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A PERILOUS REUNION
Framed for a crime he didn’t commit, Lee Earnshaw is two weeks out of prison when an ex-con tries to kill him and his former love, K-9 rookie cop Ellen Foxcroft. Recognizing their attacker as a man he met in prison, Lee knows he must be the intended target. But is the shooter settling a score, or does Lee have something he wants? Determined to start over, training puppies and maybe getting a second chance with Ellen, Lee vows to keep both of them safe. But as they investigate together, Ellen’s golden retriever partner at their side, they find themselves dead center in a killer’s crosshairs.
Rookie K-9 Unit: These lawmen solve the toughest cases with the help of their brave canine partners
Who would want to shoot at her and Lee? Ellen wondered.
Probably the same people behind the other trouble the police department and her fellow K-9 officers had faced since being hired to solve Veronica Earnshaw’s murder. Then again, Veronica’s brother, Lee, had just been released from prison. Could it be someone after him?
The car was coming back. Lee pulled the two dog crates from the backseat of his truck and set them on the ground by the blown tire. Once he was sure they were out of the line of fire, he came to kneel next to her. “They’re coming back.”
She nodded, then raised her gun and aimed it. When the car crested the hill, she knew they were in for a second attack. “That’s them.”
The dark gray Buick slowed and the barrel of a rifle appeared in the window. She figured it was now or never and tightened her finger, heard the weapon bark, then felt the kick against her hand.
The sedan’s front windshield exploded.
ROOKIE K-9 UNIT:
These lawmen solve the toughest cases
with the help of their brave canine partners
Protect and Serve—Terri Reed, April 2016
Truth and Consequences—Lenora Worth, May 2016
Seek and Find—Dana Mentink, June 2016
Honor and Defend—Lynette Eason, July 2016
Secrets and Lies—Shirlee McCoy, August 2016
Search and Rescue—Valerie Hansen, September 2016
LYNETTE EASON is a bestselling, award-winning author who makes her home in South Carolina with her husband and two teenage children. She enjoys traveling, spending time with her family and teaching at various writing conferences around the country. She is a member of RWA (Romance Writers of America) and ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers). Lynette can often be found online interacting with her readers. You can find her at facebook.com/lynette.eason and on Twitter, @lynetteeason.
www.millsandboon.co.uk
“The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble;
and He knows those who trust in Him.”
—Nahum 1:7
This book is dedicated to all of the heroes in law enforcement—two-legged and four!
Thank you for your bravery, your service and most of all, your dedication to justice. May the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord make His face to shine upon you.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to my fellow authors for your tireless willingness to answer my questions day and night!
Terri Reed, Lenora Worth, Dana Mentink, Valerie Hansen and Shirlee McCoy. It’s always a pleasure to work with such professionals!
Thank you to Emily Rodmell for letting me do one more. I appreciate you! :)
Contents
COVER
BACK COVER TEXT
INTRODUCTION
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TITLE PAGE
BIBLE VERSE
DEDICATION
Acknowledgments
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
Dear Reader
EXTRACT
COPYRIGHT
ONE
K-9 police officer Ellen Foxcroft shot a sideways glance at the man who drove in silent concentration. Just ten minutes ago, they’d picked up three puppies from Sophie Williams. Not only was Sophie a trainer for the Canyon County K-9 Training Center, she also worked with the Prison Pups program. A program Lee Earnshaw, the man behind the wheel, was intimately familiar with, since he’d been part of it up until two weeks ago when he’d been released from prison. Framed. Set up by a dirty cop, he’d lost two years of his life. He’d developed a new hardness and more lines around his eyes than when she’d last seen him.
Two of the dogs they’d just picked up from the prison program were ready to start training to be assistance animals for Ellen’s clients—adults and children with disabilities. In addition to being a K-9 officer with the Desert Valley Police Department, she also ran the Desert Valley Canine Assistance program she’d started a few weeks before Lee was released. Already she and her four employees were making a difference in the lives of the people in their community, training the dogs to be service animals for the disabled.
Thanks to Sophie’s generosity, Ellen hoped to have the two older puppies ready for the summer camp she planned to offer next month. The younger puppy needed more work—a job Lee would take on as soon as they got back to the facility. “You’re awfully deep in thought,” she said. “Are you all right?”
Lee blinked and sighed. “I’m fine. I just wish we had some better leads on who might have killed Veronica.” Veronica Earnshaw, Lee’s sister, had been murdered a little over three months ago. Her killer still walked the streets, and Ellen could tell Lee’s frustration level was about to boil over.
“I know. We’re working on it, Lee—we really are.”
He scowled at her, then turned his attention back to the road. “That’s what everyone says, I wish I could see evidence of that.”
Ellen grimaced. She wished she could, too, frankly. “An investigation like this takes time. It’s unfortunate, but it just does. At least you’re out of prison now, and that happened as a result of this investigation. Look at the positive side.”
His lips quirked. “You would look at it that way.” The puppies in the travel carriers in the back barked and yipped. “I appreciate your giving me this chance to work with you and the pups. Not everyone believes I’m innocent, in spite of the press conference and Ken Bucks’s arrest.”
“You’re welcome.”
Former Desert Valley sheriff’s deputy, Ken Bucks had been arrested and, in order to secure a deal and a lighter sentence for himself, had confessed to framing Lee and sending him to prison two years ago for a robbery he didn’t commit. “I just really want to put it all behind me.”
“I’m sure you do.” Probably easier said than done. This was Lee’s second day on the job. Two days ago, after much self-examination and encouragement from Sophie, she’d approached Lee about working for her, and he’d been reluctant. With their history, she couldn’t say she blamed him. They’d dated in high school. Until she’d allowed her mother to chase him away. Her jaw tightened. She didn’t want to go there.
Instead, she remembered the flare of attraction she’d felt just from being in his presence again. Just from talking to him and looking into his eyes. Eyes she’d never been able to forget.
Eyes that looked years older and much harder than she remembered. But she’d shoved aside her attraction—and her pride. After some fancy talking, he’d agreed to give working with her a trial run. She figured his love of animals and training had convinced him. She didn’t care what it was, she was just glad he’d conceded. He’d started yesterday with a tour of Ellen’s assistance facility, which connected to the Canyon County K-9 Training Center. “You know, I was thrilled when Veronica said she was fine with me leasing the unused portion of the K-9 training center.”
“Veronica never was one to turn down money.”
“Well, whatever her reasons, I’m just glad she let me.”
Coming from a wealthy background, Ellen knew people looked at her differently, had various expectations of her, some good, some bad, most wrong. But at least she’d done something good with some of that wealth.
She’d started the program with money from her trust fund. And then listened when Sophie Williams insisted that Lee Earnshaw would be the perfect person to hire to help train the dogs.
Today she could see his eagerness to get started working with the new animals. “Sophie said when it came to working with the dogs at the Prison Pups program, you were the best she’d ever seen. She called you a dog whisperer.” After Veronica had been killed, Sophie had taken over the program that trained dogs and rookie K-9 officers. She often used inmates at the prison to help with the training of the puppies until they were old enough for the center. Lee had been one of those inmates.
He gave a low laugh then frowned. “A dog whisperer?” He shrugged. “You know me. I’ve worked with animals all my life. I like them and they like me. The Prison Pups program was the only thing that kept me sane these past two years.”
“I know. And I’m sorry.”
“Yeah. I am, too, but it is what it is. I’m trying to move on.”
“You’re not bitter?”
He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “I’m bitter. I just fight it on a daily basis, hoping I’ll eventually win the battle.”
“You will,” she said. “Whatever happened to your plans to become a vet?”
He sighed and shrugged. “Life happened.”
“But you graduated from college.”
“Yes, with a degree in biology. I even started on graduate school, then everything kind of went south with Dad and I had to help him pay bills. Breeding and training dogs was the way to do that.”
“Do you have plans to finish school?”
“Yes. One day. Ken Bucks kind of messed that up pretty good. And then Veronica was murdered...”
Ellen heard the unspoken end of the sentence—and her killer is still out there.
She couldn’t help studying his features. Brown hair with a brand-new cut, brown eyes that at times looked hard and cold but were always alive and warm when he worked with the animals His strong jaw held a five-o’clock shadow. She used to kiss that jaw on a regular basis. She cleared her throat and tried to shake her memories, but they just wouldn’t leave her alone. Memories of being his girlfriend, the vicious conflict with her mother. And then Lee had walked away from it all.
Now she was back in town and he was out of prison and she was working in Desert Valley. For the time being. Thanks to her mother’s stipulation that she and the other rookies had to stay in Desert Valley until Veronica’s murder was solved or she would withdraw the funding she’d given the department. Funding the department couldn’t afford to lose. Ellen planned to have a few words about that with her mother when she woke from the coma she’d been in for the past three months. Someone had broken in to her home and attacked her, almost killing her. “I can understand your frustrations, Lee. I feel the same way about my mother’s attacker.” Ellen desperately wanted to find out who did it.
“I know, it’s just—”
The back windshield shattered and Ellen gave a low scream of surprise. Lee jerked the wheel to the right. “Get down!” Outside sounds rushed through the missing window. Someone was shooting at them!
Ellen ignored his order and turned in her seat to look out the back. “He’s coming up on your five o’clock. Coming in for another shot.” It was the perfect place for an ambush. On a back road that didn’t see much traffic just outside a small town.
Ellen’s tension mounted and she was extremely glad she’d left Carly, her golden retriever K-9 partner, at the training center for this trip. It was supposed to take no more than two hours all in. An hour to the prison and an hour back. And while Lee had been as tense as she’d ever seen him at returning to the prison, he hadn’t said a word. She released her weapon from its holster and gripped it in her right hand, readying herself for the next attack.
Four months, she thought.
Less than four months ago, she’d finished the twelve-week training session at the Canyon County K-9 Training Center. The state of Arizona had started the program years ago and found it quite successful. They trained new police academy recruits to be K-9 officers. She was a newbie, a rookie officer with the Desert Valley Police Department.
And now she might have to shoot someone.
The thought wanted to paralyze her, but her training kicked in and she knew she could do what she had to in order to protect herself and Lee.
The car roared up beside them and she got a brief glance at the driver and the gun he had pointed at her. Lee stomped the brakes, throwing her against the seat belt. She jerked forward then back, her head slamming into the headrest, her hand against the door. She lost her grip on the weapon and it clattered to the floor. The next shot took off the passenger-side mirror of the truck. Another hit a tire. Lee fought with the wheel and the truck listed to the side, but that didn’t stop him.
He spun the wheel to the right and they roared onto a side road. The other vehicle swept past. Lee hit the brakes again and backed up, the truck lurching, the rim of the flattened tire grinding. But he managed to complete his three-point turn so that the front of his truck now faced the road. She watched the disappearing taillights of the other car.
As soon as Lee put the truck in Park, Ellen rolled out of the passenger door, grabbed her weapon from the floor and aimed in the direction the other car had gone. “Lee, are you okay? Come out the passenger door.”
“I’m fine.” He landed on the ground beside her, kneeling behind the protection of the open door. He radiated tension. “I’m going to check on the dogs.”
Ellen registered the barking. “I’m calling for backup.” She grabbed the radio from her hip and put in the call. When Dispatch answered, she rattled off the information. She glanced at Lee who was also watching the road. “Anything?”
“No, not yet.”
“Help is on the way.”
She maintained her vigilance even as her mind searched for answers. Who would want to attack her and Lee? Probably the same people behind the other trouble the police department and her fellow K-9 officers had faced since being assigned to solve Veronica Earnshaw’s murder. Then again, Lee had just been released from prison. Could it be someone after him?
The drone of an engine caught her attention and all speculation fled. She heard it coming closer as Lee pulled the two crates from the backseat of the king cab one after the other and set them on the ground by the blown tire. He handled the heavy cargo as though it weighed nothing, but she knew the two six-month-old pups weighed about fifty pounds each. “I hear something. Are they coming back?”
“Sounds like it.” She raised her gun and aimed it. When the car crested the hill, she knew they were in for a second attack. “That’s them.” The dark gray Buick slowed; the barrel of a rifle appeared in the window. She figured it was now or never and tightened her finger, heard her weapon bark, felt the kick against her hand.
The sedan’s front windshield exploded. The driver hit the gas and the vehicle blew past in a drunken weave. Ellen spun from her position and moved to the back of the truck near the crated, yapping puppies. This time the car didn’t turn around—and she got a partial plate. “Oh-four,” she whispered. “I didn’t get the rest of it. But I got 04.”
She turned to find Lee hovering over the puppies, his features tense, face pale. “Are you all right?” he asked.
“Yeah. You?”
He nodded. “The puppies are fine, too.”
Ellen pulled her phone from the clip on her belt. “I’m going to find out where backup is. Keep an eye out for them to come back while I’m on the phone, will you?” Not only did they need a tow truck for Lee’s vehicle, they needed a ride back to town and a Be On the Lookout—a BOLO—put out for the gray sedan.
“Of course.” He looked distracted. Thoughtful. His brows pulled together over the bridge of his nose as if he knew something and was pondering it.
“What is it?” she asked.
His eyes flicked to hers then he shook his head. “Nothing.”
The dispatcher came on the line. “Where’s my backup?”
“On the way, Ellen. They should be there within minutes.”
“Tell them to be looking for a dark gray sedan—a Buick—with 04 in the license plate.”
“Copy that.”
Ellen hung up and paced behind the protection of Lee’s truck while she watched the road and thought about what had just happened. “Did you tell anyone about us going to pick up the puppies?” she asked.
Lee frowned. “No. But it’s not because I thought it was some top secret mission—it’s just that I don’t talk to too many people.”
Ellen heard the bitterness behind the words. Being imprisoned for two years for a crime one didn’t commit could do that to a person. She also knew that people in Desert Valley, Arizona, had long memories and weren’t very forgiving. Never mind that the man before her had been set up by a corrupt cop.
When she’d heard Lee had been arrested for robbery, she’d been stunned. Then disbelief had set in. But the evidence had been overwhelming. Now she knew why. It was easy to frame someone when the investigating officer planted evidence. Disgust curled inside her. She had nothing but contempt for those who used their power to hurt others, to fulfill some kind of personal agenda.
Sirens broke the silence and she straightened, her eyes once again going to the place where the gray sedan had disappeared. Some of her adrenaline eased now that she felt sure they weren’t coming back.
Chief of police Earl Jones stepped from his cruiser. Seventy years old, he topped six feet two inches and carried himself well in spite of his large gut. His gray hair looked mussed, as though he’d run his hands through it several times. His gaze landed on Ellen then slid over to Lee. “Not out of prison two weeks and you’re already causing trouble? Not a good way to start your new life.”
* * *
Lee nearly bit through his tongue to keep the words he’d like to fling at the man from making their way past his teeth. He simply stared at the chief. He wouldn’t defend himself. He didn’t have to. The fact that he stood here a free man was defense enough as far as he was concerned. Chief Jones raised a brow, a glint of respect lighting his eyes before he hitched his britches and held out a hand to Lee. “You got a raw deal. I’m glad it all worked out for you.”
Lee blinked and swallowed his anger. He shook the man’s hand. “Thanks. I am, too.”
The chief looked at Ellen. “What’s going on here, Foxcroft?”
Ellen’s gaze darted between the two them. Lee maintained his cool stance. Deputy Louise Donaldson exited her cruiser and joined them on the side of the road. The woman was in her early sixties and, if Lee remembered correctly, had been widowed at a rather young age.
She was tall and solid, her hair cut in a no-nonsense brown bob. Her dark eyes were serious and concerned. He also knew she planned to retire soon. In fact he wondered who would retire first, the chief or Louise. And why he was even thinking about that confused him. He attributed it to some kind of coping mechanism. If he thought about the mundane, he didn’t have to think about the fact that he and Ellen could have been killed a short few moments ago.
“We were shot at,” Ellen was saying. “I think there were two of them in the vehicle. They drove a dark gray Buick and I got a partial plate.” She gave it to him. “They’ve also got a busted windshield.”
“I’ll call for a tow truck,” Louise said. She got on her phone and Earl rubbed a hand over his craggy face.
“All right, let’s get you two back to town and get this figured out. Donaldson!”
“Yes, Chief?” She slid her phone back into the clip.
“Get Marlton and Harmon out here to take care of the evidence collection before the sun goes down. We’ve only got a couple hours before dark.” Dennis Marlton and Eddie Harmon, two more of Desert Valley’s finest—only Lee had come to figure out they weren’t quite so fine. Between ready-for-retirement cops and simple ineffectiveness, Lee decided it was a wonder enforcement of the law even happened in Desert Valley.
Chief Jones was a good man, but his upcoming retirement had him slacking off. The chief continued, “I’ll stay here while you chauffeur these two back to town. Officer Foxcroft’s got some paperwork to fill out on the shooting. Make sure her gun is turned in and all is done according to procedure.”
Louise’s jaw tightened as though she didn’t like being told how to do her job, but she simply nodded. “Of course. Come on.”
Lee put the crated puppies in the back of the DVPD SUV cruiser then he climbed in the back while Ellen took the front passenger seat. Louise started the vehicle and pulled away from the edge of the road. Lee reached over and settled his hand on Ellen’s shoulder. She started and turned to look at him, confusion clouding her eyes. But at least she didn’t pull away. “I’m glad you’re all right,” he said. “That was some quick thinking and good shooting out there.”
She shot him a tight smile. “Thanks. I just wanted to stop them.”
“You did that, all right.”
She fell silent and Lee removed his hand from her shoulder to look out the window and watch the scenery pass by. He didn’t take for granted the fact that he could do this now. He’d missed riding in a car for the past two years. Missed driving his truck. He’d missed a lot of things. The anger wanted to bubble up, but he took a deep breath and forced it down. Anger at what he couldn’t change wouldn’t help anything. It would just cause the bitterness to grow, and he didn’t want to go through life that way. Had made a vow he wouldn’t let it consume him. Not like it had his father. He forced the thought away.
Within minutes they were at the police station. Lee climbed out of the cruiser, grabbed the puppies from the back and waited for Ellen to climb out. He let her go in front of him, watching her enter the station, her steps light, movements graceful. He realized his feelings for her hadn’t diminished one bit from their high school days. No matter how hard he tried to deny it, he was still attracted to her. And her mother still hated him. No doubt even more so at this point. He wasn’t just a kid from the wrong side of the tracks anymore—he’d been incarcerated. Oh, yes, that would go over well with Marian Foxcroft. Assuming she ever woke up from her coma to find out he was now out and working with her daughter. As much as he disliked the woman, he realized he could feel compassion for her. She was in the hospital in a coma, a victim of a home invasion and a vicious attack. No one deserved that. He swallowed hard and pulled the rolling crates behind him. He trailed Ellen as she led the way through the Desert Valley Police Department lobby.
“Ellen?”
Ellen paused and turned to the woman who’d called her name. “Yes, Carrie?”
Lee racked his brain trying to place what he’d learned about the secretary and couldn’t come up with much. In her thirties, she wore thick horn-rimmed glasses and her brown hair was always in the same style every time he’d seen her around town. Up in one of those messy-bun things some women managed to twist their hair into. She was quiet and kind and did her job well if the rumors were true.