Cowboy with a Cause (14 page)

It was at that moment she realized that despite her every intention to the contrary, she was in love with Adam Benson. It was also at that moment that his cell phone rang.

He carefully deposited her back into her wheelchair and then dug his cell phone out of his pocket. He looked at the caller identification and then at her.

“It’s Cameron,” he said and just that quickly the magic of dance, the wonder of Adam disappeared as she thought of the man who had crept into her room in the middle of the night, the man who apparently wanted her dead.

Chapter 13

C
ameron sat across the table from Adam and Melanie, his features giving them all the answers they needed. Nothing. He had absolutely nothing for them. It was evident in the defeat that darkened his eyes, in the exhaustion that wearied his features. Adam fought the bitterness of disappointment, which threatened to crawl up the back of his throat.

“Since last night we’ve focused our investigation mainly on the possibility that the attack on you might have been a personal one and not tied to the other two murders,” Cameron said to them.

Adam nodded. He understood that it would be easier to approach the investigation that way initially to rule out any of the people who might have a personal beef against Melanie. “So what have you got so far?”

“At the time of the attack Billy Vickers was in bed with his wife. Of course she confirmed it. He appeared genuinely surprised to find out that you were back here in town. He said he’d just assumed after your mother’s death you’d gone back to New York City.”

“So he’s off the suspect list,” Melanie said.

“Not quite. While I was speaking with Billy and Linda in the living room, Deputy Temple asked to use the restroom, where he did a little snooping in the medicine cabinet and discovered a prescription bottle for some fairly heavy-duty sleeping pills for Linda.”

“Then it’s possible Billy slipped his wife a pill before bedtime and she wouldn’t have known for sure if he left their bedroom in the middle of the night or not,” Adam said.

Cameron nodded. “Exactly.”

“But I haven’t even seen Billy since I left here for New York years ago,” Melanie said.

Adam frowned. “I think he and his wife might have been at the Cowboy Café the night we went.”

“He didn’t stop by the table to say hello or anything,” Melanie replied. “I didn’t notice him there.”

“If he was with his wife, then he probably wouldn’t have stopped by to say hello to an old girlfriend.” Adam shrugged.

“We weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend. We just dated a couple of times, that’s all,” Melanie said, as if needing to explain her relationship with Billy.

“In any case, Denver Walton and Maddy were together at the Corral until well after midnight and there were plenty of witnesses to corroborate their story.”

The Corral was a hot spot for drinking and dancing at the edge of town. For a couple of months after Sam’s arrest Adam had spent more than his share of time there, doing very little dancing but a lot of drinking.

“And of course, Jim Collins was on duty,” Cameron continued, “which brings us to Craig Jenkins. I’ve been unable to locate him to check out his alibi. He hasn’t been home all day and I was finally able to contact his secretary this afternoon and she told me he left yesterday morning to go out of town.”

“Out of town where?” Melanie asked.

“She didn’t know. He’s supposed to be back in a couple of days and hopefully we’ll get some answers from him then.”

Adam frowned. He didn’t like loose ends and Craig Jenkins was definitely a loose end at this point in time. As far as Adam was concerned, Craig had the most to gain by Melanie’s death. How simple it would be to kill her and make it look like the work of the serial killer.

“Kevin Naperson was at home with his parents last night. Of course, they probably wouldn’t have known if he’d sneaked out of his room in the middle of the night, so he’s not been crossed off the list.” Cameron looked at Melanie. “Have you thought of anyone else you think we should check out?”

She sighed and shook her head. “No, and trust me, I’ve racked my brain. The only reason why this attack felt personal was that he knew my name, but he could know my name and still be the serial killer working here in town.”

“I know,” Cameron replied curtly.

“If it is the same person who killed Shirley and Candy, have you been able to figure out at all why he’s killing these women? What motivates him?” Adam asked.

Cameron raked his fingers through his hair and shook his head. “We know the murders don’t appear to be sexually motivated. The victims aren’t molested and there are no elements that would point to a sexual motivation.”

“I’ve heard it said that there are only three motives for murder. Sex, greed and revenge,” Adam said. “Is there any way greed or revenge could be pointed to as a motive in the cases of Candy Bailey and Shirley Cook?” he asked.

“Not that we’ve been able to find.” Cameron leaned back in the chair. “And there’s one other motive for murder besides the three you named.”

“What’s that?” Adam asked.

“Some murderers kill just because they like it and that’s what I’m afraid we’re dealing with here,” Cameron said. “A thrill killer. They are often the most difficult ones to catch.”

Adam could almost feel the icy chill that swept through Melanie. He reached beneath the table and took her cold hand in his. “But you will catch him,” he said to Cameron.

Cameron’s eyes narrowed. “Eventually his need to kill will overcome his control and hopefully he’ll start making mistakes. He’ll begin to decompensate, get sloppy or take risks, and we can only hope that will happen soon.”

“And in the meantime?” Melanie asked with a squeeze of Adam’s hand.

“And in the meantime I see you’ve had a security system installed. That’s smart, because if this is the same guy who killed Candy and Shirley, then he likes the nighttime and he likes going in places where there’s little resistance.” Cameron leaned forward. “I’m holding a news conference tomorrow and reminding people to keep their doors and windows locked up. I’m going to tell the women of this town not to be out after dark alone. I’d hoped whoever was responsible for Candy’s and Shirley’s murders had left town or died or got arrested. I’d hoped his little reign of terror was over, but with this latest attack on you I have to assume that he’s still active.”

“If he tries to get to Melanie again, he’ll not only have to somehow get through the security system, but he’ll also have to come through me,” Adam said fervently.

Cameron nodded and wearily rose to his feet. “I’m guessing that he’ll go after somebody else, that he’ll recognize that Melanie is no longer a vulnerable victim, but there are certainly no guarantees. We still can’t be sure we’re dealing with the same perp.”

Adam stood, as well, wishing that Cameron had brought some sort of closure with him. “You’ll stay in touch?” he asked as he walked the lawman to the front door. “I’ll be particularly interested in finding out where Craig Jenkins disappeared to.”

“I’d like to know where he disappeared to, also,” Cameron replied. “I find it damned suspicious that Melanie is attacked and Craig suddenly disappears.”

“And if he’s behind this, I definitely know his motivation,” Adam added. “Greed. We both know this house is prime real estate for commercial buildings. Melanie told me that her mother owes some back taxes, which she’d been paying off. If she’s killed, then the house would probably go up for auction for the back taxes. Jenkins would be able to pick it up for a song.”

“All the more reason for me to talk to him,” Cameron said, with a deep frown cutting across his forehead. “I’ve got some deputies in Evanston watching his house for his return. He’ll be brought in for questioning the minute he makes an appearance.”

“And if he doesn’t show up?” Adam asked.

“Then we’ll go hunting until we find him.” The two men stopped at the front door. “How is she handling things?” Cameron gestured back toward the kitchen.

“She’s amazingly strong.” The pride that swelled up in Adam’s chest felt like his own. He was proud of her, of how well she’d handled what might have broken most women. “We both had a few minutes of concern when we thought she had broken those pictures in the living room, but there’s no doubt in my mind that whoever attacked her also gained access to the house and broke the glass in an effort to torment her.”

“She’s been tormented enough. Now we need some answers,” Cameron replied intently. With that the two men said their goodbyes.

Once Cameron left, Adam reset the alarm system and then saw that Melanie had moved to the sofa in the living room. He sat down next to her. “Are you all right?” he asked.

“I’m fine.” She worried a hand through her silky hair. “It would have been nice if Cameron had been able to tell me that he’d caught the bad guy and now had him in jail, but I didn’t really expect that to happen.”

“The important thing is that he will catch the bad guy sooner or later.” Adam fought the impulse to pull her into his embrace, to bury his nose in the vanilla scent of her hair.

“Two women dead and a near miss on me. I’d say at the moment the bad guy is winning.”

“Hopefully sooner than later that all will change,” Adam said. As a silence fell between them, Adam remembered what it had been like to hold her in his arms while she danced to the music.

It had been magical. It was as if he’d been the jewelry box that held the ballerina in place while she whirled and twirled in graceful motion. It had been the most sensual thing he’d ever been a part of, watching her lose herself to the music, trusting him to hold her steady.

As he remembered her playing with Garrett, delighting the child as he had her, Adam couldn’t stand it any longer. He needed to touch her.

He reached out for her hand, but she didn’t place hers in his. Instead she appeared to draw into herself as she gazed at him. “It’s been a long day.” Her gaze held his for a long moment and then slid just past his shoulder. “Since you’ve installed the security system, I don’t see any reason for you to sleep down here anymore.”

Adam stared at her and waited for her gaze to finally meet his again. This was definitely a consequence of the security system that he hadn’t counted on.

He had thought they were building something together, but obviously he’d been wrong. He was preciously close to being completely in love with her, but it was obvious she didn’t feel the same way.

When her gaze finally met his, he saw a distance in her eyes that broke his heart, a distance that made him feel like something had finished before it had ever really had a chance to begin.

* * *

It had been four nights since he’d gotten into Melanie Brooks’s bedroom, since he’d smelled the scent of her, been so achingly close to taking her.

He wrapped his arms around himself. At two in the morning in October the air definitely was chilly. He had a feeling they were in for an early, harsh winter. Just tonight the weatherman had spoken of a cold front moving in. Melanie Brooks wouldn’t live to endure the winter.

It had been fun to play with her, to get into the house and move her things and erase the caller ID. He knew it had to have screwed with her mind, but he hadn’t gotten the enjoyment of seeing the fear in her eyes, of watching the horror of her believing she was going crazy. Yes, it had been fun, but now he was tired of the fun.

Five more minutes. If he’d just had five more minutes, he would have managed to get into that closet. He would have been able to drug her, then take her to his place and enjoy some “quality” time with her.

He wanted that. He wanted to see her crawl to him. He wanted to see the fear in her eyes before he stole the life from her.

If only Adam Benson had been five minutes later getting home. Then the rage that burned inside him would have been satisfied. Melanie would be dead and he would finally be at peace.

He stared at the darkened windows of the room where he knew she slept. “Soon,” he whispered as he backed out of her yard. Soon he would make a move on her again, and this time there would be no cowboy to ride to her rescue, no knight in shining armor to save the beautiful princess. She would be his and his alone to do with what he wanted.

And he wanted her dead.

* * *

Melanie sat at the kitchen table, sipping a cup of coffee. Dawn was just beginning to break over the horizon and Adam had yet to make an appearance for the day.

It had been five long days since the security system had been installed, five long days since she’d made it clear to Adam that any further intimacy between the two of them wasn’t going to happen.

They had returned to a strained politeness that felt like torture to her, but it was a necessary torture. The minute she’d realized she was falling hopelessly in love with him, she’d known it was necessary to retreat. She had to protect herself. She had to protect her heart.

He’d brought so many things into her life. He’d proven to her that she could have a social life, that she could leave this house and enjoy music once again. He’d brought back her laughter and a vision for a future. And there were times in the past five days that she’d wondered if perhaps her love for him was really a case of deep gratitude.

Still, no matter how she worked to make her feelings toward him be gratefulness alone, she couldn’t. It was simply love...love for him as a man, as an uncle, love for the person he was and the way he made her feel whenever he looked at her with those beautiful blue eyes of his.

She’d needed to back off not just for her own sake but, more importantly, for his. She sensed that he had a depth of feelings for her, too. And she couldn’t allow that. She couldn’t allow him to fall in love with her. That particular scenario had heartbreak written all over it.

Taking a sip of her coffee, she watched as the sun made its first bold peek over the last of the lingering night clouds. There hadn’t been a minute that had gone by in the last five days that she hadn’t wanted to be in his arms, that she hadn’t wanted him to be next to her in her bed.

She felt like Juliet, but instead of it being family holding her back from reaching out for love, it was her own disability. No way would she saddle Adam with it, with her.

He deserved much more than she would ever be able to give him. He deserved a whole woman who could be an active mother to his children. And he needed children. As she’d watched him interact with his nephew, she’d seen the kind of father he would make. He was meant to be a husband and a father, just not with her.

As if he’d been summoned by her thoughts, she heard the sound of his footsteps coming down the stairs and steeled herself for another tense day.