And Whitney was indeed still a suspect.
She’d had explanations as to why she hadn’t told them about Jennifer or answered her phone, but Court wanted to do some more digging into her story.
“You want me to take Rayna back to the station with me?” Whitney asked.
“No.” Court couldn’t answer that fast enough. He raised his window and drove off, leaving Whitney there to gape at them. Probably to curse them, too, since she didn’t look very happy with Court’s obvious mistrust of her.
Court considered calling John to let him know that Mitch was likely the intruder, but he decided against that, since they were nearly at Rayna’s house. Plus, it might not be Mitch at all, and he didn’t want John walking into the barn and finding a gunman waiting for him.
“Keep watch around us,” Court reminded Rayna, though he was certain she was already doing that. They were both on edge.
When her house finally came into view, he had no trouble seeing that the front door was wide-open. He also spotted John. The deputy had taken cover behind his cruiser and had his gun drawn. And Court soon realized why.
Mitch had his hands raised in the air, and he was coming out of the barn. “Don’t shoot,” Mitch called out to them.
Court parked next to John so that the deputy’s cruiser would also be between Rayna and Mitch, and he took aim. Behind him, Dakota and the Texas Ranger did the same thing.
“Mitch, are you armed?” Court asked.
Mitch tipped his head to the barn. “I was, but I left it in there. Didn’t want either of you getting trigger-happy when you saw me trying to do your jobs.”
Court didn’t like the sound of that, but then he rarely liked anything Mitch said. “And doing our job includes trespassing on private property and breaking and entering?” Court fired back.
“Yes, in this case. I didn’t get a chance to try the security code or the key. The door was busted open when I got here.”
That didn’t make sense, and Court was about to demand more, but Mitch looked past John and Court and into the cruiser where Rayna was sitting.
“You might not have actually murdered my brother, but you’re not off the hook,” Mitch said to her, and he smiled.
That brought Rayna out of the cruiser. “What are you talking about?” It was the exact question Court had been about to ask.
“Are you admitting Rayna didn’t kill Bobby Joe?” Court demanded.
Mitch nodded.
That nod might have been a simple gesture, but Court could hear the sound it caused Rayna to make. She gasped. “He’s alive,” she muttered.
Mitch nodded again, and he stopped when he was about ten feet from them. “I need to get my phone from my pocket, and I don’t want you to shoot me when I do that.” He waited until Court nodded before Mitch took out his cell. “Bobby Joe left me a message. That’s why I called Whitney and told her to come. She’ll want to hear this, too.”
“She can hear it later,” Court snapped.
Mitch nodded, pressed the play button, and he held the cell up in the air for them to hear. It didn’t take long before Court heard the voice.
“It’s Bobby Joe. Meet me at Rayna’s.”
There was a lot of static, and the message was choppy as if he’d been thinking about each word before he said it.
“The security code is seven-six-two-one,” the message continued, “and there’s a spare key in the birdhouse on the end of the porch.” The static got even worse. “I want to show you where she hid the gun. The gun she used to try to kill me.”
Chapter Eleven
The message kept repeating through Rayna’s head, and she couldn’t make it stop. Bobby Joe was alive.
But now he was accusing her of attempted murder.
She’d denied it the moment she’d heard the message, and she thought Court believed her. Not Mitch though. But then, he’d always thought the worst of her. And would continue to think it, too, now that Mitch had heard the accusation from his own brother.
“There is no smoking gun,” she said to Court. “So why would Bobby Joe tell Mitch to meet me at his house?”
“Maybe to plant something to incriminate you,” Court said without hesitating. Which meant that message was likely replaying in his head, as well.
Not necessarily a good thing, since they were both trying to focus on the drive back to the sheriff’s office. Dakota hadn’t followed them for this part of the trip. That was because Court had wanted the Ranger to go ahead and take Mitch to the sheriff’s office so that Dakota could stay behind and search for Bobby Joe. Rayna had wanted to do that, too, but it wouldn’t have been very smart, since Bobby Joe could have just gunned her down. Of course, maybe he wanted to torment her first, to punish her for breaking off things with him.
“Everyone knows now that you didn’t kill him,” Court said. “I’m sorry for not believing you in the first place.”
“There was a lot of circumstantial evidence,” she reminded him. Evidence that Bobby Joe had planted. “He must have stockpiled some of his own blood that he put in my kitchen.”
Court made a sound of agreement. “And he made sure he cleaned it up in such a way to make us believe you’d tried to cover up the crime scene.” He stopped, cursed. “It could have worked, too. You could be in jail right now.”
Since it was obvious he was beating himself up about that, Rayna touched his arm. “It’s okay. Right now, I’m more concerned about what Bobby Joe’s going to do next.”
“He’ll try to kill you,” Court quickly answered. “That’s why you’ll need to stay in protective custody. That’s why we have to find him. We might get lucky and be able to trace his call to Mitch.”
Yes, and that brought her back to the message Bobby Joe had left on Mitch’s phone. Why risk bringing in anyone else, even his brother? Why not just plant the gun and then arrange for someone to find it? And why do the whole gun-planting thing if Bobby Joe was the one behind the attacks? Why not just continue the attacks until he was successful?
A thought that twisted her stomach into a knot.
But there was something else about this that didn’t fit.
“The security code,” Rayna said. “The one Bobby Joe gave Mitch. It was the old code. That’s why he tripped the security alarm when he tried to get in.”
“Did you know about the key in the birdhouse?” Court asked.
“No, but if he was telling the truth about that, it would have been the old one, too. I changed the locks after the trial.”
And Court obviously picked up on where she was leading with this because he cursed. “It means Bobby Joe wasn’t the person who broke into your house and drugged you.”
No, because whoever had done that had the correct key and code. With everything else going on, she hadn’t followed up on finding who could have gotten those things, but she had to move that to the front burner.
Well, as soon as she dealt with the news of Bobby Joe’s return.
Even though she’d known he was alive, it was another thing to deal with the proof of it. Plus, he was out there, probably trying to figure out his next move. He probably hadn’t counted on that move including Mitch ratting him out.
They pulled to a stop in front of the sheriff’s office, and Rayna immediately saw the cruiser the Ranger had used to bring back Mitch. What was missing was Whitney’s car, but Rayna held out hope that her friend had parked elsewhere and walked to the station. She didn’t want to accept just yet that Whitney could be avoiding her because she’d had something to do with those attacks.
“The Ranger had to leave and go back to the hospital to guard your dad, but Ian just went in the interview room with Mitch to take his statement,” Thea said the moment Court and Rayna walked in. “Is it true? Is Bobby Joe really alive?”
“It’s true,” Court verified.
But he didn’t stop t
o add more. With his arm hooked around Rayna’s waist, he kept her moving to Egan’s office, where he had her sit in a chair next to the desk. He also shut the door.
He stared at her as if waiting for something, and that was when Rayna realized he was looking at her hands. They were shaking. Heck, she was shaking. And before she even knew it was going to happen, the tears came.
The emotions hit her all at once. For three years she’d been battling the stigma of being branded a killer, and that wasn’t just going away despite the fact of Bobby Joe’s return. She’d hated him for a long time now but never so much as in this moment. Bobby Joe had taken her life and torn it into little pieces, and he was still tearing it, still trying to break her.
“I don’t want to cry,” she insisted. But that didn’t stop the tears.
Court grabbed her some tissues, but instead of just handing them to her, he wiped her face. Their eyes met. And she saw more of that frustration and guilt in his expression. Yes, she could see that even through the tears.
He muttered some profanity, pulled her to her feet and eased her into his arms. “You can yell at me if it’ll make you feel better.”
She didn’t want to yell at anyone. Especially Court. Right now, he was the only sane thing in her life.
That stopped her.
And Rayna felt herself go stiff. Court obviously felt it, too, because he looked down at her. Again, he seemed to be waiting for something, but she didn’t know what exactly.
Not until he kissed her, that was.
Even though she figured he was doing this to comfort her, Rayna instantly got a jolt of other emotions. Familiar ones. Because the kiss spurred the old fires between them. And it kept on stirring it because he continued to kiss her. This went well past the comforting stage, especially when he pulled her against him.
Court made a sound, a grumble from deep within his chest. It seemed like some kind of protest, maybe a plea for him to stop. But he didn’t. He continued the kiss until the taste of him was sliding right through her.
Yes, this was a cure for tears, but it soon gave her a new problem. The touch of his chest against her breasts, the way he took her mouth...that only made her want him even more.
Rayna found herself slipping her arms around his neck to bring him even closer. Not that she could actually do that. Not while they were clothed anyway, and there was little chance of them stripping down in Egan’s office. However, there was still a chance of things escalating.
Court backed her against the door, and the kiss raged on. Until they were out of breath. Until Rayna was certain she could take no more. Only then did he pull back from her, and she braced herself. Court would almost certainly curse and remind her that kissing her had been a huge mistake.
He didn’t.
But she saw something else in his eyes that she hadn’t wanted to see. Sympathy. He was feeling sorry for her, maybe because he and his father hadn’t believed her about Bobby Joe. Maybe because he knew she was probably very close to losing it. Either way, she didn’t want that from him, and that was why she moved to the side.
“We should review the security footage Raleigh emailed to you,” she managed to say. Not easily. It was hard to talk with her breath thin and her head light. “And talk to Mitch. Plus, Whitney will be here soon.”
She would have gone back into the squad room to his desk if Court hadn’t caught her hand. He looked at her as if trying to figure out what was going on in her head. Then he cursed.
“That wasn’t a pity kiss,” he snarled. “Trust me, when I kiss, it’s for just one reason, and it doesn’t have anything to do with pity.”
That pretty much took care of what little breath she had, but he didn’t give her a chance to respond. He threw open the door and went to his desk.
Thea glanced up from her computer screen but then quickly looked away. She could no doubt see what was going on between them and had wisely decided to stay out of it.
“Any updates on my father?” Court asked Thea. He sat at his desk and started downloading the email from Raleigh.
“Nothing, but I’m hoping in this case that no news is good news.”
Rayna agreed. “What about Whitney? Have you seen her? She was supposed to come in.”
That was definitely a surprise to Thea. “No sign of her. Should I call her?”
“No,” Court answered. “I’ll deal with Whitney, but I am going to need you to run that trace on the phone call he got from his brother. Did Mitch ask for a lawyer before Ian went in to take his statement?”
“No. I suspect he will though if he really did break into Rayna’s house.”
“He claims someone else did the actual breaking in,” Court said. “What about Bo’s lawyer?”
“Not here yet, either. He called and said he was stuck in San Antonio, so it might be a couple more hours.”
Rayna wished they could get the answers from the teenager now, but it was possible that Bo was going to be a dead end when it came to helping them with this investigation.
While Thea got to work on the phone trace, Court loaded the security footage. “Raleigh said my mom’s demeanor changed at the five-minute mark, but I want to watch it from the start.”
He pulled up a chair for her, their gazes connecting again when she sat. “For the record, I didn’t let you kiss me out of pity,” she whispered.
The corner of his mouth lifted for just a second, but that seemed to indicate they’d declared some kind of truce. Rayna was okay with that, especially since the images loaded on the screen, and she knew that had to push kissing, and thoughts of kissing, to the side. That didn’t mean this heat was going away though.
Rayna leaned in closer to the monitor when she spotted Helen making her way to the coffee shop. She certainly didn’t look upset.
As Raleigh had warned them, the images weren’t so clear when Helen went inside, but they could still see when she greeted Jennifer with a handshake. After that, the women sat at a table so that only the sides of their bodies were facing the camera.
“Too bad this doesn’t have sound,” Court mumbled as they reached the five-minute mark.
Rayna agreed because there was definitely a difference in Helen’s body language. “Maybe your mom was just upset about reliving the details of Hannah’s murder.”
“Maybe.” But he didn’t sound especially hopeful about that.
They watched as Alma came in through the other entrance, and as the woman had said, she stayed back behind a half wall that would have hidden her from view of Helen and Jennifer. Alma hadn’t been in the shop very long when Helen stood. She took something that Jennifer handed her, perhaps a business card, and slipped it into her purse before she hurried out.
Once Helen was outside, it was easier to see her face. She wiped at her eyes as if wiping away tears and then disappeared out of camera range. Court reached to turn off the footage but then stopped.
They both zoomed in on the man who was outside of the coffee shop. He was in position to have watched the meeting between Helen and Jennifer, and now he was watching Helen as she left. And the man was someone they both recognized.
Mitch.
“Mitch sure as hell didn’t mention any of this,” Court grumbled, and he got to his feet. “I think it’s time to question him.”
“So do I, but why would he have been spying on them? You think Jennifer told him about the meeting?”
“That’s my guess. I’m betting Mitch knows a lot more about Jennifer than he’s letting on.” He started for the door but then stopped when Rayna’s phone rang. “If that’s Whitney, tell her to get her butt in here right now.”
But it wasn’t Whitney’s name on the screen.
It was Unknown Caller.
She hadn’t thought her stomach could tighten even more, but it did. Rayna showed the screen to Court and waited until he got out his own phone to recor
d the conversation before she answered the call and put it on speaker.
Nothing. Not for several long moments.
“Hey, Rayna. It’s me,” the caller said.
Bobby Joe.
Like the message he’d left for Mitch, this one was filled with static, too.
“Can’t wait to see you,” Bobby Joe added.
Rayna could have sworn her heart went to her knees, and she fired glances outside the window. There was a trickle of people on the sidewalks, but there was no sign of Bobby Joe.
“Where are you?” Court snapped.
There was a long pause. “Rayna’s gonna pay for what she did.”
Rayna hated that he could still get to her like this, and she mustered up as much steel as she could manage. “Is that a threat?”
Bobby Joe didn’t confirm that, but after another hesitation, he just laughed.
It did indeed feel like a threat. And there was nothing she could do about it. Not unless they caught Bobby Joe, that was. Then he could be charged with fraud for trying to frame her for his murder.
“Bye, Rayna,” Bobby Joe added. “See you soon.” And the call ended.
Chapter Twelve
Court could feel the dangerous energy bubbling up inside him, and he hated what this was doing to Rayna. All those feelings and energy were so strong that they almost overshadowed his lawman’s instincts.
“Something’s not right,” he said.
That caused Rayna to fire glances all around them again.
“No, I don’t think Bobby Joe is nearby,” Court added. “In fact, I’m not sure that call was actually from him. I think it was a recording of old conversations that have been spliced together.”
She opened her mouth as if she might dispute that, but then Rayna frowned. She was obviously going back through what she’d heard. “Maybe.”
“That would account for the static and the long pauses in between some of the words.”
Rayna shook her head. “But who would do that? Why would someone want to make us believe it was Bobby Joe?”
“Maybe to rattle us.” And if so, that had worked. But Court got the feeling there was much more to it than that.
Cowboy Above the Law Page 10
