9781631053566SpringsDelightBallNC (17 page)

Hell, he didn’t even have a
game plan, but driving around town seemed as good a plan as any.

He made one pass through town
and decided to park and walk. The town wasn’t very big; it only had one traffic
light. He tried Lucy’s Deli, the Food Mart, Carlton Diner, and no one had seen
her. Finally, he stopped at
Autumn’s
Bounty. Autumn
wasn’t there, but Shayna Lowerly, the new manager, was.

Colt frowned as Shayna
explained how she had to fire Peggy Jo the other day, and how there was a rumor
Spring
beat Peggy Jo to a pulp. As soon as he heard,
he
hightailed
it out of there and headed for the town
jail. Damn that useless sheriff, if he laid one hand on
Spring
…
He just needed to see she was fine.

He walked into the police
station, and Sheriff Brown was sitting at his desk eating fried chicken.

He smiled at Colt and licked
his fingers clean. “Something I can help you with? Another horse need saving? I
already told you animal control is who you contact.”

“Have you seen
Spring
?”

“Spring
Reed?”

“Yes, Spring Reed.” Colt
gritted his teeth. He wasn’t in the mood for games.

“She’s in the interrogation
room, has been for about six plus hours now.”

Colt clenched and unclenched
his hands. “Why?”

“She wants a lawyer, so she’ll
have to wait until I locate one.”

“How many have you called?”
Colt growled.

“I haven’t had a chance yet.
It’s been a busy day and all.” The sheriff smirked.

“I would like to see her.”

The sheriff tipped his chair
back. “No can do. No one can talk to her until she gets a lawyer.”

Colt glared at him. “Well, it
just so happens I have a cousin in the next town over who is a lawyer.”

“I don’t know any lawyer named
O’Malley.”

Colt grabbed his phone out of
his pocket and quickly called his cousin then he turned toward the sheriff.
“She’ll be right here. For some reason she really doesn’t like you.” Colt
grinned.

“What’s her name?”

“Diane, Diane Byrne.”

Sheriff Brown stopped smiling.
“I don’t want that bitch anywhere near this office.”

“Not your choice. I have a few
calls to make. I’ll sit outside until she gets here.

* * * *

Spring wondered how long she’d
been sitting in the interrogation room. There were no clocks, and she didn’t
have a watch. The damn sheriff was being an ass. He must think her stupid with
his little ploys to get her to talk to him. First, he turned the heat up until
she sweated, and now it was so cold she was shivering. He asked her if she
wanted something to drink but she refused because he probably wouldn’t allow
her to use the restroom. She’d known plenty of people who had been arrested and
she’d heard all the stories. One boy came back from the police with bruises on
him when she was a kid. She was better off waiting him out. She even tried to
take a short nap, but Brown banged on the metal door asking her if she was
okay. If he’d yelled any louder, the whole town would have heard him.

There had been no mention of a
lawyer, and she was beginning to doubt he even called one. Did Colt know? Would
he believe the allegations?

She crossed her arms in front
of her. At least the handcuffs were off so she could try to warm herself.
Pacing helped with her growing frustration. When was she supposed to have hit
Peggy Jo? She’d been on the ranch the whole time. Though sorely tempted to talk
to the sheriff and get it all over with, she knew better. No phone call? That
probably was the law but it still didn’t seem right.

Now she wished she’d paid more
attention to the delinquents she’d lived with. Could he keep her here
overnight? There was a time limit but she wasn’t sure what that limit was. It
could be a certain number of hours or a day. Billy would know. She chuckled
bitterly for a moment. Billy was the one she pictured being in trouble with the
law but never her.

Really, what did Peggy Jo have
to gain by accusing her? She never could understand that woman.

The door finally swung open,
and in walked a well-dressed woman with long white hair and brown eyes. “Are
you okay?” She put out her hand. “I’m Diane Byrne, your lawyer.”

Spring shook her hand. “I don’t
have money for a fancy lawyer.”

Diane smiled. “I’m Colt’s
cousin, and cousins do for each other.”

“Thanks for coming.” Spring
smiled back. She had no idea what the whole “cousins do for each other” was
about, but it
warmed
her that Colt sent Diane.

They both sat down at the
table, and Diane pulled out a notebook and pen from her leather briefcase.

“Now how do you know Peggy Jo
Hobbs?”

“Hobbs? Is that the name she
goes by now? It doesn’t matter. She gave birth to me.”

“And?
I
need as much info as possible to get you out of here. I don’t know what you did
to old Brownie out there, but he’s gunning for you.”

Another smile graced
Spring’s
face at the insult to the sheriff. “She—well I was
taken from her when I was a toddler, and she’s been briefly in and out of my
life since. She’s an addict. I believe heroin is her drug of choice. I’ve been
in the foster care system most of my life. She’s always lived in Texas until
she showed up a few weeks ago at a restaurant here and then at Colt’s place.
She expected to live there, which makes no sense to me. I didn’t tell her or
anyone else where I was living. Bibbs, one of the men who
works
for Colt—”

“I know Bibbs. Nice guy.”

“He is. Anyway, he offered to
put her up at his place. That was the last I heard until I was picked up this
morning.”

Diane shook her head. “You’ve
been here all day?”

Spring nodded her head and
shrugged her shoulders. “I refused to talk to the sheriff without a lawyer. He
said he’d call one.”

“Yeah right, he probably left
a message on a lawyer’s machine who he knew was out of town. Never liked
Brownie and never will. I’ve tried over the years to get him run out of office
but so far no luck. What did he say to you?”

“That Peggy Jo accused me of
assault, and when we got here, she and the Beverly woman were here waiting.
Someone beat her but it wasn’t me.”

“Beverly is mixed up in this?”

“She took it upon herself to
inform me I’m supposed to take care of my mother by allowing her to live at the
ranch. She’s not a big fan of mine.”

“Do you have an alibi?”

“I was at the ranch all week.
The bruises do look fresh but I was home. And I don’t have a way to get into
town.”

Diane nodded, stood up and
opened the door. “Come on in, Brownie.”

He barged into the room, his
face red. “I told you not to call me that,” he hissed.

“Let’s get to the business at
hand.” Diane stared the sheriff down. “My client has been left in here all day
on the word of a junkie? Maybe her drug dealer beat her up. From what I’ve
heard, she was fired from her job and kicked out of the apartment due to her
drug use. Makes more sense to me she couldn’t pay her supplier.”

“She claims her daughter did
it. How many moms do you know who turn their kids in unjustly?” The glimmer of
triumph on his face had
Spring’s
hand itching to slap
it.

Diane took a deep breath and
let it out slowly as though she was trying to maintain her cool. “First of all
Peggy Jo may have given birth to
Spring
, but she has
never been her mother. Spring has grown up in the foster system because Peggy
Jo is a junkie. Why she moved to Carlston I have no idea, but I bet if you run
their names through the system you’ll find
Spring
has
a clean record while Peggy Jo has a colorful one. And one more thing, you might
want to be sure Hobbs is her real last name.”

“But Beverly—”

“Did you lose your balls
again, Brownie? That woman’s gossip is not to be trusted. When will you ever
learn?”

He glared at them both. “I’m
not convinced, and I can keep her for forty-eight hours, which in this case is
appropriate.”

“Playing hard ball? Judge
Andrews is waiting for my return call on how this little matter turns out.”

“Don’t you threaten me you
old—”

“Tsk, tsk, Brown. Did I
mention she has an alibi? Yeah, she was on the O’Malley ranch with Colt. I
happen to know you already heard this information.”

“Hell, get out of here, both
of you.” He pointed his finger at
Spring
. “You’d
better not leave the county.”

Diane smiled. “She’ll be at
Colt’s.
Nice to see you again, Sheriff Brown.”
She
opened the door and gestured to
Spring
to go out
first.

The air outside the room was
much warmer, and it felt good as
Spring
walked toward
the front door. Colt stood near the door, and as soon as he spotted her, his
frown turned into a bright smile.

“Diane got you sprung?” His
voice was husky and full of concern.

She nodded and walked into his
embrace. She never had anyone go to such lengths to help before. Her emotions
finally got to her, and she hugged Colt tight for a few long minutes.
Reluctantly, she let go but she kept her gaze averted. Letting her guard down
still scared her.

Colt hugged Diane next.
“Thanks for coming to the rescue,
Cuz
. I can give you
a horse as repayment.” He laughed and his eyes sparkled.

Diane stepped out of his
embrace and punched his shoulder. “I’ve taken all the horses off your hands I
can handle, and you know it. Let’s get out of here before Brownie makes more
trouble.”

They hustled out the door into
the cool night air. Colt immediately took his jacket off and put it over
Spring’s
shoulders. She smiled briefly, trying her damnedest
to get on an even keel after the mess that was her day.

“Thank you Diane, I’m so
grateful you came to help me. I wasn’t sure anyone knew where I was.”

“My
pleasure,
and you call if that jerk gives you any more trouble.” She kissed Colt’s cheek
and hurried to her car.

Colt took her hand and
entwined his fingers with hers. “I would have been here sooner, but to tell you
the truth I didn’t even know you were gone until dinner time. You were missing
before lunch, but I figured you were around somewhere.”

She followed his lead to his
truck. “Not your fault. No one could have guessed I’d been brought in for
questioning. Did you know if you’re not arrested you don’t get a phone call?”

They got into the truck, and
Colt started to drive toward the ranch. “I’m not up on the ins and out of being
arrested. I’m just glad we found you.”

“We?”

“Bibbs went looking for Peggy
Jo, never did find her. Shady went out on the ATV to check the property. I
originally thought you went looking for flowers again.”

A pleasant warmness sprung up
inside her. No one had bothered to look for her before. At least not out of
concern. It was nice they truly cared about her. “I appreciate that y’all took
the time to look for me.”

Colt glanced at her. “Was
there any doubt we’d eventually find you?”

She wasn’t sure how to answer.
It wasn’t doubt so much as it was the norm for her. Of course, she’d hoped he
would come, but she hadn’t expected it. “I’m just glad you found me.”

He reached over and gave her
hand a quick squeeze. “I’m just glad you’re all right. Though I would like to
know why Peggy Jo accused you.”

“Maybe she thinks you have
money after all.”

Later that night as she lie
awake in bed, her conflicting emotions made it hard to sleep. If she was going
to be honest, it was damn near impossible to sleep. Peggy Jo made her sick and
wary, Billy scared her, Bibb’s and Shady’s friendship filled her with warmth
and her heart melted with need for Colt. The need wasn’t totally
sexual,
the need encompassed their whole relationship and
her desire for closeness. Some of the emotions were so familiar and some
perplexed her. Lately he seemed to draw her to him, and she didn’t want to
fight it anymore. There was everyday proof he was a good, honest, gentle man
whom she could count on, and she finally believed in him.

A
relationship with Colt?
Why not? It scared her to death, but
she could be fearless when necessary, couldn’t she? If things didn’t work out,
she’d be out of a job and a place to live, but by then, she could be
self-sufficient. She’d allowed her head to make all decisions in her life so
far. She wasn’t sure how to lead with her heart.

Sighing, she turned over.
Peggy Jo was crazy, but she usually had a reason for doing things. Accusing her
of assault had to be the worst thing she’d ever done. Okay, maybe not the
worst, but it was right up there, and she needed to find out what that woman
was planning.