“She’s serving a two-year jail sentence for drug possession here at Wyoming Correctional, isn’t she?” Did the man’s jaw tighten? Or was that a look of pride for having leverage against Cox?
Stiffening his spine, Cox swiped his hand down his whiskered cheek, his own pride stemming from his ability to remain calm. Even his buddies knew better than to mention Cris. Not many outside of Cox’s close circle knew she’d been found guilty six months ago of drug charges. Her arrest had come after she and her boyfriend were pulled over during a routine traffic stop and the ass-wipe had dropped his flake into her purse. Cox knew his sister wasn’t entirely innocent because she’d been caught up in something for a few years, but he did believe the coke was her boyfriend’s stash and she caught the blame because the purse and car were hers.
Cox had hired an attorney and believed his ties had landed her a lighter sentence, that and she’d never been in trouble before her arrest, even held a reputable position in a government representative’s office, but getting her out of prison and into therapy had been above Cox’s pay grade. The judge had made it crystal clear that he wanted to use her sentence as an example to others, even those without a lengthy arrest record, that the web of drugs would get them busted and punished severely.
He went to see her as often as he could, and so did their mother, but prison was no place for a woman like Cris who had no clue how the criminal mind worked. Easing back into the chair, he felt the wood creak, much like the turmoil going on inside of him. “The sentence was too heavy. It was her first offense and the drugs didn’t belong to her.”
“I believe you, Landon. I do. I can help. If you let me.”
“And how can you do that?”
“I’m known best for my willingness to compromise. Although I believe in punishment for drug criminals, I also realize that our jails and prisons are packed with people who deserve lighter sentences. I’ve looked over her case and she isn’t a danger to society. I can assure that she gets a timely hearing in front of the parole board.”
Scratching his temple, Cox smirked at the shady offer from the Congressman. How could Cox deny his little sister the opportunity that could help her get out of prison sooner? She’d never make it two years, and neither would their mom. No doubt, Noleen could pull some fat strings and Cris would be out in no time. That’s how things worked, fortunately or unfortunately. She could get the rehabilitation that she needed.
“Would you like that?” Noleen asked.
“What you’re offering is if I babysit your niece you’ll see that Cris gets a shot at parole?”
“Tomato and tomatoh. You call it babysitting and I call it compromise. Hazel means the world to me and I want her to feel safe. Therefore, I’ll make sure your sister feels safe in return. We can help each other. That’s a fair trade, isn’t it?”
“Don’t you really mean that you want your niece to behave so her story doesn’t rile up trouble for your campaign? The media would have a field day with this. Bringing me in will make her think you believe her.” If the Congressman could back Cox against the wall, then he felt he could speak openly in return.
If Noleen was offended, he didn’t show it in his expression. “Do you need a moment to think this over?”
Cox wanted to help his sister. He’d done all he could. Had hired the best attorney. Went with her to court. Even was a witness on her behalf to her character, but the judge had wanted to nail her to the wall. Now a lifeline was being offered and, in all actuality, it seemed too easy.
If Cris’ boyfriend hadn’t skipped town two days after she was arrested, Cox would have found him and forced the truth out of him, one way or another. Since that was no longer an option, what other choice did Cox have?
“How do I know that I can trust you?”
Without a word, Noleen pressed a button on the phone . A second later the door came open and Lucifer stuck his head in. “Yes, Congressman?”
“I’d like for you to get Neil Coleman with the Wyoming Parole Board on the line and set up an immediate meeting to discuss an inmate, Cris Landon. You know Coleman, right?” he directed at Cox. “He’s been on the board for years. He and I are good friends. We play golf every Sunday and we’ve even gone on a few family vacations together. All you need to do is say the word, Cox, and it happens.”
He would have done anything for his sister. And all he had to do was babysit some rich political man’s niece for a few days? So be it. He nodded and Noleen made a gesture to his assistant, who reached into his pocket for his phone and stepped out.
Cox had just allowed himself to be played. This was the entire plan from the beginning.
Anger rushed through him, but he was good at playing his cards close.
Noleen stood and went to open the private door, saying to someone standing on the other side, “Please ask my niece to step in.” When he sat back down, he said, “I’m sure you’ll see this will all be okay in a week. I’m a man of my word.”
Cox had his doubts but all he could do was bank that Noleen would follow through.
“You wanted to see me?” a soft voice came from behind Cox.
“Thank you, Hazel. Sorry I had to interrupt your breakfast. Were you able to get some sleep?”
“Not much.”
“I have someone I want you to meet. Hazel Levine, this is Special Agent Cox Landon.” Noleen’s grin portrayed innocence.
“I sure hope he’s here to find some answers,” the female said.
Cox gritted his teeth, stood and turned on his dirty boots. Sparkling leaf-green eyes made his mouth drop in surprise. So this was Hazel? Noleen’s niece? He recognized her although her hair was a few inches shorter, she was a bit thinner, noticeably paler, but he’d never forgotten her—especially how she’d had the newspaper pressed against her naked body in the hallway of their apartment building. The tall red head had made his life miserable for the year they’d lived next door to each other. By the tight set of her glossy lips and the arching of her thin brows, she wasn’t any happier to see him than he was her.
“Oh no. Not you!” She pushed out through those plush lips that looked incredibly thin now.
“You two know each other?” Noleen’s question interrupted the heavy tension.
“Yeah, we do,” Cox snarled and pushed his fists into his front pockets.
“No, I wouldn’t say we know each other. We were unfortunate neighbors for a short period of time.” She crossed her arms over her chest. Did her cheeks flush some? Did her full bottom lip tremble?
The last person he wanted to see today—ever—was her, but his body seemed to disagree as parts of him tightened.
“Why is this man here?” She tilted that heart shaped face that was covered with a splattering of freckles. Those gem-like eyes drilled him. The small diamond stud in her right nostril glinted. Did she have the nose ring before?
Tired, and agitated, it took all his patience not to give her a piece of his mind. Remembering Cris, and what this meant to her, he stayed glued to the floor and ground his teeth.
Noleen shifted on his loafers and tugged at his wrinkled collar. “He’s here to help.”
“You said Special Agent? That explains a lot,” she muttered while wrinkling her button nose.
Cox had no clue what she referred to and he didn’t care.
“I hope you’re here to catch the killers?” One thin brow lifted over her cold eyes. He’d give it to her, she was a looker. Beautiful, in fact, but beauty only ran skin deep. He’d rather babysit just about anyone than Miss-Goody-two-shoes. She dropped her arms and the words on her T-shirt drew him. “I’m not only smart, but also talented.” He chuckled. A dangerous image filled his head of her spread out on his bed. Fuck! Why did his mind even travel down that road?
Clearing his throat, he grinned. “No,” Cox answered since it appeared Noleen was dragging his feet. “I’m not a detective. Your uncle here has asked me to keep you safe because you need a babysitter.” He never had been good at sugar coating his words,
but there was an undeniable satisfaction in seeing the flustered expression that fell over her pretty features.
Her mouth dropped open and she directed her pissed off gaze to her uncle who looked three shades whiter. “Excuse me? Did you really ask him to babysit me?”
Deep inside, Cox was laughing at the situation, feeling somewhat validated.
“Now listen, Hazel. You were visibly shaken up over the events at the office. I want you to feel safe. Agent Landon has agreed to help keep an eye on things until the dust has settled. I’ve hired him as your security. Or bodyguard. Whatever floats your boat.” Noleen certainly wasn’t as confident as he faced his niece. So maybe the man did care for her.
Cox bared his teeth at the older man. “I’m a bodyguard now?” Bodyguards were paid and Cox couldn’t remember being offered money.
“Yes,” Noleen answered without even looking at Cox.
“Him?” Hazel pointed her slender finger into the center of Cox’s chest. “My bodyguard? I don’t think so,” she huffed and swept her gaze up and down him, her nose wrinkling in what appeared to be disgust.
His patience thinned. He growled under his breath, the temptation to storm out growing stronger by each second. A flash of his sister’s face under his eyelids kept him from doing what he wanted which was to blow the popsicle stand. “If the lady doesn’t see the need—”
“There must be someone better for the job. Someone who knows the use of a razor and a bar of soap.”
He wanted to knock her off her pedestal. “Is this attitude because I saw you naked?” the words tumbled off his lips and although they carried much gratification, he knew immediately he’d hit below the belt.
Noleen sighed and rubbed his forehead. Cox almost held sympathy for the man since he had to deal with Hazel daily. No wonder he didn’t believe her. “Do I even want to ask?” Noleen tore a hand through his hair.
“This man is not a gentleman, Uncle.” If her eyes came equipped with darts, Cox guessed he’d be dead. “It was by accident that you saw me naked. You should count yourself lucky because it would have never happened voluntarily.”
“Damn. That really hurt.” He laughed to show his sarcasm.
“Uncle Noleen, I expect you to tell him to leave at once!” she demanded.
Cox’s dislike of her tripled. He didn’t much care for her uncle either. And to think he’d considered voting for Noleen. “He doesn’t have to. I’m out,” Cox grumbled, turned on his boots and strolled toward the door. He’d find a way to get his sister out of her predicament, a better way than exposing himself to this woman’s bitterness. If he had to spend one more second with that lady he’d be driven insane. Trading his mental health for his sister’s freedom wouldn’t work. Cris wouldn’t expect him to.
He’d made it almost to the outer door when he heard Brooks call out, “Landon, wait up.”
Since the man was a friend, Cox felt compelled to give Brooks a second. “Yes?”
“Reconsider,” Brooks said.
Cox chuckled. “Why don’t you be her bodyguard if you think it’s worth it.”
“I know she seems—”
“Like she flew in on her broom?”
The hint of a smile appeared on the man’s mouth and then quickly disappeared as if he recalled his loyalty. “No. That’s not what I’m saying.”
“Oh? Then were you wanting to say that she lost her broomstick up her—”
“No,” Brooks interjected, glancing over his shoulder at the closed door of the Congressman’s office. Clearing his throat, he said in a lowered voice, “Think of your sister. Congressman Noleen is a man of his word. Your sister could have her freedom for a simple few days of tolerance. Ms. Levine can be feisty, but you understand her more when you get to know her.”
Cox growled. “So you were the one who offered the tidbit of information regarding my sister to the Congressman? You told him he could use this as leverage?” He suddenly wanted to pound Brooks into the ground. They were about the same size, but Cox thought he could take him.
“No. Noleen’s assistant uncovered that information. It’s not as if they had to do a lot of uncovering to find it, Cox.” Brooks shifted and adjusted his tie. “Consider doing this. Just a few days.”
“What are you getting from this?”
“What? Nothing,” Brooks grunted.
“Do you believe her?” Cox realized that there could be more to the story than met the eye.
Brooks motioned for Cox to follow him to a more private location then leaned in to say, “I’m not saying that I believe her, but it all seems odd to me. She’s a good person and she’ll be safe with you. If this is all a hoax of some sort then the only thing wasted is a few days of your time but worth it to help your sister.”
Cox looked from his buddy to the office door and every instinct warned him to run, but his feet wouldn’t move. If Brooks, an agent with honed skills, thought there could be some truth to what Hazel saw then Cox looked at this from a different viewpoint. He hooked his thumbs in his back pockets. “I’ll consider it only if she apologizes.” He didn’t really care or want her apology, but what he did want was to take her down a peg or two from her haughty loft she’d built with her imaginary self-worth.
A moment’s hesitation passed until finally Brooks nodded. “She’ll apologize.”
“If you say so. This should be interesting. I’ll wait out here.” Cox nodded at the textured flowered chair in the foyer. Realizing he probably had a good amount of time before the lady was convinced to apologize at least he’d be able to get some shut eye. “Wait, Brooks. Make that two conditions.”
Chapter 6
“Let him go. I refuse to be stuck near that—that buffoon for a second longer than I need to be. Uncle Brent, you don’t know this man. He’s absurd. Rude!” Hazel looked at the closed door where the target of her animosity had stormed out seconds ago.
“Don’t you think you can give this a chance?”
“No.” She’d rather face the killers than tolerate Agent Know-it-all. It was hard for her to even wrap her brain around the idea that she’d considered him handsome at one time. Now he was buried beneath dirty blond locks and scruffy fur. He’d shown his true colors. As a dog sitter, she’d had no choice but to bring the dogs into her apartment. How was she to know that he’d be sleeping until noon on a weekday? Not including the multiple times she’d run into him in the hallway and he’d turned his nose up at her like she was bacteria in his britches. And if that wasn’t enough, when he found her naked in the hallway, he’d winkled his nose in revulsion. “I don’t need security. I need you, and the police, to believe that I saw Trent murdered in the office. I’m not crazy. I have no reason to make this up. Why do you allow that insect Lucifer to turn your mind?”
“Hazel, I—”
“Please don’t tell me again that they didn’t find one sliver of evidence. I saw what I saw. Trent is dead. I don’t know how the killers pulled this off. Trent had been shot in the chest.” Crossing her arms over her chest, she wished she could change the events of last night. After the cleaning woman had called the police and Hazel sat for three hours telling her statement over and over until she thought she’d scream, Brooks had shown up to take her home to her uncle’s house. “Do you think I’m delusional?”
“No, but we watched the camera footage. There was no sign of foul play. Shoemaker used his debit card right after you said he was killed.”
“Maybe the killers used it. I don’t know. You can’t see the killers because the aim of the camera doesn’t reach the areas where they were standing. That doesn’t make what I’m saying wrong. Why don’t you believe me?” Since her father passed away, her uncle had stepped in, taking on the role. However, she felt like he’d never understood her as her biological father would have. Just like this situation, instead of believing her, he made her second guess herself. She wished she could have been mistaken, having a nightmare, but she knew what she saw.
“Why can’t I just stay here. You have
plenty of security.”
“I need someone who’ll be with you twenty-four seven. Landon is trustworthy.”
“You say that because you don’t know him.” She rubbed her forehead, feeling like her world was in a tailspin.
“If you were threatened as you say you were then I’d think you’d want protection.” Her uncle rounded the desk and sat down in the chair, his way of telling her that he’d reached his limitations of the conversation.
“You just want me out of your hair. You fear what your corporate backers will think of this.”
“Enough, Hazel.”
She wasn’t one to back down. Stepping over to his desk, she leaned over the top and planted her palms against the smooth wood. “You can’t force me to do this,” she bit out.
He scratched his temple. “I can’t? Fine. I’ll phone your mother.” He reached for the phone, picked up the handle and looked at her in question. “Shall I?”
“Wait…why?” Her stomach twisted. Hazel knew the second her mother became aware of what had happened she’d be on the first plane to Wyoming and Hazel would be mother-henned to death. She loved her mother dearly, but since the death of her husband she’d wanted to protect Hazel against any and all risks, so much so that’d she’d smothered her daughter. Her mother would guilt trip her into going home. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“I wouldn’t?” Pressing the phone against his ear, he tapped the numbers in. “Good morning, Sierra. How are you? Really? Yes. I have Hazel here. I’ll put you on speaker phone.” He selected the necessary button, laid the handset in the cradle and grinned smugly. “She can hear you.”
“Darling? Are you there?”
Hazel gritted her teeth. “Hello, Mom.” She mouthed to her uncle, “How could you?”
Brent shrugged his shoulders.
Tormented by the Lawman (Mountain Force Book 3) Page 5
