Page 28 of Engaging the Deputy

It was one of those pitch-black nights when the clouds hung low, blotting out the stars. She could barely see the outline of the mountains that rimmed the valley against the dark sky. Like her future, all she could see was the few feet her headlights illuminated ahead of her. When she finally caught the lights of town, she relaxed a little and tried not to think about the ride home.

There were only a few cars in the bar parking lot because of the time of the year and the weekday night. She found Emery sitting in a corner booth at the back, alone. He was staring into his half-empty glass and didn’t look up until she slid into the booth, across from him.

He seemed startled to see her for a moment. She’d never seen him nervous, let alone on edge. Until tonight.

“Has something happened?” she whispered.

“Let me get you a drink,” he said, hurriedly getting to his feet. “What would you like?”

Thinking of her drive home, she said, “Just a cola.”

He hurried away to the bar and came back a few minutes later with her soda and another drink for himself. He took a gulp of his before he said, “You heard about the human bones that were found?”

“Cody and I discovered them after the tornado left them exposed down in the root cellar.”

“They’re Evangeline’s. I have a friend who works at the sheriff’s office.”

“I’m surprised they already have the DNA back,” she said.

Emery shook his head. “They don’t, but there was some clothing found buried deeper in the grave that matched what Evangeline was wearing the night she disappeared.”

Olivia shuddered, thinking of the dark figure she’d seen standing in the Rusk doorway. “It’s so creepy. Do they think she’s been there this whole time?”

Emery nodded and took another slug of his drink. “There was a man buried with her. Probably the father of her baby.” He raised an eyebrow. “You know he killed his daughter and the man who’d impregnated her.”

She didn’t know that for a fact, although it did seem likely, didn’t it? Was this why Emery had gotten her here tonight? He could have told her in the text.

“There’s something I didn’t tell anyone about that night,” Emery said as he ran his finger through the moisture on his glass without looking at her. “I saw him.”

“Saw who?” She realized she was whispering, although there was no one around who could hear. The only patrons were a handful at the bar. The bartender had the television on a loud ball game.

Emery looked up at her. “Elden Rusk.”

She didn’t know what to say, but she could understand why he hadn’t mentioned this to anyone, maybe especially Jaden. She certainly hadn’t told anyone what she thought she’d seen. “When was that?”

“When I was looking for Rob. The wind was so strong, it had knocked me down. I looked up and there he was, all dressed in black, his head covered by a big hat.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “You’re sure it was him?”

He nodded, not at all upset that she would question him. “It wasn’t the first time I’ve seen him. I’d know those eyes anywhere.”

“You’d seen him before?”

Emery took another gulp of his drink. His hand shook as he replaced the glass. He seemed to be avoiding her eyes. “When I was a kid, I used to ride my bike out to Starling. The houses were all empty, everyone gone, but, like you said, creepy. It always bothered us that the people left so quickly, leaving a lot of their stuff behind.”

“Us?” she asked.

“Rob and me. We used to joke that a spaceship zapped them all up.” He toyed with his glass that was now almost empty. “We used to talk all the time about what we would do when we found Rusk’s gold.” He looked up then, his gaze connecting with hers. “We saw him. He was loading something into the back of his old truck. We sneaked up on him, but he saw us.”

Emery turned then toward the bar. “Could use another drink over here,” he called before he finished what was in his glass and looked at her again.

Olivia realized she’d been holding her breath.

“Rusk picked up an old rusty shovel and came after us. Rob could always run faster than me. I’d never run so fast in my life, but it wasn’t fast enough. Rusk caught me, dragging me to the ground. He lifted that old shovel. I thought he was going to kill me. If Rob hadn’t come back when he had…”

The bartender dropped off his drink and took his empties. “How about you?” he said to Olivia, who could only shake her head. She hadn’t even touched her cola.

“Rob saved you?” she said when Emery didn’t continue.

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