“Hold on,” he shouted as the tires screeched against the old road and the truck went into a spin. He held the stirring wheel and guided it, letting it get over the lost tire before he brought it to a stop about a foot from the old, scarred oak. Right in front of Amelia’s eyes.
She sat, her breath heaving, while she stared at the tree where Daniel had died. Then she opened the door, got out and screamed like a primal warrior. “You want me? Then show your face, you coward. Come and get me.”
Marco hurried out of the vehicle and came around, his handgun leading while he scanned the woods. “Amelia, get back in the truck.”
“No.” She moved in a circle, her expression full of rage and pain. “Daniel wouldn’t do this to me, so who are you? What do you want from me?”
No response. The trees settled, the woodland creatures retreated. Nothing. The world went still.
Then they heard a motor roaring to life deep inside the woods.
Marco hit the hood of the truck in frustration.
Amelia sank down on the ground and put her head in her hands. That meltdown he’d been expecting was now a full-on exploding ball of pent-up rage and emotion. He could hear her sobs before he even saw her near the back passenger-side tire.
“Amelia.”
He sank down beside her and let her cry. She didn’t turn to him or say anything. She sat curled tight, her hands on her knees now. Her head buried against her knees, her hair wild and coming out of the messy ponytail.
“I am so angry,” she finally said. “So tired and frustrated and angry and...sad. I’m just so sad. Leo is gone and I should have been here, to talk to him, to reassure him, to find out what is going on around here.”
“But—”
She held up a hand, not nearly finished. “I thought when Daniel died, I’d die, too. Of a broken heart. My heart hurt so much.” She gulped in a sob, her mumbled rage loud and clear. “He’d been all over the world, doing his work during some dangerous situations, and he had to come home only to die a mile from my home. Not far from his own home. How fair is that?”
Marco didn’t answer. No point. She had more to say.
“And now, I’m being tormented by the maybes and what-ifs, and if that isn’t enough, someone is trying to either drive me mad or outright kill me.” She lifted her hand and pointed toward the woods. “That is not Daniel. You hear me out there? You are not Daniel.”
Marco grabbed her hand and pulled her into his arms. “He’s not. He’s someone being paid to mess with you. He’s not who you think he is.”
She finally lifted her head, her misty eyes as green as the nearby trees. “But you—you’re exactly who I think you are, Marco. Brave, stubborn, determined. You have a life and a plan for your future. But you’re here with me, watching my life fall apart.”
“Hey, don’t you see? This is what he wants. For you to give up, give in to all that anger and all those emotions. Grief is tricky and hard, and it never goes away, but he’s playing us and using us to get what he wants.”
“The ranch?”
“No, Amelia. You. I think he wants you.”
She pushed herself up. “And he’s going to get me,” she said in a loud dare of an echo that drifted through the trees like a lost breeze. “And soon.”
Then she wiped her eyes and got back into the truck.
Marco took his time, doing a panoramic scan of the road and the countryside. His blood boiled with wanting to smack this person. But he was working up a hefty fee, which should make him happy. Instead, he just wanted to get Amelia back to the ranch house in one piece. It wasn’t about his fee right now. He’d gladly give it up to save her.
“I’ll need to change the tire,” he told her through the window.
She got out. “I’ll help.”
“You stay inside the truck.”
“I need something to do, so I’ll help.”
Soon they had the jack out and ready and she was taking out the lug nuts as if her life depended on it. Which it kind of did. Marco let her finish, then he lifted the shot-out tire off and put the spare on. Amelia went right back to working on the lug nuts, making sure she didn’t tighten them too much until he could lever the jack down and keep the tire balanced.
“You know how to change a tire,” he said, always amazed.
“I know how to do a lot of things. Comes when you live on your own. Same as you.”
“Yeah, like I’ve said—we’re a pair.”
“Joined at the hip for now,” she said with no animosity or spirit. Just a fact, stated as such.
He wasn’t sure if that was compliment or an insult.
Soon, they were back on the road.
“I hope he heard me,” she said. “I hope I hear from him.”
“If you do, let me know.”
“Of course.”
That quick response didn’t sound promising.
Marco glanced toward her. “Look, if you do murder, you won’t be able to live at the ranch.”
“Right now, that’s not a problem.”
They reached the gate and entered the long drive. He parked the truck off to the side of the four-car garage. Samuel’s damaged BMW was already there.
“Look, Amelia, I know you want to draw blood, but you have to be careful. This man is obviously not thinking clearly.”
“No, he’s thinking all the time. He’s always ahead of us, there wherever we go, which hasn’t been anywhere much but across this land.” She stared at the rambling stone-and-wood house, the stucco shining bright in the midday sun. “I just want to know why he thinks he has a claim here and I don’t.”
“Maybe he’s not after the ranch. Like I said, he seems to want to get to you, any way he can. It’s almost as if he’s just bringing on the distractions to get your attention. And sooner or later, he’ll get your attention and then he’ll have you.”
Amelia nodded. “Bring it.” Then she got out of the truck and headed inside the house.
Rosa had Samuel sitting at the table while she checked him for injuries. “I told her I’m fine. Just my knee gave out on me. I’m not an action hero like Marco there.”
“I don’t think I’m quite there, either,” Marco responded. “We got a flat on the road.”
“Oh, really?” Alan said from across the room. “How’d that happen?”
“A rogue bullet knocked out the back tire on the driver’s side.”
They all looked from Marco to Amelia. She knew she looked a mess, dusty and dirty and tear stained, but she was too worked up to care right now.
“More like a carefully aimed bullet,” she replied.
Alan shook his head. “This is getting out of hand.”
“It ain’t over till it’s over,” Marco said. “I hope that’s soon.”
“I’ll make lunch,” Rosa said, worry in her words.
“I could eat,” Samuel replied. “Getting scared out of my boots caused me to work up an appetite.”
Amelia glanced at Marco, wishing he hadn’t seen her so vulnerable and emotional. Wishing so many things and wanting so many things, but she knew she had to get through this first. “I’m going to get cleaned up. Then I’ve got some calls to make and some other things to take care of. I want to print that one good photo I got last night.”
Marco watched her go. “Good idea. I’ll go and see if I can search Ben Nesmith’s house and then I’m going to check out the loft over the stables at Park Meadows Ranch. The shooter was there, waiting to scope us at the house. But he left before we did and somehow managed to get to the road and shoot at us again. We could both be dead right now, but we managed to survive yet again. I might find some clues or even the man himself there.”
Amelia pivoted back around, her mind buzzing with what might go wrong. “I’m going with you.”
“Bad idea,” Marco said. “You need to stay here where, hopefully, you’ll be safe. Each time you go out, someone tries to harm you. I can get in and out quickly and...since I don’t have a warrant for either and given the fact that I’m not calling in the locals because we all know they’re just sitting on this and looking the other way more than usual, I think you need to stay out of it, Amelia. I won’t have you arrested for breaking and entering.”
She crossed her arms, digging in, ready to protest. “Oh, but you’re willing to get yourself arrested?”
“I won’t get caught.”
“I don’t like this, Marco.”
“Well, I don’t like you being out there and getting shot at and terrorized.”
“I’ve told you over and over, I can take care of myself,” she retorted. “Stop smothering me.”
She regretted her words instantly, but he gave her a look that for once said she might get her wish to be left alone. “Marco—”
“Okay, Amelia. You know I’m trying to protect you—and not only you—but this ranch and all the people on it, too. Think about that while I’m gone, okay?”
He turned and went out the front door, slamming it behind him.
She was about to run after him to apologize, but her phone buzzed. An unknown number. Her heart accelerating with each buzz, she moved away and looked at the phone. “I have to take this. Ranch business,” she told Rosa and Alan. “I’m going to stay in my room and work on my photos for a while.”
Alan nodded, but she wasn’t sure she’d convinced him. “Be careful,” he said. “And we’ll be right here if you need us.”
Amelia nodded and left the kitchen, torn between going after Marco and finding the man who was harassing her. Then she went inside, shut the door and braced herself to answer the call. Marco would take care of himself—that was his job. And she’d do the same—this was her life. She needed to hear this man, his voice, his tone, his reasoning. Or lack of reasoning. She had to see the truth with her own eyes, absorb it in her own soul, know it in her heart.
“Hello,” she said, apprehension twisted up inside anticipation like a rushing river.
“You answered.”
“Yes. We need to talk. Daniel, if you love me, why are you doing all these things to scare me, or do you want to kill me?”
“I’m sorry. I had to make it look bad, so I don’t get taken away again. Like the night my truck went off the road.”
This man knew about that night. Faking it? She pretended to believe him, but it would be easy for him to find out everything he needed to know about Daniel, Park Meadows Ranch and Rio Rojo. “So it is you?”
His voice went husky, silky, intimate. “Of course. I can’t believe you’d doubt me.”
“Well, I thought you were dead. Why can’t you just talk to me? You know I’d let you in the front door with open arms. You know I love you and miss you so much.”
“Yes, but too risky. My father always goes to extremes to get what he wants. And he wanted me to stay away.”
“Where is Kent?” she asked, holding tight to her panic. What if he’d killed Kent Parker?
“He’s on a trip, but you know that already, don’t you?”
She had to keep him talking, to find a way to set up a meeting. “What do you want?”
“I want you. I want us. But I don’t need a posse coming with you. My daddy will take me away again. That’s why I’ve been acting so weird. I’m a grown man, you know. But he expects too much, always has.”
“Daniel, you don’t sound well. Are you sick? Did Kent treat you badly? Why would he send you away?”
“To keep us apart,” the man said. And he sounded like Daniel. But harsh, so harsh. He couldn’t be the man she once loved.
“Daniel...”
“I love hearing you call me that.”
What an odd statement. “It’s your name, right?”
“Yes, I just missed you so much.”
“When can we meet?” she asked, checking her watch. Plenty of daylight left. She could do this. She’d take her gun and her camera.
“Yes, I’d love that. We can’t talk without that shadow following us—your guard dog.”
She didn’t take the bait. “I’m alone right now. How about we meet at our favorite spot. Remember?”
He hesitated, which gave her a clue that he wasn’t Daniel. “Yes. That’s a good plan. What time?”
“One hour,” she said. “I’ll see you then, Daniel. I can’t wait to see you by the river in our favorite place.” One little hint should bring him to her side of the river, she hoped.
Another hesitation. “I’ll be there.” Then he added, “And if he comes with you, I will shoot to kill this time.”
He ended the call and Amelia sank down on her bed, her knees wobbly. She wasn’t scared of the man. But she was scared that if he was truly Daniel, someone had messed him up badly.
So badly that he didn’t make sense. He sounded desperate and irrational, and extremely dangerous. But she had to know firsthand, and now was her only chance to meet him on her terms.
Hurrying, she changed into a loose tunic top that flowed out around her in vivid colors. She’d tuck her gun in the waistband of her jeans the way Leo had taught her, underneath the tank top she’d put on with the tunic.
Then she got out her smaller camera, one she could set up in the tree where she and Daniel used to meet. She’d set it on a timer to snap pictures of her with the man—for two reasons. One, she could use the pictures to identify him and prove she wasn’t losing her mind, and two, if something happened she’d have proof of him being the last person she’d been seen with.
Marco would be mad, but she had to deal with this and get it done so she could decide what would happen to the Triple R. And her. She knew Marco would go in with guns blazing, and she didn’t want him to die, too.
She’d get to the meeting place early, so she could watch for the man and be prepared—to find Daniel or a stranger. She’d be ready, either way. If it was Daniel, she’d talk to him. And if the man wasn’t Daniel, well, she’d deal with that on her own terms, too.