Alexa Reynolds looked up when the moving man called her name. “Oh, just take that to the bedroom.”
He nodded and walked into the house with a tall floor lamp. She looked back toward the truck and saw movement next door. A man carried a baby in a carrier to his car. That had to be Hawk Milliard. And was that Hugh’s baby? Must be. She’d heard that Hawk might be taking custody of his nephew after his brother’s murder.
Hawk was the reason she’d bought this house in the first place. A stroke of luck, really. He didn’t live in town where there were many houses nearby to choose from, and on this secluded section of the street the only house available had been this one. When she’d seen that it was about to go on the market, she’d hopped out and stopped the realtor as she was getting in her car.
“I need this house,” Alexa told her. She’d flashed her badge and the woman had given her a confused look. “I’m willing to pay asking price if you don’t put it on the market, but sell it to me right now and get me in there as quickly as possible.”
Hugh’s death had been police business, but more specifically it had been her business. Back in the days when she was a detective, she’d been assigned to Hugh’s case. She’d searched through the evidence and followed every lead. She’d never had a case like Hugh’s. All the others had either been clear cut with solid evidence, or had so little evidence that the case went cold. Hugh’s had enough evidence, but nothing to point to a suspect. New evidence would turn up just as another suspect was ruled out. It kept going and changing and nothing seemed to make sense.
They’d never found the killer and the murder had been deemed a gang incident. Alexa had never been happy with that as the official story, and she’d spoken out against it when she was still on the force. When she was told in no uncertain terms that she was to give up on the case, she’d left. For a case like that, one where she couldn’t stop thinking of everyone involved, couldn’t stop seeing the victim in her sleep, she couldn’t let it go. She had to find the real answer.
So, Alexa had become a private investigator. She could still do what she loved this way, still work with the police when it helped her, but she wouldn’t have a chief standing over her, telling her how to investigate. It was up to her how much time she spent on a case and when it was time to quit.
She had other clients, of course. The bills had to be paid and since her investigation into Hugh’s death was unofficial, she wouldn’t exactly be collecting a fee for it. And the brother, Hawk, had to have more information. She even suspected he might have something to do with the murder, or he might have even been the one to kill Hugh. With a past like Hawk’s, it would come as no surprise. Grand theft auto, breaking and entering, assault. The list of his charges went on and on. If he hadn’t been directly responsible, Hawk might have gotten his brother killed indirectly, just through the people he dealt with.
During the investigation, her assistant had been the one to interview Hawk. She remembered watching the video and thinking even then that he might be holding back information. But she had no way to prove it and hadn’t gotten the chance to interview him herself before the case was closed. Now she would do things differently. She would move in, get to know him slowly, and get him to trust her enough to give out the information she needed. Being close would just make it easier to do that. It gave her a way to make continuous contact with him that wouldn’t seem suspicious.
When he looked up at her, she waved. He held up a hand to wave back, unsmiling. His face was neutral. He was likely sizing her up, checking her out, scoping things out. That’s what criminals generally did with new people, especially people living so close by.
He didn’t come over, though, which was good. She hadn’t decided yet what the best way to introduce herself was. This had to be done just right. Nice and slow. Ease him into it and make it seem like it was on his terms, not hers. She also needed to decide on a fake name. If he searched for her, in due course he’d find out that she had been the lead detective on Hugh’s case. And that might make him clam up forever.
She’d been so excited at finding this house close to Hawk’s and being able to be so close to him that it hadn’t hit her until a week before moving that she’d be living right next door to someone who might have killed his own brother. But it was too late. She’d have to rely on her police training, her guns and pepper spray, and hope she managed to do this right.
When she had solved the case once and for all, she could sell the place and move. Once the case had been really solved and not just had an easy solution thrown at it. Hugh’s face had haunted her every day since she first saw it. And his whole case had quickly begun haunting her, too. It affected her sleep and her work. And once the case was closed, the haunting feeling grew even worse because then she also felt guilt. She hadn’t found his killer in time, and now, thanks to her slow work, he was walking free while another gang was blamed. Hugh deserved more than that, and she wasn’t going to stop until things had been set right.