by Debra Webb
This wasn’t the first time his son had accused him of ruining his life. Colt couldn’t remember the last time he had gone on a date. Serving as sheriff kept him busy and he hadn’t really wanted to...until Rey came back to town.
No use going there right now.
Colt shifted his attention back to the business at hand and parked in the lot at the bakery. Since his truck was the only vehicle in the lot he might have a few minutes before the first customer arrived. He climbed out of the truck, scanning the area. A car was parked next to the building on the end with the side door, but it wasn’t Sarah’s minivan.
Work started at the bakery at about five in the morning. His stomach was already rumbling in anticipation of the aromas that would be filling the shop. Maybe he’d grab a muffin. He’d been too frustrated with Key to have breakfast this morning. Arguing with his son was the worst way to start the day.
He opened the door and the bell overhead jingled. Every shop in town seemed to have one. The scent of fresh-baked goods filled his senses. A young woman behind the counter looked up. Her brown hair was tucked into her bonnet. She smiled. “Morning, Sheriff.”
Colt recognized her then. Ruby Weber. “Good morning, Ruby. Sure smells good in here. You have any of those blueberry muffins ready?”
“Sure do.” She put on a pair of plastic gloves and wrapped a muffin for him.
The Mennonite women wore bonnets and modest dresses. Though they kept to themselves, he had yet to meet any member of the community who wasn’t polite and helpful when asked a question.
But this time might be different. “Are Mr. and Mrs. Sauder here this morning?”
Ruby placed the muffin on the shelf above the glass case. “Afraid not, Sheriff. I imagine they’re too upset to come in this morning after what happened in their home last night.”
“Did Sarah let you know she wouldn’t be in?” There was always the possibility that the Sauders had packed up and taken off. He’d stationed a deputy near the Yoder farm last night. Sarah and her kids had gone to her father’s for the rest of the evening. The deputy hadn’t seen them leave, but that didn’t mean she and the kids hadn’t cut across the farm on foot. Another deputy was watching the Sauder home. No activity there, either.
“She did.” Ruby nodded. “She’s deeply troubled about what she had to do, Sheriff. I can’t imagine living with a man’s blood on my hands.”
“I need to talk to her, Ruby. We’ve learned some new information about the man who broke into her home. I’m very concerned for the safety of the Sauder family. If you speak to her again, please tell her that it’s very important that she call me.” He’d rather not have a meeting at her father’s house, considering the man was so ill and didn’t need that kind of stress. But if Sarah didn’t agree to a meeting soon, he’d have no choice.
“Yes, sir. I’ll sure tell her if I hear from her. There’s no phone at her daddy’s place and cell service is a little hit or miss.”
Not much of a guarantee.
A ding sounded from somewhere beyond the double swinging doors behind the counter. Ruby glanced that way. “That’s my bread calling. Have a nice day, Sheriff.”
“Wait, I haven’t paid you for the muffin.”
Ruby waved him off. “No charge for you. There’s coffee if you want to take a cup with you.”
Colt thanked her and watched as she disappeared through those swinging doors. He tore off a bite of muffin and popped it into his mouth. The taste exploded on his tongue. He barely restrained a groan. He’d grab a cup of coffee to go with it. Smelled fresh. There wasn’t a thing in the place that didn’t smell amazing.
He decided to hang around a minute while he devoured the muffin and guzzled the coffee. Might as well. Maybe Sarah would call or show up. Surely Ruby wasn’t going to run the place alone.
His cell vibrated. He popped the last bite of muffin into his mouth and dragged the phone from his hip pocket. One of his deputies confirming that Sauder’s minivan was still parked at her father’s house.
Colt would just have to take a drive over there and see if she was still there. Maybe he was being overly suspicious. There was always the remote possibility the dead man had picked the wrong house to bust into. Remote being the key word in that scenario. Like Branch, Colt wasn’t buying the scenario.
There was far more to the story.
He downed the last of the coffee and tossed the cup and napkin into the trash bin. Just before he reached the door, it opened, the bell jingling.
Audrey walked in. “Well, hello again, Sheriff. Looks like we’re both craving the same things this morning.” She reached out and dusted crumbs from his shirt.
Need, hot and fierce, clutched him. She had no idea how badly he was craving her. He shook off the notion. “She’s not here, so don’t waste your time.”
Rey flashed him a smile and walked around him. “Oh my, the breakfast bars look delish.”
His hand was on the door. He told himself to open it and walk out. To go on about his day and to ignore whatever Audrey was up to.
Yeah, right.
Instead, he turned around with every intention of demanding to know if she was following him. The scream that came from the back of the shop snapped his mouth shut and raised the hair on the back of his neck.
Audrey beat him around the counter and through those swinging doors—mostly because she stepped right in front of him and he all but fell on his face trying to keep from mowing her down.
Beyond the swinging doors there was a huge kitchen. To the right was a walk-in cooler; next to it was a matching walk-in freezer. On the left there was the office and beyond that the door to the storeroom stood open; the screams were coming from there.
Audrey reached the door first but Colt was close enough to grab her by the shoulders and set her aside. He barreled through the door.
Ruby stood in the middle of the large storeroom, her face as pale as the white sacks of flour lining the shelf to the right. On the floor, leaning against the row of shelves at the back, was a man wearing black—shirt, pants, jacket—all black. His head drooped forward and the bullet that had torn through his chest had left a gaping hole via which it appeared a good portion of the blood in his body had drained, making a puddle between his spread legs.
Oh, hell.
Chapter Six
Audrey ushered Ruby away from the image of the dead man. Colt spoke quietly into his cell, calling for the necessary backup and, more than likely, the coroner. Once they were through those double doors and in the retail space of the shop, Audrey settled the shaken woman into the only chair behind the counter.
“Stay here, Ruby. I’m going to lock the door and put out the closed sign. Okay?”
She nodded, tears streaming down her face.
Then Audrey remembered she needed keys. “Where do you keep your keys?”
Ruby pointed to the register. Audrey spotted the keys, swiped them off the shelf beneath the register and hurried to the door. Once she’d locked the door, she left the keys in the lock. When the deputies and the coroner arrived someone would need to let them in.
Since she didn’t spot any tissues, she grabbed a paper napkin and took it to Ruby.
“I... I should call Sarah.”
“The sheriff will prefer that you don’t call anyone right now, Ruby. As soon as he gives the okay, we should call your mom.” Audrey wanted desperately to go back to where Colt was, but she didn’t trust Ruby to stay put. If anyone showed up at the door the rattled woman might very well let them in. “Why don’t you wait in the office until Sheriff Tanner is ready to talk to you?”
Ruby stood and allowed Audrey to guide her back through those swinging doors and toward the small office they’d passed before. Once she had Ruby seated at the desk, she grabbed the cordless phone to ensure she didn’t use it and patted her on the shoulder. “You stay put. I’ll let the sheriff
know you’re waiting in the office.”
Audrey was almost out the door when she had to ask. “Ruby, was the door locked when you arrived this morning?”
The younger woman looked up from the crumpled napkin, her eyes glazed with worry and fear. The haze cleared and she nodded. “Yes. Yes. I had to unlock the door to come in.”
“What about the back door?” Something else Audrey had noticed when she and Colt had rushed through those swinging doors. There was a back door.
Ruby scrubbed at her forehead as if digging for the answer. “I don’t know. I didn’t check. I set right in to my usual routine.”
“It’s all right. I’m sure Sheriff Tanner will check on that.”
Audrey hurried across the massive kitchen to the storeroom. She hesitated at the open door, glanced around to see if Colt was nearby, then walked right up to the body. She was careful to maintain an appropriate distance. She snapped a quick photo of the corpse, then tucked her phone back into her pocket.
If she just had her purse she could put on gloves and check the state of rigor to estimate how long he’d been dead. Blood was coagulated, looked completely dry in some areas.
“What the hell, Rey?”
She cringed at Colt’s stern voice. Rather than move, she looked over at him. “He’s been here several hours, maybe overnight.”
Colt walked over to her, crouched down. “I can see that,” he bit out. “Now let’s get out of here.”
She glared at him. “We’re already here. A minute won’t change the fact that we both walked into the primary scene.”
When he opened his mouth to argue with her, she went on, “You have gloves on.” She nodded to the latex he’d pulled over his hands. “Check his fingers and then his arms.”
Jaw clenched, eyes shooting daggers at her, he reached for the dead man’s fingers. They moved easily. “Loose.” Then he tried moving the arm, bending the elbow. “Still rigid.”
“He’s been dead overnight. Twelve or more hours.” She’d seen enough bodies and interviewed enough medical examiners to have a reasonably good handle on how things worked the first twenty-four or so hours after death.
Another of those glares arrowed in her direction. “Let’s go, Rey.”
This time she didn’t argue. She had what she needed to know. This guy had probably died around the same time or a little before the one in Sarah Sauder’s kitchen. Considering this bakery belonged to Sarah’s family as well, finding yet another gunshot victim turned the case in a whole different direction.
When they were outside the storeroom, she mentioned, “Ruby said the front door was locked when she came in. But she didn’t check the back.” Audrey glanced in the direction of the rear exit.
“Were you questioning her? Damn it, Rey.” His long-fingered hands bracketed his waist. “You need to wait out front. Sit your butt on that bench and just wait until I tell you to move.”
Like that was going to happen. “Please. Arrest me or throw me out, but do not tell me what to do, Colt Tanner.”
“Fine. Audrey Anderson, you are under arrest for interfering with an investigation.”
He removed a pair of cuffs from the hip pocket of his jeans. Her jaw dropped in disbelief. “You cannot arrest me, Colt Tanner. I walked into this establishment like any other customer. I cannot be held responsible for what happened after that.”
“Give me any more grief and I’ll add resisting arrest.” Fury radiated from him like heat from a roaring fire.
He was serious.
She held out her hands and he snapped the cuffs on her wrists, all the while reciting her rights as if she were an actual criminal. It wasn’t the first time she’d been hauled away from a crime scene in iron bracelets. It was just the first time Colt Tanner had dared to defy her.
How the hell had that happened?
Long fingers wrapped around her upper arm and he guided her through the bakery’s swinging doors and to the bench beyond the counter. “Now sit. And don’t say one word.”
When he’d disappeared into the back once more, Audrey reached into her pocket for her cell, iron bracelets clinking. Colt was going to regret this. She punched the contact for Brian and pressed the phone to her ear.
“Where are you? I’ve put off the staff meeting.”
“I’m at Yoder Bakery,” she whispered. If Colt heard her on the phone he would take it from her. “There’s another body.”
“Oh my God. Who?”
“Don’t know. I took a photo. I’m sending it to you.”
“Colt will have a—”
“We’re not printing it. The photo is for ID purposes only. Strictly between you and me.”
“Why are you whispering?” Brian whispered back.
“Colt arrested me for interfering in an investigation. Looks like the guy has been dead since around the same time as what’s-his-name who Sarah Sauder shot.” What the hell was the guy’s name? “Marcello. Tony Marcello.”
“Wait, wait, wait. Colt arrested you. Are you serious?”
Audrey glanced toward the doors, blew out a breath of exasperation. “As a heart attack.”
“I’ll be right there.” Brian was no longer whispering. He was damned near shouting.
“No,” Audrey ordered as loudly as she dared. “Focus on ID’ing the dead guy. I’m okay. I have to go.”
Brian was still speaking when she ended the call. Keeping an eye on the doors, she tapped the photo and sent it to Brian via text. The dead man was dressed the same as the other one, black pants and shirt, but his black jacket was a hoodie. He looked a good deal younger than the other guy as well. Was he shot before or after Marcello? Maybe this guy explained why Wesley Sauder never came home.
Audrey tucked her phone away. The sound of engines outside had her turning around on the bench. Two deputy cruisers and the coroner’s van skidded to stops in the parking lot. Burt must have been on his way to the clinic. He was never this quick on the draw. She glanced at the door. Might as well let them in.
She pushed to her feet and went to the glass door and twisted the key. The door was yanked open, setting the bell above it into a stunted tune. Audrey stepped back to prevent being trampled by four men in tan and brown uniforms. The last of the four nodded and said, “Morning, Ms. Anderson.”
James Carter’s son. The Carter family had run the local hardware store for five generations. The one just off the downtown square, Mr. Carter would remind her, not the big-box place on the boulevard.
“Morning,” she replied.
It was Burt who stopped and stared at her shackled state. “What in the world?”
“Colt’s mad at me,” she confessed.
Burt’s eyes widened behind his glasses. “Did you shoot someone, Rey?”
“No.” She glanced toward the back of the bakery. “But I might before this is over.”
“Burt!”
They both turned at the sound of Colt’s voice.
“What’s the holdup?”
“Gotta go!” Burt shuffled away, skirting the counter and hurrying toward the door where Colt waited.
The sheriff didn’t so much as glance at Audrey before disappearing once more.
The sound of tires squealing drew her attention back to the big window where handmade posters boasted today’s specials, including peanut butter balls—buy four, get two free. Her mouth watered despite the circumstances. The van that squealed to a stop belonged to the Tullahoma Telegraph. Audrey locked the door and hurried behind the racks of baked goods. When she felt confident no one outside could see her, she relaxed. Annalise Guthrie was the dauntless reporter who liked trumping Audrey’s stories.
“Not today, honey,” Audrey muttered.
Her cell vibrated. She dragged it from her pocket and checked the screen. Brian. “Hey. What’d you find?”
“Casey Pranno. Guess where he
’s from—”
“He works with Marcello?”
“You know it. I spoke to Wanda Mulberry over at the post office not five minutes ago when I dropped off the mail. If any new marshals have shown up she would know, since Branch’s office is in the same building. No new faces yet, but she did say Branch had just torn out of there. She saw him bust out the front entrance and hustle out to his truck. He’ll probably be there any second.”
No sooner had Brian said the words, than two deputies hurried through the swinging doors and to the front entrance. After unlocking it they pushed out. Audrey didn’t have to sneak a look to know they would be setting the perimeter and shooing the other reporter outside the set boundary.
“Put together a background piece on Marcello and Pranno. If we have nothing else, we’ll run that on tomorrow’s front page, but hold the presses as long as possible.”
The tinkle of the bell warned that someone was coming in. “Gotta go.”
Audrey slid her phone back into her pocket and craned her neck to see who stepped beyond the racks blocking her view of the door.
Branch glanced left, then right, spotted Audrey and automatically removed his hat. “Rey, you hiding over there?”
She moved a few steps closer but not close enough to be spotted via telescopic lenses peering in through the glass front of the shop. If Annalise was out there, there would be others. She waved her hands. “Colt arrested me for interfering with his investigation.”
Branch shook his head and walked over to where she stood. “Has he lost his mind?” He reached into his pocket, withdrew a key and released her. “You must have really ticked him off.”
She rubbed her wrists. “I might have.”
But he deserved it. She could tick him off every day for the rest of his life and it would never be repayment enough for what he had done to her. All the details she kept to herself. Branch had been in college by the time she and Colt broke up, but he’d likely heard the rumors.