Wilderness Defender by Maggie K. Black

Author:Maggie K. Black
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-03-05T20:32:47+00:00

NINE

They docked the boat and drove back to the house, small talk filling in the spaces between the silence and Lex’s spinning mind. Fat and intermittent raindrops had started hitting the windshield again. Stormy was curled up in the back seat of his truck, and the woman who in less than two days had turned his life both inside out and upside down sat beside him on the passenger seat. Poppy’s face was turned toward the window. His eyes traced the lines of the back of her neck.

Despite the fact she was sitting just inches away from him, he’d never missed her more.

When they reached the house, they found Will’s truck in the driveway and the front door locked. A bit flustered, Lex searched his pocket a moment before coming up with the carabiner of mostly work keys that had his house keys on it, as well. He couldn’t remember ever being locked out before and wondered if it had been his mom or Will that had done it.

They found Will in the living room sitting by the fire with Scout lounging at his feet, but they both jumped up when he and Poppy came in. Stormy made a beeline for her water dish and Scout sauntered over to join her.

“Hope it’s okay I locked the door,” Will said, leaving Lex to wonder if he looked either confused or annoyed. “It’s instinctual, and the back door was already locked.”

“Probably a smart move,” Lex told him. “We should keep the back sliding door locked, too. The windows all have safety latch locks to keep them from being opened more than a few inches. But before this, those were there to keep furry critters from sneaking in.” He sighed. Had it really come to this? “Poppy said you’ve got news.”

“I do,” Will said. “I do need to brief our boss and told Lorenza I’d call as soon as you got back and Poppy was ready. But I wanted to give you a heads-up about something first.”

“Okay.” Lex braced himself for whatever the trooper was about to say. “Lay it on me. Poppy says you think Johnny was lying to me?”

“Absolutely everybody I spoke with today agrees that Johnny Blair has not been to the watering hole, touched a drink of alcohol or hustled a game of pool or darts in over four months. So, that can’t be where he found out about poaching blue bears.”

Lex dropped into a chair, feeling like the wind had been knocked out of him.

“Are you serious?” he asked.

“Yup,” Will said. “Trust me, it’s hard to get that many different people to lie about the exact same thing without one of them cracking.”

“Will is a really tough investigator,” Poppy interjected. She sat down on the couch, opposite Lex. “He’s naturally suspicious and doesn’t fool easily. I’d trust his conclusion.”’

“Thanks,” Will said. “I’m going to tell the team that, in my professional opinion, Johnny was telling the truth when he told you he hadn’t been to the watering hole

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