“They were better at taking a hint. No way did they want to be run up on charges for that fire.”
“There was no physical proof linking them to the fire. All you had on them was motive,” Levi pointed out.
“That was enough. No one else around here would do something like that.”
Now he was a mind reader? Levi had no love for Denny and Powell, but he liked Stacy even less. “I’m pretty sure duress falls outside the scope of legitimate police work.”
Stacy’s eyes narrowed. “Who the hell are you to tell me that? Anyway, I’m thinking we’ve been too friendly, made you too comfortable here.” He pulled out his citation book. “So maybe it needs to start getting a little uncomfortable.”
Levi clenched his teeth in an effort to control his temper. “That’s why I’m getting a ticket? Because you don’t want me here?”
Stacy didn’t answer. “License and registration, please.”
“You know my ID got burned in the fire.”
“Your registration, too?”
“Destroyed with my wallet.”
He made a tsking sound. “That’s unfortunate,” he said as he shoved the citation book back in his pocket. “I guess that gives me—well, you—two choices.”
“And those are...”
“You can agree to leave Whiskey Creek by tomorrow. Or we can head over to the station, where I can fingerprint you to get proper ID.”
Levi didn’t bother hiding his disgust as he shook his head. “Neither one will get you what you really want.”
Stacy seemed taken aback by this statement. “How would you know?”
“Because Callie’s not interested in you.”
“You think you’ve got more to offer her than I do?” He chuckled. “Get in the car.”
Before Levi could move, the sound of tires crunching on the gravel shoulder to their left drew his attention. It was Joe.
“Hey, Chief,” Joe said as he climbed out of the cab. “Something wrong here?”
Stacy pointed to the logo on Levi’s shirt. “Your new grease monkey ran a red light.”
Joe’s eyebrows knitted. “Sucks for him. Which one?”
“Does it matter? That one right there.” The police chief pointed at the closest traffic signal, only a block away.
“Are you sure it was that one, Chief?”
Stacy seemed bored when he answered. “Positive.”
Joe stretched the muscles in his neck as if he’d put in a hard day’s work, and Levi knew he had. “Then you must have the wrong guy.”
“I know what I’m doing here, Joe.” Stacy waved him off. “You can get in your truck and go on your way.”
Levi could tell the police chief was irritated by this unexpected intrusion. Joe could tell, too, Levi thought. He assumed Joe would do as Stacy suggested. But he didn’t.
“I’d be happy to head home, Chief,” he said, “except when I came out of the hardware store right there, I saw Levi sitting at that light. Maybe he could’ve run through the intersection if he’d swung around all three cars that were stopped in front of him, but he was trying to make sure he had that helmet secured to the seat.”
Red suffused Stacy’s face. “You must be mistaken.” He jerked his head toward his cruiser, indicating that Levi should get in the car, but Joe thrust his hands in his pockets and stepped between them.
“No, sir. I’m positive about what I saw.”
What Joe said was the truth. Although Levi hadn’t seen Joe, he’d been fiddling with Callie’s new helmet while waiting for that light. Still, Levi was surprised Joe would contest what Stacy said, especially for his benefit. Levi got along well enough with his boss, but they’d both been so busy they hadn’t talked much. It wasn’t as if they were best friends.
For the first time, some uncertainty entered Stacy’s manner. No doubt he realized he’d have to push the issue if he wanted to arrest Levi, and then Joe might still stand in the way. Ultimately, the police chief decided it wasn’t worth the backlash he could receive because of it. “Hmm,” he said, “must’ve been another guy on a bike, I guess. Imagine that.”
“Must’ve been,” Joe said, letting him out of it gracefully.
Stacy turned to Levi. “Looks like there won’t be any need to haul you down to the station. But—” his eyes narrowed again “—you might want to consider that other alternative I mentioned.”
Levi said nothing.
“What other alternative?” Joe asked as soon as Stacy got in his car.
“He’s invited me to leave town.”
Joe gaped at him. “Seriously?”
“Apparently, he doesn’t want any disreputable characters in Whiskey Creek.” He gazed down at his arms, at the pink lines that remained now that the stitches were gone. “My presence might cause another dog attack, or a barn-burning.”
“Those things weren’t your fault. And it’s a free country. He can’t ask you to leave. That doesn’t happen in this day and age.”
Levi put his helmet back on. “It just did. But thanks for your help.”
24
Levi had been feeling so...normal for a change. It was almost as if everything in Afghanistan hadn’t happened, as if it had all been nothing more than a terrible dream.
But now the past felt real again. The same resentment, the same deep-seated anger, simmered inside him, making him want to smash someone’s face in. Not someone’s. Stacy’s. The police chief wasn’t going to leave him alone. He’d badger him and badger him until he eventually figured out who Levi was, and then he’d make sure Levi went back to stand trial in Nevada, where he’d be facing the same odds he’d been facing a few minutes ago. If not for Joe, Levi would be at the station getting fingerprinted for a traffic violation he didn’t commit.
What had he been thinking the past few days, anyway? He couldn’t grow complacent. It wasn’t as though he could settle down in Whiskey Creek and pretend he was someone else forever. Callie didn’t own the farm, and her parents would be selling it soon. Then where would she go? Back to the apartment she’d told him she’d once rented above her studio? And what would he do—go with her?
That wasn’t very realistic. Not with Stacy making trouble for him at every turn. Callie didn’t know what she was getting into, didn’t even know his real name.