Taming a Texas Devil - Katie Lane Page 0,38
what I aimed for. I aimed for the truck. Not him.”
“But the bullets could have ricocheted.”
“They could’ve, but they didn’t. Sam was just fine when he drove off like the hounds of hell were after him.” Chester chuckled.
“Dammit! This isn’t funny, Chester.” The horse felt his frustration and pranced sideways until Lincoln got her under control. “If Sam turns up dead, you’ll be a prime suspect if anyone finds out about what you did. And now that I know, I’ll have to report it.” He took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair. “Dammit.”
“This is why I didn’t tell you in the first place,” Chester said. “I knew if Sam turned up dead, it would put you in a tight spot.”
It did put him in a tight spot. Even if Chester hadn’t killed Sam, he’d shot at him. And that kind of evidence could lead to a conviction. The only way to make sure Chester wasn’t falsely accused was to find out what happened to Sam Sweeney. He was a Texas Ranger. He needed to get over his hatred of Sam and start acting like one. If it turned out Sam had been murdered, he needed to bring the murderer to justice.
Even if it was an old cowboy who he loved like a father.
When they got back to the Double Diamond ranch, he got dressed in his ranger uniform and headed into town. He wanted to look at Sheriff Willaby’s reports and see if the sheriff had discovered anything he hadn’t told Lincoln about. Something Deputy Meriwether had completely overlooked. Of course, he would have to get the password from the deputy without letting her know what he was doing. She was much too eager to be part of the case and he wasn’t about to include her.
He thought he would have to track the deputy down in town. But when he stopped by the sheriff’s office, he discovered the front door open. It just wasn’t Deputy Meriwether sitting in the chair in the sheriff’s office.
It was the sheriff.
Sheriff Willaby had his back to the door and was two-finger hunting and pecking on the computer keyboard. He was dressed in civilian clothes, which led Lincoln to deduce that he wasn’t there officially. And since he hadn’t even taken off his hat, Lincoln also deduced that he wasn’t planning on staying long enough to see how the deputy was doing. He was there for another reason.
Lincoln quietly stepped into the room. But before he could see what was on the screen, Deputy Meriwether spoke from behind him.
“So now you’ve taken to breaking and entering, Officer Hayes?”
The sheriff quickly turned off the computer and whirled around in his chair as the deputy walked into the room.
“Oh! Sheriff Willaby.” She froze next to Lincoln. “I didn’t realize you were back to work.”
Lincoln crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t think the sheriff is back for good. I think the sheriff just stopped by to . . . what did you stop by for, Willaby?”
Sheriff Willaby’s eyes narrowed. “What are you doing here, Hayes?”
Before Lincoln could take the sheriff down a notch or two . . . or possibly three, the deputy jumped in. “Officer Hayes has been nice enough to help out this little ol’ rookie deputy while you’ve been gone, sheriff.” She winked. “Not that you didn’t do a great job of showing me the ropes.”
The sheriff looked back and forth between them before a smirk settled on his face. “So the gossip I heard is true. You have been fooling around with my deputy.”
Lincoln’s fists tightened. He didn’t know if he was pissed about the accusation or about Willaby calling the deputy his. “You should know better than to believe gossip, Sheriff.”
“And you should know better than to fraternize with a fellow officer, Hayes.”
“Fraternize?” Deputy Meriwether’s eyes widened. “Why, Sheriff Willaby, I hope you are not implying what I think you’re implying. Officer Lincoln Hayes has been nothing but a gentleman towards me and extremely understanding about the few little mistakes I’ve made as a new deputy. He’s stopped by twice now to make sure everything is okeydokey. And I’m sure that’s what you’re doing here too, Sheriff Willaby. I mean a girl couldn’t have two better mentors.”
She took off her hat, gave that gorgeous blond hair a shake, and then tossed the hat at the hooks on the wall. Surprisingly, it landed on the hook. She gave a satisfied smile before she moved around the desk.