Convictions (14 page)

"Olivia, what's wrong?"

The voice was familiar, comforting even, and she pushed herself more firmly against Hank. She pointed in the direction of the arm and panted, her heart pounding with desperation.

Strong hands gripped her shoulders. "What is it? What's down there?"

"A-an arm," she managed to stammer out. "I-I touched it."

"Somebody's down there?"

Olivia nodded vehemently, the back of her head hitting Hank's chest. "A body."

He rubbed her upper arms and leaned close. "Take it easy, Olivia."

Olivia managed to gain some control over her terror, and her shakes turned to minute tremors. Her heart slowed its rapid beat, and her breathing became more regular.

She'd seen countless dead bodies before, many of the deaths the result of atrocious trauma, but those had been crime scene photographs or remains laid out on a stainless steel table in a sterile morgue. They hadn't been out on her father's ranch where it was supposed to be safe and crime-free.

"How are you doing?" Hank asked, his head close to hers.

"B-better," she replied. "I just didn't expect to find a body out here."

He gave her a gentle squeeze. "I'm going to take the flashlight and check it out. You stay here."

She clutched his hand. "No. I'll go with you."

"You don't need to see it again."

She took a deep, steadying breath, and her panic receded. "I've seen dead bodies before. I'm just not used to finding them myself. This time I'll be ready."

Hank looked like he wanted to argue, but Olivia said softly, "I'll be all right."

He clenched his teeth but nodded. After standing, he pulled her to her feet. With his arm around her waist, Hank helped Olivia descend the slope. The flashlight's arc caught the body's hand first, and Olivia flinched only slightly.

"It's a woman," she said softly, as if her voice would disturb the dead. "Looks like it."

They stopped, and Hank moved the flashlight downward to the woman's feet. She wore red high-heeled sandals that looked oddly familiar, but she couldn't place them. Slowly, Hank brought the light up the woman's body, which lay in a few inches of water. She wore snug black jeans and a red shirt. When the beam illuminated the woman's mud-encrusted face, Olivia couldn't help but gasp.

"It's Melinda," she whispered hoarsely.

Chapter Ten

Hank wrapped his arm around Olivia, feeling the violent shudders that rocked her. In his mind, he could still hear the echoes of her horrified scream, cutting through the night. Although he had only a faint memory of dashing headlong into the darkness to locate her, he recalled his dizzying relief when he'd found her. And when he'd embraced her...

Banishing the memory of her soft curves nestled against him, Hank reluctantly turned his attention to Melinda. Nausea crawled up his throat at the sight of the bloated body, and he swallowed convulsively.

He tore his gaze away. "Are you sure it's her?"

Olivia nodded, her damp hair brushing his jaw.

He remembered the flamboyant woman and how she'd frightened the stallion into trying to jump the fence. At the time, Hank had been tempted to horsewhip Melinda.

"Let's go back to the trucks," Hank said.

"What about..." She motioned toward the body.

"We can't do anything for her now except call the sheriff."

Although Olivia seemed reluctant to move, she allowed him to guide her across the uneven ground. At the truck, she retrieved her cell phone and attempted once more to make a call.

"No service." She tossed the phone back into the cab. "A lot of good having one when the damned thing doesn't work when a person needs it."

Although Hank agreed, he kept his opinion to himself. "I'll finish changing the tire. Why don't you wait in your truck?"

"I'll help you."

"No. You need to get warm." He paused and asked awkwardly, "Do you still have to answer the call of nature?"

She shook her head and smiled wryly. "I couldn't go now if I tried."

Hank nodded in understanding and waited until she was sitting in the vehicle. "It'll only be another five or ten minutes."

Her nod was barely visible in the gray darkness.

As he hurried back to the lead truck, he heard Olivia start her truck's engine. Good. At least she'd be warm.

He endured the drizzle that seeped through his clothing and into his pores as he worked. After what seemed an eternity, Hank finished changing the tire.

Olivia rolled down her window as he approached.

"I'm done." He wiped at his face but realized he was probably just smearing the mud. "We could probably find this spot again, but to be certain we'll leave your trailer. Can you back it off the road?"

She glanced behind into the darkness and nodded. "I think so."

Hank stepped back and Olivia put her truck in reverse. She backed up, easing the trailer far enough off the road that vehicles could get by, but keeping her truck from sinking into the shoulder's mud.

"That's good," Hank hollered.

He released the two-horse trailer with quick efficiency and rejoined her. "Follow me, but not too closely. If I stop fast, I don't want you running into my trailer."

She scowled. "I know how to drive."

"Sorry." Hank gritted his teeth, knowing they were both on edge with a corpse lying less than a hundred feet away.

Because of the muddy roads it took twenty minutes to return to the house. Judge Kincaid rushed over to Olivia's truck, and Hank joined them after he'd parked.

"What happened? Why are you so late?" Concern and impatience warred in Kincaid's voice.

"My truck had a flat," Hank replied.

The judge turned toward him. "Where's the other trailer?"

Hank opened his mouth to answer, but Olivia, still seated in the truck, beat him to it.

"We found Melinda." Her voice was amazingly steady. "Her body is in a gully just off the road, about five miles from here. We left the trailer there to mark the location."

Kincaid's eyes widened, and he grasped Olivia's arms. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. It's just not every day I literally trip over a body."

"Damn. And here everyone thought she'd run off for a week in Vegas." Kincaid shook his head, obviously feeling guilty. "I'll call Caleb and tell him. He'll have to call the state lab in Fort Collins to get the forensics team out here." He helped Olivia out of the truck as he glanced at Hank. "You'll take them to the body."

Caleb must be the sheriff. Hank nodded. "Yes, sir."

"I'll go, too," Olivia said.

"No. The only place you're going is into the house to take a hot shower and put on some dry clothes." Her father steered her toward the house.

Olivia balked and nearly slipped in the muck. Hank reached out to steady her, but Kincaid beat him to it. She pulled away from her father. "I'm the one who found the body. I'm the one who has to go with them. You and Hank need to go to the canyon to help with the cattle."

"For Pete's sake, Liv, I can feel you shivering all the way through your coat. If you go back out in this, you'll catch pneumonia."

Hank shook his head at her stubbornness. "The judge is right, Ms. Kincaid. I can show them where the body is."

She glared at him. "You're just as wet and dirty as I am, and probably colder, since you were changing the tire while I was sitting in a warm truck."

"But you're—"

"Don't even start with the I'm-a-man-you're-a-woman shit, all right?" she interrupted.

He resisted the urge to shake his head. "I was only going to say that you had quite a shock finding the body," he said curtly. "There's no reason for you to see it again."

"I've seen a lot worse in Chicago. I can handle it."

Hank stuffed his hands in his wet jeans pockets. He'd forgotten about her background, which gave her an edge over him in viewing dead bodies.

"It's going to take Caleb about half an hour to get here. You both have time to shower and change before he arrives. I'll tell Slim and Mantle to fill the horse trailer and drive over to the canyon to give the men a hand. I'll go with you two and the sheriff." He spun around and headed to the barn.

Olivia remained rooted in place.

"You heard the boss. Shower," Hank said, keeping his gaze averted from her. The image of Olivia showering was one he didn't dare dwell on.

"I'll see you in half an hour," she said.

Hank merely grunted and strode toward the quarters he shared with the other convicts. At least he would have some privacy while he showered and changed.

When he stepped under the hot spray, he sucked in his breath as the heat struck his icy cold skin. With his head lowered, he merely stood under the water, letting it wash over his body and chase away the chill.

Some minutes later he shut off the water and grabbed his towel. He dried himself and dressed in the last clean set of clothes he had. As he struggled to tug on his wet boots, he wondered if Olivia would actually come with them to show the sheriff where the body was. If the boss had his way, she wouldn't, but Hank suspected father and daughter were cut from the same cloth. Both stubborn and strong-willed.

Hank shrugged back into his poncho and stepped onto the porch to see the sheriff's SUV and another county car park by the house. Hank loped across the yard and came up behind the lawman just as Judge Kincaid opened the door.

"Caleb, come in," the judge said, waving a hand expansively. "And you, too, Hank. I'm sure the sheriff has some questions for both you and Olivia."

Hank stood behind the sheriff as both his slicker and the lawman's jacket dripped water onto the floor.

After a somber round of greetings and an introduction of Hank to the lawman, Sheriff Jordan cut to the chase. "Are you sure it was Melinda's body?"

Olivia wrapped her arms around her waist. "Yes. She was wearing the same sandals she'd worn when she interviewed me."

"I'm going to need statements from both of you," Jordan said, looking from Olivia to Hank. "But right now, I want to go to the scene."

Hank rode with Olivia and her father as they led the sheriff in his SUV and the two deputies in an official sedan down the muddy road. The rain had stopped completely, and the clouds were thinning, revealing stars and a glimpse of the moon.

Bundled in a heavy coat, Olivia sat in the front seat, her arms crossed. A part of her wished she'd done as her father said and stayed at the house. But the prosecutor in her wanted to get a closer look at the scene.

She spotted the abandoned trailer on the side of the road. "There it is."

Once there, Sheriff Jordan and two of his deputies were shown Melinda's corpse. The youngest deputy, who wasn't more than twenty-one years old, stumbled away. Olivia grimaced at the faint sound of retching. This was probably the first dead body the kid had ever seen. He'd better get used to it, since it probably wouldn't be his last.

Sheriff Jordan pressed his lips together in a grim line as he hunkered down a few feet from the body. He shone his flashlight on the corpse, and Olivia glanced away. A hand on her shoulder made her look up, expecting to see her father. Instead, it was Hank who lent his quiet support, and she thanked him with a smile.

"It's her all right," Jordan said, ducking his head to examine the body more thoroughly without moving closer. He obviously knew not to contaminate a crime scene any more than Olivia had. "It looks like she was strangled."

Olivia, who'd kept her gaze averted from the body, now turned to look at it. She hadn't noticed the strap around her neck. "That rules out an accident," she said, keeping her tone professional.

Jordan glanced at her. "The forensics folks are on the way from Fort Collins, so it may be another hour before they get here." He shook his head. "They won't find much. The damned rain probably washed away whatever evidence there might have been."

"If she put up a fight, there might be trace evidence under her fingernails."

Jordan nodded, then straightened. "What were you two doing out here at this time of night?" His suspicious gaze encompassed Olivia and Hank.

"They were bringing back two trucks and trailers from Winnie Canyon," her father answered for them. "With all the rain, we have to get the cattle out of there."

"How did you see the body in the dark, Ms. Kincaid?" the sheriff continued his questioning.

Suddenly nervous, Olivia pressed her fists deep into her jacket pockets and told him.

"That's a hell of a coincidence, getting a flat tire so close to the body," Jordan said, his mild tone not fooling Olivia.

"Are you insinuating something, Sheriff?" her father demanded before Olivia could.

"No, sir. I'm only trying to get answers." Jordan turned his attention to Hank, who'd been silent since they'd arrived. "You're one of the convicts in the work release program, aren't you?"

Olivia turned to see Hank's reaction. But his expression was flat, with no hint of his thoughts or feelings.

"Yes, sir," Hank said, his voice one note away from surly.

"What were you in for?"

"Accessory to a felony."

"Did you know Melinda Curry Holcomb?"

A flicker of something touched Hank's face, but it was gone before Olivia could identify it.

"I saw her when she was at the ranch a couple of weeks ago," Hank answered in a monotone.

"You can't believe he had anything to do with her death," Olivia exclaimed.

"I don't believe anything, Ms. Kincaid. I'm just asking questions," the sheriff said dryly.

"Easy, Olivia," her dad said. "He's only doing his job. You know how it works."

Hank shifted his weight from one booted foot to the other as he half listened to the verbal volleys between the sheriff and the Kincaids. He glanced at Melinda's body, then quickly looked away. Contrary to popular opinion, not all convicted felons were unperturbed by dead bodies. He had only seen one other dead body before tonight, and that had been his cell mate.

Although this corpse wasn't covered with blood, her bluish marblelike skin and the frozen, unseeing gaze nearly brought Hank's dinner up. Hell, Olivia was handling it better than he was.