Chapter 91
JAKE
“Stay here.” I'm already moving toward the stairs. "I’ll talk to Deputy Garrett."
"Jake—" Mason starts.
“I’ll come with you.” Luke stands, his mouth quirked.
“Oh boy,” Mason mutters, giving me a look.
Shaking my head, I head out to meet Harper, Luke following close behind.
I emerge from the barn and cross the yard, running threat assessments. Harper Garrett is Emma's best friend, but she's also a deputy. She's also the sheriff's daughter—the same sheriff who's been circling me all my life.
Harper's standing beside her cruiser, arms crossed, watching me approach. She's not in uniform—jeans, boots, a flannel jacket. Off duty. That's either good or very bad.
"Callahan." Her voice is steady, but I catch the tension in her shoulders.
"Deputy Garrett." I stop ten feet away, keeping my hands visible. Non-threatening. "Emma's inside if you're looking for her."
"I'm not here for Emma." Harper's gaze flicks to Luke.
Smiling slowly, he sticks his hands in his pockets. “Does that mean you’re here for me, Officer Hot Stuff?”
Her gaze narrows at him before she faces me again. "I'm here for you."
I flex my hands, but I keep my expression neutral. "That so?"
"Yeah." She takes a breath, and I see something shift in her expression—not hostility. Something else. Something that looks like worry. "We need to talk about Robert Hayes."
Emma’s father? I study her. "What about him?"
Harper glances at Luke, then back at me. "Can we do this somewhere private?"
Luke chuckles. “Honey, he doesn’t do private, but for you I will.”
I shoot Luke a warning. "I have no secrets with my brothers. Say what you came to say."
She nods, like she expected that answer. "Robert Hayes died in a car accident four weeks ago. Single-vehicle collision on Route 47, just past the turnoff to Turner land. His truck went off the road, rolled three times, and ended up in a ravine."
I know all this. We have the report. But I let Harper talk.
"The official report says his brakes went out and he lost control on a curve. No evidence of foul play. No witnesses. Just”—she makes a motion with her hand—"a tragic accident."
"But you don't think it was an accident."
Harper's eyes meet mine, and there's something fierce in them. "No. I don't."
"Why?"
"Because Bob Hayes was anal about keeping his vehicles maintained. He knew every curve, every pothole, every goddamn rock on that road. He didn't just lose control." Her voice hardens. "And because two days before he died, he came to see my father."
That gets my attention. "Sheriff Garrett?"
"Yeah." Harper's hands curl into fists at her sides. "Mr. Hayes brought him a file, evidence he'd been collecting on the Turner family—illegal grazing, water theft, intimidation tactics. He said he had more. He said he was close to something big, something that would put Eli Turner away for good."
I straighten, focused. "What happened to the file?"
"My dad opened an investigation, quiet and off the books. He didn't want to spook the Turners before he had enough to make charges stick." Harper glances at the house. "Then Mr. Hayes died. Dad said there wasn’t anything that’d stand up against the Turners, and the inquest into Mr. Hayes’s accident didn’t reap anything. "
I glance at Luke. He’s staring at Harper. I can’t tell if he’s analyzing what she’s saying or stripping her naked in his mind. With Riot, it’s a toss-up.
Fortunately, Harper isn’t aware. “Without Mr. Hayes’s testimony, the evidence was circumstantial at best." She stops, her voice dropping as she takes a step closer.
"Also, my dad got a visit from someone. Whoever it was made it clear that pursuing the Turners would be bad for his career and his family. "
I process that. "Your father backed off."
"He had to." Harper looks away, tucking a strand of hair back into place. "He has a daughter. He has a wife. He couldn't—" She stops and takes a deep breath. "Robert didn't have anyone to protect. Just Emma, and she didn’t live here. He probably thought he could handle it alone."
"And it got him killed," I summarize.
"Yeah." Harper looks me dead in the eye. "It got him killed, and I can't prove it. The accident report is clean. There's no evidence of tampering, no witnesses, nothing that would hold up in court. But I know, Callahan. I know the Turners killed him."
I believe her. Everything about this screams professional hit—clean, untraceable, designed to look like an accident. The kind of thing you do when you need someone gone but can't afford the heat of an obvious murder.
"Emma is my best friend," Harper continues, her voice rough. "Now her house is burned to the ground, and I know, I know, it was Cole Turner.”
"So why are you here?"
Harper looks at me for a long moment. "Because Emma's in danger. Because the Turners are running roughshod over Iron Ridge and God knows where else. And because”—she pauses like she’s choosing her words carefully—“because I know what you did to Eli Turner."
My entire body goes still.
Luke shifts next to me.
Harper’s eyes dart to him and then back to me. Hurriedly, she says, "I can't prove it, but I'm not stupid, Callahan. Eli threatened Emma. You showed up. Eli disappeared. The math isn't complicated."
I don't confirm or deny. I just watch her.
"Lucky for you, there’s no body, so there’s no crime.” She makes a face. "Eli Turner was a piece of shit who hurt women and got away with it because his family has money and power, but if there were a body, I’d be sworn to bring his killer to justice."
I just let her speak.
"Emma is my best friend. She's the sister I never had. And I will do anything to keep her safe."
I nod. "So will I."
"I know." Harper's gaze is steady. "That's why I'm here. Not to arrest you, not to warn you off. I'm here to tell you that Cole Turner is dangerous. He's smart, he's connected, and he's not going to stop until Emma sells him that land or ends up like her father."
"He's not getting near her."
"Good. Because I'm a deputy. I have rules. I have oversight." Harper takes a step closer, her voice dropping. "But you don't have those problems."
There it is.
The real reason she's here.
"You're asking me to handle it."
"I'm not asking you anything." Harper's voice is careful.
"I'm telling you that Cole Turner is a threat.
I'm telling you that law enforcement can't touch him.
And I'm telling you that if something were to happen to him, something unfortunate and untraceable, like his brother, I wouldn't lose sleep over it. "
I study her face. She's serious. She's giving me permission. More than that—she's giving me information.
"Does your father know you're here?" Luke asks.
"No." Harper's jaw tightens. "And he can't."
Luke tips his head, studying her. "You're risking your career."
"I'm protecting my friend." She scowls at him. If looks could kill, he’d be dead at my feet. "Emma's already lost her father. She's lost her home. I'm not going to stand by and watch her lose her life because I was too afraid to do what needed to be done."
I nod again. "Understood.”
Harper takes a breath, then reaches into her jacket and pulls out a folded piece of paper. She hands it to me. "Cole Turner's schedule. Where he goes, when he's alone, when he's vulnerable. I've been tracking him since he came back to town."
I take the paper, unfolding it. It's detailed—times, locations, patterns. The kind of intelligence that takes days to gather.
Harper points at the paper. “He’s been driving out every night to the north ridge. Always alone. Always the same route. I couldn’t get close enough to see where or why without being discovered.”
I fold the paper and slip it into my pocket. "We’ll run through this."
"Good." Harper steps back toward her cruiser. "I was never here. We never had this conversation. And if anyone asks, I'll swear I spent the evening at home watching Netflix."
"Understood."
She opens the cruiser door, then pauses. "Jake?"
"Yeah?"
"Keep Emma safe." Her gaze flickers toward Luke before returning to me. “Take care of yourself too.”
I watch her drive away, the taillights disappearing down the driveway.
"Well.” Luke folds his arms over his chest. "That was unexpected. She just gave us a green light to take out Turner.”
Mason comes on over the comms. “Turner said he watched Emma’s house burn from the north ridge.”
I pull out the paper Harper gave me, studying the schedule. “We need to do this smart. No mistakes. No evidence. No blowback on Emma."
“Or Harper,” Luke adds. Then he flashes a wicked grin. “This is gonna be fun.”