Buch lesen: «The Protectors of Riker County»

Chapter One

“What’s a seven-letter word for a man who is an all-around donkey to the people who are just trying to help him?”

Maggie Carson shifted her weight to the other foot and blew a frustrated breath out. It moved a wayward spiral of hair out of her face. She tried to tuck it back into the makeshift ponytail holder but it was a no-go. Like her it was probably done with the flip-flopping, hot-and-cold weather. Humid to the point of feeling like you were swimming standing up and then nothing but a dry chill. It was like south Alabama had a fever. Not that she was overly concerned about the weather.

At least not when she was in the process of breaking and entering.

Or attempting to break and enter.

“Not going to answer me, huh?”

She gave the man crouched down next to her, fiddling with the lock, a look that would have done her reputation for being a handful proud. Except the man wasn’t having any of it. He kept his eyes straight ahead and his fingers working.

Those fingers.

Those hands.

Oh, Lordy, what she could do with those.

Maggie shook her head, and the thought, away, surprised it had sprung up in the first place. Sure, Detective Matt Walker was a twelve on a ten-point scale of yummy—there was no denying that—but he was also still Detective Matt Walker. A man who had once called her a no-good ambulance chaser, pot stirrer and a scourge against society without an ounce of regret or shame. Not that she blamed him. She had accused him of murder. His wife’s murder, to boot.

But she had apologized for that.

“Fine, I’ll tell you,” she said, bending at the waist to keep her volume low. The smell of some generic cologne wafted up to her. The image of his hands came back. Maggie powered through it. “The magic word is jack—”

The lock unlatched, distracting her from her insult. For now.

“Tricking me into coming over to break into your house because you got locked out isn’t helping me,” he deadpanned. “In fact, that’s making a false report and is punishable by law.” He stood tall and brushed off his jeans. “And I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t fantasized about carting you off to jail before.”

A smirk pulled up the corners of his lips—the bottom one plump and ripe for the taking—but Maggie knew he was telling the truth without his snark. Which was why she’d kept her distance for the past five years. Still, it seemed there might not be enough time in the world to put their particular stream of water under the bridge.

“It’s not considered tricking if it’s the only way I can get the lead detective to come here,” she pointed out. “Also, I really did lock myself out. Two birds, one stone.”

Matt crossed his arms over his chest. For what felt like a long moment but she doubted stretched past a few seconds, Maggie took stock of the changes that had happened to his appearance since their last blowout years before. His hair was still a shade of dark dirty blond but now it was shaved short on the sides while the top had more length. It was a more controlled and clean look—probably part of being one of the county’s most beloved detectives—and paired like a fine wine with the dusting of facial hair he also, no doubt, kept maintained to the point where no one could ever complain that he was unkempt. Not that she’d seen him be anything but proper and in control during his career with the Riker County Sheriff’s Department. She might have been trying to avoid him but that didn’t mean she’d missed newspaper articles and stories of cases he was involved in on the local news.

However, in person, Maggie had to admit there were a few points that had been lost in the media’s translation of the man in front of her. The first and foremost was a pair of blue-gray eyes that always carried a hawk-like intensity. She imagined if she had the time she’d still not be able to put their level of intrigue on a scale. It was like looking into a spring and feeling its chill before ever even dipping a toe in the water. Then there was that jawline. The description of chiseled didn’t do him, or any woman caught staring at him, justice. It was so perfect that Maggie’s hand was itching to run along it before stopping just below his lips. For all she cared the rest of the man could have been a stick figure and she’d still rate him at an easy eleven. But it certainly didn’t hurt his cause that he was tall and had muscles peeking through his button-down. That was a change from the last time she’d seen him in person. He’d been more lean and less toned. Then again, she wasn’t surprised.

Everyone worked through grief differently.

Some people started a new hobby; some people threw themselves into the gym.

Others investigated unsolved murders in secret.

“And why, of all people, would you need me here?” Matt asked, cutting through her mental breakdown of him.

Instead of stepping backward, utilizing the large open space of her front porch, she chanced a step forward.

“I found something,” she started, straining out any excess enthusiasm that might make her seem coarse. Still, she knew the detective was a keen observer. Which is why his frown was already doubling in on itself before she explained herself.

“I don’t want to hear this,” he interrupted, voice like ice. “I’m warning you, Carson.”

“And it wouldn’t be the first time you’ve done so,” she countered, skipping over the fact he’d said her last name like a teacher readying to send her to detention. “But right now I’m telling you I found a lead. A real, honest-to-God lead!”

The detective’s frown affected all of his body. It pinched his expression and pulled his posture taut. Through gritted teeth, he rumbled out his thoughts with disdain clear in his words.

“Why do you keep doing this? What gives you the right?” He took a step away from her. That didn’t stop Maggie.

“It wasn’t an accident,” she implored. “I can prove it now.”

Matt shook his head. He skipped frustrated and flew right into angry. This time Maggie faltered.

“You have no right digging into this,” he growled. “You didn’t even know Erin.”

“But don’t you want to hear what I found?”

Matt made a stop motion with his hands. The jaw she’d been admiring was set. Hard. “I don’t want to ever talk to you again. Especially about this.” He turned and was off the front porch in one fluid motion. Before he got into his truck he paused. “And next time you call me out here, I won’t hesitate to arrest you.”

And then he was gone.

* * *

THE RIKER COUNTY Sheriff’s Department was quiet. Not that that was a bad thing but after the morning he’d had, Matt was itching to work a case. Anything to distract him from the storm of emotions raging through him. If he was being objective, he knew he’d be surprised at how one woman could affect him so completely. Then again, that woman was Maggie Carson. If she was good at anything it was leaving lasting impressions.

Without opening the bottom drawer, he imagined the picture within it. Erin Walker, smiling up at him. His beautiful wife. Unaware that a year later she’d be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Matt fisted his hands on the top of his desk.

“So you’re ticked off, huh?” A knock pulled his attention to the doorway and the man standing inside it. Sheriff Billy Reed wasn’t frowning but he wasn’t smiling, either. “I heard you answered a suspicious persons call on your way in this morning. A potential breaking and entering?”

Matt opened his hands slowly. He sighed.

Billy wasn’t just his sheriff, he was also one of Matt’s closest friends. There wasn’t any use trying to hedge around the truth. Or flat out lie.

“The only suspicious person was the woman who called in the false report to get me there in the first place. I should have let a deputy handle it but she asked specifically for me. It was a trap,” he admitted, earning an eyebrow raise from his boss, “set by Maggie Carson.”

Billy’s demeanor shifted to understanding. He might not have been sheriff five years ago but that didn’t mean he’d missed what had happened. Or why Matt had such an issue with Maggie.

“What did she want? I thought she hasn’t tried to talk to you in years.”

Matt tried to keep his rising anger in check.

“She said she had a lead that proves Erin’s death wasn’t an accident.”

Billy scowled, disapproval shrouding his expression.

“What’s the lead?”

“Hell if I know. I didn’t give her the chance to tell me,” he admitted. “She doesn’t have the best track record with me.”

“I thought she would have moved on from the case,” Billy said. “I wonder what it was she thought she found.” Behind his words was a new curiosity. And, if Matt hadn’t been so close to the situation, he would have listened to his own need to know. However, he was too close. And apparently, unlike Maggie, he had moved on.

“Maybe she’s tired of writing magazine fluff pieces,” Matt offered. “And now she’s trying to claw her way back to the news spotlight by digging up the past she has no business digging up.”

Billy stepped into the office. It was small and the bull pen of deputies started a few feet away. The sheriff must not have wanted them to hear what he was about to say, though. He lowered his voice.

“But what about the anonymous tip we got six months ago? Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to hear her out?”

Matt started to bristle. He’d been completely blindsided when he’d received a call from a man who claimed the same thing Maggie had. That the car accident that had killed Erin and one other pedestrian, hadn’t been an accident at all. At the time the anonymous caller refused to identify himself unless Matt drove to Georgia to meet him. He’d only told Billy and the chief deputy, Suzy Simmons. They’d gone to the meet location together, only to find a note left with a waitress that read “I’m sorry.” Matt and Suzy had stuck around to try to track down the man but they hadn’t had any luck.

“That man could have been unstable or bored or both,” he said. “For all we know Maggie could have orchestrated the whole thing.” Even as he said it, Matt doubted his words. Whatever his issues with Maggie, he didn’t think she was that malicious. He let out another long breath. “I just—I’ve finally gotten to a good place with what happened to Erin,” Matt admitted. “And until I find some hard evidence that the accident that killed my wife wasn’t an accident at all, then I’d prefer to not start up and drag another investigation along.”

Billy nodded.

“And I don’t blame you for that,” he said. “If Maggie gives you any more trouble, let me know.” He cracked a smile and tapped the badge on his belt. “I’m not afraid to use this thing.”

Matt thanked him and spent the rest of the day avoiding any and all thoughts of Maggie, anonymous tips that led nowhere and an investigation he had drowned himself in years before. It wasn’t until he had left the department and was driving home in the setting sun that he didn’t have to distract himself from his thoughts. Instead, when his phone rang and the caller ID read “Dwayne,” Matt felt his lips pull up into a genuine smile. It had been months since he’d talked to the retired detective and, if he was being honest, his mentor.

“Well, it’s been a hot minute,” Matt answered, forgoing any formal greeting. He’d once spent an entire week fishing with the man. Any need for formalities between them had sunk to the bottom of the river along with the faulty lures Matt had purchased. “How’ve you—”

“Don’t,” someone yelled. But it wasn’t Dwayne and it wasn’t into the phone. Instead, it was in the background. And it was a woman. “Don’t do it!” A scream tore through the airwaves and, even though Matt couldn’t tell who it was, he made a hard U-turn.

“Dwayne?” he yelled into the phone. “Dwayne!”

A thud that made Matt’s stomach go cold preceded the phone call ending.

Matt called the number back. It went straight to voice mail. His car filled with obscenities in between calling dispatch and navigating to the outskirts of the city of Kipsy, right in the middle of the department’s jurisdiction. Matt had been to the former detective’s house on more than one occasion so when he pulled up and cut his engine, he knew outside the phone call that something was really wrong.

The screened-in front porch—a point of pride from the man, so mosquitos couldn’t eat him up while he enjoyed a beer or two—was left open, the door to it off its hinges. The wicker furniture was scattered around the space. Nothing else on the outside looked disturbed but what he’d seen was enough.

Without waiting for backup, Matt got out of his car as quietly as he could. If he hadn’t heard the woman scream he might have been more cautious. But he had. Which meant his gun came out and his attention turned to the house.

A small SUV he didn’t recognize was parked at the side but Dwayne’s truck was nowhere to be seen. Lights were on inside the house but as Matt got closer, he didn’t hear any voices or movement. The darkness of night had fallen around him, offering cover, but it also might give an assailant the same advantage. It was a thought that made him slow as he got to the front door. It was cracked open. Something Dwayne would never do.

Matt held his gun high and pushed the door the rest of the way open, adrenaline spiking and ready to confront whatever had gone wrong.

Or so he thought.

“What the hell?”

The room looked like a tornado had torn through it. Furniture was overturned, books and trinkets were scattered and, with a drop of his gut, Matt realized blood was smeared across parts of the hardwood floor. Which shouldn’t have been surprising, considering Dwayne was lying in the middle of the room, beaten badly, bloodied and unmoving.

What Matt couldn’t have prepared himself for was the body next to Dwayne’s.

It was Maggie. She was holding a bat covered in blood in one hand while a folder was next to the other. Matt felt like he was dreaming as his eyes focused on the name written across the top of it.

It was his name.