Under the Cowboy's Protection

by Delores Fossen

  Thea thought about that a moment. “But you’re bringing him in anyway?”

  “This is a murder investigation. We’re in leave no stone unturned territory.” He paused. “That’s why my mother is coming in tomorrow, as well. Sonya worked for her for a while. You didn’t know?” he asked, no doubt when he saw the surprise in her eyes.

  Thea shook her head. “Sonya didn’t mention it.”

  “It was a few years ago. I’m not sure exactly why Sonya quit or even if she was fired, but those are questions I need to ask my mother.”

  Apparently, he didn’t want to do that unofficially, either, because it could make it seem as if he was giving her preferential treatment.

  Nick’s phone rang, the sound immediately getting everyone’s attention. Raleigh and Yvette stood, and Dalton put his finger on the record button. But Nick shook his head when he glanced at the screen.

  “Sorry, it’s a business associate,” Nick grumbled, and he let the call go to voice mail as he turned toward Raleigh. “Is this normal for the kidnappers to wait so long before calling back?”

  Raleigh shrugged. “They could be doing this to put you even more on edge. Their logic could be the more frantic and desperate you are, the more you’ll cooperate.”

  Thea hoped that was what was going on, but this didn’t feel right. The O’Haras could pay the ransom only to discover the newborn with them was their child after all.

  There were sounds of voices in the squad room, and Raleigh stepped in front of Thea and the baby. Protecting them again. But Thea realized this wasn’t a threat when she recognized one of the voices. Her brother, Texas Ranger Griff Morris.

  Thea got up and went to the door to look out, and she immediately spotted not only Griff but another familiar face. Rachel McCall Morris. Rachel wasn’t only Griff’s wife though.

  She was also Warren’s daughter and Raleigh’s half sister.

  There was a marshal standing behind her, and Thea made the connection then. Rachel was a social worker, and she’d come here to take the baby.

  “Raleigh,” Griff greeted.

  They’d met when Thea and Raleigh were dating, but Thea wasn’t sure if Raleigh knew Rachel or not. Apparently, he did because he pulled back his shoulders and looked past Griff to stare at her.

  The family resemblance was definitely there between the two, and Thea figured if there was anyone in the McCall family who could start mending the rift, it was Rachel. She looked like his kid sister. Plus, she was four months pregnant.

  “I volunteered to do this,” Rachel said, walking closer. She kept her eyes locked with Raleigh, too.

  Even though Rachel and she were close friends, Thea could only guess what was going on in Rachel’s mind. Part of her probably resented Raleigh because he was proof of Warren’s affair, but then Rachel wasn’t exactly on friendly terms with her father after news of that affair had ripped their family apart.

  Rachel went to her, tearing her gaze from Raleigh so she could look at the baby. “Are you okay?” Rachel whispered to Thea, and she gave her a gentle hug.

  “I’ve had better days,” Thea whispered back.

  Griff came to the doorway of the crowded office, and he took in everything with a sweeping glance before his attention settled on her. He didn’t hug her, but Thea could see the concern in his eyes. Followed by the relief that she was okay.

  “Anything from the kidnappers yet?” Griff asked.

  She shook her head and gently transferred the baby to Rachel’s arms. Yvette was right there, watching their every move. And still crying.

  “Can’t you just wait with her here?” Yvette asked. “We might know something soon.”

  Soon was being optimistic. Rachel and the rest of them knew that. “We’ll take good care of her, I promise. She’ll be under guard from Marshal McKinney and a Texas Ranger.”

  Yvette wiped some tears from her cheek. “Where will you take her?”

  Rachel looked at Griff to answer that. “To a safe house. And no, I won’t be able to tell you the location,” he added before Yvette could ask. “We’ll keep Sheriff Lawton informed though, and if anything develops, I’m sure he’ll pass it on to you.”

  It wasn’t much of a surprise that Yvette didn’t seem pleased about that, either, and Raleigh must have decided it was best not to have the woman around when Rachel and the others actually left with the baby.

  “Go ahead and take the O’Haras and the recorder to the break room,” Raleigh instructed Dalton. “Have the diner bring them over something to eat, too.”

  Of course, Yvette protested that, saying she didn’t want to leave and that she wasn’t hungry, but her husband put his arm around her waist to get her moving. Yvette kissed the little girl, but her husband barely spared the baby a glance before Dalton led them away.

  “I’m guessing Nick O’Hara thinks there’s no chance that this baby is the one their surrogate delivered?” Griff asked Raleigh.

  “It appears that way.” Raleigh kept his hard stare on Nick until he was out of sight. “Either that or he’s a jerk. I’m not sure which yet. Yvette admitted that he was having second thoughts about fatherhood.”

  That caused Griff to mumble some profanity.

  Rachel adjusted the baby’s blanket while she stepped closer to her brother. She opened her mouth and then closed it as if she’d changed her mind about what to say. “I’m glad Thea and you weren’t hurt,” Rachel finally said.

  Raleigh nodded. Stared at her. Then he huffed. “Thanks for coming.”

  Even though the conversation was only a handful of words, it seemed to have set some kind of truce in motion. One that Thea was thankful for. It was a start, but she wasn’t under any illusions that this would repair what she’d once had with Raleigh. No. Rachel hadn’t known about her father’s affair until it had come to light after his shooting. But Thea had known. And she’d kept it a secret. That was something Raleigh might never be able to get past.

  When Rachel moved to the side, Griff came closer to Thea, giving her a once-over. The kind of look that only a big brother could manage. He respected her wishes to be a cop, but that didn’t mean he didn’t worry about her.

  “You’ll make sure she’s okay?” Griff said to Raleigh.

  Thea huffed and tapped her badge.

  Griff huffed and motioned toward the stun gun marks on her neck.

  She wanted to remind him that there were times when he’d been hurt, too, in the line of duty, but she didn’t want to get into an argument with her hardheaded brother. Instead, she hugged him and gave the baby a goodbye kiss on the cheek.

  Rachel turned to go but then stopped and looked at Raleigh again. “Maybe when this is over, we can meet for lunch or something. And yes, I know you don’t like or trust us,” she added before Raleigh could speak. “But I’m just as upset about what our father did as you are.”

  “Does that mean we’re on the same side?” Raleigh asked, and it had some sarcasm in it. Some of the old wounds, too.

  “Yes,” Rachel said without hesitation. “And even if we weren’t, we’re still kin.” She smiled and followed Griff out of the room.

  “I don’t need a family. Or siblings,” Raleigh grumbled.

  He didn’t, but he had them whether he wanted them or not. Besides, one of those siblings might be able to help them with this investigation.

  “Egan has the old case files on Hannah’s murder,” Thea reminded Raleigh. “If Sonya’s murder is connected to hers, then it might not hurt to go through everything again.” She paused, waiting for him to answer, but when he didn’t say anything, she added, “I can ask Egan to send a copy here.”

  “No.” That time Raleigh didn’t hesitate. “I’ll ask him myself. But you’ve read everything in Hannah’s file. Other than using the same doctor, do they have anything concrete in common?”

  Obviously, he was putting asid
e the nearly identical threats left at Sonya’s and Hannah’s crime scenes. The threat that mentioned Warren. Thea wanted to put it aside, too, for now anyway, since the latest one could be a ploy to throw them off track.

  “No,” she answered. “But maybe Dr. Bryce Sheridan is behind this. Maybe there was something illegal going on at the fertility clinic, and he wanted to cover it up?”

  Raleigh made a sound of agreement so quickly that he’d obviously already considered that. “But the murders happened a year apart. That’s a long time for Dr. Sheridan to wait to cover up something. Unless, of course, he’s committed several different crimes.” He tipped his head toward the break room. “Right now though, Nick’s high up on my list of persons of interest.”

  She agreed. The man certainly seemed to be anxious to hear from the kidnappers, but it also felt like there was an emotional disconnect. He could be that way though because his marriage was falling apart over his wife’s insistence on having a child.

  Raleigh dragged in a long breath. “I need to get back to Marco’s rap sheet, and then I can make arrangements for a place for you to stay. Unless you want me to take you to the McCall Ranch.”

  “No.” She didn’t have to even think about that. “If the gunman that was in the SUV comes after me again, I don’t want him to follow me to the ranch. Warren’s still recovering from his injuries, and he could get killed trying to protect me.”

  She wanted to kick herself for putting it that way. It had to be a reminder that Warren had never done anything for Raleigh other than keeping the secret that he was his father. Raleigh had learned the truth about that only after Warren’s affair with Raleigh’s mother had been exposed.

  “You have several people willing to protect you,” Raleigh said.

  She looked up at him just as he looked down at her. “Yes. But don’t listen to what Griff told you. There’s no need for you to make sure I’m okay.” She added that just in case Raleigh considered himself one of those several people.

  He continued to stare at her, and that’s when Thea realized she was probably standing too close to him. She went to step back, but he took hold of her arm, keeping her in place.

  “I think your brother was smart to tell me what he did,” Raleigh said. “I believe you’re in danger. I believe the driver of that SUV will come after you again. Why, I don’t know, but Marco made it pretty clear that you were the target. And even if you’re the target only to make us believe it’s connected to Warren, that won’t stop you from being gunned down.”

  She knew that, of course, but it sent a chill through her to hear it spelled out like that. Thea hadn’t meant for her mouth to tremble and definitely hadn’t wanted Raleigh to see it.

  “Just because you’re a cop, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be scared,” he went on. “You should be. And while I understand you not wanting to go to the McCall Ranch so you can keep Warren safe, you’ll need to be someplace where you have backup.”

  Thea clamped her teeth over her bottom lip for just a moment until she could regain her bearing. “I could go back to my office.” Egan would make sure she had someone to help protect her, and he would do that even if it stretched his manpower thin. “Then I could come back in the morning when you question your mother and the doctor.”

  “You’ll need a protection detail for the drive back and forth, too.”

  More manpower. But Raleigh’s tone seemed to suggest something else. “You don’t want me here for the interviews?”

  “No. I do. You know more about Hannah’s case than I do, and you know Warren. You might hear something that helps us figure this out.” He paused, groaned softly. “If and when we eventually make it out of here tonight, you could stay at my place. It’s not far.”

  “With you?” she blurted out.

  The corner of his mouth lifted, but the slight smile didn’t last long. “We’re former lovers. I can’t change that. But I don’t want it to get in the way of us doing what needs to be done.”

  Neither did she, but Thea had to give this some more thought. She’d been to Raleigh’s horse ranch and knew his mom wouldn’t be there. Alma had her own home and ranch just up the road from his. But still, she’d be under the same roof, and the attraction between them was still there. It was for her anyway.

  Thea was so caught up in her own thoughts that the sound of the knock behind her nearly caused her to gasp. She whirled around, but it wasn’t the threat that her body had believed it might be. It was Raleigh’s deputy Alice, and even though the deputy didn’t pose any danger, Thea could tell from her expression that something was wrong.

  “Raleigh, you need to hear this.” Alice was carrying a laptop that she sat on Raleigh’s desk. “I had all of Sonya’s recordings of her phone conversations transferred to an audio file that I could share with the lab, and I found something.”

  That definitely got Thea’s and Raleigh’s attention.

  “It’s the last one Sonya recorded,” Alice continued. “Unfortunately, they’re not date stamped, and she doesn’t mention a date or time, so I don’t know when the call came in.”

  Thea and Raleigh both moved closer to the laptop when Alice pressed the play button. It didn’t take long for Thea to hear Sonya’s voice.

  “I swear I didn’t know,” Sonya said, her voice trembling. “I went in for the in vitro, and I thought that’s what I got.”

  The sense of dread washed over Thea. Because obviously something had gone wrong at the clinic. Or at least Sonya thought something had.

  “I’m not sure I can go through with this,” Sonya went on. “Now that I know the baby is actually mine, how could I give her up?”

  Oh, mercy. Yes, something had indeed gone wrong, and Raleigh was clearly just as stunned as she was.

  “Who is she talking to?” Raleigh asked Alice.

  But it wasn’t necessary for the deputy to answer because the person spoke.

  “We had an agreement,” the other woman snapped. Thea easily recognized her voice, too.

  It was Yvette.

  “You’re not backing out of our deal,” Yvette insisted. “I’ve paid you plenty of money, thousands, and I’m not going to be punished because the clinic messed up.” Unlike Sonya’s voice, Yvette’s wasn’t shaking, but the anger came through loud and clear. “One way or another, Sonya, you will give me that child.”

  Chapter Six

  At least Raleigh didn’t have far to go to confront Yvette with what he’d just heard. And he would confront her and demand to know what the heck was going on.

  With Thea and Alice right behind him, he went to the break room, where he immediately spotted Dalton and Nick seated at the table. Yvette was pacing, and her gaze zoomed to them when Raleigh stepped into the room.

  “Did the kidnapper call you?” she blurted out. She continued to study his expression. “Oh, God. Did something happen to the baby?”

  “The baby’s fine,” Raleigh assured her, “but I’m thinking you might want to have your lawyer come out here.”

  Yvette pulled back her shoulders. “What are you talking about?”

  “This,” he said. Raleigh had the laptop in his hands, and he rewound the recording to the last part of the conversation.

  One way or another, Sonya, you will give me that child.

  Yvette gasped and stormed toward him as if she were about to take the laptop, but Raleigh handed it to Thea in case he had to restrain Yvette.

  “Where did you get that?” Yvette demanded. It was the same angry voice she’d used to threaten Sonya.

  Before Raleigh asked her anything, he read Yvette her rights. Obviously, that didn’t go over well, and her husband went to her side.

  “What’s this all about?” Nick asked as he volleyed glances between Yvette and Raleigh.

  Raleigh just waited for Yvette to answer.

  “Oh, God.” Yvette pressed her fingers to
her mouth a moment. And she started crying again.

  But those tears didn’t have the same heart-tugging effect they’d had on him earlier. Judging from Thea’s huff, she felt the same way.

  “Sonya recorded your whole conversation,” Raleigh told the crying woman.

  That wasn’t exactly the truth. It was only a partial recording. Since Yvette didn’t know that though, he was hoping she’d fill in the blanks. Maybe along with confessing that she was the one who’d set up this deadly chain of events.

  “What’s going on,” Nick growled, and this time the demand was aimed at his wife. “What did you do?”

  Yvette snapped toward him, her eyes suddenly wide. She started shaking her head. “I didn’t kill Sonya if that’s what you’re suggesting.”

  “Then what the hell did you do?” Nick asked, taking the question right out of Raleigh’s mouth.

  Even with all of them staring at her and waiting, Yvette didn’t answer right away. Still shaking her head, still crying, she sank down into the chair. “Sonya called me this morning and told me she’d found out something.”

  She looked up at Raleigh as if pleading with him not to make her explain this, but he motioned for her to keep talking. But Yvette had already given him something critical. The timing of the call. It meant the call could have been the trigger for Yvette to send in kidnappers to get the baby.

  Yvette swallowed hard before she continued. “Sonya said she got an anonymous tip that there’d been a serious mix-up when she had the in vitro procedure. The person claimed that my stored eggs were lost prior to fertilization, so the clinic decided to do an artificial insemination on Sonya instead.”

  Raleigh watched Nick as he processed that. It took him several long moments. “Are you saying the baby is Sonya’s?”

  Yvette nodded. “And yours. The baby is yours,” she quickly repeated. She got to her feet and took hold of his arms when he cursed and tried to move away. “It doesn’t matter to me that she’s not my biological child. I’ll still love her. We can still have the child we’ve always wanted.”