Judging Judas (Tarnished Saints Series Book 3) (2 page)

“One only,” said Candace, slapping his hand. “These are for the customers, to draw them inside. Come on, Levi, you can help
me pass them out.” She pulled her husband along with her toward the crowd, and Judas knew it was really only to keep them from fighting.

“
Zeb,” Judas said with a greeting nod, looking at his brother dressed in his Armani suit and sporting a Rolex watch and a pair of Gucci aviator sunglasses. Zeb was a lawyer and had just opened his own firm in Benton Harbor. He’d always been successful and had a way with the ladies as well. Judas probably envied him more than any of his other brothers. Zeb had everything Judas always wanted.

“Nice crowd because of the goats, huh?
” Zeb licked the cheesecake off his fingers and looked back up toward the roof. “Levi’s really got some great ideas.”

“Well, I’ve got some ideas for this town as well,” said Judas. “And I assure you, none of them have to do with goats.”

“Hey, by the way, I’ve got my own place now,” Zeb told him. “It’s really sweet, you should see it. Top floor condo, beach front property. That means candlelight dinners and some wild sex while watching the moon over the lake from my balcony.”

“Well, you don’t need a condo on Lake Michigan when you can have beachfront property right here on Thunder Lake,” Judas told him.

Zeb laughed. “Well, Sweet Water is a nice town and all, but much too small for my liking. Living on Thunder Lake is too desolate for me. Besides, I’d have to be married to collect my inheritance and there’s no way I’m giving up the ladies for a ball and chain. So, I’m moving out of Thomas’s today. How about you? Find somewhere to live yet, or do you plan on staying with Thomas for the rest of your life?”

“
Cut the crap, Zeb,” he warned him. “I’ve only been there since I got to town for Ma’s funeral, same as you. And as much as I appreciate Thomas and Angel giving me a place to crash, I know I need my own place too, now that I’m sheriff of Sweet Water. I’ve already moved out of my apartment up north and my stuff is in storage. I can’t wait to have my own place again, and get away from all those noisy kids already.”

“Now, Judas. Is that any way to talk about your niece and nephews?”

“Face it Zeb. I’m not like Thomas or Levi who just love kids to no end. I actually think I like them better once they’re teenagers.”

“So does that mean you’re never getting married
or having kids?” asked Zeb, raising his chin and looking through the crowd, obviously hoping to snag another cheesecake.

“No, just the opposite.
Well, about the marrying part, anyway. I don’t really think I ever want kids. But, I figure since Pa left us all lake lots and cabins on Thunder Lake, why should I move into another house? I’m just going to stay at the station for awhile while I hunt me down a wife, then get married and move into one of the cottages of my choice.”

“Good idea
,” said Zeb. “And in the meantime, instead of getting my piece of the pie, I’m going to be busy sampling some much sweeter desserts, if you know what I mean.”

Judas grumbled, knowing Zeb always seemed to have a date no matter what day of the week it was. Judas, on the other hand, couldn’t remember the last time he
went on an actual date. And even when he was out with a girl, it didn’t matter. He’d never felt anything for any of the women afterwards. He was still scarred from his past, as his heart belonged to a woman he foolishly walked away from years ago. His first and only love, Delaney McDermott was a relationship that had ended very badly.

“How about I fix you up
with a nice girl and we double date this weekend?” asked Zeb.

“No, I can’t. I’m working.”

“Are you sure it’s not just because you’re still thinking about that girl you almost married when you were in high school? What was her name again?”

“It doesn’t matter. That’s water under the bridge and I’d appreciate if you never brought it up again.”

“Have it your way, brother, but at the rate you’re going, you’ll never get married or receive your inheritance. You just need to dive in and marry the first girl you see. That is, unless you’re going to get cold feet again like last time you tried doing that.”

Judas didn’t even have time to respond to that
comment, and it probably was a good thing since he wasn’t liking this conversation at all, when a commotion from the crowd drew his attention elsewhere.

“Thief!”
cried out a woman, whose voice Judas recognized as the former mayor of the town, the old widow, Mabel Durnsby. “Help! That thief just stole my purse.”

Judas’s hand was on the butt of his gun
instantly as he looked up to see what was going on. This town had been dead as a doornail for the past month, but it seemed as if all that was about to change right now.

“I gotta go
,” Judas said, his eyes scanning the crowd, searching for the thief.

“Well, don’t look now,” said Zeb, “but I think the thief is also stealing your squad.”

“What?” Judas spun around quickly. His eyes fastened onto his squad car parked at the curb to verify that what Zeb said was true. “What the hell.” He caught a glimpse of someone disappearing into his car so he took off at a run through the crowd.

“Hope you didn’t leave the keys inside,” he h
eard Zeb shouting out with a chuckle from behind him.

He had left the keys in the ignition, but he’d never expected anyone in this half-horse town to
make such a bold move. He heard the engine being started so he stopped and pulled his gun, meaning to shoot out a tire. Screams went up from the crowd and people started running, grabbing their children in the process.

He knew he couldn’t fire with so many people around and jammed the
gun back into his holster and took off running after his patrol car. He made it to the curb just as the thief sped away, squealing the tires and leaving him in a puff of dust. He knew he had to do something fast, and spied a little bright green Volkswagen Beetle headed toward him down the street. He held out his arms to flag it down, almost getting hit before the woman behind the wheel decided to stop.

He ran over to the driver’s door and yanked it open
, pulling off his sunglasses in the process.

“Police emergency, m
a’am,” he told the woman. “I need you to get out immediately, as I need to use your car.”

“Silver?” came the woman’s voice, and he looked down
to see someone he never expected to see again in his life. The woman driving was a ghost from his past, and the only one in the entire world who would call him by his middle name that was even more embarrassing than his first name.

There sat h
is first and only love, and the woman whom he’d also jilted at the altar when he was seventeen. Delaney McDermott looked up to him with bright green eyes wide with surprise when she saw him. Her brownish red curls framed her face, making her look just as intoxicating as she’d looked the day he’d left her standing alone at the altar as he’d made a beeline for the door, realizing he couldn’t marry her.

“Laney?” His voice cracked
just to say her name again, and he felt an instant knot in his stomach. “Shit!” he cursed, knowing that this day had just gone from bad to worse. And now, a stolen purse or goats on the roof were the very least of his worries.

Chapter 2

Delaney McDermott
, or Laney as her friends called her, couldn’t believe her eyes. She’d been in the middle of chasing down her obstinate teenage daughter, J.D. when a police officer stopped her by jumping in front of her car and then ordering her to get out. Never in a gazillion years had she expected the policeman to be Judas Silver Taylor. Nor did she really want to see him after what he’d done to her.

Still, it had been the reason she came back to Thunder Lake
she reminded herself, as she knew it was time to find him and make him part of her life once again, whether she liked it or not. She needed to talk to him about something she should have told him long ago, even if it did scare the hell out of her.

“Hurry, get out, I need to use your car to go after that damned thief
who just stole a woman’s purse and also my squad,” he told her.

“Not even a hello?” she asked
. “Or how about a -
I’m sorry for leaving you at the
altar in front of the whole town as I ran scared?”

“Laney, I don’t have time for this right now. We can talk later, now just get out of the car.”

“I will not!” she spat, madder than hell at him for more reasons than one. But right now it was because she saw the sheriff’s badge on his chest and knew her daughter would be thrown in jail for what she’d just done. Not that J.D. didn’t deserve it for the way she’d been acting lately, but she couldn’t allow that to happen to her daughter, and especially not in her condition.

“Ms. McDermott,
I’m not going to ask you again. Now as an officer of the law, I order you to step out of your car.”

“
Ms. McDermott?” she echoed him. “Silver, what’s the matter with you? Don’t call me that. And no, I’m not going to do it, no matter if you’re the town sheriff or the president himself.” She knew she was flirting with danger talking to a cop this way. But she was so angry with him right now she didn’t even care.

They st
ared at each other for a moment and she saw his jaw clenched tightly as if he were trying to hold back from saying something to her. Then, when she started wondering if speaking in anger had been the right thing to do, he glanced down the street and at the crowd watching them, and answered in a low voice.

“Fine! The
n you drive, but let’s get the hell out of here already.” He rushed around to the passenger side of the car and jumped inside, not bothering to put on his seat belt as she pulled away very slowly, heading down the street. “And don’t call me Silver in public, ever again.” He touched the radio on his shoulder, talking to another policeman. “We’ve got a ten-thirty-one,” he said. “It’s a seventeen-ten as well as a stolen vehicle. The suspect is heading north down Main Street. I’m in a civilian’s car and in pursuit.” There was static on the other end and then a male voice replied.

“
Can you clarify seventeen-ten, sheriff?” Papers were heard shuffling in the background. “Are you saying there is a dead animal carcass in the road, or livestock?”

“Neither, you fool. Now learn the codes already,” Judas spat into the radio. “It’s a crime in progress. A
purse snatching and a stolen vehicle and I’m in pursuit in a civilian’s car.”

“Ten-four,
” he acknowledged. More static, then the man’s voice was heard again. “Uh, can I get a copy on that last part, Sheriff Taylor? It almost sounded like ya said ya were in a civilian’s car.”

“I did,” he said in a low voice.  “N
ow stop asking me to repeat myself, we’re wasting time.”

“So what is the make of the vehicle that’s been stolen
?” came the officer’s voice over the radio once again.

“Damn it,
figure it out, Deputy,” he growled. “I’m in a civilian’s car because my squad’s been stolen.”

L
aney heard silence from the other end and then laughter in the man’s voice as it resounded over the radio once again. “Are you requesting backup?”

“That’s affirmative,” he answered. “Proceed with caution, as the suspect could be armed and dangerous.”

“Armed and dangerous?” Laney repeated aloud. She knew for a fact that J.D. was hormonal, obstinate and wild, but she surely wasn’t armed and she was far from dangerous.

Judas hit a switch on the radio and then
looked over to her. “Go faster!” he shouted, making her jump in her seat.

“You’re not wearing your seatbelt,” she told him.

“Don’t worry about me, now step on it!”

She floored the gas pedal, causing him to almost get whiplash as she took off down the street with what looked like half the town watching them.
The live daisy standing proud and tall in the little car’s bud holder wiggled as the whole contraption attached to her dashboard became detached and tipped over. The flower hit the floor and the water from bud holder splashed on Judas’s pants. He leaned forward to brush it off quickly, only to be hit in the head by the crystal swinging from her rear-view mirror hanging from a braided colored ribbon that held it attached.

She heard him swear under his breath
and rub his forehead, then glance out the window. Then he made her jump again as his fist hit the dashboard and another curse left his mouth.

“Can’t you go any faster?” he ground out.
“If not, pull over and let me drive already.”

“This is a VW, not a racecar,” she told him.
“Now try to take some calming breaths and find your center.” Actually, she was purposely dogging it, hoping to give J.D. some extra time to get away, but trying not to look like it. “So,” she said, glancing over to him. “You’re a cop.” Her eyes scanned down his body and she drank in his impressive physique, as his tall frame was smashed into her little bug of a car.

He
looked damned fine in his sheriff’s uniform. He wore short sleeves and his arms were bulging with muscles as if he worked out day and night. And by the way his pants clung to his thighs, she was sure they were solid and sturdy as well. His black hair was cut short and his eyes were dark and dangerous. His face was clean-shaven, and he looked respectable and professional instead of the carefree, wild boy she’d remembered when she’d dated him in high school.