Pour me a Drink (Tarnation, Texas Book 3)

by Rhonda Lee Carver

  Removing his gun for the second time, he laid it on the table and loosened the tail of his uniform shirt from the waist of his jeans. Plopping back down on the couch, he wanted at least a few hours before he had to face the past, but sleep was evasive. He tossed and turned, punching the arm of the couch as if that might help, but after attempting everything he knew, sleep was a lost cause. Several things worked against him. How could he ignore that just outside his door was a woman who’d turned him inside out years ago? Although he’d been with plenty of women since her, women far more skilled, none of them had come close to making him feel so alive. They’d both been inexperienced kids, caught up in the raw emotions of lust, thinking they loved one another. Hell, he’d given up on any thought of soul-mates and everlasting love. Now he preferred to follow his needs and leave his heart out of the equation.

  Time had been good to Tyler. Still as beautiful as ever—hell, more beautiful. She could look at him, even when she was pissed, in a way that stroked every sensitive part of his body. He didn’t want her here in Bohannan—or Wyoming for that matter. This was no longer her home and the town wasn’t big enough for the two of them. When morning came he’d listen to what she had to say, but then he’d send her on her way, and hopefully she’d get back to whatever place she called home these days. She’d outgrown Bohannan and the lifestyle of a country girl. She’d realize that. Then he could get back to his way of life and seeing Sadie Mae on the rare occasion when he needed a release. The voluptuous blonde didn’t care that he wasn’t looking for a relationship and they were definitely on the same page when it came to matters of the bedroom. Maybe he’d give her a call tomorrow and take her out for a pizza and a beer that would most certainly end with a good time between the sheets Yeah, that sounded like a good Friday night.

  However, as he closed his eyes, it wasn’t Sadie Mae that was tattooed on the back of his eyelids, but instead a saucy brunette that was holed up voluntarily in his jail cell, and brain.

  ~~**~~

  Tyler stirred, rolling to her side and a sharp pain in her neck made her wince. Opening her eyes, she squinted against the bright light flowing in through the wall of windows from across the room. It took her a good ten seconds to remember where she was and what she’d done. She shifted and the springs of the cot squeaked loudly, making her temples throb.

  “I thought that was you, Miss Tyler Posey.”

  Lifting her head, she was met with the friendly smile of the grey-haired, sixty-something woman that wore large, black-framed glasses with thick lens that made her eyes three times larger. “Mildred? You still work here?”

  “. Of course I do darlin’. I gave retiring some consideration when Mansfield got the boot, but the view is so much better around here these days, if you know what I mean. Kace Cade and vitamin B12 shots and I’m as spry as I was when I was thirty. ” Her cheeks flushed. “What in snail’s hell did you do to end up on the wrong side of those bars? Don’t tell me you were caught stealing fish from Old Man Evergreen’s pond again.”

  Tyler blinked. “I wasn’t stealing the fish, Mildred. I was only following through with a bet.” Forcing her body to work, Tyler sat up, dropped her feet to the concrete floor and rubbed the sleep from her puffy eyes. She couldn’t complain because she’d stepped into this on her own free will and Kace had warned that she’d be hurting this morning.

  “Anyone who knows Tyler knows you can’t call her a chicken. She’d jumped into a gator filled lake, or sleep in a jail cell, just to prove a point,” Kace said from the doorway of his office. Both women turned to watch him stroll into the room, monopolizing so much space with his strapping frame and self-confidence.

  Tyler wished she didn’t feel a spark of excitement deep in her chest. He’d always been handsome, but Kace Cade had grown into a man. Standing at least six foot three and around two hundred pounds of solid, toned muscle, he filled out the tight uniform shirt and jeans like they’d been tailor made for him. Although he wore his white Stetson this morning, last night she saw that his coal black hair was now threaded with silver, but instead of looking older, he looked distinguished. Mature. Commanding. Striking. There were a few noticeable lines around his eyes and mouth, and a layer of whiskers on his strong jaw, but all in all, he looked healthy and fit—and insanely sexy. Had she expected anything less? After all, he was a Cade, and good looks and charm ran in their DNA as well as a powerful sex appeal unlike anything she’d ever seen in any other man she’d met. She was ashamed to admit that she’d involuntarily compared every man she’d met to Kace, and they never matched up.

  The last she’d heard he was working as an undercover agent, so when she’d come back to Bohannan and learned he’d taken the position of Sheriff, she’d held out hope that he would take her seriously. He’d listen to the reasons why Susy wouldn’t take her own life.

  Tyler watched him saunter to the outside of the cell door, a grim set to his mouth and jaw as he leaned one bicep against the bars. He tipped the brim of his hat and his brooding blue eyes warmed her blood. Even when he was upset he was still the best-looking man she’d ever seen.

  “I’m confused. Did you say she’s in here to prove a point?” Mildred extended her thumb toward the cell door.

  “You heard right, ma’am. It appears Miss Posey here thinks she can bully me into seeing her way on things.” He smirked and swiped his palm down his chin. The rasp of calluses meeting whiskers did amazing things to her inner thighs. Now she and Mildred both were flushing.

  With a disgruntled sigh, she swore she wouldn’t let him ruffle her feathers. She had a goal and wouldn’t stray from it. Her sister deserved the truth. “This wouldn’t have happened if you’d returned my calls. I told you, I’m not going anywhere until you listen to what I have to say. If when I’m finished you still think my sister, without a doubt, hung herself, then I’ll walk away and never contact you again.”

  His jaw worked. His eyes turned a shade darker. Kace never liked to be backed into a corner, but what choice did she have but to put him there?

  “What if I decide to let you stay in there? It wouldn’t be any sweat off my brow.” He smirked. “What’s on the menu for inmates today, Mildred? Beans and franks?”

  “That’ll be just fine with me, Kace.” Tyler shrugged haughtily. “I haven’t visited with Mildred in far too long anyway. I bet she’d be real interested in hearing all the juicy stories I have about her boss. After all, we’ve known each other for what? Twenty or so years? That’s a lot of back story.” Tyler smiled and rubbed her hands together. “Mildred, did you know that your brawny boss here is deathly scared of spiders? Once when we were in the back of his truck he jumped up, naked as—”

  “Enough,” Kace growled.

  “How about I get you two some strong coffee,” Mildred said with a stifled giggle. “By the looks of things neither one of you slept more than a few winks.”

  “Bring those coffees into my office, please.” Kace wielded his dangerous expression like a secret weapon. “We won’t be having any ‘bare-all’ discussions this morning.”

  Tyler imagined he used this “chilling” look to scare criminals, but she knew him. He was too kind-hearted to make her think any differently or frighten her.

  Feeling like she’d won the battle, she said, “It’s about time you saw things my way.”

  “As if you gave me any choice.” His eyes dazzled, but his jaw stayed tight.

  “Two coffees coming up.” Mildred was already scooping coffee grounds into the filter.

  “How about we get you out of here before Deputy Payne comes in and this becomes even more of a spectacle.” Kace crossed his arms over his wide chest.

  Taking the keys from underneath the cot, she caught a glimpse of his grin, but she didn’t allow it to turn her inside out. She was her sister’s voice, and this was important. Handing the keys through the bars, she watched him unlock the door and swing it open.

  Although she had entered the cell on her own accord, she was glad to be free. She�
��d probably managed more sleep if she’d slept on the concrete floor.

  Without a word, Kace placed the key ring back on the hook and ambled toward his office. She followed, admiring the breadth of his back and how nice the worn Wranglers fit his firm bottom. She didn’t come here to take a stroll down memory lane with the cowboy, even if she’d thought about him many times over the years. Her focus needed to stay on solving her sister’s murder. After finding her diary, Tyler was more sure than ever that someone had set up the scene to make it appear that Susy had committed suicide.

  Once they were inside of his office and the door was closed, she took the time to inspect the space. Kace was a simple man, so she wasn’t surprised that the walls were bare and the bookshelves behind his desk were almost empty, except for a statue of a horse and a handful of worn western books.

  “Is that the one I gave you?” She pointed at the figurine.

  “Yeah.” He hooked his hat on the deer antler that seconded as a coat rack.

  Her breath stilled. “That was some night. I had almost forgotten about it.” She’d won the statue at the county fair after she’d thrown an axe into the center of a target three times in a row. Kace had been so impressed with her skill that she’d given the trophy to him so he wouldn’t forget her.

  “I’m sure you did.”

  “Kace, I get the feeling that you’re angry with me—”

  “Now why in the world would I be angry? You just swept in here and took over my jail like this is your stage.” There was an edge to his tone.

  “You didn’t leave me much choice, now did you?”

  “I’m a busy man. If you want me to hear what you have to say, it’s best you get to talking.” He took a seat behind the massive cherry wood desk loaded with folders and paperwork.

  Swallowing against the constriction in her throat, she took the seat in front of his desk.

  Several seconds floated by until he groaned. “For someone hell bent on talking to me, you certainly don’t have a lot to say.”

  Why had her tongue suddenly frozen? She’d planned this day, this moment, over and over again on what she’d say when she had the chance to speak to him, and now every single word was lodged somewhere between her numb brain and mouth. Shifting and crossing her legs, she cleared her throat, praying her voice worked. “It must be the lack of sleep.”

  “Or it’s just you have nothing to add to what I already know.” He leaned back into the chair and propped his booted feet on the corner of the desk.

  It scraped her nerves that he could be so unaffected, so calm, when her body was a hair’s width away from turning into a puddle of nerves. “Sheriff Mansfield didn’t investigate the case thoroughly. He only wanted to wash his hands clean of it all.”

  “I read the file. She was found—” He squinted as if he couldn’t finish the sentence.

  “It’s okay. I know how she was found. I’ve relived it over and over inside my head. It’s the crux of my nightmares. What person undresses and hangs herself from a second-floor balcony?”

  He clasped his hands behind his head. “A woman who’d done a few lines of coke at a late-night party. The drug related deaths are up twenty-five percent from five years ago in this county alone. It’s an epidemic and it appears we’re losing the fight.”

  “I know drug use is a problem, Kace, but my sister wasn’t into coke.”

  “Witnesses say she was, Tyler. Their interviews are on file.”

  “I realize what the witnesses have said, I just don’t agree with them. I’m the first person to acknowledge that my sister had made some bad choices, but this doesn’t mean she deserved to die.”

  “No one said she deserved to die.” He dropped his feet to the floor with a loud thud. “For theory’s sake, who do you think murdered her? The only two people in the house at the time of her death was Susy and her boyfriend, Troy Dearth. He was sleeping off a high. Do you think he was involved? He was investigated thoroughly.”

  She lowered her gaze to her clasped hands for a second, then brought her eyes up to meet his. “At first, yes, I did believe he had done it, but he came to see me right after her death. He and I had a chance to talk, and little did I know that he would end up dead two months later. He loved her, Kace. He wouldn’t have her hurt.”

  “So then, who?”

  With a slight shrug of her shoulder, she sighed. “That I don’t know. Last year Dad sent me her things. It took me a week or so before I finally worked up the strength to look through the box, but in it I found her diary. Toward her final months she wrote of being fearful, worried that someone was watching her, following her. She also believed someone had been coming into her apartment when she wasn’t there. She’d find things missing or moved, small things disrupted. Another entry, one of the last she made, she mentioned an incident when man dressed in all black had assaulted her in an alleyway on her way home. The way she wrote the information it seemed like she knew him but was being careful not to name him. She doesn’t mention any names as if she wishes to keep everything secret. Her drug dealer. Her friends. She talks of people by their physical appearance. Except she did name Sheriff Mansfield a few times. Sometimes I can’t make out what she means—”

  “Because she was high?”

  She shook her head. “Because she’s intentionally staying vague. I have a feeling she was involved in something, something much bigger than her, and that’s why she died.”

  “Users can be paranoid from the drugs.”

  “Are you saying she wrote hallucinations in her diary?” She sighed.

  “Why didn’t she make a complaint? There are no reports of these incidences in her file.”

  “That’s a good question. I don’t have an answer for that. However, it could have something to do with the fact that she suspected that Sheriff Mansfield was involved.”

  “How do you get that?”

  “Because it’s written in her diary.”

  He rubbed his forehead as if he was having a hard time processing her words. “Do you think it’s possible that it could have been her drug dealer? She was afraid of getting into trouble if she reported him?”

  “I’ve thought about all different scenarios, trust me. Would you at least read the diary and come up with your own thoughts?”

  “Hand it over and I’ll take a look at it when I have the time.”

  “Well…” She uncrossed her legs. “I don’t have it with me.”

  He blew out a long breath through the corner of his mouth. “You came here to demand that I read the diary, but you didn’t bring it?”

  “I didn’t know how things would go,” she admitted.

  He stood, rounded the desk and took a seat on the corner. “I know it’s hard accepting—”

  “What about the note?” She scooted to the very edge of the chair. “I told Mansfield that it wasn’t her handwriting. I brought in some comparisons, but he shrugged them off.”

  “What note?” His brows scrunched.

  “She left a note. It should be in the case file.” Seeing his confusion, she sighed. “Are you telling me the note is lost?”

  “It’s not lost. I just don’t know where it is.”

  “Doesn’t this prove suspicion?”

  Several seconds passed. “I tell you what, I’ll find the note and take a look.”

  “And the diary?”

  One corner of his mouth lifted. “No one can accuse you of not being determined. Yeah, I’ll read the diary also. Is it at your house?” She nodded. “I’ll stop by sometime today and pick it up.”

  “Thank you, Kace. I knew I could rely on you.”

  “It’s too early to be thanking me. I said I’ll look, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be convinced to reopen the case. We’re already low on manpower here. Now do you think I could get back to work?”

  She bobbed her head up and down and jumped up, smoothing her clammy palms down her shorts. “Do you think you could—” he nailed her with a narrowed gaze. She decided she’d better not push her
luck. “Okay. Stop by any time. You know where I’m staying, right?”

  “Yes,” he said grumpily.

  “Alright then.” She backed up to the door. “Thank you again.”

  “Bye, Tyler.”

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