Chapter 5 Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Next morning
“You were poisoned.” Sheriff Luke Hawling walked into the ICU room where Aaron had been transferred the night before.
“Twice,” he continued in a low voice for Aaron’s ears alone.
It was daybreak, so the scarred side of his face was concealed partially by the shadows in the room and partially by the brim of the Stetson he was rarely seen without.
He was the burn victim of an arsonist who’d never been caught.
“Twice?” Aaron waited for him to explain.
“Yep, we’ve confirmed that your gas line was sabotaged. Also, the bottle of multivitamins in your medicine cabinet was tampered with.”
“Ouch!” That meant an intruder had breached the rental home’s security system—not once, but twice. “What do you mean by tampered with my vitamins?” Aaron was still fighting the sluggish after-effects of what he’d endured, so it was taking longer for his brain to make sense of everything.
Somebody wants me dead. Of that he was certain. As for the who, what, and why, not so much.
“They were laced with snake poison.” The sheriff watched him closely. “Does that hold any significance for you?”
As a matter of fact, yes. Aaron had to assume it was because of his ties to Diamondback Corporation.
More specifically, it was about revenge, either for the heists Diamondback had thwarted or because of the criminals they’d helped bring to justice.
He was a dead man walking if he couldn’t figure out who was targeting him before they returned to finish the job.
He’d been shot, nearly asphyxiated, and poisoned. This time, his sister had been caught in the crossfire as well—the only family he had left.
The one person I’m supposed to be protecting.
His only comfort was that he appeared to be the primary target of the attacks. Just to be certain, he inquired, “What’s the forensics timeline of the gas leak?”
Luke described it to him, and it was exactly what Aaron had been hoping to hear. Aurora had been out running errands when the leak had been sprung.
“What about the poisoned vitamins?” he pressed.
Again, the timeline was isolated to his own movements, and the vitamins themselves were unquestionably his.
“I’m the target,” he mused. “And like any police officer, the possibilities for who to blame are endless. Short of going through every case file I’ve ever touched in every state I’ve ever lived in...” He shook his head, knowing it would be like hunting for a needle in a haystack.
The sheriff began to pace the small room. “Yes, I think it’s safe to say that someone has you in their crosshairs. Any idea how we might narrow the possibilities a bit?”
“No one specifically.” The sheriff’s look of disappointment brought on a wallop of guilt. He seemed like a nice guy, but Aaron’s ability to trust anyone outside his innermost circle these days was fading fast.
For no particular reason, Aurora’s words from yesterday replayed themselves inside his head.
You should tell him the truth. She’d been referring to A.J.
when she’d said it, but it occurred to Aaron that telling the truth might provide an equally unique opportunity in this instance.
Since he’d been doubly poisoned, this might be his one chance to come clean about contaminating the pawnshop crime scene while keeping his job.
“My best guess is that it’s tied somehow to my family’s business.” An affiliation he’d previously disclosed on his job application and mentioned during his interview. Minus, of course, his unofficial role in the assignments Uncle Cary was constantly doling out to his sister.
Luke looked intrigued. “Can you be more specific?”
Here goes nothing. “Diamondback Corporation employs a team of security analysts who travel the country, testing the vulnerabilities of security systems and recommending ways to improve their effectiveness.”
Luke strolled to the only window in the room. “I did some reading up on Diamondback after you cited them on your application. They specialize in security systems for jewelry stores, right?”
“Mostly,” Aaron agreed cautiously.
“For JSA-member firms, I believe?”
“Yes,” Aaron repeated, amazed that a small-town sheriff would know something like that. His line of questioning was starting to feel like an interrogation, which couldn’t be a good thing.
Aaron battled the strands of sluggishness enshrouding him, trying to regain the upper hand in the conversation. “Listen, there’s something I need to tell you. Between the time I was poisoned and the time I was nearly asphyxiated, I contaminated the crime scene at the pawnshop.”
“I am aware.” The sheriff swung back in his direction. “What I’m not aware of is why you’re just now telling me this.”
Aaron ducked his head, feeling trapped. The only way the sheriff could’ve been aware of the contamination was if A.J.
had ratted him out. Regardless, Aaron was tired of skirting the truth.
“I don’t have an excuse for that.” He sat there, shoulders hunched, waiting for the firing that was sure to come.
“Relax.” Luke walked back over to him. “Only a complete moron would throw a pink slip at a guy in a hospital bed.”
The tight feeling in Aaron’s chest didn’t go away. “I can handle it now. There’s no point in waiting until my discharge.” With or without a job, he was fortunate to be alive. Not that he would be without a job for long. Uncle Cary was more than ready to toss the duties of CEO into his lap.
“Or…” Luke clasped his hands in front of him, “you can just tell me what’s really going on and avoid an ugly breakup between us altogether. Your decision.”
Aaron’s lips twitched at the unexpected lifeline his boss was throwing him.
Maybe he was about to catch a break after all.
“The before and after photos of my crime scene contamination are on my cell phone.” He glanced around the room, assuming his phone was being stored with the rest of his personal items.
Luke gestured impatiently. “We’ll circle back to that later. What I’m more interested in right now is finding out why A.J. Pike is so cock sure you’re a dirty deputy.”
“A what?” A streak of pain shot through Aaron’s right temple and radiated through his skull.
“He thinks you’re either accepting hush money to keep quiet about a string of jewel heists, or you’re involved up to your eyeballs in the heists themselves.”
Aaron reached up to clutch his aching head with both hands. “I’m going to need more pain meds.” This was worse than anything he’d imagined.
Luke reached over to mash the button on the remote control strapped to the side of Aaron’s bed. “That should do it.” He poured a cup of ice water and held it out.
“Thanks.” Aaron sipped it until the ravenous edge of his pain subsided. “I don’t even know where to begin. Man!” No wonder his sister’s boyfriend had been acting so wonky around him. Of all the reasons Aaron could’ve come up with for why the guy might despise him, this hadn’t even made the list.
The more he thought about it, the less plausible it became. “He’s giving me way too much credit. Despite carrying a police badge, I still don’t know if my own parents are dead or alive. Attempting to locate them is what takes up most of my spare time—not running a one-man crime ring.”
The sheriff studied him with fascination. “Is that why you move around so much?”
Yes and no. Aaron inclined his head instead of answering.
Luke grunted. “Do you understand what the term conflict of interest means, Deputy?”
“I do.” Aaron didn’t like where this was going, but there was no point in playing stupid. “And I can understand why you think it applies to me.”
“Good.” Luke’s voice grew louder. “Because you can’t have one foot in Heart Lake and the other foot in the middle of a two-year-old helicopter crash. I need your head in the game while you work in my town. All the way in the game, Deputy Cannon!”
Aaron felt like weeping and hated himself for his weakness. It wasn’t his fault his parents were still missing, making it impossible for him to grieve properly. “It’s not like I’m chasing against orders after a cold case. It’s just difficult to let it go without having any bodies to bury.”
Sympathy filled Luke’s gaze. “Didn’t they make you go to grief counseling?”
“Yes, and I was cleared to return to work.” Aaron didn’t care for his tone. “Just because I didn’t swallow everything in my parents’ crash report doesn’t make me mentally unstable.”
“Never said it did,” Luke retorted mildly. “How about you walk me through what happened after the crash?”
Aaron had to clear his throat before mumbling a few sentences about his search for his parents’ remains and the memorial service he and his sister had finally hosted.
His boss nodded gravely. “Any reason you weren’t sworn in as the next CEO at Diamondback?”
Again, Aaron was astonished at how much he knew. “What do you know about that?” His family had purposely kept the details about the transition of power out of the press.
Luke didn’t blink. “I asked you a question first.”
“I chose to remain on the road.” By doing so, Aaron had additionally avoided working in the same office as his ex-girlfriend. Elise had served as his father’s personal assistant and now served his uncle in the same capacity.
“Why?” Luke didn’t give him time to think before firing off his next question.
“I didn’t want to be chained to a desk. I wanted to be free to continue searching for my parents after everyone else had given up.” It sounded like his boss had already connected the dots. Aaron wasn’t sure why the guy was forcing him to say it out loud.
“Your freedom also enabled you to protect your sister from whatever happened to your parents, eh?” Again, there was no pause before the sheriff pounded out his next question.
You know about that, too? Aaron grew still, feeling like what he said next would make or break his ability to continue working for the Heart Lake Police Department. “Would you at least tell me how you figured all of this out?”