Page 19 of Grimm County Wishes (Grimm County Lawmen #4)

“ W ell, if it isn’t Mr. Reality TV himself, gracing us with his presence.” Christian gave a mock bow as Al entered the conference room.

He rolled his eyes and grabbed a bright green muffin from the center of the table.

“I’m back for a few days while they set up for the next phase.

” Al sniffed the muffin but couldn’t detect anything too outlandish.

Marina’s baking efforts were legendary, and not in a good way.

Christian claimed Marina insisted he share them with the guys, but Al suspected this was Christian’s way of getting rid of them faster.

Hunter took a sip of his coffee, trying not to stare directly at Marina’s muffins as though pretending they didn’t exist would keep him from having to take one.

“Mint.” Nick sat at the end of the table, wiping green crumbs from his beard. “Like toothpaste. ”

“Excellent!” Al took a large bite, agreeing with Nick’s assessment. “I’ve always found arrests to go much smoother when my breath is minty fresh.”

Christian knocked his hand on the table, signaling the start of the meeting. “We’ll keep it short today. Axe won’t be joining us. He had a rough night, so I sent him home.”

Hunter looked up from fake studying his laptop. “Everything okay? I can take over some of his shifts if need be.”

Christian raised an eyebrow. “Somebody worried about burning out his CSI protégé?”

Axe was the newest edition to the department and typically worked the overnight shift.

Because of that, no one wanted to see Axe leave since that meant they’d be back on the night rotation.

But Hunter would be especially disappointed if Axe left because Axe had been training as Hunter’s back up with the crime scene investigations.

“Nothing to worry about, just a little extra excitement. But I’ll pass along your offer. Although, we could use some help at the front desk since Hope isn’t back yet. Any chance one of your other sisters is available to fill in?”

Hope was Hunter’s sister, and she’d been their first and only admin assistant.

Everyone loved having her around because she did a lot of the paperwork that they hated.

But she’d gotten tangled up in a case with a drug queen, and one of Marina’s mafia cousins had her in a safe house.

Al shook his head. Come to think of it, for a small town, they saw an awful lot of excitement.

Hunter cocked his head to the side. “Maybe Fawn? I’ll ask and let you know. Diane just finished a certification at Grimm Tech and is going to work with Al on his new show.”

“Really?” Al grinned. He’d love to have another friendly face on set.

“Yeah, she’s going to be on the camera crew. Kind of random, but she’s always enjoyed photography and thought it’d be fun to work on some of the crews that come around here.”

Christian nodded. “Let me know, otherwise I’ll call the temp agency. How are those cold cases coming?”

Al sat up straight, his coffee mug striking loudly on the table. “Old cases? You’re looking into old cases? How old?”

Hunter snorted and shook his head. “Not old. Cold, with a c. I mean, they are old, but I guess what we should say is unsolved.”

Al slumped back into his chair. “Right, sorry.”

“Axe has been helping me sort through the files. For the first sweep, we’re checking for cases that have evidence we can test with newer technology. We came up with a pretty good strategy, though.” He went silent as he typed into his computer .

“Come on, don’t leave us hanging,” Christian said.

Hunter looked back up from his laptop and grinned. “Sorry, right. We’ve been cataloging the files as we sort by type of crime, year, and the deputy who worked the case. As you can imagine, there are some deputies over the years who have more cold cases than others.”

Christian nodded. His father had been sheriff for over twenty years before he died. “Dad certainly went through some highs and lows with staffing.”

“Exactly. Deputies with a large number of cold cases would indicate that maybe that deputy was in the wrong line of work. And usually your dad, or whoever was sheriff, caught on to that at some point and sent the deputy on their way. We’re reviewing those first, with the assumption that the deputy left a lot of clues uncovered and they may be easier to solve. ”

Christian clapped his hands. “That’s brilliant. I knew you were the right man for the job.”

“There’s one name that keeps coming up though, Deputy Ingall. He seemed to have more unsolved cases than most.”

Al’s stomach lurched. Ingall . He knew that name all too well.

“Idiot,” Nick said.

Christian opened his mouth to say something, then closed it and nodded. “Yeah, he wasn’t the brightest. ”

Nick grunted. “Couldn’t find his ass from a hole in the ground.”

Christian bit back a smile and continued. “From what I remember, he didn’t last more than a few years. Hunter, great work. Alright, moving on, we’ve got a writer’s convention coming in three weeks that will bring more people to Main Street …”

The rest of the meeting went by quickly, but Al found it hard to focus after Hunter’s report.

Ingall had been the one that arrested Ben.

If he was such a shitty deputy, how had he found all that evidence that put Ben away?

They’d always assumed the drugs that were found in the trailer and car had belonged to one of Jeannie’s mom’s many boyfriends.

But what if something else was going on?

After the meeting, Al grabbed Hunter before he walked out.

“Hunter, I was wondering if I could ask you for a favor.” Al dug his hands into his pants and took a deep breath.

“Of course. What’s up?”

Al’s eyes darted around the conference room.

Christian had already left, and not that the sheriff would have a problem with the favor he was about to ask, but for now he’d just rather keep it between them.

“About those cases. Based on what was said about Deputy Ingall, I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind looking into one of the few cases that he did solve. ”

Hunter pulled his hair free of his elastic tie and shook it out. “Tell me what you’re thinking, Al.”

“I don’t know what I’m thinking, but …”

Hunter raised his hand. “Actually, it’s probably better if you don’t tell me. Then I won’t go in with any bias. Who was the suspect?”

“Benjamin Knight.”

Hunter sucked in a breath. “Jeannie’s brother, right? I was in college then, but I remember hearing about that from my sisters. It was a pretty big deal. Ingall was the lead on it?”

Al nodded.

“Damn. Well, they say even a broken clock is right twice a day.” Hunter shrugged but didn’t look convinced. “I’ll let you know what I find out.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it. And if you don’t mind, can we keep it just between us for now?”

Hunter smiled. “Of course, brother.”

“Rookie!” a voice bellowed from the main room.

“Beast!” Al shouted back. “You gotta stop calling me that. Axe is the rookie now.”

Nick shrugged, a small smile peeking through his thick beard. “Let’s ride. ”

“Sure thing, big man.” They didn’t usually go on patrol together, but on slow days, they’d pair up for community policing.

Usually, they found a game of pickup basketball to join, or if they were lucky, a block party.

Christian was all for it as it helped improve the relationships they had with the residents.

As Al slipped into the patrol car next to Nick, he wished, not for the first time, that Nick had been the one to drive up on Ben that day. Maybe then their lives wouldn’t have gone to shit over laundry detergent.