Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 138588 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138588 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Sawyer sighed. “It’s old. I know I should have upgraded, but I’m not good at installation, and you know how hard it is to get anyone out here. The system my granddad put in worked so I didn’t replace it.”
“It’s over twenty years old?” Briggs asked, a look of horror on his face.
Sawyer shrugged. “If it ain’t broke.”
“Well, it’s broke now.” The sheriff’s head shook. “I’ll send over a couple of options and either Cam or I will help you install it. I think we can get way better coverage for you. I wish the back of the place had more than one camera on it. You’re up against national forest land. Anything could come out of there.”
“Why would you help me?” Sawyer asked.
“Because I don’t want to be the one to have to clean up bodies if something goes wrong out here,” the sheriff shot back. “Is that a good reason? Is it better than telling you I’m the sheriff of this town and I worry about you and your employees being so isolated here?”
“The bodies’ thing works for me,” Sawyer replied. “Sure. Let me know what my options are, and I will be grateful for the help.”
Brigg’s brows rose. “What happened to him?”
The sheriff shook his head. “We’ll talk about that later.”
“Or we could not,” Sawyer insisted. “I don’t want anyone to talk about me.”
The radio buzzed, and the deputy picked it up. “Hey, Gemma. You got what I need?”
He stepped away as Gemma started to speak.
“Look, I’ll take the help with the security system,” Sawyer was saying. “But only because I’ve got Lark and Sid working here, and sometimes Sid brings her kid in because that worthless piece of crap baby daddy of hers won’t pay for babysitting so she can work.”
“Stef, Rye, and I helped Bill at Mountain and Valley upgrade the security out there,” the sheriff admitted. “We’re here for this community. I know you’re not in town, but your employees mostly live in Bliss.”
Wyatt backed up the camera footage. There wasn’t much to see, just a gloved hand, but something about it caught his eye, made some instinct deep in his gut flare to life.
“I know I’ve been an asshole to you at times, but I hope we’re past that now,” the sheriff continued. “I appreciate everything you do for the people around you.”
Not the way to handle Sawyer, but Wyatt didn’t pause to correct the man. He did pause the video. It was grainy and slightly out of focus. They definitely needed better cameras. It was a miracle he’d gotten this good a feed from the sucker.
“I don’t do anything, Sheriff. Look, if the help comes with an obligatory hug and singing ‘Kumbaya,’ I’ll let the darkness take us all,” Sawyer replied in his Sawyer way.
Something about the glove. It was black leather, but there was stitching on the edge. It was barely in camera range, nothing more than a line of red, a curl of it.
Like the end of an “e.” Like the end of the word Horde.
There were a couple of pieces his brother considered part of the “uniform.” The vest with patches, steel-toed boots, and gloves his wife made with the words Horde on one and Forever on the other. Wyatt had worn them every time he hopped on a bike since he was eighteen.
He burned them along with his vest the night he left.
An icy tendril flicked down his spine.
“No hugs, I promise,” the sheriff said, sounding defeated. “It’s really because I think you’re a fuckup and I don’t want to have to clean up after you.”
Sawyer actually smiled. “I can handle that.”
He was overreacting. Wyatt forced himself to take a deep breath because the truth of the matter was he couldn’t tell from so little evidence. There were surely other people who wore gloves with red embroidery on them. It might not actually be red. It was so close to the camera it was hard to tell.
What if this wasn’t about robbery? What if it was about revenge?
“So Gemma found some footage we’ll look into.” The deputy rejoined them, slipped his radio back onto his belt. “We’ve got some bikers coming up this way about twenty minutes before the cams went down.”
“Bikers?” Sawyer’s body was suddenly straight, his shoulders going back. “What were they riding?”
“Harleys. Custom from what Gemma said, and she actually knows her stuff. Her husbands build custom bikes,” the deputy explained. “She said they were expensive.”
“And?” Wyatt knew there was an “and” in there somewhere. He trusted Gemma’s husbands. Jesse and Cade had built the bike he’d bought a couple of months ago. They would know.
“She said they didn’t look like tourists,” Briggs admitted.
“Fuck,” Sawyer cursed under his breath.
“Any reason you can think of for your brother to come bother you?” the sheriff asked. “You left on decent terms.”