Page 9 of Engaging the Deputy (Silver Stars of Montana #3)

With her mother plying her with questions about what Jaden had wanted, about what had happened on Halloween out at Starling and about her plans for the future, Olivia couldn’t take it anymore and left the house. She drove to the hospital, hoping for good news about Cody’s condition.

Unfortunately, he was not able to have visitors. Deputy Jaden Montgomery had restricted all visitors to Cody’s room, the head nurse told her, so she couldn’t even see him—let alone find out his condition.

She was starting to leave when she looked down the hallway and saw a young woman come out of Cody’s room. Slim, with blond, straight hair, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, the woman glanced toward the nurses’ station. Olivia’s gaze met hers. The woman quickly turned and took off in the other direction.

“I just saw someone come out of Cody Ryan’s room,” she hurriedly told the nurse.

“Are you sure it wasn’t one of our nurses?”

“Yes. She was wearing jeans and a T-shirt, and when I saw her, she took off.”

The head nurse rushed down the hall to check on the patient but quickly returned. Olivia wanted to admonish her for not keeping a closer eye on his room, but could see how upset the nurse was for letting it happen.

Leaving the hospital, Olivia glanced around, hoping to see the woman again as she drove down the main drag. She had no idea what she would do if she found the woman. But who she did see was Emery. He was just going into the bar where they’d all recently reunited.

Without questioning her intentions, she pulled into the first parking place she came to, got out and followed him. Jaden’s questioning had more than bothered her. He’d gotten personal at the end and she’d seen how much it had upset him. He’d been trying so hard to keep it professional.

He’d left her feeling as if maybe he did still care.

That gave her hope. If it wasn’t for this investigation…

That, she told herself, was why she was headed into the bar to see Emery.

This wouldn’t end until whoever had killed Rob and attacked Cody was found and arrested.

And, like she’d told Jaden, she’d been away too long and didn’t know what had been going on in her absence.

That first night in the bar, it had felt like old times. But by the time they’d reached Starling, she’d sensed that it wasn’t—and not just for her and Cody. The old gang wasn’t as close as they’d been. Still, she couldn’t believe that one of them was a murderer.

Stepping into the dimly lit bar, she had to give her eyes a moment to adjust before she spotted Emery.

He had taken a stool at the bar some distance from anyone else.

He had a drink in front of him, even though it was still morning.

All his attention seemed to be on his drink, as if he could find answers in the glass in front of him.

As she approached, she wondered if he was meeting someone.

She’d never been as close with Emery as she had been with the others back in high school.

He was the bad boy, the biker, the kid who’d lived, so to speak, on the wrong side of the tracks.

Even in small towns without railroad tracks, there was sometimes a part of town less desirable.

“Is this stool taken?” she asked as she started to join him.

He seemed surprised to see her but smiled and appeared glad for the company. “Have a seat. What are you drinking?”

“I’d take a cola.”

He laughed. “Teetotaler,” he joked and signaled the bartender. Like her, he had scrapes and bruises but had miraculously survived the tornado, as had the two young women with him and Rob. “You been over to the hospital?”

She nodded. “They wouldn’t tell me anything about his condition or let me see him.”

He gave a shake of his head. “I heard he’s still unconscious. My aunt knows someone who works there. I can’t believe what happened.”

Olivia wasn’t sure if he was talking about Rob’s murder, Cody’s injury, Dean’s disappearance or the tornado. “I know what you mean,” she said as the bartender put a napkin and her drink in front of her. She thanked him and turned to Emery. “What happened after I left town?”

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“The old gang. I picked up on what I thought was good-natured jabs that first night at the bar, so I didn’t think too much about it. Rob was leaving town, going to his dream job. Now I realize that not everyone was happy for him.”

“I was. Why wouldn’t I be?” Emery said almost irritably as he reached for his glass. He drained it and signaled the bartender for another.

“I know you and Rob have been best friends almost since you were born. At least, you were best friends when I left. Did that change?”

“Why are you asking me these questions?” He eyed her suspiciously.

“I’m just trying to understand what might have changed since I left.”

He sighed. “A lot changes in six years.” The bartender took his empty and left a fresh drink, but Emery didn’t pick it up right away. He seemed lost in thought.

Olivia took a sip of her soft drink and waited.

“Rob and I weren’t as tight as we used to be, maybe.” He shrugged. “That’s why I was excited about going out to Starling on Halloween. We hadn’t done anything like that in a very long time. As for the old gang… We’re not in high school anymore. We all have jobs, responsibilities.”

She definitely knew that feeling of a job becoming her entire life. She’d thought it would make her happy. She was making money, and she had her own place, though it was small and the neighbors noisy, and the hours at work long. She’d woken up one morning to realize she wanted more.

Emery looked down the bar for a moment before he said, “A lot of our friends left, greener grass, like I have to tell you. It’s not like only the losers stay.” He picked up his drink and took a gulp, his eyes on the back bar.

“Have you ever thought about leaving?”

He shook his head. “I left for a while after you did. Just got on my bike and checked out other places.” He smiled over at her.

“I found out that there is no place like Montana, and I hightailed it back. You’re thinking that whoever killed Rob was jealous he was getting out of here and they weren’t?

” His expression said he didn’t believe that was the case.

She was reminded that it was Rob who had wanted to go out to Starling and stay until midnight. If he’d been worried that one of the others resented his success, he certainly hadn’t shown it. “Do you really believe there is gold still hidden out in Starling?”

Emery chuckled. “Doubtful. But it’s like the other legends about the place. It gives people something to talk about, dream about.”

“What would you do if you found the gold?” she asked and took another swallow.

“Depends on how much is there.”

She smiled over at him. “Enough to take a trip around the world.”

“That’s just it. I wouldn’t go anywhere. I’d buy me a place on the lake. I wouldn’t have to work, but I probably would. I’d stay right there.” He laughed. “I guess I don’t need any gold. I’m…content. Some people think that’s just laziness talking, but I like my life. I wouldn’t change it.”

She studied him for a moment. “I understand completely.” She told him about her dream job.

“All those years of college and then the job…” She shook her head.

“I realized it wasn’t what I wanted.” At the heart of it, she’d missed Montana, the familiar, the place she’d grown up in.

Wasn’t that why she’d come back? At least, that was what she’d told herself, not that she could deny Jaden had also been part of it.

The problem was…even before Halloween night and what had happened, she’d held out little hope that Jaden would ever be able to forgive her for hurting him.

* * *

Jaden found Angie Marsh loading suitcases into the back of her SUV as he drove up.

The petite, slightly built brunette didn’t look happy to see him as he got out of his patrol vehicle and walked toward her.

“Going somewhere?” he asked, eyeing the suitcases.

He saw that she had loaded numerous boxes in the back.

None of it looked like anything of her missing husband’s.

It had crossed his mind that she might be going to meet Dean somewhere, the two of them on the run together after Dean had killed Rob and almost succeeded in taking out Cody as well. What struck him was how much Jenny resembled Angie. Clearly, Dean had a type.

“I don’t have time for this, Deputy,” she said, pushing past him with a load in her arms. She wore jeans and a T-shirt with a band’s name he’d never heard of. Her long dark hair was pulled up in a ponytail. But what really caught his eye was that she wasn’t wearing her wedding ring.

On her way back to the house, he stopped her. “I just need a few minutes to talk to you about Dean.” She hesitated, looking as if she’d prefer not to. “We can talk here or down at the sheriff’s office.”

With a sigh, she dusted off her jeans and motioned toward the house. “Let’s make it quick. I don’t want to be here when he comes back.”

Did she really think he was coming back?

She’d be in the minority, from what Jaden had heard around town.

Pretty much everyone assumed he was on the run, either a murderer or just a philanderer.

Some thought that Jenny Lee’s husband, Tom, had probably found him that night and killed him.

Why Dean’s body hadn’t turned up was anyone’s guess.

The deputy followed Angie into the house, not surprised to see there were more items by the front door that she was apparently planning to load into her vehicle. She was clearing out, leaving not just her missing cheating husband, but town.

“You said you wanted to leave before Dean returned,” Jaden said once she led him into the kitchen and pointed to a chair at the table after he declined coffee.

“Does that mean you’ve heard from your husband?”

She poured herself some orange juice, then turned her back to add something to it. When she sat down across the table from him, he could smell the vodka. “I haven’t heard from Dean,” she said. “I don’t expect to.”

“Why is that?”

Angie lifted a brow. “Wouldn’t you be too ashamed to show your face in this town?”

“Because of what happened out in Starling on Halloween?” he asked, confused.

“We all know what happened. Dean was with that tramp, Jenny Lee.”

“I thought maybe you were referring to Rob Perkins being killed and Cody Ryan being assaulted and in the hospital, still unconscious. You’re that sure Dean didn’t do it and that’s why he’s disappeared?” Jaden asked.

For a moment, she looked as confused as he was.

Then she let out a bark of a laugh before picking up her drink.

“Dean? A murderer?” She laughed some more before taking a large gulp of her juice.

“Dean’s a cheater, a liar and a ne’er-do-well who burns his bridges.

Smell that?” she asked with a sniff. “That’s a bridge burning.

Clearly, you’ve never met my husband.” She took another drink of her orange juice.

“Dean’s a lot of things, but a killer? No, he wouldn’t have the stomach for it.

He’s gotten caught cheating and now he’s afraid to come home and face the consequences. ”

Jaden told himself that maybe Angie was just a woman spurned who’d had enough and was cutting her losses. Yet he couldn’t help feeling like there was more going on. “You’re that sure he didn’t have any conflicts with his two friends?”

“He was jealous of them, especially Rob, since he was leaving here to start a better life. But Emery?” She shook her head.

“I know you’re angry with him, but there’s a chance his body might still be found out in Starling,” he warned. “The area is still being searched.”

With a shake of her heard, she said, “Oh, he’ll turn up, alive and well and lying through his teeth.”

He felt himself studying her ring finger. There was only a ghost of a white line where it had been on her finger. He wondered if she hadn’t taken it off sometime before all this.

“If you hear from him, please call me,” he said as he rose to leave.

“Oh, I will. I’ll want you to keep him away from me because I want him gone. I wish he was capable of murder. Then you could drive him to Deer Lodge to the state prison and we’d all be shed of him.”

“One more thing,” he said as if the thought had just come to him. “Where were you on Halloween night?”

She glared at him, then shook her head as if amused.

“If I wanted to kill my husband, I wouldn’t have driven all the way out to Starling in the middle of the night, Deputy.

I would have just cut his throat while he slept next to me.

Halloween wasn’t the first time he was with Jenny Lee, by the way. ”

After leaving Angie, Jaden drove over to Whitney Clark’s house and questioned her about Rob and Emery’s whereabouts just before the tornado. He then stopped by her friend Tammy Bell’s and got pretty much the same information from her.

Both had been scared and foggy on what had happened.

“Had Rob and Emery been arguing?” No.

“Had either been acting strangely?” To that, he’d gotten confused looks. Clearly, neither girl had known either of them well enough to know. Both girls were grounded and still shocked and upset that they’d almost died.

As he was leaving the Bell residence, the hospital called.

Cody had regained consciousness.