Part 17 (2/2)

Cody Harper came over and joined the group surrounding her-a group that had become larger and more supportive than her mind could take in.

Cody wore a huge smile on his face. ”Hey, Sheriff, I just spoke to Connor Talbot. He and Mel are about fifteen minutes out.”

”Who the h.e.l.l are they?”

Billy J's question sounded petulant, his response to the snickers that had just rippled through the restaurant with Cody's announcement.

Adam chuckled, and Emily Anne thought he might have actually been enjoying the moment a little too much himself. ”Son, those two men might just end up being your worst nightmare come to life.”

Chapter 17.

”I want to see what's in that shed.”

They were less than a half an hour from home when Connor's words broke the silence they'd been traveling in. Mel nodded his head, because he was in complete agreement with Connor. Bruce Smith had acted completely spooked. From the safety of an old Texas oak tree across the road and to the north some six hundred yards from his house, they'd watched him-Connor through the scope of a very wicked-looking sniper rifle, and Mel through his high-resolution binoculars-as he'd come out of his house and headed straight for the third shed built in an arc behind the house.

”He didn't hesitate, he went to that one particular shed, and it sure as h.e.l.l didn't take him long to pick out the right keys to open the d.a.m.n locks-all seven of them.” Mel shook his head. ”I couldn't see if the keys were marked or not, so that might not have been a clue.”

”Not,” Connor said. ”I was able to get a look at that key ring. The keys were a.s.sorted shapes and sizes, but I couldn't see any colored markings on them. Had to have been fifty keys there, easy, and he was able to pick out the right ones without hesitating.”

Mel shot him a quick look. ”I have got to have me a go with that rifle of yours. That must be one h.e.l.l of a powerful scope you have there.”

Connor didn't open his eyes, he just grinned. ”She's a beauty. You can put your hands on her anytime, partner.”

They'd been on the go since very early in the morning. After their meeting in Divine they'd decided to drive past the property Smith lived on. They'd seen the tree and the way the FM road had undulated, and had decided to just see how the vantage point worked.

Mel hadn't actually believed they'd see anything at all. Instead, they'd gotten one h.e.l.l of a bonus.

Something important was in that shed. He just knew it.

This was the part of working with Connor Talbot he liked best. The man's mind never shut off, and could follow more twists and turns than most. There was no one Mel wanted by his side or at his back more than this man.

”Bruce Smith is a man with secrets, and his biggest one is inside that particular shed,” Connor said.

”I don't know if he sensed us out there today, or if he's just starting to turn paranoid,” Mel said. ”He stopped and looked around, as if he could sense us.”

”He did the same thing earlier in town when I was waiting to snap his picture. His lips were moving the whole time on both occasions,” Connor said, ”which could mean he was talking to himself. Well, unless he had an imaginary friend there that he was talking to, that is.”

Mel shot a glance over at his partner. ”I caught that, too. Didn't realize he did it in town. I wonder if anyone else has noticed the habit, or if it's something new?” He put his gaze back on the road. ”What I'd like to do is get some sort of audio surveillance set up. If his mouth is moving, he might be talking to himself. If he is talking to himself, he might confess to murder.”

”Would that hold up in a court of law?” Connor asked.

”No, but it might serve as grounds for a warrant to conduct a search and seizure.”

That's all they really needed, sufficient grounds to get that warrant.

”You think that we'll find the evidence we're looking for in that shed,” Connor said.

”I do, yes. And I'll bet you a couple of hundred those other sheds are empty.”

”Do I look like a sucker to you?”

”Of course not.” Mel laughed.

”Good. Because I've worked hard on presenting the appearance of an intelligent hard-a.s.s and I would hate to think my efforts were wasted.”

”And here I thought that look was natural and not practiced.” Mel shot a glance over to Connor. ”Unlike our Mr. Smith. He doesn't look natural at all. ”

”I know. So I guess the first order of business is to verify that Bruce Smith is indeed Ralph Baxter. I'll run the picture I took through my program, but again, we need something that will hold up in a court of law. Any thoughts as to how we do that?”

”As a matter of fact, yes. Ethan said the guy comes in to The Dancing Pony a couple of times a week, remember?”

Connor opened his eyes. He ran a hand through his hair, something he did whenever he was ticked with himself. ”Well, h.e.l.l. Of course. Fingerprints. We can lift them from Smith's place, most likely, but we need a proper evidentiary trail. Ethan serves him then gets the gla.s.s or bottle or whatever the h.e.l.l it is for us, with witnesses, and we run the prints.”

”I like it when we can use the simple ways, you know?” Mel said. ”Sometimes, it's the simple things that trip these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds up.”

Connor's cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the display and frowned. ”Cody Harper,” he said to Mel. Then he answered the call.

”Hey, Harper. How goes it?”

Mel couldn't hear the other side of the conversation, but when Connor swore and sat bolt upright in his seat he felt his stomach churn.

”Well son of a b.i.t.c.h. Look, we're about fifteen minutes out. You're sure she's all right?” Connor listened a moment and then nodded. ”Okay, thanks. We'll head over to the clinic, first. See if you can persuade Adam to keep the little b.a.s.t.a.r.d there until we arrive.” Connor smiled, and then he laughed. ”Yeah, he sounds like he got more than his share of stupid. Thanks, Harper.”

He hung up the phone and turned to look at Mel. Because Connor had laughed, Mel knew that whatever had happened wasn't too serious. But he also knew it involved their woman, and her having to go to the clinic. No matter how Mel cut it, that just simply wasn't good.

”Start talking.”

Connor nodded, and did just that.

”Quit beating yourself up over this,” Kelsey Benedict said. Standing beside her as she sat on an exam table in one of the clinic rooms, Kelsey ran her hand lightly down Emily Anne's arm. ”My Auntie May used to say you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you finally find your prince. Clearly, Billy J was just another one of life's frogs.”

Emily Anne burst out laughing. Judging by the smile on Doctor Robert Jessop's face, he thought Kelsey's comment was funny, too.

Kelsey had insisted on bringing her to the clinic. She wanted to see for herself that Emily Anne was uninjured-and, she said, that she wasn't feeling guilty over what had happened.

”Seriously, it's not your fault he tracked you down and then humiliated himself in front of my customers. No one-and I mean no one at all-thinks any less of you for what happened today.”

Doctor David Jessop came into the exam room and put the x-ray they'd just taken up on the viewer, and turned on the light behind it.

Robert narrowed his eyes as he examined the test results, and then nodded. ”Good.” He flashed a quick grin. ”Nothing broken, just as we thought. It never hurts to confirm our beliefs, though. Sometimes you can end up with a hairline fracture that will give you h.e.l.l later on.”

”Just from having my arm grabbed and squeezed?”

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