by Cameron Dane
“No. I didn't ask, and she didn't tell me.”
“What about friends?” Jace asked, as he lifted his attention back up to Jasper. “Did you ever go out as a group? Any names you can give me that might be helpful?”
“Not really.” Jasper drummed his fingers on the table and let the repetitious beat focus his thoughts. “I never met her family, but she said she was real close with them. She had tons of pictures in her apartment; I think mostly of them. She talked about a girl named Beth a lot. I think she worked with Ginger out at the call service center.” A national telephone company employed a large number of Quinten residents in their customer-service business right outside of town. “Ginger liked to write too. I spent the night with her once, and I saw her writin' some stuff in a book. A journal. Don't know if she still keeps one, but she used to.”
“We'll see if we can find something like that. Could prove very helpful. If she has a computer, we'll take a thorough look at that too. We'll search everything in her apartment where she might have left personal information.” Jace put his pencil down and smoothed his hands across the table. “I'm not asking you to gossip here, but I'd like you to be honest with me. Did you continue to hear stories about Ginger after you stopped seeing her? You said she liked cowboys, and you just happen to work with a bunch of them. Some guys brag, and we both know it. If you have something more, you need to tell me.”
God, Ginger hadn't done anything mean to him, and here Jasper was talking about her when she couldn't defend herself. His stomach roiled, and his hands grew clammy. “If you can believe what the big mouths say, she dated a lot more cowboys after me. I don't feel like I listened to enough of that kind of talk to say anythin' more without just speculatin'.”
Jace poised his pencil above his notebook. “Can you give me some names?”
Jasper hesitated, and Jace looked up at him. “It could prove helpful, Jasper. Some of these men are going to get spooked and automatically think they're on our suspect list as soon as they hear a girl they dated is dead. They're going to clam right up on us. If I don't know which guys to press for more information, I might never get that little nugget every law officer needs to help solve a crime.”
God, I'm gonna lose the trust of every guy in the bunkhouse.
“Give me your notebook.” Jasper held his hand out anyway. “I'll give you the ones I remember.”
Jasper started jotting down names. After a moment, Jace broke in, his voice gentle. “I'll be discreet. You don't have to worry.”
“Doesn't matter. They'll know it was me anyway.” Jasper tucked the pencil into the spiral at the top of the notebook and slid it back across the table. “Just so you know, I don't think I'm bunkin' with a murderer. I just hope one of them knows somethin' I didn't that can help.”
Jace talked as he glanced down the list of names Jasper had provided. “Let's hope you're right. I believe that's it for now. Can you think of anything else I need to know?”
Shaking his head, Jasper stood. “No.” His stomach still churned, and he had a hard time facing Jace. “I'd really like to go now. Maybe it's pussy of me, but after today, I feel like I need a shower.”
“That's understandable.” Jace got up, crossed the small room, and held the door open for Jasper. “I appreciate your being cooperative. I'm going to ask that you keep everything you saw and heard today to yourself.” Jace walked down the hallway with Jasper, this time side by side. “The sheriff needs to inform the family first. With all the people out at the scene, the gossip will fly fast. We don't want the Carltons to hear speculation about who we believe the victim to be from anyone but us.”
Jasper cursed and slapped his hand against the hallway wall. “I shouldn't have just blurted out her name in front of all those people like I did. Nobody woulda had a name if I didn't. I'm sorry.”
“It was a natural reaction.” Jace's voice was surprisingly soothing. “Don't spend too much time beating yourself up over it. Once you recognized the tattoo, you were able to say that the hair color, height, and general type of body was consistent with the girl you knew. The sheriff feels confident we have the right identification, or he would be saying something very different to the family than what I imagine he's doing right now.”
“Thanks for sayin'…” Jasper noticed Sarah still sitting at her desk. His breath caught, and his heart raced with returning fear.
Sarah looked up, and when she found his gaze, a smile lifted her lips and lit her entire face. “Are you all right?” She rushed across the bull pen, threw her arms around him, and held him tight.
Sinking into her warmth, Jasper wrapped his arms around Sarah and pulled her in close. She rubbed his back and murmured things into his neck that he couldn't really understand, but he didn't care. Her tone and actions held only acceptance and concern, and strength returned to Jasper's legs.
“I was worried about you,” Sarah said.
Jasper whispered roughly, “Everythin' is fine. I promise.” He pulled back and brushed his hand across her smooth cheek. “It was good to see you still sittin' here when I came out, though.”
She pecked a kiss against his cheek. “Of course I was still here. I wouldn't leave without you.” Sarah turned to Jace. “Can I take him home? I'm finished working. I was just waiting to find out what the heck was going on.”
Jace looked at Sarah and shifted to a relaxed military stance. “Jasper had some helpful information, and we needed to speak about it privately. He's free to leave.”
Sarah backed up to Jasper's side and put her hand on the small of his back, but her attention remained on Jace. “What about you?” she asked. “Will you be here all night?”
“For a good while longer anyway.” Jace nodded. “Don't wait up.”
He looked to Jasper and stuck out his hand. “Thank you again,” he said. Jasper offered his hand in return, and Jace took hold of it in a strong clasp. A jolt of awareness shot through Jasper's hand, up into his arm, and raced throughout his body. Including his cock.
Jasper jerked, feeling burned. Sarah narrowed her gaze up at him and rubbed the small of his back at the same time. Her fingers traced the indent of his spine; Jace still held his hand too, and the sensation swamped through Jasper like two people working over his dick at the same time, dragging him to arousal. One soft, with long, elegant fingers, the other bigger and rough.
Jasper stumbled, breaking contact with both of them. What in the hell is wrong with me?
Sarah immediately grabbed him around the waist again. “Are you sure you're all right?”
His voice strangled, Jasper nodded. “Haven't eaten all day; that's all.” Has to be everything I saw today getting to me. Has to. All the same, Jasper took Sarah's hand in his and prayed these disturbing images of Jace would go away soon.
As Jace watched Sarah and Jasper together, guilt ate a hole in his belly, and he wondered if his curt attitude toward Jasper had taken a severe toll on the shy young man. “Take care of—” Jace started, but right then, the station doors groaned as they were pushed open from the outside. Cade appeared, and his scarred face looked even grimmer than usual. Carson followed right behind.
“How'd it go?” Jace directed his question to Cade before the man even made it across the bull pen. After taking the body down from the tree, Cade and Carson had done general interviews of everyone who worked Caleb's ranch, as well as the family members of the employees who rent the mountain cabins. Max and another deputy had the job of transporting the body and other evidence collected to Bozeman.
“Nobody saw or heard anything unusual.” Cade threw a couple of notebooks with flyaway pages onto his desk. “Of course.”
“Damn it.” Jace just resisted the urge to punch something. He already had one set of scraped-up knuckles and didn't want another. I don't need Sarah to see me lose my shit. Jasper either, for that matter. “It's a huge stretch of land, though. We had to expect that.”
“I know,” Cade answered. “Shit, I live up there and don't have a damn thing useful
to contribute. Doesn't make it any less frustrating that nobody else did either.”
Jace and Cade shared a commiserative look.
Sarah touched Jace's arm and mouthed, We'll get out of your hair.
“Good night.” Jace watched Sarah and Jasper leave, torn between searing jealousy at the closeness she so obviously shared with Jasper and wanting to walk right out with them too. His arms started to lift of their own accord, and he battled the desire to embrace both Sarah and Jasper and steer them away from this ugliness to a place of safety…at his side.
Old demons that Jace thought properly buried reared inside him right where he stood, flashing raw images of his lust-filled body rolling around in bed, on the floor, in the shower, against a wall…anywhere and everywhere. In his mind, Jace alternated between igniting Sarah's moans of pleasure and making Jasper gasp as he filled the man's ass with a hard cock and plunged in deep. Cries of release filled Jace's ears, male and female, shrieking and low. Then Jace saw a picture that sliced frigid fear right down his spine.
Jace saw himself between Sarah and Jasper in his bed, and they both held him as dreamy smiles lifted their lips. More than that, Jace saw himself; he looked into his own eyes and saw that he was happy and at peace.
Finally.
A phone trilled through the office, and the sound of it slammed Jace right out of his fantasy.
Out of his nightmare of impossibility.
Cade snapped his fingers at Jace, and Jace moved to his side. With Cade's phone on speaker, Duke's deep voice filled the empty bull pen. “We have our warrant. I'm sending it right now.” The fax machine at Sarah's desk chirped to life. “Take Jace and go search Ginger Carlton's house. I want that done before the family goes through her stuff. I'm going to talk to them right now.” A long pause filled the station with heavy silence. Then Duke said, “I know you're all tired, but ask Carson to stay at the station. I don't want to flip over to the nine-one-one redirect tonight. Juan will be there as soon as he can to keep Carson company. Keep me informed.”
“Will do, boss.” Cade ended the call and slipped his cell phone back on his belt. “Carson, are you doing all right?”
The dark-haired, blue-eyed newbie nodded from his desk. “I can handle it.”
“Ginger has a house?” Jace said to Cade. “Jasper remembers an apartment.”
Cade raised a brow. “Guess she moved up in the world.”
“Guess so.” Jace moved across the bull pen and grabbed the warrant out of the fax machine. “Let's go get to know our victim.”
Cade nodded. Both men rubbed their faces and left for the task ahead in silence.
Chapter Five
Jasper stiffened for a moment and then relaxed as Sarah settled in behind him. With his hands braced on either side of Sarah's bedroom window, Jasper stared out into the darkness, his mind still racing with the events of the day. His muscles barely held his body upright, but he could not turn off his brain and crawl into Sarah's bed. He had already talked to
Caleb and been ordered to take tomorrow off; the boss had assured Jasper this was not coddling and he had told Ren the same thing. Every time Jasper closed his eyes, he saw Ginger, or more accurately, he saw a picture of the girl he once knew, and then it slowly, disturbingly, morphed into that damaged carcass nailed to the tree. A shiver shook through him, as had happened off and on since discovering the body.
“Are you sure you don't need anything else?” Sarah asked, her lips moving against his upper back. “I can fix you a sandwich or get you a beer. Whatever you want.”
“Your shower was plenty. Thank you.” Jasper's clothes were in Sarah's washing machine right now; he stood nude in front of the open window, letting the night air dry the final remnants of moisture from his skin. He had been
uncomfortable with the offer of a pair of Jace's sweats until his own stuff was clean and dry. Sarah's window faced her backyard, giving her neighbors no chance of seeing him naked. “You've been through a lot today.” Sarah held Jasper around the middle, and her body felt amazingly comforting and soft against his back, yet solid too. “It's okay to be bothered by it all.”
Jasper had only shared with Sarah that he and Ren had discovered a body and that Jasper recognized her. He felt certain Sarah would know Ginger's name and all the particulars the next time she talked to Jace or when she went to work, but Jasper didn't want to speak about things he wasn't sure he should. Wasn't sure he could talk about it yet without revealing the weakness he knew lurked inside him.
“Jasper?”
“I should be harder than I am.” Jasper's voice scratched on those words. A warm evening breeze carried through the open window, but Jasper only felt the chill. “Seeing what I did shouldn't still be stickin' to me this much.”
Sarah slipped around Jasper's side and perched herself on the windowsill in front of him. She'd only fastened the buttons of her pink shirt between her breasts and the plackets spread at the bottom to reveal black panties. She rubbed his abdomen up to his chest, and Jasper's arms vibrated with strain to keep from touching her. He wanted to crush Sarah to him but feared she would recoil from the need coursing through him right now.
She looked up and offered a small smile. “You're a sensitive person, Jas. There's nothing bad about that.”
Sensitive. Code word for pussy. Nobody wanted to fuck a wuss. “Jace didn't react like I did.” Jasper banged his open hands against the wall and pushed back a step so he could breathe. “Jace was solid every second he was out there. Even when he was right up close to the body, and when he touched her too. I thought I was gonna throw up the second I saw her. But he was steady as a rock the whole time.”
“It's Jace's job to know how to react and how to handle a crime scene. That doesn't make him tougher than you.” Reaching out, Sarah grabbed hold of Jasper's hand and pulled him close again. “You help animals give birth out at the ranch; you help castrate the calves, among a host of other very difficult tasks. Jace wouldn't be able to do your job any more capably than you'd be able to do his.”
“It ain't—isn't—the same.”
“No, you're right, it's not.” She twined her fingers in his, but this time her touch did not act as a balm. “I've also seen you get on the back of one of Caleb's bucking bulls and try your hand at a ride. There aren't a lot of guys who would do that, not even some of the cowboys you work with, from what I've heard. But you've been around the animals, you feel comfortable with them, and you're confident enough in your abilities to get on them and help with their training. That is a big deal and brave in the eyes of others, yet it feels very natural to you.”
Jasper snorted. “Gettin' on a bull ain't the same thing as dealin' with dead bodies and helpin' solve crimes, so don't try to, you know, pacify me, or whatever the damn hell the word is.” Jasper's mind spun with all the conversations he'd overheard today, many of which had Jace right in the center of them. “Jace is somethin' special. He's tough. When he interviewed me, he knew how to talk to me to get me to give the answers he wanted, all commandin' and clever in that room, even though I don't think he even likes me. He's smart, and he's confident, and he's in control in big-time situations, things that are life-and-death. That's a lot more important, and somethin' to admire, than being a ranch hand. I saw him today in a way I never did before, and I see why you like him so much and why so many people admire him. He's amazin'.”
Sarah tilted her head. “Do you simply admire Jace?” she asked, her voice a little high. “Or did watching him today spark an attraction to him?”
Shit. “What?” Jasper's heart kicked up to triple time, and he tugged his sweating hand out of Sarah's hold. Stumbling backward, he kept moving until his ass hit her dresser. “No. No. Of course not.”
“Hey, don't walk away from me.” Sarah jumped up and strode to Jasper, her dark hair waving in tandem with the curtains behind her. “Don't hide from this talk. I thought we weren't going to be the kind of couple who never talk about anything important.” She crossed her arms under her
breasts and looked right at him. “I saw the way you reacted down at the station when Jace touched your hand. It went through you deeper than just a handshake. Your whole body jerked when he touched you. Shoot, I had my hand on your back and felt it. And the way you just said what you said about him…seemed like it was about someone who has captured your interest more than professionally.”
“No.” Sweat trickled down Jasper's freshly clean back. “You-you're wrong. Are you accusin' me of being gay? I ain't gay.”
“I didn't ask if you were gay, I asked if you're attracted to Jace. It's not the same thing.” She took his hand loosely in hers, a thin thread that kept them tied together that might as well have been a rope. “Hey,” she said, her tone gentling, “nothing you say to me is going to freak me out; I thought we already understood that about each other. Now tell me: are you attracted to him?”
Panic ripped through Jasper, buzzing the surface of his skin. “No. Stop askin' me that. No.” He dug his hands into his hair and squeezed. “No.” Sarah, so full of life, passion, and intelligence, stayed right with Jasper, and she pushed through his fear, as she always did. He heaved in a shaky breath. “I don't think so.”
She stepped in so close, her vitality swirled around Jasper and permeated his pores like a topical drug. “Okay. Let me ask you a different question. Have you ever been attracted to a man? Ever?”
New heat burned through Jasper, raising his core temperature enough to turn his trickle of sweat into a flood.
Planting her hands on the dresser on either side of him, Sarah caged him in. “Have you ever wanted a man?”
Goddamn it. Jasper had known this ballsy woman lived inside Sarah well before he finally felt good enough about himself to make his move. He knew; people had told him to watch out for this mouthy chick, and he still craved her anyway.
“Tell. Me.”
“Fine!” Jasper almost roared the word in Sarah's face. “Yes, all right? I have. When Caleb gave me a second chance…when he tracked me down and told me I was worth somethin', that he wasn't gonna let me get in trouble and ruin my life, and that he was bringin' me back to the ranch and keepin' an eye out to make sure I kept my nose straight… After all that, I think I got a crush on him. I thought about him some, in a sexual way. I could see myself kissin' him and holdin' him. But it was just because I was so grateful to him, and I mixed it up in my head. There. See? It was nothin'.”
