Page 10 of Engaging the Deputy

“No. The storm uncovered some human remains. Oh, and my former fiancée is here with the unconscious man who is being transported to the hospital.”

His boss swore. “And I thought I had a rough night with all the storm calls. Any suspects?”

“Lots of them, including Elden Rusk’s ghost. I wouldn’t be surprised if they all tell me they saw Rusk in the storm, walking away from Starling, carrying something heavy.”

“The gold,” Brandt joked. “What the devil were they doing out there?”

Good question, he thought. “Some kind of Halloween dare, apparently. Though one of them could have had an ulterior plan to commit murder. The confusion during the tornado gave him or her the perfect opportunity.” He shuddered as the sun rose so he could see the devastation and how little was left of Starling. “It’s a miracle any of them survived.”

“Let alone Rusk.” For Jaden, Rusk was no laughing matter. He was the boogeyman who’d come out of his closet at night all during his childhood. “Good luck narrowing down the suspects.”

“The coroner says there are two sets of human remains. One a teenage girl and the other a man somewhere between twenty-five and thirty. Apparently, they were buried together in the root cellar.”

“All in a night’s work,” the sheriff said. “I’m finishing a case up here or I would help you.”

“I’m good,” Jaden said, then thought of Olivia. Not as good as he was pretending to be. What was she doing back here, let alone with Cody Ryan?

* * *

The morning wasalmost gone by the time Olivia walked into her mother’s house. She’d gotten a ride into town with one of the rescue team after giving her statement to Jaden. Just her luck that she’d been in Starling with her former high school boyfriend and the investigating deputy had been her former fiancé.

“You’re not planning to leave town, are you?” he’d asked her. “I need you to stick around because the state boys might want to talk to you about what happened out in Starling.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“You staying out at the house with your mother?”

“I am.”

He’d been all business, all sheriff’s deputy, not the man she’d almost married, so she’d done her best to do the same. She’d imagined seeing him again but never under these circumstances. She wished that she’d called him as soon as she’d returned. She’d definitely thought about it. But after the way they’d left things when the engagement had ended, she wasn’t sure he’d want to talk to her—let alone care that she was back in the area.

“Jaden?” It was the first time she’d said his name in so long, it had sounded strange on her lips. “Was Rob really murdered?” He’d nodded. “They still haven’t found Dean?” He’d only shaken his head. “You can’t really believe that I had anything to do with what happened out here. That I did something to Cody.”

“Like leave your former boyfriend to die in that hole after clobbering him with a rock? Someone killed Rob and I suspect someone attacked Cody. The same person could have done something to Dean Marsh as well. Or had help with all three.”

She had felt her eyes widen, alarmed that he would even say something like that. “You know me,” she’d cried. “You know I had nothing to do with any of it.”

His answer had been evasive. “The investigation is ongoing.” He’d sounded so cold, not that she could blame him. He’d even asked her about the last time she’d seen Rob Perkins. If she hadn’t gotten turned around after leaving Cody in the root cellar, it wouldn’t have made her look so guilty. It had been dark and there’d been so much debris to try to get through… But she’d said all of that to him and it appeared he hadn’t believed anything she’d told him. What he must think of her.

He’d asked if she’d seen anyone after she and Cody had gone for a walk. “I only saw them from a distance when I heard the girls with Emery and Rob screaming. I glimpsed them down by the creek playing around. After that I never saw any of them again.” She’d registered his expression and felt her ire rise. “You know me.You know I’m not a killer.” He hadn’t commented. “I can’t believe this.”

“Let’s get you a ride home” was all he’d said after that.

* * *

Her mother waspouring herself a cup of coffee as Olivia came into the kitchen. “You’ve been out all night?” Then Sharon Brooks took a good look at her. “What happened to you?” she demanded, alarmed.

“I got caught in a tornado.” She poured herself a cup of coffee, even though the smell made her stomach roil. Cupping the mug of hot coffee in her hands, she tried to quit shaking. “I almost died. Cody…” Her voice broke and she couldn’t continue.

“Cody Ryan? You were with him? I thought that was over a long time ago?”

Olivia shook her head, too exhausted to explain why she’d gone out with him tonight, let alone everything that had happened. She kept seeing Cody down in the root cellar, bleeding and unconscious. If that wasn’t awful enough, she couldn’t forget Deputy Jaden Montgomery’s expression when he’d questioned her. He actually believed she could be responsible for what had happened to Cody, let alone the others?

“I should never have come home.”

“Why did you after six years without hardly a word?”

She looked at her mother and felt a wave of guilt. Cody was right. She hadn’t looked back when she’d left, not even to do more than occasionally keep in touch with her mother. But if anyone should be able to understand why she’d left, it was her mother.

---