Читать книгу Roughshod Justice - Delores Fossen, Delores Fossen - Страница 12

Chapter Five

“I didn’t hire that hit man,” Kelly insisted.

Jameson had lost count of how many times Kelly had said a variation of that denial, but it had started immediately after the gunman’s accusation. It had continued, too, even after the man had been hauled away to the ER and after she and Jameson arrived at the sheriff’s office.

As with her other denials, no one responded. The two deputies who weren’t at the hospital working the investigation were both busy at their desks. Gabriel was in the interview room with the driver who’d first seen Kelly and the two dead guys in the pasture. That left Jameson, and even though he, too, was on the phone, waiting for an update from Cameron, he wasn’t there to give her any assurances but rather to make sure she didn’t run.

Good thing, because she certainly looked like a woman on the verge of taking off.

She was pacing across the squad room. Well, her version of pacing anyway, considering she was still wobbly. She would occasionally catch on to desks and chairs to steady herself.

Thankfully, she hadn’t been so shaky that she hadn’t managed to take out the female shooter in the hospital door. If she hadn’t, the woman could have done some serious damage. It was that shot that had Jameson believing that the injured gunmen had been lying.

He stopped, rethought that.

Actually, he hadn’t believed it from the moment he’d heard it. And yeah, that made him stupid. It was this old fire that was between Kelly and him. She’d stolen the file from him, but it was a huge leap to go from that to murder.

Kelly glanced down at the burner cell phone she had gripped in her hand. One of the deputies had given it to her after she said she wanted to make some calls. Of course, the calls had been related to her sister. Kelly hadn’t remembered any phone numbers—or so she’d claimed—so Jameson had given her a contact at SAPD. The detective had nothing new on Mandy but promised to call Kelly the moment he found anything.

Jameson hoped what they didn’t find was a body.

Kill Jameson Beckett or you’ll never see her again.

That wasn’t exactly a reassurance that Kelly’s kid sister was okay.

She went to the watercooler and had another drink. Her third in the past hour. Jameson had already had her doctor come to the sheriff’s office to check her and finish his exam, but Kelly had practically dismissed the man. Too bad. Because Jameson was certain that head injury needed additional treatment. Probably even a night or two in the hospital. He doubted, though, that he was going to be able to convince Kelly to go back there after what’d happened.

They’d nearly been killed.

It’d been pure luck that both Kelly and he had managed to nail those shots. And they’d managed that before the thugs had gotten their own brand of luck and killed all three of them and anyone else who happened to get in the path of those bullets.

Jameson finished his call with Cameron and went closer to her. The doctor had told him to watch her for any signs of dizziness or fatigue. He didn’t see either. However, Jameson did see the troubled look on her face.

“I didn’t hire that man,” she repeated. Except this time, there were tears in her eyes.

Hell. The tears were his Achilles’ heel, and Jameson had to force himself not to pull her into his arms. That definitely wouldn’t be a good idea.

She stared at him as if waiting for something. A response, maybe. Maybe that hug. But instead Jameson relayed what he’d just learned from Cameron.

“No ID’s on either the dead man or woman,” he explained. “But Cameron took their prints and will see if they’re in the system. I called in the Rangers to assist on this. When I have the names, I’ll definitely run them past you to see if they ring any bells.”

Kelly nodded. “Good.” She repeated both the one-word response and the nod, and she kept staring at him.

“What about the guy you shot?” she asked. “The one who lied and said he was working for me?” She hadn’t needed to clarify that last part, but the renewed anger in her voice seemed to help with drying up those tears.

“He lawyered up, but we do have an ID on him. He gave his name to the doctor because apparently he has some allergies to certain meds and wanted the doc to access his records. His name is Coy McGill. Know him?”

“No.” Kelly added a heavy sigh. “But he’s trying to set me up. Please tell me you know that.” She was clearly calling him on this.

“I do know that,” he assured her. “The shot that woman fired could have killed you. If you’d been the one who hired them, she would have kept her gun aimed at me. After all, I’m the one that someone wants dead.”

“Yes,” she said after a long pause. Their eyes met again. “Why?”

For a simple question, it encompassed a lot. With everything going through his head, he hadn’t exactly had much quiet time to think, but he kept coming back to two things.

“It could be connected to my parents’ murders. The anniversary is just two days away.” That would mean someone obsessed with the case. It could be someone who wanted revenge for Travis being behind bars.

“It’s possibly connected to one of your cases,” Kelly provided.

He had to nod again. As a Texas Ranger, he had made his share of enemies, and there were at least a half dozen guys behind bars who would want him dead. But this felt, well, personal.

“Why use you to do this?” Jameson was talking more to himself than her now.

She groaned softly, but it looked as if she wanted to curse. “I don’t know, and that’s why I need to remember.”

“Then you should let the doctor examine you again. Maybe there’s something he can give you—”

“He can’t. I asked,” she added. “He can rule out a brain injury with tests, but even if that is what’s wrong with me, the only treatment is time.”

Jameson had no idea if the doctor had actually told her that or if it was something Kelly had decided was true. Either way, he couldn’t force her. But he could force her into custody.

“Until Coy McGill starts talking, I can’t let you leave,” Jameson spelled out for her.

“Because I’m a suspect,” she readily supplied.

Great. That brought back the tears. They shimmered in her eyes along with tugging at his heart. And Jameson finally caved in and gave her arm a gentle rub. She noticed, too. She looked down at his hand. Then at him.

And there it came.

That old punch to the gut. Jameson had been with plenty of women, but none of them had ever made him feel the way Kelly had.

And that’s why he took a huge step back from her.

She noticed what he’d done, and the corner of her mouth lifted. A smile, sort of, but it wasn’t from humor.

“Plus, you can’t let me leave because Boyer is still threatening that arrest warrant against me,” Kelly added a moment later.

Bingo. There were a lot of pieces in this mess that didn’t make sense, and Boyer was just one of them.

The door to the interview room finally opened, and Gabriel came out with the witness, a man named Merrill Stover. He wasn’t a local but rather had been to a nearby ranch to look at some calves that were for sale. Jameson had run a background check on the man while Kelly was with the doctor, and Stover had a squeaky-clean record. No indications whatsoever that he’d had part in whatever the heck had gone on in that pasture.

Stover started for the door but stopped when he saw Kelly. “Ma’am, I’m real sorry for what happened to you.”

Kelly pulled back her shoulders. “What did happen to me?”

Stover glanced back at Gabriel, but he waved off the question. “I’ll fill her in. You’re free to go,” Gabriel assured him.

The man gave a suit-yourself shrug and left. Gabriel didn’t say a word until he was out the door.

“I believe what he told me,” Gabriel started. “But before you ask,” he added to Kelly when she opened her mouth, “he didn’t see the actual shooting. Only the aftermath of it.”

She gave another of those weary sighs and scrubbed her hand over the back of her neck. “So I’m not cleared. Boyer can arrest me.”

“No, he can’t,” Gabriel assured her. “Well, not without a court order, which I seriously doubt he’ll get. That’s because those two dead men aren’t agents as he claimed. They both had long rap sheets.”

Finally, Jameson saw some relief on her face. It was short-lived, though. “Why would Boyer claim they were agents?” she asked.

Gabriel lifted his shoulder. “I tried to call him, but he didn’t answer. I left him a message.”

Kelly leaned against the wall, and her eyelids fluttered a little. Jameson silently cursed. She was probably dizzy, something he was supposed to be watching for. Not that she’d ever admit it. However, she didn’t balk when he took her by the arm and led her to a chair in Gabriel’s office.