Judging Judas (Tarnished Saints Series Book 3) (15 page)

Judas walked up behind her
, putting his hat on his head. Then he put his arms around her waist from behind and kissed her behind the ear. “I wish we could go back to bed and start this day over.”

“Judas, we’ve got to go after her,” said Laney.

“That’s exactly what I’m going to do. Because I think she’s going to go back to the scene of the crime.”

“Crime? What are you saying?
What crime?”

“I’m saying she’ll probably lead me right to Levi’s stupid goats.” He headed down the stairs and to his squad car.

“Wait,” called out Laney. “I’ll get my purse and cell phone and come with you.”

“Laney, I can handle this. You stay here, it may be dangerous.”

“Then all the more reason I’m coming with. Don’t forget, that is my baby out there too, Judas. So let’s go get her together.”

Chapter 13

Judas hid the squad car behind a clump of bushes and just waited for J.D. to come out of Charolette’s house. Lane
y’s little green car was parked in front, and there was no doubt the girl was inside.

“I’ll just go in
and get her,” said Laney putting her hand on the door handle, not sure what Judas would do when J.D. came out, and not sure she wanted to find out.

“No.” Judas’s hand shot out and gripped her wrist. “This is a stakeout and we’re never going to get our answers if we go up banging on the door and announcing our presence.”

“Fine,” she said, settling back down in the seat next to him.

Static came over the radio on his shou
lder and then the voice of Watt, his deputy.

“Sher
iff Taylor, I spotted the McGill brothers that Charolette and J.D. were with last night. Should I move in and question them?”

“Not yet,” said Judas into the radio. “Just keep an eye on them and let me know if they leave town or do anything suspicious.”

“Ten-four.”

“You really think J.D. had something to do with steal
ing those goats, don’t you?” Laney asked him.

“And you don’t?” He looked over
to her and made a face and just shook his head.

“Unfor
tunately, I do,” she said with a sad nod. “This morning she had that smug look on her face that told me she was up to mischief. And when she denied the whole thing she didn’t sound very convincing, did she?”

“Not at all,” he said. “So tell me, why do you think she’d even attempt such a lame trick? Just out of boredom?”

“No. When she’s bored she eats or smokes.”

“Really.
”

She looked over to see Judas lighting up a cigarette.
“That’s right,” she said with a nod of her head. “She said she also does it when she’s upset as it seems to calm her down.”

“That’s stupid,” he said, reaching down into a pile of junk on the floor by her feet and picking up a bag of spicy chips. He ripped it open with his teeth
and then held the bag out to her. “Care for one, now that you like them?”

“No,” she said with a wave of her hand. “And just because I sai
d they were good on the breakfast sandwich doesn’t mean I actually like them.”

“Here she is,” he said, putting out his cigarette in the ashtray and tossing the package of chips onto the seat. He talked in
to his radio again, letting his deputy know what was going on. Then he started up the engine and waited while J.D. got into the car with Charolette.

Laney observed that Charolette was about the same age as J.D. and had lots
of tattoos and piercings as well. But her hair was black and spiky and stood straight up in the middle and was cut short around the bottom. She wore a mini skirt and tall boots up to her knees and a thin tank top without a back. When she bent over to get into the car, Laney could see down her top and up her skirt.

“I don’t think I like our daughter hanging out with Charolette,” she said, feeling sick to her stomach.

“You and me both,” he answered, pulling away slowly, making sure to stay quite a distance behind them.

They followed them to
the other side of town where J.D. stopped and picked up the McGill brothers who jammed their tall bodies into the back seat of Laney’s little car.

“I’m never getting my car back and in one piece am I?” she asked.

“What’s your twenty?” Judas asked into the radio after following them for awhile. Then the little green bug stopped and the four kids got out at the fairgrounds that were now vacated since the fair was over. His deputy answered that he was just around the corner. “Stay there and don’t come in until I call for backup,” he told him.

“Backup? What do you think is going to happen?” asked Laney. “Judas
, I don’t like this at all. I’m getting out and going to talk to my daughter right now.”

“This is police business,
now stay put,” he said getting out of the car. She noticed his hand resting atop his gun.

“For heaven’s
sake don’t shoot anyone,” she warned him out the window. She waited nervously for Judas to return. After about five minutes, J.D. and her friends came out of one of the fairground’s buildings and took off again in her car.

Laney waited for at least another ten
minutes, but when Judas didn’t return, she started to wonder what was taking him so long. She got out of the car and met him walking out of one of the animal barns. He was leading three goats tied together with a rope.

“You found them.” She rushed up to meet him. The goats were bleating and following him because of the long carrot in his hand.

“She was guilty just like we thought, as well as her friends,” Judas told her. “It looks like she came back and fed the goats scraps from our breakfast as well as food from the fridge. I even found the bag from the chips we left in the kitchen.”

“So the animals aren’t harmed
?”

“Not at all. And lu
cky for her, or she would have hell to pay.”

“And you
’re not going to arrest any of them then?”

“Laney, she’s my daughter. And pregnant if I must remind you.”

“But I thought you told her if she screwed up again you’d have to put her back behind bars.”

“I can’t do it,” he said, shaking his head
. “The girl needs disciplining, that’s all.”

“Judas, I agree with you, but what is Levi going to say?”

“I’m not going to tell him I know who took the goats. I’m only going to say I found them here.”

“But . . . is that right?”

“Do you want your daughter arrested?”

“No, of course not. But you’re
the sheriff. I just want to make sure you don’t get yourself in trouble over J.D.”

“Sweetheart, this
is a small town. And if this were a few years ago, I’d take her down to the station and throw her in the cell because it is the right thing to do. But I don’t want to make the same mistakes I did when I screwed up with Levi. I want to make amends with my daughter, not chase her away. As it is, I have a feeling she only took these goats because she thought it would hurt me.”

“Thank you, Judas,” she said, throwing her arms ar
ound him and giving him a kiss.

“Don’t
thank me yet. I didn’t say J.D. is off the hook. Matter of fact, what I’ve got planned for both her and also her friends isn’t going to be enjoyable. By the time J.D.’s done working off her debt for me, she’ll wish I’d sent her to jail.”

A pickup truck
that said Kramer’s Garage on the side pulled up hauling a trailer with tall sides. It stopped in front of them and Dan – Thomas’s seventeen-year-old son got out of one side, and Gus Kramer, an older, shorter man got out of the driver’s side.

“Uncle Judas you found the goats,” said Dan reaching out and taking the rope from him. The goats pulle
d against it and let out a few naaaaaaa’s, but when Judas handed Dan the carrot, they followed the boy to the trailer.

“About time
you got here,” said Judas to Gus. “Now get them back to the restaurant before the TV crew shows up.”

“I came as quick
ly as I could when I got yer call, since it was police business and all,” Gus drawled. “But I had a crick in m’ neck and took a minute to have the missus rub some ointment on it first.” He rubbed his neck, walking slow with no sense of urgency at all. “Good mornin’ Mrs. Taylor,” he said with a nod of his head. “Married life treatin’ ye well and all?”

“It is, Mr. Kramer and thank you for asking.” She remembered seeing Gus at the wedding reception –
at both Thomas’s and theirs. She also knew the krick in his neck was probably from him turning his head so fast to look at all the pretty young girls all night. And then turning back when his wife swatted at him.

“So ye found the dang blame goats after all. I wonder how they got all the way over here.”

“Did you find out who stole them?” asked Dan, closing up the goats into the back of the trailer.

“It’s still an open case,” said Judas.

Laney walked away to join Dan as Judas talked to Gus, nodding and trying to cut him off as Gus rambled on about nothing important.

“So how is everything with you
?” Laney asked Dan, reaching over to pet one of the goats.

“Mrs. Taylor,” said Dan with a worried look on his face. “I have something I need to tell my uncle but I’m not sure if I should.”

“First off, call me Laney,” she told him. “Because there’s a lot of Mrs. Taylors walking around and it could become confusing.”

“Actually, there’s only three of you,” he pointed out.

“But there will be more as your uncles keep marrying, so let’s stick with Laney, shall we?”

“I’d like that,” he said with a smile
, his eyes lighting up when he spoke. “Thanks.”

“Now, what is it that you’re afraid to tell Judas?”

“Well,” he said, looking over to his uncle. “I didn’t mention it to Gus this morning, but I think someone may have borrowed this trailer last night.”

“What do you mean?”

“I washed it yesterday, and this morning it was full of dirt. And I found this on it as well.” He held out a friendship bracelet make of colored rope.

“What is this?” she asked, holding it up in her fingers to inspect it
.

“It’s a bracelet. It’s Charolette’s,” he told her.

“And you think she took the trailer?”

“I do.
I saw her with J.D. and the McGill brothers last night. They dumped me after the reception, saying they wanted to go out and smoke pot and didn’t want me there since they knew I don’t do those kind of things.”

“Oh my,” said Laney, hoping her daughter wasn’t that stupid to smoke pot when she was pregnant. “Well, how can you be sure this is Charolette
’s? I’m sure lots of girls have bracelets like this.”

“Not like this on
e. See this?” He pointed out a clump of horse hair woven into the rope. “I know it’s hers cuz I made it for her and gave it to her just before school let out. She liked our horses, so I made the bracelet special by adding some clippings from their tails.”

“You did?” She smiled. “You are sweet on the girl aren’t you?”

He nodded slowly. “But please don’t tell Uncle Judas because he’ll tell my Pa. And after the life Pa had with Fawn, his late wife, he won’t understand.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means, Pa thinks I should stay away from girls like Charolette and won’t be happy if he knows I’ve had my eye on her for over a year now.”

“Oh my! Daniel, maybe you should look for another type of girl.”

“How can you say that, when your daughter is the same type?”

Laney closed her mouth and handed him back the bracelet. “I won’t say anything, Dan. And don’t you say anything about your friends borrowing this trailer either. I think things are going to change soon and maybe Charolette will end up being one of those girls that your dad likes after all.”

“I hope you’re right, Laney. Thanks.” He shoved the bracelet back into his pocket as Gus and Judas came to join them.

She hoped that whatever
Judas had planned for the kids involving disciplining that it really would bring about a change for the better. Because if not, she had a feeling they’d end up with a grandchild who had tattoos and pierced ears before it even learned to walk.

Chapter 14

It had been a productive day after all, and Laney was pleased with the results. After they’d dropped off their marriage license, they’d stopped by the restaurant to make sure the goats were back up on the roof and safe.

And it seemed that Levi and Judas were at least on speaking terms again because of it. When the TV crew came by to film, the whole town showed up because of the excitement.

She watched from the front window of her store as the
TV truck pulled away and the crowd disappeared into the restaurant to get something to eat. She could see Judas making his way back to the police station, stopping to talk to people along the way.