The Sheriff Catches a Bride

Chapter Three



FILA TOOK THE PINK CLOTH FLATS from her raincoat pockets, slid them on her feet and stuffed her sensible brown shoes in the old pocketbook with her burqa. She checked her watch. One minute, twenty seconds had passed.


Now the tricky part.

Squaring her shoulders, she opened the stall door and made her way to the mirror. She needed to ditch the pocketbook and its contents, but if she left them in the stall someone might see them and chase her down to return them to her. Or worse yet, someone might find them after she was gone and report an unattended bag to the airport security guards. The whole airport could shut down. She had to get her bag into the trashcan and out of sight.

With her small purse slung crosswise over her body, she rested the thick strap of her ungainly old pocketbook on her right shoulder. She lingered over the sink, washing her hands thoroughly and familiarizing herself with her new, startling appearance, until there was a break in the nearly non-stop traffic in the large ladies room. A quick glance around told her no one was looking. She stuffed the bag into a covered trash can placed under one of the automatic hand dryers, and as its lid swung closed, she realized she was almost done with this long, horrible chapter in her life.

All that remained was to walk out of the bathroom past her guards and disappear into the city beyond. Would it work? Or would they recognize her? None of these men had ever seen her without her burqa. The long skirt and clunky shoes she’d worn beneath it were gone. When they realized she’d shed her covering garment to escape, they’d search for a conservatively dressed dark-haired woman, not an oversexed blonde with blue eyes.

But could she really fool them? Or would they grab her as she walked past and drag her back to her imprisonment?

Her hands shook as she patted her wig into place again. She needed a sign, some talisman that this crazy scheme would really succeed; that she wasn’t about to make the worst mistake of her life.

Plan slowly, run fast.

She could wait no longer.

Just as she approached the door to the outer airport corridor, it swung open and six young women walked in. Laughing and chatting, they swarmed around her, four heading for the mirror and sinks, two branching off to enter stalls.

“Hurry up! We’ve got fifteen minutes to get to the AirTrain,” one of the girls by the mirror called out to her friends. Blond, tall and vivacious, she was obviously the ringleader.

Fila perked up. “The AirTrain?” she said aloud before fear could stop her. “That’s where I’m going, too.” She tried to match the girl’s perky voice, her American accent. “I’ve never been to this airport before. Can I follow you?”

The girl looked her over, exchanged a glance with one of her friends and Fila held her breath. Would they help her? Or had she just ruined everything?

A smile broke out over the young woman’s face. “Sure! This is our first time in New York City, too. The more the merrier!”

As the two women in the stalls came out, washed their hands and primped their hair, Fila positioned herself in the center of the pack. “I’m Karen,” she announced, using the fake name Anna had helped her devise. She hoped she sounded confident even though her stomach was tying itself into knots. Could she really do this? Walk outside past Wahid, Abdul and Mehran, the men charged with delivering her to her husband-to-be?

“I’m Carla,” the blonde answered. “Come on, everyone; let’s hurry!” She linked arms with Fila and led the way out the door. They moved so fast, Carla chatting the whole time, all Fila saw of the men who’d brought her here like a lamb to the slaughter was a flash of dark clothing and scowling, impatient faces.

None of them showed the slightest sign of recognition as she walked past within five feet of where they stood.

CAB PULLED INTO THE PARKING LOT of the Chance Creek Pet Clinic and climbed out of his cruiser, happy to stretch his legs. Inside, Hannah Ashton sat behind the reception counter, her white-blond hair like a halo around her head, and Bella Chatham, the honey-blond veterinarian, leaned against it. The two women were obviously deep in conversation, but they both looked up when he entered. From the fast-food containers in evidence, they were finishing up a late lunch.

“Hope I’m not interrupting anything,” he said, taking off his hat.

“Nothing that won’t keep,” Bella said. “We’re just discussing bison.”

“Bison?” That wasn’t exactly what he had expected. He glanced around the empty waiting room. “You don’t care for cattle, do you?”

“No, that’s my brother’s specialty. We’re just talking about them in the abstract,” Bella assured him.

“So that’s what you ladies discuss when there aren’t any men around? Kind of a letdown.”

Hannah laughed, her blue eyes flashing. “It isn’t always bison. Sometimes it’s antelope.”

“Whew, it’s getting hot in here.” Cab pretended to wipe his brow.

Both women smiled. “What can we help you with, sheriff?” As usual, Bella’s hair was tucked high into a ponytail. It swung with her movements.

“Just checking in to make sure everything’s all right here. With you and that billionaire husband of yours staying in the Airstream I wondered if you might get any trouble.”

Bella shook her head. “I wondered the same, but so far it’s been quiet. Over the years I’ve had problems with kids trying to break into the shelter side of the operation, but that’s to get at the pets. I’ve never had anybody try to break into the trailer. I guess there was never a reason before. It wasn’t like I had anything to steal.” She shrugged. “It’s sort of strange to still live there now with Evan, but we haven’t found the right property where we can build our new place.”

“I don’t mean to rush you,” Cab assured her, “but if you spend any of your new money on jewelry, things like that, consider storing them in the vault at the bank, not at home. Major crimes can happen even in small towns like this one.”

“Good advice,” Bella said. “It’s weird being a billionaire all of a sudden.”

“Yeah, just think—last month you were only a mere millionaire,” Hannah put in.

“Well, a week before that I was broke,” Bella countered. “Funny how your life can change in an instant.”

“I wish my life would change in an instant,” Hannah muttered, then bit her lip as if aware of how catty that sounded. Cab knew she didn’t begrudge Bella any of her current good fortune. Hannah had gotten Bella her place on the reality television show, Can You Beat a Billionaire, and when Bella won the show, she got a substantial raise out of the outcome. As far as he could tell Hannah didn’t want more money.

She wanted more excitement.

Cab sighed. He knew from his line of work that excitement was rarely a blessing. He hoped when she got what she wanted it wouldn’t prove a disappointment.

Or fatal.

Had that been what attracted Grady’s victims to him? A desire for something new, something better than the lives they had? He’d managed to charm each of them into getting into his truck and staying there while he drove them to isolated places where he could live out his sick, murderous fantasies.

“Keep me posted if anything happens, okay?” he said to Bella, biting back the words he wanted to say to Hannah: Be grateful your life is as boring as it is. “I still think you and Evan should be the ones renting Carl’s house, not me. I’m drowning in all that space.”

She shrugged. “You might be right, but we don’t want to rent. We want to build a place from scratch, but both of us are so busy we’re having a hard time finding the perfect property.”


“I’m sure something will come up. See you, ladies.”

“THAT’S A LOT OF WOOD,” Mia Start said, carefully punching the numbers from Rose’s invoice into the till. Around them Dundy’s hardware store bustled with customers which gave Rose hope her purchase was going unnoticed. At twenty-one, Mia was several years younger than her, but still older than the ridiculous couple from the shop this morning. At least she had a job. Although it remained to be seen if the girl would keep it. Mia seemed awfully distracted. She’d finished scanning all of Rose’s purchases, but hadn’t bothered to state the total. Instead, she stood gazing off into the distance—at what, Rose had no idea. In fact she wasn’t sure if Mia saw anything at all. Her focus seemed internal. As Rose opened her mouth to prompt her, Mia dropped a hand to her flat, trim belly in a classic gesture she recognized at once.

Oh, no. Not this young, single woman. How on earth would Mia deal with a pregnancy?

“Mia?” Rose said gently.

Mia started. “Sorry. I…” She blushed and turned to the register. “That’s $87.98.”

Mia was practically a child herself. What happened to waiting patiently until you were married and financially stable? Rose caught herself mid-judgment with a twist of her lips. Who was she to judge? Sure, she’d waited patiently to get married and have children, and where had that gotten her?

“What are you building?” Mia said, suddenly brisk. With her waist-length hair pulled into a ponytail on the top of her head, she looked all of fourteen. Rose figured her baby bump would take everyone by surprise when it grew large enough for the rest of the town to notice it.

“Nothing much,” Rose said, unwilling to share her plans with anyone, let alone a girl she barely knew. A girl in trouble.

Mia’s shoulders slumped a little as she turned back to the till, and Rose felt a twinge of shame. She’d gotten so jaded lately. Always assuming the worst of people. Not trusting any of them.

Well, could you blame her? She saw people daily at their best and at their worst. Half her customers came in to buy jewelry to commemorate the most important days of their lives. The other half came in to hock those same pieces of jewelry when their lives fell apart. Everyone made such elaborate plans and as far as she could tell, they hardly ever panned out.

“It’s just a little project I’ve been meaning to do for a long time,” she explained.

“Huh.” Mia perked up a little bit. “I’ve been thinking about some projects.”

Rose just bet she had. She bit her lip to hold back the obvious questions. “Anything in particular?”

Mia smiled a secretive smile. “Still figuring it out.”

Rose nodded, willing to let the girl keep her secret for now. After all, she had secrets of her own. She opened her purse and paid the bill with cash.

“You can pick up the boards around back.” Mia handed her the invoice. “Want me to help you load the rest of this stuff in your truck?”

“Oh, I don’t think you should lift anything,” Rose said quickly and then winced. Whoops.

Mia’s gaze flicked to hers and a blush darkened her cheeks. “What do you mean?”

“I mean… uh… nothing. It’s just, I noticed…” She broke off and waved a hand at Mia’s belly.

“Shit. How did you know? Is it obvious? I just found out!” Mia hunched over the cash register as if to hide her stomach.

“It’s not obvious—you just gave yourself away,” Rose said apologetically, lowering her voice to match Mia’s tone. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault.” Mia’s eyes moistened. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. When people realize, I’m going to be in deep trouble.”

“How far are you along?”

“Barely a month. I took a test the minute I was late.”

Rose thought fast. This wasn’t the place for confessions, not if Mia wanted to keep her secret for any length of time. “Do you want to meet me later? We could grab dinner and talk.” She wasn’t sure why she was offering; she barely knew Mia, after all. Still, she had a feeling the girl needed to talk to someone. Maybe it didn’t matter that she didn’t have much advice to give.

“That would be great,” Mia said. “I get off in half an hour. Meet me at the Burger Shack?”

Rose would have preferred DelMonaco’s, but Mia couldn’t afford that and she really couldn’t afford it, either. “Sure. See you there.”