When the door to the front lobby of the sheriff’s quarters creaked open, howling wind blew icy cold air into the entire space. The open door created an updraft inside the chimney above the fireplace in the back office, and for a short moment, the extra oxygen fueled the flames into a blazing fire, which illuminated the entire space with a sudden blast of bright golden light. Only then did Luke notice the somewhat dark dinginess he’d been sitting in for hours.
He walked toward the open doorway separating his office from the lobby and saw that his deputy, Caleb, had walked in with a flurry of white swirling snowflakes. He slammed the door with his boot, shutting out the wintery storm in an instant.
Caleb looked like a snowman. Despite his wide-rimmed Stetson, his blond beard and thick eyebrows, as well as his heavy buffalo coat, were covered in a thick white layer of snow. He stomped his feet, dropped his saddlebags onto the floor, and tried to shake it all off before he shrugged off the coat and put it with his Stetson on the hooks near the door. He combed his fingers through his short, blond hair.
“Brrrr! It’s absurdly cold out there!” He walked straight into the office toward the fireplace to rub his hands over the glowing warmth of the flames. “You’re still working?”
It sounded more like an accusation rather than a question.
Luke let his chin fall onto his chest. “Guilty as charged.”
“Did you find anything?” Caleb walked past Luke, who was almost a foot taller than him, and bent over the chaotic desk display. Right in the center, among all the newspaper clippings, stood an almost empty bottle of whiskey, which he chose to ignore. “How do you even find your way around in this mess?”
“Nothing yet.” Luke came to stand next to him. “It’s a complicated case, and you know how important it is. Four people died, and by all accounts, these killers are still roaming the region as free men. They’re like ghosts. Everybody knows about them, but nobody has actually seen them. Nobody lived to tell. It’s frustrating.”
Luke didn’t raise his voice. He never did. Luke’s self-control was unmatched. Most of the time, anyway.
Caleb raised his chin.
Luke didn’t like the way he looked at him. Although he was aware of the fact that he looked a little disheveled right then. Luke was well-built, with broad shoulders, strong arms, and thickly muscled legs, but he must have lost some weight lately, because his trousers had become a little loose. He hadn’t groomed his longer beard in a while, and he had noticed the dark bags under his tired eyes. The growling rumble coming from his stomach filled the room.
“You haven’t eaten,” Caleb said.
“I wasn’t hungry.”
“Liar.” Caleb scoffed and went back to the front lobby, where he had dropped his saddlebags. He opened the flap on one, grabbed a few carefully wrapped items, and brought them back into the office.
“You can’t just live off of air and liquor! I brought you some supper,” he said sternly, putting several paper-wrapped parcels on the table. “And Evelyn made me bring you an extra-large piece of fresh apple pie as well.”
Luke swallowed hard. He felt utmost gratitude, but there was also some painful jealousy at the domestic side of it all. Caleb and Evelyn, who was Luke’s cousin, were so happily married—they could give a grown man a toothache with how sweet they were to each other. Luke had known that same sweetness once…
“Thank you, Caleb.” He put his big hand on Caleb’s shoulder and squeezed it. Regardless of his lack of appetite, his gratitude was genuine. “You truly are the best. And tell Evelyn that she is an angel. She knows how much I love her pies.”
“You need to eat. You can’t just waste away to nothing. Isabelle would not have wanted that…”
The second Caleb mentioned that name, Luke stiffened. His head shot up, and he fixed his deputy with a hard glare.
“I’m so sorry,” Caleb said apologetically. “I really am. Please forgive me. I overstepped...”
Catching himself, Luke closed his eyes, shook his head, and let his face soften. “Don’t apologize. There’s no need. You’re right. She wouldn’t want me to live like this.” He let his head hang. Caleb put his hand on one of Luke’s broad shoulders and squeezed it just like Luke had done to him seconds earlier. After all, they didn’t just work together; they were good friends. More than that. They were family, and Caleb knew everything that had happened.
Then Caleb asked a question Luke had been dreading for quite some time.
“Are we still going to pretend that this case is someone else’s family? Or are we finally seeing it for what it is, and facing it head-on?”
Luke ground his teeth, trying not to lose his composure. The sudden pain slicing through him was like a knife straight to his heart, and it took everything in him not to break down right there and then. He was a strong man, but this was his one weakness. He cleared his throat.
“I am trying to keep levelheaded. I don’t want to get my emotions tangled up in this mess…”
Caleb interrupted him. “But she was your wife. They were your children,” he said quietly. “And you burying your head in these papers every single day for hours on end isn’t healthy. You haven’t even given yourself enough time to mourn your loss…”
“I will have plenty of time to do that when the case is solved!” Luke said firmly, turning away from Caleb. He walked over to the fireplace and began to stoke the flames aggressively.
“It’s been almost five years, Luke. You’re exhausted. You’re overworked. You aren’t functioning…”
“What are you saying?!” Luke turned around with a questioning look on his face. He was angry at Caleb’s suggestion. “That I’m a bad sheriff because I’m using all my spare time trying to resolve a murder case?! None of my other duties are being neglected. None! I take my duty as sheriff very seriously!” he spoke firmly with his authoritative voice, which usually reassured everybody that he was in charge. However, this didn’t always work on Caleb.
“That is not what I am saying. But this is not justanymurder case, Luke. It’s your family. Isabelle…”
