Within minutes, Finn was transferred to the sheriff’s car to follow along safely, and Selena was on her way on foot once more. Finn wasn’t crazy about being treated like a prisoner and having to ride in the back, but he was willing to bear any indignity for the sake of his baby brother.
This time, extra units escorted them as if they were dignitaries on the way to a summit meeting. Selena was allowed to pull ahead with the K-9, which he didn’t much like, but at least she had armed backup if she needed it.
He knew enough about Sagebrush to know they weren’t headed for the Double Y Ranch, so he assumed Sean was going home. At least he hoped so. Not only was there an advantage to be tracking someone on a bicycle, it also helped that the teen couldn’t easily reach outlying areas under his own power because they were more mountainous. Pedaling up and down steep, curving roads would have been difficult for even the most fit cross-country cyclist.
Ahead, Selena had stopped and was waving with her whole arm. Finn leaned forward. “She’s found him?”
No one commented. Finn didn’t care as long as they kept going and joined her ASAP. If he hadn’t been locked in, he would have jumped out and run to her.
The patrol car eased to the curb and stopped in front of a modest home surrounded by similar others. It was old but well tended, and spring flowers were starting to bloom by the porch steps. The place wasn’t familiar to Finn, yet it somehow reminded him of his mother. Sean’s bike lay on the lawn, and he could see the teenager sitting on the porch.
Selena waited until one of the deputies got out to accompany her, then approached the boy.
Seeing Sean stand and step back, Finn gripped the grid in the car with both hands and rattled it. “I need to get out.”
Although the remaining deputy laughed, he did radio Selena. Her reply of “Yes, check the area, then let him go” was music to Finn’s ears.
He also did his own appraisal of the house and yard, scanning the quiet neighborhood while he waited to be released. Making light of the flat tire had been his way of soothing Selena, but he was no fool. He knew someone, perhaps multiple people, wanted him out of that vehicle. On foot, he’d make an easier target as well as lose the protection of the metal and tempered glass. If he had been an assailant, that was exactly the move he would have made.
Jogging to the porch, he met his younger brother with force and grabbed a handful of his red jacket. “Why didn’t you go in?”
“I did, when I hid from the other cops. Mom’s gone.”
“She would be,” Selena told him. “Witness protection took her while we were chasing a stubborn kid all over town.”
Finn realized she had to be right. He scowled at his teenage brother. “See why we wanted you to stay put? You could have gone with Mom.”
“Yeah, but...”
“No buts,” Finn said, his voice low, his tone as menacing as he could make it, considering how worried he’d been and how relieved he now felt. “Like I keep telling you, I get it. I do. I was just like you when I was your age. Everybody else was wrong and I was right. They picked on me. Didn’t treat me fairly. Caused me to act up when I should have been listening to sensible advice instead.”
Without releasing his possessive hold on the teen’s shoulders, Finn glanced at Selena. “What now? We can’t just leave him here, and we sure don’t want him on the loose. We can’t trust him.”
She was shaking her head and starting to smile. “We can trust him—to misbehave. I’ll check with the sheriff and see what he wants us to do.”
Left with Sean while she stepped aside to radio, Finn continued to monitor the street. Police cars parked at the curb were probably enough to deter an assassin for the present. Later, when he went back to Selena’s house, there would also be the other K-9 officers and that tech-support woman. That was bound to help, although nobody could stop a bullet once it was fired.
“Look,” Finn said, addressing his brother, “here’s how it is, okay? When you ran away, you put me in more danger.”
“How?” Judging by the face Sean was making, he thought Finn was exaggerating.
“Know why I didn’t arrive in Selena’s SUV? The tire was shot out on the way, that’s why. She let me drive while Scout followed your scent, and somebody flattened the tire to make me get out so they could shoot me.”
“Naw, no way.”
What Finn wanted to do was grab both of his brother’s skinny shoulders and give him a good shake. Instead, he stared at him. “Yes, way. We told you about the van wreck. That’s when it all started. Selena outwitted those shooters, but it’s not over. Whoever wants to get rid of me keeps showing up. I didn’t want to believe it at first, either, but I can’t deny it anymore and neither should you.” He paused for emphasis. “If you truly want to help me, and I think you do, then you need to back off, do as you’re told and let the authorities handle it.”
Judging by the younger man’s continuing pout, he was far from capitulating. He did, however, refrain from arguing anymore.
By the time Selena returned to the porch and knocked, Finn had convinced Sean to go inside. He opened the door. “Come in.”
“We’re not staying,” she said. “The sheriff wants me to take you both back to my place. We’ll wait there until Sean can be safely sent to join Mary.”
“Why wait?” Hearing Sean start to object, Finn stopped him with a raised hand.
“It has to be handled secretly,” Selena explained. “If they try to move him right away, especially since he’s brought you out into the open and caused another attempt on your life, any activity is far more dangerous. For everybody.”
“You were serious?” Sean gaped at his big brother.
“Deadly serious,” Finn said. “Are you starting to get the picture?” Instead of a verbal answer, he got a reluctant nod. That was a start. It would do for now. His impressionable brother had had years to form erroneous opinions of the law and of authority figures. He wasn’t likely to do away with them all after a couple of lectures, no matter how sincere.
“What about your MCK9 vehicle?”
“It’s being towed to a police garage where they can inspect it for further damage and try to recover the bullets that flattened the tire. I’ll get it back as soon as forensics is done. It shouldn’t take long.” She gestured at the quiet street outside. “In the meantime, we’ll hitch a ride with Kyle as soon as he arrives.”
“What about the others?”
“Meadow and Isla are at the house, and hopefully Isla’s doing the cooking.” She rolled her eyes. “Remember how well I do in the kitchen? Well, Meadow’s not much better.”
That brought a smile. “I do remember. I had hoped you’d have improved since those picnics we used to have.”
“I still make a mean PBJ,” Selena quipped. “Other than that, if you want a hot meal, I’ll toast the bread.”
“Fair enough.” Finn noticed the wary looks his brother was giving both of them. “What?”
“Are you two...?”
Selena was already shaking her head no by the time Finn did the same. “We had a history,” he said. “That’s all.”
The teen’s drawn-out “Sure” did nothing to prove he bought the excuse.
Finn understood. He wasn’t any more convinced than his baby brother was, and a sidelong glance at Selena for confirmation didn’t help one bit. Her expression was as confusing and ambivalent as he felt, all the way to the tips of his toes.
Supper was almost ready, the K-9s had been fed and were out in the fenced yard, and the kitchen was filled with the aroma of Italian food, thanks to Isla Jiminez.
“They found another bullet hole in the SUV. Rear door on the driver’s side, .22 caliber,” Selena told Finn and the others as she ended a phone call. “Ballistics doesn’t have a match with anything on record. That’s the bad news.”
Meadow looked across at her. “What about good news?”
“The 9 mm slug taken out of Luke Randall was a match to the RMK shootings. At least that tells us it was our killer, not just an enemy of Randall’s using the RMK’s MO.”
“So, you’ll be leaving Sagebrush?” Finn asked.
Shrugging, Selena looked to her fellow team members. “Isla is heading back tomorrow, right?”
“Right.”
“Kyle, you and Meadow have a few more loose ends to tie up, and I understand you’re supposed to keep searching for Cowgirl.”
“Those were our last orders,” Kyle said.
Sounding eager and way too excited to suit Selena, Sean butted in. “Because you think your killer took her, huh?”
She would have preferred the teenager not join their conversation, particularly since he shouldn’t even be listening. Unfortunately, before she could stop Isla, the tech expert answered, “Yes.”
“That case has nothing to do with your brother’s,” Selena told the youth. “The only reason we’re involved in helping Finn is because I was assigned to escort the van after he left prison.”
“Kinda handy, huh?” Sean was smiling.
“I prefer to think of it as providential,” Selena countered. “It wasn’t planned.”
“Ooookay.”
“Might as well give up trying to convince him of anything,” Finn said. “I haven’t been able to.”
“Yes, you have. He came back here with us, and so far he’s behaving himself.” She made an effort to smile at the teen in the hope of winning his cooperation.
Sean’s nonchalant shrug reminded her of Finn. Actually, pretty much everything drew her thoughts back to her old flame. Poignant moments that had occurred years before returned as bright and clear as if they had just happened. So did the accompanying emotional baggage.
Distracted, Selena almost let Sean’s next comment slip past her. “So, does that lying witness still work for dear old Uncle Edward?”
Finn replied. “Who does or doesn’t work at the ranch is no business of yours. Got that? None. Forget you ever heard about anybody telling lies. And keep in mind that Edward is my uncle, not yours. You have no genetic ties to him.”
“From what I’ve heard Mom say lately, that’s a good thing. “Why did you go to work for him in the first place?”
“I wanted to get to know my birth family,” Finn said.
“My dad is—was—a great guy,” Sean offered.
“Yes. James Donovan was a fine man. You should be proud to be his son.”
“You can claim him, too. He adopted you.”
“I do claim him. And I honor his memory as best I can,” Finn said with tenderness. “He was a wonderful dad. The thing is, we inherit certain characteristics from our parents.”
“How come Edward and Zeb were so different?”
“Good question,” Finn told his brother. “Zeb was a kind, intelligent, fair man.” Selena had to repress a shiver when Finn said, “I pray all the time that I take after him, not Edward.”
Wanting to reassure Finn that she saw nothing of Edward in his persona, she simply said, “No worries. You don’t.”
Encouraged, Finn explained in more detail. “I’m not sure how soon Edward figured out the genetic connections after I was hired at the ranch, but I suspect it didn’t take him long, especially since I have some of the quirks Zeb had, like the way I tilt my head when I’m thinking and my being left-handed.”
“Pretty dumb reason to fire you.” the teen said.
Nodding, Finn recalled the lies that had led to his termination and the way he’d then made a snap decision that had changed everyone’s life. “Agreed. That’s probably why Edward blamed me for stealing cattle and used that as his excuse to let me go. I think he was trying to make sure Zeb wouldn’t listen to anything I said. His plan backfired.”
Centering his attention on his brother, Finn occasionally glanced at Selena while he told his story. “It turns out I didn’t have to deny anything. Zeb already distrusted Edward, so he didn’t believe his lies. The more Zeb and I talked and got to know each other, the more we discovered we had in common and the easier it was for him to see for himself that I was his kin. The same went for me.”
“You’re positive?” Selena asked quietly.
Finn had no doubts and said so. “The match to Edward wasn’t exact enough, which is why I wanted to investigate further before I introduced myself. Having a serious talk with Mom after I presented my DNA findings finally confirmed it. She said she never had anything to do with Edward. It was Zeb she’d loved. His family was wealthy and didn’t want him to marry her. She was so disappointed that he didn’t stick up for her that she never told him she was expecting me. And until I got close to discovering the truth on my own, she refused to discuss it.”
“That’s so sad.”
Sean had another opinion. “Sounds dumb to me.”
“It was human. People make mistakes. You never know what you’ll do until you’re in a tough spot,” Finn said. “Take Edward for example. Why would he want to harm his brother when they’d been in business together almost their whole lives?”
Isla interrupted with, “Supper’s ready,” and began to ladle meatballs and Italian tomato sauce into a serving bowl.
Sighing, Finn held a chair for Meadow, then Selena, before seating himself next to his brother. “I suspect that Zeb mentioned changing his will in my favor and sealed his own fate.”
“All the more reason why you’d have been foolish to murder him,” Selena said. “A smart man would have waited until he knew the will was changed before doing away with the guy who was going to leave him money and property.”
“But a killer who wanted to inherit while an old will was still valid would want to end Zeb’s life right away. I know. I get it. I tried to explain it that way during the trial.”
“I can’t believe the jury didn’t buy it,” Sean interjected.
“They had my fingerprints, which I was able to explain because I had been there, only not at the time of the murder. I was convicted on the testimony of a live witness who swore he saw me at the scene of the crime when it happened,” Finn reminded him. “I’m counting on the discrediting of that false testimony to result in an innocent verdict.”
“When?” Sean sounded angry enough to give Finn pause and make the hair on the nape of his neck prickle. It would be easy to echo the same frustration. But he must not. He would not. If he’d learned anything during his three-year incarceration, it was that justice often moved at a snail’s pace.
Unlike bullets, he thought, carrying on a conversation in his mind. Nothing was certain, including the length of a person’s life, yet that didn’t mean he should live as if his time was up. Only God knew whether or not he had a future.
Finn looked over at Selena and caught her studying him. What was she seeing, or not seeing? he wondered. His heart insisted that she’d been truthful when she’d said she believed in his innocence. That alone was a priceless gift.
Would there someday be more between them than there was now, perhaps something even stronger to bind them than what they’d once shared? The mere thought of that possibility made his stomach flip and his jaw clench.
As long as it was only a dream, Finn allowed himself to imagine it. When—if—it ever began to approach reality, he knew he’d have to rethink any previous conclusions.
One woof from the backyard startled everyone. In moments, the instigator was joined in a barking contest to rival anything he’d ever heard.
Selena jumped to her feet and headed for the back door. Gun in hand, Kyle peered out a side window while Meadow raced for the front, leaving everyone else at the table.
The second Sean tried to rise, Finn stopped him with an outstretched arm. “You stay put.”
“But...”
Arguments were intolerable. “Just do it,” he shouted, punctuating the order by slamming his clenched fist on the wooden table.
Wide-eyed, Isla leaned away.
Seeing tears welling in his younger brother’s eye made Finn feel so guilty he would have apologized if he hadn’t believed that the outburst had helped establish much-needed authority.
Later, when the danger was over and it was safe to walk the streets, Finn vowed that he’d take Sean aside and apologize. Right now, the safest place for all the civilians was inside, where they couldn’t be targeted or accidentally shot the way the hapless guard was after the prison transport wreck.
More guilt enveloped Finn, including the death of his birth father and anyone else who might foolishly get too close to him.
Anyone, he reiterated to himself. They all shared the threat, even an armed officer who could shoot back. Even Selena Smith.