“Jade”—he took my hand—“I’m asking you. Please, if you love me, don’t get that tattoo.”

His eyes showed his seriousness. I saw a sadness, a determination, a hardness.

“If it means so much to you, I won’t get that particular tattoo. Maybe I could find another image of a phoenix that I like.”

He squeezed my hand, hard. “Please, Jade, not a phoenix.”

I gulped. “Why? Can you tell me why?”

He shook his head.

“Talon, I know that there’s a lot bottled up inside of you, and I haven’t even begun to explore all of it. I know all of that, yet I love you. This obviously means something to you, is important to you in a way that I don’t understand. Please, if you love me, please tell me why you don’t want me to get a phoenix tattoo.”

“I can’t.”

“It doesn’t make any sense. Your horse is named Phoenix, for God’s sake.”

“There are things. Things I just can’t explain to you now.”

“Will you be able to explain them to me at some point?”

He turned to me, took both my hands in his, his eyes serious. “I hope so, blue eyes. I sincerely hope so.”

 

Back to work the next day, and still Larry didn’t show. I ended up in court again on a domestic violence case that I had no clue about. I felt bad that I had been short with Michelle again. It wasn’t her fault he hadn’t shown up.

Once I got back, I was able to call my dad and check in on Brooke. She’d had a few other bouts of regaining consciousness, but they hadn’t lasted long. The way work was going, with Larry nowhere to be found, I wouldn’t have time to go visit Brooke until the weekend.

Near the end of the day, Michelle came to my door and told me the mayor was here to see me.

“Sure, send him in.” I had no idea what was going on, but the assistant city attorney certainly didn’t turn down the mayor.

A tall man with silvery hair and blue eyes entered, dressed casually in jeans and a polo shirt. Even Larry hadn’t dressed that casually, except on Fridays, when he came in wearing shorts and flip-flops sometimes.

“Jade”—he held out his hand—“I’m Tom Simpson.”

I remembered his name from the article I had read about Talon’s homecoming and heroism. I stood and shook his hand. “It’s nice to meet you. What can I do for you?”

He gestured to my chair. “Please, have a seat.” He took a seat opposite my desk. “Have you heard from Larry Wade at all?”

I shook my head. “Last time I saw him was Friday when he left the office.” I chose not to tell him that I thought I might’ve seen him at the hospital in Grand Junction later that night. I couldn’t be sure it was him, so why rock the boat?

“We’ve all been trying to get hold of him,” Simpson said. “But since no one seems to know where he’s gone—not his ex-wife, not his kids, not anyone—I need to make some changes in this office.”

Shit, was I about to be fired? Not that I relished this job too much, working for such an unethical bastard, but it was putting money in my pocket for the time being. “Understood. What needs to be done?”

He smiled. “As of tomorrow morning at eight a.m., you are the acting city attorney, Ms. Roberts.”

I widened my eyes. “I am?”

“I’ve talked to Judge Gonzalez over at the courthouse. She’s informed me how well you’ve taken care of Larry’s cases, having been thrown into them with virtually no preparation.”

Really? After the dressing down she’d given me? “Thank you. I’ve already made arrangements to keep apprised of everything on the city’s docket, just in case something like this happens again.”

“I’m glad you’ve done that. It’ll make your transition a little easier.”

“I appreciate your confidence in me, Mayor Simpson.”

He smiled. “Please, call me Tom. We don’t stand on ceremony around a small town like Snow Creek.” He stood. “Oh, and by the way, there’s a $10,000 pay raise in it for you.”

“Wow. Thank you. I do appreciate that, though it’s not necessary.”

“Well, we certainly wish it could be more, Jade, but as you know we’re a small town. The city attorney is normally an elected position, although I appointed Larry when the previous city attorney retired in the middle of his term. If you choose to run when the current term is up, you may certainly do so. If you’re elected by the people, you will get substantially more.”

I did some rapid calculations in my head. That new car was coming closer and closer. I secretly hoped Larry would stay away for a long time.

“When is the term up?”

“Next year.”

“Well, I’m sure he will be back soon.”

“That won’t affect your position, Jade. Unless he has a damned good reason for taking off, I intend to see his resignation when he returns.”

“You do know, Mayor…er…Tom, that I’m a brand-new attorney.”

“Yes, I’m aware of your credentials. But as I said, Judge Gonzalez has been highly complementary of your performance the last couple days. And we are a small town. It won’t take you long to get up to speed on everything.” He smiled and stood. “I’ll let you get back to your work.” He turned and left my office.

I leaned back in my chair. Was this a good thing or bad thing?

Common sense told me it was a good thing. I could take over as city attorney. I could whip this office into shape. There would be no more ethics-bending with me in charge. Plus, it was a pay raise, and I could certainly use the money. The sooner I got together a down payment for a new car, the sooner I could move into a better place. Plus my student loans were coming due anytime now. Yes, all in all, this was a good thing.

So why were the hairs on the back of my neck standing up?

Chapter Twelve

Talon

I was going to have to give poor Axel a raise. He was a great foreman at the orchard, and I had not been pulling my weight lately, always driving into Grand Junction for therapy. Today was no different, although I had gone in early to meet with Robert Prendergast, also known as Biker Bob, who was the designer of the infamous phoenix tattoo that Jade wanted to have inked on her body for all time. Despite my throwing a few more Benjis his way, he hadn’t been able to find the records of who he had done the tattoo on twenty-five or so years ago.