Midnight Prey

by Caroline Burnes

  Hank leaned closer. “What?”

  “Let me help you. You can’t do it alone.”

  “You want to help free the wolves?”

  She shook her head slowly. “No, I don’t want those animals freed any more now than I did last week. But I

  want you to live, and if it takes setting the wolves free, then I’ll help you.”

  At first Hank couldn’t believe what she was saying. One look at her, though, chin held high and eyes flashing, and he knew. If she had doubted him in the past, she was now risking everything for him.

  “Are you sure?” he asked softly. His hand went up to trace a corner of her mouth.

  “I’m sure.” She lifted her own hand and placed her palm against his cheek. “I may be a fool, but I’m a certain fool.”

  He kissed her palm, drawing her into his arms. “Oh, Shadoe.” He bent his head to kiss her. The tree behind his head exploded into splinters and the delayed whine of a bullet echoed on the morning air.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Shadoe felt like a rag doll as Hank threw her to the ground and then fell on top of her, covering every inch of her with his own hard body.

  “Stay down,” he ordered, as if she had any other choice.

  She could hear the nervous stomping of the horses as they fought their natural urge to flee. Her own heart drummed in her ears, making the silence that followed the gunshot strangely loud.

  After a moment, Hank eased his weight off her, but his hand held her pinned to the ground.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” she whispered.

  Hank released his grip on her with a muttered, “Sorry.”

  Pressed close together they inhaled the smell of dirt, of turpentine oozing from the big pine that had been hit by the bullet, the scent of horses excited and afraid.

  To Shadoe, the silence was terrifying. She expected another shot at any moment. The first had missed only because Hank had ducked his head to kiss her. Another second-he would’ve been dead.

  “Come on.” His grip on her elbow and his terse command got her up and moving before she could think-or refuse. Crouched down and moving fast, they darted behind several large boulders.

  “Stay here. I’m going to Winston. The rifle’s in the saddle.” His voice was a tight whisper.

  “I brought one,” she whispered back. Before he could move, she gave a low whistle. There was the sound of iron shoes on rock and Scrapiron trotted toward them, head tossing and nostrils blowing his disapproval of the entire situation. She started to stand, but Hank pushed her down.

  With two quick movements he pulled both the rifle and shotgun from her saddle and slapped the stallion on the rump to send him out of the way. Ducking back down by Shadoe, he said, “I didn’t chase that devil all over the mountains for him to take a bullet meant for you.”

  “For me?” She was caught completely by surprise. The shot had missed Hank’s head. Not her’s. She scanned the direction she thought the bullet had come from. The forest gave up no secrets.

  “Think about it, Shadoe. Someone was in your barn, setting your horse free. You were the one clotheslined in the forest. You show up here and bullets start flying.” Hank ticked off the incidents. “I’d say you were the likely target, and someone has been following you. Think back.”

  She went over her trip. It had been wet and dark. She’d been so intent on following the wolf that she’d paid scant attention to what was behind her. Treacherous footing for her horse and the need to press forward had completely filled her thoughts. Someone could have followed her. But still. “What about you?” Shadoe wasn’t willing to see herself as the target

  “Well, maybe me,” Hank conceded. “But more likely you.”

  “I’m not the one accused of murdering a federal agent,” she snapped. “That could be one of your buddies trying to settle the score.”

  “Maybe my boss, but not the agents or biologists. There are procedures…”

  “Sure, like all law officers who’ve crossed over the line follow procedure. I guess they’d say something like, ‘Come on out, Hank, so we can finish setting you up for murder. Maybe we’ll kill the woman, then you, and make it look like we had to nail you because you killed her.’ Just a little courtesy to a fellow officer so that he knows how it’s all going to come down.”

  Hank was silent. He didn’t like to admit it, but Shadoe had painted a pretty good crime scenario. If someone truly wanted to frame him for the murder of Jim Larson, the scene she had depicted would do it perfectly. He hefted the rifle and handed the shotgun to her.

  Shadoe had gotten his attention, but she wasn’t happy with the results. There was now a hunted look in his face that hadn’t been there a moment before. All he needed was one more betrayal.

  Hank shifted so that he could see around the outcropping of rock, which served as their primary protection. “Why’d you come up here?” Even as he asked the question, he was scouting the area, looking for any sign of life or movement. The wilderness was totally quiet. The smaller creatures had taken cover to hide from an enemy.

  “To warn you.” She let that sink in. “And to ask a question.”

  “I’m surprised that cowboy let you out of his sight.” Hank tried to make it sound lighthearted, but the attempt failed miserably.

  “John doesn’t have a lot of say over what I do or don’t do.” Shadoe shifted. The rock she was leaning against was hard. Her legs were weary with the strain. “Don’t you want to hear my question?”

  Hank let the silence grow. He eased his position some, leaning back against the rock. He’d kept a keen eye on the horizon as they’d talked. “I think whoever was out there is gone.” Shadoe nodded. In the distance was the sound of a fussy jay. The birds were moving again, a fair indicator that whoever had been shifting through the trees with a rifle had pulled back, or gotten very still. It was a matter of waiting now.

  “Why would they take one shot and leave?” She looked around, wondering if their assailant was that adept at blending into the woods. “We’re sitting ducks here. They could easily wait us out.”

  “Maybe they don’t have time. Maybe they need an alibi for where they are right at this moment and their available time has run out.” He shifted, then reached down and picked up her hand. His thumb made a light circular pattern across the top. “Okay, ask your question. But I reserve the right not to answer it.”

  Shadoe had composed the question a thousand times in her mind. She had to ask it straight forward. “What hap pened between you and Kathy Lemon?”

  “I told Billy.”

  Shadoe swallowed and found a lump in her throat. “I know. I heard last night.”

  Hank stroked her hand, turning it over so he could inspect the palm. “Is that what got you so upset?”

  Shadoe felt a shiver of something crawl over her hand as he held it. He was asking her that question as if she didn’t have a reason to be upset by his confession.

  “Yes,” she said. “That’s what upset me so. It’s difficult to hear that someone you care about casually confesses to slapping a woman around and then raping her, all for revenge.”

  Hank’s grip on her hand grew completely limp, then tightened. She watched his throat work and his jaw clench, and for a moment she thought he was going to explode into a rage. Strangely enough, though, his hold on her hand calmed her. His touch was firm, but not harsh, not brutal. Not threatening.

  “Tell me exactly what you know about Kathy Lemon.” The only sign of his fury was in the tenseness of his body. “How did she know to call you?”

  “She said you spoke about me. That you hurt her be cause you were angry with me.”

  “I should have asked you what she said. Exactly. Billy said something about the fact that she’d called his office.” His jaw relaxed slightly. “Now I’m beginning to see a very ugly picture.”

  “Hank, you never answered my question.” Shadoe bit her bottom lip. She felt hke crying-and she wanted to run. As fast and as hard as she could. But she wasn�
��t going to. “That’s the problem here. You never told me yes or no. One simple word.”

  “It isn’t that simple, Shadoe. I suppose it never is. I had an affair with Kathy.” Hank’s voice was deliberate, factual. “We met while I was working on a case involving the importation of exotic birds. Those poor animals were being smuggled into this country in sock tubes, at least half of them dying of suffocation. All so some jerk with five hundred dollars could pump up his low self-esteem by having an exotic creature in a cage.”

  Shadoe was surprised to hear more anger in his voice directed toward the bird importers than toward Kathy. She felt her own tense body relax slightly.

  “I had those bastards nailed dead to rights. I wanted to expand the sting, catch the U.S. distributors and the guys catching the birds. Somehow, Kathy got onto the details of our plan. She insisted that she be there for the sting.” He looked at Shadoe. “She was a very ambitious woman. It was one of the things I liked about her. She loved her work.” Shadoe nodded. This hurt more than she’d expected. Hank had actually cared for this woman.

  “I knew how dangerous it would be for her to be there. Some people don’t just hold up their hands and surrender.” He expelled a breath. “So I lied to her and gave her a false location.” His voice became hard again. “But I wasn’t the only one telling lies.”

  In the silence, Shadoe heard the horses snuffling for a bit of grass. The forest around them had settled into a peacefulness that she envied. “What did she lie about?” she prompted softly.

  “Because I knew there wasn’t going to be an arrest, or a story, I insisted that she come alone. No camera crews, no lights. Then I was going to tell her the truth. But things got very complicated.”

  Shadoe’s heart beat faster. “Tell me,” she said simply. Now she knew why she’d never insisted on the truth. Not asking was a form of running. If she didn’t wait for an answer, she could turn her back and get away without feeling too much pain. Listening to this was hurting her. She hurt for Hank, and she hurt for herself.

  “The original sting was supposed to take place right after I’d taken care of Kathy. But the plan fell apart. The guys we were after didn’t make the meeting. We had to set up another. In the meantime, Kathy showed up at the location I told her with several crews, remotes, ready to do a live of the capture of the bird dealers.” Anger had returned to his voice. “She knew if she broadcast such a story it would blow our plan apart, but she couldn’t resist. The story could have catapulted her to a major network.”

  Shadoe saw the link. “And when there was no bust, she was furious.” So that much of her story had been true.

  “Furious doesn’t begin to describe her. She was enraged, beyond rational thought. She attacked me in front of the camera crews. It was quite a scene.”

  Shadoe could picture it. Hank trying his best to duck the blows of a woman who wanted to take his head off. “Did you hit her?”

  Hank hesitated. “I put up my hand to hold her off, and she ran into it. She wasn’t hurt, but she played it to the hilt.”

  “And the rape?”

  “A complete fabrication. Her own camera crew will testify to that. In fact, if there had been the tiniest chance that I’d deliberately struck her, don’t you think she would have pressed charges?”

  Shadoe ignored that question. She needed more time to think about it before she answered. “And the birds?”

  “Someone tipped the distributors. After eight months of work the entire case fell apart. I’m sure they’re still doing their dirty business as we speak.”

  Shadoe felt the pressure of his fingers increase slightly on her hand that he still held, but she couldn’t look at him. Not yet. She had to have a few moments to think through everything he’d told her. There were questions she had to ask, she just wasn’t sure what they were.

  “Shadoe?” His voice held his own question.

  “Why did you tell Billy that what she said was true?”

  Hank saw the hurt and confusion on her face, but the anger was not there. Neither was the fear that he’d seen earlier. “Because what Billy asked me was basically true. He said that she’d accused me of making her lose her job. That I’d lied to her about a story. That was true, as far as it went.”

  Shadoe’s head came up and her dark eyes fastened their gaze onto his. “Billy didn’t ask you about the rape or the assault?”

  Hank shook his head, brushing back a strand of her dark silky hair that teased the corner of her mouth. His finger lightly caressed her skin. “Billy never said anything about that at all. Kathy pressed charges on the assault, but it never even went to trial.” Hank’s voice hardened. “But it did go in my record. The complaint. Even though I was innocent.”

  Shadoe felt the pressure of her teeth on her bottom lip as she tried to concentrate. Hank’s revelations left a lot of rough edges, and she wasn’t sure what that meant.

  “How did that woman know about me, Hank? How did she know to call me and tell me a passel of lies?”

  Hank’s face softened into a grin. “I had a picture of you in my bedroom. She asked who you were. Something in the tone of my voice set her off. She was very angry. It took me a while to figure out she was jealous, and by then she’d pumped me for quite a bit of information about you.” Hank shrugged. “I didn’t see any real harm, at the time.”

  “Did you.did you care for her a lot?”

  “I thought I did.” Hank moved her hand so that he held it between both of his own. “I liked her at first. She was energetic, determined, hard driving. She knew where she was going, and I did like that. But I didn’t really know her, Shadoe. She had so many qualities that reminded me of you, I guess I deluded myself into thinking she was everything like you. But she wasn’t.”

  “What are we going to do?” That was the most important question. They were camped on a small plateau in the middle of a national wilderness. Everyone in the area was hunting for Hank, thinking he was a cold-blooded killer. There was a wolf loose, and someone had tried to kill them. But Shadoe felt a rising tide of joy in her heart.

  “We are going to get out of here. Then you are going home, and I’m going to finish what I came up here to do.”

  “Not without me.” Her jaw was locked as stubbornly as Hank’s ever dared to be.

  “Now you stay put while I scout around.”

  “I’m as good a scout as you are.” Shadoe started to rise, but Hank’s hand held her in place.

  His face was set, but there was laughter in his eyes. “We’re going to have the rest of our lives to argue, but this one time, please, just do as I say.”

  “Hank.”

  “Trust me,” he said, kneeling down so they were eye to eye.

  Shadoe leaned back against the rock. This was a challenge, a test not of her obedience, but of her heart. She nodded slowly. “I trust you, Hank.”

  He leaned toward her and kissed her lips softly, surprised once again by the full softness of them, by the heat of her mouth and her hands as they moved instinctively to caress his face and hair.

  He eased away from her. “I want to check out the area, just to be sure we’re alone.”

  “And then.”

  “We’ll talk about a plan.” He looked at her, heat in his eyes, but also determination. “Shadoe, why didn’t Billy ask me about that rape? That’s the one thing that troubles me.”

  “I don’t know,” she answered. It bothered her, too. “When he went up to talk to you and you wouldn’t answer his question, he was upset, but not overly upset. No wonder.”

  “Are you sure you told Billy about it? Or did Kathy say she did?”

  Shadoe thought back. “Actually, Jill told him. Maybe she didn’t put that part in, knowing how close you and Billy used to be.”

  Hank stood up, nodding. “Maybe. Now stay put. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes.”

  He was gone almost before she could blink, slipping through the woods soundlessly. Shadoe picked up the rifle he’d left her and started to take a positio
n. But he had asked her to trust him. Reluctantly she slid back to a seated position, braced against the rock, and counted the seconds until he returned.

  Hank reappeared as silently as he’d left. “Whoever it was is gone,” he said, his face touched with a new kind of worry.

  “What did you find?” Shadoe knew he’d found something, something that distressed him.

  “Hoofprints.”

  “That isn’t unexpected.” She didn’t follow. “It makes sense they were on horseback.”

  “That big gelding you brought for me. Ray?”

  Shadoe nodded.

  “I noticed he had a chip in his shoe. The prints back there had the same mark.” He looked at her. “Whoever was shooting at us was riding your horse.”

  Shadoe started to protest, but Hank had learned to track from her father. He wouldn’t jump to a conclusion. She had to believe him.

  “Who could take one of your horses without stirring suspicions?” Hank asked.

  “Curly. He comes over from Jill’s to feed. Or Billy.” She thought harder. “Hoss, if he had a reason. Just about any of the ranchers.”

  “That includes John Carpenter. He’s done it before.”

  Shadoe looked up. “John wouldn’t shoot either of us.”

  “Unless he had a good reason.” Hank’s voice was cynical.

  “Hank!”

  “Who else?” He ignored her censure.

  She shook her head. “That’s it.”

  “Shadoe, other than the wolves, has anything else been going on around Lakota County?”

  “Like what?”

  “Land prices going up or down. Development interests. Someone has something to gain here, and I’m not so certain the wolves are the central issue at all.”

  Realization struck Shadoe. “Kathy Lemon! She lied to me about you, showed up here all of a sudden, and then asked me about ranches being put on the market for rockbottom prices. Said she was interested.”

  Hank’s fists curled. “How could I not have seen this!” He put his fist to his forehead. “That’s it! The threat of the wolves is used to drive the land prices down. The ranchers panic and sell out. An anonymous concern buys the land and…in a year this place is a subdivision and someone has made a killing.”