The Coltons of Red Ridge

Since Chief Colton kept an open-door policy, Hunter simply knocked on the door frame twice before poking his head in. “You got a minute?”

Finn glanced up from the report he’d been reading. “Of course,” he said, gesturing to one of the chairs across from his desk. “Have a seat.”

“Mind if I close the door?” Without waiting for an answer, Hunter did. “I wanted to talk to you about the Groom Killer case.”

Finn’s brows rose. “Do you have a new lead?”

“Not exactly. But I’d like to investigate Devlin Harrington’s tech—his phone, laptop, work computer, etc.” Hunter sat, leaning forward earnestly. “I got some information today that gives him a motive. Sort of,” he amended. He filled the chief in on what Layla Colton had told him.

“So you think Devlin has a problem with his father getting married? To the point that he’d go around killing grooms?”

Put that way, Hunter had to admit it did sound far-fetched. “It’s possible. Maybe he hates that Hamlin has found a younger, beautiful woman to marry him. Or maybe he’s against Dad putting a huge amount of money into Colton Energy and squandering his inheritance. We also know that Nash was suspicious of Devlin when he discovered Devlin asked out Hayley Patton and she rejected him.”

Last month, Nash, one of the K9 officers, had spotted Devlin ogling a photo of Hayley on his laptop. Hayley had been engaged to the first victim of the Groom Killer—Bo Gage—after Bo broke his engagement to Demi Colton.

Coincidence? Not likely.

“That’s still not enough evidence to justify a warrant,” Chief Colton said, his tone a bit chiding.

“Well, if you also consider that Layla Colton feels someone’s framing her with the sexual harassment charge against her, that would be two attempts to stop the marriage. And who would want to stop the marriage more than anyone? Devlin Harrington.”

“Again, only speculation. You know better than that, Hunter.”

Maybe he did, but Hunter was prepared to continue with speculation that might stick.

The chief shook his head before Hunter got a chance to speak. “Look, I want to exonerate Demi as much as anyone. While having another viable suspect would certainly go a long way toward doing that, you know as well as I do that’s nothing. Haley’s photo on Devlin’s laptop could simply mean he likes looking at her, as do a lot of guys.”

“But—”

The chief held up his hand. “Enough. Devlin’s being watched. If you truly believe he’s behind anything, you’ll have to find more evidence, legally.”

Hunter nodded, careful to mask his disappointment. “Then that’s what I’ll do,” he said. “Thank you for your time.”

Back at his desk, he took a seat and began making notes on a pad. Writing things out always helped him clear his head.

But all he could think of was Layla Colton and the hurt and pain he’d seen in her beautiful blue eyes. When he’d worked at Colton Energy, he’d actively avoided her since he’d figured she was tied—at the deepest levels—to the corporate greed and indifference perpetrated by her father.

He should have known it wasn’t so simple. There were always two sides to everything. And after talking with Layla, he had the distinct possibility that she might be less involved than he’d believed. And a hell of a lot more naive. He still struggled with the concept of her agreeing to allow her father to marry her off to a man she didn’t love, just for an infusion of money.

That situation wasn’t his problem, he reminded himself. He had two active cases—more than enough to consume his time. Arresting the Groom Killer remained his number one priority. Second would be finding out the truth about the charges Mark Hatton had filed against Layla. He’d do his job there, too, whether she turned out to be innocent or guilty.

And he’d do his damnedest to ensure her sky-blue eyes didn’t make frequent appearances in his dreams at night.