Shaw's Landing (Haunted Hearts Series Book 4)

by Denise Moncrief

  Josh and Gray ignored his protests, dragging him toward the dock. “We better get him out of here before he tries anything else,” Josh muttered.

  An hour later, Halsey was doing his walk of shame. Before Shaw left the Hill County lock up, he’d placed two state highway patrol officers on each side of Halsey’s cell door to make sure he stayed there. The man probably still had a few allies in the Sheriff’s Department, but from the angry expressions on most of his deputies’ faces, Halsey wouldn’t have a friend in the Department for long.

  Before Halsey was even down the hall that led toward the cells, he was already lawyering up. Shaw would get nothing out of Halsey about Haskins’s operations. Taking the sheriff down had been too easy, almost as if he’d set himself up by confronting a bunch of cops at Shaw’s Landing. Shaw still wasn’t sure how the sheriff knew where to find them.

  A nagging voice in the back of Shaw’s head kept suggesting crazy ideas. Like… What if Haskins had somehow forced Halsey to take the fall for him? Shaw wanted Halsey to sweat a little longer, and he needed Haskins to hear about Halsey’s incarceration, but when he did, he wanted Haskins to believe Halsey was squealing like the stuck pig that he was.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Grayson had stayed with the women while Josh, Shaw, and Clark escorted Jackson and Halsey to town. When Shaw finally arrived back at Shaw’s Landing late in the day, the four of them were still huddled in the meeting room. Someone, maybe all of them, had pitched in to clean up the mess. Shaw stared at the busted window, wondering whom he could get to replace the glass.

  Gray stood next to him, gazing at the busted pane that the presumed ghost of Jeremy Haskins’s had come through. “I know a guy that can fix that.”

  Shaw offered him a thin smile. “Good. That would be one less thing to worry about.”

  Tori dropped into a chair behind them and made a noise of disgust. “How does what happened here today affect our plans?”

  Shaw didn’t have a good answer for that question, a question he’d been pondering all the way to the Sheriff’s offices and back. “It really bothers me the way Halsey just showed up here. How did he know where to find us?” He turned and studied the group. “Could one of you have been followed?”

  A few of them shook their head in the negative. The other few shrugged.

  Tori wasn’t through with her analysis. He could almost see the thoughts churning in her head. If he could say nothing else for the woman, she had a very analytical mind.

  “If we can’t follow through with what we started, then Gray has exposed his secrets for nothing.”

  Jordan Clark had been hanging back again, keeping quiet and listening, as was his usual MO. He entered the discussion and startled practically everyone in the room by speaking. “I wouldn’t say that. Even if you can’t go forward, I think there’s a good chance this could work out for the best. From what I overheard at the Sheriff’s office, there’s very little sympathy for either of the Haskins, living or dead, and a lot for Grayson.”

  Tori crossed her arms over her chest. “I spent most of yesterday and this morning in the office. There were a lot of rumors floating around about Gray and what he’d done, and I don’t think his fellow deputies were being tolerant or kind. He’s been disgraced. Cops don’t like to hear about another cop covering up a crime.” She glared at Shaw. “I told you I didn’t like it.”

  Shaw raised his hands and began to sputter his defense, but Clark cut him off. “The Hill County Sheriff’s Department is a rumor factory.”

  He waited as if he expected them all to get his meaning without further explanation. When no one grabbed hold of his reasoning, a look of sheer exasperation crossed his handsome features. The boy was too good-looking for his own good, in Shaw’s humble opinion. Women seemed to fall all over Jordan Clark whereas Shaw had always had to work hard to get the girls’ attention.

  He stomped on his wayward thoughts and addressed Clark’s last statement. “Most law enforcement agencies are rumor mills. What’s your point?”

  “Talk in an office like that turns fast. A negative opinion of someone can change quickly if someone with a bit of social authority expresses a fresh perspective.”

  Shaw nodded. The kid was on to something. He just needed to expand his theory a bit more.

  “All I had to do was mention a few details. One of Halsey’s deputies ran with it. I think you’re going to see opinions of Grayson change rapidly now.”

  Tori leaned forward in her seat. “What did you do?”

  “I just casually mentioned how Grayson had gone out one night to confront Jeremy Haskins about the way he treated women. Once I said that… Well, it seems the whole county was aware of Jeremy’s reputation. A lot of people were just too scared to do anything about it.” He shrugged. “I heard the word hero thrown around a bit.”

  Josh sputtered his opinion of Clark’s comments. “You have to be kidding? Gray broke several laws. Cops aren’t usually forgiving of that sort of thing.”

  Clark smiled. “I heard a few of them talking about how they were going to need a new Sheriff.”

  Gray finally dove into the conversation about him that was swirling around him. “I don’t know where you’re going with this, but no.”

  “Come on, Grayson. It makes sense. Haskins’s organization is in tatters. He’s going to try to rebuild, and he’s gotten used to having the Sheriff of Hill County under his control. How much better if the Sheriff of Hill County were his own son?”

  “I can’t get elected with those kinds of charges hanging over my head.”

  Clark had warmed to his argument. His cheeks glowed with excitement. “Who’s going to arrest you? Halsey?” He turned to Shaw. “He hasn’t officially confessed to you, has he?”

  “I know the whole story,” Shaw answered, allowing a bit of stony reprimand to filter into his tone.

  “Are you going to arrest him?”

  Clark’s question hung in the air around them.

  “I didn’t think so.”

  Ashley Rivers seemed to come to life. Until that moment, she’d slumped in her chair, lifeless, as if being kidnapped by a serial killer and her more recent experience with the presumed skeleton of Jeremy Haskins had robbed her of any desire to continue living. The woman had been through too much. She blurted her opinion and everyone stopped to listen. “This is ridiculous. Josh would be a better sheriff than Gray.”

  Ah, surely she was viewing the man through the eyes of love. As far as Shaw could see, McCord had very little self-discipline, not enough to recommend him for the job.

  Courtney moved into the midst of them. Shaw couldn’t wait to hear her take on the issue up for debate. “I agree with Ashley. I think Josh would be a great Sheriff. If he can stay in AA and get past his drinking problem.”

  Josh sulled up. “I don’t have a drinking problem.”

  “Yes, you do.” A chorus of voices answered him.

  He blinked several times and scowled. “I’m going to AA. Are you satisfied?”

  “I won’t be satisfied until you’ve been sober for a while.” Courtney propped on the corner of a table and faced them all. Six faces stared hard at her, but she didn’t back down. “With Josh in the Sheriff’s office, we’d have a person there to keep things from swaying Haskins’s way again. The whole county is used to those two butting heads. No one would doubt they were still ex-best-friends. But that would be good, because no one would believe the two of them were plotting together to bring Haskins’s down.” She paused. “All we need to do is plant little seeds about how Josh exposed Halsey for the criminal that he is.”

  Josh shifted from one foot to the other. “But you found Cooley’s notes.”

  She laughed. “I don’t want to be Sheriff of Hill County.” She glanced at Shaw. “I just want to live a normal life with a normal…”

  He loved the way she trailed off there. Did she really think he was a normal guy? Maybe she needed to get to know him a lot better. He’d make sure that she did, and s
he found out just how twisted he really was.

  “Okay, revised game plan. We are now pushing Josh McCord for Sheriff of Hill County.” Even as they discussed the possibilities, Shaw knew that neither Gray nor Josh could get elected sheriff. Their discussion was nothing more than the let down from a bad situation. In the morning, when they all sobered up from the adrenaline, they’d see the impossibility of what they proposed.

  Gray smirked. “Funny how things can change.” He slipped an arm around Tori, who still seemed to be a bit peeved. “This isn’t going to happen overnight. Halsey will have to be ousted from office. He’s still an elected official, so there’s a process for removing him from office. That might not be easy if public opinion changes again. And then there’s the task of getting Josh elected. That’s gonna be hard work.”

  “Really, Gray? Do you have to be so sarcastic toward him?”

  It was kind of cute how Ashley Rivers defended Josh McCord even though she knew his reputation. Josh placed a calming hand on her arm. “Lighten up, babe. He’s right. I have a lot to overcome. Even if I can’t get elected, I’ll still be useful inside the Department. So will Tori.” He sent her a look of sympathy. “It might be hard for Gray and Tori to remain separated until all this settles. She might have to give it up after awhile and stop pretending she hates him. We’ll still need someone there to monitor what happens in the office. Either way, Sheriff or not, I’m the guy.”

  “I’m not that weak,” Tori muttered.

  “No one said you were,” Ashley assured her.

  “Okay, then. Are we all in agreement?” Shaw asked.

  Six heads nodded, Tori’s a bit more slowly than the rest.

  “Then, all of you go. Get out of here. I need to clean the place up and close it up. Courtney…and I can’t stay here any longer.” He grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

  She gazed up at him with grateful eyes.

  Gray laughed. “I see how it is with the two of you. Don’t forget, Shaw… She’s my little sister.”

  Shaw smiled. “I don’t think any of us are going to forget that for a while.”

  Gray’s smile faded. “I don’t want you involved in this, Courtney.”

  She started to voice her objections, but Gray placed a hand on her shoulder.

  “I know you can handle it. Just…let me be big brother.” He glanced at Shaw. “I want you to have a chance to live a normal life for a while.”

  “What about you?” she asked with hardly any breath.

  “Me?” He gazed toward the window behind them. “I think I might have been born for this moment.”

  Tori snorted. “Dramatic, you think?”

  He brushed her cheek with his fingertips. “You know drama, darlin’.”

  She popped him on the upper arm and he pretended to wince.

  For the first time since the whole mess started, since the moment he first got the call about Laurel Heights from Grayson…that seemed like ages ago…Shaw believed everything was going to resolve for the best. Whatever that was.

  But he knew they were all full of crap. Josh couldn’t get elected Sheriff. He was too young. Too inexperienced. And too impulsive. The plan would have to continue as it had. Gray still needed to get on the inside of Haskins’s operation. Even after the fall of Halsey, he didn’t think that would be too hard to accomplish.

  ****

  Jordan pushed open the back door of Laurel Heights with the barrel of his service weapon. Glad to be done with the day’s business, it pleased him to get on with his own agenda. In all the discussion, no one had thought about what would happen to Cherish Duncan, the woman who had called herself Chelsea.

  With James Standridge dead, the woman was possibly adrift, and he was well aware that a person without an anchor could be dangerous. Chelsea, he preferred to think of her that way, could either come out of the shadows and lead a normal life, or she could sink further into the underworld into which she’d been dragged.

  When he was satisfied no one was lurking in the dark, he sheathed his gun and stood in the middle of the empty kitchen with his hands on his hips. The house still creeped him out, so he rubbed his hands up and down his arms. He could still feel an angry presence, probably the essence of James Standridge. If he had died a violent death, and it certainly appeared that he had, then he might linger in the in-between world. And it made sense that he’d linger in the place that had given him the most pain.

  “Chelsea?” he called, his voice booming and then echoing around the walls. “I know that’s not your real name, but that’s what I’m gonna call you.” He waited and listened. No movement. Maybe she wasn’t hiding out at Laurel Heights any longer. “You said there were other women like you. I want to help you help them.” He strained to detect any movement in the quiet house. Still nothing. “I promise I’m not gonna make you do anything you don’t want to do.”

  The basement door eased open, and Chelsea emerged, shotgun barrel first.

  “I don’t think you can make me do anything as long as this gun is aimed at your chest.”

  He grinned, hoping to ease the tension that already existed between them. “You’re right about that.”

  She wiggled her fingers and then regripped the gun. “Toss you gun over here.”

  “Why do I have to give up my gun?”

  She smirked. “Because I said so.”

  He placed it on the floor and kicked it toward her. She squatted slowly and retrieved it before stuffing it in the waistband of her worn blue jeans. He could see her knee poking through a good-sized tear. He knew that torn jeans were a fashion choice, but somehow he didn’t think Chelsea had chosen that particular fashion statement.

  “Why’d you come back?” She kept her hazel eyes trained on him, never budging her focus.

  “Like I said, you mentioned other women like you. You wouldn’t have said anything unless you thought they needed help. I’m here to help.”

  “You’re a cop.”

  “You’re a criminal.” He paused. “Now that we’ve got those introductions out of the way, tell me how much danger the other women are in.”

  “I don’t know for sure. I haven’t seen any of them in days. I think Haskins has promised a lot of people some merchandise, and he doesn’t have Cooley any more to fill the orders. They’re gonna want Haskins to give them their supply or things are going to get messy. I think Haskins is about to get desperate.”

  She’d summed it up pretty well.

  “Who are they?”

  She shook her head. “How would I know? No one ever told me any of this. I just overhear what I overhear. Nobody pays attention to me when I’m around. It’s like I’m invisible or something. Like I never existed. I hear a lot of stuff that isn’t meant for me to hear.”

  He couldn’t imagine Chelsea being invisible to anyone. The woman was hard to ignore. She wasn’t a stick like some women her age. She had curves in all the right places. Jordan forced himself to calm down at the thought of what her curves might look like uncovered.

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “Listen to what I’m saying instead of looking at my boobs.” She huffed. “All men are just alike.”

  “No, we are not.”

  She was apparently in the mood to ignore his rebuttal. “The other women… either Haskins has them or the guys he deals with have them. Either way, they are in a lot of trouble. Without Cooley, they don’t know what they’re doing. And most all of them…” Her pause was significant.

  “They’re going to need a hit, aren’t they?”

  She blinked at him. Of course, she wasn’t going to incriminate her friends.

  “They could easily blow themselves up?”

  She nodded.

  “None of them are doing this willingly, are they?” Probably every one of Cooley’s workers owed him money.

  She shook her head. Was the woman suddenly mute?

  “Look, Chelsea…” He smiled his best reassuring smile. “The guy I work with is trying to bring Haskins down. Let’s go talk to—”<
br />
  “No,” she raised the gun, whose business end had slipped a little toward the floor.

  He lifted his hands. “Okay. Okay. We’ll do this your way.”

  “I never said we were doing anything together.”

  He laughed. “Of course, we are. We’re still talking, aren’t we?”

  She lowered the gun until it rested in the crook of her arm and nodded toward the door. “First things, first.”

  “What’s that?”

  “First, you’re gonna take me to see my brother. I don’t want him thinking that I’m dead anymore.”

  Jordan nodded. That seemed like a fair request.

  As they exited the house, he suddenly wondered if he’d just allowed himself to be kidnapped by Cherish Duncan…again.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Courtney rubbed her hands on her jeans. She glanced around the restaurant’s kitchen. The conference had left a mess behind to clean up, but Shaw and Courtney had made short work of it.

  “Okay, I think we’ve finished here. Let’s go upstairs and gather our stuff. I need to cleanout the fridge too, since Gray and Tori aren’t coming back.” He reached over and swung her around to pull her to him.

  She leaned her head back so that he could plant another sweet kiss on her. He fulfilled her silent request and pressed his warm lips to hers. The kiss seemed to last forever, with Shaw finding a bazillion ways to fit his mouth to hers. She’d never liked having a man’s tongue down her throat, but somehow when Shaw explored her mouth, it caused a surge of exhilaration to course through her. She moaned and arched into him.

  He leaned back and laughed. “We don’t have time for that.”

  “Who says?” she asked and was amazed at the husky bedroom tone in her voice.

  “When we get where we’re going…”

  “Promise?” Had she really just purred? What was wrong with her? She’d never acted like a sex kitten before.

  “Promise.” His mouth devoured hers once again.