“Yes, Hilda,” he said in a cool, detached voice. He spared no pity as he met her frightened eyes. “How about telling me the truth for a change?”
* * *
GRACE ATE A hurried lunch while she drove back to town for a staff meeting. Like so many calls received by the Sheriff’s office, the theft reported by the Circle K had turned out to be a false alarm. Apparently, people around Blackfoot Falls thought nothing of using the law to settle spats with their neighbors.
Talk about a waste of time when she could’ve been daydreaming about Ben instead.
The thought appalled her. She wasn’t a foolish starry-eyed woman. Whatever was going on in her subconscious better snap out of it right now.
Noah had returned to town midmorning and called a meeting. It was probably nothing. He was leaving soon. And Noah was the type who wouldn’t leave loose ends.
Just as she reached the town limits, it dawned on her. The reason for the meeting...maybe a decision had been reached on who’d be acting sheriff. Her hands got a bit clammy, and she wiped them on her jeans. No, Clarence would’ve said something to her. No way he’d be able to keep that to himself. Unless she was out of luck. Then he’d be too chicken to tell her in private.
Ten minutes early, she parked at the curb in front of the office. Noah’s truck was already there. So was the other deputy’s vehicle, as well as Wade’s stupid hotrod. Something one might expect a kid to drive. Come to think of it, yeah, the car was appropriate.
She caught herself just as she opened the door and left the shitty attitude outside. All the guys were there, even Gus, the part-timer whom she’d met only once before.
Noah nodded and smiled. Slumped on a folding chair, Gus was busy shooting rubber bands at the file cabinet. Occupying the two desks the deputies shared, Wade and Danny greeted her with accusing glares. Roy refused to look at her.
So what had she done now?
“Since we’re all here,” Noah said, grabbing a bottle of water out of the ancient fridge, “we might as well get started.”
Relief washed over Grace. No mayor, no announcement. Or so she assumed.
Noah perched on the corner of his desk. “Grace, take my chair,” he said, his gaze briefly running down her scraped arm.
“I’m good right here. But thanks.” She leaned against the opposite wall Roy had taken.
“I have several things I want to cover,” Noah said, “but let’s start with the incident yesterday.”
Grace tensed, watching him pick up her carefully written report. No mention had been made of anyone but Ben. And simply because she couldn’t ignore his possession of a department rifle.
“I see some out-of-town campers were given a scare.” Noah looked up and scanned the room until his gaze rested on Grace. “This is an excellent report. Very thorough...but a couple things I don’t understand. You asked a civilian for backup?”
Slowly exhaling, she stayed focused on Noah, who continued to look at her as if no one else was in the room. The tension was thick enough you could make soup out of it.
“Technically, I didn’t ask a civilian—” she held in a sigh “—ask Ben for assistance. I was at the Sundance getting information about the different trails since I don’t know the area well enough yet and wanted to save time. Ben heard me talking to Cole McAllister, and later he followed me up into the foothills.”
“You didn’t think to ask another deputy for help?”
She opened her mouth, then shut it. Noah knew. He knew everything that happened despite the fact she hadn’t snitched. Why he wanted her to spell it out, she had no clue. Whether he meant to punish the others or maybe call her to task, she didn’t appreciate this public grilling.
“As I indicated in my report, since it was obvious the shooters were poachers, Roy advised me to call Fish and Wildlife.” She swallowed a lump of pride and tried for a sheepish smile that went so acutely against the grain, she was glad for the wall’s support. “Of course he was right, but I was stubborn, too eager to prove myself, I guess. I regret wasting time and county resources, and I have no excuse.”
“In what way was it obvious?”
She hesitated. “I should’ve said, we believed the family wasn’t targeted and the shooters were most likely poachers who didn’t realize anyone was around.”
Noah gave her a long, pensive look, then swept a gaze around the office. An eerie quiet descended. She sensed Roy and Danny fidgeting, but she resisted the urge to look at them.
Finally, Noah’s eyes came back to her. “In your report, you mentioned Ben had possession of a department Remington. Did you give him the rifle?”
So far Grace hadn’t lied, not really. Stretched the truth some, yes. And she was okay with that. But she could feel the heat climbing her throat as she paused to think about how she wanted to answer.
God, why hadn’t he done this in private? From everything she’d heard, he was a good guy. “Ben followed me to help. I knew he could handle a weapon and I didn’t want him defenseless.” Her mouth was so dry she could barely swallow. “I see now it was another error in judgment that I also regret.”
She tried to prolong eye contact with him. Tried and failed. A split second before she looked away, she saw a faint smile lurking at the corners of his mouth.
“You boys have anything to add?” he asked, then waited a good, very long, thirty seconds. “I didn’t think so.”
Grace stiffened and continued to avoid the others.
“For what it’s worth, Deputy Hendrix, that wasn’t the first time this department has accepted help from a civilian, and it sure won’t be the last.” Noah rose. “As far as going after the shooters, you were doing your job, and I commend you. Next time, give Fish and Wildlife a heads-up if you think you’ll cross into government land. But that’s it. You did everything right.”
Roy noisily cleared his throat. “She asked me to go with her,” he said, his voice low with shame. “Just before I came on duty. But I—I um—”
Grace stared at her feet. She didn’t want this...
“No point in rehashing things,” Noah said. “Grace’s report is solid. I got some answers I needed. Who knows? Maybe a lesson was learned today.”
Unfortunately for Grace, she looked up just before Noah’s last words. Wade scowled at her. What an ass. She hadn’t expected gratitude for sugarcoating the report, but she hadn’t expected resentment, either.
Pumped with the sudden need to burn off some steam, she glanced at her watch. Two more hours until her shift ended. An hour at a firing range before she saw Ben would do the trick.
Danny didn’t look as if he wanted to kill her in her sleep, so she asked him, “Where’s the closest firing range?”
“Hell, sweetheart, don’t you know how to shoot yet?” Wade kept his voice low enough so Noah couldn’t hear, and gave her a sly smile. “You’ll have to go to Kalispell for that. All us boys have been hunting and shooting from the time we started walking.”
“Sometimes we target practice,” Danny offered, and missed the dirty look Wade shot him. “Come with us next time.”
“Thanks. I’d like that.”
“How about today? After your shift?” Wade’s sudden enthusiasm was pathetically obvious. So, he wanted to put her in her place, show the little lady how to shoot.
Grace smiled back. “Perfect.”
14
IF THE THREE STOOGES didn’t stop whooping it up over their exploits pretty damn soon, she was going to start shooting, and she wouldn’t need a target.
Noah had agreed to cover the office so Grace and the other three could come out to Wade’s brother-in-law’s ranch at the same time. They’d all rode in Roy’s truck, something she deeply regretted.
So far, she’d been completely excluded from every conversation, which, come to think of it, wasn’t a bad
thing. The call from Ben had been the best part of the ride, even though it had been cut short due to excessive nosiness.
One look at their final destination and Grace had to turn away from the stooges to roll her eyes. The “We’re too good for a shooting range” gang had built a setup that rivaled the law enforcement range she’d frequented in Tucson.
The Triple D range, named by Wade, and to which she steadfastly refused to react, was part regulation, part jury-rigged, and all meant for overgrown boys. None of the deputies did a thing to help Wade’s teenage nephews set up targets. At least protocol was being respected while they waited. All rifles were still packed away until the range was declared open.
Wade had called ahead, so the targets were almost ready. The three teenagers were hopping on one ATV and setting four targets at each distance. What she couldn’t reconcile was a man like Wade building this good a facility. A fence with empty beer bottles? Sure. A 1000-yard course? Not a chance.
Right now, though, Grace just wished she had a reason to use her ear protection so she wouldn’t have to listen to her coworkers.
“She was a live wire, that honey from the Sundance, wasn’t she, Roy? Thought she might take off her top right there by the jukebox.”
“Yeah, Wade,” Roy said, his arms crossed over his chest. “She was a wild one.”
Wade leaned toward Roy, but not until he’d glanced at Grace.
“She had plenty to show when we went back to my place.” He used his hands to demonstrate the enormous size of the woman’s assets. If she’d been that huge, Grace doubted she’d be able to walk without a cane.
“I swear,” Wade continued, his voice rising even more. “I didn’t know Arizona women were like that. Guess all that heat has to go somewhere.”
Grace didn’t roll her eyes. There had been so many aborted eye rolls since they’d started this trip, she was starting to worry about the health consequences.
The noise of the ATV racing toward the five-person firing line gave her the first relaxing moment she’d had since arriving at the ranch. Finally, they were going to get down to business. She headed for the farthest bay, but Wade stopped her. “This afternoon, we’ll have to take turns. Too many rifles going off at once bothers my sister.”
“And I’m guessing you’ll tell us when we can shoot?”
“Danny’ll go first, then Roy, then me.”
“I’ll be last.”
“Yep,” he said, struggling not to grin. It wouldn’t have mattered. His glee at her inevitable humiliation was written all over his face.
Grace simply smiled as she prepared her weapon. It didn’t take Danny long to signal his round. There were targets at one hundred, four hundred, seven hundred and one thousand yards. The closer targets were round, the farther silhouettes.
She watched Danny shoot as she polished her scope. He wasn’t terribly impressive, especially because he did all the shooting from a seated position, letting a tripod steady his weapon.
Roy was up next. He was decent up close, but she wouldn’t want him to be point man at anything past four hundred yards.
But the show really didn’t start until forty minutes in, when Wade got to the firing line.
Before he raised his Remington, she heard an automobile coming up the road. A quick glance told her it was Ben, although she’d recognize that Porsche’s purr anywhere. He’d have to wait behind the flag until the shooting was over. But if he got out of his car, he’d see both the shooters and the targets.
Wade didn’t look too happy about Ben showing up, let alone parking. “What the hell’s he doing here?”
“He’s my ride home. You going to shoot or what?”
After giving Ben one more scowl as he got out of his car, Wade walked to the line, put on his ear protection, then checked his chamber. He looked over his shoulder at Grace, and there it was again. The glare she’d come to know well.
He aimed and took his first shot. He was patient, which surprised her. And a decent shot, which didn’t.
Of course, he used all four regulated positions instead of just plopping onto a chair. She imagined Roy and Danny didn’t like to get dirty. But Wade had something to prove. He went from easy to hard: standing, kneeling, sitting, prone. Did a damn good job, too. He used the tripod only when he sat, and all his hits were well within an acceptable range with a few dead center. The way he grinned, he looked like he expected a parade.
Now she was supposed to be so flustered by the big boys with their big toys that she’d miss every target and break down in tears. Jesus.
She put her gear together, taking some calming breaths. Her ear protection blocking out the rest of the world, she sighted the four hundred target and steadied her breathing. With a final exhale, she was in the zone.
Grace rode the circuit exactly like Wade had. By the time she’d finished, she was flying on adrenaline. She didn’t need to see the targets the ATV boys were now fetching. She’d aced it.
One look at Wade told her he had no problem seeing where her shots had landed. She was never more grateful to have a way out.
In a surprising act of defiance, Roy came into her bay. “Good job,” he said, his voice just above a whisper.
“Thanks. I can’t believe the caliber of this range. I never imagined—”
“It was Noah’s plan, and Wade’s brother-in-law did most of the work. He makes some money off the deal.”
“Huh.” She finished stowing her gear, dusted off her uniform shirt and jeans, then started toward Ben’s car. She didn’t need to look back to know Wade was losing it.
She’d made it several yards when Wade said, “Ben Carter. Figures. I heard she ran from Arizona because her boyfriend dumped her. Left the whole department in the lurch over some man. I’d bet my car she’ll do the same here because of that hotshot.”
That stopped her. He’d said his vicious words just low enough hoping Ben wouldn’t hear. Stupid chickenshit. Grace turned to face him. He should be just as afraid of her as he was of Ben. “What?”
“Want me to say it louder?”
“Sure, go ahead. A lie is a lie no matter how loud you say it, or how soft you whisper. I didn’t leave Arizona because of a man.”
“That’s not how Clarence tells it.”
No. Her uncle wouldn’t... “It’s not true. Why would he say that?” Her voice had risen, but she stopped ripping into Wade when she saw the expression on his face. The anger over her cleaning his clock on the range was still there, along with a look of eager anticipation mixed with pure hatred.
She turned around before he could see fear get a crippling grip on her. Stupid, she thought, letting pride get in the way. After working so incredibly hard to leave her past behind, she’d just handed her fate to the most despicable man in Blackfoot Falls. No way Wade wouldn’t start digging for dirt now.
* * *
BEN WAITED UNTIL she was settled in the passenger seat, then closed the door. Roy and Danny were staring, so instead of kissing her like Ben wanted to, he went around and slid behind the wheel. Jesus, how the hell had she learned to shoot like that? The woman could put a seasoned lawman to shame.
“I shouldn’t have done that.” Grace plowed her hands through her hair as they drove past the range gate. She yanked the elastic band from her ponytail and let the soft waves fall to her shoulders, the auburn highlights catching the sun. “So stupid. What the hell was I thinking?”
“Are you kidding?” He checked for any oncoming cars, then pulled onto the highway before glancing at her. She looked nervous, a little pale. “Did you see their faces? I thought Wade was going to pee his pants. I didn’t even mind that bullshit he said about me.”
“So, you heard him.” She kept biting at her lip and shaking her head, small imperceptible movements that hinted at the battle going on inside her. “I know better,” she sai
d. “But I let Wade push my buttons, and I lost it.”
“Hey, I’m surprised it took this long. The guy’s an ass. He needed to be taught a lesson.” Ben wondered again if he should’ve told her about the guys spiking her beer. “Maybe now they’ll start showing you some respect.” They came up on an old pickup loaded down with hay bales and passed it. “Obviously, you’ve had sniper training.”
She winced. “You’re speeding. Can you please not do that with me in the car?”
Ben slowed, but that’s not why she’d reacted. He was going barely five miles over. She’d been uneasy before she got in the Porsche. Something was wrong. Something big enough to distract him from thinking about the bomb his mom had dropped earlier. “What’s going on, Grace?”
She laid her head back and briefly closed her eyes. “Wade is probably wondering the same thing you are. And I don’t need him or anyone else poking around in my past.”
“I wasn’t prying.”
“No. Of course not. Anyway, I didn’t mean you.” She sighed. “Look, it’s really nothing...” She trailed off, sighed again. “Actually, it’s complicated. And personal, so not something I care to broadcast.”
“Understood. Consider the matter dropped.” Ben reached over and squeezed her cold hand. “To be honest, I was more interested in trying to sneak in a kiss without those mutts seeing us.”
That got a small smile out of her. Then she turned to look out the window. “Clarence is unbelievable. Boy, wouldn’t I love to catch him speeding. I’d write him a ticket so fast he’d go into a tailspin.”
“Your uncle? The mayor?” Ben laughed. “You wouldn’t do that.”
“Damn straight I would.” She shifted as if she couldn’t get comfortable. “What Wade said about why I left Arizona? That’s a lie. There was no boyfriend, no torrid affair. Nothing even close.” Her voice dropped off, her nervous gaze drifting back to Ben, but only for a moment. “I don’t know what’s wrong with Clarence. Making me sound like a hormonal teenager is likely to get me kicked off the ballot,” she muttered.
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