Rugged Defender

by B. J Daniels

  “So how long have you been a deputy?”

  He grinned. “Almost six years.”

  “That long.” It would mean that he’d been a deputy when Drew Calhoun was killed.

  “I’m the strong arm of the law,” he said, his gaze meeting hers and holding it. “Which means you’d best watch yourself.” He lowered his voice and leaned closer so the dispatcher couldn’t hear. She caught a cloying waft of men’s cologne. “I’d hate to have to cuff you and take you for a ride in the back of my patrol car.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” With that, she stepped past him and headed for the exit. She could feel herself trembling, remembering what he’d done to her. She didn’t have to look back to know he was watching her. His gaze burned into her back. The man gave her more than the creeps. He scared her.

  Chapter Four

  When Chloe returned to their grandmother’s house, she found Annabelle in the kitchen baking cookies and TJ editing a manuscript at the table.

  “Why didn’t you tell me that Kelly Locke is a cop?” Chloe demanded when she walked in and saw her two sisters.

  They looked up in surprise. “He isn’t a cop—he’s a sheriff’s deputy,” Annabelle said.

  “Same thing! He carries a gun and a badge!” she cried.

  “I take it that the uniform doesn’t make your old boyfriend look even better to you? Has he changed?” TJ asked. Not enough, Chloe thought. But then again she’d never told her sisters the extent of Kelly’s malice after they’d broken up.

  “It’s his personality that’s the problem.” She shuddered.

  “He was always so angry, so close to the edge that I was on pins and needles all the time you were dating,” TJ said. “He’d go off for no reason. He was always looking for a fight. If anyone looked at him cross-eyed—”

  “Wow, he really did set you both off,” Annabelle said. “I always thought he was really cute and built too. What did he do this time? Arrest you for throwing snowballs at cars like some of us used to do?”

  “You don’t know how unfunny that is. I ran into him at the sheriff’s office,” she said. “He threatened to handcuff me and get me into the back of his patrol car.”

  “What were you doing at the sheriff’s office unless he did arrest you?” Annabelle asked.

  Chloe saw that both sisters were studying her.

  “What’s going on?” TJ asked suspiciously.

  She tried to wave it off, but could see neither sister was going to let her get away with it. “I’m looking into Drew Calhoun’s death.”

  “Why would you do that?” TJ and Annabelle asked in unison.

  “That is so annoying when you two do that,” she said.

  “Is this about Justin?” Annabelle asked.

  “I’m just curious about Drew’s case,” she said as she opened the refrigerator, pulled out the orange juice and poured herself a glass. She wasn’t thirsty. She just needed something to do with her hands. It was hard to stall without keeping her hands busy.

  “Just curious?” TJ said. “Are you looking for a job?”

  Taking a drink, she turned slowly to meet her sister’s gaze. “I’m not sure what I want to do next.”

  “Chloe? You aren’t thinking of quitting print journalism, are you?”

  “Maybe you haven’t heard but newspapers are struggling right now,” Chloe began and was quickly interrupted.

  “With your track record?” TJ asked in surprise. “You can get a job almost anywhere, maybe a smaller paper but—”

  “I’m not sure what I want to do,” she said. “Maybe I just need a break.”

  Annabelle laughed. “You’re falling in love with Whitehorse all over again, aren’t you? You don’t want to leave.”

  Chloe rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t go that far, but I am enjoying being here with the two of you.” She went over to where Annabelle was taking cookies hot from the oven off the pan and setting them out to cool. She had to smile. Her younger sister had never shown any interest in cooking or baking growing up.

  When they were kids, TJ had taken up cooking because their grandmother was no cook. Chloe had been the baker. There was something so satisfying about whipping up a batch of cookies. Plus you got to eat them while they were still warm. She’d forgotten how much she’d enjoyed it since she seldom baked for herself.

  “Sugar cookies for Dawson,” Annabelle said proudly.

  “And for your big sister Chloe,” she said, taking a cookie. “You’re getting good at this. These are delicious.”

  Her sister lit up at the praise. “I figure I’ll branch out into cooking. Willie has promised to teach me a few of Dawson’s favorite dishes.”

  “You couldn’t ask for a better teacher,” Chloe said of Dawson’s mother.

  TJ was studying her again. “I know you, Chloe. Unless you have a project, you will go crazy between now and the wedding. We don’t want that.”

  She realized that her sister was giving her permission to dig into the Drew Calhoun case. Like she needed her permission, she thought, but wasn’t about to voice it. Annabelle and TJ would be busy and out of her hair. She was her own woman. She could do whatever she wanted.

  “But are you sure there isn’t more to this quest you’re on?” TJ asked, studying her closely. “Like Justin?”

  Chloe had to smile. Her sister knew her so well. “I might as well hang around for a while. Anyway, we have a wedding coming up, right?”

  “That’s what we wanted to tell you,” Annabelle said excitedly. “We have a surprise.”

  Chloe had already told them that she didn’t like surprises. Often it meant change. Like when their parents had been killed and they’d been shipped to Whitehorse to live with a grandmother they didn’t even know existed before then. Grandma Frannie had been wonderful, but she’d definitely been a surprise.

  What was she thinking? Frannie had continued to be a surprise.

  “We’re going to have a double wedding!” Annabelle announced, smiling broadly, her eyes glittering as she reached over and grasped TJ’s hand.

  “Congratulations!” Chloe said, glad for the change of subject. “This is wonderful. What can I do to help?”

  The conversation quickly shifted to the double wedding: who, what, where, when.

  “We need to find you a dress to wear,” Annabelle was saying.

  “I thought you both wanted small weddings?” she asked.

  “It can be small but elegant,” Annabelle said.

  Chloe looked at TJ. “You and Silas are good with this?”

  Her sister laughed. “My mountain man does own a tux, you know.”

  She looked at them and felt her heart swell. “I am so happy for both of you.”

  “So what have you found out so far?” TJ asked as Chloe joined her at the table.

  “I just did a little research on Drew Calhoun’s death,” she said. “There wasn’t much in the local paper so I talked to the sheriff. It was interesting—and disturbing.”

  “In what way?” Annabelle asked as she brought over a plate of cookies and joined them.

  “No real answers. I can understand why McCall ruled it an accident, but it definitely left me wondering. I’m sure that’s the problem Justin’s dad is having with it, as well. Did you know that someone beat up Drew that night before he was shot? He had cuts and bruises, a black eye and scratches on his face and arms that the coroner said appeared to be from fingernails.”

  “So some woman beat him up?” Annabelle said.

  “I’d say he definitely tangled with someone or maybe a mountain lion,” she said. “I’d love to know who was responsible. But it makes me think that it’s why Drew, who was drunk, was in the cabin with his gun.”

  “Maybe he was going after whoever beat him up,” TJ suggested.

  “Or thought they were coming after him,” Anna
belle added.

  Chloe sighed. “We might never know. He wasn’t dead though when Justin found him. According to Justin, he took the gun away from him—that’s how his fingerprints ended up on the gun. It also explained trace amounts of gunpowder residue on Justin’s hands.”

  “I heard that one of the reasons Bert thinks Justin shot his brother was because he found him standing over Drew holding the gun,” Annabelle said.

  “That would do it,” TJ agreed.

  “Also Justin and Drew had a fight earlier in the day,” Chloe said.

  “What convinced the sheriff that Justin didn’t do it?” TJ, the mystery/thriller writer, asked.

  “Before I left her office, McCall gave me a copy of the coroner’s report. I’ve only glanced at it, but Drew was shot at close range in the chest. There was another shot fired either before or after. This one in the opposite direction. The bullet lodged in the wall next to the door.”

  “That’s odd,” TJ said.

  “That’s what I thought. I suggested to the sheriff that someone shot Drew with his gun, then dropped it in his lap to make it look like a suicide and was leaving, not realizing Drew was still alive. He picked up the gun and fired at his would-be killer. His shot went wild. He was still holding the gun when Justin appeared minutes later and took it away from him. Justin said he heard a vehicle motor leaving after he found Drew, but apparently no one else did since his father found him not long after, holding the gun.”

  “Or Drew was drunk and angry. He fired the shot at the door before turning the gun on himself,” TJ said and shrugged. “Like you said, we’ll probably never know.”

  “But what if someone got away with murder?” Chloe said.

  Neither sister said anything for a moment.

  “Wait, if you really think Drew was murdered, won’t this be dangerous?” Annabelle said.

  “Maybe even more dangerous if Justin Calhoun decides to come to the New Year’s Eve Masquerade Dance,” TJ said. “There are apparently plenty of people in this town who believe he killed his brother. Justin might be the last person who wants you playing investigative reporter into his brother’s death.”

  * * *

  “WE’VE GOT TROUBLE.”

  “I heard. Justin Calhoun is back in town. Someone saw him buying beer at the convenience store. Nici Kent was with him.”

  “Bigger trouble than that.”

  “Chloe Clementine. She’s an investigative reporter from some big California newspaper. She spent time at the local newspaper wanting to know about Drew Calhoun’s death. Then she went over to the sheriff’s office. I heard the sheriff gave her the coroner’s report on his death.”

  “So what? The sheriff ruled it an accident. It’s been five years. It isn’t as if they would reopen the case because of some nosey reporter. Just keep your cool. Nothing’s going to come of this.”

  “But what if this Clementine gets too close to the truth?”

  “Then I’ll take care of her. You worry too much. Drew Calhoun got what was coming to him. There is no reason anyone would suspect we were involved. So chill out. She’s going to be asking a lot of questions, but we don’t know anything, right?”

  “Right. It’s just that after five years—”

  “I’m telling you it’s nothing. It’s over. We’re all in the clear.” But even as he mouthed the words, he could tell that they weren’t in the clear. There was a weak link and he was going to have to take care of it.

  After disconnecting he considered his options. He wouldn’t do anything until he was forced to. Maybe all this would blow over. Or not. Still there was cause for concern. Something must have brought Justin Calhoun back to Whitehorse. The timing bothered him. He returns and this investigative reporter gets interested? There had to be a connection. Or someone had talked.

  Chapter Five

  The next morning, Chloe woke more determined than ever. She knew her sisters were right about the possible danger, but that wasn’t going to stop her. In the first place, she didn’t believe that Justin was guilty no matter what anyone thought. In the second place, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong with the accidental death ruling.

  Yesterday, she’d gotten the impression that the sheriff had thought it was a suicide but was willing to let the coroner rule it accidental. Bert didn’t believe that any more than he would have believed that his oldest son shot himself.

  If she was right, someone had murdered Drew and gotten away with it. All she had to do was find out who wanted him dead five years ago. Even as she thought it, she recalled what the sheriff had said about Justin and Drew having an argument earlier in the day.

  What if she was wrong about Justin and her investigation ended up leading her straight to him? Wasn’t that what the sheriff had been trying to warn her about?

  It was a chance she was going to have to take.

  She’d stayed up late last night going over the case file and coroner’s report on Drew Calhoun’s death. So when the phone rang, it took her a moment to wake up, let alone find it and answer.

  As she hit Accept, she realized it could be Justin. “Hello?”

  Silence.

  “Hello?” She blinked at the clock beside her bed. Two thirty in the morning? A wrong number? A drunk butt-dial after the bars closed?

  She started to hang up when she heard a raspy whisper and couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman on the line. “Stop nosing into things that aren’t your business. Drew Calhoun is dead. Leave it alone or you’ll regret it.”

  “Who is this?” she demanded. But the caller was gone. She felt a chill as she disconnected. She hadn’t expected word to get out so soon that she was looking into Drew’s death—let alone to get a threatening phone call. Why would someone be worried about what she might find unless Drew really was murdered?

  With a shudder she realized she just might have heard from the killer who would be watching her and waiting for her to get too close.

  * * *

  IT TOOK A while for her to get back to sleep. With daylight though, she was even more determined to get to the truth.

  But where to begin? A name came to mind. She groaned, dreading it, but if anyone knew something back then, it just might be the woman Justin was seeing five years ago. She showered, dressed and had a quick breakfast before her sisters got up. It didn’t take but one phone call to find out where Nici Kent was now living. It was a short walk, since crossing the entire town took only about fifteen minutes on foot.

  Nici answered the door with a scowl. “Really?” She didn’t look any different than she had yesterday at the soup kitchen—except she wasn’t wearing a hairnet.

  “Really,” Chloe said. “I need to talk to you.”

  “I can’t imagine why.”

  Chloe smiled. “Let me in and maybe you’ll find out.”

  Nici shook her head. “My sister’s kid’s been squalling all morning at the top of his lungs. You want to talk? Then we’d better take a walk.” She grabbed her coat and, pulling it on, closed the door and started down the steps.

  They walked toward the park near the river.

  “I was hoping you might be able to help me,” Chloe said. The morning was cold and clear. She could see her breath with each word. Hands stuffed into her coat pockets, she debated how to get Nici to talk.

  “Help you?” The woman gave her a skeptical look. “I doubt you’d be dumb enough to ask me for money, so you must need—”

  “Information.”

  Nici laughed. “What kind of information is it you think I can give you?”

  They’d reached the park and were almost to the footbridge that crossed the river. Everything close to the water was covered with a thick coating of frost, making the world around them a winter white. “Drew Calhoun.”

  The woman stopped walking to turn to look at her. “Why would you be as
king about him?”

  Chloe could see that she was going to have to lay all her cards on the table. “I got a call in the middle of last night from someone warning me to stop investigating Drew Calhoun’s death. You wouldn’t know anything about that call, would you?”

  Nici said nothing as she climbed up on the bridge.

  Chloe followed, stepping up onto the snow-covered bridge and starting across the frozen river. “You were dating his brother, Justin, five years ago. If anyone knows what was going on with Drew and his brother it would be you.”

  Nici stopped so abruptly, Chloe almost collided with her. It took her a moment to get her balance on the slippery snow.

  “What is it you’re after?” Nici demanded.

  “The truth.”

  The woman scoffed and began walking again, stopping in the middle of the bridge to look down. “It’s over. Best leave it alone.”

  “That’s what the caller said, but is it over? Is it over for Justin?”

  Leaning on the metal railing, Nici looked at her, her eyes narrowing. “I know about you and Justin.”

  “There isn’t much to know,” Chloe said. “But I’d like to see him vindicated.”

  “So it’s like that,” the woman said, studying her. “You know he’s back in town.” She chuckled when she saw Chloe’s surprised expression. “So you didn’t know. He said he’s come back to make amends. That tell you anything?”

  “I don’t believe he killed his brother.”

  Nici shrugged. “You could be right. But you also could be wrong. Drew was one mean bastard to Justin from the time they were kids.”

  “Justin can’t be the only person who had reason to hate Drew. What about you?”

  “Me?” Nici shook her head and laughed.

  “Drew had scratches on him that the coroner believed were from a woman’s fingernails.”