“Oh, I guess you’ll be needing directions to Aunt Betty’s?” She waved a hand nonchalantly toward the entrance to the property “You can’t miss it. It’s on the main street. The café has a slice of apple pie on a sign out front.”
He slanted a glance in her direction. “Copy that, but before we leave, here you go.” He fished her earring out of his pocket. “Just squeeze it and it will call my cellphone. I’ll be able to track you on my app. Later, I’ll set up a silent alarm for the house but this will work in an emergency.”
“Thank you.” Jenna attached the earring then her brow crinkled into a frown. “I’m afraid I’m going to need you as my ride for a couple days until my patrol car is repaired.” She tucked a strand of hair inside her hood and a small smile curled her lips. “I could commandeer your vehicle but I would appreciate your cooperation as you are a member of my department. All expenses paid, of course.”
“Not a problem.” He turned the car onto the main road and headed toward the center of town, trailing behind the snowplow. “Do you have the snow cleared every morning?”
“Jim lives next door and does my driveway as a courtesy before heading into town.” Jenna smiled in a flash of white teeth. “He says if I can’t get out, I can’t assist anyone who needs help.”
Kane took in his surroundings. Black Rock Falls was not the small town he imagined. The county spread out in every direction, attached to the main town by a spiderweb of back roads. Signposts and bunting directed traffic to Black Rock Falls Stadium, home of the Larks, and the showgrounds. As they drove closer to town, snow-covered houses nestled in clusters. The main street showed prosperity and a thriving community. The cold had not kept the locals indoors. A line of people lined up outside the bakery, chatting beneath a cloud of steam, and cars lined the curb. He glanced at Alton. “Is it usually busy at this time of the morning?”
“It’s the Larks’ home game tonight.” She flicked him a blue gaze. “Most other weekends are quiet in the hockey season because the fans from here follow the team. We are on the rodeo circuit too, and as soon as the snow melts, the cowboys come to town. Trust me, the visitors and locals keep us on our toes.”
Sheriff Alton impressed him. Protecting Black Rock Falls County with a handful of officers would be a nightmare. He rubbed his temple in anticipation of the torment to come. His plans to vegetate in a backwoods town had disintegrated like snowflakes on a heated windscreen. The familiar pain in his head returned with a wave of nausea. Agony shot through his back teeth and he relaxed his jaw in a practiced move to gain control. He needed a meal and a gallon of strong coffee if he planned to make it through the day.
“Are you feeling okay?” Alton turned in her seat and an expression of concern crossed her face. “You’ve gone as pale as a ghost.”
“It’s just a headache.” He pushed his lips into what he hoped was some semblance of a smile and decided to be honest. “I mentioned the plate in my head? Well, the cold doesn’t do me any favors.” He kept his gaze on the road. “As long as I keep the hat on, I’ll be fine.”
“You have a choice, you know.” Alton leaned back in her seat but the concern had not left her expression. “Why not start on Monday and take the weekend to rest after your trip?”
Why wasn’t she taking the attempt on her life seriously? “Ah, someone tried to kill you, and in my book the attempted murder of a sheriff is priority one on my list.”
“Don’t be so dramatic.” Alton let out a long patient sigh. “I’d like to view the evidence before I decide. You didn’t actually witness the incident, did you?”
“I didn’t see the impact.” Kane stared at her in disbelief. “But I am a witness to dangerous driving causing an accident and to the suspect leaving the scene without so much as slowing down to see if he’d injured you.”
“You are law enforcement all the way.” She tucked a strand of black hair into her hood. “Don’t you ever stand down?”
“Nope.”
They passed a convenience store and a gas station. A real estate office with frozen red and white flags hanging from the gutter was set back on one side of the road and conveniently opposite a red-brick building with a shingle denoting a lawyer’s office. In the middle of town, he found Aunt Betty’s Café wedged between a medical center and an optometrist. He pulled the car to the curb and they stomped through the snow toward the café’s doorway.
The delicious smell of ham, eggs, toast, and coffee wafted toward him in a wall of welcoming succulent heat. When Jenna did not reply but moved in front of him and dropped into a blue plastic seat at a wooden table in front of the window, he followed, glancing around. The place was spotless, and popular, judging by the number of people enjoying their meals. A low hum of conversation filled the room and many people glanced in his direction. He shucked his coat and dropped it over the back of the chair before sitting. Two men in their twenties shot to their feet and, disregarding the food piled on their plates, headed out the door. Kane followed their progress down the street and made a mental note of their descriptions. You are not on duty. Inhaling the aromas of the delights on offer, his attention went to the glossy colored illustrations of meals pinned to the wall behind the counter. “What do you recommend?”
“Everything.” Jenna’s face lit up with a grin at the young woman approaching with a coffee pot in hand. “Morning, Susie.”
“Mornin’, Sheriff Alton.” The woman filled two cups with coffee and placed the pot on the table then pulled a writing pad out of her pocket. “What can I get you?” Her inquisitive brown eyes moved over Kane. “Good mornin’ to you too. You must be new in town?”
“This is Deputy Kane.” Jenna shot him an amused stare. “Say hello to Susie Hartwig. Her grandma started this establishment in 1960.”
Kane nodded. “Nice to meet you, Ms. Hartwig.”
After ordering, he leaned back in his chair and stretched his legs. His gaze flicked over two men sitting in a secluded corner and sending furtive glances their way. Lifting the coffee to his lips, he regarded Jenna over the rim. She appeared at ease but her attention moved around the room, resting on each person before moving on to the next. He dropped the cup back into the saucer and met her gaze. “I find it hard to believe two visitors have vanished in Black Rock Falls without a trace and yet the moment I walk in the door the locals pick me as a stranger.” He cleared his throat. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“It does.” Jenna rubbed her small hands together. She spooned sugar into her cup then lifted the creamer. “It’s common knowledge Mayor Rockford hired a new deputy. The moment you walked in here with me, you became a person of interest. The two missing persons may have worked on the outlying ranches. If Mrs. Woodward came into town to pick up her mail, she might have avoided Aunt Betty’s Café. We have spent a good deal of time showing her photograph around the ranches without luck but a teller at the local bank remembers her. She came into town one time to do her banking, so she might have worked somewhere in the area as a housekeeper, perhaps.” She sipped her coffee, and her lips curled up in contentment. “Many people visit Black Rock Falls and unless they cause trouble or call attention to themselves I doubt many people would remember them.”
“So I gather Mrs. Woodward wasn’t staying in town?”
“Not at the Cattleman’s Hotel or the Black Rock Falls Motel.” Jenna unzipped her coat with a flourish. “Apparently, she has several vehicles but her granddaughter believes she was driving a pickup.” She raised both dark eyebrows. “Oh, don’t give me that look. Hers would be one of possibly a hundred passing through town at any given weekend. I haven’t met the woman, let alone upset her enough to run me off the road.”
Everyone is a suspect until we prove otherwise. “Okay.” He lifted his chin toward the men across the room on their right. “Any problems with the men sitting at two o’ clock?”
“No. They happen to be friends of mine.” Jenna’s voice snapped a reply then waited for Susie to place plates piled high with food on the table. “Thank you.”
“Enjoy! I’ll be straight back with fresh coffee.” Susie collected the coffee pot then bounced toward the kitchen humming and came back in a few moments to refill their cups.
Kane eyeballed the men again in his periphery. “Your friends seem a bit nervous around law enforcement. Known them long?”