Chapter 33 #2
I blinked in surprise. “Why is this the first I’m hearing about this?”
Johns’ attention remained on Sutton. “It took some time, of course, to corroborate these claims, but we have reason to believe the anonymous tipster provided a solid lead.”
“What the fuck, Johns? Get to the goddamn point.”
“Sutton is a person of interest.”
His voice was calm, measured, like he was relaying the menu options at a restaurant, not dropping a bomb in the center of my and Sutton’s world.
“I’m sorry…what?” Sutton sputtered.
“You are entirely out of line, Johns. There’s no fucking way she did this. She’s a victim! Or are you forgetting the night you sat in this very room and took her fucking statement?”
I got to my feet as my ire rose. How fucking dare he?
Yet again, he ignored me, instead digging into his coat pocket and withdrawing a folded piece of paper, which he passed to Sutton.
“Recognize any of these names?”
Sutton opened it and began to read, and I walked around the couch, bracing my hands on the back and studying it over her shoulder.
Dusk Valley was a small town. Asking Sutton if she recognized any of the names was silly when we all knew pretty much everyone who lived here. Hell, I recognized all of them.
But Sutton said, “These are all former patients of mine.”
Johns nodded. “According to this anonymous tip, each break-in took place in the home of a recent patient of yours. This tipster believes you used your calls to stake the place out before returning later.”
“I did no such thing!” Sutton exploded, getting to her feet.
“You’re on thin fucking ice, Johns,” I warned.
Unperturbed, he continued. “Of course, we looked into it and, well…you just admitted yourself that each of these people was a patient, and I don’t believe in coincidences.”
“So you think I trashed my own house?”
“I deal in the facts, Miss Rausch.”
Oh, so it was Miss Rausch now.
“And your ‘facts,’” my girl said, hooking air quotes around the word, “are bullshit.”
A horrifying realization dawned then.
“Are you here to make a formal arrest?”
“Not at this juncture, no,” he said, sounding like every bit of a sanctimonious prick. “We still have some investigating to do, and we’re waiting on forensic reports from the scenes to be processed yet.”
“Why is that taking so long?” I asked.
For the first time since Sutton appeared in the room, he addressed me. “Some sort of backup at the lab in Boise.”
I cursed colorfully. It had been months.
And what the fuck was going on in my department that my goddamn undersheriff was going rogue?
Had running the department in my absence given him a taste of power that made him thirsty for more?
Was he gunning for my job? Luckily, the position was an elected one, but if I didn’t figure this shit out and wrangle my people quickly, I was at risk of being out on my ass.
How dare he? I thought we had a better relationship than this.
Apparently, I was wrong.
“So you’re here as what?” I asked. “A courtesy?”
“I’m here to encourage Miss Rausch not to leave the area for the foreseeable future. At least not until we can fully investigate these claims and get those reports back from the lab.”
Sutton sat so still, she may as well have been a statue. This combined with the box that had so clearly freaked her out was really taking a toll on her, and I needed to get rid of Johns as fast as possible.
Coming around to her side, I gently pressed my hand to her lower back. “Sunny, why don’t you go to bed? I’ll be there in a second.”
Her answering nod was robotic, and she disappeared.
The second she was gone, Johns found himself slammed against the wall of my living room, photos crashing down around us, my arm barred across his throat.
“Why the fuck wasn’t I made aware of this the second it came in?”
Johns grinned, though it was really more of a sneer. “Because of this. You can’t see or think clearly when it comes to her. I took it upon myself to investigate without involving you because I didn’t want you to biasedly dismiss a claim that proved to be entirely credible.”
“You had no fucking right to do that. This is my goddamn department.”
Johns shoved my chest, and I stepped away, not because he was strong enough to move me, but because I needed him the fuck out of my face before I doubled my body count—and assaulting my second in command wouldn’t look good if I wanted to keep my job.
Smoothing his hands over his jacket, he headed for the door. But before he stepped into the cold, he delivered one final parting shot over his shoulder.
“For now.”
“The fuck did you just say?”
“For. Now,” he enunciated. “It’s your department for now.”
With that parting shot, he was gone. After locking the door and arming the security system, I headed for my room. Sutton was a lump under the covers, curled in on herself, shaking violently.
I climbed in beside her and wrapped my arms around her.
“Hey, hey,” I murmured, gathering her close to my chest and rubbing my hand up and down her back in the way I’d long since learned soothed her. “It’s okay, baby. Nothing is going to happen to you.”
“I’m suspected of a crime,” she whispered, her voice thick with unshed tears and cracking on the last word. “I don’t understand.”
“I don’t either,” I said, which wasn’t something I liked to admit. “But I promise you, sunny, I’m going to get to the bottom of this.”
She tilted her head to look up at me. “You believe me, right? That I didn’t do this?”
My fucking heart cracked right down the middle with the realization that she was even concerned about that. Was I not giving her enough daily reassurance? Did she not trust me?
No, of course that wasn’t the case. She was just…emotionally wrung out and afraid. Any normal person would be.
“I know with every fiber of my being that you didn’t do this, Sutton. You’re not capable of it.”
Unlike me who was capable of walking into the shadows if need be, Sutton was pure sunshine. She was the light to my darkness, guiding me when I lost my way.
I would do anything to protect that.
Anything.
I was on a fucking warpath when I walked into the station the next morning, and our esteemed mayor must’ve apprised of the situation last night after Johns came by my house, because I’d no sooner settled at my desk than my phone rang.
“Good morning, Sheriff.”
“Mr. Mayor,” I replied, attempting and failing to sound chipper. “What can I do for you?”
“I spoke with Undersheriff Johns last night,” he began. “He’s made me aware of this nastiness with your…with Miss Rausch.”
“She’s my girlfriend,” I provided. There wasn’t any sense in dancing around the issue.
“Yes, your girlfriend. I expect you to do your job without interruption or distraction.”
“The accusations against her are bullshit.”
“That may wind up being the case,” he conceded. “But it is your duty to this county to explore every lead and conduct this investigation without bias.”
“Or what?”
Fuck, I knew I was pressing my luck, but I couldn’t help it. For years, I’d believed in the system, given the system everything I had. I hated feeling on the outs with it now, like it was actively working against me.
Like it was coming to tear away the very thing I held most dear.
The mayor sighed. “Don’t make me put you on administrative leave again when you’ve only just returned.”
“Do what you have to,” I said, shrugging though he couldn’t see me. “Sutton had nothing to do with this, and I’m going to prove it.”
He was silent for long enough that I thought he’d follow through on his threat. Hell, I secretly hoped he would. Without the badge bogging me down, I could get a bit more…creative with my investigative tactics.
Instead, he simply said, “You’re on a short leash,” before disconnecting.