Page 73 of Valor

“I am. Are you?” Rod’s brows shot up to his hairline. “You seem really thick in this case. Are you ready to give up the reins? That’s what will happen.”

Heather wasn’t ready to see anyone else leading the case. “I know I don’t have any say in the matter, but I would like Allen to stay in the lead. I trust him.”

Allen squeezed her hand. It was so close to holding it that she gasped. “I appreciate your confidence, but it may be out of my hands. There’s no guarantee Rod’s superiors will want him on the case, but it’s a possibility. Their office is pretty hard to crack. Some cases get passed over because there aren’t enough agents to handle them.”

Rod slowly nodded as he pulled into the parking lot of the police department. “You may find that my supervisor determines this doesn’t warrant my help, though he’ll wonder why I stuck my nose in at all. Let me go first to make sure no one followed us.” He slowly got out of the car and looked all over the lot as he made his way to the front door.

When he made it, he turned back toward the car and gave a slight nod.

“That’s our signal. It’s safe to go. Are you all right?” Allen brushed some glass off her shoulder, the gentle action making her feel safer than she had any right to feel.

“I will be when this is all over.”

He got out of the car, then took her heavy backpack and shrugged it over his shoulder. “Let’s get you inside. Nothing can get you in there.”

All that was great, but she couldn’t live in the sheriff’s office. She had to leave and find her father. She had to know who was after her and stop them. The problem was, she was running out of places to go that were safe. So far, her attackers hadn’t found them at the cabin, but how long until that haven was taken too?

“I can show the drawing once we get inside. I’m almost done.” The rendering only needed some final shading, and she hadn’t been able to get the nose quite right, but it was close.

“I can’t wait to see it.”

“You won’t know him. I feel like I know this whole town and I didn’t recognize him.”

Allen opened the door and held it while she followed Rod inside. “Maybe. Then again, I know there are more people in town that you might not know than you realize. I see the side of town you don’t. The side that never goes to parks and doesn’t get photos taken.”

Heather bit back a retort, realizing he was right. There were probably quite a few people she didn’t know. “I guess we’ll see when I show you.”

They made their way to Allen’s office. He offered his chair to Rod and one chair on the other side to Heather. She took a seat and pulled her drawing from her bag to work on it.

Allen sat next to her, watching her work. She’d thought her ability to do anything would freeze if anyone watched her, but maybe because of his confidence boosting statements earlier, she wasn’t stalled. Within a few minutes, she was able to put the finishing touches on her drawing, even correcting the nose that had given her such trouble.

“Here.” She laid it on his desk in the bright overhead light. The face stared back at her, just like he had the day before. She couldn’t help a slight shiver. He wasn’t a nice man. Whatever he wanted with the data on the drive couldn’t be good.

“It’s a land description,” Rod said. “Looks to be just outside of Wall, between here and Badlands National Park. That’s as much as I could find in the first file. There are three others inside that file. I just found them.”

“That’s the land in question. The parcel some big farmers wanted to buy,” Allen said.

“Are you sure they’re farmers?” Heather asked. “If there was some other reason to get their hands on the land, that would explain why they’re after me.”

Allen paused a moment. “That’s a good question. They presented themselves as farmers. I didn’t look into them because there didn’t seem any reason to investigate. They were following legal means to do what they wanted.”

Heather waited to hear what Rod had to say. She trusted Allen, and he was right. There wouldn’t have been a reason to question the men. Rod kept typing away, leaving them waiting for an answer.

“Oh, no...” Rod’s fingers flew over the keyboard. “No, no, no!” He sighed and slightly pushed the laptop away. “There was a trigger within the drive to auto-delete the information if someone tried to open those two files. I was using a copy of the drive, but without plugging this into a computerized system, I don’t want to keep trying.”

“So, we know this has to do with land that’s up for a vote to be taken from the owners.”

Allen laid a hand on her shoulder and her body tensed under the brief, gentle pressure. “I looked the owners up a minute ago to prepare for the meeting. They bought the land fifteen years ago when the county offered it for sale for non-payment of taxes. Looks like the former owners were conscientious objectors to all forms of government, including taxes. They stayed on the property after it was sold for about three months, but they were removed after that.”

Heather cringed. So, the request to buy it was legal. “Are these new buyers related to the original owners?”

Allen sat back down at his computer. He did a few seconds of searching before he frowned. “Not sure. On the complaint, I see now it’s a corporation. I know some farms are incorporated, but this one is out of Rapid City. That seems strange.”

“What could they want with land in the middle of nowhere, and why are they trying to kill me to get it?”

Rod leaned back in his seat. “Not sure, but it might be a good idea to keep a close eye on everyone at that meeting tonight.” He glanced at his watch. “If you plan to get there before it starts, you should go.” He handed Allen the original thumb drive and pulled the copy from his computer. She hadn’t even noticed he’d copied it, but was glad he’d had a parachute before jumping.

“I’ll lock this back up, then head over to the civic center. You want to come along?”

---