by D'Ann Lindun
“Mom, can you take Dani home? I’m going to the office.”
Rae frowned. “Right now? But the game’s not over.”
Jamie lifted her right shoulder toward the guy who had talked to her earlier. “That guy’s right. I shouldn’t be sitting here while some guy is out there stealing and killing the women of our town. Maybe the deputies have some different ideas.”
“You just saw Agent Varner a couple hours ago,” Rae argued. “Dani needs you, too.”
Jamie waffled. Her mother was right. “Okay, Mom. But as soon as the game’s over, I’m going to go to the office.”
“Okay.” Now that she’d won the fight, Rae turned her attention to the field. Jamie called Hattie and told her to assemble the team in an hour. She closed her phone to watch Dani play.
A few minutes later, Dani’s team won their game. She ran up to them grinning from ear to ear. “Did you see me, Mommy? I kicked the ball!”
“I did see you,” Jamie said. “Great job!”
“Can we get ice cream?”
Jamie shot a glance over Dani’s head to Rae. She needed to get to the office, but a few more minutes couldn’t hurt anything. “Okay, why not? Ask Gram if she wants to go, too.”
“Do you want to come, too, Gram?” Dani grinned widely. “Please?”
Rae agreed she would like ice cream and said they would meet at the Sweet Shoppe in ten minutes.
As Jamie and her family entered the small ice cream shop, they passed Deputy Torres exiting. He nodded toward Jamie. “Sheriff.”
“Torres.” Her gaze turned toward the petite woman his arm was wrapped around. Mexican, very pretty, with big doe eyes and long, gleaming hair. Up until now, Jamie always thought the other woman had good taste in men. “Olivia.”
“Hi, Sheriff.”
“You two having a good evening?” Jamie fought for something to say that wouldn’t make her deputy mad. He always seemed to be on the fight.
“I’m entitled to a day off as much as you are,” Torres said belligerently. “You stayed home today. Why shouldn’t I go out?”
Jamie touched Dani’s shoulder. “Go on in with Gram. I’ll be there in a minute.” After Dani was out of earshot, she said, “I never said you weren’t supposed to take time off, Torres.” She lifted her Stetson and pointed to her bandage. “I stayed home today because someone knocked me in the head last night and left me for dead.”
He had the grace to look a little shamed. “You okay?’
“I’ve had worse headaches, but I don’t remember when. I’ll fill you in during the meeting I’m calling in half an hour.” Ignoring Torres’ frown, she nodded at Olivia. “Stay safe.”
She snuggled closer to Torres. “I will.”
Jamie forced a smile. “See you.”
They moved away and Jamie entered the ice cream shop. It seemed most of Dani’s team had the same idea and a half dozen giggling little girls and their families crowded inside. Jamie joined her mom and Dani at a corner table. Dani pointed to a bowl of pistachio. “We got yours, Mommy.”
Jamie poured a little chocolate sauce over the green ice cream and tasted it. “Yum. My favorite.”
Dani giggled. “I know. That’s why we got it for you.”
“Thank you, sweetheart.”
Rae glared over her bowl of cookie dough. “Torres giving you a hard time?”
Jamie shook her head and regretted it when pain shot through her skull. “No more than normal.”
“Somebody ought to kick his—”
“Mom,” Jamie interrupted. “Little ponies have big ears.”
Dani licked her spoon. “Am I a little pony, Gram?”
For a minute, they all stared at her, then everyone laughed. “Yes, you are, my girl,” Rae said.
Dani neighed and pawed the air with her hands.
Jamie laughed again. Longing for normal filled Jamie. For the days when Confluence had been a safe place; a town where women could walk alone and not be afraid. A place where people left their doors unlocked and didn’t worry about thieves and killers. She stiffened her spine. Confluence would go back to that kind of town—she’d see to it.
~*~
Jamie took her seat at the head of the table as her deputies assembled in the conference room. She tried not to let her gaze linger on Austin as he moved across the room and took a seat at her right.
Daralee gasped when Jamie removed her hat and placed it on the table. “What happened to you, Sheriff?”
“This is what I wanted to talk to you all about.” She waited until she had everyone’s full attention. “I was attacked in my barn last night.” She filled them in and said, “That’s not all. An article was stolen from Kate Hollenbreck’s autopsy, left at my house and taken from there.”
Jinx lifted a white brow. “What item?”
“Kate’s trophy buckle. Someone took it, brought it to my house and then removed it.”
“Why? What’s the motive?” Torres wanted to know.
“I don’t know,” Jamie admitted. “But I saw it with my own eyes and held it in my hands before it vanished.”
Austin chimed in. “I talked to Doc Baines and his nurse today. Both claim innocence. I have to say I can’t see either one of them taking the buckle to Sheriff English’s house then removing it.”
“If they didn’t, who did?” Torres asked.
“My attacker.” Jamie grimaced. “Whoever that may be.”
“Who would want to hurt you?” Carver grinned without warmth. “You being so popular and all.”
“Probably the same guy who murdered Kate Hollenbreck.” Daralee shuddered. “You’re lucky to be alive.”
“We don’t know that,” Austin said. “It may have been him, or it might have been the guy who’s taking these women. Or it could have been someone completely different.” He looked around the room. “I talked to Doc Baines today. He didn’t recover any DNA off Kate’s body, but he did tell me he thought she may have been raped by someone smart enough to use a condom.”
“Why rape? Why couldn’t it have been just sex?” Carver made a crude motion with his fingers, circling them and sliding a pen through them. “Some gals like it rough.”
Austin frowned. “Maybe, but by all accounts, Ms. Hollenbreck wasn’t that kind of lady. There was some tearing and bruising that leads Doc to believe it was probably a rape. He also told me she died of strangulation. Someone choked her to death. She fought hard to stay alive. Her nails are broken, but there’s nothing under them.”
“What a horrible thing,” Daralee said. “All alone out there with no one to hear her, or to help.”
“We can’t dwell on that,” Jamie said sharper than she meant to. Daralee’s words conjured up images she didn’t want stuck in her head. “What we’ve got to do is figure this out, and fast.”
“Are there any clues at your place?” Torres wanted to know.
“I looked, but didn’t find anything,” Austin said. “Except the bloody shovel somebody used to hit Sheriff English. There are no fingerprints. Whoever used it wore gloves. They also left no footprints. It looked to me like they wore baggies over their shoes.”
Tad snorted. “Sounds like an episode of CSI.”
Austin pinned him with a hard look. “We’re not messing with an amateur here. Someone is smart and very dangerous.”
“So how do you propose we outsmart him?” Jinx asked. “So far, this guy—or guys—are winning. We’re so far behind we may never catch up.”
“We have to catch up,” Daralee said. “Before anyone else dies.”
“Let’s brainstorm,” Jamie said. “What do the women who have gone missing and Kate have in common?”
Jinx shook his head. “Other than being women, not a thing.”
Torres repeated what they all knew. “Three Caucasian, one American Indian and one Mexican. Ages range from sixteen to thirty-four. All different hair colors and body types. Single and married. There is no pattern.”
“What about employment?” Jamie made a no
te on her paper. “Any of them work together or have parents or siblings who work together?”
“No,” Carver said. “I checked.”
Jamie sighed. “We’re stuck on square one.”
“What about drugs?” Austin asked. “Any of these women have a problem with dope? I checked with Mark Boyd at the bar and he said Rosie didn’t have a drug problem, but I’m not sure he was telling me the truth.”
“I can’t see Monique Ayers using,” Jamie said. “By all accounts, she was the all-American girl with the new baby.”
“Could she have been taking something illegal to help her lose the baby weight?” Daralee looked at each of them. “It’s a big deal to some women to get thin right away. Maybe Monique was one of them.”
“Even if that’s the case with Monique, Carly and Tina were both skinny teenagers,” Jamie said. “Without weight issues.”
“According to my son, they weren’t wild girls,” Daralee said. “Not dope users, anyway. He said they may have smoked pot a time or two and drank booze at parties, but not anything out of the ordinary.”
“Even if all these girls did have some kind of drug problem, and I don’t think they did, Kate didn’t.” Jamie looked around the room. “I think we’re grasping at straws here.”
Austin shifted in his chair. “Actually, she might have.”
Jamie glared at him. “Since when?’
He met her eyes evenly. “Doc found traces of cocaine under and in her nose during the autopsy.”
“Cocaine?” Jamie couldn’t believe it. She’d never known a straighter arrow than Kate.
“Powdered sugar, too.”
She waited for the punch line, but none came. “And this makes her an addict?”
He shrugged. “No, it doesn’t. But most people don’t snort powdered sugar. I think she may have thought she was sniffing coke and was tricked.”
“That’s a stretch,” Jinx said. “Maybe she just had a powdered donut for breakfast and some of it got on her face.”
“She probably didn’t inhale her breakfast,” Austin said mildly. “She was bone thin, almost anorexic.”
“Kate’s always been small,” Jamie told him. She was not going to believe one of her friends was a dope head. If she hadn’t seen that, what good was she as a policewoman?
“The blood work isn’t back from the lab yet,” Austin said. “We’ll find out more then.”
Daralee spoke up. “Drug dealers sometimes give their clients some kind of white powder, instead of coke if they want to make a point. Sometimes it’s something deadly like Ajax or ground up mouse poison.”
Jamie shuddered. “Even if Kate was snorting coke, and I doubt she was, how does this tie in with the other four? Why would it make them all disappear?” She looked around the table. “We’re going to interview people again, this time with an emphasis on drugs. Daralee, can I talk to your son again?” She nodded. “Okay. You go to see Monique’s husband. Carver, you go see Carly’s mom. Varner, since you speak Spanish, talk to the Vallejos family. I’m going to visit with Walter White Hawk.”
Jamie pushed back from her chair and stood. She glanced at her watch. “It’s not that late. We should all be able to see someone tonight. Everyone, call me if you find anything interesting. I’m not going to be in the office tomorrow. We’ll meet here at eight a.m. the day after tomorrow. And, Deputy Torres? Would you and Deputy Jenkins please do your regular duties?”
The meeting broke up and everyone left, except Tad, who dragged his feet, and Austin. He asked Jamie, “Are we still going to the White Forest? We’ve lost a day. We should go before the tracks get any fainter.”
Tad turned from the doorway where he’d been standing. “What’s up there?”
“Whoever killed Kate rode away from the scene toward the trees,” Jamie told him. “I want to follow those tracks and see where they lead.”
“I could do it,” Tad offered.
“That’s okay,” Jamie said. “I want to do this one myself.”
He acted as if he wanted to say something else, then gave a small wave and followed the rest of the team.
“Do you need me to tag along when you talk to the old Indian fellow?” Austin glanced at his cell phone then at Jamie.
“No. Walter won’t hurt me,” she assured him. “He’s a hundred years old if he’s a day.”
He chuckled, the sound washing over her. “Really?”
“Really.”
“Then I won’t worry about you.”
A warm ribbon curled through her stomach at his words. He worried about her? “You don’t need to. I’m fine.”
“What time do you want to go tomorrow?” he asked as they walked outside together.
She stopped at her truck. “Meet me at my house by eight, and bring a lunch. We can trailer to the spot where we found Kate and ride from there. It’ll be a long trip.”
“Too long for an old man like me?”
Old wasn’t a definition she attributed to Austin Varner. Probably thirty-five or so. He was big, strong, virile. He reeked of sexual confidence. He stood so close and smelled so good, it was all she could do not to throw her arms around his neck and kiss him senseless. Instead, she smiled a little. “I think you’ll make it okay. For an old guy.”
He chuckled. “Good to hear.”
His low laughter sent a thrill coursing through her so primal and so hot she shivered. His concerned expression let her know he noticed.
“You okay?”
“Uh-huh.” She fumbled for the doorhandle, anxious to get away. “I better go if I’m going to talk to Walter tonight.”
“I’m going to do some background research on a few people.” He reached for the door handle at the same time she did and his larger hand covered hers. A zing of hot awareness went straight to her lower belly. She couldn’t remember a time she’d been so conscious of a man. A glance at him from under her Stetson, and the look in his eyes made her mouth go dry. If they hadn’t been standing in a public place, with who knew how many eyes on them, they would have been climbing into the backseat of her truck in seconds.
He spoke first. “You better go.”
But he held his hand over hers.
She tipped her head back further and wet her lips with the tip of her tongue. “Austin. I—”
“You need to get out of here before I do something we’ll both regret.” He removed his hand from hers and moved back a step.
Jamie fumbled with the door and somehow got it open. She climbed into the pickup without seeing and started the engine. She had to get away before she threw herself on him and made a fool out of herself. She pulled out of the driveway too fast and turned onto the street, tires peeling.
Good lord, what kind of example was she setting? Almost kissing a co-worker in public, then tearing away from him like some love struck teenager? She tapped the brakes and slowed to a reasonable speed.
A quick glance in the rearview mirror showed her face glowing red as fire.
How was she going to face him tomorrow when she’d just made such a fool out of herself? She wasn’t a teenager anymore. She was a grown woman, a mom. Not a horny kid who could give into hormones. Austin was hot as hell, a dead woman would notice, but he wasn’t a good risk for her heart. She wasn’t going to bed with him with no strings attached.
She doubted he wanted more than that.
And she wouldn’t take less.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Jamie followed the familiar road to Kate Hollenbreck’s ranch, fighting the lump in her throat. How had one of her oldest neighbors and friends been a cocaine addict and she not known? Had she been that selfish and out of touch? Sadly, yes.
Big Jim knew what he was doing by putting her in charge of this investigation. He was making her grow up. Face not only raising Dani on her own, but handling grown men who didn’t especially care for her position. Jamie hoped she was up to the task. Taking on a full blown investigation was a lot of responsibility for any lawman, much less one fresh off the streets,
but she was determined not to let Big Jim down.
Kate’s one-story log house came into sight and Jamie took a deep breath. She parked by the barn and before she could exit the truck, Walter came around the corner of the corral, leading a paint colt.
Jamie stepped out and waved at him.
He acknowledged her with a nod.
She joined him at the gate where he turned the colt loose. “Hello, Walter.”
“Sheriff.”
“It’s Jamie.”
His tone was formal. “Jamie.”
“Did someone tell you about Kate?” She placed a hand on his frail shoulder.
“Your deputy did.” His eyes were barely visible in the creases of his face, but she thought she saw tears.
“Which one?”
“You don’t know?” He latched the gate and carefully wrapped the halter rope around his arm.
“No.”
“Deputy Torres.” The old man turned toward the barn. Jamie matched her steps to his slow, short ones. “He brought such sad news.”
“Yes.” She fought tears again. Damn. “Where will you go?”
“Go?” He stopped and together they looked at the valley below. “I won’t leave here.”
“But surely the ranch will be sold?” Her heart twisted at the thought.
“Katie left it to the land conservation people a long time ago.” He studied the halter in his wrinkled hands as if he’d never seen it before. “She was afraid of losing it.”
“Why?” Her heart pounded in her throat. “She wasn’t getting by with the cows?”
“She was doing fine with the cows.” He shuffled toward the barn again. “But it was the fear of losing this place before her death that made her sign the ranch over to the land people.”
Jamie again matched her strides to his, no easy feat with her long legs. “If she was doing okay with the cows, why would she lose her land?”
Walter stopped again. “She feared them taking what her father built and she struggled so hard to hold onto.”
“Who, Walter? Who would take Katie’s ranch?”
He shrugged, his thin shoulder rising and falling. “I don’t know. She just said she wouldn’t let them steal it away because of her bad judgment. Then she talked to the land people. When she came back, she said her father’s legacy was safe and I had a home and job here for as long as I lived. I will manage it now.”
