Murder in Black Canyon Read online

  “I don’t think Lieutenant Holt misses much,” Kayla said.

  “He’s new here, so I don’t know him well,” Carmen said. “Though he must be good at his job or he wouldn’t have been assigned to the task force.”

  “He told me his family has a ranch in the area.”

  “The Holt Cattle Company. It’s a big spread south of town. Knowing the country and the people here could be an advantage in this kind of work. Are you from the area?”

  Kayla nodded. “But not knowing everyone can be an advantage, too. You don’t come into a job with any preconceived notions.”

  “So what’s your impression of the lieutenant?”

  Kayla stiffened. “Why are you asking me?”

  “I thought I sensed a few sparks between the two of you—though maybe not the good kind. Did you two have some kind of disagreement?”

  “No disagreement.” The two of them had worked well together, even though he sometimes made her feel prickly and on edge—too aware of him as a man who read her a little too well for comfort.

  Carmen stood. “I’ll get your statement off the printer and you can read through it.”

  When she was alone in the room, Kayla sagged back against the chair. Only a little longer and she would be free to leave. She wanted to do some investigating of her own, to try to make sense of what had happened this afternoon.

  * * *

  “I WANT A warrant to search Asher’s hotel room,” Dylan told Captain Ellison. The two stood outside Graham’s office, Dylan having filled him in on his findings at the camp. “That might give us a clue what he was doing out there.”

  Graham nodded. “What about this PI? Kayla Larimer? Does she have any connection to Asher?”

  “I don’t think so. I’ll talk to Senator Matheson to verify her story, but I think she was doing what she said—delivering a message to the senator’s daughter.”

  “Did you learn anything else from her while you were at the camp?” Graham asked.

  He had learned a lot—mainly that Kayla Larimer wasn’t the type of woman to get close to anyone very easily. “She’s good at her job, I think,” he said. “Observant. She pointed out right away that Asher had to have a car nearby, after noting that his boots were new, the soles barely scuffed. And she was good with the women at the camp. She thinks Andi Matheson was so distraught over Asher’s death because they had a close relationship. He may even be the father of her baby.”

  “What do you think?” Graham asked.

  “Maybe. But Andi might have been distraught because of what she’d seen when the body was dragged into camp. It was enough to upset anyone. And the picture I found in Asher’s car was of Metwater, not Andi. Asher may have had something on the Prophet that got him into trouble.”

  “I’ve got a call in to the Bureau, asking if Asher was here working on a case,” Graham said. “Meanwhile, maybe his hotel room will turn up something.”

  “Are you going to Agent Asher’s hotel?” Kayla asked.

  Dylan turned to find the private detective, followed by Carmen, emerging from an office at the back of the building. “I want to go with you to the hotel,” Kayla said, joining him and the captain.

  “This is a police matter,” he said. “You don’t have any business being there. You know that.”

  She opened her mouth as if to argue, but apparently changed her mind. “Fine. Obviously, you don’t have a need for me any longer, so I’ll say goodbye.” She nodded to Carmen and the captain, but didn’t look at Dylan.

  The snub irritated him. “I might have more questions for you later,” he said.

  “Maybe I’ll have answers.” She left, closing the door a little more forcefully than necessary behind her.

  “I don’t think she likes you too much,” Graham observed.

  “Oh, I don’t know about that,” Carmen said.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Dylan snapped.

  “If she really didn’t care what you thought, she wouldn’t react so strongly.” Carmen shrugged.

  Dylan turned to Graham, and was surprised to find the captain grinning at him. “What are you smiling about?”

  “My wife acted as if she hated my guts the first time we met,” he said. “Carmen may be on to something.”

  Dylan turned away. “I’m going to file for that warrant.” And he would do his best to forget all about Kayla Larimer. The last thing he needed was a woman who wanted to play mind games.

  * * *

  KAYLA SCARCELY NOTICED her surroundings as she drove toward town after leaving Ranger headquarters. She had to find a way to see what was in Frank Asher’s hotel room. Lieutenant Holt might believe she had no right to get involved in this case, but he had made her a part of it when he took her back to the camp. She couldn’t drop the matter now, with so many unanswered questions. And it wasn’t such a stretch to see the FBI agent’s death as linked to the assignment she had taken on for Senator Matheson. Agent Asher’s murder had definitely upset Andi, and Kayla needed to know why.

  Even if she had never met Dylan Holt and overheard him discussing searching Asher’s hotel room, visiting the hotel would have been the next logical step in her own investigation. She didn’t have the authority of a law enforcement agency behind her, but part of being a good private investigator was using other means to gain information. She might be able to charm a hotel clerk into letting her see the room, or to persuade a maid to open the door for her.

  She wouldn’t interfere with the Rangers’ work. But she’d find a way to make Dylan share his information with her. She could even prove useful to him—another set of eyes and ears with a different perspective on the case.

  She flipped on her blinker to turn onto the highway and headed toward the Mesa Inn—the name on the parking pass in Asher’s car. She found a parking place in a side lot that provided a good view of the hotel’s front entrance and settled in to wait.

  She didn’t have to wait long. Less than half an hour passed before two Ranger Cruisers parked under the hotel’s front portico. Dylan and Carmen climbed out of the first one, while two officers she didn’t recognize exited the second vehicle. As soon as the four were inside, Kayla left her car and headed toward the hotel’s side entrance.

  As she had hoped, it opened into a hallway that wound around past the hotel’s restaurant and gift shop, to the front lobby. A large rack of brochures shielded Kayla from the Rangers’ view, but allowed her to spy on them as they spoke first to the front desk clerk, then to a woman in a suit who was probably the manager. She wasn’t close enough to hear their conversation, but after a few minutes the manager handed over a key card and the four officers headed for the elevator.

  Kayla put aside the brochure for a Jeep rental company she had been pretending to study and walked quickly to the elevator. She hit the call button. The car the agents had entered stopped on the fifth floor before descending again. Smiling to herself, Kayla found the entrance for the stairs and began to climb.

  On the fifth floor, she eased open the door to the hallway a scant inch and listened. The rumble of men’s voices reached her. She was sure one of them was Dylan’s. Risking a glance, she opened the door wider, in time to see the four officers enter a room in the middle of the hall. Kayla stepped into the hall and checked the number on the room—535.

  Now what? She couldn’t just barge in—that was a good way to get arrested. And she didn’t want to interfere, but she wanted information.

  A loud squeak made her flinch. She turned to see a maid pushing a cleaning cart down the hall. Kayla moved toward her. “Excuse me,” she said. “I wonder if you could answer a few questions about the man who was renting room 535.” She opened her wallet and the maid, who looked like a student from the nearby university, stared at the badge. It clearly identified Kayla as a private investigator, not a cop, but most peop
le didn’t bother to read the fine print.

  “Why do you want to know about him?” the woman—her name tag identified her as Mindy—asked.

  “He’s part of a case I’m working on.”

  Mindy bit her lower lip. “I don’t know if I’m allowed to talk to anyone about the guests.”

  “Any information you provide could be very helpful,” Kayla said.

  Mindy pulled a cell phone from the pocket of her uniform top. “I’d better check with my manager.”

  Kayla held her breath while Mindy put through the call. If the worst happened, she could make a break for the stairs, or bluff her way out of this. But when Mindy explained there was a woman cop who wanted to question her, the manager apparently told her to cooperate. Good thing Carmen was along on this job. The manager probably assumed Kayla was her. “What do you want to know?” Mindy asked, as she slipped the phone back into her pocket.

  “Did you see the man who rented that room? Did you speak to him?”

  “I saw him,” Mindy said. “But we didn’t talk or anything. I saw him when he left the room yesterday morning.”

  “How did he act when you saw him? What kind of a mood was he in?”

  Mindy shrugged. “I only saw him for a few seconds. He just looked, you know, ordinary.”

  “Did you clean his room? Did you notice anything unusual about it?”

  “No. I mean, it’s not like I spend that much time in the rooms. I clean them and get out.”

  “So nothing about this guy stood out for you?”

  Mindy rearranged the bottles of cleaning solution in the tray at the top of her cart. “Not really.” She avoided looking at Kayla.

  “What is it, Mindy? Anything you remember—even a little detail—might be helpful.”

  “It’s nothing, really.”

  “Even if you don’t think it’s important, it could be.”

  “Promise you won’t tell my boss? We’re not supposed to spy on the clients, you know? I could get in a lot of trouble.”

  “I won’t tell.” Kayla would probably never even see the manager.

  “I was cleaning the room next door yesterday.” She nodded to room 533. “And I overheard the guy in 535. I think he must have been on the telephone, because I only heard one side of the conversation.”

  “What was he talking about?” Kayla asked.

  “I don’t know. I couldn’t make out the words or anything, but he sounded angry or upset. He was shouting, you know?”

  Kayla nodded. “That’s very helpful. Could you make out any words at all?”

  “Well...I think he said something like ‘You can’t do this’ or something like that.”

  “Anything else?”

  “No. I felt bad about eavesdropping that way, so I turned on the vacuum and went back to work. Did he do something bad?”

  “No, he didn’t. Thank you. You’ve been very helpful.”

  Mindy resumed pushing her cart down the hallway. She had scarcely passed 535 when the door opened and Dylan stepped out. He spotted Kayla before she could duck out of the way. “What are you doing here?” he demanded.

  Chapter Six

  “Hello, Lieutenant.” Kayla gave him a cool look. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

  He moved closer, crowding her a little, frankly trying to intimidate her. “What are you doing here?” he asked again, his voice low, but not hiding his anger.

  “I’m conducting my own investigation,” she said. “I’ve been talking to the maid and she gave me some interesting information about Agent Asher.” Her eyes met his and his heart beat a little faster. She wasn’t the prettiest woman he had ever met, but those eyes, so changeable and expressive...

  He mentally shook himself. “You shouldn’t be here. You’re not part of the investigation.” Not entirely true. But she wasn’t an official part of his team.

  “I am. I won’t get in the way, but I need to see.”

  “To see what?”

  “I need to see what kind of man he was. To figure out his relationship with Andi. Her father is going to want to know.”

  “I could charge you with interfering with our investigation.”

  “I’m not interfering. Senator Matheson hired me because he’s concerned about his daughter’s safety. It’s possible Agent Asher was a threat to that safety, or that he knew of a threat.” She raised her chin, defiant.

  He took a step closer and lowered his voice. “You’re not going to back down, are you?”

  “Did you really think I would?”

  No. Part of him—the part that wasn’t a cop—would have been disappointed if she had. “I could put you in cuffs and escort you out of here.”

  “Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Her voice took on a throaty purr, sending a jolt of pure lust through him.

  He struggled to regain control of the situation, and of himself. “I can’t let you into Asher’s room,” he said.

  “I know, but you can tell me what you find in there.”

  “No, I can’t.”

  “Tell me if you find anything to do with Andi and I’ll tell you what I learned from the maid.”

  “I can interview the maid myself.”

  “Come by my place when you’re done here and we can talk.”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “I’ll feed you dinner.”

  “I’m not going to tell you anything.”

  “I’ll still feed you.”

  Spending an evening alone with Kayla wouldn’t be the smartest move he had ever made. She was a witness in his case and a big distraction he didn’t need.

  She was also the most intriguing woman he had met in a long while. “All right.”

  The door to Asher’s room opened again and Ethan and Carmen emerged, carrying stacks of evidence bags. Ethan glanced at Kayla. “What’s she doing here?”

  Dylan ignored the question. “Did you get everything?” he asked.

  “I think we’re done here,” Ethan said.

  “I’ll meet you downstairs,” Dylan said. “I want to take one more look.”

  Ethan looked at Kayla again, then shrugged and headed toward the elevator.

  Kayla followed Dylan to the door of the room. “You can’t come in,” he said.

  “I know.”

  She was smiling when he closed the door in her face. He tried to figure out what the smile meant. Did she think she had got the better of him? They were supposed to be on the same side here—both interested in solving a murder and upholding the law. But he didn’t trust her. If her father was a con artist, maybe she had learned a few tricks from him.

  * * *

  KAYLA LEANED AGAINST the wall, arms crossed over her chest. Why had she invited Dylan to dinner at her place? It wasn’t as if her cooking was going to work as a bribe. Maybe he thought she intended to seduce information out of him. The idea sent heat curling through her belly. She had walked a little too close to the edge with that remark about the handcuffs, but she hadn’t been able to resist. Seeing the cowboy cop angry had been intimidating, but also a big turn-on. There was something about him that got to her, and she wasn’t sure if she liked it or not.

  Which was probably why she had issued her invitation. She needed to figure out where things were going with them and what it meant. The fact that he had agreed to come by her place probably meant he was curious, too.

  The elevator doors opened and Kayla straightened. Two men dressed in jeans and denim work shirts, one carrying a tool bag, emerged. They slowed when they spotted her, and exchanged a look she couldn’t read, but the younger one, with brown eyes and olive skin, nodded at her as they passed. They walked to the end of the hall and passed through the door marked Stairs.

  Kayla went back to watching the doo
r to Asher’s room. What was taking Dylan so long? The other cop had said they were finished, but Dylan must have found something else. Something to do with Andi? She couldn’t shake the idea that Asher and the young woman were connected somehow.

  She pulled out her phone. If someone came along, she’d look like she was waiting for a friend, or had stopped to make a call. She pulled up an internet browser and typed in Asher’s and Andi’s names, curious to see what might pop up. She watched the spinning icon as the site loaded, then let out a screech as the phone was wrenched from her fingers.

  A hand clamped over her mouth, while strong arms crushed her in a painful grip. She kicked out at her captor, but a second man moved in front of her and cuffed her on the side of the head. She stared at the workman who had passed her earlier—the one with the olive skin and brown eyes.

  He glared at her, then grabbed hold of her feet and held them tightly, preventing her from kicking. Together, the two men dragged her down the hall toward the stairwell.

  * * *

  DYLAN STOOD BY the window in the hotel room and surveyed the stripped bed and open drawers. The team had taken the clothes from the closet and a laptop computer from the safe, as well as the sheets and personal items to analyze for any evidence. If Asher had entertained anyone in the room before going to the Family’s camp, they would find evidence of that. Dylan hoped the files would reveal the agent’s purpose for being in Colorado.

  Kayla thought the FBI agent was here because of Andi Matheson, but Dylan saw Daniel Metwater as the key to this case. Asher had Metwater’s picture in his car, and the so-called Prophet had been entirely too cool about the sudden appearance of the dead man in his camp.

  Dylan moved toward the door. He couldn’t waste any more time pondering this. He had to get back to headquarters and start sorting through evidence. He expected to find Kayla waiting for him in the hallway. She had acted as if she intended to stay around, but maybe he had misread her. They had agreed to meet tonight, and he could get her address from the statement she had given Carmen. Still, it bothered him that she hadn’t said goodbye.

  He started toward the elevator, but a flash of light near the floor caught his eye. He stopped and scooped up a phone. The screen showed a browser open to a search for Frank Asher and Andi Matheson. An icicle of fear stabbed Dylan. This was Kayla’s phone. He was sure he had seen her with it earlier.