by Jenny Penn
“Is that a problem?”
Tara licked her lips, appearing to weigh her answer before responding slowly. “Is it true that she was found with a ring?”
“So, you’ve heard the rumors.” Bryant neither denied nor confirmed her words as he rose up on his arm, joining Travis in studying Tara’s expression as she continued to appear to wrestle with something.
“It was…ah, an expensive ring?”
“Maybe,” Travis allowed, knowing better than to give out confidential details. What he didn’t know was how Tara knew them. “Why?”
Again, Tara licked her lips and swallowed hard before finally releasing what was clearly bothering her. “Because I think it was my aunt’s ring. My uncle probably gave it to Gwen.”
Travis blinked that in, the implications racing through his mind. If what Tara said was true, then everything had just changed. Everything. And he had an idea he wasn’t certain Bryant would go along with. Not that it could be discussed in front of Tara.
* * * *
“No.” Bryant rejected Travis’s suggestion without a second’s hesitation the next morning.
They were tucked into a booth at the Bread Box, having already dropped Tara off at work and deciding to grab a cup of coffee before their shift started that afternoon. While they were on loan to Cal, he didn’t actually ask much of them, which left both men with little to do anymore.
“Absolutely not,” Bryant repeated his objection while Travis continued to stare at him. “We have to tell Cal about the ring.”
“And what about Tara?” Travis countered. “She needs our help.”
“It’s called the law, Travis,” Bryant shot back, exasperated by his buddy’s attitude. “We’re deputies. We don’t blackmail people, especially not possible murderers.”
“Oh please.” Travis snorted at that. “You don’t really think that the mayor murdered Gwen, do you?”
“Why not?” Bryant didn’t have a problem with the idea. “The man is an ass, and he had a lot to lose if Gwen was pregnant with his kid.”
Nobody knew about the baby. Thankfully, that hadn’t made it into the gossip circles, but if it did, then the mayor would have everything to lose. That made him a prime suspect in Bryant’s mind. It also made Travis’s suggestion all the more insane. Of course, he didn’t seem to think so.
“Please.” Travis paused as Heather, the owner of the Bread Box, stopped by to refill their coffee.
She was all smiles these days, and that was probably because of the sheriff. The sheriff who was also a suspect, given he was the last person known to have seen Gwen alive. Heather didn’t know about that. Nobody did. Not yet. Bryant prayed she never had to find out, either.
“The mayor is too much of a pussy to kill anybody with his own hands.” Travis picked back up the argument right where they’d left off the second Heather was out of earshot.
“I don’t know.” Bryant dumped a pile of sugar into his mug and swirled it around, thinking over the possibility of the mayor strangling Gwen to death. It could have happened. “Anybody is capable of murder if you piss them off enough.”
“Not Tara,” Travis declared boldly, all but daring Bryant to disagree as if he were dumb enough to take up that battle.
“But maybe her uncle would. After all, he’s willing to sue for guardianship over Tara and her money.” That made the man lower than a snake’s belly as far as Bryant was concerned. “But that doesn’t mean we have to sink to his level. If we blackmail over the ring, or if we make sure it leaks out, both will get the same result. The man’s credibility will be shot, and whatever he’s planning to do, he probably won’t have the time to do it.”
Travis’s mouth opened, and Bryant could sense the argument was far from over, but at the last second, his gaze darted across Bryant’s shoulder to the door. He ended muttering out a response as he began shoving out of his side of the booth.
“Wanna bet?”
“Why? What?” Bryant turned to peer around the edge at the booth at what had attracted Travis’s attention.
It was Tara, and she looked upset. Travis greeted her with a hug before hustling her into the booth and then demanding to know what she was doing there.
“I got fired,” Tara stated so simply, and with such a load of misery, that it had Bryant revaluating his opinion on blackmailing the mayor. It sure would be fun to make the man squirm because there was no doubt in Bryant’s mind that Tara’s uncle was behind her dismissal.
“Oh, sunshine.” Travis put an arm around Tara’s shoulder and tucked her in close to his side. “Tell us what happened, and we’ll try to help you make it better.”
“That’s sweet.” Tara smiled up at him, even as she shook her head. “But you can’t fix this. I’m just going to have to find myself a new job.”
“That’s the right attitude.” Bryant applauded her willingness to pick herself back up and move on.
It was kind of sexy. Then again, everything about Tara was sexy, even the conservative suit she’d chosen to wear. She’d pulled her hair back and gone with very little makeup, making her look not only prim but also very proper, which was just a lie.
“Yeah.” Tara shot him a smirk. “You can stop looking at me like that because I’m not following you back home and spending the rest of the day in bed.”
“Sorry.” Bryant apologized without a hint of sincerity. “It’s just your beauty captivates me.”
That earned him a snort as Tara began pushing Travis back. “And on that note, I’m going to go freshen up.”
Travis slid out of her way, allowing Tara to scoot on off to the restroom at the back of the diner. Bryant watched her go, feeling the weight of Travis’s stare. He knew just what his friend was thinking. If anyone was worth getting fired or arrested, Tara was.
“Okay.” Bryant met Travis’s gaze. “So, we’re going to blackmail the mayor, but we’re doing it my way.”
* * * *
Calvin Tripp sat there staring at the two deputies and wondering what planet they hailed from. Bryant looked hopeful, and Travis looked sullen. Neither one of them seemed to understand the complication they’d just created in his case. He tried to lead them to the obvious, but it didn’t seem to work.
“So, you’re sleeping with the mayor’s niece,” he began, earning a nod from each deputy. “And she told you she thinks that the ring found on Gwen was given to her by her uncle.”
Again, he got another round of nods, followed by silence. Cal waited, but neither man had anything to say. They’d said it all already.
“Don’t you get it!” Cal snapped, exasperated that neither deputy saw the obvious complication. “You’re sleeping with a possible witness! I have to kick you off the case now.”
That had Travis perking up with an alarm that warned Cal that there was something else going on. His question only confirmed Cal’s suspicions.
“Does that mean we don’t get to interview the mayor now?”
“No! Absolutely not,” Cal shot back, making himself perfectly clear. “You are not to talk about this case with anybody or go anywhere near the mayor. What you are to do is bring the niece in to give a statement, which I can then verify. After that, you can report back to normal duty.”
“Normal duty?” Travis repeated, as if the idea were foreign to him. “But⎯“
“No buts, Travis,” Cal cut him off. “This case is screwed up enough. I can’t afford any more complications. Now I want to see this niece in my office within a day. Understand?”
Both men reluctantly nodded before rising up and filing out of his office. It was a good drive back to Pittsview, and Cal suspected the two of them would bitch about him throwing them off the case the whole way. They were clearly pissed.
So was Cal. This whole case was a mess, and it was only getting messier by the minute. Now he not only had the sheriff as a prime suspect, but he also had to add the mayor to the list. That was going to complicate things greatly, especially because the mayor kept calling for updates. The man act
ed outraged and indignant, wanting this case solved. After all, Pittsview hadn’t had a murder since the Davis boys’ father had stuck a knife into Charley Jones’ chest.
Of course, Mitch Davis had done them all a favor and confessed. Cal didn’t think he was going to be so lucky this time. Then again, who knew? Stranger things had happened.
“Mr. Tripp,” Danielle Birdsworth’s clear tones came through the intercom, drawing Cal’s attention back to the moment as he leaned forward to press down on the speaker button.
“Yes?”
“There is a George Davis here to see you.”
GD? Cal frowned, wondering what the odds were that the big man was bringing good news. Slim, probably. With a sigh, Cal called back to Danielle, telling her to send the big man in. Big man wasn’t just an expression. It was a description. George Davis, better known as GD, was large enough that his shoulders brushed the sides of the doorframe as he stepped into Cal’s office.
“GD!” Cal rose up, forcing himself to smile as he extended a hand. “Good to see you.”
“You’re such a liar,” GD shot back, though the big man shot him a grin as he took his hand. “I can see the worry on your face.”
“You see the tired,” Cal countered as he gestured to the chairs Travis and Bryant had so recently abandoned. “Have a seat.”
“Thanks.” GD settled down his sizable bulk into the nearest chair and stretched his legs out. “So, how is it going?”
“Good. Good,” Cal repeated with a nod as he reclaimed his own seat. “And you?”
“Can’t complain.” GD paused, smiled, and corrected himself. “Actually I could, but why waste the breath, right?”
“Right,” Cal agreed, not buying GD’s act for a moment. “And that’s why you are here. To waste a bit of breath, right?”
GD sucked in a deep breath, his grin dipping slightly as he studied Cal for a long moment before getting straight to the heart of his visit. “I want immunity.”
“Oh God,” Cal groaned. He’d known it. GD was a top-notch private investigator who tended to have the goods on just about everybody in Pittsview. What he had on Gwen could, no doubt, be invaluable. How he’d come by it? That could be a problem. “What did you do?”
“It’s not a felony,” GD assured him.
“GD⎯“
“And I’m not one to incriminate myself.”
“Fine,” Cal strangled out, knowing a losing battle when he saw one. “We’re off the record. Now what the hell do you know?”
Again GD paused before shrugging. “Okay then. Gwen was blackmailing a whole bunch of men.”
Cal blinked that in, not shocked, but depressed nonetheless. Messy wasn’t even a word to describe this case now. Cleaning it all up wasn’t going to be easy. How hard, though, the task would become remained to be seen.
“A whole bunch is what? Five? Seven? Ten?” Cal pressed on becoming more desperate as the number kept going up. “A dozen? More than a dozen?”
GD smiled and nodded.
“And how the hell do you know this?”
“Broke into her house a while back,” GD admitted without any sense of shame. “Saw the files.”
Cal considered that for a moment, narrowing his eyes suspiciously on GD. “There were no files when we searched her house.”
“I didn’t take them,” GD answered instantly, seeming to know exactly what Cal was thinking. “I swear.”
Cal believed him. GD was a lot of things, but not a liar. That, though, complicated Cal’s life even further. “Then who did?”
“That’s a good question.” GD smirked as Cal continued to gaze at him, considering his options. GD seemed to read his mind and shook his head instantly. “And don’t even ask it.”
“Ask what?”
“I’m not working this case,” GD insisted.
Cal blinked. That was exactly what he’d been thinking, but that didn’t stop him from straightening up indignantly. “And why would you think I’d ask that?”
“Because I ran into Bryant and Travis on their way out.” GD pinned Cal with a pointed look. “You’re out of investigators to send running around chasing their tails.”
“I’ll find somebody.” Cal would have to, and GD would be a perfect fit.
“I’m not doing it.”
“Why not?”
GD leaned back in his seat and hit Cal with a real bomb. “Wanda is in town.”
“Wanda?” Cal froze, his gut tightening with a strange sense of fear. “Wanda is in town?”
Wanda Davis was GD’s cousin and a nightmare from the moment she’d been born. She was damn near as tall as the big man and strong enough that she could put most men down. That wasn’t just an assumption. The woman actually did put men down. She’d been known to beat the crap out of them as a kid, including Cal. As far as he knew, the only thing that had changed was that she focused now on criminals and wanted men.
“Yep.” GD nodded, paused again, and then grinned. “Believe it or not, she’s supposed to be in hiding.”
“Hiding?” Cal had to bite back a laugh at that absurd idea, but GD wasn’t joking.
“Yep.”
“From who?”
“That’s a long story, and you want to know it, you talk to her.” GD straightened up in his seat as he took a deep breath. “What really should concern you is that she’s taken an interest in your case.”
“What?” Cal froze in his seat, feeling like the world had just fallen out from beneath him, but once again, GD was not joking.
“Oh yeah. You know how she feels about female victims and everybody putting Gwen down has just made Wanda all the more determined to avenge her.” GD snorted as he appeared to consider his own words. “However disastrous your case was…it’s about to blow the fuck up. I’m not interested in getting any goop on me, but since you’re screwed no matter which way this plays out, I suggest you hire Wanda to be your investigator.”
“Hire Wanda?” Cal gaped at GD, unable to believe the man would even suggest such a thing.
“Easier to control an employee than it is a loose cannon.” GD shrugged as if Cal wasn’t screwed no matter what he did.
Chapter 15
“This is all your fault,” Travis muttered for about the millionth time. He wouldn’t stop bitching, and he was driving Bryant insane. “We should have just blackmailed the mayor when we had the chance. Now we can’t even go near the fucker without risking everything.”
“I know.” That was all Bryant could say.
It was the truth. Bryant had screwed up, which meant he had to fix his mistake. His mind was already swirling with thoughts of just how to do that. He had come up with a plan. It was a desperate one, but that was all he had.
“And what are we going to do now?” Travis asked, continuing on his well-trod tirade as he began to list all of their problems.
Bryant turned a deaf ear to his buddy’s complaints, even as he turned his truck out away from town. It took Travis a while, but eventually he seemed to notice that they weren’t headed back to the station house but away from it. His words came to an abrupt stop as his frown deepened, and he looked around.
“Where the hell are we headed?”
“To get help,” Bryant answered succinctly.
That was just what they needed. A force more powerful than the mayor. There was only one man who wielded that kind of clout in town. Chase Davis. Convincing him to help, though, was not going to be easy.
“We’re going to the Davis ranch?” Travis asked the obvious and stupid question as Bryant turned his truck off the main highway and up the long drive that led to the ranch buried well back from the road.
“We need help,” Bryant repeated. “And the Davis boys owe us.”
Travis shot Bryant a strange look and snorted. “No, they don’t.”
“That attitude is not helping,” Bryant shot back.
Travis rolled his eyes at that. “Don’t you think we ought to have some kind of plan before we go running to the Davises?”
>
They probably should, but Bryant didn’t think time was going to present any better options. That left him with only one thing to do. “We’re going to wing it.”
“Oh God.” Travis groaned.
“Oh, shut up,” Bryant grumbled, annoyed by everything in that moment.
His luck was for shit and continued on that crappy path when they arrived to find nobody home but the Davis brothers’ girlfriend, Patton Jones. She was arguably one of the best-looking women in town, and the most trouble. She greeted them at the front door to the main ranch dressed in workout gear and a smile.
“Bryant, Travis, come on in.”
She waved them past her and into the large living room filled with oversized furniture. It had a distinctly masculine sense of style, but Bryant could see Patton’s touch already starting to grow from the small decorative pieces displayed with a more feminine sense of style.
“What brings the two of you out here?” Patton asked as she shut the door behind them.
“We’re just looking for Chase,” Bryant answered, turning to follow Patton as she began to head into the kitchen.
“He’s down in Dothan at the bank for a meeting.” Patton paused in front of the refrigerator as Travis and Bryant hesitated just inside the doorway. “You want something to drink. I’ve got iced tea.”
“Thanks, but no.” Bryant rejected that offer, not planning on lingering that long. “Is Slade or Devin around?”
“Out in the fields doing…whatever the hell it is they’re doing.” Patton shrugged and pulled out the pitcher of tea. “Why? Is there something you needed?”
“No,” Bryant denied instantly. The last thing they needed was to get Patton involved in this mess. She might be pretty, smart, and have a good heart, but she was also nuts. “We just needed to ask them something.”
“Well, they’ll be around tonight if you want to call or come back,” Patton offered as she pulled a glass down from the cupboard.
“Okay, then⎯“
“Maybe you could help,” Travis cut Bryant off, perking up with an alarming interest.
