Page 46 of One Night Years Ago

“He wore a condom, same as with Lanie. So that’s not going to help us trace them.”

“What was the good news, then?”

“We’ve been trying to find the samples from thirteen years ago. We wanted to have them analyzed. Too many mistakes were made back then. The sample appeared in the system as stored, but it never made it to the lab.”

He raised his head as he finally understood what he was saying.

“If you find it, it could prove I didn’t do it.”

“That was the good news. They found it.” She paused, and he knew what she was thinking, that she shouldn’t be telling him about this.

“I should get going,” she said.

“Stay. Please. We don’t have to talk about this.” He forced himself to stay where he was, though he wanted nothing more than to cover the distance between them. It had to be her choice.

Finally, she walked over to him and placed her hands on his arms. He stood very still, enjoying the electric zing where their skin met. She looked at him, and his mouth moved of its own accord to cover hers.

“We don’t have to do anything.”

“What if I want to do something? she asked, nibbling on his earlobe. He shook as the sensation went straight to his cock.

“Hunter? I brought you a snack,” Jesse said from the ground floor. Hunter hadn’t even heard him open the barn door.

“On second thought,” she whispered. “I might get home and get some sleep. Call me tomorrow?”

“I don’t have your number.”

She rattled it off quickly and left him hunting around madly for a pen. As he wrote it down, he wondered if things might finally be looking up for him.

Chapter 19

Natalie

Charles Doll was known around town for being able to keep a cool head under pressure. Once, years ago, he’d become the town’s hero for a week when he helped save a young child from a fire. There were people below, asking her to jump, but Charles was the one who grabbed a blanket and found three other men to hold it. The child had jumped from the third floor and suffered no injury. It didn’t hurt that a reporter had taken a great shot of Charles, looking bronzed and athletic, as he picked up the girl and deposited her gently on the stretcher.

That same man now looked like he was having a stroke.

“You can’t be serious, Sheriff. What you’re suggesting goes against people’s rights. More than that, it’s discrimination pure and simple, on the basis of age and gender.”

“You’re exaggerating, Charles. What I’m asking is for men of a certain age to volunteer a DNA sample while we wait to get the DNA sample back from the lab. I’m asking for their help to catch a killer. Is that so wrong?”

“I’m not saying it’s wrong, Sheriff … Natalie … but please think about it from their point of view. You’re singling out men between thirty and fifty years old. This goes against people’s rights. People aren’t going to be happy.”

“He still lives here, Charles. He’s somewhere close by. You don’t think the men in Sharp’s Cove want to keep girls safe? Surely they all know their daughters or sisters could be next.”

Charles shook his head. “I’m not arguing against that. I’m just telling you what my legal opinion has to be, Natalie.”

“Ok. Draft the legal jargon of how it could work. I’ll discuss it with the mayor, see what he thinks. Maybe he can help.”

“You’ll have it by end of day today. Now, there’s something else I wanted to ask you. Let me take you out to dinner, Natalie,” Charles said. She was about to speak when he stopped her. “No, listen to me for a minute. I know I’ve asked you several times before, and you’ve always said no. But now I think you look … somehow different, more ready to entertain the possibility of getting on with your life. I’m just asking you to consider me. I could be a good provider.”

Wow, that’s what any woman wants, a good provider.

Natalie considered her reply for a moment. She’d known Charles was besotted with her, had been looking for a date for the past six or seven years. She’d always turned him down, feeling like her body wasn’t ready. And now that her body had shown her it clearly was ready, she realized she felt absolutely nothing romantic for Charles.

“Charles, please. We’re friends. Good friends. But we’re not going to be anything else.”

He looked at her sadly.