Читать книгу Security Risk - Janie Crouch - Страница 16

Richard Whitaker, Tanner’s counterpart in the northern part of Grand County, showed up an hour later. Tanner and Ronnie met him out front as he pulled up.

“Whitaker.” They both shook the man’s hand.

“Dempsey. Kitchens.” Richard nodded at them before tilting his head toward the crime scene in the back. “Sheriff said you finally had a little bit of excitement out here.”

Tanner caught Ronnie’s eyes roll in his peripheral. He couldn’t blame the man. Everybody tended to want to roll their eyes around Richard Whitaker. The guy had moved here from Dallas six or seven years ago because his wife was from this area and wanted to return. Ironically, when they’d divorced eighteen months back, Richard had been the one who’d stayed and his wife had been the one who moved away.

Whitaker was a good cop. He had gotten quite a bit of experience in his years with the Dallas PD—a fact he never let anyone forget. But his disdain for small-town life and police work was pretty evident. Sometimes it was hard to understand why he stayed.

“Yeah. Victim’s name is Joshua Newkirk. He was a convicted felon—a rapist.” They walked toward the crime scene. Owen and his colleague were now searching for any blood traces that might show where Newkirk came from if he stumbled here on his own.

“Based on body temps,” Ronnie continued, “looks like he’s been dead a little over six hours. Body was called in a little over two hours ago.”

“But Miss Daniels didn’t call 911. Is that correct?” Whitaker looked pointedly at Tanner.

Tanner crossed his arms over his chest. “Yeah, that’s right. She called me. She knows me. It’s not a huge stretch.”

“Maybe. But when I was on the Dallas force, a lot of times we would find the person who called in a crime had something to do with it. Seems like they thought it made them look more innocent.”

Tanner stiffened. “Well, you’re not in Dallas, and Bree didn’t have anything to do with this.”

Whitaker tilted his head to the side. “And that right there is the exact reason why the sheriff sent me out here. You’re not neutral, Dempsey.”

Tanner’s teeth ground together. He stopped walking. “Just because I’m not going off chasing wild rabbits doesn’t mean I’m not capable of finding out who did this to Newkirk.”

Ronnie stopped next to him. “I’m not involved with Bree, so, by your definition, I’m much more neutral, and I concur with Tanner. I don’t think she has the physical prowess to get the drop on someone Newkirk’s size. Plus, I definitely don’t think she’s stupid enough to drop a body in her own backyard. The woman has an IQ of 832.”

Whitaker looked like he was going to argue the point further, but finally he just nodded. “Fine. We won’t concentrate on Miss Daniels at the moment. But if evidence suggests she had a part in this, I can damn well promise you I’m going to bring her in. Just because Risk Peak is a small town and everyone knows everyone else doesn’t mean we’re going to ignore facts and proper procedure.”

Tanner could feel Ronnie rolling his eyes again. “Yeah, we get it,” Tanner said. “Facts and solid procedure are the same regardless of whether you’re in a big city or small town. But Bree didn’t do this.”

Whitaker gave another hard nod and walked the rest of the way to the body.

Tanner stayed behind and turned to Ronnie. “Can you finish up here with him? I’m going to take Bree out to the ranch so she can get some rest. I’ll be back in this afternoon.”

Ronnie slapped him on the shoulder. “Absolutely. I wish this hadn’t happened in her backyard. Literally. She’s been through enough.”

Tanner scrubbed a hand over his face. “I know.”

“Go take care of her.”

The one good thing about Whitaker being here was that it allowed Tanner to leave with complete peace of mind, ironically, because of the man’s big-city police force expertise. Whatever inexperience Ronnie may have working with a murder, Whitaker made up for. And the sheriff was right: two sets of eyes were always better than one.

But Whitaker was still a jerk.

Tanner walked through the back door of Bree’s apartment and found her sitting at the kitchen table, hands wrapped around a mug. Exhaustion seemed to drip from her features. She looked more like she had when he first met her months ago—tired, haunted.

He hated it.

“Hey,” he whispered. “You doing okay?”

Those green eyes that had enthralled him from the very first time he’d seen her looked up at him now.

“I’m okay. Just tired.”

“Why don’t you pack a bag? You can’t stay here. I want to take you to the ranch.”

Those eyes lit up a little. “Really?”

“Is that okay?”

She nodded with more energy. “Let me get my stuff.”

A few minutes later, they were headed out to Tanner’s SUV. “I’ll just bring you in to work later. Is that okay? Then you can get your car. I know the drive will be a hassle, but I don’t want you staying in town on your own.”

“That’s fine.”

He opened the door for her, then went around and got in himself, starting the vehicle and pulling away.

He kept glancing over at her as he drove, waiting for some sort of outburst from her. But she actually looked a little happy.

“Why do you keep looking at me like that?” she asked when they were about ten minutes outside town.

“Occupational hazard, I guess. Just want to make sure you’re all right. I wouldn’t blame you if you were upset. Hell, I convinced you to move to Risk Peak because it was supposed to be a safe place. And now this happens.”

She actually smiled at him. “I was most concerned the dead person was someone we knew. When you told me it wasn’t, that was a huge relief. Plus, now I get to stay at the ranch. I’ll get to see Star every day rather than having to wait five more weeks.”

He couldn’t help but smile back at her. That was Bree, wasn’t it? She never quite reacted the way people would expect someone to.

It was one of the many reasons he was falling in love with her.

But then the smile fell off her face. “That’s wrong, isn’t it? How I’m feeling. I should be upset that someone is dead.”

“Believe me, you not being hysterical is helpful in this situation.”

She turned to look out the window and was silent for a long while. “But it’s not normal. Once I found out it wasn’t anyone we knew, I didn’t really care that there was a dead body in my backyard. It was more stressful that there were so many people at the house than anything else. And it can’t be normal that I care more about getting to the ranch and seeing a dog.”

He grabbed her hands she was twisting in her lap. “Bree—”

She turned to him, face distraught. “I don’t have correct emotions, Tanner. I’m broken.”

He flipped on his hazard lights and pulled the SUV over to the side of the road, then turned to her, cupping her cheeks with both hands.

“I don’t ever want to hear you say that again. Your emotions are just fine. Just because you’re not hysterical doesn’t mean you’re broken. Never feel bad for how your brilliant mind fortifies you so you can survive.”

“But—”

“No buts.” He reached between them and kissed her briefly. “You survived what would’ve broken most people. And you’re amazing just the way you are.”

He wasn’t sure if she believed him, but he meant every word. He waited until she finally nodded before releasing her and pulling back on the road again.

It wasn’t long before they were arriving at the ranch. He grabbed her overnight bag, and they walked inside.

“We both need to get a few hours’ sleep,” he said. “I’ll take the couch and you can have the bed.”

She walked toward the bedroom but turned at the door. “Come with me. Just to sleep together like before.” Those big green eyes studied him as she reached her hand out toward him.

There was nothing he wanted more than to curl up with her in his bed. But with his anger and frustration so close to the surface, he couldn’t discount the fact that he might wake up swinging. The thought of Bree being the recipient of his night terrors made him break out into a cold sweat.

“Never mind,” she said quickly, misreading his hesitation, hand falling back to her side. “You don’t have to.”

Damn it, he’d rather never sleep again than see that wounded look in her eyes from something he’d done.

He stepped toward her. “I want to. Trust me, there’s nothing I want more. But...I just don’t want to take a chance on waking you up if I get called back in to Risk Peak early.” That was at least a partial truth.

The haunted look fell away from her eyes, and a shy smile broke on her face. “I don’t mind. I’ll take a shorter amount of sleep if it means I get to sleep next to you.”

He would have given her anything in the world to keep that sweet smile on her face. He took her hand, and they walked into the bedroom together.

They took turns changing into sleep clothes in the bathroom, then got into the bed together. The act was so innocent and yet so intimate.

Tanner rolled over onto his side and pulled Bree’s back against his front. He breathed in the sweet scent of her hair as her head rested in the crook of his elbow. His other arm wrapped loosely around her waist.

She was out within minutes, her smaller body relaxing against him, trusting him to shelter and protect her while she slept. Tanner wouldn’t betray that trust, even if that meant protecting her against himself.

Besides, sleeping was overrated when he could be awake and feel every curve that had been haunting his dreams for months pressed against him.

Definitely worth it.