Page 25 of Hero Unbound

“Hey, Theo.” Callum walked over, and they shook hands. He glanced at Theo’s bare feet and gym shorts. “Taking a day off?”

“Was up all night with Wildfire. She had her foal.”

Callum smiled. “That’s good news. Everything go okay?”

“A few issues, but our new vet tech was there and got her through it.”

“Eva Dempsey.” At Theo’s raised eyebrow, Callum shrugged. “Word gets around.”

Eva chose that moment to open the door and come outside, dogs around her feet as usual. She was back in her jeans and sweater, but her hair was still mussed, and she looked like she’d just crawled out of bed. Now it was Callum who had an eyebrow raised.

“Eva.” Theo stayed where he was, not getting any closer to her since every inch of her body language screamed she didn’t want to be touched. “This is Callum Webb, Oak Creek’s sheriff. Sheriff, meet Eva Dempsey.”

Callum nodded and touched his hat like he was something out of an old Western. “Miss.”

“I’m just going to head out to do my rounds with the animals.” Eva was looking everywhere but directly at the sheriff.

Theo shook his head. “That can wait. You need to get some more rest and some more food in your system. If you give me a few minutes to finish here, I can make us lunch.”

“Actually, I’m here because I needed to talk to you,” Callum said to Eva.

She and Theo both stiffened. Theo was used to having Callum drop by Linear Tactical for various reasons, so it hadn’t occurred to him that Callum would be here for Eva.

“Okay,” Eva finally said.

“Do you mind if I ask you about your whereabouts last night around midnight?”

“I was here. One of the horses went into labor, and I was assisting her.”

Theo froze but kept his face expressionless. Eva’s statement wasn’t entirely correct—it had been closer to three a.m. when he’d tackled her in the Mad Zoo. He couldn’t confirm where she’d been at midnight.

But he wasn’t going to state that outright unless he had to.

“Is that your car parked down by the office? The white Toyota?” He read off more details about the vehicle.

“Yes. Why? Is something wrong with it?”

Callum looked over at Theo then back to Eva. “Last night a little after midnight, we had a break-in in town.”

“Where?” Theo asked.

“Hardware store. Some cash was taken and tools that could be sold pretty easily.”

Eva shook her head. “I didn’t break in to the hardware store.”

“Really, Callum?” Theo narrowed his eyes. “You’re questioning Eva just because she isn’t an Oak Creek native?”

Even as he said the words, Theo knew that wasn’t the case. That wasn’t how Callum ran things here.

The older man crossed his arms over his chest. “No, I’m here because around eleven o’clock last night, a state trooper found a woman sleeping in her car at the rest stop off Highway 38. A white Toyota. Told her it wasn’t safe and she needed to move along.”

Eva didn’t move or say anything.

“He didn’t write a ticket or think much of it. Didn’t even ask for a license,” Callum continued. “He only mentioned it after seeing the report of the break-in. A professional courtesy.”

Highway 38 came into town from the east and would take someone right by the hardware store. It was easy to connect the dots and see why Callum was questioning Eva. But his intel was wrong. Even if she had been tired while driving into town, she wouldn’t have stopped to take a nap so close to being back to her hotel.

“I don’t make a habit of sleeping in my car, Sheriff,” Eva said. “I agree with your state trooper friend that it’s not safe. There has to be more than one white Toyota around here.”

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