The Sheriff of Sage Bend

by Brenda Mott

  Behind him, he heard Blackhawk bark. “He’s spotted something,” Kyle said. He hurried forward before Lucas could stop him, and the deafening crack of a gunshot fired at close range rang out.

  “Get down!” Lucas commanded, pressing Miranda and Shannon to the ground. “Get behind that brush.” He moved them behind him as fast as he was able. Pistol at the ready, he crept cautiously toward the trees where Kyle had disappeared.

  “I’ve got your back,” Garrett said, gripping his own gun.

  As they drew closer to the pines and aspens, Lucas saw a man approaching Kyle, who was lying on the ground. Kyle dropped Blackhawk’s leash and the dog lunged, grabbing the man’s gun arm between his teeth. With a pull of his powerful jaws, he yanked it downward, causing him to drop the weapon. The guy half turned in the process of stumbling, and Lucas sucked in a startled breath.

  Clint.

  His own brother had shot Kyle.

  Snarling nearly as loudly as the dog, Clint reached into his waistband with his left hand and pulled out a second pistol.

  “Drop it!” Garrett shouted, coming up beside Lucas. “Now.”

  “So help me, Clint,” Lucas said from between clenched teeth, “I won’t hesitate to shoot you. Give me a reason.” Just one.

  Defiantly, Clint pointed the semiautomatic right at him, the twisted, angry look on his face more animal than human.

  Lucas aimed and fired. At the same time, he felt something graze his shoulder.

  Clint screamed and dropped the gun, grasping his wounded leg as Blackhawk bit and pulled on his arm. From the ground, Kyle called off his dog, and Lucas and Garrett quickly moved in to handcuff Clint. Lucas shoved his brother against some rocks, pushing his face into them.

  “That’s right,” Clint taunted. “Go ahead and rough me up, Lukie.” He laughed. “You can hide behind that badge of yours all you want, but you’re still a Blaylock. This just proves nothing will ever change that.”

  “Keep your mouth shut,” Lucas said. “You have the right to remain silent…” He recited the Miranda warnings. While Garrett patted Clint down to make sure he had no other weapons.

  IT WAS ONLY WHEN paramedics started arriving on the scene that Lucas realized the extent of his wound.

  “Lucas,” Miranda said, hovering frantically between him and Shannon. “You’re bleeding pretty badly.” She tore off the sleeve of her shirt and pressed it against his shoulder.

  Lucas winced. “It’s just a flesh wound, ma’am,” he said, feeling somewhat light-headed. “What about Kyle?”

  “We’ve got him,” one of the medics said. “We’ll have you all out of here in no time.”

  Garrett pulled Clint to his feet, despite the leg wound and half dragged him down the trail toward the cabin. Two state policemen, looking huge and angry, arrived on the scene and hovered over Clint and Garrett. Lucas tried to wave the paramedics away, but Miranda told him to sit still.

  “You listen about as well as I do,” she said.

  “Speaking of which,” Lucas muttered, “I told you to stay home. Now go on and get out of here. Your family needs you.” The medics had put Shannon on a stretcher and begun to take her down the trail, since the slope was too steep and the woods too thick for an ambulance. They would carry her to the road below the cabin.

  “And I told you I wouldn’t rest until my sister was safe,” Miranda said. “And now she is.”

  “Then get out of here,” he said. “I mean it, Miranda.” Clint’s words would not leave his mind. You’re still a Blaylock. “Your help is no longer needed or wanted. I never asked for it in the first place.” He stared her down, steeling himself against the hurt that flashed in her eyes. Knowing it was all for the best.

  Shannon was safe.

  Now he and Miranda could go back to being strangers in a small town.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  LUCAS’S WORDS CUT LIKE a knife, but Miranda refused to let her feelings show. Besides, she really did have her family to think of right now. She was overjoyed that Shannon was safe. Miranda was pretty sure her sister was more scared than hurt. She appeared to only have a few bumps and bruises, from what Miranda could see.

  Their mother would likely have already heard the news of Shannon’s rescue from Fae and Mae over the police scanner. Nevertheless, Miranda dug out her cell phone once she reached her truck. She followed the ambulance, glancing down at the device now and then, waiting for a better signal before she dialed her mom.

  Paige informed her that she and Tori were already on their way to the hospital. “We’ll meet you in the emergency room waiting area,” she said. “I can’t believe you found your sister.” She choked up.

  “Me, neither,” Miranda said. “See you in a few.” She snapped the cell phone shut. And then, as she thought about Tori, something dawned on her. Once everyone had arrived, Miranda made a beeline for Mac in the hallway. He and the other deputies had come to the hospital to make sure Lucas was all right.

  “Mac,” she said, knowing it would likely be a while before the nurses would let her see Shannon, “I have a question for you.”

  “Shoot,” he said, then grimaced. “Poor choice of words.”

  Miranda managed a smile. “Why didn’t you arrest Tori when you took her statement? Is she in trouble for what she did?”

  Mac shifted, placing one big hand on his utility belt. “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but…” He looked at her pleading eyes. “Well, like Lucas said, she’s likely to be charged with lying to the police. But try not to worry, Miranda. Tori didn’t file a false police report, because she didn’t file a report at all. She didn’t kidnap your sister—Shannon was hiding of her own free will. And the last time I checked, there was nothing in the law books saying a friend can’t supply another friend with groceries and a place to stay.” He shrugged. “Plus she did turn over the evidence she had, even if it took her a while. But she and your sister will most definitely have to make restitution for the cost the county put out on all those search hours. Still, I doubt anyone’s going to jail. I’d say even Tori is probably looking at probation and community service.”

  Miranda breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Mac. I appreciate it.”

  “No problem, ma’am.” He frowned. “I sure hope Lucas is all right.”

  “I’m pretty sure he is,” she replied, denying the fear that gripped her. “I think the bullet just grazed his shoulder. I don’t think it went straight in.” If he’d taken a direct hit, then he must’ve been in too much shock for it to have registered. He’d been walking around just fine—lucid enough to tell her to leave.

  But then, there was nothing new in that.

  Miranda excused herself and hurried down the hall to the room where two nurses were working on her sister. One was taking her blood pressure, the other looking over the bruises that were beginning to blacken her wrists and ankles. The second nurse told Shannon a doctor would be in shortly.

  The patient lay against a pillow on a hospital gurney, looking worn but happy. Paige hovered beside her, holding her hand.

  “Am I dreaming?” Miranda asked.

  “Come here and I’ll pinch you,” Shannon said. She held her arms out, and Miranda moved past the nurses to give her a hug.

  Tears burned her eyes, but she blinked them back. No more crying. Shannon was home safe. But when she drew back, she saw that her sister, too, had tears on her cheeks.

  Quickly, Shannon wiped them away. “It’s so good to see you, Mia.” She hadn’t called her that in years.

  “You, too.” Miranda gave her sister a crooked grin. “You had us all so worried,” she said, cuffing her lightly on the shoulder. “Don’t you ever pull a stunt like that again.”

  “No worries there. I’m so sorry.”

  “You’ve got some explaining to do, young lady,” Paige said. “Just as soon as you’re on your feet.”

  When Shannon reached for her hand again and gave it a squeeze, Paige turned Shannon’s own hand palm up, exposing her self-inflict
ed, half-healed wound.

  “That’s a nasty cut. You’d better have these nurses look at it.”

  “They already have,” Shannon said. She grimaced. “It keeps breaking open, but the doctor’s going to fix me right up.” She turned to Miranda. “Is Lucas okay?”

  “He’s wounded, but I don’t think it’s serious. I wanted to see you before I checked on him. It looks infected.”

  “Well, go on.” Shannon shooed her away. “Check on that brave cowboy.”

  “All right. But we’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

  “Miranda?”

  She paused, looking back at her sister.

  “You’re brave, too. The bravest person I know.”

  Miranda felt her cheeks flush. “I’ll be right back.”

  Her heart beating with trepidation, she headed to another group of exam rooms, searching for Lucas. She found him in short order.

  But the moment she entered the room, one of the nurses tending to his wound looked up with a scowl. “You can’t come in here, miss. The doctor is on his way down to take care of this young man’s injury.”

  “Just five minutes?”

  The nurse pursed her lips. “Three. Starting now.” She left the room after pulling a curtain partway around Lucas’s gurney, separating him from the person coming into the next exam area.

  “Hey, there,” Miranda said, stepping up beside Lucas. She indicated the gauze-packed wound. “Does it hurt very much?”

  He grunted. “I’ll live.”

  “You’ll never know how grateful I am to you for everything you did to help us bring Shannon home.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said. “Speaking of Shannon, what are you doing here with me? Your family needs you, not me. Go on, get out of here.”

  “You don’t have to be so rude.” Miranda scowled.

  “I’m not. I’m just stating a fact.” He stared at her, his gaze impersonal, almost cold.

  She supposed it was only natural that he’d be cranky. After all, he’d just been shot, and he’d had to shoot his own brother.

  “Okay, Mr. Grouchy. I’ve already used up two of the three minutes Nurse Ratchet gave me, anyway.” Still, Miranda hesitated. It seemed wrong to just walk away and leave him. What would happen now? Would they see each other again? Or did he truly expect her to go back to the way things had been before Shannon’s disappearance?

  Miranda swallowed, finding a lump in her throat. If that’s what he expected, he was a little too late. She’d never stop loving him.

  “Take care of yourself, Lucas.” Fighting the urge to reach out and clasp him in her arms, she turned and left the room.

  MIRANDA DROVE HOME AN hour later, after promising her mom and sister she’d come straight to the Rocking W as soon as she took care of her animals. Shannon had been released, and was already on her way back with Paige.

  Smudge and Tuck greeted Miranda as though she’d been gone a week. She ruffled their fur and took a minute to romp with them. She should be exhausted. Instead, she felt elated, in spite of Lucas’s stinging dismissal. Shannon was home.

  Once Miranda had everyone fed and watered, she packed an overnight bag, loaded a joyful Tuck and Smudge into the truck and drove to her mother’s.

  She found Shannon propped up on the couch in the living room, with Paige hovering over her, offering food and extra pillows.

  “I can’t believe you’re finally home,” Paige exclaimed. “By the way, Miranda, Lucas was released, too. But the stubborn fool went right back to work.”

  “Let me guess,” she said with a smile. “You heard this through Fae and Mae.”

  Her mom chuckled. “Actually, Tori told me. She saw Lucas just as he was leaving.”

  Miranda felt guilty that she’d forgotten to call her friend, in all the excitement of seeing Shannon.

  “Tori had to go home and try to get some rest before her shift at the Silver Spur. She said to tell you she’d be in touch, or you can come by the Spur later if you feel up to it.”

  Miranda wanted to believe Tori planned to go in to work, rather than asking for the night off, out of loyalty to her boss. But she had a feeling it had more to do with Tori not being ready to face Miranda in private yet.

  “You need to get some rest, too,” Shannon said. “Lord knows, I plan to sleep for the next two days.”

  “I think I’ve gotten a second wind,” she answered. “Or maybe it’s more like a third or a fourth.”

  Her sister sat up. “I’m so sorry I put you both through all this,” she said. “Especially what Mom told me about you two seeing that note and the photos. I thought I’d be home before Tori gave them to you, and I hated even leaving them with her. I just felt like I didn’t have a choice.”

  “I’m not even sure what happened,” Paige said. “Fill me in on what you told the police.”

  Shannon told them her story. When she got to the part about hiding at the cabin, Miranda interrupted.

  “What in the world happened there today, by the way? I about died when I burst in and saw all that broken glass and everything.”

  “Clint was at the Truck Inn when Fae and Mae heard the call come in through dispatch for the state police,” Shannon said. “I guess he heard the cabin mentioned, and he put it together. He broke in through the window…scared me half to death.” Her voice trembled. “It took me a minute to realize he’d been the one sending me the threats. The note, the photos. I threw everything I could reach at him. But before I could make it to the front door, he forced me out the back.”

  “But why?” Paige asked. “What does he have against us?”

  “I was testifying against his former jail buddy,” Shannon said. “He got awful loose lipped…. That’s what scared me most. I knew he wouldn’t be telling me everything unless he planned to see me dead.”

  She shuddered.

  “When Lonnie was arrested for the rape and murder of Jo Ella Jamison, he contacted Clint and offered him a lot of money to make sure I didn’t testify.”

  “Dear heaven,” Paige said. “I would never have believed Clint capable of this…. Taking money…It’s so premeditated.”

  “I know,” Shannon murmured.

  “What did Clint plan to do?” Miranda asked. She was afraid she already knew the answer.

  “Well, at first he only tried to scare me into hiding, and it worked. But then, when he realized everyone was looking for me, he decided it might be best to get rid of me, like Lonnie had wanted him to do in the first place.”

  “Was it just Clint?” Miranda asked. “Or were others involved?”

  “Just him,” Shannon said. “Lonnie had something on him…You’re never going to believe this.” She hesitated. “Clint bragged that the two of them had been involved in a meth lab a couple of years ago. Now, please, don’t tell Lucas this or he’ll never be able to get past it…. Clint shot a cop…. He escaped, but Lonnie was arrested. And—and the cop died. That’s what Lonnie had on Clint.” Shannon reached out and gripped her mother’s hand. “He joined the search party to make sure he got to me first…So he could get rid of me.”

  “He was actually going to kill you.” Miranda slowly shook her head. Lucas’s brother! That he could really do such a thing…

  Shannon lowered her gaze, her face pale. “If you and Lucas hadn’t come along, Miranda—”

  “Don’t think about that,” Paige said hastily.

  “But why did he leave you tied up?” Miranda asked. “I don’t understand.”

  “He’d gagged me and tied my hands when he walked me up there—”

  “But why didn’t he just…just shoot you in the cabin,” Miranda forced herself to ask.

  “He was hoping no one would ever find my…my body,” Shannon explained.

  “Then once we got there, he tied my feet, and he was about to—to shoot me when he heard you all coming up the trail. You know the rest.”

  Miranda shivered. Clint could’ve just as easily shot her sister. Why he’d chosen not to, or why he hadn�
��t gone ahead and shot Lucas, she didn’t know. Maybe he’d had last-minute second thoughts.

  “Well, I’m just glad it’s all over,” Paige said. She leaned forward and hugged Shannon. “Don’t you ever do something like that again, young lady.”

  “I already told her,” Miranda said.

  “No worries there, Mom. Believe me. But it’s not over.” Shannon chewed her bottom lip. “I still have to testify against Lonnie Masterson.”

  “Yes, but it’s going to be all right now,” Miranda stated, joining her mother on the couch. “Clint’s locked up, and if Lonnie has any more crazy ideas about sending his buddies after you, he’ll have to go through me to do it.”

  Shannon laughed softly. “Thanks, Mia.” Then she frowned. “You’ll have to testify against Clint.”

  “With pleasure,” Miranda said.

  “I wonder how Lucas is handling all of this,” Paige murmured. “I didn’t get to talk to him before he left the hospital.”

  Miranda thought of the way he’d practically run her out of the emergency room. “I think it bothers him more than he wants to admit,” she said. “It can’t be easy, having family like that.”

  “That’s for sure,” her mom declared. “Maybe you were better off not to marry into that bunch, after all.”

  Miranda’s heart ached. Was she? Lucas wasn’t anything like the rest of the Blaylocks.

  She stood. “I’m going to make some coffee. You drink your juice and rest, Shannon.”

  “Yes, Mother.” Shannon rolled her eyes.

  Miranda told herself she was lucky to be rid of Lucas and all the pain he’d caused her.

  But she longed to be with him, to never let him go.

  LUCAS SAT IN THE DARK in his living room, nursing a beer. He hardly ever touched alcohol, but today he needed it. He’d gone to work after leaving the hospital, and had pulled his entire shift—in spite of reprimands from his dispatcher and his deputies—before finally going home.

  One cat lay at his feet, two more curled up on the couch with him. The white kitten he called Jack Frost eased its way onto his lap, making mud pies with its paws against his leg. The little thing purred as loudly as a tiger. Lucas scratched Frost’s ears.