Landon

by Delores Fossen

  “Possibly. I’ll ask him about that when he comes in for questioning in the morning.” Grayson paused. “But you should know that Ward is saying that Tessa’s responsible, that she hired the person who tried to kill him.” Another pause. “Ward is demanding that I arrest her.”

  Chapter Nine

  Tessa’s nerves were still raw and right at the surface, and walking into the sheriff’s office didn’t help. Neither would coming face-to-face with Ward, since he was accusing her of a serious crime that could lead to her arrest. Still, she wanted to confront him, wanted to try to get to the truth. But there was a problem with that.

  Landon.

  He didn’t want her anywhere near Ward when the agent was being questioned. It had taken some doing for Tessa to talk him into allowing her to go with him and that had been only after she’d agreed she wouldn’t take part in the interrogation. However, she would be able to listen and she was hoping Landon could convince Ward that she’d had no part in running him off the road.

  “Move fast,” Landon reminded her the moment they stepped from his truck.

  He’d parked it directly in front of the sheriff’s office, so it was only a few steps outside, but considering the hired gun had fired those shots just the day before, with each step, she felt as if she were in a combat zone. No way would Tessa mention that, though, since Landon was no doubt leaning toward the idea of having someone escort her back to the ranch so she could stay with the baby, his lawman cousins and the rest of his family. They’d left the baby with Mason and the nanny, and while she didn’t want them to be inconvenienced for too long, this meeting was important.

  “Is Ward here yet?” Landon asked Grayson the moment they were inside. Landon also moved her away from the window. Not that he had to do much to make that happen, since Tessa had no plans to stand anywhere near the glass.

  Grayson nodded. “Ward’s in the interview room. He still wants you arrested for hiring the person who ran him off the road,” he added to Tessa.

  Tessa had figured Ward wouldn’t have a change of heart about that, but she had to shake her head. “Has he said why he believes I did that?”

  “Not yet, but he’s claiming he has proof.”

  Since Tessa knew she was innocent, there was no proof. But Ward might believe he had something incriminating.

  “Well, we have proof of his connection to the dead woman who tried to kill us,” Landon countered.

  But there was something in Grayson’s expression that indicated otherwise. “We checked the phone records. Ward didn’t answer the call from her.”

  Tessa groaned because she knew that meant Ward could claim not only that he didn’t know the woman but also that the call had been made to set him up.

  And it was possible that was true.

  Heck, it was possible that the same person was trying to set up both of them. Joel maybe? Or Quincy? Tessa knew why Joel or even Quincy might want to set her up, but what she needed to find out was if and how Ward was connected to this.

  “Quincy’s lawyer has been pestering us this morning,” Grayson went on. “He’s trying to find a judge who’ll grant him temporary custody.”

  Landon cursed under his breath. “Then I need to find a judge who’ll block his every move.” He tipped his head to the interview room. “Speaking of our sometimes-warped legal system, did Ward manage to get a warrant for Tessa’s arrest?”

  Grayson shook his head. “But he claims he’s working on it.”

  “I am,” someone said.

  Ward.

  The lanky sandy-haired agent was standing in the doorway of the interview room and stepped into the hall. His attention stayed nailed to her.

  It didn’t surprise her that Ward had heard Landon and her talking with Grayson. In fact, he’d no doubt been listening for her to arrive so he could confront her with the stupid allegation that she’d tried to kill him.

  “Tessa,” Ward greeted, but it wasn’t a friendly tone.

  He walked closer. Or rather he limped closer. In addition to the limping, there was also a three-inch bandage on the left side of his forehead and a bruise on his cheek. It was obvious he’d been banged up, but Tessa figured she beat him in the banged-up-looking department.

  Grayson tipped his head to the interview room. “You and I will go back in there and get started.”

  But Ward didn’t budge. “Why do you want me dead?” he asked Tessa.

  “I could ask you the same thing,” she countered. It was obvious that neither Grayson nor Landon wanted her to confront Ward, but Tessa couldn’t stop herself.

  Ward scowled at her. “If I’d wanted you dead, I wouldn’t have hired some idiot gunwoman who just happened to be carrying a phone that she used to call me. Lots of people know my phone number. Even you.”

  That was true, but that didn’t mean Ward was innocent. It could have been a simple mistake, or else done as a sort of reverse psychology.

  “Why do you think I’m trying to kill you?” Tessa asked.

  Ward glanced at Landon. Then Grayson. “That was something I’d planned on telling the Texas Rangers. I figure the Silver Creek lawmen are a little too cozy with you to make sure justice is served.”

  Landon stepped closer, and he had that dangerous look in his eyes. “I always make sure justice is served,” he snarled. “And you’d better rein in your accusations when it comes to me, Tessa and anyone else in this sheriff’s office.”

  The anger snapped through Ward’s eyes, and she could tell he wanted to challenge that. But he wasn’t in friendly territory here, and he was indeed throwing out serious accusations that Tessa knew he couldn’t back up.

  “Let’s take this to the interview room,” Grayson said, and it wasn’t a suggestion. He sounded just as dangerous as Landon.

  “You’re not joining us?” Ward asked when she didn’t go any farther than the doorway.

  While she wanted to know answers, she didn’t want to compromise the interrogation that could possibly help them learn about a killer. “I just want to hear whatever proof you claim to have against me.”

  Ward didn’t say anything, but he took out his phone and pressed a button. It didn’t take long for the recorded voice to start pouring through the room.

  “Tessa Sinclair can’t be trusted,” the person said. “She paid my friend to try to kill you.”

  That was it, all of the message, and the voice was so muffled that Tessa couldn’t even tell if it was a man or a woman. But it didn’t matter. Someone was trying to frame her.

  “Is there any proof to go along with that?” Grayson asked, taking the question right out of her mouth.

  Ward’s face tightened. “No. And the call came from a prepaid cell that couldn’t be traced.”

  Even though Tessa already knew there wouldn’t be real proof, the relief flooded through her. “Someone’s trying to set us up.”

  “Why would you think Tessa had done something like this?” Landon asked as soon as she’d finished speaking.

  Ward lifted his shoulder. “I figured it was all connected. Emmett’s murder. Joel. And what with Tessa being involved with Joel—”

  “I wasn’t involved with him,” Tessa interrupted. “At least, not involved in the way you’re making it sound. I was trying to find proof to send him to jail. So was Emmett. That’s why he was at my house the night someone killed him.”

  Ward shifted his attention to Landon. “And that someone left that note tying you to the murder?”

  Landon just nodded, but Tessa could tell from the way his back straightened that the connection not only sickened him but was also the reason he’d moved back to Silver Creek.

  “What do you know about Quincy Nagel?” Landon asked.

  Ward just stared at him. “He’s involved in this?”

  Landon stared at Ward,
too. “I asked first.”

  Ward clearly didn’t care for Landon’s tone, but Tessa didn’t care for Ward’s hesitation on what was a fairly simple question.

  “Word on the street is that Quincy wants to get back at you for arresting him. He blames you for being paralyzed.” Ward paused again. “But I don’t know whether or not he’s connected to any of this.” He huffed and scrubbed his hand over his face. “In fact, I don’t know what the hell is going on.”

  Tessa felt relief about that, too. At least he wasn’t yapping about trying to have her arrested.

  “I’m shaken up, I guess,” Ward went on a moment later. But then there was more of that anger in his eyes when he looked at her. “Swear to me that you didn’t have anything to do with trying to kill me.”

  This was an easy response for her. “I swear. Now I want you to do the same. That gunwoman fired shots into the building. I don’t want Landon or anyone else hurt because you’re gunning for me.”

  Ward huffed. “And why exactly do you think I’d be gunning for you?”

  Tessa took a couple of moments to figure out the best way to say this, but there was no best way. “I thought you could be working with Joel.”

  A burst of air left Ward’s mouth. Definitely not humor but surprise. “Not a chance.”

  “Ditto,” Tessa countered. “I don’t work for him, either.”

  The silence came, and so did the stares, and it didn’t sit well between them. Tessa could almost feel the tension smothering her. It helped, though, when Landon’s arm brushed against hers. She wasn’t even sure it was intentional until she glanced up at him.

  Yes, it was intentional.

  Soon, very soon, they were going to have to deal with this unwanted attraction between them.

  “Did your memory return?” Ward asked her.

  The question was so abrupt that it threw her for a moment. “How did you know I’d lost it?”

  “Word gets out about that sort of thing. Did you remember everything?” Ward pressed.

  Everything but what mattered most to Landon—who’d murdered Emmett.

  “My memory is fine,” Tessa settled for saying, and she watched Ward’s reaction.

  At least, she would have watched for it if he hadn’t dodged her gaze. “And the baby that was with you when Landon rescued you from that burning barn? How is she?”

  Tessa decided it was a good time to stay quiet and wait to see where he was going with this. It was possible Ward thought she had indeed given birth, because they’d mainly dealt with each other over the phone and it’d been months since she’d seen him in person.

  “The baby’s okay, too,” Landon answered.

  Ward volleyed glances between them, clearly expecting more, but neither Landon nor she gave him anything else. If they admitted the baby wasn’t theirs, the word might get back to Quincy. She didn’t want him to have any more fodder for trying to get custody of the baby.

  Ward’s glances lasted a few more seconds before he turned his head toward Grayson. “Could we get on with this interview? I also want to read Tessa’s statement on the attacks.”

  “We’re still processing the statement,” Grayson volunteered.

  Since Tessa had made one the night before, she doubted there was any processing to do, but she was thankful that Grayson seemed to be on her side. About this, anyway.

  Landon put her hand on her back to get her moving. Not that he had to encourage her much. Tessa figured she’d personally gotten everything she could get from Ward.

  “You believe him?” Landon asked. “Do you trust him?” he amended. He didn’t take her back into the squad room but rather to the break room at the back of the building.

  “No to both. I believe he could have been set up with that phone call from the gunwoman. Just as someone set me up with that phone call to him. But I’m not taking him off our suspect list.”

  Our.

  She hadn’t meant to pause over that word, and it sounded, well, intimate or something. Still, Landon and she had been working together, so the our applied.

  “I should call the ranch and check on the baby,” she said. She’d already walked on enough eggshells today, and besides, she did want to check on Samantha.

  Landon took out his phone, made the call and then put it on Speaker when Mason answered. “Anything wrong?” Mason immediately asked.

  “Fine. We’re just making sure Samantha is okay.”

  “Yeah, I figured that’s why you were calling. Are you sure you aren’t the parents? Because you’re acting like the kid is yours.”

  Landon scowled. “I’m sure. And just drop the subject and don’t make any other suggestions like you did last night.”

  She couldn’t be sure, but she thought maybe Mason chuckled. She had to be wrong about that. Mason wasn’t the chuckling type.

  “Quincy’s not backing off the custody suit,” Landon explained. “He’s the kind of snake who’d try to sneak someone onto the ranch to steal the baby.”

  “The hands have orders to shoot at any trespassers—even one who happens to be in a wheelchair.”

  “Good. Tessa and I won’t be much longer, and we’ll head back to the ranch as soon as Grayson finishes his chat with Ward.”

  Landon ended the call, but as he was putting his phone away, his gaze met hers. “What?” he asked.

  Tessa hadn’t realized she was looking puzzled, but she apparently was. “What suggestions did Mason make?” But the moment she asked it, Tessa wished she could take it back, because Landon looked even more annoyed than he had when Mason had brought it up.

  “Mason thinks you and I are together again,” Landon finally said.

  Tessa wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Embarrassed that Mason had picked up on the attraction or worried that what she felt for Landon—what she’d always felt for him—was more than just mere attraction.

  “He suggested...” But Landon stopped, waved it off. “He suggested, since it already looks as if we’re together, that we should raise the baby. If Quincy is the father, that is, but isn’t granted custody.”

  She figured Mason had suggested a little more than that. Maybe like Landon and her becoming lovers again. Which was the last thing Landon wanted. She hadn’t heard any part of his conversation with his cousin, because he’d stepped outside the guest cottage to take the call, but now Tessa wished she’d listened in.

  But then she was the one to mentally wave that off.

  She didn’t need to be spinning any kind of fantasies about Landon, even ones that included the baby’s future.

  “That kiss shouldn’t have happened,” Landon said, and his tone indicated it wouldn’t happen again. It did, though.

  Almost.

  He brushed a kiss on her forehead, and his mouth lingered there for a moment as if it might continue. But then they heard something that neither of them wanted to hear.

  Joel.

  “I have to see Landon and Tessa now,” Joel practically shouted. “It’s an emergency.”

  Mercy. What now?

  Landon cursed again, and he stepped in front of her as they made their way back to the squad room. Considering the volume and emotion in Joel’s voice, Tessa halfway expected to see the man hurt and bleeding. Maybe the victim of another attack. Or the victim of something staged to look like an attack. There didn’t appear to be a scratch on Joel, though.

  “What do you want?” Landon snarled, and he didn’t sound as if he wanted to hear a word the man had to say.

  Joel went toward them. His breath was gusting, and he held out his phone. At first Tessa couldn’t tell what was on the screen, but as Joel got closer, she saw the photo of the woman.

  Oh, God.

  “That’s Courtney,” she said, snatching the phone from Joel.

  Now, here
was someone who looked hurt and bleeding, and Courtney’s blond hair was in a tangled mess around her face.

  A face etched with fear.

  “Look at what she’s holding,” Joel insisted, stabbing his index finger at the screen.

  But Joel hadn’t needed to point out the white sign that Courtney had gripped in her hands. Or the two words that were scrawled on the sign.

  Help me.

  Chapter Ten

  Landon groaned and motioned for Dade to have a look at the picture Joel had just shown them.

  “You’re sure that’s the missing woman?” Dade asked Tessa.

  “I’m sure it’s Courtney,” Tessa answered, though she had to repeat it for her response to have any sound. She was trembling now, and some of the color had drained from her face. “Where is she? How did you get that picture?”

  The questions were aimed at Joel, and Landon was about to put the guy in cuffs when he shook his head. “I don’t know who or where she is,” Joel insisted. “Someone texted me that picture about twenty minutes ago.”

  Hell. Twenty minutes was a lifetime if Courtney truly did need someone to help her. Landon hoped that if wasn’t an issue and that the woman wasn’t faking this.

  “That looks like the bridge on Sanderson’s Road,” Dade said after he studied the photo a moment.

  It did, though it’d been years since Landon had been out there. There were two routes that led in and out of town, and Sanderson’s Road wasn’t the one that most people took.

  “I’ll call in Gage and Josh to head out there now,” Dade added. He took out his phone and stepped away.

  Joel moved as if to step away, as well, but Landon grabbed him by the arm. “Who’s the someone who texted you that picture?”

  “I don’t know. Whoever it was blocked the number.”

  Landon would still have the lab check Joel’s phone to see if there was some way to trace it. Or maybe there was even some way to figure out who’d taken the picture. It clearly wasn’t a selfie, because he could see both of Courtney’s hands, but whoever had snapped the shot was standing close to her.