She must have heard the contempt in his voice because she laughed again. “What are you going to do, beat him up?”
He glared at her, ready with a comeback, but then the doorbell rang and he strode off to let the sheriff in. When Finn burst into the kitchen and spotted the white bandage covering Jamie’s upper arm, he let out a curse that had Cole raising his eyebrows.
“Did you see the shooter?” Finn asked immediately.
“No,” Jamie answered. “But he was definitely behind me. Probably hiding in the woods somewhere.”
“Where were you, exactly? I need the precise location.” After Jamie relayed the information, Finn dialed a number on his phone and spoke to his deputies, who were apparently on their way.
He hung up, saying, “Max and Anna will comb the woods. They’ve got the forensic tech with them, so if there’s any trace evidence, he’ll find it.”
As Jamie had predicted, Finn didn’t even seem to notice her scantily-clad appearance. After a cursory glance at her bandage, he gave her a deep scowl. “Now I’m getting you out of here. No arguments, Jamie.”
Cole wasn’t surprised when she argued. “I’m not leaving.”
Finn just gaped. “This house is evidently not as safe as you insisted. You were just shot, damn it. Where was the damn security system?”
“The motion sensors only go off when someone reaches the edge of the yard,” Cole spoke up. “The shooter was obviously beyond the perimeter, somewhere in the woods.”
Finn turned to glare daggers at him, but spun around when Jamie held up a hand and said, “I thought of something.”
The sheriff’s expression displayed an irritated flicker. “What, that you should get the hell away from this man?”
“No,” she said, looking just as annoyed. “I had an idea about why Teresa might have been killed.”
Finn faltered. Cole could sense the other man still wanted to argue some more—it was probably what he did for fun—but Jamie’s revelation was too tempting for either man to ignore.
“Pour me a cup of coffee, Donovan,” Finn barked. Then he glanced at Jamie. “I’m listening…”
Cole bristled at the sheriff’s coffee demand, but at least the other man seemed willing to quit scowling at everyone and actually listen to Jamie. So, swallowing his pride, Cole moved to the counter and prepared coffee for a man he didn’t particularly like, pouring himself a cup too.
They gathered at the table a few moments later, and Jamie spoke with the pensive slant of her head. “Cole said something before you got here,” she told the sheriff, “about how it feels like the women in his life are targets.”
Finn’s face turned red, as the implication behind Jamie’s words settled in. Cole expected the man to explode at the thought of a romantic connection between Jamie and his main suspect, but Jamie hurried on, quickly diffusing the bomb before it went off. “It got me thinking about why. Why is someone coming after me? Since I got here, we haven’t come up with any new leads about who the killer might be.
“The killer has no reason to want me off the case,” she continued. “Especially considering we’ve got zilch for leads. Maybe if we were getting close, sure. But I can’t see this guy making a preemptive strike just in case I happened to figure it out. He’s too smart to stick his neck out like this, to risk getting blamed for trying to kill me. He got away with killing Teresa—I’d imagine he’d want to stay out of sight and hope he remains in the clear. Which makes me think we’ve got the motive all wrong.”
Cole was extremely intrigued. And quite fascinated by the way her brain worked. “What do you mean?”
“We’ve been assuming that Teresa was killed because she pissed someone off, because someone wanted to hurt her.” Jamie’s voice went grave. “But what if that person was trying to hurt you?”
“Me?” he said in surprise.
“Think about it. You’re a powerful businessman, I’m sure you’ve made some enemies over the years. Maybe the reason we can’t catch the man who killed your ex-wife is because he’s not connected to your ex-wife. Maybe he’s connected to you.”
Finn let out a reluctant-sounding breath. “You might be onto something, Crawford. Maybe someone’s trying to get at Donovan here.”
The object of the discussion shook his head. “That’s ridiculous. Teresa and I were divorced. Anyone who read the tabloids knew that killing her wouldn’t cause me much pain.”
“It would if you’re then implicated in her murder,” Jamie pointed out. “Your company’s already suffering because of it. Maybe that was what the killer intended.”
“Come on, Donovan,” Finn mocked. “I’m sure you stepped on some toes on your way to the top. You must have pissed a few people off.”