Chapter Thirty
Shelley climbed out of the truck and opened the door to help Jim out of the back seat. When his feet hit the ground, he was unsteady. Shelley wrapped her arm around his waist, and as he leaned heavily against her, anger and determination washed over her.
Moments earlier, her heart had been pounding wildly, and her brain racing. Now, it felt as though everything had slowed down. She wasn’t going to let anything happen to Jim. No matter what it took, she was going to stop Gavin from harming him.
“Bring him around,” Gavin called.
When they reached the back of the truck, Gavin jerked his chin toward the tailgate.
“Open it, and bring the boxes in,” he told Harper.
Shelley’s eyes narrowed when she saw Jim’s boxes of paperwork in the bed of the truck under the tonneau cover. She had to wonder what had happened at Jim’s place that Gavin had been able to take him and Harper and all the boxes without …
“Where’s Banner?” Her voice was unsteady as she asked the question. She knew damn well that if Banner had been able to stop Gavin, he would have. He’d reassured Shelley before she left them this afternoon that he’d be coming to Chico with them this evening, and he didn’t plan to let Jim out of his sight in the meantime.
Gavin’s laugh made her blood run cold.
“Get him inside,” he told her. “Harper can carry the boxes. I’m afraid my hands are full.” He waved the pistol around as if to prove his point.
While Gavin loosened the binding around Harper’s wrists, Shelley helped Jim inside the cabin and was relieved to see that it was furnished. She led Jim toward an armchair, then yelped in pain when Gavin pushed her. She fell to her hands and knees and turned in time to see him shove Jim roughly into the chair.
“Just because I need you alive for now doesn’t mean this is going to be easy, Uncle.”
Harper ran into the back of him with the box she was carrying awkwardly with her still loosely bound hands.
Shelley pushed to her feet, hoping that between the two of them they might be able to overpower him. But he was too fast. He stumbled but regained his footing and landed a resounding slap across Harper’s face.
“Bitch! I told you before—you try anything else, and I’ll end you. In fact, now that I have these two, I don’t need you anymore …” He raised the pistol, aiming it at Harper’s face.
“No!” Shelley spoke sharply but calmly. “Put the gun down, Gavin.”
He turned back to face her, still aiming the pistol at Harper.
“You’re right,” he said, sounding as conversational as if they were discussing the weather. “It’d be too disruptive and too messy to kill her now. We should go through the papers, and you can give me the original will. I know Cash MacFarland thinks he’s getting something, and I’m going to make sure he doesn’t.”
Shelley glanced at Jim, and he nodded. She could only hope he was agreeing with her plan to tell Gavin the truth.
“The old will has already been superseded by a new one.”
The way Gavin’s expression changed was both terrifying and fascinating. Disbelief was the first thing that registered on his face. Then he looked worried. Then he turned white and let out an animal-like scream as he lunged at her.
She held her hands up to protect herself, and somehow the movement brought him back to his senses; he stopped short before he hit her. His lips pressed into a thin line, his eyes narrowed—he looked more than a little unhinged.
“So, you’ll write a new one.” He nodded to himself. “You can write a new will just like the old one. Or make it one of those simple ones, where it just says he leaves everything to me.” He nodded again. “That won’t take long, and then we’ll be done here.”
For the first time, Shelley was grateful that she hadn’t yet found the time to apply for admission to the Montana Bar.
“I can’t draw up a new will.”
He glared at her. “You can, and you will.”
“I can draw one up, but it won’t be a valid legal document. I’m not licensed to practice here. I’ve been advising Jim, that’s all.” There was no way she was going to tell Gavin that at this point, the only way a new will could be drawn up in his favor would be if Jim were to write it out himself and sign it. When she’d first seen Harper in the truck, she’d wondered if Gavin already knew that—and that such a will would need two witnesses.
As Gavin paced the cabin, looking around wildly, she decided there was one provision in Montana law she should share with him.
“There’s something you need to know about Montana law, Gavin.” She inhaled sharply but stood her ground when he rounded on her.
“I thought you weren’t a real lawyer here.”
“I’m not, but I have been studying state law. There’s a slayer statute.”
“What’s that?” She took a step backward as he leaned in and screamed, “What the fuck does that mean?”
“It’s a provision within the law that means if you murder someone with the intention of inheriting their property, you forfeit all benefits assigned to you in the will.”
Her blood ran cold when Gavin laughed.
“Well, duh! I didn’t know that, but I figured that it might look a little suspicious me being back in town right now.” He turned back to Harper. “That’s why you’re going to kill him. And Shelley’s going to be so upset that she kills you.”
Shelley scowled at him. “You can’t make either of us do that, Gavin.”
He shrugged. “Not if you’re going to fight me about it, probably not. But I’ll just have to make it look like that’s what happened after you’re dead.”
He raised the pistol again. “But first we need to get a will in place that will work.”
He jerked his chin toward the boxes. “Show me the most recent one, and we’ll go from there.”
There was nowhere they could go from there, but at least searching for the will—or pretending to—would buy her some time to figure out what she could do.
They both turned to Harper when she made a noise around her gag.
“Shut up!” Gavin told her.
She looked at Shelley and pressed her thighs together as she wiggled her hips. That had been their sign back in college when they were out dancing in the clubs—it saved having to get close enough to each other to shout and explain that they needed to go to the bathroom.
“She has to go to the bathroom,” Shelley told him.
“She can wait.”
“She can’t. She has this condition where …”
Gavin held his hand up. “Go! It’s down there.” He pointed to a short corridor that only had two doors leading off it. “But try anything and I’ll get rid of you. You’re no use to me anymore.”
Harper nodded and looked so fearful and acquiescent that Shelley knew it had to be an act.
When Harper left, Shelley carefully positioned herself and the boxes so that Gavin would have his back to Harper when she returned.
She pulled out the first folder she could see and handed it to him. As she’d hoped, he put the pistol down as he took it.
She was going to have to think fast—he’d soon see that what she’d given him wasn’t a copy of Jim’s will.
~ ~ ~
Trip clung to the handle above the door as Trav drove them away from Chico and out onto East River Road. As he scanned the surrounding trees, he saw for the first time why some people described this place as desolate. He’d loved the valley his whole life, but without Shelley, it now felt empty—he felt empty.
“We’re going to find her, bud,” said Trav. “We’re going to find her, and she’s going to be okay.”
Trip squeezed his eyes shut. He had to believe that Trav was right. He couldn’t face …
He swiped to answer his phone as it rang.
“Where are you guys?” Cash asked without preamble.
“We just left Chico. Where are we going—do you have anything yet? Does Amelia?”
“Not yet. Ford just got her back to the ranch. She’s getting her gear set up and she has Shelley, Harper, and Jim’s numbers. She should be able to …”
“Where the fuck were you?” Trip couldn’t help it—he had to ask. He hadn’t considered Gavin to be a threat because of Cash. Gavin had gone looking for him—and Trip had been looking forward to Cash letting him find him.
“I’m sorry, bud. I’m so fucking sorry. I was heading back to Jim’s when I saw Gavin’s SUV. By all accounts, he was out looking for me, so I figured I’d see if he’d follow me. He did, so I led him away from town. I was thinking of a place where we could have a chat that he wouldn’t come back from. But the fucker fooled me. By the time I had him up in the wilderness and he got out of the vehicle—it wasn’t him. It was one of Jim’s hands.
“I’ve pieced the story together. Seems like Gavin traded vehicles with this asshole so that I’d fall for it—and I fucking did. And that left Gavin free to come after Shelley in a truck no one recognized as his. There was another of Jim’s hands in on the deal as well—he called Banner down to the barn to some made-up emergency. Gavin knew Jim would tell Banner to go check on it before they all came out.
“The hand snuck up on Banner and knocked him out cold—leaving Jim and Harper sitting ducks waiting for Gavin to come by. I’m so sorry, Trip. I … hang on a minute. This is Amelia. Let me just …”
Trip exchanged a glance with Trav, who reached across and grasped his shoulder. “She’s going to be okay.”
Cash’s voice came back through the speakers, filling the cab of the truck as he said, “Go ahead, Amelia, darlin’. What can you tell us?”
“That this is like déjà vu all over again. Hey, Trip. Sorry, I don’t mean to be flippant, but do you guys remember where that crazy guy took Shayna? Do you remember when we did the AAR afterward, and we figured that he’d planned to use that old cabin? Well, all three phone signals put Shelley, Jim, and Harper in that same cabin right now. There’s another cellphone present too. I’m sure in a minute or two I’ll be able to confirm that as Gavin Sheridan’s.”
Trip gripped the handle tighter as Trav put his foot down.
“We’re almost to the forest service road,” Trip told Cash.
“I’m not far off myself. I’ll call around and get everyone up there. I want to tell you to wait for me at the last turnoff so that we can …”
“Fuck that!” Trip ground out.
“Yeah, I figured,” said Cash. “I’ll have your six. But remember he’s got Jim and Harper in there too. Shelley’s your priority, and that’s as it should be, but Jim’s …”
“He is,” Trip agreed. “We’re going in when we get there.”
Trav glanced over at him.
“We’re a team for a reason,” Cash reminded him.
Trip closed his eyes as he said, “I’m not making any promises, but hurry the fuck up.”
~ ~ ~
“This isn’t the will!” Gavin shoved the folder back at Shelley. “Where is it?”
She rummaged through the boxes, hoping that she might find the actual will. There was no harm in letting him see it, since a copy of the new one was already filed with Jim’s friend in town.
She didn’t dare even glance over her shoulder, but she sensed Harper back there.
“Here it is!” Her voice sounded like a squeak even to her own ears. She thrust another folder at Gavin, hoping that Harper was ready to make her move.
Jim caught her gaze and gave her the slightest nod. Gavin spotted it, but it worked in their favor as a distraction.
He sneered at Jim. “She can’t help you. And you know, if you’d just been reasonable about this, I would have waited. I mean, you wouldn’t have had long left anyway—not at your age. But when I heard that you were going to give Cash …”
Harper crept closer while Gavin talked. She was carrying something. Shelley couldn’t make out what it was, but it didn’t matter—she just needed to...
Harper leapt forward and hit Gavin’s head with whatever it was. Shelley grabbed the pistol as Gavin stumbled into the table. He recovered quickly, spinning around to face Harper, but she moved faster, landing her knee to his groin and leaving him doubled over, groaning.
“You bitch!” he gasped. “I’m going to …”
“You’re not going to hurt anyone,” Shelley told him as she kept the gun trained on him. “It’s over—and you’re going to prison for this.”
He straightened up slowly. “You underestimate me. I’m not going to prison. It’s all going to work out.”
Shelley’s confidence waned a little as he smiled at her. Harper was untying Jim and removing his gag.
“He’s working with someone,” Jim said as soon as he could speak. “You had Jeb call Banner down to the barn, didn’t you?”
“I did. I knew you’d send him down there—you always cared about the animals more than you cared about me. Thought it was time I used it to my advantage.” Gavin smiled. “Darryl helped me out, too. I always said you should be more careful about who you trust, Uncle.”
Jim sat up straighter in the armchair, and Shelley was glad to see him look angry—he looked full of life again.
“What did Darryl do?”
“Just followed Cash MacFarland on a wild goose chase up into the mountains and out of my way for a while—so that I could come calling on you.”
Jim shook his head sadly. Shelley knew that he did his best to make the men who worked for him feel like family.
Gavin shrugged. “You think people care. I know that all they care about is money. Jeb and Darryl were happy to help—for a price. You think Banner and his brothers care about you? You stupid old fool—they’re only in it for what they can get. And Cash?” He turned and spat after he said the name.
“Shut up!” Harper pushed Gavin, and Shelley remembered that they didn’t have to let him rant anymore. She waved the pistol toward the sofa.
“Go and sit down.”
“I’ll tie him up,” said Harper.
“Then we can call …” said Jim.
They all went quiet when they heard a vehicle approaching.
“That’ll be them,” said Gavin. “Jeb and Darryl—they’re coming to help me with cleanup.”
“They’ll be cleaning you up if you try anything,” Harper told him.
Gavin leered at Shelley. “Are you comfortable enough with that thing to hold off two men carrying pistols they know how to use?”
She could feel her palms sweating against the cold steel. If only they’d been quicker—she could have called Trip. He could have come, could have brought help.
She and Harper exchanged a look when they heard movement outside. She didn’t know what to do.
Harper finished tying Gavin and stood.
“Let’s get you in the bathroom, Jim.”
He scowled and struggled to his feet. “I’m going nowhere. We’re in this together.”
Harper picked up what turned out to be a wooden doorstop—the thing she’d used to hit Gavin. Shelley raised the pistol, and Jim grabbed a broom from the small kitchen area.
Gavin laughed from his spot on the sofa. “Touching—but it won’t save you.”
“Give me that gun, Shelley. We’ll last longer than you will, you piece of …”
Harper stopped talking, raised the doorstop above her head, and ran screaming at the back door just as it flew open.
Shelley tried to put herself between Jim and the front door when she saw the handle move. She raised the gun. Jim stepped up beside her, broom raised.
And then the door flew open, and the men rushed in.
Only the men were Trip and Travis. Shelley lowered the gun with shaking hands when she realized it was them. Trip reached her in two long strides. Trav wasn’t far behind him and took the gun from her. Trip wrapped his arms around her and crushed her to his chest. Travis hugged Jim, and to her surprise, he chuckled at the sound of a continued struggle behind them.
When she turned, she had to laugh, too. Emmett was lying on his back on the floor, and Harper was sitting astride him, slowly lowering the doorstop as she gave them a rueful smile.
“I thought he was one of the bad guys,” she explained.
Emmett chuckled. “And I thought I’d been attacked by a mountain lion—they’re beautiful but ferocious, and I didn’t want to hurt …”
“Hey!” Harper slapped his arm. “I’m not ferocious! I’m loyal. I was defending my friends.” Her smile faded. “And did you just call me a cougar?”
Shelley turned back to Trip when she realized how hard he was breathing and how fast his heart was pounding against her own as he held her to his chest.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
He rested his forehead against hers and looked down into her eyes. “I am now. Are you? He didn’t hurt you?”
“I’m fine.” She glanced at Jim. “We’re all fine, right?”
He didn’t agree immediately, instead he looked around the cabin. “Aye, I’m fine, but where’s Cash?”
“Oh for fuck’s sake!” Gavin spat from where he was still sitting trussed up on the sofa. “Why do you always expect that asshole to be the hero? He’s not! He never was, and tonight just proves it—he’s not even here!”
Shelley clung tighter to Trip when Cash came barreling in through the front door.
“I’m here. You fooled me once, I’ll admit that, but you weren’t going to fool me again.” He turned to Trip. “I cleared the area around the cabin. Found Jeb lurking—he said he was supposed to come help but waited when he saw you guys coming.”
“What’ve you done with him?” Jim asked.
“You don’t need to worry about him or Darryl, Jim. I took care of it.” Cash approached the sofa and hauled Gavin to his feet. “Now I’ll take care of him.”
Shelley watched Jim, wondering how he’d react to Cash’s words—and what exactly Cash meant.
“You can’t let him!” Gavin squealed as Cash dragged him toward the door. “Uncle Jim, please!”
Jim ignored him and instead met Cash’s gaze. “You can’t do what you want to do, you know.”
Shelley was relieved when Cash gave him a grim smile. “I know. Out of respect for you I wasn’t even considering it.” He gave Gavin a shake. “But I’m going to make sure that you never set foot in the state of Montana again.”
“Aye, that works,” Jim agreed. He turned to Gavin. “I’ll have to redo my will again now—you’ve made sure of that. See, I’d written in enough of a gift for you that you would’ve been set for life. Now, you won’t see a red cent.”
Shelley straightened when Jim turned to her. “Can you tell him what’ll happen now?”
Trip kept his hand at her waist as she stepped forward.
“Cash is the sole beneficiary of the new will; Jim trusts him to do as he asks.”
Jim nodded. “Aye, because he cares more about family than the law, and like me, he knows that family isn't always blood.” He looked at Gavin and shook his head sadly before adding, “And blood ain't always family,” before turning away.
Gavin’s mouth fell open, and his cheeks turned red as he glared at her.
Cash’s hand dropped to his side—though he kept a tight hold of Gavin with his other hand. She wasn’t sure which of them was more stunned. Cash stared at Jim for a long moment before giving him a sharp nod.
“You know I’ll do whatever you want.”
“Aye, that’s why I wrote it that way.”
Gavin finally recovered from the shock and tried to take a step toward Jim as he yelled, “You can’t—”
His words were cut short when Cash slapped a hand over his mouth and wrapped an arm around his waist, half dragging, half carrying him toward the door.
Shelley slumped against Trip’s side, and he held her closer. Travis kept his arm around Jim’s shoulders, and Emmett helped Harper to her feet before they came to join the rest of them.
Trav smiled around at them and asked, “Anyone need a ride home?”
Trip was grateful when Deacon, Ace, and Luke showed up as they were making their way outside. As the sheriff, Deacon would be responsible for Gavin and what happened to him—and Trip could put him out of his mind.
He finally let go of Shelley and stepped toward Jim, wanting to look him over.
Jim waved him away. “There’s nothing wrong with me that a good night’s sleep won’t fix.”
Harper chuckled. “And nothing wrong with me that makeup won’t fix. So, how about tonight you forget that you’re a doctor and just take care of Shelley?”
He hesitated, and that was enough for Trav to step forward and hand him the keys to his truck. “How about you take Shelley home, and me and Emmett can follow you with Jim and Harper?”
Cash came out to join them after handing Gavin over to Deacon. “Can they stay at your place tonight, bud?” He turned to Jim. “We’ll take you home tomorrow, but I want to make sure that none of the other hands were involved.”
Jim nodded slowly. “Aye, that might be for the best. Is Banner all right?”
“He will be.” Cash softened his words with a chuckle. “He’s got a hard head.”
“Of course, you’re all welcome at our place.” Trip wasn’t even aware of what he’d said until he noticed the way they all smiled. “Do you want to ride with us, Harper?”
“I do not!” she said with what he thought was a smile — it was hard to tell, her face was now so badly bruised and swollen. “Why would I play third wheel with you guys, when I have all these handsome cowboys to choose from? And besides, wherever Jim goes, I go. You hear that, cowboy?”
Cash looked more serious as he nodded his agreement. “Copy that.”
Trip helped Shelley into Trav’s truck, glad to have her to himself for the short drive home. Once they made it back to the main forest service road, he reached across the console and relaxed a little when she placed her hand in his.
They rode the rest of the way in silence. The time to talk about what had happened would come when they got home — for now, he just wanted her to know that he was there for her.
As he pulled off the highway when he reached the ranch, he gave her hand a squeeze. “I’m glad you’re finally riding with me.”
She chuckled. “Are you insulting my little car?”
“No, honey. I meant more than just the car.”
As they emerged from the line of cottonwood trees and the house came into sight, he felt like he could finally relax fully. He didn’t need to look in the rearview mirror for her anymore — she was right there by his side.