Page 41 of For Always
Clyde was right behind her, and the sheriff was with them too.
“Good morning,” Tyler said.
His demeanor had changed. In just those few seconds, he’d stood up, his jaw set, eyes going a bit steely. Gabriella stood too and without thinking, went to stand beside Tyler.
“What happened?” she asked because from the way she and Tyler were being stared at, something was definitely going on.
“There was an incident in the middle of the night,” Dessie said.
“What kind of incident?” Tyler asked.
“I’m going to need to speak to Ms. Bennett privately,” Sheriff Alvarez announced.
“Not without her attorney present,” Clyde stated evenly.
Alvarez frowned. “You gonna represent them all, Clyde?”
“Until they tell me otherwise, yes,” Clyde replied and looked to Gabriella.
She didn’t know what was happening, but her hands had already begun to shake. “No. I mean, yes, he’s right. He’s my attorney,” she said with a nod to Clyde. “What do you need to speak to me about, Sheriff?”
Alvarez’s brow was creased. He stood with his legs slightly spread, and hands on his hips. It was meant to be an imposing stance and it was. Tyler’s hand on her shoulder calmed Gabriella instantly.
“I want you to tell me why someone would break into your room at the resort and tear it to shreds? You leave some secrets behind in Connecticut that might have followed you here?” he asked.
That calm that she’d felt was brief. The gorgeous landscape she’d just been marveling at, the wonderful man she’d slept with last night and spent valuable time with this morning, it all melted away. So that fear and despair could return.
Austin Sterner was here in Hobbs Creek.
Tyler slammed the door to the office.
“She is not a suspect in any of this!” he yelled at the sheriff and Clyde. “She works here, dammit! And you are not going to treat her like she’s some half-witted female or some big time criminal.”
“Nobody’s treating her that way, Tyler,” Clyde said calmly. “Let’s just take a seat and talk over the facts.”
“The fact is I’m sick and tired of feeling like we’re in the wrong here. You call me and tell me my parents were found dead in a burning truck. Shot in the back of the head! That sounds like a hit!”
Tyler didn’t keep still. He stalked across the office pushing one of the ridiculous zebra-print chairs out of his way.
“We’re talking about the vandalism at the resort,” Alvarez stated evenly. “That’s the matter at hand.”
He whirled around to glare at the sheriff whom he was also tired of dealing with. “All of this is connected. I’m not a cop and I can see it. So I’m having a hard time digesting the fact that you can’t connect those dots, Sheriff.”
“Now you hold on a minute, son,” Alvarez chided.
He walked across the room and came to a stop at the edge of the desk.
“You don’t come into my town, telling me how to do my job.”
Tyler stood firm. “Then maybe you should start doing your job!”
“Let’s just calm down,” Clyde said, coming to stand at the other end of the desk, between Tyler and the sheriff.
“If you want to officially question my clients, Sheriff, we can schedule a time for them to come down to the station. But I’ll tell you right now they won’t be answering any questions that may or may not implicate them in any of these incidents. Incidents for which my clients have solid alibis.”
Clyde was speaking in his official tone, which probably sounded much better than Tyler’s yelling. But damn if he cared. Alvarez had looked at Gabriella like he actually thought she’d walked off the ranch and went to the resort to vandalize that room herself. It was ridiculous.
“I ain’t accused either of them of anything. But I gotta say they’re acting pretty guilty,” the sheriff said.
