One Summerhill Day (The Summerhill Series Book 1) by Keira Montclair Page B

why he wasn’t about to tell Caitlyn until he had no choice. Even his dad had advised him to hold off. It wasn’t something that would be easy for a woman to handle. She needed to have a little commitment to him first.
    Later that morning, Jake returned to the office.
    “Need my help out there?” Ryan smirked without taking his eyes off his computer screen.
    “Hell, yeah, dangerous day out there in January in Summerhill.” His brother tended to be a bit sarcastic, a quality Ryan had always appreciated about him. “Dead. The snowstorms are the only excitement.”
    “We don’t need another storm.”
    “No. What did you find out? Anything?”
    “As a matter of fact, I did. Cait’s aunt was killed in a motor vehicle accident back in December. Bad weather, nothing suspicious. But Cait’s husband? Now there’s a character.”
    “She’s married?” Jake was as surprised as Ryan had been.
    “Yeah, married for two years, getting divorced, though she didn’t say why.” Ryan didn’t know why he had opted to check out Bruce Dalton, but he had. He thought it was pretty unusual when a marriage ended that quickly. His curiosity won out, and he was glad he had searched.
    “Why did you call him a character?” Jake asked, his arms folded across his chest.
    “Quite a gambler, apparently. Owes some money around Philly and online.”
    “Really. Maybe you better keep a closer eye on your woman.”
    “She’s not my woman.”
    “Good. What’s her number? I’ll see if she’s busy tonight. A hot woman with money. My dream girl.” Jake leaned against an empty desk.
    “Like hell. And you can wipe that shit-eating grin off your face.” Ryan kept his eyes on his computer, not wanting to give Jake the satisfaction of thinking he riled him.
    “I thought so. Hey, I hope it goes well for you. She seems like a nice girl.”
    Ryan lifted his eyes to stare at his brother, and the look in Jake’s eyes made him realize this was a rare instance of him being serious. “Thanks. We’ll see how it goes. She’s meeting the realtor there today and bringing her stuff with her. She’s going to pay rent until the deal closes.”
    “Where did her money come from? Husband or family? No, let me guess. Her family, which is why she was married to an asshole who was trying to gamble her money away.”
    “Something like that. Her father was killed in Iraq, but his family owned a big steel company a while ago in Buffalo.”
    “This could be interesting. Did her aunt have a lot of money? Was she sister to Caitlyn’s father? Any reason to question her death?”
    “I’m not sure whether she had any money, but her accident seems to be normal enough. But I left my name with Buffalo PD and informed them Cait was her next of kin. If anything out of the ordinary shows up, they’ll call. They said they’d keep me informed. Though I think Buffalo PD must have screwed up somewhere. How could they not have notified her aunt’s next of kin? Things aren’t adding up.”
    Jake shook his head, “Too bad. I can get really mad at my family sometimes, but at least we have one. No other relatives?”
    “Not based on what she’s told me.” Ryan leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms in thought. “Did you check out the driver of the car that took off from the scene of Cait’s accident?”
    “Yeah, it was a rental car.”
    “Did you follow up to see who the driver was?”
    “Nah, I figured he was long gone. Sarge said to let it go. Given how bad the storm was that night, he said he’s not going to charge anyone. Even the jerk that ran from the scene.” He walked into the other room to grab a can of soda. When he returned, he asked, “Why? What are you thinking?”
    “You know I don’t believe in coincidences.”
    “Yeah.”
    “Storm or not, don’t you think it’s a little strange that a wealthy heiress like Caitlyn was in a car accident three months after her one surviving relative was killed in an MVA?”
    “Shit.” Jake sat down