The Marshal's Justice (Appaloosa Pass Ranch 4)

by Delores Fossen

  So, obviously this Janette had some kind of clout or a backer who hadn’t come up yet in the investigation. “You think she’ll eventually talk and tell us who she’s working for?”

  “Not without some kind of incentive. It’s my guess she won’t be giving up that info unless we offer her some kind of deal. Are you okay with that, especially since it was her hack job that put April and your baby in danger?”

  No, he wasn’t okay with it. But Chase also wasn’t okay with letting the person behind this go free, either. If it was Crossman and Janette was his “little bird,” they could use this to freeze his assets and stop future attacks.

  “Offer Janette the deal,” Chase finally answered. “Call me if you get a name from her.”

  Harlan assured him he would and ended the call. Chase immediately turned to April to tell her the news.

  “Thank God,” she said. Obviously, she’d heard more than bits and pieces of the conversation.

  Finally, he saw some of that tension drain from her, and April slipped her arms around him as if it was something she did all the time. This was a by-product of all that kissing. It’d broken down barriers.

  Chase didn’t go stiff, exactly, but April must have picked up on his hesitation because she pulled back. Or at least that’s what she was in the process of doing, but Chase eased her right back to him. It didn’t last because the movement behind him snagged Chase’s attention.

  Dexter walked toward the window and looked out.

  “What’s wrong?” Chase immediately asked the deputy.

  Dexter shook his head. “I just thought I saw someone in the alley next to the diner.”

  Normally, that wouldn’t have put Chase on edge, but there was nothing normal about this situation.

  “Wait in Jericho’s office,” Chase told April, and he went to the front to have a look for himself.

  Nothing.

  “Maybe it was a shadow,” Dexter added.

  Maybe. But with everything else that’d happened, Chase wasn’t taking any chances. He kept looking, searching for anything that was out of place.

  There were people in the diner. People milling around some of the shops, too, but it would have been unusual for someone to be in that particular alley unless it was one of the diner workers on a smoke break.

  The minutes crawled by, and Chase glanced over his shoulder to make sure April had gone into Jericho’s office. She had, but she was peering out the doorway. When he shifted his gaze back to the alley, he saw it then.

  Someone was at the back of the diner and darted out of sight. Someone dressed all in black.

  Chase and Dexter drew their weapons.

  “Who’s out there?” April asked.

  But Chase didn’t get a chance to answer because he saw more movement in the alley. Not a person dressed in black, either. This was a woman, and someone he instantly recognized.

  Renée.

  Hell. What was she doing here?

  * * *

  APRIL COULDN’T SEE what’d caused Chase and Dexter’s reaction. But both of them snapped back their shoulders. Chase and Dexter had already pulled their guns, but the other deputy did the same.

  She tried to tamp down the fear. Tried to remind herself that this could all be just a precaution. However, it didn’t feel like one.

  Without taking his attention from the window, Chase took out his phone. April had no idea who he was calling, but she had no trouble hearing what he said once the person answered.

  “Renée is here.”

  That put April’s heart in her throat. Certainly the woman must have known Quentin wouldn’t be here, that he was at the meeting that Renée herself had helped set up. So, what did she want?

  April figured Renée hadn’t come here just to chat.

  Maybe they’d been wrong about Renée’s obsession with Quentin. Maybe April was the woman’s target.

  Or...

  April’s stomach twisted. This could have something to do with the ransom money that would soon be delivered. April had slashed the amount to only what Quentin needed to pay off the loan shark, but what if Renée intended to take that money and use it to try to get Quentin back in her good graces?

  But there was another possibility. One that April didn’t like.

  What if Renée and her brother were working together on this?

  Chase ended his call, and with his gaze firing all around, he glanced back at her. He probably tried to give her a reassuring look. But he failed. April could practically feel the danger and his concern about it.

  “Keep an eye on the roof,” Chase told the deputies.

  Though that order had no sooner left his mouth when April heard a sound she definitely didn’t want to hear.

  The alarm from the security system.

  It started to scream through the building. It screamed through her, too. Because it meant someone had just broken in.

  Chase ran to her, pushing her deeper into Jericho’s office. “Take the gun from the top right desk drawer,” he instructed. “And keep watch on the window behind you.”

  Her heart was already racing, but that caused it to race even more. April hurried to the desk and took out the gun. After going into WITSEC, she’d taken firearms training and knew how to shoot. She prayed, though, that it wouldn’t come down to her doing that.

  “The alarm was triggered from the break room,” Dexter called out to them.

  So close, just up the hall. There was a back door and windows in the room, but Renée must have known the sheriff’s office would be wired for security.

  Was it some kind of diversion?

  Several moments later, the alarm stopped. No doubt because Dexter had turned it off so they could hear if anyone was actually in the building.

  It was hard for April to hear much of anything with her pulse throbbing in her ears, but both Chase and Dexter had their guns aimed at the break room. She figured Carlos was watching the front in case one of Renée’s hired thugs came crashing through the door. If that happened, it would be a gutsy move, an attack in broad daylight. But then, Renée hadn’t exactly been predictable.

  “Do you see anyone?” April risked asking.

  Chase shook his head. “If someone opened the break room door, then they closed it.”

  The relief came. But didn’t last. Because that could mean the someone had gotten inside before closing the door.

  Carlos cursed, and that sent Dexter pivoting in the direction of his fellow deputy. Chase glanced at Carlos, too, and while he didn’t curse, he certainly wasn’t pleased about whatever he saw.

  “Get down on the floor,” Chase ordered her, and he stepped out. “A gunman’s in the alley.”

  That was the only thing he managed to say before there was another sound that April didn’t want to hear.

  Gunshots.

  Thick blasts that crashed into the front of the building.

  “The windows are bullet resistant,” Chase reminded her.

  But he didn’t return fire. Chase didn’t spare more than a glance at the front. Instead, he kept his attention nailed to the break room.

  And then he took aim.

  Fired.

  The shot rocketed through the hall, but since April was on the floor she couldn’t see who Chase had shot at or if he’d hit his target.

  More of those thick blasts sounded from the front. Chase fired another shot at the break room.

  Then, nothing.

  Everything went quiet. While April was glad the shots had stopped, she doubted that was a good thing.

  “Renée’s getting away,” Dexter shouted. The deputy started toward the front, probably to go after her, but Chase stopped him.

  “It could be a ruse to lure you out,” Chase warned.

  A ruse where m
ore attackers could start pouring into the building as soon as the deputy was gone. Or else Dexter could be just gunned down by one of them.

  “What about the shooter in the break room?” April asked.

  “Gone, too.” And Chase headed in that direction.

  April wanted to shout for him to stop, that it could also be part of a ruse, but anything she said right now might be just a distraction. One that could get Chase shot. So, she waited. Breath held and praying.

  It seemed to take an eternity for Chase to make his way back to her. He immediately checked on her, helping her to her feet, and he brushed a kiss on her forehead. A kiss of relief, no doubt.

  “The shooter broke through the window in the break room,” he explained. “But there’s no sign of him or anyone else back there.”

  That didn’t mean they wouldn’t be back. Renée seemed determined to get to her.

  “Why would Renée do this?” Dexter asked as Chase stepped back and took out his phone.

  “Maybe for the ransom money,” Chase answered, stepping back into the doorway. “Or maybe so she could kidnap April and use her to bargain with Quentin.”

  April hadn’t even considered the last possibilities. But if Renée had thought something like that would work, she would almost certainly do it.

  “Renée and her henchmen got away,” Chase said to the person who answered the call he made.

  It was Jericho. She recognized his voice when Chase put the call on speaker and she heard Jericho curse. “Renée must have figured out the meeting was a trap. There’s not a sign of any gunmen here. We’re heading back to the station now.”

  “Good. Because the window in the break room is broken, and I don’t want to keep April here any longer than necessary.”

  “As soon as we get there, I’ll have Jax drive with you to the safe house,” Jericho assured him before he ended the call.

  Finally, she’d get to be with the baby. But just as important, Chase and she would be away from another possible attack. That, in turn, might keep Jericho and the other deputies safe while they were at the office. There’d be no reason for anyone to fire into the building if she wasn’t there.

  “Before we leave, I’ll have to check the vehicle for a tracking device,” Chase reminded her. It was also a reminder that no matter how careful they were, the danger could still make its way to the safe house.

  “Once Jericho makes it here, I’ll do that for you,” Dexter insisted. “Best if you’re not out there any longer than necessary.”

  She agreed. Of course, that meant Dexter and anyone who went after Renée and those men were in just as much danger. It was Dexter’s job, of course, but it didn’t make her feel any better about it.

  April just wanted all of this to end.

  Chase didn’t move from the doorway of Jericho’s office, obviously still guarding her and still keeping watch, but he did glance back at her. He didn’t try to assure her that everything would be okay. Maybe because she knew an assurance like that would be a lie. Still, she saw the shared emotions in his eyes.

  The fear for their daughter.

  Chase’s phone rang again, and just like that her heart was right back in her throat. She prayed nothing else had gone wrong. Prayed even more when Chase didn’t put the call on speaker. The only time he did that was when he wanted to shelter her from possible bad news.

  Again, she waited and tried to figure out who had called and what was going on, but Chase wasn’t doing any talking, only listening.

  “How did that happen?” Chase asked. She couldn’t hear the response, but she saw the muscles in his shoulder tighten. “You can tell me about it when you get here.”

  Thankfully, the conversation didn’t last long. “What happened?” April asked the second he ended the call.

  It took Chase a moment to gather his breath. “Quentin’s missing.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  April shook her head and continued pacing. “How could Quentin possibly go missing?” she mumbled. It wasn’t really a question directed at Chase, but it was something April had been asking herself since Jericho had delivered the news fifteen minutes earlier.

  Chase didn’t have an answer yet.

  However, the person who might have answers—Jericho—pulled to a stop in front of the sheriff’s office and got out. Dexter unlocked the door for him, but Jericho paused only long enough to examine the damage to the front windows.

  “Is all of this Renée’s doing?” Jericho asked. Jax followed him inside.

  “She was nearby,” Chase settled for saying. “If we’d managed to catch her, she probably would have claimed she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  Heck, maybe she was. There was a lot of crazy stuff going on, though, and Renée always seemed to be at the center of it.

  Along with Quentin.

  April went closer to Jericho as soon as he was inside. Dexter didn’t come in, though. He headed toward the parking lot, probably to check to make sure no one had planted a tracking device on the vehicle they were driving back to the safe house.

  “What happened to my brother?” April wanted to know.

  Jericho huffed. “As we were leaving the rodeo, someone let out the bulls into the arena and then set off some firecrackers. That didn’t please the bulls, and they started running around. In the chaos, Quentin disappeared.”

  “You didn’t hear him yell for help or anything?” she pressed.

  “No. But we did hear a vehicle speeding away shortly after we lost sight of him. That probably means someone was waiting for the right moment to grab him. Or else he was waiting for the right moment to escape.”

  Chase glanced at her, expecting to see more worry and fear on her face. But all he saw was the same frustration no doubt mirrored on his.

  “Quentin knew he was going to have to face charges for faking his kidnapping,” she admitted. “It’s possible he set up this meeting just so he could escape.”

  “Yes,” Chase readily agreed. “But then why did he come to the sheriff’s office in the first place?”

  “Maybe to make sure I was here. Or maybe he thought I’d jump to protect him.”

  And April certainly hadn’t done that. She’d said she would give him the money, but she had also made it clear that it was the last of the funds he’d ever see from her.

  “I hate to be the one to cut Quentin any slack,” Jax spoke up, “but Renée could have arranged all of this. Quentin might not have called out for help because one of her henchmen might have put a gag on him or something.”

  That, too, was possible, but without Quentin or Renée, it was hard to know what the truth was.

  Since the breach in WITSEC, Chase had given so much thought to Quentin that his head was aching. And all that thought and guessing was probably useless anyway. He’d been investigating Quentin for years and still hadn’t figured out the man. It was the same for Renée, though he’d known her only a short period of time.

  “Why don’t you sit down,” Chase said, leading April to one of the chairs. “As soon as Dexter’s done, we can leave.” Something they both clearly wanted to do.

  But he saw something from the corner of his eye that not only had him wondering if that was going to happen, it also put him on full alert. Chase drew his gun.

  That’s because he saw Malcolm making a beeline toward the sheriff’s office.

  Great. Chase was so not in the mood to deal with that rat, and the rat wasn’t alone. Shane was walking next to him. An odd couple, for sure, and it made Chase wonder what the heck they were doing there together.

  “I’ll frisk them,” Jax volunteered, and he was ready when the two men stepped inside. Neither seemed pleased about that, and Shane especially wasn’t happy when Jax took a gun from him.

  “I have a permit for that,” S
hane insisted.

  “You don’t have a permit to carry it inside here,” Jax insisted right back. He went to his desk to put the gun away and to make a phone call.

  Malcolm’s attention went to April. Then, it snapped to Chase. “I want you to call off your dogs.”

  Chase just gave him a flat look. “Am I supposed to know what that means?”

  Judging from the sour expression on Malcolm’s face, he did expect it. “Someone’s been following me since I left the prison. Following Shane, too. We figured it was some of your law enforcement buddies.”

  “Well, you figured wrong,” Chase set them straight. He pointed to each of them. “How do you two know each other?”

  “I’m trying to clear my name since you’re treating me like a suspect,” Malcolm snarled. “To do that, I contacted Shane to see if I could speak with Renée. But he doesn’t know where she is.”

  Chase turned to Shane to see what he had to say about that, and Shane nodded. “I haven’t found her yet, and if I had, I would have turned her in to you. She needs to be back on her meds. She needs to be in a psychiatric hospital. If she doesn’t get help, she could be killed.”

  He couldn’t argue with that. Renée needed both. But first, they had to find her.

  “We spotted her here in town less than a half hour ago,” Chase explained. “Either of you know anything about that?”

  Both men shook their heads, but Malcolm looked considerably more alarmed by that than Shane. Was that because he’d manipulated Renée in some way, maybe to get revenge against Quentin, and the plan had backfired? Too bad Chase couldn’t hook all of them up to a lie detector.

  Dexter came back in, but he didn’t go far once he spotted their visitors. He stayed in the doorway, his attention volleying between them and the parking lot. No doubt so he could keep an eye on the vehicle he’d just checked out for them.

  Chase turned to Jericho. “Can you handle these two? I want to get April out of here.”

  Jericho nodded, snagged Malcolm and Shane’s attention. “You two, go to the interview room. We’ll finish up there.”