Nate

by Delores Fossen

  “Ten minutes.”

  That wouldn’t be soon enough because once they arrived, they would still have to make it out to the pasture. There was no way Mel and Dade would get there in time to give Mason immediate backup.

  “I’ve tapped into the security feed,” Grayson went on. “I can see everything that’s happening, and I’ll alert Mason if the gunman changes directions.” With that, he hung up.

  Nate could only curse again and watch the monitor. Yeah. It was Ramirez all right. But why come after them here? Why continue a plan that had already failed?

  Those questions created an unsettling possibility.

  “Ramirez will spend the rest of his life in jail if he’s extradited,” Darcy pointed out. “And his life might not be worth much since he killed a police officer. He must know he could die a violent death in prison.” She paused. “This could be a suicide mission.”

  Oh, yeah. Death by cop. But Nate kept that agreement to himself.

  He gave the security cameras another adjustment and located Mason. His brother was armed, of course, and was on horseback. One of the ranch hands was indeed with him, and they were both riding hard. It wouldn’t take them long to close the distance between Ramirez and them.

  When Nate went back to Ramirez, he saw that the man was now talking on a phone. Unless it was a prepaid cell, maybe they could trace the person he was calling. Nate opened his phone to request that trace, but he stopped cold.

  “What’s Ramirez doing?” Darcy asked. She moved closer to the screen.

  Nate wasn’t sure. Well, not sure of anything but the obvious, and that was Ramirez had quit jogging. He rammed the cell into his pocket, turned and broke into a run—heading back toward the fence.

  “He’s leaving.” There wasn’t just fear in Darcy’s voice. There was alarm.

  Nate was right there with her. Even though it would put Mason in some danger, he wanted this situation to end now. He wanted Ramirez captured. Or dead. He didn’t want him melting back into those woods so he could regroup and come after Darcy and the children again.

  He turned to Darcy, knowing she wasn’t going to like this, but also knowing there was no other choice.

  “Go to the children,” Nate ordered. “Lock the nursery door and don’t come out until I give you the all clear.”

  She snapped toward him and grabbed his arm. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m stopping Ramirez.” Nate brushed a kiss on her cheek, shook off her grip and ran as fast as he could.

  Chapter Eleven

  Things were moving so fast that Darcy had trouble catching her breath.

  She raced to the nursery as Nate had insisted and locked the door. She braced herself to explain everything to Grace, the nanny, but the woman was on the phone. Judging from her pale face and frantic tone, she was already aware of the danger. Thankfully, though, the children weren’t.

  Both Kimmie and Noah were still sound asleep.

  “We’re leaving,” Grace said the moment she got off the phone. “When Dade and Mel get here, they’re taking us to the sheriff’s office. We’re supposed to meet them at the front door.” The woman hurried to the crib to scoop up Kimmie.

  Darcy shook her head. “But what about Nate and Mason?” She didn’t want to leave until she was certain they were safe.

  “Grayson’s orders,” Grace explained. “He’s worried that Ramirez could double back and get close enough to the house to shoot through the windows.”

  Darcy’s heart nearly stopped.

  She hadn’t even considered the attack could escalate like that. Yes, she was still terrified for Nate and Mason, but she had to put the babies first.

  Darcy grabbed a diaper bag, picked up Noah, who immediately started to fuss, and followed Grace out of the room, through the hall and foyer, and to the door. The timing was perfect because Dade and Mel pulled to a screeching stop directly in front of the steps.

  “Hurry!” Dade insisted.

  It was starting to drizzle, and Darcy tried to shield Noah with the diaper bag.

  With his phone sandwiched between his shoulder and his ear, Dade continued to talk with someone. Grayson, she quickly realized. Dade rushed them into the backseat of the SUV, and Mel sped away. There were no infant seats so Darcy and Grace kept the babies in their laps.

  Darcy wiped the rain from Noah’s face, then Kimmie’s, and looked out at the endless pasture, but she couldn’t see Nate anywhere. That only caused her heart to pound harder. Not good. She felt on the verge of a panic attack, even though she knew it couldn’t happen. Dade didn’t have time to coddle her now, not while two of his brothers were in immediate danger.

  “What if Nate and Mason need backup?” Darcy asked.

  “They’re cops,” Dade reminded her. “Plus, the ranch hands are there.” He sounded confident about that, but she noticed the hard grip he had on his gun, and his attention was glued on the pasture.

  Soon, though, the pasture and the ranch were out of sight, and Mel sped down the country road toward town. Grace had her hands full trying to comfort a crying Kimmie. Noah was still crying, too. But Darcy tried to hear the phone conversation Dade was having with Grayson. She did. And heard something she didn’t want to hear.

  “The marshals are dead?” Dade asked. “Both of them?”

  Oh, mercy.

  She knew which marshals he meant—the ones who’d been escorting Ramirez. And now Nate was out there with a monster who’d killed before and wouldn’t hesitate to kill again.

  “Are you okay?” Grace whispered to her. Probably because the nanny had noticed that Darcy was trembling from head to toe.

  “Everything will be all right,” Darcy answered, and she repeated it, praying it was true.

  Mel didn’t waste any time getting them to the sheriff’s office, and she pulled into the parking lot, angling the SUV so they were at the back entrance. Both Dade and Mel helped them into the building, and Dade locked the door before he rushed ahead of them to Grayson’s office.

  Grace stayed back a little, maybe so she could try to calm Kimmie, but since Noah’s cries were now just whimpers, Darcy went with Dade in the hopes that she’d be able to hear news about Nate and Mason.

  But Grayson stepped into the hall first. One look at his face, and Darcy knew something was wrong. “Is it Nate?” she asked, holding her breath.

  “He’s okay.” Grayson’s attention went to Dade. “But Ramirez got away.”

  That robbed her of her breath. This couldn’t happen. This nightmare had to end. “Nate’s out there. Ramirez could come after him.”

  Grayson shook his head. “Nate’s already on his way back here.”

  Darcy was thankful for that, but she knew until he stepped inside the sheriff’s building that he was essentially out there with a killer.

  Dade started to curse, but he bit off the profanity when he glanced at Noah. “How did Ramirez escape?” Dade demanded, taking the question right out of her mouth.

  Grayson shook his head again. “He made it back to the fence before Mason could get to him, and he disappeared. We’ll keep looking,” Grayson said first to Dade and then to her.

  Darcy didn’t doubt they would look, and look hard, but as long as Ramirez was a free man, then Nate, the children and she were all in danger.

  “We’re bringing in the rangers to assist in the search,” Grayson explained. “The FBI, too.”

  “What do we do with them?” Dade hitched his thumb to Noah and her.

  Grayson scrubbed his hand over his face and leaned closer to his brother so he could whisper. “Take them upstairs to the apartment. For now.” He looked past Darcy and into the room behind her. “While we’re waiting for news, I’ll start this interview.”

  Darcy turned and saw Adam seated at the gray metal table. She turned to Grayson for an explanation as to why Adam was still there, but the young man got up and went to the door. However, he didn’t focus on Grayson but rather Darcy.

  “I didn’t know,” Adam said. “I swear
.”

  “Didn’t know what?” Darcy asked. And her mind began to whirl with all sorts of bad answers. She wasn’t sure she could stop herself from going after Adam if he was about to confess to having some part in Ramirez’s escape and the murder of those federal officers.

  “About my father’s affair with Marlene.” Adam’s forehead was bunched up. “He never said a word to me about it, and now I have to wonder—what else is he keeping secret?”

  Darcy wasn’t sure she had the focus or energy to deal with this, but as an attorney she knew it could be critical to the investigation.

  “Do you think Marlene helped your father plan the kidnapping?” she asked, shifting Noah in her arms so she could face Adam head-on.

  Adam didn’t answer right away. He squeezed his eyes shut and groaned. “It’s possible. It’s also possible my father stole the money from the safe. He was there. I let him in myself, and I know he was in my mother’s office.”

  “Did you see him take it?” Darcy pressed.

  “No. But he had my mother’s briefcase with him when he left the house.” Adam opened his eyes and met her stare. “He could have used that seventy-five thousand to fund the kidnapping.”

  Grayson and Dade exchanged glances, and it was Grayson who stepped forward, right next to Darcy. “Why do you think that?” he asked Adam.

  Again, Adam took several seconds to answer. “I heard him on the phone speaking to someone in Spanish. I don’t speak the language myself, but I heard him say pistolero. I looked it up on the internet, and it means—”

  “Gunman,” Darcy and Grayson said in unison.

  That admission changed everything. Father and son were no longer in the camp of accusing Dent, and now Adam had just pinned both means and opportunity on his father. Edwin already had motive—revenge against his ex for divorcing him and marrying a much younger man. Plus, he had to be worried that Dent would cut off his allowance the moment he inherited Sandra’s estate.

  “I’ll go upstairs with Grace and Kimmie,” Mel volunteered. She took Noah from Darcy.

  “I’ll be up soon,” Darcy let her know. But first she wanted to ask Adam a few more questions. “Why didn’t you tell us this before now?”

  “I didn’t know about Marlene until today.” He dodged her gaze. “And I didn’t want to…believe my father could do something like this to my mother. Even though they were divorced, my parents were still in love, in their own way. It would have crushed my mother to know he was carrying on with a woman like Marlene.”

  Adam sounded sincere enough. There was even a slight quiver in his voice, especially when he said my mother. And maybe he did love her, even though after interviewing Sandra’s so-called friends and family, Darcy was having a hard time believing that anyone actually loved the woman. But plenty of people loved her money. Of course, Adam would only benefit financially if his stepfather was convicted of the murder. Not his father.

  But Darcy rethought that. Could Edwin benefit somehow?

  It certainly wasn’t an angle she’d researched, but she made a mental note to do just that. Maybe it was the kidnapping or Ramirez’s escape, but she wasn’t in a trusting mood.

  “My father said Marlene is crazy in love with him,” Adam went on. “Emphasis on the crazy. I think she’d do anything for him, with or without his consent. She might have believed this was a way to get him back in her life.”

  Darcy looked back at Grayson to see if he shared the same opinion, but the sheriff only lifted his shoulder. Mercy. That meant this investigation was about to head out on a new tangent. She didn’t mind that in itself, but the more tangents, the longer it might take to figure out who was creating the danger and make an arrest.

  “Put all of this in writing,” Grayson told Adam. The sheriff pointed toward the paper and pen that were already on the table.

  When Adam went back inside the interview room, Grayson shut the door. “Adam will have to wait. I’ve already asked for a check on Marlene’s financials, but I doubt the woman had the money to hire gunmen.”

  True. After all, she worked at a day care and preschool. “Can you run Edwin’s financials, too?” Darcy asked.

  “Yeah.” And Grayson didn’t ask why, which meant he’d already considered that money might be playing into Adam’s bombshell about his father’s possible guilt. He tipped his head to the back stairs. “There’s an apartment on the second floor where Mel and Grace took the children. Why don’t you wait up there with them?”

  Darcy wasn’t about to argue with that, but before she could head in that direction, the back door flew open and someone walked in.

  Nate.

  She felt herself moving. Running toward him. Yes, it was stupid with his brother and heaven knows who else around. But she went to him. And was more than surprised when Nate closed the distance between them and pulled her into his arms.

  “I’m okay,” he whispered.

  It was the same thing Grayson had told her, but this time she believed it. Still, the panic already had hold of her. Her breath broke, and Darcy disgraced herself by crying. Nate came to the rescue again and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

  His hands were already damp. His hair, too. And the rain had soaked his shirt.

  “How are the children?” Nate asked. He leaned down, cupped her face and looked her straight in the eyes.

  It was the one subject that could get her to focus. “They’re fine.”

  “Good.” He pushed her hair from her face and brushed a kiss on her mouth. His lips were also wet from the rain. “Don’t worry. We’ll find Ramirez.”

  Again, she believed him and wished she could stay longer in his arms. But the sound of footsteps had them pulling apart. It was Grayson, and even though Darcy felt better, it was clear that Nate’s brother didn’t share her relief. No doubt because of the kiss he’d just witnessed.

  “Where’s Mason?” Grayson practically growled.

  Nate kept his arm around her waist, causing Grayson’s gaze to drop in that direction. “At the ranch, waiting for the rangers and the FBI,” Nate told him. “After they arrive, he’s driving Bessie to her sister’s house.”

  Darcy hated that she was causing this tension between Nate and his brother, but she would hate even more having to distance herself from Nate. This attraction probably couldn’t lead anywhere, but she wasn’t ready to let go of it just yet.

  Grayson continued to stare at the embrace for several moments. Then he mumbled something and headed back down the hall, saying what he had to say over his shoulder. “I have Adam Frasier in an interview room writing a statement. Darcy can fill you in on what’s happening.”

  Well, at least Grayson hadn’t said her name as if it were profanity.

  “Adam says now that his father could be behind the kidnapping. Or Marlene,” she explained. “Grayson is already digging to see if it’s true. Or if Adam is just trying to cover up his own guilt.”

  Nate wearily shook his head. “Maybe when we catch Ramirez, we can get him to talk.”

  Darcy was about to remind him that at best Ramirez was a long shot, but then she heard the voices. One familiar voice in particular.

  Wesley Dent.

  She turned and spotted him making his way down the hall toward them. Tina, the dispatcher, was right behind him, telling him that he would have to wait in reception.

  “It’s okay, Tina,” Nate assured the woman, and he stepped in front of Darcy. Probably because Dent looked riled enough to explode.

  “You’d better not be here to threaten Darcy again,” Nate warned.

  “No threat. I’m here because I found something.” Dent started to reach into his jacket pocket, and before he could get his hand inside, Nate had his gun drawn and pointed it right at the man.

  Dent glanced at the gun. Then Nate. Dent looked as if he tried to smirk, but he failed. “I’m not the killer, Lieutenant Ryland.” Now, he managed some smugness. “But I have something that could blow your investigation wide open.”

  That got her att
ention. Nate’s, too. And Dent waited until Nate eased his gun back down before he reached into his pocket and extracted a small black leather-bound book. One look and Darcy immediately knew what it was.

  Sandra Dent’s missing diary.

  “Read it,” Dent said, thrusting it toward Nate. “And then you’ll know who killed my wife.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Nate didn’t touch the diary, but he figured if this was the real deal, then any fiber or print evidence on it had already been compromised.

  Still, they might get lucky.

  With Grayson and Darcy right behind them, Nate led Dent into Grayson’s office, took a sterile plastic evidence bag from the supply cabinet and placed it on the center of the desk. Nate motioned for Dent to place the diary there.

  “Where did you find it?” Nate asked Dent. But he didn’t look at the man. He grabbed a plastic glove, as well, and lifted the diary’s cover.

  “In the back of Sandra’s closet. It’d been shoved into a coat pocket.”

  Nate was certain the cops had gone through Sandra’s closet, but it was possible they’d missed it.

  “Go to the last entry,” Dent instructed.

  Nate did, and Darcy and Grayson moved closer so they could look, as well. The handwritten words practically jumped off the page.

  Adam and I argued tonight again. Money, always money. He’s too much like his father. Let’s see how sorry he is when his allowance is gone.

  “Sandra was about to cut off Adam’s allowance,” Dent emphasized.

  Nate mentally went back through his notes. Adam’s allowance was a hundred thousand a year and was paid out through a trust fund, but it was a trust fund with strings. Adam could only get the hundred grand per year and that was it. He couldn’t touch the principal amount itself for any reason.

  A hundred thousand wasn’t a huge sum by Sandra’s standards, but maybe this was motive for Adam to kill her—especially since the allowance would have continued for the rest of his life. Well, it would continue unless Sandra managed to disown him and rewrite the conditions of the trust.