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“You two deserve each other,” Austin snarled, and weaving, he started off the porch and toward his truck in the driveway.
Leigh sighed, took out her phone. “You’ve been drinking,” she called out to Austin, “and you’re not getting behind the wheel. We have a couple of people in town doing Uber, and I’ll get you a ride.”
“I don’t want a ride,” he insisted, although he didn’t get in his truck. He started walking back toward town. Cullen was about to go after him, but he saw the truck approaching the house.
“Great,”Leigh muttered. “It’s Jeb.”
Cullen hadn’t thought this day could get any worse, but he’d apparently been wrong. Jeb stopped his truck next to Austin and lowered the window. Cullen couldn’t hear what they said, but they had a very short conversation before Austin got in the passenger’s seat.
Jeb drove to the house, got out and was sporting a serious scowl as he walked to the porch. “I’ll see that Austin gets to the inn. There should be rooms open by now.”
“Thanks,” Cullen said, and he was glad Jeb was seeing to this. Austin was in no shape to drive or walk in the cold.
Jeb didn’t acknowledge Cullen’s thanks. In fact, he didn’t acknowledge Cullen at all. He stared at his daughter.
“I came to give you a heads-up,” Jeb said. “Rocky’s asked the town council to have a meeting tomorrow. You’ll need to be there.”
“And why would I need to do that?” Leigh asked.
Jeb swore under his breath and scrubbed his hand over his face. “Because Rocky’s going to present what he says is evidence to have you removed as sheriff.”
LEIGHREADTHROUGHthe CSI and ME reports and tried to stay focused. Hard to do because she’d had yet another night with little sleep.
Cullen probably hadn’t fared much better in the sleep department, and he looked as tired as she was as he worked on a laptop in her living room. She wanted to tell him to take a break, especially since she’d have to be heading into her office soon, but he was going through the photos that the deputies had collected from the party guests. Those photos might end up holding some clues as to what had happened that night.
She desperately needed answers. Desperately needed the attacks to stop before anyone else died. She could still feel Jimbo’s blood on her hands. Could still hear the sound of gunfire.
She pushed back what would have been a shudder, drank her coffee and kept reading. Basically, there was no news in either report that she could use to make an arrest, but the ME had concluded that Alexa had recently had sex. That didn’t necessarily mean that sex had been with Austin, but Leigh would need to take another look at Cullen’s friend. Before she did that though, she wanted the lab results on the clothes that’d been taken from Austin’s house. There was no telling when those would be processed, but she’d give the lab a call and try to hurry them.
If she had a job, that is.
She tried not to think that she could lose her badge today. It could happen though. She doubted that Rocky had any actual evidence to present to the town council, but he could use her connection with Cullen. That was a darn good reason for her to put some distance between Cullen and her. But if she did that, it would be for all the wrong reasons—because she’d been pressured into it.
There were right reasons for distancing herself. A possible broken heart and butting heads with Bowen. However, one look at Cullen, and Leigh knew she didn’t exactly have a choice about her feelings for him.
“Problem?” Cullen asked, and that was when Leigh realized he’d caught her staring at him.
She waved that off just as her phone rang. “Jeb,” she muttered and hit the decline button. Leigh wasn’t in the mood for a lecture or advice.
Cullen stood, facing her, and he crammed his hands in the pockets of his jeans. It seemed to her that he was having a debate about what he wanted to say. “Is your father okay?” he asked.
Of all the things Leigh had thought Cullen might say, that wasn’t one of them. And his tone only added to her surprise. He seemed concerned, and that didn’t mesh with his usual feelings about Jeb.
“Why do you ask?” she countered, and she hoped this wasn’t about to turn into a discussion of whether or not Jeb could have killed Alexa and Jimbo.
Again, Cullen hesitated. He shook his head, then huffed. “Jeb wanted me to swear not to tell you, but he had a dizzy spell yesterday in the break room. It happened shortly after you left for your office.”
Everything inside Leigh went still while she tried to wrap her mind around that. “A dizzy spell?”
Cullen nodded. “He went pale and staggered back before I caught him. If he hadn’t told me to keep it from you, I might have dismissed it as nothing. But it feels like something,” he added.
Yes, it did, and Leigh tried to wrap her mind around that, too. Was Jeb sick? Or was it worse than that? Either way, she could see him wanting to keep it from her. Maybe because he didn’t want her thinking he was weak. Or perhaps because it was just something he wanted to keep to himself. Neither of those excuses would work on her. Jeb and she might not be close, but she wanted to know if he was having health problems.
Leigh pressed Jeb’s number, and since he’d just tried to call her, she expected him to answer. He didn’t. In fact, it went to voice mail, but before she could leave him a message, she got an incoming call from the reserve deputy Cecile Taggart.
“Is everything okay with Jamie?” Leigh immediately asked.
“He’s fine. In fact, the doctor might let him go home late today or tomorrow.”
