Page 55 of Texas Scandal

“The sheriff is dirty,” Tiernan explained as Melody kept far enough away to stay free of any wild arms or feet should any break loose. “And he’s trying to knock the daylights out of me right now.”

Prescott held up his cell phone. “Help is on the way. I already called for law enforcement and an ambulance.”

“How did you know to come here?” Tiernan asked.

Prescott held up his cell phone. “Easy to track the sheriff’s location with tech nowadays after attaching a small device onto his service vehicle. Couldn’t figure out why on earth he would follow you guys here.”

“Did he plant those notes, too?” she asked.

“My guess is they were going to tie back to you at some point, so, it’s likely,” Prescott confirmed.

Melody dropped to her knees and put her face in her hands. “It’s over. It’s really over.”

All he wanted to do right now was haul her against his chest and be her comfort, claim those lips as his. Right now, she deserved answers.

The lawyer crested the top of the stairs with his cell phone in his hand. “I’m going to get a recording of this.” He tapped the screen. “What you’re seeing here is my client being victimized by law enforcement.” He looked to Tiernan. “As a witness who had to subdue the sheriff, can you offer a statement as to what happened here?”

Tiernan gave a quick and dirty rundown of the events. Prescott asked Melody to do the same. She provided her side and her encounter with her brother. Prescott walked around the upstairs and the bedroom where the events took place.

“Sheriff, you’re going away for a long time unless you start talking,” Prescott said. “I can’t guarantee that you won’t anyway, but your cooperation will go a long way toward a more lenient sentence. Then again, you already know how this works, don’t you?”

“I didn’t kill anyone,” the sheriff conceded. “I got paid to make sure the evidence led back to Melody Cantor.”

“Why?” Prescott asked as Melody excused herself, no doubt to check on her brother. “What did Coop have to gain? There wasn’t any family money, was there?”

“All I know is that he needed to get rid of anyone who could come after the family money. There were trust funds set up and he would get all the money if his half-brother and sister were gone. He didn’t want to kill Melody at first. If she was a felon he wouldn’t have to. Her inheritance would fall to him,” the sheriff explained. “Then, everything started getting complicated when Tiernan got involved. Coop said she was going to be an easy target because she had no one to turn to.”

“To be clear, you were paid off to look the other way for two murders, two attempted murders,andyou were supposed to make sure the evidence for Jason’s murder led back to Melody Cantor,” Prescott surmised.

“Yes, sir. That sounds right,” the sheriff admitted. This piece of human garbage needed to be locked up for the rest of his life. “The fire in the workshop was me.”

“Your boot prints would have already been all over the area,” Prescott deduced.

The sheriff nodded.

“Thank you,” Prescott said as the sounds of sirens filled the air. He excused himself to meet law enforcement so he could explain the situation.

It took every ounce of willpower inside Tiernan to refrain from hammering the sheriff for the life he’d tried to destroy, the life of the woman Tiernan had fallen for. Greed was a disease in some folks. The sheriff must have seen Melody as his ticket to pad his retirement illegally.

A deputy came up the stairs within minutes. He took over for Tiernan, zip-cuffing the sheriff as another deputy removed the weapons and placed them in evidence bags.

“Why my land?” Tiernan asked, referring to burying Jason’s body.

“It was a mistake to get you involved,” the sheriff stated with remorse. Not for a life lost but most likely because he got caught. “It was remote, and I rarely saw anyone on the road behind your property.”

The miscalculation was responsible for the sheriff’s arrest.

Tiernan glanced up at the deputy, who nodded and then took over. The second Tiernan was freed of his duty to sit on the sheriff, he bolted downstairs. The scene in front of him as he stepped outside made him fall in love with Melody all the more. She sat on the edge of the porch, her arm around Loki, comforting him.

“Hey,” Tiernan said, not wanting to startle her. “How do you feel about having company?” He could only imagine how awful it must be to learn her own flesh and blood had set her up for murder.

“Hey,” she said back. She had a surprising amount of composure under the circumstances. “Sure, come on and sit down.”

He joined them, sitting beside her.

“I don’t have words to say how sorry I am your own brother was willing to hurt you in such a horrible way,” he started, wishing he could take away her pain.

“Remember this morning when you realized my brother’s truck hood was warm and he denied going anywhere?” she asked. He took note she didn’t address his comment.

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