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Cowboy Above The Law
Delores Fossen
Guilty until proven innocent. This deputy isn't taking chances.When his father is shot, Deputy Court McCall initially suspects Rayna Travers, even if his attraction to her is impossible to contain. But when he discovers Rayna is an innocent pawn in very dangerous game, this cowboy will do whatever it takes to protect her and catch a killer.


Guilty until proven innocent?
This deputy isn’t taking chances
When his father is shot, Deputy Court McCall initially suspects Rayna Travers. Her mysterious past raises questions, even if his attraction to her is impossible to contain. Before long, though, he discovers Rayna is an innocent pawn in a very dangerous game. Now, to catch a killer, this cowboy will go wherever the case takes him. Even if that includes ignoring the truth in his hardened Texas heart.
The Lawmen of McCall Canyon
DELORES FOSSEN, a USA TODAY bestselling author, has sold over fifty novels, with millions of copies of her books in print worldwide. She’s received a Booksellers’ Best Award and an RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award. She was also a finalist for a prestigious RITA® Award. You can contact the author through her website at www.deloresfossen.com (http://www.deloresfossen.com).
Also by Delores Fossen (#udea1731e-d63d-5247-ac0e-9699744a5aca)
Always a Lawman
Gunfire on the Ranch
Lawman from Her Past
Roughshod Justice
Grayson
Dade
Nate
Kade
Gage
Mason
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Cowboy Above the Law
Delores Fossen


www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-07914-3
COWBOY ABOVE THE LAW
© 2018 Delores Fossen
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
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www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
For devoted reader Betty Kincaid, who passed along
her love of books to her children and grandchildren.
Betty, you’ll be missed.
Contents
Cover (#u83e8852f-7a6f-519a-974b-ed9a90f730bb)
Back Cover Text (#ubde0992f-f001-57e4-badc-90e3b9fd14de)
About the Author (#u936a4fd0-e7b0-5dc4-a214-d6c0fa607115)
Booklist (#u444c9db1-906a-5b5e-8f78-2e4bbc73b263)
Title Page (#ub51d7be1-6436-58d9-9243-0241812366c7)
Copyright (#u51e43a52-111e-5720-9796-aee818d6a97b)
Dedication (#ud9741100-6434-54f8-b393-4cd16d385a63)
Chapter One (#u7d29dd54-8121-5a7d-8828-d18f27e8aca2)
Chapter Two (#u42f10601-8d12-5fd8-aedc-b0918036d334)
Chapter Three (#u08f1d633-4fdd-5306-97c4-82884609b48d)
Chapter Four (#u431bb277-10c2-553f-826c-99aac670ceee)
Chapter Five (#udcb3761a-b8bc-5d9f-92e7-3274f11ab7cc)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#udea1731e-d63d-5247-ac0e-9699744a5aca)
Deputy Court McCall glanced down at the blood on his shirt. His father’s blood. Just the sight of it sliced away at him and made him feel as if someone had put a bullet in him, too.
Court hadn’t changed into clean clothes because he wanted Rayna Travers to see what she had done. He wanted to be right in her face when he told her that she’d failed.
Barely though.
His father, Warren, was still alive, hanging on by a thread, but Court refused to accept that he wouldn’t make it. No, his father would not only recover, but Warren would also help Court put Rayna behind bars. This time, she wasn’t going to get away with murder.
Court pulled to a stop in front of her house, a place not exactly on the beaten path. Of course, that applied to a lot of the homes in or near McCall Canyon. His ancestors had founded the town over a hundred years ago, and it had become exactly what they’d intended it to be—a ranching community.
What they almost certainly hadn’t counted on was having a would-be killer in their midst.
Court looked down at his hands. Steady. That was good. Because there was nothing steady inside him. The anger was bubbling up, and he had to make sure he reined in his temper enough to arrest Rayna. He wouldn’t resort to strong-arm tactics, but there was a high chance he would say something he shouldn’t.
Since Rayna’s car was in her driveway, it probably meant she was home. Good. He hadn’t wanted to go hunting for her. Still, it was somewhat of a surprise that she hadn’t gone on the run. Of course, she was probably going to say she was innocent, that she hadn’t had anything to do with the shot that’d slammed into his father’s chest. But simply put, she had a strong motive to kill a McCall.
And then there was the witness.
If Rayna tried to convince him she’d had no part in the shooting, then Court would let her know that someone had spotted her in the vicinity of the sheriff’s office just minutes before Warren had been gunned down. Then Court would follow through on her arrest.
He got out of his truck and started toward the porch of the small stone-front house, but Court made it only a few steps because his phone rang, and his brother’s name popped up on the screen.
Egan.
Egan wasn’t just his big brother though. He was also Court’s boss, since Egan was the sheriff of McCall Canyon. By now, Egan had probably figured out where Court was heading and wanted to make sure his deputy followed the book on this one.
He would.
Not cutting corners because he wanted Rayna behind bars.
Court ignored the call, and the ding of the voice mail that followed, and went up the steps to the front door. This wasn’t his first time here. Once, he’d made many trips to Rayna’s door—before she’d chosen another man over him. Once, he’d had feelings for her. He had feelings now, too, but they had nothing to do with the old attraction he’d once felt.
He steeled himself and put his hand over his firearm in case Rayna wasn’t finished with her shooting spree today.
“Open up,” Court said, knocking on the door. Of course, he knocked a lot louder than necessary, but he wanted to make sure she heard him.
If she did hear him, she darn sure didn’t answer. He knocked again, his anger rising even more, and Court finally tested the knob. Unlocked. So, he threw open the door.
And he found a gun pointed right in his face.
Rayna’s finger was on the trigger.
Court cursed and automatically drew his own weapon. Obviously, it was too late because she could have fired before he’d even had a chance to do that. She didn’t though. Maybe because Rayna felt she’d already fulfilled her quota of shooting McCalls today.
“Put down your gun,” he snarled.
“No.” Rayna shook her head, and that was when he noticed there was blood in her blond hair. Blood on the side of her face, too. Added to that, he could see bruises and cuts on her knuckles and wrists. “I’m not going to let you try to kill me again.”
“Again?” Court was certain he looked very confused. Because he was. “What the devil are you talking about? I came here to arrest you for shooting my father.”
If that news surprised her in the least, she didn’t show it. She didn’t lower her gun, either. Rayna stood there, glaring at him.
What the hell had happened here?
Court looked behind her to see if the person who’d given her those injuries was still around. There was no sign of anyone else, but the furniture in the living room had been tossed around. There was a broken lamp on the floor. More blood, too. All indications of a struggle.
“Start talking,” Court demanded, making sure he sounded like the lawman that he was.
“I will. When Egan gets here.”
Court cursed again. Egan definitely wasn’t going to approve of Court storming out here to see her, but his brother also couldn’t ignore the evidence that Rayna had shot their father. There was definitely something else going on though.
“My father’s alive,” Court told her. “You didn’t manage to kill him after all.”
She looked down at his shirt. At the blood. And Rayna glanced away as if the sight of it sickened her. Court took advantage of her glance and knocked the gun from her hand.
At least that was what he tried to do, but Rayna held on. She pushed him, and in the same motion, she turned to run. That was when Court tackled her. Her gun went flying, skittering all the way into the living room, and both Court and she landed hard on the floor.
Rayna groaned in pain. It wasn’t a soft groan, and while holding her side, she scrambled away from him. Court was about to dive at her again, but he saw yet more blood. This time on the side that she was holding.
That stopped him.
“What’s wrong with you? What happened?” Court snapped.
She looked around as if considering another run for it, but then her shoulders sagged as if she was surrendering.
Rayna sat up, putting her weight, and the back of her head, against the wall. She opened her mouth as if to start with that explanation, but she had to pause when her breath shuddered. She waved that off as if embarrassed by it and then hiked up her chin. It seemed to him as if she was trying to look strong.
She failed.
“When I came in from the barn about an hour ago, there was someone in my house,” Rayna said, her voice still a little unsteady. “I didn’t see who it was because he immediately clubbed me on the head and grabbed me from behind.” She winced again when she rubbed her left side. “I think he cracked my ribs when he hit me with something.”
Well, hell. Court certainly hadn’t expected any of this. And reminded himself that maybe it was all a lie, to cover up for the fact that she’d committed a crime. But those wounds weren’t lies. They were the real deal. That didn’t mean that they weren’t self-inflicted.
“I got away from him,” she continued a moment later. “After he hit me a few more times. And I pulled my gun, which I had in a slide holster in the back of my jeans. That’s when he left. I’m not sure where he went.”
That didn’t make sense. “If someone really broke in an hour ago, why didn’t you call the sheriff’s office right away?”
Rayna lifted her head a little and raised her eyebrow. For a simple gesture, it said loads. She didn’t trust the cops. Didn’t trust him.
Well, the feeling was mutual.
“I passed out for a while,” she added. She shook her head as if even she was confused by that, and she lifted the side of her shirt that had the blood. There was a bruise there, too, and what appeared to be a puncture wound. One that had likely caused the bleeding. “Or maybe the guy drugged me.”
“Great,” he muttered. This was getting more far-fetched with each passing moment. “FYI, I’m not buying this. And as for not calling the cops when you were attacked, you called Egan when you saw me,” Court pointed out.
“Because I didn’t want things to escalate to this.” She motioned to their positions on the floor. “Obviously, it didn’t work.”
He huffed. “And neither is this story you’re telling.” Court got to his feet and took out his phone. “Only a couple of minutes before my father was gunned down, a waitress in the diner across the street from the sheriff’s office spotted you in the parking lot. There’s no way you could have been here in your house during this so-called attack because you were in town.”
She quit wincing so she could glare at him. “I was here.” Her tone said I don’t care if you believe me or not.
He didn’t believe her. “You must have known my father had been shot because you didn’t react when I told you.”
“I did know. Whitney called me when I was walking back from the barn. I’d just gotten off the phone with her when that goon clubbed me.”
Whitney Goble, her best friend. And it was entirely possible that Whitney had either seen his father get shot or heard about it shortly thereafter because she worked part-time as a dispatcher for the sheriff’s office. It would be easy enough to check to see if Whitney had indeed called her, and using her cell phone records, they could possibly figure out Rayna’s location when she’d talked to her friend. Court was betting it hadn’t been on Rayna’s walk back from the barn. It had been while she was escaping from the scene of the shooting.
“This waitress claims she saw me shoot your father?” Rayna asked.
He hated that he couldn’t answer yes to that, but Court couldn’t. “She was in the kitchen when the actual shot was fired. But the bullet came from the park directly behind the sheriff’s office parking lot. The very parking lot where you were right before the attack.”
Judging from her repeated flat look, Rayna was about to deny that, so Court took out his phone and opened the photo. “The waitress took that picture of you.”
Court didn’t go closer to her with the phone, but Rayna stood. Not easily. She continued to clutch her side and blew out some short, rough breaths. However, she shook her head the moment her attention landed on the grainy shot of the woman in a red dress. A woman with hair the same color blond as Rayna’s.
“That’s not me,” she insisted. “I don’t have a dress that color. And besides, I wasn’t there.”
This was a very frustrating conversation, but thankfully he had more. He tapped the car that was just up the street from the woman in the photo. “That’s your car, your license plate.”
With her forehead bunched up, Rayna snatched the phone from him and had a closer look. “That’s not my car. I’ve been home all morning.” Her gaze flew to his, and now there was some venom in her eyes. “You’re trying to set me up.” She groaned and practically threw his phone at him. “Haven’t you McCalls already done enough to me without adding this?”
Court caught his phone, but he had to answer her through clenched teeth. “We haven’t done anything.”
She laughed, but there wasn’t a trace of humor in it. “Right. Remember Bobby Joe?” she spat out. “Or did you forget about him?”
Bobby Joe Hawley. No, Court hadn’t forgotten. Obviously, neither had Rayna.
“Three years ago, your father tried to pin Bobby Joe’s murder on me,” Rayna continued. “It didn’t work. A jury acquitted me.”
He couldn’t deny the acquittal. “Being found not guilty isn’t the same as being innocent.”
Something that ate away at him. Because the evidence had been there. Bobby Joe’s blood in Rayna’s house. Blood that she’d tried to clean up. There’d also been the knife found in her barn. It’d had Bobby Joe’s blood on it, too. What was missing were Rayna’s prints. Ditto for the body. They’d never found it, but Rayna could have hidden it along with wiping her prints from the murder weapon.
The jury hadn’t seen it that way though.
Possibly because they hadn’t been able to look past one other piece of evidence. Bobby Joe had assaulted Rayna on several occasions, both while they’d been together and after their breakup when she’d gotten a restraining order against him. In her mind, she probably thought that was justification to kill him. And equal justification to now go after Court’s father, who’d been sheriff at the time. Warren had been the one to press for Rayna’s arrest and trial. After that, his father had retired. But Rayna could have been holding a serious grudge against him all this time.
She’d certainly held one against Court.
He heard the sound of a vehicle pulling up in front of Rayna’s house and knew it was Egan before he glanced out the still-open door. He also knew Egan wouldn’t be pleased. And he was right. His brother was sporting a scowl when he got out of the cruiser and started for the door.
Egan was only two years older than Court, but he definitely had that “big brother, I’m in charge” air about him. Egan had somehow managed to have that even when he’d still been a deputy. Folks liked to joke that he could kick your butt even before you’d known it was kicked.
“If you think Egan is going to let you walk, think again,” Court warned her.
“I won’t let him railroad me,” she insisted, aiming another scowl at Court. “I won’t let you do it, either. It doesn’t matter that we have a history together. That history gives you no right to pull some stunt like this.”
They had a history all right. Filled with both good and bad memories. They’d been high school sweethearts, but that “young love” was significantly overshadowed by the bad blood that was between them now.
Egan stepped into the house, putting his hands on his hips, and made a sweeping glance around the room before his attention landed on Court. “Please tell me you’re not responsible for any of this.”
“I’m not.” At least Court hoped he wasn’t, but it was possible he’d added some to the damage when he tackled her. “Rayna said someone broke in.”
Court figured his brother was also going to have a hard time believing that. It did seem too much of a coincidence that his father would be shot and Rayna would have a break-in around the same time.
“You shouldn’t have come,” Egan said to him in a rough whisper.
Court was certain he’d hear more of that later, but he had a darn good reason for being here. “I didn’t want her to escape.”
“And I thought he’d come here to kill me,” Rayna countered. “I pulled a gun on him.” She swallowed hard. “Things didn’t go well after that.”
Egan huffed and grumbled something that Court didn’t catch before he took out his phone and texted someone.
“Court didn’t do any of the damage in this room,” Rayna added. “It happened when an intruder attacked me.”
That only tightened Egan’s mouth even more before he shifted his gaze to Rayna. “An ambulance is on the way. How bad are you hurt?” he asked and put his phone back in his pocket.
She waved it off, wincing again while she did that. Yeah, she was hurt. But Court thought Egan was missing what was really important here.
“She shot Dad,” Court reminded Egan. “We have the picture, remember?” Though he knew there was no way his brother could have forgotten that. “It’s proof she was there. Proof that she shot him.”
“No, it’s not.” Egan groaned, scrubbed his hand over his face. “I think someone tried to set Rayna up.”
Court opened his mouth to say that wasn’t true. But then Egan took out his own phone and showed him a picture.
“A few minutes after you stormed out of the hospital,” Egan continued, “Eldon Cooper, the clerk at the hardware store, found this.”
“This” was a blond-haired woman wearing a red dress. An identical dress to the one in the photo the waitress had taken. But this one had one big difference from the first picture.
In this one, the woman was dead.
Chapter Two (#udea1731e-d63d-5247-ac0e-9699744a5aca)
Rayna slowly walked toward Egan so she could see the photograph that had caused Court to go stiff. It had caused him to mumble some profanity, too, and Rayna soon knew why.
The woman in the photograph had been shot in the head.
There was blood. Her body was limp, and her lifeless eyes were fixed in a permanent blank stare at the sky.
Rayna dropped back a step, an icy chill going through her. Because Court had been right. The woman did look like her. The one in the first picture did, anyway. The second photo was much clearer, and while it wasn’t a perfect match, the dead woman looked enough like her to be a relative. But Rayna knew she didn’t have any living relatives.
“Someone killed her because of me?” she whispered.
Neither Court nor Egan denied it.
She felt the tears threaten. The panic, too. But Rayna forced herself not to give in to either of them. Not in front of Court, anyway. Later, she could have a cry, tend to her wounds and try to figure out what the heck was going on.
“Who is she?” Rayna asked.
“We don’t have an ID on her yet, but we will soon. After the medical examiner’s had a look at her, then we’ll search for any ID. If there isn’t any on her body or in the car, we’ll run her prints.”
It was so hard for Rayna to think with her head hurting, but she forced herself to try to figure this out. “Why would someone go to all the trouble of having a look-alike and then leave a car behind with bogus plates?”
Egan shrugged again. “It goes back to someone setting you up.” He sounded a little skeptical about that though. “Unless you hired the woman in that photo to pose as you. You could have gotten spooked when something went wrong and left the car.”
Even though she’d braced herself to have more accusations tossed at her, that still stung. It always did. Because this accusation went beyond just hiring an impostor. He was almost certainly implying that she had something to do with the woman’s death, too.
“No. I didn’t hire her,” Rayna managed to say, though her throat had clamped shut. “And I didn’t shoot your father. I haven’t been in town in weeks, and that wasn’t my car parked near the sheriff’s office.”
Egan nodded, glanced at Court. “She’s right about the car. The plates are fake. I had one of the deputies go out and take a look at it. It’s still parked up the street from the office. Someone painted over the numbers so that it matched the plates on Rayna’s vehicle.”
Again, Egan was making it sound as if she had something to do with that. Good grief. Why was she always having to defend herself when it came to the McCalls?
Of course, she knew the answer.
She’d made her own bed when it’d come to Bobby Joe. She had stayed with him even after he’d hit her and called her every name in the book. She had let him rob her of her confidence. Her dignity.
And nearly her life.
But Egan and Court—and their father—hadn’t seen things that way. Bobby Joe had kept the abuse hidden. A wolf in sheep’s clothing, and very few people in town had been on her side when Warren McCall had arrested her for Bobby Joe’s murder.
“You’re barking up the wrong tree—again,” Rayna added. “I didn’t have anything to do with this. And why would I? If I were going to shoot anyone, why would I send in a look-alike? Why would I pick a spot like Main Street, which is practically on the doorstep of a building filled with cowboy cops?”
Egan shrugged. “Maybe to make us believe you’re innocent and knew nothing about it.”
“I am innocent,” she practically yelled. Rayna stopped though and peered at the mess in the living room. “But maybe my intruder is behind what happened in town and what happened to that woman, as well. He could have arranged to have your father shot, killed her, and then he could have come out here to attack me. His prints could be on the lamp. It’s what he used to bash me over the head.”
Court looked at her, and for a split second, she thought she saw some sympathy in his intense gray eyes. It was gone as quickly as it’d come, and he stood there, waiting. Maybe for an explanation that would cause all of this to make sense. But she couldn’t give him that.
Rayna huffed. “If I was going to do something to fake an assault, I wouldn’t have hit myself that hard on my head or cracked my ribs. And I wouldn’t have broken my grandmother’s lamp.”
It sickened her to see it shattered like that. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t a huge deal, but it felt like one to her. It was one of the few things she had left of her gran. And now it was gone—much like what little peace of mind she’d managed to regain over the past year.
“Who do you think would have done something like this?” Court asked, tipping his head toward the living room.
“Bobby Joe,” she answered without thinking. She knew it would get huffs and eye rolls from them, and it did. “You think he’s dead, that I killed him. But I know I didn’t. So, that means he could still be out there.”
Court didn’t repeat his huff, but she could tell he wanted to. “So, you think Bobby Joe set you up for my father’s shooting and then came out here and attacked you? If he’s really alive, why would he wait three years to do that?”
Rayna gave it some thought and didn’t have an answer. However, she wouldn’t put it past Bobby Joe. At the end of their relationship, he’d threatened to kill her. Maybe this was his way of doing that. Bobby Joe could be toying with her while also getting back at Warren McCall, who hadn’t managed to get her convicted of murder.
But there was something else. A piece that didn’t seem to fit.
“Tell me about the waitress,” Rayna insisted. “Who was she, and why did she take the picture of the woman in the parking lot?”
“Her name is Janet Bolin,” Court answered. “She said she took the photo because she thought you...or rather the woman...was acting strange.”
Egan groaned. Probably because he was agreeing with her theory of an ill-fitting puzzle piece. “I’ll get a CSI team out here to process the place.” He pressed a button on his phone and went onto the porch to make the call.
“You know this waitress?” Rayna asked Court.
He shook his head. “She’s new, has only been working there a week or so, but I’ve seen her around. We’ll bring her in for questioning.”
Good. Because it meant Rayna was finally making some headway in convincing Court that she hadn’t fired that shot or had anything to do with that woman’s death.
She hesitated before asking her next question. “How’s your father?” Warren was a touchy subject for both of them.
A muscle flickered in Court’s jaw. “He’s out of surgery but still unconscious. We don’t know just how bad the damage is yet.”
He might have added more, might, but a sound outside stopped him. Sirens. They were from the ambulance that was coming up the road. Since her house was the only one out here, they were here for her.
“I don’t want an ambulance,” she insisted. “I’ll go to the hospital on my own.” And it wouldn’t be to the one in McCall Canyon. She would drive into nearby San Antonio.
“That’s not a very smart thing to do.” No pause for Court that time. “We’re not sure what’s going on here. Plus, your ribs could be broken. You don’t need to be driving if they are.”
She couldn’t help it. Rayna gave him a snarky smile before she could stop herself. “Worried about me?”
That earned her another glare, but this one didn’t last. And for a moment she saw something else. Not the sympathy this time, either. But the old attraction. Even now, it tugged at her. Apparently, it tugged at Court because he cursed again and looked away.
“I just wanted to make sure I didn’t hurt you when we fell on the floor,” Court said.
“You didn’t.” That was probably a lie, but Rayna was hurting in so many places that it was hard to tell who was responsible for the bruises and cuts.
Court’s gaze came back to her. “Was there anything...sexual about the assault after you got hit on the head?”
“No.” Thank God. That was something at least. “In fact, I’m not even sure he intended to kill me. I mean, he could have shot me the moment I walked into my house—”
“Maybe he didn’t have a gun. He could have been robbing the place and got spooked when you came in.”
True. But that didn’t feel right. Neither did the spot on her ribs, and Rayna had another look. Too bad that meant pulling up her top again, and this time Court examined it, too. He leaned in, so close that she could feel his breath hitting her skin.
“It looks like a needle mark,” he said. “And you mentioned something about passing out?”
She nodded. “But the man was gone by the time that happened.” Of course, he could have come back. Heck, he could still come back.
That made her stomach tighten, and she gave an uneasy glance around the front and side yards. There were plenty of places on her land for someone to hide.
“You’re sure it was a man?” Court asked. He was using his lawman’s tone again. Good. That was easier to deal with than the old attraction. “You said you didn’t get a look at the person, so how do you know it was a man?”
“I’ve had a man’s hands on me before, so yes, I’m sure he was male.” She immediately hated that she’d blurted that out, even if it was true. But Rayna didn’t like reminding anyone, especially Court, of just how wrong she’d been about Bobby Joe. After all, she’d let Court go to be with him.
“After he clubbed me with the lamp,” Rayna added, “he hooked his arm around my throat. My back landed against his chest, so I know it was a man.”
Court took a moment, obviously processing that, and he looked at the lock on the front door. “There’s no sign of forced entry. Was it locked, and did you have on your security system?”
Everything inside her went still. With all the chaos that had gone on, it hadn’t occurred to Rayna to ask herself those questions. “Yes, it would have been locked, and the security system was on. I never leave the house without doing that.”
“Even if you were just going to the barn?” Court immediately asked.
“Even then.” She gathered her breath, which had suddenly gone thin again. It always did when she thought of the woman she’d become. “I honestly believe Bobby Joe is alive and that he could come after me.”
Court looked ready to grumble out some profanity, but Rayna wasn’t sure if that was because he felt sorry for her or because he thought she was crazy for being so wary about a man he believed was dead.
“The front door was unlocked when I got here,” Court continued several moments later. “Is it possible your intruder had a key?”
“No. And I don’t keep a spare one lying around, either.” She kept her attention on the ambulance that stopped behind the cruiser. “Plus, he would have had to disarm the security system. It’s tamperproof, so he couldn’t have simply cut a wire or something. He would have had to know the code.”
With each word, that knot in her stomach got tighter and tighter. She had taken all the necessary precautions, and it hadn’t been enough. That hurt. Because she might never feel safe here again in this house that she loved. Her gran’s house. That didn’t mean she would leave. No. She wouldn’t give Bobby Joe the satisfaction of seeing her run, but Rayna figured there’d be a lot more sleepless nights in her future.
Egan was still on the phone when the medics got out of the ambulance and started for the porch. Rayna went out to tell them they could leave, but she spotted another vehicle. A familiar one.
Whitney’s red Mustang.
“You called her?” Court asked.
Rayna shook her head, but it didn’t surprise her that Whitney had heard about what happened and then had driven out to see her. They’d been friends since third grade, and even though that friendship had cooled a little after Rayna had gotten involved with Bobby Joe, Whitney had usually been there for her. Whitney was also one of the few people who’d stood by her when Rayna had been on trial.
Her friend bolted from the car and ran past the medics to get to Rayna. Whitney immediately pulled her into her arms for a hug. An uncomfortable one because Rayna felt the pain from her ribs, and she backed away.
“I came as fast as I could get someone to cover for me at work.” Whitney’s words rushed together. “My God, you’re hurt.” She reached out as if to touch the wound on Rayna’s hand, but she stopped. “It must be bad if the ambulance came.”
“No. They were just leaving.” Rayna made sure she said that loud enough for the medics to hear.
“They’re not leaving,” Court snapped, and he motioned for them to wait. No doubt so he could try to talk Rayna into going with them.
Whitney volleyed puzzled looks between Court and her. “Is, uh, anything going on between you two? I mean, you’re not back together, are you?”
“No,” Court and Rayna answered in unison, but it did make Rayna wonder what Whitney had picked up on to make her think that.
Whitney released her breath as if relieved. Maybe because she knew Rayna wasn’t ready for a relationship. Especially one with Court McCall.
“What happened here?” Whitney asked, glancing inside.
“Someone broke in,” Rayna settled for saying. She planned to give Whitney more information later, but her friend filled in the blanks.
“And you think it was Bobby Joe,” Whitney concluded. But she immediately shook her head after saying that. “It seems to be more than that going on. I mean, what with Warren being shot.”
Court made a sound of agreement. “Do you have a key to Rayna’s house? And no, I’m not accusing her of anything,” Court quickly added to Rayna. “I’m just trying to figure out how the intruder got in.”
“No key,” Whitney answered. “Bobby Joe wouldn’t have one, either. Rayna changed all the locks after she was acquitted. She had the windows and doors wired for security, too. Did she tell you that she has guns stashed all around the house?”
Rayna gave Whitney a sharp look to get her to hush. But it was too late. After hearing that, Court was probably even more convinced that she was about to go off the deep end.
“So, are you coming with us?” one of the medics called out. He sounded, and looked, impatient.
Rayna knew him. His name was Dustin Mendoza. A friend of Bobby Joe’s. Of course, pretty much every man in McCall Canyon in their midthirties fell into that particular category.
“No,” Rayna repeated.
She figured Court was about to do some repeating as well and insist that she go. He didn’t. “I’ll drive Rayna to the hospital. I need to ask her some more questions about the break-in.”
Dustin didn’t wait around to see if that was okay with her. He motioned for his partner to leave, and they started back for the ambulance.
“I also think you should consider protective custody,” Court said to her. “The intruder obviously knows how to get in your house, and he could come back.”
That had already occurred to Rayna, but it chilled her to the bone to hear someone say it.
“You can stay with me,” Whitney suggested. “In fact, I can take you to the hospital.”
It was generous of Whitney, and Rayna was about to consider accepting, but Court spoke before she could say anything. “That could be dangerous. For Whitney. If this intruder is still after you, he could go to her place while looking for you.”
That drained some of the color from Whitney’s face. Obviously, it wasn’t something she’d considered when she’d made the offer.
“It’s okay,” Rayna assured her. “I can make other plans.”
She didn’t know what exactly those plans would be, but she might have to hire a bodyguard. And put some distance between her and the McCalls. Whatever was going on seemed to be connected to them. Rayna didn’t think it was a coincidence about the timing of Warren’s attack, the break-in and the dead woman.
Egan finally finished his call, and the moment he turned to walk toward them, Rayna knew something was wrong.
“Is it Dad?” Court immediately asked.
Egan shook his head. “It’s the waitress. Janet Bolin. She’s dead. Someone murdered her.”
Chapter Three (#udea1731e-d63d-5247-ac0e-9699744a5aca)
Another murder. Two women killed only hours apart. There was no way Court could dismiss them as not being connected.
But connected to what?
Rayna. His father. Or maybe both.
He put on a clean shirt that he took from his locker and thought about that possible connection while he made his way back into the squad room, where Rayna was waiting. Or rather where she was pacing. He nearly reminded her that she should probably be sitting down. That was what the doctor had wanted anyway when he’d come to the sheriff’s office to examine her. Rayna wasn’t having any part of that though. And he couldn’t blame her. It was hard to sit still with all this restless energy bubbling up inside him.
“Anything?” she asked the moment she saw him.
Court took a deep breath that sounded as weary as he felt. “There’s no gunshot residue on your hands.” He’d swabbed her hands as soon as they’d gotten to the sheriff’s office but hadn’t been able to run the test right away because of all the other calls.
And changing his shirt.
Court had figured he’d worn his father’s blood long enough and no longer wanted it in his sight.
Rayna didn’t huff, but it was close. “Tell me something I don’t know. Of course there wasn’t gunshot residue on my hands, because I didn’t fire a gun.”
He almost pointed out that she could have cleaned up afterward, but plain and simple, that probably hadn’t happened. And it wouldn’t explain how she’d gotten all those wounds. So, Court did as Rayna asked and gave her something she almost certainly didn’t know.
“Janet was killed with a single shot to the head at point-blank range. Her body was in the alley behind the diner, and it doesn’t appear as if she was moved after she was shot. No ID yet on the other woman.”
But the two had something in common. There’d been no defensive wounds, which meant their killer had gotten close enough to deliver the fatal shots without alarming the women.
“No one in or around the diner heard the shot?” she pressed.
“No. But she had her purse, and Pete, the cook, said she had three more hours on her shift. She didn’t have a cell phone on her, but maybe she’d made arrangements to meet someone.”
And that someone had killed her.
That could mean Janet was in on his father’s shooting. Or maybe she’d just been duped into taking the photo that had almost certainly been meant to frame Rayna.
“There aren’t any surveillance cameras back there,” Court added. That pretty much applied to most of the town. Simply put, there hadn’t been much need for them.
Until now, that was.
There’d been only two murders in the past ten years. A drunken brawl at the local bar and Bobby Joe’s. But now they had two unsolved homicides, an attempted murder, breaking and entering, and an assault. It was no wonder Egan had been tied up in the past three hours. His brother was at the first murder scene, and that was why Court had been manning the phones along with keeping an eye on Rayna.
Court hadn’t mentioned it yet, but she was now a key witness, since she might be able to recall something about the man who’d attacked her. She was almost certainly in grave danger, as well.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Rayna mumbled.
It was something she’d said multiple times after Court had insisted that she come to the sheriff’s office. Well, first he’d tried to talk her into going to the hospital, and when he’d failed at that, he’d brought her here instead. It was far better than her being at Whitney’s, and both Rayna and she had finally agreed on that. Rayna had also agreed on the doctor seeing her.
“How are your ribs and your head?” Court asked.
“Fine,” she answered, practically waving off his concern.
But he knew there had to be some pain. The doctor didn’t think her ribs were broken, but there was a deep bruise, and a second one on her head where the intruder had hit her.
“The doctor drew blood,” she added, rubbing the inside of her arm. “Whatever the thug slammed into me might still be in my system.”
Yeah, but it might not give them any new info to catch him. Still, it was something they needed to know so they could make sure it didn’t have any serious side effects.
He tipped his head toward Egan’s office, which was just off the squad room. “There’s a semicomfortable chair in there. Some bottled water, too. You could sit and wait while I call the lab and push them to get an ID on the first woman.”
Rayna stopped pacing and made eye contact with him. “You’re being nice to me.”
Was he? Court lifted his shoulder. “I just figured we could call a truce and try to get through this hellish day.”
Rayna kept staring at him a moment before she nodded and headed for the office. Court was right behind her, but he glanced around the squad room first to make sure all was well. There was only one other deputy, Thea Morris, who was taking a statement from another waitress who worked at the diner. The other four deputies were out at their three crime scenes.
“If you want to go to the hospital to see your dad,” Rayna said, “please do. I know you’d rather be with him.”
He would. But his father was still unconscious, so there was nothing Court could do. Plus, his mom, Helen, and his sister, Rachel, were there. Along with a Texas Ranger, Griff Morris, who Warren had practically raised. He was like family, and he’d call Court if there were any changes in his father’s condition. Or if any more trouble surfaced. Right now, Court would do his dad more good by trying to figure out who’d put that bullet in him.
“You don’t have to babysit me,” Rayna added.
He did indeed have to do just that, and Court didn’t bother to pull any punches when he looked at her.
“Oh,” she said, and Rayna looked even more unsteady when she sank into the chair across from the desk.
“It’s not personal,” he added because he thought that might help. Help who exactly, Court didn’t know. It certainly felt personal. And it couldn’t. He couldn’t let their past—either the good or the bad parts—play into this.
He made the call to the lab, promptly got put on hold, so while he was waiting, Court took a copy of her statement that he’d printed out and passed it to her.
“Look this over and try to fill in any gaps in details,” he instructed. “For instance, do you remember hearing the sound of a vehicle when your attacker fled?”
“No.” Rayna sounded steady enough when she said that, but when Court gave her a closer look, he saw that she was blinking back tears. Waving them off, too, when she realized he’d noticed.
“I hate this,” she said. “I’ve spent three years rebuilding my life, and now it feels as if it’s falling apart again.”
Court had no idea how to respond to that, so he stayed quiet, fished out a box of tissues from the bottom drawer and passed them to her.
“I took self-defense classes,” she went on. “Firearms training. I installed a security system and don’t go anywhere without a gun. Except here, of course.”
He would have liked to have told her there was no need for one here, that she was under the roof with two deputies, but since his father had been shot just yards from here, he doubted his words would give her much assurance. Plus, there was the part about her not trusting him.
“You did all of that because you were afraid of Bobby Joe returning?” Court tried to keep his tone neutral. They already had enough battles to fight without his adding some disbelief to that.
“Not afraid,” Rayna said in a whisper. “I wanted to be able to stop him if he came after me again. I learned the hard way that I can’t rely on others to help me with that.”
Court couldn’t help himself. It was a knee-jerk reaction, but he went on the offensive, something he usually did with Rayna. “I arrested Bobby Joe after you’d had enough of him and decided to press charges,” he reminded her.
“Yes, and he spent less than an hour in jail. After that, he threatened to kill me, stormed out and then faked his death to set me up.”
If that had truly happened, then Court felt bad that he hadn’t been able to do more. But that was a big if. Most folks had liked Bobby Joe and gotten along with him just fine.
Court wasn’t one of those folks.
Bobby Joe and he had always seemed to be bristling at each other. Maybe because Rayna and Court had dated through most of high school. Bobby Joe could have been jealous, and Court figured his own bristling stemmed from the fact that Rayna had crushed his heart when she’d broken up with him.
But that was water under a very old bridge.
“Are you ever going to at least consider that Bobby Joe could be alive?” Rayna asked.
He didn’t have to figure out what his answer would be because Clyde Selby, the lab guy, finally came back on the line. “Sorry to keep you waiting,” Clyde said. “I wanted to see what we had on the second woman before I spoke to you. Anyway, the first woman, the blonde, is Hallie Ramon. She is, was, a college student. She was in the system because of a drug arrest when she was eighteen. But she didn’t have any gunshot residue on her hands, so I don’t think she’s the one who shot your dad.”
Court felt the slam of disappointment. Whoever had done this was still out there.
He immediately pulled up everything he had on her. There wasn’t much. No record other than the drug possession. The woman was twenty-four and didn’t even have a traffic ticket. But then something caught his eye.
“She was a drama student.” Court hadn’t meant to say that aloud, but it certainly caught Rayna’s attention.
She moved to the edge of her seat. Court hated to disappoint her, but there likely wouldn’t be anything else from the lab. Any new info now would come from working the case, and that meant talking to Hallie’s friends to find out how she was connected to what had happened in McCall Canyon.
“You mentioned the second woman,” Court prompted Clyde.
“Yes. Janet Bolin. Egan sent me her prints, and there’s no match for her. Don’t know who she is because unlike the first woman, she’s not in the system. No driver’s license, nothing.”
Court groaned. That meant she’d lied when she’d applied for the waitress job. Had probably even used a fake ID. That was going to make it a whole lot harder. Because until they knew who she was, they wouldn’t be able to figure out how she was connected to this.
“Is she here?” someone yelled. “I want to see her now!”
Court instantly recognized the voice and knew this would be trouble. It was Mitch Hawley, Bobby Joe’s brother. And the she that he was yelling about was almost certainly Rayna.
She got right up out of the chair and whirled to face Mitch. And not just face him. She went straight out into the squad room. If she was the least bit afraid of him, she didn’t show it.
But she should have.
Unlike Bobby Joe, Mitch was not well liked, and he had a nasty temper. Court had had to arrest him on several occasions for fighting. That was why Court hurried to get between them. He didn’t mind arresting Mitch again, but he didn’t want the man hitting Rayna. Mitch was a big guy, around six-two, and he was heavily muscled. A build that suited him because he worked with rodeo bulls, but his fists could do a lot of damage.
“Why isn’t she locked up?” Mitch snarled.
“Because I haven’t done anything wrong,” Rayna answered.
“Right. You killed my brother, and now you shot his dad.” His gaze flew to Court. “Please tell me you’re not covering for her.”
“No need. There’s no GSR on her, and at the time of the shooting, someone was attacking her. What do you know about that?”
That put some fire in Mitch’s already fiery brown eyes. “Are you accusing me of something?”
“Not at the moment. Right now, I’m asking a question. Depending on how you answer it, I’ll make an accusation or not.”
Rayna shook her head, maybe asking Court not to fight her battles, but he wasn’t. With everything else going on, he hadn’t had time to work on who’d attacked Rayna, but because of their history, Mitch was an automatic suspect.
“No. I didn’t go after her. Didn’t have anything to do with this hell-storm that hit town today.” Mitch snapped toward Rayna as if ready to return some verbal fire, but he stopped, smiled. “Looks like somebody worked you over good.”
“Was it you who did it?” Court pressed, getting Mitch’s attention back on him.
The man had to get his teeth unclenched before he could speak. “No. I wouldn’t waste my time on a killer. But I can’t believe you’d just let her walk. She had motive to shoot your father.”
“Yeah, and so do you,” Court reminded him. “In fact, I seem to remember you pressing my dad and the rest of us to put Rayna behind bars. We did, and she was acquitted. End of story.”
“No, hell, no. It’s not the end.” He flung his index finger in her direction. “If she’s capable of killing my brother, she’s capable of anything.”
“Apparently not,” Rayna spoke up. “I’m not capable of convincing anyone that not guilty means I didn’t do it.” She spared Court a glance to let him know he fell into that category, too.
“Because you bought off the jury or something. I begged Warren to try to reopen the case against you—”
“There’s no case to reopen,” Court interrupted. He was getting a glimpse of what Rayna had been dealing with for the past three years. “She can’t be tried again because that’s double jeopardy.”
“Then find something else. Conspiracy or tampering with evidence.” Mitch paused only long enough to curse. “Next week is the third anniversary of my brother’s murder, and no one has paid for that.”
And no one might pay. Court kept that to himself though. Simply put, Rayna had been their one and only suspect.
“Why’d you go to my father with all of this?” Court asked.
Mitch huffed, clearly annoyed with that question. “I went to him because I don’t get anywhere with Egan and you, that’s why. I figured I could get him to sway you into doing something. Warren told me to let it go. To get a life. Can you believe that?”
Yeah, he could. Warren could be steel-hard and cold. Even though his father hated that Rayna had been acquitted, he hated even more that Mitch was blaming the McCalls for that.
Mitch rubbed his head. “I can’t let it go. I keep dreaming about Bobby Joe. Nightmares. It’s as if he’s trying to tell me from the grave to get justice for him.” He looked up, blinked, the expression of a man who felt he’d maybe said too much. Or maybe Mitch just hadn’t wanted them to hear the raw emotion that was still in his voice.
“There is no new evidence to charge Rayna with anything,” Court said. “Not Bobby Joe’s murder and not my father’s shooting.”
“Then you’re not looking hard enough,” Mitch snarled. His face hardened. “And she’s responsible for that. She’s got you convinced that she’s the same girl you loved back in high school. Well, she’s not.”
Mitch moved his hand toward Rayna as if he might take hold of her, but Court snagged his wrist.
“It’s time for you to go,” he warned him.
Mitch threw off Court’s grip with far more force than necessary. “You should have known she’d pull something like shooting your dad. The signs were there. Even Janet said so.”
Court pulled back his shoulders. “Janet?”
“Yeah, the new waitress at the diner across the street. I was in there earlier this week...” Mitch stopped. He must have realized Rayna’s and Court’s expressions had changed.
“What did Janet say about me?” Rayna demanded.
Some of that fire started to cool a bit, and Mitch got quiet for several long moments. “She knew a lot about you. About what’d happened with Bobby Joe. She asked me questions about it.”
Court jumped right on that. “What kind of questions?”
Mitch volleyed some glances at both of them and shook his head. “Things like how often Rayna came into town and such.”
Bingo. It meant she was spying on Rayna. “Did Janet ever say anything about hurting Rayna or getting back at her for some reason?” Court asked.
Mitch’s eyes widened. “No. Of course not. She wouldn’t have. I mean, what with her being a private detective and all.”
Now Court was certain his own eyes widened. “What made you think she was a PI?”
“She let it slip, and I saw her ID once when it fell out of her pocket. I thought you knew.”
Court glanced at Rayna to see if she had any idea about this. She didn’t. She shook her head.
“I thought you knew,” Mitch repeated. “After all, Janet was working for your father. Warren’s the one who hired her.”
Chapter Four (#udea1731e-d63d-5247-ac0e-9699744a5aca)
Answers. That was what Rayna needed right now. Along with another place to stay. She only hoped she managed to get both soon.
Her place wasn’t exactly safe, so that was why Court had brought her to the guesthouse on the grounds of his family’s ranch. She felt as if she’d slept in the enemy’s camp. With her enemy, since Court had stayed the night with her. She was betting though that there hadn’t been much sleeping going on. There certainly hadn’t been on her part. She hadn’t been able to turn off her mind. Hadn’t been able to forget that someone was trying to frame her for murder.
Again.
If Bobby Joe was truly behind this, then she prayed he’d just go ahead and show his face so she could put an end to this once and for all.
Since the cabin wasn’t that large, Rayna had no trouble hearing someone moving around in the kitchen. Court, no doubt, because she also smelled coffee. While she wasn’t especially anxious to face him, she did need some caffeine, and maybe he would have updates that would give her those answers. Specifically, updates on his father. She needed to know if Mitch had been right when he said that Warren had hired the now dead waitress.
If he had, then maybe this was Warren’s twisted way of trying to send her to jail. This time for good.
But Rayna had to mentally shake her head at that thought. From all accounts, Warren could have been killed when he was shot. If this was a plan he’d orchestrated, he wouldn’t have put his life at risk like that.
Rayna took a deep breath to steady herself and walked into the kitchen. Not a long trek at all, only a few yards. She immediately saw that she’d been right about it being Court in the kitchen. Right about the coffee, too, because he was pouring himself a cup.
“You’re up and dressed,” he commented, sounding relieved.
That relief was probably about the being dressed part though. It would have been too much of a trip down memory lane if she’d just been wearing her nightgown—or nothing at all—since Court had brought her here a couple of times when they’d still been dating.
“I wore my clothes to bed,” she said, making a beeline for the coffee. That way, if they were attacked, she would be ready to run or fight back. “I’ll need to go back to my place and check on the horses.”
“I sent a couple of the ranch hands over to do that. I didn’t think it was a good idea for you to be out in the open like that.”
No. It wasn’t a smart idea, but Rayna still wished she could at least see the horses. Just being around them usually calmed her, and she desperately needed that right now.
“Thanks,” she muttered. She was surprised and glad that Court had thought to do something like that. Of course, she’d probably been on his mind most of the morning, not in a good way, either.
“In case you’re still in pain.” Court slid a bottle of pain meds across the counter toward her. It was the prescription stuff the doctor had called into the pharmacy for her. Apparently, someone had picked it up and brought it to the ranch.
She thanked him again but wouldn’t take any. Her head was already cloudy enough without adding those to the mix. “Please tell me you have good news.”
His shrug didn’t give her much hope. “My dad’s still not conscious, so we haven’t been able to ask him about Janet or whoever the heck she is. But we did get back your results from the blood test the doctor took, and you were drugged. It was a barbiturate, definitely meant to knock you out.”
Then it was mission accomplished for her attacker, and he’d likely done that so she wouldn’t show up in town at the same time as Hallie Ramon, the woman in red who had been near the sheriff’s office. And either the woman had been there to shoot Warren or else Hallie had been set up, just as someone had attempted to do to her.
“What about you?” he asked. “You remember anything new about the person who drugged you?”
She had a long sip of coffee and shook her head. “But last night I called the company that installed my security system. They insist no one who works for them would have given out my code to disarm the system.”
“Even if they had, there’s the problem with the key,” Court pointed out. “There were no signs of forced entry.”
“No, but getting the key would have been easier than getting the security code. I don’t take my house key off the ring when I give it to the mechanic for an oil change.” Though she would do that in the future. “I also don’t know if the locksmith I used made a copy of the key and gave it to someone.”
She knew she was sounding a little paranoid, but Rayna needed to look at all angles here. Unfortunately, there were probably other times when maybe her purse, and therefore her keys, had been out of her sight long enough for someone to make a molding of the house key.
Yes, definitely paranoid.
He paused to have some coffee, as well. “Unless you forgot to lock the door. Maybe forgot to set the system, too.”
Rayna was shaking her head before he finished talking. “I don’t forget those things. Not after what happened with Bobby Joe. I know you don’t believe it, but he’s out there.”
No, Court didn’t believe it. She could see the doubt in his eyes. And maybe he was right.
Rayna huffed. “If Bobby Joe’s dead, I didn’t kill him, and that means if he’s not out there, then his killer is. That’s why I lock the doors. That’s why I have a security system.”
He made a sound that could have meant anything. “Why did you stay if you think Bobby Joe or his killer will come back?”
She heard more of those doubts, and while Rayna didn’t think she could make him understand, she tried anyway. “I wasn’t born into money. And, no, that’s not a dig about you and your family. It’s my clumsy way of saying that I can’t just pick up and leave even if that’s what I wanted to do.”
Which she didn’t. That house was her home where she’d been raised. Where once she’d been happy. She was hoping to reach that happy status again.
“Besides,” Rayna added a moment later, “training horses is something I love doing, and I’m fortunate enough that it pays the bills.” That along with the money she got from boarding horses from some folks who lived in town. The occasional riding lessons, too.
Court stared at her, and he obviously had something on his mind. “You never collected Bobby Joe’s life insurance money. It was for fifty grand, and he left it all to you.”
Yes, he had. Considering the big blowup Bobby Joe and she’d had just weeks before his disappearance, it surprised her that he hadn’t changed his beneficiary. But then if he’d truly wanted to set her up for his murder, he would have left her name on the policy.
“I have no intentions of touching that money,” she said.
Court stared at her, cursed under his breath, and he paused a long time. “I’m sorry about what happened yesterday when I tackled you like that. I was half crazy when I went out to your place.”
That was true, but it was a craziness she could understand. She didn’t get a chance to tell him that though because his phone rang, the sound shooting through the room. Her nerves were so frayed and raw that it caused her to gasp.
“It’s Thea,” he said when he glanced at the screen.
He knew the call could be important, and that was why Court answered it right away. He also put it on speaker.
“Your dad’s awake,” Thea stated, and with just those three words, Rayna could hear the relief in the deputy’s voice. “He’s still pretty groggy, but I thought you’d want to come and see him.”
“I do.” Court reached for his keys and his Stetson. He was already wearing his holster and weapon. But he stopped and looked at Rayna.
She could see the debate he was having. He didn’t want to leave her there alone, but Court probably didn’t want her near Warren, either. The debate didn’t last long though.
“Rayna will be with me,” he said to Thea. “What kind of security is in place at the hospital?”
“There’s a guard posted outside Warren’s door. Egan is there, too. And so is Griff.”
Two lawmen and a security guard might not sound like a lot, but in this case, Warren was well protected.
“Good. We’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” Court assured Thea, and he ended the call.
Since it was normally about a twenty-minute drive from the McCall Ranch to town, Rayna guessed that they’d be hurrying. And they did. Court didn’t waste any time getting her into the truck parked directly in front of the cabin, and they drove on the ranch road and then got onto the highway that led to McCall Canyon.
“It won’t be a good idea for you to go into my father’s room,” Court said several minutes later, and he didn’t give her a chance to disagree with that. “You can wait with Griff while I talk to him.”
Court was right. She wanted to know if Warren had hired the dead PI, but he was far less likely to own up to anything with her in the room. Still, it wouldn’t be a pleasant experiencing waiting with Griff. Yes, he would keep her safe, but he was firmly on the side of Warren when it came to anything, since Warren had practically raised Griff and his sister after their parents had been sent to jail for selling drugs.
“Keep watch,” Court reminded her.
Even though she was already doing that, it caused her pulse to jump. The attack from the previous day was still way too fresh in her mind. Plus, she was having some pain, especially where the idiot had injected her with that drug. The seat belt was pulling right across the tender bruise.
“Are you okay?” Court asked.
He was frowning and glancing at her midsection. That was when Rayna realized she was holding her side. She was probably wincing, too. She nearly lied and told him everything was fine, but Rayna knew he wouldn’t believe her.
“I’m hurting. I’m scared. And I’m mad. Yes, I messed up when I got involved with Bobby Joe. I should have never been with him in the first place, and I should have never stayed after the first time he hit me.”
She wasn’t sure how Court would react to that and expected him to dismiss it. He didn’t. Even though he only glanced at her, she saw something in his eyes. Sympathy, maybe. If that was it, she didn’t want it.
“I was a fool,” she added. That not only applied to her relationship with Bobby Joe. She’d also been a fool to choose him over Court.
“Why exactly were you with him?” Court asked.
The burst of anger had come and gone, and now Rayna got a dose of something else that was familiar. Shame. There were plenty of emotions that came with the baggage of being in a relationship with someone like Bobby Joe.
“Because I didn’t think I deserved anything better,” she said. She certainly hadn’t deserved Court.
He frowned. “What the heck does that mean?”
She hadn’t expected him to understand. “You’re a McCall from the right side of the tracks. You have a father and mother who love you.” Rayna didn’t have a clue who her father was, and her mother had dumped her at her grandmother’s when Rayna had been in first grade.
Court’s frown continued, and he added some profanity to go along with it. “You’re telling you think you deserved to be with a jerk because you had some bad breaks in life?”
“I know it doesn’t make sense to you.” She looked at him. “It doesn’t make sense to me now, either. I finally had, uh, well, an epiphany after Bobby Joe hit me the second time, and I knew if I stayed with him, the violence would only continue. Probably even get worse. That’s when I ended our engagement.” She paused. “And you know the rest.”
Whether he believed the rest was anyone’s guess, and there wasn’t time to ask him. That was because he pulled to a stop in front of the hospital. He didn’t use the parking lot. He left his truck by the curb, directly behind a cop car, and he hurried her inside.
Egan was right there to greet them.
One look at the sheriff’s face, and Rayna knew something was wrong. She prayed that Warren hadn’t had complications from the surgery. Or worse, that he’d died. She wasn’t a fan of his, but she didn’t want him dead. And that was partly because she knew how much Egan, Court and their sister, Rachel, loved him.
“What happened?” Court asked.
But Egan didn’t respond. He made an uneasy glance around the waiting room, where there were several patients as well as some medical staff, and he motioned for Court and her to follow him. They did, and Egan went in the direction of the patients’ ward, but he stopped in the hall. However, Rayna could see Rachel, Griff and Court’s mother, Helen, just outside the door. It was no doubt Warren’s room.
Egan looked at her as if trying to decide what to do with her. Clearly, he wanted to have a private conversation with his brother, but there was no way they could leave her alone.
“Dad didn’t stay awake for long before he lapsed back into unconsciousness. But he did manage to say something,” Egan said after he dragged in a long breath. He paused. “It’s bad, Court.”
And that was when Rayna heard something just up the hall. Something she didn’t want to hear. Rachel and Helen were crying.
Chapter Five (#udea1731e-d63d-5247-ac0e-9699744a5aca)
Court had already had a bad feeling before he saw his mother and sister crying, but that feeling went up a significant notch.
“Is Dad...” But Court couldn’t even bring himself to finish the question.
“He’s alive,” Egan assured him.
The relief came, but the bad feeling remained. That was because of the tense look on Egan’s face.
“In the few minutes that Dad was conscious,” Egan went on, “he kept repeating one thing. A woman’s name. Alma.”
Court shook his head. “You think that’s maybe the real name of the dead PI he supposedly hired?”
“No.” Egan took in another of those breaths. “According to Griff, it’s the name of dad’s longtime mistress.”
That bad feeling fell like an avalanche on him. “No. Dad wouldn’t cheat on Mom,” he insisted.
“That’s what I said, too, but Griff says it’s true, that Dad’s been carrying on an affair with this Alma for thirty-five years. Dad recently broke off things with her though.” Egan turned back to Rayna. “And that’s where you come in. It’s possible this woman hired someone to kill Dad and set you up to take the fall.”
“Hell,” Court growled, and that was all he could manage to say.
His stomach was in knots. His heart, in his throat. And he figured Rayna wasn’t feeling exactly great right now to hear confirmation that someone had set her up to take the fall for his father’s attack. That part made sense—especially since they’d found Hallie dead. But none of the rest of this was sinking in.
“Alma,” Court repeated. He glanced at Griff. “And he is certain it’s true, that Dad cheated on Mom?”
Egan nodded, scrubbed his hand over his face. “He apparently found out a few months ago and said he told Dad to come clean. Dad obviously didn’t do that, but he did break off things with this woman.”
“The woman who maybe tried to set me up. I want to see her,” she insisted.
Egan nodded. “You will. I’ll have her brought into the sheriff’s office as soon as I can arrange it.” He motioned toward Rachel and their mom. “Needless to say, they’re upset.” He paused again. “Griff also told me that Warren had a son with Alma. I didn’t say anything about that to Mom.”
Court hadn’t figured there’d be any other shocks, but that certainly was one. All of this was coming at him too fast. Of course, this wasn’t something he could absorb with just a conversation. And he was sure there would be backlash. How the devil could his father have done this?
“The son’s name is Raleigh Lawton,” Egan added a moment later. “He’s a year older than you.”
Court belted out another “Hell.” Because he knew the man. Sheriff Raleigh Lawton was from a small town just one county over. Warren and he had worked on a murder case about three years ago, and Raleigh had visited McCall Canyon several times. Court thought of something else that’d happened.
“Wasn’t Raleigh involved with Thea?” Rayna asked.
“Yes,” Egan confirmed. “But they broke things off a while ago. I’m not sure if Thea knew he was Warren’s son, but Griff says that Raleigh didn’t know. He thought his father died in the military before he was born.”
So, the lies had extended to not only their family but to Alma’s, as well. Yeah, he definitely wanted to talk to this woman. Wanted to talk to his father, too.
“Are you okay?” Rayna asked. She touched his arm and rubbed gently.
No, he wasn’t okay, not by a long shot, and Court figured things were about to get worse when he glanced at Rachel again. Griff had tried to put his arm around her, but Rachel practically pushed him away. She said something to their mom, something that Court didn’t catch, and then his sister started toward Egan, Rayna and him.
“Egan told you?” she asked Court. There were fresh tears in her eyes and other tears spilling down her cheeks.
He nodded, tried to hug her, but Rachel waved him off. “I just need to get out of here. Away from Dad and away from Griff,” she added. Her voice was shaking now. “He knew, and he didn’t tell me.”
“Maybe he didn’t know how,” Egan said.
“Then he should have found a way,” she snapped. “He definitely should have found a way before—” She stopped, waved that off, too. “I need to go. Please. I just need to leave.”
“I’ll drive you,” Egan volunteered. “Mom, too. Just wait here for a second until I can get her.”
Egan started toward their mother, and Court went with him. Rayna stayed behind with Rachel. Which was good. As upset as the woman obviously was, she might try to leave on her own. If she did, at least Rayna could alert them. It wasn’t safe for his sister to be out there alone.
Court went to his mother and pulled her into his arms. Unlike Rachel, she didn’t push him away. She dropped her head on his shoulder.
“Warren loves me,” Helen muttered. There was some anger in her voice now. “Why would he do this?”
Court didn’t know, and he wasn’t sure he’d get any answers from his father, either. “I’m sorry” was all he could think to say.
Griff was clearly sorry, too. The man was shaking his head and mumbling some profanity. Neither would help. But then, there wasn’t much that could help this situation right now.
Helen pulled back and looked Court in the eyes. “You think that woman could have shot him?”
“Maybe,” he admitted. “But we’re looking at Mitch for this, too. He hates Dad as well as the rest of us.”
Still, if his father had hired that PI, then he must have believed that Alma could be some kind of threat.
“Mom, I want to take Rachel and you home,” Egan insisted.
Helen didn’t argue with that. She didn’t look as if she had the strength to argue with anyone. In fact, she seemed broken.
“I’ll stay here and help guard Warren,” Griff offered. “Just tell Rachel that I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he repeated to Helen.
But Court wasn’t sure his mother heard Griff’s apology. Even if she had, it wouldn’t be nearly enough to help her get through this. Still, it hadn’t been Griff’s place to tell them.
That blame was squarely on his father’s shoulders.
Egan slipped his arm around Helen to get her moving, and Court followed them. “Why don’t you take Rayna to the sheriff’s office?” Egan told him. “I’ll meet you there after I’ve driven Mom and Rachel to the ranch.”
Court was still feeling stunned, but he forced himself to get moving. The sooner Rayna and he got to the sheriff’s office, the sooner Egan and he could get Alma in for questioning. Not that Court was especially looking forward to meeting the woman, but this might be the start of getting those answers they desperately needed.
“Did you ever meet Raleigh or Alma?” Court asked Rayna as they walked toward the exit.
“No, but I remember the talk about Hannah Neal, the woman whose murder Warren and Raleigh were investigating. She was a surrogate who’d recently given birth, and she was killed around the same time Bobby Joe went missing.”
Yeah. Hannah had been murdered in McCall Canyon, but her body had been dumped in Durango Ridge, Raleigh’s jurisdiction. That was why both Raleigh and his father had been investigating it. All of that had happened just a few months before his father retired.
“You don’t think Alma could have been connected to Hannah’s murder, do you?” Rayna pressed.
He was about to say no, but then Court remembered that Warren had been very close to Hannah. She’d been the daughter of his best friend, a single-father cop who’d been killed in the line of duty. As Warren had done with Thea and Griff, he’d taken Hannah under his wing. So, maybe Alma had gotten jealous of that. After all, if she was the one who’d hired someone to shoot Warren, then it was possible she’d killed Hannah, too.
Yeah, he definitely needed to talk to this woman.
Egan led Rachel and their mother out the exit first, and he took them straight to his cruiser, which was parked just ahead of Court’s truck.
“Will your mother be okay?” Rayna asked.
Good question. But Court wasn’t sure. She’d already been teetering on shaky ground with Warren’s shooting, and now this. Court made a mental note to call her doctor and have him go to the ranch to check on her.
He motioned for Rayna to follow him. However, before he could even get the doors unlocked, Court saw the blur of motion from the corner of his eye. And he immediately pulled Rayna down with him.
Just as someone fired a shot at them.
* * *
RAYNA HIT THE ground hard, much as they’d done the day before in her house, and the pain from the fall sliced through her. It robbed her of her breath.
For one heart-stopping moment, she thought she’d been shot.
But no, it wasn’t that. The pain had come from the bruise on her side. It hurt, but it was far better than the alternative of having a bullet in her. Or in Court.
She checked to make sure he hadn’t been hit. He didn’t seem to be, but he dragged her beneath the truck and drew his gun. Ready to return fire.
Rayna took out her gun, too, from its slide holster. Not that she was in position to shoot back. She was on her stomach, and Court had positioned his body in front of hers.
Protecting her.
Something she wished he hadn’t done. Rayna didn’t want him to die because of her.
She waited, listening and praying. Rayna also tried to figure out what to do. If either Court or she reached up to open the truck door so they could get inside, the gunman could shoot them.
If there actually was a gunman.
There had only been the sound of that one shot, making her wonder if what they’d heard was a vehicle misfiring. That was what she wanted it to be anyway, and she hadn’t actually seen a shooter.

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