Читать книгу The Deputy's Redemption - Delores Fossen - Страница 9

Chapter Three

With his phone sandwiched between his shoulder and ear, Colt waited on hold while he watched the medic put some stitches on the side of Elise’s head. She didn’t even wince. Didn’t even seem to notice.

Because her attention was nailed to Colt.

She was no doubt on the edge of her seat, waiting for answers about why this nightmare had happened, but Colt figured those answers might be a long time coming.

Especially since their suspect was dead.

Now he needed to find answers to a couple of whys. Why had Gambil come after Elise in the first place? And why had the explosives been in the truck?

Colt had only gotten a glimpse of the device on the ceiling of the truck, but he’d recognized the type of explosive and figured it was time to get out of there. He’d been lucky that he’d gotten far enough away to get only a few nicks and cuts from the flying debris. A couple of seconds later and he would have been a dead man, too.

Yeah, he definitely wanted to know why, and that started with learning everything about Gambil that there was to know.

There was a slight sound on the other end of the line to indicate he’d been taken off hold, and he heard Reed’s voice. “It’s not good, Colt.”

Hell. Colt had already had his fill of bad news for the night and didn’t want more. “I’m listening.”

“We just fished Gambil’s body from the rubble, and it looks as if the explosion wasn’t what killed him. He already had a gunshot wound to the head.”

Colt was about to say that wasn’t possible, but then he remembered the sound that he’d heard right before Gambil ran off the road. A sharp pop. He’d thought it was the truck backfiring, but it could have been a gunshot.

“Check the area for any sign of a shooter,” he told Reed.

Elise stood even though the medic was still trying to put a bandage on her head. Her gaze locked with his, and Colt clicked the end call button so he could fill her in on something that she wasn’t going to want to hear.

“Looks like somebody shot Gambil,” Colt explained.

She released her breath as if she’d been holding it. “So, all of this is real.” She swallowed hard and caught onto the edge of his desk when she wobbled.

Colt went to her in case he had to stop her from falling or fainting, but the grip on the desk alone seemed to steady her enough. Still, it probably wasn’t a good idea for her to be on her feet. He thanked the medic after he finished the bandage, dismissing him, and Colt took Elise by the arm and put her in the chair next to his desk.

“I know I asked you this already, but do you have any idea why Gambil wanted to hurt you?” Colt insisted.

She was shaking her head before he even finished the question. “I never saw him before today.”

That didn’t mean there wasn’t a connection, and even though it was getting late and Elise would need to crash soon, he wanted to find out as much as he could while the events were still fresh in both their minds.

“What about your job?” Colt asked, trying for a different angle. “Are you working on anything controversial? Maybe running a background check on somebody who didn’t want you to find something?”

Elise didn’t immediately dismiss that. Not good. Because so far Colt hadn’t been able to rule out anything. He wanted to be able to check something off his list, and he apparently wasn’t going to be able to do that by eliminating anything work related.

“I’m working on two cases right now.” Elise idly rubbed her head and winced when her finger raked over the freshly bandaged stitches.

“Want something for the pain?” he asked.

Elise looked at him. Maybe a little surprised by his concern.

“I just need you to have a clear head right now,” he clarified. “Figured that wouldn’t happen if you were in pain.”

The corner of her mouth lifted for a split second, but there was no humor in it. He wasn’t normally a jackass, but he also didn’t feel too friendly toward someone who’d soon try to mess over his dad in a really bad way.

“Back to these two cases,” Colt continued. “Did any red flags come up that could be connected to Gambil?”

“Nothing that immediately jumps to mind.” She paused. “I’ll have a second look, though. But this seems a little extreme for someone who might just be upset over a background check that I’m doing on them for a job.”

Ah, he knew where this was going.

Right back to his family.

Colt was about to remind her that he and his brothers were all lawmen and not into witness intimidation, but there was another possible player in all of this. Best to stick to business rather than snarky comments that he really wanted to make.

“Could Gambil be connected to Buddy Jorgensen, the tenant who gave you all that trouble?” Colt asked.

She hesitated again as if surprised by the turn in the conversation. Another head shake. “I haven’t heard from Buddy in nearly two weeks.”

That didn’t mean it wasn’t connected. “He was furious about you moving back and threatened you.”

And not just a threat. He’d tried to buy the place for double its value, but Elise had refused.

The rumor Colt had heard was that she planned to make the old place a small working ranch again where she could raise and train cutting horses. Ironic since Elise had been in such a big hurry to get off that ranch and out of town when she’d turned eighteen.

In a hurry to get away from him, too.

“After all of that happened, I did a background check on Buddy myself,” Elise explained. “There wasn’t anything that popped up that would indicate he has violent tendencies toward other people. Obviously, he didn’t have quite that same level of respect for property because he spray painted graffiti on some of the walls.”

Yeah, Colt had read the report that she’d filed after the incident.

Colt figured the background check on Buddy Jorgensen had been thorough since it was Elise’s job. When it’d first come up that she’d be moving back to town, he’d checked on her job and learned she did investigations on potential high-level employees for several large companies. She had a solid reputation for identifying people who could be risks.

That, however, didn’t mean she hadn’t dropped the ball with Buddy.

And that’s the reason Colt had already sent a text to Cooper, his brother, who was also the town sheriff. Cooper planned to get Buddy in for questioning first thing in the morning. In the meantime, Colt would look for some kind of connection between Buddy and Gambil.

“Have you found out anything else about the explosion?” she asked.

“Not yet. The registration for the truck leads to a dead end. No known address. But they were able to get Gambil’s prints.” From a couple of fingers, anyway. “Reed’s already sent them to the Ranger lab, and they’ll be analyzed. We might be able to get a match and find out if Toby Gambil was his real name.”

Well, they would be if the prints were good enough. The explosion had done a lot of damage not just to the truck but to the man himself. Still, maybe the crime lab would be able to come up with something.

The front door flew open, bringing in a gust of the bitter-cold air and a leaf that went skittering across the floor. A man came right in with it, his pricey leather shoes crushing the leaf to bits.

Their visitor was Robert Joplin.

His mother’s attorney and not someone who should be paying a visit to the sheriff’s office this time of night. Judging from the scowl that he sent Colt’s way, this was not going to be a pleasant conversation. Of course, pleasant and Robert Joplin had never gone together so far, and Colt figured that wasn’t about to change.

“Elise,” Joplin said like a concerned father. He hurried to her, plopped down his equally pricey briefcase next to her chair and caught onto her shoulders. “How badly were you hurt?”

“I’m okay, really.” And she stood, easing away from him before she stepped back.

Colt didn’t miss the shift in her body language. Not only had she put some distance between Joplin and her, but she also folded her arms over her chest. Like Elise, Colt had known Joplin his entire life and had no doubt seen Elise with him before, but this was the first time Colt had witnessed them together since she’d come back to testify for his mother.

Something that had pleased Joplin to the core, of course.

Before Elise and her statement, Joplin had to have known that he was defending a client who would almost certainly be found guilty. And probably still would be. However, Elise and what she’d supposedly witnessed on that day twenty-three years ago was now a game changer.

That made Elise Joplin’s star witness.

But from the looks of it, an uncomfortable one.

Ditto for Joplin. His mouth tightened after she backed away from him. “I heard someone tried to kill you.”

Elise lifted her shoulder. “A man tried to run me off the road, but he’d dead now.”

Joplin aimed his index finger at Colt. “This is your fault. Yours and your family’s. You’ve created a hostile atmosphere in Sweetwater Springs that’s now made Elise a target.”

Since things were about to turn real ugly, real fast, Colt got to his feet, but Elise stepped between them.

“I was mistaken when I called you earlier and told you that Colt was watching me,” she said to Joplin. “It was this other man, Toby Gambil. He dressed like Colt and drove the same kind of truck.”

So, that likely explained the weird body language from both Joplin and her. Joplin thought he had some kind of proof of Colt’s wrongdoing, and Elise was eating a little crow.

“It doesn’t matter that Colt didn’t do the deed himself,” Joplin challenged. “He probably stirred up some of his cowboy friends to do this.”

Colt moved out from behind Elise so he could face this idiot head-on. “I didn’t stir up anybody. I damn sure didn’t encourage anyone to kill her.”

“You don’t want her testifying for your mother.”

“True enough. But that’s only because I don’t think the memories of a nine-year-old kid are reliable enough to tip the verdict of a murder trial. Especially since she didn’t even tell anyone about those memories for twenty-three years.”

“I didn’t tell anyone what I saw because I didn’t think it was important,” Elise snapped, and when she swiveled toward Colt, there was some fire in her eyes. “It was only after Jewell was charged with Whitt Braddock’s murder that I remembered what I saw that day.”

“And what she saw was your father coming out of the Braddock cabin.” Joplin punctuated that with a satisfied nod that made Colt want to smack him.

This was old news now, but it ate away at him just as it did when he’d first heard it two months ago. According to Elise, she’d been playing by the shallow creek near her grandmother’s house and had seen Colt’s father, Roy, leave the very cabin that all these years later would be labeled a crime scene. It’d taken that long to have all the evidence retested, the DNA identified, and the district attorney had used that to reopen what had been a missing person’s case.

But now Whitt Braddock was officially dead.

Murdered.

And the only suspect had been his mother. Only her DNA and Whitt’s had been found in the cabin. But Elise’s eyewitness testimony could put his dad there, too.

Yeah, it ate away at him.

Because a lawyer like Joplin could maybe convince a jury that his father had just as much motive to kill Whitt Braddock as his mother did. With Elise’s testimony putting his father at the scene, it might be more than enough to sway a jury and get charges filed against his father.

“I need Elise’s testimony,” Joplin said, stating the obvious. “I’ll do whatever it takes to protect her. And more. I’ll do your job, too. I’ve hired two private investigators to comb over every inch of the Braddock cabin and grounds again. They’re looking for anything that might help with your mother’s case, but the bottom line is that Elise is the best defensive weapon I have right now.”

Colt wasn’t disputing that, but it didn’t mean he liked it, either.

Joplin huffed. “Look, I know you hate your mother because she abandoned you and your brothers—”

“She abandoned my dad, too,” Colt interrupted. “Jewell walked out on her family because she couldn’t bear living with the guilt of murdering her lover. But then, you’ve always had stars in your eyes when it comes to her, so I doubt you’ll see her for the person she really is.”

The anger bolted through Joplin, tightening all his muscles. “Because she’s a good woman and doesn’t deserve the way her so-called family has treated her.”

“Enough!” Elise shouted. No stepping between them this time. She moved several feet away and glared at both of them. “Arguing about this won’t help. That’s what the trial is for. You can finish this debate there.”

Great.

Now he had a victim scolding him like a third-grade teacher. Of course, he shouldn’t have gotten in any kind of contest with the likes of Joplin—even if everything Colt had said was true. The lawyer was crazy about Jewell, and Colt figured Joplin would do just about anything to clear her name.

Maybe even try to sway a someone’s memory.

“You should go home, get some rest,” Joplin said to Elise, sounding not only calmer but chastised, as well. “I can drive you there.”

She motioned to Colt, or rather in his general vicinity. “I need to give a statement about what happened. That could take a while.”

“Then, I can drive her home,” Colt offered.

That earned him another huff from Joplin, but he didn’t say a word to Colt. Instead, Joplin looked at Elise. “Call me when you’re done, and no matter what time you finish, I’ll come and get you.”

She shrugged. Then nodded eventually. Colt was betting dollars to donuts that she wouldn’t call. Nope. She was riled at both of them and would figure out her own way to get home.

Joplin picked up his briefcase and shot Colt one last warning look before he headed out.

“You actually told that jerk I was following you?” Colt asked.

That brought her gaze snapping back to his. “Because I honestly thought you were.”

But the snapping and the fiery eyes didn’t last. With a weary sigh leaving her mouth, she sank back down into the chair and buried her face in her hands.

Winced again, too, when she touched the stitches.

Colt didn’t ask her about the pain this time, but he snatched up the phone, called the medic who’d just left and insisted that he bring some meds over for her right away. The hospital was just a few blocks up, so it wouldn’t take long for him to arrive. She might need those meds just to get her statement done.

“What’s going on between Joplin and you?” Colt came out and asked. “And don’t say it’s nothing because I detected more than a hair’s worth of tension between you two.”

A huff, but again no fire. “Sometimes I get the feeling that he’d like for me to say more.”

Colt did a mental double take. “More?”

“He wants me to go through hypnosis to see if I can recall more details about Roy.” Her gaze came back to his. “Like maybe blood on his clothes or looking disheveled, as if he’d just been in a fight with Whitt.”

The sound that Colt made started out as a groan but got much louder. “This is a witch hunt. The only DNA found in that room was my mother’s, along with a whole boatload of Whitt’s blood.”

“But your father was there the day Whitt went missing,” she mumbled.

“So says you.”

“Have you actually asked your father if he was there?” Elise challenged.

“No. I don’t have to. If he’d killed Whitt, he would have owned up to it. He wouldn’t have run. He darn sure wouldn’t have abandoned his family.”

But his father had admitted being more than just drunk that day and having some gaps in his memory. Of course, he’d just learned about his wife having an affair. And not just any ol’ affair but with his sworn enemy. A man who’d been a thorn in his dad’s side since they were young boys.

Colt went closer to her so she wouldn’t miss a word. “If my father had killed Whitt, he would have almost certainly gotten blood on him. And when he sobered up, he would have seen it and gone to the sheriff.”

He paused. “Have you actually asked Jewell about this?” Colt threw right back in her face.

The breath she took was thin and long. “Yes.”

“And what did she say?” But he had to ask that through clenched teeth.

Elise made him wait several long moments before she answered. “Nothing.”

Which sounded like a boatload of guilt to him. Innocent people usually spoke up to defend themselves.

Something Jewell had yet to do.

In fact, from all accounts, she wasn’t even cooperating with her own attorney. Hadn’t even hired him. Joplin had volunteered pro bono and had refused to back off even when Jewell had asked him to.

Because Elise and he were in the middle of an intense staring match, Colt nearly jumped out of his skin when the sound shot through the room. Elise gasped.

But it was only the phone.

Talk about losing focus.

“It’s me,” Reed said the moment that Colt answered. “The Rangers got an immediate hit on Gambil’s prints.”

That got his attention. Because that usually meant the prints were in AFIS, the national fingerprint database. “Gambil had a criminal record?”

“Oh, yeah. His real name is Simon Martinelli, and I just talked to one of our criminal informants about him.” Reed paused, cursed. “Martinelli wasn’t in town to scare Elise.”

Mercy. There went the bristly feeling down his spine again. “Then why the devil was he here?”

“Because Martinelli’s a hit man,” Reed answered “He was sent here to kill Elise.”