Page 9 of Chasing Justice
“Hey,” Jenna said. “You better be nice, or you won’t get anything from me. I’ll head back to school in the fall.”
“Oh, you’ll cook no matter what.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because you need this as much as I do. Plus, I know you need your cut of the money if you ever do want to go back to school. Go home and figure out how we’re going to finish this order out.”
Jenna shrugged and headed out of the cabin. Carson watched her talk to the horse and rub him on the neck, soothing the animal. Then she mounted and walked off, giving the horse enough rein so he could stretch his head down.
“Now that she’s gone, what’s your plan, Dad?”
Carson turned around and assessed his son from head to toe. Small and wiry like his mother’s side of the family, the kid wasn’t bad looking—if he would shave and get a haircut. He was a slob. Sitting at the table with his legs propped up, Cody had on ratty cowboy boots, torn and tattered jeans, a camouflage shirt, and had sweaty hat hair. He’d thrown his sweat-lined baseball cap on the table.
“My first plan is to get you to start looking respectable. You can’t dress the way you are and expect to run a business. Why are you so dirty?”
Cody shrugged. “Chicks love me all rough and cowboy.”
Carson sighed, knocked Cody’s legs down from the chair, and flung the cap at him. “You need to come with me and get the men together. We need to figure out who did this. Who wanted us out of business?” After striding to the door, Carson stopped and turned around. “And then we need to get revenge.”
He thought he saw a bit of fear creep across Cody’s face. It was good for the kid. It was time for Cody to grow up and become a man.
Chapter Five
The bomb squad had arrived to make sure there were no more surprises. Once the scene was cleared, the crime scene techs moved in. Maya stayed back. Her job right now was to help create a perimeter. A forest was always a hard place to decide where to run crime scene tape because the crime scene could literally be acres.
Camera flashes created a strobe light effect in the late afternoon shade. Maya watched, numb, all of this bringing back her own horrors and nightmares.I won’t be sleeping tonight.
“You look like crap.”
Maya narrowed her eyes. “Yes, you told me that earlier. You know how to make a girl feel good about herself.”
Josh wasn’t just another deputy. He was the chief deputy sheriff, or her grandfather’s second in command—something that many of the other deputies had questioned. Maya could see why. She had heard through the grapevine that Josh came with baggage. Josh had been a Chicago cop, but something happened, he had lost his job, and now he was here. Her grandfather, the sheriff, had given him a second chance because Pops had served with Josh’s grandfather in the Marines. And yet Pops wouldn’t give Maya a second chance.
Maya stood tall. “What are you still doing here? Weren’t you just going to help me secure the scene and then leave? Don’t you have something important to do?”
“Just saying you should maybe get checked out by a doctor, Thompson. The sheriff’s office is here to help. You wouldn’t have crime scene techs without us.”
“Yeah, I know we have a partnership with the sheriff’s office, but the FBI is going to investigate the bombing, just remember that.”
Josh held up his hands like he was surrendering. “I know. I know. I’m staying out of the way. And it’s not like we haven’t helped before with investigations. It’s that whole work together thing. You know?”
“Then why areyouhere? Doughnut shop closed?”
Josh laughed. “Nice. No, I told your grandfather I would come see what needed to be done up here.”
“Where is my grandfather?”
“At the hospital waiting to find out more about Doug. You talk to Wayne lately?” Josh asked.
Maya shook her head. How the heck was he on a first-name basis with her grandfather? She supposed it made sense since he was the chief deputy sheriff, but everything about this man made him difficult to work with. Not to mention, his question only reminded her of the conversation with Doug earlier. Maybe he’d be less annoying if he could give her an update on Doug and Juniper.
“Do you know anything about Doug? How he is?” Maya felt a catch in her throat. She would not cry again. Not in front of everyone anyway.
Josh’s face turned serious. “No. I’ll see if I can find out more.”
“What about Juniper...” Maya heard herself almost whispering.
“I don’t know. Look, when you’re done here, I can take you home, you can get cleaned up and then we can go to the hospital,” Josh said.
