Love Inspired Suspense March 2015 - Box Set 1 of 2: Protection Detail\Hidden Agenda\Broken Silence (58 page)

Nick hurried home to change into dry clothes and then drove to the police station. Sam greeted him as he entered. “You get the Douglas woman settled all right?”

“She's at Motel 6. Or at least that's where I left her. Why? What's up?”

“I'm wondering why she came to town, and why now. She hasn't been back since she was a kid, and I've got a hunch she's up to something. You're too young to remember what it was like when Megan Douglas was killed. She was well liked, went to church, owned and ran her own business. Steve was something else.”

“How so?”

Sam leaned back in his chair, getting comfortable. “Steve had a favorite in the state senate race, and it wasn't our Garth Nixon. Steve went all out, using his newspaper to influence the voters in this area. Pretty much divided the town—even divided the whole district. Cost Garth the election. I'd hate to see it all stirred up again. You never know how people will react, and if she's anything like her dad, things could get out of hand.”

“What does that have to do with his wife's death?”

“The police chief was Garth's cousin. When Steve was arrested, some people figured it was payback time, like maybe the police didn't try hard enough to find the real killer.”

Nick stared at Sam, thinking about what he had just said. The police had been accused of playing dirty? His father had been a cop back then. No way would his dad have been a part of anything like that—not the man he remembered and had looked up to. “You can't be serious. My dad was an honest cop. He'd have quit before he stood by and let someone pull something wrong. You know better than that.”

Sam shrugged. “I'm guessing there could have been some dirty work going on. There's always that possibility. And no, I don't think your dad would have taken part, but he might not have known about it. I don't know all that much about what went on, and at the time it wasn't any of my business, so I really didn't care all that much.”

Nick narrowed his eyes. “That was what, twelve or thirteen years ago?”

“More like seventeen, I believe. Macy was just a kid. He knocked her out, almost killed her. And that was another problem. Regardless of Steve's politics, a lot of people had trouble believing he'd kill his wife or hurt his own kid. He was crazy about that girl.”

Nick remembered the way Macy Douglas had stared at the old house. Something had brought her to Walnut Grove and he had a feeling it was rooted in the past.

“If he was innocent, that means there might still be a killer out there who doesn't want to get caught.”

Copyright © 2015 by Barbara Warren

ISBN-13: 9781460378960

Broken Silence

Copyright © 2015 by Mary Annslee Urban

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