Bree relaxed after finding out Sean Cavanaugh, the deputy with the military bearing, would maintain the chain of custody on the backpack until a crime tech from Austin arrived to take possession.
Still waiting for the tox screen on Kenny Schneider, she and Noah cooled their heels in the small triage space, sharing a vending machine bag of pork rinds and arguing whether Coke or Dr. Pepper should be the Texas state drink. Once you got past sweet tea, Lone Star beer and top-shelf tequila, that is.
When the blood work came back revealing not only methamphetamine but also traces of heroin in their prisoner’s system, they hauled him to the justice building’s jail and tucked him away in a cell.
“You want to write up the reports now?” she asked Noah.
“I’m starving, and I was supposed to meet Bishop a half hour ago for lunch.”
“Bishop?” Bree asked.
The corners of his mouth curved up in a smile. “My eventual brother-in-law, if my stubborn sister ever agrees to set a date. Meet you back here in an hour? After we finish the reports, we’ll need to meet with Adam.”
“Works for me.”
Under different circumstances, Bree might have enjoyed sitting across from Noah’s handsome face and getting to know him better. But considering she had no intention of taking part in the getting-to-know-you’s, she was glad to have her lunch hour to herself.
She settled into a booth at the Busy B and opened the Boone County Bulletin. Tonight she’d look online for a place to rent, but she’d noticed a stack of Bulletins near the diner’s front door and figured she’d take a look while she ate. The classified ads included listings for everything from babysitting jobs wanted to crocheted dog clothes for sale. She rolled her eyes at the picture of a poodle in a hooked-yarn dress.
She snapped the paper open to another page and folded it back. She would’ve been okay with an apartment since she had never planned on staying long. But there was only one complex in, or even near, Resolute. She’d checked out the Oak View Apartments when she met Sheriff Reed for her first interview.
The bulk of the occupants were elderly, living in that undesirable purgatory between their own home and a nursing home. The others seemed to be transient construction workers, living paycheck to paycheck and renting by the month. The building reeked of dead-end despair and end-of-the-road depression.
Which left Bree with only one option. She located the “Houses for Rent” section in the Bulletin. With no idea exactly where any of them were located, she drew circles around each possibility with her red pen. She’d look them up later on her map app.
Sensing movement next to her, she looked up to find Rachel holding a tray. She shoved her paper, pen and phone off to the side to make room for her lunch.
“Sorry it took so long. Marge is training a new cook.” Rachel set down Bree’s club sandwich and fries. “Looking for anything in particular?” She indicated the paper as she refilled the empty iced-tea glass.
“Right now I’m staying at Doc’s, but it’s temporary. I’d considered going into an apartment, but there’s not much available in that category around here, is there?” With any luck, there were more she didn’t know about.
Rachel gave her a smiling shrug. “Not so much, no.”
Bree muttered a curse beneath her breath. She still wasn’t used to small-town realities. She picked up the Bulletin. “I guess that leaves me with renting a house, but I’m not familiar with the layout of the town.” She nodded toward the red circles.
“Let me see.” Rachel took the paper from her. After skimming through the circled listings, she shook her head. “You don’t want any of these. Some of them are way out of town. Others aren’t in the best areas. Like this one here.” She held the paper in front of Bree and pointed. “That’s in an industrial area, mostly warehouses.” She inched her nail over to the next column. “And this one is in Flowertop.”
“Where’s Flowertop?” Bree mumbled around a bite of sandwich.
“A fair drive to the west. You should be able to find something nice a whole lot closer.” Rachel set the paper on the table. “Truth is, most things listed in this paper aren’t usually worth checking out.”
“I thought that might be the case when I saw the basset hound wearing a pink crocheted tutu.”
Rachel barked out a laugh. “Some people around here don’t have a spare second, and others have too much time on their hands.” She lowered her voice. “Or a lack of respect for our four-legged friends.”
Nodding her agreement, Bree sighed. “I guess I’ll go back to my original plan and look online tonight.”
Rachel snapped her fingers. “I may have a solution for you.” She pulled her phone from her uniform pocket and fiddled with it as she spoke. “When my ex’s parents passed away, I found this Realtor who also flips houses. He bought their house as is and made everything so easy for us. I can give you his name and number. He should know all the properties for sale or rent around Resolute. He’s also not too hard on the eyes.” She gave Bree a sly smile. “What’s your number?”
Bree gave Rachel her number and a moment later the Realtor’s info was in her contacts.
“Save my number, too. Give me a call if you want me to come with when you go looking at places. Fair warning—between my hours here, my kids and life in general, I probably won’t be able to make it. But I’ve heard miracles happen. No, wait. That was in a Disney movie, wasn’t it?”
“No kids, so I haven’t seen a lot of those.” Bree smiled. “Thanks for the help. This may save me a lot of time. But please don’t tell Marge about the handsome Realtor, or I suspect she’ll try to set me up with him.”
Rachel laughed again. “You’ve got our Marge pegged, that’s for sure. Don’t worry—your secret is safe with me.”
It was only a joke, but secrets seemed to be dominating Bree’s life these days, and she didn’t like it.
Rachel looked toward the front of the cafe. “I’d better get moving before Marge starts looking for me and discovers that you’re dying for a date with the Realtor.”
Bree’s eyes popped open wide. “Oh, you’re so bad.”
“Sorry. Couldn’t help it,” Rachel said with an amused smirk.
Chuckling, Bree checked the time on her phone. “Could you bring me a to-go box? I don’t have time to finish my sandwich here, but it’s too good to leave behind.”
“Be right back.” Rachel tucked the tray under one arm and worked her way past the other tables, filling glasses with tea.
A warm happiness swept through Bree that had nothing to do with good food or finding a Realtor. Rachel had bantered with her as if she was someone, um, normal. Not like someone to be wary of, someone who carried a gun. In San Antonio, Bree’s only friends had been on the force, and even they hadn’t been close. She’d told herself it didn’t matter, and for the most part, that was true. The job sustained her. Always had. But just now, the simple exchange with Rachel stirred up a big old pot of “wouldn’t that be nice.”
I think I just made a friend. So there, Deputy Reed. How was that for finding a black cat in a coal cellar?
AFTER PICKING UP a fried-oyster po’ boy and Coke from the Seafood Shack, Noah drove to Bishop Investigations. Business for the private investigator had been steady since Bishop had moved to Resolute from Houston. Helping to solve a human-trafficking case last summer had helped, and word of mouth took it from there.
“Hey, you’re late. Wasn’t sure you’d make it.” Bishop rose from his desk chair and went to his not-so-mini mini-fridge.
“My mundane, on-schedule morning got derailed by a last-minute service call.” Noah pulled a visitor chair closer to the desk and made himself comfortable. As he unwrapped his sandwich and spread out the paper to catch drippings, he inhaled a deep breath of fried saltwater ambrosia. “Been working anything interesting lately?”
The disgustingly health-conscious Bishop sat across from him and opened a container of homemade kale salad. Blueberries, chopped apples and chunks of nuts sat on top of it, along with what looked like a pile of bird seed. How he and Cassie managed to coexist was beyond Noah.
“A case over in Houston. Looking for heirs of a very rich, very prolific man. The named heirs in his will want the estate settled before any more offspring are located. I made the mistake of driving there on Tuesday to talk to a possible son, but the guy was an impostor. When he looked like a sure thing, I’d stopped with the background checks and wasted almost two days. Now I’m going to research every possible descendant to death before going back to interview them.” He poured something green that Noah hoped was dressing on his salad. “How’s the new deputy working out?” Bishop mixed the bowl of salad with his fork.
His mouth filled with a large bite of sandwich, Noah took the opportunity to analyze the week so far. He swallowed. “She’s not bad.”
“Cassie said she’s cute.” Bishop’s eyes never left Noah’s face as he forked kale into his mouth. “That true?”
Noah set his sandwich down and grabbed a napkin to wipe the tartar sauce off his fingers. “Yeah, definitely cute. She has the most amazing eyes, like blue ice. And she’s observant. Good at the job.”
Taking a long drink of green tea from his clear travel mug, Bishop continued to watch him. “Blue ice, huh? Did you know that’s the strongest type? Gets its color and strength from how it’s formed with no air bubbles.”
“Interesting.” Not how the ice formed but how it applied to Bree. Strong.
“So what’s on the flip side?” Bishop picked up a piece of walnut with his fingers and popped it into his mouth. “She can’t be perfect.”
“Oh, trust me, she’s not.” Noah leaned against his chair back. “She’s stubborn as all get-out. And contrary?” He scoffed. “I explain why we do things a certain way here, and she just wants to argue.”
“And yet...?”
“I can’t stop thinking about her.” He wadded up his napkin and tossed it on the desk. “But she won’t open up. She has stories she won’t tell, secrets she’s keeping. It’s frustrating.”
Bishop shrugged. “So take her to dinner or something. Let her know you’re interested in getting to know her.” He snapped the lid onto his salad container. “You aren’t usually this discombobulated about asking someone out. Even though it hasn’t even been a week, sounds like you’re developing feelings for her.”
“It’s not that simple.” Noah dropped his head back and groaned at the ceiling. “First off, we work together. Plus, Cassie already thinks I’m a goof-off. I’m trying to up my game on the job to prove myself to her.” He looked at Bishop. “Hitting on the new deputy—the only other female in the department besides Cassie—won’t win me any points. She’ll figure I’m paying more attention to Bree than the job.” He blew out a hard breath. “That’s really the problem. I have to choose between the job and the girl, and the job’s what’s always been important to me.”
“Sounds like you’ve got yourself a gen-u-ine conundrum.” Bishop tipped back in his chair and rested his boots on the corner of his desk. “Wanna meditate on it?”
Noah summoned as much indignation as he could and crammed it into his reply. “No, I don’t want to meditate on it, you hippie freak. That’s probably why Cassie won’t set a wedding date.”
“Ha. Guess she hasn’t told you she started doing yoga with me.” A satisfied smile took over Bishop’s face. “You ever hear of couples’ yoga? Some of the positions are—”
“I don’t need to hear about that.” He gathered up his lunch trash and tossed it in a waste basket. “Anyway, everything I said stays between us, right?”
With a phony frown, Bishop nodded. “Oh, absolutely. I would never tell the person I cherish most in the world any of the dumb stuff her brother shares with me.”
“I’m serious, man.” Noah pointed a finger at him. “If she thinks—”
“Relax, Noah. I don’t tell anyone what you tell me in confidence.” He raised his brows. “If I did, I couldn’t blackmail you later.”
“Funny. Very funny. See y’all Saturday for dinner.”
“Yep. Cassie confirmed she’ll be home for the weekend. She’s not happy about how long the trial is dragging on.”
“Can’t say I blame her. Doubt I could sit there for a whole week, just to find out I have to do it again next week.” Noah opened the office door to leave.
“Don’t worry about her being in a bad mood and taking it out on you.” Bishop waited until Noah turned around. “I’ll make sure she’s relaxed several times over before dinner.”
“She’s my sister, you weirdo. I don’t want to hear that stuff.” Noah tried to slam the door behind him as a final last word. Instead, he cursed the soft-close hinges for denying him the satisfaction.
ON HIS WAY back to the office, Noah detoured to the high school and picked up the list of people with access to the school’s keys. Once he and Bree were done with the candy-store incident, they could get back to the burglary.
When he walked into the bullpen, he found Bree sitting at his desk, takeout from the Busy B spread out in front of her. “Sorry, but this one’s mine.” He pointed to the desk where Adam used to sit. “That one’s yours.”
She looked over at Dave, sitting a couple of places over from her. “Why didn’t you say something when I sat down?” When he only shrugged, Bree rolled her eyes. Then to Noah, “I didn’t realize they were assigned.” She dropped the french fry she’d been holding onto a paper towel and started to collect her ketchup packets and napkins. “I didn’t have time to finish my lunch at the diner. I put my sandwich in the fridge but figured I’d eat the fries before they got too soggy.”
“Never mind. Just stay there for now.” Noah walked over to what had been Adam’s desk. Bree hadn’t spent much time in the pen this week, and everyone else was in and out. It made sense she hadn’t known each deputy had their own spot. “Go ahead and finish your lunch. I’m going to get started on the candy-store report.”
Dave laughed. “Figures you’d let a little thing like her boss you around, Reed.”
Almost from Dave’s first day, he’d harassed Noah. Cassie had attempted to curb Dave’s behavior and stop his constant sniping at everyone else. But Dave got cagier, only heckling the other deputies when she and Adam were out of earshot. It was like dealing with a tiresome school bully, and Noah ignored the taunt, just as he always ignored whatever came out of Dave’s mouth. Bree, on the other hand, was on her feet before he’d finished talking.
She stalked across the room and stopped next to Dave, her narrowed eyes glinting. “First of all, it’s not appropriate to mock a deputy with seniority over you.”
Dave snickered. “And what’s second of all, little lady?”
“Don’t ever refer to me as a ‘thing’ again. I’m not a thing or a little lady to you. I’m your coworker. A deputy. And you’ll refer to me as such.”
Noah sat in his chair and watched, a smile plastered on his face. Dave was about to make things so much worse for himself.
“Or what?” The confident sneer he usually reserved for Noah appeared.
She leaned over his desk. “Or one of two things can happen.” Noah was pleased to see Dave flinch as Bree held up a finger inches away from his face. “One, I’ll punch those pearly whites of yours down your throat, hold your nose and watch you choke.”
“I’d like to see you try.”
Bree went on as if he hadn’t spoken. “Or two, I inform our boss—the by-the-book, forward-thinking female sheriff—about your misogynistic attitude and lack of respect toward your fellow officers.”
Dave’s look turned mutinous.
“Now, I’ve only been here a week, so I don’t know you very well, but I’d say it’s a crapshoot on which would be more painful.” The hand in front of Dave’s face curled into a fist. “But you look like a man whose head could take a licking better than his pride, so why don’t I call this one for you?” In a flash, Bree adjusted her feet and cocked her arm back, her chest turned in such a way that showed she knew exactly how to put her body behind a forceful right hook.
Dave realized it, too, because he raised his arms in front of his face. Not to fight, but to protect said pearly whites.
Noah jumped to his feet, closed the space between them and grabbed her arm. “Bree, as much as I hate to, I can’t let you do that. You have an unfair advantage over poor old Dave. The rest of us have noticed that he hides from physical confrontations, so I doubt this would be a fair match. And as sorry an excuse for a deputy as he may be, Cassie doesn’t have time to find another new one right now.”
Her arm relaxed and she turned to Noah, her eyes now sparkling with amusement. “I understand. I’d hate to have Cassie upset with me during my very first week.”
She returned to Noah’s desk, packed up her lunch and relocated to what was now her own.
“She’s a psychopath,” Dave whispered to Noah, loud enough for her to hear.
“You better believe it,” Bree stage-whispered back, staring at Dave with disturbingly wide eyes and an evil grin.
Noah left the room until he could control his laughter. Then he got back to work, trying to focus on the report he needed to type up instead of on Bree. The more time he spent with her, the more she fascinated him. When he first met her, he’d found her pretty. Or was it cute?
Could a woman be both? Because in Noah’s estimation, Bree was.
Pretty as a peach, as Marge had noted. Cute in the way she tried to avoid attention, had a quick-draw temper when coming to someone’s defense, and in the way she daintily dipped each french fry in ketchup exactly three times before she ate it.
But after spending just a few days with her, Noah pegged her as being made up of so much more. And he was hooked. Already, he spent way too much time obsessing about learning her likes and dislikes, her past, her dreams—and yes, her secrets, too.
And then there was the growing obsession to have her under him, naked and thrashing with need. He gave a mental shrug. No sense in denying it, especially to himself.
Unfortunately, she was wound tighter than an eight-day clock, and he was stuck trying to figure her out while on the job, bit by arduous bit. Because no matter how intrigued he was by Brianna Delgado, priority one for him was to be taken seriously. To be given cases to work on his own.
So while he might desire the only female deputy in the Boone County Sheriff’s Department, dating Bree wouldn’t help his cause. Knowing Cassie, probably just the opposite.
As he finished adding Sandy’s statement, as well as the pictures she’d emailed, to their report, Bree came to his desk with a printed-out summary of what had happened at the hospital with the young boy.
“I checked in with the nurses’ station, and they confirmed he was definitely exposed to toxins related to meth. They don’t know the full extent of his internal injuries, but the prognosis isn’t good. Apparently, he absorbed a near-lethal amount for someone his size, but he’s a fighter. Hanging on by a thread.” Bree’s face, her whole stance, radiated rage. Might have included some residual anger left over from her confrontation with Dave, but probably not. She was definitely a champion of the underdogs.
Noah, also angry on behalf of the child as well as his mom, swallowed the sudden lump in this throat. “It makes me sick every time I remember his small body on that gurney.” He rose, and they headed for Adam’s office. “If I were his father, I’d be tempted to find the creeps who dumped that trash and leave them lying in the ditch.”
Bree nodded. “Too many kids start out life at a disadvantage. And then even ones like this little boy, with loving parents and a decent home, get hurt or kidnapped or fall in with a bad crowd.” Somehow, she found a smile. A sad one, but still...a smile. “All we can do is find the bastards who did this and shut them down.”
Noah knocked on Adam’s door. Six months ago, Adam didn’t even have a door. Or an office. He’d sat at the desk in the corner of the bullpen with the rest of the deputies. But stick the word chief in front of deputy, and the new title came with a door prize.
“Come in.” Adam looked up from his computer, his usual serious expression in place. “Heard you two have had quite the day, huh?”
“Yep, and still plenty of it left.” Noah pulled out a visitor’s chair for Bree before taking the other one. “Report’s filed on the Sweets and Treats incident, and the culprit is in our detox cell.”
Adam frowned. “We don’t have a detox cell.”
“We do now.” Noah chuckled.
Adam turned his gaze to Bree. “And how’s your first week going?”
“Unexpectedly exhilarating.” She reached across the desk and handed Adam the summary on the toxic exposure. “This was everything we saw and heard at the hospital, from the moment the boy came in until we left. While we waited for our detainee’s blood work, we had ample time to speak with the child’s mother.”
“And?”
“We have a high degree of confidence that his family has no connection to the drugs or trash. The boy is an only child, his father’s a roughneck on a drilling rig off the coast and the mother is a stay-at-home mom. The next-door neighbors, who own the property where the child was playing, are an older couple who attend the same church as our victim’s family.” Bree paused, started to say something, then closed her mouth.
Adam gave her a warm smile. “Go ahead, Deputy. What’s on your mind?”
“It’s unusual for meth cookers to dump their toxic trash near their own house, sir, unless they just throw it in the backyard. The usual MO for them is to take a drive somewhere and toss it out the window so it won’t be connected to them.”
Noah sat back, impressed with Bree’s knowledge. But what really caught his attention was the way she presented the information to Adam: with deference to her superiors, her words succinct—to the point—and not one wisecrack. Bet no one questioned her seriousness on the job.
Well, okay then. If he wanted his siblings to see him in the same way, he’d need to take a page from her playbook.
Adam glanced down at the paper he was holding, then back at Bree. “Did you work a lot of drug cases in San Antonio?”
“A fair number, yes, sir. We also had extensive training in dealing with people high on different drugs as well as handling meth-house scenarios.” She paused and gulped a breath of air, as if fortifying herself for the rest. “The lingering toxicity inside the building, possibility of explosions—pretty much anything that could happen.”
“Sounds like you have more knowledge about meth than our entire department combined. Do me a favor. As soon as you two join the drug investigation, speak to Helen and get on the schedule for the morning briefing.” His brother’s rarely seen smile flickered to life again. “I’d appreciate it if you’d spend—oh, I don’t know—about fifteen or twenty minutes sharing your knowledge with the rest of the department.”
A hesitant smile appeared on her face. “Yes, sir. Whatever I can do to help.”
“Outstanding.” Adam stood. “Our sheriff was right, as usual. You’re going to become an excellent addition to our department, and particularly to this investigation, as it seems the case just keeps on getting bigger.”
A slow burn crawled through Noah. A petty sensation that he hated but couldn’t stop. He hadn’t been assigned to the case, even though he was first on the scene. Now Bree, a deputy here for exactly—he glanced at his watch—three days, five hours and twenty minutes was being hailed as the be-all and end-all of the department.
Adam glanced at Noah. “You two will still be riding together until the sheriff returns, and we need to get the high school burglary wrapped up. After that, I’d like you both on the meth case with me.”
Shocked by his brother’s announcement, then deeply ashamed of his thoughts just moments earlier, Noah maintained a serious expression. While he couldn’t bring himself to address Adam as sir, he could at least show his brother the proper respect due someone in his position.
Noah stood, biting his tongue against any protests, wisecracks or even one harmless little joke. “We’re on it, sir.”
Dang if that “sir” didn’t just slip on out. And it didn’t taste nearly as bitter as he’d expected it would. The faint nod of approval he received from Adam in return made it worth it.
Hell, he’d call Adam sir all day long and twice on Sunday for a chance to run his own investigation, as long as Bree was at his side.