Falling for Owen (36 page)

Owen ended the call and parked outside the sheriff’s office. He walked in and caught the little boy midair. He held Dylan’s son, Will, aloft and swung him around before he drew him close and hugged him. He’d seen the boy several times since Dylan came home. It hadn’t taken the little guy long to warm to him and the rest of the family.

“Hey, buddy. How are you?”

“No school. Stay with Daddy and play cops and robbers.”

“That’s exactly why I came to see your dad,” Owen said, patting the little boy’s back. “Dylan.” He greeted his cousin with a handshake.

“I’m glad you’re here. I was going to drop this one off at school and come see you.”

“You’ve got news.”

“I’ve been working with your PI. I went north and east. He went south and west on the hunt to find Dale outside of Colorado. Talked to him ten minutes ago. He found him. Dale’s in custody.”

Owen held back the swear words for the boy’s benefit and let out a huge sigh of relief. “Tell me everything.”

“Not yet. I need to get this one squared away.”

Owen waited while Dylan said goodbye to Will. His assistant, Lynn, left with Will to drop him off at preschool, and Dylan called his mother to pick up Will later today.

“How are your mom and dad?”

“Same as they ever were. Dad is buried in work. Mom rules the house and us.”

“Still interfering in your life, huh?”

“It never ends. She loves Will, though.”

“He’s a great kid. Can’t wait to have one of my own.”

“Trust me on this, get married first. It’s not easy being a single parent.”

“About that. I asked Claire to marry me this morning.”

Dylan slapped him on the shoulder and grabbed hold. “I am so happy for you, man. That’s great. Really great.”

“Brody’s planning the bachelor party. I’m sure that means we’ll relive some of my youthful indiscretions. Seems to me, you left town just when you were getting old enough to do something interesting.”

“I wish I’d stayed,” Dylan said, a touch of sadness in his voice that Owen hated putting there, reminding Dylan of the girl he’d loved and lost so long ago.

“Have you found any proof to substantiate the rumors Jessie’s dead?”

“Nothing.”

“Did you talk to her old man, see if he cops to anything in one of his drunken outbursts?”

“Tried. Twice. Didn’t get more than five steps onto the property when he came out and shouted for me to leave or show him a warrant. I pushed, but he refused to speak to me. Claims Jessie left one night and never came back.”

“You don’t believe it.”

“Oh, he said it with enough conviction, but the haunted look in his eye says there’s a hell of a lot more to the story.”

“You don’t think she left that house alive.”

“I don’t know what to believe.”

Which really meant Dylan didn’t want to believe the rumors her father killed her.

“She had every reason to leave. I hope she did, and she’s out there somewhere,” Dylan said, a hopeful note to his voice if not in his eyes.

“What’s her brother, Brian, got to say about her disappearance?”

“Brian is like his old man, wasting away at the bottom of a bottle. Every time I see him, he beelines it in the opposite direction.”

“Do you think he knows what happened and is hiding something?”

“I have no idea, and I’ve been too busy getting up to speed as the new sheriff to find out. I gather up rumors every chance I get, but no one has any concrete evidence she either left, or that bastard killed her. Soon, I’ll corner her cagey brother and get the answers I need.”

“I hope you get the answer you want.”

“Me too.”

Dylan led him back to his office and took a seat behind his desk. Owen sat in front of it and tried to rein in his impatience.

Dylan met his steady gaze. “I’m sorry this took so long. It’s not that it wasn’t a priority for me . . .”

“I get it, man. You’ve got a job to do, and prioritizing cases isn’t always easy.”

“I appreciate the understanding. This is a family matter, and I wanted it resolved quickly, but it’s been damn hard to find this guy. Here’s the thing. Dale is in some dinky town outside of Farmington.”

“That’s in New Mexico and more than four hours away.”

“He’s got a second cousin out there. The reason he didn’t use his credit cards or bank account in the last few months is that the cousin’s place is off the grid in the middle of nowhere.”

“Okay, so how did you find him?”

“Your PI started with Dale’s relatives outside the state, since I’ve had no luck finding him in Colorado. Anyway, local law enforcement in Farmington picked him up for drunk driving and resisting arrest. From the way things sound, they’ve had him in custody for a while.”

“What’s a while? A few days? Weeks?”

“I don’t know exactly. The person your PI spoke with didn’t have the information. They requested someone from my department come and pick him up. They’re a small town, next to nothing in the way of resources.”

“When will he be here?”

“Not until this evening. It’s going to take all day to get him here. My officer just left about ten minutes before you arrived.”

“So, he’s been staying with the cousin and coming back here to harass Claire and Shannon? That doesn’t make any sense. Especially since you didn’t get any hits on his credit card. How’s he paying for gas?”

“That’s what I want to ask him. Why the hell would he go so far away, only to come back and cause trouble and go all the way back there? That’s one determined son of a bitch if you ask me.”

“I guess we’ll find out when he gets here. Keep me posted. I want to know the minute he arrives. I want to question him and find out what the fuck his problem is, and why he can’t leave Claire the hell alone.”

“Listen, man, we’ve got to do this by the book. Don’t make me arrest you.”

“You’d love that, wouldn’t you?”

“Hell yes, but I want this guy to pay for everything he’s done, and I want the information he gives us to be legit.”

“I got it. I just want to know why. It’s so obvious to everyone but him that Claire and I are together. He can’t possibly still think I’m sleeping with Shannon.”

“Maybe he’s just fixated on you.”

“That’s the thing. All of this has been way out of his normal behavior. You’ve seen his rap sheet. It’s all domestic disturbances and drunk and disorderly charges. If he doesn’t like someone, he punches them. It’s what he’s done to Shannon. How he solves every drunken fight in a bar when he feels invincible. He tried to run down Claire with his car. These are violent acts, meant to hurt someone. So, why go from that to vandalism?”

“I don’t know, man. Maybe taking you head-to-head was just too much for him.”

“Then why didn’t he drink himself brave and come after me?”

“Maybe he’s not as stupid as he acts.”

“I don’t fucking know what to think anymore. Everything I know about Dale says this is out of his normal behavior.”

“We’ll figure it out when he gets here, and we question him.”

“I mean it, Dylan, something isn’t right.”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

C
LAIRE HELD UP
her hand for the hundredth time in the last hour to stare at the sparkling diamond ring.

“You’ll blind yourself and everyone else if you keep holding that up to the light like that,” Gayle teased.

She smiled and put her hand on the counter. Startled by the gasp behind her, she spun around and found Shannon standing in line behind Gayle’s customer on the other side of the glass display case.

“Shannon. I didn’t see you there. Are you okay?”

“That’s some engagement ring,” she said, gaze locked on the diamond solitaire.

“Owen asked me to marry him,” Claire said, trying to break the news gently. Shannon had never been able to hide her attraction to Owen. Claire didn’t want to rub it in her face by showing the true extent of her excitement.

“He really did it.”

“Yes, he did.” She couldn’t hide her smile. She and Owen would move in together like they planned and soon they’d get married and have a baby. This time, she’d live the dream, not wish for it anymore.

Shannon gathered herself with a shake of her head. She smiled brightly and gave Claire’s hand a pat. “Wow, that’s wonderful. And fast. I mean, you’ve only been seeing each other a couple of months.”

“When you know, you know,” Gayle said, giving Claire’s shoulder a squeeze. “You can see how much they love each other every time they’re together. It’s just there. I think it’s romantic that he didn’t wait, but asked you when the moment was right.”

“The whole thing surprised me after the morning we had with my ex showing up here.”

“Your ex wants you back?” Shannon asked.

“No. He wanted me to do him a favor. I made it clear he is my past and Owen is my future.”

“How did he take that? I mean, Dale never takes no for an answer. He thinks he owns me.”

“Mike didn’t have a choice. I’ve moved on. Like you’re doing,” Claire pointed out to help Shannon see that she had and could continue to stand firm against Dale.

“Yes, I want something better. Someone better.”

“Dale is determined to put himself in both our paths and ruin our plans, isn’t he?”

“Yes, he is. They’ll catch him though. He’s too stupid not to get caught for everything he’s done.”

“I hope it’s soon. Owen and I want to get married right away,” Claire said, letting some of her excitement show. Now that it was sinking in, she realized she didn’t want to wait to make all her dreams come true. She wanted Owen and the life they dreamed together. She wanted it now.

“Doesn’t it take a long time to plan a big, fancy wedding?”

“Owen and I don’t need anything fancy. I think he’d like to keep things simple. Family, close friends, maybe out at the ranch in the backyard. We’ve talked about redoing the garden. It would be beautiful under the big trees.”

“Yeah, he’d probably like that,” Shannon said, shifting from one foot to the other and back again, her voice unusually high.

“I’m sorry, Shannon, can I get you something?”

“Just a small coffee and one pumpkin cobbler. It looks really good.”

“How about some whip cream on that?”

“I’d love it. Thank you.”

The contrast in Shannon’s behavior always surprised Claire. One minute she was shy and reserved, sticking to Owen for support and protection, then she seemed shocked and despondent by the engagement news, only to put on her happy face and order coffee and cobbler.

Claire didn’t want to upset the fragile woman, so she put her order together and handed it to her. “On the house,” she said.

“Really? You’re so kind.”

Why did that sound mildly sarcastic? Well, what did Claire expect? Shannon had a crush on Owen. Claire had overlooked Shannon’s possessive behavior up to now. She’d do so again in hopes that Shannon realized Owen truly had picked her with no possibility of changing his mind. Not now. Not ever. He loved Claire and had proven that by asking her to marry him.

Shannon took her order and two steps to the door, but turned back before exiting the shop. “I’ll see you soon.”

A cold chill raced up Claire’s spine. She had the overwhelming desire to find Owen and tell him what happened. But what would she say? Shannon came in for coffee and cobbler, acted like her usual erratic self, and left with an ominous but innocuous statement.

“What do you know about her?” she asked Gayle.

“Not much. Shy. Quiet. Smart from what I remember. It surprised a lot of people when she hooked up with Dale. They seemed an odd pairing. Then, he adored her, and she him. The odd pairing seemed to work for them for a while, until it didn’t. Oh, they had their spats early on, but nothing like what it progressed to as the years went by.” Gayle’s gaze lost focus. “You know. I remember this one time she picked a fight with Dale in front of everyone at a summer festival. Boy, they got into it.”

“She picked the fight?”

“Yes. Why?”

“You’d think someone who knows how volatile Dale is would know better than to pick a fight with him.”

“Come to think of it, the madder he got, the more she pushed, but in a cunning, backhanded sort of way. I wasn’t the only one to notice.”

“Strange. And interesting. I’ll have to mention it to Owen and see what he thinks.”

“He’d know better than anyone about the cops showing up at fights. They’d have a report.”

“I’ll ask.”

She meant to, but the day wore on and the shop got busy. Owen had meetings all afternoon and wasn’t available for lunch. She missed him and couldn’t wait to go home with him and celebrate their engagement.

The phone rang around six o’clock. Claire pulled the last wrapped crystal vase from the box and set it on the table with the others. She grabbed her cell phone and smiled. “Hi, honey, I was waiting for your call.”