Limbs broke beneath their feet as they scrambled over fallen trees to approach the clearing. Nearly half an acre had been stripped of trees and foliage, a brown wasteland in the midst of high stands of pines. Stumps rose from the stripped ground, and wide gouges in the earth indicated the recent presence of heavy machinery. Machinery that was nowhere in sight.
Motioning Kell behind him, Luke removed his gun, senses on high alert. They crept toward the building in silence, aware of every rustling leaf. As they neared the building, he waved Kell into a spot behind a jagged tree stump. Alone, he advanced slowly to the front door, bent low beneath the visibility of the window. A padlock secured the metal shut. He peered inside the dim interior through the lightly frosted glass. Luke crept around the side, eyes cutting the area for movement. The circuit of the building revealed a tank and a small generator, but little else. The building itself was little more than a glorified shed. Four walls and two windows that overlooked the path they’d taken to reach the building, and an exit he found as he came around the rear.
Once he’d assured himself the building was unoccupied, he returned for Kell. “Both doors have been padlocked. Windows are made of fiberglass.” Lawful entry required a pair of bolt cutters and a search warrant. He explained as much to Kell.
“Do we have to go back?” She worked hard to temper her impatience. Judge Majors was unlikely to grant another warrant or take any further special measures during her weekend, and Kell understood why Luke would be loathe to ask. “I guess we can wait until Monday.”
“I didn’t say that. Wait here.” He disappeared down the path and returned with an oversized pair of pliers. He situated the cutters and the lock gave way. He removed the ruined lock and made short work of the doorknob with a violent kick. “Let’s take a look.”
Stray particles drifted inside the building, but the interior was unexpectedly pristine, if stuffy with a strange odor. A floor had been laid with cement that echoed dully beneath their feet. Silver tables lined the walls, loaded with vials and machinery. The wall Tony mentioned cut into the rear of the space, creating a cubicle. Luke pressed a pair of latex gloves that he’d stored in his pocket into her hand.
Kell snapped the gloves into place while she counted nearly a half dozen workstations similarly outfitted, each posted with a metal stool. “This looks like a lab.”
“Yep. There’s a waterline that connects to a tank behind the building.” He pointed a gloved finger up to the low roof. “Forced ventilation. Explains the smell.”
Luke crossed the room to a table near the exit. On the surface, a sticky glob clung to the surface. He leaned down to sniff. The pungent scent hadn’t dissipated in the stuffy space. “This is what I smelled on Clay’s hand.”
Kell hurried to join him. “Smells like pine trees and alcohol.” She gestured to the station she’d been examining. “That one has a different odor. Less sharp than pine, but with the same goo on the table and in the vials.”
“A laboratory set up in the middle of a forest.” Luke removed his phone, aiming the camera at each table. He snapped several photos from each angle. “The county hasn’t authorized a logging operation out here, and this doesn’t resemble any drug lab I’ve ever busted.”
“I’m not sure this is a logging operation.” She pointed out the back window to the heavily grooved landscape. “That looks more like clear-cutting than a harvest operation.”
Luke raised a speculative brow, and she explained, “One of my clients was a timber farmer.”
“Timber farmer?”
Prowling the room, she corrected, “Actually, he strip-mined thousands of acres in Washington State. Timber farming was a sideline.” She squatted beneath one of the tables, checking the underside for any hint of ownership.
Luke took the other side of the room and began crawling along the floor. The building’s construction was solid, if shabby. No air escaped between the floor and lower wall. Metal sheeting on the outside had been reinforced with more concrete inside. “Why did a timber baron hire you?”
“Allegedly, he killed his partner for trying to embezzle a share of the profits.” She frowned thoughtfully as she checked for marks on the vials. “Police had him cold, since he had possession of two of the victim’s fingers.”
“And you got an acquittal?”
“Mistrial. The judge neglected to mention a substantial investment in one of his ventures. Lost his house and his wife in the bankruptcy.”
Luke shrugged, deciding to keep his opinion to himself. He lithely gained his feet, brushed at his dusty knees. “So we have an abandoned building with a miniature chem lab set up in the middle of the woods. What the hell is going on here?”
“If I had to guess, I’d say that someone is experimenting with tree resin.”
“Thanks, Sherlock.”
Kell didn’t take offense. “Middle Georgia has a fairly diverse array of tree species,” she offered in explanation. She wandered into the cubicle, but found nothing more incriminating than a pencil lodged beneath a worktable in the area. Lifting the pencil, she carried it out by the eraser to Luke. “When we were in high school, the science teacher was cute. I paid attention.”
He slipped the pencil into an evidence bag he’d brought inside. Perhaps the user had chewed on the pencil and left behind DNA. “What did you learn?”
“That resin is the tree’s natural defense. Functions as the immune system.” She tipped up a black unit outfitted with knobs and dials. Other than a production label, there was no hint of its utility. “But it has limited use for humans, other than for eco-friendly products.”
“Whoever slashed through those trees out there isn’t a friend of the environment.”
“Agreed.” Kell made a final circuit, finding nothing. “I need to do some research on this area and the trees in this forest. Any one who would go to the trouble of hiding this thinks it’s worth the cost.”
“And perhaps worth killing for.”
CHAPTER 26
Outside, slate gray clouds dimmed the endless sunlight. As they picked their way across the clearing, a fat drop landed on Kell’s nose, followed quickly by a steady torrent that chased them to the shelter of the truck.
Luke boosted her into the dry interior, water sleeting in a summer shower. He ran around the bonnet to climb inside, his T-shirt plastered to his chest. With quick motions, he started the truck and fired the heater.
“You okay over there?” he asked, scrubbing at the rain on his face using the bottom of his shirt.
“Hmm, hmm.” Kell murmured, captivated. Hardened muscle rippled across his exposed skin, flattening into an abdomen that stuttered her pulse. Rain glistened on firmly molded arms, beaded on closely cropped hair and luxurious eyelashes that enhanced masculinity rather than weakened it. Abruptly, she became aware of the ebony eyes watching her appraisal.
A slow grin curved the chiseled mouth, throwing the planes of his face into beautiful relief. “Come here.”
“Why?”
He held out his hand, palm upward. The low, gravelly voice with its sensual drawl repeated the summons. “Come here, Kell.”
Mind blank, heartbeat racing, she made one last effort at fending off the inevitable. “This will only drag you in deeper.”
“I’ve already gone under.”
Knowing her choice was made, she slid across the leather bench, laced her fingers with his. “I want you. Terribly.”
Luke slipped his hand beneath the wet fall of hair, raked his fingers through the strands. Carefully, he drew his thumb across her brow, along the high line of her cheek. At her mouth, he brushed at droplets that clung to the ripe curves. “You entrance me.”
“Oh.”
“Oh,” he repeated. “This face stuns me every time. I think I’m prepared for it, then you look at me and I forget my name for an instant. Every time.”
“Luke.”
He skimmed his free hand along the soaked T-shirt, lingering at the dip of her waist, the taut globes that shuddered
beneath the thin material. “Then there’s this body. Long, endless legs in those heels designed to break a man’s will. And none of it prepares you for the smarts behind those doe eyes or the heart.” He covered her breast lightly. “Or the heart that tries to hold too much.”
“Luke,” she said his name again, urgently.
“Yes, Kell?”
“Drive.”
In the hushed light of his bedroom, Luke let his hands trace the contours of her body, memorizing every line. The rounded invitation of hip, the indentation of waist. A contrast formed, of softness and resilience and he thought he understood both. His lips grazed the silken sweep of her mouth, nipped at the slightly crooked corner. “Lovely,” he whispered.
Kell laid her hands on the broad span of his chest, tugged impatiently at the damp shirt. Shivers danced across her skin where he touched, where her fingers met unyielding muscle. Here was the strength she admired, the stubbornness of will that annoyed. Want stirred restlessly and she dragged at the cloth, muttered, “Help me.”
“Indeed.” Lifting his arms, he waited until she tossed the shirt onto the floor to reach for the hem of her top. “Your turn.”
Slowly, torturously, he bent and drew the cloth upward, stopped inch by inch to sample the satin expanse at her navel. Her bra fell unheeded beneath his nimble touch, and he dipped his head to draw the perfect globe into his waiting mouth. When her knees trembled, and her hands sank into his hair, he laughed in delight. “We’ve got time, darling.”
“I like speed.” Tormented, she twisted against him and he let go reluctantly. His hands busied at her waist, fumbling to release the wet denim from her hips. Distracted, she caught a flat, firm nipple between ungentle teeth. And revelled in the moan that broke from his chest. She tested him with heated flicks of tongue that sampled the warm saltiness of flesh. A hot, wet line tracked the arrowing of hair that disappeared at his waist.
He caught her high, and her arms twined around his neck to hold. “Now, Luke,” she demanded.
Unable to resist, his mouth crushed down on hers, plunging inside to take what had been too long denied. Heat, vicious and wonderful, pushed him to dive deeper. Flavors he’d sampled before became a banquet to savor. Piquant and sweet, spiced and delicate, her taste flooded his senses, weakened him.
He swept her into his arms, carried her to the waiting bed, a stretch of deep green that he slept in, too often alone. Impatient now, he ripped at the spread, shoving the tangled cloth out to the carpeted floor. She arched across the crisp white sheets below, her skin rich against the cotton. Control vanished as she bowed up, offering him every pleasure he’d imagined.
Clothes vanished, removed by eager, careless hands. The smooth perfect breasts fit his hands, his mouth. She writhed against him, a challenge to draw more from her. With his fingertips, he skimmed the dampened flesh for moments, for hours. Once he’d learned the lush, strong body by touch, he employed his other senses. The scent of her, that intriguing blend of clean and sultry, dazed him. The sight of her, taut with desire, humbled him. He slicked his mouth across her waist, dipped lower to sate and destroy. When she broke beneath his mouth, he streaked up to begin again.
Thrilled, overwhelmed, Kell moved beneath him, ranged over him and launched a deliberate assault of her own. At the ridge of his shoulders, she strung kisses that trailed along the strong column of his throat, the square lines of his jaw. Mating their mouths, she sank into his kiss, afraid she’d never want to leave. The body she explored trembled for her, and she could only give. In a whispering silence, she nipped here, licked there. Where hard grazed soft, she lingered, testing his discipline, her skill.
He bucked under her command, a shock to a system he thought had felt everything. But in every movement, every fevered touch, he learned a new ecstasy, a terrific agony. Breath shuddered out of him, her name a litany. He dragged her to him, rose above her. “I need you. All of you.”
“You have me. Anything.”
“Love me,” he demanded, taking her up once more.
Afraid she did, Kell kissed him, a merger that spoke words she wasn’t ready to say aloud.
Arousal, ravenous and craven, bent to a stronger, more fragile need that consumed her. She opened for him, and he plunged inside, dragging her to him.
The rhythm caught them both, drove them to demand then offer. Endlessly, wonderfully, they fell into the greedy darkness and fought to give more than either could have imagined. An explosion, his, hers, theirs, brought twin cries and release.
Kell lay still in the darkness, unable to lift her head. The firm pillow beneath her cheek beat an unsteady tattoo that curled her mouth into a sleepy, satisfied smile. Already, they’d made love twice, and exhaustion demanded her surrender. “Well.”
Shifting to draw a tangled sheet over their cooling bodies, Luke couldn’t repress a smirk of his own. “Yes, well.”
“Tired.”
“Rest.” He drew her across his body, her head tucked into his shoulder. Her leg slid between his and he felt himself stir, impossibly. Moonlight snuck through the window, cresting the long, naked limbs in a glow. She slept with intensity, body a ready spring even in sleep. Tenderly, he stroked his hand along the narrow column of her spine, pushing the sheet to her waist. She wasn’t voluptuous or slender, but somehow gave the impression of both.
A woman of duality, he acknowledged in the darkness. Somehow, he’d fallen in love with both women. The vibrant, arrogant attorney who flouted every rule he held dear and the fiercely loyal orphan who risked all to protect what she loved.
For her, he knew, he’d be willing to bend, maybe to break. And he wondered what that would cost him, if she refused to have him in the end. An ache, brutal and greedy, spread through him and he drifted into sleep, a frown between his brows. Her name on his lips.
The scent of coffee pulled him into wakefulness. Kell stood at the end of the bed, wearing one of his blue shirts and nothing else.
“I thought you might have to go into the department today,” she said, almost shyly, as he accepted the steaming mug. “Figured I wouldn’t poison you by trying my hand at breakfast.”
“Today is Sunday.” He sipped at the cup, grateful for the hit of caffeine. “Cheryl’s got the morning off, so yep, I’ve got to go in.” Watching her, remembering waking her at dawn, he turned and set the cup on the bedside table. “In a few hours or so.”
Kell took a step back, eyes wary.
Luke noted the movement with irritation. The defenses that had disappeared last night were firmly in place once more. Not yet, he decided. “Kell.”
“Yes?”
He drew the cover back in bold challenge. “I believe I owe you one.”
She hesitated for a second. Studied the rigid length of him, considered the drawled invitation. She shrugged philosophically and dived onto the bed with a laugh. “Fair’s fair.”
Kell shimmied into hopelessly creased jeans and settled for a borrowed T-shirt from Luke’s closet. Pleasurable aches sang along her skin, and she caught herself smiling smugly into the mirror as she tried to bring some order to her tousled hair. A hot shower had washed away the remnants of fatigue, despite Luke’s decadent interruption.
Today, though, required focus. Tuesday’s hearing gave her a chance to probe the prosecution’s case for weaknesses. Doc’s eyewitness account of the fight had been delivered to the Center, as had the forensic evidence linking Eliza’s cutlery set to the source of the murder weapon.
What Caleb Matthews didn’t have, wouldn’t have, was the murder weapon. The possibility of it appearing hung like a weight around her. But she felt curiously light, knew that she owed some part of her good spirits to Luke.
No one before Luke had burrowed so deep, reaching the part of her she held inviolate. Before him, she could count on one hand the opinions that mattered to her, the women who held her steady on the questions of right and wrong. Now, there he was, stripping away secrets and layers of protection, revealing her to his eyes. What stunned her,
confounded her, was that he refused to look away.
Even when all the evidence pointed not only to Eliza’s guilt, but her own.
Two bodies in a morgue and two women half a continent away. And a lie told so long, it had become her only truth.
“Kell, you need to see this.”
Luke called to her from the living room, and she brushed aside the brief descent into maudlin musings. “I’ll be right there.”
She glazed her mouth with lipstick and swiftly bound her hair into a modified French braid. Scooping up her shoes from the bedroom, she found Luke looming over the coffee table, paper in hand.
Reading his mutinous expression, she asked, “What’s in there?”
“An interview with Doc Reed where he claims now not only to have heard Eliza threaten to kill Clay.” He lifted his head to meet her concerned expression. “He says he saw her at the Palace Motel on the night of the murder.”
Kell allowed herself a brief moment of worry. Doc’s newest statement placing Eliza at the scene connected the threat at the Center and the confiscated knives, and she had no idea how to break that link.
Taking the paper from him, Kell scanned the story, looking for a hole. “Can you bring him in for questioning?”
Luke affirmed, “I still have this as an open case. If he’s a material witness, I can bring him in.”
“Do it.”
CHAPTER 27
“I want Doc Reed and Tony Delgado here in twenty minutes. Separate rooms.” Luke issued the order as he stormed into his office. The glass door slammed, rattling the pane and the sparse crew of deputies who knew what set him off. He spread the crumpled pages of the Hallden Telegraph onto his desk. The cover story featured Doc Reed in an ill-fitting suit on the stoop of his family home.
“She came at him with a butcher knife,” the article quoted. “Mean old lady said that if he ever came by the Center again, she’d kill him. That night, Clay and I were playing video games. I got bored and decided to go. I was leaving the motel and I saw her in the lobby. She had something shiny in her hands, but I didn’t get a real good look.”
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