The Lies You Told

by Emerald O'Brien

  The Lies You Told

  Knox and Sheppard #3

  Emerald O’Brien

  Copyright © 2019 by Emerald O'Brien

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  Cover designed by Alora Kate of Cover Kraze

  Interior designed by The Write Assistants

  Editing by Mountains Wanted Publishing

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  All rights reserved. This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to any events, locales, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental. Printed in the United States of America.

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  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Acknowledgments

  Also by Emerald

  About the Author

  For my aunts,

  Lori, Rose, and Sue.

  Chapter One

  The chirping crickets surrounding Madigan lulled her to sleep. Her eyelashes fluttered as the camera slipped from her fingers.

  “Whoa,” she whispered, clutching the camera.

  She blinked until the porch light across the dirt road no longer blurred her vision of the front door beside it, and something moved. Her heart pounded in her chest against the cool ground beneath her as she brought the camera to her eye and zoomed in on the door.

  An older woman stepped outside, no doubt Dana’s ex-mother-in-law. She held Tyler, Dana’s son, wrapped up in a blanket. The breeze blew his cute little blond curls across his face as a man followed behind them.

  Zeke.

  Dana met him at Roy’s, probably while Madigan had been working, but she couldn’t remember. They fell in love, got married and pregnant, all within a three-month period while Dana was still in college.

  The woman handed Baby Tyler over to Zeke, and he gave his son a kiss on the forehead.

  Now what? What are you going to do, Zeke?

  Have you been drinking again?

  Zeke had come to pick Dana up from work one night and fell asleep at the wheel on the way home. He drove into the ditch, and Dana was rushed to the hospital. Zeke had been tested for intoxication, and he blew over. Dana had a lawyer draw up the papers right after she was told that, by some miracle, she and her baby would be okay.

  After the accident, she told the women at work about how abusive her husband was. The women, and Roy himself, offered their support, and Dana had a restraining order drawn up. The judge granted her and her son protection from Zeke for a short period. Once it expired, he went to court seeking joint custody of Tyler but was only granted visitation while accompanied by his parents.

  Dana had been a nervous wreck after that, bringing him to her ex-in-laws every other weekend, putting her son in the arms of strangers. After finding a bruise on Tyler, Dana suspected that Zeke had lost his temper with him, perhaps violating the court order of supervised visitation. She confided in her co-workers once again, and Madigan came up with a plan.

  Zeke wrapped one arm around his mom while holding Tyler in the other and gave her a squeeze.

  A hug goodbye. He’s going to take him, just like Dana said he would.

  His mom waved as they descended the porch steps. Madigan pressed the button on the camera, refocusing, including the woman in the wider frame as Zeke carried Tyler toward his truck.

  Got you.

  The camera clicked continuously as he placed Tyler in the truck.

  I need to prove they’re alone. That he’s taking him away.

  She hit the back arrow, checking the previous images. “I’m too far away,” she muttered.

  She used her elbows to prop herself up as Zeke walked around the back of the truck to the driver’s side and did a double take across the field toward her. She swore under her breath and dropped down on her stomach again.

  I can’t risk him seeing me, but I need better photos. Dana needs better evidence.

  She turned on the camera flash and kept low until the truck’s engine rumbled. She poked her head up as the truck backed down the driveway.

  I need the side view. I need them both in the shot. Wait until he stops to shift into drive.

  Right…now!

  Madigan knelt, lifting the camera to her face, and Zeke appeared in the frame. Pushing herself to her feet, she dashed up the ditch along the side of the road until Tyler came into view.

  I’m too close. He’ll see me. Last chance…

  She pressed the button over and over, the flashes reflecting off the side windows of Zeke’s truck as he began to drive away.

  The truck screeched to a stop as she took the last picture. The flash illuminated Zeke’s face, scrunched up into a scowl and little Tyler’s face, staring ahead in his car seat. The driver’s side door opened, and Madigan shoved the camera into her bag.

  That’s my cue.

  “Hey!” Zeke’s mother shouted from the porch as Madigan ran down the road back toward her bike.

  He can’t take the camera. This will all be for nothing.

  Zeke panted as he ran behind her. The sound of his boots pounding into the dirt matched her heart rate as she rounded the corner of the country road, her bike coming into view behind some brush where she hid it when she arrived hours ago.

  The pounding rhythm behind her stopped, and once she reached her bike, she glanced over her shoulder. Zeke ran back toward his truck as she put her helmet on, swinging one leg over the seat. He disappeared behind his truck, and her engine rumbled to life.

  What’s he going to do? He can’t come after me. He’s got Tyler with him.

  The red brake lights on his truck turned yellow as Zeke made a U-turn and sped toward her.

  Grace sipped at her room-temperature white wine as classical music echoed through her kitchen. Folders and loose papers surrounded her, and she drew a heart and flower on a scrap piece of paper from her last case. Due to the low level of criminal activity in the towns that comprised Deerhorn County, she hadn’t been in the field for even half of the time she had as a cop in the city.

  “Concentrate,” she whispered to herself, tapping her pen against the wooden table. “Just a few more pages and I’ll call it a night for now. Pages…I should organize these…”

  Her phone vibrated on the table beside her with a notification from her past self to her future self to have the report finished, ensuring enough time to have it filed several days early.

  Well, that’s a fail, but I can’t prove myself to Chief Banning or anyone else if I’m not given the chance to show my capabilities. This work is necessary, yes, but it’s tedious. My skills are best spent elsewhere. Being out in the field is the only way I can show them what an asset I am. That I should be back in the city again. Not with this paperwork, but in action.

  She sighed, flipping back and forth between an interrogation transcription and her own report, filling out the specifics as necessary and yawning each time she flipped the page until the doorbell rang and she dropped her pen.

>   Maybe Madigan wants to have dinner together on her day off. Maybe she made chili…

  Her stomach growled as she opened the door and Mac stood in front of her in his plain clothes, wearing a sharp sports jacket with a bag of takeout in hand. His eyes sparkled, smiling at her before his lips had the chance to.

  “I—I wasn’t expecting you.” She ran her fingers through her long, dark hair as she broke eye contact.

  I’m a mess.

  “I know. It’s called a surprise.” He beamed, holding up the bag.

  “I’m usually not a fan, but this time…”

  “It’s from that restaurant you wouldn’t join me at. You know, the nice one downtown? Donato’s.”

  “It smells good.” She opened the door further as he walked inside, his cologne wafting toward her.

  And so do you.

  “I figured you could use a break.”

  “That’s an understatement,” she muttered to herself as she tidied up the papers, sorting them back into an organized pile as he set the bag on the counter.

  “Wow, that’s more paperwork than I see in a month.”

  “As an officer, I never saw this much either. Not even in the city. Perks of closing the investigation as detective, I guess. Can I pour you some wine?”

  He pursed his lips. “Still no beers?”

  She raised her brow, shooting him a smile. She had picked up a four-pack on her last grocery shop. Just for him. Just in case he came back again.

  She shrugged. “Have a look.”

  He grabbed a green bottle from the fridge and cracked it open. “Nice. Thanks.”

  “I didn’t think that was a twist off.” She grabbed her wine glass from the table.

  “It’s not.” He took a sip, his smile still lingering as he drank.

  “Ah, macho guy, huh?” She laughed, reaching for the wine bottle, but he grabbed it first.

  He lifted it at the same time he raised his brows, and she relaxed, holding her glass out to him. He filled the glass and pushed the cork back in, setting it in the fridge. “Shouldn’t that be cold?”

  “I guess I had it sitting out for a while.” She turned back to the table, and they both took a sip of their drinks.

  “So,” she said after swallowing, “how was your day?”

  His smile transformed into a longing stare. “Do you really want to hear about it, or would you rather just relax? Maybe forget about work a while?”

  “I would like to forget about work,” she said in a breathy voice, and he took a step toward her. She stared down into her glass as her cheeks flushed.

  Mac had only been over to her place a few times like this, and the tension leading up to their trysts never let up. The butterflies in her stomach and lungs intensified each time he approached her.

  He set his beer down on the counter and joined her by the table. His hands found their way to her hips, and she rested her hands against his chest, staring up at him as his eyes sparkled down into hers. The hum of electricity between them intensified, and as she grabbed his shirt collar with each hand, she broke eye contact with him, staring at his neck.

  “See something you like?” he asked.

  She peeled the shirt away, his neck vulnerable to her lips as she pushed up on her toes and kissed his hot skin—his cologne as intoxicating as her wine. He wrapped his arms around her, and she relaxed into them as her inhibitions drained away.

  He smiled down at her, drinking her in, and pushed her toward the table, guiding her to step back against it before leaning in and kissing her deeply. The fluttering within turned into the swirling, dizzying motion of longing as she wrapped her hands around his neck and he lifted her up, setting her on the table.

  Her eyes opened wide as she pulled back, staring at him as his forehead pressed down against hers. “Here?” she asked in a high-pitched voice.

  “Anywhere with you.” His gravelly voice gave more meaning to the words, and before she could respond, he grabbed the bottom of her sweater and lifted it above her head.

  As he came back into view, she grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him in and kissing him hard, never wanting to break the connection between them as he took off his shirt. He tossed it somewhere behind them, and his hands found her again, squeezing her hips. He leaned down against her, pushing her back against the table, and she let him ease her down against the cold, smooth surface. She jumped and let out a gasp as it hit her back.

  Mac snickered as she squeezed his hard biceps tighter, scolding him for taking pleasure in her discomfort, and pulling him toward her for more all at once. She was pleased to kiss the man who could enrage her yet knew exactly how to handle her. To be in the strong arms of the man who showed her how much he wanted her—to trust him enough to give up control, even for just one night—satisfied her more than she could ever remember being.

  She pulled him closer and relaxed against the table with a smile matching his as he came in for another kiss.

  This. I could get used to this.

  Madigan sped down the narrow dirt road, debating which turn to take to lose Zeke and stop him before he got into another accident with Tyler.

  Dana warned me not to get caught. This is my fault. I wasn’t discreet—what was I thinking?

  She slowed down before the first secluded intersection, making a wide right turn toward Main Street as Zeke’s truck caught up with her.

  I could cut across the next field, but there’s too much growth. Maybe the snowmobile path. That’ll take me into the woods where Drew, Jack, and I used to ride.

  She cut across the street and shot up the small foothill, joining the special path and driving parallel to Zeke on the road.

  I have to lose him and get these pictures to Dana. I could take them straight to Roy’s, but I don’t want to cause a scene, and he could try to take them.

  I’ve got to get home. Send them over email.

  His horn blared, briefly overpowering her bike’s grumbling engine as she turned to the truck. Zeke’s mouth opened wide and closed again, but she couldn’t hear anything over her engine. Glancing back to the path, a tree branch came into view, and she ducked just in time.

  Don’t take your eyes off the road ahead.

  Drew’s voice came to her with the warning, the same as he had when they rode together and he caught her losing focus.

  I know, I know.

  Ahead and to the left, the path disappeared into the forest, and Madigan went with it. She slowed down, trying to remember which way led to the parking lot hikers used, but after more than a decade, she couldn’t get a sense of where she was until she drove over a large, man-made hill, soaring over the pit and onto the path again with the lot in sight.

  Can’t go this way. He’ll expect it. I have to cross Follows Road into Darling Forest. Then I’ll coast along the path until I see an opening for Main Street and take it home.

  As she approached the street, she looked both ways.

  No truck.

  She revved the engine and sped across the street, steering toward a path and letting the rumbling engine rest as she glided along, following it through toward Main Street.

  Zeke’s desperate to see Tyler on his own terms. He won’t let me go easily.

  Madigan revved her engine as the clearing for Main Street came into view, rolling up to merge with the road as Zeke’s truck sped past. He did a double-take in her direction before the truck screeched to a stop, and the car behind it stopped just short of his box.

  Madigan’s breath caught in her throat as the car’s driver laid on the horn.

  Tyler’s alright. That was too close.

  Zeke opened his door as she drove the other way, taking note of the car’s license plate, and merged with the cars in the other lane.

  Now I’ve got proof you were alone with Tyler, and a witness to corroborate not only that, but the fact you were driving recklessly.

  She repeated the plate number in her head over and over until she turned left off Main Street onto Myrtle Lane, past Mar
ia’s General Store before cutting her engine. She rolled down the old tire-track path surrounded by tall grass toward her little piece of property just off the coast where her trailer home rested.

  Buster burst out the doggy door she’d created just for him, bounding toward her as the bike rolled to a stop, and she dismounted, clutching her bag.

  “Good to see you, boy.” She bent down to scratch the top of his head. “I’ve got one last thing to do, and then we’ll go for a…you-know-what, okay?”

  Buster trotted alongside her as she unlocked the door and stepped up into her home, laying her keys on the counter. She pulled the memory card out of the camera before sliding into the bench seating behind her little kitchen table, opening her laptop, and plugging the chip in.

  As she waited for the images to transfer, she pressed Dana’s name on her cell phone.

  “Hey,” Dana answered. “What’s up?”

  “I got him.”

  “What?”

  “Zeke. He was leaving his mom’s, and she handed Tyler over to him without hesitation. He took him, put him in the truck, and just drove off with him.”

  “I knew it. I knew they were letting him see Tyler alone. And you got proof?”

  “I told you I would.” She clicked through the pictures. “Seven in total you should be able to use. Two are great. Really clear.” Dana breathed a shaky sigh as Madigan attached them to her email. “I’m sending them now.”

  “Thank you—”

  “That’s not all.” She recited the license plate as she typed it out in the body of the email.