Never Let Me Go (Welcome To Redemption) (18 page)

He’d brought his tone down to a gentle roar, and for that she was grateful. Hannah sat back down and wrapped her arms around herself. “I started the bath water and went into my room to grab a book. The closet door flew open, and there stood Jimmy.”

“That gutless
sonofabitch
.”

Hannah silently concurred. “He starts talking about how he put a down payment on a place for us, and moving in together…as if the last six months didn’t happened. For the first time, I realized he must be delusional or something. I told him I knew exactly how he got that money and he…made the connection to you.”

“Dammit, Hannah—”

“I know, and I’m sorry! But Jimmy knows how much Hutch means to me, and I didn’t want him to think he’d gotten away with stealing from him.”

“Look, I get it. I understand. But if we can’t come up with something to charge him with—and in light of this new evidence it’s a very real possibility—he’ll go into hiding. He’d be stupid not to. And then it could take weeks to find him. Maybe even months. How am I supposed to prove your innocence if the prime suspect is nowhere to be found?”

Tears welled in her eyes and slid down her cheeks before she could swipe them away.

“Ah, hell, Dimples.” Chase knelt down before her and cupped the back of her head. He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers in gentle support. “Honey, I promise I won’t give up until I prove that weasel framed you. But right now I need you to finish telling me what happened. Any detail, no matter how small, can make a difference.”

Hannah gazed up at him and wondered how she’d gotten so lucky. This incredible man loved her. And more important—he believed her. “Jimmy said the only way I could know he was a suspect is if you’d told me, and that we must be sleeping together for that to be the case.”

“The man’s a pig. I’ll never understand what the hell you saw in him.”

“He was the anti-you,” she admitted. “I’d been waiting forever for you to notice me, and when Drew mentioned you were seeing Serena Hightower, I knew I didn’t have a chance in hell.”

He smoothed his knuckles across her cheek. “Serena has nothing on you, honey. Nothing.”

She cleared her throat as his hot gaze warmed her to the core. “Are you sure you want me to continue?”

That fierceness returned to his eyes. “Yes.”

She dropped her gaze to her lap, hating like hell to have to finish this particular tale. “He, uh, grabbed me, tried to kiss me. Made a crude comment or two. I told him we were through, that I wanted nothing more to do with him, but he didn’t take it well. He grew angrier, tried to force…”

When her words trailed off, Chase shot to his feet with a muttered curse. His hands fisted, and Hannah watched as he pulled himself together and turned back to face her. “I tried to warn you, dammit, but you wouldn’t listen.”

Hannah nodded miserably as fresh tears pooled in her eyes, and she grew angry with herself for such weakness. “You were right. I mean, I truly believed it when I told you he could never harm a woman that way. But yesterday…Chase, I saw it in his eyes. He would have forced me.”

Chase tugged her to her feet and pulled her into his arms. “Honey, I swear to you I will never let that bastard touch you again. He won’t get within a hundred feet of you as long as I’m drawing breath.”

“Your arms are the only place I feel safe anymore,” she whispered against his chest. “Never let me go, Chase.”

“Not a chance,” he whispered right back, his voice gruff. “Hannah, I have to know. Did Jimmy...hit you?”

She nodded, reluctant to meet his gaze. “He slapped me, but then seemed to suddenly snap out of it. It was as if he were two different people, and I swear I’ve never seen that side of him before. He apologized and grabbed my arm to keep me from running out of there. He seemed remorseful; swore he never meant to hurt me. I tried to pull free at the exact moment he let me go, and the rest of what I told you is true. I fell and smacked my face on the nightstand. Of course, that’s when we heard you pull up into the driveway, so I told him to get the hell out and never come back.”

Chase pulled back to look her in the eye. “I still don’t understand why you lied to me. He could have come back and…” He gave his head a disbelieving shake and swiped his fingers through his hair. “Hell, I can’t even think about it or I’m going to put my fist through the wall.”

“I’m sorry. I was an idiot not to tell you.” Hannah tightened her grip around him as shame prickled her face. “It’s just…I know how you feel about him, and with good reason. I was so afraid you’d go tearing off after him, beat him to within an inch of his life, and—”

“The bastard deserves much worse after everything he’s done. To you, Hutch, Lindy. He’s an animal who needs to be put down.”

Jaw clenched, his eyes darkened as his expression hardened. A frisson of fear trickled up Hannah’s spine at the thought of what Chase still might do given the opportunity. “Or locked up. And that’s another reason I didn’t tell you. After going on and on about how Jimmy could never hurt a woman, I was shocked; mortified. This guy I thought I knew so well was every bit the monster you’d said he was. Not the misunderstood loner I’d always thought him to be.”

Before Chase could offer a reply, his cell phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket and checked the caller ID. An indistinguishable emotion crossed his face. “My dad’s here. You ready to face the judge?”

Chapter 14

Chase let out a monster yawn as he approached the counter and plopped down on one of Hutch’s shiny red stools. By the time his father had gained Hannah’s release Wednesday night, it had been well past nine o’clock. Neither of them had gotten much rest, though being able to hold Hannah in his arms all night had been worth the lost sleep. Yesterday, he’d spent most of the day in court on an unrelated case, which helped in getting his mind off Hannah’s situation, even if for only a little while. But today proved to be another long, frustrating day which, not surprisingly, ended with Jimmy’s release from jail.

Hannah hurried his way, coffee pot in hand. “I have an idea, but I don’t think you’re going to like it,” she said in a low tone.

“I’m sure I won’t, but lay it on me anyway.”

She held up a finger as if to say ‘hang on’, refilled Mr. Doosier’s coffee and set his check on the counter, then returned to pour Chase a cup. She set the pot back on the burner before leaning forward in a conspiratorial manner. “I can wear a wire. I’ll go down to Jimmy’s cell and get him to confess. I know I can trip him up, Chase, I know I can.”

“It won’t work.”

She frowned. “You don’t know that. He’s arrogant; there’s no way he’ll be able to resist bragging about setting me up.”

“Hannah, he was released today.”

“What…but why? How?”

“Honey, I told you there was a good chance he’d get released. We have plenty of evidence against Dillon, but next to nothing on Jimmy. Sure, he was at Lindy’s party, but as your guest. Lindy couldn’t say with certainty whether the bracelet had fallen out of her purse or not, and that she had, in fact, been in the diner several times her first couple of weeks in town. And the fact that Jimmy and Dillon are friends doesn’t make him guilty of anything other than bad judgment.”

“But you have an eye witness. Mrs. Burant saw Jimmy sneak into my house.”

“You and Jimmy dated on and off for years, so it wasn’t exactly unusual for her to see Jimmy at the house. Plus, there’s no way to prove exactly when, or that he did, in fact, plant the bracelet.”

Hannah let out a soft huff and leaned her hip against the counter; Chase swore he could hear the wheels of her mind in motion. The woman was nothing if not determined. “Okay, so I go to him to get the confession. He’s more likely to slip up if he’s not inside the police station. I can find out—”

“Forget it. There’s no way in hell I’d take a risk like that with your safety.”

Exasperation etched her brow. She walked off to take an order, refilled a few coffee cups, and delivered a couple of burger plates to Mr. and Mrs. Thompson.

His stomach growled; Chase hadn’t eaten much for breakfast, and lunch had consisted of a vending machine sandwich and a handful of chips.

As if reading his mind, Hutch—who’d finally received the green light from his doctor to return to work—came out from the back to personally deliver a bacon double cheeseburger surrounded by a huge pile of French fries. “Hannah told me you were on your way over, so I took a chance you’d be hungry. And it’s on the house, no arguments. Least I can do after all you’ve done for us since the robbery.”

By ‘us’, Chase knew Hutch referred to himself and Hannah.

“You don’t owe me anything, you know that. But I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth. And the most delicious looking gift I’ve ever received. Hutch, I could kiss you.”

The older man grimaced in mock revulsion. “Save it for that pretty lady of yours, Sheriff.”

The pretty lady in question strode past with a tray of drinks, and Chase could read her aggravation clear as day.
Let her be mad
, he thought. If something went wrong and Jimmy got his hands on her, Chase would never be able to forgive himself.

Hutch grimaced as he turned to head back into the kitchen. He shot a quick look in Hannah’s direction, probably to make sure she hadn’t seen it.

Chase kept his voice down when he asked, “Are you all right?”

A scowl twisted his weathered face, and he gestured for Chase to ‘zip it’. “I stubbed my toe in the kitchen this morning.”

“And why is that a secret?” Chase asked, truly puzzled.

“Good Lord, boy, you know how headstrong that one is. She’s been nagging me all day.” He pointed to the bandage covering his stitches. “Checks it for bleeding every half hour. If she even suspects something’s wrong, she’ll call Caleb in to drag me home. And I’ve been cooped up enough, hear?”

Chase fought to hold back a smile, but lost the battle.

“Think it’s funny do ya? Well, it’ll be you she’s coddling next, mark my words.” And with that, Hutch hobbled back into the kitchen.

With a tired shrug, Chase picked up his cheeseburger and took a huge bite. Mayo and ketchup oozed out, as did a thick piece of bacon. Hutch knew exactly how Chase liked his cheeseburger—the works with extra bacon, mayo, and pickles. Chase closed his eyes as he relished the smoky flavor and chewy texture of the bacon, the sour crunch of the pickle, and creamy sweetness of the mayo. He took three more bites before starting on his fries.

Hannah plunked a large glass of ice water in front of him and slid onto the stool beside him. “Chase, I’m scared. I can’t think of any other way to clear my name than to get a confession out of Jimmy. I’ll do it any way you want, and I’ll be extremely careful. Can we please seriously consider this?”

Chase picked up the glass and guzzled half of it down while reluctantly considering her suggestion. Hannah was right about one thing, they had few options. And not a lot of time to waste either.

“Let me think it through while I eat. If I can come up with a fail-proof way to keep you safe, I’ll consider it. But Dimples, there’s no way in hell I’ll put your life in jeopardy.”

With a happy squeal, Hannah wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a boisterous kiss on the cheek.

Chase happened to make eye contact with Motormouth Marv who, as luck would have it, looked pleased as punch to have some new gossip to share. Not that Chase gave a shit. The only woman he’d ever cared about loved him back, and he had every intention of making their relationship both official and public just as soon as he spoke with Drew and Andy. Who thankfully were both still out of town since Chase had a more pressing matter to take care of first—proving Hannah’s innocence.

She dashed off again to take care of her customers as the bell above the door jingled. Chase took another bite of his cheeseburger, looking up in curiosity as a guy around his own age walked up to the counter and took a seat a few stools down from him. He looked somewhat familiar, though Chase couldn’t quite place him. With a mental shrug, he returned his attention to his food.

Hutch emerged from the kitchen and slowly approached the guy, a slight frown creasing his weathered brow. Chase’s curiosity was definitely piqued now.

“Do I know you, son? You look familiar.”

“It’s been awhile; I wasn’t sure if you’d remember me. Name’s Grant Walker.”

Chase set his burger down and sat up a little straighter.
Well I’ll be
…
 
Grant and Chase had been in the same grade, though they hadn’t been friends. In fact, Chase recalled quite distinctly he couldn’t stand the prick. The Walkers had been very well-to-do, and growing up, Grant had everything a kid could wish for—and he’d rubbed it in his classmates’ faces every chance he got. He’d also hung around with that loser Roy Adams, if Chase remembered correctly.

Hutch’s eyes narrowed. “Yep. It’s coming back to me now. You’re that mouthy punk who threw a brick through my window.”

Grant nodded toward Hutch’s bandaged head with a rueful grin. “Good to see whatever happened there didn’t affect your memory.”

Chase tensed at the guy’s insensitive comment. He forced himself to relax since it was doubtful Walker knew how the old guy received his injury—while trying to protect a young boy.