Cowboy Famous: Book 4 (Cowboy Justice Association) (22 page)

“No, I have the sliders closed. I don’t like to let bugs in the house.” Griffin sat back in his chair. “By the way Jazz, this is Price, my brother. Price, this is Jazz. Now what brings you here this early in the morning?”

“It’s not that early and I know who she is. The whole damn town knows.” Price tipped his hat. “Pardon me, ma’am. Griff, have you seen the papers this morning or the far end of your driveway?”

Griffin’s eyes narrowed and his body stiffened. “No, I can’t see the end of the driveway from the house. It’s too far. Why? Is there something I need to see?”

Standing slowly, he moved toward the doors but Price caught his arm. “You can’t go out there unless you’re prepared. The property across from yours is covered with reporters. Shit, there has to be at least a dozen and a few satellite trucks too.”

Griffin muttered under his breath and rubbed his chin. “Son of a fucking bitch. What are they doing here?”

“You’re the goddamn sheriff, bro. There’s a dead girl that was on the television and they all want to know who did it. I don’t suppose you know?”

“It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours,” Griffin argued but his brother cut him off.

“Like they give a shit. They all know Jazz is here too.” Price tipped his hat again. “Pardon me a second time. It’s no one’s business what you two do but it looks like at least three major news networks are making it their business.”

Jazz buried her face in her hands, her heart sinking. Griffin was a private man and this was going to send him over the edge. Whatever good they’d had last night and this morning was about to be blown all to shit.

“Fucking hell,” Griffin cursed. “What’s in the paper that I don’t want to see?”

Price handed it to him with a grimace. “There’s an editorial in there from Councilman Leroy Wilson questioning whether you’re up to the job, so to speak. He says that we need a new sheriff because you couldn’t catch Casey Charlock’s killer, now this girl. Oh, and that you have sexual dalliances with suspects.”

“Jazz is not a suspect!” Griffin exploded, his normally calm demeanor shot to hell. A muscle was working overtime in his jaw and his face had turned red. “She was with me at the time of the murder. Son of a bitch. Son of a fucking bitch.”

Griffin perused the paper as Jazz’s stomach twisted in her gut. Her appetite completely gone, she pushed her plate away, unsure how to make any of this better. Griffin threw the newspaper over the railing and into the water.

“Leroy Wilson can kiss my lily-white ass,” he pronounced flatly. “He wants me to be a fucking hero with no budget and no trained deputies. He couldn’t find anyone else to be the sheriff of this backwater piece of shit town for what they pay me. If he wants my badge he can fucking have it.”

“Calm down, Griffin.” An older gentleman with a lined face and silver hair was climbing the deck stairs. “No one wants your badge, least of all me. Leroy’s just blowing off steam like he always does. He likes to stir things up, you know.”

“Hey, Otis.” Price shook hands with the older man. “You make it okay through that line of reporters?”

The man named Otis smiled and sat down in Griffin’s recently vacated chair. “I pointed my truck in the direction I wanted to go and heaven help those who get in the way. They moved.”

Otis held his hand out to her. “Hello, my dear. Councilman Otis McClintock. You must be Jazz Oliver.”

“I must be,” she answered weakly, shaking his hand. “How bad is it?” She nodded toward the front of the house. Somewhere at the end of Griffin’s long driveway were a bunch of reporters hell-bent on getting a story.

“It’s bad. I fear you are not going to get to leave here without your picture being taken. Is that a problem? I heard you’re an actress. Isn’t there a saying about no such thing as bad publicity?”

Once glance at Griffin’s thunderous expression and she knew there wasn’t anything she would do to keep them both out of the papers. She didn’t care what opportunities it cost. Nothing was worth the misery he was obviously in.

“I’m not sure that saying is accurate,” she said quietly, watching Griffin carefully. Right now he had his back to all three of them and was staring over the placid lake. Finally he turned around, his features set in stone.

“Do I have your support, Otis, to run this investigation as I see fit? I won’t tolerate any interference from the council members. I mean it.”

Griffin’s tone was one that brooked no nonsense and Otis seemed to pick up on it. He nodded vigorously even as he picked up an abandoned piece of toast and bit into it.

“Of course, of course. This is your baby. I just need one favor.”

“What’s that?” Griffin asked suspiciously, one eyebrow lifted in question.

“Find the person that did this quickly. Today, if possible. Every day that passes makes us look more like some pissant town with a Barney Fife sheriff. People don’t want to visit or open businesses in places like that.”

Jazz’s eyes went wide at the Barney Fife comment but as usual Griffin showed amazing control. He barely batted an eyelash but his teeth were gritted together in anger.

“Might I remind you that it was
you
who brought these people here? It was
you
that said nothing bad would happen. I told you that I was understaffed but no one fucking listens to me around here.”

Otis stood and brushed the toast crumbs from his shirt. “Make this go away,” he said bluntly. “I’ve got deals in the works and this is putting them in jeopardy.”

“Are you threatening Griffin?” The incredulous words popped out of Jazz’s mouth before she could stop them. He looked like somebody’s grandfather, for heaven’s sake.

“Of course not.” Otis smiled charmingly, but this time Jazz wasn’t in the mood to be swayed. “I simply let him know how important it is to get this cleared up as soon as possible. I love Griffin like a son.”

“I’ve seen how you treat family,” Griffin snorted. “Count me out. But the message is received. No one wants this put to bed more than I do. Soon. If you want to be any help, call your buddies in Missoula. I need our evidence to go to the front of the line at the state lab. We can’t do much without it. This murder will be solved by forensics. No one is lining up to confess.”

“Consider it done.” Otis bowed his head and headed toward the stairs. “Thanks for breakfast and good luck getting out of here. Do you want me to call Adam or anything?”

“I’m the goddamn law in this town. We’ll get out of here.”

Otis chuckled and disappeared around the corner of the house. Griffin pointed to Price.

“You stay here with Jazz. I’ll get the nosy bastards outside to follow me into town by promising them a statement. When they’re all gone, get her out of here.”

Jazz stood up to protest. If anyone should throw themselves on the sacrificial altar it was her. The show was the reason all this had happened. She might not have personally brought the show here but she was a part of the problem.

“I’ll get them to follow me,” she urged. “You stay here. I can deal with this.”

“You can deal with this?” Griffin was looking at her like she was insane. “You said before you’ve never even been in a tabloid until now. This is my town, and you’re my responsibility, Hollywood.”

“I don’t want to be your responsibility,” she bristled, not liking that term in the least. “I can–”

“Easy, honey. I meant that in a good way.” Griffin held up his hands in surrender. “Let me take care of this.”

“Uh, can I suggest something here?” Price broke in. “I’ll drive my truck to the other side of the lake and wait for you there. You take your boat and escape across the water. I’ll drive you into town and you can pick up one of the SUVs there.”

“That’s the first smart thing I’ve heard all morning,” Griffin sighed. “What about the press though? What will they do?”

“Eventually they’ll figure out they’ve been tricked and they’ll head into town,” Jazz responded. “Then we’ll have a whole new problem trying to duck them.”

“Why would we do that?” Griffin’s brows were pulled together in a frown. “We’ve got nothing to hide. I’m not ashamed that I spent the night with you. Are you ashamed of me?”

“No, not at all,” she denied and his expression cleared. “I was just thinking of you, that’s all.”

“The genie is out of the bottle, honey. No sense in trying to stuff it back in. It just makes us look like we have something to hide.” Griffin ran his fingers through his short cropped hair. “While we’re in town we need to get your stuff from the hotel.”

“Why?” She wasn’t following Griffin’s train of thought clearly. There was no other hotel in Hope Lake to move her to, not that it would make any difference. They’d find her no matter what.

“You’re checking out. I can’t protect you when you’re away from me. You’ll stay here until this madness is over.”

Was the man that didn’t like women interfering and getting their things all over his house asking – no, telling her that he wanted her to move her stuff in? Even if it was only for a short time? This was personal growth for Griffin Sawyer.

“That means that I’ll have stuff in the bathroom.” She tried to suppress a smile but couldn’t quite manage it. “I might have stuff in your closet too. I may even want to watch something on television.”

“For the love of fucking God, let’s just get your stuff. But just so we’re clear, I control the thermostat,” he warned, his tone disgusted as Price burst into laughter.

“Holy shit, she knows what you’re like, bro,” he said, holding his sides and a grin on his face. “I can always take her to Mom and Dad’s if you can’t handle having a female guest.”

Griffin did that growling thing again where he didn’t know what to say, or maybe he knew but the words were too rude. He pointed to the stairs and Price loped off with a wave.

“Give me about twenty minutes then get in the boat.”

Griffin’s grim expression didn’t change as he scooped up the plates and headed into the kitchen.

“Come inside,” he commanded. “And wipe that smile off of your face. It’s not that damn funny.”

Unable to control her mirth, she trailed after Griffin, her hand covering her mouth but it failed to mute the gales of laughter. She was about to move in – albeit temporarily – with the most avowed bachelor she’d ever met.

And it was that damn funny.

Chapter Eighteen

“H
ave we heard anything from the lab? If not, give them another call. Also, bring me those statements we took yesterday from the contestants and crew. I want to go through them again.”

Griffin barked out orders as he and Jazz walked through the station. They’d managed to escape the house without tipping off any reporters but it was a short-lived situation. He would have to make some statement to the press today about the state of the investigation.

“Sit here, Hollywood, and I’ll have Adam get your statement.”

Adam bustled over from the coffeemaker. “I’m on it, boss. I did call the crime lab and we’re tenth in line, and the statements are on your desk.”

“Phone again in a few hours. Otis is supposed to call in a few favors from his friends in the capital. Jazz, give Adam your statement and then I’ll have him drive you to the hotel to check out.”

“Do you always do this?” Her head was tilted to the side but she was smiling.

“Do what?” He really didn’t have time for twenty questions today.

“Order everyone around like a general. Does this usually work for you?”

The little vixen was actually laughing at him again. She’d already made it known that she found their situation amusing. She should be damn grateful that he felt responsible for keeping her safe from the press but mostly she seemed to find it funny. He was the one that was going to be sharing his home for the foreseeable future but no one seemed to care about his sacrifice.

Of course he could send her to his parents’ house but then the press would just hang out there and Griffin wouldn’t put his mom and dad through something like that. No, she would have to stay with him and he would just have to bite the bullet and deal with it. It probably wouldn’t be for that long.

“Yes, it does work,” he responded before turning to Karla, his administrative assistant. She ran the office and took his messages. Not well, but then like most people in this office, Griffin had taken what he could get for the money. Maybe he could use some of the television cash and hire more office help. “Karla, do I have any messages?”