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“Hold on there, pal,” Tyler said, placing his hand on Tan Face’s shoulder, ensuring he couldn’t get to Jennifer’s bedside. “I didn’t catch your name.”
“James Milton,” he said, puffing out his chest like a cobra, looking none too thrilled that Tyler had put a hand on him.
“Do you mind?” he asked. “My fiancée is lying in a hospital bed and she’s none of your business.”
Fiancée? Tyler didn’t normally misjudge situations. His instincts were usually spot-on. Red seemed scared of the man. But if the two of them were engaged then he needed to take a step back. Some lines shouldn’t be crossed no matter how irritated the man’s presence made Tyler.
He let go of the man’s shoulder. It might be better to take a wait-and-see approach to this one. Tyler told himself that he’d leave as soon as he knew she was going to be fine. Besides, he needed to make sure she had no intention of suing him for having an accident on his land. As crazy as that sounded, he’d heard of people doing that and more.
He ignored the little voice that said he was lying to himself about why he was sticking around and that it had to do with an attraction.
Milton made a dramatic scene of rushing to Red’s side once he was free of Tyler’s grasp. The man was fresh-from-a-shower clean and had on dress slacks and a button-down shirt. Not exactly the kind of clothes one would wear on an ATV adventure, so the logical question was why would he let Red go alone if he cared about her as much as he professed?
“I didn’t know what to think when you disappeared,” Milton said to her.
Tyler folded his arms and leaned against the wall. The panicked expression on Jennifer’s face intensified. He’d probably regret this later, but he had to ask, “About that, James. What happened exactly?”
“I’m fine,” Red interjected, her gaze darting from Tyler to Milton.
Tyler didn’t have a strong reading on the guy other than general dislike and her reaction wasn’t helping. Milton’s concern came off as insincere. Tyler had learned long ago to trust his instincts. This guy looked like he was putting on a show.
The door opened and the sheriff walked in.
Milton turned and the look on his face when he caught sight of the sheriff was priceless. Also, it strengthened Tyler’s intuition that this guy was up to no good. This was about to get interesting.
Tommy introduced himself to Jennifer and Milton, and then shook Tyler’s outstretched hand.
“I’ve been worried sick about you, darling,” Milton said, turning to Jennifer, and Tyler thought the man was overselling.
She managed a weak smile.
Tyler noticed that she stiffened when Milton took her by the hand. Not exactly a warm reception for her fiancé, and that got Tyler’s mind spinning with scenarios, none he liked.
“Do you have ID?” Tommy asked.
“Did we do something wrong, sheriff?” Milton produced two Louisiana driver’s licenses. His and Jennifer’s.
“Just routine under the circumstances in which—” Tommy glanced at one of the plastic-covered cards “—Ms. Davidson was found.”
When Tommy took down the information and then returned the cards, Milton refocused on Jennifer.
“I can’t believe I almost lost you,” he said, his voice had more syrup than Granny’s pancakes when she’d started losing her sight but refused to wear glasses.
If anyone asked Tyler’s opinion, and Tommy would as soon as they were alone, he’d say the guy was a fake. That didn’t exactly make him a criminal.
“Mr. Milton, do you and Ms. Davidson mind answering a few questions?” Tommy asked.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, Sheriff, but I’d like to spend some time alone with my fiancée,” Milton said.
Tyler would bet his horse Milton would. He stifled a snicker.
“But I do understand that you’re just doing your job,” Milton added and Tyler was sure it was part of the concerned-fiancé act.
“Given that you seem to sympathize with my position, I hope you won’t mind if I ask Ms. Davidson a question,” Tommy said.
“Of course,” Milton responded.
“Ma’am, would you be more comfortable giving me your statement alone?” Tommy asked. “I’d be happy to clear the room.”
Milton balked at the request. Before he could puff up again, Tommy held out a warning hand.
“It’s part of the job,” he said to Milton. Then he turned his full attention to Jennifer. “Ma’am?”
She looked to be contemplating her answer.
“Why on earth would she want that?” Milton’s cheeks turned a shade of red as he focused on Jennifer.
Her weak smile died on her lips as soon as he turned back to the sheriff and didn’t that make the hair on Tyler’s neck stand at attention. Was she being manipulated? Abused? Milton didn’t seem to want her to speak up for herself.
Tyler ground his back teeth, thinking about a man being physical with the opposite sex.
“No, thanks,” she said to Tommy.
“Were the two of you riding ATVs earlier today?” Tommy asked Milton.
“Yes, and I lost her on the trail so I left and went back to our motel to wait for her,” Milton said.
Tyler’s eyebrow shot up about the same time as Tommy’s. Tyler also noted that she’d deliberately kept the truth from him earlier about being alone on the trail. He’d seen the tracks himself. What was she hiding?
The two of them might have gotten into a fight and it could have gotten physical. He could’ve taken off and then she could’ve chased after him before the crash.
“You decided to leave her unprotected in unfamiliar territory?” Tommy asked.
“We’d had a fight.” James turned toward Jennifer with a stern look.
“I searched everywhere for her once I lost her on the trail. I figured she was mad and needed to blow off steam.”
“Do you realize there are black bears in these parts of Texas?” Tommy asked, incredulous.
“No. I didn’t. I would never...” Milton let that sentence hang in the air. “I searched for her everywhere and couldn’t find her so, like I said, I decided to give myself time to cool off, as well. I went back to my room, got worried, and when she didn’t answer her cell I called around local hospitals.”
“But not the police station?” Tommy asked.
Milton shook his head.
“Did you take off before or after she’d been in an accident?” Tyler asked, since he hadn’t had a chance to brief Tommy on the situation yet.
Milton whirled on Tyler.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.
“I was just wondering if you knew she’d been in an accident before you took off to ‘cool down’ as you said,” Tyler elaborated.
“If I’d known anything had happened, I’d have stayed with her,” Milton shot back, turning his attention to Jennifer with another overexaggerated look.
That rang more warning bells.
And there was another thing bugging Tyler. If these two were engaged, wouldn’t she be wearing a ring?
“You said the two of you were getting married,” Tyler began. “Set a date yet?”
“We’re working on it,” Milton said. “Why?”
“Just checking to see how far along your plans are,” Tyler said coolly.
“And why would that be any of your business?” Milton asked, not bothering to hide his disdain. He’d been reasonably respectful to Tommy since he was the law, but the man must see Tyler as an inconvenience. A lot could be said about a man who treated people poorly if he saw them as beneath him.
Tyler shrugged, his casual demeanor was clearly getting to the guy. “Thought it was customary for the woman to wear a ring.”
Milton’s gaze shot to Jennifer. “We haven’t made it that far. I just asked her.”
Tyler studied Jennifer’s reaction. Her expression was blank, her eyes dead as she forced a smile.
She was doing exactly what Milton said and yet she feared the man. Had Tyler read this situation wrong? Sure, none of it was adding up and she looked less than thrilled to be around Milton, but no one was forcing her to be with the guy.
Tyler couldn’t figure why anyone would stay in a bad relationship. And yet it happened all the time.
“There are two sets of tracks leading up to the accident. And one left. How do you explain that, Mr. Milton?” Tyler asked.
“I can’t because I wasn’t there,” Milton responded.
“Is that true?” Tommy asked Jennifer.
She glanced up at Milton first, and then nodded.
If she was going to corroborate Milton’s story, then maybe Tyler needed to mind his own business. He’d tried to defend a few buddies who were in the middle of domestic fights and had learned just how quickly tempers could escalate. Tyler wasn’t afraid of Milton; he could handle that jerk. But he couldn’t make Red leave the guy.
If she wouldn’t give him anything to work with, then he had to come at this from another angle.
“Have the two of you had any lifestyle changes lately?” Tommy asked Milton, picking up on Tyler’s tension. “In preparation for the wedding?”
Milton’s face scrunched up. “No.”
“Haven’t taken out any life insurance policies on each other? Named the other as the beneficiary?” Tommy pressed.
“No. Nothing like that.” Milton’s face looked ready to explode from anger. “Am I under arrest, Sheriff?”
Not yet, Tyler wanted to say.
“Can I see you in the hall for a minute?” Tyler asked Tommy.
“I was just about to suggest the same thing,” Tommy said and then turned to Milton. “I’ll be back as soon as I take a statement from the landowner.”
The door had barely closed when Tyler turned around and asked, “How is it that a man could, first, leave his fiancée outside in a strange place alone and, second, not call the police when she’s missing for hours?”
“Good questions,” Tommy said. “He’s a jerk. I just don’t have anything that I can charge him with. I need something solid in order to take him in.”
“Did you notice how scared she looks?” Tyler asked. “Or the fact that he was so concerned about her that he decided to take a shower before he bothered to figure out where she’d gone or what might’ve happened to her?”
Tommy frowned, nodded. “It’s not illegal, though.”
“His story doesn’t add up and he’ll most likely run out of town the minute our backs are turned.” Frustration ate at Tyler.
“You’re right on both counts, but he has every right to go where he pleases for now. As far as I can tell no crime has been committed.”
“He’s hurting her.” Tyler clenched his fists.
“Which is a shame, but not against the law unless someone witnesses it or she steps forward on her own to press charges.”
“It should be.” Tyler knew this guy was up to no good.
“I’ll stay on him. If he so much as makes a wrong turn while he’s in town I’ll question him for it,” Tommy said.
“There has to be more you can do than that,” Tyler said.
“We can scare him,” Tommy said after thinking about it for a minute. “We better get back inside. I don’t want to leave him alone with her longer than we have to.”
“I have a few more questions for him,” Tyler said through clenched teeth.
Tommy paused before opening the door. “Go ahead and ask everything you want. See if you can get him to mess up and admit to something. Without her willing to go against him, we have nothing otherwise.”
Milton stood, rising to his full height when they reentered the room, which was still considerably less than both of the other men.
“Earlier, you said you lost your fiancée after a fight?” Tyler took up his position leaning against the wall near the doorjamb.
“She was tired and decided to turn back but I wasn’t ready to go, so I told her how to find her way to our original meet-up point.” Was Milton changing his story?
“I thought you said the two of you got into a fight,” Tyler said.
Milton glanced down and to the right, a sure sign he was about to lie.
“That’s what we fought about,” he said, quickly recovering, as pleased with himself as if he’d just won the big stuffed animal at the state fair.
Clearly the man had just made another mistake. First he said he lost her, then he said that she turned back on purpose—which was it?
“You can’t have it both ways, so pick one,” Tyler said point-blank.
“Well, originally she said she was going to turn back, but then I got a bad feeling about her being out there alone in a place she didn’t know and so I turned back to look for her, thus find her.” Another satisfied smirk crossed Milton’s features.
