Page 16 of Deputies Under Fire
Eden met Rory’s gaze, and she could see that all of this was as much of a surprise to him as it was to her.
“Request a warrant to have all three of those locations checked for listening devices,” Rory stated.
“Already done. If the CSIs find them, they’ll be brought in for testing. We might get prints off them. If they exist,” Livvy concluded.
Yes, and that was anifthey had to consider. Because if the unknown texter was the killer, or Ike, then all of this could besome kind of sick game the killer was playing with Brenda. There could be no listening devices.
“The fifth text also came the day Brenda was murdered,” Livvy continued. “And the sender had this to say—‘Overheard exactly what we suspected. Ike’s cleaning house, and he named names in a meeting with a bomb expert he plans on using. Brenda, you’re on the list.’”
“Hell,” Rory snarled. “And what did Brenda say to that?”
“‘Not surprised,’” Livvy said, continuing to read. “‘Ike hates my guts. I’ll be ready for him if he comes after me the way he did poor Mellie.’”
Eden felt as if someone had punched her. She’d always known Ike was a suspect, but it was a different thing to hear it all spelled out like this. Then again, the spelling out might be all lies.
“Several minutes later, Brenda sent the sixth text,” Livvy continued. “And she asks ‘Who else is Ike after?’”
Eden pulled in her breath, held it. Waited.
“‘Me, of course,’ the person texted back. ‘Frank Mott, too.’”
That name was very familiar to Eden since he’d been questioned in Mellie’s murder. There’d been no evidence against him, but like Ike, Frank wasn’t in favor of Mellie running a foster home so close to his own ranch. He had spent years trying to get the place shut down.
But Frank also had an ongoing feud with Ike.
Eden knew that stemmed from rumors that Ike had had an affair with Frank’s late wife, Miranda. There was zero evidence to support that, but Frank, like Helen, had always been vocal about Ike’s cheating, and how that cheating had crushed Rory’s mom, Doreen.
“There’s another part to that sixth text,” Livvy said, sighing. “Here it is verbatim. ‘And because he wants to nip Mellie’smurder investigation in the bud, Ike will be going after his son, Rory, and Deputy Eden Gallagher.’”
Chapter Six
Rory didn’t know who the hell who had sent those texts to Brenda. And he couldn’t even be sure they were true. But he still made the call to Sheriff Grace Granger.
“Tyler,” Eden said, her breathing suddenly way too fast, and he saw the alarm all over his face.
Rory was sure he was showing some alarm, too. Not because Ike might be coming after Eden and him, but because their son might get caught in the crossfire.
Thankfully, Grace answered on the second ring, and while he hated to bother her on maternity leave, this was important.
“What’s wrong?” Grace immediately asked.
“It’s possible Eden and I are Ike’s targets,” Rory said. “Livvy has transcripts of Brenda’s texts that she’ll be sending you so you can see what I mean. This might be overkill, but I need Tyler protected. I’m thinking his nanny can bring him to stay with Dutton and you—”
“Absolutely,” Grace interrupted. “Dutton and several of the ranch hands can go out to Eden’s place and get them now.”
Rory glanced at Eden to see if she was all right with that, and she gave him a quick nod while she was typing a text. No doubt to Leslie to let her know what was going on.
“Don’t worry,” Grace assured him. “Ike won’t get near Tyler, and I’ll have Dutton post some ranch hands around the house to keep guard.”
That eased some of the worry inside him. Then, he cursed the fact that the threat was even a possibility. Eden and he werecops and had signed on for dangerous situations like these, but the danger shouldn’t extend to their baby.
“Eden and you are welcome to stay here, too, for as long as you need,” Grace went on. “How valid is the threat from Ike?”
“We don’t know yet,” he admitted. “We’re about to leave the hospital and observe Ike’s interview. He’s lawyered up to his eyeballs, but if he’s guilty, Livvy might be able to coax it out of him.”
Grace paused. “You really think Ike’s behind these murders? I want your gut feel, not only the circumstantial evidence against him.”
Hell. That wasn’t an easy question, but Rory did as she’d suggested and went with his gut. “I believe someone could be setting Ike up. And, no, I’m not saying that because he’s my father. I’m saying it because if Ike wanted to eliminate his enemies, I doubt he’d choose to go about it this way.”
