was giving up his weapon. He felt incomplete without the comforting weight of the gun under his left arm.
Once everyone was settled, the bank robber slouched in his chair, his hard eyes on the table in front of him.
Reese gave him a hard stare. “Hello, Charlie.”
The man didn’t even look up.
Eli said, “We ran your prints through AFIS. Welcome to Rose Mountain, Mr. John C. Berkley. Looks like you have a pretty nice rap sheet here.”
Tension ran through Berkley as he finally lifted his gaze. He drilled Reese with a silent look filled with hate and a cold confidence that made Reese narrow his eyes.
Eli leaned forward. “Now, would you like to tell us who your partners are and where we can find them?”
Without expression, Berkley simply said, “No.”
“Of course not.” Eli nodded. “Well, then, I guess we’ll send you on up to Bryson City. Oh, and I’m going to let it be known that you weren’t just bank robbing, you were going after a baby.”
That got Berkley’s attention. His shoulders straightened and the surly attitude slid off his face. “Wait a minute, that’s not true. You can’t do that.”
Eli shrugged and Reese admired the man’s acting abilities. “I think it is true. What do you think, Reese?”
Reese rubbed his chin as though pondering Eli’s question. “He told her to come with him. She had a baby she wasn’t leaving behind. Yeah, at least attempted kidnapping.” Reese kept his voice casual, as though he didn’t have a care in the world. “Especially since we have someone who witnessed you saying something about ‘The woman is mine.’ Now, which woman were you talking about? There were only three in the bank.”
Berkley’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I don’t believe you, but we can come back to that. I’m real interested in the fact that you didn’t mind putting a child at risk and attempting to kidnap her mother. That might not go over so well in some prisons.”
Berkley fidgeted, and Reese could tell he was working hard to keep himself under control.
Eli pressed the issue. “Lots of guys in prison, especially those with families of their own, don’t take kindly to those who put children in danger—you know what I’m saying?”
A bead of sweat dripped from Berkley’s forehead. He knew.
But he clamped his lips shut and looked at his lawyer, who said, “Don’t say anything. I’ll see what we can do with the judge.” Forsythe nailed Eli and Reese with a glare. “That’s pretty low, Eli.”
“So is trying to rob my town’s bank and kidnap a local resident.” Eli stood and walked to the door.
Reese leaned forward toward Berkley, knuckles resting on the table. “And so is trying to shoot me. That tends to make me a little angry.”
Barkley said nothing, just met Reese stare for stare. Then a slow smile slipped over the man’s face, and he leaned back in his chair.
Reese stood, hoping his contempt for the man was obvious. As he walked toward the door, Berkley gave a low chuckle. “You think you know everything don’t you, Kirkpatrick?”
Reese paused, exchanged a glance with Eli and the silent lawyer. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t mean anything.” He looked at his lawyer. “Get me out of here.”
Reese stepped in front of them. “What do you mean?”
For a moment the man simply stared at him, then sneered, “I mean, your little lady messed up when she decided to mess with our job. She’d better watch her back cuz this ain’t over.”
FOUR
Reese felt his blood boil as he watched Eli escort Berkley from the room. Was the man all talk? Or was there more to this than met the eye? Berkley’s attitude suggested that he knew something they didn’t, and it made Reese’s palms itch. He wanted to watch the bank video, see if anything struck him.
Eli had said it was being sent over. So he’d wait for it.
He dialed Maggie’s number and it went to voice mail. Then he dialed Mitchell’s, the other deputy on duty.
“Mitchell here.”
“This is Reese. What’s your location?”
“I’m just on the edge of town, at the base of the mountain.”
“Will you swing by Maggie Bennett’s place?” He gave him the address. “Just check and make sure everything’s all right?”
“Sure.”
Reese’s stomach rumbled, and he frowned. Although he felt better about sending Mitchell to check on Maggie, he couldn’t help remembering Berkley’s words. “It’s not over yet.” And why would one of the robbers talk about “the woman” being his before the robbery? Had Pete gotten his conversations mixed up? If not, which woman? One of the tellers?
Maggie?
But Maggie’s trip to the bank had been spur of the moment. Hadn’t it?
His stomach sent up hunger signals once again and Reese sighed. He’d grab a quick bite then get back to work. He’d left in a hurry this morning, which meant he hadn’t taken the time to eat breakfast.
Reese headed for the door. “Hey, wait up.” Eli came from the back. “Where you headed?”
“Thought I’d grab a biscuit at the diner. I missed breakfast.”
“You mind if I come along? White’s got the jail covered, and Alice is on the phones.” Alice Colby, the department secretary, was a pleasant woman in her early fifties. She had salt-and-pepper-colored hair and blue eyes that sparkled all the time. Reese liked her. Jason White was the new hire who’d started the same day as Reese. Reese didn’t like him as much as he liked Alice. But the deputy was competent, and Reese knew Eli was glad to have a full staff once again.
“Sure, come on,” he said. “What’s wrong? Holly didn’t feed you this morning?”
Eli grinned. “Not this morning. Holly’s not feeling all that great.”
“Why does that put a smile on your face?”
“She’ll feel better in a few weeks. After the first trimester.”
“First tri— Oh.” Holly was pregnant. A pang shot through him, and grief hit him in the gut. Covering the split-second reaction, Reese cleared his throat. “Ah, well, congratulations.”
The smile slipped from Eli’s face. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Reese forced a lightness into his voice that he didn’t feel.
“It still hits hard, doesn’t it?”
Reese didn’t bother to try to avoid the question. “Yeah. It does. Not as hard as it used to, so time’s helping, but it still hurts.” This time his smile was real. “But I’m happy for you and Holly. That’s great. I hope it’s a girl for her sake, though. Even things out with you males in the family.”
Eli slapped him on the back and gave his shoulder a friendly squeeze. “Me, too. Come on, I’m starving. Let’s eat while we have a chance.”
On the way to the diner, Eli stopped residents of the town and introduced Reese to each one. Friendly faces welcomed him, and Reese felt a small sliver of peace slide into his heart.
Coming to Rose Mountain had been the best choice he’d made in a long time.
“By the way, don’t forget about the church potluck dinner Wednesday night. When I was a bachelor, I looked forward to