“You bled all over me last night when you turned up naked on my porch. If you don’t know my name, why did you yell it out last night?”
“I’m sure I didn’t.”
I gave him an openly disbelieving look, but for the life of me, I had no idea why he would want to lie about such a thing. Unless he was psychic, or maybe a stalker, and he’d come here to make sure no one else could ever have me by organizing a murder suicide.
Yeah, no more nordic noir before bed for me.
Yet, neither of those possibilities explained the bullet wound. Besides, you couldn’t stalk someone in a town as small as Roseau and as for being psychic, well, I wasn’t sure I believed in that stuff.
Judging by the set of his jaw, this line of questioning was going to go nowhere fast.
“Fine, if that is the way you want to play it. What’s your name, then? I figure if I’ve seen your dick, I should at least know your name.”
That got a response. His bronze cheeks turned pink and he looked faintly embarrassed.
“Micah. My name is Micah. I should say thank you for patching me up, I guess.” He gave me a ghost of a smile, and it made my heart thud weirdly in my chest. I ignored the sensation. It was probably too much deli meat on my sandwich. Yep. Let’s go with that.
I should probably fake being crazy. People didn’t want to abduct crazy people. Too much like hard work. Pick up the easy, whimpering ones.
“You’re welcome, I guess. How did you get shot anyway?” I asked as casually as I could, like I didn’t give a shit about the answer, but I eyed his bandages suspiciously all the same. His gaze drifted towards his chest too and he shrugged his shoulder, wincing.
“Hunters confused me with a bear, maybe? I was out hiking and the next thing I know, I was shot. I barely remember dragging myself towards the light of your cabin.”
I had to stop myself from scoffing out loud. “Hiking naked? Just before a snow storm? Bitch, I might be crazy, but I’m not an idiot.”
I had seen his injuries. The gun that shot him was not a hunter’s shotgun, of that I was sure. The whole thing set my teeth on edge. Micah knowing my name, the bullet wound that wasn’t a bullet wound, the story about the hunters. The guy was lying through his teeth, and he needed to leave.
Micah was saved from another round of questioning by my dog barking at the door. I rushed to the window and saw the police cruiser pull up, Chief Hammond behind the wheel. I threw a quick look at Micah to see his reaction. He was completely still, but didn’t seem overly anxious about the fact the law had just rolled down my driveway.
As if he knew my train of thought, he shook his head softly. “I haven’t done anything wrong. He’s not here for me.”
Yeah, we’d see. I shrugged on my jacket and stepped out onto the snow-covered porch to meet Tony.
“Morning, Layla. That’s a fair blanket of snow we got last night.”
I murmured my agreement and shut the door behind me. I wasn’t sure why I didn’t want the police chief seeing Micah, when by his own admission he had done nothing wrong, but I still distracted Tony anyway.
“Sure was, Tony. You just caught me on my way to feed the girls and Monster, you can come with me if you like? What brings you out here today, anyway? I can’t imagine you hiking it all the way out here to talk about the weather.”
Picking my way along the snow path I’d cleared the day before, I paid special attention to where I was putting my feet out of habit. One slip on a secluded farm like this and you’d bleed to death in minutes from a head wound, no one finding your body until wild animals had eaten off your face. I, for one, wanted to look pretty in my coffin.
“You’re right. I just wanted to have a talk with you. You’re out here by yourself these days.” He broke off as he helped me ease open the barn door. The flurry of activity was comforting; chickens scratching in the straw, Gladys the dairy cow bawling her welcome over the stall door. Tony stopped my progression into the barn by putting his hand on my shoulder and turning me around to face him. His face was no longer congenial, he was in full police chief mode now.
“Layla, two people were murdered on the edge of town last night. I’m getting the Feds down here as soon as possible to lend a hand, but I’m still worried. They were found by hikers.” He took a deep, fortifying breath. “Their heads cut clean off. I just wanted to tell you to be careful, okay? Sue would have my ass if anything happened to you. She’s quite fond of you. Actually, I’m pretty sure she likes you better than me.”
I was stunned into silence and I felt the blood drain from my face. Had Micah had anything to do with the murders? The holes in his story seemed a lot more ominous now. Regathering my wits, I smiled at Tony, even if the expression felt forced. I wanted to soothe his worries, at least about me.
“I appreciate your concern, I really do, but I’ll be fine out here, Tony. However, if it will make you feel better, I’ll make sure I’m in the house before dark and keep all the doors and windows locked. I’m also pretty handy with a gun, you know?” I grinned at him and waggled my eyebrows. Tony was from the new school, where women should be able to protect themselves in any way possible, so he’d taught me to fire a gun with deadly proficiency when I was still a teen.
Against my screaming better judgment, I still didn’t tell Tony about Micah and his arrival last night. Tony was looking back at the barn door again, probably anxious to get back to investigating the biggest case Roseau had ever seen.
“What would make both Sue and me feel better is if you moved into town for a bit.” I was shaking my head before he’d even finished his sentence. I had too much to do out here to just leave it behind to become a townie. “I figured you’d just say no, but Sue wanted me to try. Just remember to be careful, okay?”
With that he shuffled out of the barn, looking every one of his sixty years. I made him all sorts of promises, swearing it every which way.
Then I made a liar of myself as soon as the cruiser was no more than a speck in the distance, racing inside to the man who may or may not be a murderer.
Milking the cows would have to wait. Getting the information I needed came first.
3
I marched into the house, wet boots and all, and stood in front of Micah, fixing him with my most angry stare.
“Who the hell are you? Cut the crap this time, I want to know if I’m harboring a murderer.”
Micah just stared right back, the liquid gold of his eyes darkening to the color of whiskey.
“I told you, I didn’t do anything wrong and I certainly didn’t murder anyone.”
But I wasn’t having any of his vagueness this time. I leaned over to his bandages and grabbing a corner, tore it off. Even though I expected the result, I couldn’t stifle my gasp of disbelief. There was no wound left, only a faint pink patch of new skin. I poked the spot and he winced in pain. Good, I thought with twisted satisfaction, it still hurt.
“How do you explain that then? What the hell are you, some kind of science experiment gone horribly wrong and being chased by the CIA?”
He chuckled low in his throat “That’s the first thing you think of? You’re one of a kind, Layla.”
He’d unwittingly given me more ammunition. “Oh and that’s another thing, how the hell do you know my name? Because I definitely never told you. You’d better start talking buddy, or I’m getting the cops back here.”