by Barb Han
“Not as much as I would have liked. I think I know which nurse you’re talking about when you say E-cig Nurse. Her hair is mousy brown, and she has a small, pointed nose. Right?” Colton asked.
Cheyenne confirmed with a nod.
“She wouldn’t talk, and she seemed scared,” Colton said. “We’ve told the nurses that we’ll be arranging for a lie detector test just to give them something to chew on.”
“Is it possible someone got to her? Maybe even threatened her?” Riggs asked.
“It is likely,” Colton confirmed. “I got the impression she wanted to talk but someone or something was causing her to hold back.”
“She’s a single mom,” Cheyenne pointed out. “Said she needed this job.”
“Is it possible someone threatened her child?” Riggs added.
Colton nodded before taking down notes.
Cheyenne shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she waited. He reached out to link their fingers to stop her from twisting her hands together. She rewarded him with a smile so brief he almost questioned whether or not he’d seen it at all.
“I’ll check into it personally,” Colton finally said.
“Any chance you’ll let me walk over to Ally’s car?” Cheyenne asked. Her voice shook and her hands trembled.
“I would if I could.” Colton issued an apology. “I can’t allow witnesses on a crime scene. It might seem like my deputy is being careless by moving around so much but he’s methodical and the best forensic investigator I have. Plus, there’s a lot of blood and you’ll never be able to unsee the scene.”
Cheyenne nodded despite her frown.
“It probably wouldn’t be good for Ozzy anyway.” She exhaled and her chest deflated.
Riggs needed to get her out of there as soon as possible.
“Is there any chance the person in the vehicle wasn’t Ally?” Cheyenne didn’t look up at Colton when she asked. This was her tell she wasn’t 100 percent certain she wanted to know the answer to the question. She would never make it in a card game, which was another reason Riggs couldn’t accept the fact she didn’t love him anymore.
Pride could be to blame for his reasoning and yet deep down he felt like he would have known if their relationship had been fake. And no, he wouldn’t be better off without her despite what she seemed to believe. No matter how rushed their marriage might have been, he’d never been more certain of anything in his life.
Was it pride keeping him from telling her how he really felt?
“I’m afraid Ms. Clark has been positively identified by a co-worker. There’s no possibility of mistaken identity.” Colton lowered his head in reverence. “I’m sorry for your loss, Cheyenne.”
“What about her parents? Do they know?” She ducked her head, chin to chest, and turned her face away. Riggs took note of the move she’d done a couple of times already. Was she hiding tears?
“Yes,” Colton confirmed.
Cheyenne coughed before lifting her face to Riggs.
“Can we go now?” she asked.
Riggs shot a look toward his brother, who nodded.
“I’ll check in with you later,” Riggs said to Colton. He needed to find out from Cheyenne what was causing her to need to leave right away.
* * *
EMOTIONS WERE GETTING the best of Cheyenne and she needed to leave the place before she lost it. The morning had started to wear thin and all she could think about was going somewhere safe so she could lie down. Some of her best thinking came when she slowed down. The morning slammed into her like a train going a hundred miles an hour.
Riggs walked beside her, hand in hand, back to his truck. He took her over to the passenger side and then waited while she took Ozzy out of her purse to let him do his business. The little dog glanced back at her before bolting toward the crime scene.
“Ozzy, no,” she shouted after him.
“I’ll get him,” Riggs said, chasing after the little guy as Cheyenne stood there feeling useless.
Since that was about as comfortable as wearing wet clothes in church, she did the same. Ozzy zigzagged across the field, diverting left at the last minute.
He ran another five yards outside of the crime scene area that had been cordoned off and then stopped.
“What is it?” Cheyenne asked through labored breaths. She’d been way too inactive lately to run as fast as she had without her sides hurting and her lungs screaming for air.
“A piece of cloth.” Riggs stopped, bent over and studied the ground. “A bandanna.” He put a hand up to stop her from coming all the way over. “There’s blood on it.”
Cheyenne moved close enough to scoop Ozzy up and hold him to her chest. He was breathing heavy and his eyes were wild, which made her believe Ally’s scent might be on the bandanna. The blood most likely belonged to her, as well. Cheyenne thought she might be sick. It was one thing to know her friend had been murdered and quite another to see the evidence, the blood.
Riggs motioned for his brother to come over. Colton set off jogging toward them almost immediately.
This seemed like a good time to take a couple of steps toward the truck. Cheyenne backpedaled as Colton reached the spot. He pulled a paper bag out of his pocket and a pair of tongs. He picked up the bandanna and examined it.
Nausea nearly doubled Cheyenne over as anger filled her. So much senseless loss. A spark of determination lit a fire inside her. Ally’s death would not be in vain. There was no way Cheyenne planned to let the jerk who did this get away.
The person responsible had set this up to look like a date gone wrong. Why? What issue could a person possibly have with Ally other than the one that came to mind... Cheyenne’s baby and a secret someone was willing to kill to protect.
Thoughts raced through her mind about what kind of person would do this. Dr. Fortner came to mind. He’d been there in the delivery room. Were there other possibilities?
This person would be someone who had something to lose. Was a career or family on the line? The latter begged the question as to whether or not Ally would engage in an affair with a married man. Cheyenne would bet against it. Internet dating was out. One of those swiping apps wouldn’t surprise Cheyenne but the circumstances weren’t right. All roads led back to Cheyenne and the baby.
“Excuse me, Colton.” The answer to this question was one that couldn’t wait. “You said Ally’s phone is nowhere to be found, right?”
“That’s correct,” he confirmed.
Whoever killed her would probably be smart enough to take it and dispose of it. She glanced around the ground, figuring the perp might have dropped it, too. Or thrown it.
Cheyenne remembered what Colton had said about not stomping all over the crime scene. She figured the perimeter had just expanded with the find.
“Let’s get you out of here,” Riggs said, and she wondered what else the lawmen might have spotted.
Fighting the urge to argue, she walked next to him on the way to the truck. Both were careful to stick to the same path that had brought them to the bandanna.
“Ozzy might have just discovered an important piece of evidence,” Riggs said as she climbed into the passenger seat. He reached over and patted Ozzy’s head. His fingers grazed her neck and she ignored the electric impulses rocketing through her at his lightest touch. All her senses were on high alert. She chalked her body’s overreaction to that and did her best to move on.
Her cell buzzed in her purse. She gasped before digging her hand in to locate the noisemaker. For a split second, she thought it might be Ally. She reminded herself to breathe as reality struck. It was a cold, hard reminder her friend would never call again.
Cheyenne could so easily get lost in the sea of emotion that came with losing her best friend. She couldn’t allow herself to go down that path. For Ally’s sake. Cheyenne needed to keep a clear head because the person w
ho killed her best friend needed to be brought to justice. She realized she was gripping her cell so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. She checked the screen as Riggs reclaimed the driver’s seat.
Unknown caller.
Didn’t those two words send a chill racing up her spine? She fumbled to touch the green button on her screen. A click sounded, and then a recording came on the line telling her she needed to extend her vehicle warranty.
White-hot anger filled her. “It’s bad enough these jerks call our personal cells. First of all, that information should be ours and ours alone. No one, and I mean no one should be able to telemarket us on our personal phones. It’s wrong and someone should put a stop to it.”
As anger raged through her, Riggs sat in the driver’s seat as calm as anyone pleased.
Suddenly, she was mad about that, too.
Rather than let her words rip unchecked, she clamped her mouth shut and felt her face warm. He probably thought she was crazy at this point and she probably shouldn’t care as much as she did.
“You don’t have to stop on my account,” he said quietly.
“Stop what?” The words came out a little too harshly.
“Ranting,” he said and there was no judgment in his voice.
“Is that what you think I was doing, because I can tell you one thing... You’re dead wrong. And I mean no one has ever been more wrong in their life than you are right now if you think I’m rantin—”
Cheyenne stopped herself right there. He was right on target. And she had so much more frustration built up she didn’t know what to do with. One thing was certain. She couldn’t hold her tongue any longer.
“Okay, fine. You sure you want to hear this?” She asked the question infusing as much indignation in her voice as she could. He needed to know what he was getting himself into.
“One hundred percent,” came the confident response.
It was all the urging she needed.
“I am mad as hell Ally is dead because of me.” Those words stung. The truth hurt.
“She isn’t—”
“Come on, Riggs. You don’t actually believe that, do you?” she bit out.
He didn’t respond. He just sat there patiently.
“If I hadn’t called Ally or brought her into this, she would be alive right now. If I hadn’t run to her instead of going home like I should have after the baby was born, she would be home sleeping off a long shift. If I hadn’t been so selfish, Ozzy would have her instead of being stuck with me for the rest of his life.” Those last words broke her. She released a sob before sucking in a breath and holding her head high. Chin up had been her motto when her mother died. It would get her through this rough patch, as well. It had to, despite how much the losses were stacking up.
Tie a knot in the rope, Chey.
Riggs continued to stare out the front window even though his hand found hers. His fingers covered hers, causing a sense of warmth to spread through her. That was just Riggs. He was always a steady calm no matter how rough the waters became. He had a rare ability to make her feel like the world might not fall apart despite evidence to the contrary. Cutting herself off from him had been about survival on her part because she would never be able to walk away while he was her life raft in a raging storm.
“I’m sorry for—”
“Don’t be,” he said, cutting her off. He shook his head as though for emphasis. “I’m the one who should apologize.”
Now she really was confused.
Chapter Twelve
“Hear me out.” Riggs had had no idea, until now, how much Cheyenne blamed herself for the loss of their child, until he heard how pent up her emotions were. “I should have done better by you.”
The look she shot him said she thought he was crazy. He’d seen that look before, so he put a hand up to stop her from objecting.
“You are carrying around the weight of the world on your shoulders, Cheyenne.”
“Which isn’t your fault,” she defended.
“I needed to be a better husband to you. I wasn’t,” he admitted. “I got caught up in the surprise of becoming a father and husband, and volunteered for extra work on the ranch rather than come home and figure out how to talk to you about what you were going through. I told myself that if I just kept my head down and worked, everything would magically work out between us. That we’d figure out how to talk to each other and everything would be hunky-dory. Believe me when I say that I’m usually not that naive.”
“The pregnancy news came out of the blue. We were just getting to know each other, Riggs. You’re being too hard on yourself.” The words rolled off her tongue like she didn’t even have to think about them.
“Am I?” He didn’t think so. In fact, he wasn’t being nearly hard enough on himself.
“Yes. The whole marriage and family idea takes some getting used to,” she said.
“Did you get used to it?” For some reason, it mattered.
“Not really,” she admitted. “We rushed into it. I guess I expected a transition but then with a baby it seemed like being an instant family was going to be a tough hill to climb.”
“Yeah.” He couldn’t have said it better himself. “I’ll be one hundred percent honest right now. I wasn’t ready to be a father. Not when I first heard the news and not a few weeks ago before the...”
He stopped himself before saying the birth.
“And now all I can think about is her...us. I’d give my right arm to go back to the way things were before,” he admitted.
“What would you do different?” she asked.
“I’d be there for you in the way you needed me to. I’d be a helluva lot more excited about the birth. You would not have been in an ER alone,” he said.
“I wasn’t alone. I had Ally,” she pointed out.
“You should have had me.” He started the truck and put the gearshift in Reverse, backing out of the field.
No one spoke for half the ride back to the motel room. And then Cheyenne said, “I’d like to go back to the ranch if the offer still stands.”
Few words could have shocked him as much as those.
“It’s your home, Cheyenne. You’ll always be welcome,” was all he said in response. Despite her arguments to the contrary, he should have been a better husband. There was no excuse in the book good enough as far as he was concerned. But at least the two of them were talking now and he’d let go of some of the pride that kept him from telling her how he really felt. “Anytime you need to get something off your chest, talk to me.”
He shouldn’t have let it build up to the point she was ready to explode.
“I appreciate it, but—”
“No ‘buts’ about it. If we’d talked more about what we were really feeling while we were married, then we probably wouldn’t be talking about divorce now,” he said. The words came out a little more aggressive than he’d planned, and he regretted it, but they needed to be said. It might be too late for them to reconcile, even though his heart argued the opposite, but he’d needed to say his piece.
“Okay, then. Honesty it is.” She surprised him with the response.
“And full disclosure,” he insisted.
She nodded.
“We might not have made the marriage thing work, but I’d like to stay friends.” He had no idea how she would react to his request. He had no idea how two people went from the kind of sexual chemistry that would light a house on fire in the rain to casual acquaintance, but he couldn’t stand the thought of losing her, either.
“Friends it is.” There was no conviction in her words. He appreciated them just the same. Trying counted for something and she was making an attempt to build a bridge over the river between them.
The rest of the ride to the motel was silent. They picked up her things and tossed them in the back seat of the truck. The drive to the ra
nch went by surprisingly fast. Riggs’s thoughts were all over the map. He kept circling back to one question. Was Ally killed because she’d discovered his daughter was alive? And if so, where was his little girl? The text she’d sent to Cheyenne indicated mind-blowing news.
Cheyenne had to be wrestling with the same thought. She seemed unable to fully discuss the possibility. At least she’d raised her voice earlier and let out some of her frustrations. She’d been like a teakettle about to blow, before the outburst.
Riggs parked in the garage of their two-story log-style cabin. He hadn’t truly taken possession of this place until Cheyenne came along. Before, he’d been content to sleep in the bunkhouse with the other men during the week. He only came here on Sundays. The place was far too big for one person.
There was an open-concept living room and kitchen. An office and the master suite rounded out the ground floor. The upstairs had a game room with a flat-screen TV that practically covered one wall. There was a nursery and two other bedrooms. Cheyenne had decorated one of the rooms as a guest room for her father and his wife. They’d promised to come for a visit soon and that was the last he’d heard of it. They made an excuse to miss the wedding and he had yet to meet his father-in-law.
The place had been decorated to Cheyenne’s liking and Riggs wouldn’t have it any other way. He wanted her to be comfortable in her new home. It was already asking a lot to have her live at his family’s ranch. He’d wanted this place to be her retreat. Thankfully, she liked soft colors and couches big enough to sink into. Her taste had been a perfect fit for him. To be fair, though, he’d lived there with not much more than a leather sofa downstairs, a couple of bar stools at the granite island, and a king-size bed in the bedroom. He hadn’t taken the time to pick out dressers or coffee tables, let alone linens and knickknacks. All he really needed was a shower, bed and a stocked fridge. And a flat-screen.
To be honest, the place had never felt like home before Cheyenne moved in. Before he got too sentimental, he cut the engine. After hopping out of the driver’s seat, he grabbed her belongings.
