“Because it’s my job,” Greg replied simply. “That ... woman ... is under my care. She has hours upon hours left to fulfill her debt. You might not like it, but you’re not in charge.”
Jack opened his mouth, something particularly vile on the tip of his tongue, but Brian silenced him with a firm shake of his head.
“I need Ivy because I believe she’ll recognize this woman,” Brian explained. “Ivy would’ve been ahead of her by several years in high school, but she’s familiar with the locals in town. It’s possible I’m wrong. I don’t see a purse out here or anything, though, so any help she could offer with identification would be ideal.”
Greg stared at Brian a long beat and then let out a dramatic sigh. “Fine.” He stomped off in the direction they’d come from. “I’ll collect the prisoner. Don’t do anything interesting until I get back.”
“We’ll try to refrain,” Brian said dryly.
Jack waited until he was certain the man was out of earshot to make his opinion known. “I don’t like him.”
“Oh, gee, I never would’ve guessed.” Brian’s eye roll was exaggerated. “You can’t go after him. You know that, right?”
Jack was suddenly the picture of innocence. “What makes you think I’m going to go after him?”
“I’ve met you.”
Jack didn’t respond. “She’s not far from the road.” He craned his neck to look over his shoulder. “I mean ... the curve is right there. It’s possible she was hit and ended up here.”
Brian nodded. “It is. You still can’t go after him.”
Jack made a protesting sound and then met his partner’s steady gaze. “What makes you think I’m going to go after him?”
“You don’t like what he said about Ivy.”
“I—”
Brian shook his head to cut him off. “I don’t like that Ivy is in this position either. Truly I don’t. We didn’t have a choice, though. She broke the law. Now she has to own up to the consequences.”
“She doesn’t have to own up to them with a guy like that in charge of her,” Jack protested. “We have to be able to move her someplace else.”
“You mean like when you tried to get her installed in the clerk’s office to do some filing full time?”
Jack frowned. “How did you know?”
“Because I’m not an idiot.” Brian tried to keep a stern expression on his face and failed ... miserably. “The judge came to me when he heard you made a call trying to get her put in that position permanently. He was willing to do it, but I talked him out of it.”
Temper flared in the depths of Jack’s eyes. “You talked him out of it? May I ask why?”
“Because, as frightened as she is over this whole thing, Ivy doesn’t want special treatment. She wants to do this on her own terms. She didn’t get that much community service in the grand scheme of things. She’ll be done in a couple of weeks and you guys will be right back to fawning all over each other.”
Jack’s frown only grew more pronounced. “We don’t fawn all over each other.”
“Uh-huh.” Brian went back to studying the body. “If she was hit, how did she make it this far in?”
“Maybe she walked.” Jack was squeamish at the thought, but he couldn’t ignore the possibility. “Maybe she was clipped and managed to stumble into the woods. It could’ve been adrenaline.”
“I guess.” Brian rubbed his chin. “Why didn’t whoever hit her stop, though?”
“Maybe they were drunk.”
“Maybe.”
“Or maybe they thought they hit an animal,” Jack suggested. “I mean ... that’s possible on this stretch of the highway. We have the road crew out here picking up animal remains at least twice a week.”
“That’s possible,” Brian agreed. However, the more he thought about it, the unlikelier he found the probability. “She’s wearing a pink jacket, though. Pink isn’t exactly a naturally occurring color.”
“No,” Jack said, sadness washing over him. “It’s also possible someone realized they hit a person and panicked.”
“Yeah.” Brian heaved out a sigh and then lifted his head when he heard footsteps on the ground. He forced a smile for Ivy’s benefit when he saw her trailing behind Greg. “Thanks for coming, Ivy. I know this probably isn’t high on your to-do list for the day.”
“It’s okay.” Ivy felt awkward as she glanced between Brian and Jack. “What do you want me to do? Mr. Decker wasn’t very clear when he collected me.”
“I need you to look at her,” Brian replied grimly. “I think ... I think I might recognize her. If I’m right, you’re going to recognize her, too.”
Ivy swallowed hard and then nodded. “Okay.” She moved to slide around Brian so she could get a better look at the body, but Jack held up a hand to still her.
“Wait,” Jack interjected. “You don’t have to look if you don’t want to look. It’s not necessary.”
“Oh, geez.” Greg made an exasperated sound in the base of his throat. “I’m in charge of this operation. I say she has to look. So ... look.” He impatiently waved his hands to get Ivy to move faster.
She acquiesced, but not because Greg told her to. She was naturally curious, and if Brian called her out here, he had to have a reason. She sucked in a breath when she got a better look at the woman. “Oh, man. That’s Sasha Carmichael.”
Brian turned grim at the words. “That’s what I thought. I wanted to be sure, though.”
Jack remained confused. “Who is Sasha Carmichael?”
“Her father owns the furniture store,” Ivy volunteered. “That place where we were going to go next week to look for a new couch for the basement. I pointed it out to you because you mentioned we should try to shop local if we could.”
“Ah.” Jack nodded, remembering. “Right. I know what place you’re talking about.” He switched
