The Sheriff’s Runaway Bride

by Arlene James

Zach led the way to the door. “What now?”

  “Somebody let the air out of at least one tire on every vehicle at the site.”

  “Yours included?” While unlocking the door, he nodded toward the pickup truck with the mine logo on the doors.

  “Yes. It’s no more than a nuisance because we have a number of air pumps at our disposal, but I have a lot of unhappy employees who are going to be late to dinner tonight.”

  Zach opened the door and flipped on the lights, moving rapidly behind the counter. “Let me get the paperwork for you.”

  He went to the file cabinet for the forms while Gabe looked around the place from the other side of the front counter.

  Gabe said, “Wow, big improvement here. This actually looks like a place of official business now instead of a rat’s nest with a desk.”

  Zach smiled. “Here are the forms. You can fill them out at home and turn them in later.”

  “I’ll do that,” Gabe told him, taking the papers from Zach’s hand. The Perrys came in as he left.

  “Hi, Zach! Bye, Gabe!” Macy smiled, hurrying around the end of the counter to greet him.

  “Hey, sweetie pie! How you doing?” He was tickled that she no longer seemed shy around him. “Good.”

  While returning Darlene’s greeting, Zach lifted Macy up to sit on the counter. “You’re looking mighty pretty today.”

  She blushed. “Thank you. So are you.”

  “You think so?”

  Darlene lifted a hand to cover her laughter as Zach batted his eyelashes and pretended to stroke the long hair that he didn’t have. Macy snorted at his antics.

  “I meant you’re looking very handsome today. Except…” She lifted a hand to his jaw. “You could use a shave.”

  Zach put on a crestfallen expression, and Macy giggled. Just then, a childish face pressed against the front window and a young voice called out, “Macy! Macy!”

  Swiveling around, Macy waved excitedly. “That’s Lily. Mama, can I go out and see her? We’ll stay right there by the window.”

  “Sure, honey. Go ahead.”

  Macy hopped down and ran outside to talk to her friend. Zach chuckled. He turned his smile on Darlene.

  “Can I help you?”

  “You already have. Macy just wanted to stop in and say hello. She’s very taken with you.”

  “Yeah, I can tell,” he quipped, nodding at the window, which framed two giggling little girls.

  “No, really,” Darlene insisted. “Your experience with two younger sisters shows.” She leaned closer, adding, “and the badge doesn’t hurt.”

  Zach laughed, then saw Macy do something with her hand that was so much like something that his sister Vivienne would do that he caught his breath. That kid had to be related to the Claytons somehow. Might one of Samuel’s sons be her father? Zach looked to Darlene again, slipping into detective mode.

  “You know, I’ve been wondering about Macy’s dad.”

  Darlene startled, blinking. “What?”

  “Does he help you with her at all?”

  Darlene’s face immediately shuttered. “No. No, he doesn’t.”

  “Have you thought of going after him for child support?”

  “No! That’s not possible,” she said tightly.

  Zach wanted to ask if the man was married, but he didn’t want to embarrass her. “I could talk to him, if you like, discreetly.”

  “No one can talk to him,” she said. “He cannot be reached.”

  “You mean that no one knows where he is? I might be able to help locate him.”

  “I mean, he’s…he cannot be reached.” Before Zach could make another query, she began backing toward the door, saying, “Well, we really only had a minute. Macy just wanted to pop in. I have to get home and make dinner. Thanks for your time.”

  She was out the door before he could say “No problem.”

  Definitely a mystery there. If he had a name, he could look into it. He had ways of finding people, after all. Lucas came to mind, as he did so many times throughout the day.

  Lord, let him be safe.

  The prayer flowed through Zach’s mind. This time he added another plea to it.

  And bring him home.

  Maybe Lucas wouldn’t consider Clayton home, but Zach realized suddenly that he did; that didn’t matter, though, as long as they found Lucas well. As a veterinarian with patients and clients who depended on him, Lucas would not just take off for no reason. Zach took out his cell phone and called the number of his old friend in Florida, but his buddy with the state police had nothing to report. Zach suggested a trace on any credit card accounts that Lucas might have and agreed to a formal missing persons report to make it happen. He’d resisted that idea at first, sure that Lucas was tied up in something personal and wouldn’t appreciate interference, but Zach had come to the point where he had to do something. He felt only marginally better for having done so and again put the matter in God’s hands.

  His stomach rumbled. Glancing at the clock on the wall, he saw that the dinner hour had arrived, but he really did not want to go home and cook tonight. Brooke spent all of her time with Gabe, and while the happy couple always welcomed him at the table, watching them together made him feel more alone than ever.

  Looking across the green to the Cowboy Café, Zach thought of Kylie. Maybe she wouldn’t be working this evening. Since she’d turned down his dinner invitation, he’d done his best to avoid her. That hadn’t been difficult. He’d been as busy as a spider at a fly convention these past few days. He hadn’t even been able to make church yesterday. Miami hadn’t been this busy! Still, he could have seen Kylie easily by stopping in the diner. He had intentionally resisted the lure, but with his stomach cuddling up to his backbone, he decided to risk it. He couldn’t avoid Kylie forever, after all.

  After locking up the office, he drove around the green to the café. He spotted Kylie the instant he came through the door. She saw him at the same time, and any hope that he might draw one of the other serving staff vanished when she waved and started forward, a bright smile on her face.

  Something happened inside his chest. It felt as if his heart smiled and cracked open in the same instant. Ridiculous. Scary, even. Gulping, he headed for a seat at the nearest empty table, mindlessly returning the greetings of others in the building, diners and servers alike.

  Kylie set a bottle of cola and a glass of ice in front of him a split second after his backside hit the chair. In an effort to keep the conversation as short and impersonal as possible, he immediately ordered a burger and fries, adding, “I’m starved tonight.”

  “Get that right out for you,” she said, her braid swinging out behind her as she whirled away.

  Aching with an odd yearning relief, Zach poured his drink and waited for the bubbles to subside before taking a sip. She dropped down onto the chair to his left mere seconds later. He found that he couldn’t quite look at her.

  “I haven’t seen you lately,” she said softly.

  “Been busy. Real busy.”

  “Zach, I hope—”

  The phone clipped to his belt rang at the same time that the radio on his hip crackled. He shot to his feet, lifting one to his ear and pushing a button on the other. “Clayton here.”

  The radio spat out a code call while a dispatcher rattled the same information into his ear. A bad auto accident in the west pass had put lives at stake, and Zach happened to be the closest official. He didn’t have to be told that county resources would be taxed by this one. “There in ten,” he reported. Pushing his chair back with his legs, he stepped away from the table. “Cancel the order,” he told Kylie.

  “But you have to eat,” she protested, on her feet next to him. “I get off in a half-hour and I have the truck tonight. I’ll drop the food by your house.”

  Rather than argue with her, he pulled his wallet from his back pocket. “Fine. Great. Key’s under the flowerpot. Just leave the food in the fridge. Thanks.” He thumbed bills into her palm. She caught his h
and and squeezed it. Somehow, that lifted his spirits. Experience told him that he was going to need that small show of support.

  The modest frame house on Bluebird Lane appeared dark when Kylie pulled up. A silver car sat in the drive, but she didn’t see Zach’s Jeep, so she left her truck on the side of the road and carried the container with his food up the walk and onto the porch. After knocking and waiting, she decided to let herself in.

  The key was exactly where Zach had said it would be. She found the lights and turned them on, then took a moment to look around. The décor was outdated and the furniture somewhat worn, but the house felt solid and homey. Glimpsing the kitchen at the end of the hall, she carried the food container in that direction. Darkness shrouded the back of the hall, but a light had been left on over the stove.

  Kylie sensed Zach in the atmosphere. She could see him standing over the sink or sitting at the island or burying his head in the old-fashioned refrigerator. Smiling to herself, she disassembled the burger, put the meat and veggies on separate plates and set them in the fridge, finding it sparsely stocked. Afterward, she left his change on the island and wandered back into the living room, but she couldn’t make herself go to the door.

  Lately, Kylie had been thinking about how dangerous law enforcement could be. As the days had slipped by and she’d hadn’t seen Zach except coming and going from the deputy sheriff’s office, she’d begun to fear for his safety. Add to that the solemn expression on his face when he’d left the diner so hurriedly earlier, and Kylie reasoned that she had cause for genuine concern on his behalf.

  She wanted to be here when he came in, partly because she worried about him and partly because she felt uneasy about the way they had parted on Thursday. The emergency call had thwarted her attempt to discuss that with him at the diner earlier, and she didn’t want to wait until next Thursday. This might be her best chance to talk to him in private.

  Settling down at the island in the kitchen to wait, Kylie made herself comfortable. Her sister texted her a little later to ask where she was. Kylie replied that she had taken dinner to a friend and might be a while.

  Mariette sent a one-word question. “Who?”

  Kylie didn’t answer. Instead, she entertained herself by playing a simple game on her cell phone. That eventually palled, and she set it aside to think.

  Recalling what Zach had said about Clayton “growing on” him, she almost got up and left, but that seemed foolish. If she chose her friends from among those who couldn’t wait to see Clayton in their rearview mirrors, the pickings would be slim indeed.

  Before long, she found herself in prayer. She asked for God’s guidance and His blessings on those she loved. For her parents, she requested financial relief. She pleaded for Mariette to find success at college. After mentioning her boss, Erin, who might be the most overworked person Kylie knew, she went on to several members of the church, including the Perrys and a number of elderly individuals with failing health. Finally, she came to Zach, and as soon as she whispered his name, she knew that she’d been dancing around what lay heaviest on her heart.

  “Just keep him safe,” she said, “and give him rest. He looked tired tonight, and he missed his dinner, and only You know what he’s dealing with right now.” Or what I’m doing here, she added silently.

  That was the crux of her disquiet. She didn’t need to be getting involved with any man right now but certainly not with Vincent’s cousin, however distant, especially if he truly meant to make home permanently here in Clayton. Yet, here she sat, unable to make herself go until she knew that he was well.

  She heard a vehicle pull into the drive a few minutes later. Just seconds after that, a key slid into the door lock. Rising, she went to stand in the inner doorway of a small mudroom just as Zach stepped up into it, his every movement bespeaking exhaustion.

  Seeing her, he blinked wearily and said, “Didn’t expect to see you here.”

  “Come sit down. I’ll heat up your dinner.”

  “Thanks. Let me take care of these boots, and I’ll be right there.”

  He dropped down onto a narrow bench and crossed one leg over the other. Mud caked his boots, which smelled of gasoline. Kylie hurried into the kitchen, took the food from the refrigerator and went about heating the burger and fries in the microwave. While she did that, he took the boots outside, for airing, she assumed. Returning to the house, he came into the kitchen in his stocking feet and washed his hands at the sink.

  “You didn’t have to hang around here,” he said, drying his hands on a plaid towel.

  She shrugged and set the reassembled burger and hot fries on the island. He pulled out a chair.

  “Didn’t have anything better to do,” she told him. “Hope the fries aren’t too soggy.”

  “That doesn’t matter,” he said, sitting.

  She turned to the refrigerator for condiments and placed those within his reach. He didn’t wait. He’d already bitten off as much as he could chew. While he ate that first bite, he dressed the remainder of the burger with mustard and squirted catsup onto the plate.

  She took down a heavy tumbler, dropped a few ice cubes into it from a tray in the freezer section of the refrigerator and filled the glass with water from the tap. Half the burger had vanished by the time she carried the water back to the island. Suddenly, he dropped the half-eaten burger onto the plate and shoved it away, dropping his head into hands.

  “Zach?” Kylie swiftly skirted the island and laid a hand on his back.

  He sucked in a deep breath, rubbed his hands over his face and lifted his head. “A man died tonight.”

  “Oh, no. Who?”

  Zach shook his head. “I don’t even know his name. He was a few years older than me. A big SUV knocked his little pickup right over the edge of the mountain, but no one even realized it until the driver of the SUV roused enough to tell us. It was a mess, five cars in total. The guy was conscious, but all I could do was hold his hand and pray with him while the rescue squad worked to get him out. He thanked me just before he passed. They tried to bring him back, but it was too late.”

  “That’s so sad.” Blinking back tears, she slid an arm across Zach’s shoulders in a kind of sideways hug. “What a wonderful thing that was for you to do. I know it was tough, but that kind of ministry takes a special person.”

  He looked up at her with brows drawn. “I wouldn’t call my work a ministry.”

  “But it so obviously is. Everything I’ve seen you do since you’ve been here proves that.”

  Smiling wanly, he lifted an arm and curled it about her waist, saying, “I never thought of it that way, but I have to admit that it’s different here. It’s not just about ferreting out the bad guys after the fact. That in itself is important, I know, very much so. But here at least sometimes I have the chance to stop things before they happen. I never realized how rewarding that could be.” He rubbed his free hand across his forehead. “Maybe that’s why I’m liking it here so much. I mean, despite past history and the everyday irritation of Pauley, this feels right for me.”

  Kylie knew a keen sense of disappointment at that statement, but she said only, “I’m glad.” And she was, for him. She told herself that she didn’t figure into it, but then he reached around her and pulled out the chair next to him.

  “Me too. But it brought back painful memories. Can you sit with me a minute?”

  “Of course.” She tugged the chair around and sat, her knees just touching the seat of his chair. Leaning forward, she laid her forearms atop her thighs and prepared to listen.

  “That man tonight was not the first one I’ve seen die. I lost my partner recently.”

  She couldn’t let that pass without offering some sort of comfort. Reaching up, she stroked the back of his head and neck. “What happened?”

  He bowed his head, and she could tell that this was difficult for him, but he said, “It was a turf war gone bad. One drug dealer had taken another drug dealer hostage and was torturing him to find out where he�
��d stashed stolen drugs. My partner, Dave, and I stumbled into it while investigating a home invasion murder. There was no time to call for backup, but we pretended that we had and talked the perpetrator into giving up, because he happened to be alone.” Zach paused and shook his head. “He’d sent his lieutenant, who was the guy we were after, for beer. Can you imagine?”

  “No, I can’t,” she told him gently. “Go on.”

  “It was all over. The perp was facedown on the floor, and my partner was cuffing him. I went to check the so-called victim. He was a bloody mess and literally sobbing in relief, but the instant that his hands were free, he grabbed my gun out of my holster and tried to shoot his tormentor.” Zach closed his eyes, whispering, “He hit my partner instead.”

  “Oh, Zach. I’m so sorry.”

  “The torturer jumped up and ran,” he went on mechanically. “His victim managed to hit him in the leg before I got the gun away from him.” Zach turned agonized eyes to her then. “I managed to save the life of a drug dealer and torturer, but my own partner…” Choking up, he looked away. “D-Dave was hit in the throat. Got his jugular. He bled to death in my arms.” He smacked his knee with one fist. “A good man died that day because of me!”

  She wrapped her arms around him. She couldn’t think of anything else to do. “It wasn’t your fault. It was not your fault.”

  He turned his head away, but his hands came up to curl around her arm where it passed across his chest. “That’s what everyone else said, but it was my gun.”

  “You were trying to help an injured man.”

  “Bent on revenge,” he pointed out bitterly.

  “How could you know that?’ she asked. “He was injured, crying. And what kind of man tries to shoot another man in front of two cops?”

  He let out a watery chuckle. “There is that.”

  “I assume he’s in prison.”

  “All three of them, the shooter, the torturer and the guy we came to question about the home invasion.”

  “That’s good. Think of all the people they can’t hurt now.”

  He sighed heavily. “That’s what Dave’s father said to me.”