Page 44 of Engaging the Deputy

She could hear the disappointment in his voice. “Want a jar of jelly?”

“Sure,” he said. “Save me one.”

Olivia heard something in his voice. “Don’t go out to Starling alone. Promise me you won’t go. It’s too dangerous.”

“Yet you and the deputy survived it.”

“I’m serious. Promise me.”

He sighed heavily. “I promise. It was silly. I doubt it would have jogged my memory anyway. Don’t laugh, but I hate not being able to remember the last time you and I were together—even if it was during a tornado, down in an old root cellar.”

She did laugh. “Trust me, it was far from romantic.”

“I’ll have to trust you on that. Got a customer. Gotta go. Take care of yourself, Olivia. I’m sure we’ll see each other again.”

She laughed again at his words. “Of course we will. We’ll always be friends.”

No response. Had he already disconnected? No, she could hear the hardware store music in the background. “Cody?” The phone went silent.

For a moment, she almost called him back and told him she’d go to Starling with him. He’d sounded so sad. But then the front door opened.

Her mother asked, “Is everything all right?”

Pocketing her phone, she turned and smiled. “Just getting ready to make some crab apple jelly with my mother. Just like old times. I need to start paying more attention to how it’s done. Who knows—one of these days I might have a kitchen of my own. Though no one makes jelly as good as yours.”

Her mother smiled and said, “You and your malarkey,” but Olivia could tell that she was touched by the compliment as they both headed for the kitchen.

* * *

Outside town,at the barn, Jaden pulled his coat tighter around him as he waited for the state DEA team to arrive. This case had been running them ragged. Knowing that Rob Perkins had been involved in this drug distribution business might be the key to solving his murder.

Rob could have been involved with dangerous people, as Emery had suggested. The question was, were they his friends? He thought about Dean. How could he not know what his wife and Rob were involved in? And if he had known, had Dean just thrown his wife under the bus to save himself?

His cell phone rang. Angie Marsh’s car had been found in Spokane, abandoned on the street. “Looks like it’s been looted,” the police officer told him.

“Any sign of Angie Marsh?”

“Checked the surveillance camera in the area.” He described the woman who’d gotten out of the car. Petite, dark-haired, wearing jeans and a hoodie. It hadn’t captured much of her face, but she was young.

That definitely sounded like Angie. The officer said he would get back to Jaden if he had anything to report about the woman. Like if her body was found. Or if another camera picked her up getting into someone’s vehicle.

He thanked the officer and disconnected as a gust of wind out of the nearby mountains sent a chill through the air. What was it about this case? He felt as if he wasn’t getting anywhere. It didn’t help that Livie might be more involved than she realized.

Jaden squinted as dust blew past, reminding him of the hillside at Starling. Everything reminded him of Livie.

That thought didn’t get a chance to go any further as he saw a van drive slowly by on the road, then speed up and disappear over the rise. He hadn’t needed to see the van’s license plate or to see him behind the wheel to know that it was Emery’s gray van. What had he been doing out there, on this particular road, so far away from town?

The alarm. More than likely it was to warn those involved that someone had found out their secret—or already knew their secret and had come hoping to find drugs. Either way, whoever was running this operation now knew.

He waited, wondering if Emery would return this way. Not if he was guilty, in which case, he’d take another way back to town.

Even after the DEA boys arrived, Jaden kept an eye on the road.

The van hadn’t come back.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Jaden wasn’t surprised when he went to the bike shop and found it closed. No sign of Emery. He drove by his apartment. No van parked in the lot. No answer at Emery’s apartment door. On impulse, he headed for Krystal’s.

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