Читать книгу Colton's Texas Stakeout - C.J. Miller - Страница 9
ОглавлениеEthan and Lizzie had invited the Colton siblings to their ranch house for dinner. Annabel didn’t know how Lizzie was managing to cook dinner for so many people when she was due to have her baby soon. Most days after work, Annabel was so tired she heated dinner in the microwave and had a glass of wine.
Ethan and Lizzie were jazzed about their baby. It was almost hard to watch. They were in love, and after what they had been through, they deserved every moment of happiness they’d found together.
Of course, not all of the Colton siblings would be in attendance. Josie wanted nothing to do with her biological family. Despite Trevor’s FBI resources, Sam’s detective skills and Chris’s PI abilities, they hadn’t been able to locate her.
Annabel wondered what they had done, or hadn’t done, to make Josie hate them. Lizzie had been in foster care with Josie, and she didn’t recall Josie speaking angrily about her siblings. Annabel worried Josie had gotten herself into trouble, perhaps drug use or hanging with the wrong crowd. Given how the Colton siblings had grown up, the statistics weren’t in their favor for them becoming successful and productive members of society. She and her brothers had worked hard in their careers, and Annabel believed her brothers carried the same burden of their father’s crimes with them. Annabel thought Josie had risen above the past, but in dark moments of doubt, concerns plucked at her.
Annabel parked outside the ranch house. She was pleased to see her twin’s white pickup truck in front of the house. Annabel could confide in Chris, and he didn’t seem to resent her new career as a police officer as much as her other siblings. Whether it was because she and Chris had their twin connection or because they’d become and stayed close in high school, he listened to her. She could tell him anything.
Last year when Annabel had graduated from the police academy at the top of her class, she had thought her brothers would see her desire to be a police officer, and one day a detective, wasn’t a whim or an act of defiance against them.
Only Sam had been present at her graduation, and that was because most of the current members of the GGPD attended the ceremony. Her brothers’ absences had hurt her more than she’d ever said. They rarely asked her about her job, nor did they acknowledge her professional accomplishments. Annabel tried to remain calm about it and pretend she didn’t care. Their family was facing enough problems, and her brothers wouldn’t take kindly to criticism.
Taking a deep breath and focusing on the reason she was there, to see her family and discuss the clues Matthew Colton had provided them, Annabel rang the doorbell.
Sam answered, beer in hand, and he greeted her with a hug. At least when they were at family gatherings, he didn’t act like her superior. He was a detective, and she, six years older, was a rookie cop. His frostiness at work was his way of keeping her away from dangerous cases, as if that would keep her safe. Random, bad things happened all the time, even to cops who were assigned missing-cat reports.
She lived with that knowledge and had since the day her mother had been murdered. Annabel’s soul wasn’t at ease, knowing something terrible could happen to someone she loved with no warning. It was a brutal lesson she had learned from her father.
Sam escorted her inside. Lizzie had a fresh pie cooling on the counter and dinner was set in serving dishes on the table. How did she do it? Annabel didn’t own serving dishes, period, much less matching ones.
Annabel pointed to the pie. “If your pie goes missing, I can help you find it. I have some experience with that.” The words left her mouth tinged with anger. She hadn’t meant to say anything about the crappy assignments she had been given at work. It was not professional to speak about her job in her free time or to make passive-aggressive comments. That wasn’t the way to deal with Sam. She knew better.
“We all have to start somewhere,” Sam said, looking uncomfortable. He glanced at his fiancée, Zoe, and then at Annabel.
Zoe, a librarian, cleared her throat, adjusted her glasses and narrowed her eyes at Sam. It confirmed what Annabel suspected. The entire family knew she was given the worst, most boring assignments in the GGPD.
That made it sting worse and feel as if they were in cahoots against her, even though Ethan, Lizzie, Chris and Zoe had nothing to do with her work duties.
Annabel’s tactics to get better assignments were to act with professionalism and grace regardless of the circumstances. She had to rise above, as she had done all her life. Rise above her father’s terrible legacy. Rise above her foster parents’ crushingly low expectations of her. Rise above the police department’s belief she couldn’t handle the tough assignments. “Did you handle a lot of cases that involved missing cats and handing out tickets along Main Street?” she asked sweetly.
Chris came in from the porch. “Annabel, I thought I heard your voice.” He hugged his sister and then looked at her. “What did I miss?”
“Nothing of note,” she said. Before she could tell him anything about what a rotten day it had been, Lizzie broke in.
“It’s just us tonight. Ridge and Darcy couldn’t make it. Darcy’s on shift at the hospital, and Ridge is working,” Lizzie said.
Ridge, Annabel’s younger brother, worked in search and rescue, and his high school love, Darcy, was an emergency room doctor at Blackthorn County Hospital. Though they’d parted ways after high school, they’d recently reunited, and Annabel had never seen Ridge so happy.
“I thought Trevor was coming by,” Sam said.
“Something came up at work, apparently,” Lizzie said.
“Another dead body,” Chris said, more a question than a statement.
Lizzie shivered. “He didn’t say. He spoke to Ethan when he called. Ethan would be here, but he had a couple of heifers birthing tonight and he’s with them in the barn.”
Trevor and his FBI team were working with the Granite Gulch Police Department, but the FBI was keeping some details of the Alphabet Killer cases to themselves. The FBI had access to the data in the Alphabet Killer case: the complete autopsies, the ballistics reports and detailed crime scene data, analyzed at their state-of-the-art labs.
Annabel wondered how much Trevor shared with Sam. Some details of the case had been made public knowledge, some had been distributed to the members of the GGPD assigned to the case and some were a matter of speculation.
They sat at the table, and after exchanging pleasantries, the conversation turned to Matthew Colton. Since Matthew had first made a deal with Sam to reveal the location of their mother’s body, he had been the focus of discussions often.
Though speaking of him wasn’t the most pleasant topic, Matthew Colton was dying, and he’d engaged them in a game of clues, offering each of his children one word to figure out where their mother had been buried. They were permitted to visit, one Colton per month, on the last Sunday of the month, to receive their clue.
Matthew Colton was serving six consecutive life sentences, and knowing his life would end in prison, perhaps he felt doing something for his children would earn his soul some peace. Matthew did nothing selflessly.
Annabel had considered Matthew was screwing with them, baiting them into visiting him in prison and pretending he was willing to tell them where their mother was buried. Her brothers believed Matthew was genuine in this instance, perhaps attempting one final act to make some amends to his children for what he had done to their family. Nothing would grant him absolution, but at least knowing their mother’s final resting place would provide them closure. They could give Saralee a proper burial and service, which Annabel thought her mother would have liked.
Annabel anticipated Matthew Colton was ultimately trying to manipulate them. No way did visits from his children mean anything to him. If he cared about his children, he wouldn’t have killed their mother and destroyed their family.
“Texas, hill and B,” Zoe said. As a librarian, she had been conducting research on the Colton family and those words, trying to establish connections that the siblings, being too close to the case, hadn’t made on their own.
“Annabel, you’re planning to visit Matthew, aren’t you?” Sam asked.
Why was he on her case? She would go, of course. She hadn’t seen her father in over twenty years, and looking at his murderous face, the face that had haunted her dreams for years, was the last thing she wanted to do. But her siblings needed answers, and even though Annabel had her doubts about Matthew telling the truth, she wasn’t selfish enough to put her hatred of her father above her brothers. “I will go see him. I’ve been combing the letters, and he might give something away during our conversation. Hopefully, I can make a connection to what Regina wrote in her letters,” Annabel said. “I’d like to spare Chris and Trevor the punishment of seeing him.”
Chris patted her hand encouragingly, and Lizzie and Zoe smiled sympathetically. Sam just stared at her.
“Do you want one of us to go with you? I could wait in the car,” Sam said.
He was being supportive, but she couldn’t help feel he was questioning her strength. “I can do it.”
“Alone?”
“I don’t know if he’d be willing to speak to me if I brought someone else,” Annabel said. “The arrangement you made with him was pretty specific, and I’m sure he’d love for one of us to make a mistake so he can renege on the deal partway through.”
As they discussed techniques of dragging more information from their father, Annabel’s thoughts switched to Regina Willard and then to Jesse Willard.
Jesse had to have some connection to his sister, Matthew Colton’s most loyal fan. Having read the letters Regina had sent Matthew, Annabel had no doubt Regina was unhinged. But Jesse had seemed normal. Could Annabel have been wrong about that? Was Jesse just better at hiding his crazy? Annabel’s police instincts were usually reliable. She had dealt with enough nutcases and criminals to intuit when someone was off their rocker.
“Earth to Annabel,” Zoe said softly.
“What?” Annabel asked, straightening. “Sorry, I was thinking about the case.”
“I asked if you’ve been seeing anyone,” Sam said.
Annabel hated that question, because the answer everyone wanted was she was in a stable relationship. She dated, but it never turned into anything serious. “I’ve been busy with work and the letters from Matthew,” Annabel said. Sam, Ethan and Ridge had found love, and she hoped Chris was next, but a great romance wasn’t in the cards for her. She didn’t have time. Past relationships ended because she couldn’t make a connection with someone. Boyfriends were wary of her, suspecting something dark and twisted slept inside her, because she was the daughter of Granite Gulch’s most infamous serial killer.
Chris had found love once, but it had ended tragically. He had lost his wife, and he hadn’t been able to move on yet. The house he had built for Laura remained empty. He couldn’t move into it and, instead, lived in an apartment over Double G Cakes and Pies. They made the best desserts in town, and Chris was lucky he wasn’t a hundred pounds overweight. His PI job kept him hopping. Every time Annabel visited her brother, she couldn’t resist stopping into the Double G for a dessert and to visit with her good friend Mia.
Even so, thinking about the woman Chris had lost made Annabel sad. Chris could have been happy with a family of his own, but instead he worked too much and kept any prospects at bay.
“You need some balance in your life,” Sam said.
Annabel felt her defensiveness rise. No one criticized Chris or Trevor about their lack of love lives. “Just because you fell in love doesn’t mean everyone else will.”
Sam smiled at Zoe, and if Annabel didn’t love them both so much, she would have gagged at the sugary sweetness in that shared look.
“We just want you to be happy,” Lizzie said. “And lately, it seems like you go to work and then go home and read those letters.” She shuddered. “You deserve more. You deserve happiness.”
She was happy. She was finally a police officer, a dream she had chased without her family’s approval. Achieving that goal meant a lot to her. Proving herself meant she could ask for better assignments. “Until we get this resolved with Matthew, I’m satisfied with my life and plenty busy.”
The conversation moved on, and Annabel was glad the focus had shifted away from her.
After dinner, Annabel joined Chris on the back porch. She sat next to him on the patio sofa, and they propped their feet on the wooden coffee table.
“You know he goes after you because he worries,” Chris said. “We all do.”
He was referring to Sam. Annabel understood. Her younger brother might be one of Granite Gulch’s best detectives, but he had a lot to learn about his place in the family. He didn’t get to call the shots in her life. “I worry about you all, too. Your PI work puts you in tough spots. Ridge is running around in dangerous terrain, and Sam is working the streets, searching for criminals, and Trevor...well, who knows what he’s up to, but I guarantee it involves dangerous people.”
“I know. I worry about everyone, too. With you, it’s different. We lost Josie,” Chris said.
His words hit her in the gut. Annabel wanted more than anything to find her sister, work out whatever problems were keeping them apart and for Josie to be part of their lives. “I know.” It was painful for them to have Josie far out of reach.
“And Mom,” Chris said. “And Laura. It’s the Colton curse. Bad things happen to Colton women.”
Annabel had thought about that before. “I think about Mom and Josie, too.”
“I know you do,” Chris said. “I want you all to find the happiness I had with Laura, even though I feel cheated out of time with her. When I see Sam, Ethan and Ridge, I envy their happiness, and I worry about Zoe, Lizzie and Darcy.”
Annabel squeezed her twin’s hand. “Nothing bad will happen. Matthew is behind bars, and he can’t hurt us anymore. We’re staying close and watching out for each other.” Though Sam, Ethan and Ridge had been through difficult struggles in recent months, they had been strong and had protected the women they loved.
Chris shrugged. “Except Matthew found a groupie who seems to believe he is brilliant and worth following in his footsteps.”
It was disturbing to Annabel, as well. “I wish the media would stop dragging out Matthew Colton stories and parading them around with parallels to Regina. That only encourages her, and whoever else may have the unbalanced idea to commit crimes to become famous.”
“Matthew seems amused by Regina’s antics.”
“Matthew having any source of happiness burns me,” Annabel said. “That’s part of the reason I don’t want to visit him. He loves jerking us around. He couldn’t get us to visit any other way, so he dangles the one thing that compels us.”
“You still think it’s a game with no ending?” Chris asked.
“Why not ask us to visit and tell us where Mom is buried without clues and cryptic messages spread across many months?” Annabel asked. “He’s dying. It has to have dawned on him that he could die before we receive our clues. Then, where are we? He can enjoy watching us twist and squirm and beg him for information. In any case, who knows if these clues even mean anything? One word is hardly enough. If it were that easy to find Mom, we would have found her. Or the authorities would have found her twenty years ago.”
“No way to know unless we follow through on our visits,” Chris said.
“After I go, it’s your turn.”
Chris sighed. “Don’t remind me. I’m not looking forward to talking to that man any more than you are, but I’ll do it. I want Mom to have a real burial.”
“We’ll get through this,” Annabel said, resting her head on her brother’s shoulder. “Coltons can withstand anything, especially when we stand together.”
* * *
“Even for a small town, you and I seem to land the most boring assignments in America,” Luis said, sliding his gun into its holster at his hip and closing his locker.
Annabel agreed with him, but she had been trying not to focus on it. Talking about it fed into her anger and frustration.
“It wasn’t like this before I was your partner. I actually apprehended criminals in the process of committing crimes. I responded to home invasions.”
Guilt hit her, and she tried not to turn that guilt into more anger at Sam. He had something to do with her crappy assignments, and it scorched her. Shouldn’t he want to help her in her career, not hold her back?
“Then again, my wife is happier with you as my partner. She doesn’t need to worry as much. I’m not in danger tracking a culprit who trampled a flower garden. Especially when that culprit turns out to be two-year-old twins who were chasing their ball into a grouchy neighbor’s yard.”
Annabel pictured Zoe looking at Sam, and her anger flamed hotter. Her and Luis’s dull assignments were intentional and unfair. Other rookies weren’t assigned only boring tasks. Sure, she should pay her dues, and she understood it was more than her rookie status keeping her away from the most interesting and dangerous case in the GGPD, the Alphabet Killer murders. She was tangentially related to the case because of her connection, no matter how severed, to Matthew Colton, and Chief Murray wouldn’t involve her directly because he was worried about a slick-talking defense lawyer twisting the facts of the case and pointing to prejudicial handling and analysis of evidence by a Colton.
But another day of missing pies and cats, and Annabel would lose it.
“Give me a minute. I need to talk to the chief before we head out,” Annabel said.
“I’ll grab some coffees,” Luis said.
Annabel strode to Chief Murray’s office. She reached for the door handle and took a deep breath. Getting this off her chest would save her sanity. Even if Chief Murray told her to suck it up and deal with it, at least he’d be aware she knew she was being treated unfairly. It wasn’t just about her. Luis was bored to tears, too.
Annabel almost lost her nerve when she saw Sam speaking with him. Sam was seated across from Chief Murray’s desk, slightly reclined in the chair, looking relaxed and buddy-buddy with the chief. Maybe it was better Sam was in the room. Both needed to hear what she had to say, and this would save her from repeating herself. Sam might be dismissive with her, but Chief Murray was a fair man and would hear her out.
She knocked once on the door and then opened it, stepping inside and closing the door behind her. She’d had enough conflicts in her life to know rushing in with guns blazing, firing accusations around the room, wasn’t the best technique with men who liked to be right.
The chief prided himself on making levelheaded and fair decisions. Sam believed he was above reproach.
“’Morning, Annabel. What can I do for you?” Chief Murray asked.
Annabel glanced at Sam. He didn’t seem annoyed, only curious. To this point, Annabel had kept her head down and worked. She didn’t complain to her bosses, and she didn’t bad-mouth her work assignments to anyone on the force. Her dear friend Mia had heard an earful about her terrible assignments, but that was what great friends were for.
“Yesterday, I handed out five parking tickets, looked for a missing cat, which turned out to be sleeping in the owner’s upstairs windowsill, and took a report for a missing blueberry pie. My prime suspects in that case are the baker’s children, whose faces were smeared with cinnamon and blue jam, but who swore they had nothing to do with the pie’s disappearance.” She took a deep breath. “I graduated at the top of my class from the police academy. I’m not above the simple assignments, but why am I assigned all the dull assignments in the department?”
Chief Murray looked at her and said nothing for a long moment. “Anything else?”
“My partner is an experienced police officer. He has a lot to teach me and can offer much more to the town, but not when he’s shackled to me, the magnet for boring.”
She had made her point, and she waited for Chief Murray to respond.
Sam looked part worried and part admiring.
Chief Murray leaned back in his chair, folding his hands across his stomach. “You’ve excelled at the tasks you’ve been assigned.”
How hard was writing parking tickets and taking reports? “Yes, sir.”
“I’ve noted the contributions you’ve made to other cases. The Alphabet Killer case in particular.”
She was surprised he had remembered she had worked with the letters on that case. “Yes, sir.”
He leaned forward. “Luis is on vacation the next two days, and I had planned for you to work the information phone—”
Annabel could have fallen asleep at the idea of sitting at the information desk for two full shifts. When Luis had mentioned he was taking a couple of days off to celebrate his wedding anniversary with his wife, Annabel had hoped she would be given a temporary partner. The information phone was the worst fate in work tasks.
“But I have an assignment for you, something you might find more enjoyable.”
Her interest piqued.
“A stakeout at Willard’s Farm, the farm owned and operated by Jesse Willard, Regina Willard’s half brother.”
At the mention of Jesse’s name, heat spiraled through her. An exciting assignment for sure, putting her closer to the Alphabet Killer case.
“We don’t have evidence connecting Jesse to the crimes, but he could be aiding his sister in some way, providing her shelter or lying for her. We’ve spoken to him several times, and he’s been questioned by the FBI. Since we don’t have anything on him, we can’t lean on him. Watch his place for signs of Regina, or anything that connects him to the Alphabet Killer murders. You have an eye for detail, you’re hungry and you might notice something others have missed.”
Annabel was thrilled with both the assignment and the chief’s recognition of her abilities.
“Chief—” Sam protested, but the chief held up his hand, silencing him.
The chief didn’t like to be argued with, and given that much of his control had been taken by the FBI leading the investigation, he wanted absolute control over other decisions in his precinct.
“Familiarize yourself with Regina Willard’s file. She is likely in disguise. Take the department’s high-powered camera and snap pictures of anything that looks suspicious. Even if it turns out to be nothing, it’s worth the chance. Stay in your undercover vehicle and call for backup if you see anyone who looks like Regina.”
“Yes, sir,” Annabel said, thrilled to have a real assignment for the first time since joining the GGPD.
“If you see Regina, do not approach her,” Chief Murray said. “The FBI is developing a profile of Regina, but they don’t know what sets her off. Your age and hair color make you a match for her victims.”
“My name doesn’t start with G,” Annabel said.
“I doubt taking one more life, even if it’s not in keeping with her alphabetical system, would give her pause.”
“Thank you, Chief Murray. I’ll do my best.”
“I know you will. Don’t let me down.”
Annabel practically skipped from the chief’s office and resisted the immature urge to stick out her tongue at her brother. Her hard work had finally paid off.
She hadn’t made it to Luis to share the great news when Sam caught up with her. “Annabel, do you want me to come with you on the stakeout?”
Annabel shook her head. “I’ve got this.”
“Promise me you won’t try to prove something out there. You heard the chief. First sign of trouble and you call for help,” Sam said.
“I understood what he said. I’ll be careful. You don’t have anything to worry about,” Annabel said. She kissed her brother’s cheek, reminding herself it was good he was protective of her, and rushed off to meet Luis. She could face their inevitably tedious day knowing something new was waiting for her tomorrow.
If she did a good job with the stakeout, she was on her way to shedding her rookie status and having a real career as a police officer in Granite Gulch.
* * *
Jesse had a list of worries a mile long. Low on supplies, too much to do, the irrigation system was broken in one of his cotton fields and he could not stop thinking about two brunettes in his life making him crazy: Regina, whom he could not find. No one knew where she was or even her last address. She had lost touch with mutual friends and their few remaining family members. And the other brunette was distracting in an entirely different way. The police officer from the station had been on his mind.
He had felt sure he would lose it on the Colton brothers who were bent on pinning the recent rash of killings on Regina. They wouldn’t listen to reason, and they didn’t believe him when he said he didn’t know where Regina was.
Driving his pickup into Granite Gulch, Jesse stopped at the Green and Grow. It was his favorite shop in town, catering to both commercial and residential clients. They had greenhouses filled with plants, piles of compost, manure and soil for the home gardener and an impressive array of supplies for fixing farm problems. When he needed a bigger shipment, he ordered from a supplier in Fort Worth, but the Green and Grow had pulled him out of a tight spot many times.
Jesse ignored the suspicious and curious looks he received from the residents in town. People were talking trash about him and Regina. He didn’t know how to combat the rumors except by going about his business, working hard and hoping the interest in his sister fizzled after the real murderer was found. Growing up, he had become accustomed to ignoring the rude stares and hurtful words of others. His father had been a real piece of work, and Jesse had gone to school hungry, dirty and tired on more than one occasion. Those experiences had calloused him to gossips.
He entered the garden store, lifting his hand in greeting to Bernie, the sales clerk. She didn’t gossip, and he appreciated it. Her life and interests were in gardening. She could talk for hours about her plants and the growing habits of certain vegetation, but she was mum when it came to talking about other people. She might be the only one in Granite Gulch who didn’t.
After he placed his order, he paid and walked around to the back of the store to load his truck. He usually had one of his farmhands with him, but with Grace on an alternative assignment, and since he hadn’t found anyone to replace the no-show who’d disappeared, he couldn’t spare anyone else. They were coming into the busy season. His crops needed to be watered and fertilized on schedule, the soil tested, animals fed and cared for, and the fences mended. He’d run a produce stand on the side of the road the past several years, and it had generated some income. Usually, he had one of his farmhands at the stand to talk about the produce and collect money, but to save on staffing expenses, he would set out a tin can and hope the people of Granite Gulch were honest enough to pay him.
After he loaded his vehicle, he considered stopping at the diner for lunch but figured he couldn’t spare the time. Turning onto Main Street, he’d hit the highway in a few miles and beat feet back to his farm.
He slowed when he recognized the policewoman from the other day walking along Main Street with another officer.
The impulse to stop and talk to her was strong. Parking along Main Street was busy this time of day, but he could find a spot. What would he say to her? Would he look desperate and aggressive? Their exchange had been more unspoken than verbal, but perhaps she had felt nothing. Did she know he was Regina Willard’s brother? Given the smallness of the Granite Gulch Police Department and the high-profile nature of the Alphabet Killer murders, Jesse guessed everyone on the police force was involved, if only marginally. The FBI had been brought in to investigate, but since the Alphabet Killer had not been apprehended, they needed to catch a break.
The female officer smiled at something her older, male partner said, and she looked even more beautiful. She had her hair tied in a ponytail, and it swung as she strutted down the sidewalk. She and her partner walked into the diner.
Jesse changed his mind about having enough time. He would make time. A second chance to talk to the pretty officer was slim, considering he rarely drove to town, and he doubted she would visit the farm.
Jesse parked and started toward the diner. He was hungry, and it had been a while since he’d eaten. The diner made the best tuna melt and apple pie. His stomach growled just thinking about it.
“Willard!”
At the sound of his name, he turned. Tug Johnson, who had worked for him on and off over the years, was jogging toward him. The last he’d heard, Tug had left town. What had brought him back to Granite Gulch?
“Hey, how are you?” Jesse asked. He stayed on friendly terms with his employees and former employees. With the exception of a few bad seeds, he had been successful. The farming community in Texas was close-knit, and it didn’t help him to make enemies.
“Doing okay. I was out in California for a while, but the work dried up. I even had a temp job in an office. Came back this way for the growing season.”
“Looking for honest work?” Jesse asked. He didn’t lie to his employees about the amount of work or how labor intensive it was. Working for him meant a decent wage, but in return, he expected a fair day’s toil.
“Mind if I come by the farm later? I have a girl now. She’s counting on me,” Tug said.
“Sounds good,” Jesse said, relieved he might have found someone to replace the farmhand who’d quit without notice.
Tug shifted on his feet and adjusted his blue ball cap. “I heard about that mess with your sister. What are you going to do?”
Jesse hated confronting rumors, and he didn’t know what Tug wanted him to say, except maybe divulge some tidbit of information about Regina that would garner Tug some attention at happy hour as he shared the latest gossip. But an overreaction on his part would be telling, and Jesse didn’t want to encourage the rumors by feeding them a temper tantrum. “The police are looking for Regina. They have questions for her. If I see her, I’ll send her their way.” Sticking to the facts would keep him out of trouble.
Tug touched the brim of his hat. “You’re not worried she’ll come looking for you?”
“Unlikely. I haven’t spoken to her in years, and she’s been good about ignoring me when she doesn’t want to talk.” Regina had been that way since they were children. She sulked, she brooded and when she was ready to discuss her problems, she’d find Jesse.
“I hear she has an ax to grind with everyone. An ax or whatever weapon she can find,” Tug said.
Jesse hid his annoyance. The implication Regina was the Alphabet Killer was off base. “Regina can be difficult, but she’s not dangerous.”
Tug pulled on the waistband of his pants, hitching them higher. “I don’t know about that. Careful about turning a blind eye to a problem. You live way out there alone. Can’t know what could happen in the middle of the night.”
Jesse enjoyed the solitude and privacy of his farm, located just inside the borders of Granite Gulch but far enough away from the busiest part of town. Jesse could have hired staff to live on the premises, but his farm wasn’t big enough to require it, and he enjoyed having the farm to himself sometimes. He had a carriage house he had been renovating, but that pet project wasn’t leading anywhere fast, given his time and money restrictions. “I’ll be okay, but I appreciate your concern.”
He tipped his hat to Tug. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to see about wrangling some lunch.”
Tug said goodbye, and Jesse continued on to the diner. He guessed Tug wouldn’t show up at the farm later. That conversation felt like Tug digging for information about Regina. If Jesse didn’t find help soon, he’d start actively looking for someone, which took even more time.
Entering the diner and removing his hat, Jesse scanned for the police officer. She should be easy to spot; both her uniform and her beauty would stand out head and shoulders above others. The diner was crowded. Waitresses and waiters in their navy pants and crisp white shirts, their green aprons tied around their waists, moved through the diner with trays of food and drinks. Jesse stopped and slid to the side to allow two older women with walkers move toward the register.
Maybe this was crazy and he should grab his lunch to go. He was nervous, which didn’t happen often. But he had come this far, and it was just a conversation. If she did not want to talk to him, he could take a hint and back away.
He looked around and didn’t see her. Just as he was about to give up searching, he spotted her brunette ponytail at the end of the counter.
She was next to the other officer, drinking a soda and eating a club sandwich. Despite the busy lunch hour, Jesse was pleased the stool next to hers was open. Maybe his luck was finally changing. Moving through the crowd, he pretended not to hear his and Regina’s names whispered. He hadn’t done anything wrong, and he wouldn’t slink around town with shame hanging on his shoulders.
“Mind if I sit here?” he asked as he tapped the seat next to her.
She turned toward him, smiling. The sense of connection and rightness arced between them.
Though her smile faded and her eyes turned wary, she gestured to the seat. If she hadn’t known who he was on their first meeting, she knew now. “Please, help yourself. Seat’s open.” Her voice was warm and inviting.
He sat. He wanted to see her name tag, but from the position she was sitting, he couldn’t read it. His interest in her was unusual for him. Though he’d had some girlfriends, he hadn’t worked at a relationship, hadn’t pursued women who didn’t come to him easily. He hadn’t mastered the art of flirting. Relationships fell into place, at least for a while. He didn’t think his relationship with the police officer would be anything like that. If he wanted her attention, he’d need to work for it. That intrigued him.
The Alphabet Killer investigation wasn’t one he was interested in discussing. Did they have anything else in common? Why was he tongue-tied when he was near this woman? Even at the police precinct when he had run into her, he felt like an oaf who couldn’t construct a coherent sentence. “Are you new to Granite Gulch?” Jesse asked. He’d purchased his farm ten years ago. Though he hadn’t become friendly with many people outside his farmhands and business associates, he’d have remembered seeing someone like her around. She was a head turner and hard to forget.
She inclined her head, and her ponytail swung to the side. “Not new to Granite Gulch. New to the police force,” she said. Hitting the word police hard made her point, if her uniform hadn’t already.
“I work on a farm nearby. I make it to town now and then,” he said.
If she showed a spark of interest, now and then could become often and eagerly.
She didn’t say anything and looked instead at her sandwich. Jesse couldn’t let the conversation go that easily. He wanted to feel the way he did at the police precinct when they had been chest to chest, thigh to thigh. That moment had been like a drug in his veins, and he craved the high again.
Despite the crowd, he felt the snap of their connection as if they were the only two people in the diner. How could she not feel the attraction, too? He glanced down at his clothes. Dirty and dusty, indicating he worked with his hands. Maybe that was a turnoff to her. Not a lot of women fantasized about dating a farmer. Or if they did harbor any fantasies, they died quickly when they realized it was tough work and long hours. Jesse wouldn’t have traded it for anything. Working the land brought him a great sense of pride. “What did you do before becoming a police officer?”
“I was a park ranger,” she said.
She wasn’t disgusted by being outdoors, and he liked that. For him, the sun and the wind were essential. City living, with its tall buildings blocking the sun and creating a wind tunnel out of a gentle breeze, suffocated him.
Her partner shot him an appraising look. Did that look have anything to do with Regina or just that he was another man talking to a beautiful woman?
The radio clipped to her shoulder beeped. She answered it immediately and brought it close to her ear. The message crackled, and then both the woman and her partner stood. “Officers responding.”
“See you around,” she said as she and her partner tossed money on the counter and hurried from the diner.
It wasn’t the conversation he’d hoped for with the striking brunette, but it was a start.
* * *
Annabel didn’t know if dispatch had been given the go-ahead for her and Luis to receive actual police assignments, but they were en route to break up a street fight. Most street clashes in Granite Gulch were Friday-night bar brawls. A daytime fight? Annabel didn’t know what she and Luis would find, but she was ready. Her adrenaline was pumping hard and not just from the report of a fight.
Jesse Willard had turned her head around. She should want nothing to do with him, and she should have been borderline cold to him. Once he had started talking to her, it was impossible to ignore him.
She and Luis ran the two blocks along Main Street and turned into an alley next to the Bar and Saloon. Four men total, three wailing on the other. The victim was slumped on the ground. The alley dumpster was overflowing with the stink of skunked beer and rotting chicken. Annabel’s stomach soured, but she focused.
“Police! Show me your hands!” Annabel said, drawing her gun.
“Your hands! Now!” Luis echoed.
At their command, two of the men took off in the opposite direction. The third assailant put his hands on his head. The victim was not moving, and Annabel called on her radio. “I need an ambulance on Main Street, next to the Bar and Saloon.”
“Go, Annabel. I have these two,” Luis said.
Heeding her partner’s experience, she chased after the men who had fled the scene. When she reached the end of the alley, she looked left and right. They were gone. A car engine revved, and a light blue pickup truck pulled out of the alley a block away. The truck had a large rusted spot along the passenger side. It turned away from her, skidding on the dusty road. She was too far away to read the license plate, but she could provide a basic description of the pickup and a rough sketch of the suspects.
She clicked her radio. “I have a blue pickup fleeing the scene of a crime. Older model. Two suspects. Consider them dangerous and proceed with caution.” She jogged back to assist Luis.
Luis had one man cuffed and seated against the exterior wall of the saloon. Luis was leaning over the victim, checking his neck for a pulse. As their backup and the sound of an ambulance siren approached, a crowd began to form.
“Sir, stay with us. Help is on the way,” Annabel said. She spoke to the man, watching the rise and fall of his chest and hoping he survived. He had cuts on his face and from what she had witnessed, likely other injuries to the rest of his body.
Annabel felt someone watching her. She lifted her head and saw Jesse Willard. He stepped toward her with a first-aid kit in his hand.
He knelt on the ground and opened the kit. He took a fresh gauze pad and pressed it over a cut on the man’s face.
Jesse seemed to know what he was doing.
“How can I help?” she asked.
Jesse glanced at her. “Not sure there’s anything we can do until the ambulance gets here. I have some medical training, but he needs a doctor.”
The ambulance arrived, and the crowd parted to allow the paramedics through. Annabel’s priorities became securing the victim into the care of the EMTs and paramedics. They would take him to Blackthorn County Hospital. Detectives would be sent to the hospital to question him when he was able to talk.
Luis led the remaining attacker to their squad car. He’d be questioned for information on his associates. Something about the wildness of his eyes and the way he walked made Annabel think this was drug related. A drug deal gone bad or a territory dispute? Granite Gulch was a small town and not without its problems.
Annabel turned to thank Jesse, but he was gone.
