The Deputy's Redemption

by Delores Fossen

  Elise’s, too.

  And now someone was trying to snatch that away from her.

  Yes, she could go running back to Dallas, to her friends and her job, but there was no guarantee that the danger wouldn’t just follow her there. Maybe her best bet was to make a stand here. Of course, that might not turn out to be the safest way to go, and she’d be betting her life on it.

  “You okay?” Colt walked back toward her, and he was sporting a concerned look on his face.

  That’s when Elise realized she was massaging the side of her head just above those stitches. She wasn’t anywhere near okay, but saying it would only confirm what Colt already knew.

  “Swear to me that your family didn’t have anything to do with what happened tonight,” she said.

  Colt’s eyes narrowed, clearly insulted. “I swear,” he snarled. Then, he cursed. “And you’d better not accuse me of hiring that hit man to murder you.”

  No, she wouldn’t accuse him of that. But it didn’t mean the hit man hadn’t been connected to Jewell’s upcoming trial. The problem with that was figuring out who exactly involved with that trial would want her out of the picture.

  They stood there. Gazes held. A little too close for comfort in the small living room. Of course, miles might be too close, considering how he felt about her. And how she felt about him.

  Except her feelings were all over the place right now.

  Elise blamed that on the pain and spent adrenaline—and the fact that Colt had saved her life—but her body wasn’t going to let her forget that her childhood flame was just inches away. There’d always been an attraction between them, and she’d had that attraction verified on multiple occasions over the past decade when she’d been visiting her grandmother and had run into Colt.

  Of course, the timing had always been wrong for her to act on that attraction.

  He’d either been involved with someone or vice versa. Plus, there was him resenting her running off to another life. Which she had indeed done. Chasing that greener grass that hadn’t turned out to be so green, after all.

  Elise had always figured the attraction would just fade away. But she was rethinking that now.

  Nope, it was still there. On her part, anyway.

  Colt reached out, and for one heart-slamming moment, Elise thought he was reaching for her. Her stomach did a little flip-flop, and she felt something else.

  That trickle of heat.

  A trickle that she tried to cool down fast. But Colt cooled it for her when he didn’t touch her but instead reached around her and locked the door.

  “What?” he questioned, doing a double take when he looked at her face.

  She saw the exact moment when it registered that it was not a question that he wanted answered aloud, and he didn’t want her feeling anything for him. Didn’t want to feel anything but contempt for her, either.

  Elise was pretty sure they both failed at that.

  It didn’t mean anything would happen between them. It wouldn’t. No way would Colt let something like an old attraction play into this when his father’s life was essentially at stake. However, even that didn’t cool the old fire that’d started to simmer again.

  His mouth tightened, and he tipped his head to the sofa. “I’ll need a blanket and a pillow.”

  “I have a guest room,” she offered.

  He shook his head, fast. “The sofa’s fine.”

  Maybe because the guest room was right next to hers. Or maybe because he wanted to keep an eye on the front door in case another would-be killer showed up. That reminder didn’t help with the fear or the throbbing in her head.

  “It’s just a precaution,” Colt added, as if he’d read her mind. “Since you don’t have a security system or a dog, I’d rather be out here where I can hear if anyone drives up.”

  She nodded, forced her feet to get moving to the linen closet in the hall, but Elise had only made it a few steps when Colt’s phone buzzed. Just like that, her heart went to her throat again, and she pulled in her breath, praying that nothing else had gone wrong.

  “Reed,” Colt said, answering the call.

  He didn’t put it on speaker, and Elise figured it wasn’t a good idea for her to get close enough to him to hear what his fellow deputy was saying. However, judging from the way Colt’s jaw tightened again, this wasn’t good news.

  “He did what?” Colt answered in response to whatever Reed had said. “No, I’ll call Cooper,” he added and then ended the call.

  “What happened now?” she asked when Colt just stood there, glaring at the phone.

  “It’s Joplin. He’s claiming that the attack on you is grounds for a mistrial, and he wants the charges against Jewell dismissed.”

  It wasn’t totally unexpected news, but clearly Colt blamed her at least in part for what Jewell’s lawyer was doing.

  “There’s more?” she asked when he just glared at her.

  “Yeah, there’s more.” Colt pressed a button on his phone as if he’d declared war on it. “Joplin convinced the county district attorney to look into charging my father with your attempted murder.”

  * * *

  COLT STARED AT the coffeepot, willing it to brew faster than it was. He needed another hit of caffeine now. Maybe, just maybe it’d get rid of the cobwebs before Elise finished her shower and hit him with the questions that she no doubt would have.

  Questions that he still couldn’t answer.

  All these hours later, everything was still up in the air. They had no leads on the identity of the person who’d hired the hit man, Simon Martinelli, and so far, Cooper hadn’t managed to convince the county DA that his father was innocent.

  That riled him to the core.

  His dad had been through too much already what with Jewell’s return to Sweetwater Springs. Now his father might not only be charged with Elise’s attempted murder but also the very homicide that Colt was certain Jewell had committed.

  Well, almost certain.

  But even if it hadn’t been her, then his father damn sure hadn’t been the one to kill Whitt Braddock. That meant Colt had to figure out a way to keep his dad out of jail along with making sure Elise wasn’t attacked again. It would help to find out who was behind the attempt to kill her. If he could prove his father had no part in that, then the county DA would back off.

  He hoped.

  Of course, there was still the problem with Elise’s testimony itself. With those old memories, she could put his father at the crime scene, and because Roy had been drunk, there was no way he could refute it.

  “Is that scowl for me?” Elise asked.

  Colt cursed and nearly scalded his hand with the coffee he was pouring. He’d been in such deep thought about his dad that he hadn’t heard her come into the kitchen. Hardly the vigilant lawman that he needed to be right now, and that seemed to be a particular problem for him anytime he was around her.

  “Yes, it’s for you,” he mumbled.

  But that lie died on his lips when he looked at her.

  She was dressed simply in jeans and a red sweater, but every bit of the fear and worry was still etched on her face. Coupled with that bandage on the side of her head and the dark circles under her eyes, it was obvious that her night had been as bad as his.

  Maybe worse.

  After all, no one had tried to kill him in the past twelve hours.

  Elise made a soft sound of frustration and stepped around him to get a cup from the cabinet. “Well, I would scowl back, but the stitches hurt when I move my face.” She added a dry smile and winced to prove it.

  Colt hated that attempt at bad humor, not only because he wasn’t in the mood for any kind of humor but also because he knew that it had indeed hurt. Too bad the man responsible for those stitches and her pain had been blown to smithereens and couldn’t give them any answers.

  However, Martinelli wasn’t the only way to get to the bottom of this. It would take some good old-fashioned detective work.

  “I’m having inquiries ma
de about the two people you’re doing background checks on,” Colt let her know, and he tipped his head to the paper on the table that he’d been using to make notes.

  Obviously, she hadn’t expected that because her eyes widened just a fraction. “But I didn’t give you their names yet.”

  He gave her a flat look, tapped his badge. “Meredith Darrow and Duane Truett. I got the names from your boss when I called him in the middle of the night.”

  Yet something else she hadn’t expected. And obviously didn’t approve of. Her boss hadn’t cared much for the late-night call, either, but the man had cooperated after he’d learned that Elise could have been killed.

  “I knew you’d finally taken some pain meds, and I didn’t want to wake you up to get the names, so I called him. I needed to get a head start on the investigation.”

  That was the only apology Colt intended to issue about doing his job.

  Elise walked to the table, looked over his notes and her attention stayed on the first name he’d jotted down. “‘Buddy Jorgensen,’” she read off. Her former tenant. “I already told you that I ran a check on him. He doesn’t have as much as a parking ticket.”

  “Neither do some serial killers before they’re caught.” Extreme, yes, but he was trying to make a point here. “It won’t hurt to run another check. Is that Buddy’s handiwork on the side of the barn?”

  She nodded but didn’t even glance out the window, though the barn was only about ten yards away and clearly visible from this side of the house. The morning sun practically spotlighted the paint that’d been splattered like blood across the gray-weathered boards. No words or drawings, just the red eyesore. Apparently, Buddy had done the same to the interior of the house, but Elise had already painted over it.

  However, she couldn’t paint over or dismiss the hostility that was now between Buddy and her. Buddy hadn’t wanted to leave the place that he’d rented for over five years. But then he’d been more than just a tenant. He’d worked the ranch, reseeding the pasture and bringing in some livestock.

  All gone now.

  Buddy had taken them with him, but there were signs that Elise was planning to bring in her own cattle along with making some much-needed repairs. There was a stretch of land already marked off with stakes and small flags where she apparently intended to build a stable for the cutting horses she wanted to raise.

  “I think Buddy left town, because I haven’t heard from him since the paint incident,” she explained. “He also apologized for the vandalism and paid for me to have it repainted.”

  “That’s not going to get him off the suspects list,” Colt insisted. “Why didn’t you have the paint taken off the barn?”

  “Because I’m having that one torn down. It needs a lot of repairs, and it was cheaper just to build a new one. It would be a waste of money to repaint it.”

  Still, it couldn’t be easy to look at that every day. It wasn’t a threat, but it was a reminder that someone had gotten close enough to vandalize her home and property.

  Colt tapped Meredith’s name. “Any reason she’d be upset with you?”

  Elise paused. “No reason that she would know of yet.” Another pause. “I’m not exactly giving her a favorable background check, but it’ll be at least another day or two before she learns about that. I just finished my report on her yesterday. But from what I uncovered about her, she could end up facing criminal charges for misusing corporate funds.”

  So, that could be motive, but there hadn’t been enough time for her to have hired a hit man. Well, unless Meredith had already gotten word of what would be in Elise’s report. It was definitely something Colt wanted to find out.

  “And what about him?” Colt asked, tapping Duane Truett’s name.

  “Nothing. He’s squeaky clean.”

  Colt would still put the man under the microscope. There was a reason someone had come after Elise, and he wanted to know who and why.

  “Really?” Elise said, looking at the last name on the list. “You suspect Joplin hired Martinelli?”

  Colt hadn’t just added it as an afterthought, he’d also underlined it. “He’s got motive. If he slings enough mud at my father, or at me and my brothers, then he could get a mistrial.”

  And Jewell could go free.

  Colt wouldn’t care about that as long as going free meant Jewell left town and that there were no charges or allegations made against the rest of his family.

  That wasn’t likely to happen, though.

  If Jewell was cleared, the blame for Whitt’s murder would almost certainly fall right on his father.

  “I called Joplin before I got in the shower,” Elise said after she had a long sip of coffee. “I told him to back off on arresting your dad.”

  Colt had to replay that in his head. “And?”

  She lifted her shoulder, sighed. “I don’t think it did any good. Joplin’s looking for a way to get the murder charges dropped against Jewell, and he thinks this is his best shot at making that happen.”

  “Yeah, by arresting an innocent man.”

  When Elise didn’t argue with his innocent declaration, Colt glanced at her. Hard to miss her expression since they were both right in front of the coffeepot and practically elbow to elbow. He moved away from her but not before his arm brushed against her, and he felt that blasted kick.

  Oh, man.

  Too bad he was in between relationships right now because he would have liked to have turned this bad fire in a different direction. As it was, it went straight to Elise.

  “Another scowl,” she mumbled.

  And he hoped she didn’t ask him what this particular one was about. Best not to remind her of an attraction that he was trying hard to forget.

  “Hey, I’m only testifying about what I saw,” she went on. “Your father coming out of the Braddock cabin around the time that Whitt Braddock went missing. I didn’t see Roy commit a murder or any other crime other than maybe trespassing. And that’s what I’ll say when I take the witness stand.”

  Colt just stared at her.

  “Oh.” Elise suddenly got interested in staring at her coffee. “That. I thought the scowl was for your father.”

  “It was.” Not a total lie. It mostly was. “And the that isn’t something we’re going to discuss. Old water, old bridge.”

  It sounded good, but judging from the way Elise quickly dodged his gaze, that water and the bridge weren’t quite as old as they wanted them to be.

  His phone buzzed, finally, giving him a timely distraction and hopefully some good news in the process. “Cooper,” he answered when he saw his brother’s name pop up on the screen.

  “The FBI will question Dad here in about an hour,” Cooper said, skipping any greeting.

  They weren’t wasting any time. “I’ll be there soon.”

  “With Elise?” Cooper immediately asked.

  Colt had to think about that a moment. Best not to leave her alone until she’d worked out some other arrangement or until he’d gotten someone else to watch her. “Unless you got a better idea.”

  “No. Bring her. I want to talk to her.”

  Oh, mercy. That wouldn’t be good for Elise or the investigation. And it might look as if the McKinnons were ganging up on her. Joplin would only use that to put the screws to their father.

  “She’s hurt and still in pain,” Colt added. “She’ll come with me, but I’d rather keep her out of this.”

  Cooper’s silence was long and unnerving in a way only an older brother/boss could have managed. “Bring her,” Cooper ordered and hung up.

  “I heard,” Elise said before Colt could fill her in. That put some steel in her cool blue eyes. “No matter what Cooper or anyone else says to me, I’m not changing my testimony.”

  “Good.” And he meant it. “Because despite what you think of us, we’re not into obstruction of justice or witness tampering.”

  She made a sound to indicate she didn’t fully buy that. “I’ll get my purse, and on the way to the sheriff�
��s office, I can make some calls and find a safe place to go.”

  Colt hoped that a safe place was possible for her. Still, it wasn’t his problem.

  Even if it felt as if it was.

  While she went back into the bedroom, he downed the rest of his coffee and reached for his coat. But reaching was as far as he got.

  Something caught his eye.

  Some movement out the window.

  He stepped back, his gaze combing over the grounds. And he finally saw something that he definitely didn’t want to see.

  “What’s wrong?” Elise asked the moment she came back into the room. She had obviously noticed his body language and that his attention was nailed to the barn.

  “Are you expecting any workers or ranch hands today who would have a reason to go into your barn?”

  “No,” she answered on a rise of breath. “Why?”

  “Because somebody’s in there.”

  Colt drew his gun and headed for the front door.

  Chapter Five

  Elise reached for Colt to stop him from going outside, but it was already too late. He unlocked the door and hurried out onto the porch before she could tell him to wait for backup to arrive.

  “Stay put,” Colt insisted. “And call 911 and have Cooper get someone out here.”

  Just like that, her pulse revved up, and the fear returned with a vengeance. After what’d happened the night before, she figured this wasn’t some coincidence.

  A killer could be in her barn.

  Elise made the 911 call, and the emergency dispatcher assured her that help was on the way.

  The question was—would help arrive in time?

  Her house wasn’t exactly on the beaten path, and it would take the sheriff or one of the deputies at least twenty minutes to get out to this part of the county. That might not be nearly soon enough, and Colt was out there alone, maybe about to face down yet another person who’d been sent to murder her.

  She hurried into the kitchen and took the gun from the cabinet near the fridge before she went back to the window to keep watch. She wouldn’t be much backup for Colt, but maybe he’d be able to diffuse the situation before it turned violent.