Alice ran at her, swinging the poker, aiming for her head. Lorelei had only a second to react. She grabbed the back of the wooden chair next to her at the table and heaved it at the woman. The chair legs struck the poker, knocking it out of Alice’s hands and forcing her back. The poker clattered to the kitchen floor and then skittered toward the refrigerator away from both of them.
Shoving the fallen chair aside, Alice came at her like something feral. “You and your boyfriend just couldn’t leave it alone. Billy is buried. Why can’t you let him rest in peace?”
“Alice, you don’t want to do this,” Lorelei cried as she managed to get on the other side of the kitchen table. “It was an accident. You didn’t know it was Billy.”
But the woman was shaking her head as she suddenly veered to the right. She thought Alice was going for the poker on the floor in front of the refrigerator deeper in the kitchen. She decided to make a run for it. She had just come around the end of the table and was headed for the living room and the front door beyond it at a run when she heard the gunshot. Sheetrock dust and particles fell over her, startling her as much as the loud report of the gun.
“Take another step and the next bullet will be for you,” Alice cried.
Lorelei turned slowly to look back. The woman held the gun in both hands, her stance a warning that she was no novice at this.
“We’re going to go for a ride,” Alice said and motioned with the gun toward the door to the garage.
Lorelei had seen enough movies and read enough thrillers to know that you never wanted to be taken to a second location. That was where someone would eventually stumble over your shallow grave. Or their dog would dig up your remains. It was how you made the headlines.
But she also thought that as desperate as Alice appeared, maybe she should take her chances. From the look in the woman’s eyes, she would shoot her here and now—just as she’d warned. Maybe during the drive Lorelei might see an opportunity to get the upper hand.
Out in the garage, Alice ordered her behind the wheel. As she climbed in, Alice got in the other side and ordered, “Start the car. I will shoot you if you do anything but what I tell you.”
The key was in the ignition. As Alice hit the garage door opener, Lorelei snapped on her seatbelt, started the car and drove out of the garage.
“Go left.”
She turned onto the street, her brain whirling. So far Alice hadn’t buckled up. Lorelei was debating what to do when she saw James’s pickup racing up the other side of the street. She swerved in front of him hoping to get his attention.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Alice demanded, shoving the gun into her face as they sped past James. Had he seen her? Had he seen Alice and the gun pointed at her head?
“You called him!” Alice screamed. “I told you not to do anything stupid, but you did.” She had turned in the seat and was looking back.
In her rearview mirror, Lorelei saw James make a U-turn and come after them. He had seen her, but Lorelei realized it had been a mistake to draw his attention. James couldn’t save her. Alice would kill her before that.
Worse, Alice had put down her window and was now shooting at James. In the rearview mirror, she saw the pickup’s windshield shatter.
Lorelei swerved back and forth as she tried to keep the woman from getting a clean shot at James. He’d knocked out the rest of the windshield and was still coming up fast behind them. She swerved again and Alice banged her head on the window frame.
“You silly fool,” the woman screeched, turning the gun on her. “I told you. Didn’t I tell you? You’ve left me no choice.”
Lorelei hit the gas again. She knew she had to act fast. Alice was too close to the edge. It would be just like her to pull the trigger and then turn the gun on herself. She slammed her foot down hard on the gas. The car jumped forward, the speed climbing quickly.
“What are you doing?” Alice cried. They were on the straightaway almost to the spot where Billy had died.
Alice was screaming as if she’d realized where they were. “No! No!” She took aim and Lorelei knew what she had to do.
Keeping the gas pedal to the floor, she suddenly swerved to the right. The car bounced down into the shallow ditch. Alice, still not belted in, was slammed against the door, throwing her off balance in the seat as she tried to aim the gun at her.
But Lorelei didn’t let up on the gas as she pointed the vehicle toward the stand of pines in the empty lot across from where Billy died.
“I should have killed you at the house!” Alice screamed as she took aim at Lorelei’s head.
The car bucking and bouncing across the field, she let go of the steering wheel with one hand to try to grab for the gun. The shot was deafening, but nothing like the sound when the car hit the trees.
JAMES COULDN’T BELIEVE what he was seeing. He’d never felt more helpless as he watched Alice’s car leave the road. It roared down into the ditch then headed for the pines. He hit his brakes, barely getting his pickup stopped before the car crashed into the pines.
He leaped out and ran toward the wrecked car. Steam rose from the engine. He could see that the front end of the car was badly damaged—mostly on the passenger side. Lori had been behind the wheel. As he raced to that side, Connie Matthews came out of her house.
“Call 911. Hurry!” he yelled at her as he reached the driver’s side door and saw that the window had been shot out. He felt his heart drop. Had Alice shot her? Is that why the car had left the road, why it had crashed into the pines?
Inside he could see Lori. Her airbag had gone off and was now deflated over the steering wheel with Lori draped over it. There was blood dripping onto the deflated airbag.
He noticed it all in a split second as he tried unsuccessfully to open her door. Past her, he could see Alice. She’d gone through the windshield and now lay partly sprawled across the hood. She hadn’t been wearing her seatbelt. Nor had her airbag activated.
James could hear sirens headed their way. He put all his weight into opening the door, surprised when he looked down and noticed his own blood. He’d taken a bullet in his arm but hadn’t even realized it.
The door groaned and finally gave. In an instant he was at Lori’s side. He felt for a pulse, terrified he wouldn’t find one. There it was. Strong, just like her. He felt tears burn his eyes as relief rushed over him.
“Lori?” he said as he knelt beside the car. “It’s going to be all right, baby. It’s all going to be all right now. You’re a fighter. Don’t leave me. Please, don’t leave me.”
Soon he heard the EMTs coming, telling him to step aside. He rose and moved away, running a hand over his face as he watched them go to work. One of the EMTs noticed he was bleeding and pulled him aside.
More sirens and more rigs pulled up. Workers rushed past with a gurney for Lori. He turned away as he saw them checking Alice. It had been clear right away that she was gone.
He didn’t remember going back to his pickup and following the ambulance to the hospital. Just as he didn’t remember calling his brothers. Just as he didn’t remember the doctors taking care of his gunshot wound or giving his statement to a law enforcement officer. All he’d thought about was Lori.
Hours later, he was walking the floor in the waiting room, when Willie arrived, followed soon after by Davey and Tommy. The surgeon had come in shortly after that to tell him that Lori had survived and was in stable condition.
“You should go on home and get some rest,” the doctor told him. “You won’t be able to see her until later today anyway.”
He hadn’t wanted to leave, but his brothers had taken him under their capable wings. When he’d awakened hours later in his bed, he’d gotten up to find them sitting in their dad’s office. His arm ached. He’d looked down at the bandage, the horror of what had happened coming back to him.
“I just called the hospital,” Willie said as James walked into the room. “I talked to a nurse I know. Lorelei’s good. If she keeps improving as she has, you can see her later today.”
James’s knees felt weak with relief as he dropped into his father’s office chair his brother Tommy had vacated for him.
“Now tell us what the hell has been going on here,” Willie said. “Tommy went out to get us something to eat and came back with newspapers. You’re a famous detective?”
“Not quite or Lori wouldn’t be in the hospital right now,” he said.
“Lori, is it?” Willie asked, grinning. “We saved you something to eat and made coffee. You fixed up the place pretty nice. But I think you’d better tell us what’s been going on.”
When he finished telling them between bites of breakfast washed down by coffee and a pain pill, his brothers were staring at him.
“You’re good at this?” Davey said and laughed.
“Not quite,” he said. “I almost got myself and Lori killed.”
“You solved the case,” Willie said.
James shook his head. “I almost got Lori killed.”
“It’s pretty clear to me what’s going on here,” Davey said. “James is in love.”
His three brothers looked at him as if waiting for him to deny it. But he couldn’t. It was true. He loved Lori. He repeated it out loud. “I love Lori.”
His brothers all laughed, stealing glances at each other as if they couldn’t believe it. James was the last one they’d have expected to get serious about anyone.
“Wait, what are you saying? You’re giving up rodeo?” Tommy said.
LORI OPENED HER eyes and blinked. She thought she was seeing double. No, not double, quadruple. Four men dressed in Western attire standing at the end of her bed. All tall, dark and handsome as sin. One in particular caught her eye. She smiled at James and closed her eyes again.
When she woke up again, James was sitting by her bed. “I dreamed that there were four of you,” she said, her hoarse voice sounding strange to her. “Four handsome cowboys.”
He rose quickly to take her hand. “My brothers.”
“I haven’t seen them in years. They’re...gorgeous.”
James grinned down at her. “You’re still drugged up, aren’t you.”
She nodded, smiling. “I can’t feel anything but this one spot on my head.” She reached up to touch her bandage. “Alice shot me.”
“Fortunately, the bullet only creased your scalp, but it did give you a concussion and bled a lot. The doctors had to stitch you back up, but you’re going to be fine.” He squeezed her hand. “You scared the hell out of me, Lori. I thought for sure...” She saw him swallow. “I wish you would have told me you were going to see Alice.”
“You were busy packing.”
It was true. He’d planned to leave. He’d put the case behind him even though something had been nagging at him. “You hadn’t been gone long when I got a call from one of the auto body shops that had fixed her damaged car after the hit-and-run. When I saw the photo of the car...”
“The senator didn’t kill Billy,” she said.
“No, he did apparently run over part of his body though and he didn’t stop. Not to mention what he did to your mother. So he’s still toast.”
She nodded and felt her eyelids grow heavy. “I thought you might have already left.”
He shook his head. “I’m not going anywhere. You rest. I’ll be here.”
Lorelei closed her eyes, hoping the next time she woke he wouldn’t be gone and that this would have been nothing more than a sweet dream.
WILLIE COLT STOOD in the small second-floor office about to propose a toast. James had dug out a new bottle of blackberry brandy and paper cups.
“To my brother James,” Willie said. “The first of the brothers to take his last ride.”
There was laughter followed by rude remarks, but as James looked around the room at his brothers he’d never been happier. It had been so long since they’d all gotten together. “I’ve missed you guys.” He still couldn’t believe that they’d dropped everything and come running when he’d needed them.
The four of them had always been close, but definitely lived their own lives. They’d see each other at a rodeo here and there, but often went months without talking to each other. But when the chips were down, they always came through. They would squabble among themselves as boys, but if anyone else got involved, they stood together.
“You’re really doing this?” Davey said, throwing an arm around his brother. “You’re going to marry this woman?”
James nodded, grinning. “I really am. Well, I’m going to ask her to marry me. She hasn’t said yes yet. I thought I should wait until she’s not doped up on the drugs they’re giving her for the pain.”
He’d been to the hospital every day. Lori was getting better. She was strong, just as he knew. She had bounced back fast and would be released from the hospital today.
“When are you going to ask her?” Davey wanted to know.
“I’m not sure. Soon, but I want to do it right, you know.” He looked over at Tommy who’d wandered behind their father’s desk and was now inspecting both James’s and their father’s private investigator licenses.
“You’ll miss the rodeo,” Davey predicted.
He couldn’t deny it. “Not as much as I would miss Lori. I don’t expect you to understand. I wouldn’t have understood myself—until I fell in love.”
Davey laughed. “I’ve been in love. It comes and goes. Mostly goes.”
“I’m talking about a different kind of love other than buckle bunnies on the circuit,” he said. “I can’t even explain it. But you’ll know it when it happens to you.”
“So you’re sticking with this PI gig?” Willie asked. “It sounds even more dangerous than bronc riding.”
James chuckled. “Sometimes it definitely is. But I like it. I see why Dad liked it. Lori has her sandwich shop. Not sure what we’ll do when we have kids.”
“Wait a minute. Kids?” Davey said before the others could speak.
“She’s not pregnant.”
Willie chuckled. “You haven’t even...”
“Nope. We literally haven’t gotten that far.” He grinned. “But I know she’ll want kids. I’m just hoping she’ll want to start trying right after the wedding.”
Willie was shaking his head. “Boy, when you fall, you fall hard. You sure about this?”
“I’ve never been more sure of anything,” he said. He couldn’t describe what it had felt like when he’d leaped out of his pickup and run toward Alice Sherman’s car. The driver’s side window had been blown out. There was blood everywhere. His knees had threatened to buckle under him when he’d realized that Lori had been shot.
“I’m thinking about building out on the ranch,” he said. “There’s plenty of room for all of us. As long as there are no objections.” There were none. He knew that right now his brothers couldn’t see themselves settling down. Eventually they would and the land would be there for them all.
“You going to keep the name, Colt Investigations?” Tommy asked. It was the first time he’d spoken since they’d come back from the hospital.
James studied him. “I guess, why?”
“Any chance you might want a partner?” his brother asked. Everyone turned to look at Tommy.
“Are you serious?” Davey sounded the most surprised. “You just turned thirty. You have a lot of rodeo ahead of you.”
Tommy shook his head. “I’ve been thinking about quitting for some time now. I guess I was waiting for someone to go first.” He smiled at James.
“You have even less experience at being a private investigator than James,” Willie pointed out. “No offense.”
“It can’t be that hard,” Davey joked. “If James can do it.”
“Right, nothing to it. James and Lorelei both almost got killed,” Willie said, sounding genuinely worried.
But Tommy didn’t seem to be listening. “Look at this office. I could start by getting it up to speed technologically.” He continued, clearly warming to the subject. “We could invest in computers, an office landline, equipment and even filing cabinets.”
James realized that his brother was serious. “You’ve given this some thought.”
Tommy nodded. “I didn’t work with Dad as much as you did, but I could learn on the job while I helped do whatever you needed done. Didn’t you say a lot of the jobs you’ve been offered were small things like Dad used to do, finding lost pets, tracking cheating husbands and wives, filming people with work comp injuries Jet Skiing, that sort of thing. What do you say?”
“I actually think he’s serious,” Davey said with a shake of his head.
Willie had been watching them. “It sounds like a pretty good deal. We all know we can’t rodeo forever.”
“I say great,” James said, surprised and yet delighted. He stepped to his brother and started to shake his hand, but instead pulled him into a bear hug. “Let’s do this.”
Willie was smiling broadly. “You could change the name to Colt Brothers Investigations.”
“I like that,” James said and looked to his brother. Tommy smiled and nodded. He looked at Willie and Davey. “That way if the two of you ever—” Before he could get the words out, Davey stopped him.
“Not happening,” Davey said. “I have big plans. None of them include getting myself shot at unless it’s by an irate boyfriend as I’m going out a bedroom window.”
They all laughed. Willie had been quiet. As James looked at him, his older brother winked at him. “Let’s just see how it goes, but I know one thing. Dad would have loved this,” he said, his voice breaking. He lifted his paper cup. “To Dad.” They all drank and James refilled their cups.
“There is one more thing,” James said. “One of the investigations I’ll be working on involves Dad. I don’t think his death was an accident.” As he looked around the room at each of his brothers he saw that they’d all had their suspicions. “Maybe we can find out the truth.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Davey said, and the rest raised their paper cups.