“Hello, Jack,” I said to the man I’d once loved like a brother. “Heard you were in town.” Suddenly I felt like I was in some kind of western movie, about to have a shoot-out at the O.K. Corral. An absurd laugh bubbled up inside me, which I managed to morph into a cough.
“I got this,” Garrett said. “Introduce me.”
I could do that as soon as I found my voice. I cleared my throat, then cleared it again. “You’ve probably been wondering who this is.” I put my hand on Garrett’s shoulder, while at the same time staring hard at Jack, not wanting to miss his reaction. His eyes darted between us, anger on his face at seeing Garrett standing by my side. Jack leveled his gaze on me with a hatred that was beyond anything I’d ever thought to see from him.
“So you’re going to lie for him?” he said, his eyes focusing back on Garrett.
I held up a hand. “Before I was interrupted, I was going to introduce my former boss, Garrett Caulder, my captain at the Chicago Police Department. Since he headed up the investigation, Captain Caulder will answer any questions you have about the death of my wife.” I stepped back before I said something I shouldn’t.
Jack came forward, his furious gaze never leaving my face. The Jack I’d known, the one who’d been my best friend, had never had a hair out of place or a wrinkle in his shirts. This Jack was disheveled, his hair in dire need of a cut, and I wondered when he’d last washed it. His eyes were wild, as if he were losing it. Suddenly all I felt was sadness. For me, for him, and for Christine.
“I can make this real simple and short,” Garrett said. “Christine Conrad was severely depressed and took her own life. End of story.”
“Because he refused to give her a divorce.” Jack lifted an accusing finger toward me. “He drove her to it.”
Moody frowned. “You said he killed her.”
“Well, he might as well have. She loved me, Dylan, and you wouldn’t let her go.”
Not true, but I didn’t think it would serve any purpose if I tried to tell him again that I’d wanted a divorce and she’d begged me to reconsider. As I scanned the faces in the room to see their reaction, I was surprised by the way everyone was staring at Jack with displeasure. I’d forgotten we were in the Bible Belt, and it seemed they didn’t approve of a man having an affair with a married woman. That was my guess, anyway.
“Bah,” Moody grunted before stomping out.
He also got frowns as he stormed toward the exit. Garrett went to Jack, slipped an arm around him, whispered something to him, and then led him out. Well, that felt rather anticlimactic. To be honest, I’d half expected Jack to shoot me.
I wasn’t sure what to do. Grabbing Jenny and hauling her out with me probably wasn’t a good idea, no matter how much I wanted to do exactly that. Excited conversations buzzed as everyone talked about what had just happened. I glanced at Jenny and got a big smile. I smiled back.
Yeah, it had turned out okay. Unless Jim John figured I’d caused too much drama and decided to fire me. Since I didn’t want to stand here all night, I took a step toward the mayor, intending to ask if we were done.
“Well, that was entertaining,” Mary said from her seat near the front. “Come by in the morning, Chief. I’ll have a bag of hot doughnuts waiting for you.” Tonight her hair was bright orange with black streaks, and her eye shadow was sparkly orange. If I got to stay here, I might marry her after all if she promised unlimited access to hot glazed doughnuts and apple cinnamon muffins.
Adam stood. “Chief, I just want to say that from everything I’ve heard the last few weeks, you’re just the man we need. Welcome to Blue Ridge Valley.”
“Hear. Hear,” someone said, and I glanced toward the voice to see that it was Freddie Barnes.
I guess all those boiled peanuts I’d forced myself to eat paid off. Jenny’s parents, Connor, Brian, and Autumn all stood, clapping their hands. Jenny popped up to join in the applause, a brilliant smile on her face. Others began to stand, and once it seemed the residents of Blue Ridge Valley had decided I was worth keeping, Jim John walked over and slung an arm over my shoulder, grinning like a damn politician who’d just won the election. It was a close call, but I managed not to roll my eyes.
Someone—I think Jenny’s father—had gotten us the private room at Fusions to celebrate the success of our plan to save me. The people sitting around the table owned tonight’s victory more than I did.
I raised my glass. “To good friends you can count on to have your back.” They were all here—Jenny, her parents, Brian and Autumn, and Adam and Connor. The only one missing was Daisy since I’d dropped her off at home before coming here. She’d won over her own admirers as I’d tried to make my way out of the meeting, everyone wanting me to stop so they could pet the town’s new police dog.
“That’s us!” Autumn exclaimed.
“Sure is.” Grinning at her enthusiasm, I clinked glasses with my friends. The lump that had been sitting in my stomach like a lead ball for the past two days was gone, and I was definitely up for some celebrating.
Jenny leaned into me, and I smiled down at her. “Thank you, Red. I think tonight would have gone south without you marshaling the troops.”
She put her hand on my thigh and squeezed. “Nah. You would’ve pulled it off. We just made it easier.”
I wasn’t so sure I would have, but it was over and done with. My plans for the night were to enjoy drinks and dinner with my new friends, then figure out a way to get Jenny alone. Garrett was spending the night at my place, was actually supposed to join us for dinner, but I hadn’t heard from him since he’d left the meeting with Jack.
Our waiter came and took our orders, and after he left, Jenny’s father said, “Not to throw a damper on the party by bringing this up, but you need to get Moody out of your hair. As long as he’s around, he’s going to do his best to make your life miserable.”
“Don’t I know it? It’s number one on tomorrow’s to-do list.” My phone buzzed with an incoming text. It was from Garrett, asking me to meet him outside. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Garrett stood by Jack’s car when I came out. “Gonna have to pass on dinner.” He flicked a thumb toward the window, and I glanced inside to see Jack sitting in the passenger seat, his chin on his chest and his hands cuffed in front of him. “I’m driving him home tonight.”
“Does he really need to be handcuffed?” It wasn’t a picture I’d ever expected to see—my former friend and partner wearing a pair of cuffs.
