Expired Return

Book 1: Last Chance Fire and Rescue

by Lisa Phillips

Genres: Christian Suspense; Romantic Suspense

Synopsis

Pepper stood up. “How dare you.” She could spit fire at him right now. She’d loved and supported Victory since the day she was born. “You know nothing about me.”

“What’s this?”

Pepper whirled around at that voice. Heart. Breaking. She loved that gruff, commanding voice more than anything else in the world.

He wore a look a lot like Aiden’s. Blank, which she knew—or hoped—had to do with protecting his heart because he still cared for her. Except he probably hated her.

Donaldson sat back in his chair. “Allen.”

Former police officer Allen Frees had both hands on the wheels of his chair. He wore a fire department uniform of slacks and a white shirt. Emblems. A badge. His life of service hadn’t ended when he landed in that chair after a building blew up over his head.

As far as she’d been able to tell, it barely slowed him down.

She’ll give everything to protect her family.
He always knew she was the one.

Veterinary tech Pepper Miller lives a quiet life in Last Chance County. She’s watching her niece until her sister shows up…if she ever does. When Victory’s father demands he take over her care, Pepper knows something has gone wrong. With a new drug in town, and her sister embroiled in a dangerous bargain, it’s up to Pepper to protect the people she loves.

Even if it costs every secret she’s ever kept.

Fire Department liaison Allen Frees lives with the injuries he sustained as a police officer in a raid gone wrong. He’s put his life back together but getting the truck crew and engine squad to succeed might be his toughest assignment yet. When Victory is nearly kidnapped at a community event, Allen steps in to help Pepper keep her niece safe. The one thing he couldn’t fix was the love he lost, but he isn’t going to let Pepper walk away this time.

No matter what walls he has to break down.

Last Chance County returns in this blazing new series from Sunrise Publishing.

Last Chance Fire and Rescue
Book 1: Expired Return
Book 2: Expired Hope (coming soon)
Book 3: Expired Promise (coming soon)
Book 4: Expired Vows (coming soon)

Last Chance County
Book 1: Expired Refuge
Book 2: Expired Secrets
Book 3: Expired Cache
Book 4: Expired Hero
Book 5: Expired Game
Book 6: Expired Plot
Book 7: Expired Getaway
Book 8: Expired Betrayal
Book 9: Expired Flight
Book 10: Expired End

 

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Release date: January 31, 2023

Publisher: Sunrise Publishing

Print pages: 297

Sample

Chapter 1

epper pulled into the police department parking lot. She stared at the building and tried to figure out how long since she’d been inside for a visit.

“Are we going inside there, Auntie?”

Pepper shut off the engine and turned to her niece in the back seat. “Yes, we are. They’re all really nice, and I just need to talk to them for a second before we go to the vet’s.”

Her smile cracked, but she’d been pretending everything was fine since Christmas, so that was nothing new.

Eight-year-old Victory, her niece, jabbed the button to release her seatbelt. “Cool.”

Pepper climbed out of the car, chuckling. Victory took her hand as they crossed the parking lot—something they’d been doing since the kid learned to walk.

She’d been putting this off for a week. She had to rip off the bandage, ignore how they would react to her, and ask for help.

Pepper shoved open the front door on that note and immediately pulled up short. The woman behind the reception desk had a white pixie cut, better makeup than Pepper could pull off, and earrings that swung when she turned her head.

Ruby’s red lips widened, and the smile lit her eyes. “Hey, gorgeous.”

“Hey, Ruby.” Pepper blinked. “Where’s Kaylee?”

“Girl, she hasn’t worked here in months. After the third baby, I don’t blame her.” Ruby tipped her head back and chuckled. “Kaylee and Stuart bought a cute house in the hills. Enough rooms to fill with a whole football team of kids.” She smiled wider, still amused. “I get to squish them all every Sunday in the nursery.”

Meanwhile, Pepper’s chest felt like she’d been hit with a shot of something that burned all the way to her heart.

Victory shifted and looked up at her.

Pepper’s cheeks flamed as she realized she’d been holding on to Victory’s hand too tight. “I’m sorry, Ruby. That was rude of me, just because I expected Kaylee.”

She loosened her grip on her niece’s hand, ignoring why she needed that solidarity. Victory shouldn’t have to carry the weight of Pepper’s insecurities on top of everything else going on in her life.

She lifted her chin. “I need to file a report, please.”

Ruby frowned. “Sure thing, doll.”

A uniformed officer in the sea of desks behind the counter got up and headed for their break room.

Ruby pretended that was normal. She pasted on a smile. “I’ll find someone you can…”

Aiden Donaldson, now the sergeant, walked out the back hall and saw Pepper. He stopped to frown at her. Not exactly openly hostile, but the woman who’d broken his friend’s heart wasn’t welcome here.

Ruby waved him over. “Can you take a statement from Ms. Miller, hon—uh, Sarge? She wants to file a report.” Before he could say yes or no, Ruby hopped off her stool and motioned to Victory. “This lovely young lady and I will get to know each other.”

Victory openly smiled, which didn’t happen often. Not exactly surprising, given the people who’d been in and out of her life. The kid had more street smarts at eight years old than Pepper had managed in thirty-eight years.

“Why don’t you come around, Ms. Miller?” Aiden waved her to the half door.

Pepper and Ruby exchanged spots, during which Pepper didn’t meet the other wo

man’s gaze. Why did this feel like she was the one who’d done something wrong? Oh, right. In their eyes, she had. She’d broken their brother’s heart right before his tragic accident.

Pepper glanced back at Victory.

“She’ll be fine. Ruby is great with kids.”

That’s not just any kid. Maybe everyone who cared for a child thought that about theirs, but it was true with Victory. “I know she is.”

“Then have a little trust in us.”

Eighteen months, and the police in Last Chance County still hated her.

“Come on. Let’s get this done.” Donaldson motioned her to a seat, unaware of his brash tone.

She settled into the hard plastic chair on the short side of the desk. The edge had a metal ring fixed to it for securing handcuffs. Great. She’d been given the criminal’s chair.

Go figure. How about they have a little trust?

Donaldson lifted his brows.

Pepper said, “Aren’t you going to ask me a question?”

Thankfully, no one else was around to see this. It was seven thirty in the morning, which was why she’d chosen this time. The

police department wasn’t exactly on her way to work.

“I figured you knew how this worked.” Donaldson slid over a legal pad. “But okay, what did you want to report?”

Pepper held herself very still. “I came here because I need help, not to be browbeaten.”

“I apologize.” He didn’t look apologetic. He looked like he wanted to get this over with as soon as he could.

That was what her actions had accomplished.

She’d turned a perfectly nice family man and good cop into a guy with an attitude who wanted her out of here as fast as possible.

Pepper stared at the desk across from her. “My sister asked me to watch Victory for the holidays. She was supposed to be here four days ago to pick her up, but she never showed. She’s not returning my calls. That was the first couple of days, and now it’s just going to voicemail. Like her phone ran out of battery or something, and I just—”

“Let me stop you there.”

She bit her lip.

“Pepper.”

“What?”

His face had blanked. “Can you tell me your sister’s legal name?”

Of course he needed that. “Sage Katherine Burns.”

Aiden scrawled the name on a notepad. “Is she married…or are you?”

Pepper spoke carefully. “Miller is our family name.” In the sense she’d changed it legally to match the foster mom they’d lived with for years. “Sage got married ten years ago but they’re divorced now.”

He asked her for a few other pertinent details, like Sage’s address and date of birth. Her phone number.

“She was supposed to be here.”

A muscle in his jaw flexed. “Sorry, I can imagine it’s an inconvenience having to care for a child.”

That wasn’t fair. Wasn’t the reason at all, but she reined in her reaction. She knew well the story of his child and the reunion that’d happened between Aiden and Bridget. They had two more children now.

It seemed like everyone in Last Chance County had children. There were kids all over town these days.

All the places she liked to go for peace and quiet were overrun with munchkins that Victory loved to make friends with while everyone ignored Pepper and treated her like the pariah she was.

“I can call social services if you don’t feel you can—”

Pepper stood up. “How dare you.” She could spit fire at him right now. She’d loved and supported Victory since the day she was born. “You know nothing about me.”

“What’s this?”

Pepper whirled around at that voice. Heart. Breaking. She loved that gruff, commanding voice more than anything else in the world.

He wore a look a lot like Aiden’s. Blank, which she knew—or hoped—had to do with protecting his heart because he still cared for her. Except he probably hated her.

Donaldson sat back in his chair. “Allen.”

Former police officer Allen Frees had both hands on the wheels of his chair. He wore a fire department uniform of slacks and a white shirt. Emblems. A badge. His life of service hadn’t ended when he landed in that chair after a building blew up over his head.

As far as she’d been able to tell, it barely slowed him down.

He looked at Aiden, dismissing her completely. “What is this?”

“She’s filing a report about her missing sister.”

“She’s done.” Pepper turned to the sergeant. “Thanks anyway.”

She would have to find her sister on her own, even if the police department in the town where Sage lived hadn’t returned any of her calls.

She sucked in a breath and squared her shoulders. “Have a nice day, gentlemen.”

Pepper went the opposite way around the neighboring desk. She got almost to the dividing half door when Allen rolled in front of her.

“Hold up a second.” His dark brows drew together.

She couldn’t look at his shoulders or his arms. They were even stronger than they’d been when they dated.

The two-year anniversary of their first date was coming up in just a few days. Victory was supposed to be gone, and Pepper had gotten the night off work. She’d planned to watch a tragic movie and eat far too much ice cream so she could go to bed and cry herself to sleep.

So what? Her choices were between her and the Lord. They certainly weren’t anyone else’s business. But she did not need Victory to be a witness to her tragedy.

Allen’s voice rumbled over her. “Since when do you have a sister?”

Pepper couldn’t get into the fact they’d dated for nearly a year and he had no idea about her family. She had to get to work.

“Sage is ten months younger than me. Everyone thought we were twins, even though I was in the grade ahead of her at school. She’s missing, and I was hoping the sergeant—or anyone here—could help me figure out how to find her.”

He shifted in the chair. He could stand for a few seconds if needed, and she was thankful for that.

She’d seen him getting in and out of his truck in town, sometimes standing to do it and sometimes hauling himself up and lifting the chair across his lap to put it on the seat behind him. She’d never stopped what she was doing and watched him move.

Nor had she been hiking and seen him riding his horse in the mountains and paused to watch him pass by. Definitely not stalking him like a crazy woman who couldn’t let go.

Allen was six feet—four inches taller than her. He was as imposing in his chair as he was at full height. The accident had done nothing to diminish the pull she felt toward him.

He started to speak, but a running Tasmanian devil hit the reception counter. “Auntie, can I have a sucker? They have the blue ones.”

“Wow.” Pepper grinned at Victory. “The blue ones.”

Thank goodness she’d managed to talk Victory into a breakfast not involving sugar.

“Sure, Nugget. We need to leave, though.” Pepper looked at her watch. She wasn’t late, but they did need to leave for her shift at the veterinarian’s office where she worked as a nurse. So that wasn’t a lie.

Sergeant Donaldson came over, probably thinking he needed to rescue his friend from her. “Coffee, Allen?”

He nodded but didn’t look at his friend. He kept staring at her instead. “Thanks. Got some business for the PD.”

Aiden headed for the break room.

Allen said, “I’m sure these guys can help you find your sister.”

Tears burned her eyes. Pepper didn’t even know which thing she was going to cry over. Maybe all of it. Her whole life. She sniffed. “Thank you. I do need to go now.”

“Is your sister similar to you in height and weight? Does she live here?”

Pepper frowned. “She lives in Cheyenne.”

“Never mind, then.” Allen slid his phone from a little pocket on the side of the chair by his leg. “Though, you could tell me what kind of car she might be driving. Color, or make and model. That kind of thing.”

Pepper held her body tight so he didn’t see her flinch. “Did something happen?”

“I don’t know yet. That’s why I’m here.”

“My sister drives a brand new white BMW. An SUV.”

His expression gave nothing away. Something he did when he didn’t like a situation. “Any chance she could be driving something else?”

Pepper had to admit it. “I have no idea.”

Two police officers strolled out of the back hallway into the bullpen, as they called it. Both saw her. Both looked at her with distaste.

One called out, “You good, Frees?”

He glanced at them, then at her. “I’ve got it covered.”

“I have to go.” Pepper resituated her purse on her shoulder. “Can you please text me if there’s anything I need to know?”

Assuming he hadn’t “lost” her number.

He gave her one sharp nod. “I can do that.”

She wanted to say more, but what good would that do? Pepper strode to the front door. “Let’s hit the road, Nugget.”

Victory jumped up from the chair. She held out her hand to Ruby. “It was nice to meet you.”

The older woman smiled widely. “You as well, babycakes.”

Victory giggled, took Pepper’s hand, and they went outside. Pepper shivered with the chill of January air, and her niece looked over. “You should’ve worn your coat, Auntie.”

“I guess so.” She needed a change of subject. “Do you think it might snow again?”

“Oooh, I hope so.” Victory hopped to the car and pulled the door open. “Let’s go see the bunnies. And the puppies. And the snake, even though it’s gross. And I hope that old cat is still there.”

Pepper climbed into her car. This was the life her choices had given her, the only thing she’d been able to do after her family made their own decisions. If there was a problem, she would solve it.

She would find her sister.

With Victory here, this life certainly wasn’t a bad one. Maybe everyone thought their own life was a disaster.

At least she wasn’t alone.

Chapter 2

“Anyway, I might have something for you to look into. So give me a call back.” Allen tapped the dash screen and ended the call to Tate, where he’d left the local private investigator a message. Maybe his friend could help Pepper. It certainly wasn’t in Allen’s purview as the City Hall liaison to the fire department.

He shoved the truck into park and let out a long sigh.

I have to go. And wasn’t that the truth? The woman did nothing but try to get away from him.

Instead of letting that go around and around in his mind, Allen shoved the door open. He moved his seat back and dragged the folded wheelchair across his body. He set it down on the ground beside his vehicle.

In the process, he got the thing mostly unfolded. Enough he could sit in it.

Allen shifted his body to the edge of the seat and clasped the tether that hung from the grab handle. He braced his foot and lowered himself hand over hand using the rope knots, so he didn’t fall too fast.

He’d learned that one the hard way.

He grabbed the last knot and lowered his butt into the chair. Shifted his foot. The other foot. Shut the door. Clicked his keys.

Done.

He thanked God every chance he got that he’d managed to figure this process out—with some modifications to his truck so it was drivable for him. People had tried to tell him the process was too convoluted or that someone with a disability like his couldn’t drive anything but a van—as if—or a tiny car. Barf. Well, they could quite frankly pry this truck from his cold dead hands. Or bury him in it.

His grandpa had driven a pickup all the years he’d helped raise Allen. He’d had a heart attack in the middle of his cornfield the summer before Allen turned twelve. That same pickup was parked in front of his cabin to this day, the bed filled with dirt where his stepmom had planted flowers years ago.

The same cabin he’d been advised to move out of after he found himself confined to a wheelchair 99.7 percent of the time⁠—which he’d worked down to sixty-five, thanks. Just like he’d been told he’d have to give up his truck.

Show me a roadblock. I’ll bring a bulldozer and go through it.

He locked up his truck and headed into City Hall, only slightly late for his meeting with the mayor. Thankfully, the security guard on duty knew him and got Allen through the check-in process quickly.

His dad’s words still rang in his head, followed by Grandpa’s favorite verse.

The one he’d printed out and stuck on his fridge at home came to mind. All things are lawful, but not all are expedient.

Since he got out of the hospital, he’d been working on widening the boundaries of what was practical every day. He determined what he was capable of—not other people.

His teachers had learned the hard way not to tell him what he couldn’t do. Then his drill sergeant. Then Conroy, his former boss—the police chief. Now his physical therapist at the Ridgeman Therapy Center’s PT annex was working on getting a clue.

So he couldn’t go for a run. So what? He’d never liked foot chases, even when they ended with the suspect in handcuffs.

The mayor’s assistant opened the door for him, announcing his arrival. “Coffee?”

Allen smiled, even though one of the firefighters he worked w

ith told him it made him look like a serial killer. “Black, please.”

“Of course, Mr. Frees.” She gave him a nervous smiled and turned to the mayor. “Sir?”

The new Last Chance County mayor turned from the window. Gregory Harrelson wore a suit and silk tie. Dark hair and a mustache. He looked like that actor whose name Allen could never remember. “Green tea, please, Lyla.”

Since their meeting was a standing one every Monday morning, one of the chairs in front of the mayor’s desk had been removed. Allen eased into the space and pushed the lever down on his wheels.

Thankfully he’d had enough time before this meeting to touch base with Sergeant Donaldson. Even though Mia Barnes⁠—the chief’s wife and a former ATF agent turned cop—was technically still the liaison between City Hall and the Police Department, he liked to keep his old friendships going. Plus he was a firm believer in over-communicating.

Allen twisted his upper body and reached into the backpack hanging behind him for his tablet. He had a copy of the statement Pepper had given to Aiden in his email, even though the sergeant had initially been reluctant to give it to him.

Don’t think about her.

Harrelson turned from the window. “Let’s get started, shall we?”

Allen tapped the screen of his tablet. “Just after midnight last night, the department responded to a car fire. It was all pretty standard, except for the victim inside.”

The mayor perked up. “Oh?”

Allen had learned the hard way the guy possessed no stomach for gory details. The victim had two gunshot wounds in her chest, sustained before the car was set alight. She’d been burned beyond recognition.

He hadn’t even been there, but by the time he got to the firehouse he could tell how bad it was from the weary looks on the firefighter’s faces—and the smoke smell they all carried in with them.

Allen said, ...