Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense March 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 Dana Mentink (e books free to read TXT) 📖

opened his door. “Wait here and I’ll call someone to drive you to the clinic or your truck.”

“I’ll walk to my truck,” Beckett said. “You’ve got a fugitive to catch.” He didn’t wait for Jude’s answer. The cut on his throat stung, but that was the least of his concerns as he circled back around to his vehicle. Jude may have been confident that the police would capture Kenny, but Beckett did not share his rosy view. Kenny had a network of friends on both sides of the jail fence who would no doubt be happy to assist. He was so deep in his thoughts, he’d yanked open his driver’s door before he noticed all four tires were flat, neatly slashed.

He scanned the street. Good old Uncle Leonard pulled back the shades of his house. He flashed Beckett a hateful grin and raked an index finger across his throat. No confusion about the meaning.

Beckett stared him down until Leonard disappeared from the window. He kept his appearance calm as he took out his phone and called for a tow truck before he dialed Herm.

“Yello, Hotsprings Hotel,” he said. “Help ya?”

“It’s Beck. Is Laney okay?”

There was a brief pause and he heard the phone being handed off. “Yes, I am,” she said. “Where are you?”

He tried to keep his relief silent. “I’m still in Beatty.” He told her about the encounter with Uncle Leonard and Kenny’s escape, leaving out the part about the knife at his throat. He heard her sharp intake of breath. “So stay in, okay?”

“I have to take the Timmons family and Rita into the park today at four. Levi’s leading a trail ride and Willow’s joining in at sundown on the nighttime photo tour if the sky is clear.”

A long drive through one of the world’s most desolate landscapes. Death Valley was a deadly place in the best of circumstances. “I’ll take them.”

“We’ll talk about it later. I have to help serve breakfast.” She paused. “Don’t… I mean, you should be careful too, you know.”

She still cared? He wished. “Right. I’ll be back as soon as I get the tires replaced.” He resisted the urge to order her to stay put again. Laney was not one to put up with badgering. You said your piece.

Still, the minutes passed in excruciating slowness until the tow driver arrived and hauled his truck to the local garage. The driver was new in town and wise enough not to inquire how Beckett had earned himself four slashed tires. He listened to his earbuds, ignoring Beckett in the passenger seat, which suited them both fine. Beckett had pulled on a windbreaker to hide the knife wound before the tow arrived, even though it was too hot for it.

At the garage, Beckett found fire captain Trent Clouder waiting by his staff vehicle for some paperwork. He was slender, belt buckled around a trim waist, hair neatly cut, boots polished to a sheen. Trent was probably close to sixty, but his commitment to working out and perhaps even tinting his hair made him appear younger. He’d been married and divorced twice.

The captain went slack jawed for a moment when he saw Beckett and then extended a hand. They shook.

“We miss you,” Trent said. “You were the best volunteer this department’s ever had.”

They were the kindest words he’d heard in a long time. He sincerely hoped the captain wasn’t just being patronizing. Trent had a golden tongue, as he’d heard Irene comment one time.

“I want to come back.” Beckett hadn’t meant to say it, but the longing to return to his duties, to regain the position that had provided him such satisfaction, overwhelmed his common sense. He’d dearly loved his days in the firehouse, tending to the machinery, cooking for the crew, riding on every imaginable type of call from car accidents to heat exhaustion.

Trent shifted, dark eyes wandering from Beckett’s face. “You know I’d like to do that,” he said softly, “but it’s a matter for the fire board. I’d put in a good word for you, of course.”

And they would never approve his rehire, not unless he was completely vindicated of the crime. Perhaps not even then. “I understand.”

“You’ve been on my mind, actually. I was at the library last week doing a talk for the teen group and there was someone there asking Mrs. Shick about you.”

Someone was asking the librarian about him? “Who?”

“Don’t know her.”

Her? “Can you tell me what she looked like?”

“Tall, dark hair pulled into a braid. Familiar description?”

He nodded. “Her name’s Rita Brown. She’s staying at the Hotsprings. What did Mrs. Shick tell her?”

Clouder laughed. “You know Mrs. Shick. She didn’t get to be a captain in the army without having a spine made of steel. She told her she’d be delighted to help her find books, but for gossip she’d have to go elsewhere. The gal was nosy. Not nearly as warm and friendly as Pauline.”

“I didn’t know you and Pauline were close.”

He lifted a shoulder. “Not really. I mean, I talked to her some, when she first came to town. She was in the coffee shop one time and I joined her. Just to be welcoming, you know.”

Pauline was a striking woman. She’d been vivacious and popular in high school, active in dozens of clubs and an attendee at every dance. Some twenty-five years later when she’d checked in at the hotel, she’d been wary, reserved, a certain hesitation in her manner, but she was still a lovely woman and would have been noticed by a man like Trent.

“I figured I’d strike up a conversation with Rita at the library, but she brushed me off.” He shrugged. “Not very friendly, like I said.”

“Yeah.”

Trent regarded him with a raised eyebrow. “So what’s going on really? Why is this Rita in Furnace Falls, grilling people about you?”

“I would love to know,” Beckett said. And he’d be sure to pass the info on to Jude.

Trent’s radio squawked.

Beckett mouthed a “thank you” and went to pay for his new set