Colton's Lethal Reunion (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

There’d been known associates over the years, but Odin didn’t seem to keep many people around long. The MVPD had talked to many of them, had been able to arrest a few on small charges, but nothing that led them anywhere.

So she thought about what she did know. From her wall. From Tyler. Thinking about the mountain.

What she didn’t do was allow herself to drift off to thoughts of Rafe. Or the night she’d spent with him. That little treasure was hers to cherish. But only when she was alone. And off work.

For the moment, she was able to push it away every time it zoomed forward, which was way too often. Somewhat because her body was feeling the aftermath of so much lovemaking. It had been a while for her. Physical moment brought instant reminder.

As soon as Dane, who was officially looking into the ranger’s death, had left for the day, Kerry did, too. In her own Jeep, and without telling anyone what she was doing, she headed back toward Rogers’s neighborhood. Just to see.

If she knew where he went, who he saw, she’d be better able to find a clue that would piece everything together. Something that officially linked Tyler and Rogers. Or Rogers and the ranger, at least.

She didn’t even make it to his place. Half a mile away, she saw his truck pull around a corner and head away from town. She wouldn’t be able to follow him if he continued on, not directly. On a road where there was nothing to look at except for whatever vehicles might be in front of or behind you, he’d be sure to see her. But she could stick with him just long enough to see if he was headed toward the mountain. And then call Dane.

She almost missed Rogers’s turn off the main drive out of town, just a few blocks before leaving the town behind. Taking one street sooner, she made a quick second turn and ended up facing the road he was on just after he drove past her intersection. Good. He wouldn’t have seen her.

She let another car pass, and then pulled out behind it, keeping her distance, hoping the old gray truck stayed on the road as far as Odin did, giving her some cover. She could see Odin’s truck through the windshield of the truck between them, but didn’t figure he’d be able to make her out. He’d know her vehicle—not from their visit that morning, but from the mountain the night before.

Unless he’d hired someone to watch the mountain, and the ranger. Which actually made more sense. He’d have henchmen. She was pretty sure she could name one or two of them, not that she’d been able to get enough intel to be sure. It wasn’t like she was officially investigating or had any right to go questioning people about the man.

No, she was on the Colton case.

The ranger’s death was Dane’s.

When Odin turned again, she felt that tiny thrill of excitement that came when she was close to getting somewhere on a case. He’d turned right instead of left this time. Not going in a circle.

Could be he’d spotted her, was giving her the runaround, but she didn’t think so. He wasn’t varying his speed.

And the man was probably just cocky enough to figure he could get away with anything he chose to do so wouldn’t bother with worrying about surveillance.

He’d been smart enough to get away with a life of slimeball crime for years, she reminded herself. Her mistake would be to underestimate him.

As she approached the road where Odin had turned off—a gravelly lane that led through a run-down neighborhood filled with old cars, broken gates on scarred stucco walls, homes in disrepair and yards with no landscaping—she drove slowly past so she could get a look at what he was doing. He’d slowed outside a house and she made a quick U-turn, pulling off to the shoulder, just before the intersection. She could see Odin and not be seen.

A minute or so later a beat-up black sedan with a dented front bumper and cardboard where the front passenger window should have been pulled out of a drive farther down the road and approached Rogers, slowing as the car came up alongside. She couldn’t tell what the vehicle’s occupants were doing, but the two vehicles sat there, side by side, for a good minute before the sedan started forward again, and Odin, turning in a driveway, followed behind it.

Kerry turned quickly, making it to the next block before either of them made it to the end of their street, and was turned around and ready to pull out behind them as they left. Tapping her steering wheel as she waited impatiently for another vehicle to drive up behind them so she could turn out, she almost lost them, but caught up before they reached Mustang Boulevard. Odin turned back toward town, but the car he’d met—obviously with a particular mission, since he was now headed back the way he’d come—headed out of town.

Straight toward the mountain.

She had a choice to make. Call Dane, hoping that her fellow detective would see merit in Odin’s meeting and head out to actually find the car she had her eye on, or make certain that she found out what was going on by following the guy herself. No brainer there.

But remembering the night before, the ranger’s death, the attempt on her life, the warning she’d received that morning, she knew she couldn’t head up the mountain without someone knowing where she was. If she called the station, she’d be told to stand down. The case wasn’t hers. And she’d already been targeted.

And that was the only reason she texted Rafe. He was the only other person who knew what was going on. And she trusted him not to get in the way of her need to bring Tyler’s killer to justice.

After that, she was all business, staying far enough behind the old car that she almost lost it a couple of times. Going slow to ensure that other cars pulled in between them on the long open road. And when they reached the mountain road, she pulled off anytime she thought she’d be visible, waiting at turns, taking it slowly. So much so that she almost missed that the car had stopped, pulling off into some brush on a flat piece of land that butted up to the cliff.

Kerry continued on up the mountain until she could turn around, and then as quickly as she could, retraced the route, passing the parked car and heading down just until she found a place where she could somewhat hide the Jeep. Getting out she hiked the quarter mile back to where she’d seen the car. And then, picking each step carefully, tried to catch sight of the guy, to figu

re out where he’d gone, without alerting him that she was there. At least she didn’t have to worry about rattlesnakes. It would be another three months before they’d be out sunning themselves again.

The phone in the holster attached to her hip vibrated. Once. Text message, not a call. Could be from anyone at the station. One of the friends she and Lizzie hung out with at the bar in town on occasion. Or Rafe.

Any or all of them would have to wait. Still, it was...nice...to feel the presence of someone she knew as she ventured off into a potentially dangerous unknown.

It didn’t take her long to find the guy. Probably because he didn’t know he was being followed and, unlike her, he wasn’t choosing his steps carefully. Dressed all in black, with dark hair and a beard, he was plodding in black work boots up what she could see now was a trail carved around the side of the mountain, leading gradually up to...something.

A cave? The place where Rogers stashed his guns and drugs? Or both?