Small Town Justice(18)

She watched from there as he played the beam of light over the entire area, finding nothing.

“Useless is probably remembering the last time,” Shane said, illuminating the pavement next. “This has to be the right place.”

“More to the left,” Jamie Lynn told him. “Yes! There.”

He crouched, inverted the bag and touched it to a dot on the ground before righting it and zipping it closed. “There was more than one drop still wet so I chose the smallest. That will leave plenty for crime scene investigating if they ever send anybody by to look.”

“What do we do with that?” Jamie asked.

“Deliver it to Harlan and call in a favor.” Shane holstered his gun, then cupped her elbow. “Come on. We’ll drop this by the sheriff’s office on our way to supper.”

“Oh, dear. I’d forgotten all about that. Your poor mom must be worried sick.”

Shane frowned. “You suggested I phone her, so I did.”

It occurred to Jamie that her unplanned contact with the Colton family was an extraordinary coincidence. Aunt Tessie would have given credit to God, of course. She always thanked Him, even when things didn’t work out the way she wanted. A sense of peace usually followed, too, at least in regard to Tessie. There had been many times when Jamie Lynn had envied her aunt’s faith.

There had also been times when she had wondered how anybody could continue to trust God when so many things went so very wrong, such as R.J.’s unjust conviction.

Everyone in her family had prayed fervently for the truth to come out, yet an innocent young man had been sent to prison and remained there. A righteous God wouldn’t have let that happen, would He?

Following Shane to his truck and climbing in, Jamie Lynn mulled over her original reasons for returning to a town she’d thought she hated. There were nice folks here. Helpful, caring people such as Sadie and Marsha. And even Shane.

Truth to tell, it was a big step for him to set aside his prejudices and reach out to help her through this maze of confusion and apparent danger. He might cause her untold trouble in the future when she dug into the evidence surrounding the hit-and-run, but right now he was going out of his way to provide aid. As far as she was concerned, that made him a hero.

She petted the dog in her lap and began to smile as she carried that notion further and envisioned Shane dressed as a superhero. He’d be handsome, of course, and strong, but in his case his costume was denim and his cape slightly wrinkled. Which would make for a bumpy flight, she concluded.

“Why are you grinning like that?” he asked.

“Maybe I’m just glad you were there when I needed you and able to find a blood sample,” she said.

He huffed cynically. “If I believed for a second that that was the only notion bouncing around in your brain, I wouldn’t be nearly so worried.”

When she glanced at him and saw how deeply he was scowling, it was all Jamie could do to keep from laughing out loud.





SIX

Shane was not surprised to find that the normally casual atmosphere at Marsha and Otis’s was noticeably altered. Only Kyle seemed oblivious to any difference, and that was mostly due to his infatuation with Useless. Marsha bustled from kitchen to dinner table and back far more than usual, Otis seemed at a loss for relevant conversation and Shane, himself, was determined to protect his family’s feelings no matter what. That made for an atmosphere so strained it was almost palpable.

It didn’t help when Jamie remarked, “I’m sorry we were delayed. We had to wait for the police again.”

Shane rescued a bowl of steaming potatoes from his mother’s hands and set it on a trivet. “Everything’s okay. No harm was done this time.”

“Jamie? Are you all right?” the tenderhearted woman asked.

“She’s fine.” Shane took his own regular seat across from their guest, unfolding his son’s napkin and tucking it under the boy’s chin.

When he looked up again, his mother was glaring at him. “Why didn’t you tell me that when you called?”

“Because I didn’t want to worry you. Like now,” he said with an arch of his eyebrows. “There’s no reason to get upset.”

One quick glance at Jamie Lynn told him otherwise. Nevertheless, he saw her manage a smile for his mother.

“It turned out to be a good thing Shane decided to be the one to wait for me at the motel,” Jamie said. “Knowing he was nearby probably scared off the thug.”

“What’s a tug?” Kyle piped up.

“A thug is a bad guy,” she explained.

“Like an ogre?”

Shane noticed her eyes beginning to sparkle with what he assumed was mirth.