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“You did exactly what I would have had you do,” the sheriff replied. “If you’re worried your performance this morning makes me rethink your position, you’re wrong. I’m absolutely certain we’ve lucked into you, Deputy. Has Van brought you up to date on the situation he and Hale are in?”
“We’re in a situation?” Van asked.
She was not aware of any danger they were in. “Not at all. What’s happening?”
“Some lawyer is looking for us. Or me, I think,” Van explained.
A brow rose over the sheriff’s eyes. “Lawyer?”
“Yeah, apparently she came into Trio and talked to Pilar, but Pilar sent her away.” Van sat back, his expression worried. “But she was clear that she was a lawyer. I don’t think she would have trashed a cabin.”
“Trashed a cabin?” It seemed like a lot was going on in the background.
“A couple of days back there was a break-in at one of the rental cabins up the highway that leads toward Creede,” the sheriff explained. “It was one Hale worked on for a couple of weeks. They stayed there right after they left the lodge. Around the same time, a woman went looking for them at the lodge, but the person she spoke to didn’t realize they’d moved on. That would have been their forwarding address.”
“We didn’t tell HR at the lodge when we left that cabin.” Van waved that off. “I guess it didn’t occur to me that we should do it. Lucy runs the place, and she knows where we are. Also, if Lucy had talked to that woman, she would have known better than to even mention she knew who we were. I mean, if you can’t hide out in Bliss, where can you hide?” He frowned, obviously realizing what he’d said. “I don’t have anything to hide out from.”
But there was something off. Lawyers didn’t run around small towns hoping for clients. She turned to the sheriff because Van was not going to be helpful. She wasn’t sure Hale would be either. In this case, they needed someone far more pragmatic than they were. “You thinking a scorned lover?”
“I haven’t scorned anyone,” Van argued.
The sheriff ignored him. “At first. Now I’m not so sure. I don’t see him dating a lawyer. If anything, the lawyer might be looking for him because of an incident that happened in Oklahoma City a while back. He was involved in a bar fight last year.”
Ah, that made sense. “And the statute of limitations on civil suits is two years after the injury. So any complaint would have to be filed fairly soon.”
Van had paled. “Seriously? You think that asshole is trying to sue me?”
“I’ll have Gemma check to see if anything’s been filed in Oklahoma. This might be a process server,” the sheriff concluded.
“But that wouldn’t explain the break-in.” She didn’t like the situation. Something wasn’t right, but she knew what the sheriff would say next. It was the logical road to go down.
“We’ve had a couple of break-ins. We do every year, especially outside of the valley,” the sheriff conceded. “I’m probably hearing hoofbeats and thinking zebras instead of horses. It’s been quiet for a couple of weeks, so I’m looking for the next crazy event to happen. I also don’t see why a lawyer would want to shoot Hale.”
“No one wants to shoot Hale, but he was wearing my jacket, and from a distance, we look a bit alike.” Van glanced over at the exam room door. “He picked up the closest jacket and it was mine. Do you think he got shot because of me?”
“I think you live right next to national forest land, and sometimes hunters are idiots. Most of our hunters know exactly what they’re doing, but every now and then we’ll get a group that pays more attention to their beer than the deer they’re hunting. Or a shot went wild. I’m going to check with the rangers. They should know who’s out there.”
“Only if they came in legally. There are plenty of ways to enter that forest without the rangers knowing.” It wasn’t like there was a fence up.
The door to the exam room came open, and a man in a white coat strode out. Dr. Caleb Burke was an attractive man with curly red hair he kept close cropped. He wore blue scrubs under his coat and stretched one arm over his chest as he moved into the waiting room. “Hale’s fine. Sheriff, you have got to do something about those hunters. This is the second time this month I’ve dealt with a gunshot wound. A hunter mistakenly shot his buddy in the leg a couple of weeks ago. Hale’s going to easily recover, but I want him to rest here for a couple of hours. I’ve got him on an antibiotic drip just in case.”
