Crispin: Stone Security Volume Two, #2

By Glenna Sinclair

This is the second book of Stone Security Volume Two and contains over 50,000 words of romantic suspense.

 

I lost my wife five years ago. I left my job three months ago. My life has never been in such a state of flux. I'd always known what to do and how to do it. But now, it seemed like fate or the universe or whatever was determined to push me down a road I couldn't control. And her name was Alli. A wildcat like no one I'd ever known before, she was almost more than I could handle. Therefore, when I learned we'd be stuck in a car together for three days, I was not exactly thrilled. She had this way of plowing through life, knocking people out of her way whenever they got too close. But she found her match when she came up against me. I wasn't going anywhere, even if it meant risking everything, including my heart.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Glenna Sinclair
• Release date: Nov 8, 2017
• ISBN: 9798224118267

Glenna Sinclair

Experience the heart-racing novels of Glenna Sinclair, the master of romantic suspense. Sinclair's books feature strong male protagonists, many with a military background, who face real-world challenges that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Books2read.com/GlennaSinclair Facebook.com/AuthorGlennaSinclair GlennaSinclairAuthor at Gmail dot com

Book preview

Prologue

I stood just off to the side of the doorway, listening to the conversation going on inside the sheriff’s office. A sense of dread that began in my stomach blossomed and spread through my chest, making my limbs heavy and my head pound.

He knows things he shouldn’t know, Davis, Willis was telling the sheriff.

Like what?

Details about the accident that killed Harry Cravits.

There was silence for a long second. Where would he have gotten that information?

I don’t know. Not from me. I was very careful about the things I told him.

Just enough to get him to trust you, right?

Exactly.

Then where did he get the information?

From me...

I walked away, trying to move as casually as I could, but somehow, when you’re trying to be casual, it always comes off as stiff and unnatural.

You okay, Crispin?

I glanced at the secretary, forcing a smile. I’m good. I think I’m going to sign out for a little while and go have some lunch.

Sounds like a plan.

I took a seat at my desk, my head spinning with the consequences of what I’d done. The moment I set up the anonymous email account, I knew that I was making trouble for myself. But I had turned a blind eye too many times to the misconduct of our sheriff. As sheriff, you did not have the right to pick and choose which criminal complaints you would follow up on. Yet, this sheriff had chosen not to follow up on the many complaints from the people of Ellaville regarding his brother-in-law’s militia group, the Guardians. And when someone was killed by the Guardians’ men, I couldn’t just ignore that. I overheard the victim’s friend asking Willis questions about the investigation, heard Willis lie to the guy and tell him that the investigation was progressing. It wasn’t. I put my badge on the line by pushing the paint samples through the lab and by asking the reconstructionist at the state lab to take a look at the tire tracks. And then I emailed it all to the victim’s friend, Jack Stone. He thought I was Willis. He even sent me a video that he wanted Willis’s opinion on.

Willis wouldn’t have given him an honest opinion. I did.

But now the sheriff knew that someone was leaking information, and it wouldn’t take him long to come to the conclusion that it was me. I had to do something.

I stared at the computer, considering emailing this Stone guy. Maybe he’d give me a job.

The thought was amusing. But then it wasn’t.

I’d been with the sheriff’s department my entire adult life, but I couldn’t see a way to salvage my career now. The sheriff would ask to see the file on the accident investigation, and he would see my signature on the requests for the lab results and the reconstruction. He would know it was me. And I had no words that would change the facts.

I had to quit. There was no choice.

I quickly typed out a resignation and emailed it to the sheriff’s account. He rarely checked his email more than twice a day, so I likely had time to get out. But I slipped my gun and badge into the top drawer of my desk and ducked out as quickly as I could. A face-to-face confrontation was the last thing I wanted.

I felt surprisingly free as I drove away in my private vehicle. I thought it would be the hardest thing I’d done since burying my wife, but it wasn’t. It was a relief. This sheriff...he was a bad guy. Representing him made me feel dirty.

Time to start something new, to go back to doing things the right way. Maybe this Jack Stone would help me do that. Maybe he wouldn’t. Either way, I was free of the corruption that was running rabid in that office.

I would deal with the consequences later.

Chapter 1

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Three months later...

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I stepped out of the communal shower and dried off, listening to the constant commotion of construction. With the Guardians all in jail or running from the scandal of Smythe’s arrest, Jack was finally able to find a construction crew willing to work for him. The warehouse was no longer one big room, but a maze of wooden frames with a set of stairs smack in the center, jutting upward to the new second floor. Patrick, Quentin, Matthew and I still slept here at night, but it was becoming more and more difficult to sleep past seven most mornings.

I was thinking about moving back to my apartment. I’d left it because of the threat of the Guardians and remained here because it just seemed easier. But the noise was becoming an impediment.

Jack said we could stay, or he’d pay to put us all up at the hotel downtown. Everyone chose to stay.

To each their own, I supposed.

Jack wasn’t even around. He’d been gone for weeks now, off on an extended honeymoon with his new bride. Patrick was left in charge, but he was leaving in a few days to escort a client to Memphis for her daughter’s high school graduation. At the moment, we had three clients. They were all personal security jobs, though we’d also taken a few investigative assignments since I joined Stone Security three months ago. I preferred the investigative assignments. There was something to be said about the freedom of working in the private sector rather than from a law enforcement perspective. But personal security had its perks.

How many people could say they spent their working hours just sitting on a stool, watching customers blush in shame as they browsed the shelves of a sex shop?

Headed to Alli’s? Patrick asked as I came out of the bathroom.

Yeah. My turn to relieve Quentin.

Patrick nodded. Ask him to head over here when he leaves. I need someone to run some errands for me.

No problem.

Patrick had worked for Stone’s headquarters in Memphis before coming out here to Arizona. He thought he knew everything so much better than the rest of us. And when it came to the others—Quentin, who was retired military, and Matthew, a totally inexperienced former Guardian—he was right. But I’d learned enough in my years with the sheriff’s department that I could probably run this place like clockwork with half the effort Patrick expended. But Jack didn’t know me like he knew Patrick.

Nepotism. It was as alive and well in the private sector as it was in the sheriff’s department.

Jack was a good guy, but he seemed to have lost interest in this little satellite office once he got his girl. And, to be honest, I couldn’t really blame him. A pretty girl like Ruth? I might feel the same way in his shoes.

I’d had a girl like Ruth once. She died of cancer five years ago.

I drove to Alli’s Little Shop of Pleasure out on the highway, not sure if I was looking forward to it or dreading it. Alli was a nice enough woman, but sometimes she was a little more than I could take.

Red hair. Big green eyes. And curves that were still impressive despite the fact that she was in her early forties and had two kids. She’d lived a hard life, I could see it in her eyes. But you couldn’t see it in that beautiful body of hers.

Not that I was tempted.

Well...maybe tempted was the wrong word. I was tempted. But I had been married to an angel for twenty years. Moving on to a woman like Alli would be disrespectful to what I’d shared with my Gloria.

But when you haven’t tasted home cooking in five years, everything looks good.

I parked at the back of the lot and slipped a gun into the holster I wore under my light sports coat. The place wasn’t terribly busy, just a half dozen cars in the lot. I walked the perimeter and checked out the well-placed cameras to make sure everything was secure. I had been told that Alli was Stone’s first client, and that the danger had been from the Guardians. As a deputy, I’d been called here with Willis for a fire in the lot. But the Guardians were gone now. I had no idea why we were still providing security, but it wasn’t my place to question. It was my place to do what I was told.

By a guy nearly half my age.

Quentin was sitting on the stool near the door that was our post when we were watching the store. He nodded when I came in.

I’m going back to say hello to Alli.

She’s in a mood today.

I wasn’t ever sure what he meant by that. Alli was a temperamental woman. It seemed to me she was in a mood every day.

I tapped on the door of her office before sticking my head inside. Hey.

She looked up, her startling green eyes rimmed in red. Mr. Sullivan.

I’m taking over for Quentin.

She stood up, her slender body clad in a pair of jeans that barely covered her hips and a white blouse that was practically sheer, her black bra underneath as visible as if she wasn’t wearing a blouse at all. The woman dressed like a teenager. The thing was, though, she pulled it off better than most women her age might have.

I had to step back and force my thoughts onto something else, before we were both embarrassed by my reaction to her mode of dress.

A soft smile curved her sticky lips. You’re the unlucky one who got stuck with the night shift, are you?

I wouldn’t say unlucky.

Aren’t you sweet. She touched the front of my shirt, slipping a finger into one of the spaces between the buttons. I keep telling Jack it isn’t necessary for you boys to stick around, driving me to and from the shop every day. But he promised to keep me safe, and that man keeps his promises.

I better get out front.

Do you keep your promises, Mr. Sullivan?

I tilted my head slightly. If you’re asking if I’ll do my job, the answer is yes. I always do.

You strike me as one of those good ole boys who don’t exist much anymore. Are you a good ole boy?

She moved closer to me, her breath washing over me. There was a hint of whiskey there, like she’d been sneaking snips from a bottle. I knew that she had been involved with the friend of Jack’s who was killed by the Guardians. It seemed she was still grieving her loss.

I do what I can, ma’am.

Her smile widened. I bet you do.

I lifted her hand away from my shirt and set it gently down by her side. She watched me as I walked away, her eyes heavy on my back like a physical touch. I glanced back once and realized it was a mistake. It only encouraged her.

It was going to be a long night.

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Tracy, the housewife Alli had hired to run the front counter, waved as she walked out the front door at nine. Alli had five sales from the time I got there until close, a record in the time I’d been working with her. Business seemed to be picking up.

I got up and stretched my long limbs, checking my weapon before stepping out into the parking lot behind Tracy. I offered a weak wave as she drove away, walking slowly around the metallic building, checking for any signs of trouble. Everything looked as it had the last three times I’d done this tonight, just the same as it had looked the dozens of other times I’d done it in the past three months.

No one had the balls to mess with Alli now that the Guardians were gone.

She was standing at the door when I came back around to the front.

I’ve told you, you need to wait inside when I’m walking the perimeter.

Perimeter. Very military phrase. Quentin must be rubbing off on you.

She turned from me to flip off the lights and lock the front door. I checked when she stepped back to make sure everything was secure. She made a little noise and smiled when I glanced at her, but didn’t say a word.

I escorted her to my truck, yanking open the door for her. She moved as close to me as she could, wiggling her tight ass in those even tighter jeans as she climbed into the high cab. I pushed a hand into my jeans pocket, my heart pounding a little at the sight of her silky, pale skin between the jeans and blouse.

The woman was going to be the death of me!

I crossed around to the driver’s side door, spotting the note as I was halfway across the front of the truck. I snatched it up, glancing at the familiar handwriting.

Shouldn’t have crossed the sheriff, it said.

They were getting more and more original.

I’d been finding these notes on my truck ever since the sheriff was relieved of his position a little more than six weeks ago. He was never arrested, still not officially charged with anything, but the attorney general’s office was investigating him for corruption in his handling of complaints against the Guardians. Now that a dozen of the Guardians’ former members, including their leader, were being charged with murder, attempted murder, harassment, criminal mischief, and half a dozen other charges, it seemed it wouldn’t be long before the former sheriff would be charged with something as well.

These notes didn’t frighten me. It was probably a former coworker who blamed Stone—and, by proxy, me—for the sheriff’s downfall. He was blowing a lot of smoke, but nothing would ever come of it.

I balled the note up and tossed it on the ground as I’d done with all the others.

You ever been married, Mr. Sullivan? Alli asked me as I started the truck.

I brushed my thumb over the spot where my wedding ring had sat for more than twenty years. Yes.

Divorced?

No.

She grunted softly. Sorry.

I put the truck into reverse and tore out of the parking lot, blowing dust up behind us. The highway was quiet this time of night. Only a few people ventured out after midnight in this small town.

Kids?

I almost shook my head. A son, I said instead.

Yeah? How old?

Twenty-seven.

Wow. You must be older than you look.

We started young, my wife and I.

But you only had the one?

She had complications.

She nodded. I had a hard time with my Tommy. Had to go on bed rest for most of the pregnancy. She reached up and brushed the hair from her face. But Sue? She was a breeze. I guess God compensates. Her father was a real nightmare.

Is she?

No. Sue’s a saint. She