Laying Down the Law (14 page)

“I’m not sure. But it must have been something big to make him turn away from you. He loved you. Loved all of us.” Sarah paused. “I want to see him. Do you think you can arrange that?”

Cord’s first reaction was to say no, but he might learn a lot watching the two interact. “I’ll work on it.”

Sarah nodded, then stood, glancing around. “I need to use the ladies’ room, and then I guess you’ll be taking me to talk to the cops?”

“Yes,” Cord answered without hesitation. All of this had to go on the record.

And then he had to call Addie.

“But you won’t be able to use the bathroom here. Everything in the building will have to be processed.”

Sarah eyed the gas station next door. “I’ll have to go there, then.”

When Sarah stepped outside, Cord got the attention of one of the uniforms. “Could you go with her and keep an eye on her?”

“Sure, but we’re kind of busy here.” It was obvious that the officer had more important things to do, but he did follow her and then stood by the door when Sarah went inside.

“You believe her?” Karina asked right off.

“Yeah.” Cord thought Sarah was the real deal, and judging from the sound Karina made, so did she.

Cord’s phone rang. Jericho, again. So he answered it right away.

“When were you going to tell me that someone tried to kill Karina and you again?” Jericho began.

It wasn’t that Cord had forgotten about it. But meeting Sarah had pushed the attack to the back burner. “We’re okay. I’ll tell you about it when we make it back to Appaloosa Pass. In the meantime, did you find out anything about Sarah Prior?”

“Yeah,” Jericho said. “Who the hell is she?”

It took Cord a moment to get out the answer. “I think she’s my mother. Why? What’d you find out about her?”

“Not nearly enough. No records on her until twenty-nine years ago, so I’m betting that’s not her real name. Or else she made sure not to leave any trace of herself so there’d be a paper trail. She’s had various retail and clerical jobs. Nothing that stands out. But something must have stood out for you.”

“It did. She’s got a story to tell, and after Karina and I are back, you’ll get to hear it, too.”

Jericho stayed quiet a moment. “Does Addie know?”

“Not yet. Soon. Karina and I need to give our statements first. There are two deaths so that might take some time.” It’d take more than
some time
to get that look out of Karina’s eyes.

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do,” Jericho added, and he hung up.

Cord stood, helping Karina to her feet, and he went to the gas station bathroom to speak with the officer who was standing guard outside the door.

“The woman inside will need to go to your police station,” Cord told him. “She has key information about an old murder investigation.” Or soon it would be an investigation anyway. “Can you make sure someone gives her a ride there?”

Of course, he could have offered for Sarah to ride with Karina and him, but Cord really needed some time to try to make sense of this and clear his head. It wouldn’t be long before Karina would be facing a serious adrenaline crash, and he needed to save some energy for that.

“I’ll get somebody out here to give her a ride,” the officer assured him.

Cord took a step, then stopped. He felt that too familiar feeling go down his spine. It was a feeling that he’d learned not to ignore.

Because it had saved him a time or two.

“What’s wrong?” Karina asked.

Cord didn’t answer. Instead, he hurried to the ladies’ room, and he threw open the door. It wasn’t a large space, just two stalls, two sinks and a window, so it didn’t take him long to see who was there.

Or rather who wasn’t.

Hell.

Sarah was gone.

Chapter Fifteen

Sarah.

The woman’s name and her story kept going through Cord’s head, and the hot shower wasn’t helping. Wasn’t helping with the images, either. Images of those two thugs who’d tried to kidnap Karina.

Who were they?

That was still the million-dollar question, and in a perfect world, the cops would be able to pin this on someone in that stupid Bloody Murder club. But so far, there’d been no arrests, and both of the hired guns were not only unidentified, but they were also dead, so they obviously weren’t talking.

That’s why Cord and Jericho had beefed up security once again at the ranch. And it was the reason he kept his shower short. Karina had been asleep when he’d gotten up from the sofa, walked through the bedroom and gone into the bathroom, but he wanted to be there when she woke up.

In case she fell apart.

She had to be on the edge, especially after dealing with an adrenaline crash. When they’d finished giving their statements to the cops, they’d returned to the guesthouse. She’d showered, to get that blood off her hands, and had fallen right into bed. He’d checked on her several times throughout the night, but she hadn’t moved from the spot where she’d landed.

But she had moved now.

Cord saw that the moment he stepped into the bedroom. Good thing he’d gotten some clean clothes from the closet before he’d hit the shower, or he would have walked in there stark naked.

Just the thought of it seemed to give his body some bad ideas.

Of course, seeing Karina gave him even worse ideas.

She was sitting up as if waiting for him. Her hair was tumbled all around her face and shoulders. And she was looking at him as if he might have the answers to the universe.

“I didn’t hear you when you went into the bathroom,” she said.

Cord shrugged. “You’re a very deep sleeper.”

“Yes.” She flexed her eyebrows, repeated that
yes
. “Please don’t tell me you watched me drool or anything.”

“No drool.” But then he thought they could use some lightness. “All right. Minimal drool.”

It worked. She laughed. And it was so good to hear that. In fact, a first, and he hoped he got to hear her laugh and see her smile again.

The laughter didn’t last long, though, and she studied him. “Bad news?”

“No. More like no news.” Which some might say was a good thing. “There’s still no sign of Sarah. No change in Willie Lee’s condition. Mack’s good to go, though. He’s already home since the bullet went straight through and didn’t hit anything vital. His girlfriend is giving him some TLC.”

“That’s good.”

It was, but he could still hear the sadness in her voice. Mack had been shot by the men who wanted to get to her. Karina would see that as her fault.

It wasn’t.

Maybe he’d be able to make her understand that.

“The San Antonio cops are going through Sarah’s place,” Cord continued. “They’re hoping to find out where she could be hiding. And why.”

He especially wanted to know the why.

He shook his head. “I don’t understand it. Sarah came there to that diner. She spilled all those details of what’d happened to Addie and me. So, why did she just run off like that?” Climbing out of a window, no less.

“Maybe something spooked her,” Karina suggested. “If you want to know what I think, though, I believe she’s telling the truth. If you want to know for sure, I stole the tissue she’d used and put it in the pocket of my jeans. You can use it to do a DNA test.”

“You did what?” But he waved off his question. He’d understood just fine. “I didn’t see you take her tissue.”

“I have sneaky fingers.” With that, her gaze dropped down to her hands. They were spotless, but she could no doubt still see the blood that’d been there.

“I killed a man,” she whispered.

“You killed a
bad
man. That doesn’t count.” But he knew it counted. Knew that it would stay with her for the rest of her life.

Because he’d killed several bad men, too. He remembered each one of them. Their faces. The blood. And even now, it twisted his gut.

She reached for him, motioning for him to come closer.

Uh-oh. Cord figured he should just turn around and walk out. With the morning light slipping through the edges around the blinds, he had no trouble seeing every one of Karina’s bruises. That cut, too. No trouble seeing the worry still in her eyes, either. The energy was practically zinging between them.

She was in no shape for what he was thinking about doing. Which meant he should leave her alone so she could try to get some more rest. Then he could fix her some breakfast and pretend that all was right with the world.

But he didn’t walk out.

Instead, he gave trouble an engraved invitation and sank down onto the bed next to her.

Karina seemed to know exactly what that
invitation
meant because she reached out, pulled him closer and kissed him. It was a tentative kiss, not much of a real one.

So, Cord made it real.

Mindful of her bruises—but just as mindful of the need he felt in her—he dragged her to him and kissed her until there was no turning back.

She made a sound of pleasure. He’d heard it when he’d kissed her before, but it was lot hotter now than then. His body seemed to take that as a challenge, to make that sound even louder.

Stupid, yes. But it worked.

It felt as if Karina melted in his arms, and for the first time in ages, the flashbacks weren’t in his head. Nor the images he wanted to forget. The only thing in his head was her.

He kept kissing her until they both needed more. It was easy to give more since she was half dressed. Wearing his T-shirt. He pushed it up and found a naked woman beneath.

Oh, man.

Just the sight of her nearly had him rushing this. His body was pushing him to take her now. But he could also see bruises on her rib cage and stomach.

Cord kissed each one. Softly. Gently. Then, he went lower and planted some not-so-gentle kisses there.

He heard her make that sound again. Louder. Much more urgently. Something he understood, but he wanted to linger a few moments longer. Wanted this to last a lot longer than his body was urging.

But Karina had a different notion about that.

She caught on to his arm, pulling him back up, his body sliding over hers to create some interesting friction. Yeah, this had to happen soon.

Karina must have thought so, too, because she yanked off his shirt. Cord went stiff for a second, bracing himself in case the scars killed the mood. They didn’t. With her gaze connected to his, she lowered her head and kissed the scars, the way he’d kissed her bruises.

That did it. No more foreplay.

Karina and he were clearly on the same page about that because she went after his zipper. He was barefoot, so that made it easier to get his jeans off. Well, it would have been easier if she hadn’t kept kissing him the whole time.

“Condom,” he growled. He sat up, fumbling around to locate one in the nightstand drawer.

Later, he’d tell her that he hadn’t put them there, that they’d been in the drawer when he first started staying at the guesthouse.

Later, he’d tell her a lot of things.

For now, though, he just managed to get on the condom, and he pulled her onto his lap so that his weight wouldn’t put pressure on her bruises. She lowered herself, easing her body onto him until she took him inside her.

Cord had to take a second to catch his breath.

He’d known it would be special with Karina, but he hadn’t expected to feel this. And he didn’t have that thought for long. Every logical thought in his head vanished when they started to move together.

The face-to-face position was right for him to kiss her, so that’s what he did. He took her mouth, touching her, moving her harder and faster against him. Time seemed to stop and yet speed up, too.

Until he felt her climax ripple through her body.

Cord hadn’t needed much more incentive to finish this, but that was it. He gathered Karina into his arms, pulling her to him, and he let himself go right along with her.

* * *

I
T
WAS
SILLY
, but Karina kept smiling.

It’d been a long time since she’d been with a man, and never like that. Never. Which didn’t make it just silly, it made her stupid.

Mercy.

She’d fallen in love with Cord.

How the heck could she have let herself do that? The answer didn’t come even when Karina held her head under the shower for so long that her lungs started to ache for air. She’d hoped if she could just clear her mind, she might be able to get a handle on this.

But no handle.

Just some really great sex with a hot guy whom she loved.

Of course, he didn’t feel the same way about her. How could he? Cord still thought she was defending a serial killer. Plus, many would say they didn’t even know each other that well. They’d only met a month ago.

However, even after spelling all of that out, her feelings hadn’t changed. And wouldn’t. Yes, that broken heart was breathing down her neck now.

She finished her shower and dressed in yet more of Addie’s borrowed clothes. After packing the things at her place, Karina had ended up leaving them behind when Cord and she had rushed out of there. Thankfully, someone had dropped off her meds, so at least she had those, but it was too bad she couldn’t feel just a little bit normal in her own things. But after what’d happened the last time she was at her rental house, she wasn’t eager to go back.

Karina made her way toward the kitchen, following the scent of coffee. And eggs. Cord was at the stove, cooking, while he had his phone sandwiched between his shoulder and ear.

“Yeah, I’ll tell her,” he said to the caller, and as if he’d known all along she was there, he glanced back at her. “Hungry?”

Not even close, but she nodded, smiled. Hoped that she looked seminormal. “What are you supposed to tell me?” she asked, motioning toward the phone that he was in the process of putting away.

“That was the ranch hand out at your place. Your horses are fine.”

It was the second time he’d checked on them for her. Something she greatly appreciated. But when he turned, she saw something else in his eyes. Something she didn’t believe had anything to do with what had just happened between them in the bedroom.

“Is something wrong with Willie Lee?” she asked, trying to tamp down her fears. Hard to do that, though, after everything that had happened.

“No word from the doctor yet.” He paused, dished her up some scrambled eggs. “This isn’t exactly a good conversation to have over breakfast, but Jericho called. Harley’s missing.”

Well, that wasn’t what she’d been expecting, and at first, she thought maybe it was a good thing. Especially after they’d learned about what had gone on with him in the army. But Cord’s face told a different, less-than-happy story.

“When Jericho sent a deputy over to question Harley,” Cord continued, “they found blood on the floor and no sign of him.”

She thought about that for a second while she poured herself some coffee. “What about DeWayne? Is he okay?”

It was a reasonable question considering that two of their suspects, and his
mother
, were now missing.

“I don’t know about okay,” Cord answered. “DeWayne’s alive, but he’s talking to the press and bad-mouthing you, me, Jericho and anybody else who had anything to do with Taryn, the Moonlight Strangler or Willie Lee.”

That was a long list of people, but it did lead her to a strong possibility. “You think DeWayne could have done something to Harley?”

Cord shrugged, and they sat down to eat. “I think anything’s possible when it comes to those two. But it’s also equally possible that the Bloody Murder club is behind this. Maybe they think I’m not working hard enough to clear Willie Lee’s name, and if they give us enough copycat kills, I’ll start to believe them.”

Karina didn’t get a chance to respond to that because his phone rang, and she saw the caller ID on the screen.

The prison.

Karina automatically moved closer. Not that it was necessary, though. Like before, Cord put the call on speaker.

It was Dr. Kenney.

“Willie Lee is stabilized now,” the doctor immediately told them. “And while I still don’t think it’s a good idea for him to have visitors, he’s insisting on seeing you two right away.”

“Why?” Cord asked. “Did he get his memory back?”

“Yes. And he has something important to tell you.”

That brought Karina to her feet. “What?”

“I wrote down the message word for word,” Dr. Kenney continued. “Willie Lee says, ‘I’m not the Moonlight Strangler, but I believe I know who is. I think it could be my brother.’”