Blaine parked behind the station and pocketed his keys while walking into the Aspen Falls police station. He waved at Brent Higginson as he held the door open for Jessica Claret, a fellow cop.

She murmured a swift thanks before heading to the women’s locker room. She’d been at the AFPD for nearly two years, but still acted like the nervous rookie. She was the kind of cop that wanted to get it right, which Blaine appreciated. It was a far cry from the new rookie who drove his poor training officer insane with his lack of finesse and blundering enthusiasm.

Slinging his bag over his shoulder, Blaine headed for the locker room first and got suited up. He felt pretty good after a weekend off. He hadn’t done much. On Saturday, the snow had kept him indoors. Erin had spent the morning in bed with him, but then had felt too stressed out to take the weekend off so she’d headed back to the city. It meant he could spend the day reading, just the way he’d wanted to. In the late afternoon he’d been persuaded out by Lucas. They met Ollie at Shorty’s for a few beers and to spend some time catching up. Sunday was the usual lunch with his old man.

He’d been tempted multiple times to swing past Lulu’s and check to see if Rosie was staying with Louanne. The coffee shop owner had always had a soft spot for him and would more often than not tell him more than he wanted to know.

He chuckled, picturing the large southern woman with her fantastic accent and country charm.

As tempting as it would’ve been to find out Rosie’s news, he resisted the urge.

Rosie Sweet was a fantasy.

And Blaine had a girlfriend.

He finished getting dressed and said hi to a few work buddies before heading out into the main office space.

It was bustling as usual. The static noise of keyboards clicking, papers shuffling and murmured conversations would be interrupted by phones ringing and the odd swear word when the coffee machine stopped working again or the milk carton had run dry.

“Who put it back in the fridge empty?” Tony shouted from the small break room at the back of the station.

Blaine grinned and wove around a desk, scanning the open space for Ollie.

Kellan Marks, the police chief, sat in his glass office, talking on the phone while running a hand over his buzz-cut hair. He did that a lot, especially when he was irritated or stressed. He was kind of young for the role, but his dedication to the police force made him a perfect fit and he’d landed the job the same year Blaine signed on with the force. He respected his boss more than anyone else in the department.

Blaine caught his eye and raised his chin in greeting before continuing his search for Ollie. He hoped the guy hadn’t had to change his shift again. The mother-in-law was definitely in town. Blaine and Lucas had sat through the rant of relief and frustration as Ollie tried to get his head around the fact that he’d be living with the woman for much longer than he anticipated.

“She offered to stay a month. A month!”

Lucas and Blaine had only been able to laugh and offer to buy him another beer.

A flash of movement caught his eye and he turned right in time to see his half-brother charging toward his office. Detective Nathan Hartford was hard at it.

The guy didn’t know how to stop.

Blaine rolled his eyes and sauntered across to Nate’s office, leaning against the doorjamb. “Hey, man.”

Nate didn’t look up from his files, just mumbled a greeting in reply.

“We missed you at lunch yesterday,” Blaine said.

“Sally said she’d go,” Nate clipped, referring to the most patient girlfriend in the world.

Blaine nodded. “Yeah, she stopped by on her way to the hospital.”

His brother glanced up and nodded. “Good.”

“Dad’s fine, by the way,” Blaine continued. “And Sally’s doing great too, although she looked kind of tired.”

“ER in the winter is always hard,” Nate muttered, not looking up from his work.

Blaine stood there for a moment, staring at the man behind the desk. “Dad would love to see you,” he said finally.

Nate’s nostrils flared.

“I’m pretty sure Sally would too.” Blaine couldn’t help the dig. Poor Sally was a freaking saint and Nate was going to lose her if he didn’t watch it.

Slapping his file closed, Nate leveled a fierce look of warning at Blaine. “Do you need something, little brother? Because I’m kind of busy right now.”

Blaine worked his jaw to the side and figured there was no point riling the guy up. He was obviously stressed. “What are you working on?”

“Got another drug case. Shit just won’t end.” Nate pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut. “Another kid OD’d last night. She’s in the hospital.”

“Dammit,” Blaine murmured, stepping into the room.

“I have got to figure out what the hell is going on. Things are bad, man, and it feels like they’re only getting worse.”

“Was it a high school or college student this time?”

“College.” He held out the file. “Riley Pearson. Freshman.”

Blaine scanned the contents of the file and winced. The pale-skinned brunette looked so angelic in the photograph. “Have you questioned her friends? Tracked her movements from last night?”

“Yeah, we’re working on it. I’ve just spent the last two hours trying to calm Riley’s parents down. They drove in early this morning. Camila’s still with them.”

Blaine nodded.

Camila was Nate’s partner for the bigger, ongoing cases. They were often assigned to the same task force because they worked so well together.

“What about this girl’s friends?”

“Her best friend was freaking out, so he was pretty impossible to get anything from. It was hard to tell if he was worried for Riley or scared that he might get in trouble. I haven’t followed up with the other friends yet.”

“He may have calmed down this morning. Is Riley going to make it?”

“Yeah, she’ll be fine. Camila will question her this morning, but I doubt she’ll be willing to tell us much.”

“The near-death experience might get her talking. And maybe once her friend knows she’s going to make it, he might be willing to talk to us as well.”

Nate tapped his pen on his desk while staring at Blaine. “You been given your assignment yet today?”

“No, roll call’s in five.”

“I’ll go talk to Kellan, see if I can’t get you and Ollie working the college. I want you to talk to anyone who knows this Riley girl. Anyone who saw her last night. Where was she partying? What was she drinking, eating, smoking, snorting?”

“I take it toxicology reports haven’t come back in?”

“We’re waiting on the blood tests now.”

Blaine cringed and passed the file back.

“We need to build a timeline from last night. Someone must have seen her take something, or can at least tell us who she was with. I don’t care how many people you have to question. Just get me something by the end of your shift.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Nate flashed Blaine a small smile before turning to answer his phone.

Backing out of the room, Blaine headed for roll call, straightening his tie as he went. The expectation was to be well presented, and Blaine made sure he never missed a beat. He liked to do things by the letter, whether people noticed or not.

“Hey, Blaine!” Matt tripped over himself trying to sneak in the door before him.

Blaine rolled his eyes behind the rookie’s back and forced out a friendly “How’s it going?”

“Always good, man. I am always good.” He winked at Blaine and clicked his tongue with a cocky point of his finger before taking a seat next to Brent Higginson. The two more experienced officers shared a withering look, which made Blaine snicker. Poor Higgs. He really pulled the short straw on this training gig.

“Hey, hey.” Ollie held out his fist as Blaine approached.

He tapped his knuckles against Ollie’s and grinned. “You actually look awake this morning.”

“Andy slept in, man. Didn’t wake up until six. I think that’s my first full night since he was born.”

“And you’re about to have another…”

Ollie’s lips flatlined and he pointed a warning finger at Blaine. “Don’t ruin this for me. I’m in a good mood right now. You better watch it.”

Blaine laughed and took a seat, acknowledging the last two officers who were strolling in. They gave Ollie some stick for actually showing up. He gave it right back, used to the good-natured banter between them.

Blaine checked his watch and then pulled out his notebook.

A minute later, Kellan walked in with Nate right behind him. The laughter ceased, replaced with a serious silence as they took in the look on Nate’s face.

It was time to get to work.

* * *

Monday, February 19th

7:49am

Blaine steered the cruiser toward Aspen Falls Community College while Ollie yawned beside him.

“Dude, you running out of steam already? We’re only just getting started.”

“Shut up.” Ollie rubbed his eyes. “I need me some coffee.”

“Lulu’s?”

“Is there any other place to get decent coffee in this town?” Ollie grinned, his white teeth bright against his black skin.

Blaine turned right at the next intersection, his mind immediately jumping to Rosie.

He was desperate to know if she was still in town.

But how did he ask Louanne that while hiding just how much he’d been obsessing about it over the weekend?

“You alright, man?” Ollie flicked his arm. “You’re frowning.”

“What? No, I’m not.”

“You’re lookin’ worried about something.”

Blaine sighed and did something he’d never done before. He lied to his partner. “I’m just worried about Nate.”

“Yeah, the guy sure knows how to work hard.”

“He’s a workaholic. It’s not healthy, but he won’t listen to anyone.”

“Some guys are stubborn. He’s driven, you know? Passionate about justice.”

Blaine raised his eyebrows but kept his mouth shut. He didn’t want to open that can of worms. Nate was more than passionate. He was obsessed. Driven by demons that he still hadn’t dealt with.

“Everyone has their thing,” Ollie said. “And even though I’m a family first kind of guy, you can’t force someone to be like that. They have to come to it on their own, you know? You wait. Something will happen to Nate at some point that will make him sit up and realize what’s important.”

Blaine nodded, wondering what that would look like.

Those moments of realization were not always pretty. His worst had been ugly as hell. He’d never forget the feel of that gun in his hand. It weighed a thousand pounds when he’d pressed it against his temple all those years ago.

As usual, Rosie’s face flooded his mind, the look in her eyes as she gently talked him down, the feeling that enveloped him as she took the gun from his hand and ultimately saved his life.

New images pushed aside the old. Her hazel eyes glassy with tears while she wept in her car, shaking and anxious. Was that her rock bottom?

What had brought her to that point?

As he pulled up beside Lulu’s, he knew he had to find out. Even if it meant showing off a little of how he felt, he needed to ask Louanne to share every detail of Rosie’s visit.