesel truck coughed, passing by her on the street, mud caked on the mudflaps and two big malamutes in the back.

Two older women with black hair and tanned skin talked on the sidewalk in front of the bank.

Jamie passed them, nodding when they acknowledged her. She wandered until she found Starlight Pizza and ordered a huge roast beef sandwich with fries on the side from a slender woman in white sneakers, jeans, and a black Starlight Pizza shirt.

The server had her hair tied back, but she’d spent time on her makeup and added eyelashes. The effect made her look older than…Jamie guessed early twenties. She didn’t bat an eyelash when Jamie opened her laptop and did work while she ate.

After taking a day off from her laptop to track down Tristan, her list of tasks had piled up. She started with the quick ones and knocked out a handful, then got started on a longer report Samuel needed her to go over.

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