Conard County Justice (Conard County: The Next Generation Book 42) Read online

  Not anymore.

  The simmering anger over that tried to surge, but he battled it down. There was one thing and one thing only he wanted to focus on right now—finding Larry’s killer.

  All right, he’d been impolitic. He needed to find a way to correct that so he and Cat Jansen could jolt along. He’d walked in and talked to her like one of his troops, making it perfectly clear what he expected, both of her office and of himself.

  He’d looked down instead of up. The sheriff was like his superior officer in these circumstances. That meant Cat was, too.

  Ah, hell. Talk about getting off on the wrong foot.

  Her face swam before his eyes, and he felt the whisper of attraction once again. She was pretty, all right, with delicate features and those amazing blue eyes.

  He brushed that feeling aside, too. Wrong time. Worse, he suspected Cat would be furious if she suspected she’d aroused his interest for that reason.

  Judging by the few things Gage had indicated about her during their conversation, Cat must be very competent as a law officer, and that was how she’d want to be evaluated. The only way. She hadn’t worked hard to get here only to be treated like she was a woman first.

  He’d seen enough of that problem since women had started completing the arduous Ranger training. They were surrounded by a sea of men, all too many of whom believed the Rangers were a man-only territory. Considering what those women could have done to any guy who got out of line, that had always struck Duke as a stupid attitude to have.

  Those women were Rangers first. Cat was a law officer first.

  That settled, he paced the motel room. He was a man used to being physically active, to training every day for the next assignment. He’d spent too much time bottled inside a plane and then a car. He needed to work out some kinks.

  He did some push-ups, some crunches, some squats. They weren’t enough. What he needed was a ten-mile run. Some of it uphill.

  He’d brought workout clothes with him, but they’d been used primarily on station. Not the kind of thing to wear around here if he wanted a low profile.

  Damn. He’d seen what looked like a department store on the other side of town on the main drag. He decided to walk there to stretch his legs and get some new clothes. It would give him some time to get the lay of the land.

  He always wanted to know where he was, if there were any obstructions to escape, what the shortest routes were between points. Recon. Basic, simple recon. It would be a good use of his time, if not all his energy.

  He’d feel more comfortable, too. This might not be a very dangerous place, but that wouldn’t change the habits of most of his adult life.

  * * *

  WHEN CAT RETURNED to the office, hoping Gage might put her on the burglary case, the sheriff called her back to his office.

  “Door?” she asked, resigned to an inquisition.

  “Please.”

  For the second time that day, she closed it, then sat across the desk from him. “And the winner is...”

  Gage flashed one of his crooked smiles. “How’d it go?”

  “I suppose you mean with Major Duke.”

  He shook his head a bit. “So, are you being difficult?”

  “I suppose I am. I don’t know if you saw it, but the man who came through that door earlier had death in his eye. Cold. Furious. And more than capable of carrying out any threat.”

  Gage sighed, leaning forward to rest his forearms on his desk. His chair squeaked, and she guessed from his faint grimace that some part of him was objecting to the simple movement.

  “He’s a Ranger,” Gage said. “And from what I know of them, which admittedly isn’t a whole lot, he’s been to war more than once, he’s gone undercover in enemy territory and he might even have gone on a few solo missions. You don’t get to be a major at his age unless you’re being fast-tracked, and you need that kind of experience to rise in the officers’ ranks if you’re in special ops.”

  “All of which is to say you saw the look, too.”

  “It didn’t surprise me. Add to that the fact he’d probably love to get his hands around the throat of the guy who killed his brother, and you’ve got a man who’s exercising some serious restraint. Yeah, he’s a pressure cooker right now.”

  “How comforting,” she said dryly.

  “Anyway, I don’t expect you to be able to stop him if he gets set on something. I just want to know what he’s doing. It may sound like babysitting, but it’s not. You know the stakes.”

  Cat did indeed. She’d tried to make them clear to Duke herself, and she’d heard enough of what Gage had said to know he had as well.

  “I guess he set my back up,” she admitted.

  “Can’t imagine why.” A bit of sarcasm crept into his voice. “Just keep in mind that he’s a military officer. He’s used to commanding and to taking charge. Neither of which we can have him safely doing, but as long as he knows you’re watching, he’ll control himself.”

  “He said he’s used to staying within the lines.”

  “Another thing he’s had to do to achieve his rank. Do I think he will? Most likely, unless fury overtakes him. No guarantees about that. Cat, I can’t emphasize enough that he’s been to war. Basically left civilization behind. Some of that always stays with you.”

  “I know.” Springing to memory were a number of vets she’d had to deal with when they lost themselves in depression, alcohol and drugs, or when memory or ungovernable rage had taken over. War inflicted indelible scars. “Okay, I’ll keep all that in mind. But I guess it tells me why the military have their own special bases.”

  Gage cracked a laugh. “Caged up, you mean?”

  Cat finally relaxed enough to laugh, too. “That was unkind. Okay, I’ll do the best I can, but I make no promises. I was thinking earlier that this is going to be like riding a bull.”

  “You ever done that?” Gage asked as she stood up.

  “Hell, no. Do I look crazy?”

  His laugh followed her as she walked down the hall.

  Guy Redwing had assumed her position at the front desk. He looked bored. “Need a little excitement?” she asked him.

  “Depends on what kind.” He grinned. “I’m starting to think about a beer at Mahoney’s after work. Come with?”

  She’d have liked to go with him, but before the words slipped out, she remembered she had a task with no punch-out time. And just then she saw Major Duke striding purposefully down the street. Hadn’t he gone to the motel?

  Wondering what he was up to, she said, “Sorry, Guy. Much as I’d like to, I just saw my current assignment walking down the street. Later.”

  She darted out the door and saw Major Duke looking across the street at Freitag’s Mercantile. She quickened her pace, wanting to catch up. He must have heard her footfalls, because he turned swiftly. The speed of a striking cobra. Okay, this man was wired.

  When he saw her, he relaxed and waited, so she adopted a more reasonable pace. She didn’t want any passersby to think she was chasing the man. Even if she was.

  She nodded and smiled at the greetings from other residents who appeared to be on errands. One woman in particular was trying to wrangle twin boys, who were just of an age to slip her grip and make her look harried.

  “Hi, Joan,” she said as she passed.

  “Hi, Cat. Boys!” She dashed off after them.

  Cat was grinning by the time she reached Duke. “That’s a handful.”

  “Those boys? Plenty of energy.”

  Then she faced him. “Looking for something?”

  “Workout clothes that aren’t stamped with Army logos all over. This is the place, right?”

  She nodded. “Old-timey, with creaky wooden floors that have probably been there for at least a century. However, now that we have an influx of students at the community college, you’ll find all
the latest and greatest in some items. You want superhero shorts? I think they have some.”

  He surprised her with a short chuckle. “I don’t think I’m ready to go that far. So are you my armed escort now?”

  To her horror, she felt her cheeks heat. How had he done that? It had been a long time since she’d blushed. “I’m kinda over-the-top, huh?”

  “No, you’re in uniform, is all. Are you planning to join me in the store? Or later after I change and go for a run around town? You might find it hard in that utility belt.”

  Her cheeks grew even warmer. “Point taken.”

  He shook his head slightly. “How were you supposed to know what I was doing? This is going to be impossible for both of us if you have to be the principal and me the student reporting my every activity. Tell you what. I’ll let you know if I’m doing anything that approaches the case. Then you can relax and I can go running.”

  Her cheeks didn’t cool any, but she was just trying to do this job. An unfamiliar job. New rules and groundwork were needed. On the other hand, he was lengthening his leash and asking her to trust him. Having known his brother, she was inclined to, but the simple fact was that Major Duke was a stranger to her. Plus, she’d seen the icy fury in his eyes. He wasn’t going to make this easy for either of them.

  “I understand your point, Major.”

  “Duke. Just call me Duke.”

  “Okay, Duke. You can call me Cat. But you were walking down the street a few hours after having expressed your intention to interview people who knew Larry while he was here.” As she mentally reviewed what he’d said when she’d first reached him, she started to get seriously irritated. How dare he talk to her that way? He’d scolded her as if she were a thoughtless kid.

  He nodded slowly, glanced across the street and said, “Give me your cell number. I promise to tell you before I talk to anyone, okay?”

  “Or anything else to do with your brother’s murder.”

  “On my honor.”

  She relaxed a bit. She suspected honor was very important to this man. “All right. I’ll trust you. But if I find you’ve crossed the line, you’re going to be in trouble. I won’t stand for it, nor will the sheriff.”

  “We’ll get it sorted. Your number?”

  “I want yours, too.”

  “Of course.”

  “Keep in mind, though, the farther you get out of town, the spottier cell reception will be. Out there in the ranch land, there aren’t a whole lot of cell towers. Not enough people to justify them. And the mountains are pretty much the same.”

  “I’ve operated in much tougher conditions.”

  Yeah, he had, she thought as she walked back to the office after they’d exchanged numbers. That was part of what worried her.

  * * *

  CAT WAS A FIREBRAND, Duke thought as he crossed to the mercantile. He had no doubt she’d try to call him to heel if she didn’t like something. He’d only promised to let her know what he was up to, but she’d have to give him reasons if he objected.

  While he was looking at shorts, a memory of Larry popped up. They’d often run together while they were growing up, but when Duke had returned from Ranger training, Larry had wanted to run with him again. The two of them had wound up laughing because Larry could no longer keep up the distances or the pace Duke used. He’d never forgotten his brother’s grin as he asked, “What did they do? Replace you with bionics?”

  God, he missed his brother, even though they’d been estranged for a while. Which made him ponder yet again how he—or anyone else, for that matter—allowed such rifts to grow when life was so short. You never knew...

  He should have learned that after so much time in deadly environments. Life could often be too short, truncated by unexpected events.

  Shaking himself out of impending gloom, he focused instead on rage. He’d have time to grieve later, once Larry had his justice.

  He found a couple of pairs of shorts and some shirts and walked back to the motel. Man, he needed to run. A long, fast run.

  Then he’d figure out what to do next.

  * * *

  WELL, THAT HAD gone well, Cat thought as she walked back to the office. Not. He’d managed to embarrass her, which wasn’t easy in her line of work. Or maybe anger had heated her cheeks, not embarrassment. Regardless, after that she could easily dislike him.

  It wouldn’t help anything to dislike him, though. Not one thing. Besides, she could understand his thirst to find his brother’s killer. She’d known more than one family who had been pursuing justice for a dead relative decades after the killing. Not unusual. Some called it closure, some referred to it as justice, but there was no escaping the fact that people needed a resolution. That need could consume them, and possibly their lives.

  Cops understood that. They understood it so well that departments with sufficient resources ran a cold case unit. No one wanted to forget the dead.

  A few cops even investigated cold cases after they retired, so haunted were they by some crimes.

  So yeah, she got it. Totally. Which meant she needed to quell her reactions to Duke. They were too strong. Too reactive. She’d dealt with worse than a difficult relative before.

  And that was what he was. However intimidating, however angry, he was still a grieving brother who needed his resolution.

  Needing it in three weeks was the only unreasonable part. Larry hadn’t been here long enough to create a big list of persons of interest. A poker group, eight people max? Not much to go on.

  Nor were the regulars he’d met at Mahoney’s, although they wouldn’t be overlooked as the department worked to peel back the layers on this case. If there’d been an argument or altercation, Mahoney would know. If it had been bad enough, he’d have reported it. Nothing had seeped out of that bar.

  When she returned to a desk she shared with other officers, she realized she was at loose ends. Her assignment to keep an eye on the major made it impractical to follow any kind of duty that she couldn’t quit immediately.

  Damn it. She liked to work. In fact, she liked it so much she averaged about sixty hours a week. That curtailed her social life, but that was okay. She was an introvert in an extrovert’s job. Interacting with people all day made her crave solitude with a book or a movie. Recharging.

  Or maybe she could work out in her tiny gym in her basement. The house her mother had left her on Poplar had made it possible, which was good because this town had one gym open to the public: at the college. Public hours were limited, of course, making its use more difficult.

  The house was cozy, which suited her. Just two bedrooms and a dine-in kitchen, no dining room. One full bath. The extra bedroom served as her home office and contained the daybed she’d slept in while caring for her mother.

  It was a newer house than many neighboring ones that had been built during the waning days of the Victorian era, but it displayed nice touches with dark woodwork and matching solid-core oak doors. Over the time since her mother’s death, she’d started repainting the interior and had indulged her love of color, such as the Wedgwood blue in the living room and sunshine yellow in the kitchen.

  When she walked through the door, she initially felt sorrow. Despite having many good memories here, she also had a lot of sad ones, and every time she entered the house, she missed hearing her mom call out, Hi, honey.

  Sometimes she was almost sure she’d heard the greeting. Each time it happened, it arrested her. Even in midstep, she’d pause, listening.

  She changed quickly into her workout clothes and headed down into the basement. There her weights, her exercise bike and her treadmill awaited her. This wasn’t her favorite part of the house, but it was a necessary one, holding the washer and dryer, a utility sink and various boxes of stored items.

  Items that she kept thinking she should give away. She had no use for her mother’s clothes, for one thing. S
he’d already saved what she cared about.

  An hour later, wishing for a TV so she’d have something other than her own rambling thoughts to keep her company while she exercised, she took her sweat-soaked body upstairs for a shower.

  Then it was time to consider dinner. Dang, her life outside of her job had become a totally predictable routine. Exercise, dinner, book or DVD, or sometimes some browsing on the internet.

  Occasionally she wondered if that was a reaction to all the many months she’d spent looking after her mother. A time to heal, maybe a time to hide from personal cares.

  Whatever. She was in no mood to do anything about it just then. Major Daniel Duke was probably going to invade her entire life with his quest. He’d taken over the job part of it. Now she could live in expectation of getting a phone call even at night as he told her what harebrained thing he was planning to do.

  She caught herself. “Not fair,” she said aloud to the empty house. She had to stop ascribing things to him she couldn’t yet know.

  He’d really set her back up, right from the time he’d first walked into the office.

  Why?

  When it came, the answer annoyed her no end. He was attractive. Very attractive. A trickle of warmth passed through her as she visualized him. Oh yeah.

  She needed that like a hole in her head.

  Chapter Three

  Duke decided to get breakfast at the truck stop diner across the highway from the motel. The rain outside was steady, and while it wasn’t a downpour, there was more of it than a drizzle. The air felt a bit chilly as he stepped outside, making him glad of his lightweight jacket. Georgia had warmer weather, and he seemed to have lost the cold conditioning from Afghanistan. A few more days and he’d adapt.

  If there was one thing he was confident of, it was his ability to adjust even to the worst conditions, and this was a long way from bad.