Laying Down the Law

by Delores Fossen

  Jericho’s name was on the screen.

  When Cord answered it, he put it on speaker, and even though she shouldn’t read too much into that, Karina thought maybe he’d done that so she wouldn’t go closer to him so she could hear. She definitely got the feeling that he wanted to keep some distance between them.

  “A problem?” Cord asked.

  “Maybe,” Jericho readily admitted. “DeWayne just came in, and let’s just say, he’s not a happy camper. He’s lawyered up already and insists the only person he’ll talk to is Karina. If she’s up to it, you should get her down here right away.”

  Chapter Seven

  Cord wasn’t sure Karina was actually up to this visit with DeWayne, but she had insisted on coming anyway.

  He had to hand it to her. Most people who’d just survived two murder attempts probably wouldn’t want to face their possible attacker. But she hadn’t backed down an inch.

  Maybe not a good thing.

  After all, if DeWayne was indeed the one who’d tried to kill her, then it could antagonize the man even more if she went toe-to-toe with him. Still, Cord had no intentions of trying to rein her in. If he’d been in her situation, he would have wanted to do the same thing.

  As they’d done the night before, Cord parked his truck in front of the sheriff’s offices. Jax had been good enough to bring it to the ranch. Good enough to have been pleasant about dropping it off, too.

  Cord’s relationship with Addie’s adopted brothers wasn’t picture-perfect, but since Willie Lee’s capture, it’d gotten a little better. At least Cord didn’t feel as if they were ready to slug him anytime they saw him. Cord blamed those earlier reactions on his obsession to capture the Moonlight Strangler. An obsession that the Crockett lawmen believed might put Addie in danger.

  Thankfully, it hadn’t.

  Well, not so far anyway.

  “Remember, don’t let DeWayne get to you,” Karina whispered to herself.

  Cord figured she’d been giving herself that pep talk since they’d left the ranch. It seemed to be working. She marched into the sheriff’s office just ahead of him and made a beeline to the tall, dark-haired man who was standing across from Jericho.

  It was DeWayne, all right.

  Cord had never met the man, but he had pulled up his DMV photo, and it was a match. However, the photo hadn’t shown that smug expression that DeWayne aimed at Karina. Cord couldn’t be sure, but he thought maybe the smugness went up when the man looked at her cuts and bruises.

  DeWayne wasn’t alone. There was a man about the same age—late fifties—wearing a suit, and he was right by DeWayne’s side. His lawyer, no doubt.

  “Karina,” DeWayne said, smiling. “You came.”

  Oh, man. With just that handful of words and sick smile, he pissed off Cord. Talk about pompous, and Cord wished he could take him down a notch.

  Jericho didn’t seem any more pleased with the man than Cord did. “We can take this to the interview room now.”

  So, DeWayne was waiting on Karina after all. Too bad he hadn’t made a confession or two. Of course, his lawyer probably wasn’t going to let him say much of anything. That’s where some button-pushing came in. Cord was banking on DeWayne’s nasty temper that Karina had told him about. If Cord could get the man riled up enough, he might spill all sorts of secrets.

  Of course, one of those secrets could topple the case against Willie Lee. But that was a bridge Cord would cross if he came to it.

  “I have an alibi for last night,” DeWayne said without any prompting. He strolled into the interview room, hands stuffed into the pockets of his overpriced designer jeans, and he sank down into one of the chairs.

  Cord looked at Jericho to see if he knew anything about that so-called alibi. “He says he was with a friend. I’m having Levi check it out now.”

  “Oh, I was with her, all right,” DeWayne insisted. “And I didn’t leave her place until this morning. She’ll vouch for me.”

  “Or lie for you,” Cord said. He couldn’t help himself.

  No flash of temper, but DeWayne did turn that sickening smile on Karina. “Of course, my lawyer could have handled all these false accusations that you’re making, but I wanted to see you. Did you do something different with your hair?” And he laughed.

  Cord was certain he had his own flash of temper.

  Karina, however, hardly reacted. Which meant she’d likely been on the receiving end of this idiot’s bull way too often.

  “I’d like to talk about Mona,” Karina said, her voice as calm as she was trying to look.

  That’s when Cord realized she had her hands clenched into fists and that her knuckles were turning white. He ushered her to the chair across the table from DeWayne and had her sit down. At least that way DeWayne couldn’t see her hands and the effect he was having on her.

  But Karina also had an effect on DeWayne.

  “Mona,” DeWayne repeated, his eyes narrowing for just a split second. “What about her?”

  “Did you kill her?” Cord asked.

  That had an effect, too. Cord got a dose of those narrowed eyes. Maybe DeWayne hadn’t thought they would discuss the woman, that this chat would be solely about alibis and attacks. But DeWayne was wrong.

  The narrowed eyes went away, but DeWayne huffed, the sort of huff a man might make if he was bored with the subject. “You’ve been talking to Sheriff Ezell over in Comal County. Wouldn’t put much stock into what he’s saying. He’s basing everything on what he heard from a jealous man.”

  “Mona’s husband,” Cord said. “The sheriff doesn’t think it’s just the jealousy talking.”

  “Well, he’s wrong.” Now, there was some temper. A tightening of the mouth. The sharp tone. There was just a glimpse of it before he pulled back his claws. “I’ve already admitted to having an affair with Mona. Plenty of men had affairs with her. I hope you and the sheriff are pestering them as much as you’re pestering me.”

  Karina rolled her eyes. “If you’re just going to rehash what we already know, then why ask me to come here?”

  Cord figured DeWayne would dole out another smart-mouthed answer, but he didn’t. He sat there, his face muscles stirring, before he looked at Karina again.

  “Because I don’t want you thinking I did this to you,” DeWayne finally said. But he said it through clenched teeth. “I have enough legal battles dealing with Sheriff Ezell without you adding this to it. The man’s like a dog with a bone. He won’t let go of this Mona thing.”

  Cord liked the sheriff already, and he hadn’t even met him. “I guess you have something to convince us that you didn’t attack Karina?” he said to DeWayne.

  “Maybe. Someone broke into my house a few days ago. I thought it was a kid since they didn’t take anything, but then I had a PI look at the security feed. He managed to ID the intruder. A guy named Scott Chaplin. He belongs to some stupid club called Bloody Murder.”

  Well, that got Cord’s attention. “Have you spoken to this guy?”

  DeWayne shook his head. “My PIs haven’t been able to find him, but I found out a lot about him. The club is a group of losers trying to prove Willie Lee isn’t the Moonlight Strangler.” He paused. “I’m worried that he might have planted some kind of evidence in my house.”

  “Evidence?” Jericho challenged.

  DeWayne reached into his shirt pocket. And Cord automatically slid his hand over his gun. Jericho would have searched DeWayne when he first came in and disarmed him if necessary, but Cord didn’t want to take any chances that the guy might have sneaked in a knife.

  However, it wasn’t a weapon that DeWayne pulled out. It was a small plastic bag containing what appeared to be a note.

  “I found this on the desk in my home office.” DeWayne put the bag on the table, and Karina, Jericho and Cord had a closer
look.

  “‘You’ll pay for planting that DNA at the crime scene,’” Jericho said, reading aloud. He huffed and looked at DeWayne. “Please tell me you gave this to Sheriff Ezell.”

  Judging from DeWayne’s scowl, the answer to that was no. “He’s already trying to railroad me for murder. This wouldn’t have helped.”

  “And it won’t help now,” Cord assured him. Which brought him to his next question. “Why bring it to us?”

  DeWayne stayed quiet a moment. “Because I thought it would convince you that I’m in danger, too. That I’m not the one after Karina. I think we’re both in danger from the idiots in that club.”

  Karina leaned in, staring at DeWayne. “I didn’t set up Willie Lee,” she said.

  “Neither did I!” DeWayne snapped. “But these dimwits think I did. Hell, like I said, they could have planted something in my house.”

  “Like what?” Cord pressed.

  “I don’t know,” DeWayne shouted, but he stopped, paused, regrouped. “Something to do with Mona maybe. They could have perhaps stolen some evidence. And Sheriff Ezell might have stood back and watched them do it. Anyway, I figure the same person after Karina is after me, too.”

  His concern seemed genuine. Seemed. But Cord wasn’t about to buy in to this. Judging from Jericho’s huff, neither was he.

  “I’ll have the note sent to the lab so it can be checked for prints and trace,” Jericho said. “I’ll also want that security footage of this Scott Chaplin guy in your house. But I’m keeping Sheriff Ezell in the loop. Save your breath and don’t bother to argue about that. I’ll call you when and if I want to talk to you again. In the meantime, you stay away from Karina.”

  Jericho picked up the note and started out of the room.

  “That’s it?” DeWayne practically jumped to his feet. “You’re not going to arrest every single member in that stupid club right now?”

  “No,” Jericho said from over his shoulder as he walked away.

  DeWayne’s temper flared again, and his face was turning red when he shifted his attention to Karina. “You believe me, don’t you?”

  “You’ve never cared what I thought of you before,” she growled.

  DeWayne pointed his finger at her. “I won’t let you and these local yokels try to pin this on me. If I’d wanted you dead, you would be.”

  Oh, hell. That was the wrong thing to say, and Cord felt himself moving before he even knew he was going to do it. He got right in DeWayne’s face.

  “Is that a threat?” Cord didn’t wait for him to answer. “Because as a local yokel, it sounded like a threat to me.”

  DeWayne looked plenty ready to return verbal fire, but the sound of voices stopped him. Jericho’s was one of those voices, but Cord didn’t recognize the man Jericho seemed to be arguing with.

  But Karina and DeWayne appeared to know who it was.

  Karina got to her feet, and both DeWayne and she left the room and went into the hall. Cord didn’t think it was his imagination that Karina suddenly looked less steady than she had just seconds earlier.

  Their visitor was likely the reason for that.

  While Cord hadn’t recognized his voice, it was a face he recognized because he’d checked out all their suspects’ driver’s license photos. And this was definitely one of their suspects.

  Harley Kramer.

  No visible weapon. Harley had just a phone in his hand.

  One thing was for sure—Karina was right about the scars. Very noticeable. But he didn’t look like a B and E suspect. He was wearing a suit. A nice one, too. Probably the result of his wife’s money. However, a suit couldn’t smooth away his craggy face and the lines around his eyes. Harley looked every one of his fifty-nine years and then some.

  “You weren’t supposed to be here for another hour,” Jericho said, checking the time.

  “I came early. Good thing, too.” His attention zoomed right to Karina. Then, to DeWayne. Judging from the glare he gave DeWayne, Harley wasn’t a fan, either. “Because I’m betting that SOB is telling lies about me.”

  “I didn’t mention you,” DeWayne fired back.

  “How do these two know each other?” Cord asked Karina.

  “Harley came to me and accused me of setting up Willie Lee,” DeWayne snarled. “I’d never even met this joker, and he starts spreading lies about me. About how I want to get back at Willie Lee and Karina.”

  “I don’t have a beef with you,” Harley argued. “Other than I want you to tell the truth. I know Willie Lee, and he’s not a killer.”

  Apparently, Willie Lee had someone else in his corner. Interesting. But then again, Harley had already admitted that he knew Willie Lee. Cord would press him about that first chance he got.

  “I want Harley arrested,” DeWayne went on. “I want him grilled like you just grilled me.”

  “That wasn’t a grilling,” Cord assured him. “When it happens, you’ll know.”

  That put some fire in DeWayne’s eyes. Enough fire that his lawyer noticed and took his client by the arm. “We should be going,” DeWayne’s attorney said to him.

  Cord agreed with the lawyer. He needed some time to check out whatever was going on between Harley and DeWayne. Needed to find Scott Chaplin, too. First, though, he had to finish up here so he could get Karina far away from both of these clowns. She was trembling again, and that steel she’d fought so hard to maintain in the interview room was melting away fast.

  “Leave,” Jericho told DeWayne when he just stood there and glared at Harley. “Unless you’d rather I put you in a holding cell for forty-eight hours?”

  DeWayne turned his glare on Jericho. Then, on Karina and Cord before he stormed out with his lawyer.

  Harley kept his attention on the man until he got into his car and drove off. Only then did Harley open his mouth to continue, but Jericho stopped that by frisking him. Even though Harley had to know it was standard procedure for anyone entering the sheriff’s office, he still managed to look insulted.

  “I’m here to help you,” Harley snarled at Karina. “But you treat me like a criminal.”

  “Help me?” Karina questioned. “And how exactly do you want to do that?”

  “By giving you information that could save your life.” He made an uneasy glance over his shoulder.

  Cord hated to look a gift horse in the mouth, but he wasn’t sure he could trust anything Harley gave them. He also hated those glances that the man kept making. It was as if he was waiting for a killer to jump out at him.

  “Before we continue this little chat,” Jericho interrupted, “tell me where you were last night.”

  Harley huffed, no doubt because he thought he was still being treated unfairly. The treatment wouldn’t get any better unless he had an alibi.

  “I was at my house in San Antonio, and I was alone all night because my wife’s out of town. I thought it might be a good time for her to take a long trip to Europe.” Harley cursed. “If I’d known I was going to need an alibi, I would have gone out with friends or something. But that doesn’t make me guilty of hurting Karina. It just makes me a loner.”

  Maybe it made him a would-be killer, too.

  “Did you make any calls while you were home?” Jericho persisted.

  Harley paused as if giving that some thought and shook his head. “No.”

  “Well, then, it won’t take long to go through your phone records.” Jericho motioned for Harley to hand him the phone.

  “I’ll give it to you in a minute,” Harley said. “First, though, I have to show Karina a picture I took. I think it’s the guy who tried to hurt her last night.”

  She didn’t react to it as if it was a bombshell. Probably because she didn’t trust or believe Harley, either. But Harley seemed convinced he had something.

  “I need to tell yo
u about him first,” Harley explained, looking not at Karina but Cord then Jericho. “Because I don’t want you two arresting me or anything.”

  “Do we have reason to arrest you?” Cord challenged.

  That put some anger in his eyes, and he turned to Karina to continue. “I stumbled onto this by accident when I was at a bar in San Antonio the night before last. I heard two guys talking. Nut jobs. They were saying how they thought the cops had framed Willie Lee and that they should do something about it.”

  “Do what exactly?” Karina asked when Harley didn’t continue.

  Harley shook his head and took a deep breath. “Kill somebody and make it look like the Moonlight Strangler.”

  Everything inside Cord went on alert. Because if this was true, then Harley had been in the right place at exactly the right time to hear just what they needed to hear to solve this.

  Well, maybe.

  If Harley had been the one to attack Karina, he could be using this as a way to deflect the guilt off him. It wouldn’t work unless there was a whole lot of evidence to back it up.

  “Did you get their names?” Cord asked.

  “No. I didn’t exactly feel good about going to two morons who were just talking about murder.” Harley held up his phone again. “But I took their picture.”

  All right. So maybe that was evidence.

  “Any reason you didn’t tell us about this two nights ago?” Jericho demanded before he even looked at the photo.

  “I thought...hoped that it was just talk. And then I heard about the attack and knew they’d done it.”

  Cord snatched the phone from Harley then, and he expected to see an out-of-focus shot. It wasn’t. The image was crystal clear.

  Clear enough to cause Karina to gasp.

  Because the man in the picture was someone they both recognized.

  Chapter Eight

  Rocky.

  Karina knew she shouldn’t be shocked at seeing his picture on Harley’s phone, but it still hit her hard. For days, Rocky had been right by her side, helping her with the horses, and all that time he’d wanted her dead.