Page 83 of Brooke's Bliss
And then Mark was ripped from the booth.
Bay and her brother were here, and she was going to needbail money.
ChapterThirteen
“All right, we’ve had a rash of vandalism around thetown and I wanted to talk to a couple of people who’ve been affected to see ifthere are any threads I can start weaving together,” the sheriff said as he satback in his chair.
Shane felt anxious but then he was in the sheriff’s officeand Max Harper was next to him.It was kind of his nightmare scenario with theexception of the fact that Rye wasn’t here and Bay wasn’t about to be tossed injail beside him.
“I told Deputy Leal everything I know.”Shane had been givena cup of coffee as he walked in.Actually, he’d been given what Gemma claimedto be the greatest latte ever made, but he hadn’t touched it because it mightbe one of those police trick things.Give him a bunch of coffee and then notlet him go to the bathroom.
“Which was not much,” Max proclaimed.“See, I was thinkingmaybe the boys pissed someone off.They both got big mouths.”
Nathan Wright’s blue eyes narrowed on Max.“Really?You wantto talk to a certain pot, Mr.Kettle?”
Max simply shrugged.“Game knows game, man.The Kent boysare annoying as fuck, and it is no surprise that someone decided to take aknife to their tires.Or someone decided to finally put that old truck oftheirs out of its misery.It was a kindness, I tell you.”
“It’s not that old.”
Max stared at him for a moment.
It was older than he or Bay.“Well, it’s not as old as you.”
Max nodded as though he’d made his point.“See, that’s whatI’m talking about.”
“Okay.Then why did someone break into the tiny house youput on your property?”Nate asked.“You know the one you intended to lockBrooke in so she could never lose her innocence.”
Max paled.“Shit.Is that what they’re saying?Because thatis not… What do you mean someone broke in?”
Shane leaned in.“Was anyone there?The kids weren’t there,right?”
Max put a hand on his arm, and the expression on his facewas softer for a moment.“The kids are with Stef.They’re fine.I appreciatethat being your first thought, though.”
“Stef called it in,” Nate explained.“He had to get Ethan’sstuffed whale, and he went in the back way.He saw the door was open andstopped to check.I’m surprised he didn’t text you.”
Max pulled his cell out.“I was busy talking to Shane.Ididn’t notice it rang.Why would anyone break into the tiny house?Did theysteal anything?I bought some of those things brand new, and let me tell youMarie thinks the products she sells are precious.I would go to Walmart inPagosa if I had the time.”
“Don’t let Marie hear you say that,” Shane grumbled.He’dalready gotten theBuy Blissspeech.Although it wasn’t like he couldget to Pagosa Springs even if he wanted to since he didn’t have a car.
Max couldn’t be too impressed.He might have a job, but hedidn’t have much else, and everyone knewcowboywasn’t a great thingto put on a résumé.He couldn’t even say he was an expert at anything beyondhandyman.
This was where it all fell apart, but then he’d always knownit would.
In a few weeks Bay would be a celebrated artist, a master ofthe modern Western movement.Shane would be Shane.Brooke’s brothers wouldstart asking her what he brought to the table, and what would she be able tosay?He brought multiple orgasms?Her brothers definitely didn’t want to hearthat.
“The place was trashed,” Nate said with a rueful sigh.“Wealready processed the scene.We documented everything, but I hope you’ll beable to tell me if anything’s gone.”
He passed a tablet with a set of pictures on the screen.Shane got a good look at them and his stomach knotted.“They tore up the wholeplace.”
Max studied the pictures.“No, they didn’t tear anything up,but they were definitely looking for something.”He looked at Shane.“Did youtake anything from Kingman?”
Shane was at a loss.“I didn’t take anything.I sawsomething.I was helping some of the senior hands move what I thought wasequipment into the barn where he stores heavy tools.”
“I’m not sure I understand how a new backhoe means Kingmanwants to kill you,” Nate observed.“Was he trying to keep it undercover?”
“It wasn’t a backhoe, dummy,” Max said with a frown.“It wasguns, and a lot of them.”
Well, he didn’t know about the “a lot of them” part, but itwas oddly soothing to have Max accept the story as truth.“I’m almost certain Isaw one of those guns the Army uses.He was bringing in a whole bunch of woodencrates and they had writing on the side, but it was in a foreign language.”
