Page 7 of Naughty by Nature

Chapter 3

Sheridan tooka deep breath and wondered how many people would come running if he started to yell. It was well-known in the department that the madder he got, the softer his voice. But he was beyond livid right now. He was very close to losing his shit.

“When did they release him?”

The voice on the other end of the line seemed to hear the threat in his voice, because Sheridan could hear computer keys clacking. Fast. “It looks like three days ago. Well, technically four. He was released at midnight.”

“So, you’re telling me he’s had four days in my county without supervision? Why wasn’t I notified? I know for a fact the warden placed a notification form in his file when I brought him in. What about the victim, Cheyenne Lowell? Was shenotified?”

There was more clacking on the keys. “Uh, no sir. There’s no note of it.”

Sheridan slammed the phone into the cradle and pushed away from his desk. As he left his office he jammed his hat onto his head.

“Did I just hear what I think I did?” Marlene asked.

Sheridan nodded once, parking his hands on his gun belt as he paused at her desk. He waved at her computer. “Can you check and see if dispatch has had any strange reports recently. Break-ins, thefts. And let me know if the Lowells or Blue Star have called anything in.”

She focused on the screen, pushing her bifocals up her nose. Within seconds she was shaking her head. “No reports of anything since you responded to the cattle theft.”

A bit of tension eased from his spine and he glanced up at the clock. School had started an hour ago. “Marlene, I don’t know if Wade is coming back, but I’m going to slide over to the school and talk to Cheyenne. I don’t know why the prison missed that bright pink form I filled out, but remind me to call Warden Thomas tomorrow. Somebody needs their ass kicked for this.”

She nodded and jotted the note in her book. “Sheridan, do you mind if I ask my girls if they’ve seen anything?”

Sheridan pursed his lips in thought. As much as he hated to admit it, Marlene's Naughty Book Club group had produced as many if not more tips than regular BOLOs. “Yeah, that’s fine, but subtly. I mean as sneaky as possible. You get me? There’s no sense in making people paranoid.”

She nodded her perfectly coiffed head. “Yes, sir.”

“And give me at least two hours,” he muttered. “I need to tell Cheyenne first. Fuck, this is going to be bad.”

Marlene’s face softened. “That girl has had the worst luck. And you know, Wade Shipton used to be a good nut. We had him in church for years with his family. But he fell in with that rodeo crowd and they ruined him. He was never the same after he came back that last time from being busted up by that bull.”

“I know,” he sighed.

Actually, he’d been friendly with Wade when he’d seen him around town. But Marlene was partially right. After he’d been gored, his riding career had been over, but the pain hadn’t. In his mind’s eye, Sheridan could see him tossing back pills like it was just yesterday, when in fact it had been several years past. Those pills had changed Wade. Or maybe the pain had. Or the bitterness of not being able to ride anymore. Hell, who knew?

When they’d been married, Wade and Cheyenne had been a beautiful couple. And they’d produced beautiful babies. But that year that he’d been injured stuck out in Sheridan’s mind because it had been the same year that they had found the swelling in her breast and their own lives had been changed forever.

Cheyenne and her issues had faded away, at least until he’d run into her at the gas station one day. For some reason he’d looked over just in time to see her putting a compact away and slipping a pair of sunglasses on. But it had been enough time for him to see the bruises. Stalking across the lot to her pump he’d walked straight up to her and removed the glasses.

He could remember the look of fear in her eyes even now. It had gutted him. And as his focus sharpened, he realized Cheyenne had changed. She was almost haggard in appearance, and her brilliant auburn hair hung lank and lifeless around her face. But the vivid purple smudging the pale creamy skin of her cheek was stark. She’d snatched at her glasses but he’d kept them away from her. Instinctively he knew what had happened.

“You better tell Wade that this does not happen again. Do you understand me? No, never mind. I’m going to go tell him. No man should treat a woman like that.”

With a cry she’d lunged out, grabbing his arm. “No, you can’t, please. It’ll only make things worse.”

“How much worse does it need to be before you do something?”

“I’m working on it now. He’s in Austin with a friend. Please just give me time.”

Something in her appeal had convinced him, and he’d given her her glasses back.

Within hours, though, Wade had gotten a DUI. One of his deputies had picked him up leaving Spurs, not Austin like he’d told Cheyenne. Truman, the deputy, had been friends with Wade at one time and had admitted to Sheridan that he probably would have just driven him home if he hadn’t plowed into another car, then tried to leave the scene. It had been after everything had closed, and if Deputy Truman hadn’t actually seen it happen Wade would have gotten off scot free.

That DUI had been the beginning of the end. Wade had done three days in jail and his license had been suspended. Then he’d had to rely on other people to haul his ass around, which had infuriated him further. Sheridan had seen the crash coming, but when it had it was so much worse than he’d expected.

In an effort to sweeten the news of Wade’s release he stopped at Ground Zero and grabbed her one of those caramel things, then he blasted the air all the way out to the school. The morning was beautiful, but it promised to be a hot one.

When he pulled up into the turnaround in front of the school he parked his truck and locked it, then headed into the office. He would get looks and there would be whispers around town for this, but it needed to be done.

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