Mitch called Elaine Barber’s number on the back of the card she’d given him. No answer, so he left a message.
“We have to talk. Now.”
She had access to the town, she’d known where Nana Jo and Ben had been staying, and she had a real nice camera. What better person to be feeding information to Wade? He should have guessed before that she might be the one who had been sending letters to Wade in prison and now she was his support, his home base. It had taken only one phone call to the West Coast Bee to discover they’d never heard of an Elaine Barber.
Rusty, Mitch. He prowled the town, looking for Barber, poking his head into the coffee shop, the hardware store. He finally pulled up at the gas station, where Eddie polished the pumps. Eddie had retired from his work as a health inspector, and he channeled all his energy into the station he’d bought a decade back—Eddie’s gas station was cleaner than some restaurants where Mitch had eaten. Eddie removed his sun hat and listened, rubbing his speckled bald head.
“Saw her this morning. She filled up early, just like last week.”
“Last week? She’s filled up twice in that time?”
“Yes.” He nodded. “Asked about your kin, too.”
Mitch blew out a breath. “Everybody wants to know about Wade.”
“Not Wade.”
Nerves fired along Mitch’s extremities, lifting the hairs on his arms. “Who?”
“Your pops.”
He nodded thanks and ran to his truck, dialing his father’s number as he went.
One ring. Two, three, no answer.
He could be out for a walk, fishing, making a run to the hardware store, anyplace. But the mantra rolled through Mitch’s mind.
Three things...money, communication, a base of operations. Wade could secure all three of those things at Pops’s place, especially with Elaine Barber’s help.
He could make it to his father’s by truck, but it would be faster on horseback. The stop at the ranch took only a few minutes, and though he waved to Chad up in the tower, he did not slow to give a report. He knew Liam, Chad and Gus would insist on coming with him. It would not do. He wanted all their guns ready for Wade if he showed up, and besides, if anything happened to any of them trying to bring down his brother... No. Wade would not have anyone else. No more victims. Not this time or any time. It would end today.
He messaged Foley, who didn’t answer his phone, urged Rosie to a trot as he found the head of the trail that bisected the pastureland, aiming directly for the coast. The morning sun had blossomed earlier but had been replaced by an oppressive gray cloud cover. Rosie moved easily up the trail, her strong flanks taking the slope in stride. Like the good horse she was, she sensed his urgency, and by the time they reached the sloping part of the trail, she was galloping, the wind catching her mane. He leaned low and let her have her way, his gut churning with everything in him.
As they clattered over the rocky ground and reached sea level, he saw Barber’s car parked on the edge of the dock. He slid off Rosie, leaving her loose, and sprinted to his father’s slip as quietly as he could, plastered against the cabin door. Bobbing his head up, he risked a look through the tiny window. He saw no one, but his glance had taken in an important detail—there was a pizza box open on the wooden table. Pops had never learned to like pizza, and the thrifty man would never have indulged in an extravagance for himself anyway.
There was no time to wait for police or marshals or anyone else. He might be too late now to save his father’s life. He counted to three and charged in. His heart stopped.
There were two bodies on the floor. Everything in him wanted to render aid, but the cop instincts were in full fire. He quickly checked from bow to stern and below until he confirmed there was no one hiding. Then he called for an ambulance, dropped the phone and gently rolled his father over. Blood stained his temple, and to Mitch’s great elation, he moaned.
“Pops, don’t worry,” he breathed. “Ambulance is on its way.” He put his father on his side, draped a blanket over him and went to the second victim.
His mind struggled to comprehend as he rolled Elaine Barber onto her back. She too was breathing, but bleeding heavily from a stab wound in her side. At first he’d thought perhaps Pops had defended himself, but this sizable entry point was not the work of any of Pops’s knives.
He grabbed a clean towel from the drawer and applied pressure to the wound. The gleam of a chain around her neck drew his attention, and he pulled out a badge, spattered with blood—a badge he knew well.
US marshal.
He pulled her phone from her pocket and used her thumb to unlock it. Foley’s number was the first in her contacts. Foley had put a team into place, and Elaine Barber had been watching Pops’s place as a good agent should. Mitch guessed she’d tried to take Wade down and he’d won the contest.
He put the phone on the floor and hit the speaker button. Foley’s phone rang once, twice. When Foley answered, Mitch barked into the phone. “You’ve got an agent down at my father’s place, bleeding bad. Go pick up Jane and Ben. I’ll stay until an ambulance arrives.”
“Mitch...” Foley started.
He cut through the reply. “Did you get Wade?”
“No.”
“Then you have to take Jane and Ben into custody. Right now. By whatever means necessary.”
“Copy that,” Foley said. “Take care of Barber. She’s a good cop. I’ll send backup.”
He took three precious seconds to tap out a text to Jane on his phone. Go with Foley.
The towel was now soaked crimson, and he could do nothing but press both hands to Barber’s side and pray that Wade had not taken another woman’s life.
Jane answered her cell phone. “I’m coming over as soon as I get clear of this briefing to take you and your son into protective custody,” Foley said.
“No,” Jane said, “I...”
“Mitch just called me. He said to do it now. I’ll be there within the hour.”
“I...”
“Listen, lady. If you don’t come, I’ll leak this story to every wire service in the country. Everyone will know Jane Whitehorse is holing up at the Roughwater Ranch. Their mailbox will overflow with hate letters.”
“You can’t do that.”
“I can, and what’s more, Mitch will approve. He said to take whatever means necessary. Be ready in an hour. I had to reroute the cop I had stationed at the ranch, so stay put.”
Her heart quaked. Mitch? Mitch had stripped her of her right to choose for her son? In spite of his mistrust of Foley, he would hand her over to him? And Ben?
She was back again in the moment when she’d realized it was all true—Wade, the man she’d trusted to be her life partner, had been the worst mistake of her life.
And now, it seemed, she’d made the same mistake again. It burned like fire when she pictured Mitch, his dark eyes, the rare smile, the man of honor she’d thought him to be, the manipulation she’d fallen for. He’d decided to turn her over, to sacrifice her and Ben.
The betrayal scalded.
The shock swamped her soul.
But what hurt most, deep down, was the fact that she realized that she’d almost allowed herself to fall in love with Wade’s brother, and she’d given him permission to hurt her, too.
But not her son.
She could still keep Ben safe.
Through tears, she picked up her phone and called for a taxi. Then she went to tell the family that she would be taking her son away immediately.