Terror Stash by Tracy Cooper-Posey

and waited patiently. She’d already confirmed she had been there. What was going on? Even though she couldn’t see where he was leading the conversation, her heart started to thud along unhappily anyway.
    He shook his head, clearing it. The movement made his chins wobble and his earlobes flap. “There was a murder down there. I understand that it’s a very small town. I thought you might know something about it.”
    “A murder? Who? Do you have a name?”
    He picked up a sheet that had the W.A. Police logo on the top. Montana had seen thousands of them. They were broadcast fax bulletins. Updates on criminal activity in the state. The consulate was on the distribution list so they could keep an eye out for Americans in the area and step in if there was trouble involving one of their own.
    “Says here Stewart Dawson Connie. Also known as Rabbit. They found his body in the river. Knife wounds to the chest and back. He bled to death. They figure he died between seven and nine p.m.”
    Montana clawed to hold her face together, to not give anything away, while her heart and mind...her whole body dropped into a deep chasm. Free-floating nausea wrenched at her. Fighting to sound normal, she said, “I left around six-thirty or so and I actually spent the day at Yallingup. The waves were up.” She made herself smile. “So, didn’t hear a thing. Was he a surfer?”
    Nelson’s eyes flicked down to the page, back up to her. “Says he’s a known drug-dealer. Crystal meth, heroin, crack, even good old cannabis.”
    She heard Rawn’s voice drawling again; “ You need a fix so bad you’d stoop to dealing with this turd?”
    Caden Rawn had known who he was, then. Had he gone looking for him after the fight and killed him? No, not Caden Rawn. He’s not like that . The voice in her mind was absolutely flat, absolutely sure. Dangerous, he might be—and she suppressed the shudder that tried to rattle her as she remembered the pure menace he’d radiated when he’d confronted Rabbit. Yes, he was dangerous, but what made him most dangerous was the strategic control he’d demonstrated.
    Her mind zeroed in on the moment his hand had rested on her shoulder, the fingers absently sliding up against the flesh of her neck. Even now she could recall the warmth and the weight of his hand. The memory kept popping into her mind in odd moments, stealing her concentration, just as memories of Vinnie did. She recalled the way Rawn had snatched his hand away, abruptly aware of what he was doing. Conscious control, awareness of ramifications, of consequences....
    Sneaking away and killing Rabbit on the sly just didn’t fit with everything else Rawn had done last night. He’d have known how stupid such a move would be and that the authorities would immediately look at him as the most interesting suspect.
    She shook her head for Nelson’s benefit. “Sorry, can’t tell you a thing about it. Besides, don’t you think I would have phoned you if I’d been involved in something like that? I know procedure as well as you.”
    “Yeah, that’s what I figured.” He threw the sheet down and smiled at her. “Guess you wouldn’t know anything about the big bar fight down there, either.”
    Adrenaline was already surging through her or she may have given herself away this second time. As it was, she merely lifted her brows. “What exactly is it you think I do down there, Nelson? Turn into a surfer chick and slut my way through every bar in town?”
    He had the grace to blush. “Like I said, it’s a very small town. A murder, a knife fight. They’re probably related.”
    “Which is probably why I don’t know about either of them,” she said crisply. “I would have called you.” Then she let her eyes open wide. “Is that it? Someone in the fight was American? Or the murder victim? What’s his name...Connie?”
    “Actually, they don’t know the names of any of the victims of the knife fight. They didn’t have any identification and so