Lawman-In-Charge Read online

  She digested the offer. Wasn’t someone watching over her at night what she’d hoped for? The compromise was better than what she’d expected. “If you’re sure I won’t be in the way.”

  “Trust me, you won’t be in the way,” he hastily assured her. “And I would sleep easier, knowing you were someplace safe.”

  She was touched by his admission.

  “The cot won’t be the most comfortable thing to sleep on but it’s not that bad. I’ve used it myself. There’s a bathroom, but no shower, unfortunately.” Luke flashed a guilty glance.

  No shower. Ugh. Oh well, she’d handle it. Surely she could go home to shower during the daytime. And who knows, maybe she’d only need to stay for a few days. “I guess that would work,” she agreed.

  Luke’s relief was evident on his features. “Thank you.”

  She glanced up at him in surprise. “I think I’m supposed to be the one thanking you.”

  He laughed, and the sound was rusty, as if he didn’t laugh very often. “Megan, you’re amazing. I was fully prepared for you to be extremely upset with me.”

  “I’m not upset,” she assured him.

  They turned back toward the sheriff’s department. “I want you to know,” Luke continued, “I’m not going to rest until I have this guy behind bars.”

  “I know.” Surprisingly, she trusted Luke. His abilities and his dedication. “I believe you.”

  “The biggest holdup on this case is going to be getting the evidence processed in the Madison crime lab. If you have any strings to pull in order to get my crime scene evidence processed more quickly, I’d appreciate it.”

  For a moment she felt a strange sense of déjà vu. She’d done the same thing, pulling in favors, after Katie’s death. Her friend Raoul Lee had helped her last time. He was still in Chicago, the last time she’d checked.

  “I’ll see what I can do,” she promised. “I’m only temporarily on staff in Madison, to help get the backlog of DNA testing caught up. But maybe a friend of mine can help.”

  Luke glanced at her. “I don’t suppose you can process the DNA for me on that beer bottle we found in your motel room.”

  “I don’t know.” She’d helped with the DNA testing on Katie’s murder, but that was a little different in that she was related to the victim. Not actually the victim. “Probably not, since the bottle was found in my motel room and really needs to be tested to make sure nothing on it matches my DNA.”

  Luke let out another sigh. “Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of.”

  They walked back inside the sheriff’s department headquarters and Luke was immediately engulfed in activity. Everyone wanted a few minutes of his time.

  He glanced at her, as if feeling bad for abandoning her, and she flashed a small smile. “It’s okay, I understand. But my car is still at the motel, so if someone could give me a ride, I’d appreciate it.”

  Luke nodded, but before he could give anyone the directive to take her home, he was interrupted once again when Jake Feeney walked in.

  “I’m here for my interview, Sheriff.” Jake’s eyes widened in shock when he noticed Megan. “Megan? What on earth are you doing here?”

  Luke glanced between Megan and Jake, noticing how Megan looked extremely uncomfortable. But before he could intervene, she took control of the situation.

  “My motel room was broken into last night,” she said, as if she didn’t already know that Jake had been questioned by Luke a few hours earlier. “I had to come and make a statement.”

  Luke cleared his throat. “Deputy Frank Rawson is ready to drive you back to the motel, Ms. O’Ryan,” he said, as he signaled Frank with his gaze. He was glad Megan hadn’t indicated she was here helping to work on the murder case. At this point, he wanted to keep that tidbit of information under wraps.

  Frank obliged by stepping forward. “This way, Ms. O’Ryan.”

  “Thank you,” she murmured, following Frank outside.

  Luke turned his attention to Jake Feeney. “Over there,” he said, indicating their one and only interview room. “I’ll be with you in a moment.”

  He went to get a tape recorder and notepaper before returning to the interview room. After taking a seat across from Feeney, he turned on the tape recorder. “This interview with Jake Feeney is being recorded at eleven thirty-five in the morning on Sunday.”

  Jake grimaced. “Is that really necessary?”

  Luke narrowed his gaze. “Are you protesting the recording of this interview? Do you want to retain a lawyer?”

  “No, I don’t need a lawyer. I didn’t do anything wrong! Go ahead and record the conversation, I don’t care.”

  “Tell me again, what brought you to Crystal Lake, Wisconsin.”

  Jake sighed. “I had some trouble at work. I was told to take a few days off, so I decided to come up here to see Megan. We used to be engaged, and I was stupid enough to break things off with her. She was the best thing in my life, and I hoped to convince her to give me another chance.”

  “What time did you arrive in Crystal Lake?”

  “Thursday, about three o’clock in the afternoon. You can verify that, since I checked into the motel right when I arrived.”

  Luke made note of the time. “You arrived on Thursday and checked into your motel room at three. What did you do then?”

  Jake didn’t shift in his seat or look at all nervous. If he was guilty, he sure wasn’t showing any of the typical signs. “I called Megan, but her phone was off, because the call went straight to her voice mail.”

  “Did you leave a message?”

  “No. I thought it might be better to surprise her. So I asked around, trying to find out where she lived. But no one seemed to know.”

  Because the locals still referred to Megan’s cabin as the Dartmouth place. “So then what did you do?”

  “I figured I’d take my lieutenant’s advice and relax a bit. Went down to the docks, rented a boat and took a spin out on the lake.”

  Luke’s interest peaked at that. Liza’s murder happened on Friday night, or early Saturday morning, they still didn’t have the final report from the medical examiner. The fact that Feeney rented a boat on Thursday was very interesting. “How many days did you rent the boat for?”

  “Just twenty-four hours. I had to return the boat by three o’clock on Friday because it was already rented for the weekend.”

  So he didn’t have the boat on the night Liza was killed. Somewhat disappointed, he asked, “Where were you on Friday night?”

  “I hung out at Barry’s Pub most of Friday night. Shot some pool and that was about it. I left at midnight or twelve-thirty.”

  His pulse kicked up. No alibi for the time frame of the murder? “Did you leave alone? Can anyone verify your story?”

  “My story?” Jake’s eyes widened and then narrowed suspiciously. “Wait a minute, this is about that girl, isn’t it? The teenager who was killed? I heard about it on Saturday at the pub. You can’t seriously think I’m a possible suspect?”

  Luke kept his expression neutral. “Answer the question. Can anyone verify your story? Did you leave the pub alone on Friday night?”

  “Yes, someone can verify my story,” Feeney said, his eyes glinting with anger. “If you must know, I didn’t leave alone, I left with a woman I met that night. Her name was Krista. Krista Whitney, or maybe it was Krista White.”

  Luke jotted down the name. “Where was Krista staying? At the same motel?”

  “No, she was with a group of friends and said they were staying at the Crystal Lake Campground, which is apparently a few miles out of town. There were four or five people in her group. I didn’t really pay much attention.”

  Verifying Feeney’s story wouldn’t be easy. It was possible that the woman he’d met wasn’t registered with the campground; often it was just one of the members of a group who registered. He’d have to ask Frank to check it out. “Did anyone else see you and this woman go into your motel room?”

  “I don’t know. May
be. It wasn’t like I announced it down Main Street.” Feeney’s charade of cooperation was wearing thin. He was growing more and more annoyed as he glared at Luke. “Look, I’ll give you a DNA sample if that will help clear me of the murder. And the break-in to Megan’s motel room. But I’m telling you, I didn’t know the girl who died. I didn’t kill her. You have the wrong guy.”

  Maybe. Maybe not. “Why did you wait until Saturday night to call Megan?” Luke asked, changing tactics a bit. “Seems odd for you to pick up some strange woman in a bar, when supposedly you came here to get back together with Megan.”

  “Yeah. Look, I’d rather Megan didn’t know anything about Krista, okay? I mean, she didn’t mean anything to me. It was just one of those things. Megan is the one I really care about. When I was with Megan, things were going great. After we broke up, my life suddenly went downhill. I thought if we got back together, maybe things would start turning around for me.”

  The guy was completely clueless. Apparently he wasn’t the type to take responsibility for his own actions. And as far as not telling Megan, Luke wasn’t promising anything. “You still didn’t answer my question.”

  Feeney sighed. “I don’t know, okay? I guess I knew my chances with Megan were slim to none. After I spent the night with Krista, I knew I’d made a mistake. I called Megan the next night, and she did meet with me. But only for one drink, and during that time is when she told me she wasn’t ready for a relationship. You know the rest.”

  Luke stared at Jake Feeney for a long moment, trying to decide how much of his story he really believed. He was bothered by the fact that Megan didn’t tell Feeney to take a hike. She’d taken the easy way out, telling him she wasn’t ready for a relationship.

  Or was it possible she really wasn’t ready for a relationship? And why was he disturbed by that thought?

  “How long are you planning to stay in town?” he finally asked.

  “I was planning to leave today. In fact, I’ve already checked out of my motel room.”

  Luke didn’t like it, but he couldn’t see how he could force the issue either. He didn’t have enough to arrest Feeney, no matter how much he didn’t like the guy. “I need your contact information, in case I have more questions.”

  Jake reluctantly rattled off his cell number.

  “You should also know, I’ve been in touch with your chief of police and know a little bit about the trouble you’ve been in. If for some reason you don’t return my calls, I won’t hesitate to go to him again.”

  That news obviously bothered Feeney, judging by the way his jaw tightened and he clenched his fists. Luke watched calmly as the Chicago cop reined in his temper. “Anything else, Sheriff?” he asked testily.

  “No. You’re free to go.” Luke shut off the tape recorder and rose to his feet. “I’ll be in touch if I have anything else.”

  For a moment it looked as if Feeney wanted to say something more, but he must have thought better of it and simply turned and walked away. Luke followed more slowly. His deputy, Frank Rawson, was just coming back from driving Megan to the motel.

  “What do you think? Is he a viable suspect?” Frank asked, watching Feeney as he stalked out of the building.

  “I’m not sure, we need to check out a few details of his story,” Luke admitted. Unfortunately, he found himself inclined to believe Feeney. The guy was a clueless jerk, but Luke couldn’t buy the theory that he’d murdered Liza. Although his connection to Megan was worth investigating further. But at the moment, he had another, more pressing concern. “Do you have a few minutes to come into my office?”

  Frank nodded. “Sure.” He looked a little surprised when Luke shut the door and then retreated to sit behind his desk. “What’s up?”

  Luke sat there, looking at the one man on the force that he trusted implicitly, trying to choose his words carefully. He’d already put this off for too long. “There is another potential suspect that I need you to interview for me,” he said finally.

  “Sure. Who’s that?”

  He stared down at his desk for a long moment and then lifted his head, forcing himself to meet Frank’s curious gaze. “My son, Sam.”

  EIGHT

  Megan was grateful Deputy Frank had driven her back to the motel, so she could collect the rest of her belongings, check out and pick up her car. Frank stayed beside her the entire time, and when she went to the tiny motel office to check out, he insisted on taking care of the bill.

  As soon as he’d paid her tab, Deputy Frank had tipped his hat and left, driving back toward headquarters. Instead of going straight home, Megan stopped at the diner for a late breakfast.

  “Hi, sweetie, what can I get you?” Josie asked.

  As she was suddenly starving, she ordered the lumberjack meal, which consisted of pancakes, eggs, bacon and fried potatoes.

  She put a good dent in the meal, feeling better than she had in a long while. Maybe because of the time she’d spent with Luke.

  Or maybe because she’d attended church for the first time in years.

  Either way, she finally felt normal, almost lighthearted. As if she wasn’t second-guessing herself. As if she was finally healing.

  She pushed her empty plate away and left Josie a nice tip before heading back outside. She drove home, and it wasn’t until the moment she pulled into the long gravel driveway that her uneasiness returned.

  Sitting in her car, she stared at her aunt’s cabin. She hadn’t been back since they’d identified her backyard as the location of Liza’s murder. For some odd reason, she was loath to go inside.

  Ridiculous, really. It was broad daylight on a sunny Sunday afternoon. With her driver’s-side window open, she could hear the roaring sound of boat motors intermingled with laughter coming from the lake.

  A perfectly normal Sunday. There was no reason to be afraid.

  Maybe she wasn’t as healed as she’d thought. Gathering her courage, Megan climbed out of the car. She walked around to the passenger side to pull out her overnight duffel bag.

  She hadn’t even taken one step when the crunch of tires against gravel had her spinning around so fast she nearly lost her balance and fell flat on her face.

  Her heart pounding, she watched a dark blue Camry pull up behind her Sunfire. Her stomach clenched and goose bumps rippled up her arms when she recognized Jake Feeney.

  How had Jake figured out where she lived?

  He watched her warily as he slid out of the car. “Hi, Megan.”

  “Jake.” She gripped the duffel tighter and lifted her chin. “What do you want? And how did you find me?”

  “I was heading down Main Street when I saw you pull out of the motel parking lot. I turned around and followed you here.”

  He’d followed her today—had he followed her other times as well? And if so, why?

  “I just stopped by to say goodbye,” he continued, leaning on the open door. “I’m heading back to Chicago. Unless you’ve changed your mind about us?”

  Was he kidding? The serious glint in his eye convinced her he wasn’t. “No, I haven’t changed my mind, Jake. You know as well as I do, we aren’t suited for each other. We shouldn’t have gotten engaged in the first place.”

  He stared at her for a long moment. “I don’t necessarily agree,” he said slowly. “But I can’t think of anything to say to make you change your mind.” He paused then added, “I hope we can at least remain friends.”

  Her muscles relaxed, the tenseness easing away. She smiled. “Sure, Jake. Of course we can be friends.”

  A corner of his mouth kicked up and he nodded. “Call me if you need anything, okay?”

  “I will.” She was tempted to ask him to come inside the cabin with her, just to make sure no one was waiting and hiding in there. But since she was concerned he’d misinterpret her request she bit back the urge. “Take care of yourself,” she said instead as she turned away.

  “Megan?”

  She paused and swung back toward him. “Yes?”

  “Where ar
e you working now that you’ve left Chicago?”

  “In Madison. I’m helping to get rid of the backlog of DNA testing. Why do you ask?”

  He lifted a shoulder. “Just curious. When I saw you at the station, I thought maybe you were helping to investigate the murder.”

  She couldn’t explain why she didn’t tell him the truth. “No, my only employment is with the Madison crime lab.” Which was technically true. Her only paid job was in Madison. The time she’d spent with Luke was strictly volunteer work.

  “I see. Well, goodbye, Megan.” He finally slid back into the driver’s seat of his car and gave her a nod as he backed out of the driveway.

  She stared after him, perplexed. What difference did it make to Jake what she was working on? She made a mental note to ask Luke how his interview with Jake had gone.

  Jake had distracted her enough that she wasn’t as nervous walking into the cabin. A quick glance around showed that everything seemed to be as she’d left it. She walked through the entire cabin and checked every room just to be safe.

  She saved her bedroom for last. She dropped her duffel bag on the bed and glanced around. Everything seemed fine.

  As usual, she’d overreacted.

  Her shoulders slumped with relief. Shaking her head at her own foolishness, she headed toward the tiny bathroom off her bedroom, intending to take a shower. After she was finished, she dried off with a towel. There was no fan, and the room was foggy.

  Her heart jumped in her throat when she turned to face the mirror and saw the words written in the steam.

  You can’t stop me.

  Megan waited impatiently for Luke outside her cabin. Despite the warmth of the sun, she was chilled to the bone.

  She paced, unable to relax knowing Liza’s murderer had been in her home. In her bedroom. In her bathroom.