Chapter Ten
Dylan was standing on his deck as Cat drove up—in the same spot where she’d first seen him.
Only then, she’d thought he might be the ranch caretaker.
Today he was dressed much as he had been that day.
Jeans, boots, a flannel shirt.
Except today, he wore a Stetson over his dark hair.
Under the brim of his hat, he looked just as grim as he had the first day she’d met him.
Maybe even grimmer as if now expecting bad news.
She glanced toward the cottage and then up to the big house.
She didn’t see Rowena’s car and, while relieved that she wasn’t here since she wanted to talk to Dylan alone, Cat hoped she hadn’t taken off.
She now knew the woman was up to more than just trying to lasso herself a rich rancher.
“Rowena’s not here,”
Dylan said as if reading her mind.
“But she hasn’t left for good.”
He didn’t sound happy about that.
“Come on in.
Can I offer you some coffee? Decaf if you’d like.
I have tea too.”
The FBI agents had grilled her all morning and part of the afternoon about the case.
She figured they were going to tell her to step aside and let them take over.
To her surprise, they didn’t.
Apparently, they needed her since they were after who had given the order for Athena to be killed—not the killer.
Were they willing to tell her what all this was about? No.
“But you’re willing for me to risk my life and my baby’s not knowing who I can trust?”
she’d demanded.
“Isn’t that your job?”
one of the agents asked.
She’d smiled.
“Yes.
What about Dylan Walker?”
“We’re not interested in him,”
one of the agents said.
She’d been relieved to hear them say that.
Her instincts about him had been right.
She needed to keep trusting herself.
But that also meant trusting Dylan Walker.
So, it was late afternoon by the time she’d driven out to the ranch.
“Decaf would be fine,”
she said, smiling her thanks and following him into the kitchen.
She noticed that his hair was still damp from a shower.
She caught the fresh scent of him and couldn’t blame Rowena for having designs on the man—if that’s what at least some of this was.
Dylan poured them both a mug of coffee, then offered her a seat at the table.
She sat, cupping the mug in her hands.
Her daughter had been kicking up a storm all morning.
“I know you didn’t come here to tell me that my DNA matches,”
he said.
“I can also tell that the baby hasn’t been found so there’s still hope.”
She smiled in surprise.
“I didn’t know you were psychic.”
“I’m usually not good at reading people, terrible at it, but you…”
He shrugged.
“You’ve got news though, but it’s not horrible news.
Am I right?”
“We have a DNA match.
Athena Grant was pregnant with your brother’s child.”
Dylan put down his mug, sloshing the coffee onto the table—not that he noticed. “What?”
“Unless you have another brother with similar DNA…”
He shook his head. “Beau?”
He scrubbed his hands over his face.
He looked up.
“I don’t understand.”
“From what the coroner said, she probably conceived at your wedding.
I’m assuming your brother—”
“Was my best man.”
She could see how hard this was on him.
“Were you and your brother close?”
“I thought so.
But then he died with my wife the night of the gala.”
He met her gaze.
“I’m sure you know all about that.
I didn’t even know he was back in the states.
Usually, he called.
I have no idea why he picked up Ginny that night.
I saw her on her phone and then she left…”
He sighed.
“After they both died, I just assumed he was having an affair with her.
Everyone assumed that.”
Dylan looked at her hopefully.
“Did Athena say she and Beau were together?”
“She said it happened only once, but that doesn’t mean it was true.
She lied about everything else.
Was Athena maid of honor or maybe a bridesmaid?”
“No, Ginny’s sister Patty was her matron of honor.
It was a small wedding, just friends and family.
A short engagement.”
He seemed to realize she would wonder why the rush.
“We jumped into marriage after knowing each other for just a few months. Ginny…”
Shaking his head, he continued, “I thought I knew her.
I didn’t.
I wasn’t thinking clearly.
It all happened too fast and for the wrong reasons.”
He let out a bitter laugh.
“I wanted what she was offering me, settling down, having a home, kids, that whole happy ever after.
Turns out I couldn’t have made her pregnant even if she wasn’t lying and taking birth control pills.”
He stopped speaking as if wishing he hadn’t said so much and put his head in his hands for a few moments.
“This missing baby…”
“Your nephew.”
Dylan looked up and swore.
“I’m sorry, it hasn’t sunk in yet.
This is such a shock.
It makes me question everything.
You still don’t know what she did with the infant?”
Cat shook her head.
“But why would this woman tell you her name was Lindsey Martin, and I was the father of her baby?”
“Maybe she thought that was the only way she could get to see you.”
He stared at her for a moment before raking his hand through his hair.
“I think you might be right.
Otherwise, it makes no sense.
You think there was something she wanted to tell me, and she was using the baby as a way to force me to see her? But wouldn’t she just leave it in a note?”
“Maybe she did,”
Cat said, making him curse.
“And my houseguest destroyed it.”
“Yes—after Rowena went to Athena’s motel room and left a threatening note that was allegedly from you.”
“What? Rowena admitted that to you?”
he demanded, shooting to his feet to pace the room.
“Apparently she has designs on you,”
Cat said.
“And saw Athena as a threat to her plan.”
He stopped pacing to look at her, putting her instincts on alert.
He knew something and he was debating telling her.
After a moment, he said, “This isn’t about Rowena having romantic designs on me.
I’m afraid it’s more cunning and dangerous.”
Dylan sighed as he considered what he was about to do.
“I need to be honest with you.”
He sat back down near her.
He’d survived at his job by trusting his gut.
He was going to do the same right now.
“Rowena isn’t here to seduce me.”
“No?”
“No.
It’s complicated.”
He rubbed the back of his neck.
“I know you’re trying to decide if you can trust me.
I would have felt the same way.”
“But you don’t now?”
“Two agents from the FBI stopped by to see me this morning.”
Her gaze was intent on him.
“They were very interested in Athena Grant, but not you.
Tell me about your job overseas.”
Dylan looked into her eyes, unable to look away even if he’d wanted to.
“You know I can’t, but still you’re wondering if you can trust me.
Yet the FBI doesn’t suspect me, right? You wouldn’t be here unless they already answered your question.
Unfortunately, the bombing and now whatever is going on threatens to expose me and others I worked with.”
“Does it involve Athena Grant? If you know something about her death, I need you to tell me.
I know you want to trust me.
You can.
Just be honest with me.”
He smiled and nodded.
“I didn’t know anything, until this morning,”
he said and proceeded to repeat what his friend had found out about Ginny, Athena, Patty and Rowena.
“Lindsey Martin was the name of the mother who adopted Athena.”
“That would explain why she used that name.
Did she think you would recognize it?”
“Maybe.
She could have thought that Ginny had told me her mother’s name.
She hadn’t.
But all I can think is what are the chances they all four didn’t know they were adopted from Russia?”
She hugged herself as if feeling the same chill he had at the news.
He wondered for a moment if he’d made a mistake by telling her.
He told himself he didn’t know this woman.
Trusting her could be a mistake.
Yet, he didn’t believe that.
Still, it was risky. But the acting sheriff was already in danger the moment she got the Athena Grant case.
Cat seemed to digest what he’d told her before she said, “You think the four are part of a sleeper cell?”
“I do,”
he admitted, glad he could say it out loud.
“I followed Rowena to Libby where she met with someone named Sharese Harmon.
Turns out that Sharese and her brother Luca were also both born in Russia and adopted by a family in Missoula.”
Cat was shaking her head.
“You think they are all involved?”
He nodded.
“But why kill Athena?”
“Why kill Ginny and my brother?”
he asked with a shake of his head.
“I probably shouldn’t be sharing this with you, but the two FBI agents who came by my office this morning demanded everything I had on Athena Grant’s death.”
“I knew it.”
He swore, looking relieved.
“So, we are on to something.
It could be why I’ve heard that they are looking into the bombing again.
What a damned fool I was for marrying a woman with this kind of secret.”
“She never told you she was adopted?”
He shook his head.
“You think it’s all tied together, the bombing, what’s happening now?”
“I bought this ranch before the wedding, but after the bombing and what I learned about my wife and brother, I moved out here because I wanted to be alone.
I was convinced my cover was blown.
But then nothing happened.”
He shook his head.
“But I should have known the moment Rowena showed up here.
I was certainly suspicious about her motives, but then when all the rest of this began to happen…”
“As I said earlier, I think Athena was trying to tell you something,”
Cat said.
“Which could explain why Rowena destroyed her note telling you where she would be—and then went to the motel to threaten her, leaving her a note when she didn’t find her.
She was warning her to stay away from you and not tell you whatever it was she really wanted you to know.
Obviously, Rowena knew Athena wasn’t pregnant with your child, but maybe she wanted you to know about your brother’s baby, don’t you think? By the time she came to me, she must have known they would kill her.
I’m sure she was worried about what would happen to her infant.”
He nodded.
“I think you’re right.
She wanted me to know what was going on, but also about my nephew and maybe how my brother was involved.”
Getting to his feet, he said, “I could use a drink.
Can I get you a sparkling water?”
She nodded and followed him into the living room.
As he poured Bourbon into a rocks glass, he spoke as if running it all through his mind.
“I never could understand what Ginny saw in Rowena.
Once she moved next door to us, she was at our house all the time.
It felt…off.
I got the feeling that Ginny didn’t like her, and I certainly didn’t. But it wasn’t like Ginny not to get her out of her life if that was the case. She’d dropped others who’d tried to hang on to her in a heartbeat.”
He brought his drink and her sparkling water over and motioned that they should sit in the living room where it was more comfortable.
“Where do you think your brother fits in?”
“I have no idea.
Knowing my brother, he could have been working with them.
Maybe he only slept with Athena one time.
Or maybe they were lovers and they were working together.
But why kill him?”
He took a sip of his drink.
Cat thought for a moment.
“If Ginny wanted out, is there a reason she would have asked your brother for help?”
He felt his flesh rise in goose bumps.
“Instead of me?”
He shook his head.
“Athena and Ginny must have dragged him into something.
I can’t imagine what help Beau would have been.
Then again, I’d lost track of what he’d been doing while abroad.
Who knows what he might have gotten into.
Knowing my brother, he might have thought he could handle it and that got him killed.”
Cat had a moment to wonder what she was doing.
Dylan had opened up to her.
She’d told him about the FBI.
They’d both revealed probably more than they should have since she was the law and not long ago he’d been a suspect.
But he was also a man with a past, one apparently he needed to keep hidden.
We all have our secrets, she thought as she looked at him.
The question was, did she trust him? With your life? She’d better because she was gambling on it by opening up to him.
“This changes things,”
she said, realizing it was true.
“Look, I understand, Cat—sorry, I meant to say Sheriff.
I’ve been worried that I involved you and your baby in my mess and it’s dangerous.”
She shook her head.
“It’s my job.
But please, I think after this we could call each other by our first names—at least when we’re alone.”
“That would be nice.
We’ve wandered into questionable territory.
My fault.
I just thought you should know what I found out, what we might be dealing with.”
What we might be dealing with.
He was right.
They were both involved in this.
It made sense to help each other since she couldn’t shake the feeling that if this was what they suspected, they were both at risk.
Also, she would bet that Dylan might have more expertise in this area than she did.
The two FBI agents had said they would be in touch and had driven away, so she couldn’t count on them.
All she knew was that at least one of them had met with Rowena.
Maybe Dylan had some thoughts about that after what he’d discovered today.
Taking a breath, she said, “I saw one of the FBI agents in the alleyway by the hotel in town the other night with Rowena.
They appeared to be arguing.”
“You think Rowena is working with them? Or at least pretending to?”
Cat shrugged.
“Yesterday I found out that someone helped birth the baby.
We know that Athena nursed the infant, then it appears whoever helped her left, possibly with the infant since the man in the next room didn’t hear the baby cry again.
What might have happened after that, we don’t know.
In the wee hours of the morning, Athena was shot, killed and dumped along the road near Fortune Creek—just miles from the sheriff’s department.”
“You’re thinking Rowena?”
He shook his head.
“I can’t imagine her delivering a baby in my wildest dreams.
But there is one person my friend hasn’t been able to locate.
Patty Cooper, Ginny’s sister.”
“I thought of that, too.
I’m hoping if true, she has the baby and won’t let anything happen to him.”
She told Dylan what the man at the motel had told her about the person’s description fitting Patty and that the person possibly had a car seat for the baby.
Dylan swore.
“If only I’d been here the morning Athena stopped by to see me,” he said.
“I doubt it would have saved her since Rowena would have found out either way.”
He nodded and took another drink.
She opened her water.
“If she is working with the feds, then why not let Athena talk to you?”
“Like I said, she could be a double agent.
I wouldn’t put anything past that woman,”
Dylan said.
“What are you going to do about her?”
Cat asked.
“My first instinct is to throw her out.
But if I want answers, then I need to let her think I’m not on to her.”
Dylan realized that she hadn’t seemed to have heard him. “Cat?”
He liked the sound of her name on his lips.
He liked her, and that scared him.
He’d liked her from the first time he met her—when she’d come out to accuse him of all kinds of things.
He thought about the last woman he fell for quickly and told himself to slow down.
Cat seemed to understand what they might be digging into, but he couldn’t stand the thought of anything happening to her or her baby.
They already had one mother dead, her baby missing.
“I thought you’d bought the ranch after your wife was killed,”
she said, looking lost in thought.
“No, months before the wedding.”
“Your wife knew about the ranch?”
“I’m not sure what you’re getting at, but yes, it was kind of a wedding present to us both, a new beginning.”
He could see where it could be misconstrued, though, that he had been planning to kill his wife and her lover, but he didn’t think that was what Cat was getting at.
“The two of you came out here to see it?”
she asked.
He started to say yes but remembered.
“Ginny came out earlier to furnish the big house.
I came out later.”
He frowned.
“What are you thinking?”
“Have you been over to the house since you’ve been back this time? Especially since Rowena has been staying there?”
“No, why?”
“When I went over there to ask her a few questions, I noticed something that at the time didn’t seem odd but does now.
It looked as if an object had been dragged out from the wall in the living room.
It left a mark on the carpet.
Also the doors on several of the high cabinets in the hallway had been left slightly ajar.”
She met his gaze.
“Now I’m wondering if Rowena had gone through the place maybe—”
“Looking for something?”
“Had you ever planned to live in the big house?”
she asked.
“With Ginny…”
he said, “since I thought we both wanted a lot of children.”
He felt his eyes widen.
“You think Ginny left something over there knowing I wouldn’t look for it—let alone find it if anything happened to her.”
Cat touched the end of her nose and grinned at him.
“Think there’s time to check it out before Rowena returns?”
“Let’s go.”