Page 10 of Engaging the Deputy (Silver Stars of Montana #3)

Cody felt himself falling in and out of sleep as he waited for the doctor to come back.

Earlier, he’d told him that he had a severe concussion from a blow to the head.

Cody had touched the bandage on his forehead, but he couldn’t remember how he’d gotten it.

His head hurt and he felt confused and anxious.

When the door opened, though, it was the deputy. He groaned silently, having learned that when a cop showed up, it was usually not a good sign.

“How are you feeling?” Jaden asked as if he really cared.

Cody doubted it since they’d been in love with the same woman. He wondered if the deputy had gotten over Olivia. He had his doubts.

The lawman dragged up a chair and, pulling out his notebook and pen, sat down. “Need to ask you some questions about Halloween night at Starling.”

Cody frowned. He’d awakened in a hospital bed, wondering how he’d gotten there.

“Halloween?” Why couldn’t he remember? Actually, he was having trouble retrieving his last memory.

“What is today?” Jaden told him. “I’ve lost three days?

” He couldn’t help being scared. He had no idea what had happened in those three days. They were now a dark hole.

The deputy studied him, no doubt thinking he was lying. But why would he need to lie? Why was the deputy here asking him questions unless something bad had happened?

“What do you remember?”

“Work.” He frowned in concentration. “Friday, getting off work and going to the bar.”

“And after that?”

Cody shook his head. “Nothing until I woke up in this bed. Are you going to tell me what happened?”

“I’d rather you remember on your own. The doctor said once the swelling goes down in your brain, you should remember more.”

“Great,” he said, leaning back in the bed. “You can’t tell me how I got hurt?”

“There was a tornado.”

“No kidding?”

“You probably don’t recall who you were with or what you were doing in Starling.”

Cody frowned. Of course he hadn’t been alone. But a tornado? What had he been doing in Starling? “Sorry, nothing. I have no idea what I might have been doing out there.”

“Let me know if you remember something,” Jaden said as he saw the doctor coming down the hall. His time was up.

* * *

After the deputy left , Cody stared out the window, his heart pounding.

He blamed his aching head for why he hadn’t caught on sooner.

Had someone tried to kill him? Why else was the law asking him all these questions?

Something had happened at Starling. It had happened to him.

He squeezed his eyes shut, grimacing at the pain as he tried to remember.

For a moment, he thought he saw something on the edge of his memory, a fleeting image of a dark figure standing above him.

But it was quickly gone. What scared him was that if he really was in danger, he wouldn’t have any idea who he had to fear.

At a sound, his eyes flew open, startled to find someone right beside his bed, standing over him. “Krystal? What are you doing here?” he demanded, drawing back instinctively.

“Keep your voice down,” she ordered. “I had to see you.” She reached out to touch the bandage on his head.

He grabbed her hand. “You shouldn’t be here. The deputy thinks someone tried to kill me.”

She mugged a face at that and pulled up the chair close to the bed before sitting down. “Who’d want to kill you? That old girlfriend of yours. That’s who you were with Halloween night, right?”

“Old girlfriend?” he asked, even more confused.

“Olivia Brooks,” she snapped, no doubt thinking he was faking his confusion. “She’s back in town. Why would you take her out to Starling?”

“I have no idea. I don’t remember anything. I have a concussion.”

She studied him with squinted suspicious eyes. “You don’t know if she’s the one who coldcocked you?”

“No.” He frowned, making his headache worse. “I didn’t even know she was back in town.”

“You were with her at the bar the other night,” Krystal snapped. “You’re telling me you don’t remember that either?”

He could understand why she was suspicious. “I guess it’s a major concussion since I lost three days of memory. You didn’t happen to be out there at Starling, did you?”

Krystal laughed at that. “Why would I want to hurt you? Whose idea was it for you and Olivia to go out there together?”

He groaned and pointed to his head. “You probably know more about it than I do.”

“I know you cheated on me,” she said and pulled a pout.

“We aren’t together, so it’s not cheating.” He wished he’d rung for a nurse the moment he’d seen Krystal beside his bed. “I can’t do this right now. I’m supposed to be resting.”

She stood abruptly but stayed standing over him in a way that made him nervous. “Did you know that they didn’t find Dean’s body in the rubble left from the tornado? No one knows what happened to him.”

Had someone mentioned a tornado? “Dean’s missing?”

“Haven’t they told you anything?” She sounded both surprised and delighted.

“You know you were all out in Starling on Halloween night when the tornado hit, right?” She didn’t give him time to answer.

“Dean, Jenny, Emery, Rob and a couple of young girls. Then you don’t know that Rob is dead.

Murdered. Seems someone pushed a wall over on him. ” She made a pained face.

He felt as if she’d dropped an anvil on his chest. What the hell had happened out in Starling that night? “Rob was murdered?”

“Isn’t that what I just said?”

He knew that Krystal had never liked Rob or Dean, especially since Jenny was married to Krystal’s brother, Tom. “You sure you weren’t out in Starling that night?”

Krystal smiled. “If I had been, then the head count would have been much higher. Olivia Brooks among the dead or wounded.”

“Excuse me,” a female voice said as the hospital room door opened. A nurse stood framed in the doorway. “Mr. Ryan needs his rest. Only family can visit.”

“I’m his girlfriend,” Krystal said, meeting his gaze as if daring him to argue otherwise.

“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to leave,” the nurse said.

Krystal kissed Cody on the mouth before turning to walk out the door.

“Are you all right?” the nurse asked him.

“Fine.” It was a lie. He wouldn’t be fine until he remembered everything about that night.

* * *

Cody was conscious . Olivia felt weak with relief after the call from Emery with the news.

She cared about her former best friend, boyfriend and neighbor.

She’d been so afraid for him. She felt a second wave of relief.

His being awake meant he could tell Jaden who had attacked him.

Finally, she would be cleared of any wrongdoing.

Before she could rush to the hospital, the deputy called.

“Cody wants to see you. The nurse said you could see him for a few minutes because he is so insistent.”

“I’ll be right there,” she said, anxious to find out what had happened after she’d left him to go for help.

Cody was propped up in bed, his head bandaged. He smiled as she walked into his hospital room, making her think they’d put any nastiness from Halloween night behind them. She realized he was staring at her as if just as relieved to see her as she was to see him. “Did Jaden tell you?”

“He said you wanted to see me. Did you tell him who attacked you?” she asked.

He started to shake his head but quickly stopped himself.

His eyes closed for a moment. When he opened them, he was staring at her again.

“I’m sorry. I thought Jaden would have… I can’t remember anything .

When I woke up, I didn’t even remember you were in town, let alone that I’d apparently seen you at the bar. You’re back in town?”

He sounded so surprised at that, but not half as surprised as she was to hear that he didn’t remember anything from Starling. “Wait. You don’t remember Starling, the tornado…?”

“Nothing. What were we doing out there? Were we together?”

She sat on the edge of the chair next to his bed. That was when she noticed the deputy standing in the doorway, watching them. “What did Jaden tell you?”

“Not much. He said he’d prefer that I remember on my own. But I heard there was a tornado that hit Starling and you were there with me?”

Olivia fought to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat. “It was just a bunch of old friends doing something foolish.” She explained how Emery had come up with the idea at the bar the night before Halloween.

“We couldn’t have known there would be a tornado,” he said, frowning. “How was it that we survived?”

Before she could answer, the deputy stepped into the room. “That’s enough for now,” Jaden said. “I know you have a lot of questions. The doctor said you need to rest. Once the swelling goes down in your brain, you’ll probably remember at least some of it.”

Cody looked at Olivia. “Thanks for coming to see me.”

She smiled and rose. “Just get well.”

On the way down the hall toward the exit, Jaden stopped her.

“I couldn’t let you tell him. I want him to remember on his own,” the deputy said.

She couldn’t hide her frustration. “I need him to remember so that I’m no longer a suspect.

” His expression didn’t change. “You being angry with me isn’t giving me confidence that I’m innocent until proven guilty.

The way you’re looking at me right now feels as if it’s more about our broken engagement than what happened to Cody. ”

“How am I looking at you?”

“Like you want to see me behind bars,” she snapped.

“Sorry, that’s not my intention. I’m only trying to get to the truth.”

“I’ve told you the truth.” She shook her head, seeing that he still didn’t believe her. “None of this has anything to do with me.”

“Right. You were just an innocent bystander who just happened to be down in the root cellar alone with Cody. You wouldn’t have hurt him,” he said, studying her closely. “But aren’t you at least curious to know who tried to kill your boyfriend?”

“He isn’t my boyfriend,” she declared. “We’re just old friends.”

“‘The old gang.’ Isn’t that what you used to call them? I think you know more about them and what happened out there than you’re telling me. They’re still your friends.”

Olivia wondered about that. Friends didn’t kill each other. What was he asking? “They’ve had years together while I was gone. I hardly know them anymore.”

“Right. You’ve been gone so long that none of this probably matters to you.”

“That’s not true.” She had to look away. She knew what he was doing. “What is it you want from me?”

He looked down at his boots for a moment. “You know these people. They trust you. You’re one of them.” His gaze rose to meet hers and held it. “Someone’s lying. If you hear something…”

“You want my help?” She hadn’t meant to sound so shocked.

With a sigh, she said, “I’m really not sure anyone will be telling me anything, but you have to know that I’ll help any way I can.

” She started to turn away, but stopped.

“What did you find out about the bones we discovered in the root cellar?”

“They’re checking dental records and DNA, but the coroner said the remains are those of a young girl of about sixteen.”

“Is it Evangeline?”

He shrugged. “We’ll see.”

Olivia couldn’t believe that he could doubt it. “Whose house was that root cellar in?” she asked, keeping him from walking away just yet.

Jaden hesitated. “My family’s.”

She felt her eyes widen in surprise.

“Please don’t jump to conclusions. We left there before she disappeared. I don’t know who moved into the house. Maybe no one.”

“What about Elden Rusk?” she demanded. “Is he still alive? Could he have been in Starling that night?”

The deputy groaned. “If he’s still alive, I really have my doubts he was in Starling on Halloween.”

“Because you want it to be one of my old friends. Or better yet, me.”

He shook his head. “Believe it or not, I’m just doing my job. I’ll try to find Elden. I’ll find out if he’s been in the area.” With that, he turned and headed down the hall to the nurses’ station.

Olivia felt sick to her stomach as she watched him leave. What had she thought would happen when she came home? Certainly not this. Jaden was angry with her, which scared her. What if Cody remembered that they’d argued and thought she’d been the one to attack him down in the root cellar?

Glancing back down the hall, she saw the young woman she’d seen earlier exiting Cody’s hospital room. She started to call down to the nurses’ station to Jaden, but he was already gone and the head nurse was on the phone.

Turning toward Cody’s room, she saw the blonde disappear around the corner. She went after her. As she passed a nurse, she alerted her that a patient in Room 9 needed help. Then she kept going after the blonde, determined to find out who she was.

By the time she reached the corner, the woman was halfway down the hallway. She called, “Excuse me! Could you please wait up?”

There was no way the woman hadn’t heard. Quite the contrary. The blonde increased her speed.

Determined to find out who she was, Olivia ran after her. “I asked you to stop,” she said when she drew closer.

The blonde said something rude and kept going.

Olivia grabbed her arm, spinning her around until they were face-to-face. “Who are you?” she demanded.

“Let go of me.”

“Not until you tell me who you are and why you were in Cody’s room.”

The young woman’s expression turned ugly. She jerked her arm free and, spitting out the words, said, “I have every right to see Cody. More right than you do. He’s my boyfriend.”

Olivia blinked. “Your boyfriend?” But before she could get more information, the blonde took off down the hall to the exit and was gone.

Staring after her, she realized that she should have known Cody would have been dating someone. He could have even been married after all this time. Cody Ryan had never gone long without a girlfriend—even back in grade school.