Jordan didn’t know what to say and so she simply nodded.
“Since you helped me with this stupid computer, I want to help you. Did you know that Maggie…I mean Chief Haden…used to live with Sheriff Randy Dickey? Everyone in town thought they would get married. She thought so too, but he married someone else. And you know what else I heard? Sheriff Randy had a connection through his new wife with one of the town council people, and he got them to give the chief of police job to Maggie so she’d have to move over here to Serenity. I also heard she was going to get fired from her old job anyway.” She placed her hand to the side of her mouth as though to share a secret and spoke just above a whisper. “She was mean back then too, and she did a lot of favors for the Dickey brothers.” She gave a wink and went on. “She let them get away with a lot of stuff. At least that’s what I heard.”
“What about her deputy? What’s he like?”
“Oh, he’s nothing like her. He should have gotten the job of chief of police. He has a lot more experience, and he’s worked here longer. I heard he’s looking for a job outside of Serenity.”
“I don’t doubt that. It would be pretty awful working for her.”
“I could find him for you.”
“You could?”
“I’m sure I could. Deputy Davis is kind of hardnosed about stuff, but he’s honest, and as far as I know, the only person he’s sleeping with is his wife. He treats me like a real person.”
“Would you like Carrie to get on the phone and help you find the deputy?” Jordan asked Noah.
“That’d be real nice,” Noah said, smiling at the young woman.
Carrie didn’t move. She just sat there staring at Noah as though she was in a daze. Jordan tapped her on her shoulder.
“He said that would be nice.”
“What?”
“It would be nice if you would find Deputy Davis.”
“Oh…okay.” Without looking, Carrie picked up the receiver on the other side of the desk and put it to her ear. The cord was too short to reach, so the phone came flying across, knocking a can of soda and a large stack of files to the floor.
“Shoot!” she cried as she jumped up and rounded the desk to clean up the mess. “I’m so stupid.”
Noah leaned down to help her. “No, you’re not. Accidents happen to everyone.”
“Especially me,” she said. She grabbed the Kleenex box off the desk and wiped up the spilled drink. “I’m so embarrassed. I must look like a lobster. I can feel my face turning red.”
Noah straightened a pile of folders and handed them to her. “I think it’s a very pretty face.”
When he took her arm to help her stand up, the rosy blush on Carrie’s cheeks turned a deep crimson. “Thank you,” she said.
“Do you think you could find the list of town council members?” Nick asked her from across the room.
Carrie’s attention swung to him. “I know I could. They’re in my Rolodex. There’s only three.”
“Let’s get them in here,” Nick said to Noah. “They’ll have to officially replace her.”
“You’re replacing Chief Haden?” Carrie asked.
The chief had just finished her call, and there was a smug look on her face until she heard a snippet of the conversation.
“No one’s replacing me,” she said as she stepped out of her office. Her frown was directed at Jordan. “I knew I was right about you. I just had an interesting talk with Lloyd. Remember him?” Chief Haden asked Jordan.
How could she forget? “Of course I remember him. He worked on my car.”
“He says you threatened him.”
Jordan was taken aback. “He what?”
“You heard me. He says you scared him.”
“I did not threaten him.”
“He says you did. He says you told him you were going to hurt him.”
Uh-oh. Jordan remembered the conversation. “I might have—”
“No more,” Noah said. “Jordan, I don’t want you to say another word.” Turning to Haden, he said, “Get Lloyd in here. Now.”
“You’re not telling me what to do.” Chief Haden started walking toward Jordan, her hand resting on the gun at her hip.
When Noah blocked her, she raised her arm and jabbed her elbow into his chest.
“That’s it,” Noah said. He latched on to her arm and turned her toward the door that led to the cell. “Chief Haden, you have the right to remain silent…”
Haden’s eyes became slits. “Don’t you tell me my rights.”
“I’m required to,” he said. “This is an arrest.”
Haden tried to pull away. She grabbed the handcuffs sitting on her desk. “This is outrageous.” Her voice turned into a hiss. “You have no grounds.” She swung the cuffs and struck Noah on the shoulder.
He grabbed the cuffs out of her hand, took the gun from her holster, and pushed her ahead of him. “Obstructing a criminal investigation and assaulting a federal agent…I think that’s enough.”
“I know people!” Haden yelled as he nudged her inside the cell.
“I’ll bet you do,” he agreed.
“Powerful people.”
“Good for you.” He slammed the door shut in her face. “You’ll be staying here until arrangements can be made to transfer you to a federal facility for processing.”
“This is bogus,” she said.
“You’ll be needing a lawyer. I’d get a good one if I were you.”
It finally penetrated that he wasn’t bluffing. “Now hold on here. Hold on now. Okay, okay, I’ll cooperate.”
Carrie watched wide-eyed. She wanted to stand up and cheer, but she knew the action might come back to bite her. Her parole officer had told her that her poor impulse control had gotten her into jail, and, if she wanted to change her life, she was going to have to learn to think before she acted. Besides, the chief would eventually get out of jail, wouldn’t she?
As Noah walked past Nick, he said, “Nothing I hate worse than a crooked cop.” He glanced out the window. A late-model sedan pulled up to the curb. A man emerged from the driver’s seat carrying a briefcase in one hand and holding a cell phone to his ear with the other.
Noah turned to Jordan. “Your attorney’s here.”
LOUIS MAXWELL GARCIA WAS THE EPITOME OF REFINEMENT. HE oozed confidence and charm. His smile was warm and somewhat sincere, and his manners were as polished as alabaster. Neither his designer suit nor his starched pinstriped shirt had a wrinkle anywhere.
After the introductions were made, the attorney insisted that they call him Max.
“Doctor Morganstern speaks highly of you,” Nick said. “Isn’t that right, Noah?”
Noah didn’t say a word. He simply moved closer to Jordan and folded his arms across his chest. His expression was impassive. Slow to warm to anyone, Noah always was skeptical, and Max, vouched for or not, had yet to prove his capability.
“We appreciate you taking this on and getting here so quickly,” Nick said.
Max’s gaze was locked on Jordan. “I could never say no to Doctor Morganstern.”
“Why is that?” Noah asked.
“He’s done a lot of favors for me over the years,” he said and then turned to Jordan. “Is there somewhere we could talk in private?”
Jordan thought about suggesting the chief’s office but quickly changed her mind. The small room with the door closed would be too claustrophobic.
“There really isn’t anyplace private here,” she said. “We could sit outside on the bench, I suppose, if you don’t mind the heat.”
Max had a lovely smile. “That’s not a problem for me. I’m used to the heat. Where’s the chief of police?” he asked then. “I should talk to him first and find out what the charges are. It would be nice if we had his cooperation sharing information.”
“Yeah, well, that’s not gonna happen,” Noah said.
“Chief Haden’s a woman,” Nick said. “And Noah’s right. She’s not going to cooperate.”
“And
why won’t she?” he asked.
“She’s locked in a cell around the corner,” Nick explained.
Max asked the obvious. “And why is that?”
“I arrested her,” Noah said.
Jordan thought Max didn’t look the least surprised, but then as an attorney he was certainly adept at hiding his reactions.
“I see,” Max said. “And what was the reason for her arrest?”
Nick explained, and when he was finished, Max scratched his jaw and asked, “Are there any other surprises you would like to mention?”
“Did Doctor Morganstern explain why I needed an attorney?” Jordan asked.
“Yes, he did. He told me you found a little something in your car trunk.”
Carrie waved to get Jordan’s attention. “I’ve got Deputy Davis on hold,” she said. “Who wants to speak to him?”
“I will,” Noah said as he walked around Carrie’s desk and picked up the phone.
Max glanced into the hall that led to the jail cell. “I’m going to try to talk to the chief,” he said.
“Why?” Nick asked.
“I want to find out what she has.”
“You’re wasting your time.”
Noah’s conversation with the deputy lasted less than a minute. After he had identified himself, Noah told the deputy that his boss was under arrest and he needed to get to the police station as quickly as possible.
Max’s conversation with Haden lasted much longer, though it didn’t start out well. Jordan winced over the woman’s crude vocabulary, but within minutes Haden had stopped yelling, and she guessed that Max had somehow charmed her.
“What do you think?” Nick asked. “It’s gotten real quiet in there.”
“Maybe Max convinced her to be reasonable,” Jordan suggested.
“It doesn’t matter,” Noah said. “He’s wasting his time.”
“He won’t let her out, will he?” Carrie worriedly asked Jordan.
Max returned to the front office. “The chief of police doesn’t think she wants to get an attorney’s advice, and she agrees that it would be prudent to cooperate with the FBI. She’s also agreed to let us step outside and have our conference, and when we’re finished, we’ll sit down with her.”
Noah shook his head. “That’s not gonna happen.”
Max ignored Noah’s remark. “And what do you think about letting the chief off the hook?” he asked Nick.
Nick glanced at Noah before answering. Jordan thought her brother was a bit amused by the question. Did Max expect him to override Noah?
“My partner just told you that’s not gonna happen, and that means it’s not gonna happen.” Before Max could argue, Nick continued, “The deputy is on his way here. Jordan and you can talk to him.”
Max looked directly at Noah and said, “Doctor Morganstern warned me about you two. He said you’d give me trouble.”
Noah shrugged. “We don’t make trouble, but when push comes to shove, we shove. We get the job done.”
Max nodded and placed his hand on Jordan’s shoulder. “Shall we step outside?”
Nick opened the door. “Jordan, now that your attorney’s here, I’m going to drive to Bourbon and look at the body.” Turning to Noah, he asked, “You’ve got this covered, right?”
“I’ve got it,” Noah assured him.
Max picked up his briefcase and walked with Nick and Jordan outside. Noah followed and pulled the door closed behind him.
The stifling air took Jordan’s breath away. She didn’t think she could ever get used to this kind of heat.
After Nick had left, Max sat down on the bench next to her. He opened his briefcase, removed a notepad and pen, and was snapping the leather case shut when Noah began his interrogation.
“Where’d you go to law school?”
“Stanford. When I finished, I joined a law firm on the West Coast and worked there until four years ago.”
“Why did you leave?”
“I wanted a change.”
“Why?”
Max smiled. “I got tired of defending Silicon Valley boys who were stripping their dot-com companies. I decided to move back home and start over.”
Max’s answers were as rapid as the questions.
“I appreciate any help you can give me,” Jordan said, interrupting Noah’s interrogation.
“I’ll do what I can,” he answered warmly. He glanced up at Noah. “I’ll need to speak to my client alone.”
After scrutinizing the situation for a second, Noah turned to go back inside the police station. “Jordan, you need anything, you call me,” he said.
“I will,” she promised.
Unlike Noah, the attorney didn’t grill her for answers. He simply asked her to take him through the events, beginning with the wedding she had attended and her first encounter with the professor.
Max listened intently and made notes as she went through her actions that morning. When she reached the part about J. D. Dickey’s assault, Max raised an eyebrow.
“I told Chief Haden that I wanted to press charges,” Jordan explained. “But she refused.”
“Did she give you a reason why she wouldn’t arrest him?”
Jordan shook her head and explained what she had heard about the relationship between Haden and the Dickey brothers.
“I’ll definitely be speaking to Deputy Davis when he gets here,” Max said. “I assure you that J. D. Dickey can be brought in on charges. You’ll probably have to stay in Serenity a little longer than you planned…”
“I don’t know,” Jordan replied hesitantly. “I think I should just let it go, get out of town, and leave this whole nightmare behind me.”
“I understand,” Max said. He gave her a sympathetic look and touched her hand. “You just let me know, and we can see that Mr. Dickey pays for what he did to you.”
Noah stood at the window watching the conversation between Jordan and Max outside. Jordan kept her eyes on her knees as she talked, and he could tell she was recalling the details of her day. Max Garcia wrote on his pad and cast a caring glance at her from time to time. “Lawyers,” Noah mumbled with mild disgust.
Suddenly a car pulled up to the curb, and a man wearing blue jeans and a plaid shirt got out, walked over to Max and Jordan, and shook their hands.
Carrie looked through another window. “That’s Joe,” she said.
Joe Davis was a young man, but he already had deep worry lines in his forehead. He immediately spotted the gun when Noah walked out to join them.
“Are you the agent I spoke to on the phone?” Joe asked. “Clayborne, right?”
“That’s right,” Noah answered, stepping forward to take his hand. “I hope you’re nothing like the chief, because if you are, we’ve got a big problem.”
“No, sir, I’m nothing like her,” Davis assured him. “This is one hell of a mess. I was out on a friend’s ranch and my wife couldn’t reach me until I got back. I’ve had three calls from three council members. The president will be over shortly.”
“His reason for coming here?” Max asked.
“He wants to personally fire Chief Haden. They’ve been looking for a reason to get rid of her, and now with a false arrest and a failure to press charges I’d say they have grounds enough. They’ve all had to put up with complaints about her over the last year. In the past couple of months the complaints have escalated.”
“You’re the man in charge then,” Noah said.
He nodded. “I told the council members I would take over until they can find a replacement.”
Davis turned his attention to Max. “Is your client ready to talk to me?”
Jordan nodded. And the questions started all over again.
J. D. WAS IN A FRENZY. HE KNEW HE NEEDED TIME ALONE TO GET a handle on his temper before he did something else he would later regret. He drove down a dirt road on an isolated stretch of flat land outside of Serenity, his hands gripping the steering wheel, fishtailing around one curve and then another, damn near losing control
of his truck as he sped on. Dust fanned out around the truck, and he could barely see where he was going because of the grime that covered the windshield. He almost drove into a gully but swerved to the right on two tires and bounced back onto the road. He slammed on the brakes then, jumped out of his pickup, and started kicking the door while he cursed his own stupidity.
He was in such a panic, it was hard to think straight. He knew he’d messed up, but he couldn’t do anything about that. It was too late. Randy was as mad as a hornet at him but had promised he’d try to smooth things over.
Damage control. That’s what it was all about at this point.
He knew what Cal would be saying to him right now if he knew about this terrible situation. His cellmate in prison would tell him to take responsibility for his failure and then try to understand what went wrong. Learn from your mistakes. When a job goes bad, it’s imperative to figure out what went sour before taking on another job. Any fool knew that. Yes, that’s what Cal would say. He was such a wise man.
And what had J. D. learned? He’d learned that he’d gotten too damned greedy. He’d had a real sweet life with his new career until the professor came along and put all sorts of big ideas into his head.
He hadn’t wanted the sweet life to go away, and he certainly didn’t want to go back to prison and this time maybe get stuck with the needle for premeditated murder.
Luck just hadn’t fallen his way, that was all. He’d gone back to Jordan Buchanan’s room at the motel twice but couldn’t get in. The first time, Amelia Ann had been inside running a vacuum. The second time, there had been a couple of electricians installing new lights outside the room’s door.
He stopped kicking his new truck and fell back against the fender. Wiping the sweat and dirt off his forehead, he tried to concentrate. The bitch had messed everything up. No, that wasn’t true. She’d complicated his life, but she hadn’t ruined it. He could still fix things. He’d fix her too, he decided. Yeah, he’d fix her.
First things first. He had to finish the job, and that meant keeping Jordan Buchanan in town until he could figure out what she knew. What were the possibilities that she knew why the professor had to be silenced? Zero to none, J. D. figured.