Laying Down The Law

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Was there? Maybe it was because of the frayed nerves, but Karina mentally went through the handful of interactions she’d had with the man.

“He works well with the horses, but the truth is, I don’t know much about him,” she admitted.

That was partly her fault. She’d been so preoccupied with Willie Lee and staying in business that she hadn’t even bothered to get to really know the man she’d hired. A man who was living just yards from her.

“I’ll have a thorough background check done on him,” Cord said. He walked closer, standing over her and looking down at her. “Now, back to the question I asked before Rocky came in. Is there anyone who would want to do you harm?”

Karina didn’t even have to think about this. “DeWayne Stringer.” Just saying his name aloud caused her stomach to churn. “He’s a wealthy cattle broker over in Comal County and lives near my ranch. I’ve had run-ins with him for nearly a year now since he bought the property next to mine. He wants me to sell him my land so he can expand and isn’t very happy that I won’t do that.”

A huge understatement. DeWayne had done everything in his power to pressure her into selling. Plain and simple, he was a bully.

“Over the past couple of months, I’ve had livestock go missing,” she went on. “Some vandalism. I’m sure it’s his doing. Or else he hired someone to do it. He doesn’t seem the sort to get his hands dirty.”

“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 (#ulink_60bd97ac-b1a2-5e63-8646-1a7188b3aa6d)

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.”