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“I got a call from a guy named Henry Underwood. You know him?”
“Yes.” Why had Henry called the sheriff? He was her last connection to her grandfather. He was the one person she still trusted. She’d called him on the road to Destiny and filled him in on what she was working on with Sheriff Wolfe. “I don’t understand? Henry knew I was coming here. He’s the only one I told. He didn’t seem overly concerned at the time.”
“Well, he is now. Henry has been working to clear your names, too, Nicole. Did you know that?”
“Figures. Henry’s a good cop. He’s not going to roll over without a fight.”
Wolfe nodded. “Got to admire that in any officer.” He continued, “Turns out that Alexei wasn’t the only one to dig up info on the Mitrofanovs. Right after you left Chicago, Henry got a tip that the Russians were looking for you, too. That’s when he called me to make sure you had protection in Destiny. Niklaus Mitrofanov has been released by the feds, you know.”
Of course she knew. It had been all over the local news.
“Niklaus?” Reed’s eyelids were narrowed.
“The Russian mobster who was the dad of Sergei. The prosecutors had to let him go since the two thugs we captured here in Destiny were killed in a car bombing during transport to a safe house.” The sheriff’s face darkened. “Fuck. Those creeps were ready to sing like canaries to get their sentences lessened. Now we’re back to square one.”
Worry pricked the back of her mind. “I’m still not sure why I’m on the
Mitrofanov family’s radar.” Is someone at the station trying to frame me? I’m not sure why. I’m no threat to anyone there.
“Their mole inside your station must’ve found out you were looking into Amber’s missing persons report. You’re a loose end, and the Mitrofanov family doesn’t like loose ends. They might also believe you have uncovered more about Sergei’s drug possession arrest and it will eventually lead back to Niklaus.” The sheriff let out a long breath. “Now that he’s free, he’s going to make sure he stays that way.”
“That’s why you want us, right?” Sawyer asked. “To be Nicole’s bodyguards.”
“I don’t need bodyguards.” she reiterated. “Let Niklaus’s men come. I’ll be ready.”
Reed shook his head. “Not happening, Chicago. Not a chance.”
She was a cop. They weren’t going to treat her like some helpless female who needed a man to rescue her. “Who are you to tell me what to do, cowboy? We just met.”
Reed put his big hand on her shoulder. “Maybe so, but trust me, you’re not going to walk around Central Park like some kind of lone gunslinger ready to bring down the bad guys, accommodation in sharpshooting or not.”
“Enough of this shit.” The sheriff stepped right in front of her. “I’ve been in office for two years. You know how many murders Destiny had during the last sheriff’s twenty years of service? Two. I’ve already had eight. I won’t have your blood on my hands, Nicole.”
She didn’t need anyone to protect her. “You don’t have a say in what I do or don’t do, Sheriff.”
A ruthless look crossed the sheriff’s face. “Flowers, you’re going to go to their cabin with them.” Then the lines in Wolfe’s face softened. “Go with them, Nicole. One police officer to another, would you do this for me?”
She’d heard that final phrase from her grandfather more that a few times. Jason reminded her of how her granddad saw the world. Black and white. She’d learned there was a whole lot of gray in it, too. “I want to, Jason, but I’m really here to clear my name. Can’t you understand where I’m coming from?”
“Totally, if I were in your shoes. I promise to work on this with you, but I can’t do the kind of job I need to if you aren’t safe. I swear on my badge that these two are good guys. I would trust them with my own life. You can’t risk any more problems. They’ll be strong for you. That’s why I chose them for you.”
There was only one thing Wolfe could mean by that. He knew her secret. “Okay,” she said, defeated. “Promise me you’ll keep me in the loop on this investigation.”
“I will. I swear.”
She suddenly realized it hadn’t been her commander who had shared her dark past with him. The one and only man still living that she still trusted—even though he likely thought it was for her own good—had betrayed her. “Henry told you all about me, didn’t he?”
Sheriff Wolfe nodded.
The truth of her situation crushed her into a million bits of debris.
I’m alone in this.
Chapter Four
“You okay, Nicole?” Sawyer edged Jason out of the way to take his place in front of her. Jason had hit some kind of button in her with his words and the color in her face had drained away.
She turned to him with eyes full of determination and fire. “I’m fine.”
