In any case, Gary didn’t have a nude photograph of her, at least not in his wallet, so it was reasonable to assume that Leonard had been lying about Anne, too.
But if he was lying, how had he guessed that there was any impropriety in her relationship with her stepfather?
“Sophia, you still with me?”
Bringing her mind back to the present, she shifted her eyes away from the steady beam of their headlights on the asphalt in front of them. “What?”
“I said, what was so rotten about your day?”
Where did she start? With the call she’d received from Councilman Fedorko informing her that her time was running out? With the embarrassment of flashing Rod, only to have him immediately withdraw? With the outright hostility she’d faced from Detective Lindstrom during their meeting with the FBI? Or the confrontation she’d had with her stepfather, in which he’d basically denied everything she knew to be true?
Choosing not to go into any of it, she shrugged and kept her answer vague. “A lot of things.”
“Like…”
Apparently, he wouldn’t let it go, so she decided to tell him a portion of the truth. “After I left your motel last night, I caught Leonard Taylor speeding.”
“And you pulled him over.”
“That’s right.”
Rod startled her by cursing.
“What?”
“You couldn’t have turned a blind eye for once? Shit, Sophia, are you trying to get yourself killed? He could be responsible for twelve murders!”
“What are you talking about? I’m the chief of police around here—at least, for now,” she added under her breath. “It’s my job to enforce the traffic laws.”
“Your safety comes before the damn traffic laws!”
She straightened in her seat. “Slow down.”
He didn’t change his speed but he seemed to realize he was out of line and stopped harassing her for doing her job. “What did Leonard have to say?”
She didn’t really want to continue the conversation. His flare of temper didn’t sit well.
“Are you going to tell me or not?” he prodded.
“He didn’t say much.”
Draping an arm over the steering wheel, he took a moment to study her. “You brought it up for a reason.”
She took a deep breath. “I just wanted to tell you that he was openly belligerent, threatened me, that sort of thing.” She’d also wanted to tell Rod what Leonard had said about her stepfather having a nude picture of her, but she’d already told him too much about her personal life. He was only in town for a short while. She wasn’t sure why she felt this urge to lean on him, why she was curious to hear what he’d have to say about Leonard and where Leonard could’ve gotten his information.
Maybe she was latching onto the first person to come along because she didn’t feel she could count on anyone else. Which was pathetic. She had to stand on her own two feet.
“If you see him in town again, leave him alone,” he said.
“Even if he’s breaking the law?” she snapped.
“Unless someone’s life is at stake, you can wait until you have help.”
She folded her arms. “You don’t think I can do this job any more than anyone else does.”
Scowling, he hesitated, then blew out a sigh. “I didn’t mean it that way. I just… Some men, men like Leonard, don’t seem to care how they deal with people. It’s not necessary to put your life at risk to give out a speeding ticket, that’s all.”
She didn’t have the opportunity to respond. They’d reached the Firelight, and he was already getting out.
Rod was looking for a fight. He didn’t kid himself that he wasn’t. He supposed he’d been hoping Stuart or Patrick would provoke him enough to justify a reaction like that ever since he’d returned to Bordertown.
The damage done to his belongings at the motel certainly gave him the excuse he’d been looking for. But he couldn’t find Stuart.
He and Sophia walked through the Firelight, asking the men huddled on stools or sitting around tables if anyone had seen him, but every response was the same—he hadn’t been in tonight.
“Where could the little prick have gone?” Rod muttered.
Sophia stood with him at the back of the bar, surveying the scene. “I don’t know. It’s nearly midnight on a weeknight, and he works early in the morning. Everything else in town is closed up. He should be here if he’s not at home. Unless…” She nibbled at her bottom lip as she considered whatever had occurred to her.
He leaned close to compensate for the loud, thumping music coming from an old-fashioned jukebox. “Unless what?”
“Unless he’s with a prostitute or someone else for the night. I suspect Trudy Dilspeth does a bit more than cut hair for quite a few guys.”
That meant they might not find him till morning. It wasn’t what Rod wanted to hear, but…he couldn’t think of any other place to look. “If that’s the case, we’re wasting our time.”
“We could drive by Trudy’s house, see if we spot his truck.”
“And what, wait for him to come out? Drag him from her bed? We’ll go about our business and take care of this later.” Rod hated to delay his gratification. But he still needed to visit the safe house Sophia had mentioned in their meeting with the FBI. By this time of night there should be some activity.
“You’re willing to do that?” she asked.
He managed a shrug despite the anger knotting his muscles. “Murder is worse than a few slashed clothes.”
“He destroyed your laptop, too.”
“Thanks for reminding me.”
Her grin told him she was being a smart-ass on purpose.
“Anyway, the laptop and the clothes can be replaced. I’m ready to head over to the safe house.”
“Then let’s go.”
He was about to tell her that he planned to drop her off at her car. There was no point in taking her to the safe house. In his view, that was another example of unnecessary risk. But just as he opened his mouth to say she wasn’t going with him, a tall thin man with sandy-blond hair approached, his gaze fixed on Sophia.
“Hey, long time no see.”
Even in the dim atmosphere Rod could tell that this man’s skin was about as white as any he’d ever seen. That meant he wasn’t a rancher or a farmer or anyone else who worked outside….
“Dick,” Sophia responded with a bit too much emphasis on his name, and Rod realized this was the pastor she’d once dated. The one who’d impregnated a teenager. He must’ve been in the restroom or something when they first came through because Rod hadn’t seen him.