Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Vance
Claire Hawkins was turning out to be a thorn in my side.
She’d texted me that morning, telling me she was “following up on some leads.” Then she’d apparently turned her phone off, because she hadn’t read any of my messages or returned my calls.
Following up on leads. By herself. I gritted my teeth as I paced my office, attempting to call her again.
She could blow my whole case.
When she didn’t answer, I stormed out of my office to the bullpen where Sergeant Collins was cutting up with some guy in civilian clothes. Collins straightened, putting on a professional smile.
“Can I help you with something, Agent Weston?”
I crossed my arms. “Yes. Do you know where Deputy Hawkins is?”
Collins smirked and cut his eyes to the guy beside him. “No, I can’t say that I do.” He glanced at his watch, shaking his head. “Forty-five minutes late. I’d like to say that’s unusual, but…” He shrugged.
The other guy snickered. “She probably lost track of time painting her nails or braiding her horse’s hair or something.”
Collins choked back a laugh.
“She’s not late,” I said, scowling again. I was pissed off at Claire, but hearing these guys make fun of her like that made me want to rise to her defense. “She’s working. Following up on some leads.”
Collins gave me an appraising look. “If you know what she’s doing, then why are you asking me where she is?”
I schooled my features, replacing my scowl with a calm smile— deadly calm. “I know what she’s doing, but she’s out of communication. I need access to your office’s GPS tracking system so I can see where her vehicle is.”
The corner of his mouth rose in an amused smirk. “Be my guest,” he said, waving me over to his computer with a shrug. “But I don’t think it will be much use to you, since her official vehicle is in the parking lot.”
I stopped, my fingers an inch from his keyboard, and straightened.
Of course. She’d taken her own vehicle, which meant I had no way of tracking her down. Meanwhile, she was out there doing God knows what, possibly blowing my investigation to smithereens.
At the look on my face, Collins grinned and patted me on the shoulder. “Is Little Miss Wildwood causing problems?”
“ Little Miss Wildwood ?” I repeated.
“That was her pageant title,” his friend said, choking on a laugh. He wiggled his brows. “And you’ve gotta admit, it fits. She’s wild and she always gets my —”
Collins elbowed him and gave him a warning look.
Good thing, too. If he had finished that sentence, I’d have been tempted to obliterate his sleazy smile with my fist.
“Don’t feel bad,” Collins said, his tone empathetic as he turned back to me. He leaned back against his desk, bracing himself with his hands. “You’re not the first person to have trouble with her, and you won’t be the last.”
“Is that so?” My voice was mild, my face a mask.
“Claire thinks the rules don’t apply to her. She doesn’t belong in this job.”
“Doesn’t deserve to wear the badge,” his friend sneered.
Collins nodded in agreement. “That’s why I offered to partner with you instead.
I couldn’t believe Sheriff McGrath stuck you with her.
But that’s half the problem. Claire is kind of his …
special pet. The rules are different for her, which, as you can see, has enabled her to continue her problematic behavior. ”
I took a deep breath. Collins was a snake, but I had to admit that what he was saying made sense. Sheriff McGrath had praised her in a way he hadn’t the others, and he’d given her this assignment even though Collins should have been first in line for it.
He chuckled. “I mean, let’s be honest. He either assigned the case to her because he wanted to give her special treatment…
Or because he resented having to call in an outside agency and wanted to make her your problem instead of ours.
” He smirked again. “It certainly wasn’t because of her experience. ”
“You’re right. It certainly wasn’t that,” I agreed.
“The offer still stands if you’d like my assistance.” He gave me a friendly smile. “I’m sure we can fix it with the sheriff.”
“I’ll consider it. But first, I need to deal with Deputy Hawkins.”
I stormed out to the parking lot, planning on driving all over town until I saw Claire’s truck. But she pulled into the parking lot before I made it to my SUV.
I walked straight to her door and yanked it open.
“Where. Have. You. Been?”
She glared at me. “I told you. Following up on some leads.”
I shook my head. “This is my case. You don’t do anything without my approval.”
Her eyes went wide with innocence. “Oh, gosh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I’m new to this, you know. I was just trying to be helpful. I really want to earn a gold star on my report card.”
I braced my hands on my hips. “Cut the crap.”
She jabbed her finger toward me. “Then you cut it, too. This isn’t your case—it’s ours. You may be in charge, but this is my county. My people. And I’m not just going to sit at a desk, waiting for assignments from you. Especially when you haven’t even bothered to show up for two days!”
“That’s exactly what you’re going to do,” I said, raising my voice to match hers. “You have no idea how to conduct an investigation. For all I know, you may have blown this whole case today!”
She rolled her eyes. “I did not. When you’re ready to pull that giant stick out of your ass, we can sit down and talk about what I found out, compare notes. Otherwise, I have work to do.” She pushed me out of the way and hopped out of the truck, slamming the door closed.
“No, you don’t,” I said, furious at her attitude. “You’ll be lucky if you even have a badge after today.”
Her head jerked back like she’d been stabbed. Her mouth dropped open, but for once, no sounds came out of it.
“If you want any chance of retaining your job, you’re going to do things my way from now on,” I said, realizing I’d finally gained the upper hand. “We’ll start by you explaining exactly what you did this morning so that I know what damage control I have to do to fix it. My office.”
“I need to—”
“My. Office.” I lowered my voice, speaking with deadly calm. “Now.”
She glared at me, crossing her arms. “Yes, sir.” She spit out the words, but the look in her eyes was pure hurt.
And I hated it.
I pushed down my desire to smooth things over and led the way to my office. When we crossed through the bullpen, Collins snickered.
“You screwed up this time, Little Miss Wildwood,” he whispered as she walked by, just loudly enough for me to hear.
I looked back and saw her shoulders sag. It pierced something in me.
Claire Hawkins was wild, free, and gloriously unrestrained.
Except here.
Here, she was miserable. And who could blame her?
The colleague she needed to be able to trust with her life was constantly backstabbing her, trying to get ahead.
He probably made it abundantly clear every single day that he had no respect for her, that he didn’t care if the citizens she risked her life to serve did either.
That would make any job hell.
Guilt stabbed hard. I wasn’t much better than Collins, thinking I’d keep her busy with paperwork even when it was clear that sitting at a desk was painful for her.
I couldn’t have her screwing up the investigation. No distractions, I reminded myself.
But I also couldn’t stand to see her looking like that.
I opened the door to my office, gesturing for her to enter first. When she sat, looking so damn defeated, I closed the door and took the seat across from her.
“I’m sorry,” she began, folding her hands together. “I really was just trying to help. I–I hate feeling useless.” She looked down.
I stared at her. Reminded myself that her feelings weren’t my problem.
But that didn’t make me feel better.
This list I’d made for her this morning caught my eye—a list of research tasks she could complete, meant to make her feel like she was doing something on the case while keeping her out of my hair.
Not one of them really mattered. I’d kept everything that did for myself.
I shook my head, more annoyed with myself at that point than I was with her. I took a deep breath and focused on the situation at hand.
“Tell me about the leads you explored this morning,” I directed. “Leave nothing out.”
She nodded, then explained how she had talked to Tony’s ex-girlfriend and what she had learned. I watched carefully, looking for any sign that she was changing anything to make herself look better. But she was honest. Thorough. Clear.
And she hadn’t done a damn thing that would hurt the investigation, I admitted to myself.
“So Elsa didn’t seem to know that Tony is connected to Katelyn?” I confirmed.
“Obviously, I didn’t ask. But no. She seemed to think he has a current girlfriend and she’s happy about it because it means he’s leaving her alone.”
I weighed it. “You think he hurt her, even though she blew it off. Why?”
She shrugged. “Partially because of her demeanor. I’m the only female deputy here, so I’m usually the one to talk to any female victims of domestic assault. I’ve seen that look before. And also because of things I’ve heard about Tony.”
“Like what?”
“Rumors.”
I raised an eyebrow, willing her to go on.
She sighed. “Tony’s younger than me. Not someone I ever hung around with. But my kid brother, Jonathan, was just one year behind him in school. Let’s just say Tony had a reputation.”
I frowned. “A reputation for what?”
“Getting handsy with the girls. Maybe more.”
I shot her a look. “How much more? There wasn’t anything on his record.”
“There wouldn’t be, would there? His dad’s the mayor.
You know how it is.” She shrugged again.
“From what I remember, a couple of girls were uncomfortable with Tony because he wouldn’t keep his hands off of them.
One of the girls came to Jonathan and said she was scared of Tony, that he’d taken her into an empty room at a party and tried to get her to have sex with him. ”
“Shit.”
“He didn’t rape her,” Claire clarified. “But he was verbally pushy. Stuck his tongue down her throat even when she was pushing him away. It scared her, and she was worried he might not stop next time.”
“Did she report it?”
“I’ll have to ask Jonathan, but I don’t think so. She went to him because she knew he’d do something about it—unlike the school.”
My brows rose. “What did Jonathan do?”
She bit her lip and looked away. “I’m not saying he did anything at all. But the next day, Tony had a broken nose.” She shrugged. “Must have fallen or something.”
I blinked twice, trying not to laugh.
I failed.
When I chuckled, Claire did, too. The tension faded, along with that defeated look she’d had ever since I’d threatened her badge. Seeing her smile again made my heart twist in a way I wasn’t at all comfortable with.
“I’m starting to think all of you Hawkins kids are rule breakers,” I commented.
“Maybe we are. Ranching is a hard life. You have to make things happen.”
“That’s true,” I admitted. Her childhood had been the opposite of mine in many ways. It was no wonder we had different ways of handling things.
Maybe that could be a strength for our partnership instead of a weakness.
“Anyway,” she said, steering the conversation back to Tony. “I never heard about any trouble after that. But when Elsa said what she said…”
“I get it.”
“So,” she said, her voice going small again. “Am I off the case?”
I looked again at that list I’d made for her. Then I shook my head, crumpled up the paper, and threw it into the garbage.
I had a feeling I was going to regret this.
“Why did you become a deputy?” I asked.
She lifted her head, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. “What—”
“If you’re going to be my partner, I want to know why you’re working this job. The ranch could easily employ you full-time. You’re clearly happier there than here. So, what is it? Did your mom make a vow to God that one of her children would serve in law enforcement or what?”
She stared at me for a beat, then sighed. “I wanted to help people. It’s as simple as that. Sorry if that answer isn’t good enough for you.”
On the contrary. It was the best answer there was.
“Alright,” I finally said. “I told you, partners have to be honest with each other.”
“I am being honest,” she protested, throwing her hands up in irritation.
“But I wasn’t,” I admitted. “Here’s the truth. I was going to keep you tied up with busywork so I could work the case alone—even before that little stunt you pulled today.”
Her nostrils flared and fury blazed in her eyes. But then her expression changed. The storm passed, blowing out as quickly as a summer squall, leaving those green eyes sparkling like the sea.
She laughed. It started quietly but took hold of her until her shoulders shook.
I leaned forward, propping my elbows on the desk. “What exactly is so funny?”
She wiped the tears from her eyes and grinned. “The fact that you thought you could.”
I just raised a brow.
She scooted forward in her seat, holding up a hand with her fingers splayed out. “Listen, I have five brothers. Five. You think I haven’t seen this game before? I mastered it before I turned eight.”
“I bet you did,” I murmured.
“You told me not to make you curious. Well, the same goes for me. You try to cut me out of something and it’s a flat-out guarantee I’m going to be right in the middle of it.
That list you had typed up over there?” She nodded toward the wastebasket where I’d tossed it.
“All it would have done is make me determined to pester you to death. You were right in the parking lot. The only way to stop me would have been to take my badge.”
I shook my head, unable to stop my grin. “Nah. Even that wouldn’t have stopped you. You would have become one of those amateur sleuths just to piss off Collins. Probably would have solved the case before we could out of pure spite.”
She threw her head back and laughed again. Like music.
Like Mozart.
I was as entranced as I had been furious earlier. “You’re an interesting woman, Claire Hawkins.”
“Damn right I am.” She grinned. “Now, what are we doing first?”
“Come on,” I said, grabbing my keys as I stood. “I’ll fill you in on the way.”