her forearm, whipping around and smack up against him. “How about you finally let me take you out, then? I promise it will be a night you won’t forget.” Ethan grinned with pride and an ego the size of Canada thinking there was no way she would deny him. Well, at least not again.
“I’m sorry, Ethan, I am not going out with you. I don’t date anyone from work. For that matter, I don’t have time for any man, nor do I want to make time.” Sydney tried to contain her panic and fury; after all, she did have to work with him, but if he did not take his sweaty mitt off her in about two seconds, she was going to have a come apart and he would be picking his Gigantor ass up off the ground. Pulling her arm from his grip, he let her arm slide free.
“Too bad for you, I would be the best you ever had.” A sly and cocky grin crept onto his face as he turned and headed down the hallway and out the back door.
Heading down the hall in the opposite direction, Sydney passed through the front office, said goodnight to the secretary who stayed until six, and wished her a good evening while trying her hardest to look composed while she hurried out the door and to her truck, a 1995 Ford her and her dad had spent countless hours rebuilding and fixing up for her. It was her first truck and was supposed to get her through high school, except she loved it so much there was no way on God’s green earth she would give it up for anything. It was nothing fancy, but with a cherry-red paint job, booming stereo, and four-wheel drive, it was all she needed. Climbing in quickly, she locked her doors as soon as she got her butt in the seat and the door closed. Even though Helena wasn’t huge, it was bigger than she liked and with a lot more traffic; she couldn’t wait to get out of the city and back home to her cabin. As she pulled out of her parking spot and into the thick of it, Sydney screamed at the top of her lungs, with anger and fear. “Why do I let pigs like that bother me?”
Cranking up the radio, she tried to lose herself in the music. She’d had a pretty good day up until that very last minute; she needed to let it go. Letting a couple minutes of shit out of a good day ruin the entire thing was not how she was raised, and she would be damned if she let him have that much control.
After making her way through the city and up and over MacDonald pass, she let the mountains and countryside start to take away her anger. Turning up the mountain road that led to her cabin, she had cooled down some and couldn’t wait to see her pup, who always had a way of making her feel better. As her cabin came into view, there stood Nikita wagging her tail hard enough her entire body wiggled. “Yup, that’s what I needed.” Sydney smiled to herself. “Well, that and a good run.”
Getting out of the truck, Sydney laid her purse and lunch bag on the hood so she could give Nikita ample attention. “There’s my baby. Did you have a good day? I missed you. You get to come with me today! You think you’re up for a nice long run? It’s going to be a long one today, Mom’s in need of some rejuvenation.” Sydney knew she probably sounded strange to others, but Nikita was the best to talk to. She always listened and never judged. “I’ll take this stuff in and change, then I’m ready.” Ten minutes later, they were on the front porch and ready to hit the dirt running. “Come on, Nik! Let’s do this.” Both of them bounded off the step and down the mountain road. This was definitely what she needed.
Chapter 3
“Nothing. That is what we have. It has been four days and absolutely nothing. Even trying to contact next of kin was a bust. No one in their contact list seemed to know who we were talking about, that is if anyone answered at all. The only people who seemed to know who they were, were the neighbors and their bosses. Then there’s also the fact that nobody saw or heard a damn thing. There were no strange cars or people. Whomever did this must have been a ghost, or a stealthy little ninja. When I spoke to their employers, they had both said about the same thing. They showed up for work on time, hardly called in sick, and were decent workers. Neither of them sounded overly ambitious, but did their jobs well enough.” Cody grumbled to his partner. “Mrs. Gray worked as a clerk down at the grocery store on Fifth and Main. Her shift was nine to three Tuesday through Saturday. Mr. Gray worked as a mechanic downtown eight to four Monday through Friday.”
“You did go back and talk to all the neighbors again, including Miss Feldberg, right?” Cody continued, hardly taking a breath.
“Yeah, sure did, and you are right on the nose there. We have squat, except next time you get Miss Feldberg. I could hardly get out of there, she’s a talker. Unfortunately, everything she needed to say had nothing to do with this case, but I am pretty sure she would have done her own strip search if I had allowed it. Not that it would have mattered. The damn woman was undressing me with her eyes the whole time I was there.” Dustin tried to complain, but his face told a different story.
Cody didn’t bother holding back his amusement as he chuckled and taunted Dustin. “As fifty shades of red as your face is, I’m thinking she was really going more for a shade of gray. Maybe you could let her make good use of those handcuffs, break them in for you.”
“She’s not getting anywhere near my handcuffs or any other part of me.”
“Oh, come on, Andrews, let yourself have a little fun. She could probably teach you a thing or two.”
“I’m perfectly fine in my little sheltered love life. I have work and a good woman at home. That is all I need. Besides, you are not one to talk. When was the last time you went on a date?”
“You know, I can’t really remember. I do remember it was a blind date set up by my sister and her husband, and it turned out awful. She never shut up and pretty much only talked about herself. I don’t think I have ever met someone so high on themselves. I am perfectly content in my life with work as my mistress. Now, in your case, you are almost thirty and probably need to start looking for a good woman. I don’t think your dog counts. Although she will be more loyal than any woman you can find and won’t nag at you all the time. On second thought, I think you’re probably on to something. Let’s head back over to the crime scene. I want to take another look. We had to have missed something,” Cody blurted out in a quick subject change as he threw on his jacket.
“Trying to follow your thought process is like trying to herd cats,” Dustin mused. “You almost think you have it under control, and then all the little buggers split and dart.”
“I know, keeps people on their toes. I wouldn’t want anyone getting bored.”
As they made their way across town to the crime scene, Cody couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off with this case. There had to be something left behind. He couldn’t believe anyone could be that big of a neat freak. Even his father, who had been extremely anal about the house and all of his things being kept clean and maintained, didn’t hold a candle to this house. The more he thought about it, the more the house seemed like a spec home that nobody lived in. He also couldn’t figure out why the door was left wide open. Someone who was that careful to leave no evidence behind would surely shut the damn door when he left so as not to arouse suspicion.
As they pulled up and stopped in front of Mr. and Mrs. Gray’s house, Cody asked, “How old do you think this house is? It looks like it could be about a hundred. I mean, very well kept, but it must be one of the few original structures left. I think we should pull the records on it when we get done here.” Cody looked at Dustin only to find he was looking at Cody like he thought he should pack his shit and head to the loony bin.
“I don’t know why yet, but something tells me we need to know the history on this house,” Cody explained to his partner.
“Whatever you say. You are lead detective on this case.” Dustin grinned as he climbed out of the car and headed for the crime scene. “Have you heard back from forensics on the bullets
