He’ll need help from his ex-lover

To bring a killer to justice.

A young mother is murdered and her newborn is kidnapped. Now Sheriff Raleigh Lawton must enlist the help of the only witness: his ex-lover, Deputy Thea Morris. As the investigation—and their undeniable attraction—heats up, the killer dangerously raises the stakes. With Thea in the crosshairs, Raleigh will risk everything to save her. Because this cowboy’s heart can’t survive losing her again.

DELORES FOSSEN, a USA TODAY bestselling author, has sold over one hundred novels, with millions of copies of her books in print worldwide. She’s received a Booksellers’ Best Award and an RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award. She was also a finalist for a prestigious RITA® Award. You can contact the author through her website at www.deloresfossen.com.

Also by Delores Fossen

Cowboy Above the Law

Finger on the Trigger

Lawman with a Cause

Always a Lawman

Gunfire on the Ranch

Lawman from Her Past

Roughshod Justice

Grayson

Dade

Nate

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Under the Cowboy’s Protection

Delores Fossen

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09357-6

UNDER THE COWBOY’S PROTECTION

© 2019 Delores Fossen

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

MILLS & BOON

Before you start reading, why not sign up?

Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!

SIGN ME UP!

Or simply visit

signup.millsandboon.co.uk

Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

About the Publisher

Chapter One

Sheriff Raleigh Lawton didn’t like the looks of this.

The glass on the front door of the house had been shattered, and the chairs on the porch were toppled over. Both could be signs that maybe there’d been some kind of struggle here.

That kicked up his heart rate a huge notch, and he drew his gun, hoping he didn’t need to use it. While he was hoping, he added that maybe there was some explanation for the glass and chairs. Maybe the woman who lived in this small one-story house was okay. Raleigh had a double reason for wishing that.

Because the woman, Sonya Burney, was nine months pregnant.

He’d known her all his life, and that’s why Raleigh hadn’t hesitated to go check on her when the doctor from the OB clinic had called him to say that Sonya had missed her appointment. In a big city, something like that would have gone practically unnoticed, but in a small ranching town like Durango Ridge, it got noticed all right.

The rain spat at him when he stepped from his truck. It was coming down hard now, with an even heavier downpour in the forecast. He had a raincoat, but he didn’t want to take the time to put it on. However, he did keep watch around him as he hurried up the steps and onto the porch.

“Sonya?” he called out and immediately listened for anyone or anything.

Nothing.

He tested the doorknob. Unlocked. And he cursed when he stepped inside. The furniture had been tossed here, too. There was a broken lamp on the floor, and the coffee table was on its side. Raleigh reached for his phone, ready to call one of his deputies for backup, but something caught his eye.

Drops of what appeared to be blood on the floor.

Raleigh had a closer look. Not blood. Judging from the smell, it was paint. And he soon got more proof of that. There was a still-open can in the hall just off the living room, and a discarded brush was next to it. However, it wasn’t the can or brush that grabbed his attention. It was what someone had scrawled on the wall.

This is for Sheriff Warren McCall.

Hell.

That felt like a punch to the gut. Because he’d seen a message identical to that one almost a year ago. A message that’d been written in the apartment of a woman who had been murdered. Unlike Sonya, that particular woman had been a stranger to him.

The memories came. Images Raleigh wished that time would have blurred. But they were still crystal clear. The woman. Her limp, lifeless body, and the baby she’d been carrying was missing—it still was.

He prayed that Sonya and the baby wouldn’t have similar fates.

Raleigh didn’t have any proof of who’d killed that other woman, stolen the child or written that message. But he had always thought the message had been left for him. And Warren, of course.

Warren was his father.

Biologically anyway. Raleigh had never considered the man to be his actual dad. Never would.

He made the call for backup and used his phone to take a quick picture of the message. Actually, it was a threat. Raleigh just hoped that Sonya hadn’t gotten caught up in this tangled mess between Warren and him.

“Sonya?” he called out again.

Still nothing, but Raleigh continued to look for her. The house wasn’t huge, a combined living and kitchen area, two bedrooms and a bath. He went through each one and didn’t see her. But there was another message, and it’d been slopped in red paint on one of the bedroom walls. A repeat of the other one.

The repeat hadn’t been necessary. Raleigh had gotten it the first time.

This is for Sheriff Warren McCall.

Warren was retired now, but he’d once indeed been the sheriff of McCall Canyon, a town one county over. He’d also carried on an affair with Raleigh’s mom for nearly three and a half decades. Or rather, Warren had carried on with her until his secret had come out into the open after someone had tried to kill him. Raleigh’s mother had been a suspect in that attack. And Warren’s “real” family—his wife, two sons and his daughter—hated Raleigh and her.

Was one of them responsible for this?

Maybe. That was something he would definitely investigate, but first he had to find Sonya.

Since it would take a good twenty minutes for his deputy to get all the way out to Sonya’s house, Raleigh kept looking, and he made his way out through the kitchen and to the back porch. The moment he stepped outside, he heard something. At first he thought it was the cool October rain hitting the tin roof.

It wasn’t.

There was a woman dressed in jeans and a raincoat. She was facedown, on the end of the porch, and she was moaning. Raleigh ran to her and turned her over, but it wasn’t Sonya. However, it was someone he knew.

Deputy Thea Morris.

Seeing her gave his heart rate another jolt. Of course, Thea usually had that effect on him. Not in a good way, either, and it certainly wasn’t good now. What the hell was she doing here, and what was wrong with her?

Raleigh didn’t see any obvious injuries. Not at first. Then he pushed aside her dark blond hair and saw the two small circular burn marks on her neck. Someone had used a stun gun on her.

“Where’s Sonya?” he asked.

Thea opened her eyes, but she was clearly having trouble focusing because she blinked several times. Then she groaned again. She didn’t answer him, but he saw the alarm on her face, and she started struggling to sit up. He helped her with that. Too bad it meant putting his arms around her to do that.

And Raleigh immediately got another dose of too-clear memories that he didn’t want.

Of Thea being not just in his arms but in his bed. But that was an old water, old bridge situation.

“Where’s Sonya?” Raleigh repeated. “And what happened to you?” He had other questions, but those were enough of a start, since finding Sonya was his priority right now.

“Sonya,” Thea repeated in a mutter. She lifted her hand—not easily because it was practically limp—and she touched her fingers to her head. “Sonya.”

“Yeah, that’s right. Sonya. She’s pregnant, and I’m worried about her.” Worried was an understatement. “What happened to her? What happened to you?”

Thea blinked some more, looked up at him, and the concern was obvious in her deep green eyes. “A man. I think he took her.”

That got Raleigh’s attention, and he fired glances around them, trying to see if he could spot her. But there was still no sign of Sonya.

“The man had a gun,” Thea added, and she groaned, trying to get to her feet. She failed and dropped right back down on the porch. She also reached for her own gun, but her shoulder holster was empty. Since she was wearing her badge, Raleigh doubted she’d come here without her gun.

“What man?” Raleigh demanded. “And where did he take her?”

Thea groaned again and shook her head. “I don’t know, but he said he was doing this because of Warren.”

Raleigh hadn’t actually needed that last bit of info to raise the alarm inside him. With the signs of struggle and those stun gun marks on Thea’s neck, he decided it wasn’t a good idea for them to be out in the open like this. Sonya’s place was an old farmhouse with a barn and a storage shed, but the woods were only a short walk away. It would give an attacker plenty of places to hide.

If the man was indeed hiding, that is. If someone had actually taken Sonya, he could be long gone by now.

“We need to get inside.” Raleigh hooked his arm around Thea’s waist, pulling her to her feet. She wobbled, landing against him. Specifically against his chest. He shoved aside the next dose of memories that came with that close contact.

“You have to go after the man,” Thea said. Her voice was as shaky as the rest of her. “You have to get Sonya.”

“I will.”

His deputy would be here in ten minutes or so, and Raleigh would start searching as soon as he had someone to watch Thea. She wasn’t in any shape to defend herself if her attacker returned. At the moment though, he was much more concerned about Sonya. After all, Thea was alive and okay, for the most part anyway, but Sonya could be in the hands of a kidnapper.

Or a killer.

But that didn’t make sense. Who would want to hurt her, and what did any of this have to do with Warren? Unless...

A very unsettling thought came to mind.

“Did this happen because Sonya’s a surrogate?” Raleigh asked. He helped Thea into a chair at the kitchen table and then went back to the window to see if he could spot any sign of the woman or the person who’d taken her.

“I don’t know. Maybe...” Thea’s voice trailed off, and that’s when Raleigh noticed that Thea’s attention had landed on the painted message on the wall. She shuddered, but she didn’t turn away. “I don’t suppose you put that there?” But she shook her head, waving off her question. “No. You and Sonya were friends.”

Raleigh wasn’t sure how Thea knew that, but then he wasn’t sure of a lot of things right now. “Start talking. I want to know everything that happened.” Though it was hard to stand there and listen to anything Thea had to say when his instincts were screaming for him to go after Sonya.

Thea didn’t jump right into that explanation; instead, she got to her feet. “We can talk while we look for her. Do you have a backup gun you can lend me?”

Raleigh frowned. Thea didn’t look at all steady on her feet, which meant her aim would probably suck, too. Still, she was a cop.

Warren’s star deputy, in fact.

Warren had not only trained her and given Thea her start in law enforcement, his father had made it clear that he loved Thea like a daughter. That was convenient, since Thea loved him like a father.

Raleigh wasn’t sure how Thea had managed to overlook the fact that Warren was a lying, cheating snake, and he really didn’t care. Heck, at the moment he didn’t care if Thea was having trouble standing. She had the right idea about looking for Sonya as they talked, so Raleigh gave her his backup gun from his boot holster.

“I got here about a half hour ago,” Thea said, glancing at the clock on the microwave. While she held on to the kitchen counter, she made her way to the back door. “Sonya didn’t answer my call this morning, so I came over to check on her.” She paused. “I’ve been checking on her a lot lately.”

“I didn’t know Sonya and you were that close,” Raleigh commented. Sonya had only moved to Durango Ridge about ten years ago, so it was possible she’d known Thea before then. Or maybe they’d recently become friends. But after one look in Thea’s eyes, he knew that wasn’t the case.

Raleigh groaned. “This has to do with Sonya being a surrogate.”

Thea nodded and managed to get the back door open. “I haven’t given up on finding Hannah Neal’s killer.”

Neither had Raleigh. And he especially wasn’t forgetting her now, because that message on Sonya’s wall was identical to the one found at Hannah’s apartment a year ago. Hannah had been murdered only a couple of hours after she’d given birth. That same person who’d killed Hannah had almost certainly been the one who had taken the newborn.

“Sonya didn’t know Hannah,” Thea continued, “but they were both surrogates, and they used the same doctor for the in vitro procedures that got them pregnant.”

Raleigh’s gut twisted. Because he’d known that. And he had dismissed it as being something unimportant. Of course, he sure wasn’t dismissing it now.

Still, it didn’t make sense. Why would someone go after two surrogates to get back at Warren? Especially since Sonya had no personal connection to Warren.

Or did she?

Raleigh didn’t have the answer to that, either, but he soon would.

Thea stepped out onto the back porch, and like Raleigh, she looked around. She also caught on to the porch railing to keep herself from falling. Raleigh nearly had her sit down on the step, but babysitting Thea wasn’t his job. His job was to find Sonya.

“Tell me about this man who took Sonya,” Raleigh demanded. “Was he here when you arrived?”

Thea nodded and followed him into the yard. Not easily, but she made it while still wobbling and using every last inch of the porch railing. “I saw him. He wore a ski mask and was holding her at gunpoint. He was about six-one and about two hundred pounds.”

That tightened his stomach even more. Sonya was barely five-three and had a petite build. She wouldn’t have stood a chance against a guy that size. Especially if he had a gun.

Thea stopped once she was in the yard, and with the rain pouring down on her, she looked back at him. “Sonya had the baby. Not with her,” she added when she must have seen the shock on his face. “But she was no longer pregnant.”

That didn’t make sense, either. Sonya’s doctor was in town. So was the hospital she’d intended to use to deliver. If she’d had the baby there, Raleigh would have certainly heard about it.

“Did she say anything about the baby? About the man?” Raleigh pressed.

“No. He had her gagged and already in the yard when I got here. I moved toward him, but there must have been a second man. Or a second person. He hit me with a stun gun when I came onto the porch. I think they took Sonya that way.” She tipped her head to the woods.

Thea was lucky the guy hadn’t killed her. Or maybe luck didn’t have anything to do with it. Maybe keeping her alive had been part of the plan.

“I would tell you to wait here, but I doubt you will,” Raleigh grumbled to her, and he started for those woods.

He didn’t get far though, because he heard the sound of a car engine. At first he thought it might be the deputy, but it was a woman who came running out the back door, and Raleigh recognized the tall brunette.

Yvette O’Hara.

The woman who’d hired Sonya to be a surrogate. Like Thea and him, Yvette was wet from the rain. The woman was breathing through her mouth, her eyes were wide and her forehead was bunched up.

“Where’s Sonya?” Yvette blurted out.

“We’re not sure.” Raleigh figured Yvette wasn’t going to like that answer. Judging from her huff, she didn’t. But it was the best he could do. “Stay here. Deputy Morris and I were about to look for her.”

Yvette glanced at Thea. “What’s going on? Did something happen to Sonya, to the baby?” She was right to be concerned—especially if she’d noticed the toppled furniture and messages on the walls.

“Stay put,” he warned her again.

But Yvette didn’t listen. She barreled down the steps, and also like Thea, she had some trouble staying steady. In her case though, it was because she was wearing high heels.

“Sonya’s doctor called me,” Yvette said, her words running together. “She missed her appointment. She wouldn’t have done that if everything was all right.”

Probably not. But Raleigh kept that to himself. Yvette already looked to be in alarm-overload mode, and it was best if he didn’t add to that. He didn’t want her getting hysterical.

“Just stay here,” he said. “That way, if Sonya comes back, she won’t be here alone.”

Yvette finally gave a shaky nod to that and sank down onto the porch steps. Good. It was bad enough that he had Thea to watch, and he didn’t want to have to keep an eye on Yvette, too. If those armed thugs were still in the area, it was too dangerous for Yvette to follow them.

Thea didn’t stay back though. Despite her unsteady gait, she kept on walking, straight toward the woods, and Raleigh had to run to catch up with her. He’d just managed that when he heard someone call out to him.

“Raleigh?” It was Deputy Dalton Kane. Since Raleigh hadn’t heard a siren, it meant Dalton had done a silent approach, and Raleigh was glad he was there. He needed some backup right now.

“Stay with Mrs. O’Hara,” Raleigh told him. “The woman on the porch,” he added in case Dalton didn’t know who Yvette was. “And get more backup and some CSIs out here. I want the house processed ASAP.”

Again, Thea got ahead of him, and Raleigh had to catch up with her. She didn’t even pause when she made it to the trees; she just walked right in. Since it was obvious that she wasn’t going to be cautious, Raleigh moved in front of her.

“I think the thugs were parked back here somewhere,” Thea said. “Shortly after the one hit me with the stun gun, I believe I heard a vehicle leaving.”

Raleigh silently groaned. If that was true, then there was no telling where Sonya could be. “Is it possible one of the men had the baby with him?” he asked.

“No.” But Thea paused and shook her head. “Maybe. I didn’t get even a glimpse of him. After the stun gun hit, I fell on the porch, and I think I passed out.”

Perhaps because she’d hit her head. Raleigh could see the bruise forming on her right cheekbone. Of course, if this was a kidnapping, the person could have even drugged Thea to make sure she didn’t come after them.

But who would want to kidnap Sonya?

Raleigh drew a blank. Sonya hadn’t been romantically involved with anyone. At least he didn’t think she had been, but it was possible she’d met someone. It was something Raleigh hoped he could ask her as soon as they found her.

They kept walking, and it didn’t take long for Raleigh to spot the clearing just ahead. He’d been born and raised in Durango Ridge, but he hadn’t been in this part of the woods. However, like the rest of the area, there were paths and old ranch trails like this one that led to the creek.

“The rain is washing away the tracks,” Thea mumbled, and she sped up.

She was right—if there were any tracks to be found, that is. And there were. Despite the rain, Raleigh could still see the grooves in the dirt and gravel surface. A vehicle had been here recently. He took out his phone to get photos of the tracks just in case they were gone before the CSI team could arrive. He’d managed to click a few shots when he heard Thea make a loud gasp.

Raleigh snapped in her direction, following her gaze to see what had captured her attention. There, in the bushes, he saw something that he definitely hadn’t wanted to see.

Sonya’s lifeless body.

Chapter Two

Thea fought the effects of the adrenaline crash. Or rather she tried. But while she was waiting on Sonya’s front porch, she was also fighting off the remnants of that stun gun, along with the sickening dread that another woman was dead.

Oh, God. She was dead.

For a few seconds after she’d seen the body, Thea had tried to hold out hope that it wasn’t Sonya. That it was some stranger, but that had been an unrealistic hope to have. After all, she’d seen the gunman taking Sonya. She’d known the woman was in extreme danger.

“Why did the gunman even take Sonya from the house?” Thea mumbled. “If he was just going to kill her, why didn’t he do that when he first broke in?”

She hadn’t intended for anyone to actually hear those questions. Not with all the chaos going on. But Raleigh obviously heard her, since he looked at her. What he didn’t do was attempt an answer, because he was standing in the front doorway while giving instructions to the CSIs, who were now processing Sonya’s yard and house.

Because it was a crime scene.

One that wasn’t in Thea’s jurisdiction.

That’s why she just sat there on the front porch, waiting for Raleigh to give her some task to do. Any task. Anything that would help them find out who’d done this. That wouldn’t stop this crushing feeling in her heart though, and it couldn’t bring back Sonya. But maybe Thea could help get justice for the dead woman.

“Please tell me you found the baby,” she said when Raleigh finished with the CSIs and started toward her.

He shook his head. “But there’s some evidence that Sonya delivered the child here, at her house.” Raleigh added a weary sigh to that, and he stopped directly in front of her. “There were some bloody sheets in the washer, and a package of newborn diapers had been opened. So had a case of premade formula bottles. Three of the bottles and four of the diapers were missing.”

Well, Sonya had obviously had the baby somewhere, so the delivery could have easily happened here in her home, but that just led Thea to yet another question. Why wouldn’t Sonya have gone to the hospital to deliver the child?

However, Thea instantly thought of a bad answer to that.

Maybe the gunman was here when the baby had been born. Those thugs could have stopped her from getting the medical attention she needed.

She looked up at Raleigh, and he was staring at her. His lawman’s stare. That meant his comment about the sheets and diapers hadn’t been just to catch her up on what they’d found. This was the start of his official interview, since she’d actually seen the man who was likely responsible for murdering Sonya.

Of course, Thea had already told him some details when Raleigh had found her on the back porch, and she had added other bits of info while they’d waited for the CSIs and ME to arrive. Obviously though, he wanted a lot more now.

But Thea didn’t have more.

“You should be inside the house with Yvette,” Raleigh reminded her. It wasn’t the first time he’d mentioned that. “Whoever killed Sonya is still at large, and you could be a target.”

“So could you.” Best not to mention that the gunmen might want him dead because he was Warren’s son.

No.

That would only make matters worse. And as for going inside with Yvette, obviously neither of them wanted to do that, because they both stayed put.

Thea’s heart was breaking for Yvette, since the missing baby was her biological child—a daughter, from what Sonya had told her a couple months ago—but Thea didn’t have the emotional energy to deal with Yvette just yet. Besides, she didn’t even know what to say to the woman. The only thing they could do was hope they found the baby soon, along with finding Sonya’s killer.

“I had at least a dozen conversations with Sonya,” Thea explained to Raleigh. “I visited her here at her house three times, and not once did she ever hint that she was in any kind of danger.”

He made a sound that could have meant anything and kept up the intense stare. He was good at it, too. Unfortunately, looking at him reminded her of other things that had nothing to do with the murder and missing baby.

Once Raleigh had been attracted to her. Obviously not now though. There wasn’t a trace of attraction in his stormy blue eyes or on that handsome face. He was all cowboy cop now.

“And you visited Sonya because of Hannah Neal,” he said.

It wasn’t a question, but Thea nodded to confirm that. “Hannah was my friend, and it eats away at me that I haven’t been able to find her killer.”

She caught something in his eyes. A glimmer that she recognized. It ate away at Raleigh, too.

Raleigh hadn’t known Hannah, but Hannah’s body had been dumped just at the edge of Durango Ridge. That meant it was Raleigh’s case, but then, despite his retirement, Sheriff Warren McCall had gotten involved because Hannah had lived in their hometown of McCall Canyon. Plus, Hannah had been murdered in McCall Canyon, too. Murdered, and her killer had left the same obscene message on her wall that he had on Sonya’s.

At the time of that investigation, Warren hadn’t mentioned a word about Raleigh being his illegitimate son. Neither had Thea, though she had known. She had found out Warren’s secret a few months before that, but she hadn’t told anyone. And that was the reason she no longer saw the attraction in Raleigh’s eyes. He hated her now because she’d kept that from him.

But not nearly as much as she hated herself for doing it.

Thea shook her head to clear it, forcing her mind off Hannah and back onto Sonya. Hannah’s case was cold, but what they uncovered here today could maybe help them solve both murders.

“Why exactly did you become friends with Sonya?” Raleigh asked.

It wasn’t an easy question. “It didn’t start out as friendship. I’d been keeping tabs on the doctor who did the in vitro on Hannah.” Actually, she’d kept tabs on anything related to her late friend. “So, when I found out this same doctor, Bryce Sheridan, had done this procedure on another surrogate, I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to see if there were any...irregularities.”

Raleigh’s eyebrow came up. “You think Dr. Sheridan had something to do with Hannah’s murder?”

“No. I mean, I didn’t know. I was just trying to find any kind of lead.” Thea had to take a deep breath before she could continue. “But after I met and talked to Sonya, I didn’t see any obvious red flags. Especially not any red flags about Dr. Sheridan.”

That ate away at Thea even more. Because she should have seen something. She should have been able to stop this from happening.

“Both Hannah and Sonya were surrogates,” Raleigh said, “and both were connected to you. According to the messages left at the crime scenes, the women were linked to Warren, too.”

She couldn’t deny that. Thea knew both women and had worked for Warren for three years before he’d retired and turned the reins of the sheriff’s office over to his son Egan. It was ironic that all three of Warren’s sons had become lawmen, but Thea seriously doubted that Raleigh would ever say that he had followed in his father’s footsteps.

“You think I’m the reason these women were killed?” Thea came out and asked him.

Just saying the question aloud robbed her of her breath, and Raleigh didn’t even get a chance to answer, because his deputy Dalton came out of the house and onto the porch. He wasn’t alone, either. Yvette was with him. The woman was no longer crying, but her eyes were red and swollen, and she had her phone gripped in her hand so hard that her knuckles were white.

“We have to find my daughter, so I hired some private investigators,” Yvette immediately said.

“I told her I didn’t think that was a good idea,” Dalton mumbled.

It wasn’t. PIs, even well-meaning ones, could interfere with an investigation to the point of slowing it down, but Thea couldn’t fault Yvette for doing this. The woman had to be desperate because her baby could be in the hands of a killer.

“You saw Sonya,” Yvette said to Thea. “How was she? Was she weak? Did she say anything about the baby?”

Yvette had already asked these questions several times and in a couple of different ways. So had Raleigh. But Thea didn’t mind answering them again. Maybe if she kept going over what she’d seen, she would remember something else. It was a tactic that cops used to try to get more info from witnesses.

“Yes, she looked weak,” Thea admitted. “And scared. The man who took her had his arm around her waist as if holding her up.”

Even though that wasn’t new information, it caused fresh tears to spring to Yvette’s eyes. “What about the second man, the one who had the stun gun. Is it possible he had the baby with him?”

Thea had already considered that and had mentally walked through every moment of the attack. “It’s possible. I didn’t even see him. In fact, as I said earlier, it could have been a woman.”

Yes, she had indeed said that earlier, but this time it caused Raleigh to shift his attention to Yvette. And Yvette noticed the abrupt shift, too.

“Well, it wasn’t me,” Yvette snapped. “I’d have no reason to take my own child and murder the woman who carried her for nine months.”

No obvious reason anyway, but it was odd that the woman had assumed they were thinking the worst about her.

“Do you have anyone with a grudge against you?” Raleigh asked Yvette. “Someone who might want to try to kidnap the baby and hold her for ransom?”

Yvette was shaking her head before he even finished the question. “Of course not. My husband and I manage my late father’s successful real estate company. We’ve never even had a serious complaint from a customer.”

No, but that didn’t mean someone hadn’t kidnapped the baby for ransom. That’s the reason Raleigh had told the woman to keep her phone close to her. Yvette had. In fact, she was doing everything a frantic mother would do to find her child. But something was missing here.

Or rather someone.

“Where’s your husband?” Thea asked. “You called him right after we discovered the body, so shouldn’t he have been here by now?”

Since Yvette was still looking a little defensive, Thea expected the woman to blast her for even hinting that Mr. O’Hara wasn’t doing all he could to be there to comfort his wife or look for their child. But Yvette’s reaction was a little surprising. She glanced away, dodging Thea’s gaze.

Now, this was a red flag.

“Nick had some things to tie up at work,” Yvette answered after several long moments.

Raleigh made one of those vague sounds of agreement. “Yeah, Sonya mentioned to me that your husband wasn’t completely on board with having this baby.”

Thea tried not to look too surprised, but she suspected that was a lie. She’d had a lot of conversations with Sonya, and never once had the surrogate brought up anything like that. If Sonya had, it would have been one of those red flags that Thea had been searching so hard to find.

What was equally surprising though was that Yvette didn’t even deny it.

“Nick had a troubled childhood,” Yvette said, still not looking at either Thea or Raleigh. She stared past them and into the yard. “He was hesitant about us having a baby because of all the money it would cost for a surrogate. And because of all the time I’d have to take off from the business to be a stay-at-home mom. But he finally agreed to it.”

Maybe. And maybe Nick hadn’t actually agreed the way that Yvette thought. It seemed extreme though to kill a surrogate so that he wouldn’t have to be a father, especially since the baby had already been conceived. And born. Still, Thea would look into it, and she was certain Raleigh would, as well.

“Call your husband again,” Raleigh told the woman. “I want him to come to the sheriff’s office on Main Street in Durango Ridge in thirty minutes. I’ll take Thea and you there now in the cruiser, and he can meet us.”

Yvette started shaking her head again, and alarm went through her eyes. “He had nothing to do with this, and it’ll only upset him if you start interrogating him the way you did me.”

Thea had watched that so-called interrogation, and Raleigh had handled the woman with kid gloves. He’d treated her like a distraught mother whose child had been stolen. She doubted Raleigh would show that same consideration to Nick. Because Nick apparently had a motive for this nightmare that’d just happened.

Raleigh checked the time and motioned for Yvette to make the call. The woman hesitated, but she finally went to the other end of the porch to do that. Too bad Yvette didn’t put it on speaker, because Thea would have loved to hear Nick’s response to Raleigh’s order.

While Yvette was still on the phone, Raleigh turned back to Thea. “I’ll need you to give me a statement, of course.” He hesitated, too. “And you should be in protective custody.”

He was right, but it riled her a little that he thought she couldn’t take care of herself. After all, she was a cop, and she could point out to him that the thug hadn’t murdered her when he or she had the chance. Still, she needed to take some precautions.

Once Yvette had finished her call, Thea stood, ready to go to the cruiser, but she stopped when she heard the approaching vehicle. Raleigh and Dalton must have heard it, too, because they automatically stepped in front of her and Yvette. Thea slid her hand over the gun that she’d borrowed from Raleigh. But it wasn’t the threat they were all obviously bracing themselves for.

It was Warren.

He pulled his familiar black truck to a stop behind the trio of cruisers and the other vehicles, and he got out and started for the house.

“What the hell is he doing here?” Raleigh asked, turning his glare back on Thea.

“I didn’t call him,” Thea said, but it would have been easy enough for Warren to hear about it. After all, most law enforcement agencies in the state had been alerted to the missing baby.

“Raleigh,” Warren greeted. He obviously ignored the glare his son now had aimed at him, and he walked right past Raleigh to pull Thea into his arms.

It certainly wasn’t the first time that Warren had hugged her. He’d always treated her like family and had practically raised her and her brother, Griff. But it felt awkward now in front of Raleigh—who hadn’t gotten that same family treatment from the man.

“Are you okay?” Warren asked her when he pulled back from the hug.

His attention went to the stun gun marks on her neck, and it looked as if he had to bite back some profanity. When she’d been his deputy, he had always hated whenever she’d gotten hurt or been put in danger, and he still apparently felt that way. Thea appreciated the concern, especially since she’d never gotten any from her own parents, but it made the situation with Raleigh seem even more awkward.

“I’m fine,” Thea assured him. She didn’t especially want to bring this up, but Warren would soon learn it anyway. “Whoever did this also took the newborn, and he left a message on the wall—”

“Two messages,” Raleigh corrected. “There was a second in Sonya’s bedroom. They were both written in red paint and used identical wording to what was left at Hannah’s place. ‘This is for Sheriff Warren McCall.’”

“This man is Sheriff McCall?” Yvette asked. Warren nodded, and she went to him, catching on to his arms. “Who did this? Why would someone take my baby because of you?”

Warren’s face tightened. “I don’t know.”

“But you must have some—” Yvette started, but Raleigh moved her away when her grip tightened on Warren.

“This is the missing baby’s mother,” Raleigh explained. “Yvette O’Hara.”

Warren tipped the brim of his Stetson as a greeting. “I’m really sorry for what happened, but I honestly don’t know who took your child.” He turned to Raleigh. “Are you sure this is connected to Hannah, or is it a copycat?”

A muscle flickered in Raleigh’s jaw. “Too early to tell. Do you have a reason for being here?” There definitely was nothing friendly about his tone.

Warren sighed. “Yes. I was worried about Thea and thought she might need a ride home because she’s so shaken up.”

“She will, but only after she’s given her statement about the attack.” Again, there was no friendliness from Raleigh. “I was about to take her to my office now. No reason that I know of for you to be there for that, but you can wait for her at the café across the street.”

Warren would do that if he couldn’t get Raleigh to relent and let him stay with her in the sheriff’s office. And Raleigh wouldn’t back down on this.

They started down the steps, and Thea didn’t miss it when she saw Warren wince and slide his fingers over his chest. He quickly moved his hand away, but she knew he’d been touching the scar beneath his shirt. The scar he’d gotten from a gunshot wound six months ago.

The wound itself had healed, but the muscles there had been damaged enough that Warren would always have pain. Something he obviously didn’t want to discuss because he shook his head when Thea opened her mouth to ask if he was okay. Maybe it was a guy thing not to want to admit that he was in pain, or maybe he just didn’t want to talk about it in front of Raleigh.

“Ride in the cruiser with Raleigh,” Warren whispered to her, and he made a lawman’s glance around them. “There are a lot of places for a killer to lie in wait on the road that leads into Durango Ridge.”

She nodded, but his reminder only gave her another jolt of adrenaline. So did the sound of her phone ringing. Not a reaction she wanted to have as a deputy. Nor was the reaction she had next.

Her stomach went to her knees when she looked at her phone screen.

“Unknown caller,” she said.

That stopped Raleigh and Warren, and Yvette eventually stopped, too, when she realized they were no longer moving toward the cruiser.

It could be nothing, maybe even a telemarketer, but Raleigh must have realized it could be something important because he took out his own phone to record the call, and he motioned for her to answer it. She did, and unlike what Yvette had done earlier, Thea put it on speaker.

“I’m guessing you’re looking for the kid,” a man immediately said. Thea didn’t recognize his voice, but it was possible that it was the same man who’d taken Sonya.

Yvette gasped, and Warren motioned for her to stay quiet. Good move because it wouldn’t do any good to have Yvette start yelling at this thug.

“Where’s the baby?” Thea demanded. Of course, she wanted to ask the snake why he’d murdered Sonya, but right now, the baby had to come first. It was too late to save Sonya, but maybe they could still help the child.

“I’ll give her to you. All you have to do is come and get her.”

Thea looked at Raleigh to get his take on this. Like her, he was clearly skeptical, but at the moment, this was all they had. Maybe it was a matter of paying a ransom. If so, she figured they could scrape together whatever amount they needed to get the child safely away from a killer.

The conversation must have alerted Dalton because he came down the steps and into the yard with them.

“Where’s the baby?” Thea repeated to the man.

“I’ll text you the time and the place where you can get her. Oh, and I’ll text you the rules, too. Don’t forget those or you won’t get the kid.” He sounded arrogant, and Thea wished she could reach through the phone and make him pay for what he’d done.

She tamped down the anger so she could speak. “How do I know you actually have her? This could be a trap.”

“Sweetcakes, if I’d wanted you dead, you already would be. You wouldn’t have made it off that back porch of Sonya’s house.”

Since Thea had already realized that, she knew it was true. But there were plenty of other things that didn’t make sense. “How do I know for certain that you have the newborn?” she pressed.

The man didn’t answer. Not with words anyway. But Thea heard the sound in the background.

A baby crying.

Chapter Three

Raleigh cursed and snatched the phone from Thea. “Tell me the location of the baby now!” he demanded. But he was talking to the air, because the kidnapper had already ended the call.

“Oh, God.” Yvette grabbed the phone, too, and she hit Redial.

No answer.

A hoarse sob tore from Yvette’s mouth, and she would have likely fallen to the ground if Warren hadn’t caught her. Raleigh didn’t thank him for doing that because he didn’t want the man anywhere around here. Raleigh had enough distractions with Thea and Yvette, and he didn’t need to add his so-called father to the mix.

Raleigh turned to Dalton. “Take Yvette to the station. Call a doctor for her, too. She might need some meds to calm her down.”

“The only thing I need is my baby!” Yvette shouted.

The woman tried Redial again, and she was gripping Thea’s phone so hard that Raleigh thought she might break it. That wouldn’t be good since it was obviously the way the kidnapper had chosen to communicate with them.

“She’s a newborn,” Yvette went on. “She has to be fed. Someone has to take care of her.”

“And the men who have her will do that,” Thea said. “They’ll want to keep the baby safe and well. Remember, they took formula so she won’t be hungry.”

True, but that didn’t mean a newborn was going to get expert care from the thugs who’d snatched her. That’s why they had to find her ASAP.

Dalton gently took Yvette by the arm. “Once we get to the station,” he told the woman, “I’ll examine the call. I might be able to get a match on his voice, because Raleigh will send me the recording of the conversation.”

Raleigh would do that, but he wasn’t holding out any hope for a match. Or that the call would be traced for that matter. The kidnapper had almost certainly used a burner cell, a disposable one that couldn’t be traced. Still, they’d try.

“What can I do?” Warren asked him.

“You can go home to your wife and family in McCall Canyon until I’ve got time to interrogate you. After all, it was your name on that wall, and there had to be a reason for it.”

That was a knee-jerk reaction. One that Raleigh instantly regretted. Not because he hadn’t meant it—he had. But it was the wrong time to vent.

Raleigh took a deep breath to steady himself. “My people have the scene secured,” he added to Warren. There was much less emotion in his voice now, which was a good thing. “Give me a couple of hours so I can deal with this kidnapper, and then I can question you.”

Warren didn’t balk at any part of that, but judging from his tight expression, something was on his mind. “What about Thea?” Warren asked.

Of course. Thea. Warren was worried about the woman he’d practically raised.

“I’ll take Thea to the station so we can wait on this thug to call us back,” Raleigh answered.

Warren stood there, his hands on his hips while he volleyed glances between them as if he was trying to figure out if that was the wise thing to do. The man didn’t budge until Thea nodded.

“I’ll be okay,” she assured Warren.

“Call me if you need anything,” Warren finally said, and he hugged her again. After he pulled away from her, he looked at Raleigh, maybe trying to figure out what to say to him, but he settled for another tip of his hat. This one was a farewell, and he headed to his truck.

Raleigh and Thea were right behind him, and the moment Raleigh had her in the cruiser, he started toward town. It wouldn’t be a long drive, only about twenty minutes, but he could use that time to get some things straight.

“The kidnapper said there’d be rules,” he reminded her. “That probably means a ransom demand with instructions for the payout so we can get the baby. You won’t be involved in that. If I haven’t worked out a protective custody arrangement by then, you can wait in my office.”

She shook her head. “The kidnapper said I was to come and get her.”

“That won’t be happening.” At least he hoped not anyway. Raleigh didn’t want to involve Thea in this any more than she already was.

But obviously Thea wasn’t giving up. “I’m the person best suited to make an exchange like that. The kidnapper said if he wanted me dead, he would have killed me on the porch. And he could have done just that.”

Raleigh wasn’t giving up, either. “Maybe because the person standing next to you was holding a baby, and he didn’t want to risk hurting her. That could have been the sole reason he didn’t kill you.”

She opened her mouth as if she might disagree with that, but she must have realized it could be the truth because Thea huffed and leaned back against the seat.

“I’ll get Yvette’s husband in for questioning,” Raleigh added a moment later. “Right now, he’s a person of interest. He could have orchestrated all of this because he doesn’t want to be a father.”

Though it did seem extreme—unless he hadn’t intended for Sonya to die. Maybe the thugs hadn’t had orders to kill Sonya or anyone else who showed up. That would explain why they’d had a stun gun with them. It would also explain why the one that Thea had seen was wearing a ski mask. He didn’t want his identity known because he hadn’t intended to kill any witnesses.

That was the best-case scenario though. It was still possible that the goons wanted Thea dead.

“Warren is a person of interest, too?” she asked.

“Of course.” Raleigh would love nothing more than to charge the man with something. Anything.

“And what about your mother?” Thea pressed. “Will you also question her?”

Raleigh’s gaze slashed to her, and he nearly had another of those knee-jerk reactions. But he forced himself to see this through her cop’s perspective. His mother, Alma, no longer loved Warren. In fact, she might actually hate him.

“Alma thought Warren was going to leave his wife to be with her,” Thea continued when he didn’t say anything. “That didn’t happen, and when he broke off things with her six months ago—”

“Don’t finish that,” Raleigh warned her. “I know how upset my mother was, and I don’t have to hear a recap from you.”

Hell, she was still upset. Alma had carried on an affair with a married man, gotten pregnant and had basically lived her life waiting for the emotional scraps that Warren might toss her. Now that the secret was out, she was just seething in anger.

Raleigh hated to admit it, but he was seething, too. Because his mother had lied to him about his father. She’d lied all because she didn’t want Warren’s secret life exposed. Well, it was sure as hell exposed now.

“Did your mother know Sonya well?” Thea asked. It was a cop’s kind of question, because Thea was again trying to link his mom to what was going on.

“Everyone in town knew Sonya,” Raleigh snarled. But his mom had known Sonya better than most because Sonya had done some office work at his mother’s ranch. “Don’t worry. I’ll question my mom,” Raleigh added. “But there are plenty of other ways for her to get back at Warren. Ways that don’t involve kidnapping a newborn baby and killing a surrogate.”

It surprised him a little when Thea made a sound of agreement. After all, Warren’s wife, Helen, had raised Thea, too, and that meant Thea and the McCalls likely thought of his mother as the villain in all of this.

“There doesn’t seem to be a connection between Warren and Sonya,” Thea added. “If your mother was going to try to get back at him in some way, she would go after him or someone he cared about.”

True. But his mother would only do that if she’d finally gone off the deep end. There were times when Raleigh thought she might be headed there, and he was doing his damnedest to make sure that didn’t happen.

“I also want to talk to the doctor who did the in vitro procedures for both Hannah and Sonya,” Raleigh continued, and he was about to ask Thea what she knew about the man, but her phone rang.

Unknown Caller.

Raleigh immediately pulled onto the shoulder of the road so he could again use his phone to record the conversation. Once he had it ready, Thea took the call. The first thing Raleigh heard was the baby crying again. It was like taking hard punches to the gut. It sickened him to think of these monsters having that little girl.

“All right, you ready to do this?” the kidnapper asked.

“We are,” Raleigh answered, and he waited a moment to see if the guy would ask who he was. He didn’t. Which meant the thug likely knew all the players in this. That wasn’t much of a surprise since whoever was behind this had probably done their homework.

“Good. Because I’m gonna make this real easy. Transfer fifty thousand into the account number that I’m about to text to you.”

In the grand scheme of things, fifty thousand wasn’t much for a ransom demand, which made Raleigh instantly suspicious. Then again, maybe these guys just wanted some quick cash so they could make a getaway. After all, they were killers now, and if arrested, they’d be looking at the death penalty. Fifty would be more than enough to escape.

“If you do it right,” the kidnapper went on, “it’ll only take a couple of minutes at most for the money to show up. Then you can have the kid.”

Raleigh huffed. “How do we know you even have the child? The crying we heard could be any baby. Or a recording. And if you do have her, what stops you from taking the money and running?”

“I figured you’d ask that. Well, I’m sending you a picture of the kid, and since Thea’s using her cell for this call, I’ll text it to your phone.”

The guy didn’t ask for Raleigh’s number, and several moments later Raleigh’s phone did indeed ding with a text message. Two of them, in fact. The first was the routing number for a bank account. Probably an offshore one that would be out of reach of law enforcement.

Raleigh went to the second text. A photo. It was indeed a baby wrapped in a blanket, and seeing her was like another punch. He reminded himself though that the picture could be fake. But this didn’t feel like a ruse. Raleigh was certain these snakes had that little girl.

He showed the photo to Thea, and he saw the raw emotions go through her eyes. “Oh, God,” she whispered, her voice mostly breath.

She obviously didn’t think it was a ruse, either. And that led Raleigh back to his second issue with this ransom arrangement.

“I’ll transfer twenty grand,” Raleigh told the kidnapper. He could take that from his own personal checking account. “You’ll get the rest when I actually see the baby. And Thea will have no part in the drop. It’ll be between you and me.”

Along with some backup deputies that Raleigh would have in place. The plan was to catch these idiots and make them pay for what they’d done. First though, he had to make sure the baby was safe.

The guy didn’t say anything, and the silence went on for what seemed to be an eternity. “All right,” the kidnapper finally answered. “Get that money to me in the next five minutes, and then I’ll give you the location of the kid.”

Before Raleigh could ask for any more time, the kidnapper ended the call. Raleigh didn’t bother to hit Redial because it would just eat up precious time.

He had a quick debate with himself as to how to handle this, and the one thing he knew was that he didn’t want Thea anywhere near this. That meant getting her to the station.

“Call the emergency dispatcher,” Raleigh said as he used his own phone to access his bank account. “Have him connect you to Dalton. Tell him to gather up as many deputies as he can because I might need them. I also need Dalton to get the remaining thirty grand of the ransom money.” If nothing went wrong with the first part of this plan, Raleigh wanted to be ready.

“I could do backup,” Thea insisted. “I still have your gun, and I’m not woozy anymore from the stun gun.”

Raleigh dismissed that with a headshake and motioned for her to make the call. She did, and he continued with his own task.

It took several moments for him to get access to his account, several more for Raleigh to put in the number the kidnapper had given him. The transfer went through without any hitches.

He had more money in investment accounts, but he doubted those would be as easy to tap into. That’s why he’d wanted Dalton to come up with the rest. That would involve getting some help from fellow law enforcement, maybe even the DA. Somehow though, they’d come up with that money.

“Dalton said to tell you that he’ll get to work right away on all of that,” Thea relayed to him the moment she finished her call. She also took his phone and had another look at the photo the kidnapper had sent. “I’m just trying to figure out if there’s any resemblance between the baby and Yvette.”

“And?” He started driving again so he could get Thea to the station. They were still ten minutes out, so Raleigh sped up. After everything that’d happened, he didn’t want to be on this rural stretch of road any longer than necessary.

“I can’t tell. You think we should send it to Yvette to see if she recognizes any features? The baby could resemble her husband since it was Yvette’s and his fertilized embryo that was implanted in Sonya.”

He had another short debate about that and dismissed it. The woman had been so frantic that this might push her over the edge. Raleigh wanted her to stay put with Dalton at least until he could get there.

“Egan would send backup if you need it,” Thea reminded him.

She probably hadn’t suggested that to rile him. After all, Egan was Sheriff Egan McCall of McCall Canyon. Along with being Thea’s boss, he was Raleigh’s half brother and Warren’s son. Raleigh wasn’t so stubborn that he would refuse help and therefore put the baby at even greater risk, but he didn’t think he would have to rely on McCall help just yet.

Only a short distance ahead, Raleigh spotted a dark blue SUV. It wasn’t on the road but had pulled off onto one of the ranch trails. A trail with a lot of trees and wild shrubs. Normally, seeing a vehicle parked there wouldn’t have alarmed him. After all, there was pasture land out here for sale, and this could be a potential buyer. But this day was far from normal.

“You recognize the SUV?” Thea asked. She drew her gun, which meant this had put her on edge, too.

“No.” And it was parked in such a way that he couldn’t see the license plates.

Raleigh considered just speeding up, and once he passed the vehicle, he could get the plates and call them in. But he saw something else. Something on the ground next to the passenger’s side door.

“Is that what I think it is?” Thea muttered. “It looks like a baby carrier.”

It did. Raleigh had already had a bad feeling about this, and that feeling went up a significant notch when the SUV came flying off the trail and onto the road just ahead of Thea and him. The driver sped away, heading in the direction of town.

Raleigh hit his brakes and slowed so he could have a better look. At first, he thought the carrier was empty, that this was some kind of trick. But then he saw the baby’s tiny hand moving away. He heard the cries, too.

His phone dinged with another text. Since Thea still had hold of it, she read it to him. “Change of plans. The kid is all yours. Thanks for the twenty grand.”

Raleigh wanted to know what had happened to make them flee like that. He also wanted to go in pursuit, but that would mean leaving the baby out here.

“Call Dalton back,” he told Thea. “Let him know what’s happening. I want that SUV stopped.”

While she did that, Raleigh drew his gun and got out. He fired glances all around them but didn’t see anyone. However, the baby’s cries seemed to be even more frantic now. She could be hungry or scared.

Still keeping watch, Raleigh went closer, and he prayed this wasn’t some elaborate dummy. It wasn’t. The baby was real. And there was what appeared to be a note on the blanket that was loosely draped over her.

Raleigh went to her, stooping down, and he touched her cheek, hoping to soothe her. It didn’t work. She kept crying, and he was about to pick her up when he saw what was written on the note.

He read the note out loud, so Thea could hear. “‘Warren’s going to be so sad when he finds out she’s dead.’”

Raleigh shook his head, not understanding what it meant. Who was the she? Certainly not the baby because she was very much alive. It hit him then. Another she, and this one was definitely connected to Warren. He whipped back around, his attention going to the cruiser.

What he saw caused his heart to go to his knees.

Because there was a guy wearing a ski mask, and he had a gun pointed right at Thea’s head.

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.