Colby never wanted that life, loving someone you can’t be happy with. Jennifer had said Piper needed cheering up. Was he the problem or the cure?
He had the weekend to figure it out. He wasn’t looking for complications this early. They’d known each other for five months, but they hadn’t spent a dozen nights together.
He made it all the way to the radio station, only to find it locked up. Rambling Randy didn’t waste any time after his one-hour talk show on Saturday morning. Colby walked the main street. The farmers market that had filled one side of the town square five months ago was gone. Now Honey Creek looked abandoned in the fog.
He peered up at her fourth-floor office at city hall across the street. The entire building looked dark inside. He thought of walking around the square and looking for her van, but it made more sense to walk back to the café and wait. Maybe Piper would remember where she left him and come back for him. Maybe she’d call if she noticed he’d texted her twice during her interview. The only answer was she’d turned her cell off and forgot to turn it back on.
He needed a bit of time to think.
As he walked past a new bakery, Sam Cassidy crossed his path. The fire chief was so deep in thought he almost didn’t look up.
Both men smiled. They’d fought a fire together last spring. They’d forever be comrades.
“Morning, Colby.” Sam offered his hand. “Glad to see you back.”
“Good to be back, if only for a few days.”
Sam tilted his head. “You got a minute, Trooper? I mean Ranger McBride. I need to talk a problem out.”
Colby pointed at the bakery window. “Buy me donuts and I’ll listen.”
Without another word they walked into the town’s only bakery and took the table by the window. Sam ordered while Colby watched the street, hoping to see Piper drive by. This was a small town; he’d find her in time, but right now he ached just to see her. During the workdays in Austin he was too busy to think of her much, but at night she kept him awake with longing.
How could the sex be so great but the communication so complicated?
When the baker delivered a plate of donuts and two coffees, the men started talking. They worked their way through the “hellos” and “what’s ups” before Sam finally got to the point.
“You probably heard about the excitement last night.” Sam looked tired. “It was a long shift.”
Colby nodded. “Rambling Randy mentioned it on his morning report. Is the drunk all right?”
“He’s got a broken arm, several deep scratches, and part of his ear is gone. In Joey’s case I would have sworn he couldn’t get much uglier, but somehow he managed it.”
“All this from being shoved in a slot meant for abandoned babies?”
“No, he was beat up before he reached us.” Sam ate half a cherry-glazed donut in one bite, leaving red icing on both corners of his mouth. “Problem is, Joey wouldn’t tell us anything about the fight. Which leads me to believe Joey was probably doing something wrong. We’ve got a crime, trying to break into the fire station, on top of another crime the sheriff knows about. I saw the friends who dropped Joey off. They all had been involved in something. They didn’t want to hang around to answer any questions and all were in bad shape. Black eyes, cuts, bruises.”
Colby took a drink of the best coffee he’d had in months, then said, “Let me guess. This Joey isn’t too bright sober. When drunk, he’s an idiot. Maybe they were in a rival gang fight.”
“This town is too small to have two dumb, drunk gangs. Joey and his band of half-wit drunks are an embarrassment to humanity. Something happened over in Someday Valley last night. All we saw here was the end of the trouble. Otherwise, why would his friends abandon him? Why wouldn’t Joey tell us how he broke his arm?”
Colby finished off his second donut. “Maybe it was just a bar fight. They’ll forget about it.”
Sam shook his head. “My wife, who is the lawyer representing most of the Joey-types in court, says people over in Someday Valley hold grudges. She promised me there would be payback.”
“And you want me to look into it.” Colby knew Sam wouldn’t be here telling him the story if he didn’t need help.
“If you’ve got time? Next time someone might be killed.”
Colby finished his coffee. “I’ve got time, but you’ll have to drive me over to Someday Valley. I rode in on my Harley. Rain and that windy road don’t mix.”
Both men stood. “I’ll be your driver, but I have to be back for a weather emergency meeting in two hours. It won’t last long, then I plan to go home and sleep for twenty-four hours.”
Colby followed Sam out. Looking into trouble seemed better than wandering the streets of Honey Creek searching for the mayor.
His cell was charged. When she remembered she left a lover in bed, she’d probably call.
Chapter 13
Colby
On a sunny day, the tiny stop in the road called Someday Valley wasn’t much to see. Now, with rain pouring, it looked more like a set for a horror movie.
A gas station with two pumps, both marked OUT OF ORDER, came into view first. Then there was an abandoned store set back from the road with three five-foot X’s nailed to the roof. What looked like a garage and body shop was next, with a sign that said, GONE FOR THE WINTER. Farther down was a bait shop with a dozen old boats stacked on the side of the hut.
The last building, a long, windowless bar, seemed in the best shape. The name on the bar was so rusty Colby could barely read BANDIT’S BAR. A dozen homes were scattered behind the worst strip mall he’d ever seen. Across the road from the bar was an entrance to a trailer park that stretched all the way to the tree line half a mile back. At one time the trailer park might have been nice, a place for fishermen and families to stop over in the summer, but not now. The abandoned office was missing windows and the door gaped open, a crumbling swimming pool collected trash, and the tennis court was spotted with weeds breaking through the asphalt.
Colby studied the place. In all the beauty of the valley, this scar was dug deep into the side of a hill. Except for one spot north of the stucco wall around the trailer park. A picnic table rested halfway to the tree line, with tall grass around and wildflowers still holding their color against the coming winter. This little spot reminded Colby of a fine painting hanging in a truck stop. A peaceful scene next to a neglected trailer park.
“We might want to try the bar first,” Sam said as he pulled into the parking lot. “Any trouble might have started there.”
Sam and Colby climbed out of Sam’s car and found Bandit’s door propped open. As they stepped inside they heard hammering coming from the back.
“Hello,” Colby called as he shook off the rain. “Anyone here?”
“We’re closed,” someone yelled back.
Colby moved toward the voice. “We’re not here to bother you. I’m a Texas Ranger and this is Honey Creek’s fire chief. We just have a few questions.”
The man slapped his hands to clean them. “Wayne Allen, owner of this shack. How can I help you?”
Colby didn’t waste time. “We were just wondering if you noticed any trouble last night. A guy named Joey showed up at the Honey Creek fire station, bleeding. From the description of his friends, they all looked like they’d been in a fight.”