Lone Defender (Love Inspired Suspense)

by Shirlee McCoy

  “Almost always?”

  “There’ve been a few exceptions.”

  “Your partner?”

  “Yes, though I did think something was up with him the last year we worked together. I thought maybe he was cheating on his wife. Turns out he was cheating on the department.”

  “Who else did you mistake for a good guy?” There it was. The curiosity. Pushing Jonas to find out more than he needed to.

  “No one important.”

  “Which means he was.”

  “I never said it was a ‘he.’”

  “But it was a man, right?”

  “If you can call the kind of guy Matthew was a man, then yeah.” She crossed her arms over her chest, closed in and off in a way he’d never seen her before.

  “You dated?”

  “We were engaged.”

  “You didn’t make it to the altar, so I guess you saw him for what he was.”

  “It’s hard not to see something when it’s right in front of your face.”

  “What happened?”

  “How about we change the subject?”

  “This one was just getting interesting.”

  “I can think of some that would interest me more.”

  “Like?”

  “One of the nurses said you were a Shadow Wolf.”

  “And?”

  “Were you?”

  “I told you I was a border patrol agent.”

  “Why’d you give it up?”

  “Guilt. My wife and son’s murders were a paid hit, revenge against me for confiscating a few hundred thousand dollars’ worth of cocaine and throwing half a dozen gang members in jail. My job cost my family their lives. It wasn’t a good trade-off.” Old news, but it still hurt to say it.

  “So, they won.”

  “Who?”

  “The gang.”

  “No. We closed them down. I made sure of that before I quit.”

  “Glad to hear it, but since they succeeded in getting a successful agent off the playing field, I’m not sure it was a total loss for them.”

  “If you’re trying to make me feel better, it’s not working.” He bit the words out as he pulled up in front of the sheriff’s department, yanked the keys from the ignition.

  “Why would I do that? You suffered a great loss, Jonas. No doubt about that, but throwing away all the good you did, all the good you could do, I don’t think that’s the answer to your grief or your guilt,” she shot back.

  “You have no idea what you’re talking about.” The words were as icy as the cold fury that pulsed through him. He’d had a lot of people say a lot of things about the tragedy, but Skylar was the first to say that he’d let the gang win.

  He didn’t like it.

  And right at that moment, he didn’t much like her.

  “Maybe not. But if I had a choice, I’d be back on the force, throwing the book at the drug dealing scum who hook people in, shoot them up with lies and poison and then steal everything they have. Unfortunately, the powers that be are worried that I’m a medical risk. They sat me at a desk job for three months after my recovery, and desk jobs just aren’t my thing.” Her smile was brittle, and Jonas’s fury seeped out as quickly as it had come. She had her own pain, her own loss.

  “Skylar—”

  “What you do is a God-given gift, Jonas. But it’s not my business if you waste it. I’m sorry I brought it up. Come on. I need to get my things and focus on finding Redmond, so we can both get back to our lives.” She got out of the truck and was halfway across the parking lot before Jonas opened his door.

  A God-given gift.

  They were the same words Rayne had used.

  There’d been a time when Jonas had believed that. A time when he’d truly felt that his ability to track and his success on the field were God-given. Gabriella had believed the same, and her support had only added to the feeling. For the last few years, though, all Jonas had felt was his loss.

  Skylar was right. Throwing everything away, changing careers, giving up what he loved hadn’t healed his grief or assuaged his guilt.

  All it had done was leave him empty.

  He frowned, holding the door open as Skylar stepped into the building. She’d said she needed to get to work so they could get back to their lives, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to go back to what he’d spent the past four years being. It was something to think about, anyway. Maybe even to pray about. It’s what Gabriella would have wanted, and he let the thought warm him as he followed Skylar into the sheriff’s department.

  TEN

  She should have kept her mouth shut.

  Should have.

  But she hadn’t.

  Apparently, she loved the sensation of opening it and inserting her foot.

  And, apparently, she also loved seeing the fury in people’s eyes when she stuck her nose into things that were absolutely none of her business.

  She sighed, her heart thumping painfully as she approached the reception desk and greeted the deputy who sat there.

  “I’m—”

  “Skylar Grady. I’d recognize you from your photos even if we hadn’t met before.” He smiled, his deeply tanned face and short cropped hair vaguely familiar. She must have questioned him when she had arrived in town.

  “I’m sorry. The past few days have been crazy. I guess I forgot that we’d met.”

  “I’m Deputy Marcus Williams. We spoke for about two minutes the day you arrived in Cave Creek, but I wasn’t in uniform, so don’t beat yourself up about it.” He stood. “The sheriff was hoping you’d get here before his meeting. I’ll take you back to his office.”

  “Thanks.” She followed him through a door and into the corridor beyond, Jonas close on her heels. He hadn’t said a word since they’d left the truck.

  Not that she’d given him time.

  She’d run like a coward, and she still wasn’t ready to meet his eyes.

  What had she been thinking?

  They were strangers, and his life was his business.

  But he hadn’t felt like a stranger when he’d led her up the mesa or down into the desert. Hadn’t felt like one when he’d prodded her to keep going through one of the longest nights of her life, or when he’d handed her clothes to borrow, or covered her with an afghan after she’d fallen asleep at Rayne’s computer. He’d felt like someone who cared, and that made Skylar want to care, too.

  And when she cared, she sometimes cared too much.

  Which was another ailment that she couldn’t seem to cure herself of.

  Deputy Williams knocked on the sheriff’s door, pushed it open and gestured for them to walk inside.

  “Good to see you alive and kicking, Skylar.” A tall broad-shouldered man greeted them as they stepped into the room. Silver-haired, with steel gray eyes, Sheriff Rodger Smithson looked ready for battle, his uniform spotless, his boots polished. And despite the cordiality of his greeting, his eyes blazing.

  Obviously, he wasn’t happy that she hadn’t left town when he’d told her to. In his opinion, a week of questioning the locals with no results was plenty.

  Skylar hadn’t agreed.

  Still didn’t.

  “It’s good to be alive and kicking.”

  “I bet. Go ahead and take a seat. I have a dinner meeting in twenty minutes, and I can’t miss it. We need to cover a lot before then.”

  She perched on the edge of the chair, her leg so close to Jonas’s they were almost touching. She tried to ignore him, as she reached for a folder the sheriff slid across the desk. “What’s this?”

  “All the evidence we’ve collected so far. It’s not much, but it’s a start.”

  She opened the folder, frowning at the two photos that lay on the top of the printed pages.

  Three separate photos of three different scenes. Close-ups of bullets that lay spent on the ground. “Were these found in close proximity to one another?”

  “Three of them were. The fourth was about a half mile away.”

  “It m
ight not be related, then. I only remember three shots being fired.”

  “How about you, Jonas? Do you remember more than three shots being fired?

  “No.” He leaned in to look at the photos, his knee and arm pressing against Skylar’s, his warmth seeping through the layers of jean and jacket. It was distracting—and it shouldn’t have been. She spent a lot of time with men. Had plenty of guy friends from her days on the force that she still hung out with. She’d been hiking, climbing and camping with dozens of her buddies and she’d never been so aware, so completely and absolutely in tune with a man as she seemed to be with Jonas.

  Every breath he took, she felt.

  Every move, she noticed.

  “One bullet is from my Glock. These other two look like they are from the pistol we took from one of the perps. Phoenix P.D. has it,” Jonas offered, and Sheriff Smithson nodded.

  “It was found in the location where you indicated a gun had been fired. We’re already doing ballistics testing on the gun. We’ll let you know when we have the results. We’ve also traced its serial number to a hunting store outside of Phoenix. It was reported stolen a couple months ago. Could have been in anyone’s hands.”

  “What about the fourth bullet?”

  “Like I said, it was found a half mile away. We have trackers trying to follow a trail out there, but with all the rain we got last night, it’s difficult.”

  “They found the bullets. They may find something else.”

  “Let’s hope so. We need more if we’re going to find out what’s going on.”

  Skylar spread out the remainder of the file’s contents. The sheriff was right. There wasn’t much. A picture of her rental jeep. A copy of the missing person’s report Kane had filed when she failed to check in with him. A photo of the hotel room she’d been staying in.

  She lifted it, frowning as she studied the details. “When was this taken?”

  “The day you were reported missing. Once we got notification that you’d missed a conference call with your employer, we sent someone to your hotel room. Took a few pictures just to be on the safe side, but didn’t see anything that concerned us.”

  “Was the cleaning crew in before you got there?”

  “That morning, but the crew said it looked just like you see it—clean.”

  “Then someone cleaned it before they got there. Three thugs broke into the room while I was sleeping, and I grabbed the lamp to protect myself. Slammed it into someone’s head.” She pointed to the porcelain lamp sitting untouched on a table beside the bed.

  “Did it break?” Jonas asked, and she had no choice but to meet his gaze, look into eyes that made her stomach flutter. She shoved the feeling down, forced herself not to look away.

  “Yes. I tipped over the chair, too, trying to get out the door, but three against one weren’t good odds, and I was shot full of dope before I could escape.”

  “Wish we’d have known all that six days ago. But the room was fine when the cleaning crew arrived. There were no reports of noise or a struggle.” The sheriff frowned, jotting notes on a pad of paper.

  “It’s still possible a good forensic team could find something.” Skylar had known plenty of cleaned crime scenes to yield evidence.

  “We have a team there now. Problem is, cleaning services have been in and out of the room at least twice. We impounded your rental vehicle, and we’ll check that, too. It hasn’t been rented out again, so we have more hope of finding something there.”

  “How about Daniel Redmond? Have you located him?” Skylar asked, and the sheriff frowned.

  “I have men searching his place. If Redmond left any clues as to his whereabouts, we’ll find them.”

  “More than one person was gunning for Skylar. That being the case, it seems to me, your town has a bigger problem than a deadbeat dad who’s gone missing. Who are Redmond’s connections? What did he spend his time doing? You told me that you were keeping an eye on him. You must have noticed those things.”

  “Any information I have on that is part of the official investigation. For now all I can say is that we’re checking into those things, and we’re being thorough about it. The best thing either of you can do is go back to your lives, let us handle the investigation.” The sheriff’s face tightened, but other than that, he kept his irritation hidden.

  “I can’t do that, Sheriff,” Skylar replied. “I came here to track Redmond down. I’m not going to leave until I find him.”

  “I’m not surprised. Like I told your friend, you get hold of something, and you don’t let it go. Keep this in mind, though.” He leaned in, spearing her with steel gray eyes. “We’ve got our share of trouble in this area. Nice as it is, up-scale as we keep it, we have drugs and illegal weapons and gangs and all manner of things that a person can fall into. Could be Redmond fell into that kind of trouble. If that’s the case, it could be the people coming after you aren’t the kind of people you want to be messin’ with.”

  “I mess with all sorts of people, Sheriff. That’s part of the job. So, I think I’ll just stick around until Redmond shows up.”

  “I really don’t recommend it. Just ask your friend if you don’t believe that things can go real bad real fast. His wife got caught in the cross fire of a gang war.”

  “What happened to my wife has nothing to do with this case. There’s no need to pull it out and wave it around as an example.” Jonas leaned forward, his eyes blazing. Skylar put a hand on his shoulder, pressing him back before he could do what she wanted to and slam a fist into the sheriff’s nose.

  “I apologize. I didn’t mean that to sound the way it did, and I didn’t mean to cause you more pain than you’ve already suffered. What happened to your wife was a tragedy. I would just hate to see the same happen to Skylar. I guess my concern got the best of me.” The sheriff smiled, but there was something hard in his gaze.

  “Apology accepted but, just so you know, Skylar isn’t the only one who plans to see this investigation through.” Jonas stood. “I think we’re about at the end of your twenty minutes.”

  “You’re right. I do have to get going. I’ll call you with updates, and you call me if you have any more trouble.”

  “I will. Thanks.” Skylar stood, too, though she was reluctant to let things go so quickly. There was more she wanted to say. Plenty she wanted to ask. She’d worked as a police officer in New York, and she knew the way the system worked. Knew that the first forty-eight hours were the most important in any investigation.

  No doubt Sheriff Smithson knew the same.

  So, why wasn’t he out in the desert spearheading the investigation?

  Why didn’t he have anything to share about Daniel Redmond?

  Why was he sitting behind his desk allowing his men to work the case?

  Why was going to a meeting more important than investigating an attempted murder?

  She almost let the questions pop out, but Sheriff Smithson didn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d appreciate being reminded of his priorities.

  “All set?” Deputy Williams greeted them as they entered the reception area, a black suitcase sitting beside him. Skylar’s black suitcase. She nearly cried with joy.

  Clean clothes that fit. Shoes that didn’t pinch blistered feet. And if they’d gotten her things from the Jeep, that meant she’d also have her wallet. Her laptop and cell phone. After nearly a week of being cut off from everyone and everything, she was finally getting her life back.

  “Looks like you have my stuff.”

  “It’s already too contaminated to yield any usable evidence, so you’re welcome to take it. I put your purse and cell phone inside the suitcase. They were found in the jeep.”

  “Thanks.”

  “No problem. I’ll take it out to your car for you.”

  “I’ll get it.” Jonas grabbed the case before the deputy could, his movements tight and short.

  Still upset.

  With the sheriff.

  Maybe with Skylar.

  She co
uldn’t say she blamed him. He’d gone out of his way to help a friend, and he’d gotten nothing more than trouble for his efforts.

  She followed him to the door, walking through as Deputy Williams held it open.

  To her surprise, the deputy stepped outside, following them to Jonas’s truck.

  “Listen, the sheriff will have my head if he knows I let this leak, but there’s something going on at Redmond’s place, and I think you should know about it.” Williams’s quiet words made Skylar’s heart leap, and she glanced around, made sure they were alone in the parking lot.

  “What?”

  “The evidence team found blood splatter on the bedroom wall. Wasn’t visible to the naked eye. There’s blood smeared on the wood floor, too. A trail of it leading to the backyard and a brand new cement slab.”

  “Are they pulling it up?” Jonas asked, his body seeming to hum with energy. The thrill of the chase, the exhilaration of gathering the clues and finding the answers, it didn’t go away. Not when it was what a person was meant to do.

  And Jonas was.

  The fact that she shouldn’t have said it, didn’t make it untrue. He had a gift for tracking people, and she hated to see him wasting it.

  “We started doing that an hour ago. The sheriff likes to keep things close to the cuff until he has all the facts. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have hesitated to mention it.”

  “He keeps it close to the cuff, and you let the world know?” Jonas asked before Skylar could.

  “You’re both former law-enforcement agents. Both of you have backgrounds in investigation. I don’t see any reason to keep it from you. The fact is, Rodger and I are friends. We have cookouts together, golf together, hunt together. We get along just fine, but it’s an election year, and I think that’s influencing the way he’s conducting this investigation.”

  “What do you mean?” Curious, Skylar studied the deputy. He seemed sincere, concerned, maybe even a little uncomfortable.

  “Between what happened to you and what’s been found at Redmond’s place, it’s obvious something big is going on. In light of that, Rodger should be hip deep in the investigation, not hanging out with his campaign manager. It’s going to bite him in the butt if he’s not careful. If you two start talking down about him, complaining that he’s withholding information, that’ll be another nail in the coffin. I don’t want to see that happen.” He frowned, obviously troubled by the thought.