Paula Graves - Bachelor Sheriff

He’d seen people destroy themselves—

“Is my car here or not?” Melissa’s impatient voice interrupted him.

“It’s out front.” His voice emerged in a low growl. “Deputy Clayton dropped it off about an hour ago. You’re free to go anywhere you want, as long as you don’t leave the area. We’re going to have more questions for you.”

He grabbed his phone and his notebook, stuffing both in the pocket of his leather jacket. The faint smell of smoke assailed his nostrils, reminding him how she’d looked earlier that morning in the cab of his truck, all big blue eyes and shaky bravado. He’d better run by his house to get another jacket, he decided, or he might not get any work done the rest of the day.

“You’re leaving?” She trailed him to the door.

He paused in the doorway, surprised to find her standing so close. “I need to type up the report and check on some other cases we’re working. If you need anything, give me a call.” He leaned forward, telling himself it wasn’t to get a better whiff of her heady scent. “And if you suddenly remember who might have wanted to hurt you, you know where to find me.”

Her eyes met his, full of secrets. When she didn’t answer, he forced himself to turn and leave.

In the cab of his truck, he took a couple of long, deep breaths. Grabbing his phone from his pocket, he dialed the number of the Betancourt Law Firm in Maybridge and asked for Tina Lewis, a lawyer he’d gone out with a few months earlier.

“Hey, Tina, it’s Aaron,” he said when she answered. “What are you doing tomorrow night?”

MELISSA’S BOSS, Carter Morgan, insisted she take the whole day off. “You’ve probably got a million things to take care of. Where are you now—at home?”

“I’m staying at a friend’s house on Gossamer Lake.” Melissa glanced at Jasper, who was whining softly at the front door of the cottage. “Are you sure you don’t need me to come in? With Alice off this week, you’ll be shorthanded.” She willed Carter to say yes. Hanging around the cottage all day, waiting for Aaron Cooper to decide to arrest her after all, would drive her insane.

Besides, she wasn’t sure she could even trust him.

“You don’t have any cases going to court this week. Take the rest of the week off, too, if you need it,” Carter insisted, his tone almost fatherly. “You can come back fresh and prepared on Monday.”

“I’ll be there tomorrow,” Melissa insisted. She hung up the phone with a growl of frustration. So much for using work to distract herself today.

Of course, there was always Domestic Crisis Center work to be done. She had a list of clients she could call to check on. There were two child custody cases pending, and another woman had taken a restraining order out on her boyfriend recently. Melissa should probably check with her to see if he was complying with the order.

She’d made a couple of calls and was about to check on the woman with the restraining order when Jasper jumped into her lap and started whining. “I guess you’re about ready to go outside, aren’t you, big boy?” She scratched behind his soft, floppy ears and set him on the floor, tucking her phone into the pocket of her jeans.

Outside, with the day creeping toward noon, the temperature had risen high enough that the cardigan she’d donned before leaving the cottage was sufficient to keep her comfortable. She was tempted to settle down in the weathered wooden rocker on the cottage’s front porch to make the rest of her calls. What a difference from the previous night’s frigid cold and discomfort.

Jasper began to bark wildly, his tail wagging with canine joy. It took Melissa a few seconds to spot what Jasper had clearly seen moments before: a pretty young woman walking up the path to the house, a baby on her hip.

Aaron’s sister Hannah, Melissa realized as the woman came closer. She’d been a couple of years behind Melissa in school. Like Aaron, Hannah had moved in a different social circle, but Melissa’s memory of the youngest Cooper was positive. In high school, at least, Hannah had been the rare kind of person who’d related easily to anyone she’d met.

Hannah looked a lot like her brother Aaron, though smaller and much more feminine. Her eyes were green, not gray like Aaron’s, but they had the same ridiculously long, dark lashes and bright inquisitiveness. And the woman’s square jaw was also clearly a Cooper trait.

“Hi, Melissa.” She smiled brightly, ignoring Jasper’s barks. “I don’t know if you remember me—I’m Hannah Cooper. Well, Patterson now. Aaron’s sister.” She grinned at the puppy. “And this must be Jasper.”

“I remember you.” Melissa smiled back at her, surprised to feel instantly at ease. “And yes, Mr. Manners here is Jasper. Who really needs to stop barking anytime now,” she added with a hint of frustration in her voice.

“Jasper, hush,” Hannah said in a forceful tone. The puppy quieted down immediately, gazing up at Hannah with a look of sheer adoration, his tail wagging merrily.

“How did you do that?” Melissa asked, incredulous.

“You just have to let them know you mean business. Sort of like dealing with brothers, too.”

The baby, who’d handled Jasper’s yapping without a whimper, began to cry when the puppy stopped barking. Hannah laughed. “Poor Cody—the only thing that scares him is peace and quiet. Luckily, he doesn’t get much of that around here.”

Melissa shook off her darker musing. “He’s adorable. Is he yours?”

Hannah beamed. “Yeah, he’s my little wrangler. My husband wanted to name him after a town back in Wyoming. That’s where Riley’s from.”

“Oh, right. I heard you’d married a cowboy.”

Hannah’s grin broadened, but before she could answer, Melissa’s cell phone rang. Melissa grabbed it, murmuring a quick apology to Hannah. She noted with amusement that the phone’s loud ring had quieted Cody immediately.

“Melissa Draper.”

“Melissa, it’s Dinah Harris.”

Melissa’s amusement faded quickly. Dinah was one of her clients, a woman whose husband Terry had a nasty temper. Melissa had helped Dinah get a restraining order against Terry a couple of months earlier. “Hi, Dinah. Is something wrong?”

“I need to talk to you. Can you get here before noon?” Though nothing she said denoted alarm, Dinah’s voice sounded tight and worried. Melissa didn’t like the sound of it.

“I’ll be right there.” She hung up and looked down at Jasper, who was still gazing lovingly at Hannah.

“Everything okay?” Hannah asked.

“A client needs to see me. She sounds worried, so I need to go. But I forgot about Jasper. I don’t want to leave him alone in the cottage in case he has an accident.”

“Leave him with Cody and me. We’ll take him with us down to the bait shop to visit Mom and Dad. He’ll love it.” Hannah reached for Jasper’s leash.

“Are you sure?” Melissa asked.

“Positive.” Hannah took the leash with a genuine smile. “I’ll see if I can teach him a few tricks before you get back.” She started off down the path toward the lakeside marina, Jasper trotting along beside her without so much as a backward glance.

“Traitor,” Melissa muttered with a grin, but her humor fled as soon as she got behind the wheel of her Volkswagen. The worry in Dinah’s voice might mean nothing.

But if Terry Harris was back in her life, it could very well mean murder.

“She’s squeaky clean.” Aaron’s brother-in-law and fellow deputy Riley Patterson handed Aaron a file folder. “Her insurance agent says she barely has enough coverage on the house to pay for the repairs. She’s never shown any signs of being an attention seeker. Damned if I can see where she had a motive to burn down her own house.”