Page 28 of Barbed Wire and Burglary
The more he thought about it, the less plausible it became. “He’s giving me way too much credit. Despite carrying a police badge, I still don’t know if my own parents are dead or alive. Attempting to locate them is what takes up most of my spare time—not running a one-man crime ring.”
The sheriff studied him with fascination. “Is that why you move around so much?”
Yes and no.Aaron inclined his head instead of answering.
Luke grunted. “Do you understand what the termconflict of interestmeans, Deputy?”
“I do.” Aaron didn’t like where this was going, but therewas no point in playing stupid. “And I can understand why you think it applies to me.”
“Good.” Luke’s voice grew louder. “Because you can’t have one foot in Heart Lake and the other foot in the middle of a two-year-old helicopter crash. I need your head in the game while you work in my town.All the wayin the game, Deputy Cannon!”
Aaron felt like weeping and hated himself for his weakness. It wasn’t his fault his parents were still missing, making it impossible for him to grieve properly. “It’s not like I’m chasing against orders after a cold case. It’s just difficult to let it go without having any bodies to bury.”
Sympathy filled Luke’s gaze. “Didn’t they make you go to grief counseling?”
“Yes, and I was cleared to return to work.” Aaron didn’t care for his tone. “Just because I didn’t swallow everything in my parents’ crash report doesn’t make me mentally unstable.”
“Never said it did,” Luke retorted mildly. “How about you walk me through what happened after the crash?”
Aaron had to clear his throat before mumbling a few sentences about his search for his parents’ remains and the memorial service he and his sister had finally hosted.
His boss nodded gravely. “Any reason you weren’t sworn in as the next CEO at Diamondback?”
Again, Aaron was astonished at how much he knew. “What do you know about that?” His family had purposely kept the details about the transition of power out of the press.
Luke didn’t blink. “I asked you a question first.”
“I chose to remain on the road.” By doing so, Aaron had additionally avoided working in the same office as hisex-girlfriend. Elise had served as his father’s personal assistant and now served his uncle in the same capacity.
“Why?” Luke didn’t give him time to think before firing off his next question.
“I didn’t want to be chained to a desk. I wanted to be free to continue searching for my parents after everyone else had given up.” It sounded like his boss had already connected the dots. Aaron wasn’t sure why the guy was forcing him to say it out loud.
“Your freedom also enabled you to protect your sister from whatever happened to your parents, eh?” Again, there was no pause before the sheriff pounded out his next question.
You know about that, too?Aaron grew still, feeling like what he said next would make or break his ability to continue working for the Heart Lake Police Department. “Would you at least tell me how you figured all of this out?”
“Of course.” A ghost of a smile softened Luke’s hard features. “Two words. Lonestar Security.”
“You mean A.J. Pike?”
“Partly, but he’s not the only one there who finds you interesting.”
Interesting?That was one way of putting it. Aaron wasn’t sure how he was going to face his sister’s boyfriend again after trying to get him fired. “After getting so many details about me right, how could his conclusions be so wrong?”
Luke’s eyebrows rose. “Aren’t you going to ask me who else at Lonestar Security finds you interesting?”
“Sure.” Aaron snorted. “Who else is eyeballs deep in my personal business?”
Luke looked amused. “Decker Kingston, one of the owners.”
Uh-oh!“Any relation to Chanel Kingston?”
“She’s his wife.”
“I see,” Aaron groaned and slumped back against his pillows. “If you know that, then you know…”a lot more than I thought you did.
“Yep. We know your sister is on the team that Diamondback sends around the country.” Luke’s dark gaze narrowed with speculation. “What we don’t know is who else is on the team. It’s not something she disclosed in her contract with Modello’s, though we have our guesses.” He eyed Aaron knowingly.
