Damn it, she was right.
A part of him had always wondered how his judgment had failed him so completely when it came to his ex-wife. Teresa had revealed her true colors within months of their wedding. She’d let down the mask and the wife he’d adored had turned into a cruel, selfish monster who went out of her way to hurt him.
He’d spent many long nights thinking about how foolish he’d been, how blind. Teresa had sliced up his pride with a blade of spite and hatred. He’d vowed to never let another woman humiliate him like that again, and when Jamie had started asking all those questions…Christ, that same sting of humiliation returned, making him lash out.
He hadn’t understood Teresa’s true nature until it was too late and he still didn’t know how he hadn’t seen it. But he did know one thing, and that was that he’d totally blown it with Jamie back there.
The sound of vibrating snapped him back to reality, and he turned away from the door and fished his cell phone out of his pocket.
“Donovan,” he said briskly. At the greeting of the unfamiliar voice, he furrowed his brows. “Who? Oh, Pierre…hey, what’s up?”
He listened for several disturbing seconds, then said, “No, stay put. Let me call you back with instructions.”
Hanging up, he quickly punched in another number from memory, letting out a relieved breath when his private investigator answered on the first ring. “Hank, it’s Cole. I need you to drop what you’re doing and check something for me.”
Chapter 15
Well, you knew it couldn’t last.
With a noisy exhale, Jamie shoved the pessimistic thought out of her mind and took a sip of the coffee she’d just poured without waiting for it to cool. Maybe if the liquid scalded her throat she might be able to ignore her aching heart. She’d been sitting in Finn’s office for the past twenty minutes, lost in a private pity party.
She kept wondering if Cole was all right, if his lawyer was assuring him at this moment that there was no case against him, but then she realized it was none of her concern anymore. Cole didn’t want anything to do with her, all because she’d done her job and questioned him in that interrogation room. To make matters worse, her shoulder was beginning to throb again, now that the effects of the painkillers she’d taken earlier were wearing off.
“Want me to drive you to the B&B?”
She looked up to see Finn in the doorway. “I checked out, remember?” she said with a sigh. “And all of my stuff is at Cole’s.”
“I can pick it up for you, if you’d like. And you can come stay with me. I’ll even call the alarm company and have my system updated.”
She knew he was trying to help, but not even his gentle tone could ease the ache in her chest. “Sure, whatever you want,” she murmured.
“Jamie, I know you’re upset, but—”
He was interrupted by the hurried sound of footsteps, and then Max Patton, Finn’s second deputy, rushed up to the door. “Boss, a 911 call just came in.”
Finn’s shoulders went stiff. “What have we got, Max?”
“A body,” the younger man said, his features creased with tension. “The caller wouldn’t give his name, but he said he stumbled over a body in the woods behind Joe Gideon’s house.”
Jamie sucked in her breath. “Joe Gideon?”
Max nodded. “I’m not sure if Gideon was the caller, or if it’s his body the caller was referring to—the guy hung up before I could ask.”
Finn was already removing his car keys from his pocket. The gold sheriff’s badge clipped to the belt on his jeans glimmered as he turned for the door. Jamie got to her feet too, but Finn quickly gestured to the chair. “No, you stay here,” he ordered. “You’re still woozy from the painkillers, and I can’t have you getting hurt.”
She wanted to argue, but the brief rush of dizziness she experienced from standing abruptly told her that Finn was right. She was in no shape for a walk in the woods right now. “Call me when you know something?” she said instead, sinking back on the chair.
Finn nodded. “The second I know what we’re dealing with.”
Without another word, Finn and his deputy dashed out of the office, their footsteps thudding in the bullpen. A moment later they were gone, and Jamie sat in silence, reaching up to rub her suddenly throbbing temples. A body. Gideon?
Or what if…
Icy fear filled her veins. Gideon’s property was right next to Cole’s. What if something had happened to Cole?
Tamping down her panic, she drew in a calming breath and forced herself to stay put. She couldn’t go running off on her own. She didn’t have a vehicle, anyway. And Finn had said he’d call when he knew something. Which meant she had no choice but to sit in his office and wait for news.
Ten minutes passed, Finn still hadn’t called and Jamie’s worrying intensified. Whose body had they found, damn it?