“Hey, you’re still chief deputy, and I can always go back to the task force if it doesn’t work out.” Brody took a drink. “I have my own issues with our new sheriff.” He broke eye contact with Danny. The last thing Brody needed were questions about Avery and him.
“Yeah, I guess this is a good lesson in not letting gossip get in the way of the truth.” A stony expression filled Danny’s face.
“I don’t understand.” Brody squared his shoulders as he waited for the answer.
“Someone, and I can’t tell you who but it was someone I trusted, told me that she overheard one of the commissioners talking to the mayor about ‘Danny’ becoming the new sheriff. To me that made me the only choice and it was all tied up with a nice tidy bow. Then at the meeting I found out that the mayor’s daughter was the person they were talking about. Avery Danielle—”
Brody interrupted him. “I guess I don’t understand. I’ve had a few conversations with her since I returned to Kasota Springs, and she introduced herself as Avery. Looking back I see that she avoided giving me her last name. Of course, I would have suspected her as Ira Humphrey’s daughter.” Brody wanted to cuss a blue streak for being so dumb.
“Yeah, only those very close around her call her Dannie.” He pinched his lips together. “Everyone in school called her Danielle because her prim and proper mother thought that was more fitting for a girl of her stature.”
Brody did as he always did when cornered and needing time to analyze things: he changed the subject to business. “And, where in the hell were you when you called me out of the meeting? By the way, it makes both of us look like very sour grapes...rotten grapes, not just sour.” He gritted his teeth. “I knew it wasn’t too serious if your Tahoe was already back, but I did get out as quickly as possible. So what was so important that you had to leave so suddenly?”
“I had good reason and I don’t like your insinuations. Trust me, I’m sure Avery, oops—the sheriff—will understand.”
“It has to be pretty damn serious to justify your behavior.” Brody arched an eyebrow.
Danny put a packet of creamer in his coffee. “The relief dispatcher notified me that they needed an ambulance out at the Jacks Bluff, so of course that meant us, too.”
“What in the hell happened?” Brody’s neck stiffened and he felt his muscle strain. He knew that the strong-willed ladies of the ranch wouldn’t call an ambulance unless it was a dire emergency.
“The person who called in specifically asked that her request be done discreetly and she did not want our new sheriff to know about the call. She’d tell her later. Which told me it was someone close to Avery, oops, the sheriff.”
“Then why in the hell didn’t you wait on me?”
“Well, uh, I didn’t have time. I saw the ambulance coming toward the DQ, so I stopped to see what was going on. You and I both know....” Danny cleared his throat and sweat began to appear on his forehead.
“I know. They’d never call unless it was extremely serious. You did the right thing, Scott.” He took a sip of coffee. “So what happened?”
It didn’t take Scott long to explain that Mrs. Johnson, the matriarch of the LeDoux family, had fallen and Lola Ruth panicked, as did the foreman, and she made the call. In character Granny Johnson let the paramedics put on a bandage, signed a medical release that she refused to go to the hospital, and got in her car to drive to Amarillo for a meeting about the Panhandle Livestock Association turning one hundred years old.
As Danny explained, by the time he had some news for Brody there was no reason to call except to tell him to meet him at Pumpkin’s. The crowd was then beginning to disperse, so Danny had headed over to the café, taking the back way.
He was interrupted once by Pumpkin, who brought both of them a piece of her famous chocolate cake. Out of courtesy Brody ate it, although each bite filled him with guilt, since Pumpkin and his sister had a running feud about whose cake was the best. He could bet his badge that Pumpkin got the recipe while working on the WBarT with her mother. The truth would probably never be known.
A vibration, indicating a text, came from his pocket. He pulled his phone out and read the short message twice.
Definitely it came from the last person he thought he’d hear from today. It read simply:
Meet me @ I-40 truck stop n 30? k?
Chapter 14
As a professional, Avery knew if she and Brody were to work together, she had no choice but to find him and explain things.
In all of her years in law enforcement, she’d rarely felt uncomfortable in any operation, but as she entered the truck stop fully dressed in her uniform, an unknown one to boot for the area, about a quarter of the patrons hurried up with their meal, paid, and left. This sure wasn’t the type of truck stop she was accustomed to. Obviously privately owned, but doing a big business with truckers, although the gas prices were higher than the one farther down the road. This immediately sent up a flag that she needed to investigate the business, but that was far down on her list of priorities.
Since she hadn’t eaten much of anything, she ordered a cheese omelet with toast, along with a glass of iced tea.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Brody come in. He almost took her breath away with his good looks. There was just something about a uniform that set most women’s heart aflutter and Avery was no different.... Except she was his boss and couldn’t allow any feelings to develop, although there were already the makings of a lot of them inside of her.
He looked around, squared his shoulders with purpose, avoided looking at Avery, and walked directly over to a young, rough-looking yet pretty young woman sitting in a booth. He slid in across from her and said very little. She seemed to do the majority of the talking.
Suddenly, the woman jerked up her excessively ornate and obviously cheap purse and almost cleared off the table getting out of the booth. She leaned over to pull down the hem of her much-too-short skirt. Avery was certain everyone in the café could see all the way to her toes from the opening in the bodice of her dress—or what she probably called a dress.
The woman looked at the floor and in a voice shrill enough to be heard in the square in town, said, “Okay, Mr. Sheriffman, I wasn’t doing a damn thing wrong. Just having coffee. I can’t believe you’d make a pass at me all decked out in your uniform. So, I’ll get on my way. I don’t do favors for pigs.” She stumbled toward the front door, deliberately, if Avery had to make a guess.
Brody slid from the booth. “And I mean it. If I see you here again, I promise I’m going to arrest you for loitering if I can’t prove anything else. You hear me!”
“Go fu...” The woman was too far out the door to make out her words, but again, Avery knew exactly what she had said without hearing it. She’d heard the phrase way too many times in her career.
Brody stood with his arms crossed until the woman got in her car and pulled away from the café, letting gravel fly. Then he walked over to Avery. “You wanna talk to me?” He put his hands on either corner of the table and leaned down and looked her sharply in the eyes. He radiated a vitality that drew her to him like a magnet. She prayed the observant man didn’t see straight through her.
“Yes, yes I do.” She could barely get the words out. “Have a seat, please. We have a number of things to discuss, especially since you had to leave the commissioners’ meeting so quickly.” She tried to sound confident, yet calm and not too bossy.
He exchanged one booth seat for another.
Avery tried to clear her mind, but it didn’t work. So far, she had seen Brody in a pirate’s uniform with most of his bronzed, hard muscles exposed; regular clothes that made him look sexy as hell; running shorts and tee that needed no explanation; but now in his uniform, she didn’t know exactly what to think. All of her feelings were way too naughty to quickly push to the back of her mind since she had business to conduct with the tall, dark-haired, handsome
man with one ear pierced and needing a shave.
One thought did stick in her mind: she’d kissed him with a full beard and a late evening shadow, but she wondered how his midday need of a shave would feel.
Back to business, lady!
“You wanted to see me?” Brody asked again. His gaze darted to the clock on the wall.
Avery couldn’t help but follow his gaze. The clock was a Coca-Cola antique identical to the one of the many cafés.
“I think we need to talk.” She took a sip of iced tea.
“Before you begin, I’m the one who needs to explain having to leave the meeting—”
“I know why Danny Scott would, because I’m sure he is rather POed that he didn’t get the job as sheriff, but I didn’t expect it from you.” She shook her head in disbelief. “But I did see you motion to your phone.”
“With all of the hullabaloo, I’m sure you didn’t realize, nor should you have known, Danny got a call to go out to the Jacks Bluff for a medical emergency. He texted me to meet him outside, but I didn’t know who was involved or where the emergency was—”
“What happened?” The words flowed out fast and furious. Something sour hit her stomach. This was the first time she’d become aware of anything at the ranch. Although Granny was still tough as leather strop, she was advancing in age and anything could have happened.
“It ended up being nothing serious.” Brody went on to explain the situation.
By the time he’d finished, Avery’s stomach had settled and her heartbeat had returned to normal. It was obvious Brody knew she was like part of the LeDoux-Johnson family, and she appreciated his sensitivity.
“That’s good that you didn’t have to wade yourself back through all the people, and I’m thankful for Pumpkin’s help.” She selected a small packet of strawberry jam, then put it back in the bowl. “There are a number of things we need to discuss concerning changes in the office, but aren’t you going to eat?” She motioned for the tall, skinny waitress, who obviously preferred yakking with a truck driver to taking care of other customers.
“No. I’m not hungry. We’ve got a lot to talk about, so I’ll just watch you fiddle with your late lunch or early dinner.” He laughed richly, as if sincerely amused at himself. “We both have a lot of questions, so I’ll answer one I know you’re dying to find out about.”
The waitress brought him a glass of ice water.
“Oh no, you’re not going to upstage me.” She laid down her fork. “The girl you ran out of here is a Lot Lizard, and if you can indulge me, she’s likely your or someone else’s CI. Right?”
“How’d you know she was a confidential informant?”
“It doesn’t take someone running undercover ops to see it all over her. She stumbled out like a very bad actor in a stage play, so I suggest if she wants to make everyone around believe she’s high that she take a few hours and observe true druggies. She had a good voice for the job and made up her face to look like she’d used a lot of bad stuff. But no, Brody, that isn’t what I want to talk about.” She paused with her fork halfway to her mouth then laid it down. “But I am interested in knowing if you truly plan to stay in Kasota Springs with the changes. Or are you staying here but going back on the multi-county joint task force?” She added a tad of pepper to her omelet.
“What do you want?” Brody took a drink of water.
“That’s part of what needs to be settled. I’ll be talking with each employee, and I’ve had a week to think about the department as a whole. Which isn’t that long, I’m sure you’re thinking. That’s why I need your help. I have some ideas, but I truly need your opinion. I trust you.”
She could almost read his mind by the look on his face. “You trust me so much that you couldn’t tell me the truth about how you can be qualified to be the sheriff!”
Avery drew her attention back to the matter at hand and placed her hands flat on the table.
“Here are my thoughts. First off, we’ll have one cruiser out on the streets, especially at night. In nice weather, if a couple of deputies want to pair up and be bicycle patrol, that’s fine. I want the department to be friendly and our citizens to know our faces. On the flip side, I don’t think I have to tell you because you’ve lived it; if a rowdy knows he can trust a deputy, he’s more likely to turn on another bad guy.”
“Sounds like a great start.” Brody took a sip of water. “So, what’s next?”
“I’m pairing Scott with Deputy Jessup, until Rocky Robertson arrives. Then I’ll pair Scott with Rocky. I’ve heard nothing but good things about Robertson. I’m not sure, but I’ve heard he’ll be here any day, and he does not want to do undercover or human trafficking, so he’ll be perfect to work with Scott.”
“You’re right about that because it’s the reason Rocky left the California Highway Patrol to become a private detective.”
“I read his email exchanges with Deuce, and it’s a possibility he’d go undercover, but not with a unit, just the county.” She picked up a piece of dry whole-wheat toast.
“Then where do I fit in?”
Avery hesitated, not sure how he would take her next comment. She hoped she showed confidence when she said, “It isn’t fair to demote Danny Scott, unless he does something to make it impossible to keep his rank, so I’m making you a special investigator. Lieutenant, major crime detective if you wish, and you and I will work together solving old cases. We’ll pull the others in as needed. When I say old, I mean anything that hasn’t been solved or is about to be solved as of today. I’ll be going through every file.” She laughed softly. “Thank goodness this is a small county. And, before you ask, I made sure you’d taken and passed the test for the position. As a matter of protocol, you’ve come up the ranks in order and excel in the qualifications.”
She could tell by the look on Brody’s face and the way he touched his throat that her announcement had come completely unexpected. Add the lack of an immediate verbal comeback and there was no doubt in her in mind he needed to think about the proposal. He was that kind of lawman.
“If you need time to think about it—”
“No, it isn’t that. I want the new rank, if nothing more than to find out who assaulted Deuce and left him for dead or if in fact he simply fell. I think we all want that solved.”
“I know I do and I barely knew him. His case is number one on my list,” she said. “By the way, Deuce had already sent in paperwork to keep you as a Bonita County deputy.”
“That’s good. We talked that day and I told him I wanted to stay in Kasota Springs, since my undercover stint was over.” He took another drink of water. “I’ve also spent a lot of hours involving drugs coming through the area, and I’d like to see that through. By the way, Victoria, but you can call her Vicky or Vic, is my CI posing as a Lot Lizard. She told me she’s on the verge of finding out who the middleman is in the trafficking of a lot of drugs. We know they’re coming across the border through the Mexican cartel, but have dozens of leads on how they are getting on to Dallas or up North.”
Avery placed the toast back on the plate. “Well, that just got moved to number two on my list. The easy part is over. We’ve got some other things to talk about, and I have no doubt they are all personal, beginning with why I didn’t give you my full name and job in Houston. But if you don’t believe anything I say, please trust me that I did not come to town to become the sheriff. Needless to say, I didn’t know Deuce would get hurt. I came for some R&R. That’s all. Simply to get away from the big city and do some self-reflecting.”
“I believe you.” The look in his eyes confirmed he was being honest.
“You do?” She surprised herself by giving him such a stupid response. Damn it to hell, she should have acted sharp enough to expect he’d say that. No doubt her unexpected reply wasn’t missed by someone like Brody VanZant, especially since she was hiding the real reason she needed R&R. She’d stick
with her story until she was ready to tell Brody the whole truth about why she left Houston. That information would take more time than they had at the moment, plus they needed to be in a more private setting.
She didn’t have much time to come clean with Broday.
On the other hand, with a little bit of time and a computer, all he’d have to do was search the internet for her name and he could read all the ugly details himself. Fortunately, the local news organizations hadn’t as yet found out about Lee being shot, since Houston was the biggest city in Texas with a population over two million occupants, plus being a little over six hundred miles south of the Panhandle. But time wasn’t on her side and she knew it.
Brody’s voice broke into her thoughts. “Let’s get out of this place. I don’t like to be seen here much, as you can imagine. Let’s go to Pumpkin’s. She has a private room where we can talk. Things have probably settled down by now, but park in the back. I just need to get out of this place.”
In less than twenty minutes he had paid the bill and they drove to Pumpkin’s, which gave Avery plenty of time to think about what she planned to say to Brody—and at the same time, she couldn’t help but analyze how smoothly their talk had gone. Or had she missed something?
They had barely taken a seat at the little table hidden in the back of the café when the ol’ bar type swingin’ door opened and Pumpkin waddled through. “Sorry, long day,” she muttered.
Walking directly to Brody, she sat down two glasses of ice water with a glass of tea. She got a set of keys out of her patchwork-printed smock pocket and held her hand out toward Brody. “These are to my pickup parked in the back. Use it...” She turned slightly to meet Avery’s gaze then continued, “Both of you go somewhere but without your county hoot-mobiles. The town is still in a flurry, full of people, and the minute they see you two, the questions will fly. New ones, since they’ve had time to think up more. Many are broadcasting direct from here. So they might be around until late newscasts are taped.”
Out of a Texas Night Page 14