Free Kick Start: Dangerous Ground 5 by Josh Lanyon Page B

Taylor said, behind him. “I should have stayed home this trip. My being here is complicating the situation.”
    “The hell,” Will exclaimed. And though he had privately thought the same thing before they left for Oregon, Grant’s rude and mule-headed behavior had completely changed his mind. He turned on Taylor. “I want you here. You belong here.”
    “Sure,” Taylor said. “But I just —”
    “I don’t. Come on.”
    Will led the way up the cement walk. Despite the bullet-proof glass, the entrance was an ordinary swinging glass door. He pushed through.
    “Holy shit,” said a heavy-set bald man of about thirty, rising from the desk in a glass fronted office. “Is that the Will Brandt?”
    “Jack Hardy, is that you?” Will returned. “ You’re Chief of Police now? Didn’t anyone else want the job?”
    “No. Nobody else wanted the job. Why would they? It’s a lousy job.” Jack shook Will’s hand.
    “This is my partner, Taylor MacAllister.” This time Will didn’t care what interpretation Jack or anybody else put on partner . He was getting good and goddamned sick of worrying about how other people felt about his personal and private life. “Jack and I went to high school together about a hundred years ago.”
    “Nice to meet you, Jack.” Taylor offered his hand.
    “High school? We played football together. Took the Lumberjacks all the way to the state championships twice. Those were the days. Our current team’s on a ten-game losing streak.” Jack pointed to a series of framed photographs of the Mist Bend Lumberjacks in action. “This guy was the best quarterback we’ve had in twenty years.” He shook Taylor’s hand. “You another fed?”
    “Used to be.”
    “We’re flying solo now,” Will said.
    “No shit? You left the DSS?”
    “We decided to go into business for ourselves. Security consulting.”
    “Security consulting? What’s that entail?”
    “Anything it needs to,” Taylor said, and they all laughed.
    “I hear that,” Jack said. He handed Will’s keys over. “Your vehicle’s in the parking lot out back. Your dad said you’re not pressing charges?”
    “No. I forgot I told my cousin he could borrow my SUV if he needed to.”
    Jack guffawed. “Another one of the crazy Brandt cousins, is that the story?”
    “That’s the story.”
    “Have it your way.” Jack’s fair, plump face grew serious. “You know Jem Dooley is out?”
    “Yeah. Seems he dropped by this morning to say hi.”
    “Anybody else and I’d say it was all bluster, but I’m not so sure about Jem. There was always something not quite right about that guy.”
    “He just got out of prison. It’s hard to believe he’d risk going back this soon.” Will asked Taylor, “What did you think of him?”
    Taylor shrugged. “You don’t have to be smart to be dangerous.”
    “I agree with your partner,” Jack said. “I think Bill needs to keep an eye out for Jem.”
     
    * * * * *
     
    “You want to grab some lunch now?” Will said, as he and Taylor walked out to the parking lot. “Or you want to see the sights?”
    “Let’s eat.” Taylor’s sunglasses hid most of the bruising around his eyes, but that split lip looked painful as hell. Will, still smarting in tender places from his collision with cardboard boxes and trash bags earlier in the week, felt a jab of sympathy.
    “How about I take you to the place with the best selection of microbrews in town? You can drown your sorrows.”
    “My only sorrow is Cousin Dennis is out of my reach.”
    “That’s my boy.” Will gave Taylor’s shoulder a friendly bump with his own.
    They drove to Tucker’s Tavern, which was a rustic-looking building with a giant mill wheel out front and an old-fashioned painted tavern sign with a mermaid patting a dolphin. What the mermaid and dolphin had to do with anything, Will had never understood, but the sign had hung there as long as he could remember.
    He held the front door for Taylor and followed him