Chapter 12
“I want her arrested,” the mayor said, plopping down in the chair on the other side of Santiago’s desk.
“We’ve already discussed this, Mayor,” Santiago said. “There was a room full of people, plus video footage of you initiating an assault on Ms. Green. I suggest you let this matter lie, because if she chooses to press charges—”
The mayor waved him off.
“I want her arrested for murder. Do you really think it’s a coincidence that a respected member of our community is killed, and not even forty-eight hours after the death, Ms. Green owns Mrs. Willoby’s home. Bought it outright!”
Santiago leaned forward and rested his forearms on his desk, broadcasting his impatience.
“Ms. Green secured all the necessary paperwork and paid the family legally and generously; I inquired. They accepted her offer. There’s no evidence that remotely points to Ms. Green as the cause of Mrs. Willoby’s death, so I suggest if you don’t want her to sue you for assault and defamation, you be real careful when you speak about Ms. Green. ”
“But she bought the place before it went on the market, Sheriff! I had plans for that house and she ruined them just like she’s ruined everything else in my life.”
“Maybe I’ve missed something,” Santiago said, irritation rising. If there was one thing he had a hard time abiding, it was a whining man. “What specifically has Ms. Green done to ruin you that has not been of your family’s own making?”
“Oh, fuck off! You don’t think I know about her and her damn woman-power-action-economic-league bullshit they’ve got going? She’s trying to meddle in official government business, criticizing the work me and Bailey Joe have done on the revitalization process. Questioning our competency.”
The mayor stood so abruptly his chair skidded against the hardwood floor.
“How does that woman have enough money to pay cash for that goddamn house? I bet a thousand dollars to a bucket of slop she’s on the run for embezzlement.
Check her out, Stillwater, I want to know everything you find on her, and I’ll make sure she spends the remainder of her days locked up at Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center.”
Santiago tensed.
There was something unsettling about the way he wanted to wrap his hand around the other man’s throat and watch as life fade from his eyes.
Unlike Anderson’s bullshit allegations against Lauren, Santiago’s need to respond to the other man with violence was solely her fault.
She’d weakened layers of discipline before she sought safety in his bed, and now that he knew what if felt like to have her warmth pressed against him, her hand wrapped around him, now that he knew what if felt like to want something more than peace and calm again…
his fraying discipline could be a problem.
“Mayor,” Santiago began. Because Anderson was the mayor, and in his professional capacity, he was the sheriff.
This was his home; he had a legacy to protect; and for a brief period, even a shrew to keep safe.
“I acknowledge that Ms. Green can be an extremely destabilizing force, but we both know if the tables were turned, you wouldn’t think twice about outmaneuvering a person on a business matter.
On the issue of your mother, she was drinking and driving, and she’ll finally be held accountable for it.
” He stood. “So, before you come in here talking to me about framing an innocent woman who has broken no laws, I’ll remind you that I work with you, but I don’t work for you.
My loyalty is to the law and the people of this town.
Now, I’ve got cases to get to and a department to run. Thanks for stopping by.”
The mayor glared at Santiago and left his office.
Smiling slightly, Santiago sat back down and opened the coroner’s reports.
“My job here is done,” Lauren mumbled around the last mouthful of chicken and dumplings. “I’ll upload the photos to the new website as well as your socials, and tomorrow we’ll finalize and launch the website.”
“It’ll be nearly a full house for dinner tonight,” Lina said enthusiastically. “I’ll have Audrey to come by and take some more photos of the event. You sure you don’t want to join us tonight?”
“Are you trying to make me pregnant?” Lauren stood, smiling as she rested her hand over her full stomach. She immediately felt sick as the image of a super pregnant Lahn rested her hand over Derrick’s as he gazed down at her, lovingly stroking Lahn’s stomach.
“Mija, are you unwell?” Lina asked moving to Lauren’s side, directing her to sit again.
Why would she marry a man who never looked at her like she imagined Derrick looking at Lahn? Why would she love a man who’d never looked at her with that kind of all-consuming love?
“Have you ever experienced a love so deep that you can exist in its fathoms without drowning. Where that love actually breathes new life into you?”
“No. Never,” Lina said, matter-of-factly.
“Have you ever been betrayed so badly that nothing about the world can be trusted?”
“Yes, that one I can say yes to.”
“What helped you heal?”
“The death of the one who hurt me, of course.”
Lauren blinked. Lina had moments of unflinching honesty that were unnerving, disturbing even, but then the older woman told her about her first husband who wasn’t a man of her choosing, a man who was abusive for many months before he died under mysterious circumstances.
She loved her second husband, but she’d lost the ability to love outside the parameters of reason.
“I’d only have my best friend Resse if I let go of those who’d betrayed my love. That just feels so lonely to imagine.”
“Maybe it would be less so if you had new people, say, someone who already holds you in great esteem, and not just because you’ve brought a great deal of excitement in her life—”
“And the possibility of reinvigorating her business.”
“That’s nice, but I am growing in age and this place does not have to be everything. I could go live with Santiago on the mountain for the rest of my days if I chose. I just don’t choose.”
“Yeah, you definitely don’t want to live with him,” Lauren said, putting her belongings back in her bag. “He snores.”
Lina frowned. “How do you know he snores?”
“We slept together last night,” she said as she left the kitchen and headed to the front door. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours. I’m gonna go visit Saige at the store then visit the library before your great-nephew comes by to pick me up.”
She smiled as she exited the building amid Lina’s shocked silence. She’d just initiated what she knew would be another shitstorm for the sheriff as she headed in the direction of Saige’s shop, preparing to fight for a ghost with a level of determination she wished someone could’ve fought for her.
Santiago imagined walking up behind her, wrapping his arm around her neck and choking her out until she went limp.
When she came to, she’d find herself locked in the office at his house, bound but not gagged because he needed her to solve the mystery of Bailey Joe’s accounting.
It was the least she could do after forcing him to defend himself against allegations of taking advantage of “that poor child” who was “just trying to find peace in a world that has mistreated her.” He should’ve known something was wrong when his aunt and Audrey walked into his office, their pleasantries lulling him into a false sense of security before accusing him of taking advantage of Lauren’s vulnerabilities.
Like she had any!
Putting context to Lauren declaring to his aunt that they’d slept together was the only way he got the two older women off his ass. And after his exchange with Anderson, Lauren was quickly eroding all the goodwill he’d felt toward her after she’d made him breakfast.
He didn’t want to be like so many others in this town, but he needed her.
There was something off about some of the notations between what was in the paperwork he found in Bailey Joe’s office, what was on the city controller’s computer, and what was public record. But like Santiago, Bailey Joe’s staff didn’t have the knowledge to make heads or tails of it.
He knew she did.
She had undergrad degrees from UC Berkeley in business management and marketing, and post grad degrees that included an MBA in forensic accounting as well as her CFA.
It was amazing she could have all that knowledge but not one lick of sense.
A knock at his door pulled him from his thoughts. Roan entered his office and closed the door behind her. He half expected her to say something on behalf of the hellion, but Roan was a professional, one of the only ones who had the good sense to remember this was a place of business.
“Hey League, Dalton is asking for you.”
He nodded.
“Take him to room two, but I want you on the other side of the wall; no one else enters. This is a me-and-you investigation until I say otherwise.”
“Yes sir,” she turned and paused.
He tensed again.
“You give any more thought to reaching out to Sonny?”
Santiago closed his eyes and rolled his neck, rubbing his forehead as if that would make the tension headache go away.
“He needs us, League, and we need him. Too much is off here, and you need more people you can trust if we’re going to truly bring Shrouded Lake back.”
Could he really afford to trust Sonny Te Awa again?
“Text me his number. I’ll give him a call this evening.”
When she didn’t move to open the door, he stopped in front of her.
“Is there something else, Deputy?”
“You really sleep with Lauren?”
The muscle in his jaw ticked several times.
“I get it, you two actually work somehow, but be careful. She may be running now, but she’s got a whole life back in California. She’ll heal and she’ll move on. Just remember that.”