Healing the Lawman's Heart

Typical, thought Tanner as he sipped his coffee. When he burned his tongue, he scolded himself and pushed to keep his mind on his work. Normally, that wasn’t a big deal. Tanner lived his job.

But with the first days of March looming?

The next few days were always tough, a face-to-face reckoning with anniversaries he couldn’t forget. And then the calendar mercifully flipped and time moved on.

Lights shut off south of him as a short stretch of shops called it a day.

There were always a few that stayed open till the last possible moment, then made a bad situation worse by trying to get home in rough winter conditions. Today’s storm would be no exception, but as he scanned the interstate entrance to his left, the low volume of traffic said a lot of folks had paid attention this time.

His peripheral vision caught something out of place. He swiveled in the driver’s seat, sure he’d seen a blink of light that hadn’t been there minutes before. He scanned the thin gray light of late afternoon to determine what he saw.

Nothing seemed out of place.

Focused, he set his coffee down and studied a group of buildings just south of the above-grade interstate entrance.

Another blink of light pinpointed the action. But what was it? And why was it coming from that vacant building?

He put the cruiser into Drive and headed toward the decrepit structure. Other than a long-established shoe shop run by an eccentric but knowledgeable distance runner, the neglected strip mall had sat empty for several years.

Cops hated empty buildings. Empty buildings offered shelter for shady characters and an opportunity for foolish kids to create trouble. This scruffy stretch of decay had been slated for demolition twice. Both times, legal mumbo jumbo got in the way. Last he heard, some do-gooder had bought it for back taxes, promising the world.

That was months ago, and so far, nothing had changed. Tanner reported his location and his intention, knew backup was on the way, and slipped into the parking lot at the far end by the shoe store.

A lone car sat parked in front of the north-facing vacant building. He ran the plate and came up with the name of a rental car agency.

Which meant whoever was inside didn’t want to be traced.

Trooper Zach Harrison pulled up alongside Tanner less than two minutes later. “What have we got?”

“That.” Tanner pointed toward the messed-up building and just as he did, the bob of light shone from inside again.

“Car?” Zach jutted his chin toward the late model Chevy standing alone outside the building.

“Rented.”

“Of course.”

Tanner pulled his cruiser around to the front, tucked it into the corner and climbed out. Zach followed suit.

As they drew close to the ratty storefront on the end, Tanner put his hand over his weapon, ready to defend himself. He nodded to Zach.

Zach took flank and Tanner rapped hard on the door.

The light flicked off, plunging the interior into darkness.

“New York State Troopers. Open up!”

Nothing.

Which meant whoever was inside was either scared...or dangerous. Tanner tried the door.

Locked.

He motioned to Zach.

Zach nodded, started to move forward, then paused. He reached into his pocket, withdrew his phone, dropped his head back and sighed. “Julia, it’s me. Get out here. Now.”

The light blinked on inside, and this time it stayed on.

A key turned in the lock of the scuffed-up door. Tanner took a step back as the door swung his way.

Julia—whoever she was—stepped out.

Beautiful.

Blond hair pinned up, great eyes, glasses tucked up into the hair and a look on her face that said she might be ready to kill someone. “You big lug. You scared me to death. What’s the matter with you, coming looking for me like this? Is everything all right? Are the boys okay? Is it Dad? Or Jackson?” She clamped a hand on Zach’s arm with a grip that said she wasn’t afraid to take care of herself. “What’s happened, Zach?”

“Him.”

She turned Tanner’s way as if just noticing him. “You?”

“The light.” Tanner motioned toward the building interior. “You were flashing a light around and I came over to investigate. Zach’s my backup.”

“So...” She drew the word out and looked up at Zach. “Nothing’s wrong at home?”

“Not a thing.”

Zach looked a little too pleased to be throwing Tanner to the wolves...

In this case a very pretty wolf.

“Do you mind telling us what you were doing in this building?” Tanner asked.

She took her time shifting her attention from Zach to Tanner. “Because?”

“This building’s been empty a long time. And there’s a no-trespassing sign right there.” He pointed just beyond Zach as he moved out of the way so she could see the sign.

She saw it, all right. She walked right past them, and despite the cold, harsh wind, she reached up, grabbed the card-stock sign and yanked it down, then tossed it into the wastebasket fastened to the corner post of the building.

“Julia.”

Zach rolled his eyes, but he grinned, too, as if he thought her antics were funny. He turned to Tanner and waved as she moved back inside. “Tanner, my sister, Julia. Julia, this is Tanner Reddington. And stop giving him the evil eye. He’s one of the good guys.”

“He was ready to shoot me,” she protested, scowling. “Don’t you guys have something better to do than bother a woman when she’s trying to measure her new work space?”

New work space?

Tanner looked at her, then the grungy interior. “You’re putting a store in here? Really? You must have some serious money you’re willing to throw away. If that’s your goal—” he raised his hands as if shrugging off the whole affair “—then this is the perfect investment property. I can’t think of a worse place for a—”