“Why wouldn’t I be all right?”
He pulled her close and clamped his strong arms around her like a vise.
A shuddering breath that shook his back, ratcheted up her concern. “You’re scaring me, Ryan. What’s going on?”
He leaned back, but kept her in the circle of his arms. “Russ just called me. Someone fired gunshots at the lodge and left another warning tacked on the door.”
“Gunshots?” Her heart raced. “Was anyone hurt?”
“No. Thank goodness.”
She sighed out a breath of relief and extricated herself from his arms. “Did Russ mention what the warning letter said?”
“No, and I didn’t ask. I wanted to get up here as fast as I could to make sure you were still here.”
She appreciated his concern but the intense emotion blazing from his eyes left her uncomfortable. “I suppose I need to go over there. I’ll have to finish my report later.”
“Don’t worry about the report.” He slipped his hand around her elbow. “My truck is outside. I’ll drive you.”
Mia didn’t like the way he was usurping her control and taking charge again. After what had happened to his fiancée, he seemed driven to prevent another horrific ending with Mia, but that didn’t change how she felt. She was a grown woman and didn’t need a man to take care of her. Especially not one she hadn’t yet found a reason to trust.
On the porch, Ryan stared at the door holding a large red target with Mia’s picture in the middle. Starting at the outer circle, bullets had pierced each ring leading up to her photo. A message said, Leave town or my next bullet is for you.
Not a single shot had missed the target. Whoever was trying to scare Mia had the ability to end her life in a split second if he chose. Ryan was good and worried, but she seemed to take the warning in stride. She sat in a rocker, cradling a frightened Bandit in her arms and cooing softly to calm him down. Ryan wanted to shake her and make her face up to the danger surrounding her, but he didn’t have the heart to hurt her more.
Maybe Russ, who finished giving instructions to his deputies and headed their way, would be able to break through that thick shell of hers.
“The little fella doing okay?” Russ tipped his head at Bandit.
“He’s still shaking.”
Ryan was all for making sure Bandit was okay, but Russ needed to cut to the chase and tell them what he’d learned.
“Any leads?” Ryan asked.
“All we know at this point is that the recovered slugs are .30-06.”
“Could they be from one of the guns taken when the truck was stolen?” Mia asked.
“Won’t know unless we locate the gun, but I wouldn’t count on it. .30-06 is a common caliber for a hunting rifle. Don’t have to tell you how many hunters we have around here.”
“So, what happens next?” Ryan asked.
“We’ll finish processing the scene, which includes figuring out where the shooter was positioned. Maybe we’ll catch a break and find a lead there.” He peered at Mia. “Have you thought of anything else I need to know since we last spoke?”
“No.”
“Did you talk to her father and David?” Ryan inquired.
“I did, but I have to say I don’t like either one of them for this.”
“And what are you basing that on?” Mia’s tone was wary.
“Just my gut instinct. I’m a pretty good judge of people and they both seemed sincerely glad you’d come home.”
“But your gut says I’m guilty?” Mia’s sarcasm hit the mark as if she’d slapped his face.
He ran a hand around the neck of his shirt and tugged on the collar. “Actually, no. I reviewed the will with our attorneys.” His gaze softened. “It’s clear you don’t stand to gain anything before your year is up. I can see no motive for you to be involved in this. I apologize for accusing you.”
“Apologize? You?” Ryan’s tone skittered high as he raised his brows.
“When I’m wrong, I say I’m wrong.”
Ryan snorted. “Not hardly.”
“Well, in this case, I am.” Russ turned sincere eyes to Mia. “Hope you’ll accept my apology.”
Her eyes softened and she nodded.
Ryan let his gaze linger on Mia. She seemed relieved. He should feel relief also, but if Russ was right and neither her father nor David were involved in the incidents, that left some crazy stranger as the prime suspect. Someone who was an expert shooter and was out to get Mia.
Mia breathed in deeply and let air whoosh out as she set Bandit on the ground. Letting him run off his fear should relax him, but how was she supposed to calm down after seeing the target filled with bullet holes? A mere hour had passed since she’d convinced herself that this terror would end soon. Now she was faced with another threat. This one was not a vague warning, but a direct threat to her life.
How did she go on from here? Could she act like nothing had happened and resume her life? She’d put up a good front for Ryan and Russ but her inner turmoil was reaching the eruption point. If she had any hope of moving forward she needed to use this walk with Bandit to gain control of and reorder her thoughts.
She traipsed behind him, and Ryan caught up to her. “How are you holding up?”
“Honestly? Not so good. I just want Russ to figure out who’s doing this and make it stop.”
“At least he’s ruled you out as a suspect.”
She smiled tightly. “Do you think he’s right about my father?”
“As much as it appears he’s the most likely suspect, yeah, I think Russ is right. Your father may have hurt you in high school, Mia, but I don’t think it was intentional. He just didn’t know how to recover from his grief. But this,” he waved a hand at the barn as they approached the ruins, “this was done on purpose.”
One part of her felt relief that her father hadn’t intentionally hurt her, giving hope for reconciliation. The other part of her was terrified to find out who willingly would do something as harsh as blast bullets into the lodge and burn down the barn.
Bandit shot off, racing toward the end of the barn with the standing wall.
“No, boy, come back,” she called out, going after him and climbing under the yellow crime-scene tape.
Bandit kept running until he reached the far corner of the barn and sniffed around in the rubble. He yipped in little excited barks.
“Hold up, Mia.” Ryan stopped her forward progress with a tug of the arm. “There’s no way I’ll let you go any closer. I’ll get him.”
She’d had just about enough of Ryan telling her what to do, but she wouldn’t argue now when Bandit could be in danger. With Ryan’s training he was the logical person to retrieve the wayward dog.
Ryan called out in a soothing voice that did little to calm Bandit. Hands clenched in fists, she stood like a dolt feeling useless. She looked around. The door she’d been trapped in was only ten feet away. As long as she was standing there, she should take a quick peek at the lock.
She glanced at Ryan to be sure he was still heading toward Bandit before she took careful steps through the thick muck to the door. The handles remained intact. But no chain. No lock. Just like the other end. The lock could only have been removed with a key or cutters. She squatted and picked at the rubble to look for other clues. Nothing but charred wood and muck.
Pushing to her haunches, she grabbed the door handle to keep her shifting feet steady. The wood gave way. The rush of the door, combined with soggy soil sucked her forward. She groped around, hoping for anything to keep from falling. The wall collapsed under her weight.
The charred lumber exploded in an ash-laden cloud and a loud crash of timber.
She landed with a plop, gray particles settling around her body. She inhaled and coughed out the chest-clogging dust.
Oh, no. Ryan and Bandit.
Had her foolishness hurt them? She had to find them.
She pushed to her feet.
“Are you okay?” Ryan yelled from the other end of the barn
.
She looked up. He stood, safe and unharmed. Thank goodness.
“Where’s Bandit?” she screamed and plodded through the murky gunk toward him.
Ryan bent down and lifted the dirty dog into his arms. As he rose to his full height, he paused and released a shudder. He shook his head then peered at her with eyes creased in heart-wrenching pain.
Mia arrived next to him and scanned his body for injury. “Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“Then why the face?”
“It’s nothing. Let’s go up to the lodge and get cleaned up.” He stepped in front of her and tried to turn her around.
“What’s wrong? Are you mad at me for checking on the lock?”
“No. Now come on.” He grabbed her arm and let eyes dark with emotion connect with hers.
Fear rising up her back, she shook off his hand. Something major was wrong. He didn’t chastise her for causing the wall collapse. And his eyes held something she’d never seen in the brilliant blue before. Fear. Raw and primal.
“What are you not telling me, Ryan? Is there something in there?”
“Nothing you need to see.”
Who was he to protect her all the time? She was a capable woman. She could handle whatever he’d discovered. After all, it couldn’t be as bad as seeing the lodge all shot up.
She forced her way past him, letting her eyes rove over the area.
She gasped. Sucked in a cleansing breath but pulled in a stench so foul it brought tears to her eyes. “Oh, no. No. No.”
Why had she been so stubborn? Hadn’t she learned anything yesterday?
Panicked, she turned to run.
Ryan snagged her hand and drew her into the protective shield of his arms alongside Bandit. She not only let Ryan hold her, she clung to him, and laid her head on his solid chest that thumped at a rate matching her accelerated speed.
He was right again.
She didn’t need to see that body trapped under a charred stack of wood.
FOURTEEN
On the lodge’s porch, Ryan stroked Bandit’s soft hair and kept his eyes on Russ. He snapped picture after picture of the body while Ryan’s mind fixed on the discovery as if it had taken pictures he’d never be able to erase.
Two legs, calf down, jutted from intact bales lying perpendicular to the body. Wood resembling dropped pixie sticks lay on top. Khaki trousers and expensive leather loafers were the only visible clues to the corpse’s identity. The fire had not reached the body so identification should be easier.
Ryan had rushed Mia away from the gruesome sight and escorted her into the lodge to clean up, while he returned to the porch and hosed off Bandit. That’s when he found a gash running along Bandit’s side. The poor little guy must have been hit by falling debris. The cut wasn’t bleeding heavily so Ryan sat in the rocker on the porch, cradling Bandit to keep him comfortable until Mia settled down and he felt comfortable in leaving her alone to take Bandit to the vet.
The door to the lodge groaned open. Ryan swiveled in his chair and watched Mia exit. She’d changed into blue jeans and an orange hooded sweatshirt from Oregon State University. Her hair shone in the fading sunlight but her red-rimmed eyes held a haunted look that clenched his stomach.
Father, let Mia know you are watching over her and waiting to help her through this tragedy.
He stood, setting Bandit gently on the floor. Bandit slunk under the chair and curled into a ball. Ryan would have turned back and held the pup but Mia needed him more.
He crossed over to her. “You don’t look so good.”
She shook her head and started to cry softly.
Man. He’d put his foot in his mouth for sure. His heart aching, he pulled her into his arms and held her close. The fresh scent of her apricot shampoo tugged at his senses.
Why hadn’t he grabbed her and dragged her away before she saw the body? Since she’d arrived back here, he’d come up short when she needed help the most.
“Isn’t this touching,” Russ called from the stairs. “Guess you two are back together.”
Mia jerked free and scowled at Russ.
Ryan gave his brother a stern glare. “She’s upset man. She just found a dead body. Give her a break.”
Russ did have the decency to look sheepish. “So, Mia, I need to hear in your own words what happened.”
Her eyes lost their anger and filled with pain. She seemed to freeze in place, unable to speak.
Ryan took her hand and urged her toward the chairs. “Let’s sit down.”
She dropped down as if it was too much effort to stand.
Ryan retrieved Bandit and held him while she launched into her story, spilling it along with fresh tears. She ended with telling him about the missing locks.
Russ shook his head. “This is just what I thought might happen with that wall. That’s why we cordoned it off. What about that yellow tape didn’t you understand?”
“Stop complaining,” she snapped back. “Thanks to me the firefighters won’t have to do the work.”
Russ settled on the porch railing and removed his hat to massage his forehead. “Don’t pat yourself on the back just yet. They’d have dropped the wall away from the barn to prevent contamination of potential evidence.”
Mia’s eyes flashed a warning, but Russ didn’t notice the fact that she was ready to let him have it. Or maybe he was looking for a good fight.
Ryan held his hand between them. “We could argue about this all day, and it’s not going to get us anywhere. There’s a body out there, and we need to figure out who it is and why he was killed.”
“No ‘we’ in this, bro. I’ll take care of the investigation. You take care of counseling kids.” Russ stood and headed for the steps. “I’ll call if I need more information.”
“Wait.” Mia jumped to her feet. “Do you know who it is…in the barn? Or how he died?”
Russ turned. “The ME’s preliminary finding suggests blunt force trauma to the head. Once his exam is complete we’ll search the body for ID.”
“But this is probably the reason for the fire, right?” Mia’s gaze hunted around as if she was trying to come up with a reply. “If I hadn’t come along when I did the fire would likely have burned the entire barn, and we may never have known a body was there at all.”
Ryan hated to disagree with Mia’s logic when she was so fragile but as a trained firefighter, he knew her interpretation was off base. He stood and gazed into her eyes. “If the intent of the fire was to do away with the body, it seems likely the arsonist would have started the blaze near the body. And he wouldn’t have said he was trying to scare someone off.”
Her eyes widened. “So are you saying the fire and the murder aren’t related?”
He nodded. “It’s possible that the arsonist just wasn’t very good at his job.”
Russ smiled, but the strain of the gruesome discovery hung around his eyes. “Your theory doesn’t take into account the missing locks. Makes sense that the doors were locked to conceal the body, but if the arsonist had a key, that changes things. Once we ID the victim, we should have a better idea on how to proceed.”
“I don’t suppose anyone in the area has been reported missing?” Ryan asked.
“Not that simple, bro.” Russ headed down the stairs. “I’ll be in touch.”
Ryan watched Mia as she settled back and let her gaze follow Russ. A fierce determination gleamed in her eyes. Somehow, they all found themselves in the middle of a murder investigation, and she was too stubborn to sit on the sidelines and wait for Russ to solve it.
Mia slouched in the overstuffed sofa in front of the fireplace and set the empty teacup on the table. Ryan had prepared tea after coming back from taking Bandit to the vet. Her little puppy came home with ten stitches and a cone over his head to keep him from licking the wound. He curled the best he could on a rug in front of the fire, but he looked so pitiful.
She turned her face to the crackling fire and warmth slid over her body maki
ng her drowsy. Her eyes drifted to Ryan who stood next to the window talking on his cell. His face was illuminated by the fading sun, casting shadows on his cheek. They’d decided dinner with David would go on as scheduled so Ryan had stopped at home to change for dinner, and the lemony-yellow sweater left him looking darkly handsome and intriguing.
While he was gone, she’d slipped into black dress pants and a shimmery blouse, and donned her favorite heels. She hoped dressing up might cheer her up. And it had a bit. At least it gave her time to think about how supportive Ryan was being again. He might have repeatedly tried to control her, but knowing about Cara helped Mia understand his motives.
He punched the button on his cell and slid it into his pocket. “That was Russ. They didn’t find a wallet on the body. The medical examiner says he’s been dead about a week so visual identification won’t be easy, either.” Ryan crossed the room. “I’m not sure I’m prepared to deal with finding out who was killed.” His eyes met hers. “And I can’t stand the thought that whoever killed the guy could be after you.”
As he settled next to her on the sofa with a deep sigh, flickering flames from the fireplace glimmered off his face, accentuating the crevices of fatigue etched deep into his bronzed skin. His eyes searched hers and the warm intimacy of the moment stole her breath.
Could she hold out against his charms much longer? Did she want to? How could she think this compassionate man would hurt her again?
With gentle fingers, she smoothed the strain from his forehead and trailed a finger down his cheek.
He leaned his face into her hand. His breath whispered over her skin as he exhaled. “When I think about you stuck in that door with the body so close by, I can hardly breathe.” He laced his large fingers with her smaller ones and laid them on his knee. “What if you’d found the body when Jessie was with you? The both of you might never have recovered.”
Mia shivered, moved closer to Ryan and concentrated on the musky cologne he’d applied when he’d changed for dinner. The scent melded with him and drew her to him. She looked at their hands, so perfectly fitted. Maybe this was how it should be. The two of them together again.
High-Stakes Inheritance Page 11