A Threat to His Family

by Delores Fossen

  “I’ll get it.” Gunnar volunteered. He had his phone pressed to his ear as he went out.

  With a firm hold on Perry’s arm, Owen led him to the chair next to Gunnar’s desk and had him sit. He hadn’t done that for Perry’s comfort but rather so he could get Laney away from the front windows. When she followed him, Owen motioned for her to go back toward the doorway to Kellan’s office. She’d still be able to see and hear everything, but it might keep her out of harm’s way.

  “What you did was stupid,” Kellan said, and he wasn’t talking to Perry but rather to Emerson. “You confronted an armed man who could have killed you.”

  “I wasn’t gonna kill anybody,” Perry snapped.

  Emerson came closer, practically toe-to-toe with Kellan. “You wouldn’t stop him, so I did.”

  Nettie shook her head. “What’s going on here? Why wouldn’t you stop someone who was trying to blackmail my husband?”

  “I didn’t get a chance to stop him,” Kellan assured her. “I only recently found out about the blackmail, and Emerson stormed out of here before giving me a chance to do anything about it.”

  They all looked at Gunnar when he came back in. He’d bagged a gun and was off his phone. “His name is Norman Perry. Age forty-three. He lives in San Antonio. No police record.”

  Now, that was another surprise. Owen would have thought the guy had a rap sheet. “Is the gun legal?” Owen asked Gunnar.

  “I’ll run it, but he’s got a permit to carry concealed.”

  Another surprise, though Owen figured that people with permits could and did commit serious crimes. And this was indeed serious. Well, it was if Emerson had told the truth about the man.

  “I took the classes for carrying concealed,” Perry grumbled. “You’ve got no cause to hold me.”

  “He does,” Emerson practically yelled. “He tried to blackmail me.”

  “No, I didn’t.” Not quite a shout from Perry, but it was close to one. “My girlfriend works for a company, Reliable Courier. She’s sick, and her boss was swamped, so I said I’d make the delivery and do the pickup. That’s all. Call Rick at Reliable Courier if you don’t believe me.”

  This time, it was Kellan who made the call. While he did that, Owen continued with Perry, “Who hired Reliable Courier to meet with Emerson?”

  “Wouldn’t have a clue,” Perry answered. “You’d have to ask Rick.”

  Owen was certain Kellan would do just that. “What were you supposed to pick up and deliver?”

  Perry huffed, “Don’t know that, either, but you can see for yourself on the delivery. The card is in a small envelope in my wallet. I put it there because it was little and I didn’t want to lose it. My wallet’s in the back pocket of my jeans.”

  Owen put on a pair of plastic gloves that Gunnar handed him. Without cutting off the restraints, Owen retrieved the wallet and pulled out a small envelope, the size that would be on a gift bouquet of flowers. There was a card inside, and someone had written what appeared to be the URL for a website. Beneath it was more writing labeled as a password.

  “What is this?” Owen asked Perry.

  “Hell if I know. Like I said, I’m just the deliveryman.”

  “He is,” Kellan verified a moment later. He was still on his phone. “I’ll check it all out, of course, but according to the owner, Perry was indeed just doing him a favor. He’s getting me the client info now on the person who wanted this pickup and delivery.”

  Good. That might clear things up. Owen bagged the card and envelope, and Gunnar took it, first putting the official info on the bag and then taking it to the computer.

  “Can I go now?” Perry complained.

  “Not yet.” Owen went to the computer to watch as Gunnar typed in the website, and Laney joined him. Nettie was still fussing over Emerson’s injuries, but Emerson’s attention was nailed to the monitor.

  Gunnar entered the password, waited, and the images loaded on the screen. Photos.

  “That’s a photo of the safe-deposit box at the bank,” Laney said, studying the image.

  It was. Whoever had taken the picture had made sure the number was clearly visible.

  Gunnar went to the next shot. A photo of the box open to show the manila envelope inside. Owen couldn’t be sure, but it could have been the one from the photograph Terrance’s PI had taken of Hadley the day she’d visited the bank.

  “This is a hoax,” Emerson said, and he hurried to Gunnar. Owen stepped in front of Emerson to stop him from doing whatever he’d been about to do. “Obviously this is just part of the blackmail scheme,” Emerson insisted. “It’ll be lies. All lies.”

  Owen wasn’t sure about the lies part, but yeah, it was likely part of the blackmail. He held off Emerson while Gunnar loaded the next picture. It was a shot of photographs that appeared to have been removed from the manila envelope.

  Photos of Emerson and Hadley.

  “What is that?” Nettie asked. She moved closer, too, her gaze slashing from one image to the next.

  “They’re fake,” Emerson growled, but the color had drained from his face, making that god-awful bruise stand out even more.

  Owen didn’t think so. There were two rows of photographs. The ones on the top row were semiselfies with Hadley awake and in bed, next to a sleeping Emerson. Since Emerson was on his back, it wasn’t hard to miss that he was naked, and he certainly wasn’t being restrained. His arms were stretched out like a sated man getting some rest.

  The shots on the bottom row were ones that looked as if Hadley had taken them on the sly. Emerson in a glass shower and then while dressing. Owen couldn’t tell if Emerson had been aware of the shots beings taken.

  “They’re fake,” Emerson repeated, his voice wavering now.

  Nettie didn’t seem to hear him. She continued to study the photos.

  “Rick at Reliable Courier got the name of the person who arranged for pickup and delivery,” Kellan said. “He claimed his name was James Smith. The guy paid in cash, so I’m betting it’s an alias.”

  Yeah. Owen figured that would prove to be true. He was also betting this James Smith was yet another hired gun. But why had the person who’d hired him left the blackmail to a courier company? That was something Owen needed to dig into.

  Nettie shook her head. When she finally looked up at Emerson, there were tears in her eyes. She didn’t have the distraught expression she’d had when she’d entered the sheriff’s office. Now there was only hurt.

  “You had sex with her,” Nettie muttered. “Admit it. I want to hear you say it.” Emerson reached for her, but she batted his hands away. “Say it!” This time her voice was a lot louder.

  Emerson stared at her. And stared. “I had sex with her,” he finally admitted. His gaze immediately flashed to Kellan. “But I didn’t kill her.”

  The silence came, and it felt as if the entire room was holding its breath, waiting for whatever was about to happen.

  Nettie finally broke that silence. “You lied,” she said and, without even looking at Emerson, she headed for the door.

  The first word that came to Owen’s mind was broken. Nettie was broken.

  “Wait!” Emerson called out as he rushed after her.

  Nettie didn’t stop. She just kept on walking, Emerson trailing along behind her.

  “I’ll go check on them,” Gunnar said. “Should I bring them back inside?” he added to Kellan.

  Kellan shook his head. “Not yet. Just make sure they aren’t going to attack each other or anything. Then, once they’ve cooled off, I want Emerson back in here for questioning.”

  About a possible murder.

  Hell. Owen groaned. Emerson had been denying this affair, but those pictures proved otherwise, which meant the man had been lying through his teeth.

  But what else had he lied about?

  Had Emerson actually been th
e one to kill Hadley?

  Owen glanced at Laney, expecting to see some “I told you so” on her face, but there was none. There was only grief. No doubt because all of this had brought back the nightmarish memories of her sister’s murder. She’d been right about Emerson lying about the affair, but sometimes being right didn’t fix things.

  “Emerson’s not a flight risk,” Kellan noted, “but I’ll feel a lot better after Gunnar’s brought him back in and I have him in the interview room.”

  Owen felt the same way.

  “Can I go now?” Perry snapped.

  Dragging in a frustrated breath, Kellan went to him and cut the restraints. “I’ll need a statement first and then you can go.” He tipped his head toward his office. “In there.”

  Only then did Owen remember they still had Terrance in the interview room, which was why Kellan hadn’t sent Perry there.

  “Let me get this website to the lab guys, and I’ll talk to Terrance,” Owen offered.

  Owen started to do just that when his phone rang and he saw Eli’s name on the screen. Since his brother was still at their grandparents’ house with Addie and the others, Owen answered it right away.

  “We got a problem,” Eli immediately said. “One of the hands just spotted a gunman on the ranch.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Everything inside Laney was racing. Her heart, her breath and the adrenaline. Just seconds before Eli’s call, so many thoughts had been going through her head, but now there was only one.

  Keep Addie safe.

  Sweet heaven. The little girl had to be okay.

  “Drive faster,” Owen ordered his fellow deputy Raylene McNeal.

  The deputy was behind the wheel of the cruiser with Owen and Laney in back. It had taken a stern, direct order from Kellan to stop Owen from driving, and Laney had been thankful for it. She figured his thoughts had to be racing even more than hers were.

  Raylene mumbled something about already going too fast, but she sped up anyway. With the siren howling and the blue lights flashing, she raced down the road that led out of town and toward the ranch. At this speed, it wouldn’t take long to get there, but every mile and every minute would feel like an eternity.

  Owen had his gun drawn and had his phone gripped in his left hand. He no doubt wanted to be ready if Eli called him back with an update. And Eli would. But he obviously wouldn’t be able to call if the ranch was under attack.

  “You shouldn’t have come,” Owen said to her.

  He’d already told her variations of that since they’d rushed out of the sheriff’s office. Kellan hadn’t issued her one of those stern orders but instead had given her a gun. It made sense. After all, she was a PI, knew how to shoot and Owen might need more backup than Kellan could provide. Still, Owen would see this as her being in danger again.

  And he could be right.

  But there was no chance she was going to stay back. Kellan had had no choice about that since someone needed to man the office, but Laney had had a choice. One she’d made despite Owen’s objections.

  Owen’s phone dinged with a text, the sound piercing through the silence. “Gunnar’s on his way to the ranch,” he relayed when he read the message. “Kellan called him and pulled him off Emerson and Nettie.”

  Good. They might need all the help they could get. Plus, Emerson and Nettie might welcome the time to figure out how they were going to handle the bombshell of the affair. And then maybe Kellan could just go ahead and arrest him. Of course, Kellan would need some kind of evidence.

  The photos were proof of an affair but not of murder.

  Laney kept watch around them, knowing full well that the gunman at the ranch could be a ruse to get them on the road for another attack. But Laney didn’t see anything, not even another vehicle.

  The silence gave her mind a chance to stop racing, and maybe it was that temporary calm that allowed a fresh thought to creep into her head.

  “Why would Hadley have taken those pictures?” Laney hadn’t meant to say that aloud, but she had, and Owen had clearly heard it. Since he had, she continued, “She said he threatened her when he broke things off, but those photos were obviously taken when they were still together.”

  He glanced at her before he returned to keeping watch. “You think she was going to try to blackmail him?”

  She shook her head. “Not for money. But maybe for emotional blackmail.” Laney paused, forced herself to give that more thought. “Maybe Hadley thought she could use the pictures to force Emerson to stay with her.”

  Before Owen could respond, he got another text from Eli.

  Gunman spotted just off the road leading to the ranch. Approach with caution. I’m in pursuit. Jack and one of the hands are in the house with Addie.

  The road leading to the ranch was less than a mile away so Laney moved to the edge of her seat to try to spot him if and when he came into view.

  “This had better not be a trap to lure Eli away from the house,” Owen said under his breath.

  And that sent her pulse into a full gallop. A gallop that was almost impossible for Laney to tamp down. “We’re almost there,” she reminded Owen, and in doing so, she reminded herself, so she could try to stay calm. “We need to keep an eye out for both the gunman and Eli.”

  Taking her own advice, Laney did just that while she kept a firm grip on her gun. Unfortunately, this stretch of the road was lined with fences, ditches and trees. Too many places for someone to hide. There was also another possibility: that the gunman had already driven off. It was possible he’d left a vehicle on the road, sneaked onto the ranch and, when he’d been spotted, could have run back to whatever transportation he’d used to get there.

  “Kill the sirens,” Owen told Raylene, and the deputy shut them off. No doubt so they’d be able to hear whatever was going on outside. Going in hot might drown out sounds that could lead them to the gunman’s exact location.

  Raylene slowed as she approached the turn for the ranch, and again Laney tried to pick through all the possible hiding places to spot or hear him. Nothing. No sign of Eli, either, though she was certain he had to be somewhere in the area.

  “There,” Owen said, pointing toward the fence.

  Laney immediately shifted her gaze in that direction, but she still didn’t see anyone. Not at first anyway. And then she saw the blur of movement as someone darted between two trees.

  “That’s not Eli,” Owen added.

  No, it wasn’t. Eli was tall and lanky, and this guy had bulky shoulders and a squat build. From the quick glimpse she’d gotten of him, Laney had thought he was armed with a rifle. That made sense because he could use it to fire from a distance. Heck, he could fire from this spot, depending on how good a scope he had. He likely wouldn’t be able to fire into the grandparents’ house, but the idiot could shoot at Eli.

  Or at them.

  And that was exactly what happened. Laney had no sooner had the thought when the bullet slammed into the window right where she was sitting. The safety glass shattered, but it held in place.

  Cursing, Owen dragged her down onto the seat. Not a second too soon because three other shots blasted straight toward them, all hitting the glass. This time, it didn’t hold, and the shards fell down onto them.

  The sounds of the shots were still ringing in her ears, but Laney heard something else. Other rounds of gunfire, and these didn’t seem to be coming from the shooter.

  “Eli,” Owen said. He kept her pushed down on the seat, but he levered up. Now that the glass had been knocked out, he took aim through the gaping hole.

  He fired, too.

  It was just a single shot, but it seemed to be enough because almost immediately she felt him relax just a little.

  “The gunman’s down,” Raylene relayed.

  Good. Laney didn’t want the snake in any position to hurt Addie or anyone else. Maybe,
though, he was still alive so he could give them answers.

  “Pull up closer to Eli,” Owen instructed Raylene. When the deputy did that, Owen moved off Laney. “Raylene, wait here with Laney,” he said just seconds before he threw open the door.

  Laney didn’t get out with him, but she levered herself up so she could look out the window. She saw Owen running toward the man on the ground. Eli was also approaching him from the direction of the ranch. Owen reached the guy first and, after he kicked away the rifle, he reached down and touched his fingers to his neck. She didn’t need to hear what the brothers said to each other to know that the shooter was indeed dead.

  She heard the sounds of sirens. Gunnar. The cruiser was speeding up behind them, but as Raylene had done, Gunnar turned off the sirens as he came to a stop. The deputy barreled out of the car and ran toward Owen and Eli. Again, she couldn’t hear what they said, but it didn’t take long before Owen started quickly making his way back to Raylene and her.

  When Owen got into the cruiser, he looked at Laney. Not just a glance, but more of an examination to make sure she hadn’t been injured. She did the same to him. Thank goodness they hadn’t been hurt. Not physically anyway. But this had put more shadows in his already dark eyes.

  “Take us to my grandparents’ house,” Owen told Raylene.

  Owen took hold of Laney, sliding her against him. Away from the glass and into his arms. For such a simple gesture, it did wonders. It steadied her heart enough that it no longer felt as if it might beat out of her chest. He didn’t say anything but instead brushed his mouth on the top of her head. Another gesture that was anything but simple. It soothed her, aroused her and made her realize something.

  She was falling in love with him.

  Great. Just what she didn’t need—and what Owen wouldn’t want.

  When Raylene pulled to a stop in front of his grandparents’ house, she spotted two ranch hands, one on each side of the house. Jack opened the front door and, with his gun ready, stepped out onto the porch. No doubt to give them cover in case there were any snipers still around.