Chapter 6
Haleswood
Ross sat with Sheriff Cochran at one of the sidewalk tables in front of the Midnight Rooster. The sheriff’s new wife was test driving a new scone recipe on them. Ross considered this one of the perks of being connected by work and marriage to one of the best cooks in the south.
“Tough work,” he said with a wink.
The sheriff eyed his plate as though the warm treat might bite back. “I suppose if she’s serving it here, it’s a good sign.”
“Aw, come on,” Ross said. “I can’t imagine Ruth serving you anything but the best.”
“Not much goes wrong,” Cochran admitted. “But when it does, it goes really wrong.”
Confident, Ross took a big bite and was rewarded with a sweet blend of cinnamon and spice. “Good,” he mumbled with a nod of encouragement.
His phone rang, and he swallowed in a hurry to answer the call from Eva’s office number. “Any word?”
“Two actually.”
“So spit it out.”
He heard the hesitation. “You should come see me right away.” She sounded upset, which was rare for Eva.
“Eva,” he warned. “What two words?” He dusted the crumbs from his fingers and reached for his cup of coffee.
“Double homicide.”
Ross forgot the coffee. “Garner?” He pushed back from the table and stood up, sending the sheriff an apologetic look.
“No,” Eva replied. “Talbot.”
His knees buckled and he landed hard in the metal chair. “She’s d— a victim?” he corrected quickly, remembering the public setting.
“The report I have says she’s wanted for questioning. Get in here and I’ll tell you everything.”
Eva ended the call before Ross could reply. He pocketed the phone.
“Trouble?” Cochran asked, speculation evident in his gaze.
“Yes. No one you know,” Ross added. “Not even here in town.” And none of this would touch Haleswood if he had anything to say about it. “I have to get to the office.”
“Jurisdiction doesn’t apply to friendship.”
Ross stopped, grateful for the words. “I’ll bring you up to speed when I have all the facts.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
“Give Ruth my best.” He clapped the sheriff on the back and then he all but ran for his truck. If Garner had set up Talbot, Ross would see her vindicated. She’d told him they were safe, that Garner was indeed alive, but not in the area to hassle him or his team. Then she’d gone silent.
He didn’t like it.
Parking on the street in front of the courthouse, Ross stormed up the stairs, his imagination in overdrive. “Tell me,” he ordered as he entered her office.
“Close the door.” Eva pointed to the monitor she used as a television. “It’s breaking news. Two men were found dead by bullet in a hotel room in Summerville.” She hit mute. “The room’s registered to your friend Laura Talbot.”
“Did they arrest her? Was it self-defense?”
“Not so far and I don’t know. They haven’t found her to ask. They’re using her driver’s license as the search photo.”
Ross swore. This would cause all kinds of havoc with her military career. “A struggle? A break-in?” Had she been attacked after confronting Garner?
“No details on that yet. What I do know feels worse. The gun found at the scene is confirmed as recently fired, sports the same caliber bullets as the shells found at the scene, and it’s registered to Laura.”
“How the hell did this happen? Where is Garner?”
“Your ghost?” She shrugged. “I have no idea, but I can’t find any indication that he was there.”
“There’s something.” A small positive detail Ross would cling to. “We—you—just have to find it.”
“How hard do you want me to push?”
He knew what she meant, he only wished he had an answer. With his connections with law enforcement agencies across the state, she could easily insert the Cypress Security team into the case. But that brought with it a tacit understanding that they’d share any information. He wasn’t ready to commit to that before he knew who was dead and how Talbot’s gun got on scene. “Laura Talbot isn’t a murderer.”
“I believe you, but her gun can’t confirm that. Want me to dig up the victim names and details?”
“Only if you can do it without getting caught.”
“Please.” She covered her heart with her hand. “You wound me.”
He could scold Eva about the risks involved with snooping through secure systems, but she was on his team for a reason. Given time, nothing in cyberspace was off limits to her. “I’m not ready to take the high road until Laura tells me what’s going on.”
“Got it. Subways and detours it is.” Done conversing, the soft clicks and clacks of her fingers on the keyboard were the only sounds for several minutes. “You don’t have to wait.”
He continued staring out the window, wondering if his asking a favor had sent another friend to die. How many more friends would Garner cost him? “Am I bothering you?”
Eva didn’t spare him a glance. “Not a bit. This just takes time.”
“I have plenty of that.” Too much of it.
“Okay.” She stretched out the word, let it fade away as she concentrated on gleaning every bit of information she could find. “You should go home. Talk to Allie.”
Ross ignored the suggestion. He didn’t want to discuss Garner with Allie again and he wouldn’t bring this ugly news into his home. Not without all the facts.
Usually calm enough on any case to examine all sides of a story, Ross had no urge to hear excuses out of Garner. The man had betrayed his country, betrayed the trust of soldiers, killed three good men in the process, and been walking free ever since.
“Rick could be on scene in two hours.”
“No.” The silence grew too loud, filling the space until Ross thought he might implode. He could practically hear Eva thinking. “What?”
“We’re all trained to take care of ourselves and we’ve proven our skills in the field time and again.”
“I know that.” He watched the cars and pedestrians on Main Street three stories below. “Just keep at it.”
Eva’s chair creaked and then the soles of her tennis shoes squeaked on the polished floor. He felt her behind him before she said a word.
“I’m fine,” he said, refusing to turn around.
“I’ve never seen you afraid,” she said.
“Sure you have.”
“No. Not this kind of afraid.”
He hated that she was right. “You’ve never met anyone like Garner.” He swallowed the bitterness, trying to find an accurate explanation for one of his closest friends. “How am I supposed to feel? We spot him by accident and suddenly two men are dead, and the friend I sent to check out the situation has been implicated.”
“He’s efficient. If he’s the problem.”
Ross knew Garner was the problem. “Three good men died protecting that greedy, lying, miserable excuse for a man. Only he knows what they gave their lives for and I’m betting it wasn’t worth the sacrifice. Now, because of me, Laura could already be dead too.”
“Because of him,” Eva corrected.
“I sent her in!”
“No. You asked her to go as a favor. She went willingly,” Eva said in a soft voice that made him feel worse somehow. “You can’t make assumptions here. I’ll get the details. Send Rick—”
“No!” He leaned forward, pressing his head to the cool glass of the window. “Laura Talbot is highly skilled. She’s Army Counterintelligence. She supposedly can take care of herself too, and yet she might just have been framed for murder. A fugitive. You have no idea what Garner is capable of.”
“I don’t know him, but I know you. You can’t keep assuming responsibility for some other jerk’s actions.”
Ross shook his head. Leave it to Eva to offer up a two-by-four when he most needed a smack upside the head.
“I’ll keep searching. We’ll find both of them and figure this thing out.”
“Thanks.” He stood tall and faced her. “Sorry for the tantrum. I’m calling Rick and Nicole back into town until we know more. If Garner’s decided to nip loose ends, we’ll be stronger together.”
Eva’s big brown eyes went wide, then narrowed, glinting with her notorious Italian temper. “He won’t nip anyone from Cypress Security.”
“Guaranteed. I’ll go down and give Cochran a head’s up. Then Allie and I will talk. What Nicole remembers might not have anything to do with this.”
Eva nodded as she returned to her desk. “I’ll forward the details as I get them.”
“Thanks. For everything,” he said, leaving her to do her part as he went to do his.
Rick didn’t argue with Ross’s new instructions, stating his hope that having all of them in one place would bring the confrontation to a head sooner rather than later.
Sheriff Cochran took the descriptions of Garner and Talbot and didn’t seem overly concerned about any of it. Ross knew Cochran would keep his ear to the ground for any trouble headed their way.
Having done all he could, he tried to drum up some enthusiasm for evaluating potential responses if Garner lashed out.