“I think he’ll keep until morning.” He gazes steadily at me. “You look tired, Kate. Have you had any sleep?”
“Not much.”
He lays a couple of bills on the table. “What do you say we call it a night and check out the Buck Snort Motel?”
The Buck Snort Motel is located on the main highway two miles outside Buck Creek. Set back from the road in a heavily wooded area, the motel is comprised of a dozen or so cabins replete with picnic tables and a community pit barbecue. Lights burn in two of the cabins. As we pull into the gravel lot, I see a group of kids sitting at one of the picnic tables. The motel office is a larger cabin with a huge front window and the requisite red neon sign that blinks VACANCY. A smaller sign boasts FREE MOVIES.
Tomasetti parks adjacent the office and kills the engine. “I’ll check us in and grab the keys.”
Without waiting for a reply, he’s out of the Tahoe and striding toward the office. I watch him, vaguely aware that I’m admiring the way he moves, when it strikes me that I have no idea what kind of sleeping arrangements have been made—or how the night is going to play out. When we’ve worked together in the past, our relationship has never been an issue and we’ve never let it interfere. The investigation always takes precedence. This case is different in that both of us are away from home base, and I can’t help but wonder if it’s going to get in the way.
The door swings open, startling me. Tomasetti slides in, then cranks the engine. Without looking at me, he drives to the farthest cabin and parks. “I’m in cabin twelve. You’re in eleven.”
“So we’re neighbors.” Without looking at him, I reach into the back for my overnight bag.
He stops me. “I’ll get that for you.”
“Sure. Thanks.” I make my exit before I start blabbering and watch as he opens the rear door and pulls out both our overnight bags.
We walk to cabin 11, and he unlocks the door, then passes me the key. The first thing I notice is the bed. It’s a full with a camouflage pattern spread and a headboard made of deer antlers. A night table holds a single lamp, the base of which is constructed of antlers. Camo curtains. Hunting art on the walls—ducks and deer and Labrador retrievers. But the room is neat and smells of clean linens and cedar.
“I believe this is the most antlers I’ve ever seen in one place,” I say.
“Might be a problem if you’re a restless sleeper.”
I laugh. “Better than mounted heads on the walls.”
“Heads are probably in my room.” Chuckling, he sets my bag on the bed, then quickly checks the bathroom. “Coffeemaker in the bathroom,” he tells me when he emerges.
On the small table near the window, a handwritten sign tells me the room is equipped with free Wi-Fi. I see a hookup for a laptop and a pad of paper printed with the motel’s name and logo. “All the comforts of home.”
An awkward silence falls. The rise of tension is palpable. I look at Tomasetti and find his eyes already on me. For the span of a full minute, neither of us speaks, and neither of us looks away.
“So how are we going to do this?” he asks after a moment.
The question needs no clarification. “I don’t know,” I say honestly. “I’m kind of out of my element here.”
“Me, too,” he says. “I’m used to traveling alone.”
“I’m used to you sneaking into my house through the back door in the middle of the night.”
He laughs.
Time freezes for the span of several heartbeats. I feel the weight of his stare, the power of my attraction to him. I sense the importance of this moment, the discomfort between us.
We’ve slept together before in the course of an investigation. We work well together despite our personal relationship. But this is my first consulting gig, and it feels different. It feels . . . premeditated.
“I don’t want to screw this up,” I say after a moment.
“You won’t,” he says quietly. “You can’t.”
“Maybe we should just take it slow.”
He nods and steps back. Some of the intensity leaches from the moment, and I can breathe again.
Bending, he brushes his mouth against mine. “Careful with that headboard.” He walks to the door and turns to face me. “Get some rest, Chief, and I’ll see you in the morning.”
I stand there vibrating and breathless for a full minute after he closes the door, not sure if I’m relieved he’s gone or disappointed I let him go.
Finally, I turn on the television, find the local news, and listen with half an ear as I unpack my clothes and put them away. I try to focus on the case as I set up my laptop and log onto my e-mail account. But the encounter with Tomasetti has left me unsettled. Combined with thirty-six hours without sleep, I can’t concentrate and I’m too tired to be productive. I answer a few e-mails and head for the shower.
The truth of the matter is, I don’t know where our relationship is heading. I enjoy being with him, working with him. My trust in him is absolute. I respect him on every level, and I believe those sentiments run both ways.
The long-distance aspect of our relationship has worked for both of us. We’re too independent for anything too cozy. But I know that no matter how hard we try to keep things simple, relationships have a way of becoming complicated.
There are times when I think I love him. I want to be with him when I’m not. He’s constantly in the periphery of my thoughts. When something amazing happens, he’s the one I want to share it with. I honestly don’t know if that’s good or bad. Truth be told, it scares me. I can’t seem to get past that little voice in my head that tells me what we have is too good to last.
I know my own heart, but so much of Tomasetti remains a mystery. Three years ago, he was married and had children. I don’t know if he was happy or discontent or, like the rest of us, somewhere in between. He rarely speaks of his past. But I know he loved them. I know he loved another woman and had children with her. And I know the loss of them nearly killed him.
Sometimes, when he’s untouchable, when I can’t reach him, I wonder if she’s the one he wants to be with. I wonder if he’s still in love with her. I wonder if I’m with him because she isn’t, if I’m competing with a dead woman.
The sound of my cell phone drags me from a deep and dreamless sleep. I fumble for it on the night table, flip it open, put it to my ear. “Burk-holder,” I rasp.
Even before I hear Tomasetti’s voice, I know it’s bad. When a cop is awakened in the middle of the night, it’s never good news.
“We’ve got a body,” he says without preamble.
I sit bolt upright, disoriented, my heart pounding. The room is pitch-black, and for an instant, I can’t remember where I am. Then the case rushes into my brain, the missing Amish teens, the blood on the road, and I’m out of bed and reaching for my clothes.
“Is it Annie?” I ask as I jam my legs into my slacks.
“I don’t know.”
“Give me five minutes.”
CHAPTER 10
The glowing red numbers of the alarm clock tell me it’s 3:53 A.M. when I go through the door. Tomasetti has already pulled the Tahoe up to the gravel area outside my cabin and is leaning against the passenger side’s front fender, talking on his cell phone. The night is humid and still, and I smell rain in the air.
He cuts his call short as I climb in. A moment later, he’s behind the wheel and we’re idling across the parking lot. “Hell of a way to start the day,” he growls.
“Tell me what you know,” I say.
“Not much. There’s no positive ID yet. But apparently, the victim is a young female.”
I think of a young life cut short, the parents who will be notified in the coming hours, the family that will be shattered by the news. I feel the familiar rise of outrage in my chest.