Page 100 of Crossroads of Love

Dajen’s eyes flick to her, a condescending smirk curling his lips. “We’re doin’ what we can, Mayor. You know better than anyone how underfunded we are. You living out here now? I’m pretty certain that disqualifies you from being mayor. You might want to think about better security. Could’ve been avoided.”

I can feel the heat rising on the back of my neck as I take a step forward, fists clenching.

One of the other officers steps forward, cutting through the tension with a quiet, professional voice. “We’ll take your statements and check the area,” he says. “If you think of anything else or notice anything missing later, give us a call.”

I nod, grateful for at least one officer who seems to be taking this seriously. Lena fumes beside me, her hands clenched into fists, but she doesn’t say anything else as we give our statements.

Once they finish, the officers head into the house to look around, leaving us standing on the porch.

“I can’t believe him,” Lena mutters, her voice shaking with anger. “He didn’t even care.”

“I know,” I say quietly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “But we’ll figure this out. I’m not letting this go.”

She leans into me, her body still tense, and I press a kiss to the top of her head, trying to soothe her.

“He’s got a vendetta. He and Aaron hated each other. He’s constantly in city hall meetings bashing me and asking for ridiculous amounts of money for the craziest things.”

“Let’s get inside,” I say softly.

She nods, and we walk back into the house together, Jayla behind us. Inside, the broken glass is still scattered across the floor.

“I think you should stay at my house tonight,” Lena says quietly. “I don’t…”

“I’m not going to argue with you.” I pull her into me and kiss the top of her hair. “I’ll work on getting a security system set up out here.”

“Jay, are you okay with Uncle Gavin staying with us?” Lena asks quickly.

“Yes. Why would anyone break into Grandpa’s house?” Jayla asks as she sits down on the couch, pulling her knees up to her chest as she hugs herself tightly.

“We’ll figure it out.”

She nods, but she doesn’t seem convinced.

I text Nate quickly so he’s up to date on the events.

Could he have stirred something up with his research?

The following morning, I go straight to Mike’s office. It’s quiet when I walk in. He looks up from his desk as I enter, his expression serious but welcoming.

“Gavin,” he says, standing up and gesturing for me to sit. “Good to see you. How’ve you been?”

I sit down. “Did you hear what happened out at the farm yesterday?”

“Yeah, Tatum told me after Lena called her. Do they have any leads?”

“No, the sheriff didn’t seem like he cared to dig into it either.”

“Aaron ran against him for sheriff and won, and he’s still a little bitter about it. You know, back then, Dejan was accusingAaron of being shady, but no one believed it. Maybe he knew something we didn’t.”

“I wonder if he’d talk if you asked him about it. He was dismissive of Lena when they arrived.”

“He was claiming that she was dirty too. Now he’s just an asshole at all of the town hall meetings and tells people that she has it out for him.”

“Sounds like a peach of a guy. Emotionally mature and all.”

“Yeah, not a lot of people wanted to run for sheriff after Aaron’s death. There was a lot of speculation that it wasn’t an accident.”

“An accident…I thought a prisoner shot him.”

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