by Kait Nolan
“It won’t last. The hits are coming one after another. There’s no patience to what’s being done. Sooner or later—probably sooner—he’s going to slip up. He’ll get arrogant. Or his help will. And when that happens, I’m going to nail him. He’s not going to be free to terrorize you for much longer. I promise.”
Autumn didn’t doubt that Judd would find whatever there was to find. He excelled at the job. But her fear of Jebediah was old and deeply ingrained, and she didn’t think she’d sleep easy until her father was put back in a box—whether that was a cell or a coffin.
Judd pressed a kiss to her brow. “How about, when all this is over, we do a little of that running away and take a vacation? We could head up to Tennessee to the mountains. Rent a cabin and spent a week just the two of us. Clothing optional, so I can keep working off my stupid debt.”
Her lips twitched into a smile, as he wanted. “I can’t say as I have any objections to being the creditor to whom that orgasmic debt is owed. But before we go running off together…maybe we should tell the family. Do they even know you and Mary Alice split?”
“I haven’t told them. All my focus has been on you since the fire.”
“Well, that’ll make the twins’ birthday party tonight interesting.”
“Ah, shit. I lost track of time with everything going on. And I volunteered to host the thing.”
“It’ll be fine. I sorted the details with your mom on Sunday. And I’m glad to have something else to focus on for a little while. I just…” She trailed off, not sure how to articulate what she was feeling.
“You’re not worried about how the family will react, are you? They adore you. I mean, it might be a surprise—”
Autumn couldn’t stop the burst of laughter. As he fixed her with a bland stare, she framed his face in her hands. “Oh, my love, literally the only surprise will be that you finally pulled your head out of your ass. Everyone in town has been expecting this for years.”
His brows drew together. “I can’t decide whether I should be insulted by that or not.”
She grinned at him, unable to resist a little teasing. “There might be a parade.”
His lips twisted in a decided pout. “Definitely insulted.”
Amused and feeling somewhat lighter, she drew him down for a kiss. “I love you.”
His fingers began to knead at her hips. “If I stay insulted, will you keep saying it?”
“I’ll say it as often as you want for the rest of my life.” As soon as the words were out, she wished she could pull them back.
She’d loved him all her life, and she knew he loved her. But they’d had one night. That didn’t automatically equate to a lifetime commitment, no matter how much being with him felt like a foregone conclusion.
Eyes gone softer than she’d ever seen them, Judd pulled her closer, brushing his mouth over hers. “I love you. I should have been saying it all these years. And I’ll tell you every day for as long as you’ll let me. You’re the best thing in my life, and I’m sorry my bullheadedness wasted so many years.”
Heart settling, she wound her arms around his shoulders. “You’re making it very hard to be a responsible adult who goes to work.”
“Same. If there weren’t so damned many eyes on me as Chief, I’d take you right back to bed and keep you there. But the sooner I go in, the sooner I get to the bottom of all this and get us both some peace.”
With one last kiss, she pulled back. “Then we’ll go in.” She quirked a smile. “But come closing time, you’re mine.”
“From your mouth to God’s ear.”
They drove in together, and he walked her inside the library, where Livia was already getting started on the backlog of work from yesterday. She looked up from some paperwork spread across the circulation desk, her gaze skimming over their joined hands.
“So you two finally—”
“Yeah,” Judd said.
Autumn supposed it didn’t actually matter how Livia had planned to finish that sentence. They’d finally—a lot of things.
Livia’s grin was megawatt. “That’s awesome.”
“It is.” He turned his attention back to Autumn, lifting her chin. “I need to get to work. What time are you supposed to be done today?”
“Three. Then I really need to pick up some last minute gifts for the twins. We never did manage that shopping trip.”
“If I can get loose, I will. If not, I’m sending someone as escort.”
She still didn’t love the idea of a bodyguard, but she wasn’t about to argue with him. “Okay. See you later.”
He kissed her again, easily, as if he’d been doing it for years, then headed for the front door.
“Judd.” When he turned, she called, “Be careful.”
He gave a smart salute, then blew her a kiss and walked out.
As soon as the door shut behind him, Livia stomped her feet and squealed. “Oh my God, tell me everything! You have beard burn on your throat.”
She had beard burn in quite a few places this morning.
Not knowing where to start, she went straight to the most important point. “He loves me.”
“Well there is the world’s biggest non-newsflash.”
“Okay, fine. He admitted and acted on it.”
“That’s more like it. Details, girl.”
As the door opened and their first patrons of the day trickled in, the story had to wait. But over the course of their shift, Autumn managed to fill Livia in on all the pertinent details. She was an incredibly satisfying audience, squeeing and gasping in all the right places. It made it easier to focus on the bubbles of happy instead of the worry underscoring everything.
“So Judd seems to be pretty over the top protective today, even for him. Did something happen?” Livia asked.
Autumn had left out that part of the story. The details of the night were being kept under wraps as the investigation continued. “Someone tried to break into the house last night.”
Livia’s eyes went wide. “Oh my God.”
“Boudreaux scared him off, but Judd’s not taking any chances.”
“Yoohoo! Autumn, dear!”
Autumn turned toward the older, sing-song voice to find Betty Monroe hot-footing it across the library in her orthopedic sneakers and baby blue velour track suit. “Hey, Miss Betty. How are you today?”
“Fit as a fiddle. I just wanted to come by to see how you were doing after all that ugliness.”
“All that ugliness” could cover a whole host of things, but she didn’t much want to get into any of it with one of the biggest gossips in town. She offered a smile to the older woman. “I’m doing okay. It’s an adjustment, for sure. But I was lucky not to be there when it happened, so I wasn’t hurt.”
“Such a shame. If there’s anything I or the girls can do, you just let us know.”
“I sure will. Thank you.”
“Are we still on for book club Thursday? We’ll totally understand if you need to cancel.”
“I’m sure I can still make it.”
Miss Betty clapped her hands. “Wonderful! We’re very excited. And don’t you worry about those ninnies making a fuss on the sidewalk. They don’t know what they’re talking about.”
Autumn’s smile froze. “What ninnies on the sidewalk?”
“The protesters, dear.” She leaned across the counter. “You ask me, they’re only making a fuss because nobody’s taking care of them in the romance department, and God forbid anybody else have a satisfying love life.”
Gut curdling, Autumn circled around the desk. “Excuse me for a minute.” She strode across to the front of the building and peeked out the tall windows.
A half dozen people with picket signs were marching in a circle where anyone driving past could see. She saw flashes of her name on the signs.
Autumn Buchanan contributes to moral decay!
Autumn Buchanan, Sin Seller
Autumn Buchanan threatens family values.
“Oh my God.”
/> Her day was about to get a whole lot worse.
“Got a minute to talk about this requisition you submitted?”
Judd looked longingly at the door leading out of City Hall and onto the street. So close and yet so far away. Resigned, he turned toward Councilman Cam Crawford. “I’ll make one.”
“Do you really want to try to push this through right now?” Cam asked. “I mean, with the totaled cruiser, that’s far and away above the department’s budget.”
Judd felt a headache set up behind his eyes. “The cruiser was an unfortunate accident and replacing it is a necessity. So is this training seminar in Jackson.”
“Are you sure it’s a good time?”
The timing was crap with the ongoing investigation, but he had hope that things would be wrapped up by the time the seminar rolled around on Friday. “I submitted the requisition before the car.” Hell, he’d done it his first full day on the job because Robert hadn’t gotten around to the paperwork of doing it himself. “The fact is, the course isn’t being offered again for six months.”
“But you’re proposing sending nearly everyone in the department. What about covering the shifts for that day?”
“Sheriff Riggs has already agreed to lend a few of his reserve officers to help bridge the gap in coverage for both days. Look, Cam, I know it’s shit timing, but the bottom line is, my people need this training.”
The city councilman, who’d been a couple years behind him in school, sighed. “All right. I’ll push it through.”
Judd made the requisite noises of appreciation and escaped. The moment he stepped out of City Hall, he released a sigh of relief. Rather than following up on the investigation into Autumn’s harassment, he’d spent most of the morning answering to the city council and mayor for the rookie’s squad car disaster and injury. There were endless discussions of departmental budgets he hadn’t even had a moment to look at, let alone get a grasp on. Sitting through it, remaining polite and professional instead of announcing how he really felt—that the whole meeting was a waste of time that could have been an email—took every shred of patience he had. And after last night, he didn’t have much.
Fuck all of it. He just wanted to get through this case, put Jebediah away, and make Autumn’s world okay again. He couldn’t stand seeing fear in her eyes.
For efficiency’s sake, he opted to pick up lunch and take it back to the station. Dinner Belles was hopping, as it usually was during the weekday lunch rush. He nodded to several familiar faces and broke several cardinal rules of southern etiquette by not stopping to speak. But he didn’t have time for those sorts of social games today. Working his way to the counter, he slid onto the last available stool.
Mama Pearl finished her conversation with one of the old timers at the other end, slapped a new ticket on the wheel leading back to the kitchen, and ambled in Judd’s direction. “Afternoon, Judd.”
“Mama Pearl. I’m in something of a hurry. What have you got that’ll get me out of here fast with a to go order?”
“That’ll be the blue plate. We got barbeque chicken or the fried pork chop.”
“Let’s go with the chicken. Thanks.”
Instead of moving to put in his order, she studied him with her fathomless dark eyes.
Judd resisted the urge to reiterate he was in a hurry. There was breaking social etiquette, and there was pissing off the purveyor of the finest pie in a three hundred mile radius. He had his priorities.
At last, she nodded to herself. “’Bout damned time.”
Before he could ask what she was talking about, she strode over to an old fashioned dinner bell hanging in the corner and began to clang it.
“Attention. Attention, please! The Judd Hamilton/Autumn Buchanan pool is officially closed. Winner will be announced later this week.”
Judd’s jaw dropped. “But I didn’t say—”
“You didn’t have to. It’s written all over yo’ face. Looks good on you. I’ll get that order in.”
His ears burned. Did he have some kind of neon sign tattooed on his forehead? Slept with my best friend, the love of my life.
He didn’t regret it, and he wasn’t ashamed of how he felt about Autumn. But news hadn’t yet gotten around about his breakup with Mary Alice, and he didn’t want the situation to reflect badly on any of them.
Casting a cautious glance around, he noted lots of smiles and nods of approval. But exactly as Autumn had predicted, nobody seemed surprised. He saw money changing hands at several tables, including between two of his best friends.
Mitch held out a hand to Riley’s fiancé, Liam. “Give it up. I take partial credit for this.”
Judd moved over to join them. “And exactly how is that?”
“The bracelet, man. It did exactly what it was supposed to do.”
“It most definitely did not. It dug me deeper into the hole I was already in.”
“Exactly. It nudged that relationship over onto the rocks, where it needed to be.”
He stared at Mitch. “Are you telling me you deliberately torpedoed my relationship with Mary Alice?”
“I did that woman a kindness and gave her the motivation to cut you loose. She deserves a chance to be happy, and it wasn’t ever gonna be with you.”
“You sneaky son of a—”
Liam held up a hand. “When we tried to talk to you about this last year, you kinda lost your shit, so you didn’t leave us a lot of choice.”
“As I recall, we were talking about you seeing a future with Riley, not about me and Mary Alice.”
“Yeah. And I’m betting if I asked you the same question now about Autumn—about whether you see her in your life in five years, in ten—you’d have an answer.”
Judd opened his mouth to reply, then shut it again. Of course he had an answer. Because the future he’d never allowed himself to dwell on had always been built around Autumn. He’d been such a fool. For years, he’d lied to himself that he could love someone else. He’d given it his best effort. But his best effort with only part of his heart. Nothing he’d ever experienced with anyone else had ever come close to what he’d felt with Autumn last night. He loved her. He’d always loved her. And he wished he’d trusted in them the way she had.
Mama Pearl materialized with his order. “On the house. With a slice of pie. You look like you need it.”
“Thanks.” He glanced to his friends and acknowledged, at least to himself, that he probably wouldn’t have gotten here without their interference. “Thanks. I gotta get back to work.”
Relieved to walk away from the uncomfortable attention, Judd headed back to the station. But his relief was short-lived as he pulled up to see Nash helping a very irate-looking Robert Curry up the few steps to the door.
“I’m not a damned invalid!”
“You’re damned well not well, either. Rowan’s going to have both our hides if you do something stupid and have another episode that requires her coming back from Texas.”
“Robert, what the hell are you doing here? You had a heart attack barely a week ago. And in case that addled your brain, you don’t actually work here anymore, remember? You’re retired.”
“Retired doesn’t mean useless. And I didn’t get the chance to smoothly hand over the reins. I heard about your trouble and wanted to see how you were getting on.”
Resigned to the fact that he wasn’t going to get any peace to work for a while yet, he led them inside to the office that he hadn’t actually personalized. As they stepped inside, he moved the box of Robert’s personal effects out of one of the visitor’s chairs. “Inez packed these up for you. Haven’t had a chance to run them out to you.”
Robert grunted and sat. “It’ll keep. Tell me about the case.”
So Judd laid it out, from the fire all the way to the picture and knife left on his porch last night, leaving out exactly what he and Autumn had been doing at the time.
“We’re in the process of chasing down Jebediah’s former associates and anybody in the area who m
ight’ve served time with him. And we’re waiting on some additional records of his time at Parchman.”
Robert frowned. “You’re being blinded by your personal connection.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re making assumptions that it has to be Jebediah because you want it to be. But the fact is, his release is a matter of public record. Somebody else could be using that to cast suspicion in his direction. If that’s the case, obviously it’s working. Have you even looked at anybody else?”
Judd worked his jaw, hating that he was being called out. “There hasn’t been anybody else to look at.”
“So go back to the beginning. Go over everything that’s happened, without Autumn’s father in the equation. Figure out who has a motive here.”
“He’s the common factor,” Judd insisted.
“Seems to me Autumn is the common factor. Her house, her work, her books. With a pseudonym, it seems beyond unlikely that her daddy somehow found out about them while he was in prison and has just been sitting in there planning all this for the past year.”
That detail had been bugging Judd, too, but he hadn’t had the opportunity to work through it.
Hands curling around the arms of the chair, Robert shoved up. “Now I’ve said what needed saying, I’m going home for a nap. You need to bounce ideas off somebody else, call me.”
With a minimum of additional fuss from Nash, he was gone, and Judd was left staring at the empty whiteboard on the far wall.
Robert wasn’t wrong. He’d let his personal involvement cloud his judgment, looking for confirmation of his assumptions rather than allowing the facts to speak for themselves. So what had he missed?
Grabbing a dry erase marker, he went back to the beginning to trace everything all over again.
Chapter 14
“I can’t believe you didn’t call me.”
Autumn piled grocery bags on the kitchen counter and prepared to soothe Judd’s ruffled feathers. “What was the point? I knew you had that meeting with the city council this morning. You had more important things to do than come rescue me from peaceful protesters exercising their right to freedom of speech. Even if they’re basically supporting censorship.” She’d had sufficient time to lock away her own hurt and offense over the whole thing. Licking that wound would have to wait until they weren’t about to be inundated by family for the twins’ birthday.