Page 47

The next morning, Bryce positioned her SUV at the front of the Fourth of July parade, leading them through the streets of Rushville. At last reaching the downtown park where the crowd had gathered to enjoy the local barbeque and vendor booths, she shut off the flashing lights and shrill sirens of her SUV and drove back to the courthouse. She was always happy to be included in the festivities, and she hadn’t minded when Finn asked her to take point on the parade this year, but now she was eager to return to the office for a quick lunch before heading out on patrol.

Parking in front of the courthouse, Bryce jogged up the steps, listening to the distant sound of the high school band playing “God Bless America.” Her lips twitched at the uneven drumbeats and shrill squeaks of the clarinets. Small-town celebrations weren’t as polished or elaborate as the big cities’, but everyone was welcomed to join in, regardless of talent.

Pushing open the front door, she breathed a sigh of relief as the air-conditioning swept around her. The day was another scorcher with enough humidity to make her consider moving back to Chicago. She had a few distant cousins there, and while the winters might be a pain, the summers didn’t make her feel like she was living in the pits of hell.

With a shake of her head, she entered the sheriff’s office. As much as she hated the grinding heat, she wasn’t going to uproot Josie again.

“Do you have a sec?”

Bryce was jerked out of her musings as Finn appeared from the back room and waved for her to join him.

“Sure.” Her stomach growled in protest at the delay in lunch, but Bryce obediently hurried into Finn’s office. “What is it?”

Finn returned to his seat behind his desk, pointing at the screen of his computer.

“I did a little digging on Larry Sutton.”

Bryce blinked in surprise. She’d shared the limited amount of information they’d gathered during their trip to New Orleans, but she hadn’t expected him to join the investigation.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

He shrugged. “I know. I had some time on my hands and I reached out to a friend who is a cop in New Orleans.”

Bryce stepped closer to the desk, savoring the warm scent of his cologne. “Did you find out anything?”

“Not a lot. Unfortunately, my friend didn’t join the force until after Sutton had been fired, but he’d heard stories about him.”

“What sort of stories?”

“The usual—taking bribes, pocketing evidence, changing eyewitness accounts.”

Bryce made a sound of disgust. She had run into corrupt cops before, but it never made it easier to accept when one was exposed. They were supposed to be the good guys.

“Anything violent?” she asked.

Finn shook his head. The sunlight streamed through the window behind him, reflecting off the glossy darkness of his hair and emphasizing the velvet softness of his dark eyes.

“There were no complaints of brutality against him, although he was in more than a few fights. He also had a habit of sleeping with the wives of his fellow cops.”

“Yeah, that sounds right,” she said, recalling his secretary’s confession that he bounced from woman to woman. “A true sleazebag, as Livia would say. Did your friend say whether the cops had any dealings with Sutton since he became a private investigator?”

“He was given several warnings for trespassing, as well as two for stalking,” Finn said. “Sutton claimed he was working a job and they let him off with a warning.”

“Of course they did,” Bryce said dryly.

“There was also a call from a neighbor about a public disturbance.”

“What happened?”

“Supposedly a woman showed up at Sutton’s office with a gun.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Bryce drawled. “An unhappy client or ex-girlfriend?”

“Both. He’d been working for her husband to locate the prized Porsche she’d hidden in a storage shed. It sounded like he used the same tactics that he used on Livia.” Finn’s jaw tightened. The sheriff was a patient, empathetic lawman who tried to understand both sides of an issue, but he had a fierce sense of justice. The thought that Sutton had taken advantage of Livia to earn a few bucks had obviously infuriated him. “First he seduced her to try to get information, and when that didn’t work, he broke into her house to search for the address of the storage unit.”

“A shame she didn’t get off a shot.” Bryce held up her hand as Finn arched a brow. “I don’t mean I wish she’d hit him with a bullet. But if she could have got off a warning shot, he might have thought twice about his life choices.”

“Doubtful.”