At the Crossroads (Buckhorn, Montana #3)(26)

What was all this? Culhane knew the sheriff was dirty. Since the two of them were fired, he’d been trying to get the goods on Garwood. She’d worried because the sheriff had rich, powerful friends. She had been worried about Culhane even before this happened.

As she stared at the strip of black two-lane ahead of them, she felt tears burn her eyes. She had no idea what Culhane had gotten himself involved in, and like he said, she was now along for the ride. They’d somehow survived back at the café, but Culhane was still wanted for murder. Just the thought made her stomach knot inside. The two of them had been in some dangerous situations a few times with their jobs as deputies, but nothing like that circus back there.

And now they were chasing two of them, trying to catch them. This wasn’t over, she thought, afraid of what Gene would do with Tina. What he’d already done. She wouldn’t let herself think the worst. Instead she concentrated on catching up with the van. After that... Yes, after that, then what?

Her eyes hurt from staring at the road looking for the van. She tried to assure herself that the men inside it wouldn’t kill their hostage, but she wasn’t convinced. Alexis knew how close she’d come to being one of the hostages if Eric had had his way. She told herself it wouldn’t have happened. She and Culhane never would have let Eric take her.

But she knew that had things gone badly, Culhane would be dead now, and she could have been unable to stop Eric. Right now she could be in the back of that van. She’d known he wasn’t going to leave without her. She’d seen it in his eyes. She shuddered now at the memory of the darkness she’d seen there, a mixture of hate and lust laced with violence.

Culhane had the gas pedal to the floor, the truck eating up the pavement as it roared east. She could see his big hands gripping the wheel and recalled both the strength and tenderness of those hands. She shoved the memory away, waiting for the back of the van to appear and praying that the woman Gene had thrown in the back was still alive.

She dragged her gaze away from the long stretch of empty highway to look over at Culhane. Now that they were both safe for the moment, she felt her anger return. “Were you ever going to tell me about your wife?” she demanded.

“Really? You’re determined to get into this now?”

She glared over at him, letting her anger force her fears to the back burner for the moment. “We worked together for three years. For another year I shared your bed. At any one point, it seems you might have mentioned that you were married.”

“I didn’t know I was married, that is, yes, I... I knew I’d been married, but I thought it had been annulled. I would have eventually told you about Jana.”

“Better to wait until she was murdered to mention it,” she said. “Especially when it turns out that you’re the number-one suspect.”

He sighed. “I told you. I don’t believe she was murdered.” The speedometer was hovering at over a hundred, but so far she hadn’t seen the van ahead. “I never told anyone about Jana or the marriage, okay? The marriage was a quick trip to a justice of the peace in another state. It didn’t even last a month, and it was a long time ago. Seven years.”

Alexis frowned, thinking of his friends she’d met, friends he’d known since he was a boy. “Are you saying none of your friends were at the wedding?”

“There was no wedding, and no. It was just the two of us. The judge provided the witnesses.”

“Not even a friend of Jana’s attended?”

He shook his head as he shot a glance in his rearview mirror before focusing on his driving again. The highway was straight and empty. She checked her side mirror, wondering who he thought might be chasing them. The highway behind them was empty as well.

Culhane had cared enough about this woman to marry her. Alexis knew how he felt about marriage and babies, so she had to wonder what about this woman he called Jana had even gotten him to the justice of the peace. “How did you two meet?” she asked, hating the jealousy raising its ugly head.

He groaned. “It was at a party in Big Sky. I just happened to be living with some really obnoxious roommates who talked me into going. I’d just aced a hard test at the academy and was ready to let off some steam. The moment I walked into the party, Jana handed me a drink and one thing led to another.” He glanced over at her but quickly went back to his driving. “A month later I got the news about the pregnancy following Jana’s and my one night together.”

“No one knew about this marriage? I would have thought you’d at least tell your family or a few friends you were married and having a child,” she said.

“It wasn’t much of a marriage. In truth, I’d forgotten about it.”

“Forgotten about Jana and the baby?”

He shook his head. “There was no baby, and Jana wasn’t the love of my life or anywhere close. She wasn’t even an old girlfriend that I might stop to wonder what happened to her. Once I found out that she’d lied about being pregnant and losing the baby and had taken off with whatever wasn’t nailed down in our apartment, I got the marriage annulled as if it never happened. Or at least I thought I had. I was...embarrassed and mad at myself for being so naive.”

She stared at him for a moment, seeing how this had shaped the man she now knew. Not that she hadn’t known he was gun-shy when it came to relationships. Look how long it had taken him to even ask her out.