The Deputy's Redemption

by Delores Fossen

  “Want something for the pain?” he asked.

  Elise looked at him. Maybe a little surprised by his concern.

  “I just need you to have a clear head right now,” he clarified. “Figured that wouldn’t happen if you were in pain.”

  The corner of her mouth lifted for a split second, but there was no humor in it. He wasn’t normally a jackass, but he also didn’t feel too friendly toward someone who’d soon try to mess over his dad in a really bad way.

  “Back to these two cases,” Colt continued. “Did any red flags come up that could be connected to Gambil?”

  “Nothing that immediately jumps to mind.” She paused. “I’ll have a second look, though. But this seems a little extreme for someone who might just be upset over a background check that I’m doing on them for a job.”

  Ah, he knew where this was going.

  Right back to his family.

  Colt was about to remind her that he and his brothers were all lawmen and not into witness intimidation, but there was another possible player in all of this. Best to stick to business rather than snarky comments that he really wanted to make.

  “Could Gambil be connected to Buddy Jorgensen, the tenant who gave you all that trouble?” Colt asked.

  She hesitated again as if surprised by the turn in the conversation. Another head shake. “I haven’t heard from Buddy in nearly two weeks.”

  That didn’t mean it wasn’t connected. “He was furious about you moving back and threatened you.”

  And not just a threat. He’d tried to buy the place for double its value, but Elise had refused.

  The rumor Colt had heard was that she planned to make the old place a small working ranch again where she could raise and train cutting horses. Ironic since Elise had been in such a big hurry to get off that ranch and out of town when she’d turned eighteen.

  In a hurry to get away from him, too.

  “After all of that happened, I did a background check on Buddy myself,” Elise explained. “There wasn’t anything that popped up that would indicate he has violent tendencies toward other people. Obviously, he didn’t have quite that same level of respect for property because he spray painted graffiti on some of the walls.”

  Yeah, Colt had read the report that she’d filed after the incident.

  Colt figured the background check on Buddy Jorgensen had been thorough since it was Elise’s job. When it’d first come up that she’d be moving back to town, he’d checked on her job and learned she did investigations on potential high-level employees for several large companies. She had a solid reputation for identifying people who could be risks.

  That, however, didn’t mean she hadn’t dropped the ball with Buddy.

  And that’s the reason Colt had already sent a text to Cooper, his brother, who was also the town sheriff. Cooper planned to get Buddy in for questioning first thing in the morning. In the meantime, Colt would look for some kind of connection between Buddy and Gambil.

  “Have you found out anything else about the explosion?” she asked.

  “Not yet. The registration for the truck leads to a dead end. No known address. But they were able to get Gambil’s prints.” From a couple of fingers, anyway. “Reed’s already sent them to the Ranger lab, and they’ll be analyzed. We might be able to get a match and find out if Toby Gambil was his real name.”

  Well, they would be if the prints were good enough. The explosion had done a lot of damage not just to the truck but to the man himself. Still, maybe the crime lab would be able to come up with something.

  The front door flew open, bringing in a gust of the bitter-cold air and a leaf that went skittering across the floor. A man came right in with it, his pricey leather shoes crushing the leaf to bits.

  Their visitor was Robert Joplin.

  His mother’s attorney and not someone who should be paying a visit to the sheriff’s office this time of night. Judging from the scowl that he sent Colt’s way, this was not going to be a pleasant conversation. Of course, pleasant and Robert Joplin had never gone together so far, and Colt figured that wasn’t about to change.

  “Elise,” Joplin said like a concerned father. He hurried to her, plopped down his equally pricey briefcase next to her chair and caught onto her shoulders. “How badly were you hurt?”

  “I’m okay, really.” And she stood, easing away from him before she stepped back.

  Colt didn’t miss the shift in her body language. Not only had she put some distance between Joplin and her, but she also folded her arms over her chest. Like Elise, Colt had known Joplin his entire life and had no doubt seen Elise with him before, but this was the first time Colt had witnessed them together since she’d come back to testify for his mother.

  Something that had pleased Joplin to the core, of course.

  Before Elise and her statement, Joplin had to have known that he was defending a client who would almost certainly be found guilty. And probably still would be. However, Elise and what she’d supposedly witnessed on that day twenty-three years ago was now a game changer.

  That made Elise Joplin’s star witness.

  But from the looks of it, an uncomfortable one.

  Ditto for Joplin. His mouth tightened after she backed away from him. “I heard someone tried to kill you.”

  Elise lifted her shoulder. “A man tried to run me off the road, but he’d dead now.”

  Joplin aimed his index finger at Colt. “This is your fault. Yours and your family’s. You’ve created a hostile atmosphere in Sweetwater Springs that’s now made Elise a target.”

  Since things were about to turn real ugly, real fast, Colt got to his feet, but Elise stepped between them.

  “I was mistaken when I called you earlier and told you that Colt was watching me,” she said to Joplin. “It was this other man, Toby Gambil. He dressed like Colt and drove the same kind of truck.”

  So, that likely explained the weird body language from both Joplin and her. Joplin thought he had some kind of proof of Colt’s wrongdoing, and Elise was eating a little crow.

  “It doesn’t matter that Colt didn’t do the deed himself,” Joplin challenged. “He probably stirred up some of his cowboy friends to do this.”

  Colt moved out from behind Elise so he could face this idiot head-on. “I didn’t stir up anybody. I damn sure didn’t encourage anyone to kill her.”

  “You don’t want her testifying for your mother.”

  “True enough. But that’s only because I don’t think the memories of a nine-year-old kid are reliable enough to tip the verdict of a murder trial. Especially since she didn’t even tell anyone about those memories for twenty-three years.”

  “I didn’t tell anyone what I saw because I didn’t think it was important,” Elise snapped, and when she swiveled toward Colt, there was some fire in her eyes. “It was only after Jewell was charged with Whitt Braddock’s murder that I remembered what I saw that day.”

  “And what she saw was your father coming out of the Braddock cabin.” Joplin punctuated that with a satisfied nod that made Colt want to smack him.

  This was old news now, but it ate away at him just as it did when he’d first heard it two months ago. According to Elise, she’d been playing by the shallow creek near her grandmother’s house and had seen Colt’s father, Roy, leave the very cabin that all these years later would be labeled a crime scene. It’d taken that long to have all the evidence retested, the DNA identified, and the district attorney had used that to reopen what had been a missing person’s case.

  But now Whitt Braddock was officially dead.

  Murdered.

  And the only suspect had been his mother. Only her DNA and Whitt’s had been found in the cabin. But Elise’s eyewitness testimony could put his dad there, too.

  Yeah, it ate away at him.

  Because a lawyer like Joplin could maybe convince a jury that his father had just as much motive to kill Whitt Braddock as his mother did. With Elise’s testimony putting his father at the scene, it might be
more than enough to sway a jury and get charges filed against his father.

  “I need Elise’s testimony,” Joplin said, stating the obvious. “I’ll do whatever it takes to protect her. And more. I’ll do your job, too. I’ve hired two private investigators to comb over every inch of the Braddock cabin and grounds again. They’re looking for anything that might help with your mother’s case, but the bottom line is that Elise is the best defensive weapon I have right now.”

  Colt wasn’t disputing that, but it didn’t mean he liked it, either.

  Joplin huffed. “Look, I know you hate your mother because she abandoned you and your brothers—”

  “She abandoned my dad, too,” Colt interrupted. “Jewell walked out on her family because she couldn’t bear living with the guilt of murdering her lover. But then, you’ve always had stars in your eyes when it comes to her, so I doubt you’ll see her for the person she really is.”

  The anger bolted through Joplin, tightening all his muscles. “Because she’s a good woman and doesn’t deserve the way her so-called family has treated her.”

  “Enough!” Elise shouted. No stepping between them this time. She moved several feet away and glared at both of them. “Arguing about this won’t help. That’s what the trial is for. You can finish this debate there.”

  Great.

  Now he had a victim scolding him like a third-grade teacher. Of course, he shouldn’t have gotten in any kind of contest with the likes of Joplin—even if everything Colt had said was true. The lawyer was crazy about Jewell, and Colt figured Joplin would do just about anything to clear her name.

  Maybe even try to sway a someone’s memory.

  “You should go home, get some rest,” Joplin said to Elise, sounding not only calmer but chastised, as well. “I can drive you there.”

  She motioned to Colt, or rather in his general vicinity. “I need to give a statement about what happened. That could take a while.”

  “Then, I can drive her home,” Colt offered.

  That earned him another huff from Joplin, but he didn’t say a word to Colt. Instead, Joplin looked at Elise. “Call me when you’re done, and no matter what time you finish, I’ll come and get you.”

  She shrugged. Then nodded eventually. Colt was betting dollars to donuts that she wouldn’t call. Nope. She was riled at both of them and would figure out her own way to get home.

  Joplin picked up his briefcase and shot Colt one last warning look before he headed out.

  “You actually told that jerk I was following you?” Colt asked.

  That brought her gaze snapping back to his. “Because I honestly thought you were.”

  But the snapping and the fiery eyes didn’t last. With a weary sigh leaving her mouth, she sank back down into the chair and buried her face in her hands.

  Winced again, too, when she touched the stitches.

  Colt didn’t ask her about the pain this time, but he snatched up the phone, called the medic who’d just left and insisted that he bring some meds over for her right away. The hospital was just a few blocks up, so it wouldn’t take long for him to arrive. She might need those meds just to get her statement done.

  “What’s going on between Joplin and you?” Colt came out and asked. “And don’t say it’s nothing because I detected more than a hair’s worth of tension between you two.”

  A huff, but again no fire. “Sometimes I get the feeling that he’d like for me to say more.”

  Colt did a mental double take. “More?”

  “He wants me to go through hypnosis to see if I can recall more details about Roy.” Her gaze came back to his. “Like maybe blood on his clothes or looking disheveled, as if he’d just been in a fight with Whitt.”

  The sound that Colt made started out as a groan but got much louder. “This is a witch hunt. The only DNA found in that room was my mother’s, along with a whole boatload of Whitt’s blood.”

  “But your father was there the day Whitt went missing,” she mumbled.

  “So says you.”

  “Have you actually asked your father if he was there?” Elise challenged.

  “No. I don’t have to. If he’d killed Whitt, he would have owned up to it. He wouldn’t have run. He darn sure wouldn’t have abandoned his family.”

  But his father had admitted being more than just drunk that day and having some gaps in his memory. Of course, he’d just learned about his wife having an affair. And not just any ol’ affair but with his sworn enemy. A man who’d been a thorn in his dad’s side since they were young boys.

  Colt went closer to her so she wouldn’t miss a word. “If my father had killed Whitt, he would have almost certainly gotten blood on him. And when he sobered up, he would have seen it and gone to the sheriff.”

  He paused. “Have you actually asked Jewell about this?” Colt threw right back in her face.

  The breath she took was thin and long. “Yes.”

  “And what did she say?” But he had to ask that through clenched teeth.

  Elise made him wait several long moments before she answered. “Nothing.”

  Which sounded like a boatload of guilt to him. Innocent people usually spoke up to defend themselves.

  Something Jewell had yet to do.

  In fact, from all accounts, she wasn’t even cooperating with her own attorney. Hadn’t even hired him. Joplin had volunteered pro bono and had refused to back off even when Jewell had asked him to.

  Because Elise and he were in the middle of an intense staring match, Colt nearly jumped out of his skin when the sound shot through the room. Elise gasped.

  But it was only the phone.

  Talk about losing focus.

  “It’s me,” Reed said the moment that Colt answered. “The Rangers got an immediate hit on Gambil’s prints.”

  That got his attention. Because that usually meant the prints were in AFIS, the national fingerprint database. “Gambil had a criminal record?”

  “Oh, yeah. His real name is Simon Martinelli, and I just talked to one of our criminal informants about him.” Reed paused, cursed. “Martinelli wasn’t in town to scare Elise.”

  Mercy. There went the bristly feeling down his spine again. “Then why the devil was he here?”

  “Because Martinelli’s a hit man,” Reed answered “He was sent here to kill Elise.”

  Chapter Four

  “You know that I’m staying here with you tonight, right,” Colt said when he pulled to a stop in front of her house.

  Elise was certain that wasn’t a question, and she wanted to insist that she didn’t need a babysitter.

  But she was afraid he’d disagree.

  Because someone wanted her dead. Had even sent someone to end her life. And that someone had nearly succeeded.

  She’d hoped the bone-deep exhaustion would tamp down the fear. It didn’t. She was feeling both fear and fatigue, and that wasn’t a good mix.

  Nor was having Colt around.

  However, the alternative was her being alone in her house that was miles from town or her nearest neighbor. And for just the rest of the night, she wasn’t ready for the alone part. In the morning, though, she would have to do something to remedy it. Something that didn’t include Colt and her under the same roof.

  For now, that’s exactly what was about to happen.

  They got out of his truck, the sleet still spitting at them, and the air so cold that it burned her lungs with each breath she took. Elise’s hands were still shaking, and when she tried to unlock the front door of her house, she dropped her keys, the metal clattering onto the weathered wood porch. Colt reached for them at the same time she did, and their heads ended up colliding.

  Right on her stitches.

  The pain shot through her, and even though Elise tried to choke back the groan, she didn’t quite succeed.

  “Sorry.” Colt cursed and snatched the keys from her to unlock the door. His hands definitely weren’t shaking.

  “Wait here,” he ordered the moment they stepped into the l
iving room. He shut the door, gave her a stay-put warning glance and drew his gun before he started looking around.

  Only then did Elise realize that someone—another hit man maybe—could already be hiding inside. Waiting to kill her.

  Sweet heaven.

  When was this going to end?

  And better yet, why was it happening in the first place?

  Elise glanced around at the living and dining rooms. The house wasn’t big, so she had no trouble seeing directly into the kitchen. Colt checked it out and then headed to the back hall where there were three small bedrooms and a bath. She’d always felt so safe here. But at the moment, every shadow looked like someone lurking and ready to jump out and attack.

  She held her breath, waiting, trying not to panic. The pain certainly didn’t help, and even though she wanted to keep a clear head, she might have to resort to the meds that the medic had brought to her at the sheriff’s office.

  “Keep the curtains closed and stay away from the windows,” Colt insisted. He reholstered his gun as he made his way back toward her. “You got a security system?”

  She shook her head. Her grandparents would have found it laughable that she needed such measures since there was usually no crime out here to speak of, but first thing in the morning Elise would definitely look into getting one.

  “Do you have any friends from Dallas you can stay with for a while?” he asked.

  Elise was about to assure him that she did, but she heard the judgmental tone in his voice. Or maybe that was her imagination working overtime, but she figured the tone was there. In Colt’s mind, and likely everyone else’s in town, she wasn’t part of Sweetwater Springs anymore. She had chosen the city life, and while that didn’t exactly make her an outcast, it didn’t make her welcome, either.

  “I have someplace I could stay,” she answered, but then had another look around the house. No, correction.

  Her home.

  For two years she’d been making plans to come back here, and she’d finally gotten the chance. Not only because of Jewell’s trial but because she finally had scraped together enough money to try to make the place into a working ranch again. It’d been her grandmother’s dream.