Page 18 of Claimed By the Deputies

“Tell you what, let’s dig into the victims’ histories again. Tanya’s needs another look. Maybe revisiting her case will show a connection to Dina,” Mitch offers.

“I’ll have a look at all the evidence we’ve got at the station from Tanya’s case,” I reply with a nod. “Might as well start there.”

Mitch moves to get in front of me. “Hold on, Sheriff. You’re off to see Tassia, aren’t you?”

I lift an eyebrow. “Your point being?”

My best friends and brothers in arms exchange amused glances. I know what this is about, and I shouldn’t entertain it, but we’ve always been exceptionally good at compartmentalizing, especially where our jobs are involved. Death may be present in the house behind us, but out here life still flows.

“We got close last night,” I confess as we head back to my car.

“I knew it,” Tyler says. “I could tell.”

“How?” I ask, giving him a hard look.

“From the way you both actively avoided eye contact this morning. It was almost comical,” Tyler replies, his smile fading. “Are we sure this is a good idea?”

“No, it’s a terrible idea, given the circumstances. Tassia and I agreed to not let it happen again.”

“I can’t exactly blame you,” Mitch says with a slight shrug. “I mean, she’s something else, isn’t she?”

“She’s also part of the New Beginnings program, which is how she ended up working in our police station,” I bluntly remind him.

“Spare me the holier-than-thou nonsense,” Mitch waves my concern away. “She’s good people. Tim vouched for her, and she’s proven herself repeatedly. Trustworthy, hardworking, attention to detail, always on time. Whatever happened in her past, that’s where she obviously left it. Besides, the program would’ve never selected her for a position in the evidence room if the system didn’t give her a green flag.”

He makes a fair point. I’m just looking for reasons to justify putting distance between us and Tassia, which, thanks to the cabin fire yesterday, is going to be quite the challenge.

Once the crimescene is processed and the body is taken to the morgue, Tyler, Mitch and I head back to the station. The CSI team will scope the scene and handle the evidence transport.

Immediately after arriving at the office, I pull out Tanya’s case file.

“Any word from Paul regarding Tassia’s cabin?” Mitch asks while Tyler helps himself to a cup of coffee from my personal espresso machine. “They’re investigating today, now that the place has cooled down and it’s aired out. But they suspect a shorted-out fuse is the likely cause. That cabin is old as hell.”

“True, and Tim never got around to replacing the electrical circuits,” Mitch replies.

“He must feel awful,” I grumble. “His heart was in the right place.”

“He’s also overwhelmed with a second baby on the way,” Tyler adds. “Still, I appreciate how much he’s done to help Tassia settle in to Frost Valley. Not many social workers would go the extra mile like he did.”

I nod slowly. “It’s my understanding that Tim and Tassia go back to when she was a kid in the foster system. And based on his letter of recommendation in her employment file, he thinks the world of her.”

Further proof that whatever happened in Tassia’s past could’ve just been a one-time, life-changing mistake that taught her a hard lesson. I’ve come across my fair share of people who broke the law and ultimately never strayed from the right path again. She’s been keeping herself quiet and out of trouble since she moved here.

“Let’s look at Dina’s case for a minute,” Tyler says, taking a seat across from my desk while I settle behind my computer. “No obvious connection to Tanya, but there is a known history of drug abuse. I just pulled her up in the system. She was arrested last year for possession with the intent of distribution in New York City. No charges were filed, though.”

“Halston says she’s OD’d before, and so has Tanya,” Mitch adds.

“Where are we with the drug distribution system in and around Frost Valley?” I ask, pulling up a mind-map on my computer screen listing names of several known dealers in the district. I’m still missing some key details, though, enough for it to be an incomplete puzzle begging me to solve it.

“We’ve got a few Silver Stallions MC boys acting as dealers, for sure,” Tyler says. “We’ve picked them up numerous times over the years, but they’ve never had enough dope on them to warrant charges that would stick.”

“They’re careful,” I say. “That motorcycle club has been nothing but trouble since they were founded.”

“Remember when they tried to reel us in when we were kids?” Mitch chuckles as he recalls the moment. “You told them to go fuck themselves.”

“That’s right,” Tyler says, giving me a broad grin. “Their president approached us just outside Murray Park. What did he tell you, Lucas?”

I remember the moment. Vividly. “He said we could join them and ride our own hogs before we turned sixteen if we ran some errands for them across town, well aware that my father was a state cop. He was beyond audacious.”

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