“Blond. Good-looking, but his blue eyes were like glaciers. Oh, and he had a small scar at the side of his right eye.”
“Jack.” Fucking Jack. The scar was from a gang member who’d taken exception at being arrested.
“He said… he said that you’d killed your wife. I know that’s not true, but unfortunately Naomi and Gloria fromThe Valley Newsheard him, along with the people at the bar tonight. They’re going to publish a special edition about you. I’m so sorry, Dylan.”
Ice-cold arms wrapped around me. My heart stopped beating. I couldn’t breathe.
“Dylan?”
The pity in Jenny’s eyes was unbearable. I somehow managed to get my legs to work, walking out without a backward glance. Daisy managed to slip out before I could close the door on her. Whatever. I didn’t have my car keys on me, so I just kept walking, Daisy trotting loyally by my side.
Why hadn’t I anticipated Jack would show up to cause trouble? Daisy ran over to sniff around a tree at the edge of the complex’s parking lot, and I stopped, absently watching her. Although Jack damn well knew I hadn’t killed Christine, he blamed me for driving her to take her own life. The tension between us had grown to the point where I knew we could no longer work together. Needing a fresh start—not to mention getting away from my former best friend before I crossed an unforgivable line—I’d put feelers out and learned about the opening for a police chief in Blue Ridge Valley. I hadn’t expected to like it as much here as I did, and now he was going to take that away from me, too.
“Dylan?”
I closed my eyes at hearing Jenny’s voice. She was just another thing I was going to lose. Maybe I wasn’t meant to be happy. “You should probably go home, Red. I’m not good company right now.”
“You have to fight this. You can’t stand by and do nothing while he spreads lies about you,” she said, ignoring me. “Why would he say such a horrible thing?”
Stubborn girl. I’d finally put Christine’s ghost to rest, and the last thing I wanted to do was talk about her to the woman I was falling for. That Jenny put such trust in me, refusing to believe Jack without even knowing the truth, put a lump in my throat the size of a baseball. She deserved an explanation whether I wanted to talk about it or not.
Daisy rushed to the next tree, and I followed her with Jenny close to my side. One thing Jenny apparently had was patience. She didn’t say another word, simply waited me out. I slid my hands into my front pockets and looked up at the sky. It was a clear night, much like the one when Jenny had taken me to the top of that mountain to stargaze.
I let out a weary sigh, tired of all the shit in my life. There was enough money in my bank account to last a few years without touching Christine’s money. Maybe I should become a beach bum. Find a run-down bar on a lonely beach somewhere to buy where I could listen to people with sadder stories than mine. And now I was feeling sorry for my pathetic self, and I hated that I’d let things come to this. I should have settled this thing with Jack long before now.
I glanced at Jenny, still waiting for me to talk. She had her arms wrapped around herself. “You’re cold.” We’d both walked out without our jackets. “Let’s go in, and I’ll tell you my sad story.”
Back inside, Jenny wanted to shower and change before we talked. “I smell like pizza,” she said. She lifted onto her toes, brushing her lips over mine. “Why don’t you pour us a glass of wine, or something stronger if you prefer.”
If I started on something stronger, I might not stop, so wine it was. While I waited for her, I called my—and Jack’s—old boss. “It’s Dylan,” I said when Garrett answered.
“You shithead. Took you long enough to check in. How’s Nowhere, USA?”
Garrett Caulder rode his cops hard, demanding they give their best to the job. There wasn’t a man on the force who didn’t both despise and love him at the same time. He could make you feel like dirt on the bottom of his shoes if you screwed up, but you never doubted he had your back. I’d become a damn good cop under his tutelage.
“You just gonna breathe in my ear all night, Conrad? It’s kind of hot, but since you don’t dance to my tune, I’m thinking you’re not trying to turn me on.”
I sputtered a laugh. “It’s great here, or it was until Jack showed up.”
“Fuck me.”
“No thanks, but yeah, the situation isn’t good.” I told him what had happened.
“Jack put in for vacation, said he was going to Montana to visit his family.”
“This isn’t Montana, yet here he is.” I pulled the stopper out of an already opened bottle of wine.
“He’s been obsessed with you since…well, since everything went down. He’ll talk smack about you to anyone who’ll listen, but we all know the truth.”
“I wasn’t sure I’d ever be at peace again, but I was finding it in my little corner of the world—”
“Dylan, you gotta take the bull by the horns on this one, you understand?”
“Not really, unless you mean I should put him out of his misery.” Rumors had a way of taking on a life of their own, and considering everyone sitting at the bar had heard Jack’s accusation, talk of me killing my wife would spread through these mountains like wildfire.
Garrett gave that booming laugh of his. “Tempting I’m sure, but no. Okay, my brilliant mind has been at work while you were talking, and here’s what we’re gonna do. First thing tomorrow, sit down with that mayor you introduced me to when he was here and tell him what happened. Get him to agree to hold a town hall, where you’re going to tell your story to the good people of Blue Ridge Valley.”
“You know I don’t like talking about Christine.”
