Fractured Memory (19 page)

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Honor and Defend

by Lynette Eason

ONE

K
-9 police officer Ellen Foxcroft shot a sideways glance at the man who drove in silent concentration. Just ten minutes ago, they’d picked up three puppies from Sophie Williams. Not only was Sophie a trainer for the Canyon County K-9 Training Center, she also worked with the Prison Pups program. A program Lee Earnshaw, the man behind the wheel, was intimately familiar with, since he’d been part of it up until two weeks ago when he’d been released from prison. Framed. Set up by a dirty cop, he’d lost two years of his life. He’d developed a new hardness and more lines around his eyes than when she’d last seen him.

Two of the dogs they’d just picked up from the prison program were ready to start training to be assistance animals for Ellen’s clients—adults and children with disabilities. In addition to being a K-9 officer with the Desert Valley Police Department, she also ran the Desert Valley Canine Assistance program she’d started a few weeks before Lee was released. Already she and her four employees were making a difference in the lives of the people in their community, training the dogs to be service animals for the disabled.

Thanks to Sophie’s generosity, Ellen hoped to have the two older puppies ready for the summer camp she planned to offer next month. The younger puppy needed more work—a job Lee would take on as soon as they got back to the facility. “You’re awfully deep in thought,” she said. “Are you all right?”

Lee blinked and sighed. “I’m fine. I just wish we had some better leads on who might have killed Veronica.” Veronica Earnshaw, Lee’s sister, had been murdered a little over three months ago. Her killer still walked the streets, and Ellen could tell Lee’s frustration level was about to boil over.

“I know. We’re working on it, Lee—we really are.”

He scowled at her, then turned his attention back to the road. “That’s what everyone says, I wish I could see evidence of that.”

Ellen grimaced. She wished she could, too, frankly. “An investigation like this takes time. It’s unfortunate, but it just does. At least you’re out of prison now, and that happened as a result of this investigation. Look at the positive side.”

His lips quirked. “You would look at it that way.” The puppies in the travel carriers in the back barked and yipped. “I appreciate your giving me this chance to work with you and the pups. Not everyone believes I’m innocent, in spite of the press conference and Ken Bucks’s arrest.”

“You’re welcome.”

Former Desert Valley sheriff’s deputy, Ken Bucks had been arrested and, in order to secure a deal and a lighter sentence for himself, had confessed to framing Lee and sending him to prison two years ago for a robbery he didn’t commit. “I just really want to put it all behind me.”

“I’m sure you do.” Probably easier said than done. This was Lee’s second day on the job. Two days ago, after much self-examination and encouragement from Sophie, she’d approached Lee about working for her, and he’d been reluctant. With their history, she couldn’t say she blamed him. They’d dated in high school. Until she’d allowed her mother to chase him away. Her jaw tightened. She didn’t want to go there.

Instead, she remembered the flare of attraction she’d felt just from being in his presence again. Just from talking to him and looking into his eyes. Eyes she’d never been able to forget.

Eyes that looked years older and much harder than she remembered. But she’d shoved aside her attraction—and her pride. After some fancy talking, he’d agreed to give working with her a trial run. She figured his love of animals and training had convinced him. She didn’t care what it was, she was just glad he’d conceded. He’d started yesterday with a tour of Ellen’s assistance facility, which connected to the Canyon County K-9 Training Center. “You know, I was thrilled when Veronica said she was fine with me leasing the unused portion of the K-9 training center.”

“Veronica never was one to turn down money.”

“Well, whatever her reasons, I’m just glad she let me.”

Coming from a wealthy background, Ellen knew people looked at her differently, had various expectations of her, some good, some bad, most wrong. But at least she’d done something good with some of that wealth.

She’d started the program with money from her trust fund. And then listened when Sophie Williams insisted that Lee Earnshaw would be the perfect person to hire to help train the dogs.

Today she could see his eagerness to get started working with the new animals. “Sophie said when it came to working with the dogs at the Prison Pups program, you were the best she’d ever seen. She called you a dog whisperer.” After Veronica had been killed, Sophie had taken over the program that trained dogs and rookie K-9 officers. She often used inmates at the prison to help with the training of the puppies until they were old enough for the center. Lee had been one of those inmates.

He gave a low laugh then frowned. “A dog whisperer?” He shrugged. “You know me. I’ve worked with animals all my life. I like them and they like me. The Prison Pups program was the only thing that kept me sane these past two years.”

“I know. And I’m sorry.”

“Yeah. I am, too, but it is what it is. I’m trying to move on.”

“You’re not bitter?”

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “I’m bitter. I just fight it on a daily basis, hoping I’ll eventually win the battle.”

“You will,” she said. “Whatever happened to your plans to become a vet?”

He sighed and shrugged. “Life happened.”

“But you graduated from college.”

“Yes, with a degree in biology. I even started on graduate school, then everything kind of went south with Dad and I had to help him pay bills. Breeding and training dogs was the way to do that.”

“Do you have plans to finish school?”

“Yes. One day. Ken Bucks kind of messed that up pretty good. And then Veronica was murdered...”

Ellen heard the unspoken end of the sentence—
and her killer is still out there
.

She couldn’t help studying his features. Brown hair with a brand-new cut, brown eyes that at times looked hard and cold but were always alive and warm when he worked with the animals His strong jaw held a five-o’clock shadow. She used to kiss that jaw on a regular basis. She cleared her throat and tried to shake her memories, but they just wouldn’t leave her alone. Memories of being his girlfriend, the vicious conflict with her mother. And then Lee had walked away from it all.

Now she was back in town and he was out of prison and she was working in Desert Valley. For the time being. Thanks to her mother’s stipulation that she and the other rookies had to stay in Desert Valley until Veronica’s murder was solved or she would withdraw the funding she’d given the department. Funding the department couldn’t afford to lose. Ellen planned to have a few words about that with her mother when she woke from the coma she’d been in for the past three months. Someone had broken in to her home and attacked her, almost killing her. “I can understand your frustrations, Lee. I feel the same way about my mother’s attacker.” Ellen desperately wanted to find out who did it.

“I know, it’s just—”

The back windshield shattered and Ellen gave a low scream of surprise. Lee jerked the wheel to the right. “Get down!” Outside sounds rushed through the missing window. Someone was shooting at them!

Ellen ignored his order and turned in her seat to look out the back. “He’s coming up on your five o’clock. Coming in for another shot.” It was the perfect place for an ambush. On a back road that didn’t see much traffic just outside a small town.

Ellen’s tension mounted and she was extremely glad she’d left Carly, her golden retriever K-9 partner, at the training center for this trip. It was supposed to take no more than two hours all in. An hour to the prison and an hour back. And while Lee had been as tense as she’d ever seen him at returning to the prison, he hadn’t said a word. She released her weapon from its holster and gripped it in her right hand, readying herself for the next attack.

Four months, she thought.

Less than four months ago, she’d finished the twelve-week training session at the Canyon County K-9 Training Center. The state of Arizona had started the program years ago and found it quite successful. They trained new police academy recruits to be K-9 officers. She was a newbie, a rookie officer with the Desert Valley Police Department.

And now she might have to shoot someone.

The thought wanted to paralyze her, but her training kicked in and she knew she could do what she had to in order to protect herself and Lee.

The car roared up beside them and she got a brief glance at the driver and the gun he had pointed at her. Lee stomped the brakes, throwing her against the seat belt. She jerked forward then back, her head slamming into the headrest, her hand against the door. She lost her grip on the weapon and it clattered to the floor. The next shot took off the passenger-side mirror of the truck. Another hit a tire. Lee fought with the wheel and the truck listed to the side, but that didn’t stop him.

He spun the wheel to the right and they roared onto a side road. The other vehicle swept past. Lee hit the brakes again and backed up, the truck lurching, the rim of the flattened tire grinding. But he managed to complete his three-point turn so that the front of his truck now faced the road. She watched the disappearing taillights of the other car.

As soon as Lee put the truck in Park, Ellen rolled out of the passenger door, grabbed her weapon from the floor and aimed in the direction the other car had gone. “Lee, are you okay? Come out the passenger door.”

“I’m fine.” He landed on the ground beside her, kneeling behind the protection of the open door. He radiated tension. “I’m going to check on the dogs.”

Ellen registered the barking. “I’m calling for backup.” She grabbed the radio from her hip and put in the call. When Dispatch answered, she rattled off the information. She glanced at Lee who was also watching the road. “Anything?”

“No, not yet.”

“Help is on the way.”

She maintained her vigilance even as her mind searched for answers. Who would want to attack her and Lee? Probably the same people behind the other trouble the police department and her fellow K-9 officers had faced since being assigned to solve Veronica Earnshaw’s murder. Then again, Lee had just been released from prison. Could it be someone after him?

The drone of an engine caught her attention and all speculation fled. She heard it coming closer as Lee pulled the two crates from the backseat of the king cab one after the other and set them on the ground by the blown tire. He handled the heavy cargo as though it weighed nothing, but she knew the two six-month-old pups weighed about fifty pounds each. “I hear something. Are they coming back?”

“Sounds like it.” She raised her gun and aimed it. When the car crested the hill, she knew they were in for a second attack. “That’s them.” The dark gray Buick slowed; the barrel of a rifle appeared in the window. She figured it was now or never and tightened her finger, heard her weapon bark, felt the kick against her hand.

The sedan’s front windshield exploded. The driver hit the gas and the vehicle blew past in a drunken weave. Ellen spun from her position and moved to the back of the truck near the crated, yapping puppies. This time the car didn’t turn around—and she got a partial plate. “Oh-four,” she whispered. “I didn’t get the rest of it. But I got 04.”

She turned to find Lee hovering over the puppies, his features tense, face pale. “Are you all right?” he asked.

“Yeah. You?”

He nodded. “The puppies are fine, too.”

Ellen pulled her phone from the clip on her belt. “I’m going to find out where backup is. Keep an eye out for them to come back while I’m on the phone, will you?” Not only did they need a tow truck for Lee’s vehicle, they needed a ride back to town and a Be On the Lookout—a BOLO—put out for the gray sedan.

“Of course.” He looked distracted. Thoughtful. His brows pulled together over the bridge of his nose as if he knew something and was pondering it.

“What is it?” she asked.

His eyes flicked to hers then he shook his head. “Nothing.”

The dispatcher came on the line. “Where’s my backup?”

“On the way, Ellen. They should be there within minutes.”

“Tell them to be looking for a dark gray sedan—a Buick—with 04 in the license plate.”

“Copy that.”

Ellen hung up and paced behind the protection of Lee’s truck while she watched the road and thought about what had just happened. “Did you tell anyone about us going to pick up the puppies?” she asked.

Lee frowned. “No. But it’s not because I thought it was some top secret mission—it’s just that I don’t talk to too many people.”

Ellen heard the bitterness behind the words. Being imprisoned for two years for a crime one didn’t commit could do that to a person. She also knew that people in Desert Valley, Arizona, had long memories and weren’t very forgiving. Never mind that the man before her had been set up by a corrupt cop.

When she’d heard Lee had been arrested for robbery, she’d been stunned. Then disbelief had set in. But the evidence had been overwhelming. Now she knew why. It was easy to frame someone when the investigating officer planted evidence. Disgust curled inside her. She had nothing but contempt for those who used their power to hurt others, to fulfill some kind of personal agenda.

Sirens broke the silence and she straightened, her eyes once again going to the place where the gray sedan had disappeared. Some of her adrenaline eased now that she felt sure they weren’t coming back.

Chief of police Earl Jones stepped from his cruiser. Seventy years old, he topped six feet two inches and carried himself well in spite of his large gut. His gray hair looked mussed, as though he’d run his hands through it several times. His gaze landed on Ellen then slid over to Lee. “Not out of prison two weeks and you’re already causing trouble? Not a good way to start your new life.”

* * *

Lee nearly bit through his tongue to keep the words he’d like to fling at the man from making their way past his teeth. He simply stared at the chief. He wouldn’t defend himself. He didn’t have to. The fact that he stood here a free man was defense enough as far as he was concerned. Chief Jones raised a brow, a glint of respect lighting his eyes before he hitched his britches and held out a hand to Lee. “You got a raw deal. I’m glad it all worked out for you.”