Sandra Robbins - Stalking Season

Her face grew warm and she tugged her hand loose. “Okay. Luke it is.”

“I’ll drop by the ranch tomorrow and see how things are going with you. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to call if you need me.” He pulled his card from his pocket and handed it to her. “My number’s on there, and you can call me anytime.”

“Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Luke cleared his throat and held out his hand toward the door. “Now if you’re ready, I’ll drive you back to your truck.”

A slight frown pulled at her forehead. “Don’t you need to clock out of your shift? I can wait until you get done.”

“I’ll come back and do that after I deliver you to your truck,”

“Very well. Let’s go so you can get back. I’m afraid I’ve already delayed you long enough,” she said as she headed toward the door.

“It goes with the job, Cheyenne.” She gave a nod and turned toward the door, but his voice stopped her. “One more thing. Would you mind giving me your cell phone? I’ll have our tech guys check it to see if they can trace where today’s texts and calls came from.”

“Sure,” she said as she pulled it from her pocket and dropped it in his hand.

His fingers closed around it. “I’ll get this back to you as soon as I can.”

“I’m glad for you to have it if it will help any.”

They didn’t speak again as they walked back to his squad car. The traffic wasn’t as bad as it had been earlier, and before she knew it they’d reached the parking lot where she’d left her truck. When the cruiser stopped, Luke swiveled in the seat, looped his arm over the steering wheel and smiled. “It’s been a pleasure meeting you even if I did almost kill you. I hope we meet under happier circumstances.”

Her heart gave a small lurch at the way his eyes sparkled as he looked at her. “I hope so, too,” she said. She opened the door and stepped out of his car.

A few minutes later she was in her truck and driving down the main thoroughfare of town. She looked in the rearview mirror and smiled at the sight of Luke trailing along behind her in his car. When she came to the turnoff to the road that would take her to the ranch, she glanced back again. He flipped the headlights on and then off, as if he was signaling goodbye, and then he drove away toward the police station.

For the first time in years she felt a small prick of something that might be called pleasure. It had been so long since she’d had anything to be happy about that she almost didn’t recognize it. Then she smiled. If Luke Conrad was any indication of the kind of people who lived in this area, then she was going to enjoy being here.

As suddenly as the thought struck her, she shook her head and gritted her teeth. There was never going to be happiness in her life until the monster who’d stalked her and killed her parents was behind bars. Maybe then she’d be able to live a normal life like other people. But until then she had to be on her guard every minute. She couldn’t let thoughts of handsome deputies or anything else blind her to the fact that she was never going to be safe until her mysterious stalker was caught.

* * *

Luke’s thoughts centered on Cheyenne Cassidy all the way back to the sheriff’s office. He couldn’t get the young woman with the flashing brown eyes and silky auburn hair out of his mind. With her jeans and boots she’d certainly looked like a cowgirl, but there was a fragile quality about her that made his breath catch in his throat.

He groaned and raked his hand through his hair. What was the matter with him? He would not let himself repeat the mistake he’d made when he’d first become a deputy. He’d been warned not to become personally involved with the people in his cases, but he hadn’t listened.

He’d let his heart rule his head when he’d taken a special interest in Jasmine after she’d been robbed at gunpoint at the convenience store where she worked.

She had seemed fragile, too, and she’d turned out to be about as delicate as an 18-wheeler. She’d leaned heavily on him for support in the weeks following the robbery, and he’d fallen head over heels for her. He’d thought she cared for him, too, until the day the owner of the convenience store called to say that Jasmine was missing along with a hefty sum of money from the cash register.

She and her male companion were arrested a few weeks later in South Carolina. They’d been stopped for a traffic violation and a bench warrant for Jasmine’s arrest showed up when they searched her name. It didn’t take long for her to confess that the man with her was the one who’d robbed the convenience store, and she’d been in on the robbery all along.

After that, Luke had decided he was going to be careful. His job was to offer professional help—and nothing more. There would be no other Jasmines for him. He liked his life too well the way it was now to put himself through something like that again.

There was no doubt, however, that Cheyenne needed help, but right now he wasn’t sure how to proceed. He pulled into the parking lot and sat there a moment recalling all the things Cheyenne had told him, then got out and walked inside. Clara still sat at her desk and looked up as he came in the door. When he walked inside, she looked up from her computer and smiled. “Hi, Luke. Are you ready to clock out?”

“Not yet. I have some reports to finish.”

“Okay,” she said as she leaned forward in her chair and glanced from side to side as if to see if anyone was listening. Then she spoke in a soft voice. “I noticed when I came in this morning that there had been a call about a domestic disturbance over at Bruce and Linda Carter’s house last night. Ben took the call, but he didn’t say much about it. Did you happen to hear anything today?”

Luke tried to keep from grinning. Clara had a reputation in town as the local gossip, and she was always on the lookout for more information. Ben Whitman, the sheriff, had warned her several times about questioning the officers about the calls they answered, but it did no good. Clara felt it was her duty to keep the good folks in town aware of what was going on around them.

“Sorry, Clara, I haven’t heard anything about that. I’m sure if it was anything serious Sheriff Whitman would have told you.”

She settled back in her chair and pursed her lips. “I suppose so, but I never have trusted that Bruce. He drinks a lot. I don’t know why Linda puts up with it. Now if that was my husband—”

“Excuse me, Clara,” he interrupted, “but I have some work to do before I leave. I’ll talk to you later.”

He took a step to leave but stopped when she spoke again. “Did you get Miss Cassidy back to her truck okay?”

He turned slowly to face her and nodded. “She’s on her way home right now.”

“That’s good. That poor child looked like she was scared to death when she walked in with you. I hope you were able to calm her down. After all she’s been through it would be a shame if she didn’t get to perform tonight.”

Luke cocked an eyebrow. “Now why doesn’t it surprise me that you know all about Cheyenne?”

Clara waved her hand in dismissal. “Oh, I know all about her stalker, and about her parents being killed, and how she’s come here to forget the past and work at the Wild West show.”

Luke shook his head in amazement. He’d often said that the government should hire Clara as a spy. She could infiltrate a country and have all their secrets in no time at all. “How did you find all that out?”

Clara crossed her arms as a smug smile curved her lips. “Shorty, the cook out at Little Pigeon Ranch, told me.”

Luke chuckled and shook his head. “Shorty probably didn’t stand a chance against you once you decided he needed to spill the beans about the new resident at the ranch. But tell me, Clara, did you happen to get her birth date and social security number while you were at it?”