Yes, a cut to the core.
“So that’s why you came here?” Addie asked. “You want to help us find him and vice versa so you can get back to work?”
He paused again. A long time. Then nodded. “And I wanted to meet you, to see if it spurred something.”
She knew exactly how he felt.
“And?” Weston pressed.
“Nothing.” Another pause. Cord’s mouth tightened as if he’d tasted something bitter. “But there is some kind of connection. One I don’t particularly want to feel because I don’t want to worry about your safety. Is she safe?” he asked Weston.
“She soon will be.”
Addie hoped that was true. Hoped it was true for her brother. But she doubted Cord would be going to a safe house. No. He wasn’t the safe house type.
“What have you learned about the Moonlight Strangler?” Weston asked.
“I don’t have a name. I’m guessing you don’t, either, or there would have been an arrest. I just have a list of suspects, too many questions and nowhere near enough answers.”
That got her attention. Weston’s, too. “I want that list of suspects,” Weston insisted.
Cord nodded. “And I want yours. Is Daisy Vogel on it?”
“Yeah,” Weston confirmed. “Soon, I want to have a chat with her. What do you know about her?”
“Not as much as I want to know. She wasn’t on my radar until the attack today. I’ve been monitoring what you’ve been doing, and when I saw you make the trip to her place, I ran a background check on her.”
Weston took a step closer and got right in his face. “Did you know the attack was going to happen?”
“Of course not. I have no motive for you or Addie to be hurt. Or worse.” He reached out, touched the scar on her cheek. “In fact, there’s every reason for her to stay alive so we can catch this killer. What do you remember?” he asked her without even pausing for a breath.
For so long Addie’s response had been nothing. And it’d been true. Until today. “A swing set. I think it was at Daisy’s house, and she admitted that thirty years ago she babysat a little girl who might have been me.”
“But I wasn’t with you?”
She shook her head. “A man named Steve Birchfield took me to her and left me there for a week. Is he on your suspect list?”
“He is now.” Cord took out his phone, fired off a quick text. “I’ll see if there’s anything on him.”
“Jericho and I are already doing that,” Weston snarled.
“Good. I’ll take anything I can get.” Cord’s gaze shifted back to her. “You remember anything else?”
“I don’t know. Everything’s muddled, and I’m not sure if it’s an actual memory from those days or something that happened after I arrived here at the ranch.”
“Did you remember something?” Weston asked her. No snarling tone now, but he took her by the shoulders. “This is too much for you.”
Addie had been about to assure him that she could handle it, but the truth was, her head was spinning, and she suddenly felt queasy. But not just queasy—she was about to throw up. She hadn’t experienced any morning sickness yet, but she thought she might be getting a full dose of it now.
“Excuse me a minute.” She didn’t wait for Weston to agree. She hurried toward the powder room just up in the hall, and she got there in the nick of time.
Good grief.
She didn’t need this now with everything else going on, but there was never a good time for morning sickness. As icky as it was, at least it was a reminder of the pregnancy. Of the baby. A reminder, too, that she needed to take better care of herself.
Weston and Cord must have agreed with that since they were both waiting for her in the hall when she opened the door.
“I’m not going to ask you if you’re all right,” Weston said, scooping her up in his arms, “because clearly you’re not. I’m calling the doctor.”
“Don’t, please. I just need a cracker or something. There’s some in the pantry in the kitchen.”
Weston eased her onto the sofa, turned as if to go get the crackers, but then he no doubt remembered that would mean leaving her alone with Cord, a man he didn’t trust.
“I’ll get them,” Cord volunteered, and he headed out of the room.
“How are you—really?” Weston asked her when they were alone.
Addie tried to give him a reassuring look. Failed miserably. Hard to look reassuring with her stomach lurching. “All the pregnancy books say this is normal.”
“How long will it last?”
Addie lifted her hands. “A few months. Maybe longer. Some women have it the entire pregnancy.”
He cursed and looked as if he wanted to continue the cursing for a long time. “I’m so sorry.”
She managed another smile and took his hand. “I’ll live.” Except that was a reminder she might not if they didn’t stop the Moonlight Strangler.
Weston tipped his head toward the kitchen and sat down next to her. “Do you believe him?”
“Yes,” Addie said without hesitation.
A muscle flickered in his jaw. “Did you sense you had a biological brother?”
“No. Well, I used to think about it when I was a kid, but I wasn’t really lacking in the brother and family department.” Unlike Cord. “I guess those thoughts of sibling possibilities got overshadowed by the real ones.”
“And what about the memories?” he asked.
But she didn’t get a chance to answer because Cord came back in with a box of crackers and a glass of water. He set them on the coffee table in front of her.
“How far along are you in the pregnancy?” Cord asked. Obviously, he’d put two and two together.
“Three months.” She took out a cracker, nibbled on it. Hoped it would help.
Cord glanced at their ring fingers. No rings, but since she still had hold of Weston’s hands, Cord no doubt figured out the answer to a question he probably wouldn’t have asked anyway—who was the baby’s father?
The next look he gave Weston was more of a glare. One she recognized.
Mercy.
She didn’t need another brother fighting her battles for her.
“Memories,” she reminded both of them. That got their attention back on track. “I might have one. A stuffed bear. You handing it to me.”
Cord took a deep breath, and he sank down into the chair across from them. He closed his eyes a moment as if to force that memory to the surface. “Were there Christmas lights?”
She hadn’t remembered that. Only the little boy with the brown hair and eyes that were the same color as hers.
Like Cord’s.
Addie closed her eyes as well, hoping for some other fragment of the memory. But nothing.
“We can both go back through hypnosis,” Cord suggested. “In the meantime, we need to do something to draw out the killer.”
“You’re not using her as bait,” Weston snapped.
Cord’s gaze went to her stomach. “No. Not now, I won’t. But I could be bait. I figure if he learns I’m remembering things, then he’ll want me dead. He doesn’t have to know that the memories are of Christmas lights and a brown stuffed bear.”
Addie pulled back her shoulders. “I didn’t mention the color of the bear.”
Cord paused, nodded. “Yeah, we definitely need to be hypnotized again.”
Weston didn’t argue with that. “Who’s on your suspect list?” he asked Cord.
“Alton Boggs,” he readily answered. “I’m sure you’ve reached the same conclusion, that he’s way too interested in the Moonlight Strangler for this not to be personal.”
“Agreed,” Weston said. “What about Canales?”
“He’s on the list, too. Maybe one or both are the Moonlight Strangler.”
That didn’t help her queasy stomach. “You think they’re killing together?”
“Could be. I found a criminal informant who said that Boggs and Canales used to be involved in a gunrunning o
peration. There’s nothing about it in any of their background checks,” Cord added when Weston reached for his phone. “But the CI claims it was going on thirty years ago.”
Weston stayed quiet a moment. “Did the CI think the murders were tied to the gunrunning?”
“The initial ones, yes. Then, he thought maybe the killer or killers got a taste for it.”
It sickened her to think of it, but this could be the link they’d been searching for.
“I want the name of this CI,” Weston insisted.
“She’s dead.” Cord glanced away from them. “I’m pretty sure I got her killed. I didn’t think the Moonlight Strangler was watching me, but I was wrong. The SOB cut her on the cheek. Left his mark to make sure I’d see it.”
“I’m sorry,” Weston told him. Considering what her birth father had done to Collette, Addie was sure it was a sincere apology.
It didn’t take Cord long to regain his composure. “I haven’t had any luck connecting the first victims to either Canales or Boggs. Or to the Moonlight Strangler for that matter.”
“I tried to get a DNA sample from Boggs. He didn’t go for it,” Weston said. “But we should have Canales’s results back in a day or two. I told the lab to put a rush on it. We’re also running DNA on the man who tried to kill Addie. Lonny Ogden. He’s too young to be the Moonlight Strangler, but I want to make sure he’s not connected to one of the victims.”
“I’ll see what I can do about getting DNA from Boggs.” Cord opened his mouth to say more, but a sound stopped him.
A car approaching the house.
Weston hurried to the window and looked out. “It’s Jericho.”
The relief came—this wasn’t the start of another attack. But the relief went just as fast. Addie stood to try to brace herself for what would no doubt turn into a testosterone contest, but when her brother came through the door, he wasn’t focused on Cord. He was on the phone and was cursing at the person on the other end of the line.
“Find her,” Jericho snapped, and at the same moment he ended the call, he aimed an expected glare at Cord. “You’d damn well better not be here to hurt Addie because I don’t have time to deal with you.”
“What’s wrong?” Weston asked Jericho.
“Daisy’s missing.”
That got Addie on her feet. “What happened?”
Jericho had to get his teeth unclenched before he could speak. “I don’t know yet, but I’m pretty sure her disappearance has something to do with this. It was left on the answering machine at Daisy’s house, and I got the county deputy to play it for me.”
Her brother lifted his phone and hit the play button on the recording.
Chapter Eleven
“Daisy, you need to disappear. Fast. Staying around here won’t be good for your health. Leave and take this phone and answering machine with you.”
Weston heard the message Jericho had just played for them, and he didn’t know whether to groan or curse. So, he did both.
“That’s Lonny Ogden’s voice,” Addie said.
Yes, it was. Weston had only heard the man speak a couple of times, but he was sure of it. What was that idiot up to now?
“First of all, how did Ogden get access to a phone?” Weston asked Jericho. “And how the heck does he know Daisy?”
“I don’t have the answer to either of those things, but I’m about to find out.” He made another call. “Jax,” Jericho said when his brother answered, “set up a video chat with the dirtbag who left that threatening message for Daisy. Call me when you’ve got him on the line.”
Jericho hit the end-call as his gaze snapped to Cord. “If you’re here to try to talk Addie into doing something stupid, dangerous or otherwise, then there’s the door.” He hitched is thumb in that direction.
“I’m here to find a killer,” Cord said, meeting him head-on.
Jericho tapped his badge. “Newsflash. We’re all here for that, but you’re not using my sister as bait.”
Weston stepped to Jericho’s side—despite the glare Jericho gave Weston to remind him that he’d wanted to do the same thing. Finally, here was something Jericho and he could agree on.
“I don’t want Addie in danger, either,” Cord said. He was probably telling the truth.
Probably.
However, Weston knew that kind of drive, that kind of hunger for justice, and a hunger like that just might override any feelings Cord had for a twin sister he hardly knew.
“I’m standing right here,” Addie reminded them. “Last I checked, I could speak for myself.”
“You aren’t going to do or say anything to put yourself in further danger,” Jericho argued.
Probably because Jericho looked ready to implode, she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “I won’t be safe until the Moonlight Strangler is caught. Cord and I might have some new memories that could help.”
“Fragments of memories,” Weston corrected when Jericho stared at them.
A bear and a swing set. Childhood things that could have a huge impact if they were true and could be connected to other memories.
Too bad memories like that could make Addie even more of a target than she already was.
“I was about to call the FBI,” Weston added. “I want them to go to the safe house and do the hypnosis once Addie’s there.”
Which shouldn’t be long at all since the marshals were probably on their way. Of course, he’d gotten distracted from making that call because he’d been kissing Addie. Then Cord had arrived.
“So, that DEA agent’s really your brother?” Jericho asked her.
She nodded. “I think so, yes.”
Weston wasn’t exactly sure what he saw in Jericho’s eyes. Frustration.
Maybe a little jealousy.
He clearly loved Addie and had been a good brother to her all these years. But blood was blood. Or at least Jericho might see it that way. However, Weston figured blood would never come between the love Addie had for Jericho and the rest of her adoptive family.
Cord’s phone buzzed at the same moment as Jericho’s, and Cord stepped into the foyer once he saw the name of the caller on the screen. Weston kept an eye on him, but the bulk of his attention went to Jericho’s phone. It was Jax, and he’d obviously managed to set up a video call. Judging from the background, he was at the hospital.
“Jax, put a camera on that weasel so I can see his face when he’s talking to me,” Jericho instructed. “If he lies, punch him.”
Jax flexed his eyebrows in a sure-whatever gesture and turned the phone so they could see Ogden’s face.
“Start talking,” Jericho ordered the man. “Why’d you leave that message for Daisy Vogel?”
Ogden’s eyes widened. “Because she didn’t answer when I called her.”
Weston moved in front of the phone screen so that Ogden could see his glare. “That’s not helping your case. Why leave that message?”
“Because I had to.”
That was it, apparently the only explanation Ogden intended to give them. Well, it wasn’t enough.
“If you don’t want to hurt more than you’re hurting right now,” Weston warned him, “then start talking.”
Ogden glanced around the room as if looking for some kind of help, but since only Jax was there, he must have decided that he was on his own. “August McCain forced me to make the call. He even wrote down what I was to say.”
Addie shook her head. “Who’s August McCain?”
“His lawyer,” Jericho growled. “Where is he?”
“He left. And he said he wouldn’t be coming back. He also said I was to keep my mouth shut.”
Jericho cursed, handed Weston his phone before he stepped away to use the land line in the foyer. “I’ll get someone out looking for him. See what else you can get from this piece of work.”
Gladly. “Why did McCain want you to scare Daisy, and did he do anything to her?”
“Do anything? Oh, man. You don’t think he’d hurt her?”
�
�I don’t know. You tell me.”
Ogden frantically shook his head. “It was just supposed to be words. No violence. And it wasn’t my idea. I was just the messenger.”
Maybe. “Convince me of that.”
Ogden no doubt heard that for the threat it was. He swallowed hard. “I’ve got no beef with Daisy. Heck, I don’t even know her. Check my phone records. Today was the first time I’d ever called her.”
Weston would indeed check those phone records. “Why’d McCain want her out of the picture?”
No eye widening this time, but Weston did see something he recognized. Ogden knew the answer to the question. “I can’t tell you anything else.” He leaned in closer to the phone screen. “McCain’s dangerous.”
“And you don’t think I am? I’m the one who shot you. There’s a pecking order for dangerous, and I’m at the top of it. Now talk!”
Ogden did more of that glancing around until his attention came back to Weston. Weston made sure he was all lawman now. A lawman who’d do pretty much whatever it took to get to the truth. After all, Addie and the baby’s safety were at stake here.
“I don’t know all the details,” Ogden finally said, “but it has something to do with a gunrunning mess. Not recent stuff but something that happened a real long time ago. Like maybe before I was even born.”
Was it the same operation that might have involved Boggs and Canales? As much as Weston wanted to know, it wasn’t a good idea to share that info with the likes of Ogden.
“Keep talking,” Weston insisted.
“I don’t know much more other than Daisy’s husband might have been involved in it. I think that’s what I heard McCain say anyway.”
Since Cord had finished his call, Weston motioned for him to start checking on the woman’s late husband. “Ernest Vogel,” he mouthed to Cord.
Weston turned his attention back to Ogden. “Did this gunrunning have something to do with the Moonlight Strangler?” he asked.
Addie moved closer, no doubt wanting to hear the answer. Maybe dreading it, too, since Weston could see the pulse throbbing on her throat.
“I think so,” Ogden finally said. “But I’m not sure what exactly. That’s the truth,” he quickly added when Weston scowled. “I think maybe all of this has something to do with the first victim.”
Lone Wolf Lawman Page 10