Multitasking as she searched her home, Selena called in to report the possible threat from the passing truck as well as the unexpected appearance, then disappearance, of Finn’s teenage brother.
Sheriff Unger assured her that Mary Donovan was being moved to a safe house and that he’d arranged for Sean to travel with her, assuming somebody located him in a timely fashion.
Clearly, Finn was in a state about the boy. Having lost her only sister, Angela, Selena understood. What she was beginning to see more clearly was the responsibility each person had for his or her own life. Yes, it was good to offer moral and physical support to others, but in the long run, people had to face the personal consequences of their mistakes. Being a cop was proof of that. Her job was not only to keep the peace; it was to enforce those consequences on those who tried to escape them.
Returning to the kitchen, she saw Finn heading toward an exterior door. “Don’t even think of going outside.”
“We have to. I have to. He’s obviously not in the house.”
“If we do this, we do it right,” Selena insisted. She fisted her cell phone and started to swipe names. “I’ll get Kyle and Meadow over here, and we’ll think this through. No more running the streets like we did before. That was foolish and I know it.”
“Don’t beat yourself up,” Finn said. “You know you’d do just about anything to protect Scout if he’d been stolen.”
“Not at the risk of your life,” Selena said sadly. “I let myself be influenced by Isla’s excitement and acted like a novice. No good cop goes running around in public accompanied by a guy who’s already been a proven target for assassination.”
He shrugged. “Yeah, well, there is that.”
“No kidding.” She pointed at his feet. “My problem is your ankle monitor. I can only get so far away from you before it sends an alarm to the sheriff and they pick you up again.”
“Not the wisest plan, in my opinion.”
“Nor in mine,” Selena said. “But for now, we’re stuck with it.”
“Can’t you ask the sheriff to take it off me?”
“I have. It’s there by court order. Those are in force until rescinded by a judge.”
“So, you and I are electronic conjoined twins.”
“In a manner of speaking, yes.”
Her call went to Kyle’s voice mail, so she left a message. “This is Selena. We have a situation back at the house. Not in immediate danger, but do need backup. Return ASAP. Thanks.”
Pocketing the phone, she concentrated on Finn. “Stay inside. I want to go check something.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“That’s not necessary. I just want to see if Sean’s bike is still here.”
“You said we had to stay close together.”
In spite of his worry over Sean, Finn was doing his best to follow the rules, and that impressed her. “Not that close.” She allowed herself a slight smile. “I think the maximum range is about the length of three football fields.”
“I thought these gadgets were programmed for a certain area.”
“They usually are.” Displaying a small pager that had been clipped to her belt, Selena explained. “In our case, this is your home base. Me. Otherwise, I’d be as tied to a geographic location as you are if I intended to keep track of you.”
“Defend me, you mean.”
“If necessary.” The smile grew. “In your case, however, you seem to be doing a fair job of that yourself.”
“Thanks.”
“I would ask, however, that you stop knocking me down when you do it. I’m starting to feel like the opposing team in a football game.”
“Sorry. It’s just faster.”
Rolling her eyes, she made a silly face. “Sure, as long as I don’t get a concussion or break a leg.” Eyeing him from head to toe, she added, “You’re a lot bigger than you used to be.”
“Solid muscle.”
“Oh yeah,” Selena drawled before stopping to censor her thoughts. “I noticed.”
Thankful that they hadn’t banished him from the room, Finn busied himself putting groceries away as Kyle, Selena and Meadow released their their K-9 partners into the fenced backyard, then gathered over coffee with Isla to discuss his brother—and the body they’d found earlier. It didn’t take him long to realize where their main priorities lay. Compared to the gravity of the RMK killings, Sean’s misbehavior seemed more like a troublesome gnat buzzing around their heads, especially since his bike was also gone. Finn hoped they were not overlooking the fact that the teen could be getting himself into big, big trouble.
It took a great deal of self-control for Finn to keep quiet. Sean was loved. He was all Mary Donovan had, particularly if the conviction for Zeb’s murder was upheld. The notion that it might actually stand was enough to turn Finn’s stomach. He’d spent the last three years in prison. He didn’t want to have to go back, particularly since he, himself, was now the target of evil. It pained him to think of his uncle Edward or anyone else being guilty, but it hurt Finn even more to have people think he had done it.
The future had looked bright for those few blissful days after he’d finally met his birth father. Zeb had not only acknowledged him as his son, as much for the family resemblance as for the DNA proof, and had said that he’d like to meet Mary again now that she was widowed.
To Zeb’s credit, he had also refused to believe Edward’s lies about his character. For Finn, it was as if he and Zeb had always known each other. Their bond was formed at their first handshake and strengthened by every precious moment they’d spent together after that. He’d tried to explain those feelings to the jury at his trial, but the truth had apparently seemed far-fetched. In reality, Zeb had said he felt closer to the son he had just met than he did to his own brother, Edward.
The death of Luke Randall had cast a dark cloud over Selena’s Mountain Country K-9 Task Force, as Kyle was explaining. “We know we’re on the right track. We just need to move faster.”
Meadow nodded. “We almost made it in time.”
When Finn saw both officers looking at Selena, it was impossible to miss the implication. She had been in Sagebrush before Randall’s death and might have been able to at least warn him that he might be another target of the Rocky Mountain Killer. The day that she could have made face-to-face contact with this latest victim, she’d been delayed by an assignment that was supposed to have taken an hour or less, yet had consumed the entire day. And beyond. Although that was not Finn’s fault, he still felt partly responsible.
As he opened his mouth to offer an apology, he glanced at Selena and met her gaze. She silenced him with a slight hand movement before addressing the others. “Nobody knew anything for sure. We’re still not totally positive who killed Randall.”
“Clues are pretty clear,” Kyle said.
Meadow agreed with a nod.
“They are,” Selena said. “However, if the man had paid attention to our warning in the first place and agreed to cooperate instead of denying everything, he might still be alive. If he’d listened to the local deputies we sent out when we couldn’t get ahold of him, we wouldn’t have had to send MCK9 officers to to convince him.”
“Fair enough. And the killer is still around. At least we think so.” Kyle turned to Isla. “You have pictures?”
She produced her phone and brought up the shots she’d taken at the market. “If I’d been an officer of the law, I could have captured him then and there.”
Selena pointed at the clearest picture. “Is that the pink collar he had on her? It sure looks like it.”
“Too much fur to tell,” Isla said. “I think so, though. The tall blond man in the ski hat looks right, too.”
Finn watched everyone agree. None of that mattered to him with Sean still missing. “What about my brother?”
“Local authorities will look for him. This dog was taken right under our noses,” Kyle said. “We’ve received pictures of her wearing a collar that has the name Killer spelled out in rhinestones and texts that claim to be from our serial murderer. Those are the only solid leads we have so far, other than a list of victims and possible targets. We have to pursue it.”
“Okay. I get it,” Finn said soberly. “It’s not so much the dog you’re chasing, it’s the person who took her. That’s different.”
“We care about Sean, too,” Selena assured him, resting a hand over his. “It’s just that he chose to leave, and he knows his way around Sagebrush. He could be anywhere. Even home with your mother, except...”
“Except what?”
“Sheriff Unger told me they’re moving her to a safe house very soon, if she’s not already gone. He said they plan to take Sean, too, but if he’s not around, your mom will go alone.”
“Stupid kid.” Finn’s fist hit his opposite palm with an audible whack. “As if things weren’t already messed up.”
“We’ll find him. Or he’ll find us the way he did today,” Selena said. “Let’s concentrate on the lethal stuff first. My primary task at the moment is keeping you alive for your retrial.”
“Too bad my brother left, then. You could watch me while I watch him. Two for the price of one.”
“The price of one Donovan brother is already too high to suit me,” Selena said flatly. “Believe me, I don’t need a second one to look after.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault somebody is trying to get rid of me.” He spread his upraised palms wide. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Not lately.” Finn noticed a slight smile lifting one corner of her mouth before she went on. “What you told your brother was true. Your past mistakes helped convict you. I don’t happen to think you’re a stone-cold killer, but I really can’t blame the jury for treating you the way you used to deserve.”
“That’s cold,” Finn said. He got it. Really he did. And it served to highlight his initial reasons for distancing himself from her. The problem was, now that they’d been reunited and might have a second chance under more favorable circumstances, his past was still standing in the way.
“But very true,” she said. “Reputations can be hard to live down, particularly if you stay in the same town all your life.”
“I had to stay. Mom was here and she needed my help.” Glancing around the table, Finn made sure they were all listening. “She lost everything on account of me. I’ll never be able to repay her for all she sacrificed, first to raise me alone, then trying to rescue me after I was charged with Zeb’s death, but I intend to make the attempt. It’s not enough for me to be exonerated. I need to prove who really did kill my birth father. And while I’m at it, I’d like to keep my baby brother out of trouble.”
Snorting a chuckle, Kyle was shaking his head. “Don’t ask for much, do you?”
“Don’t ask, don’t get. I’ve been praying for the truth to come out for years. I’d begun to think I was going to spend the rest of my life in prison. Being this close to getting the answer I need is enough to give a guy an ulcer.”
“Not if you really believe prayers are answered,” Kyle said with a tinge of sarcasm.
“My problem,” Finn said, “is allowing the Lord to do things His way instead of mine. And within my time frame.” Finn chanced a sidelong glance at Selena. “Most of the time, I don’t see answers until after I’ve tried to help Him and have already ruined things.”
“Welcome to the human race,” Kyle said. He pushed away from the table and got to his feet. “Isla, I’m going back to the crime scene at Randall’s. You can ride with Meadow and me. We’ll put the dogs in the rear compartment.”
“Again, what about my brother?”
“You and Selena can keep looking for him. Scout isn’t primarily trained as a tracker, but he’ll do a good job. Put him on the kid’s trail and see where it takes you. My guess is he went home to Mama.”
“We can hope,” Selena said to Finn. “There is one other place he might have gone.”
“Yeah.” Finn grabbed the jacket he’d brought from the cabin and put it on. “The ranch. I thought of that.”