The Sheriff's Secret. Julie Lindsey Anne

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      He followed her lead, returning to his full height with a snap. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

      “West.”

      His expression changed, ever so slightly.

      “Please.” The stubborn sting of emotion bit at her eyes and nose. “I need to know the rest of my patients are safe. If they don’t answer their phones, I’m going to pay them visits myself. Seems like I’d be safer with you.”

      “I need you here making a formal statement.”

      “I’ll write it while you drive. I promise.” She hoped the desperation in her heart came through in her tone. “Please don’t leave me behind.”

      West ducked his head and gripped the back of his neck. “You shower. I’ll try to reach the men by phone before I leave. We already have their numbers.” He turned on his heels and walked away.

      “Does that mean I can go with you?” she called after him.

      “You’ve got ten minutes.”

      Tina ran for the shower. Ten minutes wouldn’t have seemed like long enough time to get wet before Lily was born. Since then, Tina had learned to do almost anything in a quarter of the time it had once taken.

      She folded her stained clothes and stacked them on a bench for evidence, tucking her underthings carefully between the pieces, unsure if she was meant to turn those in, too. These were things a person should never have to wonder. The things that had happened today didn’t belong in Shadow Point, Kentucky. They were fodder for television crime shows or the headlines of a city she’d never visit.

      Tina doused her hair with shampoo and lathered her body fron neck to toes in seconds, scrubbing harder than necessary, until the water ran clear. Ironic, because she doubted the stains from her day would ever truly be gone. She shook off the heavy wave of emotion and concentrated on the ticking clock. The damp towel was in the communal hamper and she was re-dressed with four minutes to spare. Tina grabbed her things and yanked open the locker room door. Hopefully, West had really waited. If he hadn’t, she wouldn’t blame him.

      She’d always hated the way she’d left things with him after high school. When the college scholarship she’d applied for came through, she’d packed up and asked him to understand. It wasn’t an opportunity anyone could pass up, certainly not her. She’d needed to get out of Shadow Point like she needed oxygen. West had wanted to get married. He’d wanted a house and some land, a perfect replica of what his parents had, but Tina didn’t believe in fairy tales, and at eighteen, she couldn’t see past her escape. She’d picked up the phone a thousand times over the years to tell him the truth about why she had to leave. Her family was a train wreck. Her father was in jail now, probably for the rest of his life, and her mother had run away in his absence. Tina was broken because of it, and West deserved better. Without her to hold him back, West had enlisted in the military, served overseas and come home to be the county sheriff. She had been baggage for him, but she could never find the strength to say those things out loud, so she didn’t. Pride was vindictive that way.

      * * *

      WEST PRESSED HIS palms to the desk, scanning the map before him. Cole and the other Cade County deputies had compiled a list of viable reports about a man in a dark jacket and jeans spotted near the crime scene. Though no one outside Tina’s group had witnessed the attack, several had heard the gunshot and called to report it. A handful had confirmed Tina’s claim about the old pickup truck. “You can’t throw a stone without hitting an old pickup in this county,” West groaned.

      “Someone thought it was a faded red Ford,” Cole said. “That’s something.”

      West rubbed his eyes. Let Cole be the optimist for a change. Someone had to be because West wasn’t finding a lot of hope in the reports he had in front of him. The descriptions were in agreement, but the locations were all over the place. “So he either went north or south?”

      Cole sighed. “Yep.”

      West strained upright and shook his head. “Did we catch a lead on the assailant at Tina’s home?”

      “No.” Cole lifted his brows. “How’s your head?”

      West frowned. “Hurts. What else do you have for me?”

      “We found a standard 30-06 shell casing on the building’s roof at the crime scene.”

      “I guess that’s something.”

      Cole didn’t look hopeful. “It’s the same ammo we’d find in half the homes in Cade County. Hell, I’ve got the same stuff at my place.”

      West adjusted his hat over the tender lump. If Cole saw it, he’d try to administer first aid, and he’d had enough of that from Tina. “See if ballistics can get a match. Maybe the gun’s been used in another crime. We might be able to find him that way.” He pulled his shoulders back, trying and failing to alleviate the tension there. “Have we been able to reach either missing group member?”

      Cole pressed his lips and shook his head. “No. When I couldn’t reach them at their home numbers, I called their places of employment. One man went to work on schedule last night and left this morning without incident. The other called off before breakfast.”

      West grabbed his keys. “So, both whereabouts are unaccounted for. I’m heading out to see what kept them away from the meeting. Let Tina know—”

      “Let Tina know what?” Her voice startled him into a spin. “By my watch, I have two minutes left on the ten you gave me.”

      Cole smiled against one fist, then failed to cover his humor with a cough. “You want to split the work, boss? I’ll hit one, you take the other?”

      “I’d like to speak with them both,” Tina said.

      Cole cast a quizzical look in West’s direction.

      West shook his head. “Why don’t you take the guy who went to work last night? I’ll take the guy who called off this morning.”

      Cole ducked his chin and made for the door.

      West turned to address the remaining deputies. “Call me direct with anything new. I want to be kept up to the minute on this, and when they’re done collecting prints over at Miss Ellet’s home, have someone stay put until I get back.”

      A round of “Yes, sirs” drifted through the electrified air. West’s chest puffed with pride. His deputies were the best in the state. He’d made a habit of reaching out to the most dedicated and promising rookies as early as possible, and when positions arose within his team, he gave those men and women a call. It was a practice he’d learned from his father, the sheriff before him. Stacking the deck in Cade County’s favor was a Garrett family tradition, and one more reason the son of a gun who did this would soon be sorry.

      He shoved the front door open and held it for Tina to pass.

      She stopped to face him in the narrow threshold. “You were going to leave me?” Her steel blue eyes nailed him to the wall.

      West swallowed long and slow. The energy building between them in the small space was more of a distraction than he could allow. A fitted sweater СКАЧАТЬ