Page 60 of The Deputy's Secret Double

Price was the law. Would he really help her break it if she needed to?

JJ cleared her throat. This time it wasn’t because he’d made her blush.

“We try to talk to them to see if we can figure out where they came from.”

Price must have picked up on her change in worries.

His bright eyes raised to hers.

“And if talking doesn’t work?” he asked.

JJ kept her voice just as strong.

“Then we improvise.”

* * *

Lawson slammed hisfist on the tabletop. He was frustrated; he was energized.

“There’s one last name we could think of that might have a tie to the Ortiz child,” the man across from his said. “I have someone going out there to check on it. But—”

“But that deputy just went with that woman of his to the farm,” he finished, rehashing the information he had just been given himself.

The man nodded.

“I don’t know how much Deputy Collins knows about what we’re doing, but since he’s been at the last three scenes, I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say he’s tangled up with us.”

Lawson hit the tabletop again. Now he was just frustrated.

“Dad said he made a deal with Ortiz’s partner all those years ago to keep it a secret. Who’s to say they didn’t loop in any more law enforcement? Or maybe the son himself could have if he realized who his dad was.” He clenched his fist. “This. This is why my father was a fool. We have no idea what to expect with this supposed evidence floating around out there. That’s why we need to destroy it once and for all. And anyone who’s even remotely related to it.”

The man nodded.

Lawson grumbled.

“What about the deputy’s woman?” he asked after a moment. “Can we use her?”

“Normal. Southern polite, works at the coffee shop in town alongside the deputy’s daughter. I’m guessing that’s how they met.”

Lawson sat up straight.

“Wait. Did you say that Deputy Collins has a daughter?”

“Yep. Seventeen-year-old girl.”

Lawson’s mind starting spinning. He smiled after a moment.

“Does she go to the high school?”

The man nodded again.

Lawson’s smile turned into a smirk.

He was back to energized.

“Send someone to this farm and keep an eye on the deputy and his awful woman.”

The man tilted his head in question.