The Marshal's Justice (Appaloosa Pass Ranch 4)

by Delores Fossen

  “I’ll give you the money,” April said. “But there are conditions attached. You’ll take a polygraph, and during that test, I intend to ask you a lot of questions. If you’ve lied to me, about anything, then you won’t get another dime of my money.”

  The surprise, then the anger, flared in Quentin’s eyes. “How could you not trust me? I’m your brother and you claim to love me.”

  That was probably meant to hurt her. It didn’t work. “I do love you, but I don’t trust you.” She didn’t linger on Quentin but instead turned to Chase. “How soon can you set up a lie detector?”

  “Soon,” Chase assured her.

  Jax made a sound of agreement. “I’ll get started on that right now. I can probably have the examiner in here within an hour.”

  “The test could be wrong,” Quentin argued. “I mean, there’s a reason the results from a polygraph aren’t admissible in court.”

  April ignored him and headed for the break room at the end of the hall. Chase followed her. She wasn’t sure what his reaction would be to her demand, but he gave her a nod of approval.

  “You think he’ll go through with the polygraph?” Chase asked.

  “He’ll probably try to worm his way out of it. It won’t work. Without the test, the loan shark won’t get the money, and Quentin will just have to deal with the consequences himself.”

  Chase took her by the arm and led her to a chair. It took April a moment to realize why he’d done that. She was trembling. It wasn’t just because she’d finally stood up to her brother, but an avalanche of all the things that’d happened.

  “I know that wasn’t easy for you,” he said, handing her a cup of water.

  “Quentin made it easier.” She looked up at him. “He’s not telling the truth about something. I just hope that something doesn’t have anything to do with Bailey’s kidnapping.”

  Judging from the hard look that put in his eyes, Chase felt the same way.

  April looked up when she heard the footsteps. Not Quentin, thank goodness. It was Jericho.

  “The place where Quentin claims he was held is a rental house that’s supposed to be unoccupied according to the owner,” Jericho explained. “I’m short on help right now so two Texas Rangers are headed out there. If they see anything, they’ll bring in the CSIs to go through the place.”

  April figured there wouldn’t be anything to find since the hired guns wouldn’t have left anything incriminating behind. Still, it was all necessary since any and every little thing could perhaps help them untangle this dangerous situation.

  Jericho glanced over his shoulder into the squad room, and April saw what’d gotten his attention. Quentin. He was making his way toward them. But Jericho put a stop to that.

  “You can wait in the interview room,” Jericho said, and he shut the door to the break room.

  April made a mental note to thank Jericho for that later. “I wasn’t ready to go a second round with my brother,” she told Chase. “I just want to go back to the safe house so I can see Bailey.”

  Chase made a weary sound of agreement. “Soon.”

  She thought there might be a maybe attached to that. And there probably was. There were hired guns on the loose, and it was highly likely there could be another attack.

  “I’ve forgotten what normal feels like,” April continued. “What with WITSEC, Bailey being premature. And all the rest of it,” she added.

  The next sound Chase made was a weary sigh. “Sorry, but I can’t give you normal.”

  No. He couldn’t give it to himself, either. Because soon he’d have to surrender that badge and quit being himself.

  “I’m sorry,” April added.

  He frowned. “You’ve been telling me that a lot lately.”

  “There’s no telling how many apologies I’ll owe you. Unlike me, you actually have a good life you’ll have to give up. I think we can both agree that my old life was a mess.”

  Chase didn’t argue with that, but he did move closer. And he stared at her. “Your new life’s also a mess.”

  Considering it was the truth, April was surprised that she managed a smile. Surprised, too, when Chase slipped his hand around the back of her neck and eased her to him.

  No kiss, but he brushed his mouth against her temple. His arms were so warm. His breath, as well, and April just slid right into him, taking everything he was offering. Despite the consequences.

  Getting close to Chase always came with a high price.

  Maybe not immediately. But he’d regret this. Soon, there’d be the resentment in his eyes. Soon, the bad blood would resurface, eating away at him and making him remember all the reasons he should have never gotten involved with her in the first place.

  But no high price right now. Just the warmth. Then, the heat. Always the heat. Even though he didn’t tighten his grip, she felt the attraction tug at her. Urging her to get closer and take even more from him.

  He cursed, a really bad word that had her looking up at him to see if something had prompted it. Something had.

  Her. This.

  April started to move away from him, but Chase held on, pinning her against the wall with his body. Now, the kiss came. The full slam of heat, too. She was certain Chase didn’t actually want this, but he was just as powerless as she was when it came to this attraction.

  He deepened the kiss. Mercy, did he. His mouth knew hers way too well and knew just how to coax the fire from her. Not that he had to do much coaxing. The kiss and being so close to him had already accomplished that. He robbed her of her breath, any shred of common sense, and he just kept on robbing until soon the kisses weren’t enough.

  April wanted more.

  She wanted Chase.

  And she got him. Well, more of that body-to-body contact anyway. She hooked her arms around him, pulling him closer. Not that he had far to go. They were already pressed against each other, but the slight adjustment aligned them in just the right way to have sex. It was out of the question, of course.

  Still, her body got the notion that it was a done deal.

  In that moment April understood why people did such stupid things. Because this was stupid. But it was also what she wanted more than anything. More than sanity. More than her next breath. The problem was she could feel the same need in Chase. Which meant they were in a boatload of trouble if one of them didn’t stop.

  Chase was the one to do that. Thank goodness, since April couldn’t force herself away from him. But Chase let go of her and stepped back.

  He didn’t look at her right off. He stared at the ceiling while he mumbled profanity. And in this case, the profanity wasn’t directed at her but rather at himself. Something April totally understood.

  “I’m not apologizing,” he finally said. He might have added more to that. Especially some more profanity, but his phone rang.

  Timing was a strange thing. Because if the call had happened just a couple of minutes earlier, that kiss wouldn’t have happened. Nor that non-apology. And despite the fact April knew she should regret it, she didn’t. For those minutes, she’d had Chase, and even though it was only temporary, it was better than the scowls and the painful reminders of what she’d done.

  “Unknown caller,” Chase said when he glanced at the screen.

  That took care of any of the remaining fire in her blood. April held her breath, waiting for him to answer the call and put it on speaker.

  “Marshal Crockett,” the woman said. “It’s Renée.”

  Chase moved quickly, heading out of the break room and down the hall until he reached Jericho in the squad room. April was right behind him.

  “Where are you, Renée?” Chase asked her. The question got Jericho’s attention as it was probably meant to do.

  “You know I can’t tell you that because you’ll arrest me.” It so
unded as if Renée was crying. “I can’t go to jail and I can’t live without Quentin.” Yes, definitely crying because she made a hoarse sob. “April turned him against me.”

  Chase gestured for April to stay quiet before she could say anything. Probably because he thought Renée might say more if the woman believed she was talking to only him. Or maybe he just didn’t want Renée to know April was with him.

  “Why do you think April’s turned him against you?” Chase asked Renée. “Have you spoken to Quentin?”

  Silence, punctuated by more sobs. “Because why else would Quentin have left me?”

  April could think of several reasons. Well, one big one anyway. Renée was crazy.

  “How and when did Quentin leave you?” Chase pressed.

  The next round of crying was considerably louder. “He ran away.”

  April heard the movement behind her, and whirled around to see her brother standing in the doorway of the interview room. Quentin had no doubt heard Renée’s every word, but Chase also motioned for him to stay quiet.

  “You’re the one who had Quentin kidnapped?” Chase asked the woman.

  “No. I didn’t. I had him brought to me. But he agreed to it. He said it was a way of keeping him safe from Crossman. A way of getting the money he needed, too. And I would get to be with him.”

  The anger roared through April, followed by a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach. She hadn’t believed Quentin was telling her the truth, but it hurt to hear it spelled out.

  Chase lifted his gaze, slowly, and he glared at Quentin. “Quentin was the one who came up with this plan?”

  “I came up with it,” Renée quickly volunteered. “After I made him understand all the advantages, he agreed to it.”

  “So, what changed?” Chase demanded. “Why did Quentin stop agreeing?”

  “April must have gotten to him. Because Quentin left when I was out taking care of some things. Do you know where he is? I have to see him now. I have to convince him his sister’s wrong, that I really do love him.”

  Part of her wanted to feel sorry for Renée, but April didn’t feel anything but hatred for the woman.

  “I can’t stay on the line any longer,” Renée said. “I don’t want you tracing this and finding out where I am. Call me if you hear from Quentin.”

  The moment Renée hung up, April turned and faced her brother. “You lied. Again.”

  He nodded, his breath already gusting. “I was desperate.”

  “That doesn’t make it all right.” She wanted to scream. Or slap him. But the truth was, April should have expected exactly this from her brother. He’d done similar things time and time again.

  Chase stepped closer to Quentin, and April hadn’t thought it possible, but he looked just as enraged as she felt. “Why’d you escape from Renée? And this time everything you tell me—everything—had better be the truth.”

  Quentin nodded, swallowed hard. “I needed money so I called Renée. She was thrilled to hear from me in that stalker, obsessive kind of way. But like I said, I was desperate for the money and thought I could get it from her. She said she was into something and didn’t have access to her funds.”

  “Into something?” April snapped. “What exactly?”

  “I don’t know, but after everything I’ve learned, maybe she was indeed behind Bailey’s kidnapping. Renée might have thought she could use Bailey to find me.”

  April didn’t doubt that, and the woman had said as much when they’d been by the creek. Plus, Renée had asked Shane for money, which meant she likely wasn’t lying about not having access to her funds.

  “So, Renée and you concocted that idiotic plan to have you taken from the hospital,” Chase tossed out there.

  Quentin’s eyes widened. “Yes, but I had no idea she was going to use real gunmen. I certainly hadn’t thought there’d be shots fired.”

  “A man died,” April reminded him. “True, the guy was a hired gun and deserved it, but innocent bystanders could have been hurt. We could have been hurt.” She motioned at Jericho, Jax and Chase.

  “I didn’t know until after the fact. I swear,” Quentin insisted.

  “What happened then?” Chase went on. “Did you have a so-called change of heart and escape from the very people who kidnapped you?”

  “The gunmen were going to turn on Renée,” Quentin explained. “I heard them talking after she left, and they were going to kill her, and me, once they had the ransom money.”

  April didn’t say I told you so, but she wanted to badly. “You were a fool to trust hired guns.”

  Quentin nodded again, but it wasn’t just regret that she saw in his eyes when their gazes met. It was something else. Determination, maybe?

  “I can fix this,” Quentin said to her before turning to Chase. “You want Renée and those men she hired? Then, I’ll help you get them.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chase was second-guessing this plan.

  Yes, he wanted Renée and her thugs. Wanted answers that would put an end to the danger. But this plan put Jax and Jericho right on a collision with a crazy woman and Quentin, a man they couldn’t trust.

  “I should have been the one to meet with Renée,” Chase said under his breath. Obviously, though, he didn’t say it softly enough because April glanced at him and scowled.

  “You and I have huge targets on us,” she reminded him.

  Something she’d mentioned several times during the planning stage of what could turn out to be a deadly trap. Because after all, if Quentin could try to turn the tables on Renée, then she could do the same to them.

  It didn’t help that Renée had picked a really lousy meeting place. And she’d been adamant about it, too. She had insisted on meeting Quentin at a public place with lots of people around. In other words, there was no way Jax or Jericho could control the security.

  That’s why Chase had wanted to nix it. His brothers and Quentin had disagreed just as adamantly. He was outnumbered, so the plan had been tweaked, then finalized, and now Jax, Jericho and Quentin were on their way to the fairgrounds, where crews were setting up for tomorrow’s rodeo.

  Thankfully, the tweaking had involved a slight change of venue. Instead of at the rodeo arena itself, the meeting would take place in the concession area, where there was less chance of having people wander onto the scene.

  Of course, Jericho had put some of his own security in place, as well. Two Rangers and a reserve deputy had gone out ahead of them and were scoping out the fairgrounds to make sure this wasn’t an ambush waiting to happen. If they got lucky, the precaution would just be overkill.

  Because maybe Renée’s only goal was to get her hands on Quentin.

  If so, perhaps Jericho could arrest the woman and her armed employees before they managed to do any damage.

  Chase had also made sure April was safe, too. He’d called in two of the deputies, Dexter Conway and Carlos Jimenez, to man the sheriff’s office and provide backup if needed. He’d also locked the front door and set the security alarm to cover all the windows and exits. Chase hoped like the devil all of that was overkill, too.

  “You look ready to jump out of your skin,” Carlos said, glancing at April. “And you didn’t eat hardly a bite of your dinner.”

  “I’m not hungry,” April answered. But Carlos was right about the jumping-out-of-her-skin part. April alternated between pacing, checking the time and nibbling on her bottom lip.

  Chase started to give her a mini-lecture on how she should indeed eat some of the sandwich and fries he’d ordered for her from the diner across the street. But then, he didn’t have much of an appetite, either.

  What had helped both of them was another quick video “chat” with Bailey. The baby had been sound asleep, but it’d been good just to see her face and to know that everythin
g was still all right at the safe house.

  “You could try to rest in the break room,” Chase suggested. But he wanted to kick himself. Because judging from the surprise that flashed across her face, April was remembering those kisses they’d shared there just a few hours earlier.

  Not especially what he wanted on her mind, or his, but at least she no longer looked to be on the verge of a panic attack. Too bad it didn’t last. His phone rang, and April’s nerves jumped right back to the surface.

  He halfway expected to see Unknown Caller on the screen, but it was a name he actually recognized. Marshal Harlan McKinney. He’d not only worked with Harlan on several cases, but Chase also trusted the man.

  Chase didn’t put the call on speaker. Just in case this was another dose of bad news, he didn’t want to send April over the edge. Still, she moved closer, where she would undoubtedly be able to hear at least some of the conversation.

  “We found something,” Harlan said the moment he came on the line. “There was a mole. Not a marshal, though. It was a computer tech working out of the Austin office. Her name’s Janette Heller. Ring any bells?”

  He had to think about it a few seconds. “No. Should it?”

  “Maybe. She does background checks and such so I thought maybe you’d crossed paths with her.”

  “It’s possible. I’ve had a lot on my mind lately.” A huge understatement. “Has she been arrested?”

  “Yeah, she’s in custody. Lawyered up right away, of course, but we have what we need to set her bail sky-high. The FBI techs went through her computers, and they found enough to prove she’s hacked into some WITSEC files.”

  “Any idea who hired her to do that?” Chase immediately asked.

  “Following the advice of her lawyer, she hasn’t said a word. Her lawyer’s a bigwig, too. One who costs way over her standard of living.”

  “Maybe because she’s using the money she got from hacking to pay for it?”

  “Maybe.” But Harlan didn’t sound entirely convinced of that. “This is the kind of lawyer who has a waiting list of clients, but he dropped everything and came when she called.”