The Soldier's Valentine--A Clean Romance

by Pamela Tracy

  Ray grinned.

  “Wait,” Oscar said, “there is something you can do to help.”

  He opened the car door, wrapped Peeve’s leash around his hand, guided the dog to the cruiser and smiled hopefully at Leann. “My brother’s agreed to watch him. Would you mind driving him out to Gary’s place? You’re going out there to talk to Russell about Jace, right?”

  No, she didn’t mind helping out with Peeve. The ten-year-old German shepherd was the best-behaved dog in Sarasota Falls, maybe the world. Peeve would never eat an alarm clock, ever. Unless it would somehow save the people he loved.

  “I’ll take him.” Leann accepted the leash. “I definitely need to talk to Russell anyway. I just came from a grab-and-go. Little’s Grocery Store has a surveillance camera that caught a shoplifter. One of the cashiers said he looked a lot like Jace Blackgoat. I did the math. It would have taken him an hour to drive here from Springer. The shoplifting occurred almost two hours ago.”

  “Russell doesn’t need to deal with this at his age.”

  “No,” Leann agreed, “he doesn’t.”

  “What did Jace take?”

  “A bag of cookies.”

  “Weird. You call me if you need anything. I’ll have phone service for the next twenty-four hours.” Oscar loaded a huge back of dog food, a dozen treats and some toys into Leann’s backseat. Then he waved goodbye as he got into his vehicle.

  Peeve looked at his leash and then at Oscar’s disappearing vehicle quizzically, his expression saying, “Really? I’m going with her and not you?”

  She radioed in her time and location, then took off to deliver Peeve and check on Russell.

  She didn’t even make it to the outskirts of town before she spotted a young girl on the sidewalk, looking a little distressed. The girl’s thin T-shirt did nothing to ward off the weather and the jeans were faded and threadbare. Winter was the only time Leann halfway appreciated the thirty-five pounds of gear she carried.

  Leann hesitated, watching, trying to decide if she could spot parents, any adult supervision. Nope. Leann knew almost everyone in Sarasota Falls as well as a lot of their relatives, and this girl didn’t seem or look familiar. She hoped she was all right. Pulling to the side of the road, Leann stepped out of her squad car and approached slowly. “Hello, are you in trouble? Do you need some help?”

  The girl had straggly red hair and dark circles under her eyes.

  “Honey, are you lost?”

  “I am not lost.” No slur, no stutter, not a care in the world.

  “Are you visiting someone in town?” Leann asked casually, not showing any emotion other than concern, although her mind quickly ran through the possibilities. “Can I call someone for you?”

  “My father. I’m looking for my father.” The girl fell to her knees, giggled a bit, then quickly stood up and gripped a streetlight pole for support. Leann couldn’t tell what the matter was exactly. Didn’t matter. This was a minor who needed help.

  “You have ID?”

  “Why? I’m not doing anything wrong.”

  “Do you have any ID?”

  “Nope,” the girl replied and again slid to her knees.

  Leann helped her up and escorted her to the backseat of her car. The last time she’d had a teenager back there, it had been one of the Bouder brothers who’d spray painted I LOVE YOU KATIE on the outside wall of a women’s restroom at the college. Leann wasn’t sure Katie Nesbit approved of the location or the message.

  Peeve scooted over.

  Leann soon parked in front of the station, escorted Peeve and the girl inside. The girl promptly sat at a table and put her head down.

  “Are you hungry?” Leann asked.

  No answer.

  “Everything okay here?” Lucas asked.

  “I’m not sure. She hasn’t been able to tell me anything and possibly has no ID either.”

  “I’ll call for a child advocate,” Lucas said.

  “Do that, but first we need to get this girl to the hospital and find out what’s wrong.”

  “Right away.” Lucas picked up the phone, but paused first to say, “Lydia Blackgoat, married name Whitefeather, has been in touch. She says to please call her. Her brother hasn’t been in touch recently.”

  “Blackgoats aren’t scared of anyone,” the girl said.

  “You know Jace?” Lucas asked.

  The girl shook her head. “Nope, never heard of a Jace.”

  Leann couldn’t stay; she was on patrol, but it was turning out to be an interesting day. “Call me when you find out who she is. And, if you can, find out how she’s connected to Jace Blackgoat.”

  Leann finally left the outskirts of town and hit the open pavement. Soon, she and Peeve were on their way to Gary’s. Funny, she was already thinking of it as Gary’s place and of him as Russell’s number one buddy.

  Leann didn’t respond to any calls, but Lucas phoned with an update on the girl. She was Trudy Gilmore and her last address was two years old.

  Peeve kept his head poked out the lowered window and issued a soft bark to let her know they were close to Gary’s.

  Her tires crunched on rigid grass as she parked next to Gary’s truck. Russell was asleep in a chair outside and Gary busied himself adding finishing touches on a well-constructed dog kennel. Wilma was already barking a welcome. Goober was at Gary’s heels but left to come greet her. Gary didn’t pause from his work, merely nodded at her, and continued on what looked like a door.

  “Hey,” she called, after radioing in.

  “Hey back at you,” he replied easily.

  “Looking good.” She nodded at the structure.

  “That’s what all the women say.” Gary smiled warmly, as if really enjoying his own joke.

  She let Peeve out of the back. Peeve and Goober did a doggy-type welcome, and together they walked toward Gary. She waited until he stopped hammering and asked, “Has anyone besides Russell been by today?”

  “No. Why?”

  “We think his grandson, Jace, might be in town. He could be in trouble.”

  “What kind of trouble?”

  Quickly, Leann filled him in on the details of the grocery store incident and what had happened in Springer last night.

  “I’ll keep an eye out,” Gary promised.

  “Another thing, we found a young girl who recognized the name Blackgoat, although she’s not from around here.”

  Before Gary could comment, Russell said from behind them, “Jace never comes to Sarasota Falls. And, he doesn’t take what doesn’t belong to him.”

  “We’re pretty sure it’s him.” Leann studied the man who’d been more of a grandpa to her sons than her father had. She hated to worry him, but it had to be done. “One of the cashiers was pretty adamant about the identification.”

  “She’s mistaken. Jace has been dealing with identity theft for the last couple of years. Every time he thinks he has it taken care of, it rears its ugly head again.” Russell took a step toward Gary’s truck, and then turned back to say, “Want to drive me home?”

  Gary laid the hammer in a toolbox and asked, “Why do you want to go home?”

  “It’s time.”

  Leann could see Russell’s hands trembling.

  “I’ll take you,” she offered.

  Russell went toward the cruiser. Gary didn’t hesitate. “I’m coming, too.” He closed his toolbox, hurried to the camper, returned and then put the dogs in the kennel before locking up and slipping into his truck. To Leann’s dismay, he didn’t wait for her but started his truck, and was off before she had time to radio her time, location and intent.

  Russell didn’t say a word from the backseat. She didn’t say anything either, instinctively knowing he’d not want her to debate.

  The shoplifter hadn’t offered any ID obviously, instead, all they had was the reco
llection of the cashier.

  When they got to his cabin, his front door was wide open. Russell said a word he normally wouldn’t say in front of Leann.

  Leann wanted to say the same word because Gary was already out of his truck and to the side of the cabin, doing exactly what Leann should be doing.

  She wanted to shout, “Get back here,” but if anyone was inside, she didn’t want to alert them to Gary’s whereabouts.

  Gary inched along, his back to the cabin until he was right next to the open door. Then, he ducked down, positioned himself so he was looking into the cabin and thereby blocking any view Leann hoped to have. Leann simmered and exited the cruiser, and hurried to the cabin.

  “All clear,” he shouted from inside.

  Yeah, he acted a whole lot like a cop, from how he moved to how comfortable he was giving her a status report.

  She peeked around the front door left ajar. Gary was exiting the kitchen and heading up the stairs to the loft. How he acted reminded her of Oscar.

  It meant a whole lot more now, knowing that in all probability, if her radar was working correctly—and it usually was, albeit a few weeks late—Gary had been military police.

  In a war zone. Just one more Guzman trying to outpolice her.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  THE FROWN LEANN shot him didn’t deter him. Didn’t matter that she was police and he was now a civilian, his instincts to serve and protect had kicked in, just like hers.

  It appeared she didn’t agree. Leann came alongside him and said, “I checked the back. No sign of anyone. If there were tire tracks, I just drove over them.”

  The thought of her out there alone with no backup made him clench his teeth. Flashbacks of his days in the service flooded his mind... It would take just one shot from someone hidden in the woods.

  He couldn’t protect everyone.

  Not even himself.

  But, she was a good cop, he reminded himself as she gave him another dagger-like glare and marched out to her cruiser. A moment later, she escorted Russell into the cabin.

  Gary’s breathing didn’t return to normal right away. That Russell had stayed put in the back of her cruiser while they came in told Gary just how vulnerable the old man felt. And, when Russell walked no more than three steps into the room before stopping, looking as if he didn’t know whether to move right or left, forward or backward.

  “Anything missing?”

  Gary followed Russell’s gaze as it went from the coffee table, strewn with magazines, to the floor, where shoes were atop a sheepskin rug and firewood leaned against the wall. The walls had framed pencil portraits and landscapes as well as the large window, its view of the forest breathtaking.

  “Maybe.” Russell slowly shuffled to the fireplace, nudged a lose brick and stared at the open area. Gary and Leann watched him, unmoving, until he sank into his recliner. “About a hundred dollars,” he whispered.

  Gary whistled.

  Leann frowned and said, “Did Jace know you hid money there?”

  “Yes.”

  “Anyone else?”

  “My daughter, my granddaughter, Lydia, and now you two.”

  “Then, it’s probably fair to assume that Jace has returned,” Gary said.

  Leann opened her mouth, probably to argue, but Russell wasn’t finished. “It wasn’t Jace. He wouldn’t steal from me. Never has, never will. He sends me money, not that I need it. I put it in a savings account to go back to him someday.”

  Gary helped Russell up and then led him to the couch. Leann, all business, looked at Russell’s shoes and then headed to the fireplace, studying something at the edge of the logs. Abruptly, she headed out to the cruiser and soon returned with a black bag. Silently Gary and Russell watched her take photos of the hole in the fireplace as well as of the one clear footprint in the ash. She then took a sheet of rubber from the bag and got busy lifting the print.

  “It’s definitely a man’s shoe,” Leann added. “I probably should have asked if anybody male has been by to visit you and gone near the fireplace.”

  “Just me and Gary,” Russell said. “And, yes, he’s been near the fireplace. No way he could have known about the brick, though. I didn’t tell him.”

  “I’ll give you my shoes if you want,” Gary offered.

  Leann looked from the print she was lifting to the foot Gary was lifting. “You’re about a thirteen?”

  “Spot on.”

  “This is more a ten, on the small side, and a tennis shoe. You wear tennis shoes?”

  “I own a pair. We can drive back to my place and I’ll dig them out so you can eliminate me. I’ve only worn the boots since I started working on the cabin.”

  “You know what size shoe Jace wore?” Leann asked Russell.

  “Same as me. Size eleven.”

  “If Jace is in town, we’ll find him and sort this all out,” she promised. She looked ready to say more but her phone sounded.

  “Not if you’re standing in my cabin taking pictures and playing in the dirt,” Russell grumped. “Besides, if it were Jace who needed the money, he’d have asked, not stolen. So, go ahead and take the prints. They’ll just prove my grandson innocent.”

  Gary checked his watch. Only ten o’clock. He admired her focus. As far as he could tell, she’d had a pretty full day already with Peeve, the girl, Jace and now this.

  Russell’s fingers twined and untwined. His face was a shade of red Gary hadn’t seen before.

  “You all right?”

  “No,” Russell said. “I’m mad. Somebody broke into my house, took my money, and it ain’t right.”

  “You have money anywhere else? Because if you do, it might be time to take it to the bank.”

  Gary expected Russell to say, “I don’t trust banks” or “I know what I’m doing.” Instead Russell said, “Most of it is in the bank. I just keep a bit here.”

  Gary let out his breath.

  Then, Russell added, “and there.”

  “Presumably Jace knows all the other theres?” Gary asked.

  Russell shrugged. Leann finally got off the phone. “I picked up a young girl, possibly a runaway, earlier. We identified her as Trudy Gilmore. She’s now in the hospital, pretty sick. There doesn’t seem to be a connection between her and Jace Blackgoat.”

  “Why would there be?” Russell asked.

  Going to her bag, Leann pulled out the tablet she’d used to take pictures and started asking Russell questions.

  “Russell, do you have any idea where Jace is right now?”

  “He’s in Nebraska driving a mail truck.”

  “Can you call him, please? So we can eliminate him as a possible suspect.”

  Russell pulled out his phone, tapped a button and waited. He had to leave Jace a message.

  “Does he call you back?” she asked.

  “Yes, but sometimes it takes him a day or two. He sleeps days and drives nights.”

  Leann and Gary exchanged looks.

  “Why do you think Jace left Sarasota Falls and never returned?” Leann probed.

  “I’ve asked him a million times, and he won’t answer. It’s like he’s scared of someone. Which makes no sense,” Russell blustered. “Who is there to be scared of?”

  “Why don’t you come back to my place?” Gary suggested.

  “No, I want to stick around here. If Jace is in the area and looking for me, I want to be home when he shows up.”

  “Russell,” Leann said gently, “just to be safe. Please come to Gary’s. You don’t know—”

  “Jace would never steal from me or hurt me.”

  “You don’t know that,” Gary said.

  “I do know that.” Russell escorted them to the door. “I half raised that boy.”

  Gary wished he could believe it. Wished that he hadn’t seen evil so profound that h
e knew there were people with not one shred of good in them. For Russell’s sake, he hoped the old man was right.

  Leann didn’t herd as well as Gary. She pivoted and moved next to the wall to stare at a group of pencil drawings. She pointed to a young man and woman standing in front of a tree. “I recognize Jace, but I don’t remember his sister so much?”

  “Jace was about seventeen in that one. Lydia’s a year older. She’d just graduated and gone off to college.”

  Russell prodded them out the door. Gary watched Leann leave. She clearly wanted to stay longer if her dragging feet and constant looks were any indication.

  He glanced back at Russell’s cabin, but the old man had closed the door.

  Ignoring his instincts, Gary got in his truck and drove home. In truth, he didn’t think Russell was in any true danger. Jace, it seemed, had gotten in a bar fight. Heck, Gary’d had his share of those when he was younger. Stupider. Stealing cookies, while a crime, wasn’t huge. Stealing money from his grandfather. Now that didn’t make a whole lot of sense, especially since Russell would had both fed and given Jace money had he asked.

  Gary couldn’t get a handle on the whys and what fors. He mulled the situation over for a while. He played catch with the dogs for a half hour and then went to work on the cabin, managing to tighten every hinge before he couldn’t take it anymore. He was heading for his truck to check on Russell when his phone pinged.

  Leann said, “Anything happening?”

  “I left soon after you did,” Gary responded. “I did note one other thing, though, while we were inside.”

  “What?”

  “Those drawings on the wall. They’re signed. Most are by Angela Blackgoat, but two are by Jace.”

  “Interesting, but not sure if they figure into anything.”

  “I thought I’d mention it. I’m heading up there now.”

  “Good. I’ve called twice, no answer.”

  “Any news on Jace?” Gary asked.

  “No, but call me after you check on Russell.”

  She hung up before he could bark back a “Yes, ma’am.” He’d gotten used to taking orders over the years. He rather liked taking them from her.