Читать книгу Under The Cowboy's Protection - Delores Fossen - Страница 10

Thea fought the effects of the adrenaline crash. Or rather she tried. But while she was waiting on Sonya’s front porch, she was also fighting off the remnants of that stun gun, along with the sickening dread that another woman was dead.

Oh, God. She was dead.

For a few seconds after she’d seen the body, Thea had tried to hold out hope that it wasn’t Sonya. That it was some stranger, but that had been an unrealistic hope to have. After all, she’d seen the gunman taking Sonya. She’d known the woman was in extreme danger.

“Why did the gunman even take Sonya from the house?” Thea mumbled. “If he was just going to kill her, why didn’t he do that when he first broke in?”

She hadn’t intended for anyone to actually hear those questions. Not with all the chaos going on. But Raleigh obviously heard her, since he looked at her. What he didn’t do was attempt an answer, because he was standing in the front doorway while giving instructions to the CSIs, who were now processing Sonya’s yard and house.

Because it was a crime scene.

One that wasn’t in Thea’s jurisdiction.

That’s why she just sat there on the front porch, waiting for Raleigh to give her some task to do. Any task. Anything that would help them find out who’d done this. That wouldn’t stop this crushing feeling in her heart though, and it couldn’t bring back Sonya. But maybe Thea could help get justice for the dead woman.

“Please tell me you found the baby,” she said when Raleigh finished with the CSIs and started toward her.

He shook his head. “But there’s some evidence that Sonya delivered the child here, at her house.” Raleigh added a weary sigh to that, and he stopped directly in front of her. “There were some bloody sheets in the washer, and a package of newborn diapers had been opened. So had a case of premade formula bottles. Three of the bottles and four of the diapers were missing.”

Well, Sonya had obviously had the baby somewhere, so the delivery could have easily happened here in her home, but that just led Thea to yet another question. Why wouldn’t Sonya have gone to the hospital to deliver the child?

However, Thea instantly thought of a bad answer to that.

Maybe the gunman was here when the baby had been born. Those thugs could have stopped her from getting the medical attention she needed.

She looked up at Raleigh, and he was staring at her. His lawman’s stare. That meant his comment about the sheets and diapers hadn’t been just to catch her up on what they’d found. This was the start of his official interview, since she’d actually seen the man who was likely responsible for murdering Sonya.

Of course, Thea had already told him some details when Raleigh had found her on the back porch, and she had added other bits of info while they’d waited for the CSIs and ME to arrive. Obviously though, he wanted a lot more now.

But Thea didn’t have more.

“You should be inside the house with Yvette,” Raleigh reminded her. It wasn’t the first time he’d mentioned that. “Whoever killed Sonya is still at large, and you could be a target.”

“So could you.” Best not to mention that the gunmen might want him dead because he was Warren’s son.

No.

That would only make matters worse. And as for going inside with Yvette, obviously neither of them wanted to do that, because they both stayed put.

Thea’s heart was breaking for Yvette, since the missing baby was her biological child—a daughter, from what Sonya had told her a couple months ago—but Thea didn’t have the emotional energy to deal with Yvette just yet. Besides, she didn’t even know what to say to the woman. The only thing they could do was hope they found the baby soon, along with finding Sonya’s killer.

“I had at least a dozen conversations with Sonya,” Thea explained to Raleigh. “I visited her here at her house three times, and not once did she ever hint that she was in any kind of danger.”

He made a sound that could have meant anything and kept up the intense stare. He was good at it, too. Unfortunately, looking at him reminded her of other things that had nothing to do with the murder and missing baby.

Once Raleigh had been attracted to her. Obviously not now though. There wasn’t a trace of attraction in his stormy blue eyes or on that handsome face. He was all cowboy cop now.

“And you visited Sonya because of Hannah Neal,” he said.

It wasn’t a question, but Thea nodded to confirm that. “Hannah was my friend, and it eats away at me that I haven’t been able to find her killer.”

She caught something in his eyes. A glimmer that she recognized. It ate away at Raleigh, too.

Raleigh hadn’t known Hannah, but Hannah’s body had been dumped just at the edge of Durango Ridge. That meant it was Raleigh’s case, but then, despite his retirement, Sheriff Warren McCall had gotten involved because Hannah had lived in their hometown of McCall Canyon. Plus, Hannah had been murdered in McCall Canyon, too. Murdered, and her killer had left the same obscene message on her wall that he had on Sonya’s.

At the time of that investigation, Warren hadn’t mentioned a word about Raleigh being his illegitimate son. Neither had Thea, though she had known. She had found out Warren’s secret a few months before that, but she hadn’t told anyone. And that was the reason she no longer saw the attraction in Raleigh’s eyes. He hated her now because she’d kept that from him.

But not nearly as much as she hated herself for doing it.

Thea shook her head to clear it, forcing her mind off Hannah and back onto Sonya. Hannah’s case was cold, but what they uncovered here today could maybe help them solve both murders.

“Why exactly did you become friends with Sonya?” Raleigh asked.

It wasn’t an easy question. “It didn’t start out as friendship. I’d been keeping tabs on the doctor who did the in vitro on Hannah.” Actually, she’d kept tabs on anything related to her late friend. “So, when I found out this same doctor, Bryce Sheridan, had done this procedure on another surrogate, I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to see if there were any...irregularities.”

Raleigh’s eyebrow came up. “You think Dr. Sheridan had something to do with Hannah’s murder?”

“No. I mean, I didn’t know. I was just trying to find any kind of lead.” Thea had to take a deep breath before she could continue. “But after I met and talked to Sonya, I didn’t see any obvious red flags. Especially not any red flags about Dr. Sheridan.”

That ate away at Thea even more. Because she should have seen something. She should have been able to stop this from happening.

“Both Hannah and Sonya were surrogates,” Raleigh said, “and both were connected to you. According to the messages left at the crime scenes, the women were linked to Warren, too.”

She couldn’t deny that. Thea knew both women and had worked for Warren for three years before he’d retired and turned the reins of the sheriff’s office over to his son Egan. It was ironic that all three of Warren’s sons had become lawmen, but Thea seriously doubted that Raleigh would ever say that he had followed in his father’s footsteps.

“You think I’m the reason these women were killed?” Thea came out and asked him.

Just saying the question aloud robbed her of her breath, and Raleigh didn’t even get a chance to answer, because his deputy Dalton came out of the house and onto the porch. He wasn’t alone, either. Yvette was with him. The woman was no longer crying, but her eyes were red and swollen, and she had her phone gripped in her hand so hard that her knuckles were white.

“We have to find my daughter, so I hired some private investigators,” Yvette immediately said.

“I told her I didn’t think that was a good idea,” Dalton mumbled.

It wasn’t. PIs, even well-meaning ones, could interfere with an investigation to the point of slowing it down, but Thea couldn’t fault Yvette for doing this. The woman had to be desperate because her baby could be in the hands of a killer.

“You saw Sonya,” Yvette said to Thea. “How was she? Was she weak? Did she say anything about the baby?”

Yvette had already asked these questions several times and in a couple of different ways. So had Raleigh. But Thea didn’t mind answering them again. Maybe if she kept going over what she’d seen, she would remember something else. It was a tactic that cops used to try to get more info from witnesses.

“Yes, she looked weak,” Thea admitted. “And scared. The man who took her had his arm around her waist as if holding her up.”

Even though that wasn’t new information, it caused fresh tears to spring to Yvette’s eyes. “What about the second man, the one who had the stun gun. Is it possible he had the baby with him?”

Thea had already considered that and had mentally walked through every moment of the attack. “It’s possible. I didn’t even see him. In fact, as I said earlier, it could have been a woman.”

Yes, she had indeed said that earlier, but this time it caused Raleigh to shift his attention to Yvette. And Yvette noticed the abrupt shift, too.

“Well, it wasn’t me,” Yvette snapped. “I’d have no reason to take my own child and murder the woman who carried her for nine months.”

No obvious reason anyway, but it was odd that the woman had assumed they were thinking the worst about her.

“Do you have anyone with a grudge against you?” Raleigh asked Yvette. “Someone who might want to try to kidnap the baby and hold her for ransom?”

Yvette was shaking her head before he even finished the question. “Of course not. My husband and I manage my late father’s successful real estate company. We’ve never even had a serious complaint from a customer.”

No, but that didn’t mean someone hadn’t kidnapped the baby for ransom. That’s the reason Raleigh had told the woman to keep her phone close to her. Yvette had. In fact, she was doing everything a frantic mother would do to find her child. But something was missing here.

Or rather someone.

“Where’s your husband?” Thea asked. “You called him right after we discovered the body, so shouldn’t he have been here by now?”

Since Yvette was still looking a little defensive, Thea expected the woman to blast her for even hinting that Mr. O’Hara wasn’t doing all he could to be there to comfort his wife or look for their child. But Yvette’s reaction was a little surprising. She glanced away, dodging Thea’s gaze.

Now, this was a red flag.

“Nick had some things to tie up at work,” Yvette answered after several long moments.

Raleigh made one of those vague sounds of agreement. “Yeah, Sonya mentioned to me that your husband wasn’t completely on board with having this baby.”

Thea tried not to look too surprised, but she suspected that was a lie. She’d had a lot of conversations with Sonya, and never once had the surrogate brought up anything like that. If Sonya had, it would have been one of those red flags that Thea had been searching so hard to find.

What was equally surprising though was that Yvette didn’t even deny it.

“Nick had a troubled childhood,” Yvette said, still not looking at either Thea or Raleigh. She stared past them and into the yard. “He was hesitant about us having a baby because of all the money it would cost for a surrogate. And because of all the time I’d have to take off from the business to be a stay-at-home mom. But he finally agreed to it.”

Maybe. And maybe Nick hadn’t actually agreed the way that Yvette thought. It seemed extreme though to kill a surrogate so that he wouldn’t have to be a father, especially since the baby had already been conceived. And born. Still, Thea would look into it, and she was certain Raleigh would, as well.

“Call your husband again,” Raleigh told the woman. “I want him to come to the sheriff’s office on Main Street in Durango Ridge in thirty minutes. I’ll take Thea and you there now in the cruiser, and he can meet us.”

Yvette started shaking her head again, and alarm went through her eyes. “He had nothing to do with this, and it’ll only upset him if you start interrogating him the way you did me.”

Thea had watched that so-called interrogation, and Raleigh had handled the woman with kid gloves. He’d treated her like a distraught mother whose child had been stolen. She doubted Raleigh would show that same consideration to Nick. Because Nick apparently had a motive for this nightmare that’d just happened.

Raleigh checked the time and motioned for Yvette to make the call. The woman hesitated, but she finally went to the other end of the porch to do that. Too bad Yvette didn’t put it on speaker, because Thea would have loved to hear Nick’s response to Raleigh’s order.

While Yvette was still on the phone, Raleigh turned back to Thea. “I’ll need you to give me a statement, of course.” He hesitated, too. “And you should be in protective custody.”

He was right, but it riled her a little that he thought she couldn’t take care of herself. After all, she was a cop, and she could point out to him that the thug hadn’t murdered her when he or she had the chance. Still, she needed to take some precautions.

Once Yvette had finished her call, Thea stood, ready to go to the cruiser, but she stopped when she heard the approaching vehicle. Raleigh and Dalton must have heard it, too, because they automatically stepped in front of her and Yvette. Thea slid her hand over the gun that she’d borrowed from Raleigh. But it wasn’t the threat they were all obviously bracing themselves for.

It was Warren.

He pulled his familiar black truck to a stop behind the trio of cruisers and the other vehicles, and he got out and started for the house.

“What the hell is he doing here?” Raleigh asked, turning his glare back on Thea.

“I didn’t call him,” Thea said, but it would have been easy enough for Warren to hear about it. After all, most law enforcement agencies in the state had been alerted to the missing baby.

“Raleigh,” Warren greeted. He obviously ignored the glare his son now had aimed at him, and he walked right past Raleigh to pull Thea into his arms.

It certainly wasn’t the first time that Warren had hugged her. He’d always treated her like family and had practically raised her and her brother, Griff. But it felt awkward now in front of Raleigh—who hadn’t gotten that same family treatment from the man.

“Are you okay?” Warren asked her when he pulled back from the hug.

His attention went to the stun gun marks on her neck, and it looked as if he had to bite back some profanity. When she’d been his deputy, he had always hated whenever she’d gotten hurt or been put in danger, and he still apparently felt that way. Thea appreciated the concern, especially since she’d never gotten any from her own parents, but it made the situation with Raleigh seem even more awkward.

“I’m fine,” Thea assured him. She didn’t especially want to bring this up, but Warren would soon learn it anyway. “Whoever did this also took the newborn, and he left a message on the wall—”

“Two messages,” Raleigh corrected. “There was a second in Sonya’s bedroom. They were both written in red paint and used identical wording to what was left at Hannah’s place. ‘This is for Sheriff Warren McCall.’”

“This man is Sheriff McCall?” Yvette asked. Warren nodded, and she went to him, catching on to his arms. “Who did this? Why would someone take my baby because of you?”

Warren’s face tightened. “I don’t know.”

“But you must have some—” Yvette started, but Raleigh moved her away when her grip tightened on Warren.

“This is the missing baby’s mother,” Raleigh explained. “Yvette O’Hara.”

Warren tipped the brim of his Stetson as a greeting. “I’m really sorry for what happened, but I honestly don’t know who took your child.” He turned to Raleigh. “Are you sure this is connected to Hannah, or is it a copycat?”

A muscle flickered in Raleigh’s jaw. “Too early to tell. Do you have a reason for being here?” There definitely was nothing friendly about his tone.

Warren sighed. “Yes. I was worried about Thea and thought she might need a ride home because she’s so shaken up.”

“She will, but only after she’s given her statement about the attack.” Again, there was no friendliness from Raleigh. “I was about to take her to my office now. No reason that I know of for you to be there for that, but you can wait for her at the café across the street.”

Warren would do that if he couldn’t get Raleigh to relent and let him stay with her in the sheriff’s office. And Raleigh wouldn’t back down on this.

They started down the steps, and Thea didn’t miss it when she saw Warren wince and slide his fingers over his chest. He quickly moved his hand away, but she knew he’d been touching the scar beneath his shirt. The scar he’d gotten from a gunshot wound six months ago.

The wound itself had healed, but the muscles there had been damaged enough that Warren would always have pain. Something he obviously didn’t want to discuss because he shook his head when Thea opened her mouth to ask if he was okay. Maybe it was a guy thing not to want to admit that he was in pain, or maybe he just didn’t want to talk about it in front of Raleigh.

“Ride in the cruiser with Raleigh,” Warren whispered to her, and he made a lawman’s glance around them. “There are a lot of places for a killer to lie in wait on the road that leads into Durango Ridge.”

She nodded, but his reminder only gave her another jolt of adrenaline. So did the sound of her phone ringing. Not a reaction she wanted to have as a deputy. Nor was the reaction she had next.

Her stomach went to her knees when she looked at her phone screen.

“Unknown caller,” she said.

That stopped Raleigh and Warren, and Yvette eventually stopped, too, when she realized they were no longer moving toward the cruiser.

It could be nothing, maybe even a telemarketer, but Raleigh must have realized it could be something important because he took out his own phone to record the call, and he motioned for her to answer it. She did, and unlike what Yvette had done earlier, Thea put it on speaker.

“I’m guessing you’re looking for the kid,” a man immediately said. Thea didn’t recognize his voice, but it was possible that it was the same man who’d taken Sonya.

Yvette gasped, and Warren motioned for her to stay quiet. Good move because it wouldn’t do any good to have Yvette start yelling at this thug.

“Where’s the baby?” Thea demanded. Of course, she wanted to ask the snake why he’d murdered Sonya, but right now, the baby had to come first. It was too late to save Sonya, but maybe they could still help the child.

“I’ll give her to you. All you have to do is come and get her.”

Thea looked at Raleigh to get his take on this. Like her, he was clearly skeptical, but at the moment, this was all they had. Maybe it was a matter of paying a ransom. If so, she figured they could scrape together whatever amount they needed to get the child safely away from a killer.

The conversation must have alerted Dalton because he came down the steps and into the yard with them.

“Where’s the baby?” Thea repeated to the man.

“I’ll text you the time and the place where you can get her. Oh, and I’ll text you the rules, too. Don’t forget those or you won’t get the kid.” He sounded arrogant, and Thea wished she could reach through the phone and make him pay for what he’d done.

She tamped down the anger so she could speak. “How do I know you actually have her? This could be a trap.”

“Sweetcakes, if I’d wanted you dead, you already would be. You wouldn’t have made it off that back porch of Sonya’s house.”

Since Thea had already realized that, she knew it was true. But there were plenty of other things that didn’t make sense. “How do I know for certain that you have the newborn?” she pressed.

The man didn’t answer. Not with words anyway. But Thea heard the sound in the background.

A baby crying.