Murder in the Smokies Read Free Page A

with a greeting.
    “Have you lost your damned mind?”
    “Hello to you, too,” he said, stifling a grin.
    “You had the good sense to get out of Bitterwood years ago, and you take the first job out of that godforsaken hollow that comes slithering through the office?”
    Delilah Hammond had lived in Bitterwood for seventeen years before she got out on a college scholarship. She’d seen her brother Seth sucked in by Cleve Calhoun’s unique brand of larcenous charm and live to pay for it. Sutton didn’t blame her for her reaction. But he knew what he was doing.
    “It’s only for a few days,” he said, keeping his voice calm and soothing.
    “You are not using your reasonable tone with me, Sutton Calhoun. Tell me you’re not.”
    “I’m not,” he lied.
    “Yes, you are.” Her annoyance came across the phone line, clear as glass. “I’m not trying to be bossy here.”
    “You live to be bossy, Dee. Has anything come through from your contacts on our cold-case search request?”
    “Possible hit in the Bowling Green, Kentucky, area.” She sighed. “Promise me you won’t let Cleve suck you into something dangerous.”
    “I don’t plan to see Cleve.”
    “He’ll find you. He always does.”
    “Just because your brother was an idiot doesn’t mean I’m going to be.” He wondered where Seth was now. Sutton hadn’t seen him in years, not since leaving to join the army. “You never talk about Seth.”
    “I’m not going to now.” Her voice went instantly hard.
    “Heard from him lately?”
    There was a long pause on her end before she spoke, her tone resigned. “Not since I left the FBI.”
    She’d left the FBI eight years ago. “That long?”
    “I guess I ceased being any use to him when I no longer had the pull to keep him out of trouble.” Delilah’s tone was sharp, but Sutton had known his old friend’s sister long enough to see through her shields. Seth’s abandonment hurt her, even though her life had to be a hell of a lot more trouble-free with him gone.
    “He’s a fool.”
    “Yeah. Well, nothing I can do about that. But I’ll keep on these cold-case requests and see if I can’t come up with more for you.”
    “Scan the Kentucky case information and email it to me?”
    “Will do.” She hung up the phone without saying goodbye.
    He snapped his phone shut and leaned his head back against the seat, feeling the effects of his sleepless night. Back when he was a kid, he could stay up all night, getting into one scrape after another, and barely even feel it.
    But it had been a long time since he’d been a kid. At thirty-two, he was starting to feel his age and the inevitable effects of time. Inescapable, no matter how hard he worked to stay fit and active.
    He had just started the truck when a loud rap on his window jerked his nervous system into red alert. He snapped his gaze toward the window, his hand already closing over the butt of his Glock 17. He relaxed his grip as he recognized Ivy Hawkins’s dark eyes gazing back at him through the window. He hit the button and the window whirred down.
    “You’re still here,” she said.
    “Had to make a phone call.”
    She gave a brief nod, her gaze speculative. “I could use a cup of coffee. You?”
    He could, but he had a feeling Ivy wanted more than just a cup of joe. “Ledbetter’s?” he asked, speaking of the only decent diner in town.
    Her lips quirked. “Where else?”
    “I’ll meet you there.”
    She put her hand on the door frame, her fingers brushing his shoulder. A zing of attraction tugged at his gut. “Why don’t you give me a ride? You can drop me back here when we’re done.”
    “Why do I get the feeling this isn’t a simple cup of coffee between old friends?” he asked as she settled in the passenger seat.
    Her dark-eyed gaze sharpened. “Because it ain’t.”

Chapter Two
    Bitterwood sat at the edge of farm country, which meant Ledbetter’s Diner opened well before dawn to accommodate the early rising farmers