Landon shook his head. “There are file numbers, but the lab should be able to give us a name. It might take a court order, though.”
Which meant more hours, or possibly even days, when they didn’t have answers. Was the DNA connected to the baby or did this have something to do with Emmett’s murder?
Landon started the engine just as his phone buzzed again, and Tessa was hoping that Josh had found something else in that envelope. But it wasn’t Josh. Tessa saw Mason’s name on the screen. This time Landon put the call on Speaker.
“We got a problem,” Mason said. “Two men just tried to trespass onto the ranch. And Tessa heard something she didn’t want to hear from the other end of the line.
Someone fired shots.
Chapter Twelve
Landon cursed, threw the truck into gear and started driving—fast. His first instinct was to head to the ranch, but that would be taking Tessa directly into enemy fire. Instead, he could drop her off at the sheriff’s office so he could go and help Mason. Maybe he wouldn’t get there too late.
“Are they shooting at the guesthouse?” Landon asked. Beside him, Tessa was trembling, and she had a death grip on the gun.
Mason didn’t answer for such a long time that Landon had his own death grip on the steering wheel. “No,” Mason finally said. “That was Grayson and Nate who fired, and they weren’t anywhere near any of the houses. They shot the intruders. Both men are dead.”
Landon figured that was the best possible news he could hear right now. “Are there signs of any other gunmen?”
“Doesn’t appear to be, but the ranch hands will patrol the grounds all night to make sure. I’ll also give Gage and Josh a call, but it might be a good idea for all of you to stay away from here until we give you the all clear.”
Yeah, Landon agreed. The ranch was essentially on lockdown and needed to stay that way. “We’ll be at the sheriff’s office until we hear from you. Is the baby okay?”
“She’s fine, but she peed on me. Went right through the diaper. I’m not sure why that keeps happening to me whenever I’m around kids.”
If this had been another cousin, Landon might have thought Mason was saying that to give them some comic relief, but Mason wasn’t the comic-relief type.
“Is Courtney alive?” Mason asked.
“For now. But she didn’t show up for the meeting. She did leave us something, though. The results of a DNA test. I’ll let you know as soon as we know exactly what it is.”
Landon ended the call and raced back to the sheriff’s office—though the place no longer felt exactly safe. The boarded-up front of the building had something to do with that. The explosion hadn’t done any structural damage, but it would be a while before things returned to normal. That included any peace of mind. They weren’t going to get that until this snake was captured and put away.
As soon as they were in the building, Landon moved Tessa back to the interview room. No windows in there, unlike Grayson’s office, which also had some parts of it boarded up. He waited in the hall, and it didn’t take long for Josh to come through the door. However, Landon could tell from his cousin’s expression that it wasn’t good news.
“The lab wouldn’t give you the DNA results,” he said to Josh. Tessa stepped into the hall with Landon.
“Bingo,” Josh confirmed. “It’s a private facility and can’t release them. Hell, they can’t even tell me who submitted the test or whose DNA it is.”
Tessa nodded, let out a long breath and pushed her hair from her face. He hated to see the fear and frustration on her face. Hated even more that those feelings, especially the fear, were warranted.
“Maybe if you tell the lab it’s connected to a murder investigation?” Tessa suggested.
“I already tried that,” Josh assured her. “They still want the court order. But I’ll get started on it right away.”
Since this might take a while, Landon had Tessa sit at the interview table, and he brought her back a bottle of water from the break room fridge. It wasn’t much, especially considering she’d hardly touched the sandwiches they’d had before leaving for the meeting with Courtney, but he figured Tessa’s stomach had to be churning. His certainly was.
“Stating the obvious here, but Courtney’s covering up something,” Tessa volunteered.
It was obvious. Too bad the answers weren’t equally obvious. “Any idea what?”
She took a deep breath first, then a long sip of water. “Keep in mind that I don’t know Courtney that well, but she certainly didn’t confirm that Quincy was her baby’s father.”
Landon nodded. “And she was adamant that Quincy couldn’t have gotten Samantha’s DNA from a pacifier.”
Tessa made a sound of agreement. “Granted, I wasn’t around the baby much before Courtney left her with me, but I never saw her with a pacifier. So why would Quincy claim something like that?”
Landon could think of a reason. “A shortcut. Maybe Samantha really is his child, but since he can’t get a real DNA sample, he created a fake one.”
Of course, that would have taken the help of someone who worked in a lab, but considering Quincy was a criminal, he wouldn’t have had any trouble paying someone off to help him out.
“Did Courtney ever mention being with Quincy or any other man, for that matter?” Landon asked.
“No.” Tessa didn’t pause, either. “She just said things weren’t good between her and Samantha’s father and that she didn’t want him to see the baby.”
Hearing that gave Landon a bad feeling. If Courtney knew about Landon’s connection to Tessa, the woman could have purposely concealed her involvement with Quincy. Or maybe Quincy had been the one to put Courtney up to meeting Tessa.
But why?
What could Quincy have hoped to gain by having his lover get close to Tessa? As sick as Quincy was, maybe he’d planned on trying to seduce Tessa or something so he could sway her into getting revenge against Landon. That was such a long stretch, though, that he didn’t even bring it up to Tessa. Besides, Tessa obviously already had too much to worry about.
“Don’t say you’re sorry again,” Landon warned Tessa when she opened her mouth.
Since she immediately closed her mouth, Landon figured he’d pegged that right.
“I’ve made a mess of your life,” she said. Not an apology but it was still too close to being one, so Landon dropped a kiss on her mouth.
She didn’t look surprised by the kiss. Which was probably a bad thing. They shouldn’t be at the point where he could just give her random kisses and have Tessa look content about it. But that was exactly how she looked—content.
Then she huffed.
No explanation was necessary. The attraction was there, always there. And they didn’t even need a little kiss to remind them of it. This time, though, the attraction didn’t get to turn into anything more than a heated look and the half kiss. That was because Landon heard someone talking in the squad room. Someone he didn’t want to hear talking.
Because it was Ward.
“What did you find?” Landon heard the man ask. Except it wasn’t a simple question. It was a demand.
That got Landon moving back into the hall again, and he didn’t bother to tell Tessa to stay put. Whatever reason Ward was there, it would no doubt involve her anyway.
“What are you talking about?” Josh asked.
Ward huffed as if the answer were obvious. “What did you find on the playground? And don’t bother to lie and say you weren’t there, because I had someone watching the sheriff’s office, and he followed you.”
Josh looked about as uneasy with that as Gage and Landon. Landon went closer, and he made sure it was too close. Since he was a good three inches taller than the man, Landon figured it was time to use his size to do a little intimidating. But even if he hadn�
��t been taller, he would still have been mad enough to spit bullets, and he was about to aim some of that anger at Ward.
“What the hell do you mean, you had someone watching us?” Landon demanded.
Ward’s chin came up, but the confidence didn’t quite make it to his eyes. “I told him to stay back, not to interfere with your investigation, and he didn’t.”
No, but what was disconcerting was that no one had noticed this shadow. Of course, since it was probably a federal agent doing the spying, he could have used some long-range surveillance equipment.
Ward pointed to Josh. “He saw him pick up something, and I want to know what it was.”
“Trash,” Landon said with a straight face. “We don’t like litterbugs around here.”
If looks could kill, Ward would have blasted Landon straight to the hereafter. “It was something about Tessa, wasn’t it? Or the woman you’re looking for—Courtney.”
Landon just stared at him. “If you’re waiting for me to make some kind of buzzer sound to let you know you’ve got a right or wrong answer, that’s not going to happen. The Silver Creek sheriff’s office has jurisdiction over the investigation into the recent attacks, and if we found anything, we don’t have to share it with the feds.”
“This is my investigation!” Ward didn’t shout exactly, but his voice was a couple of notches above normal conversation. This time he pointed at Tessa. “She’s working for Joel. Can’t you see that?”
Tessa came forward and faced Ward head-on. “I’ve had a very bad day,” she said. No longer shaky, just pissed off. “And I’m tired of you accusing me of working for Joel. I loathe the man and nearly got myself and others killed because I was trying to find evidence to have him arrested.”
“I don’t believe that,” Ward argued.
“Tough.” Tessa’s index finger landed against his chest. “Because until you have some kind of proof, I want you to stay far away from me and anyone connected to me.” She turned to go back toward the interview room.
“I can’t do that,” Ward said. “Because I need to find Courtney Hager.”
That stopped Tessa in her tracks, and she turned around slowly to face him. “Why? How do you even know Courtney?”
The muscles got to working in Ward’s jaw. He put his hands on his hips and lowered his head a moment. “I can’t tell you. But she’s part of a federal investigation.”
Mentioning federal was probably a dig at Landon since he’d just played the local-jurisdiction card on Ward.
“A word of advice when it comes to Courtney,” Ward continued a moment later. “Don’t trust her and don’t believe a word she says.”
“Why?” Tessa repeated.
But Ward only shook his head. “If you find her, turn her over to me. I’m the only one who can stop her from being killed.”
And with that, Ward turned and walked out. Landon didn’t bother to follow him and press him for more. They might both have badges, but that was where the similarities ended. They clearly were on opposite sides here, but Landon had to repeat Tessa’s why.
“If he knows Courtney,” Tessa said, “then maybe all of them are connected somehow—Joel, Quincy, Ward and Courtney.”
Yeah, but how?
“I’m calling Kade,” Landon explained, taking out his phone. “He’s still with the FBI, and he might be able to find a link if there is one.”
When his cousin didn’t answer, Landon left him a message to find out if Courtney was in some witness protection program or was a criminal informant. Those two were the most obvious connections, but when people like Joel and Quincy were involved, it was possible this was a plain and simple criminal operation.
And that Courtney was part of it.
“We can’t keep letting this go on,” Tessa said. “And I’ve got an idea how to stop it.”
That got not only Landon’s attention but his cousins’ attention, as well.
“I’m sure it’s all over town that I was drugged,” she continued. “Everyone probably knows I can’t remember all the details of what happened the night Emmett was killed.”
“Because someone drugged you,” Josh provided.
Tessa nodded. “But what if we spread the word that I am remembering, and the memories are becoming clearer. We could even say I’m planning to go through hypnosis or take some kind of truth serum so I can identify Emmett’s killer.”
Landon was the first to curse, but Josh and Gage soon joined in, all of them telling her variations of no way in hell was that going to happen.
Landon huffed after he finished cursing. “You would make yourself an even bigger target than you already are.”
She lifted her hands, palms up. “Someone wants me dead. I can’t imagine that target can get any bigger.”
“Well, imagine it,” Landon snapped. “This killer will stop at nothing to come after you.”
“Apparently, he, or she, will come after me anyway. The killer, the person who hired him or both think I saw something that night. I don’t think I did, but hypnosis couldn’t hurt. Heck, I might remember exactly what we need to catch this person, and if I don’t, the mere threat of me remembering could lure him or her out.”
“And you could be killed.” Hell. Landon didn’t need to say that aloud. Especially since she could be killed with or without the hypnosis, but he wanted to find another way. One that wouldn’t put a bull’s-eye on Tessa’s back.
“You don’t want to hear this,” Josh said to him, “but Tessa is right. This could work.”
“You’re right. I don’t want to hear it.” Landon cursed some more. It didn’t help. Because damn it, Josh was right. It could work. Still, Landon couldn’t make a call like that.
And that made him stupid.
Because he had done exactly what he’d said he wouldn’t do—he’d gotten personally involved with Tessa. He’d lost focus. That could be doubly dangerous for Tessa, the baby and anyone else around them.
Gage went closer, tapped Landon’s badge. “You need to be thinking with this right now. We could use the next twelve hours to get everything ready, and this time we could maybe get ahead of an attack.”
Hell, Gage was right, too, but that still didn’t make this any easier to swallow. Landon was about to do what he didn’t want to do. Give in. But before he could do that, his phone buzzed, and he saw Grayson’s name on the screen. He got an instant punch of fear because this call could be to tell them that there was another intruder at the ranch.
“What’s wrong?” Landon said the moment he answered, and he hoped he was just jumping to conclusions.
He wasn’t.
Landon could tell from Grayson’s pause. And Tessa must have been able to tell from Landon’s expression, because she hurried to him.
“Is it the baby?” she asked.
In case it was, Landon didn’t put the call on Speaker. He just waited for Grayson to continue.
“The sheriff over in Sweetwater Springs called,” Grayson continued. “They found a body.”
“Courtney?” Landon managed to say.
“No. It’s a man, and there’s no ID yet, but there was a note.”
Everything inside Landon went still. Everything except that gut feeling that he was about to hear something he didn’t want to hear.
“The sheriff sent me a picture of a note,” Grayson explained, “and I’m sending it to you now.”
It took but a couple of seconds for Landon’s phone to ding, indicating that he had a text, and it took a few more seconds for the photo to load.
Yeah, this was bad. And not bad just because the note was on a dead man’s chest. But because the note was addressed to Landon. This is for you, Landon. Keep protecting Tessa, and there’ll be another dead body tomorrow.
Chapter Thirteen
Tessa didn�
��t regret putting this plan into motion. Especially after seeing the photo of the note that’d been left on a dead man. But it was hard to tamp down all the emotions that went with making herself bait for a killer.
At least the baby was safe. That was something. Before Landon and the other deputies had leaked the news about her impending hypnosis, they’d made arrangements for a safe house and moved Samantha from the ranch. Along with two lawmen and a nanny. Considering there’d been two attempts by intruders, that was a wise thing to do anyway. It got not only Samantha out of immediate danger but also everyone else on the ranch.
Judging from Landon’s expression, though, that was the only thing he thought was wise about this plan.
But they’d taken other precautions that Tessa felt fell into the wise category. After Grayson and Landon had hashed out the details, they’d agreed that it would be too risky to actually bring in a hypnotist. The killer might try to stop that before the person could even get inside the building. Instead, Grayson had put out the word that the hypnosis session would be done via the computer with an undisclosed therapist.
While Tessa was at the sheriff’s office.
That would keep the hospital staff safe, but what it wouldn’t do was get Tessa the session that might truly end up helping her recover any lost memories. At least, she wouldn’t get the session today. There hadn’t been enough time to set that up, but if this trap didn’t get them the killer, then that was the backup plan.
“All the reserve deputies are in place,” Grayson said when he finished his latest phone call. All of the Ryland lawmen at the sheriff’s office—Grayson, Dade, Josh and Landon—had been making lots of phone calls to set all of this up. All doing everything possible to make sure she was safe.
Maybe it would be enough.
“Where are the reserves?” Landon asked.
“Both ends of Main Street, and I’ve got the other two positioned on the roofs of the diner and the hardware store.”
Good. That would stop someone from launching an attack like the previous two. Tessa also knew that security had been beefed up at the ranch just in case the snake after them hadn’t gotten the word that the baby had been moved.
Landon Page 12
