by B. J Daniels
Maybe he thought he and Ainsley had a future. Her father had money. Maybe that was what Roderick had been referring to. Or maybe he’d been lying. They might never know.
“So the knock at the door,” Sawyer said. “It could have been someone he was meeting.”
“Possibly. But no one on the production company told the sheriff over there that they’d been by Roderick’s cabin last night.”
Sawyer thought about that for a moment. Often people clammed up when the law got involved.
“The sheriff is looking into another suspect. It seems that after you saw Roderick in the café parking lot, he drove over to the bar where he proceeded to get into a brawl with one of the patrons over the music playing on the jukebox.”
“Doesn’t sound like a man excited about coming into money. Or getting the girl he’s been following,” Sawyer commented.
“No. Sounds like a man who is just looking for a fight. But if he’d seen you and Ainsley together, he could have been looking for trouble. Apparently, he found it.”
“They think this local followed him back to his cabin?” he asked.
“They do since the man at the bar left right after Roderick—and he was still mad, saying he was going to kill him. Apparently, alcohol had been involved.”
Sawyer thought of the dark shadow of a man he’d seen with the baseball bat. Maybe he hadn’t been after LeRoy—but Roderick instead. “Have they picked the man up yet?”
“No, apparently, he came home that night with blood all over him from the brawl or the murder, got into a fight with his wife and left. She has no idea where he’s gone. But they’ve put a BOLO out on him.”
Was this it? Was it over? Roderick didn’t fit the profile perfectly, but he was damned close. He’d followed them last night, he kept a photo of Ainsley by his bed, he didn’t have a job and had been living with his mother, and he’d cleaned out his basement bedroom at his mother’s... It all added up to a fairly good profile of an obsessed stalker.
“I take it you didn’t mention what you were doing there?” the sheriff asked.
“I didn’t lie to the local sheriff. I’m an extra on the film. I’m not here as any kind of law enforcement.”
“So you haven’t told Ainsley?”
He’d reached Ainsley’s cabin and saw that her door was ajar. “I’m about to tell her now.”
* * *
SHERIFF FRANK CURRY had just hung up and was reaching for his Stetson when his phone rang. “Sheriff Curry,” he said, hoping it was some good news for Sawyer. He felt bad for getting him into this situation. But at the same time, he was glad that the agent was there with Ainsley.
He recognized the voice on the other end of the line at once. “What can I do for you, Warden?”
“I have bad news, I’m afraid. Two inmates have escaped. You should be getting the bulletin shortly. It happened an hour ago. Several guards were killed. I wanted to give you a heads-up because one of them has a connection to your area. Harrison Ames. You had talked to me about him some time back.”
“Right,” Frank said, his heart dropping at the news. “He’s a former boyfriend of Emily Calder.” Emily had started to get her life together again after going to jail because of Harrison Ames. Not only did Emily have a now five-year-old daughter, but she was involved in a serious relationship with Alex Ross, who owned Big Timber Java.
“As I recall, Ames had paid a friend to spy on her a while back,” the warden was saying.
“Yes. I’d hoped that was the end of it.” But now that Ames was on the loose... “I’ll let Emily know. I’ll put a deputy on her and her daughter until Ames is caught.” He thought of Alex Ross, again. He would have to know, too.
“Might be a good idea to give her some protection,” the warden agreed. “You know how these escaped criminals can be.”
Unfortunately, after this many years, Frank did know. Harrison Ames was a bad one.
“They always have someone to blame for their problems. I’d hate to see the young woman pay the price of Harrison’s self-inflicted misery.”
“Let me know any further updates on his escape,” Frank said. “The sooner we get that one locked up again, the better.” He hung up, hating that he would have to tell Emily—and fearing what she might do. Harrison terrified her, and Frank didn’t doubt that the criminal would use Emily’s little daughter against her if he got the chance.
* * *
AFTER BEING QUESTIONED by the deputies in the conference room of the hotel about Lance Roderick’s murder earlier, Kitzie was in the hotel kitchen when her cell phone rang. She stepped out the side door into the sunlight to take it. “Give me some good news.”
“Okay,” Pete said. “I’ve found out more about the connection between Harry Lester and his sister’s youngest grandson, Robert Lester LeRoy.”
Bobby LeRoy.
“He’s got a long rap sheet, mostly kid stuff, but definitely headed for trouble. Makes sense that his great uncle might try to do something to help him if he asked.”
She let the door close behind her and walked toward the pine trees at the edge of the meadow.
“Sounds plausible, but I have bigger problems here.” She told him about Lance Roderick’s murder.
“Do they have a suspect?”
“Not yet, but apparently Roderick got into a fight last night at the bar. LeRoy it turns out jumped in to help him. The fight was broken up and the crew left, but a man was spotted following LeRoy last night up here at the cabins. He was carrying a baseball bat, the apparent murder weapon.”
“No ID on the man?”
“No, just that he was big.”
“So, no connection to what is about to go down?”
“Who knows? Someone here also saw Roderick taking cell phone photos outside the local café last night. His phone is missing.”
Pete let out a whistle. “So there could be more to the story.”
Wasn’t there always? She turned away to make sure no one was within hearing distance. “You at the airport?”
“His flight is delayed.”
Kitzie sighed. She needed a break. Finding out that LeRoy was related to Harry Lester tied up a few loose ends, but there was still too much she didn’t know.
“Keep in touch,” she said and disconnected. Turning, she saw Gun watching her and felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach. The look on his face turned her blood to slush. He knew she’d been in his cabin. But how? She’d been so careful.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
EMILY CALDER LOOKED up from her desk at the Sarah Johnson Hamilton Foundation as the sheriff came in.
She assumed he was looking for Bo Hamilton, her boss and the foundation director. She was about to tell him that Bo wouldn’t be in today when she saw his expression. A bad feeling swept through her.
“It’s Harrison, isn’t it?” she asked in a whisper.
He nodded, his expression serious. “He and another inmate escaped from prison.”
Her heart raced. All she could think about was getting to her daughter’s day care. She needed to have Jodie in her arms. “When?”
“A few hours ago. He couldn’t have reached here yet.”
She looked around for her purse. “I have to—”
“Get to Jodie. I called her preschool. They know you are on your way and not to let her leave with anyone else.”
She nodded, unable to speak around the lump in her throat. Her eyes blurred with tears. She’d known that one day her old boyfriend would get out of prison, but that was years away. Now to hear that he had escaped...
“He’ll come here looking for me,” she whispered, close to tears.
“And we will be waiting for him.”
Her gaze locked with the sheriff’s. “What are you saying?”
“Y
ou don’t want to run. You’ll be safer here.”
She thought of the small house she rented. One of Harrison’s friends had broken into it and taken a photo of her and Jodie last year. Even with security gates on the windows, she didn’t feel safe—not with Harrison on the loose.
Her first instinct was to get her daughter and run. She had money saved in the bank. She could get in her car and—
Alex. The thought of the man she’d fallen in love with brought its own kind of pleasure and pain. She couldn’t leave Alex. She couldn’t break her daughter’s heart. Jodie adored him. Emily had never loved anyone the way she did Alex. He was her one and only.
Nor did she want to uproot them. She loved her job, loved being back in this part of Montana. Her brother’s wife and her boss, Bo, were going to have twin girls any day now.
Emily found her purse and clutched it to her. Get to Jodie and then... She looked up at the sheriff again. “Does Alex know?”
“Not yet. I thought you would want to tell him.”
At the sound of the foundation’s front door opening, they both turned abruptly. Alex Ross came in. Just the sight of him made Emily melt. She would never have guessed she could fall in love with such a straight-arrow guy. Harrison had been a biker, an outlaw, a worthless jerk. Like the many tattoos and piercings she’d gotten, he had been her outward sign of rebelling against the loss of her parents at such a young age.
But after Harrison had involved her in a robbery and she’d done time, she’d become pregnant with Jodie and knew she was no longer that girl.
She was still finding herself when Alex, the owner of Big Timber Java, had come into her life—and Jodie’s.
“What’s wrong?” Alex said now, instantly on alert.
“It’s Harrison. He’s escaped from prison,” Emily said.
Alex’s gaze went to the sheriff. “What are we going to do?”
“First, go pick up Jodie. Then I would like Emily to go to her house. We will have men surrounding it.”
“Isn’t Emily’s house the first place Harrison will go? I don’t like the idea of you taking a chance with the two of them inside,” Alex said, shaking his head.
“I’d like you there, too. Harrison knows about all three of you. Separately, you make too good of a target. Together, we can protect you. Once he is caught—”
“Or dead,” Emily said. “He always said he’d die before he went to prison.”
“And yet he went to prison,” Alex pointed out. “I suspect he won’t choose going out in a blaze of glory this time either.”
“The bright side is that he will get more prison time and less chance of getting out on parole because of this,” the sheriff said.
“Let’s go get Jodie,” Alex said, reaching out his hand for Emily’s.
Tears filled her eyes as his strong, warm hand enveloped hers. She instantly felt safer.
* * *
AINSLEY HAD HOPED that her family wouldn’t hear about the murder. She’d just heard about it herself when she’d returned to the hotel and run into one of the kitchen workers. Fortunately, the teenager had filled her in on everything before Kat had called.
“They already think they know who did it,” she tried to reassure her sister. All the talk around the hotel had been about the murder and what the local sheriff had discovered so far. “The victim had gotten in a bar fight earlier in the night. They think he was followed out of town last night after the man he’d fought with threatened to kill him. Both men had been drunk, apparently.”
“So it had nothing to do with the commercial or...anything else?” Kat asked.
Kat knew that Ainsley had been followed for a while now. “Nope, has nothing to do with my...secret admirer.” She always tried to joke it off, telling herself the man was harmless. “And I’ll be headed home in a few days. How is everyone there holding up with the election so close?”
“Sarah is doing a charity event in Big Timber. She’s asked us to join her.”
Kat refused to call Sarah Mother. Ainsley was used to it and didn’t argue with her anymore about it. And like now, Ainsley didn’t volunteer to help their mother. She needed some downtime and couldn’t wait to get home and just relax. She wasn’t going to get swept up in some political charity event. The old Ainsley would have felt guilty if she hadn’t offered to help. But not this newer one.
“So you’re all right?” Kat said.
“Fine.”
“Really, you sound...funny.”
Ainsley rolled her eyes. So like Kat to pick up on something in her voice. She knew she would have to tell her or Kat would keep digging.
“I met someone.” The words were out before she could call them back. Now, she had Kat’s attention.
“A man?”
Another eye roll before she said, “Don’t sound so surprised. Yes, a man. It’s nothing...serious, though. It’s just a...fling.” Really? She couldn’t believe she’d said that. Did she wish that’s what it was? Is that why she’d said that?
“A fling?” Kat sounded disbelieving. “You don’t do flings.”
“Maybe I do now. Maybe, now that my sisters are all settled, maybe I’d like to kick up my heels and...do whatever strikes my fancy.”
Kat laughed. “You? I’d like to see this.”
“I doubt you will because, like I said, it’s not serious. I’m trying out a new me on this handsome cowboy I’ve met.” She rolled her eyes again, wishing she would just shut up. What she was voicing was pure fantasy.
“Really? You and some handsome cowboy?”
That Kat thought she was incapable of such a thing made her more determined to convince her of it. “That’s right. He’s going to be my first.” Ainsley slapped a hand over her mouth.
Silence on the other end of the line told her that her sister had suspected but hadn’t known until that moment. She mentally kicked herself hard for opening her mouth.
“You’re not serious? Ainsley, what do you know about this man? He might just be using you.”
She laughed. “Maybe I’m using him and then moving on.” She really had to get off the line before she dug herself in any deeper. “How’s Max?” she asked, knowing that was the way to shift the conversation.
“Good.” Kat’s whole demeanor sounded as if it had changed. Just asking about her fiancé lit her up. Seeing her sister so in love made Ainsley happy. All of her sisters had found love. She couldn’t have wished anything more for them.
The knock at her cabin door gave her the perfect excuse to escape. “Someone’s here, Kat. I have to go. See you in a few days.” And she was finally off the line. If only she had done that earlier, she was thinking when she turned and realized that she hadn’t closed the cabin door all the way when she’d returned.
The breeze must have caught it because now the door was wide open, and standing in it was Sawyer.
Her heart dropped like a stone. She felt heat rush to her face. Her palms went clammy. He’d heard. He’d heard every word! She could see it on his face. He’d only knocked to make her aware of his presence. He’d heard everything she’d said to Kat.
She opened her mouth to explain but quickly closed it. One word and she feared she would only make matters worse.
But she realized that this newer Ainsley Hamilton wasn’t one to keep her mouth shut. “I suppose you heard all that?”
Sawyer glanced down at his boots before lifting his gaze to hers again. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.” He looked embarrassed and yet almost...pleased. “I’m...flattered,” he said and couldn’t seem to help himself because he grinned. “I’d love to take you up on that, even though you plan to dump me and move on.” He held up a hand to keep her from saying something stupid. “But there’s something you need to know first.”
* * *
GUN COULDN’T BELIEVE his b
ad luck. Things had been going so well, he should have known something would throw a monkey wrench into it.
He had only himself to blame. He’d had a strange feeling when he’d hired Lance Roderick. He hadn’t been able to put his finger on it. Definitely not the law, he’d thought at the time, so he’d pushed his worry aside and hired the man.
Now Roderick was dead. Murdered. And the place was crawling with cops. He swore under his breath. The timing couldn’t have been worse.
His special guest was flying in tonight. Now he would have to detain him until all these local yokels cleared out. Not that he thought any of them would recognize Harry Lester Brown. Few people had ever laid eyes on him, Gun included.
That was where LeRoy came in. If Gun could keep the bastard alive that long. Clark and Hale had reported that LeRoy had gotten into an altercation at the bar last night that involved Lance Roderick.
Apparently LeRoy had jumped in to save Roderick, but with so many witnesses, LeRoy would be a suspect in Roderick’s death.
Gun had expected it would be Hale involved in a brawl. He reminded himself that it wasn’t over. If he could get through this and the remainder of the commercial shoot, he would be home free. He just had to keep his cool. If only he could depend on the others to do the same.
Looking up, he spotted the local law headed in his direction. One more day. Even now he could hear Hale over in the meadow working on getting all the rides ready for tonight. He’d gotten a hungover LeRoy and that delivery kid to help him.
* * *
SAWYER TOLD HIMSELF that he felt badly about eavesdropping on Ainsley’s conversation with her sister. But at the same time, he had to admit that he’d enjoyed it. But why hadn’t he just turned around and left instead of knocking? Partly because the darned cabin porch boards creaked with each step. The last thing he’d wanted was to get caught sneaking away.
Her cheeks were flushed, her blue eyes bright as stars. She couldn’t have looked more beautiful. Had she really said he was going to be her first?
He still didn’t see how that could be possible. A beautiful woman like her? But it would explain how she’d reacted the other night when he’d stopped himself from making love to her in his pickup. Was that really what she wanted? To use him and move on?