Secret Sins by Lora Leigh Read Free Book Online

have a separate detention center. The six
     cells that had been built housed any overnight, and some monthly, prisoners. If more
     secure accomodations were needed, then there was the detention center in Montrose
     that they transferred the prisoners to.
    Judge Pascal was firm, but he didn’t sentence a lot of jail time unless the crime
     really warranted it. Violent criminals he sent to Montrose, anyway, because Archer
     wasn’t comfortable keeping them in the lower security cells.
    Stepping into the outer office he nodded to his model-turned-secretary.
    “Mornin’, Madge,” he greeted her.
    “Mornin’, Sheriff,” she drawled, a sure indication she wasn’t happy. “Attorney Sorenson
     is awaiting your arrival in your office.” She rolled her eyes in disgust. “He didn’t
     seem to want to sit out here and entertain me until you arrived.”
    In other words, the other man had entered the office without informing Madge he would
     be doing so.
    Archer’s lips quirked. That was Wayne; he didn’t stand on ceremony for any man—or
     woman.
    Striding to the closed door, Archer pulled it open and stepped inside the overly scented
     room.
    He didn’t know what scent Wayne was wearing, and though it was only slightly stronger
     than the scent he used to wear, still the stuff reeked.
    “Archer, good to see you.” Rising to his feet from the chair that sat facing Archer’s
     desk, Wayne extended his hand as he smiled at him.
    “Counselor.” Archer nodded as he drew his hand back. “How can I help you?”
    Moving behind the desk, Archer removed his hat and laid it on the side of the desk
     before taking his seat and watching Wayne expectantly.
    “Well, Archer, I had a call from the governor and Sweetrock’s mayor first thing this
     morning. Governor Ferguson was in Boulder and couldn’t find time, I guess, to actually
     travel to Sweetrock and grace us with his presence.” He snorted rudely.
    Archer let a mocking smile pull at his own lips. Governor Ferguson was damned busy,
     he knew. Just as he had been damned busy from the moment he’d been voted in as governor.
     Chief among the jobs he’d set for himself was finding and identifying his only child’s
     killer, the Sweetrock Slasher. County attorney Sorenson had managed to make it onto
     the list of suspects. Not that Archer had informed him of that fact.
    “I assume he wasn’t calling to invite us to dinner, then?” Archer wasn’t going to
     tell him either.
    Wayne’s snort was heavy with sarcasm. “Nope, I reckon he wasn’t.” He chuckled then.
     “Though from what I hear about that man’s personal chef, I wouldn’t have minded.”
    Archer let a chuckle rasp his throat, but it was a cursory one, intended only to observe
     the rules of courtesy.
    “No, it wasn’t for dinner,” Wayne repeated as he sighed heavily. “It was more of a
     threat.” His gray eyes met Archer’s brown ones.
    “A threat?” That didn’t sound like Carson Ferguson. “What kind of threat?”
    “He’s threatening to send us ‘help’ if we don’t step up our efforts to identify and
     apprehend the ‘Slasher.’”
    Archer grimaced at the news, though he’d known it was coming, still he maintained
     an air of surprise.
    “Fuck, we don’t need this,” Archer murmured as he rose quickly from his chair and
     stomped to the door of his office. Jerking it open he found Madge. “I’m going to need
     coffee.” He sighed. “And fix it strong.”
    “Try decaf,” she advised as she rose from her chair and moved around her desk. “It’s
     healthier for you.”
    “Slip that crap in on me, Madge, and I swear I’ll fire you for real,” he growled.
    “Instead of for fake?” Madge only chuckled. “I’ll have it in there in a sec, boss,”
     she promised.
    Archer paced back to his desk and took his seat once again.
    Wayne watched him with quiet sympathy. “It’s been damned hard on the Callahans.” He
     sighed. “And those girls.” Shaking his head,