Most people found oils and woodwork boring as hell, but he’d always been fascinated with the stuff. Pair that with the fact that he worked with the mountains on his doorstep and he had the best job in the world.
Inside the station, an older woman smiled up at him from behind the front desk. “Hi there. What can I do for you?”
“I’m here to see—”
“Holden.” Jesse stepped out of the hall, a wide smile on his face. “Right on time.”
“Hey. Got your sign.” He held it up.
“Great. But you forgot the big-ass photo of me.”
Holden laughed. “You can always add it later.”
Jesse chuckled as he took the sign. “Maybe I will. It’s great though. Mom was right. You’re talented as fuck.”
“Not sure that’s exactly what she said.”
“I paraphrased.” He tilted his head toward his office. “Come in.”
Holden stepped into the room. “I still can’t believe you’re the town sheriff. They do realize you once got so drunk you couldn’t remember your way back to base, right?”
Jesse leaned the sign against the wall behind his desk. “That was after a long-ass mission. I earned my night off, and you guys were there to steer me back.”
Holden sat in the seat opposite the desk. “You know Lock wanted to leave you to fend for yourself?”
“Not surprising. That asshole was angry at the world until he got Callie back.”
It was true. Lock lost the woman he loved, which made him a nightmare to be around until he returned to Misty Peak, Tennessee, and made things right.
“Have you got time for a coffee?” Jesse lowered into his seat.
“Nah, I’ve got to get a quote to someone, unfortunately.”
“The woman who called you the other day?”
“Yeah, she’s been on my ass about it. How’d you know?”
“She sounded the type.”
He ran his fingers through his hair. “She asked me to meet her at the hospital on her lunch break.”
“You hate hospitals.”
He fucking loathed them. He hated the smells. The sounds. Even the sight of the building turned his stomach. It all reminded him of the worst part of his childhood. “Yeah. Thiswoman’s pushy. I felt like if I said no, she’d show up at my house in the middle of the night when her shift finished.”
“Does she know where you live?”
“No. But in this town, she’d find out.” He frowned at the newspaper article on Jesse’s desk. “A thirty-two-year-old died of heart failure?”
Jesse frowned. “Yeah. Sad story. Went in for what should have been a routine surgery and died in recovery.”
“What the fuck happened?”
“That’s what her family wants to know. Blood tests were sent off, but they weren’t stored properly, so all we can assume is that she reacted badly to the medication.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, shit. A fucking mess, and hospital administration hasn’t been much help.”
