Harlequin Superromance April 2014 - Bundle 1 of 2: Her Kind of Trouble\For the Right Reasons\A Place with Briar by Sarah Mayberry

Author:Sarah Mayberry
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4603-3268-9
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“WHOA, WHAT WAS that about?” Ian asked as he attached a lead to Violet’s collar. He was a little older than he’d first appeared, with his baggy jeans and black hair flopping boyishly over his forehead.

“Sheriff’s a jerk, that’s all,” Bree said dismissively. She leaned down to pet Violet. “You ready to go to work, girl?”

“We got woods on this side,” Joe said to Ian, pointing, “and a farmer’s field with a stock tank over there. I talked to the farmer this morning. He’s not too keen about a bunch of trespassers on his land and even less excited about dragging the tank for a body. Plus, there’s cows everywhere. So I say start with the woods.”

Eric lightly touched Bree’s elbow. “We better get back to our group. Ian, let us know if Violet gets a hit.”

“Will do,” Ian said.

The actual process of searching was tedious—one step at a time, first through tall grass, then trees and brush. A couple of guys with machetes were cutting back the brush only as much as necessary for the searchers to pass, with the deputy watching closely to make sure they didn’t obliterate any evidence.

“I don’t think the murderer would have hiked through all this brush,” Bree said. “The farmer’s field makes more sense to me. The dirt is already disturbed from the farmer planting his broccoli. Late at night, maybe the cows were penned up, so they wouldn’t be a bother.” She stopped to peer at a rotting log, then stepped over it as their line of searchers moved forward another few inches. “I sure hope all the ticks are dead this time of year.”

“Ticks?” Eric’s brow furrowed.

“You’re such a city boy.”

“No, I’m not. I mean, yeah, I grew up in Houston, but I used to go camping and fishing and hunting. I just hate ticks.”

Bree shivered. “Me, too. In the summer people actually show up at the E.R. with ticks on them, expecting me to remove them. I’d rather stitch up a bloody gash any day of the week.”

As they made their painstaking progress across their assigned sector, they caught occasional glimpses of Ian and Violet whipping back and forth through the trees. Apparently they were working some sort of grid system, too, but not the one the sheriff had laid out. And they were covering ground a lot faster.

“Hey, look, there’s something.” Bree could see a flash of something bright yellow in the grass. She and Eric both leaned down to take a closer look. She got a whiff of his woodsy aftershave, and for a few seconds she was mesmerized by how handsome he was. The sun had just risen over the horizon, and it glinted off the blond streaks in his hair, making them look like burnished gold and throwing his face into chiseled relief.

“It looks like a little piece of drawstring from a plastic garbage bag,” Eric said. “And...is that duct tape stuck to it?”

Pulled back to the matter at hand, Bree bent closer still.

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