Sudden Second Chance

She stiffened beside him but a laugh gurgled in her throat.

She’d sure grown attached to that frog in a short span of time...unless there was something else in the bag she didn’t want to tell him about. With Beth St. Regis, the possibilities were limitless.

The first deputy approached them, adjusting his equipment belt. “You call in the broken window?”

“And a theft. I had a bag in the car from Timberline Treasures.”

The second deputy pointed at Beth. “You’re Beth St. Regis from that show.”

“Do you watch it?”

“No, just heard you were in town to dig up the old Timberline Trio case.”

“I think Wyatt Carson already did that.” She jerked her thumb at Duke. “You do know the FBI is looking into the case again, too.”

The officer nodded at Duke and stuck out his hand. “Deputy Stevens. I heard the FBI was sending in a cold-case agent. The sheriff already turned over our files, right?”

“Special Agent Duke Harper.” He shook hands with the other man. “And I have the files.”

The other officer stepped forward, offering his hand as well. “Deputy Unger. We’ll do whatever we can to help you. My mother was good friends with Mrs. Brice at the time of the kidnapping. I was about five years older than Heather when she went missing. That family was never the same after that. Had to leave the area.”

Beth was practically buzzing beside him. “Deputy Unger, could I interview you for the show?”

“Ma’am, no disrespect intended, but I’m here to help the FBI. I’m not interested in being a part of sensationalizing the crime. We’ve had enough of that lately.”

“But...”

Duke poked her in the back. “You wanna have a look at the car now?”

“Sure. We’ll take a report for the rental-car company and insurance purposes. Probably a kid or one of our local junkies.”

Duke asked, “Do you have a drug problem in Timberline?”

“Crystal meth, just like a lot of rural areas.” Unger flipped open his notebook and scribbled across the page.

When they finished taking the report, they shook hands with Duke again. “Anything we can do, Agent Harper.”

“Well, they weren’t very friendly.” Beth curled one fist against her hip.

“I thought they were very friendly.”

“Yeah, you get the cops and I get Carson’s ex-girlfriend’s dog walker’s cousin.”

“Second cousin’s ex–dog sitter.”

“Right.” She tossed her purse onto the passenger seat of the car and hung on the door. “Thanks for seeing me through the report...and the words of advice.”

He was close enough to her that the musky smell of her perfume wafted over him. “Do you want some more advice, Beth?”

She blinked. “If you’re dishing it out.”

“Find another case for your show. Get off this Timberline Trio gig. Since I’m in the Siberia of cold-case hell anyway, I can even toss a couple of good ones your way.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Why would you do that? You must really want me off this case.”

“It’s not me.” Raking a hand through his hair, he blew out a breath. “Someone else wants you off this case.”

“What? Who? Bill?”

“We got an anonymous email and I don’t think it was from Bill Raney.”

“That’s crazy. The FBI got an email about little, old me? How did anyone even know I was doing a show on the Timberline Trio?”

“How long have you been in Timberline?”

“Two days.”

“We got the email two days ago.”

She sucked in her bottom lip. “You think it’s someone here?”

“It has to be, unless the station has been doing promo for it.”

“Not yet. We wouldn’t release anything about a story we haven’t even done yet. It might never come off.”

“Then it has to be someone here in Timberline or someone related to someone in Timberline. You haven’t exactly been shy about your purpose here.”

“No point in that. But why contact the FBI?” She snapped her fingers. “It must be someone who knows the FBI is looking into the case, too. Maybe this anonymous emailer figures the FBI will have some pull with me.”

Duke snorted. “Mr. Anonymous obviously doesn’t know you.”

“You know what’s strange?”

“Huh?”

“Why didn’t this person warn off the FBI? If it’s someone who doesn’t want me looking into the Timberline Trio, why would this same person be okay with the FBI dredging up the case?”

“I have no idea. Maybe he thinks Cold Case Chronicles has a better shot at solving the case than the FBI.” He scanned her thoughtful face. “That was a joke.”

“It’s strange, Duke. I suppose you tried to trace the email.”

“With no luck.”

“Must be someone who’s computer savvy, which isn’t hard to find in this town with Evergreen Software in the picture.”

He captured a lock of her silky hair and twisted it around his finger. “How about it, Beth? Why don’t you back off? I’ll find you another case, a better case for your show.”

“You don’t really think I’m in danger from an anonymous email, do you? I get a lot of anonymous emails, Duke. Some are unrepeatable.”