No Turning Back by Nancy Bush

Author:Nancy Bush [Bush, Nancy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2017-11-03T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

“You know him?” Avery asked under his breath, his gaze on Hawk.

“We’ve met,” Liz said carefully.

“He’s a hotshot detective from L.A. who’s moonlighting here with the local police department. A first-class asshole, from all accounts.”

“Really.” Liz hid her expression inside her paper cup, nearly choking on her soda.

To her dismay, Hawk walked straight to their table and seated himself across from her and Avery. This disconcerted Avery to no end, and it didn’t do much for Liz either.

“Detective Hart?” Avery asked, holding out his hand. “Avery Francis.”

Hawk gave him a long look, but he shook his hand. “The yew tree farmer,” he said, and Liz was impressed that he remembered so quickly.

“That’s right,” Avery said, clearly trying to figure out how, or why, Hawk knew so much about him.

Liz jumped in. “Avery was just telling me more about the yew tree business.”

“Ms. Havers said you agreed that poachers may have taken Mrs. Brindamoor’s trees,” Hawk said smoothly. “That right?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“So, there’s quite a bit of money in it?”

“Can be,” Avery agreed.

“I’ve been doing a little research,” Hawk put in conversationally, but Liz’s radar went on alert. A little research? Hawthorne Hart never did anything without an express purpose.

With a jolt, she realized how well she knew him for how little time they’d actually been around each other. Food for thought, she told herself, not liking it one bit.

“Most of the Pacific yews around here are on Forest Service land—about eighty percent—and you have to have a permit to cut the trees. But only certain people can get a permit, and those are determined by the Forest Service.” Hawk let that sink in, then said, “Apparently, that’s the Forest Service’s way of making sure trees aren’t being wasted.”

“Makes sense,” Avery agreed. He, too, could see how intense Hawk was, and he was trying hard not to squirm.

“I talked to a guy named Rob over there who said poachers have been showing phony permits. Even some of the people issued real permits have been turning in large amounts of yew bark from a very small number of trees.” Hawthorne’s smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “You find a crook every time you lift a rock.”

“I hope the Forest Service is cracking down on those permits,” Avery said.

Hawk nodded. “It’d be a shame to let some of the opportunists out there slip through the cracks. I’d hate to see the undeserving make some quick money.”

Liz had the distinct feeling she was missing a whole lot of subtext. Clearly, Hawthorne was sending Avery some message she was meant to only guess at.

“Ain’t that the truth,” Avery said, his smile a little forced.

Hawk turned to Liz. She swept in a breath, way, way too susceptible to the shock of his blue eyes. He had no right to look so good.

“Jesse’s missing,” he said, bringing her to earth with a bang.

“What? Did you try the Fieldings?” Liz was supremely conscious of Avery’s listening ears. If Hawk wanted to keep their relationship secret, he was doing a damn poor job of it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.