Cowboy Commando

“They called me when they couldn’t get you. Julie was crying hysterically. They didn’t know what to do with her.”

“That’s what they said. Amy’s drowning has been incredibly hard on her. On both of us. I hadn’t planned to go to work at all, but I was going crazy at the house. And my depression was making it even worse on Julie.”

Linney all but gagged on his fake grief and lies. She knew he’d not only killed Amy, but had tried to kill her tonight to shut her up. This was all a sick game to him.

“I really appreciate your helping out with Julie. She misses Amy so much and doesn’t understand why her mother doesn’t come home. I can’t bring myself to tell her she never will.”

Using Julie in this way made Dane a hundred times more evil. Anger erupted inside Linney, rolling in her stomach like churning rot. Struggling to control the venomous accusations she longed to hurl at him, she counted to ten. Still, civility didn’t come easily.

“I tried to call you earlier,” Dane continued, “but no one answered at your house. I wasn’t worried. I knew you’d take care of her.”

“I have.” Even when you shot at me. “She’s sleeping now, and I’d hate to wake her.”

“I’ll pick her up in the morning, then. I hope I haven’t put you out too much. I called as soon as Wesley dropped me off here at the house and I got the message to try you at this number.”

So this was how it was going to be. He had his alibi in place for the attempt on her life tonight. If she accused him of shooting at her on a deserted road in Houston proper, it would only make the rest of her claims to his guilt in the drowning seem less credible.

Linney looked up and saw Cutter’s eyes boring into hers. He stepped closer and put a supportive hand on her shoulder. She put her hand over the phone. “He’s playing nice,” she whispered. “Says he’ll pick up Julie in the morning.”

“Tell him you’ll bring Julie home in the morning. I’d like a chance to look around inside his house.”

She nodded reluctantly. This was starting to feel like she was using Julie as a pawn. Now that she’d had more time to think about it, the kidnapping idea would have done the same thing.

“Why don’t you let me drop her off? I have a few errands to run anyway.”

“Okay, but I need her here by nine. I’ve agreed to let Amy’s mother’s take Julie home with her for a few days and she’s driving in from the Woodlands to get her.”

Linney took a deep breath, but the air she inhaled seemed icy when it hit her lungs. She was dealing with a killer, making arrangements with him as if they were old friends when she knew the depths of his malice.

“I’ll have her there before nine.”

“Thanks.”

The connection went dead. Linney went weak, her head seeming to swirl with the effort required to talk calmly with Dane. She shuddered and Cutter’s strong arms went around her, pulling her against his chest. She stayed there until the vertigo passed and her legs gained enough feeling to hold her up.

“I hate him.”

“I know, but you handled the conversation well.”

“You mean because I didn’t scream ‘murderer’ into the phone?”

“That and the fact that you arranged a meeting with him so that I can assess the situation and lay out the operation.”

“Fine, as long as that’s Operation Send Dane to Jail.”

“It’s Operation Send the Guilty to Jail.”

“One and the same.” Fatigue dropped over her like weights, but her mind showed no signs of shutting down. “Can we talk outside?”

“Sure. I’ll meet you on the front porch in two minutes. I just need to make one quick stop in the kitchen first. And you might want to slip into something less comfortable.”

Damn! She was standing there practically in Cutter’s arms wearing nothing but a T-shirt that was too big and too short. She hadn’t noticed how much of her was exposed until now. Apparently, Cutter had.

Even after the fact, it bothered her enough that she felt the burn in her cheeks. In spite of everything, there was no way to forget what they’d shared. The chemistry had simply been too hot to ever cool down completely. At least for her.

All in the past. The present was more than enough to deal with now. She rummaged in Merlee’s closet for something to slip into as Cutter’s footsteps receded down the hall.

She found a flowered caftan, a couple of sizes too big and in a shade of orange that made Linney’s red hair look as if it were on fire. By contrast, her complexion paled to a washed-out tint of pink.

Gaudy, but decent, she padded to the porch in her bare feet and dropped to the wooden porch swing. The chains squeaked eerily as the night closed in around her and she felt herself sliding into the depths of gloom she’d faced when she’d first heard about Amy’s drowning.

Cutter joined her, carrying two glasses filled with tinkling ice and an amber liquid. He handed her one. She put it to her lips and the odor overwhelmed her. “I don’t drink whiskey.”

“Think of it as medicine.”

“I’m not sick.”

“You’re wound so tight you might shoot into orbit at any moment.”

She took a sip and felt the burn travel down her throat and settle in her stomach. The anger and irritation welded into a seamless blue funk. “This is all a game to Dane, an unspeakably evil game.”

“Why don’t you start at the beginning and tell me everything he said?”

She nodded and took another sip of the whiskey. She still didn’t like the taste, but the burn to her throat and nostrils seemed to clear her mind for the moment.

Cutter balanced himself on the porch banister and listened patiently until she’d covered everything. “I feel better that she’s staying with Amy’s mother. I think it may do her good to get out of the house.”

“Were Amy and her mother close?”

“She didn’t talk about her mother much, but I know she drove out to the Woodlands to visit her on occasion. I don’t recall her ever saying that Dane went with her on those visits. Oh, and I know Edna took Amy and Julie to a local water park for Julie’s third birthday.”

“What about Amy’s father? Is he around?”

“No. Her parents were divorced when she was a baby. They’d lost touch with him years ago. As far as I know, he wasn’t even at Amy’s funeral.”

“That explains why he didn’t go after Dane with a baseball bat when he battered his daughter. What about siblings?”

“She was an only child. Where are you going with this?”

“If Amy was afraid of Dane or if he’d ever made threats against her, there’s a good chance she told someone—like her mother, or a sister if she had one. If a family member went to the GHPD, it might stir more action than your complaints generated.”

“If Amy’s mother has any suspicions of murder, she’s hiding them well.”

“What do you mean?”

“One of the local TV stations interviewed her and Dane the night of the drowning. She actually leaned on him at one point as if he were her pillar of strength. It turned my stomach.”

“Do you know how to get in touch with her?”