Page 29 of Everyone Loved Her

“I don’t know why you ain’t angry,” he sneered, shaking his head as he stood, looking ready to fight. “He’s a loser, Beth. He did somethin’ to her,” Lucas continued to rant. “Just like he killed your brother—and yet, you just sit here in silence, protecting him.”

“Ihaveto go,” I nearly shouted, making a lunge for my truck’s driver’s seat. I slammed the door and locked it in one big swoop, barely able to breathe as I fumbled for the keys.

“You might as well have done it yourself!” Lucas continuedto yell, jerking on the door handle. “You’re just as guilty as he is for knowing. You’ll pay for it, Beth.”

My hands shook as I finally located the keys at the bottom of my bag, and I shoved them into the ignition. The truck roared to life shortly after. Lucas continued to jerk at my door handle, and I threw the truck into reverse anyway, fear pumping through my veins. I shot backwards into the street, leaving him standing in the empty parking spot.

He threw his hands into the air at me, still just as angry as before. “You tryin’ to run me over, Beth? That’s it! You’llpay.”

But I could hardly hear him as I zoomed off down the street.

Chapter 14

Ten minutesand I’m out of here.Blaze stared at the clock, his eyes feeling heavy from a long night at the station. After Lucas left, it had been crickets, just like always. A couple of the deputies had responded to some domestic calls, but that was it. Now, it was almost 10 a.m., and he was due back at the ranch to oversee Jasper and Colton for a shift of riding fences.

The work never ends.He pushed back from the desk, and stood to his feet, grabbing up his cowboy hat. Blaze glanced around the small office, squinting into the half-open door of Sheriff Myer’s office, but he couldn’t tell if the old man was at his desk or not. In general, he didn’t have a problem with the guy, but with the lousy statement taking from Beth about Sarah? Well, it had him questioning things.

“Where’s Blaze?” A voice boomed from somewhere at the front of the building. “I gotta talk to him,now.Done looked all over town for him.”

“You can’t just barge in there!” Brenda’s voice could be heard calling frantically.

Blaze braced himself, his hand on his weapon attached tohis hip, while the other deputies barely looked up from their phones. Around the corner came Lucas Wilson once more, and he lookedpissed.However, his hands flew up in a surrender position the moment he saw Blaze’s stance.

“I’m just here to file a report,” Lucas bristled. “That’s it, so don’t even think about trying to play gunslinger.”

“Was hoping I wouldn’t,” Blaze grunted, his tone devoid of humor. He was exhausted, and the sight of a weary, disheveled Lucas only made the fatigue that much worse. “What happened?”

“Beth Young tried to run me over!”

Blaze frowned, his voice flat. “Really?”

“Yeah, I was just trying to talk to her—” Lucas quit stopped suddenly, his eyes darting back behind Blaze.

The deputy turned to see Sheriff Myers standing at the entrance of his office, the door now wide open, and the old, brawny man filling the doorway entirely. There was as shadow across the boss’s face, his eyes hidden behind a dark line. The man was intimidating, but in this moment, much more so.

Blaze blew out a breath, readdressing Lucas. “We can chat in the interview room. Come on.” He wanted to hear what the guy had to say without Sheriff Myers breathing down his neck.

“You oughta just go and arrest her now,” Lucas muttered as Blaze placed a hand on his shoulder, guiding him away from the audience.

“We can’t just go arrest her,” Blaze grimaced as he shut the heavy black door to the interview room. “But I will make a report for you.”

“I’m telling you, that girl is off her rocker.”

“Uh huh.” Blaze squeezed the bridge of his wide nose, closing his eyes for a brief moment to gather his thoughts.Somuch for going home.When he opened them, Lucas was already seated in the same chair he had been in hours before, only this time, his knee bounced anxiously, and his arms were folded across his chest.

“I’m telling you, I know Garrett Myers got something to do with this.”

“Right,” Blaze huffed, pulling out his own chair and taking a seat. “You’ve made your stance clear. Was Garrett with Beth?”

Lucas’s face scrunches up. “No. He’s probably at work. Might be a drunk, but he always shows up to work. About the only good thing he’s got going for him.”

Blaze pursed his lips, not in the mood to dive back down the rabbit hole. He had spent some time on the rest of his shift contemplating it—and that’s as far as he’d gone with it. He’d ditched that curiosity in the fight to just stay awake and alert.

“Okay, so just tell me what happened today.” Blaze clicked his pen, ready to start writing.

“I was finishing up my morning coffee with Ty Miller and Gabriel Vernon, and then I saw Beth Young coming out of the attorney’s office—the crooked one.”

Blaze raised his brows. “Greg?”