Chapter One
“And they all lived happily ever after.”
Ava Wright whispered the last sentence of the story and quietly closed the book. She leaned down to press a light kiss on her daughter’s forehead and push a curl back from her silky cheek. The innocence of childhood.
Brianna loved the stories about princesses and heroes that saved the damsels in distress. She thought every book ended with everyone falling in love and having a party. Ava could only hope it would be a long time before her daughter realized that wasn’t the case. Let her enjoy her youth as long as possible. A six-year-old should believe in fairies and magic and unicorns and rainbows.
Ava wished she still did, too. But a person couldn’t stay innocent and naive and write murder mysteries. Having a husband that dealt with deadly crime didn’t help the situation either. She’d had to institute a rule against putting crime scene photos where little hands and big eyes could find them. They were now banished to a file cabinet in the office under lock and key.
She tiptoed out of her daughter’s bedroom, hoping that this story would stick for the night. While her twin brother Colt was a good sleeper, Brianna was a night owl and it usually took two or three extra books to get her to finally fall asleep. She took after Ava in that way. There were too many exciting things going on to waste time sleeping.
Placing the book on the bookshelf in the living room, Ava padded on bare feet into the kitchen. It had been a long day and a glass of wine sounded like the perfect antidote to her own sleepless nights. She never slept well when her husband Logan wasn’t next to her. Lately that was more often than not. It wasn’t what she’d envisioned when they were married but he loved his job, just as much as she loved hers. They’d agreed the travel was a reasonable tradeoff to get him out of the line of fire as a sheriff. She had to repeatedly remind herself that this job was safer. Busy but safe.
Some days she missed Logan being the sheriff of Corville. At least he’d had regular hours and deputies to help him out. Of course, people had shot at him back then and that wasn’t so great.
But he was supposed to come home tonight, although his flight had been delayed due to fog in Denver. She’d placed his dinner in the refrigerator but it would reheat nicely in the microwave.
Pouring a glass of Chardonnay, she settled on the couch, balancing her laptop on her thighs. She’d been doing edits this week, so she might as well get some work done while she waited for her husband to get home.
She didn’t know how long she’d been heads down at work but the sound of a key in the door brought her back to the present. Rubbing her stiff neck, she heard two voices, Logan and an unfamiliar feminine one, drifting in from the foyer. Setting her computer aside, Ava rose quickly to see who was with her husband. He hadn’t mentioned bringing anyone home.
“Hey, honey. I need to get Kim a file from the office. Ava, this is our newest employee Kim. Kim, this is my wife Ava.”
Logan hurried by, dropping a kiss on Ava’s lips before he disappeared down the hall to the spare bedroom-slash-office.
So this was Kim. Ava had been hearing quite a bit about the woman for the last few months. In fact, it seemed like every other sentence out of Logan’s mouth started with the name Kim. She was completely and utterly tired of hearing about this female who from what she’d heard – in exhaustive detail – had an excellent record in law enforcement with several murder cases under her belt.
She was younger than Ava had expected. Taller, too. Pretty, if you liked the buxom blonde-haired blue-eyed type. Logan sure had before he’d married her, despite the fact that Ava was not blonde and not tall. Her rack wasn’t bad, though, although childbirth and breastfeeding had taken their toll. Suddenly Ava wished she was dressed in something a little more fancy than a pair of khaki shorts and a t-shirt. Despite spending hours on a plane and in airports, Kim looked cool and put together in a pair of slim black slacks and a crisp white blouse.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Ava said, remembering her manners. “I’ve heard so many good things about your work. Can I get you something to drink? We can sit down in the living room if you like. You must be exhausted.”
The younger woman smiled and shook her head. “Thank you but I’m afraid I just need that file and then to be on my way. It is nice to meet you finally. Logan talks about you and the twins all the time. You’re just like he described.”
Really? You’re nothing like he described.
“I’d introduce you to the kids but they’re asleep.” They’d run out of conversation quickly, but then the only thing they had in common was Logan. And maybe a fascination with murder. “What file is Logan getting for you?”
“The Chatsman murder,” Logan answered from behind her, bumping her slightly – and on purpose – as he walked by. He gave her a playful wink before turning back to his employee in training. “Here you go. The photos are in there so take a look and let me know if you see anything.”
Kim accepted the folder and slipped it inside her briefcase. “Thanks. I’ll go through the file tonight.”
Logan shook his head. “If you want to sleep, you won’t. Those photos redefine grisly. Might want to wait until the light of day.”
Kim shrugged and moved toward the front door. “Nothing bothers me. I have a strong stomach and a great home security system. But thanks for the warning. I’ll call you in the morning.”
Oh goody. Ava was worried Logan might go more than twelve hours without speaking to his protégé.
Protector that her husband was, he watched as Kim climbed into her car and drove away. Then he turned around and slammed the door shut behind him, flipping the lock before bearing down on Ava and lifting her into a gigantic hug.
“Woman, you cannot know how much I missed you. Did you miss me?”
They had a running joke about this.
Giving him a coy smile, she looked up at him from under her lashes. “Well…I was pretty busy.”
Logan threw back his head and laughed, although not as loud as he would have if the twins had been awake. Pulling her closer, he leaned down to nuzzle her neck, running his nose along her jawline. Even after all these years and two kids, Ava was helpless when her husband got amorous. A shiver ran through her and she closed her eyes as his lips found that spot on her neck that made her insane. He knew it too, the sexy bastard.
“I wouldn’t expect anything different, my good girl. I don’t know what I want more, you or dinner. I’m starved for you both.”
Trying to hold onto a shred of sanity, Ava struggled for breath. “What is Kim looking for in the Chatsman file?”
She and Logan had been through every open case with a fine-toothed comb. The Chatsman case had few leads and less evidence. A respected businessman had been murdered while he worked late at the office. Gutted like a fish. Logan hadn’t been kidding about the crime scene photos. Ugly stuff.
Unfortunately, everyone that had a motive had a rock solid alibi, and everyone that didn’t have a good alibi didn’t have a motive. It was a recipe for frustration.
“She thinks she might have seen a similar murder in Seattle,” he said, his lips against her skin. “She’s going to look over the file and photos.”
Ava pulled back from her husband. “You think it’s a serial?”
Chuckling, Logan pressed a soft kiss against her lips. “Thank God I have decent self-esteem, because if I didn’t you would have shredded it by now. You’re more excited about a serial murder case than your husband, even when he’s been gone for a week.”
“That’s not true,” Ava protested, feeling the warmth invade her cheeks. “It’s just kind of cool, that’s all.”
“Is it cool that I’m home?”
Easy question. “Way cool. How about we warm up your dinner and you can tell me all about the case you closed.”
Logan waggled his eyebrows and reached down to give her bottom a squeeze. He was still her horndog. When it came to him, she was one, too. “And then we can go to bed?”
“All night long,” Ava promised, enjoying the hot look in her husband’s eyes. He was raring to go. Neither of them would get much sleep tonight, but then they rarely did when he first returned from a business trip. “Go kiss the kids on their foreheads while I toss your dinner in the microwave. But if you wake ’em up, you’re dealing with them until they go back to sleep.”
“I’ll be as quiet as a mouse,” he promised as he headed back down the hall, this time to see his children. The twins would be thrilled to see their dad in the morning. On his first day back, he always made them chocolate chip pancakes. Ava had a feeling it was something that Logan’s mother had made him when he was small.
It was kind of funny, but the house always seemed warmer and brighter when Logan was home. All snug, her entire family was together. It was something that was happening less and less these days. She’d enjoy it while she had it.