Laying Down The Law

Chapter Four

Karina was hurting in nearly every part of her body. She felt like one giant bruise, probably looked it, too, judging from the glances Cord kept giving her from across the hospital treatment room that they were sharing. Sympathy mixed with plenty of frustration.

She understood both.

The bald paramedic was in another room getting stitched up and also receiving a transfusion since he’d lost so much blood. The second paramedic had two broken ribs, one of which had punctured his lung. He’d already been admitted to the hospital.

And then there was Cord.

Karina wasn’t exactly sure what his injuries were because he had refused medical attention and had instead been making a string of phone calls. However, he looked as banged up as she did. Maybe more. Because she knew he was still recovering from the injuries he’d gotten last month.

Stab wounds.

And he’d gotten them when the Moonlight Strangler had taken him hostage.

Of course, Cord and everybody else on the planet believed that Willie Lee had been the one to do those horrible things to him, along with killing all those women. Despite the latest attack, Cord was still convinced that Willie Lee was the Moonlight Strangler. But Karina knew differently. The only thing that made sense to her was that the Moonlight Strangler had set up Willie Lee to take the blame not just for that attack on Cord, but for all the other murders.

She’d had zero luck proving it so far.

The nurse finally finished with the last of the stitches. “Wait here,” she said.

She glanced down at Karina’s bare legs and the blue paper examining gown she was wearing. Her bloodstained T-shirt had already been bagged for evidence.

“I’ll see about getting you a pair of scrubs, and I’ll talk to the doctor about releasing you,” the nurse added and left the room.

“Good,” Karina said before she thought it through. She didn’t want to spend the rest of the night in the hospital, but she wasn’t sure where she could go.

Certainly not back home.

That thought alone caused her to curse this monster. Her horses were there. Her things. Her life. Well, her temporary life anyway. And now she might not ever feel safe there again.

Cord finished his latest call and made his way to her. She was surprised he wasn’t limping. Or maybe he just didn’t want her to see that.

She’d only known him a month and couldn’t quite figure him out. Hurt and bitter. Determined to put his biological father away for the rest of his life.

Drop-dead hot.

Yes, she’d noticed that, too, and hated that she’d noticed.

“After you’re released, I’ll drive you to the sheriff’s office so Jericho can take your statement,” he explained. “Then, we can arrange for you to go into protective custody.”

Karina nodded. This was going to be a very long night, and while she just wanted it to end, she wasn’t stupid. She wouldn’t refuse protective custody.

“Certainly, this attack must make you doubt that Willie Lee is really the Moonlight Strangler?” she asked.

Cord shook his head. “It only convinces me that we have a copycat or else a groupie who wants to pretend he’s a serial killer.”

She didn’t bother with a sigh, though it was frustrating that Cord wouldn’t even consider his father’s innocence. “Then at least tell me they found the man responsible for this latest attack.”

Cord shook his head. “Nothing. So far. But Jericho’s got a CSI team out there now. One out at your place, too. They’re going through every inch of it so something might turn up. After that, they’ll go through your house to make sure your attacker didn’t stash something inside.”

He didn’t sound very hopeful, though, that they’d find anything. Neither was Karina. Mainly because she didn’t believe the attacker had actually been in the house.

Oh, God.

Had he gone inside?

Just the thought of that required a deep breath. It was bad enough that he’d been in her barn.

“Are you remembering something else?” Cord asked.

He’d no doubt noticed the hard breath she’d taken. Heck, she could have even gone pale, too. But she didn’t want to spell out her fears to him. Especially since what was done was done. If the killer had been in her house, if he’d watched her, stalked her, she couldn’t undo that. No. It was best to move on and try to work through this.

She looked up at Cord and caught him in mid-grimace. So, he wasn’t perfect at masking his pain after all.

“You really should let the doctor check you out,” Karina suggested.

Cord must have considered that a closed and shut argument since he didn’t even address it. He dragged over a chair and sank down on it so they were facing each other. She braced herself for another round of “blame this all on Willie Lee,” but it surprised her when he reached out and lightly touched his fingers to her cheek.

To the cut that was there.

Karina hadn’t seen it yet. No mirrors in the treatment room. She figured that was intentional since all kinds of injuries were treated here.

“How bad is it?” she asked, though she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer. Especially since just looking at her had caused Cord’s forehead to bunch up.

“It’ll heal,” he said, obviously dodging her question. “You’re the third woman I know who has that scar. My sister, Addie, and her sister-in-law, Paige. Of course, plenty of other women had it, too, but they’re not alive.”

Karina knew about the other women. About Paige, as well. She was the deputy’s wife and had been left for dead by the Moonlight Strangler. However, the other person was a shock. “I didn’t realize your sister had been cut.”

He nodded, leaned back in the chair and scrubbed his hand over his face. “When she was three, Addie was found wandering around the woods near the Crockett ranch. Jericho’s dad found her, and she had the cut then. Of course, nobody knew what it meant at the time.”

No. But Karina knew the rest of this particular story. The Crocketts had adopted Addie and raised her along with their four sons: Jericho, Jax, Chase and Levi. Because the Crocketts had wanted to find Addie’s birth parents, they’d entered her DNA into the databases, and there’d been no match until a year ago, when Addie had learned she was the daughter of the Moonlight Strangler. Cord had been matched a short time later and was Addie’s fraternal twin brother.

Ever since then Cord had made it his mission to find the killer. Which would mean also finding his father. And Cord was certain he’d managed to do that now that Willie Lee was in custody.

“Did you ever find a birth certificate for Addie or you?” she asked, not sure he would even answer. They’d had so many uncivil discussions about his paternity. Well, his insistence that Willie Lee was a killer anyway, and Karina thought he might just blow her off.

Much to her surprise, he didn’t.

“No. And believe me, I looked. The county clerk said that some home births don’t get registered.”

Neither would someone wanting to hide those babies. But why would Willie Lee have done that?

No answer for that, either. No answer for a lot of things, but Karina was certain she could get to the bottom of it if she could just talk to Willie Lee. He’d have to come out of the coma first, and there were no indications when or if that would ever happen.

“Addie’s scar is barely visible,” Cord went on. “Yours will fade, too.”

All in all, it was a kind thing to say. And a surprising one since it took this civil conversation to a different level.

“I must really look bad for you to be so nice to me.” Karina was only partly joking. She was dead certain she looked bad.

The corner of his mouth lifted. Almost a smile. Almost. But it was gone as quickly as it came. He leaned forward, his gaze connecting with hers, and she could see that he was all lawman again. Not that he slipped out of that mode for more than a second or two.

However, the brief change in his demeanor gave her another reminder of that drop-dead-hot thought she’d shoved aside earlier. And continued to shove aside now. Hard to do, though, with him right in front of her.

He was pure cowboy with that tousled hair and those bad-boy eyes. Sadly, he was her type, and her body just wouldn’t let her forget that wherever she saw him. Thankfully, Cord didn’t seem to notice.

Or maybe he did.

He gave her a look. The kind of look a man would give a woman who was hands-off. Which described how he felt about her to a T.

He cleared his throat, looked disgusted with himself. “I keep going back to that note found on the tree.”

Good. A change of subject. Exactly what she needed to get her mind back on track.

“The note said, ‘Remember what I told you, Karina-girl,’” Cord continued. Not that he had to say the words aloud. They were etched permanently in her mind. “And you did remember.”

She nodded. “‘You know exactly who I am, Karina-girl, don’t you?’” she repeated. “But here’s the problem with that. I don’t know who he is. I really don’t.”

“Then why would he say that? He could have put a lot of things in that note, but he didn’t.” Cord paused, apparently waiting for her to will the memory into her consciousness.

When she didn’t come up with anything, he huffed. “All right. Let’s try a different angle. Who would want to kill you? An ex-boyfriend, maybe? A stalker?”

Karina didn’t get a chance to answer because the sound of footsteps had Cord springing to his feet and drawing his gun.

However, it was only Rocky.

Her ranch hand was all right. The killer hadn’t taken him after all. He looked a little disheveled, but that was it.

The relief she felt didn’t last long, though, because of Cord’s reaction. She was usually the one to get his jaw muscles stirring, but they were stirring like crazy now. Ditto for the glare he shot Rocky.

“Where were you?” Cord snapped. Definitely the lawman now.

Rocky pulled back his shoulders. “Out looking for the guy who attacked Karina, of course.”

“You were supposed to go with the sheriff. I heard him tell you that.”

Rocky’s gaze shifted to her, and he looked as if he wanted her to defend him. But she couldn’t. “Going out there on your own was dangerous,” she reminded him. And stupid. “You could have been killed.”

He threw his hands up in the air in an I-give-up gesture. “I just wanted to find him before his trail turned cold.”

“And did you find him?” Cord challenged.

Rocky’s jaw muscles tightened, too. “No. But I did see him. After I heard the explosion.”

That got her attention. Cord’s, as well. Cord made a circling motion with his finger for Rocky to keep going with the details.

“I’m pretty sure it was him,” Rocky went on. “I mean, how many men are running around the woods this time of night?”

Maybe plenty since the guy had almost certainly had help in blowing up the ambulance. “Did you actually see his face?” Karina asked.

Another “no.” Rocky made a sound of frustration. “He was wearing dark clothes, though, just like that man who attacked you in the barn. I know it was him, Karina.” He turned to Cord. “I followed him all the way to a farm road before I lost sight of him. I think that’s the direction of the Appaloosa Pass Ranch, the one the Crocketts own.”

Cord didn’t waste a second. He took out his phone and fired off a text. Probably to Jericho.

Karina touched her fingers to her mouth. “You don’t think the killer will go after your sister?”

Cord didn’t answer right away. “I don’t know. I don’t know who or what we’re dealing with here.”

“We’re dealing with the Moonlight Strangler,” Rocky said as if it was gospel.

That earned him another glare from Cord. “You need to go to the sheriff’s office and give your statement. Now.”

Rocky looked ready to argue with that, but Karina nodded. “Go ahead. I’ll be there as soon as the doctor releases me.”

It still took Rocky several long moments and a few volleyed glances before he huffed, mumbled something she didn’t catch and headed out. Cord followed him, stopping in the door to watch him leave.

“How well do you know Rocky?” Cord asked with his back still to her.

Karina wanted to be upset with his tone and the question itself, but it was something a lawman would want to know. “Not long. I just hired him earlier this week. But his references checked out,” she quickly added. “He hadn’t worked with cutting horses in a while, but I decided to give him a chance.”

Mainly because he’d been the only one who had applied for the job.

“References can be faked.” Cord made a sound that could have meant anything and sent another text. “I told the Crocketts it would be a good idea to lock down the ranch.” He finally turned, walked back to her. “You trust Rocky? Any gut feelings about him?”

“Yes, I trust him. No reason not to.”

Was there? Maybe it was because of the frayed nerves, but Karina mentally went through the handful of interactions she’d had with the man.

“He works well with the horses, but the truth is, I don’t know much about him,” she admitted.

That was partly her fault. She’d been so preoccupied with Willie Lee and staying in business that she hadn’t even bothered to get to really know the man she’d hired. A man who was living just yards from her.

“I’ll have a thorough background check done on him,” Cord said. He walked closer, standing over her and looking down at her. “Now, back to the question I asked before Rocky came in. Is there anyone who would want to do you harm?”

Karina didn’t even have to think about this. “DeWayne Stringer.” Just saying his name aloud caused her stomach to churn. “He’s a wealthy cattle broker over in Comal County and lives near my ranch. I’ve had run-ins with him for nearly a year now since he bought the property next to mine. He wants me to sell him my land so he can expand and isn’t very happy that I won’t do that.”

A huge understatement. DeWayne had done everything in his power to pressure her into selling. Plain and simple, he was a bully.

“Over the past couple of months, I’ve had livestock go missing,” she went on. “Some vandalism. I’m sure it’s his doing. Or else he hired someone to do it. He doesn’t seem the sort to get his hands dirty.”

“And what have the local cops done about it?” Cord asked. He used the note function on his phone to type in DeWayne’s name.

“Nothing because there’s never any proof. DeWayne always covers his tracks.”

Cord stared at her. “You think he’s capable of murder or attempted murder?”

Now, she had to pause. “Maybe.” Then she shook her head. “But I heard my attacker speak, and it wasn’t DeWayne’s voice.”

“He could have disguised it,” Cord suggested. “Or else hired someone to do the job. You said he didn’t like to get his hands dirty.”

That was true, but there was still something that didn’t make sense. “Why would DeWayne come after me here in Appaloosa Pass?”

“Because you’re more vulnerable here,” Cord answered without hesitating. “You have six hands at your place in Comal County, but here it’s only Rocky and you. Plus, you’re distracted, worried about Willie Lee. That made you an easier target.”

The word—target—made her want to throw up. “I was distracted at my house, too, after I heard about Willie Lee,” she pointed out. “I was there for several days before I made arrangements to come here.”

Cord didn’t miss a beat. “And it would be far easier to get onto the place here sight unseen than it would be to get on your ranch in Comal County. I’ve seen pictures of your ranch. There, the house is in the center of acres of pasture. No trees, no place for a would-be killer to hide while sneaking onto the grounds.”

Karina couldn’t argue with any of that, and she could go even one step further with it. “I think it might have been DeWayne who planted Willie Lee’s DNA at that crime scene.”

Cord stared at her, not exactly rolling his eyes but almost.

“Willie Lee stood up to DeWayne, and DeWayne hates him. They’ve had plenty of verbal run-ins. And one not so verbal,” she added in a mumble.

She hated to explain this because it might make Cord believe Willie Lee was a violent man. He wasn’t. Not normally anyway.

“I’m listening,” Cord said when she hesitated.

Best just to tell him because Cord would find out anyway now that he was going to have DeWayne investigated. “Willie Lee punched DeWayne after DeWayne insulted me. Please don’t make me repeat the names DeWayne called me. Anyway, it was only about a week later when Willie Lee’s DNA was found at the crime scene.”

“Now exactly how would DeWayne have managed to do that?” There was so much skepticism in Cord’s voice.

But maybe she could do something to remove a bit of that doubt. At least she could try. “The DNA found at the crime scene was in some chewing gum. Willie Lee quit smoking a few years ago, and he’s been a gum chewer ever since. It wouldn’t have been hard for DeWayne to get a piece that Willie Lee had spit out on the ground.”

Cord’s eyebrow rose more than a fraction. “And then what? DeWayne happened to find a crime scene so he could plant the gum?”

It did sound far-fetched when Cord put it that way. Still, it was possible. “Maybe DeWayne held on to the gum for a while until he could plant it. And then perhaps DeWayne just happened to find that scene. I mean, it wasn’t that far from my ranch and his land.”

“Ten miles,” Cord quickly declared, which meant he’d memorized all the details. With reason. It was the first time DNA had been recovered from the crime scene of the Moonlight Strangler.

Cord leaned in closer again. Too close. Probably a lawman’s ploy to violate her personal space and make her uneasy so she’d spill any secrets she was hiding. Sadly, it would have worked if she’d had secrets.

She didn’t.

But it also worked in a different way, too. For a man who hated her, her body certainly didn’t let her forget that she was a woman. And that he was a man.

“I’ve been looking into Willie Lee’s life,” Cord went on. “He was in the area at the time of that murder because his signature is on a feed purchase in town.”

She knew all about Cord’s efforts to seal the deal and pin these murders, all of them, on Willie Lee. And Cord had indeed managed to place Willie Lee in the areas of several of the murders. That still didn’t convince her.

Karina leaned in closer to him, too. “You’re asking me to believe that a man I’ve known for fifteen years, half of my life, murdered women and then calmly went on as if nothing had happened. A man I trust—”

“A man you don’t really know,” Cord interrupted. “According to your own statement, he just showed up one day, and your father hired him. Willie Lee had no references. No past. He just materialized out of thin air fifteen years ago.”

Karina knew there was an explanation for that. One that Willie Lee could give her if he ever came out of that coma.

Especially since Cord’s DNA had proved that he was Willie Lee’s son.

“Do you have any childhood memories whatsoever of Willie Lee?” she suddenly asked.

“None. Neither does Addie.” He moved away from her. Fast. “I’ll have Jericho get DeWayne in for questioning,” Cord said, and he sent another text. Apparently ending their conversation about his father.

Karina wanted to press him on the subject. Actually, what she wanted Cord to do was remember that Willie Lee was the same loving, caring man that he’d been to her over the years. He wasn’t just her hired hand. He’d become a father figure to her after her own dad had died of lung cancer when Karina was just seventeen. Her mother had never been the same after that. Had never really been part of Karina’s life, or even her own life. Her mom had finally ended it all with sleeping pills.

And Willie Lee had been there to help Karina get through that, too.

“Anyone else other than DeWayne who might want to hurt you?” Cord persisted. “An ex-boyfriend, maybe?” he repeated. “Or a current boyfriend?”

She seriously doubted he was fishing to find out if she was romantically involved with anyone. “No current boyfriend. No recent ex, either. The ranch keeps me busy,” Karina added because she felt she had to add something so Cord wouldn’t think she was a loser.

Though he probably thought that anyway. A loser and very gullible to believe in Willie Lee’s innocence.

“How about any disgruntled employees?” Cord asked a moment later. “Or just someone you got a bad vibe about?”

She opened her mouth to say no, but that wasn’t true. “There might be someone else. Might. A couple of days after Willie Lee was captured, a man showed up at the ranch. Harley Kramer. He said he was an old friend of Willie Lee’s, of my mother’s, too. But I’d never heard either of them mention him.”

“What’d he want?” Cord asked.

“He said he wanted to look through Willie Lee’s things, that Willie Lee had some old photos he wanted. I told him that wouldn’t be possible, not without Willie Lee’s permission. He left, and I thought that was the end of it.” She paused. “I definitely got bad vibes from him, and it wasn’t just because of his scars.”

“Scars?”

She motioned to her face. “He’d been burned and had obviously had a skin graft. And I know that sounds shallow to be creeped out by a guy with a scarred face, but it wasn’t just that. It was the way he looked at me. Then, I caught him sneaking into the cabin where Willie Lee lived. I called the sheriff, and he arrested him for trespassing and breaking and entering. Needless to say, Harley wasn’t happy about that.”