Cindi Myers - Saved By The Sheriff

Chapter Four

Travis waited while Tammy Patterson snapped another photo of the red Camry with its nose buried in the pile of crumbling brick that had once been the front wall of the Cake Walk Café. She stepped back and gave him a grateful smile. “Thanks, Sheriff. This is going to look great on the front page of the next issue.”

“I’ll want a copy of those pictures for my insurance company.” Iris Desmet, owner of the Cake Walk, joined Tammy and Travis on the sidewalk.

“Sure thing, Ms. Desmet,” Tammy said. “And I’m really sorry about the café. I didn’t mean to sound like this accident was good news or anything.”

“I know you didn’t, dear.” Iris patted Tammy’s shoulder. “I’m just relieved no one was hurt. It was our slow time of day and I didn’t have anyone sitting up front.”

Tammy pulled out her notebook and began scribbling away. Twenty-three but looking about fifteen, Tammy was working her very first job out of college for the tiny Eagle Mountain Examiner . What she lacked in experience, she made up for in enthusiasm. “The paramedic told me they think the driver of the car is going to be okay, too. They think he had some kind of episode with his blood sugar.”

“Better confirm that with the hospital before you go printing it,” Travis said.

“Oh, yes, sir. I sure will.” She flashed another smile and hurried away, no doubt thrilled to have something more exciting to write about than the town council’s budget meeting or the school board’s decision to remove soda machines from the lunchroom.

Iris moved closer to Travis. “Do you think the guy will lose his license over this?” she asked, nodding toward the pile of rubble.

“I don’t know,” Travis said. “Maybe. Either way, he’s probably going to have trouble finding someone to insure him.”

“I hope he’s got good insurance,” Iris said.

“I guess you’ll have to close the café for a while, to remodel,” Travis said.

“I imagine so. Then again, I’ve been thinking how nice it would be to visit my sister for a few days. She and her husband live up on Lake Coeur d’Alene, in Idaho. Pretty country up there. Still, it’ll be hard on my employees.”

“I’ll keep my ears open, let you know if I hear of anyone looking for short-term help, until you can get open again.”

“Thanks, Sheriff.” She looked him up and down. “And how are you doing?”

“I’m fine.”

“I guess it’s a load off your mind, with Lacy Milligan being home again, out of prison.”

“I’m glad she’s home,” he said, cautious.

“But now you’re back to the question you started with—who killed Andy Stenson?”

“I’m working on that,” he said. “Do you have any ideas?”

“No. But I’ve been thinking, the way you do when you live alone and wake up in the middle of the night and can’t sleep. I’ve always wondered about that woman.”

“What woman?” Travis asked.

“The dark-haired one Wade testified he saw going into Andy’s office shortly before Andy was killed,” Iris said. “If it wasn’t Lacy—and I guess it wasn’t, since she was at that basketball game—but if it wasn’t her, who was it?”

“Maybe it was Andy’s killer,” Travis said. “Or someone who saw the killer. But again—we don’t know who it was. Do you have any ideas?”

“Maybe look for a client of Andy’s who fits that description?” Iris shook her head. “I know I’m not helping, I just like to think about these things.”

“Well, if you think of anything else, let me know,” Travis said.

He walked back to his SUV and drove to the office. Adelaide rose to meet him. “Sheriff—”

“Not now, Adelaide,” he said. “I’m not in the mood to talk.”

“But, Sheriff—”

He walked past her, into his office, and collided with Lacy Milligan.

As collisions went, this one was more pleasurable than most, he thought, as he wrapped his arms around Lacy to steady them both. She squirmed against him, giving him plenty of opportunity to enjoy the sensation of her soft curves sliding against him. But he wasn’t the kind to take advantage of the situation. As soon as he was certain neither of them was going to fall, he released his hold on her. “What can I do for you, Lacy?” he asked.

“Do for me? You’ve done enough for me,” she said, voice rising along with the flush of pink to her cheeks. “I want you to stop. I want you to leave me alone.”

Aware of Adelaide’s sharp ears attuned to every word, Travis reached back and shut the door to his office. “Let’s sit down and you can tell me what this is about. Is there something specific I’ve done that has you so upset?”

He lowered himself into the chair behind his desk, but she remained mobile, prowling the small office like a caged animal. “Alvin Exeter,” she said. “How could you even think of talking to that man about me?”

Travis squinted, thinking. “Who is Alvin Exeter?”

“He’s a horrible man who says he’s writing a book about me—about what happened to me. He said he has an appointment to talk with you.”

Travis picked up his phone and pressed the button to ring Adelaide. She picked up right away and he put her on speaker. “Do you want me to bring in coffee for you and your guest?” she asked.

“No. Do I have an appointment with someone named Alvin Exeter tomorrow?”

“Two days from now, 9:30 a.m.”

“So you asked me if I wanted to talk to this Exeter guy and I said yes?”

He could picture her scowl as she assumed her chilliest schoolmarm tone. “I didn’t have to ask you. You have a stated open-door policy for citizens who want to speak to you.”

So he did. “What does he want to talk to me about?” Travis asked.

“He said he’s writing a human interest story on rural law enforcement.”

“Thanks.” Travis hung up the phone and looked at Lacy. “Did you get all that?”

“You really didn’t know you had an appointment with him?”

“No.” Which perhaps made him look like a poor manager in her eyes, but better than looking like a traitor. “And, apparently, Adelaide didn’t know the real reason behind the appointment. He lied about his purpose in wanting to see me.”

“Are you still going to talk to him?”

“Only to tell him to leave you alone. That’s really all I can do. I can’t keep him from approaching other people and asking them questions. Though if he bothers you again, I can arrest him for harassment.”

She dropped into a chair and glared at him. The memory of her warmth still clung to him, making him conscious of the short distance between them, of how beautiful and prickly and vulnerable she was—and how mixed up and charged his feelings for her were.

“You really are making this difficult, you know?” she said.

“Making what difficult?”

“For me to hate you. I spent the last three years building you up in my mind as this horrible monster and now that you’re here, in front of me, you insist on being so...so decent!”

He told himself he wouldn’t laugh. He wouldn’t even smile. “If anyone bothers you—Exeter or anyone else—let me know,” he said. “I’ve got your back.”

“I don’t need you to be my bodyguard,” she said.

“My job is to protect the citizens of this county, and you’re one of them.”

“So that’s what I am to you, then? Your job?”

“No.” She was his biggest regret. His responsibility, even. He’d helped ruin her life and now he felt obligated to help her put it back together. If she had asked he would have found her a job or given her money, but she wouldn’t ask for those things—she wouldn’t take them if he offered. But he could do everything in his power to protect her—to shield her from the aftereffects of the damage he’d done to her. He couldn’t tell her any of that, so instead, he tapped the badge on his chest. “You’re someone I hurt and I want to make that up to you, but mostly, I want to make sure you aren’t hurt again.”