“I find it a little hard to believe the entire police department—not to mention the district attorney’s office—conspired to convict an innocent cop just because he didn’t win popularity contests.”
Taylor managed to swallow her instinctive retort. He had said he would help her. That’s all she could ask. If it meant facing his inherent skepticism, she would just meet every one of his doubts with evidence supporting Hunter’s version of the facts.
And try to ignore the low heat of desire still rippling through her.
“Hey, Mister Wyatt, can I ride one of your horsies?”
Wyatt laughed down at the little moppet with the curly dark hair currently tugging on his jeans. Gabriella, one of his brother Gage’s stepdaughters-to-be, looked up at him with liquid brown eyes, her cupid’s bow of a mouth set in an eager, pleading smile.
Gage would need one heck of a hard heart to ever say no to this one, Wyatt thought. He could see it now—she and her younger sister would have his big tough FBI agent of a brother wrapped around her finger in a heartbeat.
He, of course, was made of sterner stuff.
“I’ve got just the pony for you, perfect for two little girls. You and Anna can both take turns riding her around the corral after lunch, but only if your mother says it’s all right.”
Gaby’s attention shifted to his right. “Please, Mama. Can we please? Mister Wyatt says it’s okay!”
With a wince, Wyatt turned to find Gage’s fiancée approaching. Alicia DeBarillas planted her hands on her hips, but he caught the teasing glint in her eyes. “Thanks for backing me into a corner. How am I supposed to say no to a ride on a perfect pony?”
He grinned back at her. “You’re not. That’s the idea. There’s nothing to worry about, I swear. Lucy is a very gentle pony and I promise I’ll lead them around the corral the entire time.”
“Please, Mama,” Gaby repeated, turning the whole potent force of her persuasive pout in her mother’s direction. “Pretty pretty please with ice cream on top?”
Allie appeared to think this over. “Is it chocolate-chunk ice cream with walnuts?”
Gaby giggled. “Nope. Strawberry.”
“Ooh. My second favorite. Okay. As long as you listen carefully to whatever Wyatt tells you to do.”
“Wahoo!” Gaby shrieked with excitement. “Wait until I tell Anna we’re gonna ride one of Mister Wyatt’s horsies!”
She started to rush off but Wyatt called her back. “Wait. You can only ride my pony on one condition. Since your mom is marrying my brother next week, that makes us family now. No more of this ‘Mister’ stuff, okay?”
She appeared to think this over. “Can I call you Uncle Wyatt? My friend Jessica has four uncles and I don’t even have one! I don’t think that’s fair.”
Wyatt blinked, a little nonplussed by the concept. “Sure. I’ve never been an uncle before. Hey, you know what else is pretty cool? I’ve never had a niece before either. And after next week I’m going to have two!”
She giggled but apparently couldn’t keep the exciting news of an impending pony ride to herself. A second later she raced off to find her sister, leaving him alone with Allie.
“Thank you.” His future sister-in-law gifted him with one of her sweet smiles and threaded her arm through his.
“For what?”
“Everything. Offering them a pony ride and allowing her to call you Uncle Wyatt. And especially for agreeing to host the wedding here. I know it’s been a hassle.”
Wyatt shrugged, uncomfortable with her gratitude. “No problem. Until you two finish that house you’re building, my place is the biggest. It just make sense to have it here. Anyway, it’s not every day a guy’s older brother manages to marry a woman worlds better than he deserves.”
She smiled at that and gave his arm a squeeze. “You know, I thought I would be nervous having a bestselling author for a brother-in-law, but you’re one of the best things to come out of this whole deal. I’m so glad you and Gage have mended your differences.”
He didn’t quite know how to answer that. He and Gage really hadn’t had any differences to mend. They hadn’t been estranged in the true sense of the word, only running on different tracks, separated by tragedy and the memory of a girl they had both been unable to protect.
Before he could answer, Gage hobbled across the deck toward him. Despite having broken both legs earlier in the summer, Gage was getting around pretty well, Wyatt thought. He’d lost the crutches a few weeks back, and though he still limped—and likely would for a while—it was hard to believe he’d been in a wheelchair until just a few months earlier.
Gage raised an eyebrow at their linked arms. “I turn my back long enough to throw the steaks on the grill and you’re putting the moves on my girl,” he growled. “Can’t I trust you for two seconds?”
Wyatt grinned and pulled Allie closer. “I decided she’s too good for a lowly, overworked Feeb like you. We’re running away to Acapulco.”
“Ah. Lovely,” Allie said. “Just let me go pack my suntan lotion.”
Gage leaned a hip against the railing. “What can he offer, besides this fancy ranch and all those ill-gotten millions he’s earned with his little writing hobby?”
“There is that,” Allie said with a grin.
Gage straightened and tugged her toward him. “I’m not a famous writer, Al. Just a man who’s crazy in love with you and your girls.”
Gage might not be a writer but he definitely had a way with words, Wyatt thought, at least judging by sudden stars in his fiancée’s eyes and the way she melted into his arms.
They shared a kiss, brief but tender enough to have Wyatt wondering if he ought to leave the two of them alone. Before he could, Anna—the younger of Allie’s girls—ran over to them in tears.
“Mama, Gaby says she gets to ride the pony first. I want to ride first!”
Allie sent Wyatt an exasperated look before turning back to her daughter. “Neither of you will be riding any pony unless you learn to share.”
She gave Gage one more quick kiss, then headed off to avert the crisis.
“She’s wonderful, Gage,” Wyatt said after she left. “And the girls are too. I’m really happy for you.”
Gage sat in one of the Adirondack chairs on the deck and propped his left leg on the matching footstool. “I’m getting the better end of the deal and we both know it. I’m getting a gorgeous wife and two wonderful little girls. What’s she getting, besides a cranky workaholic FBI agent?”
Wyatt sat beside him, his mind on the older brother he had worshiped and on all the years and distance between them.
“A good man,” he murmured, then, uncomfortable with that line of conversation, he changed the subject. “Where’s Dad?”
“He took over grill duties from me. Said it was so I could get off my feet, but Sam never could stand letting someone else char the meat when he’s around.”
Wyatt wasn’t sure he’d ever known that about his father. For an instant, he resented that Gage knew their father so much better than he did, then he thought of Gage’s relationship with Lynn and how strained it had been before this summer, when they had all begun to find peace.
They would never completely find it, he was afraid. There would always be a gaping hole in their world that would not be filled, but Wyatt wanted to think they had at last begun building a bridge across it.
“How long has it been since we’ve all been together like this?” he asked. “Mom, Dad, and you and I?”
Gage looked startled at the observation. “Too long,” he said, his voice gruff, then apparently felt the need to change the subject himself. “How’s the new book coming?”
The question inevitably brought his mind right back to Taylor, who hadn’t been far from it in the two days since their kiss.
“It’s taken a bit of a turn. Hunter Bradshaw’s sister staunchly maintains her brother’s innocence and she’s asked me to help her prove it.”
Gage raised an eyebrow at that piece of infor
mation, and Wyatt didn’t miss the sudden speculation in his eyes.
“You plan to?”
He blew out a breath. “I don’t know. I doubt we’ll find out much, but I told Taylor I would do what I can. What do you know about the Ferrin murders?”
“Only what I read in the papers. As far as I know, the FBI wasn’t involved in the investigation. Anyway, it happened before I transferred to the Salt Lake field office. Wasn’t there a Liberty connection?”
“Eden, anyway. Mickie lived there for a while and practiced law in Ogden. Dru was my age and went to school with me.” He paused, not sure why he felt compelled to tell his brother this. After a moment, he decided to go with his instincts. “Things weren’t easy after Mom and I moved back here. I missed you and dad and I didn’t have a lot of friends for a while. Dru was always a good one.”
A muscle worked in Gage’s jaw and Wyatt wondered what was going on inside his brother’s mind.
“If you want,” Gage said after a minute, “I can talk to the investigating officer at the police department, see if there were any dead-end leads that maybe should have been looked at a little more closely.”
Though warmed by the offer, Wyatt still shook his head. “Thanks but I can’t ask you to do that. You’ve got enough on your plate right now. In less than a week you’re going to be not only a brand-new husband but an instant father.”
Gage caught sight of his wife chasing across the lawn after one of the girls and grinned. “I’m a lucky bastard, aren’t I?”
Wyatt grinned back, thrilled to see his brother so happy. This Gage seemed completely different from the grim, taciturn man he used to be. Right then, Wyatt wanted to chase after Allie and give her a great big smack on the lips for all she’d done for his brother.
“Yeah, you are. Anyway, you don’t need another case to investigate on the side.”
Gage’s grin slid away at the unspoken reminder of the one case Wyatt knew he would never stop working.
“It won’t hurt me to ask a few questions,” Gage replied. “I could use something to keep me busy this week before the wedding. Maybe I can turn up a new angle for you. Wouldn’t want you to disappoint this Taylor woman.”
As much as he didn’t want to disappoint her either, Wyatt was very much afraid that’s exactly what would happen.
Chapter 6
Taylor decided within two minutes of meeting Stacy Hernandez she didn’t like the other woman.
She wasn’t sure exactly what set her teeth on edge—maybe the news reporter’s perky, blindingly white smile or the way she constantly tilted that smile in Wyatt’s direction like a dying flower on a windowsill turning toward the sun.
Or maybe it was just the avid speculation in her big brown eyes as she took in the two of them together.
The moment they met her at Red Rocks, a downtown brew pub, Taylor’s instant impression was of someone ambitious and cagey. A lot like the Dru Ferrin she remembered.
“I’m surprised to see the two of you together,” the reporter said after she had placed her order for low-carb pizza and a diet soda. Wyatt ordered one of the pub’s famous beers and Taylor settled for a bottled water.
“You make an odd dynamic duo, if you don’t mind me saying,” she went on. “The sister of Utah’s most infamous murderer and the state’s author du jour. How did this come about?”
“It’s a long story,” Wyatt answered, to Taylor’s relief, as she was just about to tell the reporter to mind her own business.
Stacy angled her not inconsiderable cleavage in his direction. “I suppose you’re writing a book about the murders. I’m sure it’s going to be great. They were so horrific. The shooting of a pregnant TV personality and her dying mother makes pretty sensational copy, I have to admit.”
“Sensational copy isn’t everything,” he answered coldly.
For a woman who made her living communicating with people, the reporter seemed completely oblivious to the bite in his voice. She didn’t so much as blink.
“I’m not sure how I feel about you tagging along today,” she went on—and though her words directed at Wyatt might have sounded unwelcoming, the warm smile and meaningful look she sent him under her impossibly long eyelashes told a vastly different story.
“Oh?”
“I agreed to talk to Hunter Bradshaw’s sister.” She turned to Taylor. “To be frank, I was hoping we could work something out. You scratch my back and all that. I share what I remember about Dru and her state of mind before her death and in return, you help me score a jailhouse interview with your brother.”
“Hunter’s not giving any interviews right now to anyone except Wyatt,” Taylor said.
The reporter sipped at the diet soda the waiter delivered to their table. “I’m not sure I want to show up in a book about the case.”
“You won’t.” Wyatt’s voice was firm. “We’re just looking for background. Perhaps an angle the police might have overlooked.”
“If I can’t have access to Hunter, what can you offer me if I agree to talk to you?”
“What do you want?” Wyatt countered.
Taylor had an inkling what the reporter was after by the sudden light in her eyes as she took in his lean good looks. This time Wyatt seemed the oblivious one.
“An exclusive,” Stacy said after a moment. “I want to know the minute Hunt Bradshaw files an appeal. I also want to know if you nail down anything about what Dru was working on before her death. I want to be on the inside track with his appellate team.”
Wyatt inclined his head to Taylor, subtly pointing out that she was the one in control, at least when it came to her brother’s case and monitoring who had access to it.
Taylor might have wished she could tell Stacy Hernandez just what she could do with that perky smile and those flirtatious looks but she knew if she wanted to find any answers she had to play her game.
The woman might have valuable information about the case. If they wanted access to that information, they would have to offer something in return.
“We can arrange that,” Taylor said.
“Okay. What do you want to know?”
Taylor glanced at the legal pad where she had prepared a list of questions. “I’ve heard from a few different people that you and Dru were good friends. Is that right?”
Stacy appeared to be thinking how best to answer that as she sipped at her soft drink. “Hard to say,” she finally said. “Good friends? I don’t know. I’m not sure Dru really had many good friends. She wasn’t the kind of woman you called up at the last minute for a trip to the movies when you don’t have a date, but yeah, I guess I was as close as she had to a friend at the station anyway.”
“Did you have any idea she was seeing anyone besides my brother?”
Stacy shrugged. “I knew. I got the impression he was unavailable, if you know what I mean.”
“Married?” Wyatt asked.
“Yeah. She didn’t say that in so many words but I definitely picked up the adultery vibe there.”
“Did she ever mention a name?” Taylor pressed. “Did you ever meet him?”
“No and no. Wish I could help you there but Dru was pretty closemouthed about the whole thing. Maybe that’s why I thought the man was married. She had no problem telling me all about your brother—Hunter the hottie—but not much at all about this mystery man.”
Her expression turned pensive. “Although as I told the police during the investigation, there was this one day when I heard her on the phone with somebody. This sounds like it’s right out of a soap opera, but I swear she said something like ‘If you don’t tell your wife, I will.’ Maybe it wasn’t quite that dramatic but that was the gist of it.”
What if Dru had threatened her married lover with exposure—and if said married lover wasn’t exactly thrilled about it? Wouldn’t that make a good motive for murder? Taylor wondered.
“Can you think of anyone else she might have confided in about the man’s identity?” Wyatt asked.
“Not real
ly. At least not at the station. Like I said, I was the closest thing she had to a friend there.”
She paused while the waiter delivered their order, then took a bite of pizza before continuing. “You know, I got the distinct impression the guy was a cop, too. Makes sense since she met a lot of cops on the crime beat. That’s how she met your brother, right?”
Taylor nodded tightly. She couldn’t help thinking that if Dru Ferrin had been assigned to a different beat—one far removed from the police department—the orbit of her world never would have collided with Hunter’s and her brother wouldn’t currently be sitting on death row.
“What about any stories Dru might have been working on before her death?” she asked.
“I don’t know, but if you find anything out, I want it. Whatever she had in the pipeline, Dru seemed to think it would be huge. She dropped a few hints that this one would be her ticket to network news, but that was it.”
“And you have no idea what it might have been about?”
“Believe me, after she died, I tried everything I could think of to find out. I scoured her computer looking for her notes, I read through every notebook I could find. But she must have kept anything she had in some secret location. Whatever it was, the story died along with her since she apparently hadn’t taken anybody else into her confidence. Even the news director didn’t have a clue.”
“If you had to make a guess, what direction would you think?” Wyatt asked. “Drugs? Organized crime?”
The reporter chewed and swallowed a tiny bite of pizza. “I’m just giving impressions here, nothing solid and nothing you could ever quote me on, but a few weeks before her death she suddenly seemed fascinated with the police procedures code. She studied it all the time. I remember wondering at the time if she might have been working some kind of in-depth story about the police department.”
Taylor thought of the police corruption incident Hunter had been involved with and the enemies he had made because of reporting it. What if Dru’s story was linked to it somehow, and if the corruption went deeper than just that isolated case? If Dru were about to go public with a story about police corruption, any number of people could have a motive to want her dead—and the means to arrange things behind the scene so that someone else took the blame for it.
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