Her Lawman Protector

by Patricia Johns

  Jack stepped back and looked around. The yard was ill-kempt. The leaves hadn’t been raked yet this season, and they appeared to cover an overgrown lawn. A pile of local newspapers leaned against the corner of the porch, and Jack would have wondered if the guy even lived here anymore if it weren’t for the dog barking inside. He knocked again, this time harder. There was the scrape of a window opening above.

  “What?” a growly voice demanded, and Jack stepped off the porch to get a better look at the speaker. A gray-haired man with deep creases in his face and a raspy, three-day stubble on his chin stood in an open window wearing a bathrobe. Despite his ragged appearance, Jack recognized the man from his column photo.

  “I’m Jack Talbott from the local PD,” Jack said. “I was hoping to ask you a few questions.”

  “About what?”

  Jack shaded his eyes. “I guess we could holler at each other right here, but I figured you might want more privacy from your neighbors.”

  Jack glanced over his shoulder and spotted a middle-aged woman walking her dog, her steps slowing as she looked at them curiously.

  “Fine.” The window closed with a bang, and a minute later the front door swung inward. The dog, which had sounded bigger than it was, currently sat nestled in its master’s arms. “Come inside, then.”

  Jack stepped into the gloom. Despite the terrible appearance of the yard, the inside of the house was immaculately kept. Brent led the way into the kitchen and nodded to the table.

  “Sit down if you want,” he said. “I’m making coffee.” He deposited the dog on the floor in a scramble of nails against linoleum.

  Jack wasn’t sure if he was being offered coffee or not, but he took a seat. The dog growled at him a few times, then took up a protective stance around Brent’s bare ankles.

  “So what do you want?” Brent asked after he’d started the coffee maker.

  “I need a few details,” Jack said. “And you’re the one who knows the most around here.”

  “Depends who you ask,” Brent replied. “Local opinion isn’t in my favor these days.”

  “Because of Mayor Nelson’s daughter’s accusations,” Jack clarified.

  “She didn’t accuse anything. Her father did. But she went along with it. And I get it—the optics weren’t in our favor. She was twenty-two and had her whole life ahead of her. I was fifty-eight and a stubborn old codger. But there was no sexual assault involved.”

  “I believe you,” Jack replied.

  “What?” Brent eyed him suspiciously. “You’d be the first.”

  “There were no criminal charges,” Jack replied. “And if the mayor’s daughter was assaulted, there would have been charges. Instead, there was a big public furor, you were fired from your post at the paper and then Chantilly Nelson left for law school.”

  “Hmm...” Brent nodded. “All right, you’ve earned yourself some information from me. What do you want to know about?”

  “What you were investigating when the scandal erupted,” Jack replied.

  “Because you think the mayor used me as a diversion,” Brent said with a slow nod.

  “That’s my theory.” This had to go further than some cop in Denver picking up on a lead. But the local PD wouldn’t look into the mayor without a very good reason, and Jack had been banging his head against local politics.

  “No one else believed me,” Brent replied. “Why should you?”

  “I’m here right now, but I’m not local. I have no preconceived ideas or die-hard views one way or the other.” A small lie—he was emotionally involved in this, just not in the same way the rest of the town seemed to be.

  “Fine. I was looking into a local government cover-up.”

  “Involving property values, and the discovery of minable gold underneath this town,” Jack finished for him.

  “Yeah. That’s right. So if you know about it, why come to me?” Brent pulled out a chair and sat down, then scooped the dog up into his lap.

  “Because I need to know who knows about this minable gold,” Jack said. “Exactly.”

  “Mayor Nelson, of course,” Brent replied with a shrug.

  Jack tried to cover up the swell of satisfaction at those words. That’s what he’d needed to hear! Even though it had been his working theory, having Brent confirm his suspicions gave them more weight.

  “And he was hell-bent on keeping me from blowing the lid off the whole thing,” Brent went on. “He insisted that I needed to keep quiet about it or our town would lose out on this massive opportunity to make money.”

  “The town would lose out on the money.” Jack frowned.

  “His words, not mine,” Brent replied with a shrug. “You ask me, though, I think there’s a select few who are poised to make money off this.”

  “What makes you so sure?” Jack asked.

  “First of all, three families have always held the money in this town,” Brent said. “The Nelsons, the McConnellys and the Davidsons. You’ll find them in all the local government—aldermen, school trustees...they get voted in because they seem to care the most. And really, who wants to be an alderman?” Brent made a face.

  “Not you?”

  “The pay is dismal,” Brent replied. “Not the point. These three families fight among themselves for local power. Mayor Nelson is currently winning this round. Anyway, he didn’t want anyone else to know about this gold until he could set up something with a local mining company. Then he could be the town’s savior.”

  “Savior? Would a mining outfit even be popular around here?” Jack asked. “You’ve got a pristine area—mountains, forests, the lake...”

  “Yeah, yeah, beautiful,” Brent went on with a wave of his hand. “What we need are jobs. People are leaving in droves because they can’t find decent work. There’s the tourists who come for the wilderness and the fresh air, but they only bring so much money. But if a big mining outfit set up in town, that would bring some stable union jobs, and that’s what our town needs. At least that was the way the mayor was billing it.”

  “So you were in favor of this,” Jack said, squinting at the man.

  “Not at all!” Brent barked back. “Because it’s only worth something if people are willing to sell their land. And if they sell, where are they going to go? All we’ll end up with is a town emptied out of the locals, and a bunch of newcomers swooping in after those jobs.”

  “Who owns most of the land in the downtown core?” Jack asked.

  “It used to be a good mix among the Nelsons, the McConnellys and the Davidsons. But then Mayor Nelson started buying up properties here and there. Going into some real debt to do it, too. He made out like he was doing people a favor. He’d take some useless property off their hands really quietly. He acted like he was doing it out of the goodness of his heart because his family was relatively wealthy compared to everyone else. Helping out some retiree who just needed to sell. But I got wise to it.”

  “So the mayor was buying up land.”

  “And some outside buyers, too,” Brent said. “Some fella with a god-awful name who married this local woman. He started picking off the properties, too.”

  “Kornekewsky?” Jack asked.

  “Yeah, that’s it. Evan Kornekewsky. He was a cop in Denver. He had some family money behind him—not a lot, but enough to get his feet wet. I didn’t get that far into my investigation.”

  That was pointing to the evidence they needed. They could look up the property sales in the area over the last five or ten years to confirm it all, but it still indirectly connected Liv to the story. And that was the connection he was trying to test.

  “The local woman—” His heart softened even at this indirect mention of Liv. “Was she involved?”

  He watched Brent for any sign of deception, but Brent didn’t look nervous at all.

  “I don’t know. But the strong-arming—th
at was all Kornekewsky himself. When his wife came into it, it was always at the end, delivering an envelope or something with a smile and a plate of cookies. In all my digging, she was nothing more than a delivery person. You police will investigate whoever you want, but my focus was on the husband.”

  No evidence that she was involved. In his heart he could feel it—she’d been telling the truth all along. She was as innocent as she looked, and Evan had been keeping her linked to his fraud for his own reasons—maybe so he could throw her under the bus later and claim she was the mastermind?

  “No evidence of her pressuring people to sell?” Jack clarified.

  “Not that I saw. Everything pointed to the husband,” Brent said. “I was getting information on that Denver cop when Chantilly and I started up. She wasn’t quite the daddy’s girl that everyone thought she was. She had some real issues with her dad, and half of my appeal was that I didn’t idolize him. Anyway, the mayor found out about us about the same time I started poking into those high-pressure sales. And then pow—it all blew up in my face.”

  Jack moved this new information around in his mind. “So why did Chantilly go along with it?”

  “Because her father was the one paying her way through Harvard,” Brent said. “You think I could afford that? I wasn’t anything long-term for her. She thought I was all bitter and sexy. And maybe I was!” He chuckled. “But Chantilly’s smart. She knew what she wanted, and she wanted Harvard.”

  “And you’re not mad about that...” Jack said slowly.

  “Furious. Who said I wasn’t mad?” Brent shrugged. “She let her father ruin my career and my good name, and she just waltzed off. She’s engaged to some twenty-five-year-old upstart. And maybe I should have seen that coming, but it’s possible to dump some starry-eyed old guy without cutting his legs out from under him.”

  “True,” Jack said. “Did she know what you knew?”

  “Not all of it,” Brent replied. “I wasn’t a complete idiot.”

  Suddenly a thought occurred to him. “Chantilly—any connection to Evan Kornekewsky that you know about?”

  “He was like you—all young and muscle-bound. She was attracted to him,” Brent said with a shrug. “And I couldn’t compete with that, could I?”

  “Was she sleeping with him?” Jack asked.

  “It was a short fling before she picked up with me. The Kornekewskys came back to visit family and stuff from time to time. Chantilly wasn’t looking to break up a marriage. Liv Kornekewsky used to babysit Chantilly, and think what you want about her, Chantilly had her limits on who she’d till under.”

  So Evan had been getting it all over town... Poor Liv. He knew she hated having anyone pity her, but Jack couldn’t help it. She’d deserved a whole lot better than Evan.

  “So how angry are you?” Jack asked. “Are you mad enough to testify in court?”

  The gurgling of the coffee machine stopped, and Brent met Jack’s gaze cautiously. “Depends.”

  “On what?”

  “I’ll only do it if you don’t press charges against Chantilly Nelson.”

  A soft spot for the woman who had allowed her father to ruin his career and reputation? Jack shook his head.

  “Why?” Jack asked. “She hasn’t helped you.”

  “I knew what I was doing.” Brent winced. “Look at me. Chantilly was a beautiful woman in her early twenties. It was consensual, but she was a lot younger than me, and I feel like I owe her this much.”

  Jack sighed. “I’m not in a position to make those deals.”

  “Then I’ll have to talk to someone who is,” Brent replied, rising to his feet. “You want coffee?”

  “No.” Jack rose, too. “Thanks, though. I appreciate the chat. I’ll be in touch.”

  “Do that.” Brent reached out and they shook hands. “But I don’t remember anything unless Chantilly’s left alone.”

  Clear enough. Brent had had a weirdly inappropriate liaison with the mayor’s daughter, and now he was having a weirdly inappropriate protective streak. Whatever. Jack didn’t care too much about Brent’s complexities, as long as he could get the man to testify.

  But this didn’t prove Liv’s innocence, either. Not when it came to a court of law. If Jack wanted concrete proof that she wasn’t involved in this scheme, he might never get it. But with every beat of his heart, he longed to find something that could cut her free of this mess. Because even if other people weren’t, Jack was convinced that she was innocent.

  Maybe he wasn’t so different from Brent, after all. Even if Liv wasn’t connected to Evan’s fraud, they still had no future together. She was a suspect in what would be a very high-profile case, and she was the ex-wife of a police officer who, if Jack had his way, would be doing some serious jail time. But Internal Affairs required an officer’s unquestionable integrity. Nothing could appear to sully Jack’s name—and even if they couldn’t find enough to press charges against Liv, doubts about her involvement would linger.

  And still, Jack wanted to rescue Liv. Even if she moved on with some other guy.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  LIV LEANED BACK in her bed, her phone tucked up against her ear. The wind howled outside her bedroom window, and she tried to ignore it, but every moan felt like it echoed inside her.

  “I can’t believe it,” her mother said into her ear. “Tanya and Evan?”

  “Apparently so.” Liv stared up at her ceiling. “She claims to love him.”

  “And he’s cheating on Hot Pants,” her mother said wryly. “There’s some justice there.”

  “He’s cheating with my cousin!” Liv ran a hand through her hair. “How could she do this to me?”

  “Evan obviously got to her.” Her mother sighed. “Dear, I know you and Tanya were always close, but that girl is an idiot. She always was. She’d do anything for a boyfriend. Do you remember that high school teacher she dated?”

  “She had already graduated.” Liv sighed.

  “Yeah, but he was fifteen years older than her, and he’d taught her from grade ten through twelve.”

  “I’m not saying Tanya has great taste in men,” Liv countered. “I’m saying this is a personal betrayal.”

  “Oh, granted.”

  Liv shook her head. Her mother always had been the one least inclined toward drama.

  “Why do you think Evan was trying to buy your lake cottage?” Liv asked.

  “I have no idea.” Her mother sighed. “Love nest for him and Tanya? Is that too crass to even say?”

  “It might be true, though,” Liv agreed. “One woman never seems to be quite enough for him, does it? Will I never be free of him?”

  “You will be, dear,” her mother said, “the minute you decide to be. You’ll have to let him go. Emotionally wash him out so that if he walked down the street in front of your store, you’d feel nothing for him besides pity because he’s the one who can’t seem to get over you.”

  “Is this about me, Mom? Evan’s fixation with this town, I mean.”

  “I’m sure his fixation with your cousin has everything to do with you,” her mother replied with a bitter laugh. “As for the town...what do I know? You said the police are convinced he’s involved in some sort of fraud.”

  “I wish I could make sense of everything that’s happened. It’s the confusion that gets to me,” she admitted.

  “Here’s what you need to know,” her mother said firmly. “First of all, you’re a good person, and you’re worthy of better than Evan. Second, you know that you’re innocent in all of this, so don’t start questioning yourself. Evan is the liar and the manipulator. He’s good at that—he did it all through your marriage. He made you feel crazy and question your own instincts. And third, you need a lawyer, Liv.”

  Liv’s heart felt heavy, but she knew her mother was right. She needed someone on her side, even if she had to pay that p
erson to be there. And she couldn’t let her life get dragged down by her ex-husband. Running away from the man wasn’t going to fix this. He’d chosen her cousin for a reason, and it wasn’t because he’d fallen in love with her. Tanya was delightful, but Evan was no idiot, either. He’d sent her cousin with a message—back up his story.

  “I know,” she said. “But it costs a lot, and right now I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.”

  “Dad and I can sell something. You’re not going to be on your own.”

  Liv wouldn’t let them do that.

  “Thanks, Mom,” Liv said. “But that’s not necessary. I’m tired. I’m going to try to get some sleep.”

  “All right. Have a good night, sweetheart.”

  Liv smiled sadly as she hung up. Her mother was her very last bastion—the one Evan couldn’t influence against her. And Tanya...stupid, stupid Tanya... What on earth was she thinking? She knew what Evan was! Or maybe she didn’t care. And that hurt most of all, because Liv cared about family. She’d uprooted her city life and come back to Eagle’s Rest for family!

  Liv pried herself off her bed and grabbed her nightgown. It was time for a hot shower and a good sleep. Things would look better in the light of day. Or maybe they wouldn’t, but at least there would be daylight and work to occupy her thoughts. One step at a time, one day at a time. Life would get better, and these raw emotions would be further behind her.

  Liv ambled into the bathroom and deposited her phone on the counter, then leaned over and turned on the hot water. She fully intended to stay in this shower until the hot water ran out.

  The steam billowed out of the bathtub as Liv dropped her robe and stepped into the drumming spray of hot water. She shut her eyes, her muscles melting under the heat. She tipped her chin up and let the water flow over her. Sometimes all she wanted was a little bit of comforting...

  There was a thump somewhere in the apartment. Liv paused, listening. Had she heard that right? It might have come from outside—a garbage truck or something. She wasn’t used to all the nighttime sounds on this street yet. She strained her ears but couldn’t hear anything else.