On the ground just a few feet away, Gabriela was scrambling to get up and took off running. Jeremy caught up with her.
“What happened?”
“Some creep took my camera.” She continued running. “It has all my pictures since arriving.” She raced after the assailant at a surprising speed.
Several minutes later, a man came into view. He ran toward a blue truck parked on the road that led away from the ranch and on through to the highway. With the camera bag in hand, he seemed to be losing steam. So was Jeremy, but he wasn’t about to let Gabriela beat him to the assailant.
Gathering a second wind, he ran past Gabriela and tackled the man to the ground.
Too winded to do more than hold the man down, Jeremy tried to tell Gabriela to call the police. It came out more like “Ca-ca-ca po-o-l”.
“On it,” she replied holding up a thumb and glaring at the man who was also too out of breath to do more than just lay on the ground.
Thankfully Williams was headed to the ranch, so it was only a matter of minutes before he along with another set of police officers showed up.
Jeremy had known better than to ask the assailant any questions. He was not part of the investigation any longer. His Captain decided it was best for Jeremy to step back since the murder was on his property. He stood by listening as Williams questioned the man.
Mark Rutledge was from nearby Missoula. Seemed there was bad blood between him and Kevin. Not only had Kevin supposedly stolen his seat on the city council, but also seduced Mark’s wife to gather intel on him.
Jeremy and Gabriela exchanged confused looks. She voiced his thoughts. “Why would someone kill over a city council seat?”
A veteran police officer, Murray lifted an eyebrow. “I bet it has more to do with the new business Rutledge’s family is building. Their permits got turned down and he’s lost a bunch of money.”
Gabriela let out a huff. “Money. That will make some people murderous.”
Rutledge babbled incoherently as they handcuffed and shoved him into the back of the patrol car.
“Bless his heart,” Gabriela said.
“What does that mean?” Jeremy asked.
“I feel bad for him,” Gabriela replied.
“Here’s your bag,” Williams told her holding the bag out. “We’ll need to see the pictures on the card.”
“Of course.” Gabriela turned to Jeremy. “I guess I’ll go with him to the station.”
“I’ll take her,” Jeremy said giving Williams a look.
Williams shrugged. “See you at the station.”
They walked back toward the snowmobile. They’d run quite a distance, which was probably the reason his thighs were so tight. “You’re a fast runner,” Jeremy said to Gabriela.
She seemed deep in thought. “I used to run all the time, but I’ve recently moved, I don’t run as much. It’s a bit dangerous since I live in downtown San Diego.”
“I don’t think I could ever live in the city.”
She eyed him. “I don’t suspect you’d like it at all. It has its good and bad like anywhere else. It’s noisy, but vibrant. There are lots of crowds, which means it’s rich in culture. Traffic is horrible. Not sure what I can say positive about that.” Gabriela smiled at him and he wanted to yank her against his chest.
Jeremy touched her arm. “What do you think about this?” He motioned with his other arm. “Country living?”
“You mean besides finding a dead body and being attacked by a man who wants my camera?”
“Yeah,” he murmured.
Stopping in her tracks, Gabriela looked first up to the sky and then around. “It gives one time to appreciate life. It’s like I can breathe deeper here. The landscape is breathtaking, I can’t imagine how beautiful it must be in the spring.” Her lips curved. “However, I am not sure I could live without Starbucks, Korean food and a Nordstrom’s nearby.”
“Our backgrounds are so different, aren’t they?” He met her gaze. “It would be difficult to find a common ground.”
Her brows lowered. “Common ground? What do you mean?”
“If let’s say I wanted to get to know you better. Spend time with you and pursue a relationship.”
When her eyes widened and mouth fell open, Jeremy seized the opportunity to kiss her. Unlike the night before, she immediately clung to him, dragging her fingers through his hair and pressing against him.
She was amazing. The chemistry between them was definitely off the charts by the way his heart threatened to burst out of his chest. He took her shoulders and pushed her away, but only a bit. He didn’t break the kiss, needing to move slowly…ever so slowly.
“You are a great kisser,” Gabriela informed him with half-closed eyes. “Damn.”
“What?”
“I hate that we live so far from each other.”
Jeremy shrugged. “Yeah, it makes it hard to ask you to a movie.”
Gabriela laughed and they continued on to find the snowmobile.
Chapter Eight
The police station was tiny, at least compared to the ones she’d seen in San Diego. Gabriela had dated a police officer once, and she’d enjoyed stopping by the station every once in a while. Something about all those men in uniform made her girlfriends go ga-ga always insisting they stop by and see what “the guys” were doing. She had to admit, it had been a fun season of her life. Too bad the guy had turned out to be a bit too friendly with other women.
She’d hoped to have time to doll up a bit for the dinner date with Jeremy, but at the rate they were going, they’d be lucky to grab something at an all-night diner.
Once again both Williams and now Jeremy asked her questions about the day she’d found the body.
It was unexpected to find she remembered more details. Although admittedly, the fact she’d observed some sort of furry creature scurrying away wasn’t exactly useful to the investigation.
“There must be a reason, Rutledge wanted your camera. Maybe something that
