“Which is why you have to do it,” he said.
She made another face.
Something dark and cold glittered in the sheriff’s pale eyes as he met hers. “I want Velasquez. I’d like him on a skewer, but locked up for the rest of his miserable life would do in a pinch.”
Josie sensed a tragedy in Marlowe’s background. Something connected to Velasquez. She didn’t say a word, but he gave her an odd look and frowned.
“Meantime,” Tanner interrupted, “Mom and I feel really sorry for you, for all the trouble you seem to be in,” Tanner said. “And I really feel that you need to be rehabilitated. At the ranch.”
“John will have me for dinner,” she pointed out.
“Dad will protect you. Mom, too.”
“This is a very bad idea,” she began.
“You can’t like your cell that much,” Marlowe pointed out. “And you haven’t even sampled the meals here.” He made a face. “I get mine at the café and bring them in. I’m not eating what they feed the poor prisoners. It’s enough to make a person go straight and never break another law!”
Tanner burst out laughing.
“What’s going on with Raines?” she asked.
“Oh, he made bail an hour ago,” Marlowe said. “His attorney is really good. Found a sympathetic judge and sprung him on his own recognizance. To give him credit, he tried to get you out, too, but the judge said no deal. You had priors.”
“How kind of him,” she exclaimed with a grin.
“Adding to your rep with the bad guys,” Tanner told her.
“We got Raines for entering a vehicle,” Marlowe said. “But we picked you up when we did a scan and found you had a prior arrest for attempted murder. Acquitted, of course,” he drawled with a grin.
“Thanks,” she said, and laughed.
“It will boost your rep with Raines, whom I’m certain will be in touch with you soon and delighted to find you situated on the very ranch his boss is trying to buy.”
“Lucky me. All I have to do is stay alive until they move those shipments north.”
“No worries, we can do that,” Marlowe chuckled. “Besides, you’ve got two former federal agents on the payroll at Big Spur who’ll be watching your back, including Tanner, here, who’s faced about every kind of threat known to man.”
“Indeed, I have,” Tanner replied. “John and the others won’t know,” he added. “But my mother is a reformer at heart and she likes you. She was already trying to force Dad to come bail you out when I volunteered.”
“How kind!” she exclaimed.
“But I beat her to it. I told her I’d be bringing you home today. JJ cheered.”
She smiled. “He’s one special kid.”
“He is,” Tanner said. “One of the nicest young men I’ve ever met.”
Marlowe didn’t comment. They both noticed a dark, cold look on his hard face and puzzled at it.
His boots hit the floor. “Well, let’s get you on the road, Josie,” he said, and managed a cool smile.
“How am I going to explain my sudden freedom when I’ve got priors and an outstanding warrant for an attempted assault?” she wondered aloud. “I know that’s in the system, because my boss put it there in case anybody checked me out.”
“Bribed a judge,” Marlowe said easily.
“Bribed a... with what?” she exclaimed, indicating her less than couture attire.
“You have friends. The Everetts.”
