Branded by the Sheriff

by Delores Fossen

  Marita dished up a small plate of plain eggs, took a spoon from the drawer and reached for Aubrey. “Why don’t I feed this to her in the family room so you two can talk?”

  When the nanny took Aubrey from him, Beck immediately felt the loss. So did Aubrey—her mouth tightened into a rosebud pout as Marita carted her away.

  “You look…disappointed,” Faith commented.

  “I think being around Aubrey makes me think about being a father. I’m thirty-two. Guess this weird, gut feeling is the equivalent of my biological clock ticking.”

  Great. Now he was talking biological clocks after his cooking babble. He might have to go wrestle a longhorn to get back his manly image.

  Faith lifted an eyebrow. “You want to be a father?”

  Her astonished expression and tone stung. “You don’t think I’d be a good dad?”

  “No. I think you’d be very good at it.” Faith walked closer and poured some coffee. She smelled like peach-scented shampoo. “I’m just a little surprised, that’s all.”

  Another shrug. He tipped his head to the family room where he could hear Aubrey babbling. “What can I say? I’ve decided I want a child.”

  Actually, he wanted Aubrey.

  Why did he feel such a strong connection to that little girl? Maybe because he was starting to feel a strong connection to Aubrey’s mother.

  Beck looked at Faith then, just as her gaze landed on him. Uh-oh. There it was again. The reminder of that kiss.

  She moistened her lips, causing his midsection to clench. He had to move away from her, or he was going to kiss her again. But Faith beat him to it. She leaned in and brushed her mouth over his.

  “Mmm,” she mumbled. That sound went straight through him. “I shouldn’t want you.”

  He smiled. God knows why. There wasn’t anything to smile about. He was getting daddy fever, and he wanted Faith in his bed. Or on the floor.

  Location was optional.

  Because he was crazed with lust, Beck did something totally stupid. He hooked his arm around her waist and eased her to him. Body against body. It was a good fit. The heat just slid right through him.

  “Does saying ‘I shouldn’t want you’ make you want me less?” he asked, making sure it sounded like a joke.

  “No.” That wasn’t a joking tone. A heavy sigh left her mouth. “It’s complicated, Beck.”

  He was aware of that. But something was holding her back other than what’d happened in their past. “Want to tell me about it?”

  He saw the hesitation in her eyes. “You’ll want to sit down for this,” she finally said.

  Beck silently groaned. This sounded like trouble.

  Before either of them could sit at the kitchen table, he heard the doorbell. It was almost immediately followed by a knock.

  Beck snatched his gun from the top of the fridge. “Take Marita and Aubrey and go into the bedroom,” he instructed.

  Faith gave a shaky nod and started toward the family room. She didn’t have to go far. Marita was carrying Aubrey, and she was headed back into the kitchen. Tracy was right on their heels.

  “Try to keep Aubrey quiet,” Faith told them. She began to pick up the toys that’d been left in the room.

  There was another ring of the doorbell. Another knock. Beck hurried to see who his impatient visitor was, but before he could get to the door, the key slid into the lock. He took aim. The door flew open.

  His father was standing there.

  Pete was behind him.

  “Hell.” Beck lowered his gun and cursed some more. His father had obviously not waited and used his emergency key to get in. “It’s not a good time for a visit. We’ll have to get together later.”

  His father eyed the gun. Then Beck. But Pete looked past Beck, and his attention landed on Faith. She had various toys clutched in her hands and was apparently headed to the bedroom. She froze.

  “What’s she doing here?” Pete demanded.

  His father didn’t let Beck answer, and he gave Pete a sharp warning look. “Maybe this is a good thing. She can probably clear up some of this mess.”

  Beck had no idea what mess his father was talking about, but he had a massive problem on his hands. His family now knew Faith’s whereabouts, and unless he could convince them to keep quiet—and trust them to do so—then he was going to have to find a new location to use as a safe house. But he’d have to do that later. Right now, he needed to deal with the situation.

  “What’s this about?” Beck asked.

  His father and brother stepped in and shut the door. “When you called earlier, you wanted to know if I knew anything about some letters that had to do with Sherry Matthews,” Roy said. “Well, I do.”

  Beck was poleaxed. This was another unwanted surprise. Beck had expected his father to have no idea about that particular subject. “What do you mean?”

  Roy pulled out a large manila envelope he had tucked beneath his arm. “These letters.”

  Beck placed his gun on top of the cabinet that housed the TV. Hoping this wasn’t something that would lead to his father’s arrest, he grabbed a Kleenex from the box on the end table, and he used a tissue so that he wouldn’t get his prints on what might be evidence.

  Still clutching the toys, Faith walked closer and watched as Beck took out the letters.

  “Two and a half months ago, Sherry came out to the ranch to see Pete and me,” Roy explained. “He wasn’t there so I talked to her alone. She wanted money.”

  “Two and a half months ago?” Beck repeated. “That was just a couple of weeks before she was murdered.”

  “A week,” Roy corrected. “She was very much alive when she left, but she said she was in big trouble. That she owed someone some money.”

  “Nolan,” Faith supplied. “She called me about that same time, and I told her I couldn’t lend her any more. I told her to work it out with Nolan.”

  “She didn’t,” Roy informed her. “Sherry said if Pete didn’t give her ten grand in cash, then she was going to tell Nicole that she was having an affair with him. She said she’d tell Nicole she was having an affair with me, too.”

  Beck felt every muscle in his body go stiff. He waited for his father to deny it. He didn’t. But Pete did.

  “They were bald-faced lies,” Pete volunteered. “Sherry didn’t wait around to say those lies to my face. She left, and a day later, the first letter arrived.”

  Roy nodded. “When I came out of the grocery store, it was tucked beneath the windshield wiper of my truck.” He pointed to the letter in question.

  The envelope simply had “Pete and Roy” written on it. No “to” or “from” address. Still using the tissue as a buffer, Beck took out the letter itself. One page. Typed. No handwritten signature. No date. No smudges or obvious fingerprints.

  However, the envelope had obviously been sealed at one time, and since it was the old-fashioned, lick-and-press kind, he might be able to have that tested for DNA to prove if Sherry had indeed sent it. At this point, he had no reason to doubt that she was the sender, but it was standard procedure to test that sort of thing.

  Not that his family had followed procedure.

  They should have brought the letters to him, and maybe he could have prevented the murders.

  “I need that money,” Beck read aloud. “You two owe it to me, and if I don’t have that ten thousand dollars by Friday, I’m calling Nicole. Miss Priss won’t be happy to hear you’re both sleeping with me again, and this time I have proof. Sherry.”

  Again.

  That word really jumped out at him. Maybe it was a reference to the motel incident. Or maybe this was something more recent. If his brother could lie about the first, he could probably lie about the second. But where did that leave his father? Had he slept with Sherry, too?

  “Sherry called after the first letter,” Pete explained. “I told her I wasn’t going to give her a dime. The next day, the second letter was in the mailbox.”

  The second letter was typed like the fi
rst, but this one contained a copy of a grainy photo. It appeared to be Pete, sleeping, his chest bare and a sheet covering his lower body. Sherry was also in the shot, and it was a photo she’d obviously taken herself since Beck could see her thumb in the image. She was smiling as if she knew that this photo would be worth big bucks.

  “That’s not me in the picture,” Pete insisted. “It’s some guy she got who looks like me.”

  Maybe. It wasn’t clear. It, too, would have to be tested and perhaps could be enhanced to get a better image.

  “This is your last chance,” Beck read aloud from the second letter. “If I don’t have the money by tomorrow at six o’clock, a copy of this picture will go to Nicole. Leave the cash with my mom at the liquor store.”

  “When he got the second letter, I told Pete that maybe we should just pay Sherry off,” his father explained. “I didn’t care what people thought about me, but I just didn’t want Nicole involved in this.”

  Since blackmailers were rarely satisfied with one payoff, Beck ignored that faulty reasoning and went on to the third letter. It was similar to the others, but this time Sherry demanded fifty thousand dollars, not ten. There was no copy of a photo, only the threat to spill all to Nicole.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about these letters before?” Beck asked.

  “Because I wouldn’t let him,” Pete spoke up. “I wanted to handle it myself. And I didn’t want anyone to know. I didn’t want this to get back to Nicole. All it would have taken is for one of your deputies to let it slip, and this wouldn’t have stayed private very long.”

  “I wouldn’t have shown this to my deputies.” His family must have known that was true, which made Pete’s excuse sound even less plausible. But Beck couldn’t doubt Pete’s motives completely. He would have done anything to prevent Nicole from knowing. His brother might have a loose zipper, but he was obsessed enough with his wife that he would do anything to keep her from being hurt.

  Pete pointed to Faith. “I think she was in on this blackmail scheme of her sister’s. I think she knew all about it.”

  “I didn’t,” Faith said at the same moment that Beck said, “She didn’t.”

  His comment got him stares from all three. “Faith’s been up-front with me about this case. Unlike you two,” Beck added. “You should have come forward with these and told me about Sherry’s visit.”

  Not that it would have helped him catch the killer. But it would have given Beck the whole picture. Of course, it would have also made his brother and father suspects in Sherry’s and her mother’s murders.

  Hell.

  First that gun incident with Nicole. Now this. He might have to arrest a Tanner or two before this was over.

  “Faith’s brainwashed you,” his father decided.

  “That’s not brainwashing,” Pete piped in. “She’s using her body to blur the lines. It’s what the Matthews women are good at.”

  Beck slowly laid the letter aside and stared down his brother. “How do you know that?”

  “What the hell does that mean?” Pete’s nostrils flared.

  “Were you having an affair with Sherry?”

  Pete cursed. “I won’t dignify that with an answer.”

  “Why, because it’s true?”

  Roy caught onto Pete’s arm when his son started to bolt toward Beck. “If your brother says he wasn’t sleeping with that woman, then he wasn’t.”

  The denial didn’t answer the questions. “Then why would Sherry say it? Why would she have that picture? And why would she try to blackmail you?”

  “Because she’s a lying tramp, just like her sister.” Pete jabbed his finger at Faith again.

  That did it. Beck was tired of this. He put the letters aside, went to the door and opened it. “Both of you are leaving now. Once I’ve processed these letters, I’ll let you know if I’m going to file any charges against you.”

  “Charges?” his father practically yelled. “For what, trying to be discreet? Trying to protect my family from a liar and schemer?”

  Beck reminded himself that he was speaking to his father and tried to keep his voice level. “The Rangers could construe this as obstruction of justice.”

  Roy looked as if he’d slugged him. “Don’t do this, son. Don’t choose this woman over your own family.”

  “It’s not about Faith. I’m the sheriff. It’s my job to investigate all angles of a double murder.” He ushered them out, closed the door and locked it.

  Faith dropped Aubrey’s toys onto the floor. She blew out a long breath and rubbed her hands against the sides of her pants. “I always say I’m not going to let your family get to me.”

  But they had. And Beck hated that.

  Even though she had her chin high and was trying to look strong, Beck went to her and pulled her into his arms. He brushed a kiss on her forehead.

  “I didn’t know Sherry tried to blackmail Pete and Roy,” she volunteered. “I didn’t know anything about the letters until Darin mentioned them last night.”

  “I believe you. If you’d known, you would have told me.”

  He felt her go stiff, and she eased back to meet his gaze. She shook her head, and he got the sinking feeling that he was about to hear another confession that would cause his blood pressure to spike.

  “I have to move Aubrey,” she said. “Now that your father and brother know she’s here, she can’t stay.”

  She was right. Keeping Aubrey safe had to be at the top of their list.

  He nodded. “I have a friend who’s the sheriff over in Willow Ridge. I’ll call him and see if he can set up a place for all of you there.”

  “No. Not me. I can’t go with her. The danger is tied to me, not her. If I get her away from me, then she’ll be safe. But if she stays with me, she could be hurt.”

  Beck wanted to shoot holes in that theory, but he couldn’t. “Are you sure you can be away from her?”

  “No. I’m not. I’ll miss her. But I can’t risk another shooting with her around.” She blinked back tears. “You can trust this friend?”

  “I can trust him,” Beck assured her.

  He let go of her so he could start making the necessary arrangements. Beck walked toward his office, and Faith went into the bedroom to tell the others that they’d be moving.

  She was keeping something from him.

  Damn it.

  Here, he’d just blasted his family for withholding evidence and information. He’d given Faith a carte blanche approval when defending her. But she obviously had some kind of secret. Was it connected to the murders?

  It must at least be connected to Sherry or Darin.

  And that meant he’d have to deal with it as soon as he made arrangements for the safe house. He also needed to call the bank and find out if his father or brother had recently withdrawn a large sum of money. Beck hated to doubt them, but he had to think like a lawman.

  It was possible that one of them had taken the cash to Sherry to pay her off. Maybe an argument had broken out. Maybe one of them had accidentally killed Sherry. Then maybe Sherry’s mother had been killed because she suspected the truth. Or might she have been a witness to her daughter’s murder?

  Beck groaned and scrubbed his hand over his face. Oh, man. He hated to even consider that, but it was possible. He only hoped it didn’t turn out to be the truth.

  His phone rang, and when he checked the caller ID screen, he saw that it was from the sheriff’s office.

  “It’s me, Corey,” his deputy greeted him when Beck answered. “You’re never going to guess who just showed up here at your office.”

  After the morning from Hades that he’d just had, Beck was almost afraid to ask. “Who?”

  “Our murder suspect, Nolan Wheeler. And he’s demanding to see you and Faith. Now.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Faith could feel her heart breaking. Letting her daughter go was not what she wanted to do. She wanted Aubrey with her.

  But more than that, she needed her child to be safe.
r />   For that to happen, she had to say good-bye, even if it made her ache.

  “It’ll be okay,” Beck assured her. Again. He’d been saying that and other reassuring things for the past three hours, since they’d started the preparations to move Aubrey and Marita to a safer location.

  Faith wanted to believe him, especially since she didn’t feel as if she had a choice. The killer had seen to that.

  She kissed Aubrey again and strapped her into the car seat in Beck’s SUV. Marita and Tracy were already seated, as was Sgt. Caldwell, who would be driving them to the sheriff’s house in Willow Ridge. The Ranger had already promised her that he would take an indirect route to make sure no one followed. Every precaution would be taken. And he’d call her as soon as they arrived.

  Faith’s heart was still breaking.

  Aubrey waved, first to Faith. Then to Beck, who was standing behind her. The little girl gave them both a grin, looked at Beck and said, “Dada.”

  Her words were crystal clear.

  Faith stepped back and met Beck’s gaze. “I have no idea why she said that.”

  He shrugged. “One of the books I read her yesterday had the word daddy in it. Guess she picked it up from there.”

  Relief washed through Faith. She didn’t want Beck to think she’d coached Aubrey into saying that. Their lives were already complicated enough without adding those kind of feelings to the mix. But it was clear that her little girl was very fond of Beck.

  Beck leaned in, kissed Aubrey’s cheek. Faith added another kiss of her own, and Beck shut the door. They backed into the mudroom, and only then did the Ranger open the garage door.

  Somehow, Faith managed not to cry when they drove away.

  “We need to go to the station and deal with Nolan,” Beck reminded her.

  As much as she loathed the idea of seeing Nolan Wheeler, it’d get her mind off Aubrey, and would keep Nolan occupied while Aubrey was being transported to the new safe house.