Playing With Fire (Tangled in Texas, #2)(91)

I was still upset, but considered her words carefully before answering. She obviously hadn’t meant to cause any problems. And she had put her own ass on the line to keep him from becoming the sheriff’s number one suspect. “Thank you, Mandy,” I whispered, feeling like an idiot for not believing in Cowboy from the beginning. “I appreciate you standing by his side.”

“Always.” She offered me a sincere smile, but her brows quirked with confusion. “You know, you’re taking this a lot better than I thought you would.”

“It’s okay. Cowboy already told me he wasn’t with you. I understand why you would say that he was, though.”

“No, I don’t think you do. That’s not exactly—”

The bathroom door swung open and Mandy shot out of her chair, wheeling around, as Dan tapped his way into the room. She obviously hadn’t realized we weren’t alone. She moved out of his way and around to the opposite side of my bed, allowing Dan to reclaim the chair. Staring blankly at me, Mandy chewed on her bottom lip. As if she wanted to say something, but stopped herself from doing so.

A sharp stab of anxiety cut deep into the pit of my stomach. Had Cowboy lied to me? Was that what she was going to say? No. That couldn’t be it. No matter what he’d said earlier in front of the sheriff, I believed he was sincere when he said he hadn’t cheated on me. But the moment I got Mandy alone, I planned to ask her for an explanation and clarify things once and for all.

The chair squeaked under Dan’s weight as he shifted to get comfortable. “You know, you might want to have the nurse get maintenance up here,” Dan said, leaning back in the chair. “The urinal in there is way too high.”

“Um, Dan, there isn’t a urinal in there.”

“Huh. Well, then you might want to have someone give your sink a good scrubbing before you use it then.”

My face must’ve warped with a horrified expression because Mandy giggled out loud.

Startled by the sound of a different voice, Dan sat a little straighter. “You got company or something?”

“It’s Mandy Barlow. She came by to…check on me,” I explained, though I was pretty sure her reason for stopping in had more to do with what she’d started to say before Dan returned from the bathroom and stopped her.

Sheriff Wells stepped back inside the room, interrupting my train of thought. “Pardon me, Miss Weber, but since we’re running low in the suspect department, I think maybe it would be a good idea to go over your account of what happened once more.”

“Guess that’s my cue to leave,” Dan stated, rising from the chair next to my bed.

“No, Dan, why don’t you stay?” the sheriff asked him. “I’ll need you to corroborate her statement.”

“Okay, then,” he agreed. “I’ll just get out of the way.” He tapped his cane and walked around to the opposite side of my bed until he bumped into Mandy’s shoulder. “Sorry about that. Didn’t hear you standing there.” He grinned at his own stupid joke, moved over to give her some room, and sniffed the air. “That scent you’re wearing…what is it?”

“Oh, I don’t wear perfume,” Mandy told him. “You’re probably smelling my apple body mist.” She looked at me and I grinned. Apparently, Dan was a ladies’ man. Who knew?

Dan’s mouth tightened into a firm, thin line. “No, that’s not it,” he mumbled.

The sheriff took the seat Dan had vacated and focused his attention on me. “All right, Miss Weber, let’s go through this one more time. What happened after you woke up in the barn?”

I prayed this would be the last time I’d have to go through all the details…at least for tonight. “I told you already. I was tied with my hands behind my back, so I maneuvered around until I managed to get my hands in front of my body and that’s when I untied my feet. Had I known there was—”

I paused when Cowboy shoved open the door and entered the room with someone behind him, though I couldn’t see who it was. Cowboy held up his hand. “Sorry, Sheriff, I just need to interrupt for a moment. Someone wanted to meet Anna.” He stepped aside, revealing the shadow behind him.

“Oh my God!” I covered my mouth in shock. He looked much older than I remembered, but I would recognize his face anywhere. “C-Chief Swanson?”

“What?” Mandy exclaimed, backing up until she bumped into Dan, almost knocking him over. “Y-you’re alive?” Clearly distraught, she braced herself by holding onto the foot railing of my hospital bed and covered her face with her free hand, rocking back and forth. “But…but you’re dead,” she whispered.

Chief Swanson glanced at the rest of us, and his brows furrowed. He stepped forward and put a hand on Mandy’s slumped shoulder. “I’m sorry, but I’m not—”

Mandy reeled back at his touch, stumbling into the silver suture tray beside her. “No! It’s not possible. I saw you!” she shrieked, shaking her head frantically back and forth. “You were dead. I know you were. I set you on fire and…I…I watched you burn.”

A collective gasp sounded in the quiet room. Looks of horror and shock flicked across each of our faces at her confession and only then did Mandy realize her mistake. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened.