Page 18 of Reckoning with the Cowboy
“Did you find Grimes?” Max said impatiently.
“No sign of anyone. Didn’t look as if a soul has been there for a very long time.”
His hope died as he disconnected. Max had known this would have only put off the inevitable. If they had found Grimes, arrested him and taken him back to Florida, he would eventually get out of prison again. If he made a deal and returned the money, he might be out even sooner and then he’d be coming for them. This nightmare wasn’t over.
Cordell must have seen how defeated he felt. “What are we going to do?”
“I’m already out on a limb,” Max said as he drove down the street, pulled up in front of the sheriff’s office and parked.
“I’m afraid to ask,” Cordell said, looking from the sheriff’s department to his brother. “You’re not planning to lock me up again, are you?”
Max shook his head and opened his door. “I’m going to deputize you.”
It wasn’t until they returned to the house that Max saw the broken padlock and the empty trailer, the door standing ajar. For a moment, he thought Grimes might already be here. But he couldn’t imagine the man taking Dry Gulch’s famous horse statue. Then he looked at his brother and swore as the truth hit him. “This has Josie’s name written all over it,” he said.
“Josie?” Cordell echoed.
“The woman you call when you’re in trouble. The woman who’s always been there for you.” Max shook his head. “Want to bet where we’re going to find Big Blue?”
“How could she pull something like that off?” Cordell asked but he was smiling.
“Because she’s Josie Brand, a woman who has proven quite capable of looking out for those she cares about—including you. Let’s go see if I’m right.”
Back in the patrol pickup, they drove down to find Big Blue had been returned to its resting place.
“Josie is something, isn’t she?” Cordell said quietly. “It’s why I have to warn her about Roger.”
“I already sent Grimes’s mug shot to her,” he said as they drove back toward the office. His brother started to argue, but he cut him off. “I’ve been sheriff for most of the time that you’ve been gone from town. Let me handle this.” He made the call, terrified of what could happen to the women if they weren’t prepared for what was coming since he feared he wasn’t going to be able to protect them.
“Josie, it’s Max.”
CHAPTER NINE
Josie knew the moment she heard Max’s voice. It had taken her a moment to answer the call because Goldie had been shaking her head, whispering, “If it’s Max, I don’t want to talk to him.” She nodded and waved her friend off as she stepped out of the living room. Since arriving back at Goldie’s cousin’s house, Josie had been waiting for Max’s call after the text and mug shot he’d sent earlier.
Her vision had gone dark when she looked into the man’s eyes. Was this what she’d seen coming? Was he what they all had to fear? “Tell me who Roger Grimes is.” She heard Max hesitate. “It’s about yours and Cordell’s past, isn’t it? That’s why you sent me the mug shot. He’s whatever you’ve spent your life running from.”
Max sighed. “He was recently released from prison. He might be coming after me and Cordell. Unfortunately, he knows about you and Goldie. Rance and I will be watching for him. But this man is the kind who will come out of the dark like the dangerous animal he is.”
She’d feared it was something like this. And still her stomach dropped, her heart aching. She could hear the fear in Max’s voice; it melded with her own. She swallowed and fought back tears as she heard Max’s pain. “Cordell is with you,” she said, knowing it was true, just as she knew Roger Grimes had done something awful to the man she loved as well as to Max. “You’re still in town?” She feared that the man would lure the two of them away. But she didn’t even try to talk him out of whatever he was planning to do. She knew Max, knew he would do what he thought was right. “Tell Cordell—” She wasn’t sure what she was going to say, but the sheriff didn’t give her a chance anyway.
“I know how you feel about him. Just stay safe. Are you with Goldie?”
“Yes. I showed her the mug shot of Roger Grimes and warned her.”
“Thank you.” With that, Max was gone.
Josie looked up to find her friend standing in the doorway.
“It’s bad, isn’t it?” Goldie whispered.
Josie’s heart was in her throat so all she could do was nod. “But you know Max. He’ll do whatever it takes to keep us safe, to keep Dry Gulch safe.” To keep Cordell safe, she told herself.
* * *
“Are you sureMax never mentioned where he and his brother came from? Family? Anything?” Josie asked Goldie later when the two of them sat on separate ends of the couch, feet up, another bottle of wine on the coffee table between them.
“He never talked to me about his life before he came to Dry Gulch,” Goldie said. “It was obviously something he wanted to forget so I never pushed him on it. The only thing he said was that they were orphans, their parents dead and no other family.”
