by D. D. Ayres
“Where are you going to sleep?”
“At my desk, eventually.” He shrugged only his right shoulder. “I’ve a mountain of paperwork to fill out about what happened today. The feds have questions for me. My captain has his own set. My truck’s been totaled so I have to see about that, insurance, towing. And then I’ll need to withdraw from the state police physical tomorrow.” He looked down at himself. “It’s not going to happen. My prosthesis may not fit for a few days.”
Jori’s gaze dropped to the pinned-up leg of the sweatpants he wore. He must be in a lot of pain, but he wouldn’t admit it. “It doesn’t seem fair. You worked so hard.”
He shrugged. “I’ve waited this long.”
She reached out as if to touch him but stopped short at his backward step. She wondered what constellation of bruises lay underneath the Trooper L sweatshirt he wore. He’d been tossed like a salad in that tumbling truck. He probably needed first aid more than she did. But she saw it in his gaze. She didn’t have permission to invade his space just now.
Law was grateful for every inch between her hand and his body. If she had touched him …
He looked back at the window where winter was doing its best Disneyland version of Frozen. “It’s still snowing.”
“I noticed.” She rubbed her brow. “You should at least get a shower.”
He stared at her until her head came up and a little smile appeared on her face.
“I promise I won’t attack you. I’m too exhausted.”
He didn’t smile. “I can’t make the same promise.”
That brought color to her cheeks and reminded Law that even battered and bruised, he still had the capability to rise to the occasion of Jori. “I’ll take my chances.”
He shook his head. “No. You called me five times this morning. Yeah. I got the messages before my run-in with Becker.”
He pushed back against the hurt that suddenly shadowed her gaze because he hadn’t returned any of them. He needed to be very clear. He was an officer of the law at the moment with business to finish. “Why were you coming to see me this morning?”
He saw her reach back through the long hours of this day. It was only one thirty in the afternoon. “When I woke up I saw the news about Harold Tice being arrested as a suspect in a drug trafficking ring. I called because I thought you’d know more.”
“So did Becker.” Law let out a long sigh, the only indication that he was so tired he was practically asleep standing up on insufficient crutches and one very sore good leg.
“When you didn’t answer I couldn’t wait. I needed to know what you knew. That’s why I drove over. To talk.”
He knew she added those last two words as a defense, because the flush creeping up her neck was working on him, too. For that reason, he owed her a glimpse of what was on his mind. Now that they were safe. He was running an operation in his head one step after another.
“Becker was rattled when he came to see me today. He got the drop on me as I was coming off night duty. But it had nothing to do with the task force roundup. He claims that was a mistake. He isn’t part of a trafficking ring.”
Her expression perked up. “Then why was he running?”
“For reasons that I’m still piecing together.” Those reasons might turn out to be important to her. Maybe not. No way to know until he talked with Luke Tice.
“You know something.” She was reading him. He must be more tired than he realized. He ached everywhere.
“I need to go.”
She stood up, this time folding a hand over his wrist where he held the crutch. Her hand was cold but her touch lit him up. He could see worry, strain, and exhaustion in every line of her face and posture. “You promise you’ll let me know if you find out anything important? To me.”
“I promise.” Not going to touch her. Absolutely not happening. He really couldn’t understand why his arm wasn’t listening to his head. His left hand moved so quickly that he couldn’t prevent it from cupping the back of her neck to pull her close to his chest. “I thought I might die today. For the first time in a very long time, I cared about not doing that. Don’t read too much into this, Jori. I’m feeling my way here.”
He couldn’t believe how grateful he was that she didn’t say anything. Didn’t even embrace him. Just let him hold her. Maybe she understood him better than he did himself. That wouldn’t be difficult. Coming in out of the cold, his self-inflicted need for solitude, was going to be every bit as hard as anything he’d ever done. And it scared him shitless.
He kissed the top of her head, released her, and headed for the door, all in one long motion.
When he was gone, Jori stood at the window and watched him maneuver his way on crutches through the snow back to the waiting trooper’s cruiser. The image of the weary warrior had never been more clear in every line of his body. Yet even in that weariness he reflected the primal masculine instinct of a survivor.
Jori turned from the window as the cruiser pulled away. She was living with her palm open. She hoped she hadn’t just watched love fly away.
* * *
Law rechecked all his facts on the screen at his Springdale desk. He’d been through every piece of intel until what had been staring him in the face finally began to make sense.
“Got the bastard.”
He ejected his thumb drive and reached automatically under his desk to tuck it into Sam’s vest. But Sam wasn’t there. The absence caused a pang just behind his rib cage. Damn. If he hadn’t gone and fallen for that shaggy Cheez Doodle after all.
He reached for his phone and dialed. The veterinarian’s office assured him, again, that Samantha was doing well. She’d drunk water by herself.
Law smiled. He’d have to get her a purple heart, no, a purple paw to sew on her vest to show she’d been wounded in the line of duty.
His smile dimmed as his thoughts turned to Jori. He’d have to do better than that for her. She had brought Sam along. She, too, was responsible for saving his and Becker’s lives.
His phone rang before he could reset it. “Battise.”
When he hung up he was smiling. The Pecker had come through. Spilled his guts to the task force detective in the hope of getting protective custody.
Law drummed his fingers on his desk. Change of plans. He didn’t have much time before matters were taken out of his hands. He’d played poker in the barracks to pass the time in Afghanistan. Not so much for the money, but to keep his wits sharp. He’d need to pull to an inside straight on this play, one of the toughest gambles. But he had nothing to lose. And he wanted very much to win something for Jori.
He picked up the phone and dialed Luke Tice’s home phone number. It was listed in the police reports. After what had happened in the wee hours of the morning, Tice wouldn’t dare ignore a call from state police headquarters.
“I’d like to speak with Luke Tice. Tell him Trooper Battise has a message for him from a mutual law enforcement officer friend. He’s probably seen the news reports. No, I’ll wait.”
He’d just about finished his cup of coffee when someone picked up. Waiting was the second thing law enforcement officers learned to do well. It gave your opponent a false sense of power.
“Yes?” Tice sounded tense.
“You want to talk to me. Today.” He gave an address and time and hung up. No way was he going to allow Luke Tice to get the upper hand again.
* * *
“Let’s keep this short and to the point.” Luke sat behind a desk at his empty campaign headquarters. Not even the media had sought him out in this weather. He was dressed in a heavy sweater and ski parka. “What did Becker tell you?”
“Not as much as I’ve discovered on my own this afternoon.” Law remained standing, having traded his girl-sized crutches for man-sized ones. And borrowed sweats for the uniform he kept at work for emergencies. “Trooper Becker seemed to think I’d pay for what he had on you.”
Luke smirked. “Which is nothing.”
Law smiled. An in
nocent man might have wanted to know what Becker could have said. Tice seemed to think he knew, and whatever Becker had couldn’t touch him.
“It took me a while to put it together. Brody Rogers didn’t have an accident.”
He paused to allow Tice to say something. But the politician seemed comfortable with silence. “It was the tire marks. No one thought anything of them at the time. Becker made certain of that.”
It was a micro expression of fear that Law would have missed had he not been watching for it. The hook was set. Now he was going to play Tice until the man wore himself out from avoiding the truth.
Law leaned an elbow on top of a tall file cabinet. “It was easy to understand why law enforcement ruled it an accidental death.”
“You mean because Brody was high on coke.” He made a dismissive gesture. “He was an idiot. I’m amazed he hadn’t killed himself before.”
“Yes, Mr. Tice. The fact that the first officer on the scene found evidence of illegal drugs gave that possibility the appearance of truth. Don’t know how much you know about law enforcement procedures. But the way in which the first responding officer handles a crime scene can direct how things go in the overall investigation.”
“You’re saying Becker mishandled the accident scene?” Luke looked smug. He had balls, Law gave him that.
“How long was it before Becker got in touch, Mr. Tice? The next day? Two or three days later, once he knew the department was going to write up the death as an accident?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I never met with Becker in the days following Brody’s death. It was a tragedy. The family was in mourning.”
“It’s been four years but phone records can be pulled, Mr. Tice.”
For the first time, Luke Tice blinked. “I don’t recall meeting Becker. He might have called for information about Brody. I am family.”
“And that’s the thing that makes this so bad. You ran your cousin off the road. I don’t know why. Neither does Becker. But I bet I will find out. Given time.”
Tice stood up. “You’re wasting my time and yours. Do your worst. I’ve got bigger problems than you right now.”
Law nodded. “Your father’s arrest. That should put a crimp in all this.” Law looked about the campaign office.
“Not at all. People will rally. Someone’s always after you when you live at my level, Trooper Battise. It will come to nothing.”
“Don’t bet on it. Becker’s been talking. To the task force people.”
“Are you threatening me? You’re going to spread lies about me, too? Becker can’t hurt me. He’s been arrested for drug trafficking. He’s a dirty cop. The public will say he’s doing this to make himself look better. And you.”
He came slowly around his desk, a man who’d faced down the worst. “You may be a war hero but I’ve been doing some checking up on you, too, Trooper Battise. You have been diagnosed with mental instability. PTSD. You see and hear things, isn’t that right? Your emotional state is unreliable.”
Law smiled back. “That’s why you should listen to me. I’m not reliable. I don’t care if no one else believes me at the moment. I don’t care if they don’t believe Becker. Because he has planted the seed. And I’m going to be its Farmer Brown. I will nurture it until I’ve grown a case that can’t be ignored.”
“You’re an officer of the law. You can’t begin a vendetta against a citizen. That’s illegal.”
Law ignored him. “I will make it my life’s work to dig up every bit of evidence that went unfound because Becker helped you escape. There are other people who were out that night. People you don’t know about who may have seen things they were never asked to report. Where were you that night? We know Brody went to see the woman who is now your wife. Were you there, too?”
Law straightened away from the cabinet, wishing like hell he wasn’t encumbered by crutches. “What happened to the car you were driving during that time? Did it have repairs done on the front fenders right after Brody conveniently went off the cliff? I’m sending pictures of the tire tracks I found in the original investigation file to the FBI for better forensics analysis. Will they discover they belong to two different vehicles? I’m going to crawl over every piece of evidence until I’ve built a case for the fact that you killed your cousin. And when I’m done, you’ll wish you’d made another choice today.”
“Why are you doing this? I never did anything to you.”
“No. But you killed a man. And in doing so you cost a young woman the first years of her adulthood, which were spent behind bars for a crime in which she had no part.”
“Wait just a minute. Is this about Jori? Drugs were found in her apartment.”
“Drugs you knew Brody was dealing and never told anyone about. Why was that? Who were you protecting?” Law saw Luke’s gaze flick to the picture on his desk. And then he knew.
“Your future wife. It’s on record that Brody went to see Erin the night he died. Did they do drugs together that night? Is that why you went after him? Did you walk in and find them high and maybe a little too friendly?” He saw the color rise in Luke’s face. He had the bastard.
“You were seeing her by then. And Brody was supposed to be getting married. Did you have a fight? Maybe when he left and you went after him. Caught up with him on an empty lane and saw your moment.”
Tice’s jaw had hardened, his eyes like pale granite. “What does any of this get you? You have to want something.”
“Justice. For Jori Garrison.”
“I didn’t kill him. Brody lost control and ran off the road.”
“Because you were chasing him. There are two sets of skid marks in those pictures. I’d bet my left leg on it, if I hadn’t already lost it. So I’ll go with my hunch. My hunch says you drove him off the road.”
Luke began chewing his lip. “I might have been behind Brody. He’d been to see Erin and upset her. I wanted to catch him to tell him to leave her out of whatever he was doing.” He glanced up at Law and then away. “I might have seen what happened. There was nothing I could do. He died instantly.”
“How do you know that?”
“The coroner said no one could have survived a drop like that.”
Law smiled. “Becker and I just did. This morning. Haven’t you been watching the news? Your luck’s run out. You just admitted you left the scene of an accident without even bothering to call for help.”
Tice looked away. “A smart man would bet on a winner. He would want to see me succeed. It’s the only way to help Jori. Once in the legislature, I might be able to influence a way for Jori to receive a pardon.” He looked up, a glimmer of hope flaring to life. “You need me.”
“I’ll settle for a few years of your life. I’m coming after you with everything I’ve got. And don’t let an empty pant leg fool you. I will stomp you flat.”
“What is this about? A piece of ass named Jori Garrison?”
“It’s about justice. First, for your scumbag cousin. If convicted you’ll probably get a deal similar to the one Jori got, an opportunity after a few years behind bars for parole so you can start over from way behind. Maybe you’ll crawl past your mistakes. Maybe you won’t. At least Jori can look the world in the eye because she was innocent.”
Luke licked his lips. “We can make a deal. Twice what I gave Becker?”
Battise slowly drew in a lungful of air and turned toward the door. He might never be able to successfully back up every aspect of his bluff. But at least he had finessed the truth. Luke Tice had run his cousin Brody Rogers off the road out of jealousy.
How did a man live with guilt like that?
He didn’t have to wonder if Erin Tice would be able to. Whatever people believed or didn’t believe, he doubted she’d stay with a man who had killed his rival.
But then, he didn’t understand women well. There was one waiting for him now, though she hadn’t said so.
Law shook his head. He’d done nothing to deserve a woman as good as Jori Garrison. I
n fact, he had disappointed her more than pleased her. And yet she had come here, in an ice storm, to find him.
Fuck it. It was the way she looked at him, those big eyes that held a wonder and womanly affection he’d never before seen aimed at him. She thought he was a hero.
Maybe it was time he tried acting like the man she thought he could be.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
“We’re getting lots of inquiries about our service dogs. And many new donations. Samantha’s heroism has raised Warriors Wolf Pack’s profile. So we need to discuss how to behave with the media.” Kelli looked up from her notes and smiled as Jori entered the staff meeting. “And here she is, our heroine of the hour.”
Jori blushed as she slipped into the room. “Sorry I’m late. I had to drive in from Little Rock this morning.” As soon as the snow had stopped the day before, her father had driven to Springdale and brought her back to her parents’ home in the capital city. She’d lost the rest of the day by sleeping it away. “What have I missed?”
“Only your face on every media outlet.” Maxine grinned. “The phone has been blowing up with questions about you, and what we do here. You’re a media darling.”
Jori noticed the other staff members were looking at her with a combination of awe and envy. It didn’t make her feel good. It made her feel different, not one of them any longer. Her parents’ faces had worn that same expression, mingled with worry.
“But we know the truth. Mostly, she takes up space,” offered Jeff, the only male staffer there. The jibe struck the right tone to bring the group back to earth with laughter.
“Which brings me back to what I want to stress this morning.” Kelli crossed her arms on the boardroom table and leaned forward. “We have several members of the press coming in to do interviews with us over the next few days. I’m concerned about how they’re already portraying Samantha in the news. What she did was extraordinary. Feel free to show off what our service dogs are trained to do. It’s quite impressive. But we don’t want to oversell their capabilities. It wouldn’t be fair to our veterans and their dogs. Is everyone in agreement?”
