Читать книгу Her Cowboy Avenger - Kerry Connor - Страница 8

She’d been right, Elena reflected grimly as she watched the two men climb out of the police vehicle they’d parked in front of the house. It was trouble.

Sheriff Walt Bremer climbed out first, heaving himself from behind the driver’s seat with a great deal of effort. In his mid-fifties, he was a big man in every way, increasingly around his midsection. He’d always been pleasant enough to Elena and she’d never had any issues with him before. But once he’d zeroed in on her as his prime suspect, he’d turned on her so thoroughly it was hard to believe he’d ever had a kind word for her in the past.

A second, equally familiar man emerged from the passenger seat. Travis Gerard—Cassie’s husband, Bobby’s best friend since they were boys, and a local deputy. He was thirty, like Bobby had been, a long, lean figure with close-cropped hair and dark eyes. Like Cassie, he was someone she’d socialized with numerous times over the years due to his friendship with Bobby. But their relationship had started out cool and only grown cooler at the same time her marriage had, understandably enough. As Bobby’s best friend, she knew he’d been treated to plenty of Bobby’s complaining about her over the years, how she wasn’t supporting him, how she was too concerned about money. Once he’d actually pulled her aside and tried to play marriage counselor, by telling her she had a responsibility to be there for Bobby. She hadn’t been in the mood to explain Bobby’s latest bright idea, and hadn’t really thought it was any of his business, so her lack of cooperation had likely only lowered his opinion of her. He’d been cold enough toward her when it seemed like she wasn’t getting along with Bobby. Unsurprisingly, now that it seemed that she’d killed him, Travis was hellbent on making her pay.

As they approached, she saw that the men’s interest wasn’t in her, but in the man standing at her side, and she knew immediately why they’d come. Her interaction with Matt in town, and the fact that she’d driven off with him, hadn’t gone unnoticed. The sheriff no doubt wanted to know who Matt was—and what he was doing with Elena.

For a second, she felt a flicker of apprehension. She hadn’t thought about the outside impact of Matt’s presence here. If their prior relationship came out, the fact that he’d come back to town so soon after Bobby’s death could look very bad—for both of them.

Before she could begin to sort through the ramifications and how to deal with the issue, the men had reached the house. “Afternoon, Elena,” Walt said with a pleasantness that couldn’t have been more fake.

She made the immediate decision to go on the offensive. Once again, she couldn’t afford to look the slightest bit weak or guilty. “Good afternoon, Sheriff. Travis,” she said, nodding to the younger man in turn. She noticed he didn’t bother looking at her, his attention fixed on Matt, eyes narrowed with clear suspicion. “I’m glad to see you both.”

The briefest flash of surprise crossed across Walt’s face. “Oh, you are, are you?”

“Of course. You’re here about my truck, right?”

“What about it?”

“Oh, I thought you might be here because someone slashed my tires when I was in town a little while ago.”

The sheriff’s eyebrows shot sky high. “That’s a pretty serious allegation, Elena. You have any proof?”

“Two tires don’t just go flat for no reason.”

Walt shrugged one shoulder. “Stranger things have happened.”

“But I’m sure you’ll investigate to find out what really happened, won’t you, Sheriff?”

“I’m a little busy trying to solve Bobby’s murder at the moment to waste time on a minor nuisance matter. I’m sure that’s where you’d prefer my resources to be fo-cused—catching your husband’s killer, isn’t it, Elena?”

His cloying tone made it sound like he’d caught her in some kind of trap. She simply stared back at him, unyielding. “Of course. I’d like nothing more than for you to catch the actual person responsible for killing Bobby.”

Walt’s expression turned sardonic, clearly saying he saw what she was implying and he wasn’t fooled by her in the least. But when he spoke what he said was, “Aren’t you going to introduce us to your friend, Elena?”

She almost started. For a moment, she’d actually managed to forget Matt was even there.

Before she could figure out how to explain Matt’s presence and who he was, Matt answered first.

“Mrs. Weston just hired me to help her out around here.”

It was all Elena could do not to snap her head toward him in surprise. Instead, she did her best not to let her reaction show, not wanting to tip off the policemen that it was a lie when that would only look more suspicious.

It turned out she didn’t need to worry. Walt and Travis never took their eyes off Matt, Walt’s expression becoming contemplative, Travis’s plainly hostile.

“Help her out with what?” Travis asked, a sneer in his tone.

“The ranch,” Matt said smoothly without missing a beat. “It sounded like she could use some help around here with things.”

“Did she tell you why she needed help?” Walt asked, the question clearly leading somewhere.

“Her husband recently died and the men he’d had working for him moved on.”

“Did she tell you her husband was murdered?” Travis demanded. “Shot to death in that very house? Or did you already know that?”

“As a matter of fact, she did tell me that,” Matt said.

“And that doesn’t make you nervous about working for her? It sure scared off the rest of the hands.”

“I guess I’m made of stronger stuff than they are.”

“What’s your name again?” the sheriff asked, even though they all knew full well Matt hadn’t offered it.

“Alvarez,” Matt said. “Matt Alvarez.”

Deciding she’d had enough of this, Elena spoke up. “Is there something I can help you with, Sheriff? Something must have brought you out here, since you didn’t come about my truck.”

Walt smiled thinly. “We just thought we’d stop by and see if you remembered anything else about the night Bobby was murdered.”

“No, I haven’t,” she said simply.

“In that case, I guess we’ll be going.”

He shot one final glance at Matt, then turned and headed back to his car. It took a moment for Travis to do the same, glaring at Matt, then Elena before following the sheriff.

She and Matt didn’t speak as the two men climbed back in their vehicle. They watched in silence as the sheriff backed up, then headed down the driveway.

When the car was nearly out of sight, Elena finally spoke. “Why did you tell them that?”

“As soon as I saw who it was, I figured we were going to have to explain what I was doing here. That seemed like the best explanation.”

“But now it’ll look bad if you don’t stay.”

“I’m not going anywhere, not until I have some answers.”

The determination in his voice sent a shudder down her spine. “I’m not sure your staying here is a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“If anyone finds out about our…prior relationship,” she said delicately, “it will look really bad that you suddenly showed up so soon after Bobby’s murder and are staying here.”

“It’s been eight years. I doubt anybody will remember. I was nothing more than a ranch hand passing through, and we were careful about not being too public because you didn’t want your father finding out, remember? Only a few people knew in the end anyway. Are the Nolans still around?” he asked, referring to the people who’d owned the ranch where he’d worked that summer.

“No, they sold out a few years ago,” she admitted.

“What about Weston? Would he have told anybody about me?”

She glanced away. “I don’t think he knew. I never told him and he never mentioned it.”

“So it’s unlikely anyone remembered.”

“Small towns have long memories, especially this one. And at least one person in town clearly knows.”

“Somebody who probably wanted to help you. Why else would they send me that article?”

“To cause trouble for me? Like I said, it could look bad having you here. Not to mention, how could they know you would come here to help me if they sent you a newspaper article?”

“Guess the only way to find out what that person’s motives are is to find out who it is. Another reason for me to stick around.”

She eyed him doubtfully, unable to shake the notion that this was a bad idea. The idea of having him here, so close at hand. Yes, she could use the help, if that was what he was truly here for. If the incident with her tires was any indication, it might be a good thing to have someone nearby.

But having this particular man, with his inexplicable motives and dark, compelling eyes, so close suddenly seemed infinitely more dangerous.

He met her gaze seriously. “Look, if you don’t want me staying here, that’s your call. This is your place. I can’t force myself on you or your property. I can try to find somewhere in town to stay. But I’m not going anywhere until I have some answers. I want to know who sent me that article—and yes, why.”

Elena felt her resistance—and most likely, her common sense—weakening. Yes, it could be a bad idea to have him here. No, she didn’t understand what he was doing here, or why he would want to help her. But she believed he wanted answers, and with the rest of the town seemingly having already made up their minds, that gave them a common goal. Perhaps that was reason enough to keep him close, despite all the reasons she wasn’t sure she should.

“All right,” she said softly. “You can stay.”

If he wondered why she’d caved, he didn’t show it, simply nodding once. “Good. I was thinking we should go back into town and get your truck.”

Elena automatically frowned at the suggestion. She was in no hurry to go back into Western Bluff after her last visit, especially so soon. But as she considered the idea, she realized he was right. They shouldn’t leave her truck sitting on Main Street. God only knew what someone might do to it in the middle of the night, or if it would even be there the next day. Even if it were, she wouldn’t put it past Walt or Travis to give her a parking ticket or trump up some other infraction just to cause her trouble.

“We’ll need to change the tires,” she noted.

“Do you have any spares?”

“There’s one in the truck bed, and a few others in the barn.”

He nodded. “Great. I’ll load a couple in my truck and we can go.”

“I’ll show you where they are in the barn.”

He automatically turned and headed in that direction. Elena waited a few seconds before following, watching him walk away with that same strange sense of unreality washing over her again. Her whole world seemed to have been upended again in a mere hour. It didn’t seem possible that this was happening, yet evidently it was.

Matt Alvarez was back in her life, as suddenly as he’d once left it.

And it seemed, for the moment at least, this time he intended to stay.