Loe raamatut: «Gunfire On The Ranch»

Chapter One

Theo Canton wished there was a better way to stop a killer. Anything other than coming here to the Beckett Ranch to disrupt wedding plans. But if his intel was right, there could be another murder—tonight.

Maybe Ivy Beckett’s murder.

Hell, maybe her entire family and Theo’s sister, since they would possibly all be under the same roof for the ceremony. A ceremony that was to take place tomorrow.

Theo definitely didn’t want a repeat of what had happened ten years ago when two people died at the hands of a killer. Just the thought of it put a knot in his stomach, along with bringing back old memories. He had to shove those memories aside, though, because they would only cause him to lose focus.

He had enough Beckett blood on his hands without adding more.

Theo took the final turn to the ranch and spotted the decorations already on the pasture fences. Blue satin ribbon flapping in the hot May breeze. There were no ranch hands out and about. No signs of a killer, either, but the snake could already be there, waiting to strike.

His phone buzzed, and he saw the name flash on the screen. Wesley Sanford, a fellow DEA agent who’d alerted Theo that there could be a problem, that a killer could be headed to the ranch. Theo kept his attention on the road, on his surroundings, too, but he hit the answer button to put the call on speaker.

“Anything?” Wesley asked right away.

“No, not yet. How about you?”

“I’ll be at the Blue River sheriff’s office in just a couple of minutes. I’ll tell the deputies what’s going on. I might even get the chance to speak to Gabriel himself.”

Gabriel, the sheriff of the ranching town of Blue River as well as Ivy’s brother. Well, one of them, anyway. Her other brother, Jameson, was a Texas Ranger.

“But I’m guessing that the sheriff won’t be working this late the night before his wedding?” Wesley added.

Theo had no idea. He hadn’t kept up with news on the Becketts. They were more of those old memories, and wounds, that he hadn’t wanted in his life. Besides, the Becketts wouldn’t want him keeping up with them. Or even want him around, for that matter. They’d made that crystal clear ten years ago. Theo had had no choice but to come tonight, though. Once the danger was over, however, he’d get out of there as fast as he had a decade ago.

“If Gabriel is at his office,” Theo told Wesley, “remember not to say anything in the police station. Take him outside to talk.” If their criminal informant had been right, the killer could have managed to plant a bug in the building. And in the sheriff’s house. “I don’t want this clown to know we’re onto him. I want to catch him.”

Wesley hadn’t especially needed that reminder, but the stakes were too high for either of them to make a mistake. The last time Theo had made a mistake with the Becketts, Ivy’s parents had been murdered. Maybe by this same killer who was after them now.

Or maybe by Theo’s own father.

But if his father had actually been the murderer ten years ago, then tonight Theo was dealing with a copycat. Because his father was miles away behind bars in a maximum-security prison. Still, a copycat could be just as lethal as the original one had been.

Too bad Theo couldn’t just sound the alarm and alert Ivy’s brothers and the ranch hands, but that possible bug in Gabriel’s house meant the only secure way for Theo to contact the Becketts was outside, face-to-face.

“Whether the sheriff is here or not, I’ll let someone know there might be a bug,” Wesley assured him. “Call me when you can.”

Theo hit the end-call button on his phone just as he reached the top of the hill, and the ranch house came into view. Well, one of the houses, anyway. From what he’d learned, there were now four on the grounds. One for Gabriel. Another belonging to Jameson. The third was one Gabriel’s deputy and longtime friend, Cameron Doran, had built.

It was the fourth house, though, that contained the bad memories.

Because that was where Ivy’s parents had been murdered. No one lived there and hadn’t since, well, since that night.

According to the quick check Theo had done before he’d left for Blue River, Ivy’s house was hours away in a rural area near Houston. Apparently, Theo wasn’t the only one who’d left Blue River after the murders.

Other than her address, there hadn’t been a lot of info to find on Ivy, though she had listed herself as widowed on the tax documents for her small ranch. So she’d not only moved on physically but also emotionally with another man she’d married and lost. Theo felt a hit of the jealousy before he quickly reined it in. Ivy wasn’t his, hadn’t been for a long time, so of course she had moved on. That’s what normal people did.

Theo hadn’t considered himself normal in a while now.

He stopped his truck beneath a cluster of trees only about twenty yards from Gabriel’s house. Theo drew his gun and made his way to the side of the wraparound porch. There were plenty of shrubs where he could hide and have a line of sight to all four houses. However, he’d barely gotten into position when he heard something he didn’t want to hear.

“Drop your gun,” someone snapped.

Hell. How had a person managed to get so close without him noticing? And it wasn’t just any ordinary someone, either. Theo recognized that voice even after all these years.

Ivy.

He turned, slowly, and he spotted her at the back corner of the house. Thanks to the light coming from one of the windows, he had no trouble seeing her face.

And the rifle she was pointing at him.

Apparently, she had no trouble seeing him, either, because she whispered his name on a rise of breath. What she didn’t do was lower her weapon.

Theo said her name, and it had far more emotion in it than he wanted. Of course, any drop of emotion was too much right now, since he didn’t want their past playing into this. She was his ex-lover, emphasis on the ex. All he wanted now was to do his job and get the heck out of there.

Ivy didn’t say anything else, but she started walking toward him. Her attention volleyed between his face and his gun, which he lowered to his side.

“I was getting something from Gabriel’s office when I glanced out the window and saw you,” she finally said. “We didn’t expect you. Judging from the way you were sneaking around, you didn’t want us to see you.”

No, he hadn’t wanted the killer to see him.

“I had to come,” he told her. “I found out...something.”

Ivy flinched a little and came even closer until she was only about a foot away from him. She hadn’t changed much in the past ten years. She was almost thirty now and still had that thick, dark brown hair that fell just past her shoulders. Still had the same intense eyes. He couldn’t see the color of them in the darkness, but he knew they were sapphire blue.

Despite Theo’s not wanting to feel anything, he did. The old attraction that for some stupid reason felt just as strong as it always had. But he was also feeling something else. The anger. That’s why he kept watch around them.

“I guess you heard about the wedding. Are you here to see your sister?” she asked.

“No.” Best not to get into the fact that he hadn’t seen his kid sister, Jodi, in a long time. Because that was a different set of bad memories. Not because he didn’t love her. He did. But Jodi was a reminder that he’d failed her, too. She’d nearly gotten killed the same night as Ivy’s folks, and he hadn’t been able to stop it. Now, all these years later, she was marrying Gabriel Beckett.

So obviously Gabriel and Jodi had managed to work through their shared painful pasts. He guessed they’d found their “normal.”

“It’s not safe for us to be out here,” Theo explained. “We need to get in my truck so we can talk.”

She didn’t budge, but she did follow his gaze when he looked around again. “You heard about the threatening letter,” Ivy said.

No, he hadn’t, but it got his attention, and Theo shook his head. “What letter?”

Ivy huffed, and she finally lowered her gun. “The latest one had a warning that my brothers, my sister and I would all be murdered on the anniversary of our parents’ deaths.”

Which was only two months away.

Ivy’s tone practically dismissed the threat her family had gotten. But Theo wasn’t dismissing anything. “You get a lot of letters like that?”

“Enough. Emails, too, and the occasional phone call from blocked numbers. If you didn’t know about that, then why are you here?” she asked without hesitating. “And why did you say it wasn’t safe for us to be out here?”

“Because it’s not.” He took a deep breath. “You know I’m a special agent in the DEA?”

Her mouth tightened, and she nodded. “Gabriel says you’re what law enforcement calls a joe.”

That was the slang term for it all right. An agent who went into deep cover, sometimes years at a time. Just as Theo had done. In fact, he was less than a month out of a three-year assignment where he’d infiltrated a militia group to track the sale of drugs.

“Yes,” he verified, “and I have access to criminal informants who give me intel from time to time. According to one of those informants, there’s a killer coming here to the ranch tonight.”

Her eyes widened. Then narrowed just as fast. She looked ready to bolt, of course, but he saw her quickly rein that in. “How reliable is this so-called intel?”

Good question. “Reliable enough for me to come to a place where I know I’m not welcome.”

She stayed quiet a moment. “You could have just called,” Ivy pointed out, confirming his notion about his not being welcome.

He shook his head. “According to the informant, the killer managed to bug both the sheriff’s office and Gabriel’s house.”

Theo saw another punch of concern on her face, maybe some skepticism, too, and she had another look around as Theo did. “This killer is connected to my parents’ murders?”

“The informant says the killer is.” Theo paused. “But the informant also said this is the same guy who murdered your folks.”

Ivy groaned. Mumbled some profanity under her breath. “We know who killed them. Your father, Travis Canton. And he’s sitting in jail right now because there was more than enough evidence to prove he’d done it.”

No, there was more than enough evidence to convict him. That was splitting hairs, but since his father couldn’t remember if he’d murdered the Becketts, Theo still had his doubts.

“Travis hated my parents,” Ivy reminded him as if he’d said those doubts aloud. “He threatened them just hours before the murders. And when the deputies found him by the creek, he had my father’s blood on his shirt.”

All of that was true. What she could have added was that Travis was an alcoholic who’d experienced blackouts, both that night and others. He could have killed the Becketts in a drunken haze and not even remembered.

Or someone could have set him up.

Someone waiting to finish the job by killing the Becketts’ children.

“Your father was the sheriff at the time of his murder,” he continued. What he was about to say would be old news to her, but he wanted to remind her that everything might not be black-and-white here. “Your mother was a former cop. They had plenty of enemies because of the arrests they made over the years. One of those enemies could be coming after you tonight, and that’s why you don’t need to be standing out here.”

There was a bit more worry in her eyes this time when she glanced around. But she still didn’t budge.

Now it was Theo’s turn to mumble some profanity. “Look, I know Gabriel, Jameson and your sister, Lauren, won’t want me inside—”

“Lauren’s not here and won’t be coming. She left town around the same time you did and hasn’t been back.”

Theo couldn’t fault her for that. Lauren was the youngest, had been barely eighteen when she’d been made an orphan. Like Theo, she had no doubt wanted a fresh start.

“I’m sorry,” he said, because it sounded as if Ivy was hurt that Lauren wasn’t there. It was a hurt he understood. “Hell, maybe my own sister won’t want me here, either. But can we at least sit in my truck while I convince you that this threat could be real?”

“And how will you do that?” she asked. Yeah, he’d been right about that skepticism.

“I’ve got a recording from the criminal informant. He knew some things about the night of the murders. Things that weren’t revealed to the press. He says the killer told him those things.”

Her attention slashed toward the house. “Gabriel will need to hear this.” And now there was some urgency in her voice.

Yes, he would. Jameson, too. And Jodi. “But not inside. Remember, there could be listening devices. If the killer knows we’re onto him, it could send him back underground where he could prepare for another attack. And next time, we might not get a heads-up from a CI.”

He could see the debate going on inside her, and with each passing second, Theo’s unease escalated. It really wasn’t a smart idea for them to be outside.

“Your brothers don’t trust me,” he added. “I get that.”

Man, did he. Because for a short period of time after the Becketts were murdered, Theo had been a suspect.

His father wasn’t the only one who’d had bad blood with Ivy’s parents.

Just hours before their murder, Theo had had a run-in with Ivy’s father, Sherman, and Sherman had told him in no uncertain terms that he was to stop seeing Ivy, that she didn’t need a bad boy in her life. Theo had been furious, even though Sherman had been right—Ivy had deserved something better.

“Yes,” Ivy whispered as if she knew exactly what he was thinking. “But let’s not allow old water and old bridges to play into this. Gabriel needs to hear this recording and decide if it’s something we should be worried about.”

Yes, and her brother would be worried once he heard what the CI had to say.

Ivy motioned for him to follow her. Not to his truck but rather to the back of the house. She hurried, thank God, which meant it had finally sunk in that she was in danger. But since she was clearly taking him inside, Theo had to speak up.

“Remember the part about a possible bug. When we’re inside, whisper.” That might not be enough if the listening device was sensitive and had a wide range, but at this point he just wanted her out of the line of possible fire.

She led him onto the porch and through the back door, but Ivy stopped in a mudroom, where there were raincoats on wall pegs and cowboy boots stashed beside a wooden bench. A reminder that this was indeed a working ranch. Gabriel wasn’t just a sheriff, but also raised cattle and horses. There were cans of paint and what appeared to be scaffolding, as well.

“There was a fire last month,” Ivy said, following his gaze. “An attack. That’s why I want to make sure another one doesn’t happen.”

He wanted the same thing, especially since Theo had read about that attack. His sister had been the target, and even though the guy was now dead, he’d clearly left his mark.

“I’ll have Gabriel come back here.” Ivy put the rifle on the top shelf of the storage closet, took out her phone from her jeans pocket and sent off a text.

Theo had another look around, shut the back door and then glanced out the single window that was in the small room. Ivy reached for the light switch to turn it on, but he stopped her. Of course, that meant touching her, and he got another sucker punch of the old heat.

A third sucker punch when their gazes met.

She didn’t say anything, but Theo thought maybe she had felt it, too. He also thought maybe she was fighting to push it away as hard as he was. Yes, she was a widow, but after everything they’d gone through, she probably didn’t want to have another round with him any more than he did with her.

“It’s not a good idea to be this close to a window,” Theo insisted. And yes, he whispered. “We should at least get down.”

She clamped her teeth over her bottom lip for a couple of seconds. A gesture he’d seen her do so many times. Nerves. But she finally ducked down so that her head wouldn’t be anywhere near the glass. Theo ducked, too, but he stayed high enough so he could continue to glance out and make sure the killer wasn’t sneaking up on them.

The moments crawled by, and with each one of them Theo became well aware of the close contact between them. It was hard to fight the attraction and the old memories when they were this close. And when he caught her scent.

Hell.

For just a split second, the image of her naked body flashed into his head.

Thankfully, the image didn’t stay. It vanished when he heard the voice and the sound of footsteps. It was yet another voice he recognized. Gabriel’s.

Theo braced himself for whatever Gabriel might dole out. He could just order Theo out of there, but Gabriel barely spared him a glance when he stepped into the doorway. That’s because he was on his phone, and he took his sister by the arm and moved her out of the mudroom and into the adjacent kitchen.

Once Gabriel had done that, he finished his call, slipped his phone back into his jeans pocket and finally looked at Theo. This time, it was more than a glance.

“What the hell did you do? Who did you bring with you?” Gabriel demanded. But he didn’t give Theo a chance to answer. “One of the ranch hands just called. He spotted an armed man crawling over the back fence, and the man’s making his way to the house right now.”