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“That’s a terrible idea. You’ve been charged with murder. Sandalwood gossip is running high at the moment, and you won’t make it five steps without a neighbor interrogating you about what happened. Besides, there are things we need to talk about.”
He marched to his truck and opened the extended cab, removing an emergency blanket from his first aid kit. He spread it over the passenger seat before gesturing for Sienna to get in.
She didn’t move, her shoulders tense, chin remaining at a stubborn angle. “There’s nothing for us to discuss.” Sienna sucked in a breath as if she’d rehearsed this next part. “I appreciate you driving all the way to Sandalwood and posting my bond. I’ll pay you back as soon as possible, but there’s no need to involve yourself further. My parents shouldn’t have called you in the first place, and I’ll make sure they don’t bother you again.”
“Don’t be stubborn. You need my help.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m perfectly capable of figuring things out on my own. Frankly, I’m surprised you’re here at all.”
Buried in her tone was a hint of accusation. He couldn’t blame her for it. Bailing people he cared about out of jail was something Eli normally refused to do. A fact his brother, Dalton, learned the hard way.
His younger brother had been a troublemaker since childhood. An abusive father and a depressed mother made for a challenging combination. Eli relied on rules and regulations to steer his life in the right direction and tried to help his brother do the same, but Dalton rebelled against any kind of authority.
As a teen, after both of their parents passed away, he came to live with Eli. Their relationship soured by the day. Dalton was hanging with the wrong crowd, doing drugs, and skipping school. At twenty-three, Eli had been ill-prepared to deal with a rebellious and hurting sixteen-year-old. They fought. Often. Not even dragging Dalton to church made any difference. His brother was determined to screw up his life as much as possible.
Finally, after years of heartache, Dalton agreed to go to rehab.It wasn’t cheap, but Eli used every penny in his savings account to pay for it.
Dalton came home six months later. Eli was a newly minted Texas Ranger at the time, and while he wouldn’t allow Dalton to live with him, he paid for an apartment in the same complex. His brother got a job working construction. They started hanging out together. It seemed Dalton was finally on the right track.
Until one fateful night, he stole Eli’s truck to buy drugs. High and drunk, he slammed into an elderly couple coming home from a church social. No one was seriously hurt, but Dalton was arrested at the scene.
It was the final straw for Eli. He was done. When Dalton called from jail, begging to go back to rehab, Eli hung up on him.
At the time, Sienna and Eli were engaged. She attempted to convince Eli to help Dalton. He refused. The next day, she bailed Dalton out and drove him there herself.
It was a betrayal. For Eli, an unforgivable one. He broke off their engagement and never spoke to her again.
So yes, it was surprising he was here now, but there was one big difference between Sienna and Dalton.
Dalton had been guilty of the crime he’d been arrested for.
Sienna, however, was innocent.
Eli’s hand tightened on the passenger side door as he met her gaze. “Your parents called me for a reason. They’re worried about you. Scared, if truth be told.”
Her complexion paled slightly. No one mattered more to Sienna than her family. She was one of the most loyal people Eli had ever met. It was one of the reasons her betrayal all those years ago had stung so much. He’d never thought in a million years that she’d go behind his back to do something he’d expressly rejected.
“You’re in a heap of trouble,” Eli continued. “The evidence the police have uncovered so far makes you look guilty. So do you want to spend the rest of your life in prison for a murder you didn’t commit?” He jabbed a finger toward the passenger seat. “Or are you going to get into this truck and tell me what happened so I can help get you out of this mess?”
THREE
Forty minutes later, Sienna was still debating the wisdom of accepting Eli’s ride home.
She eyed her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Dark circles hung like half moons under her eyes and her cheeks appeared gaunt. A hot shower and a fresh change of clothes had washed away the grime of the last twenty-four hours, but nothing could erase the image of Albert’s dead body from her mind. Someone had murdered the man in cold blood. And framed her for the crime. Eli wasn’t wrong when he said she was in serious trouble, but his unexpected arrival and offer of help was a complication she didn’t need.
Five years. They hadn’t spoken in five years. Not for lack of trying on her part. She’d called him a few times, but her messages were ignored. Then this past Christmas, she’d sent him a Get Well letter after hearing he’d been shot in the line of duty.
Silence had been his response.
It’d left a bitter taste in her mouth. Yes, they’d parted on bad terms, but there had once been love between them. Did Eli despise her so much he couldn’t even send her a Christmas greeting? And if so, why show up now?
More importantly, why provide the money to bail her out of prison? Not that Sienna wasn’t grateful. She was. Bail had been set at $100,000. A bondsman would require 10% of that in cash. It was an insurmountable amount for Sienna. She hadn’t become a private investigator for the money and often took cases even when the clients couldn’t pay much. Who could turn away a mother desperate to find her missing child? Or a family seeking answers about their loved one’s murder? Not her.
Instead, she’d been frugal. She rented a tiny bungalow, which also housed her office, and that kept costs low. While she had some funds in her emergency savings account, it wasn’t enough to satisfy the bail amount. Normally, her family would rally around her, but they’d also fallen on hard times. Several years of poor crops required her parents to take out a second mortgage on their farm, and her father’s recent health troubles had drained their savings. Her brother lived and worked on the farm as well. He’d poured his own meager savings into repairing old equipment so they could finally turn a profit this year.
Before Eli arrived, she’d been facing weeks or months in jail, waiting for her parents to raise the bail money. A horrible thought. Behind bars, Sienna was useless. She couldn’t prove her innocence locked inside a metal cage. So, while she was grateful for Eli’s actions, his decision to help was confusing.
It simply didn’t make sense. And it was foolish to believe they could work together without the past rearing its ugly head. With a missing woman to find and a murder charge hanging over her, Sienna didn’t have the time or the energy to navigate their problematic relationship.
