Chapter Thirteen

Jett was never much for long car rides. If she was going on vacation, she preferred to fly. Ten minutes into the trip she turned to Griffin and said, “Are we there yet?”

“Cute, yet punishable.” He patted her leg.

She didn’t want to think about that, not after last night. He hadn’t touched her since they were miles apart, yet it was one of the harshest punishments she’d ever endured. She was still suffering, since he hadn’t allowed her to come, and she wasn’t sure he would let her do it tonight, either.

She was still horny, but she didn’t want to tell him that. She was sure he would see it as another punishable offense, and she’d fast learned that denial was a big punishment for Griffin.

“Tell me about your discussion with your boss.”

“Bart?” She looked out the window. “I called him early this morning. He’s usually in the office by six. He has an unhappy marriage and is always trying to get out of the house. Anyway, I told him I needed a few days off and he said it was a good time for us to talk about my job. I was afraid he was going to fire me.”

“Did he?”

“No.” She rubbed her hands on her thighs. “He said he was afraid I was going to quit because Stan was gone. He knew Stan and I were close. We chatted, and I said I’d met someone. I told him my future was uncertain.”

“What did he say to that?”

“He said if I decided to leave to let him know at least three weeks in advance so he could hire another paralegal, and I could get her up to speed on my workload.”

“You should let him know, then,” he said.

Jett’s heart leapt into her throat. “What are you saying?” she finally managed to utter.

“That I want you to move to Bear Creek, to live with me.” He took his glance off the road long enough to look at her.

“You don’t even know my middle name,” she said.

“You don’t know mine, either,” he said. After a pregnant pause he said, “I thought the two of us fit together pretty perfectly. If you don’t feel a connection between us let me know now.”

The change in his voice made her shiver. “It’s not that. I just worry about changes happening so fast. Plus, I have to admit that Stan’s, well betrayal, still eats at me.”

“I’m not happy with him either, and I’m sorry for the part I played in it,” he said. “I told you I don’t play games, and I meant it. I’m not playing a game here. I want to have you in my life. Permanently.”

“What happens if you change your mind partway down the road?”

“Or if you change your mind, that is if you decide to move here?”

Jett indicated the trees around them. “You mean here, as in this highway? I’m not much for having to pee in the bushes.”

“Funny,” he said, but she saw the smirk on his face. “I want to be with you. If you don’t feel the same way let me know now.”

“I want to be with you, too.” She put her hand on his thigh. “I think we would be perfect together, but I have to admit I’m scared.”

He stopped at a sign, then turned onto a highway. “I would think there was something wrong with you if you weren’t. You’re the one giving up everything. You’re the one making the changes. I recognize that. Anything I can do to make it easier on you, I will.”

Jett glanced out the passenger window again.

“You’re unsure.”

“No, I’m nervous,” she said. “But I know I want to be with you, and I don’t want to drive hours each way to do it. Which means I need to call Bart, and tell him to start looking.”

“Call him now.” Griffin pulled into a gas station.

“You think the sheriff would stop this close to home?” she asked.

“Who knows.” He picked up the photo from the seat. “Make the call and I’ll see if the clerk here recognizes our missing sheriff.”

Bart wasn’t surprised to receive her call. He told her he’d start searching for her replacement, and asked if he would see her on Monday. She said yes just as Griffin got back in the truck.

When he shut the door she said, “Okay, I officially put Bart on notice.”

“That’s good news, because I’ve already cleared out drawers and part of the closet for you,” he said. “I didn’t realize I had so many clothes.”

Jett couldn’t help but laugh. “And they say women hoard clothes.”

“How many pairs of shoes do you own?” he asked as he pulled back onto the highway.

“A few,” she said. “Don’t worry, I have a shoe rack to bring with me. You just need to clear off one wall in your bedroom for me to hang it up.”

He sputtered, and turned his head in her direction, gazed back at the road, and looked at her again. “Excuse me?”

Jett burst into laughter and pointed a finger at him. “Gottcha, and if that was a punishable offence, it was worth it.”

“You are naughty, naughty,” he said.

“Just two naughtys? I’m going to have to work on that.”

They drove in silence for a while, stopping at different gas stations and convenience stores to show Montgomery’s picture, with no takers.

“I’m beginning to think this is a wild goose chase,” she said as they neared South Fork. “Did Tricky find the location of Montgomery’s cabin? You know it’s weird chasing after someone with my last name. We need to think of something else to call him, like ‘the asshole’ or something.”

“What would your grandmother call him?”

“The troublemaker,” she said with a laugh. “Or she would have called him the idget. She liked that word a lot.”

“Idget? Like idiot?”

“Only nicer,” she said with a laugh. “Now, do we know where we’re going, or not?”

He handed her his phone. “I plugged it into the GPS earlier today. It should be the top entry. Just set it in motion.”

The phone’s directions took them through several twists and turns until they pulled up in front of a gate with a no trespassing sign attached.

“Arrived at destination,” the disembodied voice proclaimed.

“So much for that,” Jett said. She was rather surprised when Griffin got out of the truck and crossed to where a chain dropped from the gate. He pulled on it and it released the gate, which swung open. “What if this sets off an alarm?” she asked after he was back behind the wheel.

“Then we’ll get a visit from a sheriff’s deputy instead of us having to visit them.” He drove through the gate and left it open. “It will save us a trip.”

They drove down a long, narrow road, and when the cabin came into view, Jett said, “They’re here already.”

A sheriff’s unit was parked in front of the cabin. A big, burly officer got out and leaned against the door with his arms crossed over his chest.

As they neared, Griffin said, “Don’t take this as sexist, but let me handle this one.”

“My pleasure,” she said as she undid her seatbelt.

They both got out of the vehicle. Griffin had put on his hat, and he touched the brim of it as they neared the officer. “Deputy?”

“Wayne Shelton,” he said. “And you are?”

“Griffin Flack, and this is my lady, Jett Montgomery.”

The deputy’s ears perked at Jett’s name. “Are you a relative of Jake Montgomery, ma’am?”

“No,” she said.

“May I ask why you’re here?” the deputy asked.

“Trying to find Jake,” Griffin said.

Jett listened as Griffin laid the story out for the deputy. “They think I killed Portland, and he had a note on his desk proclaiming that JM was guilty. The state police think it’s Jett, so we’re both up the proverbial creek. I wanted to talk to Jake, and one of his deputies, my friend Tricky, said he was staying at his cabin, so I came – we came – to see for ourselves.”

The deputy considered the story for a moment. “He’s pulled a Houdini, obviously. He hasn’t been up here for two weeks. His lady friend, Hope Hackworth, is gone, too. Along with a hundred thousand dollars stolen from the hotel she works for.”

“May I ask why you didn’t contact any of his deputies about him being gone?” Griffin asked.

“Because until the state police called us yesterday afternoon we had no idea Jake Montgomery was a sheriff in New Mexico. He told us he was a rancher in Colorado. All his land here, and some in Colorado, is in Hope’s name. We never knew to search in New Mexico. In fact, I’m here right now waiting on the state police. They should arrive pretty soon, Sgt. Tyler, that is.”

“That son of a biscuit eater,” Jett said. “He knew all along JM didn’t mean me. What an ass.”

“Watch your language,” Griffin said with a laugh. “What would your grandma say?”

“That he deserves it.” She wanted to find the man and throttle him; Montgomery, not Tyler. Well, maybe Tyler. He deserved a good smack, too. “If I was at home I’d hogtie him and leave him in the fields for the aliens to find so they could probe him.”

Shelton’s eyebrows rose.

“She’s talking about the little green men,” Griffin said, “She’s from Roswell.”

“Oh.” Shelton pretended to yawn, and Jett knew he was laughing.

“If you’re not careful I’ll hogtie you, too,” she said, pointing a finger at Griffin.

“We’ll see about that.”

Shelton’s radio cackled, and a voice said, “Sgt. Tyler’s on his way out there.”

“Ten-four,” Shelton answered.

Jett wondered if they should go, but Griffin made no move to leave. She thought about it for a moment, and she knew he was right. Shelton would tell Tyler they’d been there, and he would wonder why they’d taken off when they knew he was coming.

“You staying tonight?” Shelton asked.

“I am, at my friend Mike Sheffield’s cabin.”

“You know Mike?” Shelton asked.

“We’ve been friends for years,” Griffin said. “He comes and stays at my resort sometimes. Tres Lobos West.”

“I’d like to talk to you before you leave town,” Shelton said. “My wife wants to come and stay there for a weekend. Mike’s been talking up your cabins.” He leaned closer to Griffin. “She wants me to whip her outside in a place where we’re sure not to be seen.”

Jett didn’t want to tell him that Portland had been sneaking onto the property.

“Give me your card and I’ll call you when I get back to Tres Lobos.”

While they talked, Jett turned her attention to the cabin. It was definitely not like one she’d ever seen before. It was built with bricks and glass, and looked to cost a great deal of money. She wondered how much Montgomery and his girlfriend had taken from her employer over the years. It also made her wonder if Montgomery had access to county funds in New Mexico, and if he’d stolen from them, also.

The sound of an approaching car made her turn her head. When the car was parked, Tyler and a man she’d never met got out of the vehicle.

“Well, well, look who’s here,” Tyler said. “Doing a little amateur investigating you two?”

“Trying to clear our names because you were centering on us,” Jett said.

“I had to cross my Ts and dot my Is,” Tyler said. “I know you’re clear, unless there is something you want to confess.”

“I confess I want you to bite me,” Jett said.

“Shouldn’t you check with your lover before making an offer like that?” Tyler asked, and Jett couldn’t help but laugh.

He introduced Malcolm Parsons to them all. Jett stayed silent and listened as they proposed different theories. Montgomery and Hackworth were already out of the country with their money, they were heading toward Canada, or Mexico, or Europe. Then Tyler proposed the worst one.

“You know a hundred thousand dollars is not that much money. Maybe he killed her and buried her on his land in New Mexico, and that’s what Portland saw.”

They all exchanged glances, and it was Griffin who finally broke the silence. “I hate to say that’s a good way to look at it, but I know he was sneaking onto my land to see what was taking place there. He was doing it at all hours of the day and night, and if Montgomery was burying a body, he would have done it in darkness.”

The silence grew heavier. Finally, Tyler pulled out his phone and hit a few buttons. He put the phone to his ear and said, “Yeah, get a warrant to get cadaver dogs out to Montgomery’s place tomorrow. I’ll head back tonight.” He nodded at everyone and told them he’d “Keep in touch with what they found.” He turned to Griffin. “You heading back tonight?”

“Nope, we’re staying here,” Griffin said. “We should be back by tomorrow afternoon, depending on when we leave.”

When Tyler and Parsons were gone, Griffin shook Shelton’s hand. “I’ll be in touch.”

“You know how to get to Mike’s place?” Shelton asked.

“That’s what GPS is for,” Griffin answered.

He helped Jett into the truck, and he got behind the wheel.

“What now?” she asked.

Her body shivered when he said, “Now we play.”