The Accidental Sheriff

by Cathy McDavid

  Carolina watched him and wavered between telling Ward off when she got back to the station or being a good girl and just shutting up. This could be a test, she reasoned. If she pitched a fit, Ward could use her reaction to shoot down her next bid for a better assignment…and the next, and the next.

  If they turned out like the one she was doing on Neil, maybe she should consider changing careers.

  A few tentative forays into researching the death of his wife had produced little more than what Ward had already learned and nothing that implicated Neil. Carolina hoped additional digging would provide the same. Then she’d go to Ward and tell him she couldn’t find dirt because there wasn’t any.

  She tried not to think about the—in her opinion, nonexistent—possibility that Neil had acted irresponsibly and caused his wife’s death.

  Sheriff Herberger caught her eye. She smiled encouragingly, giving him a silent thumbs-up. For someone who’d just had a heart attack followed by a triple bypass, he looked good.

  Then again, the man was made of granite, as his record proved. He’d seen a lot of change in the past quarter century and endured his share of difficulties, both professional and personal. He’d stood strong for what he believed in, even when those beliefs weren’t popular, and was a staunch advocate for the rights of the people who’d elected him.

  He was also a longtime friend of the Tuckers, especially Carolina’s uncle, who’d managed the ranch before her cousin Jake took over. From tales her uncle told, he and the sheriff had run around together as teenagers and young Otis Herberger had tangled once or twice with the law before deciding to switch sides.

  “Well, thanks for having me today, Rowdy,” he said into the phone.

  “We’re glad to hear you’re doing well.”

  While the sheriff and Rowdy were wrapping up the interview, Carolina’s thoughts drifted to the station and what she’d say to Ward when she got back. It took a moment for her brain to register that Neil’s name had been mentioned.

  “I’d be back on the job tomorrow if those dang doctors would let me,” Sheriff Herberger continued. “In the meantime, I’m sure Deputy Sheriff Lovitt will do a bang-up job, no pun intended.”

  The sheriff and Rowdy both laughed.

  “He’s kind of a serious guy, isn’t he?” Rowdy asked.

  “When it comes to work, yes. But off duty, he can relax and kick back with the best of them.” Sheriff Herberger glanced at Carolina and winked.

  She felt her cheeks warm. Did he know about the double date she and Neil had shared last year? Touching a finger to her earbud, she smiled back while trying to appear preoccupied with the broadcast.

  The sheriff and Rowdy exchanged a few final comments, then said goodbye. Carolina went over to the sheriff and helped him hang up the phone, which was on the nightstand and beyond his reach.

  “How’d I do?”

  “You were great.” She patted his arm, the one without tubes and monitors attached to it. “A real pro.”

  “I hate this.” His smile dissolved. “I’ve never been sick a day in my life. And now…” He laid his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes. In that moment, he looked his age and then some. “Three months’ mandatory leave of absence. I don’t know if I’ll be able to hold up without going crazy.”

  The door cracked open, and a nurse peeked in. Carolina waved to her, and she entered, brandishing yet another floral arrangement. “I didn’t want to interrupt if you were still doing the interview.” She went over to the dresser.

  “No problem, we’re done.”

  The nurse moved two arrangements to make room for the new one.

  “It’s starting to look like a damn funeral parlor in here,” the sheriff grumbled.

  “You should be glad it’s not a funeral parlor,” Carolina said.

  “You’re right.” He laughed again. “Be sure to tell your family thank you for the flowers they sent.”

  “I will.”

  The nurse left. Carolina would give anything to do the same, but figured she might not have another opportunity to be alone with the sheriff for a long time. Besides, if Ward asked, she could tell him with complete honesty she was working on the story about Neil.

  “We did a little research on Deputy Sheriff Lovitt before his interview the other day.”

  “Is that so?”

  “To help us with questions.” She winced at the bald-faced lie. Fortunately, the sheriff didn’t appear to notice. “I read about his wife’s death.”

  Sheriff Herberger shook his head sympathetically. “A truly terrible accident.”

  “I saw that he was investigated by Internal Affairs.”

  “Standard procedure. Nothing more. Neil acted properly and in the line of duty. There were also more than twenty civilians who witnessed the incident.”

  “Is it normal for an off-duty police officer to go after a suspect?” Carolina hated to admit it but she was becoming curious, from a strictly personal standpoint. “Especially out in the open like that with lots of people in the area?”

  “Protecting the public doesn’t stop just because a law enforcement officer clocks out. He had a responsibility.”

  “I suppose you’re right.”

  “Neil’s a good cop.” The sheriff yawned. “He’ll be a great acting sheriff.”

  “Of course.” She gathered the rest of her things. “You’re tired. I’ll leave and let you rest.”

  His thick salt-and-pepper eyebrows came together in a pronounced V. “Is there some reason for your curiosity about Neil?”

  “I’d like to know that, too.”

  Carolina whirled at the familiar voice. The slight embarrassment she’d felt earlier with Sheriff Herberger was nothing compared to now.

  Neil stood in the doorway. On second thought, filled the doorway was a better description. There were two inches of empty space between his shoulders and the doorjamb. She involuntarily swallowed.

  “Neil!” Sheriff Herberger instantly perked up. “Did you hear the interview?”

  “No, sorry. I was in the E.R.”

  “Someone hurt?” The sheriff became instantly alert, all signs of drowsiness gone.

  “A hiker took a fall near Windy Canyon. Nothing serious but we brought him in just to be on the safe side.” He shot Carolina a piercing look.

  She straightened her spine, not about to let him see his unexpected arrival had unnerved her. “Good morning, Sheriff Lovitt. Sheriff Herberger and I were just chatting about you.”

  “So I heard.” He didn’t move except for his eyes, which tracked her as she slid away from the head of the bed. “If you have any questions about me, I’d rather you ask me directly and not trouble other people.”

  “Good idea.” Sheriff Herberger’s weary face broke into a grin, and he shooed them out of the room. “It’s about lunch-time. I hear the cafeteria makes a decent cheeseburger, not that my doctor will let me have one.”

  “I really need to get back to the station.” Carolina made the excuse, thinking she was saving Neil an awkward situation.

  He took her completely aback when he said, “Lunch sounds great,” and stepped aside to let her pass. “My treat.”

  THE CAFETERIA WAS CROWDED and noisy. Not exactly the best place for a personal discussion. But, then, was there ever a good place to lay open old wounds?

  One good thing, Neil thought as he bit into his club sandwich, the food was decent. He’d wolfed down most of it, which meant he couldn’t put off talking with Carolina much longer.

  He still wasn’t sure how much he’d tell her. Generally, he didn’t care what other people thought of him. The months of living beneath a microscope after Lynne’s death had thickened his skin. But of everyone he’d met in Payson, Carolina was the one person besides Sheriff Herberger that he wanted to know the truth and not some distorted version of it. Why her opinion of him counted, he wasn’t sure, but it did.

  She ate her tuna salad, patiently waiting for him to start. He liked that about her. He’d found
most people in the media to be pushy and high energy. Carolina had an appealing calm about her, though he sensed she wasn’t a softie by any means.

  Amazing that some lucky guy hadn’t swept her off her feet and slipped a ring on her finger. She must have had her share of offers.

  Neil polished off the last of his sandwich with some milk.

  “You going to eat all of those?” Carolina asked, eyeing his French fries.

  “Help yourself.”

  She did—to three large ones, dunking them in the leftover pool of ketchup on his plate before popping them into her mouth. It was something his daughter, Zoey, would do.

  He chuckled.

  “What?”

  “You.”

  “I gave up fries a while back. Too many carbs.” Carolina smiled coyly. “Sometimes my willpower gives out.”

  He started to answer, then stopped, realizing she’d asked for the fries more to put him at ease than to satisfy any food craving. It was enough to break the ice.

  “His name was John Leity,” Neil began without preamble. “A normal-sounding name, a normal-looking guy. If you were standing behind him in line at the grocery store, you wouldn’t think him guilty of anything more serious than an unpaid parking ticket. We called him the Delivery Man because that was his method of entry. No one was afraid of his face when they saw it through a peephole.”

  “He was a serial killer.”

  “Suspected of raping and killing seven women, slitting their throats and leaving them to bleed out on their apartment floors.”

  Carolina gasped softly and placed her folded hands in her lap.

  “There was also sufficient DNA evidence to tie him to a string of other, lesser crimes.” Neil absently rubbed his thumb up and down his glass of milk, removing the condensation. “We’d been searching for him for six months. He always managed to remain one step ahead of us.”

  Neil paused. It had been years since he’d told anyone the entire story. Emotions long buried rushed to the surface, and he needed a moment to rein them in.

  “Lynne and I were having a late brunch at a neighborhood outdoor deli. They had the best lox and bagel in the city, and she liked to go there on my days off.” The memory struck a gentle chord in his heart. “Zoey was asleep in her stroller, which was parked beside our table. Lynne and I were talking, I don’t even remember about what, when I suddenly looked up and saw the Delivery Man at the newsstand across the street.” He involuntarily tensed, much like he had that day. “I didn’t believe it at first. His regular territory was forty blocks away.”

  “What did you do?”

  He’d gone after the guy. Carolina knew that. He decided to tell her what she didn’t know, what very few people outside the NYPD did.

  “I told Lynne what was going on and pulled out my cell phone. I wanted to call in his location before he got too far away. She grabbed the phone and told me to go after him.”

  “That was very brave of her.”

  “It was.” The background din of the busy cafeteria faded into nothingness as Neil relived that horrific day. “You’d have thought with all the violent crimes she dealt with in her own work, she’d have been afraid. For Zoey, if not for herself. But Lynne understood the importance of catching that bastard before he killed another girl.”

  “What did she do for a living?”

  “She was a crime scene investigations analyst. She took an extended leave of absence when she was pregnant. I wish now she’d gone back to work. We might not have been at the deli that day.”

  “I don’t remember reading anywhere she was a cop.”

  “The media somehow always forgot to mention it. Painting me as the irresponsible cop husband willing to endanger his wife and child sold newspapers and raised TV ratings.” Anger and bitterness roughened his voice, and he cleared his throat. “It was bad enough I lost Lynne. Worse that I played a direct part in her death and would have to live with the guilt and grief. But the media went out of its way to make my life a living hell.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  A lot of people had spoken those words to him. Few with as much sincerity.

  “A group of concerned citizens thought I should be fired for being remiss in my duty. The really screwy thing is, according to protocol, I would have been remiss in my duty if I hadn’t gone after the guy.”

  Neil forced himself to relax and breathe deeply. The air in the cafeteria had become stifling. When he could talk again, he said, “I was almost on him when he spotted me. I figured he’d run, especially when I pulled my gun. Hell, who wouldn’t run?”

  “But he didn’t?”

  “Turned and hit me like a three-hundred-pound defensive tackle. People scattered like a bomb had exploded. I went down hard on the concrete but got a hold of his pant leg. He shook me loose and cut back across the street instead of disappearing into the crowd.”

  “Toward the deli?”

  He could hear the horror in Carolina’s voice. It wasn’t unlike the horror gripping his chest, freezing his heart. The kind he experienced every time he recalled what happened next.

  “I ran after him. He fired two shots at me. I…didn’t realize he had a gun—he’d always used a knife on the girls—though I’m not sure it would have made a difference. I was operating on pure adrenaline by then. The second bullet grazed my scalp. I returned fire. And didn’t miss.” Neil concentrated on the condiments clustered in the middle of their table, sensing Carolina’s gaze on him, feeling her compassion. “The same bullet that winged me hit the building and ricocheted off…into Lynne’s neck. A quarter inch to the left, and it would have missed the artery. She was dead before the ambulance arrived. Loss of blood. Like all his victims.”

  “Oh, Neil.” Carolina laid a warm hand over his.

  He didn’t flinch or withdraw, his usual reaction. Instead, he absorbed the sympathy she offered, letting it fill some of the hollow places inside him.

  “I was suspended until the investigation was complete, basically for my protection. And Zoey’s. After I was cleared to return to work, the department was flooded with letters and phone calls, demanding I be fired. I saved them the trouble and resigned ten months later.”

  “What did you do after that?”

  “Went and got Zoey from her grandparents. I was a mess when Lynne died. Physically and emotionally. I thought I couldn’t take care of Zoey and that she’d be safer away from me and the city. Lynne’s parents live in upstate New York and adore Zoey. They were happy to have her.”

  “Giving her up must have been really hard for you.”

  “It was. I managed because it was temporary.” He paused a moment before making his most important point. “I don’t want Zoey growing up hearing the details of her mother’s death and my part in it. I’ll do whatever’s necessary to prevent it.” He ground out the last sentence.

  “She doesn’t know how Lynne died?”

  “Only that it was an accidental shooting.”

  “It’s not my place to ask, but do you think that’s wise?”

  “She’s too young to understand.”

  “She won’t always be young.”

  “I won’t have Zoey hate me because she blames me for her mother’s death.”

  “You weren’t the one who fired the gun that killed Lynne. The Delivery Man did.”

  “Because I went after him.”

  “Zoey loves you. She won’t hold you responsible.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not. I’m not taking any chances.”

  “She may find out on her own one day. It won’t be hard. You’re all over the Internet. Are you ready for that?”

  Carolina had just voiced Neil’s biggest fear. “You’re right about what you said earlier. It’s not your place to ask.”

  “I apologize.”

  “Zoey is everything to me. More important than my career. She’s the reason I quit the force, took a year off and rented an apartment in the same town as my in-laws so that Zoey and I could be close to them. When I stopped seeing L
ynne’s blood covering the sidewalk every night in my dreams, I figured I was ready to go back to work. It took me another six months to find the job I was looking for.”

  “Deputy sheriff?” Carolina removed her hand from his.

  Neil wished she hadn’t. Her fingers had felt nice resting on his. “For a while I considered getting out of law enforcement altogether or going into a related field, like security. Then I’d remember Lynne and her commitment. She believed with all her heart we were making the world a better place. Me by catching criminals and her by processing the evidence that helped put them behind bars. I decided to stay in law enforcement to honor her.”

  “She would be proud of you.”

  “I couldn’t stay in the city. Zoey’s safety is my main concern.” He thought of the threatening phone call from the other day. Fortunately, there had been no more. “Rural law enforcement seemed like a good fit. Gila County has its share of trouble, but not like New York. I swore I would never put myself or my family in jeopardy again.”

  “Is that why you don’t want to be acting Sheriff?”

  Leave it to Carolina to figure him out.

  “One thing I’ve learned, the higher profile the position, the greater the danger. There are too many wackos out there, and they tend to target those in charge.”

  “I see now why you didn’t like being interviewed.”

  “My relationship with the media isn’t a good one.”

  “After what you’ve been through, no one could expect differently.” She glanced away, then back at him. “I suppose I should explain myself.”

  “Not if you don’t want to.”

  “I owe you that much after everything you’ve told me.” She sighed. “You won’t like it. I sure don’t.”

  “Try me.”

  “I’ve been assigned to do a story on you.”

  “I see,” he said flatly.

  “My boss inferred that if I don’t do the story, my job could be on the line.”

  Even though he’d already decided not to pursue a relationship with Carolina, he’d stupidly hoped her interest in him was personal. Well, this definitely clinched it. Steering clear of her would be much simpler from now on. If he weren’t sitting down, he’d give himself a swift kick in the rear. He pushed back his chair, well aware he was about to be rude but not caring. “I guess I’ve just given you everything you need for your story.” He was surprised at how much it angered him that Carolina was the one about to bring his world crashing down around him.