Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
LINCOLN
The intercom on my desk phone went off and Roxanne’s voice came through the line a moment later. “Linc, Hayes Walker’s here to see you.”
“Thanks, Rox,” I replied. “Send him on in.”
I wasn’t surprised he was here this morning. Word was spreading around town that the cops had nothing to go on with the rash of burglaries, and people in town were starting to get antsy, demanding something be done.
The door to my office swung open and Hayes came walking through, his face twisted in frustration.
“Brother,” I greeted, leaning back in my seat and lacing my fingers together so I could rest them on my gut. “You look wrecked.”
“Feelin’ wrecked,” he replied, flopping down in a chair across from me and raking a hand through his hair while kicking his feet up on my desk. “Any way I can get a coffee?”
“You got it.” I hit the button on the intercom and called out, “Hey, Rox, could you get—”
My receptionist came sauntering into my office holding two cups of coffee before I could finish my request. “As usual, I’m already three steps ahead of you.”
“Makes up for the fact that you can be a pain in my ass,” I responded, making her laugh as she set the coffee cups on the desk and turned to walk away.
“Good luck finding anyone who’ll put up with you boys.
Y’all may be nice to look at, but that’s where it ends.
Dealin’ with you is like herding cats. Not to mention there’s so much brooding and surliness seeped into these walls that I have to shower every day when I get home just to wash the stink off. ”
“As always, you’ve paint a vivid picture, Roxanne,” Hayes said with a chuckle before taking a pull of his coffee.
“Just one of my many gifts,” she volleyed back on her way out of the office. Then she closed the door behind her and left Hayes and me alone to discuss business.
“So, tell me what’s going on.”
“Well, looks like my gut was right. Surveillance cameras caught Shepley Brenner at a gas station about an hour north of here a little over a week ago. Looks like the boy’s come to see his sister.
That makes him the main person of interest in these robberies.
Only problem is the asshole’s smoke. Can’t get a lock on him anywhere else.
There’s hasn’t been a single room rented under his name, and the car he was seen driving was found abandoned on Hemlock the next day.
There hasn’t been a single report of a stolen vehicle in or around town since then, so unless your neighbor’s keepin’ him hidden in her attic, we got the same thing we’ve had since this shit started—a whole lot of fuckin’ nothin’. ”
My forehead pulled in a tight frown. “You think it was just a coincidence he was spotted so close to Hope Valley?”
“I stopped believing in coincidences a long damn time ago, but even if I didn’t, this one would be too damn big to ignore.”
I couldn’t disagree with that. But…
“You say he’s involved, so I trust your instincts on this 100 percent. But my gut’s tellin’ me Eden’s not a part of it.”
“That’s what your gut tells you, I believe it. But involved or not, she’s our best shot in nailin’ him down.”
“Agreed. That fucker sets foot on my street, we’ll get him.”
Hayes took another drink of his coffee. “Yeah. I’m just hoping it’s sooner rather than later before that prick has a chance to hit another house.”
I was with him on that. I hoped like hell this shit got cleaned up before Eden became aware of what was going down and got even more tangled in her brother’s mess than she already unknowingly was.
“Other than the case, how are things goin’?”
Hayes gave me a curious look before realization of what my question really meant dawned across his expression. “Come on, man, not you too.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at his frustration.
“Sorry, but I gotta ask. I might not have known you back then, but I’ve been in Hope Valley long enough to have heard plenty about the epic love story gone wrong that was you and Temperance Levine.
To hear people talk, they’re still in mourning over your breakup. ”
“Jesus,” he grunted toward the ceiling. “That was over twenty fuckin’ years ago. We were kids, for Christ’s sake.”
“Yeah, and she’s only just come back after all that time. People talk, Hayes.”
His jaw ticked, and the vein in his forehead began to throb. “They can talk all they want. We broke up and life went on. Her being back in town isn’t gonna change anything. Once she’s done what she’s here to do, she’ll take off for wherever it is she’s been for the past two decades.”
I gave my friend a look. “Like you don’t know where she’s been. You wanna pretend you haven’t run her name or kept tabs, go ahead, but I know better.”
He turned his head and stared out the window at the mountains that lay beyond, deep in thought.
I let him have his moment, gave him the time he needed to come to grips with whatever was swirling around inside his head.
I’d known the man a long time. We’d been through some of the most intense situations a human can go through together.
And in all that time, he’d only brought up his ex twice.
Both times he’d been so drunk he had no recollection of it the following day, so I let it slide, never mentioning how he’s admitted that she was all there was for him and how, when he lost her, all hopes of a future and family disappeared with her.
“Doesn’t matter,” he finally mumbled. “Like I said, Tempie’ll leave again. It’s what she does. Shit’ll go back to how it’s always been, and life goes on. That’s all there is to it.”
That was Hayes speak for drop it or I’ll break your jaw, and I was a smart enough man to let it go.
“All right. Enough said.”
“So, what’s the deal with Eden?”
Lifting my own mug, I took a drink, appreciating the fact that Roxanne made my coffee just how I liked it, black with two sugars. “What do you mean?”
“Fred Duncan was at the diner while you were on your little lunch date. Came back to the station and wouldn’t shut up about it.”
Fred Duncan. Christ, that man could be a pain in anyone’s ass.
Sure, he was harmless, but that didn’t mean he didn’t get himself into a whole shitload of trouble with his penchant for gossip.
He’d been on the force for about three years now and had been called in by their captain at least five times.
One more warning to keep his mouth shut about the cases that came through the department and the dumbass was gonna lose his job.
Only one in that building who was a bigger busybody than Fred Duncan was Sue Ellen.
Sitting back in my chair, I shook my head and rubbed at my temples. “Goddamn small towns. People got nothin’ better to do than talk about other people. What did he say?”
“Just that y’all looked pretty damn cozy together, and that you looked smitten.”
“Smitten?” I chuckled. “That jackass actually used that word?”
The corner of Hayes’s mouth pulled up in a smirk. “Not quite. That’s just the word I used since I knew what he said would just piss you off. He said you looked pussy whipped.”
Motherfucker. “Like that bastard has any room to talk. His wife’s had his balls in a jar on her bedside table since he popped the question five years ago.”
“Makes matters worse that the woman’s a raging bitch from Hell too.”
He wasn’t wrong about that one. I’d been there once or twice when that woman stormed into the station fit to be tied because he didn’t put his plate in the dishwasher or missed the hamper when he tossed his socks at it or some shit.
She’d storm in, pissed as hell over absolutely nothing, and rip Fred a new asshole in front of every cop in the building.
Not a single one of those men liked Betsy Duncan.
Hell, most of the town despised that woman.
And pretty much everyone lost respect for him for putting up with her shit.
“It was a good lunch.”
He watched me for a few seconds, his brows slowly lifting toward his hairline. “That’s all I’m gonna get?”
“She’s different than I expected,” I finally admitted.
“Oh man.” He laughed and gave his head a shake. “I told you a long time ago that it wouldn’t be one of those stick-thin bitches you favored who’d finally catch your attention.”
“Jesus Christ,” I grumbled. “What is this, a goddamn chick flick? You wanna talk about your first period after this?”
“Fuck off,” he said with a chuckle. “Be a smartass all you want, but this one’s gotten to you. I was starting to think there wasn’t a woman on this earth capable of doing that.”
“Whatever. Keep goin’ and we’ll have to dive into the fact that you’re still single, and why that is.”
His laughter dried up at my threat of bringing Temperance up again. “Okay, I’m done.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
Setting his mug on my desk, Hayes pushed to his feet. “Well, as nice as it’s been to see your pretty face, I should be getting back to the station.”
“All right, brother.”
“Keep an eye out. You see anyone or anything on your block that doesn’t fit, you let me know.”
“Will do.”
With a tip of his chin and a flick of his fingers, he headed out of my office, and I attempted to get back to work and keep my mind off Eden, and her phenomenal ass.
I failed miserably.