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While Skye waited to hear Dustin pick up or a beep to leave a message, her mind skipped to the way Tristan had taken care of her last night and how he’d made her laugh when that was the last thing she’d felt like doing. She needed to distance herself from him before she lost the willpower to do so.
“Anderson here.”
“Dustin, it’s Skye.”
“This isn’t a voice I was expecting to hear. If you’re calling to ask for your job back, it’s not available, but I can always use a kickass deputy. When can you start?”
She laughed. He’d always been a cool boss, and she did miss working for him. “I’m not calling to ask for a job, but thank you for the vote of confidence. I want to talk to you about Thomas Grant. Some things have been happening here that makes me think I’m on his radar.”
“What kind of things?”
She told him what had been going on the last few days. “It’s still possible that it’s a coincidence Danny and Homer Drake were at the same place on the same night, but—”
“I doubt it. Drake is one of Thomas Grant’s enforcers.”
Her blood turned to ice. “I so did not want to hear that.”
“You need to be really careful, Skye. The case against Grant fell apart on a ridiculous technicality. He was released three weeks ago. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but you’ve been gone a year, and it didn’t occur to me that he’d turn his attention on you.”
“He’s out?” she whispered.
“’Fraid so. There are murmurs that either the judge on the case was paid off or threatened some way.”
“It pains me to say this, but if Danny was here the same night as Drake, then he’s probably mixed up in this.” She wasn’t ready to accuse him, but she couldn’t ignore the possibility he’d pocketed Grant’s money and then started the rumor that she had it to divert attention from himself. If so, this was bad. Very bad. “The rumors that there was money missing from when the arrests were made. Do you know if that’s true?”
“No one knows for sure, but I’ve heard that Grant claims so. I’ll talk to Keenan. He’s the lead detective on this. I’m sorry to say it sounds like they need to take a look at Danny. I’ll call you if I learn anything new.”
“I’d appreciate it.”
“You be careful, okay?”
“I will. I have a great crew who’ll help watch my back, and the police department is a good one. The police chief is aware of what’s going on, and he’s keeping his eyes open.”
“Glad to hear it.”
After finishing her call, she sent a group text to her deputies and Jackie to come in if they were able for a meeting at four. It was time to tell them what was going on and who they needed to be watching for. After that was done, she went online and printed out enough photos of Danny, Drake, and Thomas Grant to pass out to everyone.
She hated that she was bringing trouble to her new town. It wasn’t fair, especially when she hadn’t done anything wrong. “Damn you, Danny,” she muttered as she headed for her car. She could call Tristan to tell him what she’d learned from Dustin, but she needed his calming influence. As she drove to the police station, she realized she wasn’t doing such a good job of distancing herself from him. She’d get right on that as soon as this mess was over.
Bentley was in Tristan’s office when she arrived, and although she wanted to close the door and crawl onto Tristan’s lap and feel his arms wrapped around her, Bentley also needed to hear what she’d learned.
“Sheriff,” Tristan said when she walked in. She wondered if Bentley picked up on how his voice had gone soft. “Come in. We were about to call you.”
“Have you learned anything new?” She sat in the chair next to Bentley.
Tristan turned his monitor toward her. “Here’s your note leaver.”
She watched as a man wearing a hoodie that covered his head walked to her cruiser and stuck a piece of paper under her wipers. He kept his face down, but she was pretty sure it was Homer Drake. “Play that again.” She leaned closer to the screen. “He’s wearing flesh-colored rubber gloves.”
“Yeah, so unfortunately, there aren’t any fingerprints on the note,” Bentley said.
“You think that’s Drake?” She glanced between the two men.
Tristan nodded. “We do. Which means he’s still around.”
“I talked to Dustin, that’s my former boss,” she told Bentley. “Drake is one of Thomas Grant’s enforcers.”
“Hell,” Tristan muttered.
