The Marshal's Justice (Appaloosa Pass Ranch 4)

by Delores Fossen

  “Malcolm is somewhat of a mystery,” Crossman finally said. “And I wasn’t sure if he wanted to kill you for your part in that cop’s death. They were good friends, you know.”

  Because April’s arm was touching his, Chase felt her tense. “Did Malcolm say anything about getting back at me for that?” she asked.

  “Not specifically, but I got the feeling he wanted to do you and Quentin some harm. Especially Quentin.”

  “You also want to do us harm so we can’t testify against you,” April pointed out. “So, why warn us about Malcolm? Or were you afraid Malcolm would do the job you wanted your own thugs to do?”

  “Interesting theory. But you’re wrong. I don’t want you or Quentin dead. Punished, yes, for turning traitor on me. Dead, no. I’ve known where you were for weeks. Months,” Crossman corrected.

  Chase tried not to look shocked and reminded himself that anything that came out of Crossman’s mouth was probably a lie.

  “If you found them that long ago, why didn’t you do anything about it?” Chase asked.

  “I didn’t say I knew where Quentin was. Only April. Quentin has a strange habit of not being where he’s supposed to be.”

  Chase shrugged. “Then why not just go after April?”

  “Because as I said, I didn’t want either Quentin or her dead. I wanted them to lead me to my former CPA. Jasmine Bronson. I need to...talk to her. Because you see, when my trial eventually starts, I’ll need Jasmine to tell the truth, that it wasn’t me she saw shooting that cop, that she was mistaken. In fact, I’d like for Jasmine to remember that it was either Quentin or someone else who pulled that trigger.”

  That was a not so subtle way of saying that Crossman wanted to intimidate the CPA into lying. And the problem was, Crossman might be able to do just that if he could find her. Apparently, he hadn’t, yet.

  According to the latest info Chase had gotten, Jasmine was safe but not at her WITSEC location. Like Quentin, Jasmine had struck out on her own. Considering the recent breach in WITSEC files, that had probably kept her alive. Because Crossman would definitely want her dead since she was the one who could testify about the worst of the charges against him—murder.

  Too bad April hadn’t been able to move around the way that Quentin and Jasmine had, but that would have been next to impossible to do with Bailey in the hospital for two months. Plus, April probably thought she was safe.

  “How did you find April in WITSEC?” Chase pressed. “Did you hack into the files?”

  “Hack? That’s such an ugly word. One that carries more criminal charges. No, I didn’t do anything like that. Let’s just say a little bird told me.”

  Chase silently cursed. Because that little bird could be a mole in the marshals’ office.

  “Why should I believe any of this?” April asked the man.

  Crossman smiled again. “The week before you had your daughter, you went to the store to buy some baby things. Clothes, diapers. And a white teddy bear. From what I’ve been told, it had a pink bow.”

  Judging from how fast the color drained from April’s face, Crossman was telling the truth. About that anyway. That sickened Chase to know that April and his baby were so close to danger and he hadn’t even known it.

  “I want to find Jasmine.” Crossman inched closer to the Plexiglas. He stared at Chase. “I need to talk to her. Now, if you can arrange for that to happen, I swear to you that April and your daughter will be safe.”

  Chase gave him a flat look. “Even if I believed that, which I don’t, I wouldn’t hand over a witness to you. Besides, murder isn’t the only charge against you, and April can and will help convict you of money laundering and a whole list of other crimes.”

  Of course, that was backup. In case the murder charges didn’t put Crossman away for life. Or if he managed to wiggle out of that charge altogether. He could possibly do that if he killed Jasmine.

  “Money laundering,” Crossman said, his tone dismissing it. “All a misunderstanding. My lawyers can work to fix that.”

  “Yes, by killing my brother and me,” April challenged. “By any chance, are you the one who kidnapped Quentin?”

  “Interesting.” Crossman made it sound as if he was hearing this for the first time. “No. But this is a sweet turn of events, wouldn’t you say? I suppose there’s a ransom involved? One that involves milking you for a lot of cash to pay off that pesky loan shark your brother owes?”

  April didn’t respond. She sighed, maybe because it was the truth.

  “Do you know anything else about the kidnapping?” Chase demanded.

  “Maybe,” Crossman admitted. “I got a lovely visitor about a week ago. She used the name Alisha Herrington, but her real name is Renée Edmunds. She’s a friend of Quentin’s.”

  Oh, man. Chase had checked that visitors’ log but hadn’t had time to figure out if anyone on the list had been using a fake ID. “What did Renée want?”

  “She offered a very interesting deal. She said she’d tell me where April was if I’d agree to leave Quentin alone.”

  That kicked up April’s breathing a significant notch. And tightened her muscles even more.

  “I told Renée I wasn’t interested, of course,” Crossman continued. “No reason to bargain for information I already had.”

  True, but there were key bits of the info that were missing. “How did Renée know where April was?”

  “Maybe from that same little bird,” Crossman whispered as if telling a secret. “Sometimes birds chirp to more than one person feeding them. And sometimes people chirp for a whole different reason. Like sex,” he said, turning that taunting stare in April’s direction.

  April ignored him, and she looked at Chase. “Are we done here?”

  “Yeah.” Though he wasn’t sure they’d actually gotten much from Crossman. Still, he needed to mull over the conversation and figure out if Crossman had revealed something he hadn’t intended to reveal.

  “Leaving so soon?” Crossman asked when April and Chase stood. “And here we didn’t get to chat about you two getting back together. You are back together, aren’t you? Have you gotten him in bed again, April?”

  April shot the man another glare but didn’t respond verbally. With Crossman laughing, Chase and she walked out.

  “I feel like I need a bath after talking to that piece of dirt,” April mumbled.

  Chase knew exactly how she felt. Except the image of her taking a bath flashed through his head. Not good. Because it was yet another reminder that he couldn’t allow this attraction to make him lose focus.

  The moment they were in the front waiting area of the prison, Chase took out his phone to call Jericho. “I want to see if there’s anything that can be done to make sure Jasmine stays safe,” he explained to April. “And I can’t call the marshals until we find the mole.”

  She nodded. “After what Crossman just said, I think he definitely has some kind of insider in either that office or one of the others.”

  Chase agreed, but he didn’t get a chance to make that call because he saw the man making his way toward the door.

  Malcolm.

  “I want to talk to him,” April insisted. And it didn’t sound as if it would be a friendly chat, either.

  Chase slipped his arm around her waist to hold her back, waiting until Malcolm had gone through the metal detector and had been searched by the guard. Chase figured even if Malcolm was armed and gunning for April that he wouldn’t risk an attack here in front of the prison guard and a marshal.

  “Visiting Crossman again?” April demanded the moment Malcolm had cleared security and started toward them.

  Malcolm nodded. “Why are you here?” He glanced at her, then at the way Chase had his arm around her. Chase got the feeling that what Malcolm was really itching to ask was, why are you here together?


  “We wanted to know what you discussed with Crossman on your other visits,” Chase informed him. “Crossman was more than happy to tell us.”

  Oh, Malcolm did not like that. Suddenly, there was no pretense of being in love with April. Or even liking her. The hatred was right there in his eyes.

  April folded her arms over her chest. “Let me guess. You want me to pay for your friend’s murder.”

  “I want anyone involved to pay,” Malcolm answered. But then, he huffed and some of the anger was gone. “In the beginning, I wanted you to pay. That’s why I found you, but then I couldn’t go through with it.”

  Chase had already considered that’s how things had played out. Still, it cut him to the core that this man had gotten so close to April and Bailey.

  “How exactly did you find me?” she asked.

  His mouth tightened, and at first Chase thought Malcolm might not answer. “Crossman,” he finally said. “I’m not sure, but Crossman might have also told Renée how to find you so the woman could in turn locate Quentin.”

  Not according to Crossman, but Chase kept that to himself. Besides, Crossman could have been lying about that. He could have indeed given any and all info to Renée if it would have helped him find Quentin and Jasmine.

  Malcolm huffed. “I know how this looks with me visiting Crossman again, but I’m here to tell him to back off, that I don’t want April or the baby put in danger so he can satisfy the vendetta he has against Quentin and April.”

  Even if he hadn’t been a lawman, a comment like that would have grabbed his attention. “You know for a fact that Crossman is behind the attacks?”

  “Who else would it be?” Malcolm countered, and it seemed like a genuine question. “He needs April, Quentin and that CPA out of the way, or he’ll spend the rest of his life in jail.”

  Actually, Crossman needed only Jasmine out of the way for the murder charges, and it didn’t make sense he would go through all the trouble to find April to get to Jasmine. Because there was no way the marshals would put the two women in WITSEC together.

  “How’d you scramble the recordings of the conversations you had with Crossman the other times you visited him here at the prison?” Chase came out and asked.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t scramble anything. Maybe Crossman paid off a guard or something?”

  That was always possible, but there were handheld devices that could interfere with a signal. Visitors would be checked for that sort of thing, but someone could have slipped something like that past the guards.

  Someone like Malcolm, for instance.

  “I’m sorry,” Malcolm said, and he aimed that apology at April. “Tina and I were close, and when I found out you could have perhaps prevented her death, I wanted to confront you, face-to-face.” He glanced away. “I couldn’t do that, though, after I saw how torn up you were about your baby.”

  Chase stared at him a long time. “Are you sure all of this isn’t just to cover your tracks? Because if you helped Crossman in any way get to Bailey or April, then you’ll be charged with a couple of felonies.”

  That renewed some of the anger on Malcolm’s face. “I didn’t help him.” Malcolm had to get his teeth unclenched before he could continue. “Crossman murdered Tina, and he will pay for that.” It sounded like a threat and a promise.

  Chase figured he should lecture Malcolm on not taking the law into his own hands, but he seriously doubted Malcolm would listen. Besides, he didn’t want to hang around here with April next to the creep who’d basically stalked her for two months.

  “Come on,” Chase said, and he got April moving toward the exit. However, they’d made it only a few steps when Chase’s phone rang, and he saw Jericho’s name on the screen.

  April and he stepped to the side, and because Malcolm was still in earshot, Chase didn’t put the call on speaker.

  “We got a visitor,” Jericho said the moment Chase answered. “You and April need to get back here right now.”

  Chapter Twelve

  April hadn’t been sure what to expect when she stepped into the Appaloosa Pass sheriff’s office. All Jericho had told them on the phone was that someone had just showed up out of the blue.

  That someone was Quentin.

  Her brother had refused to answer any questions until she got there.

  April figured that wasn’t a good sign, but the fact he was there proved he hadn’t faked his own kidnapping. Well, maybe it meant that.

  Knowing her brother, this could be part of a sick plan, too. But at least Quentin was alive, and she got proof of that the moment Chase and she arrived. Her brother was indeed there, sitting in a chair next to one of the deputy’s desks.

  Quentin stood when he spotted her, but he didn’t move toward her. She didn’t move toward him, either. Not because she wasn’t glad to see him. She was, and she was thankful he was alive. But there were so many questions, and April started with the easiest one first.

  “Shouldn’t you be at the hospital?” she asked.

  “Trust me,” Jericho said, not looking especially pleased with this development, “I tried to talk him into it.”

  “I’m not going back there,” Quentin insisted. “But a medic came and checked my incision. I’m okay. And he left me some pain meds to take. I’ll do that after we’ve talked.”

  But he sure didn’t look okay. Quentin was pale and didn’t seem too steady on his feet.

  Chase walked to him, meeting him eye-to-eye. “Tell us about the kidnapping and how you got away.”

  Quentin nodded, but he didn’t look at Chase. He kept his attention on April. “When I was in radiology waiting for the MRI, two armed men stormed into the room. They were both wearing ski masks so I couldn’t see their faces. They forced me out of the hospital and into a van, and then they took me to a house on the edge of town.”

  Chase jumped right on that. He took a notepad from the deputy’s desk and dropped it next to Quentin. “Write down the address of that house.”

  Quentin nodded, eventually. He scrawled it down and handed it to Chase. That’s when she noticed Quentin was shaking. Likely caused from a combination of pain and fear.

  She tried not to give in to the old tug in her heart. The one that’d coddled and protected her kid brother way too many times. The bottom line was April wasn’t sure she could trust Quentin.

  Jericho glanced at the address, took out his phone and stepped into his office to make the call. No doubt to get someone out there to check it out. That probably meant calling in one of the night or reserve deputies, but April was glad he wasn’t going himself because it would have left just Jax, Chase and her in the office. And if her brother’s kidnapping had been the real thing, then those ski mask-wearing men could come after him again.

  “How did you escape?” she asked her brother.

  “They had some pain meds for me there, and I spiked their coffee with them. When they fell asleep, I got out and walked here.”

  Chase and she exchanged glances, and he was clearly bothered by one part of that explanation, too. “The kidnappers gave you pain meds?”

  Quentin nodded. “I didn’t take them, though, because I knew they’d make me sleepy.”

  Her brother had missed the point, and April clarified it for him. “You really think Crossman or the loan shark would have cared if you were in pain?”

  His eyes widened. “You believe Renée was behind the kidnapping? If she was, she didn’t come to the house and the men didn’t mention her.”

  “Did they mention anyone?” Chase snapped.

  Quentin eased back down into the chair. “No. The only thing they said to me had to deal with the ransom. They said once they had the money, they’d release me.”

  April had no idea if that was true or not. This could still have been a ploy to draw
her out. Except for those pain meds. But then, as devious as Crossman was, that might be something he’d do just to throw them off his trail.

  “Renée wouldn’t have put me in danger like that,” Quentin added several moments later. “She’s crazy, but she loves me.”

  “She’s crazy, period,” Chase corrected. “And yes, she could have put you in that kind of trouble. She could have done the same to Bailey, April, Jax and me.”

  Quentin made a sound as if he didn’t quite buy that, and it made April wonder if Renée and her brother had indeed partnered up on this. But if so, then why had Quentin escaped?

  Or had he?

  “Did you get the ransom money?” Quentin asked her. “Because if you did, I need to borrow some of it.”

  April didn’t even bother trying to choke back a groan. Chase groaned right along with her. “Did you fake all of this?” Chase came right out and asked.

  That got Quentin right back on his feet. “No. Absolutely not.” But the burst of energy didn’t last long. “If I don’t pay the money I owe, they’ll kill me.”

  Again, April tried not to give in to the emotion that caused inside her. “How much?”

  “A hundred thousand,” Quentin answered after a long pause.

  Less than half of what the kidnappers had demanded. Still, it was a lot of money. “How the heck did you get involved with a loan shark?” But April waved off any answer he might give her.

  And he would have had an answer, all right. One that she likely wouldn’t want to hear. Her brother always seemed to be involved in something messy, and criminal, like this.

  “It’s not like you think,” Quentin insisted. “The money wasn’t...” He stopped and shook his head. “You’ve always taken care of me. Ever since Mom and Dad were killed, you’ve been the one person I can rely on.”

  He was playing with her heartstrings now. Or maybe he was dodging the truth about why he’d borrowed that money. The ploy was something April recognized. She had indeed taken care of him, but that was about to end.