If You Know Her: A Novel of Romantic Suspense

wishing he’d just headed home. Or gone back to his office, dealt with paperwork. Done
anything
but followed Ezra.
    “Any reason you decided to start tailing me, Jennings?” Ezra asked, his voice flat and hard.
    “Yeah. I’m still trying to figure out what it is.” He looked at the Inn. It was a beautiful place. Warm, inviting, cheerful.
    But in that moment, it seemed … cold. Harsh.
    “What are you doing here, Ezra?”
    “Nothing you want to know about.” He sighed and shook his head. “Go back into town, okay?”
    “No.” Remy folded his arms over his chest. “What’s going on?”
    Swearing under his breath, Ezra turned away. Then he looked back at Remy, his green eyes hard, sharp as broken glass. “You asking in an official capacity or what?”
    “I’m asking because the look on your face means trouble. And you’re standing in front of the house one of my cousins owns. What’s up, did Roz forget to pay her damn parking tickets again?” he asked sarcastically.
    “I don’t think I’d get too bent out of shape over parking tickets.” Ezra dipped a hand into his pocket and tugged something out.
    Remy heard the soft crinkle of plastic and he looked down, but whatever Ezra held, he was keeping it hidden. “I’m asking again, Remy. Why are you here? This any sort of official thing?”
    “Shit.” Remy reached up and jerked at his tie, loosening it. It felt like it was choking him. “No, I’m not here
officially
. I’ve got family here—makes me anything but impartial. Aside from that, I don’t even know why
you
are here, so how can I be here
officially
?”
    Ezra stared down, like he was thinking something over. Then he nodded and turned back to his car, reaching inside. He pulled out a folder, flipped through it. When he straightened, he turned around and handed Remy a report.
    Remy recognized the police report, found himself staring at a girl with a pretty face, hidden under too much makeup, a smile that hadn’t quite hidden the misery in her eyes.
    The next picture was so god-awful, he’d see it in hisnightmares. He set his jaw and skimmed the report, then gave Ezra a look. “Why am I looking at this?”
    “You see the part about the bracelet the roommate claims was missing?”
    Remy smirked. “I say there are good odds the roommate took the bracelet. A diamond bracelet, Ezra?” He glanced up and that was when he saw what Ezra had been hiding.
    A diamond bracelet. The evidence bag couldn’t quite hide the way the diamonds sparkled under the sunshine. The sight of it sent a chill down Remy’s spine. Still, they ran a damned Inn—people from all over came through the place. And just how unique was a diamond bracelet?
    Shaking his head, he said, “Sorry. You’d have to do a better job than—”
    Ezra dumped the evidence on top of the report. Remy had to juggle to keep it from sliding off. “Look at the underside of it. You can see it without taking it out of the bag.”
    “Shit.” Flipping the bag, he peered at the underside—saw a flash of blue. And an inscription. “It’s inscribed.”
    “Yeah. That makes it a hell of a lot more unique.”
    “Okay. Still, Roz runs a damned bed-and-breakfast. People come here from everywhere.”
    Ezra sighed. “I know. And I also know that your cousin was in Chicago the weekend that girl died. Now you go find someplace to stick your head in the sand. I told you that you didn’t want to be here.” He grabbed the bracelet and shoved it in his pocket, pulled the report from Remy’s slack hands and tossed it into the car.
    Remy barely noticed. Blood roared in his ears.
    His cousin—
    Carter.
    Fuck—
    It took him a full sixty seconds to get his legs moving and by the time he
could
move, he had to run to catchup with Ezra. He made it just before the sheriff opened the front door.
    “I’m going with you—to prove you wrong,” he snapped.
    “If you do prove me wrong, I’ll be damn fine with that.” Ezra glanced around, looking for the hostess. But Tammy wasn’t at her normal spot. “I don’t want to be right about this. Trust me.”
    Remy muttered, “Trust you? Not damn likely.” He started down the hallway.
    “Where are you going?”
    “To see if Carter is here or at his workshop—if I don’t see him, I’ll look for Roz. She’ll know where he is.” Remy headed down the hallway, tuning out the noise he heard coming from the kitchen. It was louder than normal, but he couldn’t care less. He just wanted to find