Page 52 of Valor

The police would want to know that too. Other than fellow photographers who might say a few mean things to her in competition, or the current sheriff who might hold a grudge about her father’s vocal disagreement during the last election, there wasn’t anyone she could think of.

“Allen is on his way. He’ll be here in a minute. I told him there were no injuries, just holes in my door, both coming and going.” The old man grinned like he wasn’t talking about bullets flying.

“I heard a shot come from my house. Dad didn’t look injured, but they scuttled him away quickly and I was behind a bush. What if he was shot?” She had to get a grip on herself. There was no way she could help her dad if she wasn’t calm.

“How did they know you were there?” Oliver asked, his eyes narrowing on her.

“The guy in the car saw me arrive home. I guess if he hadn’t, I’d have walked in on them. Something about him gave me the creeps and I paused for a second.”

“He saw you and now knows where you live?” Oliver suddenly sounded worried. “You might want to stay somewhere else for a while until the police figure out what’s going on.”

She might be able to make a sketch of the man who’d shot at her, though he’d been wearing sunglasses, so his eyes weren’t visible. The guy in the car had been too far away to tell anything other than that he wasn’t familiar. “You think they’ll come back?”

Oliver slowly sat down on the sofa near her. “If they didn’t kill your dad outright to get what they wanted in your house, then they didn’t get what they were aiming for. Maybe they need something like information. Your dad could be collateral for something you have. Maybe you know something they want to know. Maybe they know you won’t give up until you find your dad. That man was close to you. If he’d wanted you dead, he had seventeen rounds total. You’d have been dead. He was trying to scare you into tripping, stopping, or giving up.”

Heather swallowed hard. “They may have been after me?” She’d been certain that couldn’t be the case.

He nodded. “I’d almost guarantee it.”

She couldn’t breathe. What could she have or know that someone would want? She was nothing but a photographer. “I should go home. Those men wouldn’t come back when they know the police are on their way. I could look through the house to find whatever they wanted. I don’t know anything. They can’t be looking for information.”

She searched her recent memory for anything that might be considered threatening. The only odd thing had been a couple of men who’d approached Heather and her father when they’d been photographing a particularly fantastic sunset over the Badlands. They had asked to have their pictures taken, yet they were too agitated to smile. They’d asked Heather to use their phone, which hadn’t bothered her in the slightest, but they’d crowded around her afterward to see the shots, so close they’d almost stepped on her expensive equipment. That wasn’t a threat though.

“Whether or not you know why they’re after you, you or something you did is on the radar of someone who wants to harm you.” He laid a hand on her shoulder. “I know your dad has strong feelings about the sheriff, but those of us who know him know he’s a good man and the right man for this job.”

A knock on the door interrupted their talk, and the hairs on her arms stood on end. She had avoided the sheriff for almost a year since his election. For the last ten months, she couldn’t think of a single thing he’d done that would prove her father’s assessment of the man, but that didn’t change how her father felt, nor was he here to ask.

Her heart gave a little jump as Allen’s voice came from the door a few feet away. While she didn’t want to face him, ever, this situation needed the best man available. The sheriff had to be the best.

She stood and forced herself to put on a brave face she didn’t feel. “Sheriff, thank you for coming.”

He glanced up at her and back at Oliver. “You didn’t mention anyone else was involved.”

She swallowed hard. Maybe he had stronger feelings toward her father’s actions than she thought. “I can call in someone else if you don’t want to handle my side of the situation. I totally get it.” She’d forgotten her purse with her phone in it when she’d seen the odd car in her driveway. “I’ll go outside, grab my phone from my car, and make the call.” Except the broad-shouldered sheriff stood right in the door and he didn’t seem like he wanted to move out of her way.

“I think I can manage this if your cases are connected.” He waited for her response, his deep blue eyes assessing hers.

The man’s gaze was unnerving, like he could read her mind. When she nodded her agreement, he continued, “Can you describe the man who did this?”

Oliver offered the sheriff a seat at his round dining room table and turned on an overhead light that had yellowed with age and she could only call ‘vintage’. “Might as well have a seat. This could take a while.” His laugh was more like a wheeze.

Heather froze, unsure if she was invited to participate in this or if she should go with her gut and wait. Her options were slim. Wall, South Dakota, was a small town despite being one of the most famous places in the state. The police department had few people as there wasn’t a lot of need for a big force.

“Heather?” Sheriff Pendleton tapped the table a few feet from him for her to sit down. “We should get your account of what happened too.”

Why did his voice do strange things to her insides? Nerves. It had to be nerves over her father and her worry that Allan Pendleton wouldn’t take this case seriously if he knew he would be hunting for the man who’d tried to ruin his political campaign. Allen’s livelihood had been in the balance. Was that enough to ignore an abduction?

“I need to let you know. This is about Dad. Not me. If that makes you want me to call someone else, that’s fine.”

Their eyes locked from across the room, and with the intensity in his, she wasn’t sure she wanted him to answer.

* * *

Allen lookedat the obviously worried and frightened Heather Sundin. She couldn’t know that her father’s campaign to smear him in the last election had sent him down a major rabbit hole that changed his life. Not for the better. He tried his best to be the sheriff everyone needed, but after that, doubts assailed him about his abilities. Could he ever be a great sheriff with the secret only he and obviously Heather’s father knew?

He opened his mouth to answer, then closed it. What if Heather knew, too? Was that the reason she didn’t want to work with him, or was it merely because of her father’s distrust? “I promise you I will handle this case with the utmost care. I’m sworn to serve and protect, and I will do that until my dying breath.” Especially if that made up for a past he couldn’t control.

Heather nodded with short, choppy movements. Clearly, she didn’t trust his word and he made her nervous. She tugged out the chair and he noted her shaking hands as she sat. They were delicate artist’s hands. He fought the urge to reach out to try to calm her.

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