“Just tell me what I need to do to get my son back,” Benning said.
“We start where this all began. Finding the skull. If we can pinpoint how and why the victim ended up in that wall, we’ll find who put them there.” Her phone vibrated from another incoming message from JC. Crime scene photos. She scanned through the shots her teammate had taken of the remains as the coroner sealed each bone into individual evidence bags. How the rest of the bones had gotten there, she didn’t know. She had to assume whoever’d started the fire had tried to destroy the evidence all at once. She wanted to be there, wanted a firsthand look at the scene, wanted to do something that would help the investigation and not make it so she didn’t feel so...helpless, but as long as Benning and his daughter were in danger, Ana would stay. She’d do for them what she hadn’t been able to for Samantha Perry. She’d protect them.
She studied the photos. The fire had most likely burned away any chance of comparing DNA from the remains, so it’d be almost impossible to identify the victim, but the slight discoloration on a few of the skull’s fragments—different than the rest—held her attention. Evidence of blunt-force trauma. The photo Benning had taken of the skull he’d recovered flashed across her mind. The owner of the skull from the construction site had been shot in the head. Not hit from behind. Another difference in MO. “The skull you found. What did it look like when you pulled it out of the wall?”
He moved to her side. “You mean aside from the fact it wasn’t attached to the rest of the body?”
“I mean was there evidence of blood, mold?” She wasn’t trained in forensics, but even the smallest clue might help them date how long the remains had been sealed behind the drywall or where the victim had died. “Was there a distinct odor?”
“Actually, it seemed like it’d been there for a while.” He rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. “The building I found it in is one of Britland Construction’s oldest ongoing projects. I found out construction has been on hold for almost five years because of all the settlements the company is dealing with.”
“So it could’ve been sealed behind the wall anywhere from a few months to years.” Decaying bodies emitted gases as bacteria broke down cells over time. Whoever’d hidden the remains had to have used something to cover up the odor. They’d had access to that building and hadn’t expected anyone to find that head for years, if ever, but then Benning had started investigating Britland. He’d put a target on his back by getting too close to the truth, and the killer had known the moment he’d removed the remains and lashed out to keep their secret. But none of that explained the possible connection to the Samantha Perry case.
“I’ll start by looking into employment records for Britland and run background checks on their personnel. If this is tied to them, that should give us what we need so I can narrow our suspect list down to the man who took your son.” And find out how that charm had ended up at the crime scene on Benning’s property. She tucked her chin to her chest as awareness of how close he’d gotten rocketed through her. Stepping away, she pocketed her phone, her insides cooling instantly with his lack of body heat adding to hers. She fisted the dish towel she’d been using to clean up after her and Olivia’s cookie dough fight in an attempt to lock down her body’s visceral reaction, and tossed it into the kitchen sink with the dishes. In vain.
In the short few hours she’d been back in Sevierville, the time that’d kept them apart, the distance she’d wedged between them, the complete and utter focus on her cases... It’d all faded. As much as she hated the idea he could still affect her after all this time—after everything she’d worked to bury—that deep, lingering attraction held tighter than ever before. But she couldn’t risk giving it more power over her than she already had. Not when it jeopardized her ability to do her job. “With any luck, the medical examiner will have an ID and cause of death on the victim from the fireplace in the next couple of hours, and we can connect the two to get your son back.”
She headed for the duffel she’d dropped at the front door with her laptop inside. Running through Britland employment records. Identifying the victim who’d been burned in the fireplace on Benning’s property. Finding his son. Nothing else mattered. They’d already wasted so much time. She didn’t dare give in to any more distractions.
“Ana, wait.” Callused fingers slipped around her arm, swinging her into a wall of muscle. He didn’t move, her exhales mingling with his. Her brain locked on to the fact his free hand had drifted to her waist, and she couldn’t think beyond the searing heat seeping past her skin. “I just...” Hesitation lightened his hold on her as a darker shift deepened the color of his eyes.
Then he crushed his mouth to hers.
HER SPINE OF steel hardened under his touch, triggering every cell in his body into mind-numbing protest. But instead of pulling away, the woman who’d walked out on him years before sighed against his mouth. That sound, so small, so vulnerable despite her toughened exterior, only added fuel to the raging desire burning through his veins. She was everything he remembered and more. Soft but strong, unapologetic and honest, confident yet
