That wasn’t really a stretch for me since a few months ago, I would have given anything for a truck just like it. I wouldn’t have cared if I had to hold it together with a prayer and some mechanical knowledge.
“Yeah, I… I don’t know what happened, sir. Maybe the steering went out or something, but it just slid right off the road, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it.”
“Hmm.” He approached the truck, and I glanced nervously up and down the road, praying no one came by. Ambrose had assured us this road was rarely used by anyone except a few people who lived back in the woods past the end of it.
“It’s going to take a tow truck to get this out. I wish I’d known that before heading out here. I would’ve brought somebody with me.”
Thank God he hadn’t. We didn’t need anyone else involved. “Well, I… I just didn’t know. I thought maybe you’d have one of those, you know, pulley things. And you could, like, put it on the front of your SUV.”
“A winch?”
“Yeah, that sounds right.” It was fucking painful to act this dumb. Beau might think I didn’t know as much about cars as him, but I was far from stupid. Still, this bullshit would be worth it if we could bring down LePlatt.
It was all I could do not to look for Dax and Ambrose again. Dax was probably ready to kill his brother as he watched me interact with Winston, but there was absolutely no sign the man was attracted to me. He was as polite and mannerly as one of those small-town sheriffs in a Hallmark movie.
“I do have a winch, but even if we get your truck out, I won’t have any way to get it to town.”
“I was hoping I could just drive it then.”
The sheriff studied the truck. “I wouldn’t count on that, and even if it’s technically drivable, you’d probably damage it more. Let me call—”
“Please don’t. I can’t afford it. I’ve got to get the truck out and make it run, or I won’t have any way to get to work. I don’t have money for repairs.” I scrubbed my hands over my face, hoping I looked like I was about to cry. “What am I going to do?”
He frowned, studying me closely. I was waiting for him to ask if I had insurance, but he didn’t. Could he really be nice enough that he didn’t want to have to cite me for that? If so, we shouldn’t be doing this. He deserved better, even if he was fucking law enforcement.
What choice did we have, though? Ambrose said we’d be better off working with Winston than against him, and Dax agreed. They’d promised me he wouldn’t come to serious harm in the end unless he was extremely uncooperative.
The sheriff glanced between his SUV and my truck and sighed. “All right, let’s give it a shot.”
Success. Now I just needed to get him down in the ditch examining the truck where Ambrose and Dax could approach and encourage him to talk to us. I was fairly certain they’d be encouraging him at gunpoint which made my stomach jumpy. I knew they did far worse than this on a regular basis, but this was a decent man, not someone like Rob or Jean-Charles.
Winston opened the toolbox on his truck and started lifting out rope and tools.
“Shouldn’t we get a closer look at how stuck it is?”
He looked at the mucky ditch, then down at his pants.
“I guess this isn’t how you wanted to start the week, huh?”
He laughed. “No, but you’re right, we need to make a better assessment. You stay up here. You’ll lose those shoes in that muck.”
I glanced down at the sneakers I had on and then at his sturdy boots. He was probably right. I wasn’t supposed to be dressed like I was ready to wade into swampy water, but I wished I’d brought something to change into.
I insisted on crossing the ditch with him, but we found a place where the water was shallower, and I could leap across it with his help. I could almost hear Dax growling when the sheriff took my hand to help me.
We walked along the far bank of the ditch until we were parallel with my front left tire. Water almost covered the tire, and I was sure it was sunk deep into the soft mud at the bottom.
Winston frowned. “You’re really in there good.”
“Yeah, I thought I was going to flip right over.”
He nodded. “At least you’re safe. I can’t promise much for your truck, but I’ll give it a try. If I can’t get it, we’ll have to call for a tow.”
“I bet you can do it.”
I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I needed to keep him talking so he didn’t turn around. The goal was to avoid a standoff. If Dax and Ambrose could approach without the sheriff drawing his weapon, we stood a much better chance of keeping this from escalating.