Page 17 of Out to Get Her
Weren’t cops supposed to be excited by big cases? Like, not happy someone died, but thrilled with the challenge. The kind of thing in a long list of things Erin did not find endearing about the profession and the people who flocked to it.
But Samantha looked more concerned than excited.
“You mean a whole mess of sheriffs and state police are coming here? Now?” Erin heard the shriek in her own voice. “And I have to stay outside while they drag this guy out of Grandpa’s house?”
The house.
Who the hell would buy a house a guydiedin? Possibly a murder house. In New Orleans, she’d have no problem. Might even be a selling point. But here? With these superstitious clowns around here?
Erin was screwed.
Not as screwed as Paul, but still. This didn’t look good for her plan to get out of town quickly.
Zach put a hand on her arm. “It won’t be that bad. Right, Sergeant Ardoin? They’ll be out of here in a couple hours, I’m sure.” He squeezed her arm gently, the reassuring touch warm and comforting, but not comforting enough under the circumstances. “And you can hang out at my place until they’re done. I’ve got hot coffee and cold beer. Take your pick.”
Erin was grateful for the offer. Really, she was. But hot coffee and cold beer wouldn’t erase a murder.
“Listen, no offense to Paul back there because I know his day has been worse than mine, but I need this all over with. I’m in my dead Grandpa’s house, where I just stumbled on a random dead guy, and it’s all just too much.” Erin’s heart raced as the shock wore off. She took a deep breath and exhaled before she finished her rant, her words a little less confident and a little more shaky. “I just want them to hurry, so I can clean up behind them and get this place ready to sell. I’ve got the Realtor coming out tomorrow, and I want to make this whole nightmare go away.”
She looked back at Samantha, the woman’s dark eyes sympathetic and troubled now. Erin watched in horror as Samantha’s lips moved to form the words, “Erin, I’m sorry. You can’t put this house on the market yet. It’s a crime scene.”
ChapterSeven
The forensics crewmembers were the first to arrive.
Samantha greeted them shortly after Zach convinced Erin to wait at his house. Poor Erin had been paler than Samantha had ever seen her. She couldn’t remember Erin being afraid of anything, but finding Paul had clearly shaken her. Samantha had wanted to wrap her in a blanket and bring her tea.
But she had a case to run. A case that at first glance made absolutely no sense.
The only thing she could tell so far was it appeared that Paul had come in through the side door, through the kitchen. There were marks on the knob and frame that looked like forced entry.
Why Paul would want to break into this house, though, Samantha had no idea.
She led the team inside through the living room, noting that other than a few soft squawks, that bird was eerily quiet. Must be traumatized along with Erin.
When Samantha showed the team the body, she explained exactly what she’d touched or moved and promised to forward her photos of the room from before all of that.
Then she went out to the porch to watch cars roll onto the property one after another with the sun hanging heavy and low on the horizon behind them.
Vultures.
She shouldn’t be bitter or disparaging of fellow officers who were just doing their jobs. But handing the case over was the last thing she wanted to do, and she didn’t plan on fully handing it over if she could help it.
“Sergeant Ardoin.” The tall man’s voice boomed across the yard as he slammed his cruiser door shut and headed toward her. His long strides made quick work of the distance and the porch steps, his toothy grin beaming in the mostly cloudless afternoon sun. “Got a bit of excitement all the way out in your little neck of the woods today, I see.”
Little neck of the woods.
She shouldn’t be surprised. This was how Jordan Fonseca was handling his entire campaign. Like he was some big shot, big city savior running for police chief of this sleepy little town. Not as the small parish deputy sheriff who was born and raised here and only pretended like he was some uppity big shot.
“Jordan.” She nodded toward the house. “CSU beat you to it.”
He took off his sunglasses and looked her in the eye with just a foot of space between them. His greasy veneer made her insides squirm with disgust, but she held her ground.
“That’s all right. Let them have their fun first. I’ll take over once they’re done collecting evidence.”
Samantha took a deep breath and found her courage.
She should be better than this. She shouldn’t be afraid of standing her ground on a case.
