Lone Defender (Love Inspired Suspense) Read online

  But would they do it before another victim died?

  The thought of Skylar lying in a shallow grave, her throat slit, a bullet in her head, had Jonas up and pacing across the room. “The hits were typical gang-style killings. What gangs are active in the area, Deputy?”

  “What gangs aren’t, is a better question. We get gangs from New Mexico and California, and a few coming up across the border from Mexico. Much as I hate to say it, drugs are a big business in these parts.”

  “How about word on the street? Anyone taking credit for the killings?”

  “It’s quiet as a tomb. Our snitches say they haven’t heard anything, and no one else seems to be talking.”

  “People don’t talk when they’re afraid. What are the main gangs? The big players?”

  “You know, Sampson, I’m beginning to feel like I’m the one being interviewed here.” Mitchell poured coffee from a carafe that sat on a corner of the desk. “Want some?”

  “No. Thanks.”

  “In answer to your question, the bigger gangs are Phoenix based. The big players call the city home, and I doubt they’d put much effort into cutting down a small time player like Stanley.”

  “What about Redmond?”

  “Now that’s another question entirely. Redmond traveled a few times a month. Went away for a couple days and then came back. No one seems to know where he went. We’re checking the contents of his house, trying to figure that out.”

  Someone knocked on the door and it opened.

  Jonas felt Skylar’s presence before she stepped in the room. Every nerve sprang to life, his body hummed, his palms itched to reach out, tug her to his side. Cheeks chapped from her week out in the sun, her hair pulled back into a tight braid, she crossed the room, dropped into a chair near the desk.

  “Well, that was fun.”

  “Glad one of us enjoyed it.” The sheriff followed her in, his steely gaze resting on Jonas. “I hear there was trouble out at your place this morning.”

  “That’s right.”

  “And you still think your girlfriend should stick around?”

  “I’ve told you seventeen thousand times, Sheriff, I am not his girlfriend, and I’m not leaving town.”

  “That’s a lot of times to fit into…” Mitchell began as he glanced at his watch, not even trying to hide his amusement, “twenty minutes.”

  “It was a long twenty minutes,” the sheriff responded, and Jonas wondered how many times he’d tried to insist Skylar leave town and how many times she’d refused. “But we do have a confirmed ID on the remains. How’d you do in here?”

  “We got a match, too. Stanley was working with the posse that tried to take Skylar down.” Mitchell handed the sheriff the photo.

  “That’s what I was afraid of.” The sheriff raked a hand down his jaw, stared at the picture.

  “Afraid of?” Jonas asked, and the sheriff met his eyes.

  “I was hoping we had separate incidents. That maybe Redmond and Stanley’s death didn’t have anything to do with Skylar. She’s a private investigator. She could have enemies she’s unaware of.”

  “So, you wanted her to go home and take them with her?”

  “I want this town to be safe, Sampson. However that happens, I’ll be happy. I’d also have been happy to think Stanley and Redmond were taken out by a gang. That’s simple and straightforward. The fact that Skylar came here looking for Redmond and found a boatload of trouble means we’ve got trouble in town. Trouble someone is working very hard to keep quiet.”

  “I was thinking the same, Sheriff,” Mitchell spoke up. “Someone went to a lot of trouble to hide Redmond’s body, then Skylar came to town and started asking around, insisting on answers. She stirred something up for sure.”

  “And if she’d died out in the desert, people would still be assuming she went out there sightseeing and got lost. Happens all the time, and whoever set up everything knew it. Take her out to the middle of nowhere. Make it look like she ran out of gas. Let the elements do the rest. With her out of the picture, Redmond’s body might have been under that cement slab for centuries. I don’t like it, and I want answers.” The sheriff scowled and stood. “I need to get back to work. Call me if anything comes up.”

  He walked out, and Mitchell turned to Skylar. “He’s right, you know.”

  “About me stirring up trouble?”

  “About you leaving town. Whatever trouble we have here, there’s a good chance it won’t follow you home. Too much distance, too much effort and too much of a chance of being caught.”

  “I disagree. If this is gang related and drug related, there’s plenty of money to throw around, and it’s easy enough to throw it at a hit man.” She touched the arrowhead that still hung from her neck, her fingers dancing along the turquoise beads to either side of it.

  Long, strong fingers. Fingers that were as calloused as Jonas’s, as capable. She could take care of herself, no doubt about that. But Jonas wanted to take care of her anyway. Wanted to bundle her up and ship her out to some place where she’d be safe. Too bad she wouldn’t cooperate.

  “To quote the sheriff, she’s your girlfriend, do you think she should stick around? Or do you think maybe you can talk her into leaving town?” Mitchell shot Jonas a smile. He must have sensed what was in the air. The energy that pulsed between Skylar and Jonas when they were together.

  “I’m not—”

  “Don’t ruin the moment, Grady.”

  “What moment?” she scowled.

  “The moment when I acknowledge that you have a will of steel and tell Chief Deputy Mitchell that I’m not going to waste my breath trying to get you out of town.” He pulled her to her feet, ignoring the heat that spread through him at the contact.

  “So, I win?” She grinned, but he wasn’t amused.

  “No one wins, if you die.”

  “I’m not going to.”

  “From your lips to God’s ear. Let’s hope He’s in a listening mood,” Mitchell said as he led them outside.

  “He always listens. He just doesn’t always give us what we want,” Skylar responded, her words twisting Jonas’s gut, making him think of all that he’d wanted, of his fruitless prayers lifting up to the heavens.

  Please, save my wife. My son.

  Over and over and over again until the doctor had come to give him God’s answer.

  He’d prayed again as he and Skylar climbed the mesa, his fear pushing him back to a place of faith he hadn’t been sure he’d ever return to.

  The answer had been different, then.

  Better.

  But that didn’t mean all his prayers would be answered the way he wanted them to be. It didn’t mean assurance that the future would be bright and wonderful and free of trouble.

  “What’s wrong?” Skylar put a hand on his arm, as he got into the truck.

  “Nothing.”

  “Something.”

  “Just thinking that you’re right. God doesn’t always give us what we want. Sometimes, that’s for the best. Sometimes…I wonder.”

  “Yeah. Me, too. There’s a bigger plan, I know that. Some huge tapestry that God is weaving, and I’m only a tiny part of it. He knows the colors and the patterns that work best, and He chooses carefully to make me fit. It’s still hard, though, to accept the things that tear us up inside.” She squeezed his hand as he started the truck, her rough palm pressed to his, pulling him back from the brink of all the memories that haunted him. Pulling him back to the moment, the woman, the gift that he was just beginning to believe God was giving him.

  “I wish we had more to go on,” she said, as he pulled away from the station, and he nodded.

  “Me, too. The more answers we get, the more questions I have. You said Redmond worked at a local diner. How about we head over there and get some breakfast, see if anyone there has new information?”

  “I’m not sure the sheriff would approve.”

  “When has disapproval ever stopped you?”

  “Never.” She la
ughed, and he imagined her in twenty years, laugh lines bracketing her mouth and fanning out from her eyes, age only adding to her beauty. Imagined himself beside her.

  “Take the third left. It’s about a half mile away. It surprised me that he worked so close to the sheriff’s office, seeing as how he’d been shirking his obligation to pay child support for two years.”

  “A cop in Arizona isn’t likely to know about a guy from New York who owes child support.”

  “I know, but it still surprised me that he’d risk it.”

  “Maybe he liked flaunting his ability to elude the authorities.”

  “That’s the thing. He didn’t change his identity, didn’t go to any effort to hide. I’m not sure he thought of himself as eluding anything. The way his ex-wife put it, he had delusions of grandeur, and thought he was a whole lot more important than he was. I can’t figure out why he wound up in a little town like Cave Creek, working as a line cook at a diner. He had two doctorates. He should have been able to get a job doing something else.”

  “He’d been kicked out of a university position for cheating. Most employers wouldn’t look kindly on that.”

  “True, but, based on everything his ex said, I’d think Redmond would have gravitated toward big cities and more important jobs. Why here? That’s what I keep wondering. If he had connections before he came to town, they might be the key to finding out who killed him. Here it is.” She gestured to a fifties-style diner, its faded neon signs shouting that the place had the best burgers in town.

  “Classy place,” he said as he parked the truck.

  “Exactly my point. A university professor with a big ego working here? It doesn’t make sense.”

  “Let’s go see what his coworkers have to say.” Jonas got out of the truck, glancing around, checking for trouble. He didn’t think there’d be an attack so close to the sheriff’s office, but what he thought wouldn’t matter if bullets flew and Skylar was hit.

  “Are we in a race, Jonas? Because you’re going to win. Your legs are a whole lot longer than mine,” Skylar panted as they hurried to the door.

  “Sorry. I want to limit our time out in the open as much as possible.” He urged her inside, stepping in behind her, the scent of bacon and coffee filling his nose, mixing with the scent of Skylar.

  “Howdy, folks. Getting an early start on your day, huh?” A skinny blonde sashayed toward them, her kohl-rimmed eyes settling on Skylar’s face. “I know you, right?”

  “I was in here a week ago, asking about Daniel Redmond.”

  “Thought so. Also, saw you on the news. Couldn’t believe it when they found you alive out there. I had a friend once. Went out into the desert to take some pictures. Never came out.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Skylar offered, and the woman shrugged.

  “He should have known better. He lived here his entire life. You? You’re city. Guess you can be forgiven getting stuck out there.”

  “Thanks.” Skylar’s wry response didn’t seem to register. The waitress continued to speak as she led them to a small booth near the kitchen.

  “Me? I’d have a month’s supply of water and food, plus a flare gun if I went out there. I won’t. Don’t much care for the desert even though I grew up here. Can I get you some coffee?” She tossed menus onto the table.

  “Actually, I was hoping to speak with your manager.”

  “About Dan, right? We had cops in here all day, yesterday. Wouldn’t tell us what it was about, but I have my suspicions.”

  “Do you?”

  “Heard a body was pulled out of his backyard. My guess is it’s him.”

  “Is there a reason why you think someone would murder him?”

  “People either loved him or hated him. I guess someone might have hated him enough to do him in.”

  “Any idea who?”

  “None. We didn’t hang with the same crowd. Shelby might know, though. She owns the place. Probably spent more time with Dan than anyone else here.”

  “They dated?” Jonas asked, and the waitress laughed.

  “Shelby date? She’s married to the diner, and that’s all she has time for. I just meant she worked more shifts with him. It’s possible she saw who his friends were. She’s in the back. I’ll get her for you. How about I put in an order for two specials while I’m at it? Things can get crazy here when the before-church crowd arrives. Wouldn’t want you to have to wait for your food.”

  “What’s the special?”

  “A three stack. Two eggs. Sausage. Pan fried potatoes.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  “Two specials, then.” She scribbled something on an order pad, and Skylar frowned again.

  “One will be fine.” Obviously, Skylar wasn’t thrilled to have him order for her.

  “Two. I’m hungry enough to eat both if you can’t eat yours.”

  “Six pancakes, four eggs, sausage and potatoes? There is no way can you eat all that.”

  “Probably not, but I’m banking on you eating, so I’m not all that concerned about it. You’re hungry, right?”

  “Yes, but we don’t have time to eat. Not a huge meal, anyway.” Skylar tapped her fingers on the table, and the waitress huffed impatiently.

  “No offense, but I have more prep to do before the rush. Want to make up your minds?”

  “It’s made. Bring two specials,” Jonas said, because they needed to eat and because spending time where Redmond worked might give them some clue as to why he’d chosen to work there.

  “I didn’t expect this of you, Jonas.” Skylar crossed her arms, her dark eyes shooting daggers.

  “What?”

  “The whole macho thing. You decide we eat, so we eat.”

  “Yeah, well, I didn’t expect this of you, either.”

  “I’m not going to ask you what.”

  “Chicken.”

  “Fine. What didn’t you expect?”

  “That you’d be a sore loser. If sticking around to see if any of Redmond’s associates showed up was your idea, you’d fight hard to stay all day and eat a dozen meals. Since it’s mine, you’re going to mope and call macho on me.” He responded, and Skylar’s lips quirked into a half smile.

  “You know just how to play me, don’t you, Jonas? Make me ask what I don’t want to know, so you can drum some sense into my head. I’m sorry about the macho remark. I’m competitive. It’s another thing I’m working on.”

  “It’s also what kept you alive for six days, so I’m not complaining, but, just so we’re clear, games aren’t my thing. I’ll never play them with you.”

  “Is that a promise?” Her smile fell away.

  “Do you want it to be?”

  She hesitated, then shrugged. “I don’t like promises. No one ever keeps them. But maybe with you, things will be different. Right now, though, all I really want is to find some answers. I have the feeling time is running short, Jonas. It’s making me antsy.” She fiddled with the end of her braid, scooting back against the bench as the waitress returned with their order.

  Honest, tough, funny, she was all those things.

  And she was smart, her instincts good.

  Her worry only added to his, and he dug into his breakfast, his mind racing ahead to the moment of confrontation when he would square off against Skylar’s enemy.

  It was coming, and he knew it.

  Blood spurting over his hands, spilling onto the ground.

  He shoved the memory away

  Not again.

  He wouldn’t let it happen again.

  Please, God, help me keep it from happening again.

  The prayer tripped out, as rough and raw as his emotions, and he didn’t regret it. Faith had a way of clinging even when a person wanted to push it away. For once, he wasn’t pushing.

  FIFTEEN

  She was hungry, and Jonas was right. Scoping out the diner, looking for Redmond’s contemporaries, that made the meal doubly worthwhile.

  Skylar dug into her second pancake, shovelin
g it in and swallowing it down so fast she barely had time to taste it. Starvation would do that to a person, and she’d been starved for almost a week, so hungry, she’d been physically sick with it. She’d lost at least a dozen pounds during her long hike. Her clothes were loose, her bones protruding. It was time to put some weight back on.

  She forked up a sausage. Thought about inhaling it and following it up with a shot of maple syrup.

  Then again, maybe she shouldn’t be shoving food in her face with Jonas right across the table watching her with those blue-green eyes.

  Staring at her with those blue-green eyes.

  “What?” She dabbed a napkin to her mouth and took a sip of orange juice, trying to pretend she didn’t want to eat every single bite of the food on her plate. Plus, anything left on his.

  “Just admiring your ability to eat without chewing.”

  She laughed, nearly spewing juice across the table at him, coughing until he came around the table and patted her back.

  “You okay?” His hand rested on her back, the heat of it spearing through her.

  “Next time, wait until I swallow before you give me the unvarnished truth.” She scooted away, and he smiled.

  “You’re nervous again.”

  “Nearly choking to death will do that to a person.”

  “No one chokes to death on juice.”

  “That’s what everyone says until it happens.”

  He chuckled, moving back to his seat as the kitchen doors opened and a tall lean woman walked out.

  “Morning, folks. I’m Shelby Hunter. Marcy said you wanted to speak with me.” She was younger than Skylar expected. Maybe at the top edge of twenty, her hazel eyes oddly light against dark red lashes, short red hair spiking around her head.

  “We were hoping you might be able to tell us a little bit about Daniel Redmond. I was in a week ago, but you were out of town.”

  “Skylar Grady, right?” She pulled over a chair, dropped into it, long legs stretched out, her arms crossed.

  “That’s right.”

  “There was a message from you on my desk when I got back to town, but by that time you were missing. Glad you’re okay, and I’m glad we can finally connect. So, what is it you want to know about Dan?”