Unexpected Protector

by Justine Davis

  There was noise on the other end of the line and Carson couldn’t quite make it out, but he knew better than to ask. The chief would tell him what was going on if Finn wanted him to know.

  “I was just at the reading of Bo’s will,” he told Finn.

  “And?”

  He knew he had to cut to the chase, but he felt certain that this would give the chief pause. “You’re never going guess who my brother left his ranch and dog breeding business to.”

  “Well, it’s not you because you would have led with giving me your notice,” Finn said impatiently. “And I take it that it’s not his fiancée because that was what everyone was expecting. Okay, I’ll bite. Who did Bo leave his ranch and business to?”

  “Darby Gage, his ex-wife.”

  For a moment, there was nothing but silence on the other end, as if Finn was trying to make heads or tails out of what he’d just been told.

  “You’re putting me on,” he finally cried. From the sound of his voice, Carson surmised that the chief was as stunned as everyone else at the reading had been. “Seriously?”

  “Seriously,” Carson confirmed. “You realize what this means, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, I realize,” Finn answered with a heavy sigh. “You’re right. We just got ourselves another suspect.” He had a question for Carson. “You think your ex-sister-in-law knew she was getting everything?”

  Carson told the chief what he’d observed upon coming into the office. “I don’t think she even knew she was in the will. From what I gathered, she was only there because Witherspoon told her to be there.”

  “Well, what do you know,” Finn murmured more to himself than to Carson. “This certainly expands our playing field, doesn’t it?”

  “That’s what I was thinking,” Carson replied, glad he and Finn were on the same page.

  Listening in on Carson’s part of the conversation, Serena couldn’t hold her tongue any longer.

  Raising her voice so that her brother could hear, she said, “Maybe Darby found out about the will and she decided to kill Bo to get her hands on the business—and to pay him back for the way he’d treated her. To cover her tracks, she could have framed Demi for the murder out of spite. You know, as gruesome as it sounds, dipping Bo’s finger in his own blood and guiding it to write Demi’s name. That way you’d find the blood under his fingernail.”

  Carson nodded in agreement. That sounded about right to him. “Did you hear that?” he asked, addressing Finn on the cell.

  “Is that my sister?” Finn wanted to know. There was a note of confusion in his voice.

  “Yeah, she’s right here in the car,” Carson answered. Knowing Finn wanted more detail, he added, “She insisted on coming to the reading of the will with me.”

  He heard Finn laugh shortly.

  “That’s pretty good. Maybe she should be working at the police department instead of with the horses,” Finn said.

  “No, thank you,” Serena said, speaking up. “Horses don’t have agendas.”

  “You want me to bring Darby in for questioning?” Carson asked him.

  “No, she’s your ex-sister-in-law. You’re too close to this,” Finn answered. “Let’s keep this all above reproach. I’ll have Galloway bring her in.”

  “While you’re at it, maybe you should have another go at the ‘eyewitness,’” Carson suggested. “It’s entirely possible that someone looking to frame Demi paid Paulie Gains off to say that he saw Demi fleeing from the area just before Bo’s murder.”

  “For that matter, if we’re considering possibilities, Darby could have put on a red wig and pretended to be Demi as she ran from the crime scene,” Serena chimed in.

  “Yeah, maybe,” Finn agreed. “Anything else happen at the reading, Gage?”

  “Yeah, I think you might want to consider putting Darby into protective custody. Bo’s fiancée looked like she could have killed Darby with her bare hands once she heard that Darby was inheriting practically everything. Unless you’ve got any objections, I think I’m going to go and have a word with Hayley, see if she had any clue that this was coming. She looked surprised, but you never know.”

  “Sure. Go talk to her and get back to me on that,” Finn told him.

  “Right.” As he was about to end the call, a thought occurred to Carson. “Oh, any word on Demi?” he asked.

  “There’ve been a few so-called Demi-sightings in the area, but nothing that panned out. The rest of the team’s still out there, looking for her. But now that you’ve told me about the will, I’m thinking we’re going to be changing the focus of our search. At least for the time being. Get back to me if you find out anything,” Finn told him again, then terminated the call.

  “So we’re going to see Hayley?” Serena asked as soon as she heard her brother end the call.

  “I’m going to see Hayley,” Carson corrected. “After I take you back to the Double C.”

  But Serena had other ideas. Now that she’d finally got out, she wanted to help Carson. The sooner all this was resolved, the sooner she could get her daughter back and life could return to normal.

  “I think I should come with you,” she told him, sounding a lot more confident than he’d anticipated. “Hayley looked like she wanted to kill someone. She won’t kill you if there’s a witness.”

  “Or she could kill the witness, too,” he pointed out, momentarily indulging in some black humor.

  “There’s safety in numbers,” Serena reminded him. “Besides, I’m not as fragile as I look.”

  A smile curved his mouth. He thought of the other night. Delicate, yes, but definitely not fragile. Still, out loud he told her, “Good to know.”

  She got the feeling that he wasn’t talking about anything that had to do with Hayley.

  * * *

  They found Bo’s former fiancée at home. As they approached her house, they heard the sound of breaking glass and crockery and Hayley yelling at the top of her lungs.

  Carson decided to leave Justice in the car for everyone’s safety. He didn’t want to get the dog unnecessarily agitated. There might be unforeseen consequences of that.

  He cracked the windows before turning his attention to the screamfest in Hayley’s house.

  Still apparently grappling with the huge disappointment she’d just experienced, Hayley Patton was calling Bo every name in the book. And with each name, she hurled another breakable object against the wall.

  Carson hesitated and looked at Serena. “Maybe you should stay outside,” he told her.

  “The hell I will,” she countered. “She can’t hit both of us at once.”

  “That’s not exactly a consolation,” Carson informed her.

  The incensed, newly spurned dog trainer’s door was unlocked. Carson pushed it open slowly in order not to attract Hayley’s attention. He still just narrowly avoided getting hit by a brightly painted vase that smashed into smithereens after a fatal encounter with the wall just beside the door frame.

  “Hey!” Carson cried sternly, pushing Serena behind him so she wouldn’t get hurt with any flying debris.

  Caught up in her rampage, Hayley swung around to face him and glared. “What the hell do you two want?” she demanded angrily, looking as if she was going to hurl the next object at them.

  Since Carson was Bo’s brother and possibly a target for Hayley’s rage, Serena was quick to take the lead and answer the woman’s question. “We just came by to see if you’re all right.”

  “All right?” Hayley echoed incredulously. “Of course I’m not all right! I’m the laughingstock of Red Ridge. That no-good, womanizing jackass made me look like a fool in front of everyone I know.” Angry tears came to her eyes. “We were supposed to get married, damn it! Everything was supposed to be mine, not hers! Mine! How could he just give it away to her like that? Like I didn’t matter?” Hayley shrieked.

 
Serena tried to sound as understanding and sympathetic as possible when she asked, “Did Bo ever do or say anything to make you think that he was going to leave it all to Darby?”

  Hayley looked at her as if she was crazy. “You think I would have stayed with him if he so much as hinted that he was going to do that?” she demanded. “Looks and charm wear pretty thin pretty fast, even Bo’s,” she told them. “I was in it for the long haul because I thought I’d be taken care of.”

  Her face darkened as another wave of fury took hold. “Well, he took care of me all right, that dirty, rotten son of a bitch,” she cried, picking up another glass and throwing it against the wall.

  Carson and Serena moved out of the way as shattered glass flew everywhere.

  Carson stayed a few minutes longer, asking Hayley several more questions in between her tirade and the ongoing cavalcade of objects being hurled against the wall and meeting their untimely demise.

  It became very clear that as far as knowing that Bo was about to leave the breeding business and his ranch to another woman, Hayley hadn’t had a clue.

  * * *

  When Carson told her he had to make one more stop before they went back to her ranch, Serena thought he wanted to talk to another possible suspect. Either that or he wanted to talk to her brother about Hayley’s meltdown in person.

  She didn’t know what to think when Carson stopped his car in front of a toy store.

  “What are we doing here?” she asked as she followed him inside.

  The only thing that occurred to her was that he wanted to buy her daughter a toy, but she sincerely doubted that. At three months of age, Lora’s favorite playthings were still her fingers and toes. The baby could spend hours just moving them in front of her face, fascinated by the sight.

  The answer he gave her caught her off guard. “I want to buy a doll.”

  Lora was too young for a doll at this point. “Excuse me?”

  “I’m buying a doll,” he repeated. Caught up in his plan, Carson realized that there was no way Serena could know what he had in mind, so he explained. “I’m looking for one of those lifelike dolls. You know, the ones that look like a real baby.” And then he qualified what he meant. “I’m sure this store doesn’t carry one of those really specialized ones that I saw advertised in a catalog, the ones that look and feel like a real baby. Some of them even move when you touch them,” he said, recalling the description. “I just want one that’s about the size of a three-month-old and lifelike enough to fool a kidnapper.”

  She felt as if her throat was closing up again. There was only one reason he would be doing this. “You think he’s coming back, don’t you?”

  He hated bringing fear back into her life, but she had to understand that there was still a very real danger of her daughter being kidnapped.

  “I’m counting on it,” he told her. “Because we’re going to set a trap for him so that he stops being a threat to you and Lora.” He looked at her and saw that she had grown a little pale. He stopped looking up and down the aisles and put his hands on her shoulders, in essence creating a “safe space” for her. “It’s the only way, Serena.”

  “I know,” she answered in a hoarse voice.

  Pulling herself together, she joined the search for the perfect doll to use as a decoy. Carson was right. Until the would-be kidnapper was caught, she would continue to live in fear for her daughter—and that really wasn’t living at all.

  * * *

  “I didn’t realize that they could look this lifelike,” Carson said. They were back in her room at the Double C and he was looking at the doll that had taken them close to an hour to find and cost a great deal more than he’d expected. “Too bad we couldn’t have just rented the damn thing,” he commented. He thought of the receipt in his wallet. “These dolls are expensive.”

  “That’s because a lot goes into making one of them. Touch its face,” Serena urged.

  “Once was enough, thanks.” He’d already done that in the store. That was how he’d decided which doll to pick. When he’d picked up the doll from its display, he found that the doll’s actual weight felt as if he had a real baby in his arms. It was damn eerie, he thought.

  She couldn’t tell if it was the doll’s lifelike quality or its expensive price tag that made him more uncomfortable.

  “Once this is over, maybe you can take the doll back to the store and get them to refund your money,” she suggested.

  He glanced at the doll again. “I’ve got a better idea.”

  She had no idea where he was going with this. “Oh?”

  “Yeah, once this is over, I’ll give you the doll for Lora. When she gets bigger, she can pretend it’s her baby sister, or whatever it is that little girls pretend when they’re playing with baby dolls.”

  She was both touched and impressed. “That’s very generous of you,” Serena told him.

  Carson shrugged. Praise of any sort always left him feeling uncomfortable, like finding out he’d put on two different boots.

  “Beats the hassle of trying to get my money back from a salesclerk,” he told her.

  He was just making excuses. “You’re not fooling me, Detective Carson Gage. You might have everyone else thinking that you’re this big, hulking tough guy with a heart of steel, but I know better.”

  For the time being, the doll and its purpose was forgotten. “Oh, do you, now?”

  “Yes, I do. Underneath that scowl of yours is a heart made out of pure marshmallow.”

  “Marshmallow?” he echoed, amused. “Well, that doesn’t sound very manly now, does it?”

  “Oh, you’re plenty manly,” she assured him. “But you’re also kindhearted and generous, and that’s even more important than being manly.”

  He found himself getting all caught up in this woman that fate had brought into his life. “That all depends if you’re staring down the barrel of a gun—or looking into the deep brown eyes of a woman with the kind of wicked mouth you’ve spent your whole life dreaming about.”

  She could feel that excitement generating in her veins, the excitement that he could create just by touching her face.

  “Oh? And do I have the kind of wicked mouth you’ve spent your whole life dreaming about?” she asked him, lacing her arms around the back of his neck.

  Carson pulled her to him, fitting her body against his. “What do you think?”

  His grin was so sexy, she could hardly stand it. “I think you should stop talking and show me.”

  “I thought you’d never ask,” he said, and the next moment, he did.

  Chapter 20

  Lying there in the dark beside Serena, Carson was beginning to think that the kidnapper had lost his nerve and wasn’t going to make a second attempt to abduct the baby.

  Two nights had gone by since the first attempt. It was the third night and still nothing.

  Carson had to admit that it was getting harder and harder for him to stay awake, allowing himself to take only ten-minute catnaps every few hours as he waited for the kidnapper to make a reappearance.

  Maybe it had been strictly a one-shot deal, he thought. Maybe—

  Despite the darkness in the bedroom, he saw Justice suddenly sit up. The canine’s entire body looked to be rigid and alert. In addition, Justice’s ears were moving so that they were directed toward something he heard coming from Lora’s nursery.

  Tense now, Carson did his best to noiselessly slip out of bed, but Serena still woke up.

  Her eyes were wide as she looked in his direction. “Did you hear something?” she asked in what amounted to a stage whisper.

  Carson nodded. “Stay here,” he mouthed. There was no mistaking that it was an order.

  But Serena slipped out on her side anyway. “You might need help,” she told him, her voice so low it was all but inaudible.

  “Damn,” Carson muttered under his breath,
but with no less feeling than if the word had been shouted. He didn’t have time to argue with her. This could all go south in the blink of an eye and his window to capture the kidnapper was small.

  Aware that there was no way he could get Serena to remain in her room, he waved for her to stay behind him, then made his way into the nursery, his weapon drawn and ready in his hand.

  Moving just ahead of his partner, Justice saw the intruder first.

  The thin, shadowy figure dressed in black had found a way into the nursery. Carson had wanted to make the nursery accessible but not so accessible that the kidnapper smelled a trap.

  The intruder was just leaning over the crib and about to scoop up what he believed to be the baby. At that moment Justice flew across the nursery, grabbing the kidnapper’s arm.

  Startled, there was a guttural screech from the man, whether out of pain or surprise was unclear.

  Somehow managing to pull free from the canine, the kidnapper tried to barrel out of the room. Moving deftly, Carson was quick to block the man’s exit. In doing so, he managed to pull off the intruder’s ski mask, exposing his face.

  “Mark!”

  The cry of recognition came from behind him.

  Surprised, Carson looked over his shoulder at Serena. It was just enough to throw his timing off, causing Carson to lose the upper hand. The kidnapper immediately took advantage of the opportunity, grabbing Serena’s arm and pulling her against him like a human shield. Out of nowhere, a handgun materialized. The unmasked kidnapper held the muzzle against her temple.

  Afraid that the canine would jostle the kidnapper and possibly cause the gun to go off, Carson caught hold of Justice’s collar, pulling him back to keep the canine still.

  “If you don’t want her pretty brains splattered all over the room, you’ll put your gun down, cop,” the man holding Serena hostage snarled.

  “Take it easy,” Carson told the intruder, speaking in a tranquil, sedate tone and doing his best to harness both his anger and his fear. He shifted his eyes toward Serena. Wanting to keep her calm, he told her, “It’s going to be all right.”