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“Marlowe said someone was trying to run her off the road. Amber Road. Up near the Slurry slope.”
I squeezed her harder. I couldn’t help it. If they had succeeded, she would have gone over the steep side of the mountain.
I turned us around, so I was facing Nash and the other guy. “Any idea who did it?”
“All I could tell them was it was a big, black truck with two men in it,” Marlowe whispered into my chest.
“I have one of my deputies up there looking around,” Nash told me. “We’ll also be taking paint samples from the back of Marlowe’s Jeep.”
“Can you explain to us again who you think tried to run you off the road?” Nash asked. For the first time I noticed he had a notepad in his hands.
“It seems farfetched, but I’m suing my old principal for wrongful termination. I can’t imagine that she would be so upset that she would want me dead. That’s the only person I can think of who would want me dead.”
“Any old boyfriends?”
Marlowe pulled out of my arms. I didn’t like it, but I had to deal with it. “The last man I had in my life didn’t take it well when I left. But it was four years ago.”
“What do you mean, he didn’t take it well?” Nash asked the question I wanted answered.
“He sent me notes and followed me around. Stuff like that.”
“When did he stop doing that?”
Marlowe didn’t answer for a long time. “After I got a restraining order,” she finally admitted. I could hear the quaver in her voice.
I pulled Marlowe back into my arms.
“Marlowe, you didn’t file an order of protection with me when you came into town. That is one of the first things you should have done when you arrived.”
“It’s been four years,” Marlowe protested.
“Did you let the restraining order lapse while you were in West Virginia?” Nash continued.
She shook her head. “But that’s because the officer working my case would call me and remind me to re-file.”
Me, Nash, and the other guy all exchanged pointed glances. If the cop was doing that then there were definitely more things going on than just calls and him occasionally following her. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Lettie and Alice were listening in.
They’d want to provide emotional support to Marlowe, but there wasn’t a chance in hell I would let her out of my sight any time soon.
“What city in West Virginia did you file the restraining order, and what was the name of the officer who was handling your case?”
“Danville, Officer Tom Grant.” We all heard the reluctance in her voice.
“Sheriff, I’ll want to know what you hear from Officer Grant.”
“That’s not your purview,” Nash protested.
I raised my eyebrow, then nodded toward Marlowe. Nash tilted his head, and I knew I would be hearing what was in the report.
“Me too,” the other guy said.
“What’s your name?” I asked. I wasn’t nice about it.
“I’m Simon Clark. I run a security company here in town.”
“Why would a town this small need a sheriff’s office and a security company?”
“We work nationwide,” Simon replied. “You’re retired spec ops, right?”
