Justice Inked (Cowboy Justice Association 7) (8 page)

“All brothers are supposed to hate their sister’s boyfriends,” Rayne said instead of what she was really thinking. “I think it’s a federal law or something. They may have a point, actually. My taste in males has certainly improved as I’ve aged and I imagine yours will too. The guy you think is perfect now won’t be all that wonderful in a year or two.”

Sophie sighed, a dreamy, faraway look on her pretty face. “Tim is amazing. He’s cute and funny. He’s smart too. And when he kisses me…” A grin and a giggle. “My knees actually go weak and I tingle all over. Just like in those romance books. That’s true love.”

“They have medication for those symptoms,” Rayne teased. “If you start to get dizzy as well you may want to see a physician.”

“You sound like one of those drug commercials on television.” Sophie slapped her hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh. “When they list all those horrid side effects that are worse than whatever it is they’re trying to cure.”

“So,” Rayne began, trying to keep the conversation casual. “Has your brother said anything about the break-in of my shop and the man that was killed?”

Dare hadn’t said a word to Rayne and honestly, she’d been put out by his behavior. Since she was the victim of the crime she’d expected to be kept in the loop, but apparently that wasn’t the procedure.

Or maybe Dare was being a prick and not telling her anything on purpose.

Sophie shrugged. “Nope, but that’s not unusual. He only talks about work with me when he’s using it as a moral lesson of some sort. Like don’t drink and drive or don’t take drugs. Stuff like that. I’m pretty sure he knows I’m not going to break into a tattoo shop and shoot someone. God love him, he’s trying so hard to be a role model for me. Were your parents overprotective like this?”

“Hardly,” Rayne snorted. “My parents felt that my sister and I should be free to express our individuality and to explore our boundaries. We didn’t have too many rules when I was growing up except that we should explore our feelings.”

Though her parents had taken the whole “free love” idea a little too far, Rayne appreciated that she’d been given enough latitude to make her own decisions. And her own mistakes.

Sophie’s eyes bugged out and her mouth fell open. “You didn’t have a curfew or anything? Even now Dare tries to tell me when to come home although I just ignore him.”

“I didn’t have a curfew, but do you want to know a secret?” Rayne leaned forward as if to whisper it in Sophie’s ear. “If you’re the only one without a curfew there’s no one to hang out with after midnight. Everybody has to go home so you might as well have a curfew too.”

“That blows. I would have loved not to have a curfew in high school.”

Rayne smiled, remembering her school years. She hadn’t been super popular, but she’d had close friends and that time held mostly pleasant memories.

“As I said, all that freedom is overrated. Be glad that you have someone that cares if you come home. All I have is a cat named Spartacus.”

Sophie licked her lips nervously and drummed her fingers on the table between them. “Can I tell you a secret? You won’t tell Dare, will you?”

Rayne wasn’t sure she wanted to get in the middle of Sophie and her brother.

“Maybe you shouldn’t tell me if it’s a secret.”

The young girl was practically vibrating she was so excited. “It’s only a secret from Dare. I mean, I’ll tell him eventually. I just need to find the right time, that’s all. I’ll tell him when he’s in a good mood.”

They’d all be putting on parkas and ice skates in hell when that happened.

“Still…if it’s a secret…”

“Tim and I are planning to move to Denver together.” The words burst from Sophie’s smiling lips. “I’ve been accepted to an art school there and Tim’s going to get a job. I can’t wait. Freedom from this stuffy little town.”

No wonder Sophie hadn’t told Dare yet. He was going to freak, and not in a good way.

“Have you lived here all your life?”

“Every long, tedious day.” More sighing and eye rolling. “I’ve wanted to leave since…well…forever, really. Now that I’ve graduated there’s nothing here holding me back.”

Except one six-foot-three, two hundred plus pound big brother with a protective streak a mile wide.

“You might want Dare to have a drink or two before you tell him. I don’t think he’s going to be a happy camper.”

Rayne wasn’t sure what he would be more pissed off about – his little sister leaving town or the fact that she’d be living with a guy.

“I’ll make him his favorite dinner of fried chicken and mashed potatoes along with a big chocolate cake. He has a major sweet tooth. Then I’ll make sure he has a couple of whiskeys before giving him the news.” Sophie’s chin lifted. “He can’t stop me. I’m eighteen.”

To be that young again.

Everything seemed possible. Blue skies and clear sailing. Happiness, kittens, and rainbows.

“No, he can’t,” Rayne agreed readily. “But he can make things difficult for you. I’m sure he just wants you to be happy. You’re very young to be living with someone. Sharing the same home can knock the romance out of a relationship faster than you can ever believe. Trust me on this.”

“You’re starting to sound like Dare. You won’t tell him, will you?”

Rayne couldn’t imagine a conversation where the topic would come up. In fact, she didn’t know when she would even be seeing the handsome sheriff since he didn’t see fit to update her on his investigation.

“I won’t tell him. It sounds like this is your news to deliver. But can I give you a word of advice? Don’t wait too long. If other people know he’s going to eventually find out. He’ll only be more upset if he hears it from anyone other than you. Tell him as soon as you can.”

The sooner Rayne wasn’t a secret keeper for Sophie the better. The last thing she needed was to get Dare on her bad side. She’d stay far away from the brooding lawman.

But she still needed to find out about the break-in. Maybe one little phone call to the station wouldn’t be so bad. Or she could stop in. Either way, she had a feeling she – and her questions – wouldn’t be welcomed in the least.

Too bad.

Chapter Nine

“D
are asked Jared about you.”

Misty’s statement had Rayne setting her half full wine glass on the nightstand. After another long week she’d been happy to take a long hot bath and curl up with a good book and some vino. Getting to talk to her best friend had been icing on the cake.

“Like what did he ask?”

Was this some adult version of passing a note in history class? If the sheriff was interested in her romantically he had a funny way of showing it. She’d left several messages at his office, all of which had been ignored. Finally, she’d tried showing up at the station a few times but he’d been conveniently out when she had. The deputy had promised to have Dare call her, but she was still waiting and likely would be until her bones turned to dust. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that he was ducking her.

“About your family, background, finances. Basically he wanted to know if Jared had ever done a full check on your past.”

Anger crept up the back of Rayne’s neck and her fingers dug into the soft down of her comforter. “My finances? He asked about that? Shit, I’m going to kick him in the balls next time I see him. Oh wait, I’ll never see him because he’s been avoiding me for over a week now. Asshole.”

“He’s avoiding you? Passive aggressive isn’t Dare’s style. He’s full on confrontation. Did you scare him or something?”

Rayne grasped the glass of wine and tossed half of it back in one gulp. “I dunno. Maybe I smell bad or he thinks I’m funny looking. Dammit, he’s investigating me. That’s bullshit.”

Misty sighed into the phone. “That’s pretty much what I told Jared, and then he said that Dare was just doing his job or some crap like that. Anyway, I said that if he was going to make excuses for Dare he was sleeping on the couch.”

Rayne groaned and banged her head against the stack of pillows she was using to prop herself up. “That makes it even worse. I don’t want to come between you and Jared. This is Dare’s issue, clearly. That man doesn’t have an ounce of tact. If he wanted to know about me all he had to do was ask.” Another thought occurred to her and she couldn’t stop herself from expressing it out loud. “So…had Jared investigated my background?”

“Hell no. He’d be sleeping in the barn if he had and he knows it. He told Dare he’d do a full check on you but that he wouldn’t do it without your knowledge. Dare said it wouldn’t be necessary.”

Rayne was still pissed. For all she knew, he’d simply asked someone else to do it.

“Rayne? Are you still there?”

Rubbing the back of her neck, Rayne tried to calm the ever-growing anger in her belly. She hated that Dare Turner could get under her skin like this. The fact that she found him physically attractive only made it worse. Someone that hot looking shouldn’t be such a jerk.

“I’m here. I’m just mad.”

“He really is just doing his job like Jared said. He had to investigate you to see if there was some sort of link between you and the murder. He’d be remiss if he didn’t.”

“Sounds like Jared didn’t have to sleep on the couch.”

Which was a good thing as the couple were completely perfect together. Rayne had never seen truer love than Misty and Jared. They were disgustingly happy and still hot for each other, even after having a baby. She could only dream of finding someone to love her half as much as Jared loved Misty.

“He didn’t,” Misty giggled. “He explained the process of looking into a murder, and honestly it sounds terrible for the people closest to it. A lot of poking into your private life and nosing around which is awful, but I guess something that has to be done. I know Dare gets on your nerves, but you might want to cut him some slack on this one.”

She wanted to do that, and then he’d do something that made her change her mind. He’d had a tough time of it and she’d hoped to be able to be extra kind to him when she saw him, but then he went and dodged her for days. She couldn’t decide whether to kick him in the shin or give him a great big old hug.

“Gotcha. Slack. I’ll get right on it.”

Dare did have a thankless job that she wouldn’t want for all the money in the world, so maybe she would let it go. She wasn’t the type to hold a grudge.

“I don’t suppose Dare said anything to Jared about the case when he called? I don’t have a clue as to what is going on with it.”

“Not that I know of, but Jared said it takes time for the autopsy and forensics to come back. Dare may not know anything.”

“I simply want to know why someone broke into my shop and then shot someone.”

“You may never really know the truth, even after Dare finds who did this. Criminals aren’t known for their veracity.”

Rayne shivered at the thought that the person who perpetrated these crimes might get away scot free. That meant they were still around and could come back. Perhaps to finish what they started.

The disturbing thoughts didn’t make for a good night’s sleep. For her own peace of mind, she hoped Dare caught whomever had killed that man.

And put him behind bars for good.

*   *   *   *

Dare slammed his fist down on the scarred wood of the old desk. Sitting in his office at the sheriff’s station, he had the file in front of him from the tattoo shop break-in and murder, and to say that there wasn’t much there was an understatement.

The fingerprints hadn’t matched anything in the system.

The footprints out back of the shop had turned out to be a common hiking boot, size ten.

The autopsy revealed the victim had been shot in the back from about five feet away with a .38 caliber revolver. The bullet didn’t match anything in the system either.

Dare had no witnesses and barely any evidence. Jared and Logan were working on the background of the victim, but they’d been spending all their time on a different case so Dare was in waiting mode.

He fucking hated waiting for anything.

There had been no other break-ins since then and crime had been light, except for a couple of teenagers spray painting graffiti and a rumble down at the local watering hole. Nothing that was going to lead him into finding out why someone would break into Rayne’s shop and then shoot another human being after chasing them out of the back door. He didn’t have the patience to put puzzles together one piece at a time. He was no Sherlock Holmes.