Page 11 of Engaging the Deputy

Sharon had left small-town Montana, only to return home after she’d realized she was pregnant with Olivia. She’d moved in with her parents. Her mother and her grandparents, to make ends meet, had both raised Olivia. After her grandfather had died, Olivia had gone off to college, but her mother had stayed to take care of her own mother until her death.

Olivia took a sip of her coffee. “You came back here because you had no place to go,” she said. “I came home for the same reason.”

“You’re pregnant?”

She shook her head. How could she explain that her dream hadn’t turned out the way she’d thought it would? She’d gotten her degree in business administration and had no trouble getting a job. But she hadn’t been able to explain the hollowness she had felt. She’d been haunted by the feelings that she’d made the wrong choices and not just with her job. She’d felt as if she’d left something undone back here and that she’d needed to go home.

“Don’t you think I know why you fell in with Cody Ryan and then broke his heart when you hightailed it out of here? You didn’t want to be me.”

“Mom—”

“It’s all right. I don’t blame you. I never resented it. You had to leave. I wish you had at least come home once in a while to see me, but I understand that too. What I don’t understand is why you came back now. I suppose you know that Jaden Montgomery is now a deputy over in Fortune Creek. Is it true what I heard, that the two of you were engaged?”

Olivia waved that away, definitely not wanting to talk about her broken engagement. “I saw him last night. He’s in charge of the investigation out in Starling, where the tornado hit, almost destroying the entire community. Rob Perkins is dead, Cody’s unconscious and Dean Marsh is missing.”

Her mother shook her head. “I won’t even ask what you were doing out there.” Her expression softened as she asked, “Are you still in love with one of these men? Is that what brought you back?”

Olivia felt tears blur her vision as she shrugged. Maybe she was only in love with the past and that feeling of being silly and a fool in love with her whole life ahead of her. “I missed them both in their own ways.”

Her mother rolled her eyes and rose to pour herself more coffee. “Your grandmother was right about you. She always said you were too much like me, just give your heart away willy-nilly. Go get a shower and go to bed. You look like you’re going to fall on your face. I’ll make you some breakfast later.”

She kissed her mother on the cheek and headed for the bathroom, knowing it was going to take more than a shower and sleep to make this nightmare go away.

CHAPTER FIVE

Jenny Lee finally opened the door after the deputy had pounded on it, repeatedly calling out, “Sheriff’s Department.” He knew she was inside, curtains drawn, car in the drive. When she did finally answer, she only opened the door a crack, so she could peer out.

“I need to speak with you, Mrs. Lee,” Jaden said. He could see only one of her eyes from where she hid behind the open door. It was red and swollen. He’d waited until her husband had left for work, needing to speak with her alone. “We can talk here or I can take you down to the sheriff’s office, if you prefer, as part of my murder and assault investigation.”

“I don’t know anything,” she cried. “Can’t you just leave me alone?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

She didn’t move for a moment, then finally pushed open the door to let him in as she turned and retreated into the house. As soon as he entered, he saw that there had been a struggle. A coffee table was splintered in one corner, broken glass from what appeared to be a lamp glittered on the worn wood floor, and he could see a shattered mirror over the fireplace.

He swore under his breath as he closed the door behind him and followed her to the rear of the house. It wasn’t until she turned that he saw her black eye. She was a petite young woman with shoulder-length dark hair and a cowed expression, as if she’d had a rough life. “If you’d like to file charges against your husband—”

“No,” she said with an adamant shake of her head. “I’m fine.”

He could have argued that, given the painful way she was moving. He’d seen enough women like her to know her situation would only get worse if she stayed. But he knew she wouldn’t want to hear it.

“Let’s go out on the back porch,” Jenny said. “I haven’t felt like cleaning up yet. Watch where you step.”

Gingerly he worked his way through the broken glass. Once on what was a closed-in sun porch, she sat down, pulling her legs up under her. She wore a sweat-suit set, the long-sleeved top smeared with blood.

Jaden still hadn’t learned how to deal with domestic disputes. It was obvious that Tom Lee had physically abused his spouse. Jaden’s first instinct was to go to Tom Lee’s work and drag him outside. But unless Jenny filed charges…

“I need to get a statement from you about what happened last night in Starling,” he said, pulling out his notebook. “You were there with Dean Marsh?” She nodded. “How long have the two of you been seeing each other?”

“For a while,” she said.

“Weeks? Months?”

“I don’t see what that has to do with—”

“Dean is missing, presumed dead. With one man murdered and another assaulted and in a coma, I need to know what was going on last night in Starling besides a tornado.”

“You think Dean’s dead?” There was a catch in her voice. Her eyes filled with tears for a moment before she bit her lip and made a swipe at them. “We’d been meeting secretly for a few months.”

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