“Fine,” Simon finally snapped. “You can question Alma...” Then he stopped, his attention going to the window.
Griff immediately turned in that direction, putting Rachel behind him in case there was about to be another attack. But it wasn’t a gun.
It was Sheriff Raleigh Lawton.
This was another first, for Rachel to see her half brother, but she didn’t question who he was. Maybe because there was a strong resemblance between him and her other brothers.
She made a sound, a soft moan that came from deep in her throat, and she took hold of Griff’s arm. Maybe because she was feeling dizzy, but it probably had more to do with seeing the proof of her father’s infidelity.
“Sheriff McCord,” Raleigh said in greeting when he came in. “Ranger Morris.”
“Griff,” he automatically corrected, though he figured Raleigh preferred to stick with the formal title. The man had certainly been keeping his distance from his half siblings.
And his father.
Raleigh nodded a silent greeting to Rachel, but his gaze did linger on her for several moments. It was as if he was studying her features, just as she was doing to him.
“I’m sorry about the trouble you had,” Raleigh told her, before turning to his mother.
“Thank you for coming,” Alma said. Obviously, she’d called Raleigh to tell him about the interview.
“Yes, thank you,” Simon repeated. “You need to convince your fellow cop to back off.”
Raleigh shrugged in that same lazy way that Egan had just moments earlier. “Actually, I’m not here just for my mother, Simon. I’m also here because of you.”
And with that, Raleigh shifted his attention from Simon to Egan. “I have some possible evidence that my mother’s lawyer might have been the one who tried to kill Rachel.”
Chapter Six
Rachel wasn’t sure who was more stunned by Raleigh’s accusation—Simon or everyone else in the squad room.
From the moment she’d seen her half brother come walking in, she’d thought he’d come to defend his mother and give them a good dressing down for “harassing” her. Instead, it was possible he was giving them their first real lead that could help them solve this case and put an end to the danger.
Well, Raleigh could be doing that if he actually had something.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Simon snarled. Obviously, there was no love lost between Raleigh and him because Simon gave him a look that could have frozen Texas in summer. “What possible evidence?”
The veins were suddenly bulging on Simon’s neck. In contrast, though, Alma didn’t seem angry. However, it appeared she was on the verge of crying. Her eyes watered.
“Sheriff Ryland in Silver Creek found a dead guy,” Raleigh explained, “and when he sent out the picture, I immediately recognized him.” He took out his phone, pulled up a photo of a man and turned the screen toward Simon for him to see. “I think you’ll recognize him, too.”
Simon took a quick intake of breath when he saw the picture. Raleigh then showed it to Griff, Egan and her. But not to his mother. Maybe because he didn’t want her to see the man who was obviously dead from a gunshot wound.
“Who is he?” Griff asked.
“Dennis Gale,” Raleigh and Simon answered in unison.
It was Raleigh who continued. “Dennis was a PI, and he worked for Simon.”
Well, that was a connection that Simon obviously didn’t want. Because it connected him not only to the dead guy but also to the car bomb.
“Dennis used to work for me,” Simon corrected. “I fired him about a month ago.”
“Why?” That question came from Griff, but Rachel figured any one of them could have asked it. Alma included, since her eyes widened a little in what appeared to be surprise.
Simon glanced around as if searching for the right way to explain this. Of course, the right way for him would be an explanation that would no longer make him a person of interest.
“Dennis was a drunk,” Simon finally said. “He botched a case where I had him keeping surveillance on a client’s wife. He tried to shake down the wife for money, and in exchange he wouldn’t report to me that she’d been doing some illegal things. The wife came to me, and since she had a recording of Dennis trying to blackmail her, I fired him.”
“And you didn’t come to me with any of that?” Raleigh snarled.
“Attorney-client privilege,” Simon snarled right back. “There were things on the recording that would have violated what my client told me in confidence.” He paused, muttered some profanity. “Obviously Dennis got himself mixed up in something bad.”
“Yeah,” Griff agreed. “Something that implicates you. Where were you last night?”
Simon’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t like that question aimed at him any more than he had when Griff had asked it of Alma.
“I was at work in my office until around 10:00 p.m.,” he snapped. “And yes, someone saw me there. I have a cleaning service that was in the building all the way up until the time I left.”
“That doesn’t mean you didn’t hire someone to launch the attack in Silver Creek,” Griff quickly pointed out. “Someone like your former PI. Then, you could have killed Dennis when he failed to kill Rachel.”
Simon cursed, and it was so raw that it caused Alma to blush. “I think you’d better go ahead and start that interview with me,” she said to Egan. “I’d like to get out of here as soon as possible.”
Egan glanced at Raleigh, Simon and her before he shrugged again and started walking toward the interview room. “Don’t think the questions for you are over,” he warned Simon. “They’re just beginning.”
Good. Because if Simon knew anything, then maybe her brother could figure out a way to get him to talk.
“You really think Simon could have hired a killer?” Griff asked Raleigh after the others were in the interview room.
A muscle flickered in the man’s jaw. “I don’t know. He hates Warren, and he’s in love with my mother. That’s a bad combination.”
Yes, it was. “You don’t happen to have financials on Simon, do you?” Rachel pressed.
“No. But I might be able to get them because of Dennis’s murder.” Raleigh looked at her. “Are you okay? Were you hurt in the attack?”
She felt a tightness in her chest, and it took her a moment to realize why. Raleigh’s tone sounded, well, brotherly. Part of her didn’t like that. She didn’t want to have this man feel any connection whatsoever to her. Ditto for her not wanting to feel anything for him. But simply put, none of this was Raleigh’s fault. He hadn’t asked his mother and her father to have an affair, and now they were all having to live with the consequences.
“You don’t have to answer,” Raleigh went on, “but how’s your mother?”
Again, it sounded somewhat brotherly, and while she didn’t want to talk about this with Raleigh, she didn’t see any reason to be rude about it, either. “She’s about the same, still in the hospital.” No need for her to clarify that it was a mental hospital or that her mother had had a breakdown. Raleigh almost certainly knew all that.
So that she wouldn’t have to continue this conversation, Rachel was about to remind Griff that she wanted to listen to Alma’s interview, but Raleigh spoke again.
“I’ll let Egan know this, too, but I got a threatening email this morning.” He took a piece of paper from his pocket. “I printed it out after I forwarded it to the FBI so they can try to figure out who sent it.”
They’d had no luck with that so far. Whoever was emailing them was bouncing the messages off foreign servers. Still, maybe the sender had made a mistake this time and not covered his or her tracks.
Griff took the paper from Raleigh, and Rachel moved closer to him so she could read it. The words seemed to jump right out at her: “Sheriff Warren McCall will pay for wha
t he’s done, and that means you’re going to die. I’ll make sure all of his children die while he watches.”
Griff mumbled some profanity under his breath and handed the paper back to Raleigh. “That’s similar to the ones we’ve all been getting.” He turned to her then, and Rachel must have looked pretty bad because Griff cursed again and looped his arm around her waist. “I need to get her off her feet.”
Raleigh nodded, and he looked as concerned as Griff did. Worse, Rachel thought there might be reason for concern because she was suddenly dizzy again. She’d never had two seizures in the same day, and if it happened, she’d almost certainly be hospitalized. No way did she want that, not with everything else going on, so she immediately tried to steady herself.
Griff led her up the hall, not to the observation room but rather to the break room, and he did just as he’d told Raleigh. He got her off her feet by having her sit on the sofa.
“You’re shaking,” he pointed out when he got her a bottle of water from the fridge.
She was, and it only added to her frustration. “I hate feeling weak,” she mumbled. “And I hate people thinking I’m weak.”
“Yeah, I know.” Griff sat on the arm of the sofa next to her and brushed a kiss on the top of her head.
He did indeed know. In fact, Griff knew plenty about her since she’d poured out her heart to him over the years. And over those years, he’d actually listened.
“You just need to get some rest like the doctor said,” he assured her. “And you probably need to eat something.”
She did, but it wasn’t her top priority. “I want to listen to what Alma is saying.”
Griff no doubt wanted that, too, but he didn’t budge. Probably because he knew if he got up, then so would she. “Egan will tell us if either Simon or Alma say anything we can use.”
Egan would, but Rachel wanted to hear it for herself. However, she didn’t want to risk wobbling again. There were already too many people worried about her, and that was only causing all of them more stress. But it was stress that she was certain Griff would understand.
“It’s so hard for me to see Raleigh,” she said. “Because he’s proof of what my father did.”
Griff nodded. “I can tell Raleigh to leave if that would help.”
“No. He might have more pull with his mother than Egan does. He might get her to tell us things that she wouldn’t otherwise say.” Rachel paused. “But I can’t stay at the house with my father. I thought I could, for another night, anyway, but seeing Raleigh...”
She didn’t finish that, and judging from Griff’s expression, there was no need. He knew what this was doing to her.
He dragged in a long, weary breath. The kind a person would take when he was about to say something he might regret. “It probably won’t be as secure as the ranch, but I can take you to my place.” He also paused. “Unless that’ll just trigger more bad memories for you.”
“Anyplace I go will trigger memories.” Including those of the night she’d spent there with Griff.
Those memories came back now, too.
She’d spent so many years fantasizing about being with Griff that way, but Rachel certainly hadn’t expected it to happen at such a low point in her life. Even then, it’d still lived up to her high expectations.
And the memories weren’t going to let her forget that.
“I do have a guest room,” he reminded her, probably because he wanted to assure her that a sleepover wouldn’t lead to sex.
She nodded and made the mistake of looking up at him. Griff was certainly a cure for her bone-weary fatigue because all that vanished. Apparently, so did her common sense, because Rachel thought about kissing him. She thought about pulling him to her and just getting lost in his arms. It would no doubt feel good, and for a few moments she wouldn’t have to think about this awful mess they were in.
However, there would be consequences.
A kiss would mean she had forgiven him, and she wasn’t certain she could do that. Not today, anyway. Still, that didn’t stop her from weaving another fantasy.
He dropped his gaze to her mouth, and when their eyes connected again, she saw the heat there. She figured there was no chance he’d be the one to initiate a kiss. Not after what had happened between them a month ago.
But he did.
Griff leaned down, barely touching her lips. Coming from any other man, it might have been chaste, but there was nothing chaste about Griff.
He paused, his mouth hovering over hers, and even though he didn’t say anything, Rachel could feel the fierce battle he was having with himself. She was having that same battle, and was clearly losing because she didn’t move away from him. She stayed put, waiting for him to continue with what would almost certainly be a huge mistake.
Griff cursed himself, and her, and got up from the sofa. “The timing isn’t right for us to play with fire,” he mumbled.
That was the truth. Heck, it might never be right. That didn’t stop her from feeling the disappointment, though. And that made her stupid. Because the last thing she should be doing right now was thinking about kissing Griff, and she hoped if she repeated that often enough to herself that it would finally sink in.
There was a knock at the door before it opened, and Rachel quickly tried to prepare herself in case it was Raleigh. It wasn’t. It was Thea. She glanced at both of them, maybe sensing that something had nearly gone on between them. But if she did pick up on the attraction, she didn’t say anything about it. Instead, she hitched her thumb to the squad room.
“Marlon Stowe just arrived,” Thea said. “And he’s demanding to see you.”
That got Rachel to her feet. “How did he know I was here?”
“He said he’s been watching the sheriff’s office from the diner across the street. Yeah,” Thea added, when Rachel frowned. “I thought it was creepy, too. Anyway, he claims he has to see you because he’s got something important to tell you.”
“What?” Rachel pressed, when Thea hesitated.
Thea frowned, too. “Marlon claims he has proof that it was your father who tried to kill you.”
Chapter Seven
Griff had to mentally replay what Thea had just said before it sank in. And when it finally did register in his head, it caused him to curse. He didn’t know Marlon, but Rachel had already been through enough without having to deal with this clown’s accusations.
“Proof?” Griff snapped.
Thea sighed, nodded and looked at Rachel. “Of course, he’s saying he’ll only give that proof to you and nobody else. If you don’t want to deal with him, I can arrest him for obstruction of justice—”
“No,” Rachel interrupted. “I’ll see him. Or rather, I’ll hear what he has to say. But if this is some kind of trick, then maybe you can charge him with something. Anything.”
She sounded more exhausted than she looked, and that made Griff realize just how wrong that near kiss had been. Rachel definitely didn’t need him adding another layer of trouble to her life.
She took some sips of water before she headed back to the squad room. Thea stayed ahead of them, and Griff moved to Rachel’s side. He also put his hand over the gun in his holster. He doubted that Marlon had come here to attack Rachel, but since the man had once had a restraining order against him, it likely meant he had a dangerous edge.
Since Marlon was also a person of interest in Rachel’s attack, Griff had seen a picture of the guy, but seeing him in person was still a surprise. That’s because he looked like a teenager. He wasn’t. Griff knew the guy was twenty-six, but he could have passed for someone ten years younger.
“Rachel,” Marlon said in greeting.
Because Griff’s arm was touching Rachel’s, he felt her tense. Obviously, this guy set off alarms for her, which meant he did the same for Griff.
Marlon flashed a wide smile, as if this was a
social visit. However, he didn’t extend that smile to Griff. “Ranger Morris. I was just doing a computer check on you while I was having coffee at the diner. Discovered some interesting things. You’d be surprised what you can learn on the internet.” He motioned to the laptop bag he was carrying.
Maybe that comment was meant to intimidate Griff, because Marlon had almost certainly learned about Griff’s criminal parents. But it didn’t intimidate him in the least. Griff just stared him down. He also decided to hurry this conversation along.
“You have some kind of accusation you want to make against Rachel’s father?” he asked.
Marlon turned back to Thea. “I said I would only talk to Rachel about this. I told you to make that clear to her.”
“I didn’t agree to that, and neither did Rachel,” Thea insisted. “And I can promise that Griff wouldn’t have agreed to it.”
The man huffed, his gaze slashing to Rachel. “So, do you want to know about your dad or not?” There was no trace of that friendly tone or smile left, and Griff figured this was more Marlon’s usual personality.
Yeah, the guy was definitely wound tight.
Rachel folded her arms over her chest and stared at him. “Of course I want to know, but I don’t understand why we should keep it just between us. If my father truly did try to murder me, and you can prove it, then he’ll need to be arrested—immediately. That means you’d end up repeating whatever you have to say to Ranger Morris and the cops.”
That wound-tight expression went up a notch. “I thought you and I could talk privately first,” Marlon pressed.
Thea had been right. No way was that going to happen, but Griff didn’t even have to say so because Rachel put down her foot first.
“There’s no reason for us to talk privately,” she insisted. “Is there?” She didn’t wait for him to answer. “The only thing I want from you is this so-called proof that you have about my father.”
There was a flash of anger in Marlon’s eyes before he must have remembered that Griff was watching his every move—and ready to arrest his sorry butt if he did anything wrong.
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