Owen’s mouth twisted. “I’ve avoided asking this because I love you and trust you. But before you left, you didn’t… There wasn’t anything between you and Keira, any reason for her to…”
A bolt of heat crackled in my veins.
“If you’re asking if I loved her and left her, the answer is no. I never touched her.” I’d cared way too much about her to do that. Regardless of what I might’ve wanted.
Go. That’s what you’re good at.
She’d never spoken truer words.
“Good.” Owen slumped into his chair, sighing. “You know, you look like a damn hippie with that long hair. All you need is a beard, but you could never grow a decent one.”
I chuckled, the tension in me unwinding.
We’d been friends for well over a decade now, and because of my nomadic ways, we’d often gone years without seeing each other face to face. But Tex and I always dropped into our easy closeness like this. He was one of the few constants in my life. I was grateful for it.
Even if that could put us in an awkward position now, considering what I was about to say.
“I appreciate you calling to let me know what happened,” I said. “I’m here because I want to make sure the people who went after Keira are brought to justice.”
“You think I don’t intend to do that?” My friend’s voice had taken on a harder edge. I was treading on shaky ground here, and we both knew it. “Every citizen of my county, every victim, matters to me,” he said. “But Keira’s also my family. She’s put her life on the line for me, and I’d do the same for her a hundred times over.”
“I know you’ll make your best efforts. But I had to come see for myself and make sure.”
“Because you’re suddenly a law enforcement expert?”
“I didn’t claim that.” My expertise was in…other areas. “It’s not meant as an offense to you.”
But there was no way I could’ve stayed across the ocean behind some bar, just living my life, as if Keira was a mere acquaintance.
As if she meant nothing to me.
Owen picked up a pen from his desk and squeezed it. “I assure you, we’re looking at every possibility. This investigation is my top priority, and we’re devoting every resource. Does thatsatisfyyou?”
His tone told me it was time to back off and stop questioning his authority in his office.
Too damn bad.
“It doesn’t satisfy me at all. Sounds like empty words. Do you have suspects yet?”
“You need to let me take care of this.”
“When Genevieve was on the line?—”
He stood up, his desk chair wheeling back against a filing cabinet. “Yes, I would’ve done anything when the woman I loved was in danger. You were there for me then, and I’ve never forgotten it. But this is not the same.”
“How?”
“Keira isn’t being held by some madman right now. She’s safe. She’s going to recover, and I need to run my investigation as normally as possible. By the book, so that when we find the culprits, the DA can prosecute and get solid convictions.”
“And if you fail? If they get away with it?”
“Keira is one of our own. Beloved not just in my department, but with everyone at Last Refuge.” He swallowed. “Trust that I’ll bring the Protectors in if more discreet action is necessary.”
Aiden Shelborne had founded the Last Refuge Protectors, and Trace Novo was their leader. Owen had been there since the beginning, but his membership was far less official. He was more like a trusted associate. Given his role as sheriff, he had to keep himself apart and purposefully ignorant of some of their activities.
The Protectors had dealt with some very bad men in the past. Men with no remorse. In those cases, they hadn’t shown mercy.
But would Owen truly give the Protectors free rein to target the men who’d hurt Keira? Could I even trust the Protectors to do it? They all had families now. Aiden, Trace, and River were married men, and two of them were fathers. So much to lose. Even Brynn and Cole, both of them Protectors, had each other.
