“Keith said it was a small black bag inside of a silver lockbox. He said Old Man Herne hid it in his house for safe keeping. It was his nest egg.”
Hector shot Sheriff Riley a confused look. “Didn’t Herne die a while ago?”
The sheriff nodded. “Quite a while ago.”
“Then how did Keith know about something Herne hid in his basement?” Hector whispered. “Keith didn’t go to jail until a couple of months ago, and I don’t think they were bosom buddies before then.”
“I don’t think so either.” The sheriff frowned before glancing at Doug again. “How do you know Keith was telling the truth, Doug? Maybe he lied. Maybe he wanted the treasure all for himself so he told you it was here, but it’s really somewhere else.”
“No, no.” Doug shook his head even as he grabbed another crate and pulled it to the floor. “Keith wouldn’t lie to me.”
“Keith’s in jail,” the sheriff pointed out. “There’s no telling what he’d do.”
Doug’s face was flushed red with anger when he looked up, pointing his gun again. “Keith is my best friend. He wouldn’t lie to me. He says the diamonds are here, so they are here.”
Hector’s eyebrows shot up. “Diamonds?”
There were diamonds hidden in his house?
Damn.
“How did Keith know about the diamonds, Doug?” the sheriff asked.
Doug huffed as he glanced up from the crate he was searching. “Keith ended up sharing a cell with Herne’s old cellmate. He told Keith that Herne had told him he had a stash of diamonds hidden in a silver box in his house.”
“Is that why you put up all those signs about the bad whiskey at the bar?” Hector asked, going with a gut feeling. “Trying to get me out of the house?”
“You weren’t supposed to be here. The house was vacant for so long, no one was here.” Doug’s face darkened and his eyes narrowed. “Then you had to go and fuck it all up, and now Gill’s dead because of you.”
Hector swallowed tightly when Doug pointed the gun directly at him. “I didn’t shoot Gill.”
“No, but if you hadn’t fucked everything up, we would have found the diamonds and been out of here a long time ago. Now Gill’s dead and Keith is in jail and I can’t find those fucking diamonds.”
Hector would have liked to say his life flashed before his eyes when he saw Doug’s finger squeezing on the trigger, but all he saw was future he could have had with Will, the one Doug was trying to take away from him.
He growled loudly as he shoved Will toward the door then leapt at Doug. But before he could reach him, he heard a loud crash and Doug went down under a stack of crates. There was a lot of shouting as someone pushed past Hector.
He stepped back, bringing Will with him and watched as the sheriff and Deputy Butler pulled the crates off of Doug and handcuffed him before pulling him to his feet. When Deputy Butler marched Doug past him, Hector couldn’t control himself, not after everything the man had done.
He hauled back and punched Doug right in the face.
The deputy laughed as he kept Doug from crashing from the floor. “Damn, that’s gonna leave a mark.”
Oops.
“Guess that’s what happens when a stack of crates fall on you. You really should be more careful, Doug.” The deputy started marching Doug out of the room again. “You never know what could happen when you break into people’s basements.”
Hector blew out the breath he hadn’t known he was holding. Once Deputy Butler and Doug disappeared through the doorway, Hector grabbed Will and pulled the man into his arms.
“Are you okay, tesoro?”
Will nodded. His eyes were huge, dominating his face. “I’m okay.”
Hector tucked Will’s head under his chin before glancing at the sheriff. “Thank you.”
The man had seriously saved his ass.
The sheriff nodded then placed his hands on his hips and glanced around the room. “I guess it’s going to take a little longer than you thought to get this place cleaned up.”
