Sawyer (4 page)

Well, not a real one anyway.

It was Mason.

“Just got off the phone with Gage,” he said.

“Did they find Bennie?” Cassidy immediately asked.

Mason shook his head. “They’re still looking. The doc’s still working on the papers for Social Services, and then he’ll examine you.” Mason turned his attention to Sawyer. “But Gage found out the dead woman, April Warrick, was a con artist with a mile-long rap sheet.”

“Any kidnapping charges on it?” Sawyer wanted to know.

“None.” Mason shifted his attention to the baby. “But April gave birth about ten days ago. She had a girl. We don’t know much more than that, but she was a criminal informant for the San Antonio P.D. Nate’s looking into it now and should be calling you any minute.”

“Nate and Gage are Mason’s brothers,” Sawyer explained to her, but she could tell his mind was on other things.

Mason reached for the baby. “Why don’t I go ahead and take her to the hospital nursery. It could take a while for Social Services to get here.”

“No,” Cassidy jumped to say. It was crazy, but she wanted to keep the baby with her as long as possible.

Mason looked at Sawyer, obviously waiting for his say in the matter, and Sawyer finally nodded. “After the doc’s checked out Cassidy, I’ll bring the baby to the nursery and then head to the sheriff’s office so we can write our reports.”

Mason didn’t question that, though it probably did seem strange to him. He made a sound that could have meant anything and strolled away.

“You can’t keep her, you know,” Sawyer said, standing. He went to her, looking down at the baby, and he touched the little girl’s cheek with this finger.

The corner of the baby’s mouth lifted as if she was smiling.

And that caused Cassidy to smile, too. Well, for a few seconds anyway, and then reality hit her.

“If April was her mother, then her next of kin is her father.” She hated to say it aloud, but she figured Sawyer was thinking it, too. “What if her father’s the other kidnapper?”

“It’s possible,” Sawyer readily admitted. “That’s why we need to catch him and then get the results from the DNA and blood tests. We might be able to exclude him on the blood test alone.”

Yes, but it wouldn’t solve her other problem of finding Bennie. If the kidnapper had murdered his own lover, the mother of his child, and used that child in some kind of kidnapping scheme, then she wanted her brother far away from this monster.

Sawyer’s phone buzzed, and because he was so close to her, she saw the name on the phone screen.

Nate Ryland.

His cousin and the cop from SAPD that Mason had mentioned. Sawyer stepped away from her, but he did put the call on speaker.

“Mason said you wanted some info on April Warrick,” Nate started. “Well, that’s her body you found in Silver Creek. Grayson sent me a photo, and I was able to confirm it with Doug Franklin, the detective who used her as a criminal informant.”

Cassidy was glad the baby was too young to understand the news they’d just gotten.

“Did April really have a baby?” Sawyer asked.

“Yeah. A girl, but I can’t confirm if it’s the baby that the kidnappers had. Still working on that. But we do have a lead. Doug said last year April was involved with a real hothead. A guy named Willy Malloy.”

Sawyer took a notepad from his pocket and wrote down the name. “I want to talk to him.”

“Figured you would. I’ll track him down and get him out to Silver Creek so Grayson and you can question him.” Nate paused. “There’s someone else you’ll want to talk to. A couple of months ago, April was ordered to see a court-appointed therapist, Dr. Diane Blackwell. She’s already called here looking for April, and I told her to get in touch with you.”

A therapist could definitely give them some info. If she’d talk, that is. Cassidy hoped she didn’t play the client-confidentiality card, especially now that her client was dead.

“There’s more,” Nate said a moment later. “Doug said April hadn’t mentioned Willy in months, that she’d been seeing some rich guy, and that April was worried that the guy might be up to no good.”

“You got a name?” Sawyer asked.

“Yeah. It’s a name you’re not going to like. Doug said it was Bennie O’Neal.”

Cassidy wasn’t able to bite back her gasp.
No
. This couldn’t be happening. But Sawyer only tossed her an I-told-you-so look.

“The detective said if you want to find April’s killer,” Nate added, “then start with Bennie—that judging from the way April talked bad about him, he’s the one who probably murdered her.”

Chapter Five

Sawyer finished up the call with his brother, Josh, and gave him both an apology for having to leave the reception early and well-wishes since Josh was about to leave on his honeymoon with his new bride. Even though Josh had asked about the kidnapping, Sawyer kept the details brief. No need to trouble his brother with a case that didn’t make sense anyway.

When he ended the call, he glanced up to check on Cassidy. Sawyer had no idea what to do about her. Obviously waiting, she was pacing the hall of the Silver Creek sheriff’s office. The trouble was, it might be a long time before they heard anything from the kidnappers.

If there were indeed kidnappers.

It was possible this was all some kind of elaborate scheme concocted by Bennie to get his sister’s money under the guise of a ransom. That part of the twisted plan actually made sense, but not much else did.

Like why had April been murdered?

And why had the kidnappers demanded a photo of Sawyer holding a stranger’s baby? A baby who may or may not belong to April.

One thing was certain—the little girl wasn’t Laurie’s and his. Sawyer wanted to be relieved about that, but there was a flip side to this coin. At least if he was her father, he could have decided her fate. He could have made sure she was in a good place where she’d be safe—with him. As it was now, the baby would become a ward of the state, and that was, sadly, a best-case scenario.

There was a birth father out there. And judging from April’s rap sheet, that father might be scum.

Either her ex-boyfriend Willy Malloy.

Or Bennie.

Sawyer didn’t want either man to have a claim on the newborn and didn’t want the baby to be placed in their care. Of course, he might not have to worry about that if it turned out that April wasn’t the baby’s mother. And if she wasn’t, he really needed to remember the name of the woman he’d met at the bar.

Because if that woman was the mother, then it meant the baby could possibly be his after all since they’d had a one-night stand.

Yeah, this was a tangled mess, all right.

Cassidy paced by the office door again, and Sawyer saw her check the clock on the wall next to the sheriff’s desk. It was going on 6:00 p.m.

“The kidnappers should have called by now,” she grumbled. “Maybe I should check and make sure the calls to my house are routed here.”

“If a call comes in there, you’ll get it here,” he assured her.

He’d made the arrangements for that himself. Ditto for getting her a replacement cell phone with the same number, and he’d had it delivered to the office so the kidnappers could contact her. She had a death grip on the phone now, and other than some emails having to do with her family business, there had been no communication from anyone.

Especially not from Bennie.

She huffed, pushed her hair from her face. “Maybe I should just go home and wait for the call.”

He gave her a flat look to let her know that wasn’t going to happen. Not without him anyway. “Should I remind you one more time that you were kidnapped, too? Those thugs might try to take you again, and the safest place you can be is here with me.”

Sawyer hoped that was true anyway.

He didn’t have time to add to his argument because his phone rang, and he saw Mason’s name on the screen.

“There’s been a snafu with Social Services,” Mason said, “and they want to know if we can keep the baby overnight. It’s either that, or she can be admitted to the hospital.”

Even though Cassidy probably couldn’t have heard what he said, she was studying Sawyer’s face and obviously saw the concern in his expression.

“No hospital,” Sawyer insisted. “Go ahead and take the baby to the ranch. Cassidy and I will be there soon to pick her up and take her to my place.”

He ended the call, knowing that she’d want an explanation about several things. “It’s either the hospital or my house for the baby,” he said. “I figured she’s already been through enough. And besides, there are plenty of us at the ranch to help take care of her.”

“Including me?” Cassidy asked with a boatload of skepticism.

And here was the part she was
not
going to like. Heck, Sawyer didn’t like it much, either. “You need to be in protective custody. So does the baby. Because the kidnappers could come after either of you again.”

Cassidy’s mouth trembled a little. Not enough to stop her from arguing though. “But your family’s ranch? I won’t be welcome there.”

“You won’t be turned away. Besides, there’s a lot of baby stuff already out there.”

In addition, there were plenty of ranch hands who could provide extra security. To get that kind of security at the hospital, he’d have to tie up several of Grayson’s deputies. They were already busy enough with a murder investigation, the kidnappings and the search for Bennie.

“We’d be in the same house with all your cousins?” Cassidy asked, nibbling on her lip.

“No. There are a lot of houses on the grounds. Including mine. It’s on the back part of the property. It used to be my parents’ house before their divorce.”

Definitely a no-frills kind of place, but it suited Sawyer, and it would have to suit Cassidy, too, since he wasn’t giving her another option.

She still didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t have time to continue the argument. The bell on the front door jangled, and Sawyer pulled Cassidy into the office just in case there was a problem.

And there might be.

The man who stepped into the sheriff’s office had trouble written all over him. From his greasy black hair, prison tattoos on his neck and dingy gray muscle shirt.

“I’m Willy Malloy,” he told the woman at the reception desk, who was Deputy Bree Ryland—his cousin’s wife. And as she stood, she slid her hand over the butt of her gun.

If Willy was intimidated by that, he didn’t show it. The man’s gaze landed on Sawyer. “Are you Agent Ryland?”

Sawyer nodded and gave him back the badass stare that the man was giving him. “Wait here,” he told Cassidy, and Sawyer walked a few steps closer to the man.

“You gonna pay me back for gas?” Willy asked, propping his hands on his bony hips. “Because it was a long drive all the way out here, and I’m not made of money.”

“Didn’t figure you’d mind the drive since this visit is about April, your ex.”

Judging from the surprised look in his eyes, that got Willy’s attention. “She’s not my ex. She’s still my girlfriend, and I’ve been looking for her for months now. You know where she is?”

Oh, man.

Willy hadn’t heard about the murder, or else he was pretending not to have heard. In case it wasn’t an act, Sawyer decided to do this fast and hard.

“April’s dead. Did you kill her?” Sawyer asked, and he studied Willy’s body language and expression.

Sawyer expected the man to curse or howl his innocence, but he just stood there, his mouth open, staring at Sawyer. “Is this some kind of bad joke?”

“No. Someone murdered her earlier today. Was it you?”

Willy put his hands on each side of his head, and blowing out some loud breaths, he practically fell back against the wall. “Murdered,” he repeated. “Who the hell did that to her?”

“I asked you first,” Sawyer fired back.

“Well, it sure as heck wasn’t me. I love her. I wouldn’t have killed her.”

Sawyer looked down at the notes he’d been reading. “According to your rap sheet, you were arrested for assaulting her not once but twice. Doesn’t sound like love to me.”

“I slapped her around, yeah. And she deserved it. That woman’s got a smart mouth on her.” Willy stopped, shook his head. “
Had
a smart mouth,” he corrected, groaning. “She sure as heck didn’t deserve to die. How’d it happen? How was she killed?”

“We’re still trying to determine that.” It was a lie. She’d been shot point-blank in the head, but Sawyer kept that detail to himself. Best not to give a suspect too much information because Willy could use it to concoct an alibi.

Despite his warning, Cassidy stepped into the hall. “My brother’s Bennie O’Neal. Do you have any idea where he is?”

Willy’s eyes instantly narrowed. “Bennie O’Neal,” he repeated like profanity. “He’s the no-good louse that April was cheating on me with. I warned both of them that it wouldn’t be a pretty sight if they kept it up.”

“So you threatened them,” Sawyer concluded. He was detecting a pattern here, and he got in front of Cassidy to stop her from moving closer to the man.

No more narrowed eyes. Willy no doubt realized that wasn’t the right thing to say to a lawman, especially since he was now a murder suspect. “I got a right to protect what’s mine, and April was mine.”

Sawyer doubted that, and he asked a necessary question he didn’t really want to ask this thug. “What about the baby?”

Willy’s mouth tightened. “What about it?”

“You did know that April was pregnant?” Sawyer prompted when Willy didn’t add more.

“I knew.” And that’s all he said for several moments. “April said the kid was mine. Wouldn’t believe her without one of those paternity tests. April’s not real good on telling the truth. So, she said she’d do the test they do on unborn babies. But if she had it done, she never showed me the results. Probably because the kid wasn’t mine.”

Or maybe because April hadn’t wanted Willy in her and the baby’s life.

Sawyer tipped his head to Bree and then the supply cabinet. “We’ll need to verify what April didn’t tell him.” And he didn’t especially want to leave Cassidy alone with this piece of work while that happened.

“I’ll get a DNA swab kit,” Bree volunteered, moving out of the reception area and down the hall.

“Now, wait a minute,” Willy challenged. Bree didn’t stop. She continued toward the supply cabinet. “If April’s dead, so is the kid, right?”

“No.” Except Sawyer didn’t know if that was true or not. He was assuming the baby that the kidnappers gave Cassidy was April’s child. But maybe she wasn’t.

“Are you saying she had the kid already?” Willy pressed.

Sawyer settled for a nod.

Willy cursed and his hands went back on his hips. “Then, the kid’s not mine. Can’t be. April and me have what you call an on-again, off-again kind of relationship. Nine months ago, we were definitely off.”

“Then, how the devil do you still consider her your girlfriend?”

“Easy. We got back together about six months ago. Things stayed hot and heavy for about a month, and then she lit out again after telling me she was pregnant.”

Willy’s gaze shot to Cassidy. “And I figured that’s when she went to your slimeball brother.” More cursing. “If that was his kid, if April got knocked up by another man, then she deserved to die.”

And that just spelled out Willy’s motive for murder.

“You killed her,” Cassidy concluded. “Did you do something to my brother, too?” That time, Sawyer wasn’t able to hold her back, so he followed her to the front of the building.

“I didn’t kill nobody,” Willy snapped. “But if I was planning to do something stupid like that, your brother would have been on my list.”

Willy just kept digging that hole deeper and deeper.

Sawyer and Bree exchanged a glance as she walked past him with the DNA kit. “Want me to move him to an interview room and take his statement?” Bree asked, and Sawyer nodded.

“Statement?” Willy howled. “I don’t have time for that kind of nonsense.”

“You’ll make time. If not, I’ll just arrest you now and charge you with murder,” Sawyer warned him.

That obviously didn’t please Willy. It didn’t please Sawyer, either. Even though he wanted this idiot off the street, it wasn’t a good time to make an arrest.

Not with so many details to work out.

Heck, Willy might even have an airtight alibi. A real honest-to-goodness one. But if Willy was the kidnapper and had helped orchestrate all of this, then maybe he was stupid enough to have left evidence behind.

Bree handed Willy the swab from the kit. “You can do it yourself, or Agent Ryland here and I can do it for you.”

Willy shot all three of them glares, but he rubbed the swab on the inside of his mouth past his chipped, yellow teeth, and he dropped it back into the plastic bag.

“Let’s go to an interview room,” Bree insisted, sealing the bag and motioning for Willy to follow her. He did, after mumbling more profanity, but then he stopped when the woman approaching the door caught everyone’s attention.

The tall, thin brunette stepped into the sheriff’s office. She closed her umbrella, set it by the door and looked around at all of them. She was dressed to the nines, all right. A pale gray suit and mile-high heels. Expensive, no doubt. Ditto for the chunky diamond wedding ring.

Her expression was pleasant enough until it landed on Willy. “I see you’ve already brought him in,” she said. “I’m Dr. Diane Blackwell. I was April’s therapist. I understand you’d like to talk to me?”

“I would,” Sawyer confirmed. He studied her a moment. “You look pretty young for a shrink.” He doubted she was even thirty yet.

The corner of her mouth lifted a fraction. “Thank you, I think. I’ll accept that as a compliment and not a concern that I might be too young to be an effective therapist. Trust me, I’m very good at my job.”

Sawyer considered that for a moment and decided to do a background check on her just to see how good she was. “I’m Agent Sawyer Ryland,” he said, making the introductions. “And this is Deputy Bree Ryland and Cassidy O’Neal.”

The doctor’s gaze lingered a moment on Cassidy, maybe wondering what she had to do with all of this, but she didn’t ask any questions.

“The doc’s nothing more than a quack shrink,” Willy snarled. “The judge made April see her once a week, and April was scared to death of her.”

Until Willy had added that last part, Sawyer had been ready to stop this little confrontation, but maybe he could learn something that would help the investigation.

Especially since Diane didn’t jump to argue with Willy.

“Last time April and me talked,” Willy went on, “she said she thought this quack was messing with her mind.”

Diane dismissed that with a cool glance at Willy. “April was a troubled woman, and she was terrified of you.”

“So says you, and now that April’s dead, I got no way of proving different.”