Tentative footsteps moved in his direction. RJ pulled the gun he’d stolen from his jacket pocket, half wishing he’d brought the ax with him. He didn’t dare fire the weapon for fear of who it might attract. He’d have to use it as a blunt force instrument. He’d had some experience with that.
As he listened to the footsteps growing closer and closer, he heard something outside the building that made his heart beat faster and his stomach drop. Through the broken window came the whine of a car engine in the distance.
It was headed toward the house, which meant there was another road into the ranch.
MCCALL HAD TURNED OFF her lights and siren as soon as she’d gotten out of town; she hadn’t needed them because of the lack of traffic. Now she stopped in a low spot and killed her headlights and engine. She reached for her shotgun. She was already wearing the Kevlar vest under her jacket and had her Glock in her holster. Both the shotgun and the pistol were loaded and ready to go.
Easing open the door, she slid out and started down the road. Over the first rise, she saw the lodge sprawled against the mountainside. She could hear the wind in the cottonwoods as she neared the creek. The antique weather vane on the barn turned slowly.
She pulled up short as her eyes picked up movement in front of the house. Someone was walking toward the far wing. She heard the tap of a cane on the gravel. Her grandmother? Where was she going?
McCall began to run, hoping to hell her grandmother wasn’t armed and would mistake her for a trespasser. But she wasn’t about to call out and warn RJ that she was coming. She’d have to take her chances with her grandmother.
VIRGINIA PEERED OUT the window, seeing nothing. Where had her mother gone? The old fool. Well, she wasn’t going out there after Josey, who’d probably just had a spat with her husband. Newlyweds!
She looked around, wondering where Enid and Alfred were. They lived in the wing opposite the kitchen and laundry rooms. Virginia realized she hadn’t heard a peep out of either of them.
And it certainly wasn’t like Enid to miss anything. Why hadn’t she come out when Josey had come tearing through the house and both Virginia and her mother had raised their voices to call after her?
Virginia thought the whole thing ridiculous, but she stepped to the phone and began to dial 911 before she realized the line was dead.
She slowly put down the receiver. Her cell was useless out here; in fact, her grandmother didn’t even own one and with good reason. Cell phone coverage was sketchy in this part of the county.
The huge old place seemed too quiet. She shivered and hugged herself, wishing her mother would come back and assure her there was a good reason the phone line was down.
Should she stay in here and wait, or should she go out and see what was going on herself? Maybe her mother needed her.
The thought actually made Virginia laugh out loud.
The wind buffeted the old glass at the window, making her jump. She’d been so busy listening to the house that she’d failed to realize how hard the wind was blowing. It thrashed the cottonwoods outside, sending leaves swirling across the yard.
She tried to convince herself that the wind had knocked down the phone line, just as it used to when she lived here. But she knew something was terribly wrong. She could feel it.
She eased open the front door and peered around the corner, hoping to see her mother. A gust of wind nearly wrested the door from her hands. She stared into the darkness. Was that Pepper headed for the old wing of the house?
She let out a small cry as ice-cold fingers bit into her upper arm. The door slipped from her fingers and swung open, banging against the wall as she swung around.
“What are you doing?” Enid demanded.
The elderly housekeeper looked odd. Or maybe it was the way the wind blew her hair back from her face in this dim light.
“You scared me half to death,” Virginia snapped. “You have to quit sneaking up on people like that. You’re going to give my mother a heart attack.”
“It would take more than that to kill your mother.” Enid glanced down the hallway in the direction of Pepper’s room. “Where is your mother?”
“She’s gone outside after Josey.”
Enid pushed past her, fighting the wind to see.
Virginia heard her mother scream like a wounded animal, the sound getting caught up in the howl of the wind, as Enid began to run awkwardly in the direction Pepper had gone.
Virginia slammed the door, then hurried down to her room and locked herself inside.
RJ KNEW HE couldn’t be seen where he was standing in dense shadow, and yet he’d almost blown it—he’d been so surprised to see Josey walk past the room where he was hiding in plain sight.
He wanted to laugh. Could his luck get any better than this? He felt he was on a roll. Nothing could go wrong.
The hardest part was waiting until he heard her footsteps stop. Still, he waited as he heard a door creak open. He started to take a step when he heard Josey speak—and a man answer.
Perfect. RJ took a cautious step out, then another. The door to the room down the hall was open now, a dim light spilling out. He could hear their voices, but couldn’t make out what they were saying. Something in the tone, though, told him this was the driver of the Cadillac parked out front, the cowboy who’d saved Josey. Or thought he had, RJ thought with a smile.
He eased down the hallway, stopping as soon as he could hear what they were saying.
PEPPER TEETERED on her cane as McCall reached her.
“What is going on?” Pepper
