Page 10 of Return to Laurel Valley

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“I need to get back to work soon,” Lily said sometime later. “I’ve got to catch Coltraine while he’s weak and not expecting me.”

“It’s too dangerous with the water levels the way they are.”

“That’s why I’ve got to go. Gotta catch the bad guys and put them away.”

She went limp in his arms and he kissed her forehead while she slept. “You should’ve stayed a cop. I bet you were a good one.”

Her breathing was even with sleep but she answered, “I wasn’t a good cop. Good cops don’t let people die.”

And then she didn’t say anything else as sleep claimed her fully, but the words she’d spoken echoed over and over in his mind. He knew the torment of what it was like to watch partners and friends die. And he hated that she’d been living with all that trapped inside of her and no one to share it with.

Chapter Five

Blaze dozed off and on for an hour before he finally gave up on sleep and rolled out of bed.

Lily was dead to the world, but he still moved quietly as he pulled a work shirt out of his closet along with a pair of clean jeans. He laced his boots and strapped on his weapon and then went into the other room to get his heavier raincoat.

He saw the file lying on the table next to her bag and he didn’t worry about overstepping the boundaries of privacy one bit as he flipped it open to the papers inside. He studied the picture of Jackson Coltraine and read through the particulars of his crimes and arrest. He was considered armed and dangerous, and the thought of Lily going up against someone like that didn’t sit well with him. It wouldn’t hurt to start his own search and see what he came up with.

He left her a note so she’d know he was at the station, and then flicked the lock as he closed his front door behind him. The front porch was no protection against the driving horizontal rain, and he pulled his hood up as it immediately battered against him.

The rain sliced at his face as he hurried down the stairs and into his truck. The drive to the station was short and he pulled into his spot, parked the truck, and ran to the back entrance where he coded himself in.

It was pandemonium. All of his dispatchers were on the phone, and his cops were soggy and dripping all over the floors. One of his deputies was asleep at his desk and the smell of strong coffee was overpowering.

He heard Lieutenant Nathan Boone’s irritated voice on the phone as he walked toward his office. He hung his jacket on the peg and waited until Boone got off the phone before peeking his head in the other man’s office.

“Everything okay?” Blaze asked.

Boone had been a cop for twenty years. He was seasoned and hardened, and there wasn’t much of anything that could rattle him. He’d turned down a promotion for captain twice because he didn’t want to sit behind a desk until he retired. Blaze could understand and respect that. He was behind a desk more than he wanted to be as the sheriff.

“I thought you were going home to get some sleep,” Boone said. “You look like something the cat dragged in. Or something the bounty hunter dragged in.”

Blaze gave him a rude hand gesture and Boone threw back his head and laughed.

“I got enough sleep to last me awhile,” Blaze said. “Who was that on the phone?”

“That was Earl Wilkins telling me he was going to take his boat and round up some extra hands.” Boone rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair, propping a booted foot on the corner of the desk. “That fool is going to end up swamping the boat and then we’ll have to stop what we’re doing and go rescue the whole lot of them. He says it’s obvious we’re understaffed since no one has been out to check on them, so they’re going to take matters into their own hands. He wanted to know if he can shoot if he finds people looting.”

“Good God,” Blaze said, imagining the worst outcome. “Earl is a hundred and fifty years old. He couldn’t see the Titanic if it was right in front of him.”

“That was pretty much my thought too. I assured him there was no reason for him to leave his house. He has a generator and plenty of food and water. But he told me if Rory Jenkins from down the road tried to come steal some of his provisions?—”

Boone glared at him when Blaze couldn’t quite hold back a snicker. “I kid you not the man said provisions, as if we’re in the middle of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. He said if Rory tried to steal from him, then he was going to shoot him dead as a doornail.”

“He just wants an excuse to shoot Rory because Rory Jr. got Earl’s granddaughter, Jo Beth, in trouble and didn’t offer to marry her. Rory Jr. ran off to join the army instead, and I’ve heard it’s because his father told him to take the first train out of town and take it fast.”

Boone winced and Blaze nodded in agreement. If Rory Jr. ever came back to Laurel Valley, they could have a real problem on their hands.

“I can’t tell you how comforting it is to know that of the three thousand full-time residents in this town, over half of them are registered firearms users,” Blaze said, shaking his head at the horror.

“I wouldn’t feel too comfortable with those statistics,” Boone said. “Because you know the other half are unregistered users. This is the middle of nowhere. Everyone and their dog has a gun. Heck, even my housekeeper keeps a gun in the pocket of her apron.”

Blaze sighed. “Yeah, my sister keeps a gun in a hollowed-out book in her office at the library.”

Boone pressed his fingers to his eyes. “I didn’t need to know that. The library is city property. Can she do that?”

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