A Threat To His Family
The apology was no doubt because his father had been murdered, too, about a year ago, not long after Owen had lost his wife. His father had been gunned down by an unknown perp who was still out there. Owen had hope, though, that the case would be solved since they had an eyewitness. Too bad the witness had received a head injury and couldn’t remember squat about what had happened. But maybe one day she would remember.
One day.
Even though it had nearly killed Owen to lose Naomi, it was a deeper cut to lose his father. Naomi’s death had been a medical problem. A blood clot that had formed during delivery. But his dad’s life had been purposely taken. Murdered. And all of Owen’s skills learned in training as a cop hadn’t been able to stop it. Or bring the killer to justice.
Owen pushed that all aside, as he usually did when it came to his father, and went to the next item he needed to discuss with Laney.
“Tell me about Terrance McCoy.”
She raked her finger over her eyebrow and shifted her posture a little. “SAPD told you about the restraining order.” That was all she said for several moments. But yes, they had. “Then you also know that Terrance was a former client who wasn’t happy with the outcome of an investigation I did for him.”
That was a lukewarm explanation of a situation that had gotten pretty intense. Apparently, Terrance had hired Laney to do a thorough background check on a woman he’d met on an online dating site. When Laney hadn’t turned up any red flags, Terrance had continued to see the woman, who ultimately swindled him out of a sizable chunk of his trust fund. He blamed Laney for that and had even accused her of being in cahoots with the swindler. No proof of that, though.
“Terrance assaulted you,” Owen reminded her, letting her know what info he’d been given about the restraining order. “And he’s been out of jail for weeks now. He could have hired those men who came after you tonight.”
She looked him in the eyes again when she agreed with him. “Yes, and Joe is looking for Terrance now.”
Apparently that had come up in the short conversation she’d had with Joe. Or maybe Joe agreed that Terrance was definitely a person of interest here.
“The San Antonio cops are looking for Terrance, too,” Owen added.
After what had just happened, Terrance was at the top of their list of suspects. Ditto for anyone else Laney might have rubbed the wrong way. There were maybe other former clients out there. Dangerous ones. And because of the danger to Laney, Owen wasn’t going to forget that Addie had been put in danger, too.
“I hate to ask, because I know it’s just going to rile you even more than you already are,” Laney said, “but could this be about your father?”
Yes, he’d considered it. Briefly. And then he’d dismissed it, and Owen was pretty sure the dismissal had been objective. Hard to be completely objective when it came to that kind of raw grief, but he thought he’d managed it.
“I’ll be investigating all angles,” Owen assured her. But he’d be looking especially hard at any of those directly connected to Laney.
Laney and Owen both glanced up when there was movement in the doorway of his office. She practically jumped to her feet when she saw their visitor.
Emerson.
The man was wearing a rumpled suit, sporting some dark stubble and equally dark circles beneath his eyes. Emerson looked about as happy to be there as Owen was.
It probably wasn’t a surprise to Laney that Owen had called his brother-in-law. Nor was it a surprise that Emerson had come. It’d taken him a couple of hours to get there because he’d had to drive in from Austin where he’d been away on a business trip.
Emerson frowned at Laney after sparing her only a glance, and then he looked at Owen. “Please tell me you have her accusations cleared up by now so I can go home and get some sleep.”
“He hasn’t cleared it up.” Laney jumped in to answer before Owen could respond.
Emerson gave a weary sigh and rubbed his hand over his face. “Has she given you any proof whatsoever?” he asked.
Owen went still. It was a simple enough question, but it didn’t feel like the right thing to say. He would have preferred to hear Emerson belt out a denial, tacking on some outrage that anyone was accusing him of cheating on his wife. There was something else that bothered him, too.
“You know Laney?” Owen asked him. “Elaine,” he corrected. He waited because he had already seen the recognition in Emerson’s eyes.
“I know her,” Emerson stormed. “She’s the PI who pestered me with calls about her sister. I told her to back off or I’d get a restraining order.”
Arching his eyebrow, Owen shifted his attention to Laney and she acknowledged that with a nod. So, before tonight, Emerson had known about Laney’s accusations, but he hadn’t said a word about it to Owen. Something he should have done. Then again, maybe Emerson hadn’t considered Laney enough of a credible threat.
“Emerson?” a woman called out, causing the man to groan.
Owen wasn’t pleased, either, or especially surprised when Emerson’s wife, Nettie, came hurrying through the front door, heading straight for them. “When you didn’t answer your cell, I called the house, looking for you,” Owen explained to Emerson. “Nettie answered, but I didn’t tell her about Laney or the attack.”
Emerson nodded and gave a resigned sigh. “Something like this won’t stay quiet for long.”
No. It wouldn’t. And Nettie’s expression was sporting a lot of concern. Ditto for the rest of her. Nettie was usually dressed to the nines, but tonight she was in yoga pants and a T-shirt. Her blond hair hadn’t been combed and her eyes were red, as if she’d been crying.
“God, you’re all right.” Nettie threw herself into Emerson’s arms. “I was so worried.”
Owen glanced at Laney, and as expected, she was studying the couple. There was a different kind of worry and concern on her face. She was looking at them the way a cop would. No doubt to see if there were any signs that this was a marriage on the rocks because of a cheating husband. No signs, though. Emerson brushed a loving kiss on Nettie’s forehead before he eased her away from him.
“Could you give Owen and me a minute alone?” Emerson asked his wife. “I won’t be long. It’s business.”
Nettie studied him a moment and nodded before her attention went to Owen. Then Laney. There was no recognition in Nettie’s icy gray eyes.
“I’ll wait by the reception desk,” Nettie said. She whispered something to Emerson, kissed him and then walked out of the office.
Emerson didn’t do or say anything until his wife was out of earshot and then he tipped his head to Laney. “Anything she tells you about me is a lie, and I’ve wasted enough of my time dealing with her. Are you okay?” Emerson added to Owen. “Is Addie okay?”
Again, that bothered Owen. As Addie’s uncle, it should have been the first thing for Emerson to ask. Of course, Owen had verified the okay status when he’d had a quick chat with Emerson earlier, so maybe Emerson thought that was enough.
But it wasn’t. At least it didn’t feel like it was.
Owen silently cursed. He hated that Laney had given him any doubts about Emerson. Especially since there was no proof.
“Addie’s fine,” Owen answered. “Francine said she would text me if Addie has any nightmares or such.” Owen cursed that, too, but this time it wasn’t silent. Because there could indeed be nightmares.
“I’ll check on her first thing in the morning,” Emerson volunteered. “Anything else you need or want me to do?”
Owen muttered his thanks and then nodded. “You’ll have to make a statement about Laney’s accusations.”
Emerson gave another of those weary sighs. “I’ll come by in the morning to do that, too.”
Owen was about to ask him to go ahead and do it now. That way, Laney couldn’t say that he’d given Emerson preferential treatment. Of course, she’d likely say that anyway. However, he didn’t even get a chance to bring it up because Kellan appeared in the doorway. One look at his brother’s face and Owen knew that something else was wrong.
“I just got off the phone with San Antonio PD,” Kellan said, looking not at Emerson or Owen but at Laney. “They found your assistant, Joe Henshaw.” Kellan paused. “He’s dead.”
Chapter Four
The shock felt to Laney like arctic ice covering her body. She blinked repeatedly—hoping she had misunderstood Kellan, that this was some kind of cop trick to unnerve her. But she knew from the look in his eyes that it was the truth.
“Oh, God.” That was all she managed to say. There wasn’t enough breath for her to add more, but the questions came immediately and started fighting their way through the veil of grief.
“How?” she mouthed.
Kellan’s forehead bunched up, but he spoke the words fast. “He was murdered. Two gunshot wounds to the chest. That’s all we know at this point because the ME has just started his examination.”
Murdered. Joe had been murdered. The grief came, washing over her and going bone-deep.
“Joe’s apartment had been ransacked,” Kellan added a moment later. “Someone was obviously looking for something.”
“Terrance,” Laney rasped, though first, she had to swallow hard. “Joe was looking for him, and Terrance could have done this.”
Since neither Owen or Kellan seemed surprised by that, she guessed they’d already come to the same conclusion. Good. If that snake was responsible, she wanted him to pay. But then if Terrance had killed Joe, he’d done it to get back at her.
She was responsible.
This time she wasn’t able to choke back the sob and Laney clamped onto her bottom lip to make sure there wasn’t another one. Sobs and tears wouldn’t help now. Not when she needed answers. Later, when Owen and Kellan weren’t around, she could fall apart.
“The San Antonio cops found him in his apartment,” Kellan went on. “It appears someone broke in and killed him when he stepped from the shower. No defensive wounds, so it happened fast.”
That last part was probably meant to comfort her. To let her know that Joe hadn’t suffered. But in that instant, he would have seen his attacker and known he was about to die.
And all because of her.
Joe had not only been looking for Terrance, he’d also been looking for the safe-deposit box with those pictures. Someone had killed him because he’d been following her orders.
Laney groped around behind her to locate the chair because she was afraid her legs were about to give way. Owen helped with that by taking hold of her arm to help her sit. He was studying her, maybe to gauge her reaction. That was when she glanced at Emerson, who was doing the same thing.
“I suppose you’ll say I had something to do with this, too?” Emerson snapped, his words ripe with anger.
Laney didn’t have a comeback. Couldn’t even manage a glare for taking a swipe at her when she’d been dealt such a hard blow. But then the swipe only confirmed for her exactly what kind of person Emerson was. Not the sterling, upstanding DA of Longview Ridge. A man who was capable of striking out like that could be capable of doing other things, too. Like cheating on his wife. Of course, it was a huge leap to go from that to murder, but Laney wasn’t taking him off her very short suspect list.
“Emerson,” Owen said, no anger in his voice, though there seemed to be a low warning, “come back tomorrow and I’ll take your statement.”
Owen got a slight jab, too, when Emerson flicked him an annoyed glance. However, the man finally turned and walked out. Kellan looked at Emerson. Then at Owen. Finally at her.
She had no idea what Kellan was thinking, but something passed between him and Owen. One of those unspoken conversations that siblings could have. Or rather, she supposed that was what it was. She’d never quite managed to have a relationship like that with Hadley.
“SAPD will want to talk to Laney tomorrow,” Kellan said to Owen. He checked his watch. “But it’s late. Why don’t you go ahead and take Laney to the ranch so you two can try to get some rest?”
Laney practically jumped to her feet. “No. I can’t go there. It could put Addie in danger.”
“We’re taking precautions,” Kellan assured her. “And I didn’t say to take you to Owen’s but rather the ranch. You can’t go back to Owen’s place because the CSIs are there processing the scene, but our grandparents’ house is in the center of the property. No one lives there on a regular basis, so it’s been kept up for company, seasonal ranch hands and such. Plus, it has a good security system. Addie, Francine, Gunnar and Jack are headed there now.”
Jack was Kellan and Owen’s brother. And he was also a marshal. Another lawman. But that didn’t mean Laney could trust him.
“What about your fiancée?” she asked Kellan. Laney knew her name was Gemma, and she’d met her several times. “She shouldn’t be alone at your place.”
“She won’t be. She’ll be going to my grandparents’ house, too. Eli’s taking her there.”
Eli was yet another brother and a Texas Ranger. So, she would be surrounded by Slater lawmen. Not exactly a comforting thought, but it could be worse. As Addie’s uncles, they’d do whatever it took to protect the baby.
“I’ll have two reserve deputies drive Owen and you, and once Eli and Jack are in place at the ranch, I can have them come back here to help with the investigation,” Kellan told them. “With Owen at our grandparents’ house, Addie won’t have to be away from her dad.”
Until he’d added that last part, Laney had been ready to outright refuse. She hadn’t wanted to do anything to put the child in more danger, or to separate father from child. Still, this was dangerous.
“There’s a gunman at large,” she reminded him. “If he comes after me again, I shouldn’t be anywhere near Addie, Gemma or Francine.”
Owen stared at her a moment. “Whoever sent that gunman could try to use Addie to get to you. They would have seen the way you reacted, the way you tried to protect her. They would know she’s your weak spot.”
Addie was indeed that. It had crushed Laney to think of the baby being hurt.
Owen dragged in a weary breath before he continued, “It’ll be easier to protect you both at the same time, and it’ll tie up fewer resources for Kellan. He needs all the help he can get here in the office to work the investigation and try to get a confession out of Rohan Gilley.”
She mentally went through what he was saying and hated that it made sense. Hated even more that she didn’t have a reasonable counterargument. She was exhausted, and it felt as if someone had clamped a fist around her heart. Still, Laney didn’t want to do anything else to hurt Owen’s precious little girl.
“I’m a PI,” Laney reminded Owen. Reminded herself, too. “I can arrange for my own security. I’ll be okay.”
She saw the anger flash in Owen’s eyes, which were the color of a fierce storm cloud. “I don’t need to remind you that your assistant is dead. Or that you’re in danger. So I’d rather you not add to this miserable night by lying to yourself. Or to me—again. When it comes to me, you’ve already met your quota of lies.”
This was more than a swipe like the one Emerson had given her. Much more. Not just because it was true but especially because it was coming from Owen. It drained what little fight she had left in her and that was why Laney didn’t argue any more when Owen gathered up his things and led her out the front door to a waiting cruiser.
Obviously, Kellan and Owen had been certain they could talk her into this. Which they had.
“This is Manuel Garcia and Amos Turner, the reserve deputies,” Owen said when he hurried Laney into the back seat with him. The deputies were in the front.
Laney recognized both of them. That was because whenever she was in town or dealing with the other ranchers, she’d kept her eyes and ears open. For all the good it’d done. Owen’s ranch had been attacked, Joe was dead and she was no closer to the truth than she had been when she’d lied her way into getting a job with Owen.
It would have been so easy to slip right into the grief, fear and regret. The trifecta of raw emotions was like a perfect storm closing in on her. But giving in to it would only lead to tears and a pity party, neither of which would help.
“I’m sorry,” she said to Owen. That might not help, either, but she had to start somewhere. “Believe me when I say I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
The interior of the cruiser was dimly lit, yet she could clearly see Owen’s eyes when he looked at her. Still storm gray. It was a different kind of intensity than what was usually there. When he’d looked at her before—before he’d known who she was and the lies she’d told him—there’d been...well, heat. Though he might not admit it, she’d certainly seen it.
And felt it.
Laney had dismissed it. Or rather she had just accepted it. After all, Owen was from the superior Slater gene pool, and the DNA had given him a face that hadn’t skimped on the good looks. The thick black hair, those piercing eyes, that mouth that looked capable of doing many pleasurable things.
She dismissed those looks again now and silently cursed herself for allowing them to even play into this. She had no right to see him as anything but a former boss who had zero trust in her. Maybe if she mentally repeated that enough, her body would start to accept it.
“Believe me when I say I’m sorry,” she repeated in a whisper, forcing her attention away from him and to the window.
Some long moments crawled by before he said anything. “You were close to your assistant, Joe Henshaw?”
The question threw her. Of course, she hadn’t forgotten about Joe, but she’d figured that learning more about the man hadn’t been on the top of Owen’s to-do list. Plus, he hadn’t even mentioned whether or not he would start to accept her apology.
“We were close enough, I suppose,” she answered. “He worked for me about a year, and I trusted him to do the jobs I assigned him to do.”
“Did he ever come to my ranch?” Owen fired back as soon as she’d answered.
Oh, she got it then. Laney knew the reason he’d brought up the subject. He wanted to measure the depth of her lies. “No. I only had phone contact with Joe when I worked for you. I didn’t bring anyone to the ranch,” she added.
From his reflection in the mirror, she could see that he was staring at her as if waiting for her to say more. Exactly what, she didn’t know. When she turned back to him, Laney still didn’t have a clue.
“I just want to know who and what I’m dealing with,” Owen clarified. “Joe was your lover?”
“No.” She couldn’t say that fast enough and shook her head, not able to connect the dots on this one. “He worked for me, period.”
Now it was Owen who looked away. “Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t dealing with something more personal here.”
“You mean like a lover’s spat gone wrong,” she muttered. The fact he had even considered that twisted away at her almost as much as the regret over lying to him.
“No. Like Terrance McCoy killing your assistant as a way of getting back at you.”
Everything inside Laney stilled. Only for a moment, though. Before the chill came again. Mercy. She hadn’t even considered that. But she should have. She was so tied up in knots over Emerson having killed Hadley that she hadn’t looked at this through a cop’s eyes. Something she’d always prided herself on being able to do. She’d never quite managed it with Hadley, though.
“Hadley’s my blind spot.” Laney groaned softly and pushed her hair away from her face.
She steeled herself to have Owen jump down her throat about that, to give her a lecture about loss of objectivity and such. But he didn’t say anything. Laney waited, staring at him. Or rather, staring at the back of his head because his attention was on the window.
“Addie’s my blind spot,” he said several long moments later. “I didn’t want her in the middle of whatever this hell this is, but she’s there.”
Laney had to speak around the lump in her throat. “Because of me.”
“No. Because of whoever hired those men to come to my house and go after you.” He paused, turning so they were facing each other. Their gazes met. Held. “Don’t ever lie to me again.”
Not trusting her voice, Laney nodded and felt something settle between them. A truce. Not a complete one, but it was a start. If she was going to get to the bottom of what was going on, she needed Owen’s help and, until a few seconds ago, she hadn’t been sure she would get it.
The deputy took the turn off the main road to the Slater Ranch, which sprawled through a good chunk of the county. Kellan ran the main operation, just as six generations of his family had done, but Owen and his brothers Jack and Eli helped as well, along with running their own smaller ranches.
Separate but still family, all the way to the core.
It occurred to her that she might have to go up against all those Slater lawmen if it did indeed come down to pinning this on Emerson. But Laney was too exhausted to think about that particular battle right now.
“For the record,” she said, “I told you the truth about most things. I grew up with horses, so I know how to train them. And every minute I spent with Addie—that was genuine. I enjoyed being with her. Francine, too,” she added because the part about Addie sounded...personal.
A muscle flickered in Owen’s jaw. “What about the day in the barn?” He immediately cursed and waved that off.
When he turned back to the window, she knew the subject was off-limits, but it wasn’t out of mind. Not out of her mind anyway. And she did not need him to clarify which barn, which day. It’d been about a month earlier after he’d just finished riding his favorite gelding, Alamo. Owen had been tired and sweaty, and he’d peeled off his shirt to wash off with the hose. She’d walked in on him just as the water had been sluicing down his bare chest.
Laney had frozen. Then her mouth had gone dry.
Owen had looked at her and it had seemed as if time had stopped. It had been the only thing that had stopped, though. Laney had always known her boss was a hot cowboy, but she’d gotten a full dose of it that day. A kicked-up pulse. That slide of heat through her body.
The physical need she felt for him.
She hadn’t done a good job of hiding it, either. Laney had seen it on his face and, for just a second—before he’d been able to rein it in—she had seen the same thing in Owen’s eyes.
Neither had said anything. Laney had calmly dropped off the saddle she’d been carrying and walked out. But she’d known that if she hadn’t been lying to him, that if they’d been sitting here now, with no secrets between them, she would have gone to him. She would have welcomed the body-to-body contact when he pulled her into his arms. And she would have let Owen have her.
Owen knew that, too.
Just as they had done that day in the barn, their gazes connected now. They didn’t speak, and his attention shifted away from her just as his phone dinged with a text message.
“Jack’s got Francine and Addie all settled in,” Owen relayed. He showed her the picture that his brother had included with the text. It was of Addie, who was sound asleep.
Laney smiled. Addie looked so peaceful and, while it didn’t lessen her guilt over the attack, at least the little girl didn’t seem to be showing any signs of stress.
Laney was still smiling when she looked up at Owen and realized he had noticed her reaction. And perhaps didn’t approve.
Despite that shared “barn memory” moment, he probably didn’t want her feeling close to his daughter. Laney certainly couldn’t blame him. She was about to bring up the subject again about her making other arrangements for a place to stay, but Owen’s phone rang.
It was Kellan and, while Owen didn’t put the call on speaker, it was easy for Laney to hear the sheriff’s voice in an otherwise quiet cruiser.
“Just got a call from the CSI out at your place,” Kellan said. “They found something.”