Chapter 5
5
T he rest of the night was uneventful. Chloe made out like a bandit on tips, probably because she’d dropped the tray and folks had felt sorry for her. Now that she refused to take money from her older brother, every dollar counted. The room was otherwise quiet save for the clanks of glasses being stacked in wash buckets and the noise from the band packing up.
The door swung open. A client came rushing inside the bar, a look of sheer panic stamped on her features. “Jep, you got a problem outside.”
All movement stopped at those words. Chloe tensed.
“What is it, Evie?” Jep asked as Evie gaited toward the bar.
“It’s Travis,” Evie said. “He’s been knocked out cold.”
Jep reached for his cell.
“The law has already been called,” Evie supplied. “Just thought you should know what’s happening.”
Jep gave a quick nod before coming around the bar like a steamroller on a mission. Chloe beat him out the door.
A crowd had gathered around Travis in a circle as he lay flat out on the gravel. Henry, the town vet, kneeled behind Travis, cradling his head as someone called for a glass of cold water. Chloe moved beside Henry and immediately noted the blood on Henry’s arm.
She bent forward until her mouth was within inches of Travis’s ear. “Trav, it’s me. Chloe. If you can hear me, open your eyes.”
Nothing.
She heard someone take note of his pulse, saying it was strong. The news was a welcomed relief.
“Did anyone see what happened?” she asked as Jep brought a glass of water over.
Henry took the offering and immediately splashed the contents on Travis’s face. His eyelids fluttered.
Heads shook in response to her question. An icy shiver raced up her spine. Had the person targeting her been at the bar tonight? Had he lurked around the building and then picked a moment when the place was hopping to slip into the throng of people unnoticed? How difficult would it be to hide in a crowded bar? Especially one in which it was common to wear a cowboy hat?
She glanced up at the faces surrounding Travis and recognized each one.
The parking lot was more than three-quarters empty, meaning a whole lot of folks had fled the scene. Most wouldn’t want to stick around after having a few drinks, afraid to be in a swarm of law enforcement.
Trav’s eyelid fluttered as the wails of sirens pierced the night air.
“Everyone who isn’t a witness can go home,” Jep said.
Evie spoke up first. “None of us saw anything except Travis on the ground when the bar closed.”
The ones who made it to one a.m. rarely ever left before the bar closed. Once they made it that far, they went the distance because they were having too much fun to leave. Anyone having a bad time, she’d noticed, left around midnight. Ranching communities meant folks waking up early. It was a deeply ingrained habit for most, even on weekends.
“Evie, you stay. The rest can go, except the one who found the sheriff,” Jep said.
“That would be me,” Evie replied. She reached for the guy she’d been dancing with all night, but he stepped away with a tip of his hat. The move meant, See ya, cuz I’m boot-scootin’ on out of here.
Evie issued a grunt before folding her arms across her chest. “Guess it’s just me then.” She swayed enough for it to be obvious her buzz hadn’t worn off yet. Then again, Boot Scoot over there was most likely meant to be her ride home.
“I have a cot in back if you want to sleep it off,” Jep said to her once the crowd had thinned and the EMT roared up.
Evie started to argue but then clamped her mouth shut, seeming to think better of it. Jep didn’t allow anyone behind the wheel if he suspected they’d had too much. In fact, he had a bowl half filled with keys every weekend night. If you wanted a drink beyond what Jep thought was a good idea, you tossed your keys in the bowl. Boot Scoot was one of the first to exit the lot once Jep gave the directive, which left the vet, Jep, Chloe, and Evie.
Henry leaned back on his heels the minute Travis sat up.
“You might want to stay down while the EMTs take a look,” Henry told Trav.
“I’m good,” Trav said, bringing his hand up to the back of his skull. “My head hurts like hell, but other than that, I’m all right.”
Chloe exhaled slowly as she searched the area for any signs of life. There were no vehicles left except for the ones belonging to the aforementioned names.
Trav blinked a couple of times before shaking his head. He winced. “All I need is an ibuprofen, and I’ll be good as new.”
Somehow, Chloe doubted that. Now that he was sitting up, she could see the injury more clearly. He’d been nailed with something that had left behind a knot the size of a small fist, along with a cut that, thankfully, wasn’t bleeding as badly as she’d first thought.
“It’s too late to wave off the first responders,” Jep reasoned as a pair of white coats came rushing toward them. She recognized the twenty-four-year-old identical twins as Curtis and Cooper.
Everyone stood and took a step back as they flanked Trav. Seeing him like this because of her tightened the knot in Chloe’s stomach. There was no way in hell this incident wasn’t related to her. The creepy eyes-on-her feeling caused the hairs on the back of her neck to stand at attention. The prickly feeling made its way down her spine like ice water being poured, and it chilled her to the bone.
“You’re wasting your time,” Trav said to the twins.
“That might be true,” the one with the nametag Curtis said, “but we’re here, so we might as well check you over. Sound good?”
Trav glanced at Chloe. If she could force him to allow the exam, she would. But it had to be his choice.
“Fine,” he said begrudgingly.
Curtis and Cooper smiled. Her first thought was their likeness was remarkable. Her second was that she couldn’t imagine raising two Graysons at the exact same time. Their mother deserved some kind of medal for keeping them alive. Plus, they were good people. The twins were the same age as her and had been in the same grades in school. She’d never been close to them because they ran in different circles.
To be fair, Chloe had only one friend, who was now her roommate. Speaking of Annmarie, Chloe needed to shoot a text to let her roommate know she would be home late. If Annmarie woke up to check on the boys in the middle of the night, she would worry. They’d always looked out for one other, but recent events had put them on high alert. It had been easy to become complacent in a bedroom community like Saddle Junction. Too easy.
Chloe’s guard was up now.
Only one person could get past her defenses, and she was staring at him right now, willing him to be okay. The man had taken a blow to the back of the head while protecting her. The person targeting her was becoming bolder.
“You’re coming home with me.” Chloe’s offer—hell, demand—threatened to make Travis smile.
“You heard the twins,” he said. “No concussion. No damage.”
“They also urged you to go to the emergency room, but you refused,” she said. “So, I’m pretty certain this falls into the category of selective hearing.”
Travis did smile at that one but immediately winced. A headache pounded his skull like a jackhammer every time he attempted to move. If a muscle below his eye involuntarily twitched, he felt it ten times over. He reached for his phone, remembering it had been in his hand when he’d taken the blow to the back of the head. “Has anyone seen or turned in my cell?”
Jep shook his head. “Must be around here somewhere.”
The twins had left five minutes ago. Travis had told the deputy on call to go back home. He’d file his own report. There was no need for Sandy Combs to show up when Travis could handle the report himself.
“Hold on,” Jep said. “I’ve got to get Evie settled in the cot anyway.”
The situation had been explained to Travis. Evie had one too many and lost her ride. Because of him. Because some bastard had gotten the drop on Travis. Because he’d been too confident in his own abilities.
“It could have happened to anyone,” Chloe said like she was a mind reader. Then again, his frustration was probably written all over his face.
“But it didn’t,” he said. “It happened to me.”
“Doesn’t mean you’re bad at your job,” she countered.
He appreciated the attempt at a pep talk but wasn’t ready to let himself off the hook for his failure. “Doesn’t mean I’m good at it.”
Chloe stared at him for a long moment. Those blue eyes could see right through him. “I feel like I’m saying this a lot to you, but thank you. I mean it.”
Travis nodded. When he didn’t respond, she said, “I’ll look over here.”
Jep returned a few moments later with a flood light. He lit up the area one five-by-five square at a time.
Nothing.
Travis turned to Chloe when they were done, doing his best to hold down the bile burning the back of his throat, threatening to make him toss his cookies. “If I can borrow a phone, I have a guy who can track mine.”
“You can use mine.” She produced hers and handed it over.
He thanked her and then sent a text to alert Mark the phone call coming was from him and not some middle-of-the-night political campaigner or annoying telemarketer. Why were they allowed to function? Wasn’t getting a cell and paying for minutes in the early days supposed to guarantee no more hassles?
“Is it okay if he calls me back on this number?” he asked Chloe.
“Yes, absolutely,” she said.
After making the call to Mark, he deleted the record and then handed the cell over.
“Now, you have to come home with me,” she said with a self-satisfied smile.
He hadn’t seen that one coming, but she’d offered her phone up for him to use a little too quickly.
Jep laughed.
Her pleading eyes said, I’m the one who got you into this situation, so let me help you.
How could he refuse?
“Fine,” he conceded.
“Can we go now?” she asked.
“Sure,” he said, realizing she would want to get home to her kid as soon as possible, and Travis was the holdup.
“Looks like I might need to hire security for the parking lot from here on out,” Jep said, hands on his hips. He looked directly at Chloe. “This could’ve been a lot worse. It could’ve been you. And we could be searching for…” The thought seemed to choke him up because he turned his face away and sniffed. It warmed Travis’s heart to see how much Jep cared about the people who worked for him. Every employer should be so concerned about their people. This was also the reason he worked in Saddle Junction, a place where folks did their best to look out for each other.
It also occurred to him that powerful folks like Chloe’s father, Beaumont Sturgess, got away with being cruel. That sent a fireball burning through his skin. No one should be above the law.
Period.
“Might be a good idea to put a guard on the parking lot,” Travis said to Jep. “I’ll have the deputy on call drive by more often. I’d assign someone to the lot if I had more resources.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Jep said. “I know a few people who can use the work.”
After saying goodbye, Travis walked with Chloe to her vehicle. A minute later, Jep was waving at them through the rearview.
“Why would someone take your phone?” Chloe asked. “Wouldn’t they realize you could track them?”
“I was taking pictures of license plates in the lot,” he supplied. “Someone didn’t want me to take a picture of theirs.”
“What about the ones you already took?”
“It’s possible the perp knocked me out in order to snatch my phone and destroy it,” he reasoned.
“But you think this is more of a case of avoiding you getting the picture in the first place,” she said.
He nodded. “I walked the parking lot once to make sure no one was hiding in a vehicle.”
“And?”
“Caught a couple making out, but they took off within seconds after I tapped on the backend of the truck.”
“The distraction might’ve given the perp enough time to find a different hiding place until you passed by,” she said.
It had to be the case.
“There was no other movement, so I suspect you’re right,” he said. “And then all the bastard had to do was lie in wait until I was close.”
“Jep doesn’t have cameras except in the stockroom and his office to ensure no liquor crates walk out the back door or money leaves the building without being accounted for. How long will it take your person to track down your phone?” she asked.
“Shouldn’t take long,” he said. “Mark’s not only the best, but he’s fast.”
Chloe glanced at the clock.
“You could’ve gone home,” he said to her. “You didn’t have to wait around.”
She issued a grunt. “Are you kidding me? Everything that’s happening is directly related to me.”
“We don’t know that yet,” he countered. “This person could’ve been targeting any number of females inside, and no crime had been committed until the bastard took a tire iron to the back of my head, or whatever that was.” It had felt like a tire iron.
“Are you sure you don’t want to swing by the ER?”
“Certain.” Finding the perp and locking him behind bars was the only medicine he needed.
“Okay. As long as you agree to stay over and get some real rest.”
“Considering my laptop is locked up, and I have no phone, it doesn’t appear that I have a whole lot of other options.”
“You have a point there,” she said.
Besides, he could think better without distractions. Sandy was in charge for the next eight hours. Travis could use a few hours of shuteye and then a cup of coffee so strong it could wake his ancestors.
“Then, you’ll be at my mercy,” she said with a half-smile. The stress of the night was present in her tone.
Being at Chloe’s mercy shouldn’t sound so tempting.