A sheriff’s heart-wrenching past threatens to destroy his future in USA TODAY bestselling author Delores Fossen’s brand-new Blue River Ranch miniseries...

Ten years ago, Sheriff Gabriel Beckett helped convict the man who murdered his parents in a shocking crime that still haunts his small Texas town. Now the terror has returned and the woman who escaped the attack is a target again.

Jodi Canton loved Gabriel—until that love shattered with his parents’ murder and her father’s conviction. Taunted with threats, she’s determined to bait the real killer out of hiding. Drawing out a criminal puts her life on the line, but Gabriel’s protection puts her heart in danger. Even if they survive a predator, can they risk everything to heal each other?

Blue River Ranch

“Nearly ten years. I’ve waited long enough to finish what I started on the Blue River Ranch. This time, no one will be there to save you. This time, you will die.”

Gabriel cursed. “You got this message, and you still came here?”

Jodi shrugged, tried to make it seem as if this didn’t have her in knots.

“This proves my father’s innocent,” she said.

“No. A copycat could have written it. Or your father could have paid someone to do it.”

“But I have to believe it wasn’t a copycat. It’s either that or accept that my father murdered both of your parents, attacked me and then left me for dead.” She paused, shook her head. “Of course, no one in your family had trouble believing it.”

“Neither did a jury,” Gabriel pointed out.

“My father was convicted on circumstantial evidence,” Jodi said, though she was preaching to the choir. Because as the sheriff and the son of the murdered couple, Gabriel knew the case better than everyone else.

Everyone but the real killer, that was.

Always a Lawman

Delores Fossen

www.millsandboon.co.uk

DELORES FOSSEN, a USA TODAY bestselling author, has sold over fifty novels with millions of copies of her books in print worldwide. She’s received a Booksellers’ Best Award and an RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award. She was also a finalist for a prestigious RITA® Award. You can contact the author through her website at www.deloresfossen.com.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

She had died here. Temporarily, anyway.

But she was alive now, and Jodi Canton could feel the nerves just beneath the surface of her skin. With the Smith & Wesson gripped in her hand, she inched closer to the dump site where he had left her for dead.

There were no signs of the site now. Nearly ten years had passed, and the thick Texas woods had reclaimed the ground. It didn’t look nearly so sinister dotted with wildflowers and a honeysuckle vine coiling over it. No drag marks.

No blood.

The years had washed it all away, but Jodi could see it, smell it and even taste it as if it were that sweltering July night when a killer had come within a breath of ending her life.

The nearby house had succumbed to time and the elements, too. It’d been a home then. Now, the white paint was blistered, and several of the windows on the bottom floor were closed off with boards that had grayed with age. Of course, she hadn’t expected this place to ever feel like anything but the crime scene that it had once been.

Considering that two people had been murdered inside.

Jodi adjusted the grip on the gun when she heard the footsteps. They weren’t hurried, but her visitor wasn’t trying to sneak up on her, either. Jodi had been listening for that. Listening for everything that could get her killed.

Permanently this time.

Just in case she was wrong about who this might be, Jodi pivoted and took aim at him.

“You shouldn’t have come here,” he said. His voice was husky and deep, part lawman’s growl, part Texas drawl.

The man was exactly who she thought it might be. Sheriff Gabriel Beckett. No surprise that he had arrived since this was Beckett land, and she’d parked in plain sight on the side of the road that led to the house. Even though the Becketts no longer lived here, Gabriel would have likely used the road to get to his current house.

“You came,” Jodi answered, and she lowered her gun.

Muttering some profanity with that husky drawl, Gabriel walked to her side, his attention on the same area where hers was fixed. Or at least it was until he looked at her the same exact moment that she looked at him.

Their gazes connected.

And now it was Jodi who wanted to curse. Really? After all this time that punch of attraction was still there? She had huge reasons for the attraction to go away and not a single reason for it to stay.

Yet it remained.

At least on her part anyway. That wasn’t heat she saw in Gabriel’s eyes. Not attraction heat anyway. He was riled to the bone that she was back at the scene of the crime.

Gabriel hadn’t changed much over the years. He was as lanky as he had been a decade ago. His dark brown hair was shorter now, but he still had those sizzling blue eyes. Still had the face that could make most women do a triple take. Simply put, he was one hot cowboy cop.

“Is it true?” Gabriel asked. “Are you actually remembering more details from the night of the attack?”

She’d expected the question and heard the skepticism in his voice. Skepticism that she deserved. Because her remembering anything else was a lie. “No. I told the press that because I thought it would draw out the real killer.”

He gave her a look that could have frozen the hottest parts of hell. “That’s not only stupid, it’s dangerous. You made yourself a target.”

“I’m already a target,” she mumbled under her breath. And because she thought they needed a change of subject, Jodi tipped her head to the house. “I’m surprised it’s still standing. Why haven’t you bulldozed it?”

A muscle tightened in his jaw. “There’s a difference of opinion about that in the family.”

Yes, Jodi had heard about some of those opinions. One of his sisters had wanted the place to remain standing, though Jodi had no idea why. She couldn’t imagine any of them wanting to live in the house again. Still, maybe it was hard to demolish a childhood home even when that place was now a reminder of the nightmare.

“It’s not a good time to be out here,” he growled as if delivering an order that she would jump to obey. “And not just because you put out that lie to the press.”

Jodi stayed put, and she darn sure didn’t jump. “I was hoping if I saw the place again, it actually would help me remember, that what I told the press would no longer be a lie.”

He aimed a scowl at her. Then, another scowl at the house and the spot where he’d found her bleeding and dying nearly a decade ago. “Why the heck would you want to remember that?”

He had a point. But so did Jodi. It wasn’t a point that would likely make sense to Gabriel.

“I want to see his face.” She shook her head. “I want to remember his face.”

Ironically, it was one of the few things about that night that she couldn’t recall. That particular detail was lost in the tangle of memories in her head. She could feel the slice of the knife as it cut into her body.

The pain.

Jodi could remember the blood draining from her. But she couldn’t see the man who’d been responsible for turning her life on a dime.

“Why come back now?” Gabriel demanded. “Why tell the press that you’re remembering after all this time?”

Good questions. And she had good answers.

“I got an email.” Jodi figured that would get his attention, and it did.

Gabriel turned those lethal blue eyes on her. “What kind of email?”

She took out the printed copy from the front pocket of her jeans and handed it to him. Jodi didn’t need to see what was written there. She’d memorized every word.

Nearly ten years. I’ve waited long enough to finish what I started on the Blue River Ranch. This time, no one will be there to save you. This time, you will die.

Gabriel cursed again. “You got this, and you still came here?”

Jodi shrugged, tried to make it seem as if this message didn’t have her in knots. It did. But then, she’d been in knots for a long time now. For ten painful years. In some sick way, maybe this meant there’d be a showdown, and the knots would finally loosen.

“This proves my father’s innocent,” she said and waited for Gabriel to blast that to smithereens.

It didn’t take long before he attempted that blast. “No. A copycat could have written it. Or your father could have paid someone to do it.”

Both could be true, and she acknowledged that with a slight sound of agreement. “But I have to believe it wasn’t a copycat. It’s either that or accept that my father murdered both of your parents, attacked me and then left me for dead.” She paused, shook her head. “Of course, no one in your family had trouble believing it.”

“Neither did a jury,” Gabriel pointed out.

It was true. A jury had indeed convicted her father, Travis, of two counts of murder and also of her own attack, and the jurors had given him two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. He was rotting away in a jail cell, exactly where the Becketts wanted him. Of course, it could have been worse. Travis could have gotten the death penalty, but thankfully the DA had backed off on that because of some weaknesses in the case.

No eye witness to put Travis at the scene, and the fact that her father couldn’t recall what’d gone on that night.

“My father was convicted on circumstantial evidence,” Jodi said, though she was preaching to the choir. Because as the sheriff and the son of the murdered couple, Gabriel knew the case better than everyone else.

Everyone but the real killer, that is.

“My father didn’t have the murder weapon on him when the cops found him,” she went on. Yes, Gabriel knew that, too, but she wanted to remind him. “And the wounds to your parents and to me were made with a unique knife.”

“A skinning knife with a crescent-shaped blade. Is this going somewhere?” he continued without hesitating. “Because it doesn’t matter that your father claimed he didn’t own a knife like that—”

“He didn’t,” she interrupted. “I was the one who cleaned the house. Cleaned his room. The barn. You name it, I cleaned it, and I never saw a blade that resembled anything like a crescent.”

It wasn’t easy for her to talk about the knife. But even when she didn’t talk about it, the image of it was still clear in her head. Not from that night, though. Jodi hadn’t actually seen it, but the FBI had shown her photos of a skinning knife. And they were certain that’s what had been used on her because the tip of it had broken off during the attack. The surgeon had removed it from what’d been left of her spleen.

“That doesn’t mean Travis didn’t have that knife hidden away,” Gabriel countered. “And I don’t care if he says he didn’t. Nor do I care that he claims he can’t remember anything from that night because he had three times more than the legal limit of alcohol. The bottom line is that he had motive, and my father’s blood on his shirt.”

Blood that someone could have planted there when Travis was passed out drunk by the Blue River, where the deputies had found him hours after the murders and her own attack.

Jodi couldn’t have argued that her alcoholic father hadn’t been in any shape to murder two people, one of them sheriff at the time. That’s because the DA had successfully argued that Travis could have gotten drunk afterward.

And yes, her father did have motive.

Bad blood between him and the Becketts. Feuds over land and water rights that had been going on before Jodi was born. It had created the perfect trifecta for law enforcement. Her father had had the means, motive and opportunity to butcher two people and then turn that knife on Jodi when he thought maybe she’d witnessed what he had done.

She hadn’t.

Because of the blasted tears she’d been crying over Gabriel’s rejection, she hadn’t seen anything. She’d barely had time to hear the footsteps before her attacker had clubbed her on the head and started stabbing her.

“Have you considered the reason you don’t remember your attacker’s face is because you blocked it out?” Gabriel asked a moment later. “Because it was too traumatic for you to see the face of the man that you thought loved you?”

Jodi had to take a moment to try to tamp down the panic rising inside her. No way could she believe that.

“My father never confessed to the murders,” she pointed out.

“That doesn’t mean he didn’t do it,” he countered and then huffed. No doubt signaling an end to an argument they’d been having for a decade. He looked at the email again. “You gave a copy of this to the FBI?”

She nodded, annoyed that it was a question. “Of course I gave it to them since they’re the ones who handled this investigation. With you and your brother’s help, of course.”

In fact, Gabriel’s brother, Jameson, had pretty much spearheaded the case in the beginning. Not that anyone had been dragging their feet. No. Everyone seemed to be racing toward any evidence that would result in her father’s conviction. But Jameson had been a key player in getting that guilty verdict.

“I just wanted to make sure you didn’t withhold anything from the FBI,” Gabriel added. “Because they need to see any and all threats, so they can put a stop to them.”

Jodi’s annoyance went up a notch. Gabriel was talking down to her. Talking to her as if she was a criminal. Or an idiot. “I know you don’t think much of what I do for a living, but I’d have no reason to keep something like that to myself.”

He handed her back the email, his gaze connecting with hers again, and she got another dose of his doubt.

Gabriel definitely didn’t think much of what she did. Consultant for Sentry, a private security firm. Many cops thought that Sentry toed the line when it came to investigations.

And sometimes they did.

“I don’t wear one of these,” she said, tapping his badge, “but that doesn’t mean I’m not out for justice just like you, Jameson and your deputies.”

“Justice at any price,” he argued.

She shrugged, trying to make sure she didn’t look as if that’d stung a little. “Repeating my boss’s motto—the law isn’t always justice.”

“Hector March.” Gabriel said her boss’s name as if it were profanity. To him, it was. “Is he out of jail yet?”

That was another jab. And another sting. “Yes. And for the record, what Hector did was definitely justice. The illegal video surveillance he set up eventually led to the arrest of a pimp who was known for beating up his girls. He used his fists to do whatever he wanted, and now he’s been stopped.”

There was too much emotion in her voice now. Too much emotion inside her, as well. It was hard to rein in the feelings of being powerless against a much stronger attacker, but Jodi had had a lot of practice doing just that.

“The pimp would have gone to jail eventually through legal means,” Gabriel growled.

It was probably the truth. Probably. But Hector had made it happen a little sooner than the cops could have managed it.

“If I can save one woman from getting beaten or killed, I’ll do it,” Jodi insisted. “And yes, I’m overidentifying.”

She waved off any other part of this discussion that might happen because she’d admitted that. It was obvious Gabriel and she were never going to agree when it came to Sentry, Hector or her job. Jodi also didn’t want to keep talking about something that couldn’t change. She’d nearly died. Had the scars to prove it. Nothing was going to undo that.

“You blame me for what happened to you.” Gabriel threw that out there like a gauntlet.

She turned toward him so fast that her neck popped. Jodi wanted to say no, that she didn’t. Better yet, she wanted to believe it. But she didn’t. Not completely anyway.

“I know in here it wasn’t your fault.” She touched her fingers to her head. “But everything that happened that night has gotten all rolled into one tangled mess inside me. A mess that involves you, me...and the killer. I don’t want to include you in that nightmare, but it did begin with you, and I can’t just forget that.”

“Yeah,” he said and looked away. Gabriel always looked away whenever the subject of attraction or sex came up between them. And despite her near murder not actually being about sex, it was sex that had started it all.

Or rather, lack of sex.

“You were nineteen,” he reminded her. “Too young to be with me.”

Obviously, his mind had hitched a ride on the exact train of thought as hers. “I was an adult.”

“Barely. You were also one of my kid sister’s best friends. And I was five years older than you. There’s a world of difference between a nineteen-year-old college student and a twenty-four-year-old deputy sheriff. Legally, you weren’t jailbait, but that still didn’t make being with you right.”

It was his old argument that she knew all too well since it was the same one he’d used the night of the attack. She’d been staying in the Beckett house, a guest of Gabriel’s sister Ivy, who at the time was also her college roommate. Around 10:00 p.m., Jodi had walked the less than a quarter of a mile distance between the Becketts’ and Gabriel’s place, the house left to him by his grandparents. And Jodi had done that for the sole purpose of seducing Gabriel.

It hadn’t worked.

“You turned me down,” she said under her breath. Thankfully, it didn’t sound as if she still carried a decade of hurt. But it had certainly hurt then. Simply put, Gabriel Beckett was the only man she’d ever wanted. It was ironic, though, that after the night of the attack she’d never wanted him or another man again.

She silently cursed. That was a partial lie. A lie she could feel now that she was standing so close to Gabriel. Much to her disgust, she still wanted him.

“Sex is a commitment,” she mumbled. “That’s what you told me when you turned me away,” Jodi huffed. “Which wasn’t the truth since you had sex with half the women in town, and you didn’t commit to any of them.”

He said something under his breath that she didn’t catch. Then, something she did catch. Bad profanity. “Why did you really come here? Because I’m not buying it that you’re here just to remember. Are you trying to draw out the person who sent you the email?”

She didn’t deny it. Jodi did indeed want to draw him out in the open and put an end to this once and for all.

“He could just shoot you,” Gabriel reminded her.

“I don’t think so. I think he wants his hands on me again.” Just saying it nearly made her gag. “I won’t be the victim for the rest of my life.”

“Then start by not being here.” Gabriel paused and glanced around. The kind of glance that a lawman made as if checking to make sure no one else was there. “You’re not the only one who got a threatening email.”

Everything inside her went still. “Who else? You?”

Gabriel nodded. “All three of my siblings, too. Jameson, Ivy and Lauren.”

Jodi hadn’t needed their names. She’d grown up next to the Becketts and knew them well enough to know their birthdays. Now, of course, they were her enemies. Enemies who’d apparently gotten death threats.

“What’d the emails say?” she asked.

Gabriel drew in a weary breath. “Almost the same as yours. Except for mine. The threat was, well, more explicit. Probably because I’m the sheriff now.”

Jodi tried to process that. “What possible reason would my father have to send threats like this?”

“I’ve given up trying to figure out why killers do what they do.” He hesitated again. “But I’m leaning more toward a copycat. There are a lot of sick people out there, and the story got plenty of press. With the tenth anniversary coming up in three months, I believe it’s bringing out the lunatics.”

“So, you think the emails are empty threats?” Jodi hated to sound disappointed. Hated even more that she was disappointed that it might be true. It sickened her to think the truth had already played out.

And that her father had left her for dead.

“Copycat threats aren’t always empty,” Gabriel corrected. “That’s why I don’t want you out here. Not alone anyway. If you want to try to jog your memory again, call me, and I’ll have someone meet you.”

Jodi probably should be insulted because she was an expert marksman and trained in hand-to-hand combat. She could protect herself.

Probably.

And it was the fact that the probably was not a certainty that kept her up at night.

She turned, ready to head back to her car, but something caught her eye. Some movement in one of the second-floor windows. Gabriel must have seen it, too, because he stepped in front of her.

And he drew his gun.

Jodi pulled her weapon, too. “Should there be anyone in the house?” she asked.

“No.” That time he absolutely didn’t hesitate, and Gabriel started toward the porch. “Before you jump to conclusions, it’s probably just a teenager out for a stupid thrill. Or maybe a reporter. Either way, you should go to your car now.”

“Just in case it turns out to be something more than a teen or a reporter, I can back you up if you’re going inside.”

Which he apparently was.

Gabriel didn’t turn down her offer of backup. Didn’t order her to her car again, either. Maybe because he figured she could be attacked while heading to the road. It was obvious he was thinking this was more than just a false alarm. Of course, after those threatening emails, Jodi doubted there was anything false about it, either.

Mercy. Was the killer here?

That sent her heartbeat racing, the sound of it throbbing in her ears. The memories came. Too many of them too fast. She had to force them back into that little box she’d built in her mind. This was no time for a panic attack. Not in front of a killer.

Not in front of Gabriel, either.

He took slow, cautious steps, his gaze firing not just to the window but all around them. “I’m Sheriff Gabriel Beckett,” he called out. “You’re trespassing. Come out with your hands in the air.”

Nothing.

It was hard to hear because of her racing pulse and the breeze rattling through the live oaks, but Jodi thought she heard someone moving around inside. There were plenty of windows on the back part of the house that the intruder could use to escape. But maybe he didn’t have escape in mind.

Maybe this would turn into another attempt to murder her.

If so, she was ready.

“Stay behind me,” Gabriel insisted. “And watch our backs.”

She did, and Jodi continued to keep an eye out as they made their way up the steps to the porch. But as soon as Gabriel reached the top step, he stopped.

Then, he froze.

Jodi was near enough to him to sense the muscles tensing in his body. And she soon realized why.

Her heart jumped to her throat. “Oh, mercy.” Jodi shook her head and inched closer. Not that she needed to be closer to realize what she was seeing.

A knife.

With a crescent-shaped blade. The tip was missing.

And there was blood on it.

Chapter Two

Even before he saw the knife. Gabriel had already had a bad feeling. He’d gotten it the moment he laid eyes on Jodi because she should be nowhere near this place. Now, that bad feeling turned to something much worse.

Hell.

Just to be sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him, he took another look at what someone had left on the porch just about two feet to the left side of the door. No tricks. It was the knife all right. Or rather, a knife.

“That blood on it isn’t dry,” Jodi pointed out. Her voice was trembling just a little, but Gabriel had to hand it to her because she was holding herself together.

On the outside anyway.

On the inside, he figured it was a whole different story. If it was indeed the knife that had killed his parents, then it was the same one the killer had used on Jodi.

“It could be fake blood,” Gabriel reminded her.

There was no way he would touch it to find out, though. Since the tip was missing, this was either the actual weapon that had killed his parents or else someone had broken off the end of the blade so that it would resemble it.

But there was a problem with that.

The missing tip that the surgeon had removed from Jodi’s body hadn’t been mentioned in any of the police reports. Nor was the fact that the killer had taken his father’s watch and his mother’s necklace. Those were just a few of the little details that the FBI had left out in case some nutjob tried to confess to the crime. So, either someone had hacked into those actual reports, or...

Gabriel didn’t want to speculate about an or just yet.

While keeping his attention on their surroundings, Gabriel took his phone from his pocket and texted Jameson. He told him that he needed his help and for him to call a CSI to come and take custody of this knife. Jameson was at his house and could be there in a couple of minutes.

Bringing in his brother was better than waiting for the deputies to come in from the sheriff’s office. Besides, Jameson was a Texas Ranger and the best backup Gabriel could have. Once Jameson arrived, maybe they could keep Jodi out of this. Of course, the problem was that she was here and therefore already in the middle of it.

Whatever it was.

This could still be a prank, and Gabriel was holding on to that hope. Over the years the house had become a magnet for daredevil kids, ghost hunters and pretty much anyone warped enough to want to see an old crime scene. That’s how the windows had gotten broken and the boards sprayed with graffiti.

Gabriel tested the doorknob. Locked, just as it should be, and he used his key to open it. He pushed open the door, had a look around and got an instant punch of the musty smell and the dust. An instant punch of the memories, too.

He hated this place.

Hated that it still felt like an open, raw wound. A cut so deep that it would never heal. It was no doubt the same for Jodi. Even though she hadn’t lost her parents that day, it had been just as costly for her.

In plenty of ways, she’d lost herself.

For just a moment he got a flash of another memory. Of the smiling nineteen-year-old who’d shown up at his house that night. She’d been wearing cutoff denim shorts, a snug red top and had looked far better than a girl had a right to look.

He pushed that memory aside, too. He’d lost himself that night, as well. Because he hadn’t protected her. He hadn’t saved his parents, and while Jodi had lived, he darn sure hadn’t saved her, either.

Gabriel didn’t see anyone in either of the two rooms just off the entry. Nor did he hear anyone. He ducked under the crisscross of boards, his back scraping against the rough wood. He moved just far enough inside for Jodi to step in behind him. Even though she didn’t say anything, he could hear her breathing. Which was too fast.

There were no signs of an intruder here. No footprints in the dust on the hardwood floors.

The furniture in the living and dining rooms was still draped with the sheets that his sisters had put on them years earlier. It hadn’t felt right to move anything after the CSIs had finished with it, so they’d covered everything, locked and boarded it up. Now, it was like some kind of sick time capsule.

“Anyone up there?” Gabriel called out.

He didn’t expect a response and didn’t get one. But what he did hear was something he didn’t want to hear.

A footstep.

Yeah, someone was definitely upstairs. And judging from the weight of the step, it wasn’t a raccoon or some other animal.

Jodi moved as if ready to barge right up there, but Gabriel leaned in front of her and shot her a scowl. “We’ll wait here for Jameson. Once he arrives, I’ll go upstairs. Alone.”

She huffed, clearly not pleased about that. Maybe because she wanted to confront the person who’d left the knife. Of course, she thought it was the same person who had attacked her, but Gabriel was sticking to his guns that her father had been responsible for that.

“We should at least check the back door,” she suggested. “That might be how he got in.”

Yes, either that or a window. The place wasn’t exactly a fortress, though the doors and windows should have at least all been locked. That wouldn’t have stopped someone from breaking one of the panes and getting inside, though.

Gabriel went to the center of the foyer, and he volleyed his attention around the rooms and the stairs. He still didn’t see anyone or anything out of place. Definitely no more blood to go along with what was on that knife, and if he had seen so much as a drop, he would have stopped and gotten out of there since this could potentially be a crime scene.

Again.

But thankfully there was nothing other than the bad feeling that continued to snake down his spine.

“Stay here,” he warned Jodi.

Whether she would or not was anyone’s guess, but Gabriel went into the adjacent family room so he could peer through to the kitchen. No one was there, but the rear door was open. The wind was causing it to sway just enough to make this whole ordeal even creepier than it already was.

Gabriel was about to lose patience with himself and whoever the hell had broken in, and he probably would have just charged upstairs if he hadn’t heard a sound that he actually wanted to hear.

“What the hell?” someone asked and then added a string of profanity.

Jameson.

He’d probably seen the knife. Or maybe the cussing was for Jodi. Not that Jameson had anything in particular against Jodi, but he would have known it wasn’t a good idea for her to be here.

“Someone’s upstairs,” Jodi said to his brother.

With his gun already drawn, Jameson came into the house, stepping around her, and his attention went straight to Gabriel. “Did the intruder leave the knife?”

“I’m not sure.” But Gabriel was about to find out. “Stay here with Jodi.”

“The CSIs are on the way,” Jameson told him as Gabriel started up the stairs. “I called Cameron, too.”

Cameron Doran. A deputy and family friend. Cameron would have been at his own house on the ranch grounds, and while Gabriel appreciated the double backup, he hoped it wouldn’t be necessary.

With his gun aimed, Gabriel went up the stairs, pausing after each step to listen for any footsteps or movement. He didn’t hear anything other than that damn creaky door downstairs.

At first anyway.

Then, there were definitely footsteps, and they appeared to be coming from his parents’ bedroom. No more pausing for him. Gabriel hurried up the stairs and to the landing so he could pivot in that direction.

No one was in the hall, so he went toward the bedroom, passing several others along the way. He kept watch around him. The doors were all closed, but that didn’t mean someone wouldn’t open one of them and start shooting. Or running anyway. He was still hoping this would turn out to be nothing.

By the time Gabriel made it the forty or so feet to his parents’ room, he’d worked up a sweat. And it wasn’t helping his temper. This was not how he wanted to spend his afternoon.

He kicked open the door, and he nearly fired when he saw the movement. But it was just the white gauzy curtains fluttering in the breeze.

“He’s out back, and he’s getting away!” Jodi shouted.

Hell.

Gabriel hurried to the window to look out, and the first thing he spotted was the ladder propped up against the back of the house. But there were no signs of the person who’d put it there.

However, there were signs of Jodi and Jameson.

He saw them run into the yard, such that it was. Once it’d been a manicured lawn, but now it was overgrown with weeds and underbrush.

“Stop or I’ll shoot,” Jameson called out.

Gabriel saw the guy then. He was dressed all in black, like some kind of ninja, and he was running into the woods. There were plenty of places to hide there and even some old ranch trails where the guy could have stashed a vehicle. Gabriel wanted to stop him because he had some answering to do about that knife.

Jameson and Jodi went after him, and that sent Gabriel hurrying, as well. He didn’t go down the ladder because that would have made him an easy target in case the intruder was armed. Instead, he barreled down the hall and stairs and hurried out the back door.

Jameson and Jodi had gotten way ahead of him by now and had disappeared into the woods. With any luck, they were on the intruder’s heels. Well, hopefully Jameson was. Gabriel didn’t like it that a civilian was in the mix of things. Especially this civilian. Despite Jodi’s attempt at trying to keep her composure when she saw the knife, Gabriel knew it caused her to have a slam of bad memories.

Once he was in the backyard, he had to hurdle over some of the underbrush, and it took him several long moments of hard running before he spotted Jameson and Jodi again. He’d hardly gotten a glimpse of them before Gabriel heard something else that caused his heart to jump into overdrive.

A cracking sound.

A shot being fired through a silencer.

Gabriel cursed again because neither Jodi’s nor Jameson’s guns were rigged that way. That meant the shot had come from the intruder. Well, that blew his theory that this was all some kind of sick prank. If the idiot had come here armed, then he meant business.

But what kind of business exactly?

If he’d wanted to kill them, he could have done that when Jodi and he had been talking earlier.

Jameson and Jodi thankfully ducked behind some trees, and using massive oaks as cover, Gabriel darted behind them as he made his way to Jodi. Jameson was only several yards away, and both of them had their guns and attention directed at a thick cluster of bushes and weeds.

Jodi was breathing through her mouth, but other than that, she was holding it together. And she looked like the trained security specialist that she was.

“Did you get a look at his face?” Gabriel wanted to know.

She shook her head and spared him a glance. Gabriel saw it then. The fear. But he also saw the determination to get her hands on this guy.

“Do you see him?” Jameson asked.

Gabriel peered around the tree for a glance. But he didn’t get much of a look. That’s because a bullet smacked into the bark just inches from his head. A second shot quickly followed.

He cursed and pulled Jodi to the ground. Gabriel hadn’t intended to land on her, but that’s what happened. The front of his body right on her back. They’d never been lovers, but being pressed against her gave Gabriel a jolt of attraction. A jolt he quickly shoved aside so he could adjust his position in case he got a chance to return fire.

The intruder fired again, and Gabriel tried to pinpoint the shot. Hard to do with the silencer, but he was pretty sure he knew the guy’s general area.

“Stop shooting and come out with your hands up,” Gabriel shouted out to him.

He didn’t expect the intruder to do that.

And was stunned when he did.

“I’m coming out,” the man said.

Jodi went stiff and practically shoved Gabriel off her so that she could get to her feet. Gabriel did the same, and he muscled her behind him just in case this was some kind of trick.

But it wasn’t.

The man stood, his hands raised in the air. In addition to the black clothes, he was also wearing a ski mask and gloves.

“Where’s your gun?” Gabriel snapped.

“On the ground near my feet.”

Gabriel didn’t want it anywhere near this fool. “Walk toward us. Slowly. Don’t make any sudden moves, and remember that part about keeping your hands in the air.”

The guy gave a shaky nod, and he started toward them. Jameson came out from cover, his gun trained on the guy. Gabriel and Jodi did the same, and the moment he was close enough to Jameson, his brother hurried to the man, put him facedown on the ground and frisked him.

“Keep watch around us,” Gabriel told Jodi.

Her eyes widened a moment, and she must have realized that this man might have brought a friend or two with him.

Gabriel went closer to the guy, too, and handed Jameson a pair of plastic cuffs that he took from his pocket. Jameson immediately put them on him.

“Who the hell are you?” Gabriel asked the man.

Gabriel stooped down and yanked off the ski mask. His head was shaved, and there were several homemade tattoos on his forehead and neck. Definitely not someone Gabriel recognized, and judging from the way Jameson shook his head, neither did his brother.

“I’m not saying nothing until I talk to my lawyer,” the guy answered. He sounded pretty defiant for someone who’d just surrendered.

But Jodi had some defiance of her own. She got right in the guy’s face. “Where did you get that knife?”

He smiled. A sick kind of smile that had Gabriel’s insides twisting. He wasn’t sure what the heck this was all about, but he intended to find out.

“I’ll take him to the sheriff’s office,” Gabriel said. “He can call his lawyer, and I’ll question him.” Then, he turned to the guy and hoped he could change his mind about clamming up. “Just so you know, you’re looking at three counts of attempted murder.”

The guy smiled again. Gabriel sure didn’t. He silently cursed. Because they could be dealing with someone who was mentally unstable. If so, they might never get answers. But Jodi clearly wasn’t giving up on that just yet.

She was right at the goon’s side as Jameson started leading him back to the house. “Tell me where you got the knife.”

Gabriel doubted the guy was about to blurt out anything, but just in case, he went ahead and read him his rights. Jodi waited, the impatience all over her face, and the moment Gabriel finished, she repeated her demand.

Nothing. Well, she got nothing other than the smile that Gabriel wished he could knock off the idiot’s face.

“He’s too young to have been part of your attack,” Gabriel reminded Jodi. This guy was barely twenty, maybe still in his teens. He would have been just a kid a decade ago.

“He could still know something about it,” she pointed out just as quickly.

“Yeah,” Gabriel admitted. “That’s why I’ll handle this. You should go home, and I’ll let you know if he says anything.”

That earned him a glare. He’d expected it. She wasn’t about to back away from this, but Gabriel had to keep her at bay because he didn’t want her compromising his investigation.

“Need some help?” someone called out.

Cameron. The deputy was hurrying around the side of the house toward them. He, too, had his weapon drawn.

“Did you come here in your cruiser?” Gabriel asked him.

Cameron nodded. “Who is this guy? And why is the knife on the porch?”

Good questions. “I’m hoping he’ll tell me once we’ve booked him.” Gabriel tipped his head to the woods. “This clown left a gun out there. Keep an eye on it until the CSIs get here to collect it, and then I’ll need Jameson and you to drive him to the sheriff’s office. I’ll be right behind you as soon as I’ve talked to the CSIs.”

And after he’d had a look around.

Something more than the obvious wasn’t right.

Jameson headed to the cruiser with the prisoner, and Cameron started for the woods. Jodi didn’t budge.

“I want to be there when you question him,” she insisted.

“No.” And he wasn’t going to compromise on that. At best he would allow her to watch from the observation room, but Gabriel was sure even that wasn’t a good idea.

Gabriel looked at her, and that’s when he saw that she was trembling. Jodi realized he’d noticed, too, and she cursed under her breath.

“I’m fine,” she snapped. Her blond hair was damp with sweat, and she pushed it from her face. Her face was beaded with sweat, as well.

They stared at each other, until Jodi glanced away. “Sometimes, I have panic attacks,” she said.

He figured she had to be close to one now to admit something like that. It didn’t go well with her tough Sentry employee image.

“The water is still on in the house since it comes from a well. I wouldn’t drink it because there might be rust in the pipes, but it might help if you splash some on your face.”

But the moment he made the offer, it occurred to him why he still had that niggling feeling in his gut. Gabriel’s attention zoomed to the back door.

“What?” Jodi asked when she followed his gaze.

“The ladder’s there, but the back door was open when I went into the house.”

She made a sound to indicate she was giving that some thought. “Well, the guy used the ladder to escape. Jameson and I saw him running from it when we got to the backyard.”

Yeah. So, maybe the open back door had nothing to do with their perp. Still, Gabriel intended to check it out. When he’d run through the house to go in pursuit, he hadn’t looked around to see if anything else had been...disturbed.

Gabriel started toward the porch with Jodi following along behind him. Part of him wanted to tell her to stay put while he checked it out, but it might not be safe for her to be out here alone. Of course, she would believe she could take care of herself, but if that idiot had indeed brought help, there could be more gunfire.

He didn’t slow down until he reached the back door, and then Gabriel paused just to take in the room. The gray tile didn’t show the dust, which meant it didn’t show any footprints, either. That didn’t mean some weren’t there, though, so he used his elbow to open the door as wide as it would go, and he stepped to the side.

Jodi stayed in the doorway, but they seemed to spot something at the same time. She made a slight gasping sound.

Because the thing they spotted appeared to be drops of blood.

Gabriel reminded himself that it could be fake. Just like the blood on the knife. But that didn’t stop the tightness in his chest.

“Come inside but stay back,” he told her. He definitely didn’t want her following what appeared to be a trail of blood drops. Drops that led right to the pantry.

The door to the pantry was ajar but not open enough for Gabriel to see if there was anyone or anything inside. With his gun ready, he went closer, and behind him he could hear Jodi shifting her position, as well. No doubt getting ready in case they were about to be attacked again.

As soon as he was close enough, Gabriel gave the door a kick with the toe of his boot. He took aim.

Then he cursed.

Hell.

There was more blood here, pooled on the floor amid the toppled cans. And in the middle of all that blood was what appeared to be a dead body.

Chapter Three

Breathe.

Jodi kept repeating that reminder to herself.

She couldn’t keep taking in those short bursts of air that could cause her to hyperventilate. She needed normal breaths because that was her best bet right now at staving off a panic attack.

Gabriel certainly wasn’t doing anything to put her at ease. He was seated at his desk at the sheriff’s office building on Main Street in Blue River, and he was on his umpteenth phone call since they’d arrived two hours earlier. Jameson and Cameron were in the squad room, and they were doing the same thing.

Obviously there was lots to do now that this was a murder investigation. In addition to the calls and fielding questions from his deputies, Gabriel also kept glancing up at her.

Not that he had to glance far.

Jodi was pacing across his office while she tried to keep herself together.

What Gabriel wasn’t doing was questioning their suspect. The bald kid who’d fired shots at them. Maybe a kid who had committed the murder, too. And had also left the knife on the porch. But Gabriel wouldn’t have a chance of confirming any of that until the kid’s lawyer arrived. Whenever that would be.

Gabriel finally finished his latest call, and immediately started making some notes on his computer. “You should go home,” he said. And since Jodi was the only other person in the room, that order was obviously meant for her. “I can have one of the reserve deputies drive you and stay with you until this is all sorted out.”

“I’m staying here,” she insisted.

Then, she huffed, a little insulted that Gabriel had thought she couldn’t take care of herself and needed a deputy. His doubt about her abilities probably had to do with that look that kept crossing her face, the one indicating she was about to have a panic attack. Jodi hated that it was there. Hated that it felt as if she might lose it at any moment, but that wouldn’t stop her from defending herself if someone came after her again.

“What did the ME have to say about the body?” she asked.

His eyebrow came up, maybe to show her that he was surprised that she’d known he was talking to the ME. She hadn’t heard anything the ME said, but she had been able to tell from Gabriel’s questions who’d been on the other end of the phone line.

“He’s a white male in his mid-to late thirties,” Gabriel answered after a short hesitation. “There was no ID on him. Cause of death appears to be exsanguination from multiple stab wounds to the torso.”

Breathe.

That felt like a punch to the chest. Because just hearing the words caused the memories to come. Memories of her own blood loss from stab wounds.

Mercy.

She’d lost so much blood that night that her heart had stopped for a couple of seconds. The medics had brought her back, but it could have gone either way. She could have ended up like the dead man in the Becketts’ house. Or like Gabriel’s parents who had died on their kitchen floor.

“Is this never going to end?” Jodi said before she could stop herself.

Gabriel cursed, got up from his desk and took hold of her arm. Good thing, too, because she suddenly wasn’t too steady on her feet. He put her in the chair and got her a bottle of water from the small fridge in the corner.

“This is why you shouldn’t be here,” he insisted. “This is too much for you.”

“It’s too much for all of us.”

He certainly didn’t argue with that, but he did sit on the armrest and stare down at her. She saw it all in his eyes. His own battle with the nightmarish memories. His unease at her being there.

Except it was more than unease.

Oh, no. It was that attraction again. Anytime they were within breathing distance of each other, the heat returned. Thankfully, they were both in a place to shove it away. It wouldn’t stay gone. But for now, they could keep it at bay.

“How do you think he got the knife?” Jodi pressed.

Gabriel lifted his shoulder. “Maybe he found it. I would say it’s a duplicate, but there’s the problem with only a handful of people knowing about the broken tip. Of course, a handful is more than enough for the info to leak and get to the wrong person. If so, he could be just some nutjob copycat.”

All of that made sense, but it didn’t exactly soothe her raw nerves. Too bad Gabriel didn’t have a theory that would clear her father’s name.

Gabriel gave a heavy sigh. “Look, I don’t know what happened, but if this guy confesses to sending the threatening emails and committing the murder, then maybe this will put an end to it.” He added another shrug when she stared at him. “Well, for everyone but your father.”

Yes. Her father would get a different kind of ending. This wouldn’t do a thing to get Travis out of jail.

Jodi looked away from him at the exact moment she felt Gabriel’s hand on her shoulder. She didn’t jump out of her skin as she usually did from an unexpected touch. In fact, it felt far more comforting than it should.

And that’s the reason she stood and moved away from him.

That got his attention. Something she hadn’t particularly wanted to get right now. Gabriel was giving her the once-over with those lawman’s eyes, and he was obviously waiting for an explanation.

“I just have trouble being touched sometimes,” she settled for saying.

A lie. She had trouble with it all the time.

He drew his eyebrows together. “Uh, have you gotten help for it?”

She nodded. That wasn’t a lie. She’d attempted to get help by seeing a string of therapists. “In my case, help didn’t work.”

He kept staring at her, clearly still wanting more. She’d already told him far more than she’d spilled to anyone else, and Jodi didn’t want to get any deeper into it. He probably wouldn’t understand that the only thing that eased the demons was the knowledge that she could now defend herself.

Thankfully, she didn’t have to add more because there was movement in the doorway. Jodi automatically reached for her gun, but it was just Cameron.

Cameron had lawman’s eyes, too, and he slid a glance between Gabriel and her. The corner of his mouth lifted a fraction and for just a second. A dimple flashed in his cheek.

“You two always did have a thing for each other,” he drawled.

Heaven knew what Cameron had seen or sensed to make him say that or to make him give that half smile, but it caused Gabriel to scowl. Unlike most people, Cameron didn’t seem to be affected by that particular expression from the king of scowls. Probably because he’d had a lifetime of scowls tossed at him. After all, Gabriel wasn’t just his boss, but they’d been friends since childhood.

“Do you have a reason to be here?” Gabriel snapped.

Cameron gave them that lazy smile again, and he handed her a cup of coffee and a small white bag. “It’s some doughnuts from the diner. Thought you might need a sugar fix right about now.”

She wasn’t hungry in the least. In fact, Jodi wasn’t sure she’d be able to hold anything down, but Cameron’s gesture touched her. “You remembered I have a sweet tooth,” she said.

“Hard to forget it. I remember having to wrestle some chocolate cake away from you once when we were kids.”

Jodi nodded. “And I had to wrestle them from Lauren and your sister, Gilly.”

She caught the slight change in Cameron’s expression and knew she’d hit a nerve. Two of them, actually. From what Jodi had heard, Gilly had died during childbirth, and Cameron was raising her child. Since that’d happened only a few months earlier, the grief still had to be raw.

However, there was another rawness, too. One that might never go away, as well. Once, Cameron had been in love with Lauren. And vice versa. But again, those feelings of young love had all been shattered the night of the murders because Cameron had been a deputy then, and Lauren had blamed him for not preventing her parents’ deaths. It probably wasn’t logical for Lauren to feel that way, but those sorts of raw feelings weren’t always logical.

“Yes,” Cameron said as if he knew what she was thinking.

His smile stayed in place a moment longer before his attention shifted to Gabriel. “The CSIs are processing the knife right away. We should know soon if the blood belongs to the victim and if there are prints that match our suspect.

“Sorry,” Cameron added to Jodi. “This kind of talk doesn’t exactly go well with coffee and doughnuts.”

“It’s all right. I want to know what’s happening with the case. Has the kid said anything?” she asked. “Or has his lawyer arrived yet?”

Cameron shook his head to both of her questions. “Nothing from him, but you do have a visitor, and he’s demanding to see you. It’s your boss, Hector March.”

Gabriel shot her a glance, one that seemed like an accusation. “I didn’t call him,” Jodi insisted. And she looked to Cameron for answers. “The murder is already on the news?”

The deputy nodded.

Good grief. That hadn’t taken long at all, but then, she hadn’t expected it to stay quiet. Still, she hadn’t wanted to deal with Hector when her nerves were this close to the surface.

Jodi stood, trying to steel herself up by taking some deep breaths and flexing her hands. “Where is he?”

Cameron hitched his thumb toward the squad room. “I had him wait out there. Something he’s not very happy about. Apparently, he’s not the waiting-around sort.”

No, he wasn’t. But if Jodi tried to put Hector off, that would only make him dig in his heels even more. She reminded herself that Hector had been the one to help her get back on her feet when she’d been just nineteen and devastated from the knife attack. He’d been the one to offer her a job and train her. She would probably be in a psych ward somewhere if it weren’t for him.

She put the coffee and doughnut bag on Gabriel’s desk and went out in the hall and toward Reception. Gabriel was right behind her, of course. And Hector was exactly where Cameron had said he would be. Her boss was dressed in his usual black cargo pants and black T-shirt. He’d once been special ops in the Marines, and he still looked as if he were in uniform.

Hector immediately went to her, ignoring Gabriel’s scowl. Heck, Cameron was scowling now, too. Apparently, neither approved of Hector’s shades-of-gray approach to his business and justice.

Hector didn’t touch her. He hadn’t in years, since she usually went board stiff when someone put their hands on her. But he did get close enough to whisper, “Are you all right?”

She managed a nod. “Neither of us were hit, and Gabriel has a suspect in custody.”

Hector turned to Gabriel then and extended his hand. “I’m Hector March, owner of Sentry Security.”

Gabriel didn’t shake his hand. “I know who you are.”

Hector gave a crisp nod. “And I know who you are, too, Sheriff. Why the hell would you let Jodi get anywhere near that house after we got those threatening emails?”

That grabbed Gabriel’s attention. “We? You got an email, too?”

“Yes.” Hector frowned as if annoyed that he would have to take the time to address this. “It came this morning. But Jodi got hers the day before yesterday, right after she told a reporter that she was remembering some more details of her attack. I’m sure she explained that to you, and that’s why you shouldn’t have let her go to the house.”

“I didn’t let Jodi do anything.” Gabriel’s voice was as crisp as Hector’s nod had been. “When I saw her car, I stopped to see what she was doing. She trespassed onto private property and then stumbled onto a crime scene.”

Suddenly, all eyes were on her. Even the emergency dispatcher at the reception desk and the other deputies were looking at her. Maybe they were waiting for some kind of logic from her that they would understand. But it wasn’t something they’d be able to grasp. Because they’d never been left for dead in a shallow grave.

“I wanted to see if being at the old house would trigger any other memories of the night of my attack,” she admitted. Best not to tell them she had also wanted to draw out the snake who’d knifed her.

Hector pulled back his shoulders, clearly not approving of that. “And did it? Are you actually remembering new details?”

“No.” In fact, the only thing it had accomplished was nearly getting Gabriel, Jameson and her killed along with giving her a new set of nightmarish memories.

All that blood on the pantry floor.

Mercy, another dead body.

She prayed the man wasn’t dead because of her, but Jodi had to accept that he could be.

“Did you give the FBI the email you got?” Gabriel asked Hector at the same moment that Hector asked him, “Is Jodi free to go? I can drive her to her apartment in San Antonio.”

“I don’t want to go home,” she insisted. “I want to listen when Gabriel talks to the suspect.”

Hector’s mouth tightened. It was yet something else he didn’t approve of. Tough. She was staying put.

“And yes, I gave the FBI the email,” Hector answered Gabriel, but he kept his attention on her. “Apparently, it’s not traceable since the person who sent it bounced it around through several foreign internet providers.”

Not a surprise. Jodi hadn’t figured it would be so easy to find out who was doing this. But then maybe their suspect would spill it all. Not just about the emails but about the person who’d hired him.

“You think the guy in custody is the one who attacked you ten years ago?” Hector asked.

She didn’t jump to answer. Because she wasn’t sure how much Gabriel wanted to reveal about this investigation.

“No,” Gabriel finally said. “He’s too young. Plus, I believe the man who attacked her has already been caught and is in prison.”

Hector made a quick sound of agreement. He always did when it came to her father. It was the one thing he had in common with the Becketts—they thought her father was guilty.

“Several other people got threats,” Hector went on. “Apparently, all of you did.” He glanced at Gabriel, Jameson and then her. “But so did Russell Laney and August Canton.”

Judging from the soft grunt of agreement Gabriel made, he was already aware of those last two. Jodi certainly wasn’t, and she looked at Gabriel for him to provide some details.

“There are probably others who got the emails, too,” Gabriel said as Cameron stepped away to take a call. “The FBI figures some folks just deleted them as a hoax. But, yes, I suspect anyone connected to the initial investigation was on the receiving end of the threats. Russell and August got theirs the same day I did.”

Jodi knew both Russell and August, of course. Both had been suspects in the Beckett murders and her attack.

Them, and Jodi’s own brother, Theo.

It was public knowledge that the police and then the FBI had questioned all three. Theo, because he’d been a hothead at the time and had a run-in that day with Gabriel’s father, Sherman, over some horses that’d broken fence. Russell had gotten caught up in it simply because Jodi had ended her short relationship with him the week before the attack. August was her dad’s half brother and had been just as much of a hothead as Theo.

And the cops excluded them all as suspects.

After they’d found her father passed out drunk with Gabriel’s father’s blood on him.

“August thinks the threatening emails prove that Travis is innocent,” Hector went on. “In fact, he’s already taking all of this to Travis’s lawyers in the hopes that it’ll help with his last-ditch appeal.”

August was probably the only other person in Texas who believed her father was innocent. Despite that, it never had felt as if August and she were on the same side. That’s because August had never approved of her friendship with the Becketts. It didn’t matter that the friendship had ended the night of the attack. It was a drop in the bucket, though, to what August held against Jameson. Because Jameson had been the most vocal of the Becketts in professing her father’s guilt.

“Theo might have gotten a threatening email, too. Have you been in touch with him?” Hector asked her.

“No. I haven’t spoken to him in over a year. I don’t even have a phone number for him.”

Nor did she know who to contact to get one. As a DEA agent, Theo spent a lot of time on deep-cover assignments, and if the copycat/killer had managed to send Theo an email, then he or she was well connected with insider Justice Department information.

Not exactly a comforting thought if it was true.

“We have an ID on our young suspect,” Cameron announced as soon as he finished his latest call. “We got a match on his prints because he’s a missing person. His name is Billy Coleman.”

Jodi repeated that a couple of times to see if she recognized it. She didn’t.

“He’s a runaway,” Cameron continued. “His parents filed a missing person report about a year ago. Not for the first time, either. He’s run away at least two other times. He’s seventeen, and judging from his juvie record, he’s paranoid schizophrenic. My guess is he’s probably off his meds.”

Gabriel cursed. And Jodi knew why. Billy was no doubt going to plead mental incompetence, and they might never get answers as to why he’d committed this horrible crime.

But something about that didn’t sound right.

“Billy called a lawyer,” Jodi pointed out.

“Yeah,” Gabriel agreed, and he cursed again. “And he had the name and phone number of the attorney when he got here to the sheriff’s office. Not something a runaway teen would necessarily have.”

“Especially since he’s not from a wealthy family,” Cameron supplied. “His parents both work at blue-collar jobs.”

So, that confirmed that someone had likely put Billy up to doing this, and if so, that meant he was just another victim of this tangled mess.

“What about the dead guy?” Gabriel asked Cameron. “Any ID on him yet?”

“No. His prints weren’t in the system, so we’ll have to try to get an ID by searching through missing person reports and getting his picture out to the press.”

That might take a while. Especially if the man was homeless and no one was looking for him.

“I really think you should let me take you home,” Hector said, turning back to her. “Gabriel can fill you in on anything that happens, including whatever the suspect says in the interview.”

She was shaking her head before Hector even finished. “I’m staying here.” And she didn’t leave any room for argument in her tone.

Hector gave a heavy sigh and looked at Gabriel as if he expected him to force her to leave. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea for Jodi to be out anywhere right now,” Gabriel answered. “She’ll be safer here.”

Jodi was more than a little surprised that Gabriel had backed her up. Then she realized why he’d done that. Because she was almost certainly in danger from the person who was manipulating Billy. Gabriel probably didn’t want to be a part of another attack that could leave her dead.

“Just go,” Jodi told Hector. “I’ll be fine.”

He obviously knew that “fine” part was a lie. Was also obviously not happy about being dismissed. But he didn’t get a chance to voice that unhappiness. That’s because Jameson finished his phone call, and he got up from his desk, making a beeline toward them.

“There were prints on the knife,” Jameson said, “and the CSIs got an immediate hit.” He snapped toward Jodi, and that definitely wasn’t a friendly expression he was sporting. “Is there something you want to tell us?” he demanded.

Jodi shook her head, not understanding why Gabriel’s brother looked ready to blast her to smithereens.

But she soon found out.

Jameson turned to his brother to finish delivering the news. “It’s Jodi’s prints on the knife.”

Chapter Four

Gabriel had hoped there wouldn’t be any more surprises today, but this was a huge one. Since Billy had been wearing gloves, Gabriel hadn’t expected there to be any prints at all on the knife.

Especially not Jodi’s.

Judging from the stunned look on her face, Jodi hadn’t expected it, either. Her attention slashed from Jameson to Gabriel, and she shook her head. She also opened her mouth as if ready to blurt out some kind of denial, but the denial and anything else she might have said died on her lips because she groaned and sank down into the nearest chair.

“Jodi was obviously set up,” Hector jumped to say.

Gabriel hated to give the man even a slight benefit of doubt, but Hector could be right. Of course, there was another possibility. One that wasn’t going to help ease that stark expression on Jodi’s already too pale face.

Gabriel moved closer to her, lifting her chin so they could make eye contact. Like the other time he’d touched her, she tensed, making him wonder just how many “scars” she had from the attack a decade ago. Probably plenty that she wouldn’t want to discuss with him.

“Do you remember ever touching the knife?” Gabriel asked. He’d chosen his words carefully. No need to say aloud that he wanted to know if she’d taken hold of the handle when her attacker had been trying to end her life.

Jodi ran her hand through her hair and shook her head. “I honestly don’t know.” She shifted her attention to Jameson, and even though the paleness and nerves were still there, she straightened her posture and took a deep breath. “Is the fingerprint pattern consistent with me having grabbed it while I was being stabbed?”

Jameson lifted his shoulder. “There are two clear prints. Your right index finger and thumb. The other prints are smeared.”

“That means nothing. Her attacker could have been wearing gloves.” Hector again.

It riled Gabriel that Jodi’s boss had taken on the role of defending her. Then again, plenty of things riled him about Hector. Including the fact that Jodi had turned to him and not Gabriel after the nightmare ten years ago. Hector considered himself some kind of victim’s recovery advocate and had come to visit Jodi in the hospital shortly after the attack. She’d allowed him into her life—while excluding Gabriel.

“Does Jodi need a lawyer?” Hector asked, glancing at both Jameson and Gabriel. “Are you accusing her of something? Because it certainly seems to me that’s what you’re doing.”

Well, it hadn’t been certain to Jodi. Her eyes widened, and she shook her head again.

“I know you didn’t stab yourself,” Gabriel said before she could speak. But that was only the tip of the iceberg. There was another component to this situation.

The most recent murder.

Jodi seemed to understand that even before Gabriel could bring it up. “I also didn’t kill that man and plant the knife on the doorstep so I could clear my father’s name.” Jodi’s voice was stronger now, and she got to her feet to face him. She repeated the part about not killing the man.

Gabriel believed her. Yeah, it was stupid to take her word at face value, especially since he’d hardly seen her in years. He wasn’t sure of the woman she’d become. But he seriously doubted that Jodi had become a killer.

“The FBI wants to talk to you,” Jameson told her. “They’re sending an agent from their San Antonio office.”

Which meant the agent would be there soon, since San Antonio was less than an hour’s drive away. That might not be enough time, though, for Gabriel to get answers from their suspect. He hoped that didn’t mean the agent would take her into custody.

“If this is a copycat killing,” Gabriel volunteered, “then the FBI doesn’t have jurisdiction. I do.” That was splitting legal hairs, but it might stop Jodi from being whisked away and put through what would no doubt be grueling interrogations.

Hell.

Gabriel frowned, then silently cursed himself. He wasn’t thinking with his head now. He was thinking like the twenty-four-year-old deputy who had turned Jodi away that night.

He was also thinking like a man.

One who was still attracted to a woman who shouldn’t be on his attraction radar. But she was. And there didn’t seem to be anything he could do about it.

“I’ll get you a lawyer,” Hector told her, already taking out his phone.

“No, don’t. Not yet anyway.” She turned back to Gabriel. “Any idea when Billy’s attorney will be here?”

Gabriel had to shake his head. “But it should be soon. We’ve already bagged his clothes and tested his hands for gunshot residue. There’s residue, by the way, and coupled with the fact that he attacked us, that’ll be enough to charge him. Well, at least it’s enough to charge him for shooting at us.”

Jodi continued to stare at him. “You doubt that he killed that man in the house?”

Gabriel really didn’t want to get into the specifics of what he thought or didn’t think. Not with Hector right there. Not before he’d had a chance to try to work it all out in his head.

But there was a problem.

And Gabriel didn’t believe it was his imagination that Jodi wanted to keep Hector out of this, too. Partially out of it anyway, since she’d refused to go with him and had even asked her boss to leave.

“Come with me a minute,” Gabriel told her. He motioned for Jodi to follow him and headed toward the hall. He wanted her in the observation room next to where they were holding Billy.

However, Jodi didn’t get far because Hector stepped in front of her, blocking her path. “You’re not questioning her,” Hector snapped, his glare on Gabriel.

The man knew how to test every rileable bone in Gabriel’s body. “I can and I will.” He tapped his badge in case Hector had forgotten that he was the one in charge here. Of course, Gabriel didn’t have an interrogation in mind, but he didn’t intend to tell Hector that.

“I’ll be all right,” Jodi told the man, and she stepped around him.

That put some fire in Hector’s eyes. “It’s not a good idea for you to talk to the sheriff without your lawyer present. He’s abusing your childhood friendship. Hell, you might not even be able to trust him. Remember, he’s the one who helped convict your father.”

That stopped Jodi, and for several moments Gabriel thought she might change her mind about going with him. She took in more of those deep breaths. The kind a person took while trying to fight off a panic attack. Or a fit of temper.

“Go home,” Jodi finally said to Hector. Her voice was as tight as the muscles in her face. “I’ll call you when I’m done.”

Oh, that didn’t please Hector. That fire in his eyes turned to a full blaze. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be waiting right here when you’re finished.”

In addition to being a pain, the guy was also mule-headed. Normally, Gabriel would have been pleased that Jodi had someone like that on her side, but this wasn’t a normal situation. And Hector wasn’t just an ordinary boss. He was someone who cut legal corners to suit his needs.

“Sorry about that,” Jodi mumbled as Gabriel ushered her into the observation room.

There was a two-way mirror, and Gabriel immediately spotted Billy seated at the table in the interview room. He appeared to be asleep, his head resting on his folded arms.

Gabriel shut the door just in case Hector decided to follow them. Of course, Jameson and Cameron likely wouldn’t allow that to happen. They both knew about Gabriel’s low opinion of the man, and they had equally low opinions of Jodi’s boss.

“Hector’s protective of me,” Jodi volunteered.

“Yeah, I can see that.” He hadn’t intended to make that sound like some kind of question, but it did. And that question was—why?

“I owe Hector,” she said, answering that unspoken question. “He was there for me after, well, after.”

“Only because you didn’t let any of us be there for you,” Gabriel pointed out.

She didn’t disagree with that. Couldn’t. Because she’d refused to see him, Jameson or his sisters, Ivy or Lauren, when she was home from the hospital. After that, she’d disappeared and hadn’t resurfaced until eight months later at her father’s trial. By then, she’d already started her association with Hector. Just how deep that association went, Gabriel didn’t know.

It was possible they were or had been lovers.

Jodi didn’t look away. She met his gaze head-on. “I’m stating the obvious here, but when I was recovering from my injuries, my father was charged with murdering your parents. For a while, my brother was a suspect as well, and you and Jameson were looking to put someone—anyone—behind bars for what happened. It didn’t seem like a good idea to see you and cry on your shoulder. Plus, you had your hands full with the investigation.”

“So, you cried on Hector’s instead.” Gabriel didn’t bother cursing himself that time, but it was definitely something he shouldn’t have thrown out there. He hadn’t brought her in here to dig up the past, but they were certainly doing just that.

“I cried but not on anyone’s shoulder,” she informed him. “Wait. You’re not thinking I turned to Hector because of some romantic feelings?” She cursed, made a face and didn’t wait for him to respond. “It’s not like that between Hector and me. Or any other man.”

Her mouth tightened as if she also had said too much. Now, she looked away, dodging his gaze, and everything in her body language signaled to him that this part of the conversation was over.

Good. It was time to move on, and he tipped his head toward Billy. “There was no blood on his clothes. Nor any visible on any part of his body.”

It didn’t take her long to process that. “That’s why you don’t believe he killed the man.”

Gabriel nodded. “There was blood everywhere in that pantry, and the guy had been stabbed multiple times. An organized killer could have possibly avoided spatter, but I’m not sure Billy’s anywhere near organized.”

She stared at the teenager on the other side of the glass. “He could have changed his clothes and cleaned himself up after the murder.” But Jodi quickly waved that off. She huffed, but it wasn’t exactly a sound of frustration. There was something else mixed with it, too. “You really do know that I wouldn’t do something like kill a man, don’t you?”

“I know.” There was something else mixed with his response, too. Empathy. Hell. More than that. Sympathy. Something that she darn sure wouldn’t want him to feel. “And you do know if I’d had any suspicions ten years ago about what was going to happen, I wouldn’t have let you leave my house?”

She nodded, sighed. Jodi looked up, their gazes connecting, and for just a split second, it seemed as if the last decade melted away. He caught a glimpse of the girl. The very one who’d had a thing for him. That thing was still there; Gabriel could feel it, but it was buried beneath the scars and the pain.

He got another flood of memories then. The heat in his own body. He’d never told Jodi that he’d wanted her that night. Wouldn’t tell her, either. Because it wouldn’t help. In fact, it could make things worse with them going through the “what could have been” scenarios.

Their eye contact continued, and Gabriel could feel that old attraction becoming a simmer again. Thankfully, the simmer turned chilly when he heard voices in the hall.

“I need to see the sheriff and my client now,” a woman demanded. It wasn’t a shout but close enough so that Gabriel had no trouble hearing her.

She was no doubt Billy’s attorney. Good. That meant Gabriel could get on with the interrogation.

Gabriel threw open the door and came face-to-face with Cameron and a brunette who was dressed to the nines. She had a briefcase on the floor next to her pricey shoes. She certainly didn’t look like someone who worked cheap, and that piqued his interest, and suspicions, even more. There was no way Billy could pay someone like this.

So, who was footing this bill?

“I’m Mara Rayburn,” she said. Her voice had lowered a couple of notches, but she didn’t sound very happy about this visit. “You’re Sheriff Beckett?”

Gabriel nodded, but before he could say anything, she took his hand and slapped some papers in his palm. “That’s a court order to transfer my client to a psychiatric facility where he belongs.”

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