County Sheriffs 1: Conquering Adversity (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  “Ma’am, are you Misha Collette?”

  Misha swallowed around the lump constricting her throat and nodded slowly. She could tell by the concern in the sheriff’s eyes and the tension in his jaw that he was about to impart bad news. She swayed on her feet, thankful for the wall at her back because she may have ended up falling to her ass.

  “Can we have a word in private?”

  Again, she nodded, knowing that if she tried to speak she might end up screaming. The knot of dread in her stomach got bigger and bigger and her mind raced, but she tried to push the terrible thoughts trying to invade her brain aside.

  The dark haired sheriff took hold of her elbow and guided her back down the hall. He glanced about and drew her into an empty staff room right across from the women’s downstairs facilities.

  “Please take a seat.” He pulled a chair out for her and after she sat took the one next to her. She glanced over at the other officer and tried to read his face, but he must have had a lot of practice keeping his expression stoic. She couldn’t get a read on him at all.

  “I’m Sheriff Clay Wilton and this is Sheriff Spence Nelson.”

  Before her parents had died in a house fire, she’d been brought up to be polite and though she found it difficult to speak, she did. “Pleased to meet you both.”

  “The receptionist said you work here,” Sheriff Nelson stated.

  Misha nodded her head and placed her hand over her racing heart.

  “You had a friend come visit?” Sheriff Wilton asked.

  “She was supposed to meet me for breakfast. When she was late I searched the whole resort and even knocked on her door. I was just about to ask the receptionist for a spare key to her room, but…”

  “What’s your friend’s name?” Sheriff Nelson asked.

  “Janice Judson.”

  “Can you describe her for me?” Sheriff Wilton asked.

  Misha cleared her throat and hoped her voice wouldn’t crack as she described Janice.

  “When was the last time you saw Janice?” Nelson questioned.

  “Last night, just before midnight. She’s been here all week and is supposed to head back home to New York tomorrow. We had dinner together in the restaurant and sat in the lounge area talking.”

  “Have you seen anyone watching you or Janice?” Sheriff Wilton shifted in his seat.

  “No. What’s this about? What’s going on? Do you know where Janice is?” With each question she asked, her voice became more strident, more panicked.

  “I’m sorry to have to tell you, but your friend is dead.”

  Misha had no idea how or when she moved but she found herself on her feet with the chair she’d been sitting on off to the side. She shook her head and began to back away from the two officers. She didn’t stop backing away until she bumped into the wall and couldn’t go any further. Her knees buckled and she slid down the wall until she landed on her ass on the cold hard floor.

  The shivers coursing through her body intensified until she was trembling so hard her teeth were chattering. Tears welled and trickled down her face. The loud roaring returned until she couldn’t hear a thing and she doubled over, wrapping her arms around her waist as the shock wore off and grief took hold.

  The pain in her chest was so bad she could barely breathe. She ground her forehead on her upraised knees and dug her fingernails into her jeans-covered legs.

  Misha cried so hard she felt ill and though she tried to stop the pain wouldn’t cease. She didn’t remember toppling to the side until her cheek rested on the floor and the tears continued until there was a small puddle beneath her cheek.

  Strong warm hands gripped her shoulders and though she tried to see who lifted her from the floor, she couldn’t. Her vision was blurry and darkness encroached. She finally managed to draw in a breath and the darkness receded. Warmth surrounded her, taking away a bit of the chill, and her chattering teeth slowed until only the occasional clack assailed her ears.

  When the tears slowed, she felt exhausted and she wanted to curl up into a ball on her bed, go to sleep, and never wake up. Janice’s happy smiling face shimmered in her mind’s eye and she knew that her friend would give her hell if she gave in to the despondency threatening to consume her. Her surroundings came back into focus and when she realized she was clutching at the sheriff’s shirt with her face pressed against his chest, she was shocked and embarrassed. Shocked that he was being so caring and letting her use him to cry on, and embarrassed that he and his work colleague had witnessed her breakdown.

  She tensed when she felt another hand rubbing up and down her back and though she wanted to look over her shoulder at the other sheriff, she resisted. Misha knew she must look an absolute mess with her eyes bloodshot and her cheeks red, but that wasn’t the reason she didn’t turn to meet Sheriff Spence Nelson’s gaze. She didn’t want to see his or Sheriff Clay Wilton’s pity, scared if she did she would start crying again. Now that the crying jag had subsided, she hiccupped and sniffed and tried to regain control of her grief.

  A large, warm, gentle hand gripped hers and carefully pried her clenched fingers open. A wad of tissues was pressed into her palm and she nodded her thanks as she mopped the moisture from her face and blew her nose, thankful she hadn’t put her hair up that morning as she used the long strands to hide behind.

  “Are you okay, Misha?” Sheriff Wilton asked.

  She nodded but knew that was a lie. Misha didn’t think she would ever be okay again.

  * * * *

  Clay hadn’t been able to take the agony he saw in Misha’s face or heard when she’d begun crying. He didn’t care that he was being unprofessional when he picked her up off of the floor, but when she’d grabbed hold of his shirt and pressed her face against his chest, he hadn’t been surprised. He’d been the closest person to her after learning such devastating news and he’d learned it was a natural instinct to want human contact when learning of a loved one’s demise.

  Clay hated that he was going to have to ask Misha to come to Cody to identify the body, but after speaking to the receptionist and showing her the photo he’d taken of the deceased, they’d been able to learn the dead woman’s name. He had no idea if Janice Judson had any family and wasn’t looking forward to finding out the answer, but he had a job to do.

  Doing difficult things was a necessity in their line of work and he needed to find out as much as he could about the deceased so they could find her murderer and incarcerate the fucker.

  Chapter One

  It was harder than he thought to keep his expression from changing from concerned sorrow to one of glee. He’d seen the woman leaning against the wall in the resort building looking scared and worried. Her friend had put up a good fight, but he was so much more powerful. He could still see the way the blade of his knife had sunk into her soft flesh, hear her screams of agony, and feel the resistance against the blade as he’d pulled it through her body. His cock was hard and it took every bit of his self-control to keep his hands from his aching erection as he remembered using that slut’s body while he pierced her flesh with his knife.

  Happiness assailed him, racing through his blood until he felt so euphoric he wanted to laugh out loud. The sheriffs had no idea who to look for and he could see the frustration that permeated their bodies to their very souls. The friend was just as young and as good looking as the other ones he’d sent to the heavens, and he wondered if maybe she should be next on his list. The urge to fuck and take a life at the same time was becoming more and more regular and though he’d tried to keep his pleasure to once a month, the craving had been too intently insistent to ignore. When her blue eyes opened and he saw the despair in her gaze he knew that she would have to be next. There was so much pain in that blue gaze and he could just imagine the agony he could wring from her as he painted his pictures of lust into her flesh.

  Yes, the friend would have to be next. She would be happier when she joined her friend in the heavens.

  He watched the sheriffs lead h
er to an empty room and when he heard her wails of pain, he rubbed his hands together. It would take time and patience to get her alone, but in the end he would prevail. The blue eyed dark haired beauty would soon be smiling down on him from the sky.

  No one ever looked at him twice, even while he was standing out in the open. He didn’t often do human emotions, only while he was at play was he able to feel, but he was smarter. So smart in fact, he’d watched how others reacted and learned to play so that he wasn’t the emotionless person he usually was. Even the woman he fucked each night had no idea of who and what he really was. He smirked and wondered if he should have gone into acting instead of the job he’d ended up doing. All those beautiful women he would have had access to. He gave a mental shrug. Maybe after he was finished here he would move on to Hollywood. Just thinking about working on some of those beautiful actresses sent a slight flutter of excitement into his belly.

  Yes, when he was finished here and gotten rid of his regular fuck he was going to move on. With his high IQ, he would have no trouble inveigling his way into the elite crowd of movies and television.

  He spun on his heel smiling at others as he passed them and headed to work. Keeping to his normal routine would keep him off the dumb sheriffs’ suspect list. No one ever looked his way and that was the way he liked it. Working in the background definitely had its benefits.

  * * * *

  Misha couldn’t believe that Janice was gone. Her boss had come to her when he’d heard that Janice had been murdered and given her two week’s bereavement leave. She appreciated the sympathetic gesture, but she wasn’t going to wander around the resort and let depression take hold. She would take a couple of days and then she was going to spend her time working. Keeping busy would help her get through each day until her grief began to diminish.

  She was exhausted after a sleepless night but the sheriffs had asked her to go to the morgue and identify Janice. The thought of seeing her friend lying on a cold slab made her feel ill, but she would do whatever was necessary because Janice would have done the same for her.

  Misha parked her car outside the Cody morgue and turned off her engine. She was so cold inside she didn’t think she’d ever be warm again. Just thinking about going in there and seeing her friend’s lifeless body had her trembling. She drew a deep breath, opened her car door, got out, and headed up the steps.

  She felt as if she was moving in slow motion but she kept putting one foot in front of the other. Before she knew it, she was standing in front of the reception desk. The elderly woman manning the desk met her gaze but before Misha could explain why she was there, someone called her name.

  She turned to see Sheriffs Clay Wilton and Spence Nelson heading her way down a side corridor.

  “We’ll take it from here, Gwen,” Sheriff Wilton said.

  The woman nodded and began typing on her keyboard again.

  “Would you like us to accompany you, Ms. Collette?” Sheriff Nelson asked.

  Misha nodded, nearly sagging with appreciation. She didn’t want to do this alone. She was scared out of her mind but was determined to do what was necessary. If the woman lying in the morgue was Janice—and Misha knew she was because there was no way her friend would have left without telling her, nor taking her things with her—she was going to have to call Janice’s parents.

  Sheriff Nelson took hold of her elbow and Sheriff Wilton placed the palm of his hand at the small of her back. She shivered when the heat of their hands warmed those cold places on her body.

  They stopped near the end of the corridor at a large glass window. A man in a white coat stood off to the side of the room, and though she hadn’t been introduced to him, she assumed he was the coroner. Her eyes moved to the body on the gurney draped with a white sheet and the quaking in her body increased.

  One of the officers at her side must have nodded to the white-coated man because he wheeled the gurney close to the window. He met her gaze, and after drawing a deep breath, she gave a slight nod.

  Tears welled when she saw Janice’s beautiful lifeless face, and when she saw the bruising around her friend’s neck, her stomach churned. Her heart was slamming against her ribs and although she was cold to her core, sweat broke out over her skin. She glanced around frantically as she covered her mouth with her hand, and when she saw the restroom sign, she bolted.

  Misha only just made it to the toilet as she began to heave. There was nothing in her stomach except for the cup of coffee she’d had before driving to Cody, and when that was purged, she ended up dry heaving until her abdominal muscles were sore.

  After a few minutes, she was able to get her stomach to stop rebelling and she flushed the toilet. She rose on weak shaking legs and moved toward the sink. She washed her hands, rinsed her mouth, and splashed water on her face before drying her skin with the paper towel. She dug into her bag for the ever present sugarless mints and put one in her mouth to suck on.

  Tears welled again but she blinked them back.

  Janice’s smile and laugh echoed in her mind and the words she’d spoken to her after the first few days of sharing a dorm room returned. “You and I are going to be best friends, no matter what you do to keep me away. I never give up until I get what I want, so you may as well give in right now.”

  Those words brought a slight smile to her face and Misha decided she wouldn’t let the grief of her loss rule her. Janice would have made her promise to live life to the fullest for both of them and that’s exactly what she was going to do. But first she needed to speak with the sheriffs and call Janice’s family.

  She would take life one minute at a time, and then an hour and a day. It was going to be hard to keep going knowing she’d never be able to talk with or see Janice again, but her friend wouldn’t want her to wallow, so she wouldn’t.

  Misha turned from her reflection, chewed the last of the mint, and swallowed it before she opened the bathroom door.

  Seeing the two sheriffs standing against the far wall opposite the entrance to the ladies’ room had her breath catching in her throat. She hadn’t even noticed how handsome they were until then. Both officers were tall, well over six feet. Sheriff Wilton was the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome. His colleague, Sheriff Nelson, was the opposite with blond hair and green eyes, but he was just as handsome. They were captivating but not in that GQ kind of way. There was a confident aura that drew the eye to their handsome ruggedness. However, that wasn’t all. Both men were very muscular and she couldn’t help taking in the bulging muscles which strained the short sleeves of their uniform shirts.

  She could hear Janice’s voice in her head snickering and giggling and urging her to “go for it.” However, she wasn’t about to make herself look the fool. Misha had never been in a relationship and wasn’t sure she ever wanted to be. She pushed her thoughts aside when both men uncrossed their arms and took a step toward her.

  “Are you okay, Ms. Collette?” Sheriff Nelson frowned.

  She nodded. “Yes. Please call me Misha.”

  “Do you have time to come to the station to answer some questions, Misha?” Sheriff Wilton asked.

  “Yes.” Misha let the officers guide her out to her car.

  She followed them to the station and hoped they knew who’d killed her best friend so that bastard would spend the rest of his life behind bars. She wanted her friend’s murderer to pay.

  * * * *

  “She’s a beautiful woman,” Spence said as he glanced in the side mirror to see that Misha was still following them.

  “That she is,” Clay agreed.

  “If she wasn’t grieving…” Spence’s voice trailed off.

  Clay had felt the attraction as soon as he’d spotted Misha leaning against the wall the previous day. If she hadn’t been grieving for her dead friend, he wouldn’t have hesitated to ask her out on a date.

  “How long do you think we should give her?” Spence questioned as Clay pulled into a parking space outside the Park County Sheriff’s Office.

&n
bsp; “Everyone’s different, Spence. We need to give her time to mourn.”

  “Do you think she could be the one?”

  Clay met his best friend’s gaze and nodded. He almost smiled when Spence sighed with relief.

  “How are we going to go about this?” Spence opened his car door but didn’t get out as he awaited Clay’s response.

  “We give her a few weeks and then we spend our free time at the resort.”

  “It could look suspicious since we’ve only ever been there when those women were found.”

  Clay shrugged.

  “She might think we’re only there because of the case.”

  “Then we’ll have to make sure she knows why we’re visiting.”

  Spence nodded and got out of the car. Clay shut the door and turned to watch as Misha walked toward them. His heart was racing and his palms grew moist. He’d been around a lot of gorgeous women in his life but he’d never reacted to one of them the way he reacted to Misha Collette.

  He just hoped that he and his best friend would be able to talk her into having a relationship with them. Since they’d retired from the Rangers and spent time with the opposite sex, he hadn’t been able to relax unless Spence was with him. It wasn’t that he wasn’t man enough to be with a woman on his own, because he was. He just felt more connected to women on an emotional level when he and Spence made love to a woman at the same time. In fact, all of his friends had said the exact same thing a while back while they’d been having a beer on the front verandah of his and Spence’s home.

  Between the six of them, they had bought a rundown ranch for a steal and had spent every waking moment clearing the land, renovating and extending the existing house, and building two additional houses a few hundred yards in opposite directions from the main house.

  He and his friends would always have each other’s backs as they had done in the Rangers. They were a tight bunch and liked to socialize with each other often. They were more like brothers than friends and nothing would ever get in between that friendship. Clay, Spence, and the others trusted each other with their lives and had while serving in the military. He couldn’t imagine going through life without his brothers in arms at his side, and thankfully would never have to.