Lone Defender (Love Inspired Suspense) (17 page)

“People either loved him or hated him. I guess someone might have hated him enough to do him in.”

“Any idea who?”

“None. We didn’t hang with the same crowd. Shelby might know, though. She owns the place. Probably spent more time with Dan than anyone else here.”

“They dated?” Jonas asked, and the waitress laughed.

“Shelby date? She’s married to the diner, and that’s all she has time for. I just meant she worked more shifts with him. It’s possible she saw who his friends were. She’s in the back. I’ll get her for you. How about I put in an order for two specials while I’m at it? Things can get crazy here when the
before-church crowd arrives. Wouldn’t want you to have to wait for your food.”

“What’s the special?”

“A three stack. Two eggs. Sausage. Pan fried potatoes.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Two specials, then.” She scribbled something on an order pad, and Skylar frowned again.

“One will be fine.” Obviously, Skylar wasn’t thrilled to have him order for her.

“Two. I’m hungry enough to eat both if you can’t eat yours.”

“Six pancakes, four eggs, sausage and potatoes? There is no way can you eat all that.”

“Probably not, but I’m banking on you eating, so I’m not all that concerned about it. You’re hungry, right?”

“Yes, but we don’t have time to eat. Not a huge meal, anyway.” Skylar tapped her fingers on the table, and the waitress huffed impatiently.

“No offense, but I have more prep to do before the rush. Want to make up your minds?”

“It’s made. Bring two specials,” Jonas said, because they needed to eat and because spending time where Redmond worked might give them some clue as to why he’d chosen to work there.

“I didn’t expect this of you, Jonas.” Skylar crossed her arms, her dark eyes shooting daggers.

“What?”

“The whole macho thing. You decide we eat, so we eat.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t expect this of you, either.”

“I’m not going to ask you what.”

“Chicken.”

“Fine. What didn’t you expect?”

“That you’d be a sore loser. If sticking around to see if any of Redmond’s associates showed up was your idea, you’d
fight hard to stay all day and eat a dozen meals. Since it’s mine, you’re going to mope and call macho on me.” He responded, and Skylar’s lips quirked into a half smile.

“You know just how to play me, don’t you, Jonas? Make me ask what I don’t want to know, so you can drum some sense into my head. I’m sorry about the macho remark. I’m competitive. It’s another thing I’m working on.”

“It’s also what kept you alive for six days, so I’m not complaining, but, just so we’re clear, games aren’t my thing. I’ll never play them with you.”

“Is that a promise?” Her smile fell away.

“Do you want it to be?”

She hesitated, then shrugged. “I don’t like promises. No one ever keeps them. But maybe with you, things will be different. Right now, though, all I really want is to find some answers. I have the feeling time is running short, Jonas. It’s making me antsy.” She fiddled with the end of her braid, scooting back against the bench as the waitress returned with their order.

Honest, tough, funny, she was all those things.

And
she was smart, her instincts good.

Her worry only added to his, and he dug into his breakfast, his mind racing ahead to the moment of confrontation when he would square off against Skylar’s enemy.

It was coming, and he knew it.

Blood spurting over his hands, spilling onto the ground.

He shoved the memory away

Not again.

He wouldn’t let it happen again.

Please, God, help me keep it from happening again.

The prayer tripped out, as rough and raw as his emotions, and he didn’t regret it. Faith had a way of clinging even when a person wanted to push it away. For once, he wasn’t pushing.

FIFTEEN

S
he
was
hungry, and Jonas was right. Scoping out the diner, looking for Redmond’s contemporaries, that made the meal doubly worthwhile.

Skylar dug into her second pancake, shoveling it in and swallowing it down so fast she barely had time to taste it. Starvation would do that to a person, and she’d been starved for almost a week, so hungry, she’d been physically sick with it. She’d lost at least a dozen pounds during her long hike. Her clothes were loose, her bones protruding. It was time to put some weight back on.

She forked up a sausage. Thought about inhaling it and following it up with a shot of maple syrup.

Then again, maybe she shouldn’t be shoving food in her face with Jonas right across the table watching her with those blue-green eyes.

Staring
at her with those blue-green eyes.

“What?” She dabbed a napkin to her mouth and took a sip of orange juice, trying to pretend she didn’t want to eat every single bite of the food on her plate. Plus, anything left on his.

“Just admiring your ability to eat without chewing.”

She laughed, nearly spewing juice across the table at him, coughing until he came around the table and patted her back.

“You okay?” His hand rested on her back, the heat of it spearing through her.

“Next time, wait until I swallow before you give me the unvarnished truth.” She scooted away, and he smiled.

“You’re nervous again.”

“Nearly choking to death will do that to a person.”

“No one chokes to death on juice.”

“That’s what everyone says until it happens.”

He chuckled, moving back to his seat as the kitchen doors opened and a tall lean woman walked out.

“Morning, folks. I’m Shelby Hunter. Marcy said you wanted to speak with me.” She was younger than Skylar expected. Maybe at the top edge of twenty, her hazel eyes oddly light against dark red lashes, short red hair spiking around her head.

“We were hoping you might be able to tell us a little bit about Daniel Redmond. I was in a week ago, but you were out of town.”

“Skylar Grady, right?” She pulled over a chair, dropped into it, long legs stretched out, her arms crossed.

“That’s right.”

“There was a message from you on my desk when I got back to town, but by that time you were missing. Glad you’re okay, and I’m glad we can finally connect. So, what is it you want to know about Dan?”

“I spoke with a manager while you were gone. He said Redmond worked here for several months. That he was a good employee. I wanted to confirm that.”

“You spoke with Rick?”

“I think that was his name.”

“Good manager. Knows his job, so whatever he told you, you can take it to the bank.”

“I’d like your opinion, anyway.”

“You and every cop in town.” She smoothed her hair, and
it sprang up again. “Look, Redmond did his job. He showed up for work on time. He didn’t cause trouble. In my opinion, that’s a winning combination.”

“Lots of people do their jobs and show up for work on time. That doesn’t make them good employees,” Jonas said, and Shelby turned her attention to him.

“You’re Jonas Sampson, right? Saw a news story about you when I moved to town a few years back.”

“That’s a long time to remember a name.” He frowned, and Skylar shot him a look she hoped would keep him from throwing out a bunch of questions that might close down the interview before it even began.

“I’ve got a good memory.” She shrugged. “You’re right, though, about Dan. All those qualities combined don’t make a good employee, and I wouldn’t say Dan was one. He did what he had to. Nothing more.”

“You know a body was found behind his house, right?” Skylar tossed the line, hoping to reel in some information they could use.

“How could I not? Half of yesterday’s customers told me about it.”

“There’s a good possibility the deceased is Redmond.”

“I figured that, what with the police showing up at the diner. Look, I have a busy day ahead of me, and I don’t have a lot of time to waste talking about a guy I barely knew. If you don’t have anything else to ask, I need to go back to work.”

“We want to know who murdered him, Shelby, and we were hoping you might have some idea.”

“I really haven’t given it much thought, but, the way I see it, you mess with the big dogs and you’re going to get bit,” she said as she stood, and Skylar’s heart jumped.

“Big dogs?”

“I’ll tell you what I told the police, and then I have to go.
Dan hung with a tough crowd. Not people I’d trust to have my back.”

“Who?”

“You ever heard of the New Day Militia?”

“They have a compound twenty miles north of here, right?” Jonas asked, and Shelby nodded.

“That’s right. They’re big on independence, believe the government is out to get them. Redmond hooked up with a couple of brothers who are part of the group. Gerald and Mark Clovis. They used to come in here during off hours. Late at night. Really early in the morning. Any time they thought the dining room would be empty.”

“Used to?”

“They got into an argument with another patron. Nearly came to blows. I asked them not to come back.”

“Do you know where we can find the Clovis brothers?” Skylar pulled a paper napkin from the holder, fished a pen from her purse and got ready to write. This was the first she’d heard of Redmond’s connection to a militia group, and she was ready to run with the information.

“Easiest way to find them is to go out to the compound, but I wouldn’t recommend it. They’re not nice people.”

“Are they murderers?”

“They’re bigoted rebels who believe they’re a law unto themselves. Whether or not they’re murderers, I couldn’t say.”

“But they
were
friends with Redmond?”

“If people like that can claim to have friends, then, yes. Now, if you’ll excuse me. I need to finish prepping for the breakfast rush.”

“Before you go, there’s one more thing. The police found a body out in the desert last night.”

“Good old Josiah Stanley. I saw it on the news. It’s too bad. He was harmless enough.”

“Did you ever see him hanging around with Redmond?”

“Hanging with Dan? I don’t think—” She frowned. “Actually, now that I think about it, I did see them together once. I was heading home, and I saw Dan hanging around near the alley beside the diner. I thought he was alone, but then I realized Josiah was there. I figured maybe Dan was giving him something from the kitchen.”

“Did you ask?”

“I didn’t care enough to. Feeding one old man isn’t going to break my business. Now I really do have to get back to work. Enjoy your meal. It’s on the house.” She walked away, not giving Skylar time to ask more questions.

That was fine.

She’d learned plenty.

And she planned to find out more.

She shoved her plate away and stood. “We need to go out to New Day.”

“No.” Jonas rose, too.

“What do you mean, ‘no’?”

“Exactly what I said. We’re not going out there.”

“We just got the lead we’ve been searching for. Are you telling me that we shouldn’t follow up on it?”

“I’m telling you that we’re not the police. We don’t have their authority, or their manpower. If what Shelby said is right, heading to the compound without either of those things would be foolish.”

“So, we’re just supposed to sit around hoping the police are doing their jobs?”

“We’re supposed to make sure the police have all the information we do, and we will. Shelby said herself that she told the police about the connection between Redmond and the Clovis brothers. Mitchell is a good cop, and he’s thorough. There’s no doubt in my mind, if he already has the information, he’s following up on it.”

“
Mitchell
is a good cop? You’re not including the sheriff in that?”

“No, because I’m not sure what the sheriff’s priorities are. After Deputy Williams’s comment about it being an election year, I’m wondering how focused the sheriff is on the case. Come on. Let’s get out of here. We’ll call Mitchell on the way back to my place and tell him about the connection to Josiah Stanley. Didn’t seem like Shelby told the police about that. We’ll see what he has to say.”

“If Shelby knew about Redmond’s connections to New Day, other people must have. It’s strange that no one mentioned it to me before now.”

“Fear is a powerful enemy. New Day has been around for a few decades, and they’ve earned a reputation for brutal retaliation against anyone who crosses them. Several members have been accused of murder. No one has ever been convicted.” Jonas pulled onto the road and tossed his cell phone into Skylar’s lap. “Go ahead and call Mitchell.”

She did, leaving a message on his voice mail, her mind spinning with possibilities. “They’ve been accused of murder, so it’s possible they’ve committed it. That makes it even more likely they were involved in Redmond’s death.”

“Maybe.”

“I still think we should pay them a visit.”

“Even if we did, which we
won’t,
it’s unlikely we’d make it onto the compound. The group is closed to the public. They exist under the guise of a religious sect that abhors the trappings of modern life.”

“Like the Amish?”

“Hardly. They’re preparing the way for a new messiah, and they say he’s going to be born into their numbers. They control everything that comes in with the express purpose of keeping what they call the new order from being tainted. At least, that’s what their followers are told.”

“You know a lot about the group, Jonas.”

“I should. One of my jobs as border patrol agent was to keep illegal firearms from being brought into the country. We suspected that New Day was one of the prime destinations for anything that made it through, but we weren’t able to prove it.”

“It’s hard to believe a group like that doesn’t get more press.”

“They’ve had their share, but only locally. Their prime objective is to overthrow the government, but they aren’t advertising that. Staying under the radar by working within the law is how they’ve kept going for so long. The crimes they do commit, they commit secretly. In other words, they pay their taxes and their bills, they act civil and don’t cause problems.”