“Doubt this is your fault,” Jared said briskly. “This is a gas station, after all. Perhaps someone threw a cigarette butt into some spilled fuel. Hell, the truck could have had a gas leak. We won’t know until we can get a closer look.”
If they ever found out. It was a fucking gas station. Flammable shit was everywhere. On television he’d even seen a car go up in flames from the static electricity spark from a damn cell phone. But one detail stood out from everything else.
Billy hadn’t reported any shoplifters. Another bogus call out.
Which made Jared very suspicious about this vehicle fire. Good chance it wasn’t an accident. Hopefully Billy had cameras stationed around the property because they’d had no luck with the earlier calls. All of them had been made from separate pre-paid cell phones. He couldn’t trace them anywhere but that was sure suspicious.
Dammit. Jared needed to have a chat with Boyd Hicks immediately. He’d had no luck as he never seemed to be “home” whenever Jared stopped by. He was sure that was by design.
“Billy, we’re going to need any footage from your security cameras inside and outside.”
“Sure, Sheriff.” The man nodded and scuttled away. “It’s in the back room.”
“I’m really sorry,” Chris said again. “Jesus, when I saw it…”
Jared slapped the younger man on the back. Chris was a good junior deputy and was going to make a great senior. He might even be a sheriff one day. Sharp and brave, he didn’t make excuses. In other words, Jared’s kind of lawman.
“Relax—I really don’t think this is your fault. I think there were other forces at work here.”
Chris’s expression cleared. “Hicks? What’s that guy’s end game anyway? What does he gain from something like this?”
“Right now he’s amusing himself,” Jared replied. “He wants to make us look stupid and so far he’s not doing a bad job of it. We need to regroup and figure out how to deal with this because knowing him – and I do know him – he’s going to escalate. Ultimately this is about revenge.”
After retrieving the footage from Billy, Jared gave Chris a ride back to the station. Knox was already there keeping things running smoothly as usual. Jared sent Chris to the motor garage in the back to see what extra vehicles they might have available. Jared was sure there was a decent cruiser. It wasn’t as good on snow as an SUV but it was better than nothing until the insurance payout.
“We need to figure something out here,” Jared said to Knox, pulling him aside. “It looks like that was another bogus call. And yes, I think Hicks is behind this.”
Knox shook his head. “I don’t doubt it either.” He held out a slip of yellow paper. “Looks like your brother wants to talk to you.”
Jared took it and picked up the phone. He’d call Seth Reilly first before Royce. It would be a good chance to bend Seth’s ear about being a father so quickly after meeting Presley. All Royce was going to do was bitch about Ty, Dad, or something else just as stupid.
Jared scribbled a reminder to himself on the pad next to the computer. He needed to order a book about pregnancy and being a dad. He didn’t know shit about the subject and although his own father was a fine man, Jared wasn’t sure that the competitive atmosphere Gerald Monroe had raised his children in was the right thing. Look how screwed up Royce and Becky were. Hell, look how screwed up he himself was. He’d been competing for his father’s approval and love his entire life. His friends told him his standards for his deputies and women were too high.
In general, he was a pain in the ass. It wasn’t that he didn’t know it. He did. He just couldn’t seem to stop himself. Too many years of his father inspecting how straight his shoes were lined up or how he’d made his bed. Crap like that was going to leave a mark.
It made Jared want to be the best he possibly could. It also made him difficult to be around because he wanted everyone else to feel that way. And he sure as fuck didn’t want to lay that burden on his child.
He had some changing to do. Luckily he had nine months to do it. If he didn’t drive Misty away before then.
Misty sipped the herbal tea and relaxed back onto the daybed. It had been quite a day but she’d told Jared about the baby. She’d been practically shaking like a leaf when she sat down but failure had not been an option. He needed and deserved to know.
He also deserved to be the kind of father he wanted to be. Maybe because of her upbringing, never knowing her own father, she’d assumed he wouldn’t want to be that involved. Somehow she’d pictured him in the periphery – there but only on birthdays and holidays.
But Jared Monroe wanted to be hands on.
He wanted to marry her so they would be a family.
She didn’t even know what that was. That was the real problem here. Yes, she wanted her husband to love her. Unlike other girls she’d never fantasized about her wedding or a white dress and flowers. She’d dreamed of getting out of Fielding, having enough money to buy new clothes that weren’t from a thrift store and eating out at fancy restaurants with interesting people as her friends.
But his proposal had set off so many other warning bells inside of her. He wanted them to be a family but what if she didn’t know how? She didn’t want to screw this up but she only knew how mother and daughter related to one another. She’d never seen anything else except on television. And she was sure that wasn’t real or anything she might want to emulate.
But Jared knew all about being part of a family. From what she could see, the Monroe family might have its issues but they were close. She’d never fit into their world. She was Misty Foster, daughter of the town harlot and Jared was practically local royalty. It would never in a million years work.
Sleepy after a long day, Misty set the cup on the end table and let her eyelids drift shut. She was too tired to make any decisions today but tomorrow she had some real thinking to do.
“Let’s call this meeting to order.” Tanner Marks, head lawman in Springwood and Chris’s father, pounded on the rickety wooden table, scarred and worn from years of abuse. It was Sunday morning and Jared and his seven sheriff friends were sitting in the roadhouse as they had every month for the last five years or so.
Wait. Make that six friends.
“Where’s Reed?” Jared asked. The amiable lawman wasn’t sitting in his usual chair near the window.
“Illinois with Kaylee,” Logan Wright replied, popping open a soda and sliding more cans down the table. “She’s got business she needs to deal with and he didn’t even burn half of his accrued vacation time when he was there this fall. The mayor was happy to give him a week off.”
“Actually I’m surprised to see you here,” Evan Davis observed. “Have the twins been letting you and Ava get any sleep at all?”
Logan’s wife Ava had given birth to a boy and a girl the last week of December. Now two months old, they were only sleeping four hours at a stretch last Jared had heard about them.
“Brianna and Colt are doing fine, and yes, they are letting us get a little sleep. Luckily Ava’s mom has been lending a hand too.”
“They grow up fast,” Seth Reilly warned with a chuckle. “Little Ben is starting to talk back to me. His favorite word? No. He likes to throw things too if we don’t listen the first time.”
“Then I’d make sure I’d listen,” Griffin Sawyer laughed before munching on a pretzel with what appeared to be more enthusiasm than normal. His fiancé Jazz had both of them on a clean diet or something like that from what Jared had heard. He made a mental note to look that up now that he had a pregnant woman to look after.
A part of him wanted to shout the news from the top of the building. These were his best friends in all the world and they would be happy for him. But he held back, cautious as always. He hadn’t even told his family yet or talked to Misty about how to make the announcement.
“New business?” Tanner smoothly cut in, getting them back on the job.
Jared raised his hand and told them all about Boyd Hicks and the
bogus callouts they’d been receiving.
“I heard about the SUV catching on fire of course from Chris. Have you had any luck talking to Hicks or his brother?” Tanner queried from the head of the table.
“They seem to be out every time we show up, which is quite convenient. For them. I’m getting damn impatient.”
“I think I can help you.” Dare Turner had been sitting quietly back in the corner with the usual scowl across his face. The man never seemed happy, although no one could figure out what he was mad about. Maybe just life in general. He had issues at home, that much Jared knew, including a sickly father and a little sister under eighteen.
“You’d have my gratitude if you can,” declared Jared. “I need to keep this situation from getting worse.”
Dare leaned forward, his fingers laced together. “Dale Hicks is dating a girl in my town. In fact, he’s there most days and evenings. If you’re wondering how I know, he’s already had a run in with law enforcement. He likes to race his car up and down the streets at twice the legal limit and then pick fights in the local watering hole.”
“Sounds charming,” Griffin said grimly. “A family of career criminals. Nice.”
“What they need is a cell for two from the sound of it. I think our towns would be safer with the Hicks family off the streets.” Tanner tossed his empty can in the trash behind the counter.
“You’re okay with me questioning Dale?” Jared asked, cracking open another soda.
“I’m fine with it but I’d like to be there.” Dare had his cell out and was tapping away. “If you have time we can go right after this meeting. I’ll have one of my deputies drive by and make sure Dale’s truck is there before we go.”
Jared was finally going to get to talk to Dale and hopefully make some progress on this case. He was sick and tired of spinning his wheels and getting nowhere.
The rest of the meeting was uneventful. Evan seemed a little out of sorts but everyone knew he was still getting used to being a small town law officer after working for the Marshal Service. In the meantime they’d all be there to help him make the transition.
“Ready?” Dare asked him as they stood in the parking lot after the meeting broke up. “You can follow me if you like.”
“Sounds good. How do you want to play this? I don’t think Hicks is going to be all that happy to see me.”
Dare almost smiled. Almost. “He ain’t going to be giddy as a schoolgirl to see me either. I’ve already busted his ass for public intoxication this week. I’m guessing he’ll spit on our shoes and tell us to go fuck ourselves.”
Jared loved a challenge. “No one has said that to me since last night, so that’s all good. Here’s hoping I can be charming and persuasive.”
Dare swung into the cab of his truck. “You do whatever you want. I think bad cop comes more naturally to me though.”
Jared couldn’t argue with the man.
Chapter Eleven
Dale didn’t bother to stop and tell Jared and Dare to fuck themselves. When they’d knocked on the front door of the tired rundown house, a woman with stringy brown hair and dark circles under her eyes had answered the door.
Before they could even get a word in she was already speaking. “Dale ain’t here. I don’t know where he is.”
Jared knew it wasn’t the truth from the way her gaze darted all around and her defensive posture. He walked to the end of the porch and peered around to the back of the house. This wasn’t his first day on the job but people always seemed to think cops were stupid. Today was no exception. Dale Hicks had exited the house through a back entrance and was now running across a snowy field on foot.
Well, shit. Why did they always run? And on slippery snow too.
“He’s running, Dare.”
He didn’t look back to see if the lawman was following him. Jared leaped over the railing and down to the snow covered ground below before taking off after Dale. It was times like this he was glad he kept in shape, otherwise he’d be coughing up a lung. The icy cold air made it painful to even draw breath. To complicate matters he had to lift his knees high to be able to navigate the deep snow drifts without falling on his ass.
Clearly Dale wasn’t as vigilant about his fitness as Jared was able to close the distance between them. When he was about two feet away he leaped into the air and came down on the fleeing man’s back, both of them landing in the cold, wet snow. Dare must have been on Jared’s heels because he was right there kneeling on the cold ground, helping subdue Dale.
“Why’d you run?” Dare asked, turning the red faced Dale over and pulling him to his feet.
“Because I saw the fucking cops,” he spat out. “Don’t need no other reason.”
Dare marched Hicks through the snow back toward the house with Jared on the other side. When they arrived the woman rushed outside and fussed over Dale while giving Jared and Dare the evil eye. All four of them went into the living room and settled into chairs. Jared was glad to be out of the cold, his clothes damp and chilly against his skin.
“This is Sheriff Jared Monroe of Fielding.” Dare jerked his thumb in Jared’s direction. “He’d like to talk to you and ask a few questions.”
Dale’s expression turned contemptuous. “We’ve met. And I ain’t got shit to say to him or you. Angie, get me a beer.”
It was true they had met previously and Dale hadn’t been any different then he was today. Jared hadn’t expected it either. He knew dealing with Boyd’s brother was going to be a pain in the rear.
“Relax, I’m not here about you. Not this time anyway. I’m here about Boyd. Where is he hanging out these days?”
Dale’s thin lips turned up into a half-smile. “Why do you think I know?”
Angie picked up a cigarette from a pack on the table. “You don’t have to tell him anything, Dale. Tell him to go to hell.”
Charming wife. Or girlfriend. She was a real gangster’s moll wanna-be.
“Shut up,” Dale growled, barely casting a glance in her direction. “Boyd’s around. That’s all I know. He doesn’t tell me everything. Why don’t you ask Lindsey?”
This was interesting. Why did Dale think Lindsey had seen Boyd?
“We did ask her. She says she hasn’t seen him since he was sentenced. Is that the truth? Has he seen Lindsey since he got out?” Jared asked, closely watching Dale’s body language for any tells.
The man shrugged carelessly. “I dunno. He’s got a new girlfriend now but that don’t mean he hasn’t seen Lindsey. They were married.”
“So you’re saying Lindsey’s not telling the truth?”
“If you’re asking if she’s a damn liar the answer is yes,” Angie spat, her thin features contemptuous. “Always acting like she’s better than everyone else.”
“Shut up and get me a goddamn beer,” Dale shouted at the brunette who slunk toward the kitchen.
“Is Lindsey lying?” Jared asked again.
“If she says she hasn’t seen him then she hasn’t, I suppose. You’re the suspicious type. Boyd’s around—he just don’t like cops.”
When it came to keeping peace in his town, Jared was more than suspicious.
“So you have seen him? When?”
“Shit, I don’t know.” Dale moved restlessly on the couch. “Is he in trouble or something?”
“Or something,” Jared replied, careful to keep his expression neutral. “We just need to talk to him.”
Dale pulled the half-smoked cigarette from Angie’s mouth when she sat back down on the couch, two beers in hand, and took a long drag. The woman scrambled for another from the pack. “Then call his probation officer. Isn’t that how you cops are supposed to communicate with us former convicts?”
“I did. He’s lost track of Boyd as well. Seems like your brother is flying under the radar. It could get him right back in the slammer if he’s not careful.”
Dale threw back his head and laughed, dropping the cigarette into an overflowing ashtray. “Boyd’s never been known for being caref
ul or smart, Sheriff. Doubt he’d start now.”
Jesus, was Dale the brains in the family?
“So how can I find this girlfriend of Boyd’s?”
“She’s a waitress at some pancake house outside of Springwood. Her name’s Beatrice or Bethany…hell, it’s something with a B anyway. That’s all I know. Now are we done here because I’m done talkin’.”
“That depends,” Dare growled from the corner of the room where he’d been silently observing. “If I call your probation officer what will he say? Have you been checking in? If he asks me to search these premises will I find anything illegal?”
“Go right ahead,” Dale invited. “I’ve got nothing to hide.”
Dare didn’t take Dale up on the offer so Jared and the other sheriff took their leave and headed back out to their trucks. They paused by Jared’s driver’s door and Dare glanced at the house behind him.
“So what do you think?”
“I think that something’s up. Normally Dale would rather shoot me than tell me anything about Boyd. So why did he give up the girlfriend so easily?”
“Maybe it’s a wild goose chase,” Dare suggested. “Something to keep you busy elsewhere while he and Boyd go off and do something illegal and out of sight.”
“It’s possible,” Jared conceded. “Although I wouldn’t say Dale has ever been a quick thinker. Whatever he said here today is something he’s been thinking about for a long time. He didn’t make her up off the cuff.”
“So you’re going to try and find this Beatrice-Bethany?”
“I am. Maybe she can lead me to Boyd.”
“What if Boyd isn’t your man? What then?” Dare asked.
“That’s a damn good question and the answer is that I’m shit out of luck. Other than Hicks I’ve got no evidence and no suspects.”
“What does your gut tell you?”
“That Dale is up to something. It could be my issue or something completely unrelated. So now I go and talk to Boyd’s girlfriend. Maybe I can learn something there. Either way I appreciate your cooperation here today.”
Imperfect Justice Page 10