Page 85 of Stormswept Colorado

Susan and I headed back to the station. When we arrived, I waved her into my office.

She sat heavily in the chair across from my desk. “Well, that was awful. I’ve known Donna since she was a baby herself, and I was there at her daughter’s christening. Chief, we have to figure out who’s doing this. It’s just mean and nasty.”

“You’re preaching to the choir.”

“I already got a text from Dixie. She’s setting up a meal train to help out Donna, along with volunteers to stay with her and the baby. Donna’s husband will probably head back sooner after what happened. But people are going to be talking about this. They’ll want to know what we’re doing to catch this creep.”

“Yes, Susan,” I said calmly. “I know.” I was well used to receiving calls daily from my citizens.

“And that red spray paint nonsense?”

“It’s his signature.” I was assuming the suspect’s gender was male, but would a woman do this? I doubted it. “He’s doing us a favor. We know for sure it’s the same person, even though we haven’t gotten any physical evidence or camera footage yet to confirm it.”

“What’s that design supposed to be, anyway?” Susan took out her work phone. She had some pictures from the scene today on it. “Those swirls.” She held it up. “A flower?”

I nodded, my sense of unease growing. “Yes. It’s a flower.”

“Creepy as all get-out.”

“The escalation…” I drummed my fingers on my desk. “It’s a bad sign.”

She put her phone away. “Madness. I swear there’s something in the air. It’s the pollen spores in spring, I swear. They mess with the noggin.”

I almost smiled. “It’s March. It’ll be a while until pollen season really hits.” It would be spring soon, and we had a few more months of chaotic weather ahead of us before the relative calm of summer. Though I’d seen snow here in June and July. At least the Colorado sun melted the snowfall from the roads and trees between storms year round.

But thinking of snow just brought Ayla to mind, and that wasa bad idea. I’d already spent plenty of sleepless nights lately obsessing over her.

“Yes, I realize it’s not spring just yet,” Susan said. “But people have been acting strange. Like Seth being out sick today for the third or fourth time in a couple months.”

I’d noticed that. I’d had so much on my mind that I hadn’t checked up on him, but I should have.

“Andyou.” Susan pointed a finger at me. “I’m not the only one who’s noticed your surly moods lately, mister.”

“I’m notsurly.”

“You’re in a funk. Have been ever since the wedding. And I’ve heard a few rumors about what went on in Hartley. Don’t think I haven’t.”

I gripped the skin between my eyes. “No idea what you mean.”

Of course, I knewexactlywhat she meant. And Susan’s smirk said she knew that too.

Everyone seemed to know about that goodbye kiss with Ayla in the parking lot. Granted, I hadn’t been discreet about it. I’d lingered with our lips together, trying to imprint her taste in my memory. The feel of her under my hands. The way she’d worn my scent on her skin…

Hell, I wasn’t supposed to be thinking about that.

“I heard you got very cozy with a celebrity who shall remain nameless. I suppose that’s only natural, since you two had to snuggle up when you were trapped in that snowstorm.”

“Susan…”

“But,” she went on, “those pollen spores must be going to your head if you’re this distraught over a little weekend rendezvous.” Her eyes narrowed. “Unless it’s more than that?”

I put my hands flat on my desk. “We’re at work. I’m not going to indulge your need for gossip. But regardless, I have nothing to say about any celebrity or otherwise. You have reports to file. You may exit my office, Officer Nichols.”

“See?” she muttered to herself onher way out. “Surly.”

Fuck me. I needed a drink.

Around midday, I pulled up a stool at the end of the bar at Hearthstone. Callum walked toward me, draping a bar towel over his shoulder. His brown hair stuck out haphazardly from beneath his backward baseball cap.

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