Shane Read Online Free PDF Page B

was
watching his butt again.
    ****
    Lacey turned around so she could see him walk
outside toward his truck. Cutest butt she’d ever seen. If he wasn’t so damn
arrogant and let her at least have a chance at the job, she’d do anything he
asked. The image of her wearing handcuffs and tethered to the headboard in her
motel room sprang to mind.   Obviously the
full effects of the alcohol hadn’t worn off completely.   She was still in a naughty, playful sense of
mind.
    “Can I top up your coffee, honey?”
    Lacey jumped, like a child caught red handed doing
something her parents had told her not to.
    “Sure. And the food is wonderful.”
    “Glad to hear that. Has my son stood you up all of a
sudden?”
    “He got called out to an accident.”
    “Oh dear, I hope it’s nothing too serious.”
    “So how long has Shane been the sheriff?”
    “The last ten years. He was the deputy before that.”
    “Really?”
    Marie nodded. “He never wanted to be a rancher like
his Daddy or brothers. Always wanted to be the Timber Creek
sheriff.   When he was young he’d
even wear a badge. His dad gave him an unloaded gun, and he’d go around
arresting other kids for stealing things like apples off the neighbor’s trees.”
She laughed. “He used to write us parking and speeding tickets too.”
    Lacey smiled. She wondered if he’d been just as cute
when he was younger. “I’m sure being sheriff doesn’t leave him much time for a
social life. I mean like dating.”
    Had that come across as a little too obvious? And
after all, this woman was his mom and she might tell him that Lacey was asking
if he was seeing anyone, and he’d put two and two together. Yeah, he’d know
there was some interest.
    “If that’s your way of asking does he have a
girlfriend, then the answer is no.   It’s
a small community, so everyone knows everyone’s business, and we don’t mind if
you come out and ask directly.”
    “I’ll have to remember that. So let me try it again.
Does Shane have a girlfriend?”
    “Now would you be asking because you’ve got an
interest in him, because if so you couldn’t do any better. However, don’t love him and leave him. I wouldn’t want to see him get his heart
broken again.”
    She walked away without saying anything else.
    So he’d probably been dumped. Well, now she knew they
had one thing in common. However, she very much doubted he’d been dumped in
quite the same way as she had.

Chapter
Four
     
    Shane pulled his truck up over to the shoulder. He
took a deep breath. Death whether it be natural or not was the worst part of
his job. In fact, it was the only part that he actually hated. Informing the
next of kin, usually people he knew and had often grown up with, was personally
devastating. The last death had been that of a young runaway from Idaho. She’d
gotten herself mixed up with the wrong crowd who’d been making meth, and paid
the price.
    He turned off the ignition and sat for a few
minutes. Bringing bad people to justice made up for the downside of the job.
And that’s what he constantly reminded himself. He got out and hoped that in this
case, it had only been an unfortunate accident and nothing more.
    Two other trucks were already at the scene. One
belonged to his soon to be retiring deputy, the other, the county medical
examiner who worked at the local hospital. The temperature had dropped due to
the higher elevation, and he smelled the familiar tinge in the air that told
him snow was forthcoming and soon.
    He headed through the thick brush and looked down.
Mike, his deputy, caught sight of him and waved. Shane picked up his pace,
wanting to get this over and done with as soon as possible.   He slipped on some downed branches, and then
as he got closer, he saw the body of a man with half his face missing.
    “Shane,” said Ted, the medical examiner. “Looks like he died instantly.”
    Shane shook his head. “Anyone ID him yet?”
    “John Jacobson.”
    “Geez,” said Shane.