Asher shook his head, opening the little flip of his plastic cup. “I finished sorting through the tip line last night. There’s nothing there, just your regular citizen who suspects his neighbor is a killer.”
Boone took a sip of his piping hot black coffee before he pressed on. “What have you found about Peyton’s life in Seattle?”
Rhett snorted, leaning back in his chair. “Not a damn thing. She’s clean. Her late husband is clean. Friends, business partners, coworkers, family, they’re all clean. I’ll need to look deeper, but neither she nor her late husband is connected to anyone with a criminal record.”
Boone’s gut told him otherwise. “The way I see it,” he said, relaying all the thoughts that had been hammering his mind last night while Peyton slept soundly in his arms, “we’re either looking at a potential serial killer who targeted Peyton, but accidentally killed the look-alike cleaner instead, and now he’s determined to right his wrong.”
“That is a good possibility,” Asher agreed.
Rhett finished his sip of coffee and returned his paper cup to the table. “Or she’s brought someone here with her from Seattle.”
“Exactly,” Boone said, then put a voice to where his instincts took his mind last night. “We need to look deeper into Peyton’s late husband’s accident.”
Surprise lifted Rhett’s eyebrows. “You think this was a hit?”
Boone pondered that. A hit. Fuck, he hoped not, but his gut was taking him there. “If we go with logic here, what are the chances of two incidents, with fatalities, involving Peyton?”
“Low,” Asher said.
Rhett pondered, then gave a slow nod. “It does seem like she’s had a run of bad luck.”
“It’s too coincidental.”
Rhett moved to the board, staring at the evidence ahead of him. “All right,” he finally said after a loaded moment. “I’ll go with the serial killer angle and see if we’ve had any other similar murders in the area.”
“Good,” Boone said. “I’ll reach out to the Seattle PD and talk with the responding officer to Adam Kerr’s accident. Perhaps he knows something we don’t.”
Asher rose. “I’ll look deeper into Peyton’s late husband. See if anything shows up there.”
Boone stopped to consider. He didn’t want to make a mistake. Not now. Not with Peyton’s safety on his mind. “I think it’s wise to look deeper into Peyton’s friend Justin, who’s come into town. Peyton says there’s nothing to worry about there, but—”
“You don’t want to be wrong,” Rhett said. “Yeah, I’ll go ask around and see where he was when the accident happened.”
“Great.” Boone stood, feeling like at least they had a new direction, and that brought hope. Right as Asher turned away, Boone said, “Everything okay?”
Asher didn’t even pretend he didn’t know what Boone was talking about. He shrugged. “I’m dealing with it.”
Boone exchanged a long look with Rhett, who frowned at Asher. “What do you mean, dealing with it?”
“I’m looking into Damon Lane,” Asher said with no remorse in his voice.
Now Asher’s determination that Boone had noted earlier made sense. “You think there’s something to look into?” Boone asked gently.
“You’re damn right I do,” Asher bit off. “Kinsley hates him. You can’t stand him. There’s something not right there. I smell it.”
Boone had no plans on doubting Asher, especially considering he was depending on his own instincts now. “Be very, very careful. If Remy finds this out, she’ll never forgive you.”
Asher snorted dryly. “How can I hurt her more than I already have?” Something dark and haunted crossed his face. “I promised myself that I would never see her hurt again. This is me keeping that promise.”
Rhett gave a slow whistle. “I’m with Boone on this one, buddy. Remy is going to kill you.”
Asher’s eyes narrowed. “Then that’s the fate that awaits me.” He turned and left the office, as determined as he’d walked into the building this morning.
“This is going to get messy,” Rhett said, grabbing his coffee.
“Yeah,” was all Boone could think to reply as he left the command center. He trusted Asher. And there was a part of Boone that didn’t trust Damon. Maybe Asher’s idea wasn’t so bad after all, as long as he didn’t fuck up in some epic way, which, given his and Remy’s history, was enti
rely possible.