Beneath a Darkening Moon (28 page)

“What are you here for, Agent Jones?”

Cade shook the offered hand, noting the power in the older man’s grip and returning it in kind. “I’m investigating two murders on the reservation.”

“Indeed.” The old man’s gaze returned to Savannah, and the air fairly crackled with hostility. “Why wasn’t I informed?”

Again, those invisible hackles rose. Cade wasn’t sure if it was a natural reaction to the man’s antagonistic
body language, or simply an instinctive need to protect what he deemed his. But either way, he was going to have to watch it. Levon Grant was not someone he wanted as an enemy. Not—given Levon’s apparent contacts within the IIS—if he wanted to remain in his chosen career. “I asked Ranger Grant not to tell you.”

Those sharp green eyes came back to him. “And why wouldn’t you want to tell a reservation’s council that a murdering bomber was in town?”

“We had no idea they’d go to these extremes,” Savannah snapped, then grabbed her father’s arm. “You and I need to talk. Now,” she added, when the old man didn’t move.

Cade watched her drag him away. As he saw the tension so evident between the two, one thing became obvious—his earlier assumption that Vannah had won the head ranger’s position because her dad was head of the council was totally mistaken. If what he’d just witnessed was any demonstration, Levon Grant didn’t support his daughter in
any
way.

Odd for a man who was supposedly so keen on family values.

A gray truck pulled to a halt beside the fire trucks, and Anton climbed out. Cade walked over to him.

“Hell of a mess,” Anton commented. “If you and the ranger were in there, you were extremely lucky to get out.”

“Very,” Cade agreed, his gaze on a green ranger’s truck coming down the street fast. “The bomb was set in the kitchen, and wired to the light. When the scene is declared stable, I want you to go in there and see what you can uncover.”

Anton nodded. “Wiring the bomb to the lights suggests some electrical skills that our pretty blond suspect likely does not have.”

The truck stopped and two rangers climbed out—one Steve, the other a dark-haired man in his mid-forties. Not Ronan, as he’d half-expected. “There are two pretty blondes, and we have no idea what skills Nelle James has.”

“Or if she’s even involved,” Anton said.

Cade met Anton’s gaze. “She’s involved.”

“If she was here in town, surely Ranger Grant would know. After all, they were good friends.”

So he would have thought. But then, ten years had passed since Rosehall. When combined with a twenty-year age gap, the Nelle he and Vannah remembered might not even remotely resemble the Nelle of today, particularly if those years had been harsh ones.

He frowned. “How is the cross-check going on the recent arrivals?”

“Everyone has checked out.”

“What about Lonny Jackson’s mother?”

“Her name is Frankie Jackson. She married one Kenneth Jackson some eighteen years ago.”

“So he’s not Lonny’s natural father?” Or the sister’s, if indeed Candy was Lonny’s sister.

Anton shook his head. “On her birth certificate, the father is listed as unknown.”

Damn
. “Any other information on the mother?”

“Yeah, she and her husband died in a car crash ten years ago.”

Cade scrubbed a hand through his dirt-encrusted hair. This case was getting more and more complex. Every damn time they seemed to find a lead, it vanished.
But they were on the right track, he was sure of it. “And what happened to Lonny after their deaths?”

“That we’re still trying to find out. We found a picture of Frankie. It’s in the car, along with all the other information we’ve collected, if you still want to look at it.”

It couldn’t hurt. Given the way this case was going, he’d probably spot the dead Frankie walking around Ripple Creek. “The second blonde’s name is Candy Jackson,” he told Anton. “Ronan said that Merron doesn’t always register half-breeds, so maybe that explains why she looks like Lonny and yet isn’t listed as a sister.”

“Trista’s calling the Merron ranger this morning.” Anton paused and added dryly, “They did get on extremely well.”

Cade snorted softly. It would have been more accurate to say that Trista and the Merron ranger had been going at it like rabbits. But if they could use that past relationship to get more information out of the man, then he was all for it. “I’ll talk to her.”

He glanced across to where Vannah and her father were still arguing, noting that she seemed to be giving as good as she got. Part of him ached to go over there and defend her, but he had no rights beyond those he’d snatched with the moon magic. Besides, as she’d said, she was more than capable of looking after herself.

But it was interesting that she was doing so against her father. While most wolf packs held a modern view of women’s rights, they were also very much a patriarchal society. An alpha male always ruled, never an alpha female—except in his family, of course. Since
his father had died when he was young, his mom had ruled the house. But she’d still obeyed the edicts of the pack’s alpha.

So maybe the real reason Vannah and her father didn’t get on was because they were very much alike, and she refused to acknowledge his right of rule over her.

“She’s going to need round-the-clock protection,” Anton said softly. “You both are.”

“We don’t have the staff to run protection and keep up with the investigation. The best we can do is change where we stay—and don’t advertise it.”

“You could leave town.”

“No. These bitches are mine.”

“If indeed they are bitches and not bastards.”

He didn’t bother answering. He was pretty sure his rookie guess about there being more than one killer at Rosehall had been right, and he was damn sure he was right now. All he had to do was find the proof.

“If you don’t run, hiding isn’t going to do much good,” Anton continued. “Gossip has a way of getting around in a town like this. Especially if the two of you shack up together.”

“I have no choice, Anton.” He forced his gaze from Vannah as Steve and the second ranger began talking to the fire chief. He frowned, suddenly wondering who was protecting Ronan. “I’m afraid the chief ranger and I have unfinished moon business.”

“We gathered that.” Anton paused. “You’d better be careful that it doesn’t distract you.”

“That’s one warning I don’t need. Let me know as soon as Hart arrives.”

Anton nodded. Cade headed for Anton’s truck. By
the time he got there, his leg ached fiercely, and the dried spots of blood on his leg had been flooded with a brighter, fresher red. He shifted shape again, knowing it would stop the immediate flow, but it wasn’t going to help long term. Not if he didn’t stop moving around on it.

There was no way in hell he was going back into the hospital, but he could rest for a while. He grabbed the folder from the backseat and limped over to Vannah’s debris-covered truck to wait for her.

S
AVANNAH THRUST A
hand through her blood-stiffened hair and tried to ignore the urge to scream at her father. He was frustrating at the best of times, but when it came to taking orders he refused to see the sense in, she might as well bash her head against a wall.

Which, to be honest, was half the reason she’d delayed talking to him. She just had to thank God that her mom hadn’t been home and paid the price for her reluctance to confront her old man.

“Look,” she said, barely managing to keep the exasperation out of her voice. “I’m not arguing any more about this. I’m assigning Bodee to keep you company while you collect Mom from the hairdresser’s, and then he will escort you both out of town.”

Her father’s green eyes flashed with anger. “I won’t be forced out of my own damn town!”

“Have you actually looked at the diner? Half the top floor is gone. If Mom had been home as usual, you’d be down at the morgue right now identifying her remains.” She stopped to take a deep breath, trying to calm the anger and guilt surging through her.
“Look, I know you don’t want to leave, but I can’t do my job and find these people if I’m constantly worried about your safety. And I simply haven’t the manpower to put you under a full-time guard.”

“You said that these people are after you, not me.”

“But they’ll try to get to me through you and Mom. I sent Neva to the mansion for her safety. Either go there, too, or get out of town.”

“I refuse to go anywhere near that den of depravity.”

“Then leave town.” She glanced over to where Bodee was standing, and she noted for the first time that Steve was with him. Damn it, why wasn’t he guarding Ronan? “Bodee, Steve, can I see you both, please?”

The two men walked over. Steve held up his hands as soon as he neared her and said, “Don’t yell at me. Ronan refused to have me anywhere near him. Said he didn’t need a babysitter—only he wasn’t quite that polite.”

Stubborn damn man—men, she corrected, glancing back at her father.

“What’s wrong with Ronan?” he asked, voice sharp.

Not that he actually cared about Ronan’s safety, she thought sourly. It was more a case of his wishes being thwarted. Ever since the Sinclair murder case, he’d been maneuvering to get Ronan instated as head ranger. Not that Ronan particularly wanted the position—he hadn’t even been asked about it, in fact—but that was beside the point. Her father wanted her out, having always believed it wasn’t a job suitable for a woman—a belief that had been confirmed
by her near death at the hands of the moon dance killer. Once she’d actually recovered and returned to the job, his machinations had begun. They hadn’t been successful yet, but Savannah knew she’d only have to drop the ball once and she’d be out.

And yet, perversely, she knew he was proud of her work and the way she had handled herself. She knew because he’d told her more than once—usually right before he and Mom launched into their “it’s time you settle down and have babies” routine.

And Neva’s marital bliss and resulting pregnancy had only increased their fervor to see her palmed off onto some poor, unsuspecting man.

“I think whoever is behind the bombing might also have tried to run Ronan down this afternoon,” she explained, then glanced at Bodee. “Someone is certainly going after everyone I care about, anyway. I’ve ordered my mom and dad to leave town immediately. I want you to play chauffeur and take them to wherever they want to go.” She returned her gaze to her dad’s. “But go somewhere you’ve never been, somewhere people wouldn’t expect you to be.”

“This is damnably inconvenient.”

“Being dead would be doubly so. Just do it, and let me get on with my job.”

He grunted. “Get that cut seen to, will you? It’s bleeding everywhere.”

As yeses went, it was grudging, but it was better than nothing. She smiled, then leaned forward and kissed his cheek. “Be careful.”

“You, too, cub. You, too.” He squeezed her arm, then spun around and followed Bodee to the car.
She heaved a silent sigh of relief and looked at Steve. “Any word on Ike yet?”

“No one’s seen him.”

“Damn.” She bit her lip for a moment, trying to quell the fear knotting her stomach as she watched Anton and several firefighters enter the diner’s carcass. “Call Denny’s mom and see if he made it home, then contact search and rescue about Ike. Once they’ve been advised, head on over to Ronan’s. I want him watched for the next twenty-four hours, even if all of you have to sit outside his house in your trucks.”

Steve raised an eyebrow. “Why only twenty-four hours?”

“Because I have a feeling this is all going to be over by then.”

“For good, I hope.”

“Me, too,” she muttered. The trouble was, her instincts didn’t seem interested in seeing that far ahead.

“A twenty-four-hour watch is going to be hard to manage. We don’t have enough staff to man the station
and
do a watch.”

Savannah scrubbed a hand across her forehead. She had a major headache coming on, and she wasn’t sure if it was a result of the bomb blast or simply a surfeit of stress. “I know. But he won’t leave town, so we’ll just have to manage the best we can.”

Steve coughed, then sniffed and said in a scratchy voice, “So are the rest of us in danger?”

“I honestly don’t know. But it’s well known that Ronan and I are good friends, and I suspect that’s the reason they targeted him.”

Steve nodded. “Then it might be better for everyone if
you
got out of town.”

“That’ll only delay the inevitable confrontation. If these people are after me and Agent Cade, we’re better off facing them here, where at least we have the home court advantage.”

“It seems to me that the killers have the very same advantage. They know you, boss. They know what you do and who you associate with. That indicates they’ve been watching you for a while.”

It did. She rubbed her forehead again. “I’m going home to change, and then I’m heading over to Ari’s to talk to her. I want everyone to report in to Kel every half-hour.”

“You know Alf Reeson’s parked himself at the station, don’t you? He says Agent Jones promised him an exclusive.”

She had no idea if he had or hadn’t, and right now Reeson was the last of her worries. “As long as he’s not causing problems, ignore him.”

Steve nodded as he squinted toward the diner. “I’d start looking closer to home for suspects.”

“I intend to. Just be careful.” She squeezed his arm and headed for her truck.

As she climbed into the driver’s seat, Cade glanced up from a folder he was reading. “You okay?”

“I feel like shit, and I’m going home for a nice hot shower. Then I’m going to talk to Ari, one of the waitresses who works in the diner and who has apparently befriended Candy. What’s that?” She pointed to the folder as she started the engine.

“Information on Lonny’s mother, Frankie Jackson.” He reached into the folder and pulled out a photo. “Have you seen her?”

The woman in the black and white photo looked
about forty, with pale wavy hair and dark eyes. Her mouth was as thin as her face, and had a downward tilt that gave her a sour look. “Is this a license photo?”

He smiled. “Yeah. They’re always bad.”

“That they are.” Her gaze went to the woman’s eyes. There was something vaguely familiar about them—a certain warmth that was also oddly calculating. “I haven’t seen her around, but there’s something about her that seems familiar.” She paused, and then it hit. “Anni Hawkins, the woman who runs the flower shop below my apartment. Frankie has the same sort of eyes.”