Mountain Delights (Wild Mountain Men 2)

“The video of her accident…” I shuddered remembering it. “Fuck, I don’t want that to happen again. But then I look at videos of her other races, of her crossing the line first. The… exuberance and thrill on her face. She’s amazing. I’ll stand beside her whatever she wants to do, but I’d probably get a fucking ulcer if she got back out there.”

He took a swig of his tea. “No shit.” He pointed toward the parking lot. “Nix is here.”

That was fast. We weren’t too far from the police station, but they’d have needed their siren to get here that quick. I had to assume they’d been already in their SUV when he texted.

Nix walked toward the diner’s entry with his partner, Miranski. I’d met her a few times before, the first right after Erin had been killed. She was tall and lean with long, dark hair. I’d call her pretty, but she was also serious, which was probably important for her job. I’d also say she was driven, just like Hailey, but in completely different ways. Miranski was driven to see my sister’s killer was behind bars, and I respected her for that.

She and Nix were good detectives, but they were on a hard case. Not only had there been no leads since it was discovered Cy’s dad had been lying, but they had a lot of pressure from the media, the mayor and even my parents to find out who did it. Small towns and murderers on the loose weren’t a good combo.

Standing in the entrance, they looked around, then found us. Miranski headed our way, but Nix stopped to say hi to Kit, his girlfriend, a waitress here. She was working the tables on the other side of the restaurant, but I could see him lean down and kiss her forehead. She said something to him and he smiled, then stroked her hair before working his way toward us.

I’d given her a simple wave when we’d entered. We weren’t close, but we didn’t hate each other either. We’d been important to each other in the past, but that time was long gone. I was glad she had Nix now. Donovan, too. She deserved to be happy.

We stood when Miranski stopped in front of our booth. She had a file tucked under her elbow.

I extended my arm so she knew to sit first. She slid in and I settled beside her. Nix approached. He shook Cy’s hand, then mine. Cy settled in the booth, Nix joining him.

“What do you have for me?” I asked, not eager for small talk. Not when Nix had sought me out.

Miranski set the folder on the table, opened it. “The fingerprints from Erin’s house. I wanted to go through some of the names that popped up in the search. To see if you know any of them.”

“To rule them out?”

Nix shrugged. “Maybe, or if you don’t know who they are, rule them in.”

“Erin and I didn’t run in the same circles. We weren’t close,” I advised.

Miranski nodded. “It’s a small enough town.”

True enough.

“There were Erin’s prints. Kit’s, too.”

Nix nodded, well aware of his woman’s connection to the murder. She’d been cleared, but until the real killer was found, some would wonder about her.

“Your parents’ prints came up.”

“They were clo

ser than I was.”

“A house cleaner who’s been cleared.”

The waitress came by, brought two glasses of ice water for the detectives. They declined any food and she left.

“Here are some other names. Tom Clinke.”

I frowned. “Wasn’t he a year behind us?” I asked Nix.

He nodded. “Works at the car dealership.”

“I know him because we went to school together, but not how he knew Erin. Dated her, maybe?”

“That’s what he said, but wanted your take,” Miranski added. “How about Aiden O’Connell, Reed Parker or Mark Bastion?”

I shook my head, then paused, looked to Cy.

“Did you say Mark Bastion?”