Putting the truck into gear, he aimed his rig for Main Street. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust from the bright lights above the gas pumps to the darkness-draped road, but he quickly traversed the half a mile to the café with very little traffic in sight. He parked the truck behind the coffee shop and with heavy feet, he went inside.
Cord sat in one of the front booths, deep in conversation with Veta’s husband Ivan, and Mark Harden in his sheriff’s uniform stood beside their table.
“What’s going on?” Cade asked as he stepped up beside Mark. He thought of sliding into the booth beside his brother, but Mark still made him uneasy and that kept him on his feet.
“Deputy Harden was just telling us about Addie’s vandalism case and the men who attacked you,” Ivan said in his heavily accented voice.
“Seems they might be the same perps,” Cord added and Mark nodded when Cade looked his way.
“So, you think the guys who attacked me are the same ones who trashed Addie’s house?”
“That’s the theory,” Mark answered. “Only problem is, we can’t find the ringleaders. Ted and his two best buddies are nowhere to be found.”
The line of tension between Cade’s shoulders pulled a little harder. “That’s not good news.”
“Don’t worry,” Mark said, “we won’t stop looking for them.”
“I’m more worried about Addie being out there alone.”
“Yeah,” Mark nodded toward the table, “your brother said you’re leaving town for a while.”
Cade narrowed his eyes and his hands curled into fists at his side. “Don’t get any ideas about that, Harden. She’s off limits to you.”
Mark shook his head. “I told you before, neither you nor Addie have to worry about me anymore. I’m just a deputy to her, and that’s all.”
“If I find out any different,” Cade said in a dangerously low tone as he stepped into the other man’s space, “that uniform won’t save you.”
Mark’s eyebrows rose as if surprised. “You know it’s not a good idea to threaten a deputy, right?”
“It’s not a threat, Harden. If you hurt her, I will make sure you pay.”
Mark’s shoulders slumped and he shook his head. “I won’t. You have my word on that.”
Cade glared into the other man’s eyes and saw something he didn’t expect—the truth. Mark was telling the truth. At least he believed it to be the truth. And he hadn’t backed down when Cade crowded him. The man had backbone, if nothing else, but that little glint of honesty brought Cade’s opinion of him up a notch or two.
“I’ll hold you to that.”
“I’d expect nothing less.”
Giving Mark one last hard look, Cade nodded and stepped back.
“So, none of you have had any other run-ins with Ted or Pete Jr.?” Mark asked as Cade slipped into the booth beside Cord.
“Pete Jr.?” Cade asked.
“Peter Larsen Jr.,” Mark clarified. “Most people call him JR.”
“Yeah,” Ivan added, “because he hates his father too much to use his name.”
“Pete? As in, old man Pete, who sold his place to Addie?” Cade questioned, a sinking feeling churning in his gut.
Ivan nodded. “The same. They haven’t been on good terms for years.”
“Has JR been in here at all over the last couple of weeks,” Mark asked.
“No,” Ivan replied, shaking his head, “not since that day Cade put Ted in his place for mocking Addie. But Pete Sr. was in the other day. He said JR had been out to visit him a couple of weeks ago.”
“Did he say why?”
“JR asked a bunch of questions about selling the farm and was really interested in the particulars of the arrangement with Addie. I guess JR was pretty upset that his dad didn’t offer it to him.”
“Why would he?” Cade asked. “It didn’t look like the old man had much help over the last several years. At least, not by the condition the farm was in when I got here.”
“JR never had any interest in farming or ranching or anything else that required hard work,” Ivan said. “He always took the easy way. Landed him in jail a couple of times that I know of. Last I heard, he’d gotten into drugs—selling, smuggling, and using.”
Mark nodded. “That tracks with what we know as well. Did Mr. Larsen say anything else? Like where his son may have gone or where he’s staying?”
“Nah, just that JR wanted money. Said he owed some bad people a lot of money, but when Pete wouldn’t give it to him, JR threw such a fit that the building security had to remove him. Shook Pete up pretty good. Security told him they thought JR had been high and not in his right mind, but that hadn’t been the first time he’d disrespected his father like that.”
Cade shook his head. That was no way to treat your father, let alone an elder, but that wasn’t what had bothered him. “What about Ted?” he asked. “Has anyone seen him?”
“Some of his buddies,” Mark replied, “but none of them are exactly what you’d call reliable or helpful. They’re all involved in the same mess, but from what we’ve been able to determine, Ted’s a lot of talk. JR’s the dangerous one. We might have a line on Ted Ballinger though, and I expect to hear about it soon.”
Cade frowned. JR’s the dangerous one… floated through his head as he thought back to the first of the two times he’d seen the man. JR had been sitting with Ted’s gang the day Cade had walked into the café to find everyone laughing at Addie. He hadn’t thought much of the cocky bastard at the time, but now something about the other man nagged at Cade.
“Thanks for the info, Ivan,” Mark said as he tucked his notepad back into his pocket. “I’ll head over to the senior apartments and talk with Mr. Larsen. Maybe he’s heard from his son since then.”
“Good luck, deputy,” Cord said as Mark turned for the door.
Cade barely heard as he stared into space and rummaged through his mind, trying to locate
