Stone Cold Heart (Tracers #13)(36)

Sara surveyed the evidence boxes on the dresser. She had doubted anyone would have the audacity to break into her SUV while it was parked at the police station, but the motel was another story, so she’d hauled everything inside for safekeeping. She grabbed her camera and checked the memory card. Then she zipped some equipment into her backpack, tucked her room key into her pocket, and headed out.

It was almost dusk, which meant police and firefighters would be preoccupied with fireworks displays across the county. Sara drove with the windows down, eyeing the horizon. So far, the night sky was empty.

She turned onto the familiar road. Reaching the west gate of White Falls Park, she saw no sign of a patrol officer. She’d planned to sweet-talk her way in if necessary, but instead, she simply got out and unhooked the rusted chain.

Once inside the park, she followed a back route to the picnic spot where she’d parked her Explorer for most of the day. The lot was empty now, and she pulled into the shadows under an oak tree. No reason to attract attention. She got out, gathered her equipment, and started down the trail, using only a small penlight to illuminate her path.

The air smelled of dust and juniper. She took a deep breath, expanding her lungs, which seemed to be stubbornly holding on to the day’s tension. Murder cases got to her. Always. The effect was amplified this time by her emotional connection to the missing young woman, who—as Maisy had wisely noted—was most likely dead.

Sara wasn’t a pessimist, but she knew the odds.

And then there was Nolan. Sara felt an emotional connection to him, too, and she didn’t fully understand it. Two years ago, she’d broken her engagement and moved halfway around the world, shocking both herself and her family. Since then, she hadn’t looked back, at least not with regret. She also hadn’t given serious thought to dating again—hadn’t even been tempted—until she met Nolan.

Not that she wanted to date Nolan. She didn’t want to date anyone. But she was drawn to him. Unable to resist the magnetic pull she felt whenever she was alone with him.

Did he feel it, too? She was so out of practice she couldn’t tell. Sometimes it seemed like he did. Other times his interest seemed like an illusion, the result of her overtaxed brain and her vivid imagination conspiring to make her life complicated. She had a new job, a new home, a new life, and the very last thing she needed was to be distracted by a small-town cop who lived two hours away from her.

But what if they had a fling? Nothing serious—just a night or two together. The mere thought of it put a flutter in her stomach, which told her it was a bad idea. Unprofessional. How could she focus on doing her best work if she was distracted by sex with the lead investigator? It could get complicated, fast. She definitely shouldn’t go there. She was supposed to be working with him, not lusting after him, and it didn’t matter how well he filled out a pair of Levi’s.

Focus, Sara told herself as she reached the end of the trail. She dug through her backpack and traded her penlight for a larger flashlight. The creek bed stretched out before her, a weirdly lunar landscape under her bright beam. Once she felt oriented, she trekked across the rocks to the area where many of today’s bones had been discovered—the pelvis, the femur, the ulna. Sara pulled on some orange-tinted glasses and switched the flashlight to ultraviolet. Slowly, carefully, she scanned the creek bed, tracing her beam over the rocks. Something caught her eye near a mesquite tree. Sara walked to it and knelt down for a closer look.

“Find anything?”

She jumped and turned around.





CHAPTER 11


“God, don’t do that.” She stood up as Nolan walked over. “You scared the hell out of me. What are you doing here?”

He stopped and gazed down at her, hands on hips. Even in the dimness, she could see he wasn’t happy. “Thought I’d ask you the same thing.”

“Searching for evidence.”

“In the dark?”

“Some things fluoresce under alternative light sources—clothing dyes, footwear, sometimes even human teeth. You’d be surprised what you can find at night.”

Nolan stared down at her, and she tried to regain her composure. She didn’t like feeling rattled.

“What?” She turned and swept her flashlight beam around.

“It ever occur to you to avoid skulking around alone at night in a place where someone’s been dumping bodies?”

She stopped and looked at him. “You want to help, or did you come down here to impede my investigation?”

“Our investigation. Give me a job.”

She combed through her backpack and found another pair of tinted glasses. “Put these on. I don’t have another UV light, but you can follow my lead.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

His fingers brushed hers as he took the glasses, and she felt a warm tingle. Ignoring it, she turned and swept her flashlight over some large rocks at the side of the creek bed. Returning to what had caught her eye, she realized it was only a candy wrapper.

“How’d you know I was out here?” she asked.

“I was making a loop through the park and saw your car.”

“You guys patrol the park?”

“Lately we do.”

“Good.”

Sara took slow, careful steps along the side of the creek bed. Peaches had alerted on several bones right in this spot, so she was hopeful.