Page 16 of Jesse
A shiver crawled up my spine.
So the smell wasn’t him. It was the perp. Whoever slipped in while Frank was outside, masked their scent with that cloying cloud of drugstore cologne.
Smart. Sloppy, but smart.
I gave him a tight nod. “Thanks for your help.”
Then I stepped out into the cool night air, heart still hammering, the ruined tape clutched tightly in my hand.
Somewhere out here was a killer who knew how to cover their tracks, and who wasn’t afraid to make a bloody mess to get what they wanted.
I headed toward my car, exhausted and itching to get the hell out of here.
The ruined tape and the lingering stench of cheap cologne were still swirling in my head, and I needed a hot shower. Or maybe a drink. before my skin stopped crawling.
I was fishing my keys out of my pocket when I noticed it. The faint, warm glow of lights coming from Beck’s food truck.
I frowned, my steps slowing. That couldn’t be right. Beck should’ve been safely holed up at the pack house with Jackson.
With an overprotective brother like Jackson, there was no way Beck should’ve been allowed to just wander off back to the festival, especially not after what had gone down earlier.
My instincts flared hard. First things first. I tugged out my phone and hit Cooper’s number. He picked up almost immediately.
“Hey, it’s me. Just got out of the security trailer,” I said, voice low as I paced a tight circle near my car, keeping one eye on the still-lit truck. “You’re not gonna like this.”
“Try me,” Cooper said.
“The footage is trashed. Someone slipped in while the security guard was on a smoke break. Overwrote the files. No usable footage.”
There was a long beat of silence. I could practically hear Cooper grinding his teeth on the other end.
“Send me everything you got,” he said finally, voice tight. “Even if it’s junk. We’ll have tech look at it.”
“Already on it,” I said. “Sheriff knows, too. I’ll forward the email once the security guy sends it over.”
“Good work.” Another pause. “Get back here soon. We need to figure out next steps.”
“Yeah. Will do.”
I hung up and shoved the phone into my pocket. My gaze drifted back to Beck’s truck. For a second, unease crawled up my spine. Was it the killer?
Coming back to clean up whatever they missed? Stupid move if it was, but desperate people made desperate mistakes.
I crept closer, muscles tense, steps light against the gravel. And then I caught a scent on the breeze. Not the heavy stench of Old Spice this time.
No, this was something different. Warmer. Cleaner. Something that snagged my attention and tugged at the pit of my gut before I could stop it.
Beck.
Relief loosened my muscles, but something else, something far more dangerous, stirred too.
There was something about Beck’s scent that...got to me. Made my wolf settle down and my heart kick into a different rhythm.
It was comforting in a way I couldn’t explain, and God help me, I found myself looking forward to spending more time with him. Even if he couldn’t stand the sight of me.
Beck had made that perfectly clear back at the pack house.
He barely tolerated being in the same room with me, much less working with me for the rest of the festival. But still, he agreed.
