Sheltered by the Lawman (Lawmen of Wyoming Book 5)

by Rhonda Lee Carver

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  “Can you give me a detailed description of the woman and man who show up in your visions?” This could very well be the rung to the ladder that would bring them closer to nailing the asshole who tried to kill her. Cull would bet his eye teeth that the widow knew something, if she wasn’t in on it. Had she found out that Yates was cheating and she feared a scandal would harm her chances in getting elected?

  “I can try.”

  “Whatever you can give me is fine.” He pulled out his small notebook and pen. “Let’s have a seat and you can slowly give me details.”

  Once she was seated, he watched her close her eyes. “Tall…beautiful. Her hair, it wasn’t real. A platinum blonde wig. She had on white slacks.” She opened her eyes.

  “Was there anything about her that was different? Anything that stood out?”

  “Outside of the wig? The jewelry she wore. I found it odd that someone that rich was in a bad neighborhood.”

  He blinked. “Wait…a bad neighborhood? Where?”

  “I didn’t realize I knew that. Wait…a Chinese restaurant with a large flashing sign advertising sweet and sour chicken. That’s where I saw her. Peking. That’s the name.”

  “Not too far from your apartment.” He recognized the place she was referring to.

  She shrugged. “And then, just like that, my brain goes back to fuzziness. I need more coffee?”

  He watched her get up and go into the kitchen, starting another pot. “What about the man?”

  “Tall. Stocky. Mean looking. He was dressed in black.” She looked at him. “That’s not much. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s better than nothing. What it means is that your memory is coming back.” He tapped the pen against the notebook.

  “You know I’m not an expert, but maybe my lover’s—” her nose wrinkled. “wife wanted me dead. Do you think when she found out her husband was sleeping with me she couldn’t stand the thought and came to my apartment and tried to kill me?”

  He sat back into the chair. “Good point, but a woman like Widow Yates doesn’t get her hands dirty.”

  “So, she hired someone?”

  “Yeah. Possible.”

  Once the coffee was brewed, she poured them each a fresh cup. “It’s frustrating.” She rolled her finger around the rim of her cup. “I want to help you. If it isn’t bad enough to feel like I’m suspended in the darkness, I could be a very horrible person.” She nibbled her bottom lip. “Did you think I was faking my memory loss?”

  “It had crossed my mind,” he said, wanting to take the frown away from her.

  “What if I am a killer? I’ll be in prison, Cull.”

  He could see the tears in her eyes. He wanted to go to her, but he stayed still. “You told me your heart knows what it knows, Monica. Are you telling me your heart doesn’t know that you wouldn’t hurt anyone? Mine knows.”

  “Don’t do that. That’s unfair.”

  “It’s unfair that I believe in you?”

  “You don’t know me.” She sniffed. “Those pictures, only a monster could do that to another person. Wouldn’t I have marks on my hands?” She set her cup down and lifted her hands, palms up. “Wouldn’t I have nicks on my fingers? Bruises all over me? I can’t understand.”

  “If you were wearing gloves, maybe not. Right now, we have no other clues to anyone else being in the room with Yates.” He stared at her several beats and the color drained from her face. “Sweetheart, are you okay?”

  Her eyelids fluttered and her hands shook. In the next second she started to fall but he was quick and caught her limp body. He looked down at her. She had passed out.

  ****

  “It’s not her, you idiot!”

  Tinman looked at the rich widow. “What do you mean it’s not her? I saw her with my own eyes,” he growled.

  “You really are an idiot, aren’t you?” She nailed him with heavily made up eyes. She was wearing a red evening gown . The neckline plunged deep between two perfect breasts.

  He resisted the urge to wrap his hands around the skinny bitch’s neck. One squeeze and he’d have her gasping for air. Unfortunately, the freaking cunt had her bodyguard breathing down his neck. Although Tinman had his gun and could shoot the bastard, it would be messy and he was cutting back on the carnage. Payday was too close to fuck up. However, he could fantasize of killing the rich bitch. Her death would be payment for what he’d had to endure since she’d hired him to kill her husband. He reached for his pack of cigarettes and took one out, lighting it, needing nicotine fast. A throbbing headache pounded at his temples. The doctor said six months but his vision and the headaches were getting worse.

  “The lawman came back to my house. He showed me a picture of the woman you attempted to kill.” Her lip curled and her pert nose wrinkled. “I’m sure he wanted to see my reaction but it’s a damn good thing I know how to keep my emotions under wrap. The bitch he thinks is Monica is not the fucking slut you were supposed to knock off, you stupid ass.” She straightened her shawl around her shoulders.

  “I followed Cade to the cunt’s house and snuck up the fire escape. She showed up, fit the description and I knocked her over the head. It’s her.”

  “Are you wanting me to explain the details? This is all your fault. I told you bringing the lawman into the picture would cause problems. That was your idea. Why didn’t you just let him bring her in instead of you going to her apartment? What detective can’t track an elephant in broad daylight. You. That’s who. Your brain is about as worthless as you are. And why don’t you take a bath. You look like roadkill.”

  Tinman suddenly felt sorry for Yates. He was better off dead than dealing with his wife. Laying his hand on his thigh, it hurt like a mother fucker. He growled. “I didn’t expect the cunt to show up at her apartment. I searched her place to see if I could find any clue where she had gone. Imagine my surprise when she strolls right in, like a baby to candy. If anyone didn’t use their brain, it was you.” He reached into his pocket and dropped an envelope onto the picnic table. “Know what these are?”

  She squinted but her Botoxed face didn’t move. “What? Your application for a brain?”

  “Evidence. Maybe I should have left these juicy pictures behind for the police to find. That would have certainly taken care of my problem,” he snarled.

  “Evidence? What evidence?”

  “I found a recorded conversation Monica had of you two talking. It seems the bitch was blackmailing you. And these.” He laughed and took out the pictures from the envelope. “Apparently, she was not only taking your husband and his money, but she wanted your money too.”

  Widow Yates didn’t even look at the pictures. “What do you want? More money?”

  “I think you got caught in your own web. You hired her to kill your husband, but Yates liked that pussy so much he gave her everything she wanted. Wow, that must have really pissed you off. When you realized you were in deep shit, you wanted both dead. Who’s the idiot now? Good thing I found the stash and Cade didn’t. Let’s just say, you’d be wearing orange right now instead of red.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I hired you to take out my shitty husband that couldn’t keep his dick in his pants and his whore, not to examine the case.”

  “You wanted your husband dead and you got it. I got rid of the one staff member at the motel who could burn us. No one knows about the Warren chick because I made sure of it. Bitch, ain’t you ever happy?”

  “Did you forget about your friend Cade?”

  “Get your head out of your ass. It’s messy but I’ll take care of things.”

  “Give me the tape and the photos,” she demanded.

  “No. I plan to keep them.” He stuffed the pictures back into the envelope and into his pocket.

  Jonesy growled and took a step forward, but Tinman shook his head. “Watch yourself, big guns. Do you really think I didn’t make copies and they will be mailed if I don’t show up? Let’s call this insurance.” He chuckled. He
swiped his free hand down his whiskered jaw. “FYI, madam. What the hell was the wrong woman doing in the apartment?”

  “How do I know? You’re the lawman. Figure it out.”

  He smiled and winked. “It doesn’t really matter. I’ll take care of both women.”

  She wrinkled her nose as if he was dirt on the bottom of her shoe. “You’ve had your chance to take care of her. You let my husband’s whore get away.”

  “Honey, I had a piano wire in my hands sending your husband to his death bed. Should I have left him half alive so I could chase her down?” He blew out a long breath.

  “This was supposed to go down simple. You said offering the reward would help me look like the sad wife wanting to catch her husband’s killer. She should be dead too! However, you bring in an outsider to help find her, which I still can’t understand. I swear, if that Cade shows up at my door again I’ll strangle you with my bare hands.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, sure.”’

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” She attempted to lift a brow.

  “You don’t think inviting your booty call over two nights a week isn’t suspicious? If you get caught that’s from your own ignorance, not mine. It’s proven that all the money in the world doesn’t make you smart…or clever.”

  “Who do you think you are?” She lifted her hand and drew it back, ready to slap him but he caught her wrist between two fingers and brought his free hand up to surround her neck. She gasped in shock. Tinman guessed not many people stood up to her.

  Jonesy moved forward but Tinman growled, “I wouldn’t if I were you. I’ll snap this bitch’s neck before you can get to me. Now back off.”

  “It’s okay, Jonesy. I’ve got this”

  Tinman let go and pushed her slightly.

  She fixed her clothing as if he’d torn at them. “What I do with my personal life is none of your business. You have twenty-four hours to take care of this or I’ll do it my way.” She stuck her purse under her arm pit.

  “Yeah, what way is that? Whatever money can afford?”

  “You’re wasting my time.”

  “I want my money,” he demanded.

  “Then do your job.” Her lips thinned into a straight line.

  “I’ll find the real Monica and she’ll get what’s coming to her, but what about the mysterious bitch at Cade’s?”

  “My God, you’re really like talking to a simpleton.”

  Since Cade told him that he was keeping her at his house, Tinman had been on pins and needles waiting for this to blow up in his face. If she saw his face, why wasn’t Cade after him? It didn’t make sense. If anyone suspected that Tinman had been shot that would raise lots of suspicion. Up until now, he’d done a good job at keeping it hidden. Cade had kept thwarting the plans and Tinman was at the edge of his patience.

  “Take care of them both and you’ll have your money. Fuck this up and you can kiss it goodbye. Please don’t make me have this conversation with you again. And something else, if you ever lay a finger on me again I’ll have Jonesy cut your tongue out and stick it up your ass.”

  Chapter 18

  “YOU DON’T HAVE to stay here with me. I’m okay,” Monica loaded the last dish into the dishwasher and pushed power. “Tell your mother thanks for sending over food for dinner.”

  “I know I don’t have to stay, but I want to. Do you want to talk about it?”

  Her back was ramrod straight and her chin had a stubborn tilt. They’d eaten in silence with her telling him several times that he could leave. “There’s nothing to talk about. I passed out. I’m fine now.”

  “You were upset and stressed. You’d just looked at pictures of a dead man.”

  She washed her hands and dried them on a dishtowel, then grabbed a damp dishrag to scrub the already spotless countertop. She had restless energy and didn’t know what to do with herself. “It’s not everyday a woman finds out she killed a man and is an escort. Having no clue what brought her to that lifestyle, she still couldn’t imagine having sex with strangers for money. What else would she find out before this was all over?

  ****

  He shifted on the barstool, keeping his gaze locked on her. “I believe you didn’t do it.”

  She stopped scrubbing to meet his gaze. “How can you be sure?”

  Wow. She was gorgeous with her hair falling this way and that from the topknot, as well as the pink flush to her cheeks. He was getting hard just looking at her, and he had no right to feel this way. Hadn’t he already turned her world upside down? “We don’t have to talk about this anymore.”

  “Good.”

  He stared at her, his gaze frozen on her beauty. He wanted to kiss her again, to feel her defenses melt away. To feel her response to his touch. They could be good together. He knew this.

  Cull’s hands shook from the constraint. He knew he must be wearing his attraction like a scarlet letter badge. The tension between them was palpable.

  She looked at the counter, breaking the connection of their gazes.

  His heart pounded.

  “I’m going to take a shower.” He started for the bathroom and he looked back to see the curiosity on her face. “If you haven’t already figured it out, I’m staying here tonight.” Her eyes widened some. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep my hands to myself, but no way in hell will I leave you tonight.”

  He made his way into the bathroom, his constraint falling away like heavy shackles. He grabbed the hem of his shirt and dragged it over his head, then eased down the zipper of his jeans, shucking them, feeling some relief in his body. He’d had a constant hard-on for days and he was beginning to believe his cock would be bruised. Sitting on the edge of the cold tub, he tried to ignore his raging dick.

  Over the last week he’d gotten sidetracked from his life, his goals, as he searched for answers for Monica. How the hell had things got so twisted and turned upside down. Why did he have to have feelings for a woman who was surrounded in chaos? He blew out a long breath.

  Yeah, he had feelings for her and the longer he was near her, the more deep rooted they became.

  He turned on the water, more cold than hot, letting it run a few seconds before he climbed under the spray. He leaned back against the cool ceramic wall and closed his eyes, relaxing. His mind remained full of Monica, her flushed features and the way her hair brushed her cheeks. When she’d passed out, his heart had dropped to his toes. He got that this was all a bit much—no, a freaking hurricane.

  Cull couldn’t get his mind off her. Man, she was beautiful, sexy and kind.

  He believed in her innocence. The person who strangled Yates had to be strong enough to cut so deep that it reached the spine. He’d investigated enough deaths by strangling that this was not done by the hand of a woman.

  Yet, did that make her completely innocent? No. She could have been involved and could have been a witness to the man’s death.

  He washed his hair and face a little roughly wishing he could scrape away the turmoil inside his body.

  Knowing how he felt, why did he tell her he was staying? Why didn’t he offer for her to stay next door in his childhood room and he’d take the bed in the apartment? He knew why. No one could protect her as well as he could, and he wanted to be near her.

  Could he uphold his promise that he’d keep his hands to himself? He remembered how she felt in his arms. So soft. So right. His balls clenched despite the cold water.

  A knock came on the door. He heard mumbling and opened the shower curtain wide. Monica stood in the doorway, her eyes wide.

  “Oh crap. I’m sorry.” She twirled and covered her eyes.

  He smiled. “It’s okay, Monica. You’ve seen a man naked before.”

  “But I don’t remember,” she reminded him. “I wasn’t coming in to get a peek.”

  He wondered how it was possible that she could seem so modest when in her line of work, modesty wasn’t a virtue. “I don’t mind. I guess this is turnabout fair play after I saw you naked.”

  “Oh.
” Through the mirror he could see her flushed profile. “I had forgotten.”

  He ducked under the water again to get any remaining suds off. She still stood there with her back turned to him.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Finishing my shower.”

  “Your phone rang three times so I brought it in here and put in on the sink. I thought it might be important.”

  “Thank you.” He shut off the water. “Would you mind handing me a towel?”

  She reached behind her, grabbed a folded towel from the rack and handed it to him, all the while keeping her eyes forward. “What are we doing here, Cull?”

  “I’m drying off and you’re keeping your back to me,” he said flatly.

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Yes, I do. I’ve been tortured before and nothing stacks up to the torture of you and I dancing around the elephant in the room.” He knew it was best just to speak honestly.

  “The elephant in the room?”

  “The attraction between us.”

  She was quiet for a long moment. “I’ll meet you in the living room.” She closed the door.

  His body was hard…again.

  He closed his fingers around his shaft and squeezed firmly, stroking the firm muscle up and down, until he swelled to bursting point. What would Monica feel like? What would she feel like wrapped around him?

  A lot better than his hand.

  He dropped his hand and stepped out of the tub. She had him in tangles. He dragged the towel around his hips and knotted it.

  When he stepped into the living room, she was asleep on the couch. Her breathing was rhythmic, and her eyes rolled under her eyelids as if she were dreaming. Did she fall asleep early so she wouldn’t have to face him?

  Grabbing the soft blanket off the back of the couch, he laid it over her carefully not to disturb her.

  It was for the best they didn’t face each other anymore tonight. It was hard telling what they’d do.

  Slipping into his boots, he stepped outside to get a breath of fresh air. The moon was shining brightly and there were a thousand stars which helped light his way as he started down the stairs to give the property one last check before he settled in.