Page 1 of The Deputy's Secret Double
PROLOGUE
By all accounts, JJ Shaw was an all-rounder. There wasn’t just one thing she was good at. She flourished at a great many things that left her résumé looking like a run-over garden of skill, determination and a little luck.
She was great at math, was a pro at public speaking, won accolades for leadership, never said no to hard work but also never let anyone use her as a doormat. She was fluent in Spanish, had a steel-trap memory, and had spent several summers at STEM retreats that gave her a leg up in any job setting that revolved around computer software or programming. Her degrees—all three of them—were impressive by themselves, never mind together, and when she wasn’t contracting out her services to corporate juggernauts across the country to keep her savings account plump and happy, she spent her free time dominating boxing gyms and specialized training camps in various fields.
JJ Shaw wasn’t just well-rounded on paper. She was a delight, a wonder and a laugh and a half in person too.
She wasn’t just an all-rounder.
She wastheall-rounder.
Which made the almost-blank piece of paper she slid across the counter hurt just a little.
“I know I don’t have much to offer but I can promise you I’ll work hard,” she told the woman standing on the opposite side.
The best JJ could guess was that the owner of Twenty-Two Coffee Shop was only a few years older than her thirty. If that. Her name tag read Cassandra and her eyes read hesitance. Her protruding, pregnant belly read an opposing eagerness.
She glanced at the Part-Time Wanted sign taped to the glass front door before settling on prioritizing her needs over her polite Southern concerns.
“I’m not sure if this type of work is something you’ll want,” she tried. “It’s part-time, as you saw, and that really does mean part-time. It won’t pay that much and most of the work is cleaning and helping with back-end things until I come back. We have another part-timer already who works after school and on the weekends and then my sister and another full-timer. This is a position that’s more for dealing with the things that fall through the cracks when I’m out on maternity leave.”
JJ had once spent an entire summer cleaning out horse stalls and pig pens in the middle of the Alabama heat, morning in and morning out. The smells alone were imprinted in her memory forever and it was one of her least favorite jobs. Keeping a coffee shop in the small Georgia town of Seven Roads seemed a much less offensive situation. At the very least it was air-conditioned.
She smiled.
“I don’t mind the work, even if it’s low on the hours,” she assured her. “Honestly, I’m in need of an excuse to get out and about more than anything. I’ve just come to town and want to see something other than my own walls. Plus, I’d love to have some extra money coming in from somewhere to feel better about the house I just bought.”
JJ could see she had piqued Cassandra’s interest.
Seven Roads was thimble-sized small. Everyone truly knew everyone. Or, at least, everyone hadheardabout everyone else. Someone always had all the stories, true or not, about every resident.
Old and new.
JJ had been in Seven Roads for over a month and had been careful to only be seen exactly when she wanted to be seen. This was the first time Cassandra had spoken to her and, as far as both women knew, it was the first time the old home on Whatley Bend had been brought up by the newcomer crazy enough to buy it.
Now it was up to Cassandra to take the bait.
She did, though JJ had to admit she was more even keel about it than she thought others might have been.
“You’re the one who bought Janice Wilkins’s old home? The one over on Whatley Bend?”
JJ nodded.
“I’m working on a plan to renovate it since it’s been in such poor condition. I’m staying in a rental near here until then.”
Cassandra was impressed.
“That’s a lot of work if I remember that house right. You have a lot cut out for yourself.” She glanced at the front door sign again. “I’m not sure you’ll have the time to be here if you’re doing all that.”
JJ was quick with a new smile, quicker with a response.
“I’m just overseeing. I won’t be doing the work myself,” she said. “Plus, you said the hours here were on the low side. I can more than work around that if you give me the chance.”
Under normal circumstances, JJ had the feeling the Cassandra might have wondered more about the situation. Yet, she rubbed a hand along her pregnant belly and sighed.
It sure helped JJ’s cause that no one else had applied for the job yet.
Cassandra finally relented with a nod.