Two Cowboys in Her Crosshairs [Hellfire Ranch] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (28 page)

Jake and Hudson wandered in just as the final e-mails downloaded.

“Anything new?” Hudson asked.

“Not from my contact.” She stared at the list of senders and frowned. “But somehow Sadie got my e-mail address.”

“What? How?” Jake demanded. He slid a chair next to her and shoved his face close to the monitor.

She smacked him lightly on the head. “Scoot back, I can’t see.”

Hudson scraped another chair on the other side of her. “What does she say?”

“I don’t know,” she said in exasperation. “I haven’t read her e-mail yet. I’m more interested in how she got my address.”

“Is it classified?” Hudson asked.

“Well, no,” she admitted. “But she doesn’t know my last name.”

“I wouldn’t count on that,” Jake said. “This may be small-town Texas, but we’ve got a wide net of resources. And Sadie is one of the best when it comes to ferreting out information.”

“There’s one from Maljib,” Jake said. “How’d he get it?”

Olivia nodded. “I gave it to him so he could e-mail me a copy of his potato salad recipe.”

“Aha,” Hudson crowed. “He must have given it to Sadie.”

“Uh-huh.” Olivia clicked open Maljib’s message and read it. He was sending her the promised potato-salad recipe. She squinted at it and laughed.

“What?” Jake asked.

“You were right, Hudson. This isn’t even close to the real recipe.”

“How do you know?”

She pointed at the screen. “This one calls for mustard. There is not one drop in the salad he serves.”

Jake and Hudson chuckled. She sent a brief
thank you
reply then opened Sadie’s e-mail.

This was a bit more interesting. Olivia grabbed for the legal pad on the table.

“Sadie says that a stranger was in town yesterday.”

“That’s not unusual,” Hudson said. “Lots of people come here for the Hitching Post.”

Olivia nodded. “I remember you talking about that. She mentions him because the grapevine followed him just like they did me.” She looked at Jake. “
Exactly
like me. He went to every place we did.”

Jake angled the computer toward him then let out a whistle. “She says she can identify him.”

“Against what?” Olivia asked. “We don’t have any suspects.”

“Yes, you do,” Hudson said. He loped from the dining room and returned moments later with a stack of tall, thin books. He fanned them out on the table. “The squad yearbooks.”

“Brilliant!” Olivia crowed. “We can get these to Tag, and he can show them to her.”

“Good idea,” Jake said. “I’ll give him a call.”

Hudson stretched, and his joints popped with the motion. “I need a shower,” he said.

“Yeah, me, too,” Jake said.

“Me, three,” Olivia chimed in.

Hudson waggled his brows. “I’d say let’s go, but we don’t have a shower big enough for all three of us.” He leaned down and cupped her shoulders. “But you’re more than welcome to join me.”

“Not fair,” Jake muttered, but he was grinning.

Olivia’s cell phone rang. She picked it up and checked the number then hit the answer button. “Hi, Tag. We were just about to call you.”

Jake and Hudson planted their butts along the table edge and listened with identical expectant expressions. She rolled her eyes and waved her hand toward the hallway.

“Go shower,” she mouthed.

They both shook their heads no.

“What? Oh, because I have an e-mail from Sadie. Not sure how she got my work e-mail.”

“I gave it to her,” Tag said.

Olivia pulled the phone back and frowned at it. “Why would you do that?”

“She asked for it. Said something about a new book. I don’t know, does it matter?”

“I’d rather you didn’t give it out to anyone else.”

“Sure, whatever, sorry,” he snapped.

She could tell his temper was climbing. He’d always been touchy, and the least little criticism tended to rub him into a fit of pique that usually ended with a broken wall. Back in the day, Tag liked to hit walls when he was mad. She wondered how many patches were in the sheriff’s office. “Why did you call?”

“I need you to come to the station. We’ve got a lead, but I want you to verify it.”

She looked at her two housemates. “What time?”

“Now would be good, but as long as it’s sometime today, that’s fine. I’d prefer it to be a little more low-key than your last outing in town, though.”

“Hey,” she protested. “I had nothing to do with that.”

“Sure. Why were you calling me?”

Jake shifted, and his foot tapped the floor. She shook her head.

“Sadie sent me an e-mail about a stranger in town.”

“Oh, hell, not that again.”

“She already told you?”

“Yeah, it’s bunk. We get a lot of strangers passing through. The whole town is calling me.”

“Did she tell you he followed my every step and that he questioned some of the shopkeepers about me?”

There was a long silence followed by a clearly exasperated sigh. “She must have forgotten that part.”

He sounded like he was grinding his teeth to fine nubs. “She said she has a good description of him.”

“She’s blind as a bat.”

“Tag, quit being so damn negative. We have an idea. Jake has some tour yearbooks here. We’d like you to show them to her.”

His hiss was clear through the phone line. “You think she can identify him through the pictures.”

“Yep. Kind of a like a police lineup. They’re not the best quality pictures, but we should be able to get some kind of yes or no.”

“Good idea.”

“Thanks,” she said drily.

“When do you think you’ll be here?”

Olivia again looked at Jake and Hudson. If they went with her, there was no way the trip would be incognito. Plus, they’d made a huge deal about holing up on the ranch until this was over.

She didn’t like sitting and waiting any more than they did. But no way would they agree to let her go by herself.

“You’ll be by in about forty-five minutes? Sounds good.”

“What do you mean I’ll be by? You’re coming here,” Tag said. He sounded thoroughly confused.

“Yep, that’s correct. I’ll see you in forty-five minutes. Bye, Tag.” She disconnected and leaned back in her chair.

“What did he want?” Jake asked.

She gave them a slightly twisted recap of the conversation in which Tag merely mentioned they had a new lead. She didn’t say a word about going into town. What she was planning was deceptive but necessary.

“Okay guys, go take your showers.”

“You should go first, you’re our guest,” Hudson said.

Olivia bit back a groan of frustration. Cursed Texas manners. “No, I’m going to do some PT before I get in. Don’t want to have to shower twice, you know?”

Jake nodded. “Yep.” He kissed her hard then headed for the hallway.

Hudson kissed her, too, then made for the back of the house where the second full bath resided.

Olivia waited until she heard the doors shut then crept into her room and got dressed. Just as she was lacing her tennis shoes, she heard the water kick on in the hall bath. She inched through the hallway and paused to listen for Hudson’s shower. She grinned when she heard him whistling. Hopefully they both enjoyed long showers. At least long enough for her plan to work.

She swiped the yearbooks from the table and sprinted through the mudroom. She grabbed Jake’s hat and truck keys from the hook then tore out to the garage. She was approaching the gate and Deputy Carson in less than five minutes.

She rolled down the window as the deputy sauntered toward her. “Going somewhere, ma’am?”

Olivia tamped an automatic sarcastic response. “To see the sheriff.”

Carson nodded. “Yep, he said you’d be doing that.”

“Okay, great.” She started to roll the window up, but the deputy slapped her hand over it. “Is there something else, Deputy?”

The frank hazel eyes studied her for a long, hard moment. “You’re not thinking of running, are you?”

Olivia’s chest expanded a little bit. “No, I’m not. I’m in this for the long haul.”

Carson’s eyes drifted up the dirt road leading to the ranch. “Those boys deserve someone good.” She locked eyes with Olivia again. “You hurt them and they’ll never find your body.”

Well, that was to the point.

“I have no intention of hurting them, Deputy.” She wanted to say more.
I love them
trembled on the tip of her tongue, but Olivia squashed the urge and the sentiment. It was much too soon.

Wasn’t it?

Something must have shown in her eyes because a small smile lifted the other woman’s lips. “Good. On your way. I assume I need to stall them if they come down?”

Olivia returned the grin. “Yes, please. They’re going to be a mite upset when they realize I’m gone, but I plan on being back within a couple of hours. Tell them.” She bit her lip and looked in the rearview mirror. A wide expanse of lush green, milling cattle, and wire fence met her gaze. “Tell them it was absolutely necessary.”

The deputy nodded. “Will do. Go on. Git.”

Olivia trundled over the cattle guard, which made her teeth rattle, then turned toward town and gunned it. Somehow, she didn’t think she had to worry about any speeding tickets today.

Less than twenty minutes later she’d pulled into an empty space down the street from the sheriff’s office. She scanned the entire area including rooftops from around the Hex before she dared to open the truck door. She pulled Jake’s hat down low over her brow and hopped out.

Tension kept her shoulders bowed back in a tight arch the entire thirty yards to the sheriff’s office. She wanted to run the last ten but forced herself to remain steady and resolute. If
he
was out there and hadn’t recognized her yet, running would be a damn good tip off.

The door opened as she approached, and Boone crowded the entrance. Sweat beaded at the base of her neck and slid down her spine in a creepy “someone just walked over your grave” kind of way. She looked up at him. “We should move inside.”

His eyes darted behind her in all the areas she’d checked, too. It didn’t make her feel any better or less vulnerable. Right now there was a huge target on her back and she was a freaking sitting duck.

Olivia huffed and shoved at him. Boone stumbled back a little bit and rubbed his stomach.

“Ow, what was that for?”

“Jeez, I don’t know,” she snapped. She marched into the quiet, four-desk office. For some odd reason it reminded her of the office back at JAG. No patches in the walls. That was good. “Some ass munch is gunning for me, and you’ve got me set up like a clay pigeon ready to pull.”

He spread his hands. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think of that. I was checking to make sure it was safe.”

She snorted again and headed for the door marked Sheriff. The frosted glass pane bore the official gold seal of Edwards County and Tag’s name carefully etched in black beneath it. She rapped on the glass.

“Yeah,” he said gruffly.

She walked inside. His desk was cluttered with paperwork, folders, pens, and an assortment of gum wrappers. Olivia lifted the books. “Where do you want them?”

Tag rose and took them from her. “Sit down,” he said.

As she sat, he rounded the desk again and splayed them out on top of his mess. Olivia’s good eye twitched. She could
not
stand clutter in her workspace.

“Just had a call from Jake.”

She winced. “How bad?”

“My ears are still ringing, and I’m pretty sure his mama is buying out the soap aisles in every store within a fifty-mile radius.”

“Oh, my.”

“That doesn’t begin to cover it.”

She looked over her shoulder. “Are they on their way?”

“No. I told him to sit tight and that you’d be back within an hour or so. He wasn’t happy about it.”

“I can’t believe he agreed.”

Tag sighed. “I think he’s more concerned about the damage that could be done if he shows up hollering.”

“Yeah, we don’t want to draw any unnecessary attention.” She thought about yesterday and their large crowd. “Again.”

He grinned at her. “Honey, I’m talking about the damage that man wants to do to your ass.”

Her mouth dropped open, and for the first time in a long while she was completely speechless.

Tag’s booming laugh had her clipping her jaws shut. “I didn’t even know he still had these,” Tag said. He flipped through the books. “I have no idea where mine are.”

“Me, either,” she replied. “Do you think they’ll be of any help?”

“Don’t know. Miss Sadie is a bit blind.”

“I noticed,” Olivia said with a smile. The little bird of a woman had her nose plastered to the computer screen when they’d walked into her shop. “But she’s sharp, too. Her description of the man asking the questions was pretty good.”