Shattered Justice (14 page)

The man’s rheumy eyes peered at him. “Why, the boys won’t hurt you none, Deputy. Not with me standing here.”

Dan eyed the growling guardians and shook his head. “You’re probably right, but I’d hate to take a chance.” He met Brumby’s gaze. “I mean, if one of the boys bites me, he might get sick.” Dan had heard early on how particular James Brumby was about what he fed his dogs. “These big boys usually have pretty sensitive digestive tracts, you know.”

Brumby looked down at them. “Well, they
are
used to only the best beef for chow …”

“Exactly. Besides, if I got bit, well, I’d have to write up a report, have the dog taken to animal control.”

That did it. Brumby shuffled back toward the house, calling the yapping “boys” as he went. Three of the four bounded after the man. The last dog—an animal that looked like a cross between Cujo and a really ugly grizzly—didn’t budge. It glared at Dan, a guttural growl emanating from its massive chest.

“Duke!”

Dan jumped. Brumby’s growl was as bad as the dog’s.

“You get in here. Now!”

With a final snarl in Dan’s direction, the hulking beast turned and ambled into the house. Dan pushed the gate open and stepped in. He slid on his latex gloves and pulled the evidence bags from his pocket as Brumby led him around back, showing him what was left of his outhouse.

There wasn’t much.

“You cleaned everything up?”

The old man shrugged his bony shoulders. “Well, sure. The boys were all over the place, grabbing wood and chewin’ on it. One of ’em even had a nail he was chompin’ on. And some wire. And the area stunk to high heaven. ’Course I cleaned it up.”

So much for preserving the integrity of the crime scene.

Dan moved closer, hoping to find some bit of evidence. Tape, batteries, twisted iron wire, fragments of metal, maybe even a footprint … anything. But Brumby was nothing if not thorough, especially when it came to the boys’ safety. And he and the boys had effectively obliterated whatever footprints might have been there.

No way he was going to find evidence now. But he pulled his camera out of his pocket and took pictures of the scene. Knowing even as he did so that it really didn’t matter much. This kind of mischief usually was the handiwork of the same group of kids.

Sanctuary was a warm and welcoming place, but it had challenges. With the Oregon lumber industry falling off so badly, many of the men had to go as far away as Alaska to find work. Which meant they were gone for months at a time. The women had to work as well to make ends meet, which left the kids unsupervised. So, as kids will do, they ran loose.

When kids out here ran loose, they often got bored. Then they got creative.

They’d started with blowing up outhouses. Then, just in the last year, they’d exchanged outhouses for mailboxes in town. Gave “Air Mail” a whole new meaning. The post office finally got tired of replacing their outside mailboxes and just took them out. So now, apparently, the kids had gone back to outhouses.

The whole time Dan was at Brumby’s, the old man went on and on about how bad kids were nowadays, how they didn’t have respect for anyone or anything. He followed Dan back to the front gate, expounding on his solution for what ailed America: “Round up all these wild kids and put ’em to work.”

Dan smiled at Brumby. “Doing what?”

“Diggin’ new outhouse holes, for one thing!”

Chuckling, Dan let himself out the gate, then closed and latched it.

“They’re getting meaner, too. You know some kids tried to do my boys in?”

Dan paused. “How’s that?”

“Set out meat with glass in it. Woulda cut the boys to shreds. But they’s as stupid as they are mean.”

“The boys?” Dan frowned.

“No. Ain’t you listenin’? The kids! The meat they stuck that glass in was spoiled. Smelled like a dozen week-old skunks. Good thing, though. I smelled it ’fore I put the boys out and went to take a gander. Found the meat all over the ground.” He spit. “I’m tellin’ you, Deputy. I see any of those kids on my property again, I’m gonna get my gun.”

Dan stopped cold at that. “Now, James.”

“I’m too old to keep rebuilding outhouses and digging new holes. Gonna give me a heart attack. So I figure it’s either me or them.”

“It better not be, James.”

“But—”

“I mean it, now.” He gave the old man a stern look. “If you see kids hanging around, you call me. Write down their descriptions. Take a picture of them, if you want. But you shoot someone, and I’ll have to come up here and haul
you
back to town.”

“But I—”

“Then who will look after the boys?”

Brumby glanced over his shoulder to where the dogs watched them through a window, barking with all their might. “Now, Deputy, you know ain’t no one but me can watch out for my boys.”

“Exactly. So don’t go doing anything that’ll land you in jail.”

“Jail?” He gaped at Dan. “You’d put me in jail for shootin’ trespassers?”

Dan’s eyes narrowed. “For shooting kids? In a heartbeat.”

Brumby clamped his mouth shut.

“So no guns, right?”

Brumby’s mouth settled into a hard line.

“You see anyone, you call me. Right?”

The old man gave a grudging nod.

“Good. I’ll hold you to that.”

With a snort, Brumby turned and went back inside—but not before he held the door open and let the dogs scramble out after Dan again. Thankfully, he was back in his cruiser before they slammed into the fence.

He stared after the old man, then turned the key in the ignition. As the engine jumped to life and he put the cruiser into gear, Dan cast one last look over his shoulder at Brumby’s place.

He’d been right. This little visit to Brumbyland was no fun at all.

“So? Anything fun to report?”

“Fun?” Shelby took a bite of her burger, studying her friend.

Jasmine’s long-suffering sigh was pitiful. She waved her black-nailed hands at Shelby. “Fun!
You
know.” She bobbed her head, dropping her voice so no one would overhear. “Between yooou … and the chief.”

The bit of burger slammed to a halt in Shelby’s throat. After a couple of seconds of coughing and slurping water, she planted her hands on the table and gave the woman opposite her a hard look. “Jasmine, you are one of my all-time favorite people, and when everyone else says how crazy you are, I just tell them you’re creative, but
have you lost your mind
?”

Jasmine took the gum out of her mouth and stuck it to the side of her plate, then lifted her gyro. “Fine. Don’t tell me. It’s not like everyone in town doesn’t know you two are interested in each other. After that display in broad daylight earlier today.” She batted her eyes, her voice going all syrupy. “Oh, Dan. Thank you for saving me from that nasty fall.”

It took a few seconds for Shelby to realize she was sitting here with her mouth hanging open. Actually, it took Jasmine muttering around a bit of gyro, “Close your mouth before the flies get in.” But Shelby couldn’t help it.

She was stunned. Mortified. And panicked.

If Jasmine was saying things like this to her, what was to keep her from saying them to … to …

No!

Shelby grabbed Jasmine’s wrist, jerking her gyro to a halt, making her take a bite out of thin air.

“
Tell
me you haven’t said anything like this to Deputy Justice.”

Jasmine’s purple lips compressed, and she pulled her wrist free. “Don’t be a dope. Of course I haven’t.”

Sweet relief made Shelby’s knees weak, so it was a good thing she was sitting down.

“ ’Course, that doesn’t mean anyone else hasn’t. Like I said, everyone in town knows about it.”

Shelby’s head dropped to the table.

Jasmine tapped the back of Shelby’s head. “You do realize your cheek is in your plate, don’t you?”

“I don’t care.”

“You should.”

She peered up at Jasmine. “Oh? Why?”

“Because the chief just came in.”

“Wha—?”

“Hey there, ladies.”

She closed her eyes then forced herself to open them and look up. Sure enough, there he was. Deputy Dan Justice. Tall, handsome, and looking at her like she had gone round the bend.

Way round.

“Shelby, you feeling okay?”

Actually, she wasn’t. She felt decidedly ill. But she plastered a smile on her face. “Just fine.”

He bit his top lip and gave a slow nod. “Oh. Okay. Good.”

She frowned at him. What was that look for?

Fighting a grin, he reached out and plucked a piece of parsley from her cheek, holding it out to her between his fingers. She looked from it to him then back at it.

“I … uh …” She grabbed her purse. “Excuse me.” She hopped up, slipping past him. “I have to go.”

It was a coward’s exit. Shelby knew that. And she didn’t care one jot. Or so she told herself as she scurried back to her office.

Pity she’d never been a good liar.

“I’m outta here, Chief.”

Dan glanced up from his desk. “Jasmine.”

She rolled her head back and looked to the ceiling. “So-rry!
Deputy
. I’m outta here,
Deputy
.”

He looked at his watch. “Three o’clock? Kinda early to be knocking off, isn’t it?”

“Going to the valley to get my hair cut, remember?”

Oh yes. She had told him about that. “Right. Sorry, I forgot.” He tipped his head. “So how come you don’t just go to the Beauty and Video Salon like everyone else in town?”

She snorted. “Yeah, right! Like I’d let Mabel Jones
touch
my hair. She’d probably chop off an ear or somethin’. I mean, hey, you know what they call her?”

“Jasmine.”

But there was no stopping the girl when she was onto a juicy tidbit about one of the townspeople. She popped her gum, savoring it as much as her next words. “The
Slasher
.”

Dan leaned his arms on his desk. “You know very well that’s because she was an English teacher way back when and used to mark kids’ papers up with a red pencil. It has nothing to do with cutting things.”

“Sure.” Another juicy pop. “That’s what you say now. But I’m the one who’d have to go under the knife.”

“Scissors.”

“Whatever! Suppose I wasn’t paying attention and used bad grammar? I mean, she might shave me bald for using a dangling particicle.”

“Participle.”

“See?” She shivered. “I’d be in trouble for sure.” She turned and grabbed the doorknob.

“Hey.”

She looked over her shoulder. “Yes?”

“You know James Brumby? I mean, not do you know who he is, but do you really know him?”

With a sigh, she walked back to him. “Sure. Why?”

Dan filled her in on Brumby’s threat, and she leaned against his desk as she listened, a spark of concern lighting her brown eyes. When he finished, she shook her head.

“Not good.”

He’d been afraid of that. “Why? He’s just blowing off steam, right? He wouldn’t really shoot at anyone.”

Her look was answer enough. “Not only would he shoot, but he’d hit whatever he aimed at.”

Oh, great. Dan rubbed his temples. More good news. “So he can shoot?”

“Hey, Old Man Brumby may be a crotchety ol’ coot, but he can outshoot most anyone in Sanctuary. And that’s saying something.” She pushed away from the desk. “Now, I
gotta
go.”

“So go. Who’s stopping you?”

Dan fought off a smirk when she fixed him with a glare then marched to the door and jerked it open. Her muttered “
Men
!” drifted back to him, tweaking the corners of his mouth. But his smile vanished when Jasmine’s final words hit him.

“I don’t know what Shelby sees in you!”

He stared at her. “Shelby sees something in me?”

Jasmine popped her gum. “Not if she’s as smart as I think she is.” With that, she was gone.

Dan leaned back in his chair. He’d known Shelby for a
while now, had always thought she was great. Good at her job. Wonderful with the kids. But today when she flew into his arms, when he held her, when she looked up at him with those big blue eyes …

Well, things shifted. He hadn’t asked them to. Hadn’t even wanted them to. But they’d shifted all the same.

Oh, boy. Had they ever.

He’d sat in his car after that little encounter, heart aching. All he could think of was Sarah. What would she think of him? Of the way he’d reacted to Shelby? Of the emotions he let himself feel? Not for long, of course. But they’d been there. No denying it.

Emotions he hadn’t felt since losing Sarah. Emotions he hadn’t even realized he’d missed. But there was something so exciting, so full of promise in them.

His heart had leapt to embrace them.

Remembering, he bowed his head. “Sarah … I’m sorry.”

He missed her so much. Not having her with him left a huge, gaping hole in his gut. Like a part of him had been torn away, left to fester, never healing. And yet. When he’d looked down at Shelby today, there was a fraction of a moment when he didn’t hurt. When the ache was replaced with anticipation.

Maybe … He closed his eyes, not sure he could even consider the thought. But he let it come.

Maybe it was time. Maybe he was ready to care again.

Of course, he’d figured that the feelings, the unsettling surge of attraction, were just on his side. But if Jasmine was right …

Get
over
yourself, Justice. Quit mooning about Shelby Wilson and focus on your job. And James Brumby
.

Ah yes. James Brumby. He was sure Jasmine was right about that. If there was one thing the menfolk of Sanctuary prided themselves on, it was their shooting skills. Dan discovered that fact a few weeks after moving to town.

Late one night someone had called in a report of a carload
of young men driving through town and shooting at street signs. Dan was at the scene in a matter of minutes—as was most of Sanctuary. As he checked out the street signs, Dan was relieved to find them undamaged.

“Well, wasn’t anyone from town.”

He’d turned at the slow drawl and found Amos Abbot, the editor of the
Sanctuary Sentinel
, standing there, a coat thrown over his pajamas, his feet clad in slippers. “Oh? Why do you say that?”