No One To Trust: Rockford Security Mystery Series

by Dobbs, L. A.

  Memories assailed him like machine gun fire. Another drug deal. His brother Shane taking the cash. Chase begging him to get clean, to go straight. The police raid on their shared apartment later that night and the cops finding Shane’s huge stash of heroin. Shane being hauled to the station in handcuffs, caught with enough smack to put him away for years, especially with his prior record.

  Cold sweat broke out across Chase’s forehead and the back of his neck. He slumped against the brick wall behind him and desperately tried to catch his breath. He’d had no choice. He would’ve done anything to save his little brother, done anything to keep him safe. Hell, he’d been keeping Shane safe for their entire lives. Safe from their abusive mother, safe from the dangerous world his younger brother had gotten himself involved in, safe from whatever came at them.

  Chase squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fists at his sides.

  Shane would never have survived in prison and Chase was bound to get less time with his clean record, so he’d lied. Told the cops the drugs were his. Confessed to everything. The police, desperate for a conviction, took it as a slam dunk. Chase had gotten five years, with good behavior. Sure, it had cost him his career, his life, his future. But he’d do it all the same way again, no regrets, no questions asked. No hesitation.

  The past slowly faded and Chase blinked up into the starless sky above. A breeze stirred and he rolled his head to the side, spotted one of the figures over the top of the dumpster, a hundred yards or so away. The person stepped into the pool of light near the door and bile rose hot and thick in Chase’s throat.

  Shane.

  He turned away and pressed his hand to his mouth to keep from retching.

  No. Please, dear God, no. Don’t let this be happening all over again. Don’t let my sacrifice have been for nothing.

  Chase slid down the wall until his butt hit the asphalt and he wrapped his arms around his knees, tucking himself into a tight ball. Head lowered and eyes closed, he wondered what the hell his efforts were for. What was the point in clearing his name if everything he’d done, if all the sacrifices he’d made for Shane had been worthless?

  7

  “I need this delivered.” Blake plopped a file down on Chase’s desk a few hours later, startling him from the funk he’d been stewing in all morning. In all honesty, if someone asked him how’d he’d gotten here to the office, he couldn’t tell them. He’d been so shocked at seeing Shane again in that dark alley that his actions had clicked into auto-pilot ever since and he'd all but forgotten about searching for evidence of Bryant's real killer.

  Shane. My baby brother. The guy he’d taken a life-altering hit for, was back to his same old tricks it seemed. The dull pain in his chest intensified. No. Not Shane. Shane wouldn’t do that to me.

  That little voice in the back of Chase’s brain spoke up reminding him how Shane hadn’t been there to meet him when he’d gotten out of prison, had rarely visited him, hadn’t even tried to contact him since he’d been out. But those thoughts were too painful and Chase shoved the voice back down. There had to be another reason Shane had been in that alleyway, had to be another reason for the exchange of cash. Maybe he was working for a delivery company. Maybe he had a friend who worked at the Lucky Ace who owed him money. Maybe…

  “Hello?” Blake waved a hand in front of Chase’s face. “Anybody in there?”

  “What?” Chase shook his head to clear it and sat forward in his chair. “Yeah, I’m sorry. Just a little distracted this morning.”

  Blake narrowed his icy gaze. “Everything all right?”

  “Sure. Sure. Everything’s fine.” He stared at the folder Blake had placed before him and did his best not to wince. The words sound false even to his own ears. “What do you need me to do?”

  “Deliver those quotes for security camera hookup and video file storage on our servers to a potential new client. Think you can handle that?”

  Chase bit back a snarky retort. He needed this job, dammit, and a smart mouth wouldn’t help him keep it. “Yeah, I can handle it.” He flipped open the file and scanned the contents. “Not sure why you don’t just e-mail these though. Wouldn’t that be faster?”

  “Do you work for me or not?” Blake leaned his hip against the side of Chase’s desk, his arms crossed. “I want them delivered in person. This could be a good new account for us and deserves some personal attention.” He glanced at the teetering stacks of filing Olivia had placed on Chase’s desk. “Unless you prefer a slow death by paper cut.”

  “No.” Chase sighed. “I’ll deliver them.”

  “Good.” Blake straightened and rattled off directions for Chase, which he jotted down. “I’d give you the keys to the company car, but you haven’t renewed your driver’s license yet, right?”

  No. That was something else on Chase’s Need-To-Do list. He shook his head.

  “I’ve got a few hours free next week. If you want, I’ll take you over to the DMV and we’ll get you squared away, all right? Then you can start using one of the company vehicles until you get a ride of your own, okay?”

  “Okay.” He pulled on his jacket and grabbed the file. “Thanks, man. For everything.”

  Blake shrugged and headed back to his office. “No problem. Consider it an investment in your employment future. You’ll earn it working here, trust me.”

  Outside, Chase caught the next bus heading toward North Las Vegas and took another look at the proposal in the file. It appeared to be for an animal rescue center called Paws and Play. Cute name. He flipped to the next page and studied Blake’s security plan. Numerous strategically placed cameras both in and outside the building, plus 24-7 surveillance by Rockford Security’s top IT department.

  He was no expert, but he’d learned a thing or two from some of the thieves in prison. The plan Blake had designed seemed solid and the price reasonable. Should be a quick in and out delivery on Chase’s part.

  The bus pulled up to his stop and he departed then stared at the modest cinder block building in front of him. A plain rectangular sign with a rainbow-colored paw print in each corner proclaimed Paws and Play Animal Rescue Center. He opened the front door and stepped into a tiny reception area. The floor was checkerboard linoleum, the reception desk square and boxy and crammed full of brochures and small items for sale. The air smelled of disinfectant and wet dog.

  A young, college-aged girl sat behind the desk in a cotton-candy pink colored scrub top strewn with cartoon drawings of kittens and puppies. Her short dark hair was streaked with green and blue and held back on one side with a sparkly rhinestone barrette in the shape of a skull. The girl smiled and gazed at him with polite disinterest. Her name tag read Steph. “Can I help you?”

  “Uh, yeah.” Chase stepped up to the counter. “I’m here to see the owner. I’m from Rockford Security.”

  Steph hiked her chin toward two empty chairs along the wall and picked up the phone. “Have a seat. I’ll let her know you’re here.”

  “Thanks.” He did as she requested, aware the receptionist continued to watch him.

  “I like your tats,” Steph said after she hung up. “Get them around here?”

  “Yeah.” One of the guys in his cell block had run an ink parlor before his tax fraud conviction. Not that he’d tell some stranger that. “I got ‘em around here.”

  “Cool.” Steph chewed her gum loudly and picked up her magazine again. “She’ll be right out.”

  “Thanks.” He looked closer at the area around him. The place was small and crammed full of stuff, but extremely tidy. The floor sparkled beneath his black boots and a cheerful poster of a little boy and his puppy took up half the space on the wall across from him. Through the open doorway behind the reception desk filtered various yips and meows and barks and screeches of the place’s residents. He wondered how many animals the shelter took in.

  Another door opened in the opposite corner of the room and out stepped a woman he presumed must be the owner. Her back was to him, but something about her hair—
below the shoulder, blonde, curly—seemed awfully familiar. She turned, and his heart skipped a beat.

  Her. The girl from the office. Warren Bryant’s daughter. Shelby.

  Son of a bitch.

  She seemed to recognize him in the same moment. Her steps faltered and her eyes widened. “You? What are you doing here?”

  He stood and noticed once more how her height was damned near perfect for him. The top of her head would fit right beneath his chin, perfect for cuddling. Chase shook his head, bemused. He was here for work, not to pick up a date. He held out the folder. “My boss at Rockford Security asked me to bring these over. They’re the quotes for your new security system.” He forced an awkward smile and did his best not to blow the job for Blake. “So, you own an animal shelter, huh?”

  Frowning, she snatched the file from him. "I didn’t ask him to go through all this trouble. I told him I don’t really have money in the budget for security.”

  Suspicion flared inside Chase. He should’ve known Blake was up to something. The guy used to pull schemes like this all the time on their old part-time security jobs. Always trying to set Chase up on blind dates. Always trying to work an angle for his own purposes. Never mind those purposes were almost always for the best interest for everyone involved. The idea of being manipulated rubbed Chase the wrong way. He’d had enough of being under someone else’s thumb to last him a lifetime.

  He shifted his weight and shuffled his feet as she glanced up at him again.

  “I’m sorry, Mr.?”

  “Evans. Chase Evans.” The fact she didn’t remember him from the other day stung more than he cared to admit. He’d remembered her name, and most everything about her. But then the hint of wariness and attraction in her blue gaze told him she hadn’t forgotten him completely. Huh. Interesting. Hard to get. If that was her game, he’d play along. “And you are?”

  Her light brown brows drew together. “Shelby Bryant. Listen, I don’t mean to be rude, but unless you want to adopt a pet or volunteer, I don’t really have time to chat. I’ve got a ton of work to do.”

  The sound of a popping bubble to his left drew their attention.

  Steph, who watched their interaction with interest, at least had the decency to look embarrassed. “Sorry.”

  “Can you please go back and check on the parrots?” Shelby asked her.

  “Yep.” Steph nodded, disappearing through the doorway behind the reception desk after flashing Chase a quick smile. “See you around.”

  “See ya,” Once she’d gone, Chase turned back to Shelby. “You really own this place?”

  “Is that so hard to believe?” Her posture stiffened. He’d apparently stepped in it somewhere, but wasn’t quite sure where. “For your information, I built this shelter from the ground up without any help from anyone.” Her azure blue eyes blazed with indignation and Chase swallowed hard. If he wasn’t careful, a man could get lost in those beautiful depths and never want to come out. “Well, except for maybe the government grants for non-profits.”

  “I’m impressed.” Grant writing took time and expertise, as did running a successful business. She appeared to be good at both. “And all without help from your father or his money.”

  She visibly bristled at his words. “I have never taken a cent of Dad’s money. Not then, not now, not ever. And there goes my motive for killing him.”

  The steel in her tone buckled under her last statement and his heart ached for her. Regardless of what the evidence showed, he knew deep down that her grief was real. She didn’t kill her father. No way. Judging from the slight tremble in her movements and her pale complexion she looked hunted, haunted, damned close to her breaking point. It was a look he knew well. The same look he’d seen reflected in his mirror every day before they’d shipped him off to prison. His fingertips itched to touch her, to pull her into his arms and offer her comfort, hope, understanding. Except, given their current situation, such advances would probably only earn him a swift kick in the nuts for his trouble.

  So instead, he shoved his hands in the pockets of his khakis and rocked back on his heels. “Would you have time to give me a quick tour? I’d love to see how everything operates and it might be important for security camera placement.”

  Shelby eyed him warily for several seconds and he worried she might refuse. Then she gave a slight nod. “Okay. But quick is the key word. I’ve got deliveries coming and an obedience class for the new adoptees later this afternoon.”

  “Whatever you have time for would be wonderful.”

  She tucked the folder under her arm then gestured for him to follow her behind the reception desk and through the doorway where Steph had disappeared moments before. “This way.”

  He trailed after her into what appeared to be a small zoo, filled with dogs and cats and rabbits and ferrets. Several guinea pigs chomped nervously on lettuce as they passed by and a pair of brightly colored Macaws screeched and whistled from the far corner of the large open space.

  “How many animals do you have here?” he asked, stopping in front of a cage containing a small, white, scruffy dog. The mutt reminded him of Skipper, his childhood pet. Man, he’d loved that crazy canine.

  “About two hundred at any given time.” She reached her fingers through the bars of the cage and coaxed the dog over. “How’s my Growly doing today?”

  “Growly?” Chase snorted. “Nice.”

  Shelby smiled and his breath hitched at how beautiful she was. “He’s been with me for a while now. It’ll be hard when he gets adopted.”

  “I bet.” He squatted down and scratched the dog through the cage. “Occupational hazard, huh?”

  She set the folder on a cage behind her then cooed and whispered to the dog before turning to face him. “What do you mean?”

  “Getting too attached. Getting hurt.”

  “Yeah. Getting hurt sucks.”

  Chase stood, almost bumping in to her. This close, her warm, minty breath fluttered over his face and he could spot a faint line of freckles drifting over the bridge of her nose. She seemed so clean, so untouched, so far from all the sins of his past. A past he wanted so much to forget. Their eyes locked for a few beats, then he stepped back before he did something stupid.

  * * *

  Shelby felt irresistibly drawn to Chase especially since he was standing so close. He stepped back and she shook off the feeling even though she couldn’t seem to break eye contact. He was the last man on earth she should want. After all, he could have had something to do with her father's death!

  The sound of a clearing throat caught their attention.

  “Sorry, Miss Bryant.” Steph hovered near a row of rabbit cages. “I just wondered if there was anything else you wanted me to check on back here. The parrots are fine.”

  “Uh.” Shelby inhaled sharply and did her best to focus on her work and not the man staring at her with fire in his eyes. “N-no. That’s all for now. Thanks, Steph.”

  “Sure thing.” The girl hustled out of the room, her sneakers squeaking on the linoleum and a knowing smile on her young face.

  Shelby sidled farther down the line of cages, putting more space between them. “Is there something else you wanted?”

  “Well, I—” Henry, a large green iguana who’d been climbing on some nearby cages, took the opportunity to pounce on Chase’s head. To his credit, Chase didn’t scream or try to bat the creature away. He just froze, his gray eyes wide. “What’s on me?”

  Shelby chuckled. “Oh, that’s Henry. I think he likes you.”

  “And Henry is?”

  “An iguana.”

  “Right.” Chase reached up a tentative hand and stroked his finger down Henry’s tail, which was now swatting him on the side of the face. “Nice to meet you, Henry. Now, if I could just move you over to one of these cages so your little nails aren’t digging holes into my head, I’ll be all set.”

  He leaned over toward a nearby cage, but if his wince was any indication, Henry only dug his claws in deeper. Shelb
y choked back laughter and sympathy. “Sorry, Henry doesn’t go until he’s ready. Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?”

  “About catching the real person behind your father’s murder.”

  “You mean besides you?”

  “Funny.” He scrunched his nose as Henry readjusted himself and now dangled his tail directly down the center of Chase’s handsome face. “No. I was thinking more along the lines of Katherine.”

  “Katherine, huh?” It was a sweet dream, but so far she’d found zilch to prove her wicked step-monster was responsible for the crime. “Well, unless you plan to confess that you acted on her behalf, I don’t have any proof that she did it.”

  Chase sighed and swatted Henry’s tail away from his nose. “If we work together, maybe we can find some proof, something to put her away instead of me again.”

  Her resolve against him crumbled slightly. Having an extra set of eyes and ears on the case would help and it wasn’t like he lacked motivation. Shelby had never been arrested, never been to prison. Hell, she’d never even set foot inside a jail—if you didn’t count the old Mob Museum near the art district. But she imagined it wasn’t someplace one wanted to go once, let alone twice. Still, she couldn’t acquiesce so quickly. “Why would I want to help you get away with murder?”

  “Seriously?” He gave her an exasperated look, even though he’d been a great sport about Henry thus far. “You don’t really think I did it, do you? Katherine set me up.”

  No. Honestly, deep down, she didn’t think Chase had killed anyone. But Katherine?

  With all those remarks her stepmother had made to the police earlier, about her dad changing the will and insinuating Shelby had something to do with it all? Dread pooled low in her abdomen, weighing her down. Yeah. After spending years with that witch of a woman, she knew Katherine would kill the Pope himself if she thought it might make her rich.

  Given her incendiary remarks to the detectives, maybe Chase wasn’t the only person she was setting up, either. Shelby picked up a kitten out of a nearby playpen and rounded the far corner of the cages, nearing Chase once more. The tiny cat chirped in her arms, eyeing the irresistible lure of Henry’s twitching tail.