Free Waking the Dead by Kylie Brant

wondering why he found that so irritating. Normally he considered that a bonus in a woman. It was vexing to recognize that he had a healthy share of interest in what she wasn’t saying. Only natural, seeing as he was the one who’d found the bodies.
    It’d taken Mona’s statement to tip him off that Cait was interested in the hot springs. For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why.
    “The sheriff’s office is keeping this whole thing pretty quiet.” Unless one counted Tony Gibbs blowing off at Ketchers over beer and pool every night. Zach knew better than to believe everything he’d heard the deputy had been saying, but he couldn’t help but think Andrews would have a fit if she knew she had a leak in her department.
    He pulled into an empty space in the lot and turned off the ignition. “The fact is, this place has been crawling with media since those bones were pulled out of the cave. Andrews isn’t giving them much, so they come sniffing around McKenzie Bridge, Blue River, and every other nearby town in search of gossip. There’s always plenty of speculation in the absence of facts. I’d think she’d want to lay some of it to rest by releasing more information.”
    There was a slight frown on Cait’s face, but she said only, “Sheriff Andrews is handling the press. She’s probably waiting to establish more details before deciding what information to release to the public.”
    And what not to release. Zach knew how the game was played. He got out of the Trailblazer and slammed the door closed. Waited for Cait to do the same before using the remote lock. They’d keep something back, maybe something only the killer would know. Play a cat and mouse game with the suspect until they painted him or her into a corner.
    It had nothing to do with him. Nothing to do with his business in Eugene. Unless he counted the fact that he was forced to spend way too much time away from it doing Andrews’s bidding.
    And more time than was wise in Cait Fleming’s company.
    He nodded at the couple headed toward their car, parked close to the Trailblazer. The woman gave her male companion a sharp elbow jab when he stared at Cait so long he nearly ran into the bumper of a car. Slanting a look at the female by his side, Zach found her with her head down, studying the soil maps again, seemingly oblivious.
    Everything inside him jeered at the thought. There was no way a woman who looked like her, one who’d made a career posing for the cameras, was unaware of the effect she had on people. Men especially. When folks around here got a load of her, the bones found in Castle Rock weren’t going to be the only source of gossip circulating in the area. And since he was going to be glued to her side for the duration, that meant that he’d get dragged into the talk, just by default.
    The thought brought a scowl to his face. Like he’d said before. She was trouble. “Springs are this way.” He paused impatiently as she veered in his direction to join him.
    “How big a place is this?”
    “Gil and Mona have over forty-five acres of gardens.” Once she’d reached his side he started walking rapidly again, waving an arm toward the grounds Jim kept in showcase condition. “I think there’s five or six miles of walking trails.”
    “And the Willamette National Forest all around us.” The roar of the McKenzie River grew louder as they walked, though there were only glimpses of it through the heavily wooded area on its banks. “Nice place to get away.”
    “They do all right.” He’d take the solitude of Whispering Pines any day over a place like this filled with desperate tourists fleeing the city. But for those who didn’t have access to their own piece of heaven on earth, this resort was a nice little slice of it.
    “There are rooms in the main lodge, a few cabins and cottages, and sites for RVs and tents.”
    Unerringly he headed into the forest toward the springs. And despite his better judgment, fell into tour-guide