Time To Run by Marliss Melton

Author:Marliss Melton [Melton, Marliss]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-12-23T23:43:16.858000+00:00

Chapter Ten

Chase angled the buck rifle over his shoulder and waited for the Broken Arrow Police Department cruiser to pull up beside him. He recognized its single occupant as Dean Cannard, a former high school classmate and peer.

The two men took stock of each other before Cannard broke the silence. "Mornin'," he said. "Good to see you again, Chase. Been almost twenty years, now, hasn't it?"

"Eighteen," Chase answered, stepping over to the driver's door to extend a hand. "You look the same." Cannard's dark good looks had made him popular in high school. Chase, on the other hand, had been a rangy loner, respected for his wilderness skills.

"You've changed," countered the man taking in the breadth of Chase's shoulders. "I heard you came back to claim your land."

"Yep." Chase nodded, noting from the corner of his eye that Sara had shut herself inside the house.

His terseness left Cannard no choice but to get to the point of his visit. "The BAPD got a call last night that took us over the Reeves place. Ran into a couple a skinheads totin' rifles. They said they got 'em from you."

Chase allowed himself a sneer. "They left them here in Linc's study," he admitted. "I disabled most of 'em after they shot my dog. Did you arrest them?"

"I brought them in," Cannard confirmed. "But all I could charge them with was trespassing. It ain't illegal to carry rifles in this state. Had to let them go this morning."

Chase ground his molars in disgust. He should've gone back there last night to teach those boys a lesson, regardless of Sara's persuasions. "How many did you arrest?" he asked, suddenly suspicious that Will, the leader, had gotten away.

"Just two," Cannard confirmed. "Les Wright and Timothy Olsen. You know either one?"

"No," Chase said shortly.

"They happened to mention a lady friend of yours, though," the cop added, notching Chase's tension tighter. He reached into his shirt pocket and produced a ring. "This belong to her?"

It was Sara's wedding band. He wondered how it had come to fall off her finger. "Might," he hedged, holding out a hand to receive it.

"I'd like to talk to her, if you don't mind," Cannard requested.

Refusing him would look suspicious. Chase managed a careless-looking shrug. "She's inside," he said. "Why don't you come in? Linc's friends left some stuff that you might want to look at."

Getting out of his car, Cannard followed Chase into the house. As he stepped inside, he let out a low whistle.

"Place looks a good sight better." The comment told Chase that he'd visited a time or two while Linc was living.

Sara had withdrawn into his mother's bedroom. Chase went to get her. "You left this behind last night," he said, handing her the ring, which she took back with a grimace. "You want to tell me how it fell off?"

"Tim was going to ... tie me to a chair, but Will called him off."

His temper flickered that she hadn't mentioned that last night. Of course, he definitely would have wreaked some havoc then.

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