Page 103 of Long Road Home

Not a bad favor for the sheriff when it netted her a result on not just Forrest’s case, but also the upcoming battle to reveal the truth about Ramon being let go from the FBI and written off as a traitor.

Kenna was ready to close all her open cases.

“I’ll check in with my ASAC.” Jax pulled out his phone. “Find out the latest and if they’ve heard from the Walker anytime in the last couple of?—”

A loud crash from inside the sheriff’s office had them all turning. Kenna ended up behind Jax.

The door opened before he reached it, and the sheriff appeared, red-faced and breathing hard. “He just collapsed. Paulette!” He screamed her name in their faces.

“Step out. Let us in.” Jax moved to get around the sheriff, who didn’t budge.

Pilsborough and Destain just stared, blinking. Jim studied his coffee cup like it had something in it. As if any of them needed something else to happen today? They’d been through enough the past couple of days, and this was their chance to start setting things right.

When is this going to end?

Paulette appeared from the hall. “Sheriff, what’s going?—”

He cut her off. “Get an ambulance! He’s dead.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“Right here.” Destain ushered Jim into a holding cell at the end of the line, where the drunk had been when Kenna came by to speak to Marion. He unfastened the man’s cuffs, and the marshal took a chair in the corner, so Jim would be within his sight at all times.

Kenna spotted movement in the middle cell. “Is Marion gone?” She moved to the bars and bit her lip to keep from reacting. Forrest’s hair was wild, as though she’d dragged her hands through it a hundred times.

Forrest said, “The state police escorted her to jail, so the DA could talk to her.”

“Did Deputy Rayland know anything about the case you’re writing the book about? Anything like what Bruce thought he knew, about the deaths ruled as accidents?”

Forrest looked at the wall beside her, shaking her head. “How am I supposed to know?”

“He never said anything to you about it?” She’d figured it was more likely Kobrinksy on Forrest’s side, working to break such a huge case so he could be the next sheriff. Rayland had been combative, adamant that Forrest was guilty.

But was it strong conviction…or something else?

“Why are you asking about Rayland?” Forrest asked.

“Tell me what connection he has to you, or any of this, aside from him being a police officer?”

“His mother?” Forrest shook her head.

“What about her?” Wasn’t his mom the town shrink?

“The only connection I ever had to anything close to Deputy Rayland was through his mother’s therapy practice.” She answered Kenna’s questions as though being cross-examining on the witness stand. Evidently, Lucas had been prepping her for just in case. “Now tell me why you’re asking about him.” Forrest pinned Kenna with a stare.

“Because he’s dead.”

And in the half hour between that moment of insanity and now, Jim had been hidden out of sight, Kobrinsky had shown up for desk work, and an ambulance came and went. Taking the body to the hospital so he could be officially declared deceased, and the cause could be found.

Kenna explained what happened with the reaction, and their going into the sheriff’s office. When they’d gotten in there, Jax had tried valiantly to get the kid’s heart to start beating again.

It hadn’t worked.

All the while, Kenna had tried to figure out how to do that with no strength in her arms. What if she had to perform CPR? With the injuries to her forearms, she had no chance of rendering aid.

“At least I was down here,” Forrest said. “So I can’t be blamed.” And yet, Kenna saw actual fear in her eyes. Not surprising.

“You aren’t going to be framed for this.” Kenna crossed her arms. “Just like you aren’t going to be framed for Bruce’s murder.”

---