Cuff Me, Sheriff Read online

  Cuff Me, Sheriff

  Katie Douglas

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  Copyright © 2019 by Katie Douglas

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Epilogue

  More books!

  Prologue

  Fifteen Years Ago

  Bob

  I was searching the shelves of CVS for a pack of antacids. Marnie was browsing the cosmetics and she’d be a while. I didn’t mind so much, because I had a very special Christmas planned for her. We had been married six months, but I’d been working on a cross-border case that had wrapped up yesterday when I’d arrested two of Arizona’s most wanted. Without the pressure of long hours at the precinct, this finally felt like the right time to start trying for a baby.

  “This is a hold-up!” The voice screamed. Barely broken, probably some kid not old enough to need to shave daily.

  Feeling for my gun, my first thought was this must be a prank. My second thought was, fuck, fuck, fuck. I’d left my weapon in my car’s glovebox. Of course I had. I was the sheriff of a sleepy country town and I rarely had any crime to fight.

  This better be a hoax. I moved subtly until I was positioned in sight of the cashiers. Two men, guns, black hockey masks. The whole nine yards.

  “Everybody get down on the ground!” They started pushing customers into the space in front of the terrified cashiers. I recognized sixteen-year-old Bella Weiss, whose mom had proudly told me two weeks ago the news that Bella had just started her first part-time job. Now she was frozen to the spot behind the cash register. Beside her was Mrs. Winters. She had a first name, but she was one of those ladies who everyone always addressed formally. She wore pearls to church and visited the precinct almost weekly bringing leftovers from every potluck she’d ever held.

  Amongst the customers I saw Mrs. Fawcett and her three daughters; sweet kids, born a year apart and the oldest one was about to graduate high school. She’d volunteered in Snake Eye care home since age twelve and she’d just gotten into Princeton with a full scholarship. Her dad would have been so proud.

  My piss began to boil. How dare these young upstarts storm into my town and try to shoot up the pharmacy like they owned the place? I wanted to punch some sense into both of them then throw them out of my town and leave them in the desert somewhere. None of the people in this store deserved this nonsense. And three days before Christmas, too.

  I didn’t see Marcy amongst the customers. She had sense. She’d be hiding in an aisle somewhere and hopefully calling Edwards, my deputy, to let him know what was going down. That’s what I’d do if I could. Instead, I squared my shoulders and joined the customers being forced to sit on the floor. I didn’t want any of them to try to be heroes. That was my job.

  “Nobody move!” One of the gunmen said. I guessed they’d learned how to do armed robbery from watching way too many movies.

  “Give us all the money and nobody gets hurt,” the other one said. I wondered if they would stray from the script at all. Would they be open to negotiation?

  Bella looked like she wanted to throw up in disgust. She shot a sickened look at the nearest gunman, who waved his gun to signal her to hurry up.

  “Open the cash register!” he growled. She pressed something on it.

  “Drop it!” Marcy’s voice sailed across the air and lead dropped through my stomach straight to the floor. Of all the people who I thought would try to tackle the armed robbers, I didn’t expect Marcy, who had heard me tell her plenty of times never to do this. Slowly, I turned my head and saw she had a gun in her hand. My gun. Shit. Both the armed robbers aimed their weapons at the love of my life.

  “Boys, think this through,” I told them, forcing my voice to remain level even though I wanted to rip their heads off. “You shoot Marcy, you’re going to jail for life.”

  “Shut up old man!” one of the robbers replied. I didn’t think anyone so childish should have any right to bear arms.

  “Police! You’re surrounded!” came a loudspeaker from outside, and I knew Edwards had arrived.

  “Just leave us alone you assholes!” Mrs Fawcett shouted suddenly, from where she sat on the floor. She threw a packet of rice crackers at one of the gunmen and several things happened very quickly. One of the gunmen shot Mrs. Fawcett. Everyone screamed. Marcy shot the gunman. He dropped to the ground. At first I felt relieved that he’d been taken down. But then the other gunman shot at Marcy.

  The loud crack would haunt me every night for the rest of my life.

  She was thrown backwards. In slow motion she fell to the floor, a look of shock on her face. The shots fired drew Edwards, who entered the building and shot the second robber.

  I crawled through the confused crowd of hostages until I reached my beautiful wife. There was blood coming out of her mouth and she was wheezing and gasping for air. First aid. I didn’t know how long I held my hands against her chest, trying to keep the blood in, murmuring platitudes the whole time and trying to reassure her.

  “It’s going to be okay, Marcy,” I told her for the thousandth time, as the ambulance doors closed behind us.

  She stopped wheezing. Chest still. I checked the pulse of the love of my life.

  Nothing. Paramedics bustled around her and a grey mist sank around us.

  Later that day, after writing out my statement and going through it with Edwards, who had taken over the case and identified the shooters, I had to go home. To our home. Alone. I unlocked the front door and walked into the living room. The Christmas tree mocked me with its little twinkling lights of hope and peace on Earth. I stared for a full fifteen minutes at the gifts, carefully wrapped and full of the promise of a future together. Stolen. Alone forever.

  I went to bed and prayed to God that I’d wake up and find out this had all been a dream.

  Chapter 1

  November, this year.

  Bob

  “I’m telling you, Sheriff, there’s going to be trouble from these young folks if they’re allowed to converge in their little vans.” Frank Brown wiped sweat off his forehead and looked me hard in the eye, as if he was challenging me to laugh. I’d been in this job long enough to keep my expression neutral, despite how dumb this complaint was.

  “Sir, until a crime has been committed, it’s not the business of law enforcement to interfere in the goings-on of people in Snake Eye,” I told him. It was something people didn’t seem to get about my job. I wasn’t there to investigate people’s bad attitudes or unfavorable opinions. My job was to deal with criminals. If law enforcement could arrest people when we thought they might be about to commit a crime, the prisons would be bursting and there’d be no honest taxpayers left.

  Everyone had laws they didn’t rightly follow. Traffic violations, illegal downloading of music, filing their tax returns late, taking pepper spray on a plane... my job wasn’t to arrest people at random and find out what they were guilty of. I waited until a crime had been reported then dealt with it accordingly. Some, like old Mr. Brown, might call me lazy. I liked to think of myself as not-yet-burnt-out. A man could spend his life hunting witches or he could leave people to get on with things until they
crossed the line.

  “There’s no law against being a young person or congregating in campervans,” I reasoned.

  “But there’s more of them arriving every day!” Frank retorted. “They’re taking over!”

  “And how many RVs filled with snowbirds are there?” I countered.

  “We’re senior citizens, and we’ve been coming here for years!” His voice got louder as he took offence to my question and its implications.

  I looked him square in the eye and stood my ground. “I’m sorry, Frank, I’m not going around throwin’ out folk for their age, I’d be here until Kingdom Come!”

  He frowned. I’d likely surprised him. People always thought a lawman would take their side, but there were always at least two sides to every dispute, and there was only one of me.

  “Frank, be reasonable. Keep to yourselves, and I’m sure the youngsters will. You remember being that age, don’t you?”

  He shifted his weight from foot to foot, looking awkward. I supposed he wanted to leave, now he knew I wasn’t his bodyguard. He deflated and threw up his hands in defeat.

  “I remember it. And I remember how the older folks used to disapprove of us. Swore up and down I’d never become one of those meddlin’ old folks. But these kids are different. They’re bad, I tell you.”

  “And if they commit a crime, I’ll deal with it. Until then, my hands are tied.”

  * * *

  Bob

  Back at home that night, I cooked a plain beef dinner in the oven and sat down in front of the television. There wasn’t much going on in a town like Snake Eye after hours. I liked it quiet. Mostly. Trouble was, my mind took to thinking when it had nothing better to do, and that always ended in one way. What ifs.

  What if Marnie hadn’t taken my gun that night at the convenience store? What if I’d been able to protect her? Would we be married, now? Kids? It didn’t do no good to wonder, it only brought more heartbreak, and I’d had enough of that to last a lifetime.

  I poured myself a glass of Scotch after I’d eaten, and sat out on the porch. The sun was setting behind the red rocks we called mountains, turning the sky an orange-red color. I liked winter in Arizona. It was the perfect temperature.

  My pa had been fond of driving to Lake Tahoe for Christmas; he was so sure it wasn’t Christmas without snow. As a child, I’d gazed on the fat flakes with a sense of wonder. As an adult, I was sure glad I didn’t police in a jurisdiction with icy mountain roads and hungry bears.

  The last year we’d been to Tahoe, two cars had crashed, rolling down the mountain into the lake. No survivors. Two torn-up families at Christmastime.

  I couldn’t think of anything worse.

  Naw, give me the heat of the desert any day.

  But the trouble with the desert was, it sure was a little empty and lonesome out here. Just sometimes, when everyone in Snake Eye had gone home for the evening, I wished I had someone to come home to.

  I shrugged off the thought, same as I did every time it popped up. I’d had a good life by myself. And the trouble with women was, if I had one in the house, I’d never get a moment’s peace again.

  * * *

  Mariella

  “Agent Frost, for four years in a row, you haven’t taken a vacation.” Captain Souza looked intensely at me, like he was trying to see into my soul.

  “No, sir.”

  “And once again, I find you’ve left a request for overtime on my desk. For all of December.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Why?” He was renowned for being a straight shooter but I was still taken aback by his direct questioning. I’d thought everyone in the precinct just knew that I always signed up for Christmas overtime.

  “If you’re not in a fit state to work, I want you to go home. The Cressler case was intense.”

  “What if I’m not in a fit state to go home?” I asked. I hadn’t meant it to sound confrontational, but maybe it did. We didn’t beat around the bush.

  “What do you mean? Are you sick?”

  “No, sir. I just don’t like the holiday season.” The only thing I’d do with time off was spend more time at the BDSM club. It was enjoyable, but I didn’t have a regular partner, and around the holidays, all the most highly-skilled doms disappeared. Not that I’d ever bring it up at work.

  Instinctively, I tugged down the sleeves of my jacket, to hide my wrists better. I’d played a little too hard, last night, and had red circles around both my wrists from where I’d been bound while a dom had flogged me thoroughly.

  Captain Souza said nothing for several long seconds. When he spoke again, it was like he’d filed away the information about my lack of desire for a break.

  “I have a case. But I needed to know if you would be put out by taking it. It’s going to involve some travel.”

  “What is it?”

  “We’ve got a lead on the Borscht Cartel.”

  I straightened up immediately. We’d been chasing leads and running into dead ends for most of the past year. They’d invented a new drug called Trydol, which was being sold as a new party drug, but was highly dangerous. The body count from it grew higher every week.

  “Where?”

  “Arizona.”

  I raised a brow. It seemed like an unlikely place for our drug kingpins to have gone.

  “What evidence?” I asked. The drug cartel had suddenly gone silent about a month ago, and I’d hoped he’d been killed. I was just waiting for the body to turn up.

  “Agent Guerra has widened the net. She traced a trail of drug-related hospitalizations that have taken place over the last few weeks. You can see on this map they go all the way from here through New Mexico. I want you to go out there and investigate.”

  “I’m on it, sir.”

  “Great. Book yourself on the first flight to Phoenix.”

  Perfect. It was as far from my empty apartment as I could get, and nowhere could possibly be less Christmassy than the Arizona desert.

  * * *

  Bob

  “Anything important happen while I was at home?” I asked the same question every morning, and it was rare that my deputies would tell me about anything serious. Usually, the worst we got were domestic disputes or drunk drivers.

  “Jimmy Green got put in hospital. Poor kid is in a coma and hasn’t woke up yet. They said it was drugs. Doc Brown is gonna call later today when the blood tests come in.”

  That was unusual. The bigger towns had their drug problems but we rarely did.

  “Thanks, Rick. Get on home, now. Mike and Sean will be here, soon. We can take it from here.”

  Rick nodded and got to his feet. Picked up his hat and headed on out to his squad truck.

  I tried to place Jimmy Green. Snake Eye was such a small town, it didn’t even have a high school of its own, and a bunch of kids had to get the yellow bus from outside Betsy’s diner.

  Now I remembered. Jimmy was one of the older kids. Glasses. Red hair. Awkward kid. Not the sort of boy to get in trouble, or so I’d thought. I read through Rick’s report and sighed. What would possess a bright young man to do something so dumb as take drugs? I’d seen it happen before, but I was no closer to answering that question than the first time. Ninety-three. March. Spring Break. Ecstasy overdose. The boy in question had died of a cardiac arrest before he reached hospital. I’d had to tell his devastated parents that all their hopes for their son’s future were now ashes. Always hit me hard, when kids got killed.

  And no mistake, drugs were the weapon of choice sold by indiscriminate murderers.

  I hated drug dealers with a passion. Anyone that targeted kids with something so deadly, so ruinous and so mind-destroying... well the death penalty wasn’t good enough. There ought to be something worse.

  I remembered a film I’d seen, decades ago. The Flight of the Wild Geese. At the beginning, Roger Moore had caught a heroin dealer, and he forced him at gunpoint to eat his whole supply. Wish we were allowed to do that in real life.

  It was one of those th
oughts that haunted me. I knew I shouldn’t let it loose, would never act on it, but when kids were harmed, I got angry. Long ago, I’d learned to lock that anger away and never let it near the public. I dreaded the day I finally let loose on someone. The hardest thing about sheriffing was being sure not to go too far, even when criminals pressed all my buttons. As a man of the law, I wasn’t supposed to have any buttons.

  I sighed from my heels. We hadn’t had a drug problem here in a few years. I’d hoped it would stay that way, but clearly the desert had other ideas. She’d spat out another diseased soul and it was my job to track them down and make them face justice. Hopefully, I could get them before they killed someone.

  I filled my other deputies in on the news when they arrived, and finally at lunchtime, the phone rang.

  “Boss? It’s Doc Brown,” Mike said.

  I put down my sandwich and took the call.

  “Doc?”

  “We’ve got the blood results back for Jimmy Green.”

  I knew that was why he was calling, but my stomach still knotted when he said it.

  “What was it?” I asked.

  “That’s the thing. We never saw this drug in Arizona before last week. There’s only one other case in the whole state, and it was two hundred miles away.”

  “That don’t make any sense.”

  “We could be facing a whole raft of kids in hospital. You need to find out where it came from, Bob.”

  “You got Jimmy’s parents, there?”

  “Yeah. His mom hasn’t left his bedside. His dad looks like he saw a ghost.”

  “Can you blame him?” It came out harder than I’d intended. “Listen, I’ll be over as soon as I can. I’m going to get to the bottom of this.”