At the Crossroads (Buckhorn, Montana #3)(28)

Furu had given him a look he recognized. The deputy would stretch the law to its limits, but murder was one line he wouldn’t step over.

“When you find her, don’t bring her in. Just call me,” Willy had told him. “I’ll deal with her.”

As the two had left his office, he had realized he would have to be careful. Furu was smart and ambitious. It wouldn’t have surprised him if Dick had his eye on the sheriff job. Maybe not this year, but soon.

Willy warned himself not to give Furu too much ammunition to use against him. But he assured himself that a lot could happen before the deputy made a run at him and his position. They were in a dangerous profession. Men in uniforms were killed all the time, often for no apparent reason.

He’d turned his thoughts to Culhane. The deputy had been a thorn in his side from the moment Willy had taken over the sheriff department. It only made it worse that Culhane was good at his job and smart. Plus the former sheriff’s deputy had friends in the department. One in particular. Deputy Alexis Brand. Her father had been a sheriff.

Like Culhane, she knew her job and was good at it. He’d had to go out on a limb to get rid of the two of them after a few attempts at sabotage had failed. Now that damned Culhane was suing him and the department for wrongful discharge. At least Alexis had been smart enough to take the severance package he’d offered her without a fight. Last he’d heard, she’d started her own business and was now a bounty hunter.

Culhane hadn’t been so easy. Unfortunately, Willy had no idea how much the former deputy actually knew about the way he’d been running the department. But Culhane knew enough to cause him harm, and that was all that mattered. Which was why the man had to be stopped before this ever went before a judge.

The waiting was killing him, though. Since the necklace hadn’t been found, it was even more critical that they find Jana Redfield Travis, and quickly. If Culhane should find her first...

Well, Willy couldn’t let that happen. He needed that necklace, and now he needed Jana dead. He usually got what he wanted one way or another. He’d gotten this far by playing the odds. Once he had Jana, she would quickly learn what happened to those who turned against him. But he’d never had this much to lose before, and it made him nervous.

He loved his lifestyle, his second home at Big Sky, his rich and powerful friends and all the parties where he actually felt like he belonged. He wouldn’t let someone like Culhane Travis take it all away. The former deputy should have been smart enough not to go up against him. Now whatever happened was the man’s own fault.

Willy tried to relax. The odds were that everything was going to work out. Once they found Jana—alive or dead—and Culhane was cornered for her murder and brought in, dead preferably, it would be business as usual.

He did love being sheriff of one of the fastest-growing counties in the state—with Big Sky being the sparkling jewel in his kingdom.

BOBBY WIPED ONE clammy hand on his jeans as he drove. He’d been watching Gene out of the corner of his eye. The man was bleeding like a stuck pig. Clearly he was in pain. He kept reaching into his pocket and taking more of the pills. The man was unpredictable enough without the drugs.

“Try to stay on the damned road!” Gene bellowed as Bobby turned back to his driving and swerved hard to avoid the ditch. He heard the woman’s body roll over to thunk against the side of the van in the back. Or had it been Gus? Was the woman still unconscious back there or already dead?

The smell coming from the back reminded him that Gus was probably gone. Gene hadn’t checked on his brother when he’d thrown the woman in. Because he knew Gus was already dead? Or because he’d forgotten about him?

Bobby felt sick to his stomach and wiped his hands on his jeans again. Why had he listened to Eric? Because Eric had made it sound like the bank job was as easy as walking into a McDonald’s and walking out with a burger. Also, Bobby had to admit, he’d needed to get out of town fast, and that had played a definite part in it.

When he’d gone by Jana’s and witnessed the scene left there... He’d known even before he’d talked to his contact at the jail. Jana had ratted out both him and Leo. Hadn’t he known Jana would throw them under the bus?

When she’d called him from jail, she’d sounded scared out of her wits. “They ran my DNA and my fingerprints,” she’d said, trying to keep her voice down. She didn’t need to spell it out for him. He knew what that meant.

“What did they pick you up for that they ran your DNA and fingerprints?” he’d asked, even though he’d suspected. Still, he groaned when she said it had been for shoplifting. “What the hell were you thinking? Shoplifting?”

“You know I can’t help it. It’s a...disease, like alcoholism.”

She’d taken a chance for a tube of lipstick or some cheap piece of jewelry that had caught her eye? How could she do that, knowing what was at stake?

She’d begun to cry. “Can you please just see if you can get me out on bail? You know who to call.” He did know.

“Sure. Just don’t do anything stupid.” But he’d realized that she’d already hung up. He’d called their bail bondsman they kept on speed dial. Thirty minutes later the man had called back to say that when he’d gotten to the jail, Jana had already been released.

Bobby had known then that she’d done something even more stupid than shoplifting. She’d made a deal. Now former deputy Culhane Travis was wanted for her murder.