Chapter 5
Grant’s eyeshomed in on the officer right away. Their eyes locked, and for a moment, he thought there was a spark. That was ridiculous. She’d already rubbed him the wrong way with all her bossy demands. And she could barely stand him. This strange feeling that he should ask her out was so far in left field that he needed to bury it before it caused any problems.
Lately, he’d been a little too impulsive—and that needed to stop.
“Where were you?” Bo Reese materialized beside him, looking agitated.
“In town,” Grant grunted. “What’s it to you?”
“In town? You’re supposed to be working.”
He shook his head. “Jennifer gave me permission to take the day off to be with my son.”
Bo glanced around him. “And where is he?”
Grant’s eyes narrowed with impatience. “It’s none of your business.”
“Actually, it is. We hired you for Charlotte’s sake. She was terrified you’d take your son and move him back to Nashville.” Bo crossed his arms.
“And it would be my right to do so.” Except now, Grant wasn’t so sure. With his guardianship being delayed in court, he wouldn’t have been surprised if he was locked into staying in Montana until that was settled.
Bo continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “You didn’t have any experience working on a ranch. I was the one who said we needed to put a pin in that.”
Grant shot a look toward the officer, who seemed to be inching closer as if she wanted to join in on the conversation. He hadn’t needed the job. No one here knew about his past. No one had a single clue that he was sitting on a fortune. That was what happened when small-town folk stay focused on the locals. Back in Tennessee, he was a big deal. His company was thriving. It was slated to be the next billion-dollar enterprise.
But at this point, he was thinking about selling it.
When he’d heard about Dee and Nick, he hadn’t hesitated. Daily operations were shifted to the VP of the company. Then he bought an RV and drove out here to be with his kid.
“Seriously? You’re not going to comment?” Bo demanded.
Grant turned his scowl on his superior. It had been nearly a decade since he’d had to report to anyone. There was a reason he’d loved running his business for so long, and this was it.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered through gritted teeth. “What were you saying?”
Bo poked him in the chest. “We know it’s you.”
A chuckle burst from Grant’s chest. “You know what is me?”
The cowboy threw up his hands and turned around, only then catching sight of the deputy. “Well, Deputy, I think this is an open-and-shut case. How about you?”
For a minute Grant thought he might actually lose whatever this weird standoff was. Officer Whitfield clearly didn’t like him much. And apparently, he’d done something to royally upset the second-in-command here at Sagebrush. His heart sank just a little as she finished her approach. She would agree with Bo on principle and there would be nothing he could do.
Not to mention he still didn’t have a clue what they were talking about.
“You have the wrong guy,” she said. “Shaw just got here, so he couldn’t have been responsible for the dogs.”
“The dogs?” Grant asked, earning a sharp look from Bo.
Jack and Daniel were drawn into the conversation next. At least those men were less combative. They seemed to be easygoing when it came to running this place.
The officer folded her arms and put all her weight on one foot. “I’m telling you, he only just got back.”
“That’s not true, though.” Jack turned to her. “I saw Nick go into the RV at least fifteen minutes ago, if not more. They were together.”
Bo smiled triumphantly. “See? There’s no way he wasn’t here somewhere.”
She shook her head and shot a withering look in Bo’s direction. “I brought Nick back. We met in town, and he wanted a ride in a real police car.”
Bo’s shoulders slumped, but only slightly.
If Grant were a lesser man, he might have shoved it in all their faces. However, the deep-seated satisfaction of not being the target of Officer Whitfield’s attitude was more than enough.
Biting back a smile, he dug into his pocket. “I had to stop by the car wash on my way back. I have receipts.” He made brief eye contact with the deputy, nearly telling the growing crowd that he’d done so to get on her good side. Grant held out the receipt, but she waved it off.
“That’s not necessary.” She turned to the group of people. “As most of you are now aware, I’ve been called out here to look into the vandalism taking place around here. Mr. Reese has asked me to find the person responsible and I assure you, I will. This matter isn’t over. The offending individual will be held accountable.”
If anything, the majority of the group looked bored. They slipped away after the deputy’s little speech. The only one who lingered was Bo but then even he strode off, kicking dirt up with his boots as he left.
“Thanks—” Grant started, but she cut him off.
“I need to have a word with you.”
His brows lifted. “But you said?—”
She waved for him to follow her toward his RV. Grant shot one more look toward the barn and the retreating individuals. This probably didn’t look great. What was the point of telling a group of people that he wasn’t responsible only for her to speak to him privately?
When they reached the RV, she spun to face him. “You have a problem.”
He nearly said it was her, but he choked the snippy response down. He was already on her bad side. “Yeah, I can see that,” he muttered.
“The trouble around here only started after you arrived. Eli says everything lines up with you coming and it makes the most sense for you to be the prime suspect.”
He frowned, his brows furrowing. “No, that can’t be right.”
She continued without hesitation. “While I can prove you weren’t the one stirring up trouble with the dogs, I can’t prove anything else. There’s going to be an investigation.”
“An investigation? You’re making this sound like someone was murdered.” Grant took a step back from her and held up his hands. He chuckled, if only to ease the tension that had swarmed him like angry wasps.
“When there is property damage, we investigate. There are no detectives here, so the jurisdiction falls to the sheriff’s office. I’m going to need you to stick around in case you’re needed later. If you’re involved in any way, I suggest?—”
“Involved? Of course I’m not involved!” His voice rose a few decibels, causing her to lift her brows. “I’m in the middle of a custody mess that my wife—ex-wife left behind.” He swallowed the word like it was more bitter than anything he’d experienced in his life up until this point, and that included discovering that he was a father to a six-year-old boy.
“Look, I don’t know what is going on. There haven’t been any other reports of vandalism around here at any other property. If there were, then we might be able to make a case that it’s just kids who need to relearn their manners.” Her voice was soft and low, but firm. “As it stands, Eli has made several good points. If everything started after you arrived, you’re the logical one to point the finger at. But I’m not going to let that happen.”
He straightened, snapping his mouth shut. His whole body went cold, then hot. He glanced up at the RV they stood beside, expecting Nick to be peering out at them, before his eyes cut back to the deputy. “Why?”
“Why what?” she asked with exasperation.
“Why won’t you let that happen? Like Bo said, this sounds like an open-and-shut case. What’s stopping you from pointing the finger at me?”
The officer stared at him like he was crazy. Maybe he was, he couldn’t tell anymore. Asking a question like that was sure to draw even more scrutiny.
“I’m only going to say this once. I’m not doing it for you—I’m doing it for the community. If I charge the wrong person, then the crimes continue. It doesn’t do either of us any good if I just blame the person who makes the most sense.”
He couldn’t believe his ears. Back home, there were plenty of dirty or lazy cops who would jump at the chance to close this up. “So, you don’t think I’m a suspect.”
The deputy’s eyes narrowed, and she pressed her lips together in a thin line. He was pushing his luck, and he knew it. Why couldn’t he keep his mouth shut? She moved closer to him, tilting her face upward so they maintained eye contact. “Off the record? No. I don’t think you’d be stupid enough to risk everything right now. It doesn’t make sense.”
He relaxed his shoulders, letting out a long breath. “Good.”
“That isn’t to say I haven’t been proven wrong before.” She stepped back and pulled out a small notebook from her pocket. “Because some people are just evil right to the core and they’ve just learned how to hide it.” She glanced up at him when she paused her scribbling. “My guess is that you’re connected… but not in a way that any of us can see at the moment.”
Grant snorted. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard.”
She glowered at him. “You’re something else, you know that? Here I am trying to help and all you can manage to do is put me down.”
“I’m not putting you down,” he insisted. “I just don’t think there’s any reason someone might be vandalizing this place because of me. It’s not like we’re in high school and someone is trying to get my attention.”
“Maybe they want you to be blamed so you get fired.”
“I don’t care if I get fired.” Grant laughed. “No one seems to get that.”
She frowned. “You’re fine with losing your job? What about your son? He needs certain things to survive. You know, like food, housing, clothing… they don’t call them ‘necessities’ for no reason. It’s because they’re necessary.”
“I’ve got what we need for that.” He wasn’t about to tell the world about his financial situation—and he definitely wasn’t going to tell some cop even if it meant that he would be dropped from the persons of interest list. “Just believe me when I tell you we’re set.”
The deputy shook her head. “Fine. As long as Nick is healthy and happy.”
“That’s all that matters.” Grant nodded.
“Doesn’t mean that person knows you don’t care about your job.”
Grant cocked his head to the side and held up a finger. “Or what if they do know, and they don’t think I should be working here?”
“What are you saying?” she demanded.
“I’m saying that Bo doesn’t like me. He’s seemed to have it out for me since I arrived. The whole time I’ve been here, he’s had a grudge—even before the vandalism.”
Her eyes widened, but only just. In fact, if he hadn’t been so focused on them, he might have missed it.
“Of course, I could be wrong.” Grant shrugged. “But if you want to look into someone who would do this because they dislike me, then I’d look there first.”
She scribbled something and pointed to the RV. “Maybe you could give me a rundown of everything that’s happened since you arrived. That might help me get a better picture of what we’re dealing with.”
“Sure.” He moved to the RV and held the door open. “Ladies first.”