Cowboy Famous: Book 4 (Cowboy Justice Association) (27 page)

Chapter Twenty-One

G
riffin sat in his office and looked out over the station, quiet and subdued after all that had gone on a few days before. He needed the peace, his nerves and patience stretched thin from working a case that had suspects but no real evidence.

It had been two days since he’d questioned Tony and Gordon. Two very long days. No amount of pleading phone calls to the state crime lab from Otis could hurry them along. Griffin was starting to think something was wrong with the evidence that had been collected. Even the reporters were bored and spent most of their time hanging around the diner drinking coffee and eating homemade pie. A few had even left town, chasing a flashier, more exciting case.

In the meantime, another slick, expensive attorney had arrived from California for Tony. Calling into the station on his arrival in town, the man had handed Griffin his card with a smug smile and said that his client was no longer answering questions. If Griffin needed to know something, he could submit questions in writing and possibly Tony would take the time to answer them.

But probably not. It didn’t matter anyway. There wasn’t anything to be asked until Griffin heard from the lab.

“Do you have a minute?” Jazz stood in front of him looking so damn beautiful he wanted to throw her down on his desk and have his way with her. She was the only good thing in his life right now. Having her support these past few days had meant everything to him. He hadn’t even minded how she’d taken over his bathroom.

The first day she’d kept her makeup and things all neat in a little purse, but by the second day they’d began to migrate onto the vanity and onto any flat surface in the shower. When they’d left the house this morning, there had been no less than a dozen items on the counter by the sink and at least four separate bottles or jars in the shower. One had been shampoo and the other conditioner. He had no idea what the others were but if she needed them then there wasn’t much he could do about it. Besides, she was always so pretty how could he complain?

“Sure, come on in. I was just looking at the map of the area around the site where Sandy’s body was found, trying to think of where the murder might have taken place.”

“Any ideas?” Jazz leaned over his desk and he could smell the clean fragrance of her skin. His cock stirred and he had to shift in his chair to relieve the pressure. He probably ought to get used to being semi-aroused whenever she was around. They made love every night and every morning, each time better than the last.

It wasn’t the sex that drew him in but her easy to be with manner. She seemed to understand instinctively when he needed quiet, not nattering on and on about nothing. She was happy to cuddle when he was in the mood but just as content to sleep in her own space. There were no demands he cater to her preferences. They simply compromised when they didn’t agree. No pouting or emotional blackmail.

But that didn’t mean he was in love. He’d know if he was. Not yet. It was too soon and he wasn’t ready. Being in love meant things would change, and damned if he was ready for that. Couldn’t things go on the way they were?

“I’ve got a few ideas. Here.” He pointed to an old hunting shack to the north of town. “And here.” He moved his hand to the west, pointing to the Rinehart ranch. “The one to the north is an old cabin that a lot of hunters use. It’s isolated so no one would hear anything and definitely off the beaten path. The one road leading to it can barely even be called that. It’s basically two tire tracks in the dirt and brush.”

“And the other?” She peered more closely at the map, her brow knitted in concentration.

“That ranch used to belong to the Rineharts.”

“Used to? Who does it belong to now?”

“The bank. It was foreclosed on about a year ago. Remy Rinehart held on as long as he could but in the end he sold off all the horses, livestock, and any heavy equipment and moved out. They haven’t had a buyer for it yet. The only thing is the house isn’t far from the road. The hunting cabin would be more private.”

Griffin tapped the map with his finger, frustration tight in his gut. He was missing something, something important. Police work wasn’t much like in the movies. It was usually boring stake outs, mindless sifting of paper clues, and the hope that forensics would find something. Mostly it was old-fashioned grunt work.

That was where he was sitting. His suspect had motive and opportunity, but there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime. That meant Griffin had to work twice as hard to find that link.

“But the killer would have to know about the cabin, right? How would Tony know about it? He’s been here less than two weeks.”

“True. That’s why I’ve requested a warrant for the Rinehart place.” Hopefully he would have it this afternoon.

“What about the cabin? You didn’t get a warrant for it?”

“I don’t need a warrant for the cabin. It’s open for anyone to use. I’ll stop there on the way to my meeting and look around. If someone’s been up there recently, I’ll be able to tell.”

In fact, he’d asked Reed to meet him there. His friend had a keen eye for detail around crime scenes and might see something Griffin missed. He had to admit he didn’t hold out much hope though. In the last two days he’d searched every line shack, tent, and abandoned structure in a twenty mile radius from where Sandy’s body had been found. Today he’d decided that he had to expand his criteria for possible kill sites, which was when he’d taken a look at these two properties.

“You’re heading out to a meeting?” Jazz had a cute little pout going on but he knew better than to think she was really upset. She’d actually shocked him with how independent she was, spending her free time while he was working with Levi. He would be heading to the academy in a few weeks and was working with Adam until then. Wayne was also hanging around town trying to dig up dirt on anyone and basically making a nuisance of himself. Peggy and Danny had left when they had been cleared from suspicion.

“My sheriffs’ meeting. What will you do today?”

Jazz still helped out part time in the office but he really needed to get someone full time. While she was good at the job, he didn’t think it excited her much. She was probably itching to get back to her life in Los Angeles. A thought he didn’t like to ponder too often.

Jazz reached across his desk and placed a sticky note near his elbow. “I was thinking about going to talk to Tonya and see what she knows about this maybe imaginary boyfriend Casey had. You know I haven’t forgotten her.”

Griffin picked up the square piece of paper with an address scratched across it. Jazz had been looking in Casey’s file again. “I know you haven’t, honey. I don’t want you to think I have. I think about her every day. It’s just a cop has to work a case when it’s hot.”

“I know. That’s why I was thinking I could go talk to Tonya since you can’t spare anyone right now.”

Her expression was hopeful and Griffin was loath to dash her hopes. He held up the address. “Can you even find your way there by yourself? This is in Springwood.”

“If I can find my way around the Los Angeles freeway system, I think I can manage to find a small town off a main road. So I can go?”

He could see how important this was to her, and despite his conflicted feelings he finally nodded. “But,” he warned, “you cannot go as someone from my office. I can’t lend you one of the SUVs since you’re no longer a deputy in training. You’ll have to take my truck. Also, you cannot present yourself to Tonya as anyone official. You can tell her how you came to see Casey’s file and ask if you can talk to her. If she says no, then that’s that. You turn around and come back, got it?”

“Got it.” Jazz nodded, a gleeful smile across her face. “How about you draw me a map?”

Griffin comforted himself with the knowledge that technically there was no way he could stop one civilian from talking to another civilian. Besides, keeping Jazz busy while he worked this case seemed like a damn good idea. If she wasn’t bored, she wouldn’t be thinking of reasons to leave Hope Lake.

“Can I interrupt for a moment?”

Gordon’s voice pulled Griffin’s attention from the woman across from him to the doorway where the man stood uncertainly. Shifting from foot to foot, the assistant producer looked as if he’d like to be anywhere but where he was standing.

“Sure, Gordon. How can I help you?”

It was too much to hope for that the man was here to rat out his boss. Maybe he too had a big-wheel lawyer coming to town. Griffin had to give the man credit though. Even in the face of all this shit, Gordon hadn’t crumbled. All Griffin had to do was sit in the same diner as Tony and the producer practically dissolved into tears.

“I have Jazz’s check from the insurance company. Actually it’s really just a receipt for what they deposited into her account.” Gordon held out an envelope to Jazz. “I gave Levi his already. Everyone else’s has been mailed.”

Griffin really didn’t give a shit how the others were getting their checks. He only cared that now Jazz had her money and freedom. She could leave at any time.

“Thank you,” Jazz said softly, reaching for the envelope. She gazed at it and then up at Griffin. He knew she was thinking the same thing he was.

“Uh, well, okay. I’ll go now.” The uncomfortable silence must have jarred at Gordon and he turned and exited the office quickly.

Her finger ran under the lip of the envelope and she extracted a single sheet of paper. Her hands trembled slightly as she read it, folded it, and then stuffed it back. Her color was high and she pushed the envelope into her purse.

“Are you okay?” Griffin couldn’t stop himself from asking the question. She looked a little sick to her stomach, actually.

“It’s just more than I thought.”

“That’s good, right?” She deserved the money. He knew she needed it.

“It just feels so strange. My entire adult life I’ve worried about every dime. As of today I can breathe a little easier. I’m not sure how to react.”

“How about acting like you’re happy?” He smiled, hoping she would follow suit. She seemed to be in something of a daze. The check must have been a whopper. He was pretty sure she was worth ten of him now.

Smiling tremulously, she took a deep breath. “I am happy. I can easily pay off my credit card and sock away a robust rainy day fund, although Los Angeles is an expensive place to live. It won’t last long.”

“You could live somewhere cheaper.”
You know, like Hope Lake.

“New York isn’t any less expensive. Any place people want to be, well the cost of living is going to be high. And I don’t have any acting jobs to go home to.”

Ouch.

Griffin decided to simply put it out there. He didn’t know where their relationship was going but he knew it was too soon to see it end. “Then you don’t have to be in a hurry to leave.”

“Don’t you want your bathroom back?” she teased. “Or the rest of your bed? Or the remote?”

His own words were coming back to bite him in the ass. “You’re not much trouble,” he answered lamely. Not knowing what to say, he said the first thing that came to mind.

“Now there’s what every girl wants to hear. That she’s not much trouble.” Jazz was openly laughing at him now. “Don’t worry, Griffin. I’m not trying to slip into your life under the radar and make myself indispensable. I’m sure better women than me have tried and failed. Your bachelor existence is safe.”

Those were the words he’d always longed to hear from a woman. Every woman but her, that is. He’d spent so many years avoiding relationships that now he was thinking he might want one he didn’t have a fucking clue how to make it happen. What could he say?

Do you think you might want to stick around and see what happens?

Just what every girl dreams of hearing. Not. To make matters worse, he was no Prince Charming. He was pretty sure that damn prince had never gutted a fish in his life. Was there such a thing as a camouflage crown?

“Here are my keys.” Griffin dug his keyring from his pocket, changing the subject back to work. It felt comfortable and a damn sight safer. “Let me draw you that map.”

Pushing thoughts of relationships, scary commitment, and possible love aside, he concentrated on getting Jazz ready to talk to Tonya. What they had or what they could have was going to have to wait, at least for now.