OUTLAW LAWMAN

by Delores Fossen

  “Thanks for coming,” Harlan greeted Curtis.

  He gave an uneasy nod, barely sparing Harlan a glance before his gaze settled on Caitlyn. “I need to hear you say you didn’t have anything to do with Sherry’s disappearance.”

  “I didn’t,” she answered without hesitation. “And we didn’t send her any threatening emails to warn her to shut up.”

  “The authorities think otherwise,” Curtis reminded her.

  “It doesn’t mean it happened. Someone drugged and kidnapped Harlan and me, and we think the person got our prints on those notes when we were out cold.”

  Curtis kept staring at her. There were dark circles under his eyes—which were bloodshot. He looked like a man in need of sleep. “Then who’s doing this?” he pressed.

  “We don’t know. But the person tried to kill us.”

  “Did he kill Sherry, too?” His voice cracked.

  Now it was Harlan’s turn to say, “We don’t know.”

  Curtis made an unmanly-sounding moan. “I’m in love with her. And no, she didn’t feel the same way about me, but I couldn’t turn it off. The heart wants what it wants, you know?”

  Harlan glanced at Caitlyn at the same moment she glanced at him. He frowned. She lifted her shoulder. The heart wasn’t in on his attraction—well, hopefully not anyway—but Harlan could substitute heart for body, and it would describe the feeling he was trying to fight.

  “I’m doing everything to find Sherry,” Curtis went on. “But the cops have no leads. It’s like she just vanished.”

  Harlan wanted to give the man some hope, but he didn’t intend to lie. “I think everything that’s happening is linked to this place and Jonah Webb’s murder. Did Sherry ever say she’d seen anything the night Webb disappeared?”

  Curtis started shaking his head but stopped, paused. “She let something slip about four months ago, on the day that Webb’s remains were discovered.”

  A day that Harlan remembered well. A crew working on the power lines had found what was left of Webb’s body in a shallow grave about a mile from the Rocky Creek facility. Harlan had always figured the man was dead, but it hadn’t been confirmed until that day.

  “Sherry seemed worried,” Curtis went on, “and when I asked why, she said she might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time that night.”

  Harlan and Caitlyn exchanged another puzzled glance. “I called Sherry just days after that, and she didn’t mention anything to me. Any idea what she meant?” Caitlyn asked.

  “No. But I can tell you that she was scared.” His gaze went to Harlan. “Of you and your family. But others, too. She said she didn’t think she could trust anyone from Rocky Creek.”

  Judging from the slight sound Caitlyn made, that was news to her. To Harlan, too. And he was reasonably sure that Sherry hadn’t said anything to the Rangers investigating the case. Certainly not to Joelle either when she’d been interviewing possible witnesses and suspects.

  “Once when Sherry was on the phone, I heard her talking about Rocky Creek,” Curtis continued. “She was scribbling down something, and later when I looked, I saw it was five names.” He reached into his pocket, extracted a piece of paper. “I kept it.”

  Harlan took the paper that Curtis thrust at him, and Caitlyn moved closer. The names had indeed been scrawled along with some doodles, but they were still legible: Tiffany Brock, Caitlyn Barnes, Kirby Granger and Harlan McKinney. There was one other name on the list.

  Billy Webb.

  “I looked him up on the internet,” Curtis said, “and I know it was his father who was murdered. I also found out he attempted suicide. I think Sherry was actually talking to him when she wrote down those names.”

  “What makes you say that?” Caitlyn asked.

  “Just a gut feel.” He shook his head. “I know you want more. I want more, too, because we need information to find Sherry. What if this crazy man is holding her captive somewhere?” Curtis grimaced. “What if he’s torturing her?”

  Harlan’s stomach twisted, but that wasn’t the worst-case scenario. No. The torturing could already be over, and Sherry could be dead.

  Harlan’s phone buzzed. Slade again. “Devin Mathis made it into town,” his brother informed him. “Should I tell him where we are and have him drive out here?”

  Curtis glanced behind him at the end of the road where the sleek car had come to a stop. “You have other people to see. I’ll be going.”

  “You can go ahead and tell him to come out,” Harlan said to his brother, and he purposely didn’t mention Devin’s name.

  On the surface there didn’t seem to be a direct connection between Devin and Curtis, and Harlan wanted to keep it that way. He didn’t want the two teaming up to try to find the culprit for their loved ones’ ill fates. Especially since they’d probably team up against Caitlyn and him.

  Curtis looked at the note. “Could I please have that back? I want to keep it.”

  Harlan returned it and started to insist that the man give it to the authorities. That would be the legal thing to do, but it would be yet even more dirt against Caitlyn, Kirby and him. And besides, it might not even be important. Maybe Sherry was just jotting down names from her past.

  Or setting them up.

  “What?” Caitlyn whispered to him.

  But Harlan didn’t answer until Curtis had walked away and was out of earshot. “Curtis didn’t mention one possibility—what if Sherry’s alive and behind all of this?”

  Caitlyn looked ready to dismiss that, but she didn’t. “Maybe she helped Sarah kill Webb, and now she’s trying to eliminate anyone who could prove it.”

  It was a stretch, and it only complicated things to add another suspect, but Harlan wanted to consider all the angles. Farris could be doing this to get his version of revenge against Caitlyn. Or Farris could be Billy’s pawn.

  And then there was Curtis.

  He could have killed Sherry simply because she’d rejected him or because of a disagreement with their business—especially since Sherry was technically his boss since she owned the majority of their company. Of course, that didn’t make all the other pieces fit, but that only meant Harlan had to look harder in case that connection was there.

  His phone buzzed, and Harlan answered it, figuring it was Slade, who’d tell them that Devin would be arriving soon.

  “Harlan?” With just that one word, he could hear the trouble in his brother’s voice. “I’m coming your way. We need to get the heck out of here fast.”

  “Why? What happened?” Harlan didn’t wait. He took Caitlyn by the arm and got them out the door, running toward Slade’s truck barreling up the road toward them.

  “Someone alerted the Rangers that you’re here. Don’t know who, but I just got a call from a friend who’s also a dispatcher.”

  Even though the call wasn’t on speaker, Caitlyn must have heard anyway because she cursed. Slade braked to a stop in front of them, and he and Caitlyn jumped inside. Slade didn’t wait even a second before he sped away.

  “Who made the call?” Caitlyn fumbled with her seat belt and finally got it on.

  “Don’t know, but you gotta figure it was Curtis,” Slade answered. “The call was made just seconds after he walked out of the meeting.”

  Hell, Harlan should have seen this one coming, but he’d figured that Curtis just wanted answers, too.

  But maybe not.

  “Curtis might have set us up,” Harlan speculated. But he had to rethink that. If Curtis had simply wanted them arrested, he could have made the call before the meeting. In fact, he could have made it the moment he knew their location.

  “Maybe Curtis wanted to find out what we knew.” Caitlyn tossed out the words. “So he could either find Sherry or try to cover his tracks.”

  It was downright spooky how often they seeme
d to be on the same wavelength.

  “So if Curtis is behind the attacks, then how does Tiffany’s accident fit into all of this?” Slade asked.

  “Maybe it doesn’t fit, but Curtis could have used it,” Harlan said and Caitlyn murmured an agreement. “Curtis would have known about the accident, and manufactured the threats and such to make it seem as if the two are connected.”

  In his experience people were often willing to do any- and everything to cover their tracks when a death was involved. But Harlan didn’t want to start pointing the finger at Curtis simply because he’d called the authorities on them. And besides, maybe he hadn’t.

  Maybe it was Devin.

  Before Harlan could even voice that, Slade’s phone buzzed again. “Devin Mathis,” he announced, and handed the phone to Harlan. Probably because Slade was practically flying down the country road.

  “Marshal McKinney,” Harlan answered, and he put it on speaker so Slade and Caitlyn could hear. “We’re going to have to reschedule our meeting—”

  “Maybe not,” Devin answered. “In fact, I don’t think we can reschedule. I’m still in town at the hotel and was on my way out the door for our meeting when I got a visitor.”

  Probably the Texas Rangers. It wouldn’t be that much of a stretch for them to put a tail on Devin on the off chance that he could lead them to Caitlyn and him.

  “He says it’s important,” Devin went on, “that he needs to talk to you right away. And he doesn’t want to go out to Rocky Creek to do it.”

  Surprise went through Caitlyn’s eyes. “Is the guy’s name Ranger Griffin Morris?”

  “No,” Devin immediately answered. “This guy’s not a lawman. Says his name is Billy Webb.”

  Of all the names Harlan had expected Devin to say, that wasn’t one of them. Half the state seemed to be looking for Billy, and here he’d shown up on Devin’s doorstep.

  “Why is he there, and what does he want?” Harlan asked.

  “He won’t tell me, but he says if you get here within thirty minutes, he can tell you everything he knows about what happened to his father.”

  Chapter Ten

  Caitlyn braced herself for Harlan to nix this meeting with Devin and Billy. He was operating on adrenaline now, making nonstop calls to set everything up. He clearly had a need to get whatever information Billy might have, but she figured any second Harlan would remember that she was in the truck with them and that it might not be safe for her to go face-to-face with Billy. And then Harlan would backtrack.

  She hoped he didn’t.

  Because she was as anxious as Harlan and Slade to figure out what was going on. Maybe the info that Billy wanted to share with them wouldn’t come with a huge price tag.

  Harlan finished his latest call to Dallas, made a sweeping glance on both sides of the road leading into Rocky Creek. No one was following them, but the town was just ahead. Rocky Creek wasn’t a big town, but there’d be people and traffic, both of which would make this trip hard on the nerves. Still, it had to be done.

  “Dallas is on the way,” he relayed to them. “I’ll call the sheriff if things don’t look right at the hotel.”

  “If you call him, he’ll have to arrest us.” The reminder wasn’t necessary, but she said it anyway. Caitlyn didn’t want to end up behind bars—that would put an end to this meeting in the worst way possible.

  Well, one of the worst.

  If Billy was a killer, then an arrest might be the least of their worries.

  “Why the hell would Billy go to Devin?” Slade asked. He took the turn onto Main Street and drove toward the town center.

  Caitlyn had already asked herself that question. Harlan, no doubt, too. “It only makes sense if he’s connected to Tiffany or her car accident.”

  Harlan looked at her then, and she saw the trouble brewing in his eyes. “You’ll wait in the truck with Slade. I’ll go in and talk to Devin and Billy.” And it wasn’t exactly a suggestion.

  “Billy might say things to me that he won’t tell you,” she fired back.

  “Then those are things I won’t get to hear, because you’re not going anywhere near him.”

  So, this was the nixing that she’d braced herself for. Caitlyn tried to figure out a way around it—she really wanted to confront Billy face-to-face. But Harlan wasn’t going to budge, and considering that Slade’s expression was even steelier than usual, he was backing up Harlan on this.

  “At least use your cell to call Slade, and then keep the phone on so I can listen that way.”

  If Harlan heard her suggestion, he didn’t acknowledge it. He had his attention nailed to the hotel. During her days at the orphanage, the building had once been a private residence, but now it had been converted into a cozy bed-and-breakfast called the Bluebonnet Inn.

  Slade came to a stop, not directly in front of the place but yards away. No sign of either Devin or Billy, but there were other vehicles parked on the street and two in the small heavily treed area on the far side of the inn. There was also a trickle of traffic in front of and behind them.

  Too many places for someone to hide and wait to attack.

  “Get down on the seat,” Harlan warned her, and he eased his hand over his Glock before he opened the door.

  “Be careful,” she warned him right back.

  But Harlan barely made it a step when the front door to the inn flew open, and Caitlyn saw a man run onto the porch. Not Billy, but Devin. She’d never actually met the man, but she’d seen plenty of photos, and he lived up to his rich preppy image in his khakis and white shirt. However, his expression wasn’t preppy or rich but rather that of a concerned man.

  “Billy left out back.” Devin’s voice wasn’t a shout exactly, but it was close, and he pointed in the direction of the two vehicles beneath the sprawling oaks in the inn’s parking lot. “That’s his car.”

  Not exactly the economy vehicle she’d expected, but rather a Mercedes. Maybe Billy had come up in the world.

  With his gun drawn, Slade stepped from the truck. “I’ll go after him,” he said to Harlan. “You wait here with Caitlyn.”

  Slade jumped the picket fence and hurried across the perfectly manicured lawn toward the cars, but Devin didn’t follow him. He came down the steps and made a beeline for Harlan and her.

  “Why did Billy leave?” Harlan asked. His tone wasn’t friendly, and he, too, had his gun drawn.

  Devin shook his head. His breath was gusting, and his forehead was bunched up. “He got a call, and it must have spooked him or something. He didn’t even say anything. He just started running.”

  Maybe a phone call from the person he was working with—or trying to set Billy up. Maybe even Farris.

  Harlan volleyed his attention between Devin and Slade, all the while maneuvering himself so that he was in front of her. Protecting her. Caitlyn wasn’t much of a damsel in distress, and she especially didn’t like it when Harlan put himself in even more danger for her. She opened the glove compartment and found exactly what she expected to find there.

  Slade’s backup weapon.

  She took it and got out, but she didn’t move into the open. She might not be a damsel in distress, but she wasn’t stupid either.

  Harlan shot her a get back in glare, but she ignored it. “What did Billy plan to tell us?” she asked Devin.

  She figured Devin would just shake his head, but he didn’t. “He said he was being set up,” Devin answered without taking his attention off the parking lot where Slade had now disappeared from sight. “He said someone planted his fingerprints on the threatening note left for you.”

  Caitlyn knew what that felt like, since someone had done the same to Harlan and her, but that didn’t make Billy innocent. “How’d the person get his prints so he could do that?”

  “He told me it could have even b
een something he actually touched. He remembers a waiter at a restaurant handing him a menu that had a piece of paper on the back of it to cover up some dishes that the waiter claimed were no longer available.”

  “Someone posed as a waiter to get his fingerprints?” Harlan didn’t sound any more convinced than she was.

  Devin nodded. “Billy said he took the menu, but after the waiter took his order, he didn’t come back. He figured it was just lousy service and left, but now he’s not so sure. He thinks it was a setup.”

  “Who did he say set him up?” Harlan asked.

  Now Devin’s gaze shifted to them. “You two. He thinks one of you helped his mother kill his father and now you’re trying to cover your tracks.”

  Harlan mumbled the exact profanity that Caitlyn was thinking. “We’re not the ones doing the setting up. We’re on the receiving end of a scheme to make us look guilty as sin. We’re not.”

  “Well, someone’s behind this,” Devin insisted. “And that someone likely murdered Tiffany.”

  Devin made it clear with his glare that he thought that the someone was Harlan and/or her. And Harlan made it clear with his glare that he was tired of being accused of something they hadn’t done.

  “I understand Tiffany and you didn’t have an ideal engagement?” Harlan tossed out the words.

  That put some starch in Devin’s posture. “Are you accusing me of something?”

  “Just asking a simple question. Generally I like simple answers to them.”

  “No, what you’re looking for is a scapegoat.” Devin stabbed his index finger toward Harlan’s chest. “If you tie me to Tiffany’s accident, then you can try and tie me to everything else that’s happening. But I have no motive.”

  “Sure you do,” Caitlyn challenged. “Tiffany was about to break off the engagement. It would have humiliated you in front of your friends and family.” That was a stretch of the truth, but judging from the way Devin’s eyes narrowed, it hit a nerve.

  His breath was gusting even harder now, and it took Devin a moment to speak. “Let’s just say for the sake of argument that I did it. How the hell could that possibly connect to Billy Webb or the disappearance of this other woman?”