Death and Her Devotion (Rogue Vows #1)(3)

“Vacationing. They came up here from Los Angeles to get away from it all,” said Stevie. “The other three guys all work for Chase, but they’ve been close friends for a long time. Spider, the guy out by the Hummer, is Chase’s brother.”

“Isn’t Chase Ryan originally from the Portland area?” Zane asked.

“Yes, all of them are. The four of them went to high school together, and according to Toby, Chase headed to Hollywood along with Josh. When he hit it big, he hired Toby and Spider and brought them south to join him.”

“Hired them to do what?” asked Kenny. “Where can I get a job like that?”

“It sounds like Josh is Chase’s manager, but I don’t know what the rest of the guys do,” said Stevie. “Is Hank on his way?” she asked Zane, referring to the medical examiner.

“He is. Shouldn’t be long. Get enough photos? See anything odd in the area?”

“I marked where I’ve searched,” said Stevie. “But we need to expand the area. I haven’t found anything besides pinecones and dirt.”

Zane crouched next to the body. “Who would do something like this?” He took a closer look at the belt around Chase’s neck and his swelling flesh bulging over the leather. There are three suspects to start with.

“I can’t believe it,” Kenny repeated for the tenth time. “That was one of my favorite shows. It was a police show done right, you know? Raw and gritty and realistic. They didn’t Hollywood up everything. Until they blew up his costar in the season finale.” He shook his head. “There’s no way she’s dead after five seasons of high ratings. I think they’re trying to pull one over on the audience.”

“Not now, Kenny,” Zane muttered.

“Morning, Chief.” Hank appeared with his medical examiner’s bag of tricks. “Haven’t seen you in a while.”

“No offense, but I like it that way,” stated Zane.

“That’s what everyone says.” Hank slid on his glasses, and his thick white mustache and beard twitched as he squatted next to the body. His shorts and sneakers gave Zane an image of Santa on vacation. “Got your pictures?”

Zane nodded, but gestured for Stevie to continue shooting as Hank did a quick examination of the body.

“Rigor isn’t fully set,” Hank mumbled. “I’ll get a temperature to narrow our window. When did anyone see him last?”

“I’ll ask,” Kenny volunteered, and headed toward Toby, Josh, and Ralph.

Zane looked away as Hank slid his thermometer into Chase’s liver. “I’ll leave the belt around his neck until I get him on a table,” Hank said as he moved to palpate the skull. “Hmmm. Feels like some swelling back here. Could he have hit his head in a fall?”

The three of them scanned the area for rocks. None.

“I’ll check it later,” Hank promised. “Hard to wrap a belt around someone’s neck and effectively choke them without some resistance from the victim. Usually the strangulation is secondary after a primary blow or being overpowered.” He checked the man’s hands and lower arms. “No defensive wounds.” With a quick pull, he removed the thermometer, and his lips moved silently as he did some quick subtraction. “I’d say he’s been dead roughly ten to six hours. That helpful for now? I’ll narrow it later.”

“So he died between ten last night and two in the morning,” said Zane.

“Roughly,” emphasized Hank.

“Sounds like Josh was the last one to see him, around midnight last night,” said Kenny, rejoining the group. “I’ll double-check with the guy waiting out by the Hummer . . . the bug guy . . .”

“Spider,” supplied Stevie.

“Yeah, him. I’ll ask if he saw him after that, but Toby and Josh don’t think he did.”

“That tightens our window a bit,” said Zane. “We need to get those guys separated and start asking questions.”

Stevie nodded. “I’m on it.”

Zane studied the dead TV star. The famous Detective Alex Gunn was dead.

Time for me to figure out who did it.





CHAPTER TWO


Stevie watched Josh Black’s hands shake as he accepted a cup of coffee from her. She noticed he simply held it, not drinking.

The man looked shell-shocked.

She’d driven him back to the station while Zane drove the other two men and young Brandon. Kenny had stayed behind to question some of the other campers. A few people had finally emerged from their tents and watched as the wagon from the morgue slowly made its way to the far end of the campground. By the time Stevie and Zane were ready to leave, the number of people had increased to more than twenty.

She’d pulled Ralph aside and ordered him not to talk about the death. Not the name of the victim or what he saw. “Lie,” she directed. “Tell them you were too nervous to get close and see a body. You can say he was from out of town and his friends are upset. No more than that.” He’d agreed, but she’d seen his chest puff up with importance as they walked past the spectators.

Please keep it quiet.

If word got out that the A-list actor had died in their tiny town, it’d become a zoo.

She had led Josh to the tiny conference room while Zane interviewed Toby. Spider and Brandon waited out by Sheila’s desk. The office manager had tried to get the boy to smile with a gigantic cinnamon roll from Nell’s. But Brandon had just stared at it, as if he wondered whether the plate-size roll was actual food. Spider had politely accepted it. Stevie had noticed that Spider’s eyes looked exactly like Chase Ryan’s, but other than that and the hair, which was the same color, the brothers were very different. Where Chase was Hollywood sexy, Spider was awkwardly tall and seemed uncertain how to coordinate his long limbs.