Page 11 of Trace of Doubt
I needed Valleysburg. Not sure why, but I believed I belonged here. Someday, if I found favor, I’d call this town home and these people family.
Maybe not Officer Hughes.
7
DENTON
How strange to feel an emotional connection to a horse again. Not since I was a kid had I been attached to such a magnificent animal. Back in those days, my heart belonged to a quarter horse whose speed challenged the wind. Nothing compared to feeling like the horse and I flew as one.
In my twenties I exchanged the horse for a silver Camaro. Finished college. Fell in love and proposed to the most beautiful brunette on the planet. Planned a fall wedding. Joined the FBI. My youngest brother jabbed at my career choice every chance he got. So I committed to nail Shelby Pearce for life. My future slid downhill from there...
My life lay in shambles, and I blamed her. My parents wanted me to talk to their pastor, but why? God was using me as a whipping boy.
“Great way to spend the morning.” I brushed the sides of Big Red to cool my constant companion.
He shook his head to chase away a fly, but it looked like he agreed.
“What do you think of Shelby Pearce? I’ll tell you a few things first. Those blue-gray eyes, long honey-colored hair, and sweet voice might lead a man to distraction. Not me. When she was fifteen, she broke into her high school and vandalized the girls’ athletic trophy case. She also had two arrests for underage drinking and took a neighbor’s car joyriding. That’s just a drop. But I know what she did to her family, and one of her crimes remains an open case.”
My brain must have been hit by buckshot to talk to a horse about a string of crimes that happened over fifteen years ago. She’d pulled the trigger on a man, leaving her sister a widow and an unborn baby without a daddy. Add the disappearance of five hundred thousand dollars.
Upon her release from prison, she’d chosen Valleysburg to supposedly begin her life all over. I knew exactly what she planned—sit tight until she could get her hands on the money. No doubt she had an accomplice who worked the sidelines.
I’d been given another chance to prove myself to the FBI, and this time I refused to be defeated. I’d been given an undercover assignment to locate the stolen money. I took up residence in the community and set up my role. Shelby had blinded the parole board, Edie Campbell, and Pastor Emory. But I’d expose her. No one had the right to steal from a nonprofit organization that housed, schooled, and fed African orphans.
My cell phone alerted me to a call from Mom with “Hey Jude.” The ringtone always took me back to the days of her at the piano playing and singing Beatles songs. Dad, my two younger brothers, and I learned every word.
“Hi, Denny, this is Mom.”
I chuckled. Who else could it be? “What’s happening with the fam?”
“That’s why I’m calling. Our annual barbecue cook-off is inthree weeks, and I wanted to make sure you were coming. Your recipe always wins, but your brothers are perfecting theirs.”
I pictured my dark-haired mom doodling on a scratch pad, her normal manner of doingsomethingwhile on the phone. “Mom, I’m working undercover.”
“Where?”
“If I told you, then it wouldn’t be undercover.”
A sigh met my ears. “I can always ask. Any chance your case will be closed by the cook-off?”
“I have no idea, but we can hope.” I hated to disappoint her. “But you can tell Dad, Andy, and Brice they will never beat out my barbecue sauce. Mamaw gave me the recipe with the orders it was to be passed down to the oldest son of each generation.”
“Right, and the competition is between the McClure men. You’d think her own daughter would have it tucked away. But I didn’t qualify.” She huffed.
“You know Mamaw.”
“Sweet and sassy. I miss her.”
“So do I.”
“Does your undercover work let you work with troubled teens?”
“No, and I miss it.” I’d been volunteering with Hope for Today’s Youth since the eruption in my life years back.
“All right, Denny. I’ll let you go, but first I have to ask—”
I laughed. “No, I haven’t met a nice girl.”
