Page 29 of Big Daddy Sheriff

He took another five minutes just because he could, then sauntered back to the awaiting men. Handing back the documents, he said, “You fellers are free to head on out. But I have a word of advice for you.” He leaned in, resting one elbow on the car door and keeping his other hand near his gun. “BigCedar is the type of town where folks look out for one another. A community for decent folks who don’t take kindly to others poking around their business. And we sure don’t take kindly to men trying to get their hands on young ladies.” He stepped back, banged on the car door twice, and added, “You’d do well to keep that in mind. Go on now. Move it along.”

Bruce glared at him for a moment but clearly didn’t want to press his luck. He drove off without another word.

Quinn made sure the car kept heading straight ahead before he turned around and went back to Big Cedar.

He wouldn’t be letting Little Alyssa out of his sight anytime soon.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Alyssa breathed a sigh of relief when Quinn came through the front door.

She ran into his arms and hugged him tightly. She hoped she wasn’t being too forward. Surely she wasn’t, she figured. They’d slept in the same bed last night. True, nothing had happened. But she’d been tangled in his arms. What was a tight hug now in the light of day?

“Are you okay? I was so worried!” she cried.

“I’m just fine,” he reassured her, rubbing her back.

“Were they bad men, Uncle Quinn?” Mindy asked.

“Yeah. Did you have to beat ‘em up?” Janie added.

Little Belinda just kept sucking on her binky, but her eyes were wide with wonder, and she was clearly both nervous and riveted.

Quinn chuckled. “I didn’t have to beat anyone up, girls. Those guys didn’t do anything illegal. Y’all go run along and play. I need to talk to Alyssa.”

Alyssa was nervous as the women gave her silent nods of solidarity and then filed out of the house. Was she in trouble? Or did Quinn have bad news?

It turned out to be the latter rather than the former. And that bad news came in the form of a picture.

“Do you recognize this guy?” Quinn thrust his cell forward, revealing the image of a driver’s license.

“Oh my gosh! That’s Bruce! He works for my… for Lana.” She began sobbing.

Quinn instantly wrapped her up in another powerful hug. He swayed gently, resting his chin on the top of her head.

His presence calmed her and a few moments later, she was able to speak again.

“How did they find me?”

“I don’t know,” he answered contemplatively. “Have you talked to anyone since you’ve been here? Like a friend or relative back in Little Rock?”

“No one,” she said.

“Could they be tracking your phone?”

“No. They’ve never had access to it.”

Quinn let go of her and then paced for a few moments as he thought it over. “The car.”

“What?”

“They found you from the car. You said this Lana lady sold it to you, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then there must be some sort of GPS in it or something. They were looking in the shop. They would have come here if they were trackingyou.”

“Maybe they saw my car in the garage, so they knew I was in town,” she said. “Though I don’t know how’d they even know to come to Big Cedar in the first place.”

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