Shane (5 page)

“Then I’ll be sure to buy some before I leave today.”

“Okay then, I got to go help Gran.”

Emily left, and Shane took one of
the biscuits
and ate it as is.

“So you have two brothers. Are you the youngest,
oldest, or what?”

“The youngest.
I have
been since our baby brother died about three years ago.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

 
Shane nodded.
One of the worst times for the
Malones
and not
something he liked to think about. “And you
mentioned,
what two siblings?”

“Yes, an older sister and a younger brother.”

“And you’re not going to miss your family?”

“I might. It depends on how busy I get. I mean if I
had a job.
If someone would give me a chance to be a trainee
deputy.”

“I’ll find you a job that you’ll like even more.”

His mom brought their breakfasts to the table and
set the plates down in front of them. He hoped Lacey liked his choice of food;
sausage, bacon, eggs, hash browns, and toast.

****

“Wow, I might have to exercise for a long time to
burn off all these calories,” said Lacey, pulling the knife and fork out from
inside the rolled napkin.

He thought of one particular physical activity that
they both could do, but decided not to go down that road.
At
least not while they ate.

“Enjoy,” said his mom before she walked away.

Lacey took a bite of the sausage. He didn’t need to
ask her if it was good, he could see pure bliss written all over her face. He
picked up his coffee mug, drank, and watched her over the rim as she took another
bite.
Yeah pure bliss all right.
He bet she had a
tough time faking orgasms. He wondered if she’d ever had to. How he’d love to
give her one. Yeah, when he was done with her, she’d have signs of
permanent
bliss written all over her
face.

“You look like you’re up to no good,” she suddenly
said.

Shit, he didn’t have much of a poker face either.

“Nope, just enjoying my
breakfast.”

And
dirty thoughts of you.

“So what other jobs do you have in mind for me?”

He almost choked on his coffee, turning her innocent
question into something downright naughty.

“I’m going to ask around. And don’t get all uppity
with me again, but my mom’s a great lady to work for. And you’d get to know a
lot of locals working in here which could lead to a job you’d really like.”

So far so good.
She
hadn’t thrown anything at him.

“Can I think about it?”

He nodded as his cell phone rang. He pulled it out
of his jacket pocket and pressed the call button.

“Hello Sheriff Malone speaking.”

“Hi Shane,
it’s
Ruth.”

“Hi, trouble someplace?”
Lacey glanced over at him.

“Sure is, hunting accident. Three guys out shooting,
one thought he was taking aim at a deer, but it was actually his buddy. Guy
didn’t make it. The body’s in the woods off of Highway 34.”

Shane bit his lip. That was never good news.
 
“I’m on my way.” He pressed the end call
button. “There’s been an accident, and I’m needed.”

“How about I come along with you and learn the ropes?”

He slipped his phone back into his jacket. “No, I
don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“You just won’t give me a break here will you?”

“Believe me what I’m going to deal with isn’t for
amateurs, and personally I don’t think you’d want to see it. Will you be able
to walk back to the motel?”

“Sure, I could do with some air, and it will give me
a chance to look at some other stores, other than the bar.”

He stood, placed some money on the table and winked
at her.

“How about I ask around for possible work for you?”

“One of those better include deputy trainee.”

She was persistent—he’d give her credit for that. He
put his cowboy hat back on and headed out of the door knowing full well she was
watching his butt again.

****

Lacey turned around so she could see him walk
outside toward his truck. Cutest butt she’d ever seen. If he wasn’t so damn
arrogant and let her at least have a chance at the job, she’d do anything he
asked. The image of her wearing handcuffs and tethered to the headboard in her
motel room sprang to mind.
 
Obviously the
full effects of the alcohol hadn’t worn off completely.
 
She was still in a naughty, playful sense of
mind.

“Can I top up your coffee, honey?”

Lacey jumped, like a child caught red handed doing
something her parents had told her not to.

“Sure. And the food is wonderful.”

“Glad to hear that. Has my son stood you up all of a
sudden?”

“He got called out to an accident.”

“Oh dear, I hope it’s nothing too serious.”

“So how long has Shane been the sheriff?”

“The last ten years. He was the deputy before that.”

“Really?”

Marie nodded. “He never wanted to be a rancher like
his Daddy or brothers.
Always wanted to be the Timber Creek
sheriff.
 
When he was young he’d
even wear a badge. His dad gave him an unloaded gun, and he’d go around
arresting other kids for stealing things like apples off the neighbor’s trees.”
She laughed. “He used to write us parking and speeding tickets too.”

Lacey smiled. She wondered if he’d been just as cute
when he was younger. “I’m sure being sheriff doesn’t leave him much time for a
social life. I mean like dating.”

Had that come across as a little too obvious? And
after all, this woman was his mom and she might tell him that Lacey was asking
if he was seeing anyone, and he’d put two and two together. Yeah, he’d know
there was some interest.

“If that’s your way of asking does he have a
girlfriend, then the answer is no.
 
It’s
a small community, so everyone knows everyone’s business, and we don’t mind if
you come out and ask directly.”

“I’ll have to remember that. So let me try it again.
Does Shane have a girlfriend?”

“Now would you be asking because you’ve got an
interest in him, because if so you couldn’t do any
better.
However, don’t love him and leave him. I wouldn’t want to see him get his heart
broken again.”

She walked away without saying anything else.

So he’d probably been dumped. Well, now she knew they
had one thing in common. However, she very much doubted he’d been dumped in
quite the same way as she had.

Chapter
Four

Shane pulled his truck up over to the shoulder. He
took a deep breath. Death whether it be natural or not was the worst part of
his job. In fact, it was the only part that he actually hated. Informing the
next of kin, usually people he knew and had often grown up with, was personally
devastating. The last death had been that of a young runaway from Idaho. She’d
gotten herself mixed up with the wrong crowd who’d been making meth, and paid
the price.

He turned off the ignition and sat for a few
minutes. Bringing bad people to justice made up for the downside of the job.
And that’s what he constantly reminded himself. He got out and hoped that in this
case, it had only been an unfortunate accident and nothing more.

Two other trucks were already at the scene. One
belonged to his soon to be retiring deputy, the other, the county medical
examiner who worked at the local hospital. The temperature had dropped due to
the higher elevation, and he smelled the familiar tinge in the air that told
him snow was forthcoming and soon.

He headed through the thick brush and looked down.
Mike, his deputy, caught sight of him and waved. Shane picked up his pace,
wanting to get this over and done with as soon as possible.
 
He slipped on some downed branches, and then
as he got closer, he saw the body of a man with half his face missing.

“Shane,” said Ted, the medical examiner.
“Looks like he died instantly.”

Shane shook his head. “Anyone ID him yet?”

“John Jacobson.”

“Geez,” said Shane. “He went to school with Rory.”

“Shane,” said Mike approaching him. “I’ve taken a statement
from John’s two friends, and they’re in my truck. I should tell you
it’s
Todd
Halesby
and Richie
Filmore
. You want to talk to them?”

Shit, two more guys he knew “Sure do.”

“They’re both pretty shaken up about the whole
thing,” said Mike.

Shane pulled up the collar on his jacket and headed
back up the hill behind Mike. Both men were sitting in the back of the truck.
Mike had secured their hunting guns by the side of the vehicle.

Shane opened back the door and leaned against the
frame of the truck.

“Morning Shane,” said Todd. “We’re so sorry about
this, we really are. You know how careful we are when we go hunting.”

He nodded. It was true all the guys he knew took
every precaution in the book.

“Let’s have an informal talk here, but I’ll need
both of you to come back to the office and sign a statement.”

They nodded.

“So what happened?” asked Shane.

“I just don’t know Shane.
Me
and Richie went to the left over by the ravine there. John said he’d seen a
deer running down by the side of the Simpson’s farm, so he went that way. I
turned, saw what I thought was a deer, and holy shit Shane, I fired and then I
saw him go down.”

Richie gave him a friendly slap on the back. “It’s
okay buddy.
Could happen to anyone.”

“I noticed John wasn’t wearing his orange jacket,”
said Shane.
“Any reason for that?”
He pushed his hat
back farther on his head and looked at both men.

“He ripped it last week when we went out hunting,
and he said he didn’t have time to repair it. You know Maggie left him two
weeks ago.”

“No, I didn’t know. I want you to follow Mike back
to the office and give formal statements. We’ll keep the guns for testing, and
if I have any questions I’ll be in touch.”

“Miss you can’t be here.”

Shane turned to see what looked like Lacey over by
the ravine and Mike shouting to her.

Surely she hadn’t followed him out here to prove her
point. Yep, it was her all right, and she was heading toward John’s body.

“Excuse me there’s something I have to deal with,”
Shane told the two men.

Shane took off over the hill, hoping her could get
to her before she saw the body. But it was too late. She was right there and
suddenly stopped in her tracks. She turned to look at Shane. She’d looked that
way last night just before she’d thrown up.
The loss of color
in her cheeks and the glassy look to her eyes.
Before he could get to
her, she leaned over and vomited.

“Miss, what are you doing?” asked Mike approaching
for the other direction.

“It’s okay, she’s with me,” said Shane.

“Geez, I…” She leaned over and threw up again.

Shane put his arm around her and led her back up the
hill. He was as pissed as hell, but somehow seeing her empty her stomach and be
void of every bit of color in her face, made him want to go easy on her.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he said.

He opened her car door and sat her down. “You have a
something in your bag we can wipe your mouth with?”

She nodded and rummaged through her bag and dug out
a tissue. He took it and dabbed the corners of her lips.

“How did you know where I was?” he asked.

“I’m great at getting information out of people,”
she said, hanging her head down.

He knew who’d told her. “I guess you’ve won Ruth
over already.” He smiled at her. “That’s one hell of an ally you have on your
side.”

“I’m sorry. I just thought if I got to see things
first hand…that poor man.”

She burst into tears. Any anger Shane felt for her
interfering with his investigation flew out of the window.
Nothing
quite like soothing a female who needed comforting to boost his ego.

He put his arms around her and pulled her in close.
She was soft, warm, and her hair smelled like spring rain in the valley. He
closed his eyes, realizing just how much he’d missed having a woman in his
arms. A whole two years since he’d had his heart broken. Two years since he’d
been too scared to even have a one night stand for fear the wall he’d built
around himself would be broken away leaving him vulnerable all over again.