Autumn's Shadow (6 page)

Why are you telling me all this? If the man was trying to impress Burke, he'd failed—miserably. Another thought hit Burke. Was this bragger warning him to stay away from his daughter? Save your breath, Turner. I already get the picture. Steaming inside, Burke took a step away.

Then Turner leaned closer. "She knows how to run a taut ship. I taught her that much. Now if I could just whip her brother into shape." A frown drew the man's whole face downward.

Burke nodded noncommittally and distanced himself with another step. He wondered if Keely had any idea her father had pressured the school board into naming her principal and was going around bragging about it. He doubted it. She struck him as a straight arrow. But it explained the mystery of how such a young woman filled that position—and at a school where her younger brother was a student. Not a good position to be in, he thought with sympathy. And her own father had engineered that awkward position for her.
What a jerk
.

Burke had met Keely only two days ago, but he already knew how embarrassed she'd be if she'd overheard her father's speech. While working on a case, it wasn't like him to focus on a woman, let his feelings get involved. But Keely Turner wasn't like any woman he'd ever met. Burke took another step down. "If you'll excuse me, I've got places I have to be."

"Right." Turner looked surprised as though he wasn't used to others ending conversations with him. "Don't waste any time wrapping up this investigation. I want whoever took potshots at my daughter caught ASAP."

We are in complete agreement there, Turner. But he repeated in a firm tone, "We are investigating all possibilities, but your assumption doesn't seem likely." Burke ended with a curt nod. He headed for his Jeep, going over a second time what Keely's father had said and wondering why the man had taken the time to stop and talk to him. Maybe Turner was just an over-protective father. Or was he checking Burke out?

Turner knew that Burke had been with Keely late last night, so was he laying down the groundwork to tell Burke that he wasn't good enough for his daughter? Unnecessary. Then the memory of Keely's slender form reclining in the—

Burke's cell phone rang. It was Rodd. "We've received two anonymous phone calls about the shooting. One caller said that he'd seen Grady Turner in LaFollette last night about the time of the shooting."

Keely had said her brother was grounded last night. Had she said that on purpose? He didn't think so. "Why would he shoot at his sister's windows?"

"According to the caller, everyone knows that Grady has a chip on his shoulder about his sister and . . ."

"And?" Had this been on Keely's mind last night? She d mentioned friction at home.

"And he has a twenty-two rifle. That's what you're looking to match, right?"

"Right. Did the second caller say the same or something different?"

Rodd paused before replying. "I didn't mention this before, but two people from the neighborhood whom I questioned said they saw Harlan's truck near the high school right before the shooting."

Burke's stomach clenched. That meant Nick had been in the vicinity of the shooting last night. Again, he heard Nick's lame excuse for not showing up for dinner: "I wasn't hungry. I just drove around and came home. What's the big deal?"

Was Nick capable of shooting out school windows? God, forgive me. How could I have been so blind to the fact that my sister and Nick needed me? Now e
v
en his recent target practice with Nick—something he'd thought would bring them together—now took on the appearance of further negligence on his part. I never thought . . .

If this accusation proved to be true, how would he explain this to his sister? Burke cleared his throat. "Do you want me to pursue these leads, get bullets from both kids' guns? Do you think Turner would make us get a search—"

"Hold up. This is a small town. I don't want to damage either kid's reputation by casting suspicion his way on the basis of anonymous calls. There's no rush. After Walachek's recent gaff, the judge has decided this time to keep Walachek in jail on charges so we have time. Before we ask for any more search warrants, let's check out the most obvious suspect, Walachek. You still going to send Walachek's bullets to Hansen at MPD?"

"Yeah. Hansen still owes me a few favors, and the state lab could hold this up for weeks. I'm sending the evidence off right after I hang up—"

"Wait." Rodd stopped him. "You have to head straight to the high school first."

"Why? Did something else happen?" Burke's voice rosin disbelief.

"Keely Turner called. She needs to see you right away. Your nephew's sitting in her office. I meant to tell you right away."

A lead ball landed in Burke's gut. He'd known Nick would give him trouble, but this wasn't good timing. One thing on top of another and it was only the first full week of school. Another danger was that Keely might start classing Nick as a troublemaker. He knew how a reputation could dog a kid. "Thanks, Rodd," he said dryly.

Within ten minutes, Burke walked into the principal's area at LaFollette High. He knew how to handle an investigation. He knew how to avoid unwanted questions from Turner. But how did he handle being the guardian of a kid in trouble at school? Especially when the principal was an attractive woman he couldn't get out of his mind?

He paused just inside the door. Keely had her long, slender back to him, leaning against the counter talking to a woman, probably her administrative assistant, behind the counter.

Keely's hair was pulled up high again. Little wisps trailed at the back of her neck. She wore a suit—pale yellow linen, expensive. Again, everything about Keely's appearance belied her position here. She didn't look like she belonged in this shabby building.

Well, she didn't, according to her father. Why
was she here? Why had she stayed in LaFollette and taken on the job as principal at a small consolidated high school?
Burke didn't think her father's opinion weighed much with her obviously. but what made her tick?

His mind snapped back to reality. Nick was depending on him. If Nick was guilty, Burke would make sure that he got a reasonable punishment. But if he wasn't guilty, he wasn't going to let Nick be the fall guy just because he was new here. Keely didn't strike him as unfair, but you never knew. He'd just met her father. Did the acorn fall far from the tree? After meeting the elder Turner, he had trouble putting them together in the same family. Burke pulled himself together. I'm here on business, unpleasant business. Stick to business.

"Are you sure you feel well enough to be at school today?" the silver-haired assistant was asking, sounding motherly.

"I'm fine," Keely replied. "Really. I'm just a bit tired from not getting much sleep after all the excitement."

Would Keely's father let on to her about his suspicion in last night's incident? His sympathy stirred in spite of the situation with Nick that might present itself. This lady didn't deserve having to deal with the idea that someone might have been shooting at her, not just her school.

They'd called each other by their first names last night, but in this setting, he reverted to formality. "Ms. Turner?"

She turned around. "Officer Sloan."

In the bright sunlight, the purple bruise on her forehead disturbed him even more. The silver-haired woman was right. Keely should be resting today, not here dealing with his nephew. His stomach smoldered. Nicky, if you're guilty of some
stunt
, you're in for it.

The older woman cleared her throat loudly. "So you're the new deputy." She looked him over and then held out her hand. "I'm Freda Loscher. Been secretary here since the dawn of time. Welcome to the county."

He stepped forward and shook her plump hand. He'd be happy when he'd gotten through all the introductions around here. "Nice to meet you," he said, noticing she didn't mind the term "secretary" which had fallen into disrepute.Interesting. Then he lifted an eyebrow at Keely, bracing himself for bad news. "You needed to see me, Ms. Turner?"

"Yes." She dipped her chin. "I'm afraid that your nephew got into trouble this morning." She nodded toward a small room off to the side. Through the open door, he glimpsed his nephew sitting with his head down. Nick didn't look up.

"He was a busy bee in the parking lot," Freda inserted in a chatty tone. "He let the air out of a whole row of tires. Mine included. What's his problem?"

"Freda," Keely said repressively, "I'll take the deputy into my office and discuss this." She motioned him toward her door.

Her prim tone did the trick. Freda hurried back to her desk. Franklin Turner was right about one thing: Keely knew how to run a taut ship. Which meant Nick could be in for it. Burke entered her office, across from the one where Nick sat, and waited for her to close the door behind them. Watching her take her place behind the desk distracted him. Focus on business. He sat. "Are you sure Nicky is the one responsible?"

She sighed, sounding fatigued. "Yes, he didn't even attempt to hide what he was doing. A teacher on the second floor looked out and watched him go from car to car, uncapping tire stems and unscrewing valves."

What did Nick hope to accomplish with this stunt? "Why didn't the teacher report it right away?" Burke complained. Lax discipline here wouldn't help him turn Nick around.

"The teacher did, but by the time a student got to me with the note, your nephew had finished one row of cars and started on the next. He was supposed to be in his first class too." She sounded as if she were trying to give Nick the benefit of the doubt. But Nick had forced her hand.

His hand too. Cocky kid. Wanted to be caught, I bet. Had Nick done this just to embarrass Burke, the new deputy? Did a seventeen-year-old kid think like that? I'm out of my league here.

Then what had happened here last night rushed through him once again. Seeing Keely face down on the floor had affected him. In the big city, victims were usually strangers. He could see now that keeping the law in a small town would be different. He'd know more of the victims and lawbreakers as people.

"Burke?"

"So he was skipping class and vandalizing cars?" Burke repeated dryly.

"Yes, that's it unfortunately. But no property was destroyed and no one was hurt."

He nodded, frowning. Compared to the possibility that Nick might have shot out her windows last night, this wasn't as serious. But he couldn't let Nick get away with this just because it looked so innocent by comparison. Another situation made sitting here uncomfortable. Grady was a suspect in last night's incident too. The fact that both their relatives were suspects in the same case made the whole situation ...sticky. "What's the punishment for this type of prank?"

She raised her eyebrows at him. "A one-day suspension—after he gets an air pump and reinflates all the tires he flattened."

"Is that all?" He slid forward on his chair. "Sounds like—"

"Let the punishment fit the crime. I'll save the big guns for ...well, if I need them in the future. But let's hope this will be enough to prevent a further incident."

"Okay." He moved to stand.

She stopped him with a raised hand. "Before you leave, I'd like to ask—what do you think your nephew was trying to accomplish today? I need some hint of how to handle him if the staff and I are going to help him get settled in here."

Discussing how to handle Nick only emphasized how out in left field Burke felt. He hated to have to bare his nephew's problems to someone else—since his neglect had contributed to Nick's difficulties. Burke had put duty to the MPD before his family, and now Nick might pay the price. Burke gripped the wooden arms of the chair and then met her eyes. "I don't usually deal in rehabilitation. But I suppose you need to."

She smiled with sympathy and moved from behind her desk, settling herself on its edge. "Yes, I do because I'm in the business of helping teens mature so that you won't have to deal with them later."

Her nearness distracted him. He wished she'd stayed behind her desk. But he admired her for offering him help with Nick. Her whole handling of this prank impressed him. Though his nephew might not recognize it, he'd lucked out with this new principal. Still, this thought didn't ease Burke's feeling of shirking his responsibility.

"Okay," he started grudgingly, "my nephew didn't want to come with me to Steadfast. But my family—especially my father—thought Nicky needed a strong male influence."

"I see." She nodded. "Well, that helps me understand this better. I will say this. Nicky wasn't rude or disrespectful when caught—"

"Why should he be? He wanted you to catch him. He may think that if he acts up enough I'll send him home." No way, Nick.

"That fits teen logic." She grinned.

Her amusement loosened a tightness inside him. That's right—he just let air out of some tires. No bloodshed. "It also won't work. He's here for the year and I'll tell him so." Burke stood up. "If that's all, I'll run him over to the garage and pick up an air pump."

"Good. I wish all guardians were as cooperative."

"I'll make sure Nick takes responsibility."

She accompanied him into the outer office. There, a kid of medium build and with spiked blond hair stood, propped against the counter. "Hey, Sis, I need a pen. Lost my last one."

So this was Keely's baby brother and another suspect? Burke looked him over, recalling the anonymous call referring to him. Burke noted the kids' resemblance to Turner. More to the point though, he didn't like the insolent way the kid looked at his sister.

"The school store," she said, "will be open during lunch—"

"But I'll lose points for not having one in my next class," the kid complained.

"That's unfortunate—"

"This your brother, Grady?" Burke asked to cut off the wrangling, make the kid aware of him.

"Yes. Burke Sloan," she performed the introduction, "Grady Turner."

Burke offered his hand to the teen. "I hear you were in town last night."

"Couldn't have been me." The teen dropped Burke's hand. "I was grounded."