“Colt. I heard about the murder.” She shut the door behind her. When she turned back to him, she held out her hand. They shook and not for the first time he wished he could tug on her slim but strong arm and bring her up against him, lower his mouth to hers and...
“I trust I’m not interrupting you?” She motioned to the door Rio had just exited.
“Only our most recent murder investigation. Please, sit down.” He waited until she slid into the chair before he lowered himself into his. “It’s damn vexing, Claudia. When I was a rookie, we were pressed if we had one or two murders a decade. Now we’ve had more in the past six months than the last five years. What the hell is going on with this town?”
“I think we both suspect the same thing, Colt.”
“I can’t wait to take down these cult maniacs.”
“That’s what I’m here for. I have to ask you, and the SVPD, to give the True Believers a wide berth.”
“What do you mean by that?” He already knew, but he wasn’t going to let her off the hook, no matter how damn attractive she was.
“Higher levels of government are interested in the cult, Colt. How it’s reorganizing, why it’s picked Silver Valley and if Leonard Wise is back in town.” She named the original leader of the cult, a man who had created a colony of children with young women convinced they had to listen to him. “I can’t say much more, except that we need to monitor them. They may lead to some bigger crooks. And a bigger scheme than taking over a town of twenty thousand in suburban Pennsylvania.”
He looked at her and admired how she didn’t blink, didn’t flinch, as he’d been known to make many cops, and especially criminals, do. “You’re asking me to keep the residents of Silver Valley in danger from these crazies and to put my force at risk for longer than necessary, Claudia.”
“Yes, I am. And it’s not a request, Colt, so your conscience can be clear. It’s an order from way above my pay grade.” Claudia was a retired United States Marine Corps general. “Above her pay grade” referred to the highest levels of government.
“If it has the attention of the White House, why not bring in more FBI?”
“Trail Hikers are elite, Colt. The FBI is fantastic at what it does. But we don’t know how far the cult’s reach is. Who’s really calling the shots. Leonard Wise could be a front man for someone, something else. Until we have more concrete answers we can’t call in anything that would arouse suspicion.”
“Or spook the cult away.”
Claudia nodded. “You got it. I hate it as much as you that Silver Valley has become the petri dish to observe these slime bags. All I can do is promise that TH is here, backing up SVPD whether or not your officers are aware of it.”
“How much support will we get from your group?” He knew he had Claudia’s support as the group CEO, but even she had superiors to answer to.
“As much as you need, like always. As long as our budget holds out, which, trust me, it will.” She shifted forward in her seat. “Can you fill me in on what you have on the Houseman murder? Rio will file a report for us, but I want to hear it from you first.”
“You must think the murder’s related to the cult, Claudia. Or is there something more I don’t know?”
“No, I have no connections. Yet. But a mayor voted into office in such a rush, especially a political thug whose specialty until now has been New Jersey politics, raises red flags. We can’t rule out the True Believers manipulating local politics for their own gain.”
“You’re leaving something out, Claudia, but I’ll play along.” He waited for her to smile and felt a rush of warmth to his crotch that he had to admit was a damned welcome feeling after years of living his self-imposed celibate lifestyle since his wife had died eight years ago.
Maggie. God, he still missed her. But when Claudia was around, the pain diminished. He filled her in on what he knew.
“Kayla Paruso, the florist from last Christmas who delivered the message in a bouquet to Zora Krasny.” Claudia wasn’t asking, she was thinking aloud. The woman had a steel trap for a brain. Another reason he was attracted to her. “We did an extensive background check on her at the time. She was raised by Foreign Service officers and has lived globally, probably conversational in two if not three languages besides English.”
“That’s not going to help us solve this, Claudia. She barely caught a look at the guy and describes his voice as deep and masculine.”
“From a polyglot that’s not a bad thing. I’m sure she’d be able to identify the voice again, in court. What I’m more interested in is her potential as a Trail Hiker.” Claudia’s eyes gleamed and the color on her high cheekbones conveyed her enthusiasm at adding to her team of super-trained law-enforcement agents.
“A florist? Claudia, I’m a simple man, the leader of a team of local cops. But even I know the importance of having the training and background to go into any kind of law enforcement. I doubt Kayla Paruso knows the difference between a pistol and a rifle.”
“Because she’s a woman?”
“Hell no. Because she’s an artistic type. Have you met her? She’s a pretty woman, very intelligent and very focused on her flower shop. It’s her life.”
“That kind of focus can easily translate into what we need on TH, especially for undercover surveillance.” Claudia’s eyes narrowed. Colt hid his amusement because he didn’t want Claudia to think he was making fun of her. He wasn’t. He was thrilled that he could make her react like this. It brought him back to his first thoughts about Claudia when she’d walked into the office...
“Don’t, Colt.” Her gaze was steady, her voice calm, but he saw the tremor in her hands. “I know what you’re thinking and it won’t work. I don’t date men I work with.”
Well, shit.
* * *
Kayla hated the smell of the Silver Valley Police Department’s building. A small structure in the middle of the most commercial part of town, it seemed benign enough. Until she walked in and smelled the combination of day-old coffee, cigarette smoke and sugar. The coffee was self-explanatory. Any office that worked 24/7 needed a source of caffeine. The smoke wafted in from the outdoor designated smoking area, as all government buildings in Pennsylvania were smoke-free. The sugary scent she’d never been able to pinpoint. The likely stereotype was doughnuts, but the SVPD employees she’d met, from the receptionist to police officers and detectives, were all in incredible physical shape.
Still, the smell of cotton-candy sugar lingered in the air.
She hated it because she associated the building with when her brother had been brought in to give a statement after the church fire last Christmas. She’d picked him up afterward.
The first time she’d had occasion to visit was also last Christmas, when her statement had to be taken and filed for her unintentional delivery of flowers from a serial killer.
This third time certainly wasn’t the charm, she thought, as she sat in a cracked, padded chair in a drab interrogation room, waiting for someone to come take her statement—again.
She’d already told two different officers her version of events, from when she’d pulled up outside the barn until Rio had arrived on scene.
As if she was a suspect.
She felt like one, despite her guilt at not being able to do anything to save Meredith. Meredith, who’d been shot right in front of her, wasn’t much younger than Kayla. She’d been doing her job as the mayor’s assistant and in one horrible evening her life was over.
Kayla hadn’t been able to do anything to save her own brother, Keith, from the evil that seemed to be invading Silver Valley, either. She’d been stunned when one of the couples from the church had filed a suit against Keith and