Page 30 of Engaging the Deputy

It was latewhen Jaden got the call. He hadn’t expected to hear from Olivia again so soon and was immediately worried. “What’s wrong?”

“I need your help,” she said, her fear making his skyrocket. “I’m in the bar parking lot. My tire is flat. Someone stuck a screwdriver in it.”

Bar parking lot? Hadn’t he advised her to stay close to home? He didn’t have to ask which bar. “I’ll be right there.”

The motel where he was staying while in town on the case wasn’t far from the bar where Olivia had said she’d met up with Cody and her old friends the night they decided to spend Halloween at Starling.

He found her sitting in her car in the almost-empty lot and pulled alongside in his patrol SUV, spotting the flat tire. She climbed out into the night at once. He couldn’t tell if she was more scared or angry.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded when what he really wanted to know was who she’d been with at the bar. Cody Ryan had been released from the hospital. Had he felt up to going to the bar his first night home?

“What you asked me to do,” she snapped, clearly not liking the tone of his voice.

“I believe I asked you to stay close to home.”

“Before that, you asked me to keep my ear to the ground with my old friends,” she said. “Emery texted me. He said it was important.”

Jaden pulled off his hat and raked a hand through his hair. Not Cody. He hated that he was jealous. He had no right to be, but that didn’t stop him.

“Sorry. Why don’t you go back into the bar? I’ll join you when I’m finished here.” He pulled on a latex glove before opening an evidence bag. She watched him remove the screwdriver from the tire and drop it in the bag.

“I’d rather stay out here,” she said as he secured the bag in his SUV, then opened her car door and pulled the lever that opened her trunk. “Emery says he didn’t kill Rob because he owed him his life.”

As he changed her tire, he listened to the story she said Emery had related to her in the bar. When she finished, he asked, “Why didn’t he come to me with this? Why you?”

“I asked him that. He didn’t think you would believe him.”

Jaden couldn’t argue with that. Being suspicious came with the job, but he found himself more interested in where Emery had taken off to from the bar. “Doesn’t it seem suspicious that he gets you into town, takes off suddenly, and you find your tire punctured in the lot? He didn’t tell you why he had to leave so quickly?”

She shrugged, arms crossed over her chest, and looked upset that he wasn’t more interested in Emery’s story about seeing Rusk on Halloween night at Starling. “He said a friend needed him. Why would he flatten my tire?” Good question, he thought. “You don’t believe him, do you?”

“I didn’t say that.” He replaced her jack and loaded the ruined tire in the back before slamming the lid. “You’ll want to get a new tire tomorrow.”

“Thanks for your help.” She started toward her car, clearly intending to get in and drive home. But she’d have to get him to move out of the way to do so.

“You have no idea who called Emery?” he asked.

“No.” She frowned. “Maybe. It sounded like he was talking to a woman.”

Jaden nodded. “One of those girls from Halloween?”

She shook her head. “Older, more like someone he knew well. But I’m just going by his tone of voice. That’s all I could make out.”

* * *

Olivia realized thatJaden seemed in no hurry to leave. What was he waiting for? “You know I wouldn’t have called unless—”

“You needed me. You can always call. I hope you know that.”

The cloudy darkness felt almost intimate as they stood looking at each other. The music coming from the bar seemed louder than it had been. The neon bar sign threw shadows across the parking lot. She stood only inches from him, feeling the intensity of his gaze.

“You’re in my way,” she said, her words coming out in a whisper.

“Remember this song?” he asked, cocking his head to listen to the music coming from the bar.

As if Olivia could have forgotten the song, let alone forget being in his arms slow dancing. It had been something they’d done often when they were dating. A song would come on, and no matter where they were, he would reach for her.

Like now. He reached for her in the darkness as she said, “We used to dance to this.”

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