Cowboy Above the Law

by Delores Fossen

  Good. Because the person’s identity might lead Court to finding out why he was dead. “Any signs that the guy struggled to get out of the burning car?”

  “No. He was lying on the back seat.”

  That possibly meant he was unconscious or even already dead before the fire. Often criminals tried to use fire to cover up any DNA or trace evidence they might have left behind. Of course, it would be bold for a criminal to do that in broad daylight.

  Or maybe not bold after all.

  Court motioned to the blackened strip on the concrete between the dead guy’s car and them. It was where a second fire had been set, and it was a good fifteen feet from the other deadly one. “Can you think of any good reason why someone would do that?”

  Delbert immediately shook his head. “No, but I can think of a bad one. A strip fire like that would conceal whatever was going on in the car.”

  Yeah, that’d been Court’s theory, too. If the person who’d set it had been behind the first set of flames, it would have made it very hard for someone on the street to see him or her. Then the person could have escaped through the back alley.

  There were no cameras back there, either.

  “I went ahead and called in the CSIs,” Delbert went on. “They’ll be here soon.” He hitched his thumb back to the alley. “Just thought you should know there’s a cell phone on the ground. It’s not a fancy smart one. Just one of the cheap ones you can buy just about anywhere. Again, we didn’t touch it, and it might not even belong to the vic.”

  Court would definitely have it collected and tested. If it was the vic’s though, he wasn’t sure why it was out of the car when the body was inside.

  Delbert glanced around the street, which was empty now. But Delbert wasn’t looking at the sidewalks. He was studying the buildings and the streetlight that was to their right.

  “There aren’t any cameras,” Court told him.

  Of course, Court would check to see if anyone had recently added one, but this area of Main Street was essentially a dead zone when it came to surveillance. Alma might not have known that, but Whitney and Mitch likely would have.

  Ditto for his mother.

  That was because it’d come up in a discussion when there’d been a robbery at the hardware store a couple of years ago. Many people then had lobbied to get security cameras for all of Main Street, but it hadn’t been in the budget.

  Court wanted to exclude his mother as a suspect, but he kept going back to the point that Raleigh had made. Whoever had hired the shooter might no longer have a leash on him or her. If that proved to be true, then his mom was still a possible person of interest.

  When Court saw the CSI van pull up, he figured it was time for him to go back to the station. He could do a lot more good there—including keep watch on Rayna—while the CSIs processed the crime scene. However, he did remind both the CSIs and Delbert to call him the moment they had anything on the body or the phone. Too bad Court couldn’t just take it now, but he couldn’t touch it until the CSIs had gotten pictures.

  Court drove his cruiser back to the sheriff’s office, parking behind the shot-up unmarked car. Just seeing it made him feel sick and riled him to the core. Once again, Rayna had come close to being killed, and they still didn’t know why.

  “Anything?” Rayna asked the moment he stepped inside. She was in the doorway of Egan’s office, her hands bracketed on the jamb. Her knuckles were white.

  “We’ll know something soon,” he assured her and hoped that wasn’t a lie.

  Rayna wasn’t alone. Both Thea and Ian were in the squad room, but there was no sign of Whitney.

  “Egan got here about fifteen minutes ago, and Whitney’s in the interview room with him,” Rayna said. “She seemed really upset.” Court didn’t miss the seemed, and he wondered if that meant Rayna was having doubts about her friend.

  Because he thought they could both use it, he went to Rayna and pulled her into his arms for a hug. Yeah, he needed it all right, and that was why Court lingered a moment before he eased back from her—along with easing her deeper into Egan’s office. Not so he could kiss her, though that was something he suddenly wanted to do. No, it was because the shooter was still at large and could try to fire through the windows of the sheriff’s office.

  “Did Whitney say anything to you before Egan got here?” Court asked her.

  “Not really. She was crying a lot. I asked her why she didn’t come straight to the sheriff’s office after you told her to, and she said she had to pick up some meds first. She’d felt a migraine coming on.”

  Since Whitney did indeed suffer from migraines, it wasn’t much of a stretch that she’d need meds for the headaches. Still, the timing was suspicious.

  “Come on.” Court took Rayna by the hand. “We’ll go to the observation room and listen to what she’s saying to Egan.” That was better than standing there with all this energy still zinging between them. “I’ll also try again to track down Mitch.”

  He took out his phone, but it rang before he could make the call. However, this one could be important, since it was from one of the CSIs, Larry Hanson. Court put the call on speaker and hoped it wasn’t bad news. They’d already had enough of that for the day.

  “I went ahead and photographed the phone,” Larry said right off. “I was about to bag it when I saw there was a missed call on the screen. I don’t have the password to see if there’s a voice mail, but I got the name of the caller.”

  “Who?” Court immediately asked.

  “Alma Lawton. You know her?”

  Hell. “Yeah. I know her.” And he was going to get her right back in here for questioning. “I don’t suppose you can tell whose phone that is?”

  “Nope. Not without the password. I’ll get it to the lab though to see if they can come up with something. We might have something on the body soon, too.”

  That got Court’s attention. “Dental records?”

  “We’ll try those, sure, but it seems as if the back of the body might still be intact. The ME thinks he can see a wallet in the back of the guy’s jeans. We won’t know though until we can lift it, but that shouldn’t be much longer.”

  If there was a wallet, there might be an ID. Of course, it didn’t mean the ID or, for that matter, the wallet belonged to the dead guy. However, it could be a good break if it did.

  Court thanked Larry and went back into the squad room so he could get Alma’s number from the computer.

  “It must not be Alma’s phone they found, since she was the caller,” Rayna said. “But I don’t think she knows any of our other suspects. Not personally, anyway,” she added.

  Rayna was no doubt referring to his mother. Alma had definitely heard of her, but neither Alma nor Helen had mentioned being in contact with each other.

  The moment he had Alma’s number, he tried to call her. It went straight to voice mail, so Court left a message for her to get to the sheriff’s office ASAP for questioning. He tried Raleigh next, but the deputy who answered said the sheriff was in the process of arresting a burglary suspect. Since Court had struck out with both Alma and Raleigh, he made another call to his sister. Unlike the other two, Rachel answered on the first ring.

  “Are you okay?” Rachel asked before he could even say anything.

  “We’re fine. You?”

  “I’m as well as can be expected. Egan said there was a body, that that’s why he had to go in.”

  “There is. The CSIs are working on the ID right now.” He gathered his breath for the next question. “By any chance, did Mom have a new phone? Not the one we got her for Christmas but a cheaper one?”

  “I don’t think so. But I can look in her purse. I was going to do that anyway because you said you wanted me to check for a business card.”

  “Yes. Could you do that now?”

  Since Rachel was the daughter and sister of lawmen,
she knew that wasn’t a casual question and that it likely had something to do with the investigation. “What’s this all about?”

  “Just checking to see if she called anyone.”

  It was a pretty sorry explanation, and Rachel made a sound to indicate she wasn’t buying it. Still, she was obviously looking because several moments later she added, “Her phone’s not on her nightstand.” Court could hear her moving around. “I’m looking through her purse now. No phone. You think she lost it?”

  He hoped not, and he hoped even more that she hadn’t bought another phone and used it to call Alma. Of course, even if she had, that wouldn’t have explained why it would be in that alley.

  “There’s a card,” Rachel added. “Yes, it’s for Stigler Investigations. You think Jennifer Reeves works for this PI agency?”

  No, that hadn’t come up at any point, so he sandwiched his phone between his shoulder and ear, went to his desk and typed in the name on his computer. It was another agency all right.

  One that specialized in getting proof of cheating spouses.

  That felt like a punch to the gut. Because it meant that his mother had likely known about Warren’s affair days ago. That would have been plenty enough time to hire someone to fire that shot that’d gone into his father’s chest.

  “Do you have access to Mom and Dad’s bank account?” Court asked.

  “No,” Rachel answered, hesitation in her voice. “But I’m sure I can get it. Why?”

  Court didn’t go with the full truth on this. “I just want to see if maybe Mom hired a PI, too. It might have gone on her credit card if she hired someone over the phone. Also, look for a check.”

  “Now, are you going to tell me what this is all about?” Rachel demanded.

  “Just making sure there’s not another PI out there to interfere with this investigation.” But what he really wanted to know was if there was enough money missing for his mother to have hired a gunman. “Call me if you find anything.” With more of that skepticism in her tone, Rachel assured him that she would.

  Since it might take a while for Rachel to do that, Court led Rayna to the observation room. Egan and Whitney were there, and Whitney was still crying. He wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, not only because she was Rayna’s friend but also because she worked at the sheriff’s office. He hated the possibility that he’d been working with a would-be killer after all these years.

  Rayna stared at her friend through the glass. “Whitney hasn’t been the same person since my trial. She’s been, well, distant.”

  Maybe because Whitney had thought Rayna was really a killer. But there was another angle on this. “You think Whitney could have had feelings for Bobby Joe?”

  “It’s possible.” Since Rayna hadn’t hesitated, it meant she’d given that some thought. Then she shrugged. “But there were times when I felt as if Whitney wanted me to ditch him. Whenever we’d have a girls’ night out, she was always trying to fix me up with other guys.”

  Again, that was maybe because Whitney wanted Bobby Joe for herself. She did seem to be genuinely upset, and maybe that was because of the possible Bobby Joe sighting.

  “Who do you think set the fire?” Egan asked her.

  Whitney’s head whipped up. “You’re not accusing me of doing that, are you?” There was some bitterness in her voice.

  “Just asking,” Egan calmly clarified.

  “Well, I don’t know. I told you the flames just shot up right in front of me. I would have caught up with Bobby Joe if it hadn’t been for that.”

  If she was telling the truth, it meant someone had put that line of gasoline there before Whitney had even gone into the alley, and it was possible someone had triggered it with a remote device.

  But why?

  That was the question Court was asking himself when his phone rang, and he saw Larry’s name on the screen.

  “We got the wallet from our dead guy,” Larry immediately said. “And there was a driver’s license. The name on it is Dustin Clark, but the photo is one I’m sure you’ll recognize. I’m texting it to you now.”

  Court knew Larry was right the moment he loaded the photo and saw the man’s face.

  Bobby Joe.

  * * *

  HE WAS FINALLY DEAD.

  For the first time in three years, Rayna actually believed that was true—that Bobby Joe was no longer a threat to her. Of course, they’d have to wait for more proof of the dental records, but she didn’t need anything else.

  “You should sit down,” she heard Court say.

  He didn’t wait for her to do that though. He practically put her in the chair in the observation room. That was when Rayna realized she was wobbling some and wasn’t feeling very steady. Court probably thought she was about to collapse. She was, but it was from relief.

  That relief didn’t last long though.

  “Will people once again think I killed Bobby Joe?” she asked.

  Court shook his head, sighed and brushed a kiss on the top of her head. All of those gestures eased some of the gut-wrenching tension inside her. “You were with Ian and me when that fire started.”

  True, but since many people in McCall Canyon thought she was a killer, they might think she’d set this up in some way.

  “Who would have killed him?” Rayna pressed.

  Court shrugged. “For us to know that, we’ll have to figure out what he’s been doing all this time. I doubt this was suicide, so that means either someone killed him in the car and set fire to it or they put him in the vehicle after he was already dead. Either way, it’s murder.”

  Yes, and she couldn’t rule out the rogue gunman who was running around shooting at them. The person wearing that ski mask would have had time to set the fire before launching this latest attack against them. For that matter though, so would Mitch, Whitney and maybe even Alma.

  “Wait here,” Court instructed.

  Since she didn’t trust her legs, Rayna didn’t have a choice about that. She watched as Court went into the interview room to whisper something to Egan. He was no doubt telling his brother about Bobby Joe, but Court didn’t wait around for Egan’s or Whitney’s response. He left and went back to the squad room. A few seconds later, he returned with a bottle of water and a laptop.

  In the interview room, Egan was breaking the news to Whitney, and Rayna watched the shock wash over the woman’s face. More tears followed, but Rayna didn’t focus on that. She turned her attention to Court, who was running a computer check on Bobby Joe’s alias, Dustin Clark.

  “That’s all there is on him,” Court said, pulling up the driver’s license. “No record. Not even a parking ticket.”

  Probably because Bobby Joe had been living under the radar, waiting for his chance to come after her again. Of course, she still didn’t know why he’d waited all this time.

  “I’ll check the address he gave the DMV,” Court added, but he stopped when they heard the sound of voices in the squad room.

  Alma.

  “Why would Deputy McCall leave a message like that for me?” Alma snapped. She sounded angry. Looked it, too, when Rayna saw the woman after Court and she stepped out into the hall.

  “Because I need to talk to you about a possible murder,” Court answered. He sounded angry as well, but Rayna knew there was also plenty of frustration. Each thing they found only seemed to lead them to more questions.

  Alma gave him a flat look. “Murder? Really? Did Warren die?”

  Court matched her look with a scowl. “Not Warren, but a man you called shortly before he was murdered.”

  Alma started shaking her head before he’d even finished. “The only person I’ve called today was one of my former hands, Dustin Clark.”

  Bingo. Well, at least she hadn’t claimed it was a setup.

  Court motioned for Alma to follow him to Egan’s office, and once
the three of them were inside, he shut the door. Bobby Joe’s picture was still on the laptop, so Court turned it in Alma’s direction.

  “Is that the Dustin Clark you called?” he pressed.

  Alma had a closer look at the screen. “Yes. Did something happen to him?” If she was concerned about that, she didn’t show it. She could have been discussing the weather.

  “He’s dead. Now, tell me how you know him and why you called him. Then you can explain how you got here so fast. You didn’t have enough time to drive from Durango Ridge.”

  “I was already here in McCall Canyon,” Alma admitted. “I was coming to pay Dustin what I owed him. He’s been working for me out at my ranch.”

  It didn’t sound like a coincidence that Bobby Joe would be working for someone with ties to the McCalls.

  “There’s no record of his employment with you,” Court pointed out.

  “Because I paid him in cash. That’s the way he wanted it, and I was happy to oblige. He was good with the horses.” She glanced at the screen again. “You’re sure he’s dead?”

  “We have a body that we believe is his. When’s the last time you saw him?” Court continued without even pausing.

  Alma huffed, and she frowned. “Maybe about a week ago. He was at my ranch and told one of the other hands that he had to leave to take care of some personal things. He didn’t come back. That’s why I called him to make arrangements to meet him so I could pay him.”

  “And he answered that call?” Rayna wanted to know.

  “Yes. Like I said, that’s why I’m here in town.” Alma’s attention shifted back to Court. “Is this about your father?”

  Court pulled back his shoulders. “Why do you ask that?”

  “Because Dustin hated Warren, that’s why. He never did tell me why, but a few months ago Dustin saw Warren picking me up at the ranch, and he pulled me aside later and said Warren couldn’t be trusted, that he’d been a dirty cop when he was still sheriff here. I got the feeling there was some bad blood between them, but when I mentioned it to Warren, he said he didn’t know anyone by that name.”