Shadow Valley

by Kate Sherwood

  Megan finished her drink. It was a shame to be drinking a good scotch as quickly as she was, but she had bigger worries. She set the glass down on the table, and when Joe looked at it, and then at her, she nodded. Hell, yes, she wanted another. As he poured she said, “So… if he’s the one who tipped off the meth dealers—this Karl Vickers guy—if Carson did that, do you still feel the same way? You still think he’s just a good guy, bending the law for the good of the community?”

  Both men were silent. Joe leaned back in his chair and sighed, and Don leaned forward and braced his elbows on his knees. They both stared into their glasses, and Megan wondered if they didn’t get along because they were too much alike. She decided to let them off the hook, at least for the time being. “What if it wasn’t him? Let’s say he’s been feeding information to the Codys, but not to anybody else. And let’s say we’re sure the Codys aren’t involved in this. What does that mean?”

  Don looked up. “It means there’s another leak in the department. Well, in the building, because we had to run every damn move we made past every federal agency. There’s a lot of people who knew we were going over there today.”

  “Is that what you think happened?” Joe looked as if he actually cared about Don’s opinion.

  Don took his time answering. “It’s what I hope happened.”

  All three of them sat in silence for a while, then Don drained his glass and Joe leaned over to refill it. Megan couldn’t quite believe how well the “don’t let them kill each other” plan was going. She took in the artfully decorated room again. There were a lot of things she couldn’t believe. “Anna didn’t want me to contact the feds. Do you think she was afraid they’d end up busting Carson?”

  “Probably,” Don said. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to her. But she and I talked it over, when she first told me about it. And we agreed not to turn him in. Anna’s dad died in the line of duty, so he’s a hero for a lot of people. And he helped a lot of people. But he also broke a lot of rules—at least as many as Carson has. I think we both figured Carson’s got another couple years. If he gets busted before then, that’s it. He goes to jail. And with his health, he could die there.” He looked over at Megan, and his expression was pained. “I know. It’s bullshit. Like I said, I’m a law enforcement officer.” He took of sip of his drink, and then looked at Joe. “But I’m not a rat.”

  They sat silently for a while. Finally, Megan said, “So what do we do? Anna’s hurt, and she told me to talk to you guys. I guess she thinks we should do something. So that’s her vote. And I agree. If cops are getting shot, that goes beyond good-’ol-boy petty corruption. I don’t want to see Carson take a fall for someone else’s leak, but…”

  “If it comes down to it, that’s what has to happen,” Don finished. “But let’s not rush into it. Let’s figure out what we can.”

  Joe looked unsure, but he nodded. “Okay. I’ll talk to the family and try to figure out who’s hearing what from where. Make damn sure none of us were involved in the shooting.” He looked at Don. “If I hear differently—if I find out that a Cody was part of this—I’m not coming to you with it. We’ll handle it in the family. But I’ll let you know who they got the information from.”

  Don looked as though he wanted to argue, but then nodded and said, “I’ll investigate at my end. We’ll work the shooting, and I’ll investigate who knew what, and when. And if I find out that any Cody, including you, had a damn thing to do with the shooting, I will nail whoever it is to the fucking wall.”

  There wasn’t much to say to that. Megan tried to break the tension. “Anna seemed to think that the records might hold a clue. At least, I think that’s what she meant. So I’ll keep going through them. I’ll try to find a pattern.” It sounded like a long shot, but it was the only contribution she could think of. Other than keeping Joe and Don from killing each other.

  The men broke the staring contest they’d been having in order to look at her, so she’d done some good, at least. Then Don stood up. “Okay. I’ll be in touch if I hear anything.” He smiled at Megan. “You heading out?”

  Of course she was. She couldn’t stay, as tempting as it might be. She set the half-empty glass down on the table and turned to Joe. “Thanks for the hospitality.”

  He didn’t react much, just walked them to the door. Megan followed Don along the path back to the cars, and as he started his car and pulled out, she checked her cell phone. No reception, but she checked her agenda and added a couple of notes while Don pulled up alongside to check on her, then returned her wave and drove off. She waited until his taillights were out of sight before turning the car off and climbing back out. She felt bewitched, or hypnotized, but forced herself to dismiss those ideas. She wasn’t being controlled by someone else; she was just being stupid, all on her own.

  She retraced her steps along the path. The outside light was still on, and it was easy to climb the stairs, natural to knock on the door and then push it gently open.

  Joe was standing just inside the door. He didn’t look surprised to see her, but he didn’t look particularly pleased either.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “You forget something?” Joe asked. There was no teasing smirk to go with the words.

  “I wanted to talk to you,” Megan said. “About the other night. In the woods.”

  Joe didn’t appear very interested in hearing what she had to say, but he stepped aside anyway, and followed her back over to the couch. She sat back down and picked up her glass, then drained it.

  “You’re not driving if you have any more,” he said firmly.

  “Okay.” She held out her glass.

  “What are you doing, Megan?” He sounded tired. Tired of her?

  She was tempted to come up with something cute, something glib. Something that would deflect his question away from any real feelings, and keep whatever this was on an appropriately superficial level. Instead, she put the glass down on the table. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I came back to apologize. About the other night. The way I ended it. I didn’t mean…” She trailed off. What hadn’t she meant? “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. It wasn’t about you, really. It was about me. I mean, you know the story. You know I made a huge mistake with a guy. And now it’s a public mistake. I just meant that I should be being more careful. More discreet.”

  “I don’t want to be one of your mistakes, Megan.”

  “I don’t want that either.” She flopped back into the couch. “I’m pretty confused.”

  He watched her for a moment, then sat back down in his chair and leaned over to pour fresh drinks for both of them. She looked at him with an eyebrow raised. “You can sleep on the couch,” he said firmly. Then he added, “Has it occurred to you that maybe you just get slutty after a couple drinks?”

  She shook her head and took a sip. “No. I mean, yeah, kind of. But it’s not like…it’s not like I’m drunk. And it’s not like I don’t find you attractive all the time. I just don’t usually do anything about it.”

  “Because when you’re sober, you know it’s a bad idea. You know I’m not the kind of guy you want.” He sounded resigned, but there was a little bit of something else in his voice, as if maybe he was daring her to deny what he was saying. Or at least hoping that she would.

  She decided to go for it. “As far as I can tell, you are exactly, precisely the kind of guy I want. I just can’t quite figure out what kind of guy that is. What kind of guy you are.”

  “You’ve really only had two drinks?” He seemed amused now, his voice light and playful. “Or were you half in the bag when you got here?”

  “I’m trying to be honest.” She was almost certainly making a fool out of herself. She was overtired, and overstressed, and she’d apparently just entered into an agreement with two men who hated each other to help them uncover a violent ring of police corruption. She cou
ldn’t be totally responsible for what she was saying. Or she could, and she was just stupid.

  She gazed around the room. “This place isn’t what I expected,” she said.

  His sad half smile made her want to comfort him. “You’ve gotten a big dose of the public image, haven’t you?” he said. “But you don’t really know me at all.”

  “I know parts of you. And it’s not like you know me any better.”

  “I wasn’t trying to make it a contest. I was just saying—we don’t know each other.”

  “I trust you,” she blurted out, and as soon as she heard it she knew it was true. “I don’t know about all this drug stuff. I don’t care that much, I guess. I mean, I care…I’d rather you weren’t a drug dealer, for sure. But I don’t think you’re a bad person. I don’t think you hurt people.”

  “I’ve hurt lots of people,” he said slowly. Now it was his turn to finish his drink, and he leaned forward to top off Megan’s glass and fill his own.

  “Well…” Megan wasn’t sure where to go from there. “I don’t think you want to hurt me. Obviously. I mean, I came back here. And I don’t think you’ll lie to me.”

  He stood up and walked over to the long wall of windows, looking out at the night. “No,” he finally said. “I won’t lie to you. And I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “Okay.” Megan was beginning to feel a bit muddled, and she was pretty sure it wasn’t because of the alcohol. It had seemed important that she come back to talk to him. She’d wanted to apologize about the way she’d ended things the other night. And fair enough, maybe she’d hoped for a second round, but she accepted his decision to keep her on the couch. Well, she hoped he’d change his mind, but she’d be okay if he didn’t. So she should be done now. She’d apologized, she’d shared enough of her thoughts to make the apology genuine. That should be it.

  But she wanted to keep talking. She wanted to get him talking. And the stuff she wanted to talk about—it was the sort of stuff she’d normally want to discuss with a potential boyfriend, not a one-night-stand who was making it damn clear he wasn’t looking for anything more.

  She asked herself the same question she’d been putting to herself too often lately, one she still didn’t have a good answer for. What was I thinking?

  “The moon’s up,” Joe said, still looking out the window.

  Megan wasn’t sure if she cared about that, but she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. She stood up and crossed the floor, standing as close to him as she dared.

  The view was breathtaking. It wasn’t only the moon, but also the stars casting their light, and for a while, she was mesmerized by those, so many more than she could ever see from the city. Eventually, though, her eyes shifted down to the valley stretched out below them. She could see a few twinkling lights in the distance, but otherwise everything was shades of black and gray, a long valley with a forested slope opposite, and mountain peaks stretching beyond that. She felt as though she and Joe were totally isolated, totally removed from everything and everyone, and it felt just right. She leaned a little, almost unconsciously, and when her shoulder found Joe’s chest he shifted, wrapping an arm gently around her. He was behind her, and his free hand rested on her hip. She felt safe, and they stayed like that for a long time.

  When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet, and right by her ear. “I didn’t kill my brother-in-law,” he said. “I kicked his ass, and then drove him to the bus station. Fucker bled into my truck enough to get the cops edgy, but that’s all. I told him to stay away from my sister or I would kill him.” Joe’s voice was still quiet, but it was powerful. “I don’t know where the son of a bitch is, but the last time I saw him, he was alive and kicking, heading the hell out of town.”

  She nodded slowly, afraid to break the spell by speaking. But she was pretty sure that she believed him.

  “And I’m not a drug dealer,” he said. “Not anymore. I don’t have anything to do with the family business. Haven’t since before I went away.”

  She still didn’t say anything, but she let her fingers find his where they were wrapped around her hip, and when she squeezed gently, he squeezed back.

  “I have some money saved, and I’ve been living on that. This place didn’t cost much, except for labor. I did almost all the work myself. I already owned the land.”

  “It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

  “I can’t take credit for the view.” And maybe she’d been right, that speaking would change things, because he stepped away from her now. She might have felt some regret coming from him, but she really wasn’t sure. “I’ll get you some blankets and a pillow. Do you want to borrow sweatpants, or anything?”

  While Megan very much liked the idea of wearing Joe’s clothes, she shook her head. She didn’t want to let herself get used to intimacies that weren’t going to be continued. “I’m fine. If you want, I can just go nap in the car for an hour, then drive down to the motel.”

  He gave her a weird look. “That’s crazy. If you’re worried about people seeing your car, don’t be. This road dead-ends. There’s no reason for anybody to be driving around out there tonight.”

  “I wasn’t worried about that.” It was true. Anna had been shot, and Carson was in bed with drug dealers, and there might be at least one more crooked cop somewhere around. Megan really didn’t give a damn what people in this town thought of her, not anymore. “I just don’t want to be a nuisance. I mean—I pushed my way in here. I appreciate that you’re being polite, but…”

  “You are a bit of a nuisance.” The teasing note was back in his voice. “But I think I’ll survive.” He grinned suddenly. “You’ll notice that I didn’t offer to give up my bed for you.”

  “I did notice that, yeah.” She grinned back at him. It felt so easy, so natural. She wondered how much food he had in the place, how long they could survive if they just barricaded the door and stayed there together. Then she remembered Anna, and knew that they both had work to do outside of the cabin. “A pillow and a blanket would be great, thanks.” She sat down and unlaced her shoes while Joe headed up the stairs. “I’m surprised you don’t have a dog,” she called.

  He didn’t reply until he was back down the stairs. “I’m not home enough. And I’m not sure how long I’m going to stay here. Not sure what I’ll be doing long-term.”

  That was a new idea. Megan had heard about Joe being away from Shadow Valley, but she hadn’t really envisioned him anywhere else. It was hard to imagine—he seemed so much a part of the place. But if he’d been away before, he could go away again. “You might go somewhere you couldn’t have a dog?”

  He didn’t look at her as he fluffed the pillow and tossed it on the couch, then shook out the blanket he was carrying. “Yeah, maybe.”

  Megan wanted to ask more. Hell, she wanted to drag Joe down onto the couch with her, or maybe persuade him to let her go upstairs. She wanted to snuggle herself into his arms and talk to him all night long. Sure, sex would be good too, but she’d totally settle for conversation. She might even prefer it, at least in the short-term. But she didn’t think he was going to oblige. There was something uncommunicative about the set of his shoulders, and she didn’t want to press him for more than he wanted to give.

  “Bathroom’s over there.” He indicated a door beside the kitchen. “There’s towels and stuff in the closet just inside. Extra toothbrushes in the cabinet under the sink.” He frowned thoughtfully. “What am I forgetting?”

  “There’s no mint on my pillow.”

  “Yeah, sorry. All out. Do you need a wake-up call?”

  “What time do you usually get up?”

  “Pretty early. But I can be quiet, if you want to sleep in.”

  “No, that’s good. Whenever you wake up is fine.”

  “Okay. Give me a second in the bathroom, and then it’s all yours.”

 
“Because I’m going to take a long time, you figure?”

  Another quick grin. “Women who look as good as you do, and who seem to be low maintenance? I’ve found they’re usually the highest maintenance of all. I apologize in advance for not having the right cleansers and moisturizers for you.”

  “You don’t have soap? ’Cause that’s all I need.”

  He shook his head as if dismayed by her deceptiveness, then headed for the bathroom and shut the door firmly behind him. She was tempted to push, but remained on the sofa. She felt like maybe they were doing something new here. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she knew she didn’t want to mess it up.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “What time is it?” Feeble rays of early morning sun came in through the window. Megan hadn’t seen Joe yet, but she could smell coffee brewing.

  “Zero seven hundred,” he said. “I slept in.”

  Megan rolled over and craned her neck so she could see him standing by the kitchen counter.

  “How do you take your coffee?”

  “With something dairy and something sweet—I’m not too picky about the details.” She grinned and propped herself up on one elbow. “See? Low maintenance.”

  “Taking it black is low maintenance,” he corrected, but he was walking toward her with a steaming mug, so she decided to forgive his insolence.

  “If you had a dog, he’d jump up on the couch beside me and snuggle while I drank this,” she said.

  “If I had a dog, he’d keep his ass off the furniture.” Joe returned to the kitchen. He was wearing plaid pajama bottoms and a gray T-shirt, and she honestly wasn’t sure she’d ever seen him look sexier. Which was really saying something. “Are you a big breakfast person, or a small breakfast person?”