Forgiven Justice (Cowboy Justice Association Book 14)

by Olivia Jaymes

  “Or not. Two bodies don’t make a serial killer. I know you enjoy a good murder mystery—“

  “So do you.”

  “But I don’t want to jump to any conclusions.”

  She didn’t either but her curiosity was definitely piqued.

  “Do you have the case file?”

  He peered over his soda can. “Do you want to see it?”

  “Yes.”

  “I just have a couple of photos. Drake is supposed to send me more this afternoon. When I get it, I’ll show it to you. Maybe you’ll see something I didn’t.”

  It was possible. She was no stranger to murder.

  “You don’t really want to go to Corville, do you?”

  “I don’t think I’ve made a secret of that. Do you want to go? Because I don’t think you like our hometown any more than I do. We go because your dad still lives there and you want to see him now and then.”

  When Ava’s parents had finally divorced, her mother Carol had moved close to them to be near their grandchildren. Even so, she spent six months of the year near her other daughter Mary so that everything would be equal. Mary wouldn’t have it any other way. She’d been quite vocal when Carol had moved from Corville about how now her mother would never visit because she didn’t have any children. Of course, Mary didn’t call Ava to tell her this. She just vented to Carol who had to pass that message on to Ava.

  Because Mary blamed Logan and Ava for losing her husband. And all their money. And status. And whatever else Mary had conjured up in her head as reasons for marrying into the Bryson family.

  Ava was sorry that her sister was a widow. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to lose her own husband. Nightmarish at the very least.

  But Lyle had been killed before Logan had gone back to Corville to catch Wade Bryson. Again. There wasn’t anything they could do when everyone didn’t want to blame a crazy serial killer, and instead took out their aggressions on a loyal, hardworking man who had risked his life to bring Wade’s spree killing to a stop.

  Ava had almost lost her best friend in the world - Kaylee. She’d been shot and it had only been the miracles of modern medicine that had saved her life.

  There was only one person at fault for all the murder and mayhem. Wade Bryson.

  He’d been six feet under for many years now, almost a decade. Yet, he kept intruding into their lives somehow from the grave.

  I’m getting real tired of him.

  “I don’t want to go there either,” Ava admitted freely. “But this sounds serious. What if they need you?”

  “They won’t need me. Eli or Chris can handle this. It’s not a serial killer. And even if it was, the guys are perfectly capable of dealing with it. This wouldn’t be their first.” He gave her a strange look and shook his head. “Less than twenty-four hours ago you were complaining I’m never home. Now you’re trying to get me out of the house and into Corville.”

  “I’m not trying to get rid of you. I’m just saying that Drake might need you. If he asks, will you go?”

  “It will all be fine,” Logan assured her. “There’s no reason for me to have to go there personally.”

  She hoped that was the case. Because there was one thing she knew for sure…

  Nothing good ever seemed to happen to them in Corville.

  The dead man was still and silent. Only minutes before his chest had been gurgling as the air, and life, slowly leaked out of his body. Now it was quiet and peaceful again.

  The hunger was assuaged, at least for now. It would come back again like it always did, stronger and fierce until he had no choice but to give in to it. He’d fought in the beginning but now it was a familiar feeling he welcomed. He knew it well. With each passing day, he wanted it more and more. It had given him more than anyone else ever had.

  He walked up the stairs to the kitchen, his throat parched and his body covered in sweat from his exertions. He downed a bottle of beer quickly, tossing it aside before reaching for a second and heading to the living room.

  He dropped down into his chair and then reached for the album and pen again. This time he placed an X over Reed Mitchell’s face. All the faces had been crossed out except for one. He was done. For now.

  All of this was simply a dress rehearsal. Practice. Hadn’t she always talked about practice making perfect? She’d said it so many times. Along with a place for everything, and everything in its place. He remembered her words so clearly, as if it was yesterday that he’d heard them. But it had actually been a long time since she’d said it. To him, anyway.

  He wasn’t ready for Logan yet. He wasn’t…perfect. It was still messy and sometimes too quick. Other times too slow.

  But he would be. It wouldn’t be long. And then he’d be ready for him. Him and all of his friends.

  Logan Wright.

  His fingertip rubbed over the other man’s face in the photo but he couldn’t rub him away. He was always there, not smiling in triumph but the arrogance, the sureness was in every line of his face. He and his friends were dripping with it. Cockiness. Determination. They thought they couldn’t lose.

  They were wrong. Dead wrong. They had no idea he was out here.

  He placed the picture back in the album and then reached into the back of it, pulling out a fresh photograph, identical to the first. He’d start all over, this time doing better. He’d plan more, take his time. He’d been in too much of a rush in the first round. He needed to be more patient. What was it she used to say? This wasn’t a race.

  Who would be first this time? The same one as last time, of course.

  Seth Reilly.

  8

  Logan was flipping burgers on the grill when his cell phone rang - Sheriff Drake from Corville.

  “Hey, I sent you a message,” Logan said, taking a swig from his water bottle. The grill was hot and the day was, too. “Eli’s on his way there. Caught a flight out mid-afternoon. He’ll be there by dinnertime.”

  “That’s good because we have a fucking mess here,” Drake said. “When we were searching the area for evidence, we found more bodies. Three more bodies, to be exact.”

  Three?

  “Are you sure—“

  “Trust me,” Drake cut in. “It’s the same guy and the same grisly modus operandi. Letters carved into their thighs. I have no idea what it means or what he’s trying to tell us.”

  “Eli has experience—“

  “We want you, Logan.”

  He’d had a feeling that Drake was heading in this direction.

  “I’ll send a guy to help Eli. I’ll send Chris, Tanner’s son.”

  There was a small silence before Drake replied.

  “It’s got to be you, man. The whole town wants you here. They don’t trust anyone else.”

  The town wanted him there? This was news.

  “Since when do the good citizens of Corville want Logan Wright around? They hate me and apparently everything I stand for. They blame me for whatever their lives have turned out to be and for some fucking reason they don’t blame the actual person at fault - Wade Bryson. He was the one running around killing people, not me. Whenever Ava and I step foot in that town, even if only for a few days, we get glares and nasty remarks. I don’t think they want me there.”

  “I’m telling you that your name is on everyone’s lips. They want you here. Shit, I want you here. I’ve never dealt with anything this big before. I have five dead bodies and not one suspect. I’m fucked here and I need your help. I won’t be able to keep this local. The national news is getting wind of this and then the pressure’s on to find the asshole who is doing this before he kills again.”

  And he would kill again. If he had a taste for it… He wasn’t going to give it up now.

  Logan didn’t like the fact that everyone was talking about him. They hadn’t wanted him in Corville for years but now that the shit hit the fan? They wanted him to run in and save them.

  I don’t owe them shit.

  “Listen, I need to think ab
out this,” he finally said. “Talk to Ava about it, and the guys, too. I can’t make any commitments to this. Personally, I don’t think that you need me there. I can help with the investigation from here.”

  “People need to see you be in charge. They need to feel safe because right now they’re scared to death.”

  Logan promised to call and hung up the phone. By then the hamburgers were done, and he placed them on a platter and carried them to the back patio table where Ava and Colt were setting the table. Brianna was inside the kitchen filling glasses.

  “Who was on the phone?” Ava asked.

  “Drake.”

  “Did you tell him Eli’s on his way?”

  “I did, but he wants me to come, too.”

  That caught his wife’s attention. She looked up at him, her forehead wrinkled as she tried to read between the lines of what he was saying and not saying.

  In front of their teenage son.

  “What did you say to him?”

  “That I’d have to talk to you about it.”

  “Why does he want you there?”

  Her tone was neutral but she could tell there was more to the story. Logan glanced at Colt, who seemed to be aware that something was going on. He’d paused on placing forks next to the plates and was watching the play by play between his parents.

  “They found three more. Apparently, the town is asking for me.”

  Ava’s eyes widened. “Three more? That makes five. Are they sure it’s the same person?”

  “I asked that as well. And yes, they are.”

  “Do you mean five dead bodies, Dad?”

  The question came from Colt and Logan should have known his son wasn’t stupid. They knew what he did for a living, although he tried to keep it out of his kids’ lives as much as possible. He and Ava had a rule. No talking about murder at the dinner table.

  It was a good rule, one they’d followed for a long time. But…the kids were getting older, as Ava was always telling him. Maybe it was time to let them in…a bit.

  “Yes, son. Five dead bodies found on the outskirts of Corville.”

  “And they want you to go there and find the killer?”

  “Yes, but I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”

  Colt nodded as if he understood. “Because the people there are mean to us.”

  Maybe he understood far more than Logan thought he did. He and Ava had always assumed that people were crappy to them, not their children.

  “Have they been mean to you, Colt?” Ava asked, apprehension in her voice. She’d be kicking herself if she thought she hadn’t protected her kids enough.

  “Not directly,” Colt replied with a shake of his head. “But I’ve heard them say stuff. Adults think that kids can’t hear what they’re saying but we totally can.”

  That was true.

  “Plus, I’ve seen how they treat you,” Colt went on. “They act like they don’t like you very much.”

  “They don’t like us very much,” Ava sighed. “They blame us for hurting the town. When Wade Bryson went to prison it hurt the Bryson family business, and that in turn hurt the town.”

  “But none of that is your fault,” Colt said. “You caught him.”

  “Wade Bryson is dead,” Logan explained. “They can’t be mad at him. But your mother and I? We’re alive and kicking so they can turn that hate onto us. We’re convenient.”

  “And now they want you to find another murderer?”

  “Yes, they do.”

  “And you’re thinking about it?”

  “I am. I’m not in a hurry to go back to Corville and be vilified again. I can always work the case from here. I don’t need to be there, but your Uncle Drake says that the town needs to see me. That they’re scared and having me there will make them feel better.”

  “And you don’t want to go?”

  Logan glanced at Ava and then back at his son. “Past experience has told me that it won’t be a pleasant trip.”

  “But you’re thinking about it?” Colt persisted. “You might go?”

  “I might,” Logan conceded.

  Nodding, Colt began to set the table again. “I think you should go.”

  Ava appeared surprised, as was Logan. “You do? Why? Are you trying to get rid of your old man?”

  He tried to turn it into a joke but Colt didn’t crack a smile, instead shaking his head.

  “You should go because they need you,” he said. “Because it’s the right thing to do. They’re scared and there’s a killer out there. You can catch him.”

  “Other people can catch him, too. I’m not the only one.”

  “But they want you. Just go there and let them see you. It will make them feel better and be less scared. If I were living in Corville, I’d be scared and it would be good to know that you were helping to find the person that was killing people.”

  It was such a simple statement but it held so much meaning. Colt had boiled the entire problem down into a sentence. If showing his face meant a calmer town, was it really too much to ask? Logan was used to people being nasty to him. That was nothing new. He could take it for a day or two.

  He couldn’t deny that the case intrigued him as well. Another serial killer in the same small town? It was mind-blowingly strange. A zombie apocalypse had a better chance of happening.

  “I suppose a few days wouldn’t hurt,” Ava said, a guarded expression on her face. “We can hold the fort down here. Can’t we, Colt?”

  “Sure we can,” his son agreed easily. “Although…it would be so cool if I could go, too.”

  What? Hell, no. No. Just…no.

  “You have school tomorrow,” Ava said, patting Colt’s arm. “Finals. You only have a few days left and then it’s summer vacation. You can’t take off now.”

  Logan was floored that Colt even wanted to go. Why?

  “Do you miss your Grandpa Bruce?”

  Colt shrugged. “Sure…I mean, I like visiting him, but that’s not why I wanted to go. I wanted to see you work.”

  For years, Logan had been telling Ava that he wasn’t sure he wanted his children to follow in his footsteps. Law enforcement wasn’t for everyone and, depending on the type, could be dangerous. So this sudden interest in his career wasn’t exactly welcomed. A few months ago Colt had wanted to be a cyber security expert, which to Logan sounded like a good career with excellent pay. Last year Colt had wanted to be a YouTube star, a career that Logan frankly didn’t even fucking understand.

  “Another time,” Logan said. “If you’re serious, maybe you can help out in the office this summer. Make a few extra bucks.”

  There was nothing like boring office work to scare the poor kid off of law enforcement and boring investigations.

  Colt grinned. “That would be cool.”

  “What would be cool?”

  Brianna stood in the back doorway frowning, holding a platter of filled glasses of lemonade.

  “I get to help Dad at the office this summer.”

  Brianna’s gaze ran from Colt to Logan to Ava and then back at her brother.

  “I want to help, too. But…I want to help Mom. Maybe help with research or something.”

  Ava looked as shocked as he felt. They’d never expressed interest like this before.

  Did they just want to make some money? They were at that age. Even helping Logan at a boring office had to be better than flipping burgers.

  “I’m sure we can work something out,” Ava said, placing the last plate on the table. “We can talk more when school is done. Right now you both need to be focusing on finals this week. Now let’s sit down and eat, please.”

  This day had been full of surprises. Corville, his kids.

  Should he go? Would he go?

  Drake was a good friend, and Logan believed in loyalty to his friends. If Drake was asking, then he needed to be there.

  He was going to Corville. But for the shortest duration possible.

  He was crazy as hell, but he wasn’t a masochist.

&nb
sp; 9

  Kaylee stared into the refrigerator hoping for some sudden inspiration. It was dinnertime - actually a little past it - and she had no idea what to cook. She’d been heads down over her laptop all afternoon working on her and Ava’s latest book and had only stumbled out a few minutes ago tired and hungry.

  I’m a terrible parent. I need to feed my children.

  Her children. She’d never thought she’d be able to say those words but here she was. She and Reed had stayed by themselves for awhile but eventually had decided to try to adopt. They’d specifically wanted to adopt an older child as those were more difficult to place.

  They’d gone to so many “mixers” and “picnics” with adoptable children hoping to find their match and then one day they had. It was as if Samantha had been sent just for them. At seven years old, she’d been completely adorable with her long dark hair and bright blue eyes. Kaylee thought she looked a little like Reed.

  When they’d started talking to her over a cheeseburger and potato chips they’d simply fallen in love with the young girl. They immediately wanted to continue with visits to see if they were compatible.

  What they hadn’t realized was that Samantha was part of a set. She had an older brother Josh who was twelve and extremely protective of his little sister. Even before they’d been put in foster care because of their drug-addicted parents, Josh had taken a parental role in Samantha’s life, making sure she had food, went to school, took a bath, brushed her teeth, and went to bed at night. He’d been the steady constant instead of their mother and father, causing him to grow up far too soon.

  But it hadn’t taken long to fall in love with Josh as well. He was quiet, serious, and clearly intelligent. So intelligent that they’d had the school test him and it turned out he was basically a genius.

  My son is smarter than me. Not such a bad thing. But I need to keep on my toes.

  There was one thing he didn’t know, however, and that was how to be a kid. Kaylee didn’t know how many times she’d had encouraged him to let loose and just have some fun. It hadn’t been easy for him. For the longest time he’d still been in vigilant-mode, thinking he needed to watch over Samantha. She was happy to see in the last year that he was beginning to relax, letting Kaylee and Reed be the parents.