Line of Duty Read online

  As he walked away, Jaxon turned to Abby. “At least you can rest easy knowing that now, right?”

  Abby nodded, but the action seemed too quick. “That’s right.”

  She dipped the french fry into some ranch dressing and put it in her mouth, though she didn’t seem that interested in eating it. A surge of compassion rose in Jaxon. The woman was on edge. He knew from experience it was a terrible way to live.

  Jaxon looked down at his phone again and saw that Ansley had texted again

  Patrick Finnegan.

  He texted back:

  Who is Patrick Finnegan?

  He’d never heard the name before, though Ansley obviously assumed he had. As he waited for Ansley’s response he glanced up at Abby. Her gaze fluttered around the restaurant as if she expected trouble to appear any minute.

  “Sorry. My sister is texting me. She likes to do that. A lot.”

  A weak smile played on her lips. “I guess you’re not much of a texter?”

  “Small talk has never really been my thing whether it’s spoken or written, I suppose.”

  “I was always told I had a gift for chitchat. I haven’t felt very chatty lately, though.”

  Jaxon’s phone buzzed again.

  Have you been hiding under a rock?

  Jaxon chuckled before typing:

  Does Iraq count as a rock?

  Ansley immediately responded.

  Point taken. I’ll tell you more in a second. My 12:00 meeting just got here.

  Great. Jaxon was going to have to remain in suspense as to who this Patrick Finnegan and the other woman was. Knowing Ansley, it was the latest celebrity gossip or something. She had a tendency to text him random things throughout the day. She said it was her love language.

  They finished the rest of their meal, and Jaxon put some cash on the table.

  “I’ll repay you.” Abby frowned, as if she felt genuinely guilty about having no money. “My purse is back at the house.”

  “I’m not really worried about it. It’s only seven or eight bucks.”

  “I know, but I don’t like to take advantage of people. As soon as I get my wallet, I’ll make this right.”

  Even though Jaxon didn’t care about being paid back, he said nothing. If it made Abby feel better to give him some cash for the meal, then so be it.

  As his phone rang, he glanced down, halfway expecting it to be Ansley, calling him this time to school him on who Patrick Finnegan was. Instead it was Luke.

  “Can you come back down to the station?” Luke asked. “Are you close?”

  “Sure, we’re just down the street at the Hometown Diner. What’s going on?”

  “I’d rather tell you in person. Bring Abby with you. I have more questions for her.”

  Based on Luke’s tone, it was more bad news.

  Abby felt another rush of nerves flutter through her as Jaxon ushered her back to the sheriff’s office. What had the sheriff discovered now? Part of her didn’t even want to know. This nightmare seemed never-ending.

  This was her mess, and she couldn’t expect anybody else to figure it out for her. But the possibility of her getting out of town easily was becoming harder by the moment.

  She supposed she might be able to call her best friend, Renee, or her father to pick her up. But the last thing Abby wanted to do was to pull them into the middle of this situation. Besides, her father was so disappointed in her. She’d expected, of all people, that he would be on her side. But, instead, he’d looked at her with accusation in his eyes.

  The memory of that still caused a rush of grief to crush Abby’s heart. One never knew how a person would react in a situation like this until it happened to them. Some of the people she’d thought would stand by her had done the exact opposite. The realization was still hard to stomach.

  When they got back to the sheriff’s office, Sheriff Wilder looked equally as grim as he had earlier. A doomsday premonition nagged at her—if she believed in premonitions.

  “I’d like to talk to you in my office, Ms. Michaels.” He gave Jaxon a pointed look. “Alone.”

  Jaxon nodded and took a seat in one of the chairs in the lobby. “I’ll just wait out here then, if that’s okay.”

  With a wave of his hand, Sheriff Wilder ushered Abby into his office.

  With every second that passed, her nerves tightened. He’d discovered something about her, hadn’t he?

  The sheriff sat down behind his desk and directed her into the chair across from him. “I am not going to mince words. I sent a deputy over to your cabin to see if there was any evidence there from when someone left that message on your car. When he went into the cabin where you were staying, he found blood. A lot of blood.”

  The air left her lungs. “What do you mean, blood?”

  The sheriff’s gaze narrowed. “I mean, your cabin is now a crime scene.”

  Her head pounded as his words echoed in her mind. Her cabin? A crime scene? How was that possible? What had happened there?

  She swung her head back and forth, trying to make sense of things. The task felt impossible. “When I arrived yesterday, everything looked normal—except the front door was open. Ask Jaxon. He was there when I went back after the hospital.”

  He shifted, his intimidating gaze never leaving Abby. “Don’t worry. I plan on talking to him. So what you’re telling me is that you have no idea how that blood got there?”

  Abby squeezed the skin between her eyes, wishing she could wake up and discover none of this had been real. “I have no idea. I haven’t been back there. I’ve been with your brother this whole time.”

  The sheriff stared at her, his gaze unwavering and daring her to make up another lie. “What is it that you’re not telling us?”

  What should she do? Somebody could have been hurt or murdered at her place. How could she remain silent when that truth was out there? Abby knew the answer.

  She couldn’t. As strong as her self-preservation was, she had to look at the bigger picture. Doing so might cost her everything. But she couldn’t live with herself if she didn’t.

  She sucked in a deep breath and began telling the sheriff the whole story. With every new fact she revealed, a little part of her died inside.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Jaxon pulled out his phone as he waited for Luke to question Abby. What in the world was all this about? He couldn’t even begin to imagine. But he knew that Luke had sent a deputy over to Abby’s cabin. Had they discovered something?

  The reality of the situation pressed on him harder until he felt like he could hardly breathe.

  Nailah slammed into his mind.

  She’d asked Jaxon for help. Pleaded with him.

  As she’d raised her hands to cover her ears as a helicopter passed over, her sleeves fell down. He’d seen the bruises there.

  The fact that Jaxon had seen more than the skin exposed around her hijab would have been reason enough for more punishment. If Nailah’s husband caught her talking to Jaxon . . . she’d be as good as dead. She’d taken a huge risk by finding him.

  “Take me with you,” she’d whispered.

  “I can’t do that.” Jaxon didn’t even know the woman. Not really. He was stationed in this town to guard this compound where a known terrorist leader lived. Or a former terrorist leader, he should say.

  Jaxon had his doubts.

  Supposedly, the man was supplying the US with intel.

  All Jaxon could see was crookedness. But his job required following orders, not asking questions.

  Jaxon released a heavy sigh and pulled up the search bar on his phone’s browser. He started to type in “Patrick Finnegan” but stopped himself.

  If Abby wanted to tell him then she would.

  When Ansley had asked him if he had been hiding under a rock, he knew that was partly the truth. Since he had come back from Iraq, he’d had little desire to watch the news or read the newspaper.

  He knew the grim reality of the world around him, and it wasn’t something he wan
ted to remind himself of more than needed. He’d seen the evil that was out there. He’d seen the problems that existed between countries and powers that be. At times, he felt helpless. And he hated feeling helpless.

  Just like he had with Nailah . . .

  Finally, nearly an hour later, the door to Luke’s office opened and Abby stepped out. Her eyes were red, as if she’d been crying.

  Something rose inside Jaxon. He wanted to reach out to her, to see if she was okay. Even though they hardly knew each other, he felt some kind of unusual bond with the woman. Perhaps it was everything she’d gone through, and everything that he’d gone through with her, that made him feel this way. Either way, Jaxon knew that this woman needed somebody. No one should have to walk through this kind of trauma alone.

  “The sheriff would like to see you.” Abby’s voice trembled as she spoke. Whatever the conversation had been in there, it had shaken her up. More tension turned in his gut.

  Head down low, she started down the hallway toward the bathroom. Before she slipped past, Jaxon gently grasped her arm.

  She flinched, as if shocked by his touch.

  Jaxon pulled his hand back. “Are you okay?”

  She stared at him a minute, almost as if she wanted to say more but couldn’t. Finally, she shook her head. “No, I’m not okay. But thank you for asking.”

  With that last cryptic thought in mind, Jaxon slipped into Luke’s office and closed the door. He couldn’t deny the tautness of his muscles as he lowered himself into the seat across from his brother.

  “What’s going on? Abby looks beside herself out there.”

  “As she should. She’s been through a lot.”

  What did that mean?

  Before Jaxon could ask, Luke continued. “I have a few questions for you.”

  “Ask away.” Jaxon had never shied away from the truth. Unless it involved his mother, he supposed. Guilt bit at him for a moment, but he pushed the emotion aside. In that case, he was only trying to avoid unnecessary drama.

  “Tell me about what happened when you went back to Abby’s cabin yesterday to pick up her car.” Luke’s voice sounded hard and all business.

  Jaxon shifted in his seat and flashed back in time to that moment. “We got there, and Abby started to walk inside. I stopped her and suggested she let me check it out first. She didn’t argue. The front door was cracked open just barely.”

  “And when you got inside?”

  He remembered the simple cabin. A paperback novel and cold cup of coffee on the table. “Nothing looked out of place. I figured maybe Abby forgot to latch the door when she went out for her walk.” As Jaxon said the word, a sour taste formed in his throat. He knew she didn’t just go out for a walk. He wasn’t naïve. But, for the sake of simplicity, he left it at that.

  “Then what happened?”

  “Then I saw her car tires had been slashed. That’s when I knew that she was going to need some help. I took her back to my place until she could figure things out.”

  “Since then has she been out of your sight?”

  “Not for more than five minutes I’d say.” Jaxon shifted in the seat. “Why? What are you getting at here?”

  Luke’s jaw tightened. “I can’t tell you.”

  “What do you mean you can’t tell me?” Why was his brother being so cryptic?

  “What I mean is that some of this information is pertaining to an ongoing investigation. I can’t share those details.”

  Jaxon pushed himself up in his seat as his thoughts raced. “Did you find something at Abby’s place?”

  Luke frowned, and Jaxon knew he had hit the nail on the head.

  “What did you find?” Jaxon pressed. Certainly his brother knew he could trust him.

  Luke glanced to the left and right, even though there was no one else in the room. Finally, he leaned closer. “Between you and me, there was blood in her house. A lot of blood.”

  “Blood? What do you mean blood?” Jaxon tried to imagine it, but he pushed away the picture that tried to form.

  “I mean, it looks like somebody was attacked in her place. And when I say attacked, I mean murdered. There’s no way anybody could’ve lost that amount of blood and survived.”

  Jaxon’s heart pounded in his ears. “Could it have been an animal?”

  “The medical examiner is there now, as well as the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. They’ll investigate the blood spatter but, based on what I know, the patterns that were left do not fit an animal attack.”

  “So, what you’re saying is that sometime between yesterday when we went to the cabin and this morning when you sent your deputy out, something horrible happened there?”

  “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”

  Jaxon leaned back and shook his head. “What do you think about these threats Abby’s been receiving? What if this guy came back and did this while she was gone? Maybe he was angry because she survived, because she escaped?”

  “That’s a possibility.” Luke stayed silent.

  Jaxon shifted again, reading between the lines. “There’s more that you are not telling me, isn’t there?”

  “There’s more to her story, just as I suspected.”

  “What else is there?”

  “That’s all I can tell you, Jaxon. I’ve already told you too much. Any more Abby’s going to have to tell you herself.”

  Jaxon chomped down, not liking that answer. “Is she free to go?”

  “She is not a suspect, thanks to your alibi. But she is someone we’re keeping an eye on, at least until I learn more details of the story.”

  Jaxon’s gut continued to twist. What could Abby possibly have done that would make his brother react like this? Jaxon couldn’t even begin to fathom what that might be.

  He stood. “Just one more question. Did you find a dead body? Do you know whose blood that was?”

  Luke’s frown deepened. “No, but we have guys out there looking right now to see what else we can find.”

  Jaxon didn’t like the sound of that. There could’ve been another murder here in Fog Lake. What was it about this town that seemed to attract danger and anguish?

  Jaxon didn’t know. He didn’t believe in generational curses. But with this town’s morbid history, sometimes he did have to wonder . . .

  “I’ll get Abby and go then.”

  Luke’s pointed gaze met his. “She has orders to stay in town.”

  “She has to stay in town?” Then she was definitely a person of interest in something. But what those details were, Jaxon couldn’t imagine.

  “And Jaxon?” Luke gave him another look, this one clearly as his big brother. “Be careful.”

  Abby emptied the contents of her stomach into the toilet. She’d told the sheriff everything, and he’d intently listened to every word. She’d watched his expression change from curious to disgusted. Doubt had been planted in his mind, just as she thought it would.

  Even though the sheriff had remained professional, Abby had felt the wall go up. Not that they had been friendly before, but something had definitely changed. Now he was in there talking to Jaxon.

  Her stomach roiled at the thought. Jaxon had been so kind to her. Now he was going to think she was the devil.

  She pressed a paper towel over her mouth, her face.

  Maybe she should have told him sooner. She supposed she’d been delaying the inevitable and taking a brief reprieve from the nightmare of the last few months.

  She rinsed her mouth out and splashed some water on her face.

  When she looked in the mirror, Abby hardly recognized the person there. The toll stress could put on a person was no joke. Her skin no longer looked bright and youthful. Her hair looked dull. Her lips even seemed thinner.

  But it was her eyes that she noticed the most. At one time, they’d sparkled with life. Now, they just looked hopeless.

  Hopeless . . . it was a word Abby had tried not to hang onto. But as more and more time passed, the word only seemed appropriate.
The situation she was in had bombarded her from so many different directions. She wasn’t sure how she would ever recover.

  Then she thought about Theresa, and guilt flooded her. How could Abby even complain about her current circumstances after knowing what had happened to that woman? Abby’s circumstances might be bad, but at least she had a chance to make things right. Theresa had been silenced . . . forever.

  Abby shoved the thoughts aside and forced herself from the bathroom. When she stepped into the lobby, she saw Jaxon wasn’t out there. He must still be meeting with his brother.

  What was his brother telling him? Abby had no idea. Because of confidentiality, she didn’t think Sheriff Wilder would tell Jaxon all the details she’d shared. But Abby couldn’t be sure. Either way, she was going to have to confront this truth sooner rather than later.

  Before she could even sit down, Jaxon stepped out. She held her breath as he glanced at her.

  Nothing really changed in his gaze, except maybe he looked more curious than he had before. The sheriff obviously had not told him everything about her history. She released the air from her lungs.

  She was going to have to do that herself. It was the way it should be. She hoped she could wait until they had a moment of privacy before she shared all the details, that he didn’t demand them sooner.

  Jaxon stepped toward her. “Maybe we should go back to my cabin.”

  She nodded, disliking the numbness that tried to spread over her. “That sounds good.”

  They said nothing as they stepped out onto the sidewalk. Jaxon walked her to his truck and made sure she was seated inside. But, before he shut the door, his gaze stopped at something in the distance.

  “Stay right here and lock the doors.” His voice turned hard.

  Abby sucked in a deep breath. What was going on? Had Jaxon seen the Executioner? It didn’t seem like her tormentor to show his face in public but . . . what did she know?

  She didn’t ask any questions. As Jaxon slammed the door, she quickly hit the lock and then waited and prayed as he took off down the street.