Читать книгу Montana Standoff - Sharon Dunn - Страница 14

FIVE

By the time they had reached the outskirts of Discovery, Sarah’s heart rate had mostly returned to normal. Though she kept glancing over her shoulder expecting to be fired at, she could manage a deep breath.

Bryan hadn’t said anything on the ride into town other than to ask her if she was okay and introduce her to Jake. They sat close together in the backseat, their shoulders touching. What they had been through left them both speechless though she found some comfort in having him close. Bryan seemed to take his own comfort from the handgun that rested on his thigh.

As soon as they had gotten into the car, Jake had tossed it back to Bryan. Another gun sat on the front seat of the Dodge Charger. Bryan kept up a steady vigil of checking all the windows at intervals. From his actions, he too worried they would be attacked again. Even though she knew both of the men who had come after them were now on foot, the fear settled in her belly like a heavy rock.

She’d almost died today. And all because of something Crew had done. Sarah closed her eyes and tried to make sense of it all, but nothing seemed to fit. Yes, her brother had been in trouble before, but she knew he had a good heart. How had he gotten mixed up with those thugs? She’d seen the level of violence these men were capable of. Her heart squeezed tight. What if the sheriff didn’t catch those men? What would they do to her brother when they found him? She had to get to Crew before those thugs did.

Jake slowed the car as he came within the city limits. He was a burly man with salt-and-pepper hair. He dressed in army surplus fatigues and smelled like cigars. She guessed he might be in his mid-fifties.

What kind of life did Bryan lead that he knew men who had access to guns at a moment’s notice?

Bryan tensed as they drew nearer to the police station. Jake pulled into the parking lot, and they all exited the car.

Bryan slapped Jake on the back as they gripped hands. “Thanks, you saved my life.”

“That makes us about even,” said Jake. “You can take it from here?”

Bryan raised a leery eye toward the police station. “I’ll be all right.”

Jake got back into his car as Bryan escorted Sarah up the sidewalk. Sarah glanced back at the rough-looking man getting into his car. “So how do you know Jake?”

“We worked together on a case when I came here. Then he took early retirement.”

A case? She wanted to ask what case he’d have worked on as a forest ranger, but the bitterness embedded in Bryan’s words indicated he didn’t want to tell her anything else.

Inside the station, only a few officers sat at computers. A series of cupboards, some of them locked, took up one wall of the police station. At the far end of the long, narrow room was an office with a window. The sign on the door read Chief Sandoval. Radios and scanners buzzed on and off throughout the station.

All of the men and the one woman working at their computers raised their head when Bryan stepped inside.

The officer closest to the door said, “Hey, Bryan.”

The greeting was neither friendly nor hostile.

Bryan looked at one officer and then another. “Have you guys heard anything about what happened on Fire Mountain today?”

“I picked some things up on the scanner,” said the female officer. “Don’t think County ever caught up with those guys.”

Sarah cringed. That meant they were still out there. At least it was a long walk into town.

Bryan rested a hand on her shoulder. “This is Sarah Langston. She’s the woman who was abducted and almost killed today. She needs to make a statement, and we’ll have her look at mug shots. She can identify her attackers and so can I.”

“I’ll get right on that. Just give me a second to set things up.” The female officer scooted back her chair and disappeared around a corner.

From the familiarity that Bryan had with the other officers, it was clear he had some sort of connection to the police. “So how does a guy in a fire tower have such a cozy relationship with the city police?”

“I used to work here.” Bryan angled his head, not making eye contact. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

Sarah stepped a little closer to him. “Used to?”

His expression turned hard as granite. “It’s a long story.” His voice became thick with emotion. “And not one I want to tell.”

Even though she knew his anger was over whatever had happened on the job, his retort stung—a reminder of a much more personal anger that he had directed at her ten years ago. When she’d found out she was pregnant, they’d gone to a pregnancy counseling center. Naomi’s Place had been warm and filled with love, a safe place for teens to live while they were pregnant. They both had agreed that giving up their little girl was the best choice for everyone. But after Bryan signed away his parental rights, he became sullen. His silent rage had made her feel like he blamed her for not wanting to keep their child. It didn’t make sense. They had made the decision together. They didn’t get a chance to talk things out. Instead, he left. His parents moved away shortly after.

In the two years after Bryan left, she had been adopted by a loving family. The adoption had come too late for Crew, who was past eighteen and already descending into his life of crime, but it had helped cement Sarah’s resolve to take her life in a different direction. She too had left for college to get a degree in social work. She’d returned because she loved Discovery, because Crew and her adoptive parents were here, and maybe somewhere in the back of her mind she hoped Bryan would come back, as well.

Now he was back. But whatever he’d been doing, the years had not been kind to Bryan Keyes. The vulnerable teenager she had known was lost to a man with an eight-foot wall around his heart. And she had no desire to try to climb over it.

The female officer returned. “Why don’t you come this way? I’ve set up an interview room for you. It’ll be easier to concentrate in there.” She held out her hand. “I’m Officer O’Connor, but you can call me Bridget.”

Sarah stepped toward Bridget. Fear rose up. She didn’t want to think about those two men. She glanced back at Bryan. “Can Bryan come with me?”

The officer spoke gently. “I have to take your statements separately.”

“It’ll be all right.” He reached out and squeezed her upper arm. “Bridget has a very gentle bedside interrogation technique.”

His joke made her smile.

Bridget opened a door labeled Interview Room One. “Right in here.”

Sarah took in a deep breath. Tension wove around her chest at the prospect of having to relive the terror of the last few hours.

And worst of all was her certainty that it still wasn’t over.

* * *

The look of vulnerability Bryan saw in Sarah’s eyes as she turned the corner nearly tore his heart out. She was still shaken, still afraid. If he could just hold her. He remembered the softness of her skin and the light floral scent of her hair. Heat rose up his neck. Even after ten years, the memory held a power over him.

All the more reason for him to keep some distance between them now. He wouldn’t do her any favors if he got distracted by the past. Only by staying focused on the danger could he truly help her.

He couldn’t make the interview any easier for her, but maybe he could make sure those guys didn’t come after her again. Once the thugs got back into town, Sarah would still be in danger unless Crew came forward.

Bryan looked through the window where Chief Sandoval sat hunched over his desk. Overwhelmed with frustration as the case against Tyler Mason dissolved, his parting words to his boss weeks ago had been harsh.

He understood why Sandoval had no desire to waste manpower and resources trying to find a new angle on the investigation. Mason did such a good job of playing the part of a fine upstanding businessman that most people fell for his act. Unless they could get another eyewitness to Mason’s human trafficking ring who could put the finger on Mason, they really didn’t have a case.

A tightness embedded in Bryan’s chest as he walked toward Sandoval’s glass office. The older man raised his head and peered through the window, giving away nothing in his expression.

Bryan tapped on the door.

“Come in.”

“Sir?”

Sandoval leaned back in his chair. “Have you decided to put that badge back on, Officer Keyes?”

Bryan shook his head. If his job wasn’t about getting justice, he wasn’t so sure it was a job he wanted.

Sandoval’s chair creaked as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his desk. “Too bad, you’re a good officer.”

The compliment warmed him. Whatever conflict they had had, Sandoval was a competent chief. “I need to talk to you about another matter.”

Sandoval nodded. “Go ahead.”

“There’s a woman in the interview room with Bridget right now. I witnessed two men try to kill her earlier today. I think her life is still in danger. She can identify them.”

Sandoval straightened the papers on his desk. “So you think they will come for her again?”

“They were pretty relentless up on the mountain. Can we set her up with some protection?”

“Why were these men after her?” Not showing a high level of interest, Sandoval glanced at his computer monitor. “What does this relate to?”

“They wanted to know the whereabouts of her brother.”

“Is the brother a criminal?”

Bryan was uncomfortable with the classification—the Crew he knew had been a good person, just on a bad path. “He has a history of drug use,” Bryan admitted.

“So this might be about a bad debt or stolen drugs.” Sandoval seemed distracted as he rose from his chair and opened a file cabinet drawer.

“We don’t know. My gut says it’s more serious than that. These guys were pretty persistent. Sarah’s not involved in drug culture—if they were going to kill her to send a message to her brother then it seems like more is at stake here than a simple debt.”

“I can’t spare an officer to provide 24/7 protection, but I can send an extra patrol through her neighborhood at night. The dispatcher can be made aware if a call does come from her home.” He slammed the file drawer shut.

That wouldn’t be enough to keep Sarah safe, but pressuring Sandoval would not be effective. “I appreciate that, sir.” He turned to go. If the department couldn’t protect Sarah, maybe he’d have to.

He wandered back through the station. The female officer who had been with Sarah walked toward him holding a computer printout. “Thought you might want to look at this. These are the two men she identified.”

Bryan studied the photographs. “Yeah. Those are the guys.” Something clicked in his brain, and he examined the picture of the short, skinny man a little closer. Earlier, they’d been a bit preoccupied with running for their lives. He hadn’t had time to think about who these men might be.

“Smoke is coming out of your ears,” said Bridget.

Bryan tapped the piece of paper. “Something about this guy is ringing a bell.” He looked up from the paper. “Where is Sarah, anyway?”

“She’s reading through her statement so she can sign it.” Bridget poked him in the chest. “I’ll need to do a sit-down with you, too.”

He stared at the printout. “Can we do it later?”

“Sure, but I don’t want to wait too long.” She returned to her desk.

Bryan gripped the corners of the computer-generated photograph. The skinny thug was connected to a previous case he’d worked. That had to be why the guy looked familiar. He’d seen him in another photograph. His brain clicked through the possibilities. Only one case had been the focus of his attention since he’d come back to Discovery.

He peered around one of the carrels where a young officer with a buzz cut and thick eyebrows sat with a stack of papers in front of him.

Bryan waved the printout. “Grant, do you know what they did with my old case files?”

“They’re right where you left them. You only took a leave of absence—no one was going to pack away your stuff.”

Bryan worked his way to the back of the station. A six-foot-high divider separated the detectives’ work area from the patrol officers’ desks. His desk had been swept clean of anything personal, but it looked like someone had bothered to keep the dust from collecting. After retrieving his work phone from a drawer and placing it on the charger, he opened a file drawer and pulled out three thick manila files. How much surveillance and how many thousands of photographs had he taken?

He flipped open the first folder, shuffling through the photographs, and then the second as his heart pounded in his chest with anticipation. Was he so obsessed with Mason that he had imagined a connection? One after another, he looked at the photos and laid them aside.

Finally, he found the photograph he’d been looking for. Tyler Mason dressed in his usual expensive suit outside of a hotel in Mexico flanked by two men who were obviously acting as his bodyguards.

One of them was the same guy who had run his truck off the road.

Bryan swallowed. His fingers curled into a fist. If these guys were connected to Tyler Mason, this thing was way bigger than a couple of low-level drug dealers looking to get paid. Could this be the break he needed to blow the Mason case wide open?

“Keyes, I need to get your statement.” Bridget’s head peered around the divider, pulling him out of deep thought.

“Yes, of course. Is Sarah still in the interview room?”

“She was done. She said something about going to find her brother,” Bridget said.

He let go of the photo as it drifted down to the desk. “She’s out there by herself?” A sense of urgency girded his words.

Bridget shrugged. “She called a friend to come get her. What’s the big deal?”

“I’m concerned those guys she tangled with aren’t going to give up that easily.”

“Don’t you think they are still tromping through the woods or sitting in the back of a sheriff’s car by now?”

“I’m pretty sure they have friends in town.” His heart pounded from the sense of urgency he felt. “What was her home address?”

Bridget tilted her head. “I don’t know if I can disclose that.”

He grabbed her forearm. “You heard from the report how determined these guys were. I have a feeling they’re not working alone.”

Bridget let out a breath. “Okay. It was on Madison Street....” She thought for a moment and then looked down at the stack of papers she held in the crook of her elbow, flipping through several pages. “Three twenty-one Madison Street, that subdivision on the edge of town.”

After grabbing his phone off the charger, he stalked toward the front of the station, his mind racing as he walked. His truck was floating down the Jefferson River. His car was parked at his house. He stopped in front of the young officer he’d talked to earlier. “Grant, loan me the keys to your car.”

Grant raised his eyebrows. “Because...?”

“Because you’re my friend and you can come out to my place and get them when you get off shift.”

Maybe Grant picked up on the desperation in his voice, but he tossed the keys without further questions. “You owe me, buddy. I’m going to have to get a ride from my wife to go out there and get the car.”

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks, man.” Bryan pushed through the doors of the station and skirted around to the side parking lot where the officers kept their private cars.

His thoughts sparked at lightning speed as he sat behind the wheel and shoved the key in the ignition. It couldn’t be just coincidence that the same man who worked for Tyler Mason had been after Sarah. Maybe he’d cut short his fire-tower hiatus and come back on the police force if Sandoval would let him pursue the connection.

He’d talk to the chief later. Right now he needed to make sure Sarah was not in any immediate danger.