“Thanks. What brings you here?”
“Is there somewhere we can talk?” He glanced back at Ford. “Alone?”
He wanted her alone so he could work his magic on her. “Anything you have to say Ford can hear.”
Fleeting disapproval crossed his eyes. “I noticed you haven’t been attending any seminars and I wanted to make sure you were all right. I strive to provide the community with the best therapy possible. I’m concerned over why I haven’t seen you at the center.”
Make sure she was all right? Therapy? She met Ford’s silent scoff before turning back to him. “I’m fine. Why were you concerned?”
“I thought the seminars were helping you.”
She folded her arms. “The seminars did help me, Samuel. But I don’t need them anymore.”
Samuel looked down at her folded arms briefly. “Are you certain? So soon?”
So soon. Meaning, he hadn’t had enough time to brainwash her. “I’m certain.”
He studied her, leashed frustration hidden behind the curtain of larger-than-life magnetism and good looks. “Is there something I should know about? Something that didn’t meet with your expectations?”
Ford moved as smoothly as a protective angel around Samuel.
“No. The seminars did help me. Really.” Ford stood beside her now. “I just don’t need them anymore.” As she’d already said.
He smiled, congenial and infectious, presenting a man with selfless benevolence that expertly cloaked his true intent. “I have a special interest in you, Gemma. A woman like you sets a fine example. You’ve been given difficult mental hardships to overcome, but you’ve persevered. You’ve begun to make a new life here, one people can look up to. I would hate to see you endure any more setbacks.”
Wow. The veiled threat was barely discernable. His special interest nauseated her. And she didn’t delude herself that her bracelet turning up at Jed’s crime scene was one of the setbacks he referred to. Would there be more if she didn’t cooperate? Didn’t yield to his ways and become a Devotee?
She glanced over at Ford, who wore a smirk.
“I appreciate all you’ve done, Samuel, and for thinking so highly of me. But you won’t see me at the community center anymore.”
He flashed an accusatory look at Ford. “I encourage you to reconsider.”
“And I encourage you to stop pressuring me.”
Now he had the opportunity to catch her own veiled threat. “Perhaps if you spent some time away from local law enforcement you’d change your mind.”
“Asking Ford to watch over me was the best decision you made. I feel so safe when I’m with him.” She put her arm around him and he put his around her.
The blatant snub brewed anger in Samuel’s gaze. “Very well. Then my worry is eased.” He went to the door with one last look at both of them. “Good day.”
Ford shut the door and faced her.
“I can’t wait to find out what they’ll do next,” she said.
“We need to find who killed Jed and the others before that happens.”
How? Bo had taken the best chance of that when he took the laptop.
They stood in her living room staring at each other. It wasn’t long before the magnitude of their earlier conversation returned.
Ford moved away from her, awkward again. Though he wouldn’t admit he was afraid, fear billowed from him. That’s why he’d claimed to want to wait until he was in his forties to have a family again. Avoidance was his motto. The prospect of fathering another baby terrified him.
His cell phone rang. Another interruption.
Gemma folded her arms again, this time rubbing them. What was she going to do?
“McCall.” He listened, and then, “Excellent. Your timing couldn’t be better. I’m on my way.”
He tucked his phone away.
“Where are we going?”
“I’m going. You’re staying here.”
He was leaving her? “What about Samuel?”
“You’ll be all right.”
Somehow she doubted that. His judgment was fogged by the knowledge that she was pregnant. In the next instant, she realized she didn’t care. If he could abandon her that easily, then she didn’t want him anywhere near her.
“Fine. Go, then. But don’t come back here when you’re finished.”
Stunned, he stared at her. “Gemma, I can’t take you.”
“You could if you wanted to.”
After a long, searching look, her ultimatum slid behind a barrier. Cutting himself off from her, he turned and left, taking her heart with him.
Gemma tipped her head back and breathed through the tears that burned her eyes. How could he?
How could he walk out on her after learning she was pregnant with their child? So they barely knew each other. They’d created a life together. Would he walk out on that, too?
This couldn’t have gone worse. She’d worried he’d take the news hard, but walking out on her? And right after she’d turned Samuel away. A tear swelled over her lid, tickling her skin on its way down her cheek. She angrily swiped it away.
She wished she could have stayed away from him. Even if she’d thought to go on the Pill or make him wear protection, she wouldn’t have before that first time on the stairs. That had happened without warning. Neither of them could have prevented it. And unfortunately, she was pretty sure that’s when he’d gotten her pregnant.
Gemma swiped another tear away, plopping down on one of her living-room chairs and hanging her head low. She was well on her way to ending up just like her mother. Single and with a lover who couldn’t step up to the plate and be a father.
CHAPTER 12
Ford saw the dark Audi following him and took a turn before leaving town. His errand would have to wait. He drove back to Main Street and parked in front of Cold Plains Coffee. Getting out of his SUV, he spotted the Audi parking down the street. Bo got out of the passenger side. The tall and lanky Wade Herrington was driving. What was he doing with Bo?
Entering the coffee shop, he spotted Alan talking urgently to one of Lacy’s workers. He didn’t see Lacy. Alan turned and saw him just as Bo entered the shop with Herrington, thin blond hair combed neatly back and ghostly gray eyes scanning the crowd, lingering on Ford.
Herrington sat down at a table by himself and Bo walked toward Ford. Alan reached him first.
“Have you seen Lacy?” the burly man asked.
“No.” He glanced toward the counter and saw Lacy’s workers talking anxiously amongst themselves, haphazardly serving customers.
“Are you sure? She and Gemma are good friends. Has she heard from her? Is she staying with you?”
Ford couldn’t decide if Alan was worried or angry. Maybe both. He wanted to find Lacy, but why? And why was she suddenly missing? “Why would she be staying at Gemma’s house?”
“Where is she?” Alan demanded.
“What happened? Why are you looking for Lacy?” Ford asked.
“She’s been missing for two days,” Bo said, coming to a stop before them. “Are you sure you don’t know where she went?”
The way he asked said he thought Ford did know. “Neither Gemma nor I have seen her in almost a week. What’d she do? Run away from Grayson?”
Bo scrutinized him for several seconds, and then let the issue drop, putting a copy of today’s Cold Plains newspaper on the table beside them. On the front was a photo of Gemma and Ford coming out of the grocery store. This was the reason he’d followed him here. He didn’t care about Lacy. Neither did Grayson.
Ford read the headline of the local paper: Witness Comes Forth in Jed Johnson Case.
“Something come up?” he queried without reading further.
“David Retting over at the Stillwater stopped by the station yesterday. Turns out he saw Gemma leaving Jed’s room the night of his murder, just before he went in and found the body.”
Ford couldn’t even muster up the motivation to appear surprised. “I take it Grayson accurately predicted what Gemma’s answer would be this morning.” He hadn’t even waited until after his visit to print the article.
They must have been on the way to Gemma’s house when they’d spotted him and followed. What had they intended to do? Arrest her? Maybe they hadn’t anticipated he’d leave her alone. He shouldn’t have. He’d let his emotions make that decision. Finding out she was pregnant had really knocked his sensibilities. He hadn’t expected it. Hadn’t seen it coming. And yet, he should have. Gemma was right about that. This was as much his fault as hers.
“We’d like you to bring her in, Ford,” Bo said.
“Me?”
“If you don’t, we will.”
Is that what they’d been on their way to tell him? Did Grayson want to make him arrest her out of sick pleasure? Retaliation for going against him? He thought he had plenty of evidence against her. He thought Ford would have no choice.
“I’m not going to arrest her.” He loomed over Bo, taller and a little bulkier. “You and I both know she didn’t kill Jed.”
“That’s not how it appears. David Retting claims he saw her.”
“Retting stole Jed’s laptop before calling to report the murder. You remember…the laptop you took from the forensic lab?”
“There was no laptop at the scene.”
“I suppose you also don’t know anything about the forensics technician, either. He saw the recording. Did he identify the killer? Is that why you had him murdered?”
Murmurs spread through the coffee shop.
“Those are some serious allegations, McCall. Can you back them up?”
The technician had been hanged like all the others, but there’d been no baseball bat. If he could link the rope to the other murders, he could very easily back up his allegations. Bo felt untouchable, just like Samuel. Just like the hit man committing murders in the name of health and prosperity. Ford needed them all to sweat a little. Long enough for him to spare Gemma any time in jail, or anything worse they had in store for her.
“What if I could?” he asked.
Bo searched for a bluff. He wouldn’t see any signs of one.
“You can’t prove anything.”
“The murders are stacking up,” Ford said. “And they have a few things in common.”
“What’s that?”
“I think you already know the answer to that.”
Once again, Bo engaged in a stare-down with Ford.
Bo became uncertain now. “What have you got, Ford?”
“Michael, the technician. Jed. And Felix. And that poor man who had the misfortune of living too close to the location where Felix’s body was found. All of them were knocked unconscious before they were hanged. I hope you didn’t have anything to do with that.”
Bo’s uncertainty vanished. “You don’t have anything. If you did, you’d have already made the arrests. I know you better than you think I do. You’re a lawman first. Arrest Gemma. Do it and you can keep your job.” He glanced over at Alan and gave a nod. Alan reluctantly turned with the silent command and left the coffee shop.
“I’m not arresting her.” Ford stepped close to Bo. “And you don’t have to hold my job over my head. I quit.” Bumping his ex-boss’s shoulder as he passed, he left the coffee shop and strode to his SUV. He had a bad feeling about this. A really bad feeling. He never should have left Gemma alone.
Driving away from the coffee shop, he got about three blocks before two other Escalades appeared behind him. He cursed and floored the SUV. He had to get to Gemma before they did.
* * *
Gemma paced from her living room to the kitchen. Each time she did, she saw the newspaper. She didn’t get the paper delivered. Someone had dropped it outside her door after Ford had left. Someone who’d wanted her to see it.
Where was Ford? Would she be arrested for Jed’s murder? Imagining herself in prison, she felt chilled and bloodless.
Someone rang her doorbell, giving her a jolt. Would Ford ring it? Or would he walk right in?
She went to the peephole.
Bo Fargo and another man stood there. He looked familiar. Samuel’s second in command, Wade Herrington. She breathed faster with foreboding.
“Oh, God,” she whispered.
“Gemma Johnson?” Bo called. “Open up.”
Stepping back from the door, she turned in a circle. What should she do? Should she run to her car and try to escape? Should she call Ford?
The door was bashed in.
Gemma screamed as Wade and Bo stepped over splintered wood. She turned to run for her back door, but Wade caught her, taking hold of her arm and roughly hauling her back against him.
Bo approached with handcuffs.
“No!” she protested.
“You’re under arrest for the murder of Jed Johnson.” He clasped one side of the cuffs to her wrist and Wade forced her to turn as he secured the other behind her back.
Dizzy with fear, Gemma barely heard as he recited her rights.
Wade left her house ahead of them and Bo pushed her forward to follow.
“What are you doing?” Gemma struggled against Bo when he grasped her.
Wade opened the back of a black Audi. Why wasn’t it a real police car? This didn’t feel right.
Bo put his hand on the top of her head and forced her into the back seat. After he got in the front seat, Wade began driving toward town.
“You won’t get away with this.” She frantically searched for signs of Ford’s Escalade. Where was he?
“No, I believe you’re the one who isn’t going to get away with something,” Bo said. “You killed your ex-husband.”
Eerily, Wade didn’t say anything. Only his creepy light gray eyes shifted to the rearview mirror every once in a while.
“That’s not true. You’re only doing this because I refused to join Samuel’s cult!”
“There’s no cult in Cold Plains, Gemma. Only peace-loving people. People like you just don’t belong here. You had us all fooled, didn’t you?”
“You’re crazy! Ford will prove I’m innocent.”
Bo chuckled and Wade looked at her again. What was he doing with Bo anyway? Making sure he did Samuel’s bidding?
Wade pulled to a stop in front of the police station.
“I’ll take it from here,” Bo said to him. “Tell Samuel everything’s under control.”
The tall, Lurch look-alike gave a nod and Bo climbed out of the Audi. Opening the back door, he grabbed Gemma’s arm and slid her to the edge of the seat. She stumbled out of the car, Bo steadying her.
The Audi drove away. A man in a suit left the building and a car backed out of a parking space. Other than that, it was quiet. The man in the suit glanced at them and went on his way.
Bo forced her into the police station, down familiar hallways and then to a not-so-familiar stairway. At the bottom, he took her to a row of cells and stopped at one of them.
“Please don’t lock me in there.” She couldn’t control her fear. If Ford couldn’t save her, what would happen to her?
Removing her cuffs, he said, “It didn’t have to be this way, you know. Samuel was very fond of you. He had such hopes for you. It isn’t often a woman like you comes along, someone who seems so together. So willing to improve. You’ve disappointed him beyond recovery.”
“You’re arresting me for something I didn’t do!”
“Alert the media.” Chuckling, he shoved her into the cell and slammed the door closed.
She fell against the cot and pushed back to her feet, gripping the bars. “You can’t keep me in here!” She searched the other cells. They were all empty. “I’m supposed to get a call!”
Bo kept walking away.
“Hey!”
“You won’t have long to wait, dear Gemma.”
Wait for what? Would she be brought to the community center, taken to that secret place she’d only heard about until now? Is that where she’d disappear? Would Samuel arrange to have her killed? Or would Bo have her prosecuted for murder and send her off to prison?
Backing away from the bars, she put her hand on her stomach. She hated the thought of having a baby in prison. Would Samuel kill her if he knew she was pregnant? He didn’t like Ford. Maybe that wouldn’t matter.
Trembling, sick to her stomach, Gemma sat on the cot and hugged her knees. All she could do now was wait. And hope Ford would come and get her.
Ford.
Would he come for her?
* * *
When Ford reached the outskirts of town, he began to worry. He’d been unable to lose the two Escalades behind him. Alan and the other henchmen were good.
Suddenly the first Escalade closed ground on him. Kept coming. Ford sped up. So did the other Escalade, the second one close behind. The first one ran into his bumper. The other drove up beside him. Ford yanked his wheel, ramming the other SUV and sending it veering off to the left. Ford pulled his cell phone out to call Hawk. The SUV behind him ran into his bumper again. Dropping his phone, he fought to stay in control. He swerved and straightened, but not in time to deflect the second SUV as it rammed into him. He swerved again and went off the road.
The other two SUVs cornered him. He had nowhere to go. Climbing out of the driver’s seat, he pulled his gun just as one of the other men appeared and hit him in the head.
Ford blocked the next strike and got in a few punches of his own. The man fell to the ground. But there were three others who now surrounded him.
He tried to aim his gun but one of them kicked his wrist while another slugged his sternum. He dropped his gun and swung his feet and fists, blocking as many attacks as he could. He was outnumbered. He knew he was in trouble when he began to black out.
Perfect Wyoming Complete Collection: Special Agent's Perfect Cover ; Rancher's Perfect Baby Rescue ; A Daughter's Perfect Secret ; Lawman's Perfect Surrender ; The Perfect Outsider ; Mercenary's Perfect Mission Page 70
