Chapter Twelve
Cameron hated that he was having to rush Lauren out of the sheriff’s office. When they were in a panic, it was hard to think straight, and with a mind-set like that, it could make them easy targets for those hired guns who were still out there. Still, Cameron didn’t have a choice.
He couldn’t let Evelyn get anywhere near the babies.
“Where’s Evelyn now?” Cameron asked Jodi.
“I’m holding her at gunpoint. I had Jameson stay inside with the boys.”
Good. Even though Gabriel had plenty of work to do, he must have heard what Jodi said because he grabbed the keys for the cruiser that was parked right out front. He motioned for them to go with him.
“How the hell did Evelyn get on the ranch?” Cameron hurried Lauren into the vehicle, and the moment they were in, Gabriel took off.
“We think she came in on that trail at the back of your house.”
The one that Lauren had used. Lauren shook her head, maybe to let him know that she hadn’t told the woman about the trail, but her headshake wasn’t necessary. Cameron knew she wouldn’t do that.
“Here’s the thing, though,” Jodi continued a moment later. “There’s no vehicle on the trail. The hands checked. When they found Evelyn, she was in your yard. She looks dazed or something. I think someone might have drugged her.”
Well, hell. Cameron certainly hadn’t expected that. “Was she armed?”
“No. And she has some cuts and scratches on her hands. They look like defensive wounds to me.”
Cameron looked at Lauren to see if she was making sense of this, but she seemed just as baffled as he was. Maybe, though, this was some kind of ruse.
Or trap.
That put his heart in his throat. “Are you outside with her?” he asked Jodi. Cameron met Gabriel’s gaze in the rearview mirror and saw the concern in his eyes.
“Yes. The hands brought her here, but I didn’t want her in the house.”
Neither did Cameron. But he didn’t want Gabriel’s wife being gunned down. “Move her to the porch.” It wasn’t ideal, but at least it would give Jodi a little cover, and she wouldn’t be so out in the open.
“Make sure the hands keep watch,” Gabriel added. “We’re already on the road and will be there soon.”
“Hurry,” Jodi said. “I got a bad feeling about this.”
Since Lauren, Gabriel and he had been attacked just hours earlier, Cameron wasn’t feeling so easy, either. Of course, Evelyn usually brought trouble with her wherever she went.
Cameron ended the call so he could keep watch around them. After all, they were going to have to drive right past the place where Maria had been shot.
And where Lauren had killed a man.
It wouldn’t be a good thing for her to see—since she’d be reliving that latest nightmare—but it was the shortest route to the ranch, and they would have to take it. The minutes counted now, and he wanted to get to Jodi so that she wouldn’t have to be in harm’s way. Judging from the way Gabriel was speeding, he felt the same.
“Why would Evelyn have done this?” Lauren said, but she seemed to be talking more to herself than to him.
“Maybe she’s desperate.” Or worse. She could have gone off the deep end.
Cameron’s phone rang, the sound causing Lauren to gasp. It got Gabriel’s attention, too. Probably because he thought it was his wife calling back with bad news. But it wasn’t a number that Cameron recognized.
That bad feeling skyrocketed. Because this could be one of the gunmen. Cameron answered it, putting it on speaker, but he didn’t say anything.
“Deputy Doran?” the caller asked. “I’m Judge Wendell Olsen. I’m a friend of Evelyn—”
“I know who you are,” Cameron interrupted. “Did you put her up to trespassing onto the Beckett Ranch?”
The judge made a slight gasping sound. “Trespassing? No, Evelyn wouldn’t do that.”
Cameron didn’t groan, but that was what he wanted to do. “Yes, she would, and she’s there now.”
“Not by choice. Something must have happened.”
Either that or the judge didn’t know just how loony his friend could be. “Why are you calling?” Cameron didn’t bother to make his tone sound even marginally pleasant because he didn’t like this clueless clown distracting him.
“I was worried about Evelyn. And her housekeeper just called. SAPD found Evelyn’s car in a parking lot at a bar in south San Antonio. It’s not an area where Evelyn would go. I think she was kidnapped.”
That would mesh with the defensive wounds that Jodi thought the woman might have. Still, Cameron wasn’t buying this. Evelyn could have something up her sleeve.
“Why would a kidnapper take Evelyn to the ranch?” Cameron came out and asked the judge.
“To make her look guilty of violating her restraining order. And you’re the person who’d gain the most from that.” The judge also wasn’t tossing out any friendly vibes.
It took Cameron a moment to get his jaw unclenched. “You just accused me of a felony. Want to rethink that?”
Silence. For a long time. “I don’t want you railroading a woman who simply wants to see her grandson.”
“Evelyn doesn’t want to see him,” Cameron corrected. “She wants custody of him. Big difference, and from what I’m hearing, you think you’re going to try to make that happen.”
More silence from the judge. Then he said, “I’ll get Evelyn’s lawyer and the San Antonio cops out to the ranch.”
“SAPD has no jurisdiction in Blue River,” Cameron reminded him.
“Then I’ll get the Rangers.”
Olsen really wasn’t going to like this. “No need. There’s already one at the ranch. Jameson Beckett. I suppose you’ll threaten us with the FBI next, but they have to be invited to an investigation. I’m not inviting them. Not for this anyway. However, I wonder what they would think about a judge pressuring local law enforcement to do his bidding because his friend with a criminal record just committed another crime.”
Cameron figured that put a scowl on the judge’s face. “I just want to make sure Evelyn’s treated fairly.” And with that, he ended the call.
Great. Now he had a meddling judge added to this mix. It made Cameron rethink the idea of staying at the ranch. It was time for him to look into a safe house for Lauren and the babies.
Gabriel took the turn to the ranch so fast that Cameron was surprised he didn’t lose control of the cruiser. He grappled with the steering wheel, keeping it on the road, and he sped toward his house.
The hands were definitely out and about. Cameron spotted six of them, and one of them had to open the cattle gate so that Gabriel could drive through. The moment the house came into view, he saw the reserve deputy, Mark Clayton, in the front yard. And he also saw Jodi. She was indeed on the porch by the front door and was holding a gun. She had it aimed right at Evelyn, who was sitting on the top step a good eight feet away from Jodi.
Gabriel braked to a stop and threw open the door. In the same motion, he drew his gun. “Go inside,” he told Jodi.
Cameron rarely heard that kind of emotion in his boss’s voice, but it was definitely there now. Gabriel loved Jodi, and it was obvious he’d been worried about her. Cameron was, too, but he was just as concerned for Lauren and the others in the house.
“I told Jodi I’d keep an eye on the woman,” Mark said, “but she insisted on doing it herself.”
That didn’t surprise Cameron. He’d known Jodi his whole life, and her stubborn streak was just as big as her heart. Since she was a security specialist, she had the training to hold someone at gunpoint. The training to protect herself, too, but Gabriel almost certainly hadn’t wanted the woman he loved in danger.
“Wait inside with Jodi,” Cameron told Lauren.
She hesitated, then shook her head. “I don’t want Gabriel and you out here. It’s too dangerous.”
Lauren was right. A good sniper might be able to pick them off. That was why he had to hurry this along. He brushed a kiss on her cheek and gave her a nudge to get her moving. He gave her a different kind of nudge when he whispered, “Check on the boys. Make sure they’re not near the windows.”
Her eyes widened, and she practically ran inside. One down, one to go. Plus, he really did want to make sure the boys were in the safest place possible. Lauren would see to it that they were.
Gabriel, however, didn’t go in. He went onto the porch, blocking the door with his body. Probably in case Evelyn tried to bolt inside.
“Your wife said she would shoot me if I moved,” Evelyn told Gabriel.
“She would have. And if you move, I’ll shoot you if Cameron doesn’t beat me to it first.”
It was an empty threat. Well, the shooting part was anyway. Jodi had told them that Evelyn wasn’t armed, so they couldn’t use deadly force on her, but Cameron would stop her if she tried to get in the house.
“Start talking,” Cameron demanded. “Why are you here?”
Evelyn looked him straight in the eyes. “Because you set me up.”
Cameron huffed and tried to rein in his temper. “Let’s deal in reality and not fairy tales. I haven’t had time to set you up. I’ve been too busy dodging bullets from hired guns. And if I did want to frame you for something, the ranch is the last place I’d bring you.”
She kept staring at him as if trying to figure out if he was telling the truth. She must have decided he was because Evelyn finally looked away and touched her fingers to her mouth. The gesture muffled a sob. For the most part anyway. Cameron still heard it. Normally, he had a soft spot for a crying woman, but he wasn’t feeling anything more than wariness when it came to Evelyn.
“Start from the beginning,” Gabriel said. “Tell us what happened.”
Since this could go on for a while and he was still in the yard, Cameron joined Gabriel by the door.
“I was leaving my office to go home when a cop pulled me over,” Evelyn explained. “It wasn’t a cop car, but he had a blue flashing light. And a badge. He showed me his badge.” She pressed her fingers to her mouth again. “I lowered the window to ask him why he’d pulled me over, and he pulled a stun gun out. I fought him, but he hit me with it.”
Evelyn turned, showing them her neck. There were indeed two wounds there that looked like the kind of marks a stun gun would make.
“Did you get the cop’s name?” Gabriel asked.
“No. In fact, I don’t remember much after the stun gun. I think he must have drugged me. When I woke up, I was out in the middle of nowhere. The woods,” she clarified. “My car wasn’t there. Neither was my phone or purse. So I started walking on a path. I ended up in your backyard.”
“Convenient,” Cameron mumbled.
She lifted her head, the anger flashing through her eyes. “No, it wasn’t. I was attacked by a cop and brought here.”
“By a fake cop,” Cameron corrected. “Lauren, Duane and Julia all had fake police officers go to their homes. In Lauren’s case, the guy shot her in the arm.”
Evelyn gasped. “Was my grandson there when that happened?”
Cameron nodded. “He was in the house.”
And he carefully watched Evelyn’s expression. The color drained from her face, and she seemed horrified. But Cameron didn’t know if that expression was because her grandson had been in danger or because Evelyn had hired those thugs and they’d gone against her order to make sure the baby was safe.
It took several moments before Evelyn regained her composure. “May I see him? May I see Patrick?”
Cameron didn’t even have to think about this. “No. Not as long as you’re a suspect in these attacks.”
Even though that was a serious accusation he’d just made, Evelyn didn’t lash out. “But you’d let me see him if there was no chance of his being in danger, if the fake cops and hired guns were caught?”
Now he had to think about it. “I’d consider it if I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that you had no part in any of this. That includes Maria Black’s murder.”
Her mouth dropped open, and she got to her feet. “Maria’s dead?”
Cameron wasn’t going to get into how she knew the nurse. Apparently, everyone connected to this had known her.
“She’s dead,” Gabriel verified. “A gunshot wound to the chest at point-blank range. My guess is a fake cop who someone hired did that to her.”
Evelyn shook her head and looked genuinely distressed about that. She glanced around as if trying to figure out what to do. Cameron hoped she didn’t try to run because he didn’t want to have to go after her.
“Will you be taking me to the sheriff’s office?” she asked Gabriel.
Gabriel tipped his head to Mark. “No, he will be.” He motioned toward Allen Colley, one of the hands who was close to the house. “And he’ll go with you, too. I’ll be there later when I’ve made sure things are okay here.”
Both Cameron and Gabriel waited on the porch until Mark, Allen and Evelyn were in the cruiser and Mark had driven away.
“You believe her?” Gabriel asked him as they went inside.
“No.” But then Cameron had to shrug. “Maybe she’s telling the truth. Julia or Duane could have set her up because they needed a patsy.” And Evelyn would have made a great patsy because of her police record.
Lauren and Jodi were right there waiting in the foyer for them. Gabriel reset the security system, hooked his arm around Jodi and moved her away from the door. They went toward Gabriel’s office.
“I heard most of what Evelyn said,” Lauren volunteered. “First, though, I checked on the boys. They’re okay.”
Cameron didn’t doubt that, but he wanted to see for himself so he made his way to the nursery. The relief came when he spotted them napping on a quilt on the floor. The disappointment, too, because he’d wanted to hold them. He certainly needed something to ease the tension he was feeling.
Lauren helped with that when she gave his hand a gentle squeeze.
Both Dara and Merilee were in the room, sitting on the floor next to the boys. The curtains were drawn, and the lights were off.
“Everything should be all right now,” Cameron told them, and he hoped that was true.
Merilee gave a shaky nod and made her way to a chair where she picked up her e-reader. Dara said something about getting a snack and headed to the kitchen. He doubted she’d be eating, though, since she didn’t look very steady.
Cameron hated what this was doing to Dara and Merilee. Hated what it was doing to all of them. Thankfully, the only ones who didn’t seem to be aware of the danger were Patrick and Isaac.
He looked at Lauren, taking her back into the hall so their conversation wouldn’t wake the boys. But Lauren spoke before he had a chance to say anything.
“We’re leaving the ranch?” she asked.
They were obviously on the same wavelength. He nodded. “It’ll take me a while to set up a safe house, but I should have it ready by tomorrow.”
She didn’t question that. Didn’t argue. But then, Lauren knew full well that the hired guns were still at large, and another attack could happen despite all their security measures.
“We’ll also need to postpone the marriage plans,” Cameron continued. “I don’t want to take you back into town, and I don’t think it’s a smart idea to have the justice of the peace come here.”
Lauren made a sound of agreement. “The thugs could maybe use him to get to us.”
Yep. Heck, the thugs could use anyone, and that was why it was best if they were away from here. Every minute they stayed at the ranch, they put Lauren’s family and the ranch hands in danger.
Cameron was about to find a quiet place to work so he could start on making the arrangements for the safe house, but he heard footsteps, and a moment later Jameson came into the hall. He looked in on the boys before he motioned for them to follow him into the foyer.
“I got some news on the loan shark Julia owes,” Jameson explained. “The guy’s name is Artie Tisdale, and he’s bad news. He wouldn’t say much to me on the phone. I think he was afraid I was recording it, but one of the other Rangers is headed over there now to talk to him.”
It didn’t surprise Cameron one bit that the guy was wary of talking to law enforcement. He probably wouldn’t say much to the other Ranger, either, but they had to try.
“Did he admit Julia owed him money?” Lauren asked her brother.
“He chose his words carefully, said that he’d helped Julia out when she was short of cash, but of course he didn’t admit to being a loan shark. He also didn’t say anything about what he would do if Julia didn’t pay back the cash soon.”
Cameron thought about that. “Tisdale could have paid for the hired guns. Heck, they could be on his payroll. Is there anything to link Tisdale to the dead gunmen?”
“There’s no money trail, but yeah, I could see Tisdale doing that to protect his investment. If Julia gets her brother’s estate, then she could pay back Tisdale’s loan along with all his other expenses.”
Lauren shuddered, rubbing her hands along the sides of her arms. She winced a little, too. A reminder of her injury. Cameron wanted to kick himself for not having a medic check her out when they’d been at the sheriff’s office.
“I’ll let you know if the Ranger gets anything more from Tisdale,” Jameson went on. “In the meantime, I’ll look for any connection between Tisdale and the thugs. Something might turn up.”
Cameron wanted that to happen, but a loan shark had probably covered his tracks.
Jameson turned to walk away, but Gabriel came hurrying into the foyer. One look at his face, and Cameron knew something was wrong.
“Please tell me there aren’t gunmen on the ranch,” Lauren said.
Gabriel shook his head. “No, but gunmen just attacked Allen and Mark. And they took Evelyn.”