The Sheriff's Secret

by Julie Anne Lindsey

He cleared his scratchy throat and called for Tina. A moment later, he was at his bedroom door. “Knock, knock.” He rapped his knuckles on the wall before stepping into the room.

  Tina was upright in bed, eyes wide. “What happened?”

  “Mary’s awake. We’ve got to go.” He left Tina to get ready, then headed for the living room. He grabbed a fresh uniform from the closet and ducked into the bathroom to change. A moment later, he pocketed his keys, stuffed his wide-brimmed hat over unkempt hair and winced at the tender lump on the back of his head. West would really like to return the favor when he found out who’d jumped him inside Tina’s mudroom. He threaded his arms into the soft sleeves of his Cade County Sheriff’s jacket and turned back for Tina.

  She flew down the hallway, passing him on her way to the front porch, still rubbing sleep from her eyes. “What did Mary say?”

  “I don’t know. Cole only said she’s awake. I want to talk to her before the doctors take her for testing, wear her out or drug her up and leave her too exhausted to answer my questions.”

  Tina hopped along beside him through the brisk dewy morning, tugging the backs of untied shoes over her heels. “The medical team wouldn’t do that,” she protested. “They have to know we need her before they take her away. My daughter’s life is at stake.”

  West stopped to unlock the doors to the cruiser. “They don’t do it to get in the way. They’ve got a job to do. We’ve got a job to do. Problem is, they don’t care if we solve our case today or six months from now. Assessing Mary’s full medical status is their priority. Getting answers from her is mine. Get in.”

  West gunned the car’s engine to life. He stuck to the speed limits as he headed back into town. The sun scorched a path through the sky before them, blinding and reminding him anything could happen. It was a new day. The shocking emotional charge of yesterday’s crime spree had worn into a flat collection of facts. West’s mind was clear and focused, thanks to a few unintended hours of sleep, and today was the day West would reunite Tina with her baby. Mary’s description of the intruder might even be what makes that possible.

  Cole met them in the hospital atrium with an unshaven face and tray of disposable coffees. His uniform shirt was partially unbuttoned and tucked crookedly into his waistband.

  Tina greedily accepted the coffee. “Thank you.” She wound her fingers around the cup and looked at Cole. “How is she?”

  “She’s going to be fine.” He led the way to the elevator and abused the button with his thumb. “No one’s been in to see her yet. Just a nurse making rounds to check vitals.” He shifted from foot to foot as he watched the floor numbers illuminate and darken.

  West frowned. “Have you slept?”

  The doors swept open and Cole dove inside. “A little. Yeah. Come on.”

  “Have you been home?” Tina asked, parental concern bleeding through her tired voice.

  West smiled. He liked this look on her, and it was always fun to aggravate Cole a little.

  Cole stiffened. He hated being fussed over. As the youngest of four Garrett brothers, he’d spent more time than he should have trying to prove he wasn’t a baby. “I stayed here in case whoever did this decided to keep Mary quiet.” He hit the button for the fourth floor and leaned his back against the wall.

  “Good work,” West said. “How’d it go? Anyone come by who seemed out of place?”

  “No, but I caught up with the pharmacist, Chris, this morning. He was at his girlfriend’s house last night. Turns out he didn’t stop asking Tina out because the baby was born. He stopped asking her out when he started dating this woman.”

  The doors rattled open, releasing them onto Mary’s floor. They followed Cole along a silent hallway, bypassing the nurses’ desk with quick nods and a flash of Cole’s badge.

  He knocked on Mary’s door before walking inside. The room was dark despite the morning sun.

  “Cole?” Mary’s voice was soft and groggy.

  “I’m here,” he answered, flipping on a dim row of lights along the edge of the room.

  She rolled her bandaged head against the pillow and squinted. “Tina.” A tear rolled over her ruddy cheeks. “I’m so sorry. I tried to run.”

  “She’s got a concussion,” Cole explained. “Light hurts her eyes. Sounds hurt her ears. Movements hurt her head. When she’s not sleeping, she’s puking.”

  Tina sat on the edge of Mary’s bed and lowered herself to hug the woman. “It’s okay. I know you did everything you could, and I’m so sorry you were hurt.” She released her with a sniffle. “We’re going to find him and get Lily back. These guys will make sure he pays for all these horrible things. I promise. Can you tell us who took her? Or describe him so they can contact the media and get his image out there publicly?”

  “No.” A sob broke on Mary’s lips. “I was watching for you to arrive, and a truck pulled into the drive. It had its bright lights on. I could barely make out the shape of it. I knew something was wrong, so I didn’t answer the door. I went to get Lily and wait for the deputy to come back. He was making rounds through the area. I planned to tell him about the truck when he returned, but I heard the front door open.” Her chest bounced with shuddered breaths. “I hid in my bedroom closet with Lily. When I thought I heard him leave, I made a run for the back door, but he grabbed me by my hair.” Her hand moved higher, stopping at the crown of her salt-and-pepper hair, as if she still felt his fingers there.

  West approached the bed, hat in hand, hoping to convey respectful urgency. “Is there anything you can recall about the man who grabbed you? Even the smallest detail can make the difference.”

  Mary bit into the thick of her bottom lip and shook her head in one tiny move. Her tear-filled eyes locked onto Tina’s gaze and the drops rolled freely onto their joined hands.

  “It’s okay,” Tina said. “You might remember something else. Something that’s significant, but you don’t even realize. How did he smell? Like cigarette smoke, or a familiar cologne? Maybe a topical medicine or a certain food? Anything?”

  Mary’s lips quivered. “No.”

  Tina released Mary’s hands and gathered her unbrushed hair into a fisted ponytail. “When he grabbed your head, you were holding Lily. Were you holding her when he took her? Did you get a look at his hands or shoes? Were there tattoos on his arms? Was there anything significant about his clothes?”

  Mary’s head continued to swing infinitesimally from left and right. “No. I’m so sorry.” She gasped. “I can’t believe I let him take her. I didn’t save her.”

  Tina slid off her bed and turned to pace the room, hands knotted at her middle.

  Cole redirected her to an empty but rumpled bed in Mary’s semiprivate room. “Mary’s going to be fine, and so is your little girl,” he promised.

  From the looks of it, Cole had made himself comfortable in the spare bed last night. The guy was nothing if not dedicated, and West was damn lucky he’d chosen to become his deputy. Cole could’ve done anything he wanted with his life, but he’d chosen the same frustrating, heartbreaking, dangerous work as the rest of them. The nut.

  Mary sobbed, drawing West’s attention back to her.

  He dragged a chair to her bedside and lowered himself into it. “Can you walk me through what happened when you reached the back door? Step-by-step.”

  Mary’s eyes darted regretfully to Tina’s. “I had one hand on the knob when I heard him behind me. He said, ‘Don’t make me shoot you,’ and I knew he’d do it. I figured he was the one who shot Tina’s patient, and maybe he’d meant to shoot her but missed. Maybe he’d gone to my place to wait for a second crack at her. I panicked. I begged him not to shoot. I told him I was carrying a baby.” Her words broke into sobs. “If he shot me, then he’d hit her.”

  West leaned his elbows against his knees, bringing himself closer to Mary’s weeping face. “How did he take Lily from you without you
seeing him?” Surely he hadn’t knocked her out while the baby was in her arms.

  Mary plucked tissues from the box at her bedside. “He told me to kneel and close my eyes. I thought he’d kill me, but he told me to lay her on the floor, and that’s the last thing I remember.”

  “Okay,” West said. “So, he knocked you out, then took Lily from the floor.” He had every opportunity to kill Mary, but didn’t. Why? The killer hadn’t hesitated to shoot Tina’s newest patient, and possibly her late husband, but he’d spared the sitter. Was Mary part of the larger plan to re-create Tina’s life somewhere else against her will?

  West groaned inwardly. Mary was probably lucky she wasn’t abducted to care for Lily, but then again, that would’ve been a better scenario for Tina and the baby.

  Mary pressed wadded tissues to her eyes and choked on a new round of sobs.

  “Tell me about the man’s voice,” West pressed. “Was it especially deep or high? Soft or harsh? Did he have an accent? A drawl? Anything significant to the cadence of his speech?”

  Mary cried harder, and West’s patience thinned. Yes, Mary had been through a horrific ordeal, but so had Steven, the dead guy; Tina, the grieving mother; and poor Lily, an infant in the hands of a maniac. “Mary,” he pressed.

  “West,” Cole warned. “Give her a minute.”

  West’s fingers curled tightly over his knees. His jaw locked, and his muscles tensed. How could the only witness to the kidnapping have witnessed nothing?

  The second hand on the wall clock ticked loudly overhead, punctuating the passage of time, marking the moments lost in their race to save Lily.

  West pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to formulate a new plan for intel. Maybe canvassing Tina’s neighborhood would help. Neighbors had come onto the porches at the sound of the truck revving its engine. Maybe someone had seen something else useful recently. A man lurking in the trees or yard, playing with the puppy or entering the house. Maybe they recognized the truck, or had seen it before.

  Mary pulled another tissue from the cardboard dispenser. “There was one thing,” she whispered.

  “What?” Tina’s voice sounded from behind him.

  The air inside the room thickened with anticipation.

  “It’s probably nothing,” she hedged.

  “What?” West prodded.

  Mary wrinkled her nose. “He didn’t say much. Just those few short sentences, but when he told me to put the baby on the floor...he stuttered.”

  West’s chair scraped against the floor, nearly knocking into the nightstand in his haste. “Get someone to Carl Morgan’s trailer. Now.” He pointed at Cole, who was suddenly on alert. “Get a warrant. Get someone over to see his mama at that nursing home and get his picture all over the damn news!” He strode toward the doorway, still barking orders. He knew that squirrely bastard wasn’t right.

  Tina gushed her goodbyes to Mary and followed Cole through the door.

  Cole contacted Dispatch as they hustled down the hall.

  “Tell the first man on location to haul Carl in for questioning and detain him,” West said. “We need to get inside that trailer. Talk to the neighbors. He’s got that baby.”

  West’s gut clenched. Anger and adrenaline coursed over his skin and pounded in his veins. He’d stood two feet from Carl Morgan yesterday, and he’d walked away. That was before he’d assaulted Mary and kidnapped Lily. “Get his photo added to that Amber Alert along with a description of that pickup truck.” West could’ve prevented this. Now Mary was lying in a hospital bed, injured and sobbing her apologies to Tina for something he’d allowed. It was on him to make this right.

  * * *

  TINA JOGGED DOWN the hallway behind two puffed-up lawmen. The space around them had burst to life since their arrival. Nurses and orderlies marched purposefully in every direction, flipping charts and pushing carts. Families poured through the double doors, toting balloons and flowers past the nurses’ station.

  It seemed unfathomably surreal that none of these people had any idea about what was happening to her. They didn’t know that hope had just filled her empty heart until it ached inside her chest.

  Cole headed back to Mary’s room once the elevator opened.

  She and West climbed aboard, waited through a painfully slow descent, then sprinted to the parking lot.

  Tina’s thumping heart twisted and jumped in her chest. Images of her little girl flooded her mind as she climbed into West’s cruiser and buckled up beside the uncharacteristically quiet sheriff. This was the part where he should be thrilled. Proud, even. Saying things like, Everything is going to be okay. The nightmare was over. She was safe. Lily was safe. The bad guy was going away for a very long time.

  He jammed his foot against the gas pedal and peeled through the parking lot. A drastic contrast to the care he’d taken on their way to the hospital.

  Tina watched his face turn slowly redder as he drove. “I’ve never invited Carl to my house,” she said. “I don’t talk to the group about my personal life. I don’t know how he knew about Mary. None of it makes any sense. How could he have been lurking in my life without me knowing?” The notion sent chills over her skin. Could they be wrong? Could the killer be someone else, and her hope of holding Lily again soon was in vain? “What’s wrong?”

  Trees and traffic whipped past the window, blurring in a seasonal smear of orange and gold, dotted with irrelevant vehicles and the occasional pedestrian.

  “Talk to me, West,” she pushed. “Something’s bothering you and you have to tell me what it is. I don’t think my heart can take any more bad news or surprises.”

  West flicked his heated gaze her way. “I had him, and I let him go.” He flexed and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “I should’ve listened to my instinct and taken him to the station for questioning right then. I should’ve kept him there until I could prove he was the shooter.”

  Tina stared. In all the years they’d known one another, she had never been the rock he needed. Their relationship had always been a series of her crisis and his comfort. Though she’d never given him all the facts, he’d kept open arms for her. Never pushing, and never needing her strength in return. She was the victim. He was the hero.

  Yet, here he was, opening up to her. Admitting his feelings of failure and frustration.

  He shot a look her way. His handsome face scrunched in turmoil.

  “You had nothing to go on,” Tina blurted, praying her training would kick in while her mind scrambled to appreciate the new change between them. “Carl was behaving oddly, but being strange isn’t against the law. Assault is, by the way, so you can’t go unleashing a lifetime of pent-up frustration on him. He’s not worth losing your career or ruining a thirty-year track record of good choices.”

  “I didn’t always make the right choice.” West gave her an apologetic look, and reached for her hand on the seat between them. “You’re right. I did the best I could with the information I had. Now that I know Carl’s behind this, I won’t let him go a second time.” He gave her a closer look. “How are you holding up?”

  “I’m terrified,” she admitted. “I feel half paralyzed with fear of all the unknowns. Part of me wants to leap from the car when we get there and tear the door down to get to her, but the rest of me is just really frightened. We don’t know if we’re right about Carl, and it makes me afraid of the letdown if she isn’t there. If we’re right, and she is there, I have no idea what condition I’ll find her in. Sure, he might plan to make a happy family, but that doesn’t mean he knows how to care for her. Does he even know how to prepare her bottles? Did he remember to buy formula? What if he got tired of her crying and...” A lump formed in her throat, silencing the words. “My mind has conjured the absolute most unthinkable scenarios. Whatever we find can’t be worse than the things I’ve thought.”

  West’s cell phone rang in his pocket, and he
freed it as they hit the county road at full speed. “It’s Deputy Loman,” he said before swiping the screen to life. “Garrett,” he answered. “You’re on speaker with Tina Ellet.”

  “Are you en route to the Morgan home?” Loman asked.

  “We are. I just hit the county road.”

  “ETA?” the deputy asked.

  West’s serious expression turned sour. “Maybe five minutes. Why?”

  Tina’s nails bit into the tender flesh of her palm. Her stomach rolled against her spine. The hope that had carried her from the hospital to the cruiser was suddenly gone. Eviscerated by the tone of the deputy’s voice and expression on West’s face.

  “What’s going on, Loman?” West growled.

  “He’s not here, Sheriff,” the deputy responded. “No one’s here. No truck. No baby. No Carl Morgan.”

  The No Trespassing signs posted at the end of Carl’s drive appeared in the distance, and West pressed the gas pedal harder before slowing at the gravel drive.

  Tina collapsed forward, sucking in shallow breaths and trying not to pass out. Her baby was there. She had to be. That was why they’d come. She could practically feel the weight of her in her arms again, and smell the shampoo on her sweet head. She was losing her all over again.

  West rocked the vehicle to a stop and released a few venomous curses.

  She forced herself upright with a guttural moan.

  The deputy’s cruiser sat outside her window.

  West rounded the car’s hood. A man in uniform waited on Carl’s porch, hands on hips.

  She watched in disbelief as West tried the trailer’s front door and peeked in every window before circling the home and returning to the deputy for a handshake and departure.

  He climbed back behind the wheel, already on his cell phone. The device now pressed to his ear. “Where are we on the warrant?” he asked. “I want into that trailer. Now. Loman’s keeping watch in case Carl comes back.”

  Carl’s trailer grew smaller in the distance as West reversed down the narrow drive, erasing Tina’s hope of holding Lily again today. “Why are we leaving?” she asked. “I don’t understand.” She swiped a deluge of tears from her cheeks. “Why aren’t we waiting for him to come home?”