Imperfect Justice

by Olivia Jaymes

  She’d known her wardrobe left something to be desired but she didn’t go out much so it hadn’t mattered. But he had a point. Those clothes represented the repressed, scared woman she’d been before meeting him. It might be nice to have a few things that she actually looked nice in. Something to tempt Jared. Not that he needed much encouragement in that department. He was happy to make love to her every single night at least once if she was in the mood.

  He’d also had a lawyer look at her Seattle lease and found a loophole. Her money had been returned to her so now she had a few dollars she could spend. A day at the mall with Jared might be fun. Or at least more tolerable than on her own.

  “Let me call Rayne. We talked about meeting for lunch today.”

  “Have her meet us at the mall,” he offered. “She’s your best friend and I barely know her.”

  Jared had been working so much he hadn’t had time to get to know Rayne, but this might be a good opportunity for them to spend some time with each other. Misty hoped they would get along although Rayne’s tattoos and piercings might put Jared off.

  “She’ll try and get you to fix her up with one of your handsome single friends,” Misty laughed. “She hasn’t had a boyfriend in a few months.”

  “I’m not sure I have any handsome single friends unless you count Royce and Ty.”

  “Ty’s spoken for and Royce isn’t here. Maybe you can think of someone else.”

  Jared grinned wickedly. “There’s Dare Turner. He’s the grouchiest man I’ve ever met. I mean nothing makes that man smile.”

  “That doesn’t sound very nice. Why is he so unhappy?”

  It seemed sad that someone spent day after day that way.

  “Who knows? Maybe his underwear is two sizes too small. Now…are we going shopping or not? And no is not an acceptable answer.”

  Jared was wearing a charming smile on his face and he smelled absolutely wonderful. He seemed to know how to convince her to do things she didn’t want to do. In the last two weeks, she’d eaten Brussels sprouts, taken up walking on a treadmill, and drinking milk – albeit chocolate.

  “Then I guess we’re going shopping. But don’t expect me to buy a bunch of stuff. I’m going to be growing for the next several months so I think it’s best to be conservative.”

  He dropped a kiss on her nose and then stood, picking up the plate and cup. “Meet you downstairs in half an hour?”

  She nodded and he left, giving her some privacy to get ready. Despite making love to him almost every night, she was a little shy when it came to showering and getting dressed. It seemed intimate and the way she was starting to feel that might not be a good idea.

  Jared Monroe was a wonderful man who treated her with care and respect. How was she supposed to hold out against someone like that? If she wasn’t careful, she’d embarrass herself and fall for him.

  “It’s not expensive, Misty,” Jared argued, keeping his voice down. “You need it and I want to get it for you.”

  Misty’s lips were set in a mutinous line. She’d been like this all damn day, giving him a hard time whenever he wanted to buy her something. He’d lost more battles than he’d won but he had still managed to persuade her into three pairs of jeans, four sweaters, four blouses, new boots, and some very fetching satin and lace lingerie that he was planning to take off of her at the first opportunity.

  Now they were at the phone store in the mall and she was insisting she didn’t need a new one.

  “My phone works just fine,” she insisted. “I don’t need anything new.”

  “Your phone barely holds a charge for an entire day. It’s not safe. What if the weather gets bad and you’re stranded somewhere? This phone has GPS and I’ll be able to find you.”

  Misty sighed and regarded the smart phone dubiously. “It also has a million features I have no idea how to use. I don’t even know how to make a phone call. All I have to do with my nice flip phone is open it up.”

  The salesman had drifted a discreet distance away when they’d started to disagree about her need for a new phone but Jared knew the man was listening in. “It’s easy. You just press a few buttons.”

  Jared demonstrated but she didn’t look any more sold on the phone. She was regarding it a little like a poisonous snake. “You can put all sorts of apps on it too if you want. And you and Rayne will be able to text each other. Didn’t you say she wanted to do that?”

  He’d said something right.

  “She did say that.” Misty reached for the phone again and inspected it closely. “I guess I could get used to it. But I want to pay for it myself, Jared. You’ve paid for everything today and it’s not right.”

  “You’re my woman and that’s my baby. Nothing is more right than taking care of you.” Jared had never had to argue with a female to get her to take something he’d purchased for her. They’d been more than happy to receive rather than give. Misty was the opposite. She was only comfortable when she was giving or caretaking for someone else. It was a nice and welcome change. He should have asked her out years ago except that she was only twenty-five to his thirty-nine.

  “That’s one fancy phone.” An amused feminine voice made him turn around and watch Misty launch herself at the young woman. Dark-haired with several earrings in one ear and a small stud in her nose, the attractive woman had several tattoos. Misty had already warned him. This was Rayne.

  They shook hands and he liked the woman right away. She was warm and friendly and she clearly adored Misty. The feeling was obviously mutual. Misty was smiling and relaxed and Jared couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. She never looked quite that way with him. But then relaxed wasn’t how he felt around her either.

  How he felt when she was near was becoming rather complicated. He liked her. He respected her. And damn if he didn’t want to get her naked as often as possible. She was an incredibly talented artist and a sweet, loyal woman who was fun to be with. She was going to make one terrific mother.

  And a wonderful wife. Only if he could convince her of course, but lately he hadn’t even tried. She was so set about wanting a husband who loved her. The entire subject made him uncomfortable so he’d dropped it for the time being.

  Rayne helped him convince Misty to let him buy the phone for her and they headed to lunch. Sitting in the restaurant, Rayne helped Misty learn to text while they all chatted about the latest news in town. She had a quirky sense of humor that meshed well with Misty’s quieter personality.

  They were working on their entrees when Jared’s phone rang. “Excuse me for a minute?”

  The ladies nodded and he checked the screen. Deputy Knox. “Hey, Knox. What’s up?”

  “It’s Boyd Hicks, boss.”

  In the last few weeks Boyd Hicks had become a non-issue. The fake callouts had ceased which was good for everyone. The only news had been when Jared had checked on the little girl, Tilly. It turned out Lindsey’s premonition was right. Boyd Hicks had requested visitation with his daughter but it was caught up in family court as to whether it would really happen. In the meantime Lindsey’s request for custody was looking like it was going to be granted at her upcoming hearing. That was good news for the mother.

  “What’s he done?” Jared asked, bracing himself for the answer. Boyd had always been up to no good.

  “That’s just it. He hasn’t done anything. He’s dead.” Knox paused as if waiting for Jared’s reaction but then continued. “His body was found in the pasture on the Hawkins place. Chris is already there.”

  Knox recited the exact location and Jared jotted it down on the paper napkin. Rayne and Misty had stopped talking and were watching him closely, aware that something was going on.

  The shock of hearing Hicks was dead was starting to wear off. In fact it hadn’t been that much of a surprise. Guys like Boyd Hicks lived dangerously and on the edge of regular society. Their lives were in precarious positions every day. Trust the wrong person. Double cross someone. Lose their life.

  Jared didn’t like mu
rder in his town and it was best to stamp it out before it spread like wildfire. It didn’t matter if the victim was a good guy or a bad guy. He needed to find out who killed Boyd Hicks and why.

  Chapter Fifteen

  By the time Jared arrived at the remote location, the coroner Dr. Ron James was already leaning over the body of Boyd Hicks. Chris was there as well, taking the statement of the two ranch hands who had found the body. A few days of above freezing temperature had melted a patch of the snow in the pasture and that’s where they’d found the body. Whoever had killed Hicks had probably assumed – or hoped – that his body wouldn’t be found for months. If ever.

  “Hey, Ron. What do we got?” Jared asked, kneeling down next to the coroner. The body wasn’t a pretty sight but it was fairly well preserved thanks to the time of year.

  “Looks like a couple of bullets to the chest,” the older man observed. “Although it’s hard to tell. I’ll need to get him on the table to be sure. There’s no blood pool so he was killed somewhere else and dumped here.”

  “How long has he been dead?”

  “That’s a good question. The snow and cold has preserved a great deal of the tissue but I’ll hazard a guess to say several days. Maybe more. I’ll know more once I open him up.” The coroner reached behind him and pulled out a clear plastic bag. “You’ll want this. I found it under the body.”

  A cigarette. If luck was with Jared it belonged to the murderer. That was the good news. The bad news was that everyone in Boyd’s life appeared to smoke so it didn’t narrow the list of suspects.

  “Thanks, Ron. Hopefully this will lead us to the killer. Anything else you can tell me?”

  “No defensive wounds. They either took him by surprise or he didn’t think they were a threat. I’m assuming from what I see that he was shot while facing his killer but I’ll need to confirm that. Your deputy has the victim’s personal effects.”

  “Thanks, Ron. I’ll leave you to finish.”

  The man nodded as Jared stood and walked over to Chris and the two ranch hands. Both of them looked a little sick but then this was a grisly discovery neither one of them had been expecting. Jared had seen the men in town and neither one of them was a hellraiser. If they had been he would know much more about them.

  “Gentleman.” Jared nodded politely as he stepped into the conversation. “Thank you for calling the authorities about this.”

  The shorter one clutched his hat in his hand more tightly. “No problem, Sheriff. Tom and I were just coming out here to the far pasture to check things out. From a distance we thought it was a dead cow. Didn’t realize what it was until we were right up on it.”

  “Did either one of you touch the body?”

  “No, sir.” The one named Tom shook his head vigorously. “We could tell he was good and dead.”

  That he was. After being shot in the chest a couple of times Boyd Hicks probably didn’t linger in this world long. Jared put his hand on Chris’s shoulder. “Let me read their statements when you’re done.”

  “Will do,” Chris agreed. “We’re almost finished.”

  The coroner was zipping up the body bag as Deputy Knox arrived at the scene. “What can I do?”

  Jared pointed to an area of the pasture where the snow was packed down hard and hadn’t melted due to the shade of a tree. “There’s tire tracks over there. Take some pictures and get an impression so we can try and match it to a vehicle. Len Hawkins doesn’t use trucks all the way up here and they don’t look right for ATV tires. I’m hoping we can match those tracks to the killer’s vehicle. And when you get back to the office, call the warden at the prison. I want to know if he was ever in any violent altercations with other prisoners. Maybe somebody had a vendetta against him. In fact, just request his whole file.”

  “I’m on it. What about Dale Hicks?” Knox asked.

  “I’m definitely going to be talking to him again considering he admitted that he and his brother were on the outs. It’s going to be hard to nail down time of death for an alibi check though.”

  His deputies tasked, Jared began the laborious process of combing the area for any other clues. Hopefully the cigarette butt and tracks would be the key but anything else they could find would help. He should call Misty and let her know not to wait dinner for him. It looked like it was going to be a long day.

  Rayne had graciously offered to drive Misty home from the mall when Jared had been called out. He’d been wearing a grim expression when he’d left, telling her he might be late. From the conversation she knew that someone had been murdered and the body had been found in a pasture. It was frightening to think there was a killer walking around Fielding and no one knew who it was.

  She hung up her new clothes and stowed the bags and boxes in the garage. She shouldn’t have given Jared such a hard time about buying her things but his spending money on her went against the grain. She’d always taken care of herself. However she couldn’t deny the thrill she’d received when she’d look in the mirror as she was trying them on. She’d looked…nice.

  Settling down on the couch with her sketchbook, she lost herself in her drawings until she heard a thump on the front porch. She hopped up and scrambled to the door, hoping it was Jared. Already the sun was beginning to set in the west and soon it would be pitch black outside.

  Pushing the front door open, she stuck her head outside and saw what had made the sound. Gerald Monroe was sitting in one of the rocking chairs not saying anything, just staring out into the quiet early evening.

  “Mr. Monroe,” Misty began tentatively. “Aren’t you cold out here?”

  He turned to her and for a moment she thought he didn’t recognize her. But then his expression cleared and he shook his head. “It’s warm today.”

  “But getting colder. The sun will be down soon and you’ll freeze out here. Why don’t you come inside and let me fix you some hot chocolate. We have marshmallows.”

  The same instinct that had made her pull over that night when Jared was slumped in front of the B&B was urging her on now. Gerald Monroe looked lost and sad. Something inside of her wanted to make it better. Of course she hadn’t been able to make it better for her own mother. Every time Misty had sobered up Annette her mother would promise to never drink again, but within a few days she’d be doing it again. Nothing Misty had done made any difference.

  The older man hesitated and then stood to follow her into the house. He settled into a kitchen chair while she retrieved a sauce pan from the cabinet and some milk from the refrigerator.

  “I don’t remember your name,” he finally said as she stirred the liquid that was beginning to steam. “I forget things now that I didn’t used to. I like to go for walks but sometimes I get turned around. That’s why I was sitting on your front porch.”

  “My name is Misty,” she answered, her heart twisting in her chest for this proud man to have to admit that. “Misty Foster. My mother was Annette Foster. I live here with Jared.”

  “I remember that. You’re having a baby but you won’t marry him.” Gerald smiled. “That must have been a shock for him. He’s never had too much trouble with the womenfolk before. I bet he thought he’d be able to pick and choose.”

  “I think I did surprise him,” Misty agreed, adding the cocoa and sugar. “What was Jared like when he was younger?”

  “Bossy,” the old man laughed. “Even then he liked to tell people what to do. Don’t let him steamroll you into doing everything his way. Otherwise known as the right way. According to him.”

  Misty giggled and poured the hot chocolate, added marshmallows, and carried the two mugs over to the table. She set one in front of Gerald and set the other across from him where she sat down.

  “He does like things a certain way, doesn’t he? He has all his shoes lined up in the closet from lightest to darkest. His clothes too.”

  The old man pulled a face. “That’s my fault. I was in the military and I taught all my kids to do the same. I didn’t like chaos in the house which is
almost constant when you have four children.”

  “I guess you and Jared are a lot alike,” she said, watching Gerald’s expression closely. She was aware that Royce was his favorite. At least Jared and Ty thought so.

  The older man scowled. “He treats me like I’m sick. Hell, they all do. I’m not sick. I just have trouble remembering things.” He wrapped his hands around the mug. “You know what the funny thing is? I can’t remember what I had for dinner last night. I couldn’t remember your name. But I can remember the summer of 1976 like it was yesterday. Isn’t that strange?”

  “Was that a good year?” Misty sipped the hot liquid, letting it warm up her stomach. “Why don’t you tell me about it?”

  Gerald Monroe smiled slowly, a light shining in his eyes. The same blue eyes as Jared. “Royce was three, Jared was one, and Rita was pregnant with Ty. It was the summer of the Bicentennial and I swear to the good Lord that everything was red, white, and blue. The town was having a big celebration with a parade, picnic, and fireworks. The town council had decorated the main square and some people were wearing Abe Lincoln hats or George Washington wigs. It was quite a sight to see.”

  Misty had a thought. One she hoped would help Gerald remember for a long time. “Wait here a second. I have an idea.”

  She ran to the couch and grabbed her sketchpad and colored pencils before running back. “If you describe it to me I can draw it. Then you’ll have a picture in case the memory starts to fade.”

  Gerald grinned and pulled his chair closer to hers. “I like that idea. I have so many memories I’d like to put down on paper.”