Sapphire Nights (Crystal Magic Book 1)(63)
“Uncle Kurt?” Kennedy asked Walker in shock, watching Sam walk away.
Walker shrugged. “I was raised to respect my elders. You probably ought to learn to talk to yours, as Sam said. She apparently thinks it isn’t her place to explain what the whole damned town keeps hidden, but she’s leaving you holes wide enough to drive a Cadillac through. And chances are very good, when you start digging deep enough, we’ll get closer to what happened to Juan.” Walker opened the door but gave Kurt a moment to gather his thoughts and follow up that statement.
“What happened to Juan? It wasn’t cougars?” Kurt shoved the door closed again.
“He was shot in the back at close range and dragged up the hill for the cougar to maul,” Walker told him. “The fire conveniently wiped out any evidence we didn’t collect earlier.”
“As well as the cats,” Kurt said, running his hand through his hair. “They’ll be on the other side of the mountain by now. Damn, Juan’s death was a tragedy, but this. . .” He shook his head as all the implications arose. “You’ll have this place covered in cops again. My mother just left for Hawaii.”
“Expect the sheriff’s team in the morning. They were waiting for the autopsy before coming out with a warrant, not that there’s much left to search now, unless he was shot inside. Maybe it’s a good thing your guests bailed.” Walker hauled the door open again and this time, he limped out after Sam.
He shouldn’t feel sympathy for the poor rich guy, but Kurt had lived too long in his protected bubble. Hillvale was about to rip it wide open. He didn’t want Sam caught up in the fight any more than she did.
She was waiting for him on the lodge porch, hugging herself as he’d seen her do earlier this evening. Walker wrapped his arm around her waist and led her toward his car. “Your place or mine?”
She threw him a haunted look. “If your place is a thousand miles from here, let’s go. Otherwise, mine will have to do.”
“Other than a room at the lodge and the apartment in Baskerville, I have a place in LA, but it will be tough to make it back to work tomorrow.” He helped her into his official vehicle and started the engine.
She snorted in what he hoped was humor. “There is that. So, do I stay here or move on?”
“Why don’t you hit me with that in the morning? Right now, I have better things on my mind.” Like the smoking hot woman he should be keeping his hands off of until she knew where she was going and how. He refused to believe Sam was as unbalanced as his late wife had been.
“On your mind, or elsewhere?” she asked with a laugh. “I’m all for mindless right now. Any more Hillvale and I’d have to pack the car and drive far, far away.”
“It’s intense at the moment, but the town is usually pretty laidback and friendly. There’s something to be said about you stirring the hornets, but it’s in the hornets’ nature to be stirred. You either let the bugs drive you out or you find cold water and douse them.” He steered through the quiet town, keeping his eyes open.
“Water,” she murmured, not offering explanation. “There could be something in that.”
“Water rights are complex out here,” he warned. “Whatever you’re thinking, don’t count on it.”
As they drove up Cemetery Road, Walker could see all the lights on in Cass’s place. Beside him, Sam tensed. “You need to see what’s happening?” he asked.
“I do—and I don’t.” She crossed her arms and rubbed her elbows. “How comfortable are you with one of them heading over as soon as we pull in the drive and go upstairs?”
“If you’re asking if I want to keep our sleeping together on the down low, it doesn’t matter to me. You’re not my case anymore, and Cass isn’t stupid. This comes down to how much you want the town to know about you.”
She slanted him a look that probably would have curled his toes if he wasn’t concentrating on the road.
“I like a man who makes a stand. Let’s go to my place and see if the Lucys are crazy enough to disturb us.” She unbuckled the instant he pulled up her drive.
She was as eager as he. Walker laughed softly. “We could hang a tie on the door.”
“Did that ever work for you?” She opened the door and climbed out before he could come around and get her. Her urgency excited his.
“The tie worked for me, when I bothered to use it.” He loped after her, ready to carry her up the stairs if that got them to bed any faster. “Mostly, I stuck a chair under the knob because the chicks got off on manly-man crap.”
“I have a feeling neither chair nor tie will work with Lucys.” She laughed in a low throaty voice that raised his pulse a few more notches.
The marmalade cat strolled out of the bushes to check them out.
“Even Emma doesn’t want to be near Cass tonight. Smart cat.” Walker enjoyed the sway of Sam’s hips under his hand as they followed the cat toward the stairs. It meowed and waited for them.
Sam’s haste abruptly halted at the foot of the stairs. “What’s this?” Giving evidence of the wariness she’d learned these last few days, she didn’t touch the object that had raised her curiosity.
Walker leaned around her, removed his flashlight, and turned on the beam. He relaxed and chuckled. “That’s one of Daisy’s sculptures. She calls them lamassu and I think they’re supposed to be protective spirits.”