Roughshod Justice

by Delores Fossen

  Mandy didn’t answer, but Gabriel did. “Mandy is working for Boyer. Not only is she on his payroll, but Boyer and she are lovers.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Kelly waited for her sister to deny everything that Gabriel had just said. But Mandy didn’t. Instead, she said something Kelly didn’t want to hear.

  “I’m sorry.”

  That felt like a punch to Kelly’s gut. It didn’t matter that her memories of Mandy were spotty at best; her sister hadn’t been honest with her. And it instantly made Kelly wonder—what else had Mandy not told her?

  Kelly looked at Boyer to see if he would have some kind of excuse. But even he wasn’t denying it.

  Oh, mercy.

  What was really going on here?

  Jameson stepped in front of Mandy, and he put his hands on his hips. “I’ll want to hear more than an apology. I want a full explanation.”

  “So will I,” August said.

  All of them looked at the man, and they were likely wondering the same thing. Why would he care if Mandy and Boyer were lovers or not?

  “I’ve been getting threats, and I believe at least some of them are coming from Boyer. Because I have PIs looking into what I believe are his dirty dealings. Mandy could have helped him cover up his crimes.”

  It was a stretch, especially since they didn’t know any of the details of this bizarre relationship, but August could hope to try to use this—or anything else for that matter—to find something that would help clear his brother. After all, August believed that Boyer had something to do with setting up Travis.

  “One of you had better start talking.” Jameson shot warning glances at both Mandy and Boyer.

  “It’s true,” Mandy finally said. She huffed. “After Kelly disappeared, Boyer hired me to find her.”

  For only a single sentence, it certainly packed a wallop. Kelly’s breath became so thin that she got dizzy. She must have wobbled, because Jameson took hold of her arm to steady her.

  “I didn’t have anything to do with the attacks,” Mandy quickly added.

  Boyer stared at Mandy as if waiting for her to declare his innocence along with hers. But she didn’t. “Nor did I,” he said, his words clipped and tight. “And we were lovers. For a short time anyway.”

  So the affair was over. That didn’t make Kelly feel any better, and judging from her sister’s expression, she wasn’t especially pleased about it, either.

  Mandy huffed again. “Look, I know what you’re thinking. Can you trust me? Well, you can. I’m not behind the attacks.” She pointed to her bandaged arm. “I was shot, remember?”

  “It was a flesh wound,” Jameson said, taking the words right out of Kelly’s mouth.

  Her sister’s gaze flew back to hers, and Mandy hissed out a breath when Kelly didn’t jump to defend her. She couldn’t. Maybe if she had her full memory back, she would know things that would convince her of Mandy’s innocence. But for now, Kelly had to consider that her sister might have contributed to this dangerous situation they were in.

  “Great.” Mandy cursed. “You think I faked my kidnapping. I guess you believe I led those men to Gracelyn, too. I didn’t.”

  Kelly knew this wasn’t a debate they could decide here. Not with August seemingly lapping all of this up. He was probably trying to figure out a way to use it against Boyer. At the moment, though, Kelly didn’t care about any of that. She had to get out of there.

  “I need a drink of water,” she lied, and she headed up the hall.

  Jameson was right behind her, of course. They went into the break room, closed the door and immediately checked on Gracelyn. She was asleep in Erica’s arms.

  “We’re leaving now,” Jameson insisted before Kelly could say anything. He took out his phone and sent two texts. “I’d already started the arrangements for us to move, but I just had those plans stepped up a little. I’ll have Cameron pull a cruiser to the back of the building. The four of us will go with him.”

  “Four?” Kelly repeated. “What about Mandy?”

  His forehead bunched up, and he looked ready to launch into an argument as to why it wasn’t a good idea to have Mandy go with them. But it wasn’t an argument she needed.

  “I don’t want her to go with us, either,” Kelly quickly added. “Not until we know what’s going on.” And that might not be for a while. “If my sister is completely innocent, then I’ll owe her an apology.”

  Erica stood, cradling the baby in her arms. “Is something wrong with Mandy?”

  Jameson and Kelly exchanged glances before he answered her question with one of his own. “Did you know that Mandy was working for a federal agent?”

  “No.” She shook her head and repeated it. “I had no idea.”

  Too bad. Because Erica could have maybe filled in some memory gaps so that Kelly would know if she could trust her sister or not.

  The door to the break room opened, and Kelly figured it was too much to hope that it was Gabriel or Cameron. It wasn’t. It was Mandy, and she stepped in, shutting it behind her.

  “I planned to tell you about Boyer,” Mandy said right off. “But the timing wasn’t right.”

  A soft burst of air left Kelly’s mouth. “The timing was perfect for you to tell me that you work for one of our suspects.”

  “Worked,” Mandy corrected. “I don’t any longer.” But she waved that off. “Fine. It’s obvious I’m not going to be able to make you believe that my prior relationship with Boyer isn’t playing into anything that’s happening now.”

  “You’re right. You won’t be able to convince us, not now anyway,” Jameson assured her. “I need to get Gracelyn and Kelly someplace safe, and then you can convince me you’re innocent.”

  “I am innocent!” Mandy’s voice was so loud that it woke up Gracelyn. The baby immediately started to fuss, so Kelly pulled Gracelyn into her arms. “Sorry,” Mandy grumbled. “It’s just that I’m in danger, too. I also need to be protected so the kidnappers can’t have another go at me.”

  Mandy was right about that. If she had no part in the attacks, she could be taken again to try to force Kelly to cooperate. And cooperation probably meant handing over that blasted file.

  Jameson nodded. “You will leave. Just not with Kelly, Erica and me. Susan will be here soon, and she and a reserve deputy will take you to a hotel. They’ll stay with you until we can figure out what’s going on.”

  Mandy opened her mouth, and Kelly didn’t think it was her imagination that her sister was about to insist she go with them. But then Jameson’s phone dinged with a text message, and he cut off anything she might have said.

  “Cameron’s in place. Let’s go.” Jameson looked at Mandy. “Just stay here and Susan will arrive soon.” He didn’t wait for Mandy to object. He hurried them out of there.

  “Erica, get in the front,” he instructed. Probably because there was a child seat in the middle of the back one.

  Erica did get in, but it wasn’t just Cameron in the front seat. There was another man, and he had Erica sit between them.

  “That’s Deputy Edwin Clary,” Jameson said to Kelly. Maybe because he felt her tense. “We can trust him.”

  Good. But the fact that there were now three lawmen in the car let her know this could be a dangerous ride. She prayed they weren’t attacked again.

  The moment Kelly had the baby strapped in, Cameron took off, and Kelly saw the second cruiser pull to a stop behind the sheriff’s office. That was no doubt Susan ready to whisk Mandy away. Maybe Mandy would cooperate.

  Cameron sped up as soon as he was out of the parking lot. Blue River wasn’t a big town by anyone’s standards, so it only took them a couple minutes before they were away from the buildings. After he took a turn, there weren’t any other vehicles in sight. It made it easier for Kelly to see if anyone was following them, but that didn’t mean they were safe. This was a
rural road, where gunmen could lie in wait.

  A road she recognized.

  “This leads to your family’s ranch,” she said.

  Jameson’s gaze had been firing all around them, but he glanced at her now. “Are you remembering that?”

  She took another look at the scenery. Then nodded. “I didn’t see much of it when you brought me here, but I remember it, too. From the other time I came here.” It wasn’t exactly a peaceful feeling, though, that went through her. “Won’t our attackers expect you to take me there?”

  “Maybe.” That’s all he said for several moments. “There are hands at the ranch who can help protect you. And it’s only temporary. In the morning, we’ll be going to a safe house.”

  The ranch would be more comfortable for Gracelyn than staying at the sheriff’s office, but still she hated to bring the danger to Jameson’s home.

  “She’ll be hungry soon,” Erica said, turning in the seat so she could look at the baby. “I have some food for her in the diaper bag, but I’m not sure it’s enough for more than a day or two.”

  “I’ll arrange to have supplies brought in,” Jameson assured her. “Just write down what you need. Not just for Gracelyn but for yourself, too.”

  Erica muttered a thanks, but she looked as worried about this as Kelly was. “At least once Gracelyn’s eaten and had her bath,” Erica went on, “she’ll sleep through the night. Well, she usually does anyway. After Kelly left she had some fussy moments asking for her mama.”

  That ate away at Kelly, and it didn’t matter that she couldn’t remember leaving or much about her little girl. She just hated that she’d put Gracelyn and even Erica through that.

  The drive seemed to take an eternity, but Kelly figured it was less than twenty minutes. She got more of those memory fragments the moment Cameron turned onto the ranch road.

  “This is a different way we went from last night, but I’ve been this way before. Two years ago,” she added.

  Jameson nodded. He followed her gaze to the large house that was just up the road. Not someplace where anyone lived. Not anymore. But she knew that it was his parents’ house. She had seen it earlier from a distance that morning after the first attack when Jameson had brought her to his house.

  “There was a fire a while back,” Jameson added.

  Yes. And once they were closer, she could see the burned streaks on the wood on one side of the place. Even without the damage, it didn’t look habitable. Maybe she felt that way, though, because two people had been murdered inside.

  “We’re finally tearing it down,” he went on a moment later.

  That was probably a wise move, but it made her wonder why the Becketts hadn’t done it sooner. It was still their childhood home, so perhaps there were more good memories than bad.

  Cameron pulled to a stop in front of another large house. But this one looked a little more like a fortress than a home. There were shutters that were all closed, and what appeared to be three armed ranch hands were standing guard.

  “This is your house?” Erica asked.

  Like Kelly, she was taking in the sprawling place surrounded by equally sprawling pastures. The Beckett Ranch was huge. Not a good thing right now. Because it might be hard to keep watch over every part of it to stop gunmen from getting onto the grounds.

  “No. It’s Gabriel’s,” Jameson answered. “My place is about a quarter of a mile past his.”

  “A log cabin,” Kelly provided. Except cabin wasn’t the right word. Like Gabriel’s, it was huge, as well.

  She suddenly had plenty of memories of it. Specifically of Jameson’s bedroom. And his bed. It’s where they’d had sex, and that might explain why he’d brought them here instead of there. It likely had memories for him, too.

  “FYI, my sister Ivy is here,” Jameson explained when Cameron pulled to a stop in front of the house. “My other sister, Lauren, is out of town on business, and she has two Texas Rangers with her as bodyguards. I told her it was best if she stayed away for a while.”

  It was. That would mean one less member of his family in danger.

  Jameson smiled at Gracelyn when she opened her eyes and grinned at him. “And Gabriel’s wife, Jodi, is here, too. Once we’re inside, you might not get your hands on Gracelyn for a while. They’ll want to get to know her.”

  “This isn’t a good idea,” Kelly said. She took the baby from the car seat.

  Jameson didn’t reassure her—probably because he wasn’t so certain of this idea, either. But that didn’t stop him from rushing them into the house. Cameron left the cruiser out front, and both Cameron and Edwin followed them in.

  “We’re staying,” Cameron told her. “Gabriel’s orders.”

  Gabriel was almost certainly stretched thin with his deputies, but Kelly was thankful there’d be three people guarding the baby. Apparently, there’d be a fourth, too, because the blond-haired woman who was in the foyer was wearing a shoulder holster.

  “This is Jodi,” Jameson said, making the introductions all the way around. “Jodi was in private security for years.”

  “Jodi Canton?” The name just came to Kelly, like one of those memory fragments. But this came with more than just a few pieces.

  Jodi had been attacked the night Jameson’s parents were murdered. Attacked and left for dead. She’d survived, but her father was none other than Travis Canton, who was in prison for a double murder.

  “Yes,” Jodi commented as if she knew exactly what Kelly had been thinking.

  “You remember her?” Jameson asked.

  Kelly shook her head. “No, I don’t think we’ve ever met. But I saw pictures of her and read the articles.” For some reason that was clearer in her mind than giving birth to her daughter.

  Jodi didn’t reach for the baby, but the woman who came from the adjacent living room did. The brunette made a beeline to Kelly and Gracelyn, and she gave them both a hug before she scooped up Gracelyn. This had to be Jameson’s sister.

  “She’s a Beckett all right,” Ivy said. “She resembles my son, Nathan. He’s not here,” she went on. “He’s away at camp. His dad’s there with him now just to make sure...well, just to make sure.”

  Again, that was smart. Because the person after her could use anyone to get to her.

  “We don’t have a crib here,” Jodi explained. “It’s at Cameron’s house, where Lauren lives now. They have two kids so they needed it. Anyway, we can have someone bring it up or maybe we could use a lot of quilts and make Gracelyn a bed on the floor.”

  Since Jodi knew the baby’s name, that meant Jameson or Gabriel had filled her in on what was going on. Had probably told her about the memory loss, too, since both Jodi and Ivy eyed the bandage and gave her sympathetic looks.

  “I’m sure the quilts will work fine,” Kelly answered. “Plus, we’re only here for one night.”

  “Where will you go after that?” Ivy asked her brother.

  “A safe house. Not just for Gracelyn, Erica, Kelly and me. You and Jodi will be coming, too.”

  “Gabriel’s orders,” Cameron repeated while he kept watch at the front window.

  Apparently, Kelly wasn’t the only one who hadn’t heard about this, because both Ivy and Jodi looked surprised.

  “It’s just a precaution,” Jameson assured them. “And it’ll give you some time to be with your niece.”

  “With Kelly, too.” Ivy smiled and gave Kelly’s hand a gentle squeeze. Her attention shifted to her brother, gauging his reaction to that, but Jameson glanced away. Perhaps that was his way of telling his sister that there was no reason to get to know Kelly because she wouldn’t be around much.

  The foyer suddenly got very quiet. Too quiet.

  “Why don’t I go ahead and feed the baby?” Erica suggested, obviously picking up on the uneasiness. She took Gracelyn from Ivy.

  “I’ll show you the kitch
en,” Jodi offered. “It’s this way.” She led Erica out of the foyer.

  Kelly followed them, but Ivy caught up with her in the living room and caught on to her hand again. “Stay. You need to hear this, too.”

  Judging from Jameson’s frown, he wasn’t so sure of that. Neither was Kelly, but he joined them in the living room.

  “I love you, and even though I just met her, I love my niece, too,” Ivy started. She kept her voice at a whisper probably because Cameron still was in the foyer and Edwin was at the front window only yards away.

  “But?” Jameson challenged.

  “You can be pigheaded about some things, and my advice is don’t let that get in the way of forgiving Kelly for not telling you about Gracelyn. I’m sure she had what she thought were solid reasons for not telling you.”

  Kelly wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Ivy had really put her brother on the spot, and that’s why she decided to stay quiet.

  Jameson didn’t, though.

  “I have forgiven her,” Jameson said. And he didn’t say it in a whisper.

  Kelly had been hit with a lot of emotional punches in the past two days, but that seemed one of the strongest. It didn’t tighten her stomach, didn’t cause her adrenaline to soar. However, it sent a new warmth through her.

  Memories, too.

  Of the feelings that had caused her to land in bed with Jameson. Of course, he probably still thought she’d done that to get her hands on the file. She hadn’t. Nor had it been solely the attraction. It had been because she had deep feelings for him.

  She still did.

  “Well, maybe you’re not as pigheaded as I thought you were,” Ivy told him. “Oh, wait. You still are. You’re just not being pigheaded about this.” She poked him with her elbow and grinned in a way that only a sister could. “All right, let me have some playtime with my niece.”

  Ivy kissed Jameson’s cheek. Then she did the same to Kelly before she headed off to the kitchen.

  Jameson stared at her, maybe seeing how she was going to respond to what he’d said. And Kelly did. Despite the fact that Edwin and Cameron were nearby, she caught on to Jameson’s arm, drew him closer and kissed him. Not on the cheek, either. She went for broke. Because if this was a mistake, she wanted it to be one worth making.