Page 20 of Engaging the Deputy (Silver Stars of Montana #3)

Shaken to his boots, Jaden drew back from the kiss. This was exactly what he hadn’t meant to do. Yet he couldn’t regret it as he looked in Livie’s eyes. “We can’t do this. I’m in the middle of an investigation and you’re—”

“Still a suspect.”

He nodded and tipped in to touch his forehead to hers for a moment before stepping back. “What are you doing out here? Cody’s not here, is he?”

She shook her head. “I had this bad dream last night. It was so dark that night… I wanted to see the root cellar in daylight. I don’t know what I’m hoping to find.

Answers. Reassurance. Something, since I haven’t been able to forget being in that hole and then seeing Cody lying down there.

” Her gaze locked with his again. “And seeing the doubt on your face, I didn’t want you to suspect me anymore. ”

“I don’t want to, either, but you know we can’t take this any further until this investigation is over. That’s if it’s something we want to do.”

“How can you even ask after that kiss?” she demanded. “I never stopped loving you. It’s why I came back.”

He hated to ask, especially after that kiss. “What about Cody?”

“Cody and I are just friends.”

“Does he know that?” Jaden heard himself ask and wanted to kick himself.

“Yes, Cody knows that. We grew up together, shared a lot of things, but all we’ve ever really been is good friends. He’d thought we’d end up together and was upset when I left town, but he knows better now.”

He knew she had a strong connection to Cody. Wasn’t that the reason he’d called off the engagement? Livie had years of memories with Cody, something Jaden didn’t have with her. Maybe what he’d picked up on was her longing for Montana and home more than her old high school boyfriend.

While he’d wanted to hear her say it, the kiss had convinced him even more than her words. She was right. Once his lips had touched hers, he’d felt his doubts dissolve and blow away like smoke on the breeze.

“If you’re determined to see the root cellar…” He motioned toward the hillside. “Let me make sure it’s safe to go over there.”

* * *

Olivia gladly let Jaden lead the way through the debris. They had to skirt around houses torn off their foundations and dropped at random on the hillside. Everywhere there were piles of lumber and pieces of twisted metal to traverse.

They hadn’t gone far, though, when Jaden stopped to wait for her. She quickly caught up after finding herself gawking at the awesome power of what had been a small tornado by national standards. She saw that he was standing next to the hole in the ground.

“Don’t get too close,” he warned. “It’s caved in some more.”

The root cellar looked so much larger than it had seemed that night, even with more dirt having fallen in. She shivered, remembering being down there when the tornado hit, feeling it trying to suck them up and carry them away.

“Are you all right?” Jaden asked. The wind had picked up to a low howl, much like it had Halloween night before the real storm hit.

Pushing her hair back from her face, she looked down. “It doesn’t seem as deep now,” she said as her dream came back to her. In the dream, when she’d looked up and seen Cody standing over her, the hole had been so much deeper, so much more frightening.

“Have you seen enough?”

She glanced around and nodded. If Cody did come out here, she couldn’t imagine that he would find any more answers than she had. “I’m done.”

* * *

Jaden followed Livie back to her turnoff to home.

They’d stopped earlier when they’d reached their vehicles but kept their distance.

He knew it wouldn’t take a lot for him to cross the line with her during this investigation.

He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed her, how much he wanted her, that no matter what happened, he would always want her.

The kiss had sealed it. He felt even more determined to solve this case so he and Livie could see what happened next. He believed her about Cody Ryan. But he wondered if Cody had accepted that she’d moved on.

It all came back to Rob Perkins, he realized as he forced himself to concentrate on the case. Whatever Perkins had been up to, Jaden couldn’t believe that his friends hadn’t known, might even have been involved. He called the hospital, only to find out that Dean Marsh had been released.

He’d only just disconnected when he got a call from the Fortune Creek dispatcher. Dean Marsh had been trying to reach him. “He sounded upset and said he needed to talk to you right away.”

On the outskirts of town, Jaden decided to swing by Dean’s house, hoping to catch him at home.

He doubted Dean would have returned to his job in construction yet, especially with a broken arm.

He hit pay dirt when he saw Dean’s car in the driveway.

The vehicle had taken a beating during the tornado but apparently still ran after being brought into town when the state boys had finished with it.

Dean must have heard him coming up the steps, because he opened the door before the deputy could knock.

“Thanks for coming by.” He motioned Jaden inside.

“I don’t know if this is important,” he said once they were seated in the living room, “but I overheard my wife on the phone planning to meet someone after Halloween. She didn’t leave me because of what me and Jenny had going on.

Apparently, she’d been planning this for some time. ”

Jaden had to admit he’d been surprised at how quickly Angie had bailed on the marriage—even before they’d known what had happened to her husband. “You have any idea who she was meeting?”

“No, but I got a call asking if I had made a reservation for a hotel in Spokane, Washington. I hadn’t.

The reservation had been made two weeks ago .

Apparently, Angie hadn’t checked in when she was supposed to—the night after Halloween—and she hadn’t called to cancel, so they were going to have to charge me for the first night as per their policy.

It was for a room with a king-size bed. Angie had told them there would be two people. ”

“Have you heard from your wife, Dean?” Jaden asked.

He shook his head. “I don’t blame her for running off with someone, but I’m worried about her. Why hadn’t she checked in? What if something has happened to her?”

“You should consult a lawyer,” the deputy advised. “You might want to cancel your credit cards. That way, you’ll probably be hearing from her. Let me know when you do.”

“Can’t you put out a BOLO on her car? Something. I just need to know she’s all right.”

Jaden hesitated. “I can do that. One more thing. Some of Rob’s friends seem to think he might have been involved with the wrong people. Would you know anything about that?”

“Wrong people?”

“Drug dealers,” Jaden said.

Dean blinked. “Rob? Seriously?” He sounded genuinely surprised.

“I can’t seem to find anywhere he was employed for the past few years,” Jaden said.

“He was working with Angie.”

“Doing what?”

“She has a craft business she’s been running out of an old barn in the country. Buys furniture and redoes it. Rob was helping her.”

“Was it profitable?” Jaden asked.

“Seemed to be, but she wasn’t paying enough taxes, you know?”

The deputy thought he did. “Where is this barn?”