Page 23 of Cold Case Discovery

Jack took the lead, a sheriff down to the bone as he talked to the front desk and a nurse, before they were finally led into a room.

Steve sat on an exam table and even smiled at them—if ruefully—when they entered.

“I’m fine, boss. Just grazed me.” He wiggled his bandaged arm. “Not even keeping me.” He nodded at Chloe, then looked back at Jack. “I didn’t see anything, though, that’s the kicker.”

“As long as you’re okay, that doesn’t matter.”

Steve clearly didn’t agree, but he didn’t argue with the sheriff. He launched into an explanation. “I was driving by Brink’s house on my way back to the station. ThoughtmaybeI saw a light. Figured she’d just left one on, but since there’d been some trouble, I got out to check it out.”

“You radioed that in?”

Steve nodded. “I parked in the driveway, turned the flashlight on and started to walk toward the side of the house. Told myself I was overreacting—but then, out of nowhere, I just heardpop. And felt it.” He gestured at the bandage. “That was it, though. Must have run off. If they’d wanted real trouble, they would havereallyshot me. Would have been easy pickings,” he said disgustedly.

Chloe felt sick at the thought.

“I called it in to Suzanne. I was ready to go check out the backyard, but Suzanne’s fussing about ambulances and blah, blah, blah. I think Bent County is out there looking at it now.”

“Bent County? But it’s our jurisdiction,” Chloe said.

Steve’s expression was unreadable. “Sort of.”

“What does ‘sort of’ mean?” Chloe demanded as Steve’s gaze moved to Jack. “Jack, what does that mean?”

If Steve thought it was weird that she’d used his first name instead ofSheriff, he didn’t act like it.

“I reported the snake to Bent County.”

She didn’t know exactly why that made her so angry except that he was...taking over while keeping her out of it. Something that involvedherranch,herbrother,herhouse, herlife. “I live in Sunrise.”

“Yes, and I happen to think all of this connects to what was found on the ranch. And that’s Bent County’s case. Besides, it’s a conflict of interest for Sunrise to investigate.”

“That’sifit has something to do withme. And I wasn’t home. Either time. Maybe they thought I would be, should be, but it seems strange that if this was aboutme, they wouldn’t make sure they knew exactly where I was.”

“Unless they didn’t want you there,” Steve suggested. “Seems to me, creeping around your cabin is looking for something. Maybe they were looking for your brother.”

Chloe didn’t glare at Steve. She didn’t even look at him. She kept her ire focused on Jack. Even if none of this was his fault, either, he was an easier target.

But his eyebrows were drawn together as though he was thinking. “Maybe it’s notyou. Not Ry. Maybe theywantedyou out of the way. Maybe there’s somethinginthe cabin they want.”

“What could I have in the ca...” She trailed off, a horrible thought occurring to her. “Some of my father’s things. I have them in my garage.”

JACKDROVETOChloe’s cabin. She said nothing, and he didn’t know what to say either, so the ride was in absolute silence. Seeing Steve had eased some of the tension about the situation—he really was fine and thinking clearly, but Jack still didn’t like any of his deputies being hurt on the job.

But itwasthe job. And he had to focus on the next step of it: trying to figure out why someone suddenly had Chloe—or Ry, or her cabin—in their sights.

He pulled his truck into the driveway. Jack frowned at the fact that there wasn’t anyone here. “I should call someone at County.”

Chloe shook her head, already getting out of the truck. “If there was something to say, they’d be here or they’d have called me.”

Jack sighed and followed her. She went right for the garage, that determined focus stamped into the expression on her face.

“He did all this stuff before he got arrested,” she was saying, opening the garage, striding toward a bunch of boxes. “Wanted us to spend time on the ranch with him. Told us it was ourlegacy.”

She started moving boxes, and Jack wanted to help, but he didn’t know what she was looking for, and it seemed like maybe she just had to do this herself.

“He tells me he wants us on the deed. I’ve done all right for myself, if being a government patsy is all right. But he’s worried about Ry. Wants Ry to run it, even though it’s not profitable—but hey, it’s a house. It’ssomething, I figured.” She tossed a tub out of the way. “Used all my guilt, all my worry about Ry to get my name on there too.” She shook her head, clearly disgusted with herself.

“My first year at Sunrise. I know I was green, but I also knewhim. I should have seen it for what it was. A criminal who knew his time was up. He tells me he’s getting rid of stuff so he can be ‘free’ and all this other nonsense. Asks me if I want some family heirlooms. I should have said no. IknowI should have said no, but I—”

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