Cowboy Behind the Badge (8 page)

Laine made a soft sound of sympathy. “She's had a lot come at her at once. Is there anything I can do to help?”

The shrink in her was coming out. It was like Tucker's brotherly tug, which he was ignoring.

Rosalie shook her head. “Anything any of us could say or do would just make it worse. Rayanne's never had dreams of being a mother, unlike me. I've always wanted children. So this has hit her pretty hard. The only reason I wanted you to know—”

“Was so I wouldn't call her into the middle of a gunfight,” Tucker finished. “Let's hope it doesn't come down to that again.”

His phone rang, startling the babies and causing them to squirm, and Tucker stepped into the adjoining family room to take the call. Laine followed him, and once Tucker saw it was Colt on the other end of the line, he put it on speaker, since this was something she probably needed to hear.

“Still no sign of our missing shooter,” Colt started.

“And the other two?” Laine asked.

“Other than us getting Gene Buford's name, they're not talking, and their lawyers are making sure they stay quiet.”

That wasn't good, but maybe there was a way around the mute act from the two they had in custody. Tucker could look at the lawyers themselves and see if they had any connections to those being investigated for the baby farms.

“I made some calls about the social worker, Martin Hague,” he told Colt. “Nothing back on him so far, other than he really is a social worker.”

“Let me guess—Hague's getting that court order to take the babies?” Tucker asked.

“He's trying,” Colt answered. “That's why I've been trying to learn as much about the babies as possible. Both of them have the same blood type as Dawn Cowen, but there's nothing back on the DNA yet to determine if she was really their mother. She doesn't have a next of kin on file so I had Reed chat with some of the other CIs we use in San Antonio. Several of them said she has an aunt somewhere in the state.”

“Maybe the Rangers can help track her down?” Tucker suggested.

“I'll ask, but I did find out something else from the CIs. You're not going to believe this, but Dawn was involved with Darren Carty.”

Tucker groaned. Not Laine, though. She just stood there looking poleaxed, and her breathing suddenly didn't sound too level.

“My ex-fiancé,” she finally mumbled.

She didn't offer more. Not that Tucker needed it. He was plenty familiar with Darren. Same age. Raised just one county apart, they'd competed against each other in high school football and then again on the rodeo circuit.

Tucker pretty much hated the guy, and it had nothing to do with the fact that Laine and Darren had been hot and heavy for a long time before they'd split up about two years before.

“What was Darren doing with someone like Dawn?” Laine asked, her voice a little shaky. “She had a lengthy juvenile record along with some arrests for petty theft and prostitution.”

“Darren's apparently been involved with several women like her since you two split,” Colt explained. “But according to a couple of Dawn's friends, it wasn't just a fling. Not on her part, anyway. She was in love with Darren.”

Something about that didn't fit. All right, a lot of things didn't fit, but Tucker went with the obvious one. “Then why didn't Darren or her friends report her missing?”

“Because Darren said Dawn had pulled disappearing acts before.”

Yeah, Tucker knew that about her, too, but still, someone should have asked her whereabouts.

Including Tucker himself.

“I want to talk to Darren,” Tucker insisted.

“Figured you would. I just got to his place, and I'll arrange to have him come in for a chat. Not sure how much he'll cooperate.... Oh, hell—”

“What's wrong?” Tucker couldn't ask fast enough.

“Tucker, you need to get out here right now. I think I found Dawn.”

 

Chapter Eight

Laine looked out at the chaos in front of her, and her stomach tightened even more. Yes, Colt had already told Tucker and her that he'd found Dawn's body.

At her ex-fiancé's house, no less.

However, Laine hadn't realized just how many people would be at Darren's ranch. She spotted the medical examiner's van. A CSI one, too. Then Colt's squad car. Someone from the county sheriff's office was there, as well. Plus four other civilian vehicles, no doubt belonging to Darren and his ranch hands.

Or maybe to his lawyers.

Darren had to know just how much trouble he was in.

Tucker parked behind the ME's van about twenty yards from the house, but he didn't get out. Instead, he turned to her. “They haven't moved the body yet. They're still processing the scene.”

She understood what he was saying—if she went outside, she would likely see Dawn. While Laine wasn't anxious to see the dead woman, she did want to hear what Darren had to say.

If he had anything to say.

So far, Darren hadn't said much to Colt, and in turn Colt hadn't volunteered anything about their investigation. Since Darren's ranch straddled two different jurisdictions, both the county and the Sweetwater Springs cops had agreed to turn it over to Tucker and the Texas Rangers.

Something she was positive Darren wouldn't like.

The two men had never been on friendly terms, and Darren wouldn't have an easy time answering to a man he disliked.

“Stay close to me,” Tucker warned her.

It wasn't his first warning of the day. There'd been plenty of them when he had tried to talk her out of coming with him, but Laine had simply reminded him that she would be able to confirm that Dawn was indeed the woman who'd been shot behind her office. That wasn't a lie. But Laine also wanted to see Darren's face when Tucker questioned him about his involvement with Dawn.

She wasn't jealous. Just confused. And more than a little worried that she'd once been engaged to a man who was now somehow involved in a murder.

Just as Tucker reached to open the door, his phone rang, and she saw Reed's name on the screen. He put the phone on speaker when he answered.

“Didn't know if you'd made it out to Carty's place yet, but I just got the background report on that social worker, Martin Hague,” Reed greeted. “You want to hear the gist of it now or is this a bad time?”

“You found something?” Tucker immediately asked.

“Maybe. He appears to be living well beyond his means. He recently paid off some huge student loans and bought a house. Can't find any sign of an inheritance or anything. But I did find a connection that makes me uneasy. Remember the name Rhonda Wesson?”

“Yes,” Tucker and Laine said in unison. It was Laine who continued. “She was one of the pregnant women rescued from the first baby farm that was closed down.”

“That's right. And she's Hague's cousin.”

Laine tried to pick through what she remembered about Rhonda. The woman had a troubled past that included being on the run from an abusive relationship. Or so everyone believed until she'd been found at the baby farm. She delivered the child shortly after being rescued and then had given up the newborn for adoption.

“You think Hague's connected to the baby farm?” Laine asked.

“I just think it's a coincidence that I don't much like,” Reed answered.

Laine made a sound of agreement. Of course, just because Hague's cousin had been a victim didn't mean he had been the one who put Rhonda on that baby farm. Still, it was a possible lead that Tucker and she would need to follow.

Well, Tucker anyway.

Laine wasn't sure just how much longer he would continue to let her tag along. Once their missing attacker was caught, Tucker would likely be in a hurry to end their association. Despite the way he'd held her in his bedroom. It'd been, well, nice.

Okay, not nice.

It'd been a
playing with fire
session that she should have never started in the first place.

“You okay?” she heard Tucker ask, and it took her a moment to realize he was talking to her. “You're breathing funny. If you're worried about seeing the body or your ex—”

“I'm not.”

He just stared at her, obviously waiting for her to explain what was bothering her. Yes, Dawn's body was part of this mess going on in her head. The spent adrenaline and lack of sleep, too, along with the shocking news that her ex had a possible connection to everything that was going on.

But no way would she mention hugging and playing with fire while Reed was listening.

The town gossip mill already had enough fodder without her adding more, and she definitely didn't want it getting back to her mother that she'd landed not just under Tucker's roof but also in his arms.

“See if you can find the source of Hague's money,” Tucker said to Reed. He still didn't take his attention off her, though. “And set up a meeting with Rhonda. I could be tied up here for a while.”

“Tied up questioning Darren Carty,” Reed supplied. “You arresting him?”

“That depends on how the next few minutes go. Call me if you learn anything else about Hague.”

Tucker ended the call. “All right, what's wrong? If you're about to fall apart over seeing your ex, I need to know before you take one step from this truck.”

“I look like I'm going to fall apart?” Laine wasn't positive that the falling apart wouldn't happen, but her latest troubled look had sadly been about her situation with Tucker and not about Dawn. “What if I just say this isn't about Darren, and that it's something you don't want to discuss? Would you leave it at that?”

But he didn't leave anything. Not Tucker. He studied her, his attention going from her eyes to her mouth. She saw the
aha
/
oh, hell
moment flash through his eyes.

“I'm sure it's just nerves,” she added. “Better to think about you than what's out there.”

“Yeah.” He nodded, paused again. “So, should I know why you and Darren split? If I remember right, you two were just a few weeks away from saying ‘I do.'”

“There's nothing wrong with your memory.” Though it did surprise her that Tucker would remember
that
or any other personal thing about her.

Laine decided to say this fast. Like ripping off a Band-Aid. “I can't have children of my own. I didn't know that when we got engaged, but when I found out and told him, Darren broke things off.”

Mercy, it hurt to say that. Hurt more to feel it. The ache was always there, eating away at her. Not because of her failed engagement, but because she would never give birth to the baby that she'd always wanted. The failed relationship was just salt on a wound that would never heal.

Tucker's mouth didn't exactly drop open, but it came close. “I knew Darren was an ass, but that proves it.”

Laine shrugged. “He wanted a child of his own and didn't want to adopt. I can't fault a man for that.”

“Well, I sure as hell can.” He cursed. But then he went still, and Laine knew why. “Hell,” Tucker repeated.

“The babies that Dawn had with her could be Darren's,” she managed to say. That hurt, too, and it sickened her to think of handing them over to him.

Or to anyone else for that matter.

“Don't borrow trouble by trying to get the truth out of Darren,” he warned her. “I'll ask the questions, and if things get too tense, I want you back in the truck.” He waited until she nodded before walking with her toward the house.

And toward Darren.

She instantly spotted him. Looking more like a model on a glossy magazine cover than a real cowboy, he was pacing the porch that wrapped around the house. His gaze snapped in their direction as they approached. His ink-black hair was as fashionably disheveled as his jeans and shirt, and she knew he'd had them custom-made.

Darren wasn't alone. There were two men in suits milling around him.

“You know them?” Tucker whispered to her.

“No, but they look like lawyers.”

The one on the right did, anyway. He was on the phone having a whispered conversation. The other eased his hand inside his jacket as they approached. He quit easing when Tucker tapped the badge pinned to his shirt and slid his hand over his own weapon.

Laine's attention went to the ME crew on the left side of that massive porch. There, amid some flame-red rosebushes, she spotted the woman's arm. It flung out at an unnatural angle.

Laine went closer. And saw the face. Bloodless.

Now.

The rain had washed her clean and left her bone-white. Her eyes were open and fixed in a permanently blank stare. Laine's thoughts jerked back to those moments in the parking lot. The sound of the bullets being fired. The image of her body being dragged into the car.

“It's the same woman those men shot,” Laine managed to say to Tucker. “You're sure it's Dawn?”

“Yeah.” Tucker drew in a long breath and maneuvered Laine away from the body. He positioned himself partially in front of her when he faced Darren.

Darren stopped pacing. “Tucker,” he greeted. “Laine.”

She kept her own greeting at a nod. Best not to trust her voice right now. She no longer loved Darren, hadn't in a long time, but any emotion that came through wouldn't be good.

Mercy, was she looking at a killer?

“I didn't do this,” Darren volunteered. “I
wouldn't
do this,” he amended.

“Then how'd her body get here?” Tucker asked.

“How the hell should I know?” He groaned, scrubbed his hand over his face. “I just know I didn't put her there.”

“Someone did,” Tucker snapped. “You didn't hear anyone or see anything?”

“No, and if I had, I would have called the cops.” He cursed and started pacing again. “I'm not stupid. If I'd killed someone, do you really think I'd use my own rose bed as a body dump?”

Tucker glanced around, and Laine followed his gaze. No security cameras were visible, but the private road leading to the place was at least a quarter of a mile long. It would have been awfully brassy of the gunmen to bring her body here, but then they'd already shown a brassy streak by attacking Dawn, and then Tucker and Laine, in broad daylight.

Tucker lifted his shoulder. “You might have dumped her body here if you thought it'd take suspicion off yourself.”

That brought on a new round of profanity, and one of the suited men on the porch tried to pull Darren aside. Probably to tell him to say nothing else. But Darren only threw off the man's grip and came down the steps. Tucker adjusted, keeping himself in front of her.

“I don't need to take suspicion off myself,” Darren said, his teeth coming together. “Because I didn't do this.” He glanced at the body, and the color blanched from his face, making the dark stubble seem even darker.

If her ex was guilty, he was certainly putting up a convincing act of being innocent.

“I need you to come in for questioning,” Tucker said, using his Ranger's voice now. It wasn't a suggestion. “You can follow my brother to the Sweetwater Springs sheriff's office.” He motioned toward Colt, who was next to the body.

Darren just stared at Tucker. “And if I refuse?”

“You won't, because if you're really innocent as you say you are, you'll want to help us catch whoever did this to Dawn.”

The staring contest went on for several moments, and Darren finally nodded. “I do want to catch this SOB. And I want to know what happened to the baby Dawn was carrying.”

Laine nearly blurted out the question that was on her mind. Were the babies his? But Tucker had already told her to stay quiet. Tucker stayed quiet, too, but he aimed a very intense glare at Darren.

“I have a right to know,” Darren insisted. “Because the baby's mine.”

“You're sure?” Tucker asked.

“Positive. Dawn told me she was carrying my child, and then she disappeared.”

“Maybe Dawn lied,” Laine said, and she got a dose of Tucker's glare. Darren's, too. This wasn't exactly a neutral subject for her, so she matched their glares.

“Dawn didn't lie,” Darren fired back. “And that means I have a right to the child.”

Tucker shook his head. “I'm guessing Dawn wasn't your usual type of woman. I'm also guessing you knew she had a record.”

“Yeah, and she was a criminal informant or something.”

“She told you that?” Tucker snapped.

“In a roundabout way.” Darren paused, and Laine could see the muscles tighten in his body. “What did Dawn have, a boy or a girl?”

Even now, that was important. Maybe more than the dead woman lying just yards away. There was only one person Laine knew who wanted a child more than she did.

Darren.

And he just might have gotten his wish.

It wasn't out of pettiness that she hesitated, even though Darren was perhaps getting the very thing she'd longed for. This was about the babies' safety. She wouldn't have wanted to hand them over to anyone unless she knew they would be safe from danger.

Tucker paused a moment, too. “Just how much did Dawn tell you about the pregnancy?”

That improved Darren's posture. His shoulders snapped back. “That the kid was mine. She was five months pregnant last time I saw her.”

“And you didn't think to report to the police that she was missing?”

“I didn't know she was missing!” he practically shouted. Again, one of the suits tried to pull him back, but Darren threw off his grip with far more force than was necessary. The force of a man who was used to getting his way. “Dawn and I had an argument, all right? She left.”

“What'd you argue about?” Tucker pressed.

There it was again. That flash of anger in Darren's dust-gray eyes. “A few of my friends had insulted her. Had called her a gold digger. She wanted me to prove my feelings for her by marrying her.”