Page 59 of His Fresh Start Cowboy
“I’ve had better nights,” Hugo drawled. “Am I really free to go?”
“Yes, you are,” Arnie replied. “They let you go because they don’t have any evidence to hold you.”
“But they found the coin box in my trailer.”
“They found it in Elmer’s trailer.” Arnie held open the door to the outside, and their trio went through. Daisy was the county seat, and Hugo hated being back here. But they were on a quiet street late at night, giving them quite a bit of privacy. “Yes, you rent it, but Elmer also still has a key. Your fingerprints were not found on the coin box, nor were they found anywhere upstairs in Elmer’s house. They did, however, find a partial print of Elmer’s on the box.”
Hugo stared blankly at Arnie. “So you’re saying Elmer set me up?”
“Not at all. I argued that their only circumstantial evidence was discovering the box in a trailer owned by Elmer himself, and that it would never hold up in court. All Sheriff McBride did tonight was hassle you and embarrass himself. This shouldn’t go any further, but if it does, you call me.” Arnie handed him a business card. “When McBride decides he doesn’t like someone, he holds a grudge.”
“Great. And thank you.” Hugo tucked the card into his wallet, then shook Arnie’s hand. “What do I owe you?”
“Don’t worry about it. I owed Brand a favor.”
The front doors to the municipal building slammed open, and Sheriff McBride strode out. He didn’t even glance their way, just walked across the street to a car double-parked on the far sidewalk in front of someone’s house. Hugo watched, curious about the man and what appeared to be a sort of hair-trigger temper. The car’s driver rolled the window down and handed McBride a thermos of something. Hugo couldn’t hear their conversation but McBride didn’t seem happy if his wildly gesticulating arms were any indication.
Hopefully that wasn’t the guy’s poor wife delivering coffee at oh-dark-thirty.
McBride said something else that sounded like it ended with “Go home!” Then he turned and strode back into the building, still never giving their trio a second glance. The person in the car sat there a moment longer before starting the engine and driving off. Hugo got the briefest glimpse of a young male face but nothing else.
“That was weird,” Hugo said.
“Looks like McBride’s roommate,” Arnie replied.
“Roommate?”
“Yeah. McBride used to work out in Randall County as a deputy, but he got promoted and transferred here after his divorce about three years ago. Eventually got himself elected sheriff. Bought a pretty big house and took in a roommate to help with expenses. Nice guy named Josiah. I met him at the Founders’ Day picnic last year. Skittish guy but he’s a CNA who does in-home care all over.”
“CNA?”
“Certified nursing assistant.”
“Got it.” Hugo had no idea what to think about McBride, and right now he didn’t care. All he really wanted to do was face-plant in his bed—maybe eat a sandwich first. He wasn’t super picky at this point.
“Thanks again, Arnie,” Brand said. “Hugo, I’ll give you a lift home.”
“Thank you.” He was too fucking tired to care he was about to be alone in the cab of a truck with Brand for the twenty minutes or so it would take to get from Daisy back to Elmer’s house. He was so tired that as soon as he was inside the truck, he leaned his head against the window, closed his eyes, and then Brand was shaking him awake.
“Dude, come on,” Brand said. “You need a hand getting inside?”
“Mmm, love your hands.” Hugo’s brain was still a bit fuzzy but he blinked the outline of his trailer into focus. Then a big shape moved into his line of sight to stand by the trailer door. An Elmer-sized shape. He groaned, no energy to deal with Elmer tonight.
From the moment Brand met Arnie at the sheriff’s station and first learned of the stupidly flimsy reason McBride had for arresting Hugo, Brand had been working off a low-simmering anger. McBride just...something about the man rubbed Brand the wrong way and he’d never been able to figure out why. Sure, he’d gotten Buck Archer sent away, but not for Buck beating up his girlfriend—for assaulting a deputy.
Arnie had calmed a lot of Brand’s anger after he spoke with McBride and learned they basically had no case against Hugo that would hold up in court. Maybe Hugo was newish back in the county, Arnie had argued, but he had no prior records or arrests. And the fact that McBride had previously arrested Hugo’s stepbrother could be seen as a conflict of interest—Brand wasn’t so sure about that one, but it had worked.
Hugo had been released with no formal charges filed. He was still considered a person of interest, but Brand hadn’t mentioned that part yet. When Hugo emerged from the station, all Brand wanted to do was hug the man. He was so defeated and exhausted, and Brand had chosen to protect him for a little while longer. Hugo dozing in the cab of his truck had been adorable and endearing.
Elmer stepping up to the trailer door like a sentinel sent all of Brand’s protective instincts back to high alert. This wasn’t going anywhere good. Brand and Hugo both climbed out of the cab and met in front of the truck, headlights still on. “Sheriff called and said you’d been let go,” Elmer said, no real inflection in his tone.
“Because I didn’t steal your coin collection,” Hugo replied, exhaustion coloring his words. “I swear on my life, Elmer, I didn’t do it.”
“I wanna believe you, son, but those coins didn’t walk into the trailer on their own.”
Hugo’s entire body wilted, and Brand saw it coming. “You want me to move out, don’t you?”
“I’m sorry, son, but I do. I’ve never once felt unsafe or unable to leave my door unlocked on this property until tonight. I can’t let you keep living here.”
