Cowboy Conspiracy

by Joanna Wayne

  But she’d stolen his heart, and he was making progress with her. He’d do better at it once his total focus didn’t have to be finding Jerome Hurley. Even finding his mother’s killer had temporarily taken a backseat to the new sense of urgency.

  Once he knew Kelly was safe, he’d have to make decisions about his and Kelly’s relationship. He was absolutely mad about her. She appeared to feel the same about him. But the complications had increased dramatically over the past few days.

  How would she feel when he was forced to expose to the media her mother’s long-buried secrets? How would she feel if his investigation destroyed her biological father while clearing the name of his?

  “Feel free to jot notes on those drawings I left at the house,” Dylan said. “We’re just at the idea stage, so encourage Kelly to offer hers, too.”

  “Will do.”

  Jaci crawled into her booster seat while Collette waddled from the porch to the truck. She looked as if she might pop any minute. “When’s the due date again?” Wyatt asked.

  “The doctor said she could go into labor as early as next week.”

  “Why don’t you go with us to Joey’s house?” Jaci asked Wyatt.

  “Your mother and I are going to take a drive into town later so we can check on that new house you’re going to be moving into.”

  A silver BMW pulled up in the driveway as Collette was buckling her seat belt.

  “Ruthanne,” Dylan said. “Perfect time for us to leave.”

  “We have to at least say hello,” Collette said.

  The “hellos” led to a lengthy monologue on how glad Ruthanne was to see Wyatt after so many years. He used the opportunity to size her up.

  Rich. Attractive. Fake. That summed her up in his mind. If he had to guess, he’d bet the wealth and maybe some political clout was what had led to Riley’s jilting Kelly’s mother.

  The senator had been a conniver even then. Wyatt itched to get back on his mother’s murder case. If Riley Foley was behind Helene’s murder, Wyatt would see that he paid. But even a death penalty wouldn’t begin to compensate for the life he’d stolen from Helene and the years he’d stolen from Troy. It wouldn’t begin to pay for the heartbreak of five boys who’d grown up without their mother or their father.

  “I don’t want to keep you,” Ruthanne finally said. “Is Troy around?”

  “Yes, but he’s busy,” Dylan said. “He said he didn’t want to be disturbed.”

  Fast thinking on Dylan’s part. Troy would owe him.

  “We gotta git goin’,” Jaci said, voicing what they were all thinking.

  “So where are you off to, Jaci?” Ruthanne asked.

  “We’re going to Joey’s house. Momma can’t go, ’cause she’s going to see our new house.”

  “That’s nice.”

  Ruthanne finally walked back to her own car. Jaci waved as Dylan pulled away in his truck. And Wyatt went back inside to join Kelly in a little bit of afternoon delight.

  There was a late-night bikers’ bar on the other side of the county line where someone had told him this morning that Jerome occasionally hung out.

  If Jerome showed up tonight, it would be his last night out for quite a while.

  KELLY FELT A SURGE OF EXCITEMENT as she and Wyatt walked to the front door of the Callister house. In spite of Wyatt’s fears, she refused to let herself believe that she was on a hit list ordered by Emanuel Leaky. Jerome was just a sick monster who was stalking her for some perverted reason of his own.

  To believe that Emanuel wanted her dead was to give up any chance of ever living a normal life.

  She had to hold on to the fact that Jerome would be arrested soon and she’d move into this adorable cottage and go on with her life—hopefully with Wyatt in it.

  Wyatt opened the door and waited for her to step inside. She looked around, shocked at how naked the house looked with much of its interior ripped away. “It’s like bones stripped of meat,” she said.

  “Picture it with the meat back on it. If we tear out that wall that separates this room from the kitchen, raise the ceiling by two feet and make that side wall a line of windows, this room would appear twice as large.”

  She visualized the changes, the same way she did when reworking a piece of old jewelry. Weigh what you’d lose from the old design against what you’d gain from the new. But if they did this right, she could keep the cottage feel of the house and not feel closed in.

  “I think it’s a great idea. I’ll work with Dylan on the—”

  A scraping noise that sounded as if it had come from the hallway interrupted her. “What was that?”

  Wyatt’s hand flew to the butt of the gun he’d worn at his waist ever since being deputized. “Stay back while I check it out.

  “Foley. What happened here?”

  Wyatt’s question was followed by a noise that sounded like someone beating a sledgehammer against the wall. Kelly ran to the shadowed hallway.

  Wyatt was on the floor, blood streaming from a huge gash on his head. His eyes were rolled back in his head and he wasn’t moving.

  “So nice to see you again, Kelly. Now we’ll have lots of time to talk about Linda Ann.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Ruthanne?”

  “Yes, it’s me. And, yes, I know all about your mother’s tawdry affair with Riley.” Her dark, accusing eyes stared back at Kelly, and the pistol she held in both hands was pointed at Kelly’s head.

  Fear rolled inside Kelly, so overpowering that her legs could barely hold her up. She couldn’t think clearly. None of this made sense.

  Wyatt still wasn’t moving. Was he dead?

  No, he couldn’t be. She wouldn’t let him be. She had to find a way to save them both.

  “Tie Wyatt up, Jerome, and make quick work of it,” Ruthanne ordered. “We need to finish this and clear out of here before McGuire or one of his hapless deputies come nosing around again.”

  Kelly spotted Jerome then, and he looked at her in that same perverted way he had when leaving the truck stop.

  “I told you we’d meet again. Even I didn’t expect it to be quite like this.”

  Her insides rolled. “You’re depraved.”

  He laughed as if she’d paid him a compliment.

  Finally she spotted the source of the scraping noise that had become louder still. Riley was a few feet farther down the hallway, gagged and bound, writhing on the floor. Blood oozed from his mouth and puddled near his chest.

  Kelly looked away from the gory sight. She had to focus. “You are in this with Jerome? Why, Ruthanne? None of this was about you. It was Riley who broke all the rules.”

  “Riley did nothing on his own except chase skirts. I made him who he is. I put up the money for his campaigns and used my family’s clout to get him into all the right political circles. His thanks for that was leaving me.”

  More likely, he’d left her because she was crazy.

  Wyatt was still out cold, but now Kelly could see the claw hammer lying by his feet. That must be what Jerome had hit him with.

  Jerome tied Wyatt’s ankles and bound his hands behind his back. He took Wyatt’s gun from his holster and kicked it toward Ruthanne. “Want me to shoot the bitch for you or do you plan to stand here and talk all day?”

  “Shut up, Jerome. I’m the one in charge here. The last time I trusted you with a murder, you fumbled it so badly, I had to do it myself.”

  “I didn’t fumble it. You just couldn’t wait for me to execute my plan.”

  “I don’t want Kelly shot. I want her alive to feel the heat of the fire when this house goes up in flames and she’s reduced to ashes. Too bad her adulterous mother can’t be here to enjoy the occasion with her. Pour the gasoline all through the house now. We’ve wasted enough time.”

  “Consider it done.” He laughed as he walked away.

  Kelly struggled through the growing panic to get her mind around the truth. “So you know about my mother’s affair with Riley?”

  “Does
that surprise you?”

  “Did Helene Ledger tell you?”

  “No. I made certain that self-righteous busybody never had the chance to tell me or anyone else.”

  “It was you who killed Helene Ledger,” Kelly said as the obvious suddenly resonated through the confusion.

  “I had no choice.”

  “But you were best friends. She was trying to help. She confronted Riley and was going to force him to confess the affair…” The illicit affair with Kelly’s mother. How could that have led to murder and now to this?

  The answer was tragically clear. Ruthanne was crazy and ruthless and vengeful beyond belief. Still…

  Wyatt’s body jerked and his eyes appeared to focus. He was alive. Relief flooded through Kelly though she knew that if she didn’t do something fast, neither she, Wyatt or Riley would be alive for long.

  She wondered if Ruthanne’s confession had penetrated his comalike state and stirred him back to consciousness.

  Ruthanne’s finger curled around the trigger. “I prefer not to shoot you, Kelly, but make one move and I’ll pull the trigger.”

  Being shot would be far better than burning to death, but she couldn’t give up. Maybe the sheriff and his deputies would show up just as Ruthanne had said.

  The smell of gasoline wafted though the house and Kelly’s eyes and throat began to burn.

  Wyatt began to writhe in pain just as Riley had been doing a few minutes ago. No. Even in her peripheral vision she could tell that Wyatt’s movements were more purposeful.

  He was trying to free his hands from the rope. She had to keep Ruthanne talking. Wyatt needed time and they were fast running out of it.

  “Why kill Helene?” Kelly asked again.

  “She didn’t merely want Riley to confess his indiscretions to me. She wanted him to admit his sins to the voters. Helene was a stickler for morality. She believed politicians should adhere to some higher standard than the rest of us.”

  Almost everyone adhered to a higher moral standard than Ruthanne. “Did having Riley elected mean that much to you?”

  “Having Riley elected meant everything to me. If his chances of winning the election were off the table, he would have divorced me and married Linda Ann. I made sure that not only did he get elected but that he didn’t dare leave me without being the number-one suspect in Helene’s murder.”

  “And then you stood back and let Troy Ledger go to prison for your crime?”

  “No. I didn’t leave anything to chance. I packed Helene’s bags that day after I killed her with Troy’s gun. I ripped off her clothes so that if Troy did somehow prove his innocence, McGuire would never suspect a woman of the crime.”

  “You’ll never get away with this.”

  “Of course I will. Jerome will bear all the blame. He won’t mind. He’ll be in Rio de Janeiro. The transportation is already arranged.”

  Ruthanne’s voice grew husky from the fumes.

  “All done,” Jerome said. “I’m to the bottom of the last can.” He walked over and stood next to Wyatt, then let the remaining drops of fuel drip onto Wyatt’s shirt.

  “I’m leaving now,” Ruthanne said. “Tie up Kelly and then stand outside and listen for my car to start and drive away from the trees, where I hid it, before you fire up this incinerator.”

  “Nice knowing you, Wyatt,” Ruthanne said as if she was merely driving away as she’d done when leaving the ranch this afternoon. “Give my regards to your mother and tell her I plan to marry the poor grieving husband she left behind.”

  Ruthanne turned and started walking to the back door. This was it. Kelly and Wyatt would die together. She’d never again feel his arms around her. She wouldn’t be there to see Jaci grow up.

  Tears burned at the back of her eyes as Jerome bound her. Even bound, she might be able to worm her way to the door but not before Jerome dropped the match and created the inferno. There was no way to save herself or Wyatt.

  “I love you, Wyatt. I love you with all my heart. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you and Jaci. I wanted that so very, very much.”

  Jerome crammed a gag into her mouth and walked away.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Wyatt’s hand slipped from the last knot just as Jerome stepped over him. He grabbed one of Jerome’s legs and yanked so hard that Jerome’s head bounced off the hallway wall as he fell to the floor beside Wyatt. His gun went flying across the floor.

  Wyatt’s ankles were still tied. His only chance was to keep Jerome pinned to the floor. If Jerome managed to get back on his feet, Wyatt might not be able to stop him before he escaped the house and ignited the gasoline.

  No way could Wyatt let this house go up in flames with Kelly inside. He had to buy her time to escape. Adrenaline pumped through him like a water jet. His instincts and training ruled his brain and his muscles. He tore the gag from his mouth.

  “Get out, Kelly. Roll to the back door or hold on to the wall and hop. Just get out now!”

  Jerome planted an elbow jab to Wyatt’s neck, but Wyatt maintained his grip as Jerome regrouped, coming back with a knee to Wyatt’s crotch.

  Kelly was moving, but in the wrong direction. She was coming toward him and Jerome. Jerome had his back to her, but he’d never let her get past them.

  And then he saw Kelly’s foot brush up against Jerome’s gun. She kicked it toward Wyatt. It stopped a few inches short of his reach.

  Wyatt heard the back door open. No doubt Ruthanne back to check out the delay. Ruthanne had a gun, and she might not realize that gunfire might be all it took to send the house up in flames.

  Wyatt shoved with every ounce of strength in his body. He moved the deadlock of his and Jerome’s entwined bodies just enough to fit his hand around the butt of the gun. He punched the barrel into Jerome’s side.

  “If I pull this trigger, we may all light up the sky,” Wyatt said.

  “That’s not certain.”

  “Are you willing to chance it?”

  Jerome’s face turned a pasty white and sweat poured down his face as if he’d just climbed out of the shower.

  Wyatt heard heavy footsteps coming from the front of the house. Jerome broke free and started to run out the back.

  McGuire stamped into the hallway. “Dad burn it to hell and back. This house has more gasoline than Exxon. What kind of party are you guys throwing?”

  Relief swept through Wyatt but it was short-lived.

  “Jerome’s got matches and more fuel to spread. We’re going to blow.”

  “Jerome’s wearing a nice little metal bracelet by now. My deputies got him before he made it out the door to finish his dirty work.” Then he called out to another deputy who’d entered the house. “Brent, carry Kelly out and don’t stop until she’s clear of explosions danger. Charlie, do the same with… Hell, that’s the senator. Get him out of here, too.”

  McGuire had already stooped and slit the ropes that bound Wyatt’s ankles.

  Wyatt staggered a bit as he stood.

  “Lean on me, Wyatt,” McGuire ordered. “We gotta move. It won’t take much to make kindling and ashes of this house.”

  Squad cars and fire trucks were pouring into the driveway by the time they got outside.

  Wyatt was still a bit woozy and a hen egg was forming on the side of his head. It would have been a lot worse if hadn’t grabbed Jerome’s arm in time to lessen the blow.

  He looked around for Kelly and spotted her surrounded by deputies at the far end of the long driveway. To his amazement, he spotted Ruthanne, too, also surrounded by deputies.

  “I want you and Kelly both to get checked over at the hospital. A police order,” McGuire said, before he could protest. “I’ll catch up with you there and take your statements.”

  “That was great timing on your part,” Wyatt said. “How did you manage it?”

  “Good police work. I’ve had deputies periodically checking the wooded area behind Kelly’s house just in case Jerome was lying in wait back there. When I saw the car
s, I called for backup. And then we ran into Ruthanne, trying to make a fast getaway. I figured she had to be involved.”

  “She admitted to killing my mother.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “No. It’s a long and very complicated story. I’ll feed you all the details, but first I need to make sure Kelly is all right.”

  “But you say Ruthanne confessed to killing Helene?”

  “Yes. She was talking to Kelly, but I heard. Of course, she was expecting both of us to die before we could repeat it.”

  “Under the circumstances, I think you should perform one final duty as a deputy.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Go arrest Ruthanne Foley for the murder of Helene Ledger.”

  “I think I can handle that task.”

  KELLY WAS STANDING not two feet away when Wyatt read Ruthanne her rights and slipped the handcuffs on her wrists. She knew he’d lived for this moment since he was thirteen and had come home to find his mother’s body stretched out on the floor.

  A few minutes ago she’d thought their lives were over. Now life lay before them like a road paved with golden promise. All they had to do was take it.

  She’d told him how she felt. The rest was up to Wyatt. She’d give him all the time he needed. She wasn’t going anywhere.

  When he finished making the arrest, the sheriff led Ruthanne to a waiting squad car.

  Wyatt came over and took her in his arms. “I’ve faced killers more times than I can count,” Wyatt said. “I’ve never been as afraid as I was tonight when I thought I might not be able to save you.” His voice was husky with emotion.

  “But you did save me, Wyatt. You saved both of us and the senator.”

  “Yeah, but there’s something we should clear up here and now.”

  “I can’t think of anything that can’t wait.”

  “I can. Remember what you said when you thought we were goners?”

  “That I love you.”

  “That you wanted to spend the rest of your life with me.”