Cowboy Deputy

by Carla Cassidy

  “You get a general impression…height…weight?” Tom asked.

  “I’m heading to the hospital,” Benjamin said before Jacob could reply. “I didn’t see anything, I can’t help you here,” he said with frustration.

  Tom nodded. “Go. Jacob and I can take care of things until you get back.”

  Minutes later in his truck, Benjamin’s thoughts weren’t on the perp, but rather on Walt and Edie. He’d let them down. He’d promised he’d keep them safe and he’d screwed up. He shouldn’t have been sitting in his chair, he should have been walking the floors, checking the windows and keeping vigil.

  He shouldn’t be a deputy. It wasn’t where he belonged. He’d known it for a long time now, but he’d been so afraid of being nothing, he’d held on to the legacy that his older brother had begun. And people had nearly died. At least he prayed they’d gotten Walt help in time.

  By the time he reached the hospital he was sick with worry. He went in through the emergency room doors and immediately saw Edie and Margaret sitting side by side.

  “What’s going on?” he asked.

  “They won’t let us back there and nobody has told us anything,” Edie said. Anguish was thick in her voice.

  “The doctor said he’d speak to us as soon as he could,” Margaret added. She reached over and patted Edie’s knee. “Walt is strong and he’s too onery for the devil to want him. He’ll be fine.” Although she said the words with a lightness in her tone, her dark eyes were filled with worry.

  Benjamin shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned against the wall, anger battling with guilt inside him. “I should have done things differently,” he said in frustration. “I thought the ranch would be safe. I thought if you were inside the house nothing bad would happen.”

  “Don’t,” Edie said. “Don’t blame yourself for this.”

  “I can’t help it,” he replied. “It would have been different if we’d had enough manpower to station men around the ranch. I should have realized that I wasn’t enough to keep you and Walt safe.”

  At that moment Dr. Drake came out to speak to them. Edie jumped up from her chair and stood next to Benjamin. “He’s fine,” Dr. Drake began. Edie sagged against Benjamin in obvious relief. “Thankfully the bullet entered and exited the fleshy part of his upper arm. We’re going to give him a blood transfusion and keep him here so we can watch the wound for infection.”

  “I’ll see that a guard is put on him during his hospitalization,” Benjamin said. One way or another Tom would have to arrange for protection for the old man.

  Margaret stood from the chair. “And I’ll be staying with him as long as he’s here,” she said and raised her chin as if to argue with anyone who might protest. “Nobody’s going to hurt him while I’m on duty.”

  “Can I see him?” Edie asked.

  Dr. Drake nodded. “Go on back.”

  Edie started through the door and then turned to Margaret. “He’ll want to see you, too.”

  Margaret offered her a grateful smile and together the two women disappeared behind the door.

  Benjamin raked a hand down his face as Dr. Drake offered him a commiserating smile. “Bad night.”

  “Could have been worse,” Benjamin replied. “If that bullet had hit Walt an inch lower, an inch to the left, then I’d be having a conversation with the coroner right now.”

  The two men turned as the door whooshed open and Tom walked in. “How’s Walt?” he asked.

  “A lucky man,” Benjamin replied. As Dr. Drake said his goodbye and left, Benjamin looked at his older brother. “I’ve promised a guard here on Walt for as long as he remains in the hospital.”

  “Done,” Tom agreed. “I’ll make the arrangements.”

  Benjamin frowned. “There is something I don’t understand. Whoever is behind this has to know that Walt and Edie are no threat to them. Why the attacks on them?”

  “Jacob seems to think we’re dealing with somebody who’s so angry that the body parts have come to light that it’s more about revenge than anything else.”

  “Whoever it is, he’s a nasty piece of work,” Benjamin replied.

  “I’ve got several of the men checking out the ATVs in the area to see if any are still warm from riding. Walt should be safe here with a guard at the door, but what are we going to do about Edie?” Tom asked. “Maybe it’s time she head back to Topeka.”

  “She doesn’t want to go home yet. She’s afraid, Tom, afraid that the person will follow her back there. With what’s happened tonight, I don’t feel comfortable telling her that’s an unwarranted fear.” Once again Benjamin raked a hand across his jaw. “I think the best thing to do is to check her into the motel for a couple days. I’ll stay there with her and make sure she’d safe.”

  “She’ll agree to that?”

  Benjamin hesitated a moment and then nodded. “Yeah, she’ll agree to it. What I need is for you and the others to solve this thing as soon as possible.”

  “Jacob is leaning on his contact in the FBI lab so hopefully we’ll get some ID results from those body parts sooner rather than later. And by the way, he said to tell you that you should do whatever you need to do and he’ll make sure Tiny is taken care of.”

  Benjamin frowned, thinking of all the logistics. “Maybe we should leave my truck here, make sure we aren’t followed, and you can drop Edie and me off at the motel. That way hopefully nobody will know we’re there except Brett, and he won’t tell anyone if we ask him not to.”

  “On another note, I think we might have another missing young woman,” Tom said.

  Benjamin wouldn’t have thought his tension level could climb any higher, but this news sent it through the roof. “Who?”

  “Suzy Bakersfield. Her boyfriend called a little while ago and said she should have been home from work an hour ago. I’ve got Dan Walker checking it out.”

  Suzy Bakersfield was a twenty-four-year-old who worked as a waitress at Harley’s, a rough-and-tumble bar at the edge of town. “Let’s hope she just decided to go home with somebody else and didn’t want her boyfriend to know.” Benjamin shoved his hands in his pockets and stared at his brother. “You think these missing women are tied to whatever else is going on?”

  Tom’s frown deepened and for a moment he looked older than his thirty-six years. “I don’t know what in the hell is going on in this town. It’s impossible to know if the two are related until we have more information. All I really know is that I have a terrible feeling that things are going to get much worse before they get better.”

  Benjamin clapped a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “We’ll get through this, Tom. Just like we got through Mom and Dad’s deaths, just like we got through Brittany’s disappearance. We’ll get through it because that’s what we Grayson men do.”

  Tom flashed him a grateful smile as Benjamin dropped his hand back to his side. “Let me know when you’re ready to take Edie to the motel. In the meantime I’m going to step outside, get on my phone and make some arrangements.”

  Benjamin watched him go and then sat in one of the chairs to wait for Edie. It could have been her. That bullet could have easily hit her, killed her.

  How could he protect her from an unknown assailant? One who was so filled with the need for some twisted revenge that he’d stop at nothing?

  Within thirty minutes Sam McCain walked through the door. His coffee-colored face offered Benjamin a smile. “You okay?”

  “As okay as I’m going to get.”

  “Tom tagged me for the first guard duty on Walt.”

  “Hopefully it will be a quiet, uneventful shift for you.”

  “There hasn’t been a quiet, uneventful moment in the past couple of days,” Sam returned.

  “You got that right,” Benjamin replied.

  As Sam left the room to find Walt, Benjamin returned to his chair. His head spun with thoughts. Who the hell was behind all this? More importantly, would he be able to keep Edie safe until the guilty were behind bars?

  Cha
pter 9

  Two things struck Edie as she left Walt’s room and returned to the waiting room. The first was that she was filled with a sick adrenaline that she didn’t know what to do with and the second was that she could feel a queasy guilt wafting from Benjamin.

  He rose from his chair as she entered. “Is he all right?” he asked.

  She nodded. “He’s going to be just fine, and I have a feeling that if he needs anything at all then Margaret will make sure he has it. What happens now?”

  “I’ve made arrangements for Tom to take us to the motel. We can stay there for a couple days without anyone knowing we’re there. I’m confident by then we’ll have all this figured out.” His gaze held hers, as if anticipating an argument. “Or maybe the best thing for you to do is to find another hotel in a different town.”

  She considered her options. The idea of running away from danger was definitely appealing, but she didn’t want to leave Poppy. Besides, she had a terrible fear that no matter where she tried to hide, she’d eventually be found by the madman who was after her.

  “I can’t go,” she finally said. “I don’t want to leave Poppy. At least here I know you have my back.”

  He frowned. “Yeah, a lot of good that did you tonight.”

  She grabbed his hand in hers. “Don’t do that, Benjamin. Don’t blame yourself for what happened. There was no way you could have anticipated this happening.” She released his hand. “Let’s just get to the motel and get some sleep.”

  The adrenaline that had filled her from the moment the window had exploded and Poppy had fallen to the floor began to ebb a bit.

  She knew she should be terrified that there was obviously somebody who was determined to kill her or Poppy or both of them. She also knew that Poppy would be safe here in the hospital. Deputy Sam McCain had assured her that nobody would get into his room unless they were hospital personnel and even then they would all be scrutinized carefully.

  It took nearly an hour for them to finally leave the hospital and get checked into the motel. The room was ordinary with two double beds, a small table shoved against the wall and a wardrobe holding a television.

  “Brett Hatcher, the man who owns this place, will make sure that nobody knows we’re here,” Benjamin said once they got inside.

  Edie nodded and sat on the bed nearest the door. She was exhausted and yet keyed up at the same time. Even though it was late she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep for some time.

  Benjamin moved to the window and pulled the curtains tightly closed and then turned back to look at her. “Normally I’d have you sleep in the bed nearest the window so that I’d be between you and anyone who might come in that door, but with the events of tonight still fresh in my mind I don’t want you anywhere near the window.”

  “I trust your judgment,” she said.

  “You shouldn’t,” he replied with a touch of bitterness as he sat on the bed opposite her. “I should have never put you two at the ranch without a dozen guards on the property.”

  “Benjamin, I know how small this town is, how many men are working for the sheriff’s department. There wasn’t the manpower to post guards. You can’t beat yourself up about this. It certainly hasn’t shaken my confidence in you.”

  She watched as some of the tension in his shoulders eased. “I swear to God, Edie, I’d take a bullet in the chest before I’d let anything happen to you.”

  The depth of his feelings for her was there on his face, shining from his eyes and tangible in the air. She felt it wrapping around her and for several agonizing seconds she forgot how to breathe, she couldn’t catch her breath.

  “I know,” she finally managed to say and then jumped up off the bed. “I’m going to take a shower before going to sleep.” She escaped into the bathroom where she leaned weakly against the wall.

  She’d sworn she didn’t want or need anyone in her life, but at the moment her need for Benjamin filled her up inside. She wanted him to hold her, to stroke fire into her veins, to kiss her until she was mindless with pleasure.

  She wanted to believe that her need arose from the night’s events, from the fact that death had come so close, but she knew the truth. This need, this want of him, had been a slow, steady burn that had been building with each and every moment she spent with him.

  Turning on the water in the shower, she tried to tamp down her desire for him. Hopefully in a week or so this would all be over and she would be back in Topeka figuring out her life.

  Benjamin deserved more than a temporary woman; he deserved more than her. She stepped into the hot, steamy water and welcomed the relaxing spray that slowly unkinked taut muscles.

  She just needed to get into bed and go to sleep. She needed to not think about the fact that Benjamin would be in bed only three feet from her. At least he’d gotten a room with two beds. Sharing the room for a couple days was going to be difficult enough, but if they’d had to share a bed it would have been nearly impossible.

  After several minutes she turned off the water, stepped out of the tub and grabbed one of the fluffy white towels that awaited her. She dried off and then ran her fingers through her wet hair to rid it of tangles.

  She hated to put on her same clothes, but had no other choice. When she finally got beneath the sheets she’d take off her jeans and sweatshirt and sleep in her bra and panties.

  When she left the bathroom she found Benjamin seated where he’d been when she’d left the room, on the edge of his bed. “At the hospital Tom told me that we might have another missing woman,” he said.

  “Oh, no! Who is it?” She sat on her bed facing him, so close she could smell his scent, that slightly woodsy cologne that had become as familiar as the beat of her own heart.

  “Her name is Suzy Bakersfield. She works as a waitress at Harley’s, a bar on the edge of town. She was due home from work a couple hours ago and her boyfriend called when she didn’t come home.”

  “Do you think these missing women are related to the other stuff?” she asked.

  He blew a deep sigh. “I don’t know. I asked Tom the same question, but we just don’t know enough at this point. What worries me is that if they aren’t related, then we have two separate criminal issues going on here in Black Rock. I figure now isn’t the time to talk to my brother about quitting.”

  Edie looked at him in surprise. “You’re really thinking about it? I hope your decision doesn’t have anything to do with what happened tonight.”

  His eyes were dark as he held her gaze. “It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time, but I’ve been afraid.”

  “Afraid?” She couldn’t imagine a man like Benjamin being afraid of anything.

  Once again he released a sigh and averted his gaze from hers. Instead he stared at the wall just to the left of her, a frown racing across his forehead. “I’ve wanted to ranch full-time for a while now, but I’ve been scared of what people might think, about what might lie beneath my badge.”

  “I don’t understand,” she replied.

  “The badge gives me respect in this town. People know they can depend on me and they like me. I’ve been afraid that if I take off the badge, then I’d be nothing. I’d lose the respect of my friends and neighbors.”

  “Oh, Benjamin, people like and respect you because you’re a good man with a good heart. You’re warm and friendly and solid and any respect you’ve earned has nothing to do with your badge,” she exclaimed.

  He offered her a smile. “You’re the reason why I’ve decided when these cases are finished, then I’m handing in my badge.”

  “Me?” She looked at him in surprise. “What did I do?”

  His eyes took on a new warmth, a sweet depth that was intoxicating. “I know you’re afraid and yet you’ve handled all this with such courage and grace. Fear isn’t stopping you from doing whatever it is you feel you need to do. I figure if you can do that, then so can I.”

  This time it was she who broke eye contact. “You should do whatever it is that mak
es you happy, Benjamin. Happiness is so fleeting and when it stands in front of you, you should embrace it with all of your being.”

  She got up from the bed and pulled down the spread. She needed to stop the conversation, needed to distance herself from him. She didn’t want him to admire her. She didn’t want him to look at her with his soulful eyes that made her want to fall into his arms and somehow believe that happiness might be hers to embrace.

  He seemed to sense her need for distance. “I think I’ll take a fast shower,” he said as he got up from the bed.

  “I’m sure I’ll be asleep when you get out so I’ll just say good-night now,” she replied. She turned off the lamp next to the bed, plunging the room into darkness other than the light spilling in from the bathroom.

  He hesitated at the doorway of the bathroom, as if he wanted to say something more to her. She refused to look at him again, afraid that somehow, someway, he’d break down her defenses. He finally murmured a good-night and retreated into the bathroom.

  She quickly took off her jeans and T-shirt and got into her bed. With the covers pulled up around her neck, she squeezed her eyes tightly closed and tried not to think about the look she’d seen in Benjamin’s eyes.

  As she lay in the darkness of the room, she recognized what she felt from him, what she saw whenever he looked at her.

  Love. And it made her realize that no other man had ever looked at her in that way, that she’d never truly been loved by a man before.

  She’d thought Greg loved her and she’d believed she loved him. But looking back on that relationship, she recognized it had been emotional need that had driven her into his arms and financial need that had driven him into hers.

  In all her relationships before, the missing element had been the kind of love she saw shining from Benjamin’s eyes whenever he looked at her.

  He’d said he wished he’d met her before Greg and she wished the same. Perhaps then her heart would have been opened to taking what he seemed to be offering her, open to giving back to him tenfold.