Dangerous Defiance Read Online Free

wide, incredulous.
    “I suppose you can call it a sort of house arrest. For your own safety. I’m not sure you wouldn’t try to head back up to the site and get yourself into more trouble.”
    “You can’t. You have no right.”
    “You’re in my town now, Agent. We do things differently here than in D.C. I’ll be back tomorrow morning early and we can try this again then.”
    “I can’t believe this.”
    “Good night, Agent Manning,” he said.
    He walked out the door and back to his truck. It was fully dark now and he imagined she would stay in. Her leg would be hurting her and she didn’t know the area well enough to attempt anything stupid. At least he didn’t think so.

Chapter Three

    Jess woke up in the morning feeling slightly better. Her head at least felt better, her leg still throbbed but it wasn’t as raw a pain as yesterday. She checked the time. It was half past seven. She threw the covers back and sat up, touching the now bruised skin around the bandage that covered her cut.
    She stood, able to put some weight on her leg this morning. She had slept just wearing her panties last night as the air conditioner, although it worked hard, was no match for the heat and humidity that seemed not to let up even at nighttime. She grabbed her toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, and conditioner and went into the bathroom to have a shower, no longer able to put off processing what had happened last night.
    Sheriff Jackson Montgomery would be harder to put off than she liked. Thing was, she had to do this alone. The FBI had closed the case too quickly. It stank of cover-up and what she had learned last night about the assistant deputy director coming to claim Ben’s body before the locals had even identified it only made her more sure. Dam failure seemed like convenient timing for somebody to not only commit murder but also to cover up evidence. Wiping out an entire neighborhood and the death of three people was collateral damage, she supposed. The sheriff did not believe the dam had failed. He too was suspicious. She wondered what evidence he had, but she couldn’t involve him. He was just a small town sheriff. He had no idea what he was up against.
    She switched off the shower. She’d go up to the dam today, take some photos of the damage.
    Photos. Crap! She grabbed two towels, binding her hair in one while wrapping the other around her body. She had taken a lot of photos at the site yesterday but she hadn’t seen the camera in her bag when she had taken out her insurance card. Her feet wet, she padded through the hotel room to her bag only to have her suspicions confirmed. No camera. She remembered putting it down when she was trying to get Ben’s hat but didn’t remembered picking it up again.
    Crap.
    She dressed quickly in a pair of shorts and a tank top and slid on her flip-flops. She picked up her car keys, hesitating for a moment as she considered the sheriff’s words last night. She then shook it off and made her slow way to the car. After all, he had no authority to put her under house arrest. She had done nothing wrong.

    * * *

    Jackson walked to his car with two take-away cups of steaming coffee and a box of donuts. Maybe last night’s approach hadn’t been the best way to have gone about things. She had been hurt after all, had had some painkillers. She had a lot on her mind and she didn’t know him. She didn’t trust him and that was fair. It was smart, even. They had just gotten off on the wrong foot, and today, he would remedy that.
    It was just a few minutes past eight o’clock in the morning when he turned into the parking lot of the Dorado Hotel. His eyes narrowed immediately when he saw the empty space where her car should have been. The hotel had outdoor entrances and he stopped his truck in front of her room. He didn’t even shut off his car. Instead, he walked to her door and knocked, or really banged, with his fist. There was no answer and he could hear no sound of occupancy from