Temptation Trails (The Haven Brothers #3)

“When did you steal something?” Dad asked Luke, his voice dangerously low.

“Never,” Luke said quickly. “I’m just saying, we all make mistakes when we’re young.”

Dad eyed him with skepticism. It made me wonder if Dad knew about Luke’s racing days. And whether he’d stopped, as he claimed.

“How about some berry crumble.” Mom stood without waiting for a reply. “Owen, can you help clear the table, please?”

He nodded and got up from his seat. My brothers passed their plates to him, and I finished my dinner while they got dessert.

Mom kept eyeing me with either curiosity or suspicion. I had a feeling she’d be on the phone to Aunt Louise as soon as I left. Conspiring over my love life—or lack thereof.

Owen and I hung out for a bit longer, then headed home. It was a school night, so I didn’t want him up late. He settled on the couch with a video game while I got out my laptop and logged into our system to check on a few things.

The stolen car I’d recovered had been processed. I scanned the evidence list. Everything looked right. The bracelet I’d found in the dirt had been deemed non-relevant. No surprise there. It had probably been on the ground for years.

But something about it was tickling my instincts. My dad had always taught me to trust my gut. I had no idea what I’d find about a bracelet with be kind… of a bitch sometimes engraved on it, but the gut feeling was strong enough I decided to run a search through our database. Fortunately, most of our old case files had been digitized over the years. It would only take a minute.

To my surprise, I got a hit.

A silver bracelet with that engraving came up on the description of a missing person from about a decade ago. It was one of the things she’d been wearing when she was last seen.

But she wasn’t just any missing person. She’d gone on to become one of the most notorious cold case murders in recent Tilikum history. Everyone knew the Jasmine Joyner case.

I’d been a young deputy, working graveyard. I hadn’t been involved in the case at all. Too junior for something as important as a high-publicity homicide. But I remembered it well. It had been the talk of the town for months.

And then… nothing. It had gone unsolved.

Had I found something relevant to the case? I couldn’t prove the bracelet had been Jasmine’s, but it matched the description her family had given of what she’d been wearing when she disappeared. That was probably enough to get my superiors to let me dig a little deeper. See if this led to anything new.

Maybe Jasmine’s case would heat up again—and I could catch the person who’d killed her.

CHAPTER 8

Harper

Saturdays were crazy.

Looking back, maybe I should have asked Garrett to have Owen come after school, rather than on our busiest day of the week. Having a teenage boy underfoot in the kitchen was proving to be a little chaotic.

It wasn’t his fault. He was a nice kid, and, so far, he’d done everything I’d asked. Swept up spilled sugar, taken the trash out to the dumpster, folded to-go boxes, brought out batches of cookies to refill the case.

I peeked out front. Beth had a line that practically went out the door.

“I need to help get through those customers.” I took my gloves off and glanced at the two timers I had going. “When those go off, can you come get me? The peanut butter cookies need to come out of the oven.”

“Got it,” Owen said with a solemn nod.

I grinned at him. He looked so much like his dad, just younger and without facial hair. Same blue eyes, light brown hair, and a jaw that was on its way to being chiseled. The kid was going to be a heartbreaker someday.

Not that I thought Garrett Haven was attractive or anything.

That was a huge lie. He was stupidly attractive.

I tightened my ponytail and went out front. Beth mouthed thank you as she boxed up someone’s order. She was in her forties, with short brown hair and an impressive collection of earrings shaped like baked goods. Today’s were donuts.

Cookies were flying out of the case and we’d run out of cupcakes well before closing. I wasn’t going to have time to make more. I had four more custom cakes to finish and those had to take priority.

Beth and I made progress on the line. Fortunately, everyone was patient. One customer was there to pick up a birthday cake, so I went to the kitchen to get it out of the fridge.