On Her Father's Grave (Rogue River #1)(4)

Zane met Stevie’s gaze. “He said he wasn’t getting any younger and wanted to enjoy what he had left of his life. I don’t think he realized what being chief entailed.”

A direct brown gaze weighed his words. “I’ll call him later,” Stevie stated.

Does she think she can get a better answer?

“Why are you here so early? I imagine you didn’t get much sleep,” Zane asked. He studied her face. Apart from some redness around the eyes, she looked ready to run a marathon.

“I slept. I wanted to see where we were at with those interviews from last night. Every time I closed my eyes, I dreamed I was interviewing a soaking-wet teenager. I’m not sure which conversations were real and which were only in my dreams.”

“I’ve read through your notes. Roy handed them off to me before he went home to sleep. I don’t expect to hear from the medical examiner until late this morning.”

Stevie glanced around his cramped office. “Nothing’s changed in here in fifteen years. I assume we don’t have any sort of lab?”

Zane tried not to smile. “Nothing except some simple tests and most of those you’ll find in the trunk of your squad car. We send everything out to the county or the state lab when we need to. But frankly, there isn’t even a lot of that. I’m afraid you’ll find the pace here a little slower than LA.”

Her chin tilted up. “I know how it is here. That’s why I accepted the position. I’m more than happy to exchange the rat race for some drunken redneck beer brawls.”

“You’ll get your share each weekend.” He frowned slightly, studying her build. Would she be able to hold her own with the local drunks?

Her lips twisted as she read his mind. “I can handle it,” she said with calm assurance.

He waited, expecting her to describe some past experiences to prove her strength, but she simply tilted her head to one side, a small expression of bemusement on her face.

If she were a man, would I expect him to describe his feats of strength?

Hell, no.

She’d been LAPD. She’d earned the right to wear a badge in backwoods Solitude.

He shuffled through the reports, looking for one that’d caught his eye earlier. “You talked to Grace Ellis, the girlfriend? She said she and Hunter had an argument?”

Stevie pulled a small notebook out of her pocket, nodding. She flipped through the pages for a few seconds and silently reread her notes. “Grace said he’d been a jerk when she got to the lake. There hadn’t been room for her to ride to the lake with his friends, so she’d had to arrange her own way. Then when she’d arrived, he’d ignored her, so she stuck with her group of girlfriends. She said he’d been hanging around with a few other guys most of the evening, and she hadn’t really watched what he’d been up to.” Stevie paused and looked up at Zane. “Here’s where I don’t quite believe her. If she’s already upset that she’s being ignored, you can bet she’s watching every move of his with an eagle eye to see if he’s flirting with another girl.”

“So she didn’t see anything to make her believe another girl was involved?”

“Right. And we can be pretty certain if anyone saw what Hunter did last night, it was Grace. He might have been in a ‘hanging with the guys’ mood. Which in her mind is a best-case scenario.” She looked back at her notes. “She says she saw him with a Coors Light and some sodas. No cigarettes. She did say he seemed a bit drunk because she saw him stumble and trip a few times later in the evening. And she didn’t see anyone smoking or taking anything illegal.”

“Believe her?” Zane asked. He had no idea of the workings of a teenage girl’s mind.

Stevie shrugged. “Let’s see what the ME comes back with before we ask her more questions. I assume no one else said they saw anything illegal going on?”

“Damn right,” answered Zane, scowling at his stack of paper. “And no one saw Hunter get hit or hit his own head and fall.”

“Of course not.” Stevie sighed. “?‘I saw nothin’.’ I’ve heard that line more times than I can count.”

Zane nodded. “I see a few of the other interviews say about the same as Grace. That Hunter did seem buzzed and off-balance. But not puking or falling like he was too drunk. Looks like Roy issued a half-dozen minor-in-possession citations last night. That’s going to make the parents happy.”

Stevie smiled. “That definitely hasn’t changed since I grew up here.”

“Did you go out to O’Rourke’s when you were a teen?” Zane asked, trying to picture a younger Stevie with a Silver Bullet in one hand, riding on the lake’s rope swing.

“Every chance I got.” A wide smile crossed her face, a ghost of a wild teen peeking out from her dark eyes. Zane wished he could compare the younger girl with the smartly dressed cop in front of him. She’d put on the navy blue uniform they all wore, but she made it look good. Zane always felt like a stiff piece of cardboard in his.

Her eyes twinkled. “My parents—”

“I’m gonna call my lawyer, you *! You got no rights!” shouted a male from the front of the station.

Zane lunged to his feet and followed Stevie, who was already halfway down the hall. More shouts and sounds of scuffling met his ears. He stepped into the main room in time to see Kenny yank up on Ted Warner’s cuffed hands behind his back, forcing the man to bend and lunge forward, banging his head on Sheila’s desk.