“Someone leaked to the paper that I was involved in a scam a local real estate agent was running. Paying off the building inspector. They made it look like I got payoffs, as well, when I assure you that I did not. There are no skeletons in this closet.”
If that was true, Conner figured the sheriff was the only person on earth who could say that. Everyone had something about themselves that they didn’t want anyone to know.
The sheriff continued, “My name was discredited anyway, even with no evidence but what they’d made up. Nearly lost my job. My wife packed and went to her sister’s in the next county. By the time I managed to prove my innocence, the damage had been done. She filed for divorce and started dating the sheriff over there. His daughter’s kids call her Gramma.”
The sheriff sighed. “So I kept digging, found enough I could get a warrant to arrest him for harassment, intimidation. A little theft and some forgery, considering he bought that house under a fake name. Nothing big, but enough I was an annoyance he couldn’t ignore.”
Conner nodded.
“He’s left me alone since. Operates on the edges of the county, and I know he leans on the business owners. But I can’t get proof. No one will talk, and if anyone has reported it, someone buried the file or never entered it as a case. I haven’t seen it. And if my dispatcher is involved, I’ll figure it out. When I find her.”
Could be he had a deputy sympathetic to Andis, as well. Conner wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case. Andis enjoyed the power of having people on all sides of the law under his thumb.
“He was supposed to lie low, keep things on the outskirts of town. Run his business in a way it doesn’t creep inward to the people here. Instead he has spread right to Main Street like a poison. Andis Bamir has not been keeping up his end of our agreement, and it’s time I stop playing by the rules before he infects this whole town.” The sheriff shrugged. “You of all people know what he’s capable of. That’s why I think it’s you who can help me.”
Kayla had put it together, and she was a smart woman, so it hadn’t been hard for her. It was his experience that people saw what they wanted to see, and they believed what they wanted to believe. The sheriff wanted him to confirm what he thought.
“Counterfeit money, right?” Conner didn’t give him anything. The man sighed. “Secret Service. Counterfeit money. It’s not that much of a stretch, and they did a good job making you look like a turncoat. Betraying the oath you swore, giving away their secrets to make money no matter what laws you broke or who got hurt.”
Accepting that it was easier—and quicker—to confirm and explain why he couldn’t help, Conner said, “I can’t help you get concrete evidence on Andis. If I get anything, I turn it over to the people I report to. This is bigger than your county, and I’m way past surveillance. I was in tight with them. Now I’ve got next to nothing. The mill is a dead end, and Andis didn’t give me anything but to flash superbills in my face.”
“Superbills?”
“Expert forgeries. Now they’re not going to trust me trying to fish for info. Not any more than they let me in on what that was with Kayla or why their operation suddenly stopped.”
The sheriff said, “They will if I tell Manny I’m letting him go to get in with Andis. I’ll tell them you’re Secret Service to buy myself a way onto their team. It’ll take some explaining and you can help me work up a story, but I’ll be able to operate from the inside. Convince them I know how to get you. Then you come in from the other side and hit them. Misdirection. They won’t know which of us is on what side, who is with them and who isn’t.”
Conner thought about it. He could use an ally, but they weren’t going to be partners. Kayla had been on her own long enough already, and it was time for him to go.
He stood up. “I’ll keep your offer in mind. I’ll even run it by my handler, see what we think might be the best way forward.”
“You aren’t going to help me.”
“I’m going to help Kayla Harris. If I can bring Andis down in the meantime, fine.” He gave the sheriff Greg’s number. “Call him yourself and talk about it.” Conner wasn’t going to admit out loud that since he’d run into Kayla, every priority he’d had changed. He was barely prepared to admit it to himself.
She was everything. She always had been, and seeing her again only cemented the fact that she always would be.
The sheriff set his phone on the table and dialed the number. “Hang out for a second.” It rang through the speaker.
“Conner? Is that you?” Greg sounded out of breath.
“I’m here, but it’s Sheriff Johnson who wants to talk to you.”
“And Kayla?”
“She’s not here.”
Greg told him she’d been on the phone with him. That he’d heard a man’s voice and then she had screamed. Conner’s insides froze. “So where is she now?”
A door crashed open, out in the main office area. “I need help!”
Conner left the phone on the table and ran out of the room. Kayla stood at the door, blood on her forehead coming from a wicked knot on her temple.
“Kayla,” he breathed, and ran over to her. She fell into his arms like she was made to be there. “Are you okay?”
“I am now.”
Conner smiled back at her. Before he realized he was doing it, his mouth was halfway to her lips. Just a simple touch. It would be so easy. So natural for them to—
The sheriff cleared his throat. “Ms. Harris. Let’s get you a doctor. Do you need to sit down?”
She flushed and Conner could have kicked himself, letting her stand when she should be sitting. She was injured and he was thinking about kissing her? What was wrong with him?
She glanced at him before she told the sheriff, “I’m okay, other than my head.” She looked back at Conner. “My laptop was stolen.”
NINE
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
Kayla nodded. The concern in Conner’s eyes was enough to clear the cloud of pain from her head. No doubt it’d be a roaring headache later, but for now all she could think about was the fact that he’d been about to kiss her. Kiss her!
For just a second, the stress and fear of the past two days had dissipated. All that had mattered to her was him and the look in his eyes—the one that was still there. She wanted to wrap herself up in his arms, shut her eyes tight and block out the world.
“What happened?”
Kayla didn’t want to talk about it, but they had to know. “It was a man. I’ve never seen him before—I don’t know who he was.” She told the sheriff about his clothing and his hair. The impression she’d gotten of his face was like a bulldog.
Sheriff Johnson nodded and made notes on a pad.
Kayla tried to think it through. “He came up behind me outside. Grabbed me. I fought him off, tried to get in the car, but he caught me.” Breath hitched in her throat. “He slammed me against the truck.”
Conner’s hand settled on her shoulder, but he didn’t say anything.
“I must have blacked out for a second, or I just couldn’t think because I was dazed, because then I was alone and the laptop was gone. I don’t think he opened the lid, or he’d have seen the keyboard suffered damage in the fire.” With a wry smile, she reached up and touched Conner’s hand with hers, just to hold on to. “I drove straight here.”
The sheriff said, “Do you think you could look at mug shots, see if you recognize any of them?”
She nodded. “I can certainly try.” Kayla wanted to smile but couldn’t muster up much gumption. She hadn’t been this tired before lunch in so long. How would she make it through the rest of the day?
“Kayla’s wiped. Maybe I could bring her back later?”
The sheriff shrugged. “Sooner would be better. I also have to figure out what to do with Manny Santee. I could charge him, and the pharmacist already made his statement.” He left it open, inviting discussion.
Kayla looked at Conner, trying to figure out why it seemed li
ke the sheriff was asking him permission to formally detain someone. Were they working together now? Conner nodded, though it was a little sardonic. He didn’t want to work with the man. Probably more because he wasn’t a team player than just because it was Sheriff Johnson. Conner had worked alone so long she wondered over the fact that he’d let her in at all. But he seemed to soak up having her there.
Had he gone so long without a friend that he’d needed someone, or was it that it was her? Kayla knew which she would prefer. The idea that he had feelings for her made her heart soar. She didn’t want to be just another protectee. Just another person to put his life on the line for.
Noble, but the idea of him dying made her want to cry. Maybe it was just that she was tired, or that she’d had a crazy couple of days and nearly died more than once. But no matter how Conner had intended to come off so many times, Kayla couldn’t stop the movie reel in her head. The action shot where Conner, dressed in his Secret Service suit with the earpiece and sunglasses, did that sacrifice-all hero dive in front of her and took the bullet.
He would do it. Of course he would do it. Conner would take the bullet. He’d give his life for her and she would be left here to live the rest of her life without him. Like that was any consolation. Being alive, trying to be happy or function like a normal person without him.
The noise that came from her throat sounded like a growl.
“Kayla, you okay?” Like he was completely innocent.
Thankfully, the sheriff was across the room getting them both coffee. She could use a jolt of java.
“I don’t want to leave. I want to look at the mug shots.” She didn’t want to talk about the Secret Service oath he’d taken. As though her life was more important than his. No way. He’d totally sacrifice himself for her. But it would be for duty, not love. Instead, what she wanted was him here with her, as well as the love.
Because, truthfully, Kayla had probably been in love with him for years. Though for a long time it had been a childish crush. Now those feelings were growing. Could she trust them? Could she trust Conner with them, or would he disregard her the way he had years ago? She wanted to believe he would have a care with her feelings, but the reality was that she just didn’t know.
She would guard her heart, because she wanted to find out.
“Here you go, Ms. Harris.”
“Thank you.” She took the disposable cup from Sheriff Johnson and pulled her chair up to the computer. He opened a database and she was able to narrow down ethnicity and age range. Hopefully, the man was local. And had been arrested before.
*
Conner tried not to stare at the back of her head like a weirdo. Something was going on in Kayla’s mind and he had no idea what it was. Too bad he couldn’t just ask her. Right now he had to find out what the sheriff was planning on doing with Manny.
“Sheriff?” When the older man turned, Conner said, “You mentioned letting Manny go. What would be your plan?” He had to have one. Why else would the sheriff let Manny leave without charging him? The object wasn’t to let him get away with threatening the pharmacist, but to catch Andis and bring down the whole operation.
“He’s close to Andis. Keeping tabs on him could get us intel.”
Like Conner hadn’t been doing that for months. Really, they needed a warrant to run surveillance on Manny, but this was about keeping Kayla safe. “If we can get a bug on him, or at least a tracker on his phone, we can stay one step ahead. We’ll know where he’s going and what he’s there for. That would definitely give us an edge. Soon as there’s a Secret Service team in town for support, we can get agents on Manny. See what they come up with.”
“If your team could get us a bug, I can plant it on Manny when I let him go.”
Conner wasn’t certain how good the man would be at making that smooth, but he was willing to let it play out and see what happened. Manny was going to be suspicious if the sheriff didn’t sell it right. He’d be wary at suddenly being let go. Would the team get here in time? “What are you going to tell him?”
“That I made a deal with Andis, that he called and told me to let Manny go. I’ll call Andis and spin the same tale. I can play the part of oppressed, downtrodden, ineffective sheriff pretty well. They’ll buy it because neither of them think much of me.”
Conner shrugged. It could be enough. “Just as long as he’s far away from Kayla, I don’t care what he believes.”
She was still going through mug shots, scanning pictures as she sipped that awful coffee. He probably needed to get a doctor to see her. If she’d hit her head when she was slammed against the truck the way she had when Manny ran them off the road, she might be injured worse now. He didn’t need her to end up with a medical emergency because they hadn’t been cautious enough with her health.
He’d had a friend in the Secret Service who’d been hit on the head and thought he was fine. Later he’d been hospitalized. He’d needed surgery because he had a bleed in his brain. It was the last thing he wanted for Kayla.
“I’ll call the team,” he said. “See what we can do about getting Manny GPS tracked.”
“GP—” Kayla turned. “My laptop has that. It has software that lets you track its location. We just have to turn the software on—then when they switch my computer on and connect to the internet, we’ll know where it is.” She paused. “Assuming they can do that when it suffered so much damage. Does Andis have a techy person on his payroll?”
“Yes,” Conner said. “There are tech people on his payroll, and he has access to some pretty slick technology.”
If the GPS was on when it was connected, that meant they could get her computer back. Hopefully before whoever stole it got into the system and Kayla’s emails. A woman and child were out there relying on people they didn’t know to keep them safe. Conner wasn’t going to be the one who let them down, and he was proud of Kayla for fighting her attacker the best she could. She had nothing to feel bad for.
“The computer store might help Andis, but they’ll help me, too.” She picked up the desk phone, a determined look on her face. “I have to call Drew. Get him to turn it on.”
Her smile lifted some of the weight from Conner’s shoulders. Sure, he shouldn’t be burdened by her state of mind, but could he help it if he wanted to see her happy instead of just resolute and focused? He couldn’t stand to see any more of that fear on her face.
Conner was going to do whatever he could to keep her happy, even if that meant letting her go so she could find that man she was looking for—the one who didn’t know anything about her past. As if someone who didn’t understand her could hope to have a shot at making her happy for the rest of her life.
This was a small town. He could be content living in a place like this, but not this town. He needed somewhere people didn’t know him as Andis’s associate. Kayla could come with him. They could pack their bags and just drive, find some Midwestern town where people said hi to each other on the street. He could find simple work and put a ring on her finger. Be the man who got to protect her every day for the rest of her life.
The years had made him surer than ever that they were made for each other. Everything about Kayla felt right, whether or not he fought against the idea. Whether or not it was cool to start a relationship now, when it never had been before. He wanted that dream with her—the one his parents had shown him, up until his father’s problems came to light. She was everything he’d ever wanted.
And…when did he turn into a sap?
One minute he was thinking about her with someone else, and the next he was thinking about a little girl with her pouty lips asking for a pony.
Conner had to focus.
“Thanks, Drew.” She hung up.
“All good?”
Kayla nodded. “He’s going to log in to the website and switch the GPS software on.”
Conner said, “So who is this Drew guy anyway?” Okay, so now he sounded totally jealous.
Kayla’s look said she’d heard it in h
is voice, too. “Drew is twenty and runs the computer store. He sold me my phone and he set up my computer for me when I moved into my office in town. He’s basically my technical support, and we figured out we share a love of alien movies. So we went to a new release one time.” She shrugged. “I don’t want him to be helping Andis, but I don’t want his life to be in danger either.”
Conner nodded. “Did you find anything in the pictures?”
“Actually, I might have.” She pointed to the screen. “That one.”
The sheriff’s eyebrows lifted. Conner said, “Someone you know?”
“Actually,” the sheriff answered, “that’s interesting if it was the person who took the computer. Is that who you saw, Kayla?”
She frowned, her eyes on the screen. “I think so, but I’m not sure. Who is he?”
The sheriff clicked and brought up his name and a list of charges, including forgery and Social Security fraud. “His name is Tim Harmer. He’s Jan Barton’s boyfriend.”
*
Conner stood with Kayla in the interrogation room while the sheriff brought Manny out. She stood still and quiet, watching the doorway. Conner glanced back for a second and then whispered, “Why don’t you sit—”
She lifted a finger to her lips. “Shh.”
Conner pressed his lips together.
“Let’s go out the back way. Less people.” The sheriff’s voice drifted to them.
“Just so long as I get out of here, I don’t much care what arrangement you made with Andis,” Manny said. “It’s your deal, and believe me, he’ll make you pay.”
The sheriff’s voice turned emotional as he explained something about a problem he was having. Conner couldn’t make out most of it, but the man sold it well. Hopefully, Manny bought it.
“What about Thorne?”
The sheriff’s voice was audible when he said, “The other guy? Conner?”
“That’s the one. You let him go, too?” He almost sounded like there was no ulterior motive for asking the question. Almost.
“Figured I owed the guy a head start.” The sheriff chuckled. “This cat-and-mouse thing you’ve got going with him is cute and all, but I can’t have any more townspeople getting caught in the cross fire. Do you know how much grief I’m going to get from the pharmacist after that stunt you pulled in the street?”
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