Page 50 of Engaging the Deputy

“But the spilled jelly,” he said like a curse. “Jaden will know you were there. He’ll come looking for you. I can’t take the chance that you’ll tell him my plans.”

“Cody, I swear I don’t know your plans. I don’t care about your plans. But if you kill me, Jaden will track you to the ends of the earth.”

He stopped walking to turn on her. “It’s like that between the two of you? But you weren’t together.”

“We had broken up, but I came home to see if he still felt the way I did,” she said. After that kiss, she’d had hope. She’d been counting on Jaden finishing this investigation and then there wouldn’t be any reason they couldn’t find their way back together. At least, that had been her hope.

Cody seemed to think that Jaden knew about his drug business, that he would be coming after him. She could only wish. But Jaden wouldn’t know Cody had her. He wouldn’t know where Cody had taken her and now time was running out.

“Glad to hear this is going to break his deputy heart,” Cody said, clearly taking satisfaction in that.

“You’re going to kill me out of jealousy,” she snapped, her anger overtaking her fear for a moment. She was furious with herself for thinking they could be friends and even more furious with him.

Cody smiled, the moonlight flashing on his teeth. “I wouldn’t even venture a guess how many women have been murdered out of jealousy, but I bet it’s a lot. No man wants to think he never mattered.”

“You did matter. You still matter.”

He laughed. “Not enough.”

“Enough that I brought you jelly,” she stressed.

“And signed your own death warrant.” He jerked the binding on her wrists angrily as he continued to haul her up the hillside.

She could see the crime scene tape around the root-cellar hole ahead. It rustled in the breeze. Hadn’t she known this was why he’d brought her here? Hadn’t she known how it would end?

Unless she stopped him.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Jaden wanted to go after Livie lights and siren blaring. But he knew that would only warn Cody he was coming.IfCody had taken her to Starling, he reminded himself. The sooner he found out, the better. Better still if Cody didn’t know he was coming for him until it was too late.

He tried not to second-guess himself as he tromped on the gas. There was little to no traffic on the road out of town. What he did encounter, he passed at high speed. Nothing would slow him down, given the urgency he felt to get to Livie.

The first time he’d seen her on the college campus his senior year, he’d fallen for her the moment he’d laid eyes on her. That moment in time was like a photo he’d snapped, a memory he could never forget. He’d never had that happen to him before. He’d known she was the woman he was going to marry.

He could find humor in that now since they hadn’t married. Not yet, anyway, he mused as he drove. He’d lost hope for a while, but since that kiss… He smiled to himself, remembering that moment he knew.

She’d been coming out of one of the campus buildings with a couple of friends. Something one of them said had suddenly made her laugh. Just the sight of her had stopped him in his tracks, but it was the way she’d let herself laugh that had drawn him as if he’d lassoed and pulled her to him. She’d turned her face up to the sun, a joyous expression making her look radiant. Her long, silken blond hair seemed to float around her as she’d moved.

I’m going to marry that girl, he’d thought. But first he’d have to meet her, he’d amended, not in the least worried. It had felt meant to be. He still felt that way.

He looked at the highway through his headlights and couldn’t bear the thought that something bad had already happened to her. He’d already called for backup to meet him at the abandoned community. It would take law enforcement from other towns too long to get there.

That meant he was on his own. All he could hope was that he got there soon enough. And that he wasn’t wrong about where Cody had taken her. The backup hadn’t been to help him anyway. It was so Cody didn’t get away if things went south.

Jaden had no idea what to expect. Had it only been Cody who’d taken her? He hoped the man’s friends wouldn’t be involved. Either way, he had to assume that Cody would be armed. What worried him was why he’d take her back to Starling. Just to get rid of her body? Or was there something else Cody was planning to do out there?

The clock was ticking. He had no idea how long Cody had been gone from the hardware store with Livie. Nor did he know what the man had planned. Get rid of Livie’s body and keep running?

Jaden just hoped there was time to get there, find him and stop him. He didn’t want to think about what he would do if Cody hurt the woman he loved. He wouldn’t need backup to take Cody to jail. If he let himself go, Cody would never see a cell. But then Jaden would never be in law enforcement again either. Right now, it seemed a fair trade-off.

He loved his career choice because he could find the bad guys and bring them to justice. Even as he reminded himself of that, he still feared what he would do when he got his hands on Cody Ryan.

It was his fear talking, he told himself.

With a curse, he shoved away the thought that he might be too late. She couldn’t be gone. Wouldn’t he feel that in his heart, if true?

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