The Mommy Mystery (12 page)

Yeah. And Jay knew that Cordell was on the grounds because Houston had told him. Now, the question was, just how desperate was Jay to get away from Cordell, and to what extent would he go?

Houston glanced back at the ranch hand who was
making his way to them on foot. “Keep your gun on Cordell,” Houston ordered. “When the sheriff gets here, I want Cordell arrested for trespassing.” That might keep him away from the ranch until he at least made bail.

Houston got back in his truck, started it and hit the accelerator. He had to get back to Gabrielle because something was wrong. He could feel it in his gut.

He took out his cell and phoned the house. Normally, it was a line Dale would have answered, but since he wasn’t there, Greta should have taken the call.

She didn’t.

Four rings and finally Lily Rose picked up.

“Is everything okay there?” Houston couldn’t get the question out fast enough.

“I think so. Gabrielle called me a few minutes ago and told me to stay put in my room with the baby. The door’s locked, and I’ll keep it that way until I hear from one of you.”

That was good, but it wasn’t good that Gabrielle hadn’t answered the house phone—especially since there was an extension in the foyer. He cursed the fact that he didn’t have her cell number with him, and he raced back toward the ranch house.

It seemed to take him hours to drive that mile or so back, and Houston’s worst fears were confirmed when he finally reached the house.

Gabrielle and Greta weren’t inside as they were supposed to be. They were on the porch. Gabrielle wasn’t armed, but Jay certainly was.

Jay had the gun that Houston had given Gabrielle.

Gabrielle had to stop this.

If she didn’t, it could turn deadly in a hurry.

“Don’t shoot!” she called out to Houston, when he jumped from his truck with his own gun aimed and ready to fire.

Houston was alone. No sign of Cordell, and she wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. What was good was that Houston was in one piece and had come back safely.

Like Gabrielle, he was breathing heavily. He had sweat on his face. And she knew he wanted to know what was going on.

Gabrielle wasn’t sure.

One minute, her brother had started to writhe in pain, and the next minute he’d grabbed the gun from her when she knelt beside him to check on his wound.

For an injured man in so much pain, Jay had moved extremely fast, and he’d snatched the gun from her hand, bolted from the floor and was out the door before she could catch up to him.

Now Jay had that gun aimed at his own head.

“I’m not hanging around so Harlan Cordell or Mack
Sadler can kill me,” Jay shouted. “I won’t just let them finish me off.”

Gabrielle went down the steps toward her brother. She didn’t break into a run because she didn’t want to make any sudden moves that would startle him. She also didn’t want to do anything to give the ranch hands or Houston a reason to fire. There were at least a half-dozen weapons trained on Jay, and this could end deadly in the blink of an eye.

“Cordell is being held by one of my men,” Houston explained. “He’s not here to kill you.”

“Maybe not now. But it’s just a matter of time.” Jay wearily shook his head.

“Put down the gun,” Gabrielle insisted, “and we can talk. You need medical attention.”

“I need my sister to believe me!” Jay yelled. “And you can’t or won’t because Houston’s already poisoned your mind against me.”

“That’s not true.” Gabrielle tried to steady her breath, and she walked down another step. “Houston and I only want the truth. We want to protect Lucas.”

“If that’s what you want, then get the baby away from him.” Jay tossed a glare at Houston. “Because he and his father are behind this. Can’t you see that, Gabrielle? They’re the ones you should be afraid of, not me.”

“For all I know, Harlan Cordell could be the person behind this.” She glanced at Houston again to make sure he was staying put. He was, thank God. But she had no idea how long that would last. She only had minutes or less, when she heard the sirens in the distance.

The ambulance and the deputy weren’t far away.

Jay cursed when he heard the sound, and he jammed the gun even harder against his head.

“Don’t go any closer,” Houston warned Gabrielle, when she reached the last step.

“He’s right, about
this
anyway,” Jay fired back. “Don’t come closer. Because if you do, I’ll pull this trigger and you’ll be responsible for killing me.”

She froze, even though she wasn’t convinced that Jay would indeed take his own life. Still, Gabrielle couldn’t risk it. Maybe it was callous for her to feel this way about her own brother, but if he started shooting, the others might, too. And one of the bullets could hurt Lucas.

Gabrielle didn’t intend to risk that for Jay, or for anybody.

Jay used his wounded arm to open the car door, and he didn’t seem so wounded anymore. He got inside behind the steering wheel. Houston inched forward, but instead of going to her brother, she went to him.

“Let him go,” Gabrielle told Houston. It was a risk, because Jay might still need medical attention, but it was better than his committing suicide.

When she made it to Houston, he looped his arm around her and pulled her behind his truck. Probably for cover, just in case her brother decided to start shooting. But he didn’t. Jay started the car and sped away.

Gabrielle continued to hold her breath.

It was still possible that he’d run into the ambulance or the deputy. If not, he would likely head for the hospital. Maybe then he would get the help he needed.

With one crisis temporarily averted, she looked at Houston to make sure he was truly all right. He didn’t seem harmed, so that was one prayer answered.

“Did you find Cordell?” she asked.

He nodded, but kept his attention fastened to Jay’s car. “One of the ranch hands is keeping an eye on him until the sheriff arrives.”

Good. That meant Cordell wasn’t roaming around, ready to strike. One less worry. And at the moment, she needed as few worries as possible. When her brother had ripped that gun from her hand, her adrenaline had gone through the roof. For several terrifying moments, she had thought he was going to kill her and then go after Lucas. It might take her body a while to understand that hadn’t been his intention. She was still shaking.

The moment Jay’s car was out of sight, Houston caught on to her and got her moving back into the house. Gabrielle tried to thank him. She tried to tell him how sorry she was for allowing Jay to get his hands on the gun. But she couldn’t seem to speak. The only thing she could do was stand there and tremble.

Houston pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “It’s all right,” he whispered. And he kept repeating it until it started to settle in.

They had both come through this unscathed…physically, anyway.

She looked up at him, ready now to give him that explanation about what had happened with her brother and the gun, but she heard Lucas cry. It was a sound she knew all too well. Her baby was hungry. And he wouldn’t know or care about what had just happened. He simply wanted to nurse.

“Go to him,” Houston said. “I need to talk to the sheriff, and then I’ll be up.”

She was functioning on autopilot now, so she nodded and headed up the stairs.

“It’s me,” Gabrielle said, when she knocked on her suite door.

Lily Rose was right there to open it, and she had a crying Lucas in her arms. Ready for Gabrielle. She took the baby, went to the love seat and started to nurse him.

Almost immediately, she felt the change in her body. Everything started to level out, and it got even better when she kissed her son’s forehead and cheek. Holding Lucas was nothing short of a miracle, and she was thankful that he wasn’t aware of any of the danger going on around him.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Lily Rose told her. With her face obviously wearing her fear, the nanny sank down in the chair across from Gabrielle. “Is it over? Are we safe now?”

“I’m not sure,” Gabrielle answered, honestly. And she had no idea what to do about that. If she left the ranch, the danger would no doubt just follow her. She knew that now.

“Then we’re staying here?” Lily Rose asked.

Gabrielle didn’t know the answer to that, either, but she probably needed to put some distance between Houston and her, just so she could try to think this through. Yes, she trusted him, but she trusted herself more, and she had to come up with the solution that was the safest and best for Lucas.

“I need to talk to Houston,” Gabrielle said, to answer Lily Rose’s question.

She finished nursing Lucas and moved him to her
shoulder so she could burp him. The baby immediately fell back asleep, so Gabrielle continued to pat and rub his back until he finally burped. Even though she wanted to sit and hold him longer, she also needed to get an update as to what was going on. Maybe by now, Jay had arrived at a hospital.

Gabrielle gently placed Lucas back in the crib and started for the door. The sound stopped her in her tracks, and it sent her heart to the floor.

Lily Rose gasped, because she no doubt recognized the sound, as well.

A gunshot.

It hadn’t come from the house, or Gabrielle didn’t think so, anyway. Still, her first thought was of Houston. Had someone shot at him again?

Or worse. Had the gunman succeeded this time?

“Watch the baby,” Gabrielle told Lily Rose, and she threw open the door.

The first thing she saw was Houston making his way up the stairs toward them. There was no blood, thank God. And he didn’t appear to be injured.

“Are you okay?” she immediately asked.

“I’m fine.” He hooked his arm around her waist and pulled her back into the room. His gaze fired around to the windows, and he was obviously checking to make sure the curtains were closed.

They were.

And the crib was nowhere near the door or any of the glass. Houston had made the room as safe as possible, but Gabrielle didn’t know if that was enough. Actually, she wasn’t sure
anything
was enough right now.

“Who fired the shot?” Gabrielle wanted to know.

Houston shook his head. “I don’t know yet. The sheriff’s checking on it now.” The words had no sooner left his mouth when his phone buzzed.

“It’s Sheriff Whitley,” Houston said to her.

Lucas stirred, fussing a bit, and Lily Rose went to him while Houston stepped back into the hall so he could take the call. Gabrielle stood there, trying to hear what had prompted the call, but whatever it was, it caused Houston’s forehead to bunch up.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he grumbled. He scrubbed his hand over his face and groaned before his gaze came to hers. “Cordell or maybe his henchman fired the shot.”

“Cordell?” She shook her head. “I thought your ranch hand was holding him at gunpoint?”

“He was, until someone fired that shot. The sheriff arrived just as Cordell was getting away.”

Gabrielle was almost afraid to ask. “And your ranch hand? Did Cordell shoot him?”

Houston held up his hand in a wait-a-second gesture, and he continued to listen to whatever else the sheriff was telling him. Several moments later, Houston hung up and put his phone away.

“The ranch hand is okay. The shot missed him.” Houston shook his head. “Hell, it’s possible the shot wasn’t even intended to hit him. He said he dropped to the ground when he heard it.”

“But Cordell fired it?”

Another head shake. “He doesn’t know. Cordell jumped behind one of the trees just seconds before the shot was fired, so he could have been the one to pull the trigger. Or his accomplice could have climbed over the
fence, as well. The alarm tripped again, but we don’t know if Cordell did that as he was getting away, or if it was tripped when someone else came in.”

“You have surveillance cameras, though,” she reminded him.

“Yeah. And the sheriff and I both will want to take a look at the footage. Right now, my guess is that Cordell’s henchman is responsible.”

That made sense, too, because there had been two men in the car that had stopped in front of her brother’s apartment. Maybe Cordell had had his henchman wait on the other side of the fence, and once Jay was gone, there was no reason for Cordell to hang around.

Houston went past her to the crib and looked down at Lucas. The baby had already drifted back to sleep. Still, Houston leaned down and kissed Lucas’s cheek.

He turned back toward her. “The house is locked down,” he said in a whisper. “No one in and no one out. I want it to stay that way until Cordell and your brother are in custody.”

He gave a heavy sigh as if he expected her to disapprove of lumping her brother in the same company as Cordell. Old habits nearly made her do just that. But after what had happened today, Jay obviously needed some psychological help, along with treatment for the gunshot wound.

Houston checked the clock on the wall of the sitting area. It was already midafternoon. “You should eat something. I’ll have Greta bring up a tray, and then I’ll be in my office looking at that surveillance footage.”

He headed for the door and Gabrielle followed him. “I
can help you with that,” she insisted. She glanced back at Lily Rose. “Come and get me when Lucas wakes up.”

The nanny assured her that she would, and Gabrielle trailed down the hall after Houston.

“You should get some rest,” Houston suggested.

“So should you,” she suggested right back, knowing that rest wouldn’t happen. Not until they were sure Lucas was safe, and that wouldn’t happen until they got to the bottom of who wanted them dead. The surveillance footage was a start. She hoped.

Houston gave her a thin smile—maybe his way of letting her know that he was glad she was there. Or maybe that was wishful thinking. Maybe the crazy attraction between them really was all he felt. And that was yet something else she would have to sort out when the time came.

They went to his office, which was as impressive as the rest of the house. In addition to the ebony-colored furniture and hobnail leather sofa, the room had a massive fireplace, and the walls were decorated with awards and such that the ranch had won because of their livestock and cutting horses. It was yet another reminder that Houston’s cowboy roots ran deep and rich.

He had barely stepped inside his office when his phone buzzed again. Houston put the call on speaker and set the cell on his desk so he could turn on his computer.

“Houston,” the caller greeted. “It’s Jordan Taylor.”

Gabrielle recognized the name. It was the security specialist that Houston had mentioned several times. That immediately grabbed her attention.

“You have something for me?” Houston asked.

“I do.” And the man paused. “You asked me to find out if your father or your foreman, Dale Burnett, had any phone contact with Jay Markham. They did.”

Houston groaned. “Which one?”

“Both.”

That hung in the air for several moments, while, mentally, Gabrielle went through the conversation they’d had with her brother. Houston was no doubt doing the same. She’d assumed her brother was lying when he claimed that Mack had wanted to pay him to find her, but maybe it hadn’t been a lie after all.

“I went through all the phone records for the ranch,” Jordan continued, “and your father’s calls to Markham started about four weeks ago.”

Four weeks? Gabrielle pulled in her breath. That must have been about the time that Mack realized he couldn’t find her on his own.

“And what about Dale Burnett’s calls?” Houston questioned. “When did those happen?”

“Two days ago. He made three calls, all within the same hour. But I don’t think he actually spoke to Markham. It appears the calls went straight to voicemail. Your father, on the other hand, was on the line long enough for the eleven calls he made that I can safely say that Markham and he had conversations,” Jordan explained. “If I learn anything else, I’ll let you know.”