“I know that, if you wanted to get on the good side of your wife again, you would be all over it.”

  “Hey, that’s not fair.”

  For Delta, it was interesting to listen to them wrangle among themselves.

  Finally the sheriff interrupted. “Would you guys just stop it? We don’t need to be giving Delta any more fodder for his asinine little investigation. I’ve already got phone calls in to have this guy’s ass kicked out of here, so I’m sure he’ll be gone in no time.”

  “Yeah?” Delta chuckled. “Let me know how that works out for you.”

  The sheriff just glared, as Delta went back to adding more info on the board. “So, Sheriff, I see your daughter works there, as does your mother. Even your sister and your brother-in-law. They all work there.”

  The sheriff nodded. “So what?”

  “So, you are heavily invested in the well-being of the company. If we factor in the money poured into your campaign accounts, and this is just the official ones, added to get you elected, it’s huge. You’ve received over forty thousand dollars from the company alone.”

  He glared, as one of the deputies whistled and muttered, “Holy shit.”

  “It’s only forty grand,” the sheriff repeated.

  Delta cleared his throat. “Yeah, this is only a two-bit town. So now we have you taking bribes.”

  “Hey, it’s not illegal to accept funds for election.”

  “No, it sure isn’t, but these aren’t election related. These bribes are to get you to turn a blind eye to all the shenanigans going on at the big company in town, right? We have proof of monthly bribes showing up in your bank accounts,” Delta said, as he brought up that info on his phone and showed the screen to the sheriff.

  The sheriff turned white. “What the fuck?” His tone turned low and deadly.

  “Oh, did you think I wouldn’t access all that? Shall I bring it up for everybody to see? Like the regular payments that have been made into your account on the first of every month? … That would be fun to share with the class. Can’t wait until we get that investigation going.”

  Several of the deputies shifted uneasily.

  “You aren’t … You aren’t taking bribes, right, Dad?” Clark eyed him nervously.

  “It’s not bribes. Of course it’s not bribes. You know I do extra security for people, that’s all. It’s a second paycheck.”

  Delta laughed. “Right. A second paycheck. That’s not how that works. And I’m sure you’ve been claiming taxes on all this too. Correct? Maybe not? Oh boy, the tax man will have a field day with you.”

  At that, the sheriff got belligerent. “You get the fuck out of this office right now.” He ran over to the laptop and slammed it shut, then grabbed it and took it away.

  Delta waved a hand. “I’ve already forwarded all that information to the War Department and to the IRS too,” he shared, without moving an inch. “People from both departments are on the way here. So taking the laptop doesn’t stop the forward momentum already initiated and won’t make a bit of difference.”

  The sheriff pulled back his jacket, revealing his weapon.

  Delta stood up. “You sure you want to play that game, Sheriff?” he asked, his gaze deadly soft. “Because, if you want to, I’m all for it.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.” Deputy Halvorson jumped in. “That’s enough of that. Man, when you come in, you sure know how to cause trouble.”

  “I didn’t cause this,” Delta declared. “This shit’s been happening here for way too long, and you’ve all turned a blind eye to it. You’re just as guilty as the rest of them.”

  “No. I’m not,” the sheriff replied angrily. “I haven’t taken any bribes, and I don’t know anything about this other shit, and I would be extremely disappointed if that has been happening. It’s not taking bribes. I do extra security work, that’s all.”

  At that, Sal, one of the deputies, shook his head. “No, Delta’s right, Sheriff. That’s not how it’s done. We are the security for this town. You’re not a security guard, and you don’t go up there and look after that politician’s place,” he stated in a shrewd tone. “So, if you’ve been taking extra money on the side, you and I both know exactly what that is.”

  “You need to stay out of this, Sal,” the sheriff snapped. “There’s shit going on here that you don’t know about. It’s why you never got promoted.”

  “There is shit going on here that I don’t know about, and I never got promoted because you’re trying to keep it that way. I can see that now. You’ve got this inner circle of people you think you can trust because you’re crooked, and I’m not in it,” Sal snapped, glaring at him. “I may have been silent, but that’s not okay in my book.”

  “Oh, what the hell,” the sheriff snapped, “as if anybody cares if it’s okay in your book.”

  At that, Clark stepped up. “Dad, seriously though, you’re not taking bribes, right?”

  At that, the sheriff turned and looked at his son. “There’s a time for you to be quiet, and there’s a time for you to talk. This is not the time for you to talk, so just shut up.”

  “Ooh, ouch,” Delta quipped, looking over at the younger man. “That had to sting.”

  Clark shrugged. “I should be used to it.”

  Delta shook his head. “I know you want to be part of the team, but, in this case, that’s a bad move. I don’t know who will still be standing when the investigation comes down, but it won’t be anyone involved in bribery in any form or fashion.”

  “I don’t have money to bribe anybody with,” the sheriff snapped. “I get a paycheck, that’s it. I don’t get handouts from any companies.”

  “Oh, so if that is the case, and it’s all on the up-and-up, then maybe you should have been a little more transparent. Then it wouldn’t have come as such a surprise, and I wouldn’t be able to air this extra monthly income, … like dirty laundry.” Delta laughed.

  “I’ve had enough of you,” the sheriff growled. Turning to the others, he ordered, “Put him in a goddamn cell.”

  One of the men got up and took a step forward, but none of the others did.

  “Smart move,” Delta told the others, before he turned toward the sheriff. “You might get them all on your side, and five to one, or even four to one, they might succeed. However, if you think that will be the end of it, you’re wrong. I’m more than happy to sit in a jail cell for a bit, while you try to cover your tracks. Just remember. The data has been sent already, including the log-ins to your … Let’s just say a few other things that you’ve been hiding.”

  The sheriff swore heavily. “You—”

  “You ought to calm down before you pop a vein or something. What I don’t get is that you had to know that one day you would get caught.” The sheriff glared at him, but Delta continued to smile. “You knew perfectly well that day would come, and you were trying hard to figure out how to get out of it. Yet most of the time you just convinced yourself that you would be completely fine.”

  “You won’t ruin my repu—”

  “No, you did that all on your own. It makes no sense to me, but maybe you really thought nobody would ever know, and you could just carry on raking in all this money and keeping the peace. Now, what I would like to know is which one of you was involved in the kidnappings?”

  “None of us,” the sheriff snapped. “Absolutely none of us.” Then he turned and looked at his kid. “Isn’t that right?”

  “I sure as hell didn’t have anything to do with it,” Clark replied, staring at his father in a new light. “I ain’t got no use for that shit.”

  “Good to hear, Clark,” Delta noted. “So, who’s been off for a few days or notably absent around the times of the recent kidnappings?” Delta kept his eye on one of the men, sidling anxiously toward the door. He turned to him, then smiled. “Trying to make an escape, by any chance, Sal?”

  Sal shook his head. “I don’t know what the hell’s going on here, but this is starting to sound like some comic book caper.”

  “Oh, it’s definitely a bad story, especially considering the huge holes in the plot,” Delta agreed, with a nod. “Now, the next question is whether the people who were kidnapped can identify you.”

  Sal shook his head. “I didn’t have anything to do with that shit. Right now, I just want to be off shift and go home to my family.”

  “That’s too bad, particularly considering the fact that your family also works for the company.”

  Sal swore. “What did you do? How many laws did you break getting all this information?”

  “No laws broken. Turns out there is a public registry for all kinds of information,” Delta shared, with a smile. “Not to mention the fact that people happily post their information on social media these days. Too bad you guys just aren’t smart enough to understand what the hell is really going on.”

  “You don’t have to be so insulting,” Sal snapped. “I didn’t have anything to do with the kidnappings.”

  “No, maybe not deliberately or personally, but one of you is connected to the kidnappers,” Delta stated, “and that’s another story altogether. It’s one thing to be involved in a hands-on way yourself, and yet it’s another thing to know what somebody else is doing and not do anything about it.” Delta turned to face the sheriff again. “You know all about that, don’t you?” Delta asked, with a knowing smile.

  The sheriff, his hands opening and closing, as if struggling to keep himself from pulling out his weapon, sputtered, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Unfortunately I do, because we see it all the time. Power goes to your head, and you think nobody is watching over you, so you can do whatever the hell you want, and it’s all yours. Then you get other people to believe that you can make things happen and that it’s all within your power. But the truth of the matter is that you’re still required to follow the law in action and in deed. That doesn’t include allowing someone to kidnap other people,” Delta explained.

  “Circumstantial evidence at best.”

  “For now. It is all circumstantial evidence for now. But give it less than twenty-four hours, and we’ll see if any of you still have jobs.”

  “I want to keep my job,” Clark stated, looking from Delta to his dad, the sheriff. “What the hell? What have you done, Dad?”

  “I haven’t done anything, son,” the sheriff replied in a calm and soothing tone that didn’t fool Delta one bit, considering the sheriff was sweating profusely.

  “Yeah, he won’t talk to you about what he’s done,” Delta pointed out. “And the truth of the matter is, it’ll take more time to dig up all his criminal activities that your dad’s worked so hard at hiding, all designed to line his pocketbook.”

  “It wasn’t harming anybody,” the sheriff declared. “It’s not as if the company had any troubles up there. So it was just like a thank you in appreciation for doing my job.”

  At that, Silva, another one of the deputies, groaned. “If that’s not the definition of a bribe, I don’t know what is, Sheriff.”

  “No, a thank you is not a bribe.”

  Delta chuckled. “Right. So first off, it was money for a job, and now it’s a thank you. See a pattern here, deputies?”

  Two of the deputies nodded, Halvorson and Clark.

  “It didn’t have anything to do with me,” Clark said, with a groan. “I really need my job, so I would like to be left out of this.”

  “You and me both, except you shot at Rebecca,” Deputy Halvorson agreed, turning to look at Delta. “What the hell kind of investigation are you running here? It’s all been in the background.”

  “That’s the easiest way to catch people, isn’t it?” Delta asked. “But just because you’ve got a crooked boss doesn’t mean I know who was involved in the kidnapping, and believe me, I’m not going anywhere until I find that out.”

  “Are you sure about that?” the sheriff asked, a smirk on his face. “Maybe if that piece of ass wasn’t available, you would be ready to turn around and leave.”

  “Is that a threat?” Delta asked. Meanwhile his stomach sank. “Is that what you’ve done? Did you send somebody out to pick up Rebecca again? What will you do to her this time?” Delta snapped, glaring at the sheriff. “What a piece of shit. Capturing girls, is that what you’re into? This is what you guys are proud of?” He turned to face the deputies. “This is the man you want to work with? Are you nuts? Where is your pride? Where’s your sense of honor and duty? Did you hear what he just said?”

  “We heard,” Deputy Silva confirmed, his tone turning faint, as he shook his head. “I just … I never thought I’d hear any of this stuff from one of us.”

  Delta nodded. “Well, you’ve heard it now and from the sheriff’s own mouth.”

  Halvorson eyed Delta and then the sheriff, with disgust on his face. Halvorson asked, “Now, Sheriff, you tell me. Have you sent somebody after Rebecca?”

  “I’m not talking to you. Delta needs to be reminded who is in charge in this town. … I am the law.”

  Delta replied, “I don’t know about these guys, but I don’t mind knocking you into tomorrow. Let’s see if that’ll loosen up your words.” Delta was screaming on the inside, but his tone was deadly calm. He turned and asked the deputies, “Is anyone missing right now from the office who works here, even part-time?”

  Clark looked up at Delta and paled. “Yeah. We call him the Hulk. He’s not here.”

  “Why isn’t he here?”

  “He doesn’t work all the time, and he’s pretty … He’s kind of rough when he does work.”

  “Meaning, he beats up your prisoners?”

  “Sort of.” Clark winced. “He’s kind of an animal.” Realization dawned, and he turned and looked at his father, wide-eyed. “Did you send Hulk after that woman?”

  The sheriff shrugged. “I … don’t … know … anything.” He pivoted and stared down Delta. “But maybe Mr. Special Investigator should go find out.”

  “Oh, I’ll find out,” he declared. “Believe me. If I find out you had anything to do with it, I’ll be back.”

  “I’m just standing here, doing nothing but yapping at you.”

  “Meaning, you just turned a blind eye, and that’s what the payments were really for, isn’t it?”

  Deputy Silva was yelling at the sheriff now. “Are you serious? My God—”

  “Stay out of it, Silva.”

  Silva turned to Delta. “Where is she? We’ve got to go get her.”

  “Yeah, but I’m not sure I can trust any of you,” Delta replied, as he bolted out the door and headed for the motel. The entire time, all he could think was, Hang on, sweetheart. I’m coming.

  Chapter 15

  Rebecca and Gracie dozed on the bed, waiting for Delta to return. He had been gone way longer than she had expected, but she also knew that this could get ugly at his end. It was remarkably freeing to be in a different room than the one they had been in before, but that didn’t mean she was safe from someone finding out where she was.

  She still couldn’t figure out why anybody would care though. Outside of the fact that the company people believed she could somehow stop a merger from happening. But it’s not as if she knew anything, or seen anything. As she pondered that, she wondered about the things she had seen. Was something happening there which, if found out about, would scare them, making them afraid of what she might have seen? She couldn’t put a finger on anything that would raise that level of concern. Just as she was dozing off again, relieved to have peace and quiet in her life, she heard a sound next door.

  She opened her eyes and hazily looked around. Someone wasn’t at the next door over. They were still one more from that. Thankfully Delta had set this up as one of those little things to give Rebecca and Gracie an extra measure of protection in his absence. When she heard a pounding on that door, she winced, wondering who was getting into trouble now. When she heard somebody yelling, she strained to hear, getting up and going to the door, pressing her ear against her door to hear better.

  “Get out of there, you stupid bitch,” yelled the guy.

  She recognized the voice, or at least she thought she did. Not her captor, who may be dead now. She didn’t know yet. This voice matched the second man she had seen while in captivity. She frowned, her heart slamming against her chest, as she realized how smart Delta had been to move her to another room.

  She was safe. But for how long?

  How long before this guy went back to the lobby and further intimidated the woman at the front desk, who would have her jumping at the chance to give him the room number they were supposed to be in.

  He had apparently busted into the other room, and he surely didn’t have keys for it. She frowned as she slowly walked back to her bed, wondering just how safe she was. When her phone buzzed, she looked down to see it was Delta.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, when she answered.

  “I don’t know,” she whispered. “Somebody’s yelling at the door to the room we were supposed to be in.”

  “Listen,” Delta replied in a calm tone. “I’m on the way to you right now. I ruffled some feathers, and you are in danger, so stay put.”

  “Damn it,” she muttered, as she looked over to Gracie, snoozing. Hearing her voice, Gracie got up, walked over, and placed her muzzle in her face. “Gracie is here.”

  “And that’s a good thing. Has she ever gone defensive on you or helped to protect you?”

  “When the kidnapper kicked her for interfering,” she whispered.

  “Asshole,” he muttered.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” she agreed, smiling through teary eyes, as she realized that, once again, she was likely to be in trouble. “How far away are you?” she asked worriedly.

  “About ten minutes,” Delta said. “No matter what, do not answer that door. Don’t let anybody know you’re in there, okay?”

  “Oh, I wasn’t planning on it. That’s why I’m whispering.”

  “Good. Stay safe. I’ll be there quickly.”

  “Do you know who it is?”

  “Could be a part-time deputy I have not seen yet. But believe me. I want to find out,” Delta stated. “The sheriff has been taking kickbacks from the company to look the other way.”