No. That was silly. That was wrong. That was impossible.
That made absolutely no difference to her traitorous desires.
She scowled from inside her hood, her frustration levels rising in more ways than one. “Listen, Mr. Hunter. I’ve still not narrowed my search down to one prime suspect, which means you are still very much on my list.”
“Caine,” he said, his broad shoulders hunched beneath his thick cashmere coat. A brown knit skullcap was pulled down over his ears, and he still looked ridiculously handsome, darn it.
“Excuse me?” DeeDee couldn’t stop herself from inching closer to his body heat. It was basically survival in these brutal elements. At least that was the excuse she was going with, anyway. Come to think of it, maybe finding out Caine Hunter was the killer wouldn’t be so bad after all. Perhaps that would cure this unwelcome, unruly, untamable attraction she had for him.
“After all that’s happened, I think you can call me by my first name, don’t you?”
Well, crap.
If she called him by his first name, then manners demanded she allow him to keep using hers too. “Fine. Caine. Why don’t you tell me why you’re here tonight? Seems odd you’d show up right after me to this motel.”
He didn’t answer right away, his amber gaze flicking her lips. “It’s a free country, DeeDee.”
More stupid tingles flared inside her when her name rolled off his lips again, sweet and slow, like pure honey. Her knees quaked from the sheer force. No, no, no. This wasn’t happening. She had a case to solve, a murder to investigate. DeeDee squeezed her eyes shut and forced her thoughts back to the task at hand. Levi Harding had mentioned Tucker messing around with another blonde. Could it have been Caine’s sister, Carletta? If she’d somehow gotten messed up in this, that would explain why Caine was hanging around down here on the wrong side of Silver Hollow. She started to ask him, only to find him so close now she could see the tiny flecks of green in his gorgeous amber eyes.
Time to go.
“I need to get out of here,” DeeDee said, rushing to her squad car. “I suggest you do the same, Mr. Hunter, before I start to think there’s more reason for your presence than just tampering with evidence.”
She started her engine and took off before Caine could stop her.
CHAPTER 15
W ell past her usual quitting time, DeeDee headed home. She was tired. Exhausted. She slogged inside her house and checked her answering machine as she tugged off her thick outerwear.
Still no message from her dad. Her shoulders slumped farther.
One clue. That was all she wanted. Just one small clue as to the identity of the man she was supposed to marry. As if the uncertainty weren’t bad enough, now she was developing all these crazy feelings for the last man she should ever want—Caine Hunter.
She changed into her comfy PJ’s, washed her face, then made herself soup for dinner before settling back into her favorite chair by the fire and getting online to research mistletoe. She’d had no luck finding any of the other things Ursula thought might have contributed to Tucker Rockwood’s poisoning, like the rat poison or the fertilizer, so she decided to focus on her least favorite plant instead.
Besides, the killer could’ve already gotten rid of the other things, but with it being the holiday season, they’d leave the mistletoe around, in plain sight, and no one would think twice. Raine Quinn had mentioned a species that might not affect DeeDee’s allergies as much. Was there also a species that was more potent? One that would make a lethal poison?
Who knew there were so many varieties? And who knew that mistletoe was a parasitic plant that grew on other trees? And who knew there was one variety whose leaves were a little slimmer that was more toxic than the others? DeeDee committed the picture of that variety to memory. Had she seen it somewhere during the investigation? She wasn't sure.
Once she’d done her research, she logged into the sheriff’s department portal and ran her own background checks on both Caine and his sister, Carletta. Not that she didn’t trust what Dex had told her, but she wanted to make sure all her bases were covered. Old habits died hard.
Unfortunately, he’d been right. Neither check showed anything significant, and both looked odd. There was something off about each of them, and she had to wonder once more exactly what Caine Hunter was hiding. Perhaps she’d been right to be suspicious about his sister and he was covering for her.
Tomorrow, she planned to go back to the movie set to talk to the actress Levi Harding said he was involved with to verify her story. She also needed to talk to Gina Presti too. The fact Levi had mentioned seeing her that night, along with Laura Rockwood fighting with her at the yoga studio during the time that Tucker’s body was moved, seemed more than enough to eliminate her as a suspect, but perhaps Gina had seen something that might help lead DeeDee to the real killer.
The more complicated this case became, the more her old fears and anxieties rose. Now, more than ever, she needed to stay vigilant, needed to cover all her bases, needed to not screw up anything even one bit, or risk the whole case falling apart before her very eyes.
Just like what had happened to poor Paige…
DeeDee finished typing up her report on the interview with Levi Harding then clicked Enter to put it into the system so Owen could see it first thing in the morning.
Her computer dinged, signaling a new incoming message, and kept her from being sucked under by the riptide of painful memories now swamping her mind. DeeDee shook them off and clicked the Messenger icon at the bottom of her screen, exhaled, and smiled.
Threads99 to the rescue again.
She closed the law enforcement portal and switched over to the embroidery chat room. As she typed, DeeDee reached down and grabbed her appaloosa work in progress and took another picture to send to Threads.
“Looking good,” her online friend messaged back. “Hey, what’s the best way to stitch stamens on an orchid?”
Smile widening, DeeDee typed in her response. If only real life could be as simple as this online reality, where embroidery and making cross-stitch and French knots were all she had to worry about.
CHAPTER 16
T he next morning, DeeDee walked into the office to find Owen dressed in another of his loud Hawaiian shirts and a pair of board shorts. The shirt she expected. The shorts? Not so much. Especially considering it was only twenty degrees outside. She hazarded a glance at Dex, who looked away from her fast, hiding a grin.
“Going on vacation, boss?” she said, hanging up her heavy work coat on the rack in the corner. “Hate to tell you, but the lake’s frozen solid until spring. That means no paddle boarding, water skiing, or wake surfing.”
“Nah,” Owen said good-naturedly. “Got cabin fever is all, Deputy. Now that you’re both here, I can hand out today’s assignments. DeeDee, I’ve got you interviewing that actress, Gina Presti, on the film set. Good job on the interview last night, by the way. And Dex, you can go with her and speak with the other gal Levi Harding said he was seeing, find out if she corroborates his alibi. Got it?”
“Yep,” they both said in unison.
Walking out together, she and Dex both stopped short at the sight of Stan in the evidence room, whistling to himself as he rearranged boxes. DeeDee raised a brow at Dex then shook her head before continuing out to the parking lot.
“I can drive if you want,” she said.
“Sure.” Dex climbed into the passenger side of the squad car while DeeDee got behind the wheel. She started the engine and cranked the heat, and they took off.
“What do you think’s up with Stan?” Dex asked.
“Ursula. That’s what’s up. Did you see his neck yesterday?”
“No.”
“He had two puncture marks on the side.” DeeDee pointed to her own neck, right near her jugular. “My guess is he’s under her thrall. Remember that day we went to the morgue and he seemed infatuated with her? Well, looks like she feels the same for him. Now that she’s bitten him, he’ll stay in his tran
ce-like state indefinitely. I, for one, couldn’t be happier.”
“It is a lot nicer this way,” Dex said, settling into his seat.
They arrived at the movie set a short while later, and DeeDee headed for the dressing rooms inside the mansion while Dex went in search of the actress involved with Levi Harding. Given the dilapidated condition of the rest of the mansion, the dressing room was nice enough, she supposed. Gina had her own little table set up off to one side, and a mirror. Makeup was set out neatly on the tabletop, including several tubes of lipstick. None of them, however, matched the shade of coral from the napkin found at Rockwood’s house.
Gina walked in moments later and shook DeeDee’s hand. “You must be from the sheriff’s office. I’m Gina Presti.”
“Nice to meet you, ma’am. I’m Deputy Clawson. I’d like to ask you a few questions if you have time.”
“Sure. I’m not on call for another half hour.” She took a seat on the small stool in front of her table. “What would you like to know?”
“Were you seeing Tucker Rockwood behind his wife’s back?”
The actress blanched, her expression pained. “Wow. You don’t waste any time, do you, Deputy?”
“Sorry. But I need a yes-or-no answer, ma’am.”
“Yes,” Gina said. “But you must understand. Poor Tucker was trapped in that loveless marriage, and his wife, Laura, was such a cold fish.” Gina sniffed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she killed him.”
“We’ve already investigated that angle, ma’am. Laura Rockwood’s alibi was that the two of you were at the local yoga studio at the time of her husband’s death. That is where you were on Tuesday night, correct?”
Gina sighed and looked away, her posture sagging. “Yes. Regrettably. I still find it hard to believe Laura didn’t have something to do with Tucker’s death, though. If anyone had motive to kill him, it was her.”
DeeDee pulled out her notebook and jotted down Gina’s comments then moved on. “What were you doing prior to arriving at the yoga class and directly after the class ended?”
“I was here on set, in my trailer on RV alley.”
“RV alley?”
“Yes, it’s a whole row of RVs set up on the perimeter of the movie set for the actors and actresses to live in while they’re filming.”
“Can anyone else verify your whereabouts?”
“Well, I suppose Johnny could.”
“Who’s Johnny?” DeeDee frowned.
“Johnny Johnson, the assistant director. He came to give me the dailies from the footage we’d shot on Monday around five on Tuesday morning.” Gina shrugged. “These small acting gigs don’t pay a lot, so I make some extra money by helping upload footage for the editors and making sure everything’s recorded properly.”
A man’s voice bellowed from outside the dressing room door, yelling for fireworks from the pyrotechnic experts for an important scene. DeeDee glanced from the door to Gina. “Who’s that?”
“That’s Johnny.”
DeeDee scowled, her extra-sensitive werewolf hearing still ringing from the noise. “Does he always yell?”
“Unfortunately, yes.” Gina gave her an apologetic smile.
“Did he and Tucker Rockwood ever fight?”
“Oh yeah. All the time. Tucker was a prima donna. Especially lately because he thought he should get paid more,” Gina said. “It got so bad, he even refused to film some scenes.”
“Huh.” DeeDee made more notes. “Would that anger Johnson enough to kill him?”
“Johnny? A killer? No way.” Costume maven Sheila fluttered in with a gown for Gina and butted into their conversation. “For all his bluster, the guy’s a wimp. Wouldn’t hurt a flea. Besides, if anything, Tucker Rockwood’s death has been good for business.”
“I’m sorry?” DeeDee asked, confused. “How is that possible?”
“Like this.” Shelia pulled out her phone and showed her the movie’s Facebook page. “Look at the number of hits we’ve gotten since Tucker’s death. It’s at least triple what it was before. Way more people are interested in the movie now because of his death.”
“But won’t the film get cancelled with the leading star gone?” If she lived to be a thousand, DeeDee would never understand show business. “They can’t finish without Tucker, right?”
“Wrong.” Sheila clicked off her phone and grinned. “Caine Hunter had already planned to cut some of Rockwood’s scenes once he’d started making a fuss. Plus, we filmed many of the key scenes out of sequence, so Tucker already had those done. I’d guess Caine and Johnny will just find a way to shoot around him, or maybe use a body double.” Sheila winked. “So yeah. Even though poor old Tucker Rockwood’s gone, the show must go on, right?”
CHAPTER 17
By the time she’d finished her interview with Gina, DeeDee’s head was pounding, and her ears still hurt. She walked outside and stood on the porch, appreciating for once the cold slap of wind on her face. Her list of suspects grew shorter and shorter by the day.
Which was good.
Except the one person she most wanted to cross off her list was still on there.
Caine Hunter.
As much as she hated to talk to him again, she didn’t have much choice. Especially after what Sheila had told her. The fact Caine had worked around the possibility of Tucker’s disappearance was a little too convenient for her taste.
Dex was still interviewing Harding’s love interest, so she interrupted long enough to let him know she was running over to the Hunter estate again to ask the director a few questions.
“I’ll be back in about an hour to pick you up, buddy.”
He nodded.
Driving usually relaxed her, but all the way back to Caine’s majestic estate, DeeDee couldn’t seem to shake the coiling tension inside her. She seriously had to get over this thing she had for the sexy director. Most likely, Caine Hunter knew exactly the effect he had on her and was using it to keep her distracted and throw her off the scent of the real killer.
Gripping the wheel tightly, she growled. That was unacceptable.
Her attraction to him had clouded her judgment. It was time to put a stop to it before her case was compromised. In truth, Caine had access to the props, he had secrets in his background, and he had motive. The only thing he didn’t have was the rat poison, at least that DeeDee had found.
Yet.
She buzzed in at the gate to Caine’s home and spoke to uppity Jarvis again. Then she sped to the house and jammed the cruiser into park.
It was time to face this whole mess head on and get past it once and for all.
Jarvis bowed as he answered the front door, and DeeDee charged past him without waiting for his invitation this time. “I need to speak with Mr. Hunter immediately.”
Caine walked into the foyer from the great room, looking both surprised and amused. “What are you doing here, DeeDee?”
“That’s Deputy Clawson to you. Where were you Tuesday around four a.m.?”
His smile faltered. “I was here, at home. My sister and Jarvis can verify my whereabouts.”
“Right.” She crossed her arms. “Do you have any other way of proving it?”
“Do I need one?” Caine mimicked her defensive posture and frowned. “What happened to a person being innocent until proven guilty?”
DeeDee’s gut instincts went on high alert. Spoken like a man who has something to hide. “Did you know advanced ticket sales for your film increased since Tucker’s death? And hits to your social media accounts have skyrocketed. Is that why you did it? Kill Rockwood to create buzz for your movie and make more money?”
“Whoa.” Caine held up his hands and backed away. “I didn’t kill anybody. That’s crazy. I told you, Tucker’s death didn’t help me at all. Not in the long run, because now I won’t have him to star in the sequel.”
A sneeze tickled DeeDee’s nose, and her arms started to itch. She looked up to see a sprig of mistletoe hung in the doorway above Caine’s head. It wasn�
�t exactly the same species Raine had told her about, but it was close enough. Gaze narrowed, DeeDee stalked over to him. “Do you have rat poison on the premises?”
“I don’t know. I don’t handle that stuff.” Caine frowned. “Why?”
She strode through the gorgeous great room and into the sparkling kitchen, stopping before the locked door and pointing at it. “What’s in here?”
Caine trailed behind her, his expression guarded. “Nothing you need to see.”
“Is that so?” Anger bubbled hot in her bloodstream. He was so pompous, so self-righteous, so…so… Argh. “I can come back with a warrant if you want to do this the hard way.”
Grumbling under his breath, Caine pulled a key from the drawer beside him then handed it to her. DeeDee snatched it from his fingers.
“Wait!” Caine said as the lock clicked open.
But she was through with waiting. She yanked the door open and stuck her head inside. It turned out the door led to another, smaller room. Stunned, DeeDee walked into the sunny space, staring all around, unable to believe what she saw. A sewing table, complete with an array of fine threads and muslins. A half-finished embroidery piece on a large hoop stand. Walls lined with framed needlework pieces, many of them familiar. Familiar because they were the same ones she’d seen at night on her laptop, when she’d exchanged photos with…
She turned, feeling slightly light-headed as she stared at Caine. “These… I know this work. Is it Carletta?”
Caine looked at the floor, his cheeks turning crimson. “Not exactly.”
DeeDee frowned. “What do you mean ‘not exactly’? This work is beautiful. Why would she be embarrassed…”
Caine grinned sheepishly.
“It’s not her work, is it?”
Caine shook his head.
“You’re Threads99?”
Caine’s brows rose in surprise. “I am. But how did you know?”
“Because I’m Stitches.” Heat flared from her cheeks, and her knees felt weak, and if she didn’t get out of that room right now, DeeDee thought she might pass out. She shoved past Caine into the kitchen and clutched onto the granite island to stay upright. “I can’t believe this.”
Cry Wolf (Silver Hollow Paranormal Cozy Mystery Series Book 4) Page 9