Chapter 22
She watched Dan continue down the stairs below her with his flashlight lighting the way.
“There’s a light switch to your right,” Leah told him.
Light flooded the room, and she watched Dan’s hands as he turned off the flashlight he carried. Hands that had held her so gently once and taken her places she’d never been before.
Don’t go there, Leah.
She’d called the Lyntacky Sheriff Department because the more she thought about this room and that safe, the more she believed no one knew it was here. Sheriff Dans was someone she trusted, and it was him Leah had wanted to talk to.
But it had been Dan who answered her call and then turned up at her house. When she’d seen him standing in uniform on her front step, talking to Hudson, she’d wanted to run back to the kitchen. She hadn’t. Leah never ran from anything, but the urge was there.
He was one of those men who looked really good in a uniform. Broad shouldered with long muscular legs, the clothes sat well on him. She knew he also looked good naked, but she stomped down that thought real quick.
Following Dan down the stairs, she entered the room.
“Nothing down here except that safe,” Leah said.
“Looks like it,” he agreed, bending to study it. He took gloves out of his pocket and pulled them on. Then Dan got on his knees and crawled under the table.
“What are you looking for?”
“There’s something back here.”
He climbed out with a brown folder in his hands. “It’s on your property. Do you want to open it?” he asked her.
Leah stared at it for two seconds and then shook her head. She didn’t know what was in there, but had a gut feeling that it wouldn’t be good.
Dan placed it on the table. Leah moved to sit on the bottom step and watch as he flipped open the folder.
“What did you find?” she asked a few minutes of tense silence later.
He looked at her over his shoulder, and with that one glance, she knew the news wasn’t going to be good.
“Not sure I understand that yet. But I’ll get my uncle out here, and he can take a look.”
“You know something, don’t you?” Leah asked.
Ignoring her, he then read slowly through each piece of paper in that folder, and her stomach twisted itself into more knots. When he was done, Dan then walked around the space again.
“Did you take anything out of here, Leah?” he said when he’d finished.
“No.”
His eyes shot to hers briefly.
“I know you don’t believe me, Deputy, but if I’d wanted to hide this, whatever the hell it is, I wouldn’t have called the station. I haven’t removed any evidence, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
“I’m not accusing you of anything, Leah, just asking questions. It’s what we do in my business before we put cuffs on people.”
Leah exhaled the breath she’d been holding and wondered if it would always be like this between them now. A battle of words, and not very nice ones. If they weren’t touching each other that was.
“You still got that chip on your shoulder when it comes to authority, then,” he said.
“I don’t have a chip on my shoulder,” Leah lied. In fact, she did. A large potato-sized one, especially when someone accused her of anything. She’d had enough of that growing up.
She watched as he ran his fingers under the table edge. Crouching, he searched underneath and then came out holding a book small enough that it fit in his hand.
“What’s that?” Leah asked.
“I’ll read it and let you know,” he said, his eyes already on the first page.
She waited in tense silence until he looked at her again.
“What does it say?” Leah was sure her stomach was about to empty at the look in his eyes.
“I need to—”
She cut him off. “I could have found this and not told you. But I did. You owe me for that at least.”
He sighed. “I think your dad was some kind of middleman for something. He stored stuff here, then it was moved on, and he was paid for that.”
“What kind of stuff?”
“Not sure about that yet.”
Leah knew he was being deliberately evasive.
She’d watched Dan be a cop a lot over the years.
He’d even taken her into the cells once because she’d been too drunk at the Rollaway the week she reached the legal drinking age.
She soon realized there were two sides to him.
The side that was funny, loving, and yes, kind with his family.
Then there was the no-nonsense cop who could be a hard-ass when he needed to be.
“You know how to crack this?” He tapped the safe with the toe of his boot.
“Hilarious, but it was my father who was the criminal, not me.”
“I never thought you were a criminal, Leah, just in case you believed otherwise.”
“Whatever. What do I do now?”
He straightened and faced her. She’d always braced herself when he looked at her because Dan Duke had been the one person who really saw her.
Not the sassy, smart-mouthed girl who’d grown up tough because she’d had to, but the girl who’d craved someone to hold her.
To see through her bullshit to what was beneath.
He’d been that to her for a short while.
“I’m going to call in my uncle now. He needs to see this place and read these papers. He might see something down here that I missed. We need to take photos and notes. Are you good with that?”
She nodded. Her stomach felt queasy now. What had her father been up to in here?
“I’ll follow you out and wait for him up there. You’ll want to check on Hudson, and then maybe you should sit down because you’re pale,” he said.
“I can look after my nephew,” Leah snapped back. “And my head is fine, so I don’t need you telling me what to do.”
“I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that I’m not your enemy, Leah.”
He was right, and she knew that. “I know, sorry,” she said hating herself for being defensive, but it was how she’d always survived. “It’s just a terrifying thought that my father was up to more than just what he was arrested for. It worries me what is in that safe.”
“I know, but you’re not alone in this. Now let’s go up, and you can check on Hudson while I wait for my uncle.”
She turned and walked up the stairs before she said anything else to annoy him. She couldn’t behave rationally around Dan Duke, so it was best to just stay silent.
Leah walked out of the barn and knew he was following because she could hear the crunch of his big boots on the path.
“Hey, Uncle Asher. I need you to come out to the Reynolds place. There’s stuff you have to see here in one of the barns.”
Leah kept walking while he talked to Sheriff Dans until she found Hudson, who was still in the chicken coop, talking to the hens and Pickle the rooster. Outside, waiting patiently, was Benny.
“Hey, bud. You all done?”
“Yes. I put the eggs there.” He pointed to a container outside the coop.
“Nice work. We can do some baking later if you want? Get some more practice in.”
She’d baked another batch of chocolate chip cookies and a banana cake since Dan had helped her that day. Her attempt at chicken fried rice had gone down well too. They’d watched a few more tutorials, and Hudson had combed through his nana’s recipe books for things he wanted them to try.
“Lemon cookies,” he said in that gruff little voice of his.
“Shouldn’t you love chocolate chip more?”
He shook his head, that sweet smile playing around his lips that made her chest ache. “Mom made those, and they’re good.”
“Okay, so I need to find a recipe for those, then.”
The sound of a car had her looking toward the driveway where it split to go either to the house or here. It was Sawyer’s pickup. He saw them and headed their way. Birdie was seated beside him, and with them was Ally. The door opened, and his two blue heelers got out, both barking in excitement.
Benny rushed over, and they started sniffing each other, but their tails were wagging.
“Hey there, you two.” Leah bent to pat heads. Hudson joined in the love session. “What are you doing here?”
“We came to have a look around your sheds, as we didn’t get a chance to do that at the worker bee,” Sawyer said.
“That’s where she’ll be putting her kiln one day,” Hudson said.
The problem was, Leah talked to her nephew because he was the only one in the house, but in doing so, she told him things she didn’t want him to share with anyone, but she hadn’t thought to tell him that.
“Pardon?” Birdie said.
“Where’s your kid?” Leah asked, attempting to change the conversation.
“Home alone. We want her to get used to that,” Sawyer said.
“With Robyn,” Birdie said, punching her husband in the arm. “So, about the kiln comment?”
“Aunt Leah is really good at pottery. She makes all kinds of stuff and worked for this place that let her use their kiln in Philadelphia,” Hudson said.
Leah didn’t sigh, but it was a close thing.
“Even more reason to clear out the barn,” Sawyer said. “Between the pottery and the growing, you’ll have a money-making business in no time.”
“How do you know I’m any good?” Leah asked.
“Are you?” Sawyer asked.
“Maybe” was all she was willing to concede. “And I don’t need any help. I can do this. You’ve helped me enough.”
“I thought we’d been through all this already?” Sawyer said. “We want to help some more, so let us.”
“It’s a pride thing,” Birdie said. “Leah likes to battle away on her own because that’s what she’s always done. She also hates it when anyone wrestles that control away from her.”
“I’m standing right here,” Leah said, feeling uncomfortable at the truth of those words.
“In Lyntacky we help people who need it,” Birdie added. “Like we’ve already told you, but clearly you need to hear it again.”
“You want to introduce me to your chickens, Hudson?” Ally asked. “Do they have names? Ours have names, and I think that’s important because they lay better.”
They’d gotten the chickens from Tripp Lyntacky.
He’d just turned up with them, saying he had spares, so she might as well have them, seeing as they had the coop already set up.
He wouldn’t take payment and even left a large bag of feed.
Tripp had then spent an hour settling them in and teaching Hudson how to care for them.
“My second point—” Birdie said.
“Oh goody, there’s a second point,” Leah muttered.
“—is that your nephew needs people he can turn to if you’re not around. Becoming familiar with us will ensure that happens, Leah.”
Her friend’s words hit home, and she was also nobody’s fool and knew that Hudson, unlike her, needed people in his corner. He’d get that with them. Birdie was right.
Swallowing down the sting of pride, she nodded.
“Well, hallelujah.”
“You’ve already spent a day here working, Birdie. I can accept help when it’s needed. But the barns I can work through slowly, so right now, there really isn’t a lot to do.”
“I’m going into the coop with Ally, Aunt Leah, to name the chickens, seeing as Pickle has a name,” Hudson said. “Benny, you stay here and play with Ted and Sylvie.”
“Okay, you go do that, then.” She waved him away.
“How is the planting going?” Sawyer asked. “We can help you with that.” He then looked over her shoulder. “What’s Dan doing here? In uniform,” he added, now looking at her.
She fell back on her old standby—being a smart-mouth. “He’s arresting me. What else would he be doing here?” It didn’t come as easy as it used to, but she’d had years of practice.
“What?” Birdie demanded.
“Not really,” Leah added quickly. “I found some things he’s looking into.”
“What things?” she asked.
“I’m not sure I can talk about it.”
“Why not?” Sawyer demanded, frowning.
“Don’t speak to my friend like that.” Birdie slapped her big husband’s arm again.
Why did hearing the word “friend” in connection with herself make Leah feel good?
“Sorry. I’m used to talking to my siblings,” he muttered.
“All good. That’s how I communicate too,” Leah said.
“You okay there with Hudson, Ally?” her uncle yelled to the girl.
“Yup” came her reply.
“We’re going to talk to Uncle Dan for a bit. He’s here too,” Sawyer added.
“There are some of those donuts in the house that we got from the store if you want to give Ally one, Hudson,” Leah told her nephew.
“Okay.”
She followed Sawyer as he headed to where his brother stood waiting for him. Birdie walked at her side.
“What’s going on, Dan?” Sawyer demanded.
“Not your business, brother,” Dan said, looking relaxed and calm, while Leah’s belly was full of acid. “But Leah has a headache, Birdie, and needs to rest.”
“No, I don’t,” she protested. “The pills you gave me are working.”
“What’s going on here, Dan? I’m your brother. Tell me,” Sawyer said, scowling.
“This is sheriff’s department business,” Dan said.
“I want to see some of your pottery, Leah, seeing as I didn’t know you did that,” Birdie said. “Come on, you can show me.”
“I’m not going anywhere at the moment, Birdie. I have something that I need to sort out first,” Leah said.
“She’s good. I’ve seen a few pieces,” Dan said, making her want to slap him.
It felt like her business was suddenly everyone’s business, and she wasn’t happy about that.
Leah had shared things going on in her life with only one person for the past seven years, and her secrets had died along with Cassie.
Even before she’d left Lyntacky, Leah had held herself back, even from Dan.
“I want to see them,” Birdie said, looking annoyed that she hadn’t already.
Leah gave up then and started for the house. She turned to look at Birdie, who was standing where she’d left her. “Well, come on.”
“She’s still got that sweet nature, at least,” Dan drawled, his eyes on Leah.
She owed him for so many things, like Hudson’s tree house and what he’d done at the worker bee, but her middle finger still shot up.
He stood there smiling at her and looking far too good in his uniform, so she turned and walked away.