Justice Reborn (Cowboy Justice Association Book 8)
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Authors: Olivia Jaymes
Tags: #Romance, #Western
Cowboy Justice Association
Book Eight
By
Olivia Jaymes
JUSTICE REBORN
Copyright © 2016 by Olivia Jaymes
Kindle Edition
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
In one instant…
Everything in Josie Carlton’s world changed. She’d been living a quiet, unremarkable life and now she’s on the run from bad guys who want her dead and police who want to put her behind bars for a crime she didn’t commit. She needs to find someplace she can lie low so she can figure out just what she’s going to do.
A man figuring out life…
Evan Davis has left law enforcement behind and is trying to find a new direction and purpose. In the meantime, he has a pile of work that needs to be done around this old, rundown family home. Hiring a secretive and obviously desperate girl straight off the bus doesn’t seem like a good idea but something in her pained eyes pulls at his heart. She needs someone to help her and it might as well be him. It’s only cleaning a house after all.
Until it’s much more. Josie’s been told she can’t trust a single soul but Evan isn’t just anybody. The former US Marshal and small town sheriff isn’t a stranger to sticky situations but she hates to pull him back into the life he happily left.
But if she wants to stay alive, she may not have a choice.
Chapter One
E
van Davis slapped his sheriff’s badge down on the mayor’s expansive desk and then planted his palms on the smooth oak surface. A wave of pure happiness washed over him and he couldn’t suppress a smile.
“I quit.”
Mayor Morris Gladstone hadn’t looked all that happy when Evan entered the room and he looked even less so now. “What do you mean? What are you talking about? You can’t quit. You have a contract.”
Evan’s smile grew wider. “Your office never forwarded the revised copy to me so I never signed one. Although I think I would have grounds to break it since you haven’t been keeping up your side of the bargain. You had to know this day was coming, Morris. How many head lawmen have you gone through in the last five years? Did it ever cross your mind that it wasn’t them but you?”
It wasn’t fair to blame Morris for everything but he’d played his part. Evan might have tried to stick it out in hopes things would get better but every day was more miserable than the one before it. He wasn’t cut out to be a small town cop. The fact was he didn’t know what he was supposed to be when he grew up. He was too tall for an astronaut, too citified for a cowboy, he couldn’t sing a lick which left out rock star, and he’d been shot in the leg so rich and famous athlete was off the table as well.
“Shit,” the harangued mayor muttered under his breath. “Sherry! Come in here and bring Sheriff Evan’s contract.”
Straightening, Evan just shrugged. He wouldn’t be changing his mind. It had taken a long time to get here but now that he was? There was no turning back. “She’s not going to find it. I didn’t sign one. No one cared until this minute. The town was just glad to have someone take this thankless, God-forsaken job and I was dumb enough to do it. No more. Deputy Steve can be the acting sheriff until you find someone. Hell, if you were smart you’d offer it to him at double the salary. He’s got more patience than anyone I know. If I’d been doing this job for five years I would have shot you by now.”
Red creeped up Morris’s neck and a sheen of sweat had broken out on the older man’s pasty white forehead. Morris needed to get some sun. “It’s not that bad. Sherry!”
“Stop yelling. She’s not going to find it. It doesn’t exist. Did you ever think your stubborn resistance to reality might be part of the problem around here?”
Morris slapped the table and then winced. “We don’t have a problem. Except maybe you. You’re the problem.”
If only that were the case, then things could be fixed.
“Then you’ll be glad to be rid of me,” Evan retorted, wandering over to the windows on one side of the large room. Morris’s office looked over the rolling green lawns outside the courthouse and city hall. It looked pretty and serene with large maple trees and park benches but Evan wasn’t fooled. The town was eating at itself, unwilling to invest in services or infrastructure.
He’d been fighting local crime with one hand tied behind his back and he was sick and tired of it. This year’s budget was worse than the last and he was already operating way under optimum. He needed at least three more full-time deputies and a canine unit. As it was he was looking to have to lay off at least one full-time man.
Morris took a deep breath and stood although Evan still towered over him. “Let’s just calm down and step back a minute. I know things look grim but we have to make cuts in response to a smaller tax base. I don’t have any choice.”
Politicians. It was amazing how smoothly they could lie.
“Bullshit. There always seems to be money for raises for the mayor and the city manager. I can’t be a part of this anymore and honestly, Morris, you ought to be ashamed. Your daddy must be rolling over in his grave seeing how you’ve used your position to enrich yourself and your cronies. I hear you’re putting in a swimming pool at your house.”
Scraping his fingers through his hair, Evan exhaled in frustration. He’d grown more discontented with each passing day and now he was simply making everyone around him miserable.
“These contracts are going to bring in jobs, Evan, and with jobs come people. People who pay taxes. In a few years maybe we can do something about the budget issues.”
Evan was sick and tired of hearing about these so-called job creators. They never hired anyone at a decent salary or gave benefits. But they all seemed to get rich off the working men and women in this town.
“A few years? What should I do in the meantime? Wire the bumpers onto the cars and make bullets out of ice? How am I supposed to keep the peace when I don’t have the tools? I went into law enforcement because I wanted to make a difference. Why did you become mayor?”
Morris coughed a few times and puffed out his chest. “For the same reason. I wanted to make a difference.”
“Congratulations, you have. This town is completely different than the one I grew up in. Now it’s like every other place on earth. Corrupt and falling apart.”
Perhaps it always had been. Evan had grown up in a sheltered household, living a Norman Rockwell childhood. It was that idealism that had driven him into the military and then to law enforcement. His years as a US Marshal had been good and if he hadn’t been injured in the line of duty he’d still be there, climbing the chain of command even though he’d become increasingly bored with the duties he’d been assigned. The job had lost its challenge and the bureaucratic red tape had become a daily impediment to getting anything done, but dammit, it had been a career. He’d put in years toward it and now it was all gone.
He’d been shot and had taken the sheriff’s job out of desperation, wanting someone or something to give him a direction in his now rudderless existence.
It had been a mistake.
He’d never taken to the job. Didn’t enjoy it. He liked variety and there wasn’t much in a small town sheriff’s day to day world. Everyone complained, nothing he did was good enough, and there was never enough money for the resources he needed. Frankly, he hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep since he took the job. Invariably he was dragged out of bed by a middle of the night call because he didn’t have enough deputies to do the job correctly.
He was tired, disgusted, and over it all. He wanted a comfortable bed and to sleep for a week.
Sherry tentatively stepped into the office at that moment, looking like she didn’t want to be there. “Um, Morris? I don’t see any contract on file.”
The mayor fell back into the chair, a heavy sigh on his lips. “Thank you, Sherry. Can you get me some coffee, please?”
The young woman nodded and hastily exited the office, obviously glad to be away from the tension. Evan shook his head and inwardly groaned. He hadn’t wanted this to go so badly. He hadn’t wanted a shouting match or the two of them pointing fingers, blaming the other. He simply wasn’t cut out for this job and that made him sad. He’d wanted to enjoy it but it was making him miserable. He had to cut his losses and start all over again.
“I don’t want to argue with you, Morris. I’m quitting and you can’t talk me out of it. If I keep doing this, I won’t be good for this town. Let’s not pretend you didn’t see this coming, okay? You’ve known for a long time I wasn’t happy.”
Morris looked up, resignation showing in his eyes. “What will you do? Are you going back to the Marshal Service?”
Evan had thought about that and it was a possibility. A very minute possibility. But right now nothing was for certain.
“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “I just know that I can’t do this anymore. I’ve already talked to Hazel about renting out my house. I’m going to go somewhere I can be alone and think about what I want to do with my life.”
The older man’s eyes widened. “You’re leaving? Your family has lived in this town for three generations, Evan. Where will you go?”
Evan smiled but didn’t answer. Morris wouldn’t understand and it wasn’t anyone’s business anyway. Even in a town as small as this one, a person could sometimes manage to keep a few secrets.
“Away,” he replied simply, feeling the oppressive weight of the job lift from his shoulders. He hadn’t felt this good in a long time. “I’m leaving in the morning.”