Always a Lawman

by Delores Fossen

  “Hector March.” Gabriel said her boss’s name as if it were profanity. To him, it was. “Is he out of jail yet?”

  That was another jab. And another sting. “Yes. And for the record, what Hector did was definitely justice. The illegal video surveillance he set up eventually led to the arrest of a pimp who was known for beating up his girls. He used his fists to do whatever he wanted, and now he’s been stopped.”

  There was too much emotion in her voice now. Too much emotion inside her, as well. It was hard to rein in the feelings of being powerless against a much stronger attacker, but Jodi had had a lot of practice doing just that.

  “The pimp would have gone to jail eventually through legal means,” Gabriel growled.

  It was probably the truth. Probably. But Hector had made it happen a little sooner than the cops could have managed it.

  “If I can save one woman from getting beaten or killed, I’ll do it,” Jodi insisted. “And yes, I’m overidentifying.”

  She waved off any other part of this discussion that might happen because she’d admitted that. It was obvious Gabriel and she were never going to agree when it came to Sentry, Hector or her job. Jodi also didn’t want to keep talking about something that couldn’t change. She’d nearly died. Had the scars to prove it. Nothing was going to undo that.

  “You blame me for what happened to you.” Gabriel threw that out there like a gauntlet.

  She turned toward him so fast that her neck popped. Jodi wanted to say no, that she didn’t. Better yet, she wanted to believe it. But she didn’t. Not completely anyway.

  “I know in here it wasn’t your fault.” She touched her fingers to her head. “But everything that happened that night has gotten all rolled into one tangled mess inside me. A mess that involves you, me...and the killer. I don’t want to include you in that nightmare, but it did begin with you, and I can’t just forget that.”

  “Yeah,” he said and looked away. Gabriel always looked away whenever the subject of attraction or sex came up between them. And despite her near murder not actually being about sex, it was sex that had started it all.

  Or rather, lack of sex.

  “You were nineteen,” he reminded her. “Too young to be with me.”

  Obviously, his mind had hitched a ride on the exact train of thought as hers. “I was an adult.”

  “Barely. You were also one of my kid sister’s best friends. And I was five years older than you. There’s a world of difference between a nineteen-year-old college student and a twenty-four-year-old deputy sheriff. Legally, you weren’t jailbait, but that still didn’t make being with you right.”

  It was his old argument that she knew all too well since it was the same one he’d used the night of the attack. She’d been staying in the Beckett house, a guest of Gabriel’s sister Ivy, who at the time was also her college roommate. Around 10:00 p.m., Jodi had walked the less than a quarter of a mile distance between the Becketts’ and Gabriel’s place, the house left to him by his grandparents. And Jodi had done that for the sole purpose of seducing Gabriel.

  It hadn’t worked.

  “You turned me down,” she said under her breath. Thankfully, it didn’t sound as if she still carried a decade of hurt. But it had certainly hurt then. Simply put, Gabriel Beckett was the only man she’d ever wanted. It was ironic, though, that after the night of the attack she’d never wanted him or another man again.

  She silently cursed. That was a partial lie. A lie she could feel now that she was standing so close to Gabriel. Much to her disgust, she still wanted him.

  “Sex is a commitment,” she mumbled. “That’s what you told me when you turned me away,” Jodi huffed. “Which wasn’t the truth since you had sex with half the women in town, and you didn’t commit to any of them.”

  He said something under his breath that she didn’t catch. Then, something she did catch. Bad profanity. “Why did you really come here? Because I’m not buying it that you’re here just to remember. Are you trying to draw out the person who sent you the email?”

  She didn’t deny it. Jodi did indeed want to draw him out in the open and put an end to this once and for all.

  “He could just shoot you,” Gabriel reminded her.

  “I don’t think so. I think he wants his hands on me again.” Just saying it nearly made her gag. “I won’t be the victim for the rest of my life.”

  “Then start by not being here.” Gabriel paused and glanced around. The kind of glance that a lawman made as if checking to make sure no one else was there. “You’re not the only one who got a threatening email.”

  Everything inside her went still. “Who else? You?”

  Gabriel nodded. “All three of my siblings, too. Jameson, Ivy and Lauren.”

  Jodi hadn’t needed their names. She’d grown up next to the Becketts and knew them well enough to know their birthdays. Now, of course, they were her enemies. Enemies who’d apparently gotten death threats.

  “What’d the emails say?” she asked.

  Gabriel drew in a weary breath. “Almost the same as yours. Except for mine. The threat was, well, more explicit. Probably because I’m the sheriff now.”

  Jodi tried to process that. “What possible reason would my father have to send threats like this?”

  “I’ve given up trying to figure out why killers do what they do.” He hesitated again. “But I’m leaning more toward a copycat. There are a lot of sick people out there, and the story got plenty of press. With the tenth anniversary coming up in three months, I believe it’s bringing out the lunatics.”

  “So, you think the emails are empty threats?” Jodi hated to sound disappointed. Hated even more that she was disappointed that it might be true. It sickened her to think the truth had already played out.

  And that her father had left her for dead.

  “Copycat threats aren’t always empty,” Gabriel corrected. “That’s why I don’t want you out here. Not alone anyway. If you want to try to jog your memory again, call me, and I’ll have someone meet you.”

  Jodi probably should be insulted because she was an expert marksman and trained in hand-to-hand combat. She could protect herself.

  Probably.

  And it was the fact that the probably was not a certainty that kept her up at night.

  She turned, ready to head back to her car, but something caught her eye. Some movement in one of the second-floor windows. Gabriel must have seen it, too, because he stepped in front of her.

  And he drew his gun.

  Jodi pulled her weapon, too. “Should there be anyone in the house?” she asked.

  “No.” That time he absolutely didn’t hesitate, and Gabriel started toward the porch. “Before you jump to conclusions, it’s probably just a teenager out for a stupid thrill. Or maybe a reporter. Either way, you should go to your car now.”

  “Just in case it turns out to be something more than a teen or a reporter, I can back you up if you’re going inside.”

  Which he apparently was.

  Gabriel didn’t turn down her offer of backup. Didn’t order her to her car again, either. Maybe because he figured she could be attacked while heading to the road. It was obvious he was thinking this was more than just a false alarm. Of course, after those threatening emails, Jodi doubted there was anything false about it, either.

  Mercy. Was the killer here?

  That sent her heartbeat racing, the sound of it throbbing in her ears. The memories came. Too many of them too fast. She had to force them back into that little box she’d built in her mind. This was no time for a panic attack. Not in front of a killer.

  Not in front of Gabriel, either.

  He took slow, cautious steps, his gaze firing not just to the window but all around them. “I’m Sheriff Gabriel Beckett,” he called out. “You’re trespassing. Come out with yo
ur hands in the air.”

  Nothing.

  It was hard to hear because of her racing pulse and the breeze rattling through the live oaks, but Jodi thought she heard someone moving around inside. There were plenty of windows on the back part of the house that the intruder could use to escape. But maybe he didn’t have escape in mind.

  Maybe this would turn into another attempt to murder her.

  If so, she was ready.

  “Stay behind me,” Gabriel insisted. “And watch our backs.”

  She did, and Jodi continued to keep an eye out as they made their way up the steps to the porch. But as soon as Gabriel reached the top step, he stopped.

  Then, he froze.

  Jodi was near enough to him to sense the muscles tensing in his body. And she soon realized why.

  Her heart jumped to her throat. “Oh, mercy.” Jodi shook her head and inched closer. Not that she needed to be closer to realize what she was seeing.

  A knife.

  With a crescent-shaped blade. The tip was missing.

  And there was blood on it.

  Chapter Two

  Even before he saw the knife. Gabriel had already had a bad feeling. He’d gotten it the moment he laid eyes on Jodi because she should be nowhere near this place. Now, that bad feeling turned to something much worse.

  Hell.

  Just to be sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him, he took another look at what someone had left on the porch just about two feet to the left side of the door. No tricks. It was the knife all right. Or rather, a knife.

  “That blood on it isn’t dry,” Jodi pointed out. Her voice was trembling just a little, but Gabriel had to hand it to her because she was holding herself together.

  On the outside anyway.

  On the inside, he figured it was a whole different story. If it was indeed the knife that had killed his parents, then it was the same one the killer had used on Jodi.

  “It could be fake blood,” Gabriel reminded her.

  There was no way he would touch it to find out, though. Since the tip was missing, this was either the actual weapon that had killed his parents or else someone had broken off the end of the blade so that it would resemble it.

  But there was a problem with that.

  The missing tip that the surgeon had removed from Jodi’s body hadn’t been mentioned in any of the police reports. Nor was the fact that the killer had taken his father’s watch and his mother’s necklace. Those were just a few of the little details that the FBI had left out in case some nutjob tried to confess to the crime. So, either someone had hacked into those actual reports, or...

  Gabriel didn’t want to speculate about an or just yet.

  While keeping his attention on their surroundings, Gabriel took his phone from his pocket and texted Jameson. He told him that he needed his help and for him to call a CSI to come and take custody of this knife. Jameson was at his house and could be there in a couple of minutes.

  Bringing in his brother was better than waiting for the deputies to come in from the sheriff’s office. Besides, Jameson was a Texas Ranger and the best backup Gabriel could have. Once Jameson arrived, maybe they could keep Jodi out of this. Of course, the problem was that she was here and therefore already in the middle of it.

  Whatever it was.

  This could still be a prank, and Gabriel was holding on to that hope. Over the years the house had become a magnet for daredevil kids, ghost hunters and pretty much anyone warped enough to want to see an old crime scene. That’s how the windows had gotten broken and the boards sprayed with graffiti.

  Gabriel tested the doorknob. Locked, just as it should be, and he used his key to open it. He pushed open the door, had a look around and got an instant punch of the musty smell and the dust. An instant punch of the memories, too.

  He hated this place.

  Hated that it still felt like an open, raw wound. A cut so deep that it would never heal. It was no doubt the same for Jodi. Even though she hadn’t lost her parents that day, it had been just as costly for her.

  In plenty of ways, she’d lost herself.

  For just a moment he got a flash of another memory. Of the smiling nineteen-year-old who’d shown up at his house that night. She’d been wearing cutoff denim shorts, a snug red top and had looked far better than a girl had a right to look.

  He pushed that memory aside, too. He’d lost himself that night, as well. Because he hadn’t protected her. He hadn’t saved his parents, and while Jodi had lived, he darn sure hadn’t saved her, either.

  Gabriel didn’t see anyone in either of the two rooms just off the entry. Nor did he hear anyone. He ducked under the crisscross of boards, his back scraping against the rough wood. He moved just far enough inside for Jodi to step in behind him. Even though she didn’t say anything, he could hear her breathing. Which was too fast.

  There were no signs of an intruder here. No footprints in the dust on the hardwood floors.

  The furniture in the living and dining rooms was still draped with the sheets that his sisters had put on them years earlier. It hadn’t felt right to move anything after the CSIs had finished with it, so they’d covered everything, locked and boarded it up. Now, it was like some kind of sick time capsule.

  “Anyone up there?” Gabriel called out.

  He didn’t expect a response and didn’t get one. But what he did hear was something he didn’t want to hear.

  A footstep.

  Yeah, someone was definitely upstairs. And judging from the weight of the step, it wasn’t a raccoon or some other animal.

  Jodi moved as if ready to barge right up there, but Gabriel leaned in front of her and shot her a scowl. “We’ll wait here for Jameson. Once he arrives, I’ll go upstairs. Alone.”

  She huffed, clearly not pleased about that. Maybe because she wanted to confront the person who’d left the knife. Of course, she thought it was the same person who had attacked her, but Gabriel was sticking to his guns that her father had been responsible for that.

  “We should at least check the back door,” she suggested. “That might be how he got in.”

  Yes, either that or a window. The place wasn’t exactly a fortress, though the doors and windows should have at least all been locked. That wouldn’t have stopped someone from breaking one of the panes and getting inside, though.

  Gabriel went to the center of the foyer, and he volleyed his attention around the rooms and the stairs. He still didn’t see anyone or anything out of place. Definitely no more blood to go along with what was on that knife, and if he had seen so much as a drop, he would have stopped and gotten out of there since this could potentially be a crime scene.

  Again.

  But thankfully there was nothing other than the bad feeling that continued to snake down his spine.

  “Stay here,” he warned Jodi.

  Whether she would or not was anyone’s guess, but Gabriel went into the adjacent family room so he could peer through to the kitchen. No one was there, but the rear door was open. The wind was causing it to sway just enough to make this whole ordeal even creepier than it already was.

  Gabriel was about to lose patience with himself and whoever the hell had broken in, and he probably would have just charged upstairs if he hadn’t heard a sound that he actually wanted to hear.

  “What the hell?” someone asked and then added a string of profanity.

  Jameson.

  He’d probably seen the knife. Or maybe the cussing was for Jodi. Not that Jameson had anything in particular against Jodi, but he would have known it wasn’t a good idea for her to be here.

  “Someone’s upstairs,” Jodi said to his brother.

  With his gun already drawn, Jameson came into the house, stepping around her, and his attention went straight to Gabriel. “Did the
intruder leave the knife?”

  “I’m not sure.” But Gabriel was about to find out. “Stay here with Jodi.”

  “The CSIs are on the way,” Jameson told him as Gabriel started up the stairs. “I called Cameron, too.”

  Cameron Doran. A deputy and family friend. Cameron would have been at his own house on the ranch grounds, and while Gabriel appreciated the double backup, he hoped it wouldn’t be necessary.

  With his gun aimed, Gabriel went up the stairs, pausing after each step to listen for any footsteps or movement. He didn’t hear anything other than that damn creaky door downstairs.

  At first anyway.

  Then, there were definitely footsteps, and they appeared to be coming from his parents’ bedroom. No more pausing for him. Gabriel hurried up the stairs and to the landing so he could pivot in that direction.

  No one was in the hall, so he went toward the bedroom, passing several others along the way. He kept watch around him. The doors were all closed, but that didn’t mean someone wouldn’t open one of them and start shooting. Or running anyway. He was still hoping this would turn out to be nothing.

  By the time Gabriel made it the forty or so feet to his parents’ room, he’d worked up a sweat. And it wasn’t helping his temper. This was not how he wanted to spend his afternoon.

  He kicked open the door, and he nearly fired when he saw the movement. But it was just the white gauzy curtains fluttering in the breeze.

  “He’s out back, and he’s getting away!” Jodi shouted.

  Hell.

  Gabriel hurried to the window to look out, and the first thing he spotted was the ladder propped up against the back of the house. But there were no signs of the person who’d put it there.

  However, there were signs of Jodi and Jameson.

  He saw them run into the yard, such that it was. Once it’d been a manicured lawn, but now it was overgrown with weeds and underbrush.

  “Stop or I’ll shoot,” Jameson called out.

  Gabriel saw the guy then. He was dressed all in black, like some kind of ninja, and he was running into the woods. There were plenty of places to hide there and even some old ranch trails where the guy could have stashed a vehicle. Gabriel wanted to stop him because he had some answering to do about that knife.