Laying Down the Law (4 page)

“And what have the local cops done about it?” Cord asked. He used the note function on his phone to type in DeWayne’s name.

“Nothing because there’s never any proof. DeWayne always covers his tracks.”

Cord stared at her. “You think he’s capable of murder or attempted murder?”

Now, she had to pause. “Maybe.” Then she shook her head. “But I heard my attacker speak, and it wasn’t DeWayne’s voice.”

“He could have disguised it,” Cord suggested. “Or else hired someone to do the job. You said he didn’t like to get his hands dirty.”

That was true, but there was still something that didn’t make sense. “Why would DeWayne come after me here in Appaloosa Pass?”

“Because you’re more vulnerable here,” Cord answered without hesitating. “You have six hands at your place in Comal County, but here it’s only Rocky and you. Plus, you’re distracted, worried about Willie Lee. That made you an easier target.”

The word—
target
—made her want to throw up. “I was distracted at my house, too, after I heard about Willie Lee,” she pointed out. “I was there for several days before I made arrangements to come here.”

Cord didn’t miss a beat. “And it would be far easier to get onto the place here sight unseen than it would be to get on your ranch in Comal County. I’ve seen pictures of your ranch. There, the house is in the center of acres of pasture. No trees, no place for a would-be killer to hide while sneaking onto the grounds.”

Karina couldn’t argue with any of that, and she could go even one step further with it. “I think it might have been DeWayne who planted Willie Lee’s DNA at that crime scene.”

Cord stared at her, not exactly rolling his eyes but almost.

“Willie Lee stood up to DeWayne, and DeWayne hates him. They’ve had plenty of verbal run-ins. And one not so verbal,” she added in a mumble.

She hated to explain this because it might make Cord believe Willie Lee was a violent man. He wasn’t. Not normally anyway.

“I’m listening,” Cord said when she hesitated.

Best just to tell him because Cord would find out anyway now that he was going to have DeWayne investigated. “Willie Lee punched DeWayne after DeWayne insulted me. Please don’t make me repeat the names DeWayne called me. Anyway, it was only about a week later when Willie Lee’s DNA was found at the crime scene.”

“Now exactly how would DeWayne have managed to do that?” There was so much skepticism in Cord’s voice.

But maybe she could do something to remove a bit of that doubt. At least she could try. “The DNA found at the crime scene was in some chewing gum. Willie Lee quit smoking a few years ago, and he’s been a gum chewer ever since. It wouldn’t have been hard for DeWayne to get a piece that Willie Lee had spit out on the ground.”

Cord’s eyebrow rose more than a fraction. “And then what? DeWayne happened to find a crime scene so he could plant the gum?”

It did sound far-fetched when Cord put it that way. Still, it was possible. “Maybe DeWayne held on to the gum for a while until he could plant it. And then perhaps DeWayne just happened to find that scene. I mean, it wasn’t that far from my ranch and his land.”

“Ten miles,” Cord quickly declared, which meant he’d memorized all the details. With reason. It was the first time DNA had been recovered from the crime scene of the Moonlight Strangler.

Cord leaned in closer again. Too close. Probably a lawman’s ploy to violate her personal space and make her uneasy so she’d spill any secrets she was hiding. Sadly, it would have worked if she’d had secrets.

She didn’t.

But it also worked in a different way, too. For a man who hated her, her body certainly didn’t let her forget that she was a woman. And that he was a man.

“I’ve been looking into Willie Lee’s life,” Cord went on. “He was in the area at the time of that murder because his signature is on a feed purchase in town.”

She knew all about Cord’s efforts to seal the deal and pin these murders, all of them, on Willie Lee. And Cord had indeed managed to place Willie Lee in the areas of several of the murders. That still didn’t convince her.

Karina leaned in closer to him, too. “You’re asking me to believe that a man I’ve known for fifteen years, half of my life, murdered women and then calmly went on as if nothing had happened. A man I trust—”

“A man you don’t really know,” Cord interrupted. “According to your own statement, he just showed up one day, and your father hired him. Willie Lee had no references. No past. He just materialized out of thin air fifteen years ago.”

Karina knew there was an explanation for that. One that Willie Lee could give her if he ever came out of that coma.

Especially since Cord’s DNA had proved that he was Willie Lee’s son.

“Do you have any childhood memories whatsoever of Willie Lee?” she suddenly asked.

“None. Neither does Addie.” He moved away from her. Fast. “I’ll have Jericho get DeWayne in for questioning,” Cord said, and he sent another text. Apparently ending their conversation about his
father
.

Karina wanted to press him on the subject. Actually, what she wanted Cord to do was remember that Willie Lee was the same loving, caring man that he’d been to her over the years. He wasn’t just her hired hand. He’d become a father figure to her after her own dad had died of lung cancer when Karina was just seventeen. Her mother had never been the same after that. Had never really been part of Karina’s life, or even her own life. Her mom had finally ended it all with sleeping pills.

And Willie Lee had been there to help Karina get through that, too.

“Anyone else other than DeWayne who might want to hurt you?” Cord persisted. “An ex-boyfriend, maybe?” he repeated. “Or a current boyfriend?”

She seriously doubted he was fishing to find out if she was romantically involved with anyone. “No current boyfriend. No recent ex, either. The ranch keeps me busy,” Karina added because she felt she had to add something so Cord wouldn’t think she was a loser.

Though he probably thought that anyway. A loser and very gullible to believe in Willie Lee’s innocence.

“How about any disgruntled employees?” Cord asked a moment later. “Or just someone you got a bad vibe about?”

She opened her mouth to say no, but that wasn’t true. “There might be someone else.
Might
. A couple of days after Willie Lee was captured, a man showed up at the ranch. Harley Kramer. He said he was an old friend of Willie Lee’s, of my mother’s, too. But I’d never heard either of them mention him.”

“What’d he want?” Cord asked.

“He said he wanted to look through Willie Lee’s things, that Willie Lee had some old photos he wanted. I told him that wouldn’t be possible, not without Willie Lee’s permission. He left, and I thought that was the end of it.” She paused. “I definitely got bad vibes from him, and it wasn’t just because of his scars.”

“Scars?”

She motioned to her face. “He’d been burned and had obviously had a skin graft. And I know that sounds shallow to be creeped out by a guy with a scarred face, but it wasn’t just that. It was the way he looked at me. Then, I caught him sneaking into the cabin where Willie Lee lived. I called the sheriff, and he arrested him for trespassing and breaking and entering. Needless to say, Harley wasn’t happy about that.”

Cord added Harley’s name to the note on his phone. “Did this guy threaten you?”

“Not exactly, but he was furious. His trial date will be coming up soon, and he might have to do some jail time.” Probably not much, though, since the sheriff had told her that Harley didn’t have any priors and would likely get probation.

Still, it must have been enough motive for Cord because he typed something else in his notes. He was still typing when his phone rang.

“Jax,” Cord said, glancing at the screen.

One of the deputies. This was no doubt about the investigation. “Put the call on speaker, please,” she said.

Karina wasn’t sure Cord would do that, and judging from the way the muscles in his face stirred, Cord wasn’t sure of it, either. However, he did press the speaker button when he answered it.

“This is a heads-up,” Jax informed Cord. “You need to keep that ranch hand, Rocky, away from Karina.”

Her heart went to her throat. “Why?” Cord and she asked in unison.

“Because you’re not going to believe what we found in the bunkhouse where he was staying. I just called Jericho to have him take Rocky into custody.”

Chapter Five

Cord didn’t know what Jax had seen that’d caused him to make that call, but he figured he wasn’t going to like it.

Karina certainly wouldn’t, either.

She’d practically jumped to defend her ranch hand, but judging from Jax’s tone, she wouldn’t be defending Rocky after she saw the photos that Jax had sent to the sheriff’s office.

Jax hadn’t wanted to describe them over the phone, only adding that the pictures would be worth a million words. Cord only hoped whatever they were, it would be enough to pin attempted murder charges on the man so he could end Karina’s doubts about Willie Lee not being the Moonlight Strangler. That way, Cord could walk away from this, from her, and know that they had the right man in custody.

Then, maybe he could start dealing with the feelings that he’d buried deep within him.

Of course, first they had to find Rocky.

Despite being told by both Cord and Jericho to go to the sheriff’s office, the ranch hand had yet to show up. Cord figured that wasn’t a good sign.

“Are you okay?” Cord asked her.

Karina gave a heavy sigh and tore her gaze from the cruiser window, where she was looking at the shops on Main Street as they rode past them. She was pretending to look at them at least. He figured her mind was really on her ranch hand and the fact that she’d nearly died tonight.

“Every inch of me is hurting,” she admitted. “And I’m upset about Rocky. How about you?”

Cord went with the lie. “I’m fine.”

But every inch of him was hurting, as well. Man, he needed a long soak in the tub and a handful of aspirin. He wasn’t counting on getting either anytime soon.

“Move fast when we get out of the cruiser,” Cord instructed Karina when the sheriff’s office came into view.

Jericho had sent the vehicle to the hospital to pick them up, and Cord was thankful for not only the ride—his truck was still back at Karina’s—but also for the deputy driving. With Karina’s attacker still out there, he didn’t want to be without some kind of backup. And he didn’t want her in the open any longer than necessary.

The deputy stopped by the front door, and Cord hurried her in. Jericho and Levi were there, both talking on their phones, but Jericho motioned for them to follow him into his office. Judging from what part of the conversation he could hear, Jericho was having a chat with one of his other deputies, and once they were in his office, he motioned for them to sit.

Jericho cursed and ended the call. He looked at both of them and mumbled yet more profanity. Probably because they both looked like hell, but Cord knew the cursing wasn’t all for them.

“Still no sign of Rocky, but Jax is staying at Karina’s place a while longer to see if he shows up there. Any idea where he’d go?” Jericho asked her.

Karina shook her head, winced a little. No doubt from the pain. Jericho noticed, and that prompted him to take out a huge bottle of ibuprofen from his desk and two bottles of water from the small fridge in the corner.

“Help yourself,” Jericho offered.

Well, it wasn’t aspirin and a bath, but it would do for now. Cord exceeded the recommended dose by a lot and hoped that the pain in his head faded to at least a tolerable throb before long.

“I don’t know where Rocky would go,” Karina said, gulping down two of the pills. “On his references he said he didn’t have any family, that he’d been raised in foster care.” She lifted her shoulder. “I’m not sure if that’s even true.”

“It’s not,” Jericho quickly responded. He turned his laptop in their direction so they could see the screen.

Not photos of the bunkhouse but rather a mug shot. Of Rocky.

“He was arrested for stealing a car,” Jericho went on.

Karina was shaking her head before he even finished. “I did a computer check, and a record didn’t come up.”

“Because he was arrested when he was a juvie, and it was sealed. But he has parents, all right. They adopted him from foster care when he was a kid. They’re in their eighties now, and they basically disowned him when he was in his twenties and haven’t seen him since. They don’t want to see him, either, and said they’d call the cops in a heartbeat if he showed up at their house.”

Jericho clicked to the next picture. Or rather the next pictures. There were a series of shots that filled up the whole screen. “This is what Jax found in the bunkhouse. It was all in a box beneath Rocky’s bed.”

Karina stood, probably so she could have a better look. Then, she gasped.

Damn.

There were newspaper clippings. Dozens of them from the looks of it. With headlines detailing everything about the Moonlight Strangler. Including Willie Lee’s capture.

“Rocky clearly has a disturbing
hobby
,” Jericho explained. “I just had a quick chat with his parents—he’s not there, by the way—and they said for most of his life Rocky’s been obsessed with serial killers. And that they’ve heard through acquaintances that he idolizes the Moonlight Strangler.”

“Oh, God,” Karina whispered, sinking back into the chair.

“He had other pictures in that box.” Jericho clicked to the next screen. Not newspaper clippings.

But rather photos of Karina.

In them, she wasn’t doing anything special. Just errands, grocery shopping, that sort of thing. However, there were dozens of them. Including some of her in the interior of the barn.

Cord could have sworn that with each one she studied more and more color drained from her face. With reason. Most of the photos were grainy, as if they’d been taken with a long-range lens. And that meant Rocky had probably been spying on Karina for days or even weeks.

There were also shots of the Appaloosa Pass Hospital, where Willie Lee had stayed two days before being transported to the hospital at the prison. There were photos of the exterior of the prison, too.

“Rocky’s a groupie,” Cord concluded. If there hadn’t already been a knot in his stomach, that would have done it. It was hard to understand why anyone would attach themselves to a serial killer.

But it did give Rocky a motive for what’d gone on tonight.

Cord made eye contact with Karina before he said anything. “It’s possible Rocky was responsible for the attack. He might have believed this was the way to get Willie Lee released from jail.”

He gave her some time to let that sink in and saw her trying to process it. At first, Cord saw a lot of doubt in her chocolate-brown eyes. Then, the realization that it could be true.

“So, you’re thinking he hired someone to attack me,” she added a moment later.

Cord shrugged and glanced at Jericho to see if they were on the same page. Judging from the look they shared, they were.

“Could Rocky have attacked on his own?” Cord asked. “Think it through. Did you actually see two men?”

Karina paused a moment, glanced at the photos on the laptop and then turned her head away from them. “I’m not sure. I’m not sure of anything right now.”

Well, Cord was. They had a bona fide suspect. Now, they just had to find him.

Jericho’s phone buzzed. “I gotta take this call,” he said when he glanced at the screen. He headed for the door but then came back to turn his laptop around, no doubt so that the pictures wouldn’t be right in Karina’s face.

That might help steady her nerves, but Cord figured the images were already fixed in her mind. The photos weren’t gruesome, and there’d been none of her undressing or sleeping. But it had to get to her that someone had been stalking her and violating her privacy.

“You must think I’m stupid,” she said. “Stupid to hire someone like Rocky.”

“Not stupid. It’s just your trust was misplaced.”

Her gaze whipped around, snaring his. “Now we’re talking about Willie Lee.”

Yeah. No need to spell it out for her, though. Plus, footsteps got Cord’s attention. Even though they were in the sheriff’s office, he still slid his hand over the gun in his holster. But it wasn’t a threat.

It was Addie.

Since his sister was the last person he expected to see come through that door, he immediately got to his feet. So did Karina. Clearly, she was uncomfortable with this face-to-face encounter, since she started rubbing her hands down the sides of the scrubs the nurse had given her.

“I heard what happened.” Addie went straight to Cord and hugged him.

Addie had hugged him before, but it always gave him a jolt. He wasn’t usually a hugging sort, but it felt right when Addie did it. Maybe there was some truth to that saying about twins being connected subconsciously, because he’d loved her, and wanted to protect her, from the moment he’d laid eyes on her.

Cord didn’t need to do introductions since Karina and Addie had met shortly after Willie Lee’s arrest. Or rather they’d seen each other at the hospital. Addie had been there visiting Cord. Karina had been checking on Willie Lee, and there had been that strained awkwardness that was still there between them.

“Please tell me you didn’t drive here alone,” Cord said to his sister.

“No. Chase is with me. Weston is home with the baby.”

Weston was her husband. And Chase, her adopted brother. Cord was glad Chase had come with her because he was a lawman, too. He didn’t want Addie out on the roads alone until Rocky, or whoever was behind this, was caught. After all, Rocky had said he’d spotted Karina’s attacker heading in the general direction of the Appaloosa Pass Ranch, and while Rocky could be lying through his pearly whites, Cord didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks when it came to Addie.

“Are you all right?” Addie asked, the question meant for Karina and him because she glanced at both of them.

Karina kept her response to a nod, and Cord could see her trying to steel herself up. Probably because she believed Addie was about to blast her for defending Willie Lee.

Addie’s gaze went from the cut on Karina’s face to the bruises on her neck. Addie shuddered. “Who did this to you?”

Karina shook her head. “We’re still trying to figure that out. Maybe a ranch hand I recently hired. Maybe someone else.”

“A copycat,” Cord added.

Oh, no. He could see the argument brewing in his sister’s eyes. “Or the real deal,” Addie mumbled.

Karina blinked, her gaze shifting to him. That gaze demanded an explanation. An explanation Cord didn’t want to get into. Because his sister had her own doubts about Willie Lee’s guilt. Doubts that Addie had expressed during several heated discussions.

Addie made a vague motion toward her stomach. “It’s just a gut feeling. And it might be nothing. But I’m not sure...”

“You think Willie Lee might not be the Moonlight Strangler,” Karina said, finishing for her.

Addie gave a heavy sigh. Nodded. Then, shrugged. “Some things just don’t add up, that’s all. Months ago, not long after I found out about the DNA match, the Moonlight Strangler called me. He said he wouldn’t come after me because I was blood. Well, Cord’s his blood, too, and Willie Lee took him hostage and cut him. Have you seen the scars on his chest?”

This wasn’t any more comfortable than discussing Willie Lee’s serial-killer label. “I’m fine,” Cord assured her. “And in that call, the Moonlight Strangler never said he wouldn’t come after me.”

There was plenty more to this argument, too.

“Besides,” Cord went on, “even if your gut won’t let you believe Willie Lee is the Moonlight Strangler, then he’s still a violent man. And I have the scars to prove it.”

He hadn’t meant to include that last part. It just flew out of his mouth, and it caused Addie’s eyes to fill with yet more concern.

“What if it wasn’t Willie Lee who kidnapped you?” Karina suggested. “What if it was someone setting up Willie Lee?”

Again, not a new argument. He could have repeated the facts to her, that there’d been no other DNA or evidence found at the crime scene to indicate Willie Lee had been set up. But Karina was as familiar with the evidence as he was.

Addie reached out, touched his arm and rubbed it gently. Probably trying to soothe that anger inside him. It was a lost cause, but Cord welcomed it anyway.

“Cord told me that Willie Lee worked for you and your family for a long time,” Addie said to Karina. “Would you mind if I asked you some questions about him?”

“I don’t mind.” But Karina didn’t sound so certain of that. Probably because she’d already been grilled six ways to Sunday about the man.

“Was Willie Lee ever mean or violent with you?” Addie continued.

Karina didn’t hesitate. “Never. He did punch a man once, but that was to defend my honor.” Then, she paused. “Willie Lee became like a father to me after my parents died.”

That had Addie tensing a little, and she dropped back a step. “Did he ever say anything about having children?”

“No.” Again, no hesitation. Probably because the FBI, and Cord, had asked Karina that multiple times. “But Willie Lee didn’t share a lot about himself. Never talked about his past, and whenever it would come up in a general sort of way, he’d get this sad look in his eyes.”

Maybe because he’d abandoned his two kids and murdered their mother. But there was enough salt in Karina’s wounds without Cord stating the obvious. Still, it could be true. During that phone conversation with Addie, the Moonlight Strangler had told her that he’d killed their mother.

Something that still felt like a cut to the heart.

It didn’t matter that Cord couldn’t remember anything about his mother, the Moonlight Strangler had taken her from Addie and him. And he was going to pay for that.

Cord heard more footsteps, and a moment later Jericho came back in. “Everything okay?” he asked, caution in his voice and expression.

“Fine,” Addie assured him. As she’d done with Cord, she went to Jericho and hugged him. “Karina and I were just talking.”

Jericho seemed as uncomfortable with that as Cord. But there was something else in Jericho’s body language, and since he had stepped out to take the call, maybe there was bad news.

“I’ll just be going,” Addie said, likely sensing that something was going on. She kissed both Cord and Jericho on their cheeks and added a whispered goodbye. She even gave Karina’s hand a gentle squeeze.

Which Cord wished she hadn’t done.

He didn’t want Karina having any more encouragement for believing Willie Lee was innocent, and even something like a hand squeeze from Addie could do that.