Free Brody by Susan Fisher-Davis Page B

knocked on the doorjamb of Sam’s office. When Sam
glanced up and waved him in, he knew it couldn’t be good.
    “Come
in and close the door,” Sam told him.
    No. It
wasn’t going to be good. Brody took a seat across from Sam and waited. It
didn’t take long.
    “It’s
time you told me why you left the Marshals.” Sam sat back and folded his arms.
    Shit! Brody hated telling Sam about
this, but he also knew Sam could make a phone call and talk to Michael Holt,
Brody’s superior, and find out. He’d rather be the one to tell him. Taking a
deep breath, he began to tell Sam what happened.
    “I was
involved with a woman for six months before I found out she was married.” He
stopped when Sam swore. “I should’ve known, but she hid it well.”
    “Were
you in love with her?” Sam asked.
    “No.
There’s only one woman I’ll ever love and that’s Madilyn. Thing is, I never
thought I’d see Maddie again and I wanted to get on with my life. I wanted to
get married and have kids.” He shrugged. “If I couldn’t have it with Maddie, I
needed to find someone I could have it with. I met Abby Bishop at a bar and we
immediately hit it off. She didn’t tell me she was married or I wouldn’t have
messed with her.” He shifted in his chair. “One night her husband, Wilson
Delgado, came to see me and told me to stay the hell away from her. I told him
I never knew she was married. Of course, he didn’t believe me and told me if I
didn’t stay away I’d regret it. I told him I was a U.S. Marshal. Hell, he
laughed and said it didn’t matter. Needless to say, I called her and broke it
off.” Brody ran his hand down his face. Sam didn’t say anything, just stared at
him until he continued. “She took it bad and swore she’d leave her husband. I
didn’t want to hear any of it. I knew she was lying. Christ, all she did was lie to me.” Brody swallowed hard and glanced away. “I have
better instincts, Sam. I don’t know how I missed it. She never wanted to meet
anywhere but at my apartment and we went to dinner out of town and she used her
maiden name.” He glanced back to Sam. “I should have seen it.”
    “Go
on,” Sam told him.
    Brody
took a deep breath. “A month later she was dead.”
    Sam
leaned forward. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me all of this when you called
me?”
    “I
wanted to get past it. I accused her husband. I still think he killed her but
we couldn’t find any evidence. None, Sam. They found
her body in Wyoming. Animals had gotten to her…” Brody cleared his throat. “I
couldn’t let him get away with it. I followed him. Everywhere the son of a
bitch would go, I followed. He reported me to Holt. You know how Holt is. He
exploded.”
    “I’m
sure he did.” Sam shook his head. “You’re not telling me everything. Holt had
to tell you to back off before he went off. How long did you keep following
Delgado after you were told not to?”
    “Another
week. I
know, Sam.” Brody said before Sam could interrupt. “I kept telling Holt,
Delgado was guilty and of course without evidence I had no proof.” Brody shook
his head. “Holt told me I either stop harassing Delgado or I leave the
Marshals.” He gave a humorless laugh. “You see how that turned out. I couldn’t
let it go.”
    “Why
are you so sure Delgado killed her?”
    “Abby
didn’t have any enemies and Delgado knew she was having an affair. I know he
did it. I know it with every fiber of my being. He’s like a crime boss but no
one can get him on anything.”
    “I
trust your intuition on this, but you should have been thinking with the head
on your shoulders instead of the one between your legs when you met her.” Sam
sighed. “All right. I’m going to let it go. But I
better not hear of you going back to Butte to confront Delgado or you’ll be out
of another job. Is that understood?”
    “Yes.
I’m done with it. He’ll rot in hell, that’s good enough for me.”
    “It
sure as hell better be,