Cowboy Above The Law

“Are you okay?” Rayna asked. She touched his arm and rubbed gently.

No, he wasn’t okay, not by a long shot, and Court figured things were about to get worse when he glanced at Rachel again. Griff had tried to put his arm around her, but Rachel practically pushed him away. She said something to their mom, something that Court didn’t catch, and then his sister started toward Egan, Rayna and him.

“Egan told you?” she asked Court. There were fresh tears in her eyes and other tears spilling down her cheeks.

He nodded, tried to hug her, but Rachel waved him off. “I just need to get out of here. Away from Dad and away from Griff,” she added. Her voice was shaking now. “He knew, and he didn’t tell me.”

“Maybe he didn’t know how,” Egan said.

“Then he should have found a way,” she snapped. “He definitely should have found a way before—” She stopped, waved that off, too. “I need to go. Please. I just need to leave.”

“I’ll drive you,” Egan volunteered. “Mom, too. Just wait here for a second until I can get her.”

Egan started toward their mother, and Court went with him. Rayna stayed behind with Rachel. Which was good. As upset as the woman obviously was, she might try to leave on her own. If she did, at least Rayna could alert them. It wasn’t safe for his sister to be out there alone.

Court went to his mother and pulled her into his arms. Unlike Rachel, she didn’t push him away. She dropped her head on his shoulder.

“Warren loves me,” Helen muttered. There was some anger in her voice now. “Why would he do this?”

Court didn’t know, and he wasn’t sure he’d get any answers from his father, either. “I’m sorry” was all he could think to say.

Griff was clearly sorry, too. The man was shaking his head and mumbling some profanity. Neither would help. But then, there wasn’t much that could help this situation right now.

Helen pulled back and looked Court in the eyes. “You think that woman could have shot him?”

“Maybe,” he admitted. “But we’re looking at Mitch for this, too. He hates Dad as well as the rest of us.”

Still, if his father had hired that PI, then he must have believed that Alma could be some kind of threat.

“Mom, I want to take Rachel and you home,” Egan insisted.

Helen didn’t argue with that. She didn’t look as if she had the strength to argue with anyone. In fact, she seemed broken.

“I’ll stay here and help guard Warren,” Griff offered. “Just tell Rachel that I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he repeated to Helen.

But Court wasn’t sure his mother heard Griff’s apology. Even if she had, it wouldn’t be nearly enough to help her get through this. Still, it hadn’t been Griff’s place to tell them.

That blame was squarely on his father’s shoulders.

Egan slipped his arm around Helen to get her moving, and Court followed them. “Why don’t you take Rayna to the sheriff’s office?” Egan told him. “I’ll meet you there after I’ve driven Mom and Rachel to the ranch.”

Court was still feeling stunned, but he forced himself to get moving. The sooner Rayna and he got to the sheriff’s office, the sooner Egan and he could get Alma in for questioning. Not that Court was especially looking forward to meeting the woman, but this might be the start of getting those answers they desperately needed.

“Did you ever meet Raleigh or Alma?” Court asked Rayna as they walked toward the exit.

“No, but I remember the talk about Hannah Neal, the woman whose murder Warren and Raleigh were investigating. She was a surrogate who’d recently given birth, and she was killed around the same time Bobby Joe went missing.”

Yeah. Hannah had been murdered in McCall Canyon, but her body had been dumped in Durango Ridge, Raleigh’s jurisdiction. That was why both Raleigh and his father had been investigating it. All of that had happened just a few months before his father retired.

“You don’t think Alma could have been connected to Hannah’s murder, do you?” Rayna pressed.

He was about to say no, but then Court remembered that Warren had been very close to Hannah. She’d been the daughter of his best friend, a single-father cop who’d been killed in the line of duty. As Warren had done with Thea and Griff, he’d taken Hannah under his wing. So, maybe Alma had gotten jealous of that. After all, if she was the one who’d hired someone to shoot Warren, then it was possible she’d killed Hannah, too.

Yeah, he definitely needed to talk to this woman.

Egan led Rachel and their mother out the exit first, and he took them straight to his cruiser, which was parked just ahead of Court’s truck.

“Will your mother be okay?” Rayna asked.

Good question. But Court wasn’t sure. She’d already been teetering on shaky ground with Warren’s shooting, and now this. Court made a mental note to call her doctor and have him go to the ranch to check on her.

He motioned for Rayna to follow him. However, before he could even get the doors unlocked, Court saw the blur of motion from the corner of his eye. And he immediately pulled Rayna down with him.

Just as someone fired a shot at them.

* * *

RAYNA HIT THE ground hard, much as they’d done the day before in her house, and the pain from the fall sliced through her. It robbed her of her breath.

For one heart-stopping moment, she thought she’d been shot.

But no, it wasn’t that. The pain had come from the bruise on her side. It hurt, but it was far better than the alternative of having a bullet in her. Or in Court.

She checked to make sure he hadn’t been hit. He didn’t seem to be, but he dragged her beneath the truck and drew his gun. Ready to return fire.

Rayna took out her gun, too, from its slide holster. Not that she was in position to shoot back. She was on her stomach, and Court had positioned his body in front of hers.

Protecting her.

Something she wished he hadn’t done. Rayna didn’t want him to die because of her.

She waited, listening and praying. Rayna also tried to figure out what to do. If either Court or she reached up to open the truck door so they could get inside, the gunman could shoot them.

If there actually was a gunman.

There had only been the sound of that one shot, making her wonder if what they’d heard was a vehicle misfiring. That was what she wanted it to be anyway, and she hadn’t actually seen a shooter.