Page 6 of Color of Love

“Well, some say he wasn’t a very nice man, nothing concrete obviously but I wouldn’t have been surprised if she did it in self-defense.”

“Interesting. And you say she came here for help? Was this before or after he died?” Blake queried.

“A few weeks after. I couldn’t hear much but I think she was getting harassed. Austin just told her he would look into it and shoved her out the door, none too gently if you ask me.” Jim harrumphed, disapproving of the aggressive display towards the woman.

“Has she been back since?”

“No, and I don’t blame her either.”

“I’ll have a look into it a bit more, I think. We can’t have a resident thinking they can’t turn to us if they need help.”

“My thoughts exactly!” Jim agreed, leaning back in the chair, getting comfortable.

Blake tried not to smile. “Thanks for your help, Jim, you can head back out now.”

Jim leapt up. “Oh yes, sir, very good. I’ll mark the NWS meeting on your calendar and you just need to head to the address on the note there.”

Blake chuckled as the old man hurried out, then his thoughts turned more serious. Call it jumping to conclusions, but he didn’t feel right about what he’d just heard. Maybe there was nothing in it, but he made a note to look into the old sheriff in a bit more detail and maybe follow up with Rebelle and see if everything was okay.

He started leafing through the files that had been placed on his desk, making calls, updating case notes, and generally doing everything he could to keep his mind off how soon his next session with Dr. Rodríguez-Hamilton would come round. And fighting the urge to abuse his power and run a background check on her, so he could find out more about her to put them on an even playing field next time they met. He didn’t like this feeling of vulnerability he had, she knew plenty about him, and he knew nothing about her.

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