Page 30 of Puppy Love & Snowflake Kisses
“The couch is right over there.”
When his vision cleared, he said, “You can’t be in here.”
“I know you hit your head, but this is my house.”
When he began to shake his head, it amplified the pain. He stopped. “Right now, this is a crime scene.” He gestured toward the front door. “Let’s go.”
Belle’s lips formed anO.
After they were out in the snowy driveway, there were footsteps, and then Deputy Paula Stark said, “Boss, you’re bleeding.”
“I’m fine,” he said.
“No, you’re not.” Belle grasped his arm and drew him toward the pickup. “What happened to you?”
As she opened the door and pushed him down on the passenger seat, he said, “The suspect threw something at me. I didn’t duck in time. It felt like a concrete block.”
Belle was quiet for a moment. “Perhaps a book?”
“If it was, it was a big book.”
“I have a copy ofWar and Peacein the living room.”
He went slack-jawed. He never would have guessed she would read something like that. He quickly regained his composure. “You’ve readWar and Peace?”
“Not a chance. It’s not my genre. It was my father’s, and I thought it would make a good decoration.”
He turned to Deputy Stark. “Start collecting evidence. I’ll go see if there are some footprints in the snow that we can cast.” When he went to stand, Belle’s hand pressed down on his shoulder. He frowned up at her. “What are you doing?”
“You aren’t going anywhere.” Belle’s voice brooked no argument. “You’re injured.”
He let out a frustrated groan. He had been so close to catching the suspect, and still the guy got away. Parker was angry with himself. He should have caught them by now.
“Hey, Parker. You okay?” He glanced up to find his brother Michael stepping up to him with a worried look on his face. Michael’s newly adopted puppy, Tank, was standing quietly by his side.
“I’m fine.” A note of exasperation came through in his voice.
“You don’t look fine.”
Belle turned to his brother. “Make sure he doesn’t move. I’ll be right back.”
“You can’t go in there,” Parker said.
“But I have to. You need something for that cut.”
“You can’t go in there,” he said sternly. “It’s a crime scene.”
She turned to him and pressed her hands to her hips. She pursed her lips as though she were getting ready to launch into him, but it didn’t matter what she said, he wasn’t going to let her in the house until it was fully processed.
Then she stomped off. He watched her unlock her car. She leaned down and appeared to open the glove box. When she returned, she had a fist full of napkins.
She looked at him. “These are far from sanitary, but you can’t just sit there with blood dripping down your face.”
He grabbed the napkins and pressed them to the wound. He grimaced at the pain, but he wasn’t going to let it stop him. He just needed a bandage, and he’d be fine.
The sound of approaching footsteps had Parker glancing down the driveway. Parker inwardly groaned when he saw his other brothers Colin and Justin headed in his direction.
“Parker, what happened to you?” Colin walked over to him and knelt down next to him. He removed the napkins that were quickly becoming soaked with blood.
