Colton's Christmas Cop Read online

  “You really were going to let him go?”

  “Yes. And I promise you, it had nothing to do with him refusing to go out with me.” Her stomach churned. “I don’t understand why he’s saying that.”

  For one breathtaking second, as her gaze locked with Hunter’s, she thought he might kiss her. Her heart raced and she felt dizzy, but in the end, he looked away first.

  Suddenly, she realized they’d been sitting in front of her town house for several minutes. “Thanks for the ride,” she said, her voice too bright. “I’ll have someone pick me up and take me into the office tomorrow.” Opening her door, she practically jumped out, sliding a little in the fresh snow.

  * * *

  Watching Layla rush into her town house, Colton tried to analyze what had almost just happened.

  He’d almost kissed her. Layla Colton, the woman who epitomized everything he’d despised about the corporate world.

  Except she didn’t.

  He’d never really talked to her, one on one, until tonight. Her devotion to her job, to her father’s company, had always been legendary, and she clearly didn’t appear to see the irony of working her fingers to the bone for a man who barely acknowledged her existence.

  Not his business, he reminded himself. The only situation he needed to concern himself with was the case against her. His gut told him she’d been charged with a crime she hadn’t committed.

  Shaking his head at his own foolishness, he put the car in Drive and headed home. Unlike Layla, who lived in trendy North Red Ridge, his small house sat in an older part of town. Which suited him fine.

  He loved his small frame house. He had a large, fenced yard and lots of trees. Pulling into his driveway, he hit the remote garage door opener and then parked in the garage.

  As he stepped into his kitchen, Hunter immediately crouched down. Goose, his basset hound, launched herself at him as she always did, wiggling and doing her best to lick every inch of his face.

  This was his absolute favorite part of the day.

  He let Goose outside, standing on the back porch to watch her, a habit he’d continued from when she’d been a tiny puppy and he’d worried an eagle would swoop down and carry her off. Since she hated the cold, she took care of her business quickly and then rushed at him to be let back inside.

  He’d stopped by earlier during his dinner break to feed her, so he only gave her a dog biscuit as a reward. “Such a good girl,” he crooned. As she gazed up at him, he could swear she grinned.

  No one could tell it by looking at her, but Goose was only one of four dogs in the entire county trained for electronic storage detection.

  When Hunter had brought in the young dog, who looked more like a mixed breed than a pure-bred basset hound, everyone had assumed he was joking when he’d announced his intention to train her in the highly specialized field. Then, as he’d begun working with her, their amusement had turned to incredulity. No one had ever seen a dog who could detect electronics. None of the other trainers had even known such a thing was possible. Hunter hadn’t, either, until he’d happened on an article about one of the dogs on the East Coast. He’d made it his mission to learn everything about it, even making a trip out to the training facility so he could learn in person how it was done.

  As with any other kind of detection work, electronic storage detection training was done through scent. It turned out that thumb drives, micro-SD cards and external hard drives all contained two different chemical compounds, both of which dogs could be trained to locate.

  Goose had proved an apt pupil. Even though Labrador retrievers were considered the best breed for this type of work, Hunter had known his Goose was a natural. As she grew, she looked less and less like a typical basset hound. She had longer legs and a leaner body, and she was slightly taller and more agile. In other words, as far as Hunter was concerned, she was just perfect.

  Soon, she’d proved herself to all the other K9 officers in the unit. Goose and her nose had provided the crucial evidence to take down a large child pornography ring out of Sioux Falls. She’d been able to locate hidden computer evidence that might not otherwise have been found.

  And she belonged to Hunter, not to the K9 department. She’d been his from the beginning and he’d trained her on his own time, without costing them a cent.

  He adored her, and she him.

  “Come on, girl,” he told her, heading into the bedroom to change out of his uniform. Goose followed, her toenails clicking on the wood floor. He hummed as he changed, even though exhaustion made him want silence. He hummed because Goose liked it and she’d been alone with the quiet since he’d popped in earlier.

  Once he had on his comfortable sweatpants and a flannel shirt, he padded into the kitchen to make a quick snack. He turned on the TV, popped a beer and put together a bologna sandwich. The rest of the world might be sleeping, but this was the end of his workday and it would be several hours before he’d wind down enough to hit the sack.

  To his chagrin, he couldn’t stop thinking about Layla Colton. He’d known her for years, distantly. Even so, he couldn’t understand how anyone could legitimately believe she’d done what Mark Hatton accused her of doing. True, as law enforcement officers, they were trained to look only at the evidence, but what evidence they had seemed sketchy. The video might have been doctored. No doubt a competent computer analyst could make that determination. He’d have thought there would have to be more in order for charges to be brought against her.

  Clearly, she’d been stunned and shocked by it all. He’d been a cop long enough to know when someone was faking it. Layla’s bewilderment seemed all too real.

  At this time of the night, he didn’t much care what he watched, though if he found himself still up at 5:00 a.m. he tried to catch the local morning news. Stifling a yawn, he realized it was doubtful he’d be awake then, so he let the DVR record it just in case they ran a story on Layla.

  As often happened, he dozed off in his chair, Goose snuggled up next to him. When he opened his eyes again, the morning news program was in full swing. He started it over and wasn’t surprised to see news footage of the front of the Red Ridge police station. A perky reporter stood in front, bundled up in her parka, and laid out the charges that had been brought against one of the town’s wealthiest and most influential citizens, Layla Colton. Toward the end of the segment, she mentioned that they hoped to be able to interview others close to the case for later airing.

  Shaking his head, Hunter clicked the TV off. He stretched, let Goose out once more and stood on the back patio until she came in. Though the cold air usually provided enough of a shock to his system to wake him, his weariness felt bone deep. Stifling another yawn, once Goose ran inside, he followed, extinguishing lights as he went.

  When he climbed into his bed, Goose leaped up and curled at his feet. He covered her with her own soft blanket, scratched her behind her ears and then burrowed under his own covers.

  The sound of his cell phone ringing woke him. Whether he’d slept hours or merely minutes, he wasn’t sure. He sat up, rubbed his bleary eyes and fumbled around on his nightstand, trying to locate his phone.

  “Hello?” he rasped, wondering why he felt like he’d been run over by a truck.

  “Sorry to wake you,” Chief Finn Colton said. “But I need to talk to you about Layla Colton’s case. Since news of her arrest was plastered all over the news, I’m going to play it safe and recuse myself from the investigation, since she’s not only family but the mayor’s daughter.”

  “I understand.” Hunter struggled to clear his foggy head. Glancing at the nightstand clock, he saw it was nearly nine, which meant he’d been in his bed four hours. “Sorry, I got in late.”

  “I understand, and I apologize for waking you. But we’ve got media up here wanting statements, the mayor demanding answers, of course, and Mark Hatton’s attorney threatening to sue if we release his clie
nt’s information. It’s a cluster.”

  “Okay.” Though Hunter didn’t get what any of that had to do with him, he knew the chief would fill him in soon enough.

  “I’m putting you on the case.”

  “Me?” Flabbergasted, Hunter rubbed the back of his neck with one hand.

  “Yes. All of the evidence in this is based on electronics—text messages, emails, etc. I think with Goose’s skill set, you might get to the bottom of this fairly quickly. While there apparently was enough evidence to bring charges, I took a look, and it’s on the light side. We need more. There must be hidden data storage drives or something.”

  “I have my doubts,” Hunter confessed. “Remember, I worked at Colton Energy. While I can’t say that I know Layla Colton well, I can tell you she never acted in any way other than professional.”

  “Good to hear,” Chief Colton said. “To be honest, I’m not buying Mark Hatton’s story, either. While I’m not sure of his motive, my gut tells me he’s lying.”

  “I agree.”

  “Pay him a visit and bring Goose. See what she can uncover.”

  Of course after that, there was no way Hunter could go back to bed. After letting Goose out and feeding her, he took a hot shower. Once dressed, he grabbed a pod and made a cup of strong coffee to go with his instant oatmeal. Thus fortified, he checked the weather forecast on his phone and suited up in his uniform.

  The instant he put that on, Goose started her happy, hopeful dance. She loved to work and didn’t understand why she didn’t get to every single day.

  “That’s right, Goose girl,” he told her. “I need your help today.”

  When she heard that, the little basset hound could barely contain her glee. She wiggled her entire body, swinging her head as she twirled and sending her long, floppy ears flying. She let out a low woo-woo-woo sound—her way of expressing her joy.

  As he grabbed his car keys, she stuck so close to him that he almost tripped on her. She kept her liquid brown gaze fixed on him, not letting him out of her sight in case he managed to somehow leave without her.

  Once he opened the door heading into the garage, he scooped her up and loaded her into his squad car. Even though her legs were significantly longer than a typical basset’s, she often had difficulty jumping into the back seat, even with a running start.

  Turning into the police station parking lot, he grinned when Goose let out a low bark—she knew exactly where they were.

  As soon as they entered the squad room, everyone rushed over to make a fuss over Goose. Panting and grinning, she accepted this as her due. While Red Ridge PD had a larger than usual K9 unit, Goose was the smallest dog on the force, and in Hunter’s opinion, the cutest. Of course, he knew he might be biased.

  He glanced around, noting that none of the officers who’d been working graveyard last night were in yet. Hunter could sympathize. He was glad he rarely had to work nights.

  Heading to his cubicle, he whistled for Goose. Immediately, she left her fan club and hurried after him, long ears flying as she ran. She caught up with him and they entered his work area together. Goose headed to the bed he kept for her in the corner, turning several circles before lying down with a contented huff.

  Once he’d logged in to the computer, he accessed all the files they had on Layla Colton’s case. As he read through everything, he shook his head. The chief was right. This was an extremely sensitive case, and he hoped it wouldn’t stand up in court.

  * * *

  Next, Hunter decided to pay Mark Hatton a visit. He wanted to sound the guy out, see if he’d give anything away.

  Stepping into the lobby at Colton Energy brought back conflicting emotions. Hunter remembered entering this very building the first day of his new job, how excited he’d been, how he’d felt positive that he’d take the world by storm. How he’d make a difference. He’d believed wholeheartedly in the work Colton Energy did. Sustainable, alternative energy. The first step in saving the earth.

  It hadn’t taken long before he’d learned that his job had nothing to do with that. Lofty ideals and hopeful dreams had zero to do with corporate machinations and greed. Fenwick Colton was all about the profit, and he spent it as fast as it came in. Layla’s comment about the company being in trouble didn’t surprise Hunter. If anything, he wondered why it hadn’t happened sooner.

  The receptionist greeted him with a sweet smile. She hadn’t been there during his employment, so she had no idea who he was other than a uniformed police officer with a cute, goofy dog. Very few people outside the K9 unit knew what Goose could do, and Hunter preferred it stay that way.

  “I’d like to see Mark Hatton,” he said, keeping his tone pleasant.

  Instantly, her smile vanished. “One moment, sir. Let me call and tell him you’re here.”

  Since he knew how fast gossip raced through this place, he thought it safe to guess the receptionist was not on Hatton’s side. He wondered if anyone actually believed the junior salesman’s story. While he understood that sexual harassment could go both ways, in this case he doubted any of it had ever happened.

  A moment later, the young woman hung up the phone and told him he could go right up. “Second floor. He’ll send someone to greet you.”

  Thanking her, Hunter headed toward the elevator, Goose close on his heels. When they exited on the second floor, Mark Hatton himself waited.

  “What can I help you with, Officer?” he asked, after shaking Hunter’s hand. “I hate to say, it’s strange seeing you in uniform rather than a suit and tie.”

  “Do you mind if we go to your office?” Hunter asked, resisting the urge to wipe his hand on his pants. The other man’s grip, while firm, had been damp.

  “Of course not.” He eyed Goose. “Cute dog,” he said, though the tight set of his mouth indicated otherwise.

  The office was small, only slightly larger than Hunter’s cubicle. With a pristine, uncluttered desk, a computer monitor on top and a printer/scanner/fax, nothing about the space gave a clue as to the occupant’s personality. Turning slowly, Hunter eyed the modern artwork on the walls. “Did you choose those?” he asked, even though he figured he already knew the answer.

  “Nope.” Mark’s voice sounded completely uninterested. “They were left over from the guy who was here before me.”

  The fact that there were no framed photos of family or friends, no knickknacks or mementos, not even a plant told Hunter that Mark spent as little time as possible in this space. The room completely lacked personality.

  “Did you just move in here?” Hunter asked, genuinely curious. Maybe Hatton simply hadn’t had time to spruce the place up.

  Mark eyed him over the rims of his oversize glasses. “No. I mean, I moved here after my last promotion, which would be after you quit. But it’s been a few months.”

  “Okay.” Deciding he’d wasted enough time dwelling on Mark’s lack of office decorating skills, Hunter eyed the chair across from the desk. “Mind if I sit?”

  “Is this going to take long?”

  “Depends. I’ve been brought in on your case and the chief asked me to bring myself up to snuff. I’ve read the file, of course, but I wanted to come talk to you and get it straight from the horse’s mouth.”

  Just like that, Mark’s uptight posture relaxed. “Oh. You should have said so. Go ahead and take a seat.”

  Amused, Hunter did. He watched as Mark made a show of settling himself into the oversize leather executive chair behind his desk. No doubt if there’d been papers on the desk, he would have squared them up, too.

  Mark then launched into a story about how Layla had started flirting with him long before he’d moved into this office. “When I turned her down the first time, she gave me a bad review,” he said. “She knew not only would that mess up me getting promoted but would affect my holiday bonus. I’m the top salesperson in the company,” he boasted. “Fenwic
k recognized me in front of the entire sales department. He gave me a cash bonus and took me to dinner personally.”

  Hunter nodded, listening carefully.

  “Layla seemed to find my success intoxicating,” Mark continued. “She’s four years older than me, but that didn’t seem to bother her. I think she liked the idea of me having a young guy’s stamina.”

  It took every ounce of willpower for Hunter to keep from laughing. Instead, he nodded.

  “She didn’t like the fact that her father gave me this promotion and she tried to stop it. When he overrode her, she made her first threat.” Mark pulled out his cell phone, scrolled to something and then handed it across the desk. “Take a look for yourself. Those texts came from her.”

  Accepting the phone, Hunter scrolled through the entire conversation. The earlier texts were flirty and light, complimenting Mark on his looks, his education—hell, virtually everything about him. She’d invited him to her town house twice and he’d declined. Then the threats had started. If you don’t make love with me tonight, I’ll make sure you not only lose your bonus, but your office and your job, the last one said. In fact, if you don’t take care of my needs, you might even lose your life.

  Chapter 3

  Once upon a time, Layla Colton had believed in fairy tales. She’d thought if she worked hard enough she could make her father notice her, something he never seemed to do. Though it felt disloyal, she’d long suspected he was skimming money off the top of the company’s profits, but until Hunter Black had mentioned the accounting department, it hadn’t occurred to her to take a look at the books.

  Now she had. In her office since the crack of dawn, she’d taken a good, hard look at the bookkeeping files. Saving the file to her Dropbox, she clicked out of it, feeling queasy. And disappointed. No wonder Colton Energy was in trouble. As she’d thought, the sales department was rocking and rolling, getting lots of new contracts and extending old ones. With numbers like the ones she’d seen, they should have been expanding. But instead, Fenwick Colton dipped into and spent the profits like there was no tomorrow.