Under the Cowboy's Protection

by Delores Fossen

  Raleigh reached for his phone, but he stopped when they got to his office. That’s because it wasn’t empty.

  His mother was there.

  Thea checked the time to make sure it wasn’t later than she thought. It wasn’t. It wasn’t even seven thirty yet. Pretty early for a visit, which meant something could be wrong.

  “Dalton said Simon was here.” Alma’s voice was a little shaky. Actually, the same applied to her, too. She had a wadded up tissue in her hand, and Thea thought she might have been crying.

  Raleigh nodded. “He’s with a new client.”

  “I’ll wait out here while you two talk,” Thea offered.

  But Alma immediately shook her head. “No. Please come in. Both of you. But shut the door. I don’t want Simon to know I’m here.”

  Well, this was interesting, considering that Simon was not only Alma’s longtime friend but her lawyer.

  “Did something happen?” Raleigh asked once Thea and he were inside the office. He also shut the door.

  His mother volleyed some nervous glances at him. “It’s about Warren,” Alma said after a very long hesitation.

  Thea wanted to groan, and she hoped Alma wasn’t about to try to accuse Warren of some crime.

  “I wrote a letter to Warren,” Alma went on when Raleigh and Thea just stared at her. “It was something I didn’t want him to read until after my death.”

  Raleigh’s forehead bunched up, and Thea’s was certain that hers did, too. “What kind of letter?” Raleigh pressed. He wasn’t using the same rough tone he did with Nick, but he was clearly concerned about this.

  Alma was concerned, too, because she needed to use that tissue to dab at her eyes. “You’re not going to like it, but I told Warren that I loved him. And I still do.”

  Raleigh mumbled some profanity. “He hurt you.”

  Alma nodded, blinked back tears. “And I’m sure I hurt his wife. Remember, I knew he was married, and I still kept seeing him.”

  Thea had to wonder if Sonya had felt the same way about Nick. She hoped it was love anyway and that the love hadn’t soured to the point that it would make Nick want to kill her.

  When Alma’s tears continued, Raleigh went to her and pulled her into his arms. He brushed a kiss on the top of her head. “Why are you telling me this? Did something happen with the letter?”

  “Yes, I believe something did.”

  Thea prayed that Warren’s wife hadn’t seen it. She was just now back on her feet, recovering from a mental breakdown, and it wouldn’t help for her to see something like that.

  Alma eased back from Raleigh to face both of them. “I was going to put the letter in the safe in my office, but I got busy doing something else and left it on my desk when I went out to meet with one of the new hands. While I was gone, Ruby said that Simon arrived, and he went into my office.”

  “Ruby?” Thea asked.

  “My housekeeper. She said, when she looked in my office, that Simon was reading the letter, and that he got very mad and stormed out. Ruby was going to tell me, but then her daughter got sick, and she had to leave. It must have slipped her mind because she didn’t tell me about it until this morning.”

  So Simon had seen, in writing, that Alma still had feelings for Warren. That definitely wouldn’t have sit well with him. But maybe it had done something much, much more.

  “When did all this happen?” Raleigh asked. “When did Simon read the letter?”

  Alma’s mouth began to tremble. “The same morning that Sonya was murdered.”

  Oh, mercy. Maybe that was a coincidence, but it was too strong of a connection to dismiss it.

  “I suppose you’ll have to ask Simon about it?” Alma said to her son.

  “Yes.” Obviously giving that some thought, Raleigh stayed quiet a moment. “But not now. Not while you’re here.” He hugged her. “Just go on home, and I’ll take care of it.”

  But Alma didn’t budge. “Are you disappointed with me?” she asked him.

  “No. I’m not disappointed,” Raleigh assured her. And Thea believed that was the truth.

  “Do you think I’m a fool for still having these feelings for Warren?” Alma aimed that second question at Thea.

  Thea sighed and repeated Raleigh’s “no.” Alma wasn’t a fool. She was just a woman who couldn’t get over her feelings for a man—something Thea could certainly relate to.

  Raleigh opened the door and looked out, no doubt checking to make sure Simon wasn’t out there. He wasn’t, so Raleigh opened the door even wider. “You want me to have one of the deputies drive you home?” he asked her.

  His mother shook her head and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “I’ll be fine. I just need some time to myself.”

  Thea watched the woman walk out, and she felt a strange mix of feelings. Resentment at the part Alma had played in nearly destroying Warren’s marriage. But Thea felt empathy, too. She looked at Raleigh to tell him that, but Dalton came toward them.

  “The lab just sent over the DNA results on the newborn,” Dalton said. He handed Raleigh the report. “And as you can see, it’s not what we were expecting.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Raleigh read through the lab report, shook his head and read it again. What the heck was going on?

  “The baby isn’t Nick’s,” Thea said as she looked at the DNA results. “She’s Sonya and Dr. Sheridan’s.”

  Dalton had been right about them not expecting this. “How did the lab even have Dr. Sheridan’s DNA to do the comparison?” Raleigh asked Dalton. And that was just the first of many questions he had.

  “He was in the system because he worked in a federal prison for a short time, so when the baby’s DNA didn’t match Nick’s, the lab tech just fed the results through the database. Dr. Sheridan fathered that baby.”

  It didn’t take Raleigh long to figure out how this could have happened. Madison had already told them that Yvette’s harvested eggs had been misplaced. Well, maybe Nick’s semen had been, too. Dr. Sheridan could have substituted his own to make up for the mistake.

  Or he’d been asked to do that by someone.

  The only person in this equation who wasn’t so eager for that baby to be conceived was Nick. That could mean he was in on this, and if so, he’d have a strong motive to kill the doctor if Sheridan had decided to come clean with Yvette.

  “In case Nick’s the one behind this, we need to dig into Dr. Sheridan’s bank account and see if he was paid off for his part in the botched in vitro,” Raleigh told Dalton. “We know there were no large sums of money taken from the O’Haras’ bank account, but see if you can figure out another way for Nick to have gotten his hands on some cash about nine months ago.”

  “I’ll get right on that,” Dalton said as he went back to his desk.

  “You really think Nick killed Sonya?” Thea asked.

  “Maybe. If she’d tried to break things off with him, he could have been enraged enough to do something like that. There weren’t any recordings of her and Nick’s conversations, so we really don’t know how things were between them.”

  She made a sound of agreement. “And then Nick could have killed Dr. Sheridan and burned down the clinic and the security company to cover his tracks.” She paused. “Of course, Yvette could have hired someone to do the murders to set up her husband. If she was upset enough about the affair, she might have wanted to get revenge.”

  True. But it was also possible that the botched in vitro had nothing to do with the murders or the attacks. If so, then this all went back to Simon. And unlike Nick and Yvette, Simon did have a connection to one of the hired guns.

  Raleigh’s phone rang, and considering everything that was going on, he halfway expected to see Unknown Caller on the screen. But it was a familiar name.

  Warren.

  Raleigh wasn’t especially eager to talk to him, but since th
is could be about the investigation, he answered it right away.

  “I was driving into Durango Ridge to check on Thea,” Warren immediately said, “and I saw your mom’s car parked on the side of the road.”

  Raleigh’s heart went into overdrive, especially when he heard his mother yelling in the background. “Is she all right?” He couldn’t ask that fast enough.

  “She’s not hurt or anything like that, but she’s crying and clearly upset. She tried to drive off, but I took away her keys. I didn’t think she should be behind the wheel like that.” Warren paused. “And now she’s pulled a gun on me.”

  Raleigh didn’t even bother to hold back the profanity. “I’m on the way. Where are you exactly?”

  “About a quarter of a mile south of the turn for Alma’s ranch.”

  Raleigh knew the spot. “Tell her not to do anything stupid, that I’ll be right there.”

  He put away his phone and took out the keys for the cruiser parked right out front, but that’s when he realized Thea was following him.

  “You’re not going out there alone,” she insisted.

  Hell. Now he had to worry about both his mother and Thea. And Warren. He didn’t like the man, but he darn sure didn’t want his mother to end up in jail for shooting him. Later, he’d kick himself for not having one of the deputies escort Alma home, but for now, he needed to get to her and hopefully defuse a bad situation.

  “Come with us,” Raleigh told Dalton. He hated to pull Dalton away from the pile of work that was on his desk, but after what happened at the security company, Raleigh didn’t want to take any chances.

  After Raleigh told Alice what was going on, Dalton, Thea and he hurried outside to the cruiser. Raleigh got behind the wheel, and with Dalton at shotgun, Thea got in the back. Raleigh turned on the flashing lights and siren so he could get down Main Street as fast as possible.

  “What do you think happened to your mom?” Thea asked.

  He doubted it was anything other than what Alma had already told them. That she was worried about Simon having read the letter. That had already brought his mother to tears before she’d come to the sheriff’s office, and those tears had obviously continued after she left.

  “I think my mom is worried that Simon murdered Sonya, maybe Hannah, too, and now she’s blaming herself.” Of course, that didn’t explain why she’d pull a gun on a man she still loved, but it could be she’d gotten so hysterical that she didn’t know what she was doing. Which made this situation even more dangerous.

  Even though it was only a couple of miles, it seemed to take forever for them to get there, and by the time they arrived, Raleigh could feel his pulse drumming in his ears. What he saw sure didn’t help with that, either.

  Alma’s car was indeed there. His mom had pulled off into a narrow clearing that was in front of a cattle gate and pasture. At least she hadn’t stopped on the road. Warren’s truck was parked just behind Alma’s car, and Dalton pulled to a stop behind it since the road shoulder was too narrow to park ahead of the vehicles.

  Warren was there, too. He was standing by the driver’s-side door of Alma’s car. He had his hands raised in the air. Alma was inside, still behind the wheel, and she did indeed have a gun aimed at Warren. The gun was a Smith & Wesson that he knew his mom kept in her glove compartment.

  Raleigh’s first instinct was to bolt from the cruiser, but he glanced around first. Something he’d been doing during the whole drive. But he didn’t see anyone. Maybe it would stay that way, though this was the road that led into town, so someone would no doubt eventually drive by.

  He glanced back at Thea to tell her to stay put, but she was already getting out. And he couldn’t blame her. She loved Warren and was probably afraid for his life.

  Raleigh and Dalton got out as well, and Raleigh maneuvered himself in front of Thea. He didn’t draw his gun, but Dalton did.

  “I didn’t want Warren to call you,” his mom immediately said.

  “Then you shouldn’t have pulled a gun on him. Put it away, now,” Raleigh ordered, and he was sure he sounded more like a sheriff than her son. “What the heck is going on here?”

  Alma was crying all right, the tears streaming down her face, and she shook her head. “I just want my keys so I can go home, and he wouldn’t give them to me.”

  But Warren handed them to Raleigh just as Thea went to Warren’s side.

  “You’re not driving home like this,” Raleigh told his mother. “And Warren was right to do what he did.” And no, hell didn’t freeze over because he’d taken his father’s side on this.

  “Alma’s not thinking straight. She wouldn’t have shot me though,” Warren insisted.

  Probably not, but it was too big of a risk to take. That’s why Raleigh held out his hand for his mother to give him the gun. She didn’t jump to do that, but he didn’t want to try to wrench it from her hand and end up risking her pulling the trigger by accident. She finally gave it to him and then collapsed with a hoarse sob against the steering wheel.

  “This is all my fault,” Alma managed to say, though it had to be hard to talk with her having to drag in her breath like that. “Simon did this for me.”

  Warren didn’t seem surprised by that comment, which meant it’d likely been the topic of their conversation before things had taken a very bad turn.

  “Simon might not have done anything wrong,” Raleigh explained. “Especially nothing that had anything to do with you. We have two other solid suspects in Sonya’s murder.”

  His mother lifted her head, blinked and stared at him. “Are you just saying that to make me feel better?”

  “No. I’m saying it because it’s true. And even if it wasn’t, you aren’t responsible for what Simon does or doesn’t do.”

  She shook her head again. “But the letter...”

  Now, Warren did show some surprise. He frowned when he looked at Raleigh. “What letter?”

  Since it wasn’t his place to answer that, Raleigh just waited for his mom to say something, but she waved it off. “It doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t have written the letter in the first place.”

  Alma wiped away her tears and sat up straight. She was probably trying to look strong enough to drive, but Raleigh wasn’t buying it.

  “Are you going to press charges for her pulling the gun on you?” Raleigh asked Warren.

  “No.” He fixed his gaze on Alma. “I did wrong by her. By you,” he added to Raleigh. “I deserve anything the two of you dish out.”

  Well, he didn’t deserve to be shot, and Raleigh considered it progress that he felt that way. He mumbled a thanks for Warren not pressing those charges, and then he had a quick debate about how to handle this. He couldn’t allow his mother to go home alone, and he didn’t think handing her off to Dalton was a good idea.

  “I need to drive my mother home,” Raleigh finally said to Thea. “You can go back to town with Dalton. Or Warren.”

  Thea seemed to have a debate with herself, too. She volleyed glances at all of them. “Why don’t Dalton and I go with you to take Alma home? We could use the cruiser.”

  Raleigh didn’t have to guess why she would suggest that. It was bullet resistant, and they could be attacked along the way. It was a good idea, but what wasn’t good was extending the invitation for Warren to go with them. Warren must have sensed what Raleigh was thinking because he tipped his head to his truck.

  “I’ll be going,” Warren said. “Now that I know Thea’s okay, I need to be getting home.” He hugged her and headed to his truck.

  “I made a fool of myself,” Alma mumbled, and the tears started again when Warren drove away.

  Despite the crying, Raleigh didn’t want to wait around to calm her down again, so he opened her door. “Come on. I’ll have someone from the ranch come back and get your car.”

  His mom didn’t argue with him about that, thank God, and he
got her moving to the cruiser. However, he didn’t get far. Only a few steps. Before Raleigh heard something that he didn’t want to hear.

  A gunshot.

  * * *

  AT FIRST THEA thought the sound was a car backfiring, but she glanced up the road and saw that Warren’s truck was already out of sight. And there wasn’t another vehicle with a running engine anywhere around.

  Raleigh obviously knew what it was though because, in the split second that followed the shot, he hooked his arms around her and his mother, and he pulled them to the ground.

  Alma made a sharp gasp of pain, and Thea immediately had a terrifying thought—that the woman had been shot. But Alma had hit her head during the fall. She’d have a scrape on her cheek, but it was far better than the alternative.

  Another shot came, and this one slammed into the ground, much too close to where they were.

  Raleigh’s gaze was firing all around. He was obviously trying to pinpoint the location of the shooter. Since Dalton was doing the same thing, Thea hooked her arm around Alma’s waist and pulled the woman behind the back of her car. It wasn’t ideal cover, but at least they weren’t out in the open.

  But Raleigh and Dalton were.

  “Get down!” Thea shouted to them just as two more shots came right at them. The bullets tore into the asphalt and the gravel shoulder of the road.

  Raleigh and Dalton stayed low and they scrambled toward the back of the vehicle with Alma and her. Thea had already drawn her gun, but she had no idea where to even return fire.

  “You see the shooter?” she asked Raleigh.

  “He’s somewhere across the road. Call for backup.”

  Thea did that. She called the sheriff’s office and got Alice. The deputy assured her that she’d come right out, but Thea reminded her to approach with caution. She didn’t want anyone else killed.

  Mercy. This confirmed to Thea she was the target.

  Of course, Thea had known that when Marco had taken her at gunpoint, but this reminder hit her like a Mack truck slamming into her. This wasn’t just about cops being in the line of fire. Raleigh’s mom could be hurt, or worse.