A Threat to His Family

by Delores Fossen

  “Where’s the baby?” Owen immediately asked.

  “On the floor behind me. She’s playing with my necklace. I wanted to be between the door and her in case... Well, just in case,” Laney added.

  Just in case wasn’t looking very good right now. But at least they were all still safe. He heard Addie then, and she wasn’t fussing. It was more of a cooing babble, so the necklace must have been holding her attention.

  “Elaine?” the man called out. He had moved since his last shout, but Owen wasn’t sure to where. He also wasn’t sure of Laney’s reaction.

  The color had blanched from her face and he didn’t think it was because of the danger. Owen didn’t have to be a cop to figure out what that meant.

  “You know this guy,” he said.

  She didn’t deny it, causing Owen to curse under his breath.

  “What does he want with you?” Owen demanded.

  She didn’t get a chance to answer him because the man shouted again. “Elaine, let’s do this the easy way. Come out now and leave with me, and no one will get hurt.”

  Hell. There was a good bit of anger now mixed with fear for his daughter. Anger that this thug would try to bargain like this. No way was Owen going to let Laney leave with a man who’d just fired a shot at him.

  “Watch out!” someone yelled. Not the thug this time. It was Kellan. “He’s coming right at you.”

  That wasn’t the only thing that came, either. There was a gunshot, quickly followed by another one. From the sound of it, the second shot had come from a different weapon.

  Maybe Kellan’s.

  Owen hoped it had anyway. Because he didn’t like the odds if this intruder had brought his own version of backup with him.

  He debated opening the barn door so he could help his brother, but since this guy was likely coming for them, Owen’s top priority was to make sure that Addie was protected. He hurried to Laney and Addie, standing guard in front of them and waiting for whatever was about to happen.

  Owen didn’t have to wait long. Someone kicked the barn door hard, and bits of wood went flying. The saddle shifted, too, and Owen steeled himself to fire. He was about to do that when he got a glimpse of the person who’d just broken down the door. The man, dressed in black, took aim at them. However, before Owen could pull the trigger, shots blasted through the barn.

  Laney had fired.

  And she hadn’t missed.

  The bullets, first one and then the other, slammed into the man’s chest and he dropped to the ground like a stone. If he wasn’t dead, he soon would be, because he was already bleeding out.

  Addie started to cry so Owen hurried to her. The relief came flooding through him because his baby was okay. She hadn’t been hurt.

  He didn’t scoop her up into his arms, something he desperately wanted to do. First, he had to wait for the all clear from Kellan, and that might take a couple of minutes. In the meantime, Owen would need to hold his position. However, that didn’t stop him from asking one critical question.

  Owen’s eyes narrowed when he looked at Laney. “Start talking. Who the heck are you?”

  Chapter Two

  From the moment this nightmare had started, Laney had known that question—and many more—would come from Owen.

  Who the heck are you?

  No way would Owen Slater just let something like this go. Of course, he probably thought her answer would help him understand this mess. It wouldn’t. In fact, it was going to make things even worse.

  At least he and Addie hadn’t been hurt. And the toddler was so young that she hopefully wouldn’t remember anything about this attack. However, the assault would stay with Owen for the rest of his life, and Laney was never going to be able to forgive herself for allowing things to come to this.

  Sweet heaven. She could have gotten them killed.

  With his scalpel-sharp glare, Owen reminded her that he was well aware of that, too. In fact, the only reason he likely didn’t take Addie from Laney when she picked up the baby was that he needed to keep his shooting hand free in case someone else fired at them.

  She glanced at the man she’d just shot. Who the heck was he? How had he known who she was? And why had he done this? He hadn’t given her any choice, but it still twisted away at her. A man was dying or already dead because of her. And worse, this wasn’t over. If she’d managed to somehow keep him alive, he might have been coerced into telling her who’d put him up to this, but she’d had no choice but to take that shot.

  “Who are you?” Owen repeated.

  Judging from the tone and his intense glare, he no longer trusted her. Good. Because Laney didn’t trust herself.

  It crushed her to have it all come to this. She’d thought she was safe, that Addie and Owen would be safe, too. Obviously she’d brought her fight right to their doorstep.

  “I was Elaine Pearce,” she said, speaking around the lump in her throat, “but I changed my name to Laney Martin.”

  Of course, that explanation was just the tip of the iceberg. Owen would demand to know about not only the name change, but also how it connected to the dead man. And how it connected to this attack.

  Owen sent a text to someone. Probably to one of his fellow deputies to do a quick background check on Elaine Pearce. It was what Laney would have done had their positions been reversed.

  “I want you to put your gun on the hay bale,” he instructed. He sounded like a cop now, and he looked at her as if she were a criminal.

  Laney did exactly as he said, knowing the gun would be taken as part as of the evidence in what was now a crime scene. An investigation would quickly follow, which meant she’d be questioned and requestioned. Soon, everyone in town would know who she was, and she’d be in more danger than she already was. That was why she had to figure a way out of here—fast.

  “Elaine Pearce,” he repeated. “And you didn’t think that was something I should know?” Owen grumbled. “You didn’t bother to mention that you weren’t who you were claiming to be?”

  “No.” Laney took another deep breath. “I thought I’d find the info that I needed and be out of here before anything could happen.”

  “You were obviously wrong about that.” He gave a disapproving grunt and went to the man, kicking his gun farther away from where it had fallen from the shooter’s hand. Owen then touched his fingers to the guy’s neck.

  “Dead,” Owen relayed as he did a quick search of the guy’s pockets. Nothing. Of course, he hadn’t expected a hired gun to bring an actual ID with him.

  “You recognize him?” Owen asked.

  Laney somehow managed to stand upright, though every part of her was trembling. She also moved closer to Owen and then made another quick check on Addie. The little girl’s cries were already starting to taper off, but she’d obviously been frightened by the noise of the gunshots.

  A muscle tightened in Owen’s jaw and, though Laney hadn’t thought it possible, his steel-gray eyes narrowed even more when he glared at her. He made a circling motion with his index finger for her to continue, but before Laney even had the chance to do that, his phone rang. She saw his brother’s name on the screen. In the months that she’d been working for Owen, she’d met Kellan several times and knew he lived close by. She had figured Owen had called him or their other brothers for backup.

  “This conversation isn’t over,” Owen assured her as he hit the answer button on his phone. He didn’t put the call on speaker, but Laney was close enough to hear Kellan’s voice.

  “There’s a second intruder,” Kellan blurted out, causing a chill to ripple through her.

  Laney hurried back to Addie and pulled the little girl into her arms. Because of her position, she could no longer hear what Kellan was saying. But judging from the way Owen’s gaze fired around, he, too, was bracing himself for another attack. He didn’t stay on the phone long and, once he was f
inished with his conversation, maneuvered himself in front of them.

  “The second guy was in the guesthouse,” Owen told her. “He ran into the woods across the road. Kellan and Gunnar are searching for him now and they’ve called Dispatch for more backup.”

  Gunnar was Deputy Gunnar Pullam, someone else that Laney had seen around town. Like Owen, he was an experienced lawman. Something they needed right now. Maybe they’d find the second man and stop him from circling back to try to kill them again. The thought didn’t help with her heartbeat, which was already thudding out of control. Addie must have picked up on that, too, because she started to whimper again. Laney began to rock her.

  “Kellan said the second man had something with him when he ran out of the guesthouse,” Owen went on. “A bag, maybe.” His back was to her now, but she didn’t need to see his face to know he was still glaring. “Any idea what he took?”

  Laney’s thoughts were all over the place as she tried to fight off the panic, but it didn’t take her long to come up with an answer. “Maybe my toothbrush or something else with my DNA on it. Something to prove who I am.”

  Other than changing her hair and wearing colored contacts, she hadn’t altered her appearance that much. If they’d looked closely enough, whoever was after her could have recognized her from old photos she was certain were still out there on the web. But a hired gun would have wanted some kind of proof to give to his boss and DNA would have done it.

  That didn’t feel right, though.

  She fought through the whirlwind of thoughts and spiked adrenaline, and remembered that one of the intruders had called her by her real name. Elaine. And the one she’d killed had come into the barn to either take her with him or gun her down. So maybe they hadn’t been looking for someone to prove who she was. Maybe they’d been after something else in the guesthouse and the man she’d shot had been just a distraction for his partner.

  “My laptop,” she added on a rise of breath. Though everything on it was password protected or stored on a cloud with several layers of security, a good hacker would be able to find what she had there.

  “Keep talking,” Owen ordered her while he continued volleying glances between the front door and the window at the back. “Why’d you lie to me about who you were?”

  Again, this would only lead to more questions, but she doubted that she could stall Owen, especially since the sense of danger was still so thick around them.

  “I lied because I didn’t want anyone, including you, to know my real identity.” Laney paused when her breath suddenly became very thin. “I’m working on an investigation, and the clues led me here to Longview Ridge.”

  Owen pulled back his shoulders. “Are you a cop?”

  “A private investigator.”

  Owen growled out some profanity under his breath and looked as if he wanted to do more than growl it. He’d kept it quiet, no doubt because his daughter was right there, but thankfully Addie was falling asleep, her head now resting on Laney’s shoulder.

  “So, you’re a PI and a liar,” Owen rumbled. Obviously he didn’t think much of either. “I obviously missed way too much about you when I did your background check. And now you’ve put my little girl, me and now Gunner and my brother in danger.”

  Yes. She’d done all of those things and more. “I’m investigating Emerson Keaton.”

  She saw the brief moment of surprise, followed by a new round of silent profanity that went through his eyes. “My brother-in-law. Addie’s uncle.”

  Laney could add another mental yes to that. Emerson was indeed both of those things, along with being the town’s district attorney. She was also convinced that he had a fourth label.

  Killer.

  Of course, there was no way Owen would believe that, and she wasn’t going to be able to convince him of it now. Laney couldn’t blame him for his doubts. Nearly everything she’d told him had been a lie, including the résumé and references she’d manufactured to get this job.

  Owen’s intense stare demanded that she continue even though they obviously still had to keep watch.

  “Seven months ago, my half sister was murdered. Hadley Odom.” Laney had said Hadley’s name around the thick lump in her throat. “We were close.”

  Not a lie. They had been, despite the different ways they’d chosen to live their lives.

  “What the heck does your half sister’s murder have to do with Emerson?” Owen snapped.

  “Everything,” Laney managed to say, and she repeated it to give herself some extra time to gather her words and her breath. “Hadley and Emerson had an affair.”

  “Emerson?” Owen challenged when she paused. There was a bucket of skepticism in his tone. With good reason. Emerson was the golden boy of Longview Ridge. He had a beautiful wife, two young kids and a spotless reputation. “I’ve known Emerson my whole life, and there’s never been a hint of him having an affair.”

  “He and Hadley kept it secret. Not just for Emerson’s sake but for Hadley’s. Hadley and I had the same mother, but her father, my stepfather, wouldn’t have approved.” Actually, Laney hadn’t approved, either, but it was impossible to sway Hadley once she’d had her mind set on something.

  Owen stayed quiet for a moment, his expression hard, ice-cold. “You have proof of this?”

  “I heard Hadley talking to him on the phone, and I saw them together once when they were at a restaurant.”

  Of course, that wasn’t proof she thought Owen was just going to accept. And she was right. Owen’s scowl only worsened.

  “Hadley told me they were having an affair.” She spelled it out for him. “She also told me that she got very upset when he broke things off with her. In anger, Hadley threatened to tell his wife and, less than twelve hours later, she was dead.”

  “And you think Emerson killed her.” It wasn’t a question.

  Owen wasn’t believing any of this. Neither had anyone else she’d told, but Laney had plenty of proof that she was pushing the wrong buttons with her investigation.

  She tipped her head to the dead man. “He came here after me. Why else would he do that if I weren’t getting close to proving what Emerson did?”

  Owen didn’t roll his eyes, but it was close. Then he huffed, “If you’re really a PI as you say you are, then I suspect you’ve riled some people. You’ve certainly done that to me.”

  “Yes, but you don’t want me dead. Emerson does.”

  However, she had to mentally shake her head. Someone wanted to kill her and the most obvious suspect was the one she was investigating. But there was someone else and her expression must have let Owen know that.

  “Remembering something else?” Owen snapped.

  No way did she want to lie to him again, but before Laney could even begin to answer him, she heard footsteps outside the barn. That gave her another shot of adrenaline and she crouched again with Addie.

  “It’s me,” someone said.

  Kellan.

  Not the threat her body had been geared up to face. However, like Owen, Kellan was scowling when he came into the barn. He glanced at his brother and niece. Then at the dead man. Then at Laney. She didn’t think it was her imagination that she got the brunt of the scowl he was doling out.

  “We got the second intruder,” Kellan explained. “He’s alive.”

  Laney released the breath she hadn’t even known she’d been holding. “Who is he?” she blurted. “Has he said anything?”

  “Oh, he’s talking a lot,” Kellan grumbled. “He’s demanding to see you. He says he’s a friend of yours, that you’re the one who hired him.”

  “No.” Laney couldn’t deny that fast enough. “He’s lying.”

  Judging from the flat look Kellan gave her, he wasn’t buying it. Apparently, neither was Owen because he walked closer and took Addie from her. He immediately moved next to his brother.

  “
There’s more,” Kellan added a moment later. “The intruder says that you hired him to kill Owen.”

  Chapter Three

  Owen hadn’t wanted to spend half the night in the sheriff’s office, where he spent most of his days, but he hadn’t had a choice. This was not just a simple B and E, and with the shooting death of one of the intruders, it was a tangled mess.

  One not likely to be resolved before morning.

  That was because Laney had denied hiring the intruder, and the intruder was insisting he was telling the truth. That put them at a temporary stalemate. Or at least it would have if Owen had any faith in the intruder. Hard to trust someone who’d come to his home and broken in while his baby daughter had been there. Of course, the reason the intruder had come was Laney.

  That meant this was another stalemate.

  One that he hoped to break soon.

  There was an entire CSI team going through his place, which meant he wouldn’t be going home tonight. The only silver lining was that Francine had taken Addie to her place. Not alone, either. Owen had sent Gunnar with them just case this “mess” got another layer to it with a second attack.

  In the meantime, Owen had been in the mind-set of collecting as much information as he could through phone conversations and emails. He hadn’t done all of that under Laney’s watchful eyes and alert ears, either. He’d left her in his office for some of those calls and was now trying to process everything he’d learned.

  Laney hadn’t been idle, either. She’d made a call, too. With a cheap, disposable cell phone, he’d noticed. And Owen had made sure he kept his ears alert during her conversation. She’d spoken to someone she called Joe and told him to be careful.

  That was it.

  The chat had lasted less than five seconds and then Laney had immediately surrendered the phone to Owen. Not that it had been of any use to him since Joe hadn’t answered when Owen had tried to call him. Laney had briefly—very briefly—explained that Joe Henshaw was her assistant, and that she didn’t know where he was. Neither did Owen or the San Antonio cops helping him look for the guy.