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Marty walked over to a table in the corner of The Rowdy Spur. Dela had been in this bar a few times as a teenager during the Pendleton Roundup when there were so many people packed in here that no one bothered to check I.D. Tonight there was room to move with only half the tables filled and three people sitting at the bar.
After scanning the establishment, Dela returned her gaze to the table and was surprised to find her friend, veterinarian Molly Taylor, Travis’s mom, and Marie James, a security guard. “What are you two doing here?” she asked, taking the chair between Marie and Molly.
“Marty and I come here about once a week,” Molly said, her cheeks flushing. Dela watched her friend. Molly hadn’t said a word about seeing anyone.
“I’m glad you’re here. I don’t have to call you now.” Dela turned her attention to Marie. “And you?”
“Marty thought you’d like to hear the gossip running through the casino.” Her eyes twinkled as she took a sip of the wine in front of her.
“I see.” Dela settled her gaze on Marty. “You’re going to be the talk of the town entertaining three women tonight.”
He nodded toward the door. “I have backup.”
She twisted in her seat and watched Heath, in civilian clothes, meander through the tables toward them. On his heels was a man she’d never met.
When Dela turned back to the table, Marie had moved, leaving a spot next to Dela.
Heath hooked the chair, pulled it back, and sat, scooting up to the table. He studied her for a couple of seconds. “This was a good idea. Getting out.”
Dela motioned to Marty. “It was his idea. Since neither one of us has to go to work tomorrow, we might as well enjoy ourselves.” She couldn’t hide the sarcasm in her tone.
The man who had followed Heath now sat beside Marie.
“Dela, this is my husband, John. John, this is my boss at the casino.”
Dela and John exchanged pleasantries and Marie said, “I wanted you to know that everyone at the casino knows Bernie made you take the vacation. And they all know you didn’t kill anyone. I heard what you said about finding another job. Please don’t. We will all petition the board of trustees to get you back if you do.”
Tears burned in Dela’s eyes. “You don’t know what it means to me to know you are all behind me.”
A waitress appeared at the table and everyone who had just arrived ordered drinks and asked for menus. When the woman left, Dela turned to Molly.
“Since I’ll be home tomorrow, could you come over and give Jethro a physical? Make sure his health is okay and let me know what I need to do to keep him healthy.”
“I can be there around nine if that works.” Molly picked up her fruity-looking drink and sipped.
“That would work for me.” Dela notice that Marty held Molly’s other hand on his thigh. She was happy for her friend. She couldn’t have found a better man than Marty. She now understood why he and Travis had been sitting on the tailgate acting like old friends. She’d figured Travis had never met Marty before and would have been skeptical of him waiting for Dela.
“I tried to get that information you asked about,” Heath said, drawing her attention to him. “Detective Jones has locked me out of the case. I asked Jacob if he could look at the files and let me or you know what he finds. I hate putting him in Jones’s crosshairs but I don’t trust anyone else to not buckle to the detective.”
Dela nodded. “I asked Jacob to get me some information, too. We’re going to have to be careful and not get him fired.”
The drinks arrived and everyone ordered dinner. The conversation turned to sports, animals, and some local issues.
Dinner arrived and halfway through, Marty said her name.
Dela looked over at her friend. His gaze was fixed on the bar. She would have to turn around to see what had his attention. Instead of twisting her body, she excused herself to walk to the restroom. She spotted Daniel Booth. But what surprised her was the woman seated beside him laughing. Jacee Bing.
She continued to the restroom and washed her hands as she tried to decide whether or not to talk to Jacee.
Molly walked in. “You’ve been in here a while.”
“Trying to decide if I should butt in on a casino employee’s date. She’s with the man Marty and I came here to talk with.” Dela dried her hands.
“How about you and I bump into them? She doesn’t know me so it won’t look as if you planned to find her and her date here.” Molly handed Dela paper towels.
Smiling at her friend, Dela dried her hands and walked out of the restroom with Molly in tow. She angled her way to the bar and stood beside Jacee, catching the bartender’s eye.
“What can I get you?” the bartender asked, smiling, showing off large white teeth under his 1800s mustache.
“Two, what is that you’re drinking?” Dela asked Molly.
“Cowgirl’s Delight.” Molly smiled.
“Two of those.” Dela wondered if she’d be able to drive home after having one of the bar’s specialty drinks. She shifted and stared into Jacee’s eyes. “Oh! Hi!” She smiled at the woman whose eyes widened. “It must be the night for friends to connect.” Dela drifted her gaze over to the man on the other side of Jacee.
“I guess so.” Jacee finally found her voice. “I’m sorry you were told to take a vacation.”
Dela shrugged. “It just gives me some time to catch up with old friends.” She motioned to Molly. “We went to school together.” Dela stared at Daniel. “Is this an old friend of yours?”
“N-no.” Jacee stammered.
Daniel put his arm around the younger woman’s shoulders. “Jacee and I are dating if it’s any business of yours.” He stared at her as if she’d insulted them.
“I see.” Dela glanced at Jacee. Her eyes were downcast. Had the man forced her to come with him? She didn’t think so, the woman had been laughing earlier. Was she worried that Dela knew about his connection to a man the woman hated? She studied them. Had they conspired to kill the man beating on her cousin? And she had said she didn’t know any of the people Paul was meeting that night around Valentines in the casino. It was clear by their body language she’d known this man longer than a month.
“How did you two meet?” Dela asked as the bartender put the drinks on the counter in front of her. Molly paid for the drinks and carried them over to their table.
Jacee’s gaze drifted in that direction and she sat up. “We need to go.”
“Why?” Dela asked, knowing it was because she saw the table of casino employees and possibly Heath, a tribal policeman.
“We have dinner reservations somewhere else.” Jacee slid off the stool and pulled a confused Daniel behind her toward the door.
“That didn’t work,” Heath said, in her ear. She turned and bumped into him.
“Are you what scared her off?” Dela hadn’t learned a thing except that Jacee was dating the man who worked with the victim.
“I’m not sure if it was me or Marty. He is her boss. Why did you want to talk to her?” Heath asked, leaning against the bar.
“She was with Daniel Booth, the man with Paul Winter when he visited with Sander at the casino.” Dela stared at the entrance to the bar. “Jacee didn’t like Paul. She was glad I’d stepped in when he was beating up Ina. Do you think she and her boyfriend killed Paul? She definitely didn’t mention him when she told us about Paul meeting three men she didn’t know.”
Heath cupped her elbow and led her back to the table. “I think it is something to look into. Tomorrow.”
They sat, rejoining the conversation and finishing their meal. By the time everyone was ready to leave, Dela’s head was fuzzy. She didn’t know how Molly could look unfazed after drinking two of the fruity drinks. Dela only had two-thirds of her drink and she knew she shouldn’t be driving home.
“I’ll catch up with you tomorrow morning. I’ll get a line on where Booth works and we’ll talk to him there,” Marty said, his hand clasped with Molly’s.
“Okay,” Dela started to nod and thought better of it.
“I’ll keep you updated on what is going on at the casino,” Marie said, before turning to follow her husband.
Heath pulled her to her feet. “I’ll drive you home.”
“What about your car?” she asked, glad he’d offered.
“I rode over here with John. He and Marie live down the street from my mom.” He grinned. “I’d hoped we could have some time alone.”
She grinned back. “Oh, I see. Did you put Molly up to ordering that drink full of liquor to get me drunk?”
His gaze zeroed in on her eyes. “If I remember right all those years ago, we were both sober when we made the pact to always be there for each other.”
Her mind and heart raced. They’d sealed that pact by making love in her bedroom while her mom was at a school board meeting. She gulped. “I’m not ready...”
He put an arm around her shoulders and led her out of the restaurant. “I’m going to be right here when you are.”
Heath made light conversation as he drove her home. At the house, Mugshot and Jethro were making a lot of noise.
“Sit tight, I’ll go check it out.” Heath exited the car and went to the gate in the board fence.
Dela shoved up out of the passenger seat and walked to the front door, causing the front light to come on. Someone darted out from the shadow at the corner of the house. “Hey! Stop!” she shouted and caused pain to spark in her head.
Heath was beside her in seconds. “What did you see?”
“Someone ran from the corner of the house out to the street.” She pointed to the left.
Heath ran out into the street and stared in that direction for several minutes before walking back. “I didn’t see anyone. They could have ducked down in the bar pit. Come on.” He took the keys from her hand and opened the door.
“What had the animals upset?” she asked, walking into the house, dropping her purse in the recliner, and walking over to open the back door to let Mugshot in.
“It might have been the person you saw.” Heath patted Mugshot on the head. “Do you have a flashlight? I’m going to take a look around outside.”
“The drawer closest to the door.” Dela scratched Mugshot’s ears. “I’m going to get comfortable.” She walked down the hall and into her bedroom. Standing inside the door, she smiled staring at the mural Toby, one of Travis’s friends, had painted above her bed. Some nights when the moon was full, she’d leave her window shades open and lay with her head at the foot of the bed and stare at the mural to fall asleep. The dreamcatcher with five feathers on either side of it was painted in the shades of a summer sunset.
“Do you need help?” Heath’s voice asked from behind her.
She startled and faced him. “No. I was just enjoying my mural.”
“It is the best work I’ve seen in a while. And an image that I’m sure gives you peace.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll go make popcorn.”
“Didn’t you get enough to eat?” she teased.
“I plan on watching a movie. Your house is more peaceful than Mom’s. She’s always asking me if I’m okay or if I need anything. When I was a kid, she always told me to get things myself, now she’s smothering me.”
“That’s because she missed you and maybe she felt like you wanted to stay with your dad’s side of the family rather than come back to her. She’s just trying to show you, you do matter to her.” She studied Heath’s face. He was a good man. But he was also his own man. He wouldn’t hurt his mom, but he would do what made him happy. She liked that about him. He’d never cared what others felt. She, on the other hand, had always tried to be a good daughter, student, and friend. But there were many times she felt like she was lacking in all departments.
“Get changed.” He closed the door and she heard his footsteps fade down the hall.
She undressed down to her underwear and a t-shirt and began the task of removing her prosthesis. Even in her slightly inebriated state, the task was automatic. Her leg stood, leaning against the wall as she took off the socks that covered the stump. She stared at the bright pink skin on the six inches of leg below her right knee. Did this make her any less of a woman?
A knock on the door and Heath said, “Are you sure you don’t need help? You’ve been in there a while.”
“I’m fine.” What the hell. “You can come in.” She watched as the door opened and he stepped in.
“Do you need help?” His gaze was on her face.
She glanced down at her stump. “What do you see?”
He walked over and sat on the floor beside her leg. “I see honor and bravery.” His fingers gently glided over the pink skin. “If anyone cannot let this affect them, it’s you. All your life you have been logical and level-headed. Just because you are missing part of a leg doesn’t make you any less of a person.” His gaze met hers. “Or a woman.”
Her face flushed. There was a time she’d wanted to see that heated look on a man’s face.
He stood and held out her crutches. “Let’s go eat popcorn and snuggle on the couch watching a movie.”
She pushed to her foot and glanced down. All she had on were her boycut underwear. Those weren’t very sexy. She glanced up at Heath. Or maybe they were. His gaze roamed up her legs and met her eyes.
He cleared his throat. “You might want to put some shorts on.”
“Hand me that pair on the end of the bed.” She sat back down on the chair and pulled the shorts up to her thighs, then stood and pulled them the rest of the way up.
“Much better if you want me to behave myself.” He motioned for her to walk ahead of him out of the room.
When they were seated on the couch, the bowl of popcorn between them and a romantic comedy playing on the television, she asked, “Did you find anything when you looked around outside?”
“Footprints alongside the house and where I think he was trying to go over the fence into the backyard. I’m pretty sure between the dog and donkey, and us showing up, he changed his mind.”
“He was trying to break into my house? Why?” Her head had started to clear. “We should call the police.”
Heath stared at her. “I am the police.”
“Yeah, but is Detective Dick going to believe you that someone was breaking into my place?” She grabbed her crutches.
“What do you need?”
“My phone. I’m going to at least call Quinn. This could have something to do with what happened down the road.” She shoved the crutches under her arms.
“I’ll get it, but I don’t think he’ll be any more interested than Detective Jones.” Heath dug her phone out of her purse and handed it to her.
She hesitated. What would he think with her and Heath cozily sitting here? Did she care what he thought? Anger pushed her to scroll and press the icon by his name. He believed she could kill someone she barely knew. He didn’t know her, and she didn’t care what he thought.
“Pierce,” he answered in a sleepy voice.
“It’s Dela. I was out with some friends tonight and when I came home Mugshot and Jethro were making a lot of noise. Heath went to check on them and a man ran out from the side of my house. Heath said there are footprints that show he was trying to get in.”
“Heath said that, did he?” Sarcasm dripped from his words.
“Pull your head out and listen. Someone was trying to get into my house. I have nothing to steal, why would they be trying to do that?” She was becoming clearer and clearer headed. The only reason she could think of was to plant evidence against her.
“Do you want me to come out there and take a look?” he asked, in a tone that stated he’d rather stay right where he was.
“I just want it to go on record that someone tried to break into my place.” She ended the call. “Asshole,” she said under her breath.
“That’s no way to talk about a federal agent,” Heath said, grinning.
She shifted to face him. “Why do you think someone was trying to get into my house?”
The grin disappeared. “Not knowing about the animals in the backyard, I would say he wasn’t a burglar. Otherwise, the place would have been checked out earlier, and he’d have known about them. I think the woman and man who left the bar, told someone you weren’t at home and that person came over here to leave behind something that would incriminate you more in the homicide of Paul Winter.”
She nodded. “That’s what I think, too.” She picked up the bowl of popcorn and set it in her lap as she scooted over next to Heath. “Any chance you can stay here all night?”