Chapter Two
Ethan
The FBI agents were late.
Having already caught up on all my paperwork, I’d had nothing to do except stand around waiting for them to arrive, my mind going into overdrive as I thought about Andrea and the damn kiss she’d laid on me that morning.
What the hell had she been thinking?
I mean, I wasn’t angry that she’d kissed me, just that she’d used me as a tool to get at her annoying, disapproving mother. I understood why she was so pissed at her mom all the time, but I didn’t appreciate being dragged into their drama.
Andrea and I were going to be having a long discussion about boundaries the next time I saw her—if I could manage to be in the same damn room as her for long enough to give her a piece of my mind without planting another kiss on those full, soft lips. I suppressed a groan and scrunched my eyes closed, fighting with myself to calm down when my dick threatened to fill with blood.
I took in a few calming breaths then opened my eyes again. I’d waited for over half an hour for the agents to arrive and I was about to give up on them and head on over to Marty Holden’s farm to look into his deer poaching issue when a car pulled up outside the station and two men got out.
One appeared to be in his mid to late thirties and the other was older by maybe a decade. They didn’t stand out in an obvious way, but I would have known that they were agents even if I hadn’t been expecting them. It might have been because of the crisp, tailored suits they wore or it could have been the way that they carried themselves. Mostly, I suspected, it was evident from the way they took everything in, appearing to catalog every minute detail of their immediate vicinity.
I suspected a good attention to detail was a prerequisite for joining the FBI, but the skill would be improved upon during their core operational training period at Quantico. These men had to have been agents for several years because they’d evidently been using their skills for so long that they came as naturally as breathing.
The older of the two men took the lead and he appeared to be the most senior ranking agent.
“Sheriff Smith?” he enquired as they walked up to the front desk.
I offered my hand. “Yes, sir.”
“I’m Special Agent-in-Charge Graham Banks and this is Special Agent Paul Rees,” he said confirming my deductions about their rank.
We shook hands.
“We can talk in my office,” I said. “It’s quieter in there and we won’t be disturbed.”
Agent banks nodded. “Thank you.”
They followed me to my office door.
“Would you like something to drink?” I offered. “Coffee, some water?”
“No, we’re good,” Agent Banks said, answering for them both.
I called over to my secretary. “Jane, can you make sure no one interrupts our meeting?”
I was the third sheriff that Jane had worked for and although she was old enough to retire, she loved her job and came into work every day with a smile on her face. What she didn’t like was the new computer system we’d recently had installed and had complained about it every day since. She glanced up from the screen with a frown.
“Sorry, what was that?”
I bit back a grin. “No interruptions, okay?”
“Oh, right.”
When she glanced to my right and caught sight of the two agents standing beside me, her mouth popped open and her eyes widened. Evidently, she’d been so focused on her task, she hadn’t even realized they were in the building with us. Color rose in her cheeks and her flustered expression made my lips twitch.
She cleared her throat. “I mean, yes, of course, sheriff.”
That time, I couldn’t contain my grin.
It spread across my face like wildfire through pampas.
We didn’t ever adhere to any level of formality around the office and that was just how I liked it. However, Jane had been on edge ever since she’d learned that the FBI would be spending time in our little town. I’d tried to reassure her that they were regular people who happened to work for a different form of law enforcement than the sheriff’s department, but she couldn’t seem to grasp the notion that they weren’t some higher entity that she needed to be fearful of.
Personally, I was more than happy for the FBI’s involvement into in my investigation of the drug dealer who was ultimately responsible for Luke’s kidnapping. I wanted to catch him as much as the next person, but I was no closer to bringing down Steele than I’d been in the beginning.
The two men I’d arrested for torturing Luke had taken the fifth. We knew they worked for Steele but because they weren’t talking, my investigation had essentially ground to a halt.
These weren’t the first agents I’d spoken to since the FBI had come to town and I doubted they’d be the last. I wasn’t thrilled to have them nosing around town and upsetting people, but at least we all shared a common goal. The sooner we caught Steele, the sooner Creede could go back to normal.
When we all seated, the special-agent-in-charge was the first to speak.
“Thank you for accommodating us today, sheriff,” he said genially.
I nodded. “Of course. I want to catch Steele as much as you. His drugs have had an impact on this town already. I won’t be happy until they’re gone from this town for good.”
Arlene, a waitress who worked at The Shack had nearly died from snorting the bad cocaine that Steele was selling and until he’d been stopped, she wouldn’t be the last person to fall victim to the lethal drug.
“Let’s get straight down to business,” Agent Banks said. “How well do you know Cooper Brown?”
The friendly smile slipped from my lips.
“Coop? Very well actually. We went to school together. He’s a friend.”
I didn’t like the way they glanced at each other before agent Banks nodded, his lips pursed.
“We know that the last president of Cooper’s MC Club was working for Steele, of course.”
He left the unvoiced question hanging in the air, but I was quick to refute it.
“No way. Coop is clean. He hates drugs and would never be involved in any of this.”
“Can you be sure about that?” Agent Rees asked. “Money’s a powerful motivator, after all.”
“I’d stake my life on it,” I replied, my tone brooking no argument. “Coop is a good man—an honest man. Trust me, he’s as clean as they come.”
When they shared another look, my hackles rose. Rather than the friendly chat I’d been expecting, this felt more like a witch hunt. I didn’t like what they were insinuating.
I leaned forward in my seat. “Coop isn’t interested in belonging to some sort of outlaw club. He was practically raised in that club and he loves it.
“He’ll run it with an iron fist, I can assure you. If he suspects that any of his club brothers are involved with Steele, they’ll be out on their ear.
If you take nothing else away from this meeting then you can take this. Coop has got nothing to do with Steele or the sale or distribution of drugs around Creede.”
When I caught the disbelieving expressions on their faces, I knew there was something that I could take away from our meeting. The feds either didn’t believe me or they didn’t want to believe me. They suspected that Coop was somehow involved with Steele and they were standing firm on that assumption. Clearly, they were trying to gather the Intel they needed to bury him.
I was going to have to think of some way I could convince them otherwise, but more importantly, I needed to warn Coop that he had a target on his back.