Chapter Eight
It took Jo a couple of miles to settle on the back of his bike and for her arms to slide around his waist to hold on.
Gill would have liked to take a long way to get to her hotel, but there weren’t many alternative routes that didn’t shorten the ride.
It was past midnight, the lot was quiet and lit only by the streetlights that spotted the front of the hotel.
He cut the engine the second he turned into a small space.
Jo hesitated before swinging her leg around the back of the bike. She removed the helmet and shook out her hair.
The pink in her cheeks from the cold night air gave her a childish glow: cute. A word Gill was pretty sure she wouldn’t appreciate, so he kept it to himself.
“Thanks for the ride, Clausen.” She handed him his helmet.
He placed it on one of the handlebars.
“Anytime.”
She shuffled her feet once. “And thanks for taking my forty bucks.”
Yeah, that wasn’t exactly gentlemanly of him, but hey, a bet was a bet. “I did buy your drinks.”
He liked her smile.
“Yes, you did.” She glanced up at the hotel behind them.
He swung a leg around and stayed sitting on the bike, looking up at Jo as silence was broken by the song of crickets.
“I should go.”
But she didn’t.
“Probably.”
A playful, short laugh accompanied a roll of her eyes.
“Okay, I’m going . . . I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He let her turn, but didn’t let her take a step.
“Jo?”
She glanced up from the ground she was staring at.
Gill placed a hand on her waist and pulled her between his legs.
“What are you—”
He reached for her head with his free hand and pulled her down for a kiss.
Jo moaned and opened her lips to let him explore.
When he felt her fingers dig into his shoulder and move closer, he thought, there you are.
He forced himself to stay on his bike, didn’t stop kissing her until she pulled away. The smoky desire that glazed her eyes made him want her even more. But no. He decided before that evening began that he wasn’t going to jump back into any one-night anything with this woman. And after listening to her spill many of her secrets, her hates, and her desires regarding her life, he realized two things. JoAnne Ward didn’t think she was worthy of anything more than a one-night stand, and second, Sheriff Ward had yet to really live.
“Do you want—”
He cut off her invitation to her room with a finger to her lips.
“I want to,” he confessed. “But I’m not going to.”
Her eyes narrowed.
Gill spread his fingers on her lower back slowly. “You deserve more than a couple hours of my time.”
“We spent the whole night together.”
“You need more.”
It was a tricky thing, turning a woman down who wanted you in her bed.
“You know what I need now, do you?”
“I’m a really good listener, Jo. Besides, you have a big day tomorrow.”
“So you’re letting me sleep alone to save my strength.”
He shook his head. “No. To save mine.”
Some of the disappointment disappeared from her eyes.
“I’m only here for a few more nights.”
“I know.”
Her chest lifted and fell slowly before she stepped out of his embrace.
Gill grabbed the helmet he’d let her wear and pushed it over his head. “Good night, JoAnne.”
“It’s Jo.”
He winked and turned over the bike.
“Isn’t it like midnight there?”
“He kissed me and then left, Zoe. What man does that?” Jo spoke into her cell phone as she moved around the hotel room, toeing off her shoes.
“Well, hello, Jo . . . how was your day?” Zoe laughed.
Jo paused. “Hi, Zoe. Yes, it’s after midnight. Now answer my question.”
“About kissing and leaving?”
“I offered myself. And it isn’t like he hasn’t been there, so why would he say no?”
“I love you, Jo . . . but you’re going to have to back up a little. We haven’t talked since you got to DC, so start at the beginning.”
Jo sighed and moved into the bathroom. “I met this guy in DC. My kind of guy.”
“Let me guess: big, bulky, tats, and available.”
The mirror showed evidence of Gill’s kiss. Her lips were swollen, her cheeks flushed.
“Right. All that. Supersexy. It was . . .” She paused. “Epic.”
“I’m still listening.”
Jo shook off the memory of his naked ass. “We hooked up. I left before he woke. I’m not coming to the East Coast again anytime soon. No need to stay around for pillow talk in the morning, right?”
“Right.” Zoe’s voice softened.
“Then I arrive in Virginia, and guess who happens to be Agent Burton’s partner?”
“No!”
“Yes.”
“How does that happen?”
“I don’t know. In the movies, mostly. Come to find out my Rocco is actually Agent Clausen.”
“Rocco?” Zoe asked, laughing.
“Fake name. I used one, too.”
“So what’s the problem?”
Jo ran the water in the sink, dipped a washcloth in when it was hot. “For the last two days we’ve said next to nothing to each other. We whispered about what had happened, but neither of us brought it up again.”
“Until tonight?”
“We didn’t talk about it. We stayed late at the bar, everyone else had left. He gave me a ride back to my hotel . . .” She wiped her face, moved the phone to the other ear to get the opposite side. “I wasn’t going to offer anything, then he kissed me.”
Zoe ahhed into the phone.
“Stop it. It wasn’t like that.”
“Oh, what was it like?”
Jo stopped washing her face, thought of how soft his touch was tonight instead of the urgency they’d both put into everything while in DC.
“Different,” she confessed.
“Good different?”
“Yeah,” Jo said with a sigh.
The image of him driving away pulled her back. “Then he left. Said he needed his energy for tomorrow.”
“Oh, Jo . . . that’s fabulous.”
“How is that fabulous? I don’t have many nights away from River Bend.” She tossed the used washcloth on the counter and picked up her toothbrush, loaded it with toothpaste.
“Didn’t you say he was Shauna’s partner?”
With the toothbrush in her mouth, Jo talked around it. “Yeah.”
“Isn’t Shauna in Eugene?”
Jo stopped midbrush. “Yeah.”
“Maybe Agent Rocco isn’t too concerned about your timeline on the East Coast.”
Jo started brushing again . . . slowly. “His name is Gill.”
“Whatever.”
Jo brushed more vigorously, spit out the mess. A quick rinse and she stepped out of the bathroom. “Doesn’t explain why he said no to tonight.”
“Sure it does.”
“How?”
“Because he wants to slow things down. His clock isn’t ticking like yours is.”
“But when I get home, it’s River Bend twenty-four/seven again.”
“I don’t think your agent understands that. Or if he does, he realizes you can have a life outside of being our sheriff.”
Jo sat on the edge of the bed. “Ha!”
“I like this guy already,” Zoe said.
Jo frowned. “He’s annoying.”
“Which is exactly why I like him.”
“You’re not helping, Zoe.”
Her friend laughed and laughed.
Jo’s eyes opened before the sun made its appearance. After turning over a few times, pounding her pillow into the mattress a dozen times, she sighed and gave up.
Restless for more reasons than she could name, Jo did what she always did. She put her running shoes on and left the hotel on foot.
Her legs warmed into her stride on the second mile and her head finally started to focus. She tried to think about the training courses she’d taken so far, the things she had learned and wanted to take with her when she left Virginia.
Gill’s image swam in her head.
She pushed him away. He’d kept her up most of the night by not staying; she didn’t want him plaguing her morning run. Some of the day’s lesson plan was about investigations, one of the things she wanted to soak in most. Jo thought of what she already knew. Most of what she’d been taught was on how to draw confessions out of a suspect. Interviewing skills with known criminals and not so known criminals . . . stuff that she didn’t have a lot of experience with since River Bend was a rather crime-free zone. It was the art of observing, and seeing what others didn’t, that she needed to use. That’s what she told herself as she rounded on mile three.
Most murders are performed by someone the victim knows.
She thought of her father and his case. There was no one, not one red flag. Even the town misfits and drunks stayed sober for his funeral.
There are no coincidences.
Whenever something felt too easy, or just “fell into place,” it was time to cry foul.
Like the accidental part of her father’s death.
Too easy. Jo didn’t buy it.
Jo turned the corner back to her hotel with her muscles and mind loose and ready for the day.
She jogged up the two flights of stairs and pulled her plastic key from her exercise bra as she walked down the hall.
When she looked up, she hesitated. And then she smiled. “What are you doing here?”
Gill lifted his hands, one held a bag, the other something that smelled suspiciously like coffee. “I’ve yet to meet a cop who didn’t like coffee and donuts.”
Her stomach grumbled, and her heart thumped an extra beat . . . almost like it was telling her to notice something.
She swiped the key and opened the door. Then she hesitated in the doorway.
“Since you took my money last night, I guess it’s the least you could do.”
He smiled and followed her inside.
What is he doing here? Turned me down last night just to jump in this morning?
She sipped the coffee before looking inside the bag.
Heaven . . . donuts were sugary gifts from above. She bit into a chocolate glazed and leaned against the dresser.
“Running and donuts?” Gill asked.
“I run to clear my head,” she told him, taking another bite.
He smelled fresh, unlike her, and his clothes were professional but not stuffy. All the material on his body hid the ink underneath. It felt like a secret, one she knew but others didn’t. The thought made her smile.
He took the bag from her and grabbed one of the remaining pastries inside. “That,” he waved a maple bar in her direction, “is a wicked smile.”
Jo stopped chewing, moved close enough to smell his aftershave. She leaned forward, took a bite out of the donut he was about to put in his mouth, and turned to walk into the bathroom.
She stopped at the door.
There are no coincidences.
Zoe’s question bounced in her head.
“What were you doing at Marly’s the night we met?”
“Drinking, hanging out?”
Her eyes narrowed. “You go there a lot?”
“When I’m in DC, why?”
“What about Shauna, she go there with you?”
He shook his head. “Too seedy for her. I’ve dragged her there a few times, but it’s not her style.”
“Hmmm.” Jo popped the rest of her donut in her mouth and turned her back on Gill.
She wasn’t going to tell him to leave, wasn’t going to ask him to stay.
Jo turned on the water in the shower, peeled off her clothes, and stepped inside.
The small space instantly started to steam.
Gill’s massive frame shadowed the doorway through the mirror.
Jo forced herself not to look as she squeezed shampoo into her palm before scrubbing her hair.
“You’re killing me, JoAnne.”
She smiled the way a woman did when she knew she’d grabbed a man’s attention. Besides, he couldn’t see her smile, he could only guess.
“You’re the one who showed up uninvited. I have somewhere to be in half an hour.”
“You didn’t like my donuts?”
“Oh, I like your donuts all right,” she said to herself. She moved on to scrub the sweat from her body, wondered if there was any silhouette through the hotel shower curtain. “They were okay,” she said a little louder.
She heard him laugh, saw a shadow pass by.
She finished her shower and pulled a towel into the steam to quick dry her hair and covered herself before stepping out.
Noise from the bedroom sounded a whole lot like someone tripping over a bed.
Jo forced herself not to look. “You okay in there?”
“Yep, um-hmm. I’m good. I’ll a . . . I’ll see if I can step up my pastry game next time.”
She left her towel in place and took that moment to step to the open doorway.
Gill was in the process of pulling the hem of his right pant leg over his sock.
“You plan on bringing me breakfast every day I’m here?”
The heat of his eyes, as they took in her frame, shot right to her belly.
“I can be persuaded.”
“I tried that last night.”
His smile fell.
“Besides, my best friend is a celebrity chef. You can’t beat what she delivers.”
“This friend of yours a woman?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“Then I can beat her.” Gill made his exit, called over his shoulder. “See you there.”
They were on a tactical training course, something she would see one more time before leaving the facility on Friday. The students were working their way through several different real-life scenarios, from hostage situations to mass casualty gun violence.
Jo watched from the sides as several students were placed into what she called an arena, where the instructors were beside them, guiding every move.
Even watching managed to pump adrenaline like she’d remembered in her initial officer training.
“Sheriff Ward?” One of the instructors tapped her shoulder.
“Yes?”
“You have a phone call.”
She stood, reached for her back pocket, and realized she’d left her phone in her locker.
Jo followed the instructor out of the arena perimeter and into a building. There, she picked up the phone and pushed the line where her call was waiting.
“This is Sheriff Ward.”
“Jo, oh, thank God I got ahold of you. You weren’t answering your cell.”
The excitable voice of Glynis had images of her sitting behind the reception desk at the station with piles of papers stacked all around her.
“I don’t have my phone with me in the field, Glynis. What’s going on?”
“Deputy Emery is going to make a mess out of this dog situation. The man doesn’t like animals. Remember how he all but bullied the Swanson boy who lived next door to get his dog to stop barking when the other dogs in the neighborhood let loose after midnight?”
“Glynis.”
The woman kept talking as fast as humanly possible. “I swear when that little beagle went missing—”
“Glynis!” Jo shouted this time.
“No need to yell, Jo. I hear you.”
Jo squeezed her eyes shut. “Start at the beginning. What dog situation are you talking about?”
“You sound annoyed.”
“I’m not annoyed.” Annoyed wasn’t a strong enough word.
“I don’t think you’re telling the truth. I would have called the Millers, but Zoe and Luke took them to Los Angeles. The auto shop is closed for the first time in years.”
“Zoe isn’t there? I just talked with her last night.” Jo had spilled all her guts and never even asked about her friend.
“They’ve been in LA for two days. Did you call her cell?”
“Yeah.” Jo shook her head. “Why would you call the Millers about the dog situation? And what situation is that?”
“Cherie’s rottweiler mix had puppies again.”
Cherie Miller, Luke’s single aunt, lived about a half a mile outside the main streets of River Bend and had at least eight dogs that Jo remembered counting the last time she’d called on the woman.
Eight adult dogs plus a litter equaled a whole lot of noise for the neighbors, even if the closest one was a quarter of a mile away.
“I had three messages waiting for me when I came in this morning. None of them wanted to call Deputy Emery.”
Yeah, Jo wouldn’t want to call Karl Emery either. The man really didn’t like animals. Jo looked up to see Gill walking toward her.
“Listen, Glynis, I’ll call Karl. And I’ll call Cherie.”
“Good luck, she isn’t answering her phone. Probably doesn’t want to hear the complaints. It isn’t like she can’t hear the dogs going on and on.”
Gill stood over Jo. “Is everything okay?” he asked in a low voice.
Jo shook her head and rolled her eyes.
“I’ll take care of it, Glynis.”
“I knew you would. I’m sorry to bug you at your special camp.”
“It’s not camp.”
“Deputy Emery said it was camp.”
Jo wanted to growl. “I’ve got to go.”
“Okay, Jo. Sorry I had to bug you. You know—”
“Glynis, I’m hanging up now.”
“Oh, okay . . . of course. Have a great day.”
Jo disconnected the call and leaned against the wall.
“What was that all about?” Gill asked.
“Glynis runs my office. Dispatch.”
“One person?”
Jo wanted to glare. “It’s a small town.”
Gill smirked. “So what was the emergency?”
She started to say something about the puppies, realized how stupid it would sound, and stopped herself. “Nothing,” she said instead.
“Had to be something.”
“Nothing important.” She pushed away from the wall and started back to the arena.
Gill followed behind. “If you don’t want to tell me, fine, but you don’t have to lie about—”
Annoyed, Jo stopped and turned. “Dogs, Gill. Barking dogs.” The absurdity of it had her laughing with tears threatening. “I’m called out of a tactical lesson where we’re learning defense techniques against a dozen possible suspects because one of the neighbors in River Bend thinks she’s running a dog breeding program. And my deputy hates dogs. Hates them, so Glynis thought calling me to solve the problem from three thousand miles away was a viable option.” Jo acknowledged the tear on her cheek by swiping it away with a fisted palm.
“Hey . . .”
Jo glanced toward the door leading back to the training grounds. “I shouldn’t be here. I’m never going to use any of this stuff in River Bend. Resolving neighborhood disputes and escorting the occasional drunk from R&B’s is the scope of my practice.” Her anger built as she spoke. Anger at herself.
Anger at River Bend.
Anger at the universe.
“If you knew that, why did you sign up for this?”
Even though Gill’s question came out soft, her response bordered on violent.
“Because I can’t seem to find my father’s killer doing what I’ve been doing for the last eight years of my life. And doing this for the next eight years sounds like my worst kind of hell.”
She felt another tear, shoved it away with a fist, and stared at the door.
Instead of joining the team, she turned in the opposite direction and walked away.