Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
Cheyenne
I had to keep Thomas talking. I couldn’t get on that horse with him. Claire would already be on her way here. I’d pressed the emergency button on my GPS while Sam’s body was blocking mine, and the team would have heard the gunshot. No way would Claire hang behind knowing I’d signaled for help. If I could keep him here long enough for her to get here, she could take him down before he ever saw her coming.
“What did you do to Diablo?” I asked, my voice shaking.
Thomas grinned. “You really are a sucker. I’ve got a gun pointed straight at you and you’re still worrying about that damn horse. Shows you haven’t suffered enough in life. Don’t worry. Soon enough, you’ll be in so much pain that you’ll understand what it’s like for the rest of us.”
Sam’s blood seeped through my fingers. He was losing too much, too fast. I put more pressure on the wound, praying for Claire to get here. How long had it taken us to get up this mountain? Only twenty minutes or so. She’d be moving even faster, but I had to keep him talking.
Or I’d have to end this myself.
“You didn’t answer me,” I said, letting my voice quiver. He thought compassion was a sign of weakness. Let him think that. It would catch him all the more off guard if I had to make a move.
“You’re stalling,” he said, waving the gun at me. “Think I can’t see that? Don’t worry about Diablo. I offered Jimmy five hundred bucks to get him back for me. Jimmy’s the one you should worry about, since I don’t actually have the money.” He laughed out loud. “Told him I’d double it if he took Diablo to your house and kill him, leave the head in your bed. I’m guessing the kid was too weak for that though.”
Blood pounded in my ears. The man was evil.
“Wasn’t it enough to burn down my barn?” I cried. “When’s it going to be enough for you, Thomas?”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Now, I didn’t know about that one. Jimmy must be trying to earn that extra money after all. I hope he locked that damn horse in there before he lit it on fire.”
Sam groaned. I looked at him and tried to somehow communicate that help was on the way and he would be okay.
But Thomas was done waiting. “I told you to stop stalling,” he warned. “I’ll shoot him again if that’s what it takes. He’s got a chance now, but if you don’t get over here, I’ll make it to where he doesn’t. I know Claire Hawkins was at the foot of the mountain and that she had to have heard that gunshot.”
His tone had changed. He wasn’t laughing anymore, and he glanced around nervously, knowing Claire could be there any minute.
It wasn’t much. But it was something.
“Alright, I’m coming,” I said, faking surrender.
“No,” Sam groaned. “Don’t go with him, Chey.” He tried to sit up.
“I have to.” I squeezed his hand and gave him a tiny nod. He saw the look in my eyes and gave me an almost imperceptible nod back.
I pushed to my feet, brushing the dirt from my pants.
“Get your hands in the air,” Thomas warned.
My heart beat wildly. I began to slowly raise my hands, looking for an opening. All I needed was one split second.
A squirrel rustled in the bushes. Thomas jerked his gun toward the sound, thinking it was Claire.
I drew the pistol hidden on my hip, aimed, and fired.
“Nice shot,” Claire said, congratulating me with a grin as she took custody of Thomas. “Not many people can shoot a gun straight out of someone’s hand. You’re a real Annie Oakley, my friend.”
“What are you talking about?” I scowled. “I was aiming for his head.”
She threw her head back and laughed. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”
“Me too,” Sam said, attempting a chuckle. “If you end up in court, we’ll all vouch for you.” His voice was weak and his face was strained with pain, but he was going to make it.
The entire team had arrived on Claire’s heels, and together we’d stopped the bleeding and loaded Sam onto a stretcher. He’d grumbled the entire time, saying that it was a shoulder wound and he could still walk, but we insisted on giving him the same first-class treatment he’d given so many others. Besides, the blood loss had made him weaker than he wanted to admit, and he needed to save his strength.
Sam was a good guy. I hated that he had feelings for me I’d never noticed, but maybe it was better that way. We could pretend that this conversation never happened and hopefully stay friends and teammates. Someday he’d realize that it never would have worked out between us anyway. He deserved someone who would adore him for who he was.
The only man I would ever adore was Rhett. And I couldn’t wait to get home to him.
But between getting Sam taken care of and debriefing with Claire and Sheriff McGrath, it felt like I was never going to get home. Alarmingly, the trickle of unease I’d felt since that morning never went away. If anything, it was growing stronger by the moment.
I impatiently answered the sheriff’s questions again, arms crossed as I watched Claire take a phone call out of ear’s reach. When she hung up, she came back over to us with a grin on her face.
“Diablo’s fine,” she announced. “Travis found Jimmy hiding out with him on one of the trails on our property. Jimmy was never planning on turning him over to Thomas. He took him to keep him safe.”
“The blood?” I asked, my heart racing.
“Jimmy’s. Diablo didn’t cooperate with him—shocker. Travis is taking Jimmy to the emergency room for stitches.”
“He’s sure Jimmy wasn’t stealing the horse?” Sheriff McGrath asked.
She nodded. “Yeah. Jimmy confirmed that Thomas wanted to kill the horse to hurt Cheyenne. Travis may not have total trust in Jimmy, but he knows how much Jimmy loves horses. He believes him.”
“What about my barn?” I asked. It was a loose end that was bothering me. I couldn’t believe that Jimmy would do it, but Thomas had acted surprised by that one.
“Travis asked him about that. He was shocked and doesn’t know anything about it.”
“It was Thomas,” Sheriff McGrath said, attempting to reassure me.
“I don’t know. You’ve got him solid on shooting Sam and attempting to abduct me. Why would he not admit to hurting Rhett and burning my barn?” It didn’t add up, and it only added to the anxiety I was feeling.
“Honestly? It’s probably habit at this point,” the sheriff said, shrugging. “He’s been proclaiming his own innocence for years, and let’s be honest. It’s served him well. He should have gone to jail long ago for what he does to his wife, but he denies and she covers for him and he gets away with it. He probably thinks he’ll get away with this, too.”
“Maybe.” But the more I thought about it, the sicker I felt.
“If you’ll excuse me, I need to get Hank’s statement now,” the sheriff said, tipping his hat to me and Claire. “Glad you’re okay, Cheyenne. And if I didn’t say it before, I’ll say it now: Nice shot.” He winked at me.
“Again, I missed,” I muttered under my breath.
But Claire didn’t smile this time. She pulled me away, where no one could hear us. “What is it?”
“I just have this feeling.”
“What feeling?”
“That this isn’t over. Am I free to leave?”
She glanced at McGrath. “As far as I’m concerned, yes, but I’ll need to check with him.”
“Please do.”
Her eyes narrowed as she saw the look on my face. “Okay. I’ll be right back.”
While she spoke with the sheriff, I tried to call Rhett.
But the call went straight to voicemail.
Half an hour later, Claire and I were finally back in her truck, headed toward my place. Rhett still hadn’t answered his phone, and I was now certain something terrible had happened.
“Think it through. Who would want to hurt Rhett?” Claire asked, managing to keep her voice steady even though she was driving fifteen over the speed limit. Her hands gripped the steering wheel like she was holding on for dear life.
“I really don’t know,” I said, my mind racing as I tried to figure it out. “Thomas, obviously. I know Rhett rubbed people the wrong way as a teenager. Maybe someone who has a grudge from back then? But why now? It doesn’t make sense.”
Claire frowned. “When Rhett first got here, someone left a note on his door telling him to leave, that he didn’t belong here.”
“Are you serious?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Mom thought it was a prank. We all wrote it off. But…”
“But maybe it was a warning.”
She took a deep breath. “Is there any chance Pete is holding a grudge, since he asked you out?”
Pete had been acting strange, and he had been there at the bar that night. But did he really have it in him? I couldn’t see it.
“Maybe,” I said doubtfully. “But I don’t know.”
“We have to drive through town on the way to your place anyway. We can look and see if Pete’s car is parked behind the bar or not.”
“Good idea.”
But we didn’t have to look. As we pulled into town, Pete was carrying a garbage bag out to the dumpster. He saw us and waved before heading back into the bar.
“He acts normal,” Claire commented.
“Yeah…” But my mind was already off Pete, because I saw something that wasn’t normal at all.
“What is it?” Claire’s voice sharpened as she saw the change on my face.
“Alma’s store. It’s closed.”
“Closed?” She whipped her head around to look. “She’s never closed.”
“Claire.” I felt sick. I didn’t want to believe it, but something inside me knew.
She turned and looked at me, horror all over her face as the realization sank in.
We raced to my place and confirmed that Rhett was gone. His cell phone was still inside the house and the door had been locked, but his bike was out front.
“You know Alma better than I do. Where would she take him?” Claire’s voice was desperate.
I closed my eyes, trying to grab on to that connection with Rhett. Once again, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. But I could feel him. He was alive.
And I would find him.
“She’ll want to finish the job this time,” I said slowly, thinking it through. “Honestly, the best place for that is her own property. It’s private. There are a million places she could dump a body and it would never be found. And since she wasn’t on anyone’s suspect list, no one would think to look there.”
“Okay. Let’s go.” We ran back to Claire’s truck and pulled out. She called it in while I texted Travis to let him know what was going on—and prayed that we weren’t too late.
The drive to Alma’s felt like it took forever even though it was only a few minutes from my place. Claire slowed down as we pulled onto the long drive leading to her ranch house, scanning the area for signs of movement. Despite the warmth of the day, I felt chilled to the bones. I couldn’t believe the betrayal. Alma, my second grandmother, had tried to kill the man I loved. Had probably helped Gran sabotage us so many years ago.
And she had him now.
“There’s her car,” I said, my heart catching as I caught sight of it in the distance. It was parked out behind her house, where the rocky flatland dipped down into rugged canyons.
Claire drove straight to it and parked, hopping out with me following right behind. The wind blew hard, whipping my hair into my eyes.
“Tracks,” Claire said, pointing toward the passenger side. “Boots. Those look like Rhett’s size.”
“So he was still walking when they got here.” I knew he was alive, could feel it, but it still gave me palpable relief to see the evidence of it right in front of me. I hugged my arms around myself, bracing against the wind.
“The tracks don’t head toward the house,” Claire said, snapping photos of them with her phone and pointing the direction where they headed. “Looks like she joined him and they started walking east.”
“The canyon,” I said, my heart in my throat. “Her property backs up to it on the east side. She’ll force him over the edge. He’ll never survive that fall, and odds are, he’d never be found.”
“We’ve got to stop her,” Claire said, sprinting that way with her gun drawn.
I ran after her, my heart throbbing wildly.
But it nearly stopped at the sound of two gunshots.