Protector (Copper Mesa Eagles Book 3) Read Free

married.”
    Ellie listened.
    “Over a hundred years ago, in the 1870s, I think, there was a drought. And the only person who had a good harvest was my ancestor,” Garrett said. “The rest of the town decided that he’s made some kind of deal with the devil, even though it’s just because he was smart enough to stake his claim next to the river.”
    Ellie frowned.
    “People are still mad about that?” she said, incredulously.
    Garrett shrugged.
    “There has to be some other reason,” she said, her eyes narrowed.
    “If there is, I wish I knew it,” Garrett said.
    Ellie looked at her note paper like she wasn’t sure what to write down.
    “Were they mad enough to murder your parents?” she asked, skeptically.
    “I don’t think so,” Garrett said. “But it’s all I’ve got.”
    She leaned her head on one hand and tapped the pen on the desk again.
    “I’ll see if I can turn up some evidence,” she said. “A police report, a hospital file, something . But don’t get your hopes up, okay?”
    Garrett reached into his pocket and pulled out a flash drive, then placed it on the desk in front of Ellie.
    “That’s got everything I’ve been able to find,” he said. “Maps to the crash site, articles, press releases from the police, the hospital, the whole thing.”
    Ellie closed it in her hand.
    “The password is ‘Obsidian15,’ but the O is a zero,” he said.
    “Thanks,” she said. “Very secure.”
    “I try,” Garrett said.
    “I’m not sure how long this will take, but I think at least two days,” Ellie said. “I charge fifty dollars an hour, plus expenses.”
    “Sounds good,” Garrett said. He stood from his chair and stretched. “Let me know what you find.”
    Ellie tore a post-it note from a pad on her desk and handed it to him.
    “Give me your number,” she said.
    Garrett wrote it down, then tossed the pen on the desk and pushed his hair out of his face again.
    “It was nice meeting you, private investigator Ellie,” he said.
    “Same,” Ellie said, and stuck out her hand.
    Garrett shook it again, fighting the urge to pull her toward him, to feel her body underneath his hands.
    Then he let go, turned, and walked back down her stairs.

Chapter Two

    Ellie
    As he closed the door, Garrett turned and, Ellie could swear , gave her a little half-smile before closing it. Then she heard his steps retreating down the stairs until they were gone.
    Ellie flopped back into her chair, the force of it rolling the big leather thing a couple feet backwards. For a few seconds she just stayed there, motionless.
    That was like a cliché from an old movie , she thought. Only with the genders reversed.
    She swallowed and finally sat up straight, rolling herself to sit in front of her desk again.
    I didn’t even think I liked disheveled men , she thought, staring at the notes in front of her. She couldn’t read a word of them, because every time she started trying to formulate a list of what to do, all she saw was Garrett, smirking and saying I brought trouble .
    It was all Ellie could do to stop thinking of how he could trouble her, with his dark hair and gold eyes, his thick, ropy arms, his dimples when he smiled.
    There were lots of ways. Ellie was imaginative.
    After a few minutes of getting nowhere , she stood up and went to the windows. Main Street was below her, and for a few moments, she watched the people below. It was three, so the high school had just let out and there were plenty of teenagers walking around, eating candy or drinking coffee and horsing around. Some parents with kids. A smattering of people who looked like tourists, though Grand Junction wasn’t exactly a tourist attraction.
    Okay , she thought. Quit thinking about how much you want Studmuffin McMurdered Parents to toss you around, and think about how you’re going to help him.
    Below, in the doorway of a closed shop, two teenagers tried to suck each other’s faces off. Ellie crinkled her nose and left the window.
    Right