Zeph Undercover (7 page)

“Yeah.” Zeph looked at his beer as though it held answers. “But I get time off. She lives like this all the time. She said twenty-four seven, and I believe it.”

“That’s pretty much the way it works.”

“Whatever.” His mind couldn’t wrap itself around a lifestyle that included running out the door every time some horse decided to need attention. He considered the bottle he held. “I’m surprised. Who knew Allie kept Heineken on ice.”

Luke’s teeth flashed in a wicked grin. “She keeps it for me. But I’m willing to share.” He put his booted feet on the porch rail. “Want to check out the barn?”

“No, I don’t want to check out the barn. What’s the matter with you people? There are perfectly comfortable chairs in the house. Or even here on the porch. Barns are full of animals.”

Luke snickered. “Allie doesn’t have any chickens.”

“That chicken bit me. And if you keep rubbing that in, I might have to…” Zeph’s voice trailed off when he realized he didn’t have any real threat. “Whatever.” He raised his beer. “Cheers.”

After a long slug of frosty beer, Luke said, “How’s the case going? Must be something to get you to set foot in this—what did you call it? ‘Godforsaken, back-of-nowhere, wide spot in the road.’”

Misleading a friend like Luke went against the grain. Admitting to working undercover violated every investigative principle. “Case?” Zeph said innocently, just in case Hannah hadn’t told him anything.

“Yeah. Although since we have a secret weapon, I figure we’ll be seeing a lot of you, case or no case.”

“Secret—?”

“Allie. What else?”

“Right. Like Hannah didn’t tell you about our entertaining little lunch. I don’t know why Allie decided to go along with the pretense that I’m here to ‘court’ her, if I may use Betty’s term.”

“Sure you do. Think about it. You and Allie—”

“Are history.” He couldn’t make himself look at Luke, didn’t know if it would be worse to see blame or pity in his friend’s eyes.

“Bummer. What happened?”

“She dumped me.”

“Hannah didn’t tell me about the dumping part. Might make it uncomfortable being here. What happened?”

“She said she didn’t have time to come to L. A. and she figured I wouldn’t come here.”

“Yet here you are.”

A slow smile spread across Zeph’s face. “So I am. And while I’m here…”

“While you’re here, you’re not going to do anything to hurt Allie,” Luke warned.

“Great. Thanks. Just what I need, being treated like some hit/run slacker. Whose side are you on?”

“Hers.”

“Thanks a bunch, buddy.”

“She’s a nice woman.”

“Well, that’s the damned problem, isn’t it?”

A marked patrol car turned into the drive and the burly, gray-haired sheriff climbed out.

“Yo, Zeph. Can’t keep away from our Allie, huh?”

“Hello, Monty.” He rose to shake hands with the sheriff. “How about one of Allie’s beers? Or is this a professional call?”

“Yes to the beer. No to the other. Just stopped to say hello. Didn’t have a chance to talk to you the other day. Guess you were too busy.” Monty snickered and lowered himself into one of the chairs. “Where’s Allie?”

“Emergency. She didn’t say where, just lit out like her tail was on fire.”

Monty took off his Stetson and scratched his head. “Well, I wondered why you were sittin’ out here drinkin’. While the cat’s away, huh?”

Zeph went to get the beer, along with refills for himself and Luke. He didn’t know about Luke, but he was pretty sure he’d need one.

Monty chatted amiably, though, not pushing Zeph, seeming to enjoy swapping stories about work and the fact that life in Stone’s Crossing moved at a more leisurely pace than in L. A. “Don’t know how you stand it, boy,” he said. “But you’re young yet. Me, I’m slowin’ down. Lookin’ to retire here pretty soon.”

The quizzical look that went with the statement turned Zeph’s blood to sherbet. If that was an offer, it was a damned unwelcome one. He couldn’t think of many things worse that being the sheriff in a place like this.

“Just had enough,” Monty went on. “Got me a little place outside of town, a few horses, just gonna take it easy. One of these days.”

“Sounds nice,” Zeph lied. It sounded like suspended animation to him, and he for damned sure didn’t intend to ask who Monty had in mind for a successor. He aimed a kick at Luke when Luke did.

Luke dodged and shot him a grin.

“Don’t know,” Monty admitted, apparently oblivious to the byplay. “Still lookin’. No hurry. No hurry. Someone’ll turn up.” He finished his beer and stood. “Guess I’ll get back to work. Just wanted to say hello. Good to see you back here.” He gave Zeph a sharp look. “You be good to our Allie, you hear?” he said, and left.

“Does everybody in this town know if I floss every night and how often I change underwear?” Zeph asked after a pause.

“Probably. I thought you figured it out when you were here before—if you don’t want to see it on the front page, don’t even think it. At least not inside the town limits.”

“Very funny. Very funny.” Zeph lapsed into silence and the afternoon spun by, quiet and golden.

****

By the end of the week, Allie wanted to scream. Zeph had followed her around every day, flirted with her every evening at her dad’s, and worst of all, rattled her cage with kisses every time he had a chance. The one he’d laid on her in the produce section of Paul’s grocery would fuel town gossip for years. “Sorry, sir, I didn’t see you,” indeed. Like Paul believed him. Like anyone could believe that.

He hadn’t said anything about suspecting her father, but she knew the axe just waited to fall. The whole thing had her edgy as a calf at a roping contest.

At least she’d get away from Zeph tonight, accompanying her father to one of his movers-and-shakers dinners in Sacramento. Which reminded her, she hadn’t told Zeph he’d be home alone this evening. She grimaced. He’d probably use it to search the clinic.

The last medical record went into its folder and into the file cabinet and she went looking for Zeph. Just like a man—the first time she’d wanted to talk to him all week and he’d poofed. To be fair, she hadn’t left the office this early since he’d come to town, but why did she have to be fair?

As she went down the hall to the waiting room, she heard the door open, and Zeph’s voice. “—in there. No, I don’t need to take him. You’re doing fine. I’ll go get Doctor—”

“I’m right here.” Allie dashed across the room to the boy staggering to carry a shaggy collie mix almost as big as he was. She shot a glare at Zeph, who stood as far from the action as he could get. “What happened to him, Kenny?” she asked the boy as she took the dog and carried him into an exam room.

“He ran in front of my bike,” Kenny said, suppressed sobs hitching his breath. “I couldn’t stop and I hit him so hard. I ran right over him and he yelled and...” The sobs won.

“You go sit in the other room. I’ll take care of Thunder.” She nudged Kenny and Zeph toward the door. After a brief, black thought about Zeph, she got to work doing what she did best—saving a life.

When she’d gotten the bleeding stopped, x-rayed for broken ribs, and stitched up the gash in the puppy’s leg, she carried him out to the waiting room.

To her surprise, Zeph had an arm around Kenny’s shoulders and bent over the boy, listening intently. Kenny looked up and froze at the sight of her with his puppy.

“Relax. He’s going to be just fine.” She set the puppy in his lap. “I’ll call your mom to come get the two of you.”

“I’ll go get your bike. Tell me where you left it,” she heard Zeph say as she crossed the room to the reception desk.

She punched numbers into the phone, not wanting to let Zeph’s sympathetic handling of the boy soften her anger. After she’d explained to Kenny’s mother, she went back and sat next to the boy and his puppy.

“Remember, it wasn’t your fault,” Zeph said when he came back with the bike. “When he’s grown up and you’ve trained him, he’ll know to run right alongside your bike and not dart in front of you again. I’ll bet Doctor Allie can help you with that.”

“Of course I can. I might even start a basic obedience class. I’ll bet Thunder would enjoy that.”

After Kenny and Thunder had gone, she turned to Zeph. “You were good with him. Thanks.”

He raised an eyebrow. It gave him a devilish, somehow appealing look that might have weakened her knees if she’d let it. “You thought I’d beat him up?”

Her heart skipped. “I—uh—no. I just didn’t think...I didn’t expect...”

“Kindness? I know you’re mad at me, but that hurts. Anyway, I like kids.”

She swallowed her surprise and changed the subject. “I’m done here. Ready to go?”

“Sure. Could we stop at the drugstore on the way to your dad’s?”

Drugstore? Surely he didn’t expect her to sleep with him. A blush heated its way up her face.

He raised that eyebrow again. “I’m out of toothpaste.”

Allie turned away to hide the x-rated thoughts she wanted to deny but couldn’t.
He’s not for you. Not in a million years, remember? Not to mention that he wants to arrest your father. Get a grip, woman.
“Fine. But don’t be long. We’re late as it is.”

****

Allie didn’t say a word in the car. As she pulled up in front of the drugstore, she said, “I forgot to tell you—oh, there’s Santos.”

Zeph slid out of the car and around to her door by the time she turned off the ignition. “Rodriguez? Introduce me.”

The instant she got out of the car, Zeph took her arm and hustled her across the sidewalk. “Hey. Take it easy. I’ll do my part.”
And throw poor Santos to the wolves if I have to. Anything to protect Dad.

“Santos! I haven’t seen you in town for ages,” Allie said. “Are you back for a while?”

“Doctor Allie. A few weeks, this time. I am very happy to see the sign for your clinic. And this must be the gentleman from the City of Angels.”

She linked her arm through Zeph’s, hating her hypocrisy. “Of course. Santos, this is Zeph Granger. Zeph, Santos Rodriguez.”

Rodriguez stood four or five inches less than Zeph’s six feet plus, and he had the look of a man who did hard manual labor. Zeph shook the hand Rodriguez offered with what looked like pleasure. “Glad to meet you,” Zeph said. “You were out of town the last time I was in Stone’s Crossing.”

“Yes. The sad time of Mr. Blanton’s troubles. I remember.”

“A sad time, indeed,” Zeph said. “I’ve been wondering how you’ve managed with him gone.”

“I thought that would be a trouble. But no, all is good. I do the same as always. The same things as when he was here.”

“But didn’t he do the bids for new jobs?”

“No. I do it. Mr. Blanton, he made a kind of—he call it a check list—that I use. Everything is the way it was done when he is here. So I do the same, everything the same.”

“Really. Seems like a great chance to change things now that you’re in charge.”

Rodriguez shook his head. “I know what I know. Mr. Derek, he told me to do things the same. And we make money, so he is right.”

“As long as it works,” Zeph said with a shrug.

“Every three month, I send the report. If Mr. Lincoln says business is bad, the company is sold.”

“And then you’re out of work.”

Rodriguez nodded. “I do not worry. I know many who would give me work. I am a good worker.”

“But here you could do things your own way. You sure you don’t like being your own boss?”

“I am happy to work for someone. Too hard to make all the deciding. If Mr. Blanton didn’t leave the lists, I would quit, go for another job.”

“Smart man, Santos. You know what you want,” Zeph said. “Not many do.” He smiled, took Allie’s arm, and went into the drugstore.

“Bye, Santos,” Allie said as she left. When they got inside the store, she turned to Zeph. “So, you think he told the truth?”

Zeph picked up the toothpaste and went to the checkout counter. “Maybe. I’d like to see the lists old Derek left for him, though.” The girl at the cash register might have been worth a look if he hadn’t met Allie. He handed her the money and took his change, ignoring her dimpled smile.

“She wanted to flirt with you,” Allie said when they got back in her truck.

“I didn’t want to flirt with her.” With surprise, he realized the truth of what he’d just said, and wasn’t that something new.

He expected snark, but Allie said only, “Back to work. I don’t see how you’re going to get a look at those lists.”

“I’ll think of something.” Like breaking into the office when Rodriguez isn’t there. And he didn’t see any point in sharing that with Allie. “Did you notice the uneasy shift of Rodriguez’s eyes when he repeated ‘everything’?” he asked.

“No, I didn’t. Maybe you’re being too suspicious.”

“That’s my job.”

“Whatever.” She turned onto her father’s street. “I forgot to tell you that I have to go to a dinner meeting with Dad tonight. Martha will have something ready for you and—”

“Not a problem. She told me yesterday. And I’m a big boy. I can take care of myself for an evening.”