Page 10 of Deputies Under Fire (Renegade Canyon #2)

Rory didn’t add more. He just waited for Frank to let that sink in. Of course, it didn’t sink in well.

“In danger from Ike,” Frank muttered. Not in a tone of someone lashing out in anger but rather as if this was the exact news he expected to hear.

“We’re not sure of that yet,” Rory said, settling for caution.

Frank sighed. “It’s Ike. You know it is.”

Rory wished he did know for certain. But for now, he had to look at all potential suspects.

And that included Frank.

Like Helen and Diedre, there was no love lost between Ike and him, and that was the reason Rory had to ask Frank a few questions.

“Have you visited Ike at his home in the past couple of months?” he asked, figuring he already knew the answer.

“No.” Yep, that was the answer Rory had expected all right, and there was still no anger in the man’s voice or expression. “I haven’t been to your family’s ranch in years. Why? Ike didn’t say I had, did he?”

Rory shook his head. “It’s just a routine question.” So was the next one, but Frank wasn’t going to care much for it. “Where were you late yesterday afternoon and last night?”

Frank sighed again. “You want to know if I have an alibi for that woman’s murder,” he stated.

“I don’t. I was home alone, and before you ask, no one can verify that.

” He paused. “Don’t you think if I was killing women as a vendetta against Ike, that I would have gone after his friends instead?

I sure as hell wouldn’t eliminate people who feel like I do about Ike. ”

Maybe. But murdering his friends wouldn’t accomplish one important thing—setting Ike up.

“Have there been any recent altercations or arguments between the two of you?” Rory asked.

Frank laughed but not from humor. It was all sarcasm.

“Ike is always getting in my face about something. As you well know, Ike and I are both on the town council, and we disagree on pretty much everything on the agenda. Last month, it was the rezoning of that land just to the east of your family’s ranch.

I didn’t want it classified as farmland, and Ike did. ”

Rory knew about that. It was land Ike was trying to buy since he’d decided to get back in the ranching business. But Ike didn’t want just that one section of land, he wanted Frank’s place, too.

And the foster ranch that Mellie had run.

Because if Ike had all of that, the acreage would essentially coil around the McClennan family ranch, and Ike would control some of the water supply that Dutton needed for the livestock.

Rory wasn’t certain Ike would actually cut off that supply, but knowing Ike, it was a card he might play if the rotten mood suited him.

“Any other disputes?” Rory persisted.

Frank shrugged. “A couple of months ago, Ike undercut me on a horse I was trying to buy.” Then, he paused. “And there was an, uh, incident at my wife’s grave.”

Rory knew about that as well. Frank’s wife, Miranda, had died in a car accident about two decades ago when she was in her thirties. From all accounts, Frank had been deeply in love with her, but Miranda had cheated on him.

With Ike.

And about six months ago, a fistfight had broken out between Frank and Ike at the cemetery where Miranda was buried.

Neither man had fessed up to what the altercation had been about, and no charges had been filed.

The only reason Rory was even aware of it was because someone had seen the fight and reported it.

“Look, Ike and I have been at odds for years,” Frank added a moment later. “I don’t have the time or breath to detail every run-in I’ve had with him. And if I’d wanted to start killing because of him, that killing would have started twenty years ago.”

When his wife had died.

Yeah, Rory could see that. But sometimes people just snapped. Sometimes, all the little things build up into something huge.

That could have happened with Frank.

“One more thing,” Rory went on, aware that the time was ticking down for Ike’s interview to start. “When was the last time you were at the barn on the old Sanderson Ranch?”

Frank didn’t react with anger, but rather resignation and maybe some frustration at being dragged into this. It was possible the frustration was warranted, but Rory still had to treat him like a person of interest.

“Aka, the Devil’s Hideout,” he said, using the nickname it’d been given. “Again, the answer is years ago. You’re asking because I worked there a couple of summers when I was a teenager.”

Rory did indeed recall that fact from the background check that had been run on Frank after Mellie’s murder.

“Mellie worked there, too, mucking stalls and grooming the palominos,” Frank added. “Hell, so did a lot of teenagers. And your aunt Helen used to come out there and ride the horses sometimes.”

Now, Rory didn’t remember that coming up in previous interviews. He shook his head. “Why would Helen have gone there to ride when she lived on a ranch with dozens of horses?”

Frank shifted uncomfortably, and he dodged Rory’s gaze for a couple of seconds. “You’d have to ask Helen about that.”

“I will. But I’m also asking you,” Rory retorted.

“All right.” Frank dragged in a long breath. “I believe Helen was there to see me.”

“See you?” Eden repeated. “As in romantically?”

Rory heard the surprise in Eden’s voice, and he thought he knew why.

Helen had always had that to-the-manor-born vibe about her, and Frank had come from a blue-collar family.

Yes, he’d earned enough to buy his own ranch and it was successful, but in those days, Frank wouldn’t have been in Helen’s economic circle.

“And did Helen and you see each other?” Eden asked.

“No, we did not because I was with someone else at the time,” he insisted, and Frank looked Rory straight in the eyes. “I didn’t kill those women,” he repeated. “Ike did, and I hope you can do the right thing and arrest him. If not, there’ll likely be another murder soon.”

The man’s gaze slid to Eden, and he didn’t come out and say that he considered her a potential victim. While Frank’s gaze wasn’t accompanied with any intense emotion, it still felt like an unspoken threat.

“I’ll watch my back,” Frank added a moment later. “I hope everyone on Ike’s bad side will do the same. Are we done here?” he asked.

“For now,” Rory replied. “If I have any other questions, I’ll be in touch.”

Frank tipped his head in farewell, slipped on the white Stetson he’d been holding in front of him like a shield and walked out. Rory’s and Eden’s phones dinged with texts as they watched the man go, and Rory saw Grace’s group message to both Eden and him on the screen.

Tyler and Leslie arrived at the ranch , Grace had texted. All is well. We’ll keep them safe.

That helped ease some of the tension in his muscles, and he could see it had the same reaction for Eden. Tyler was their top priority, and with him safe, they could focus on their jobs.

Livvy got to her feet and began gathering her files. “Ready to start with Ike?”

Rory nodded, and he hoped the interview went a lot better than he was anticipating. It was possible as soon as those bugs were brought up that the lawyers would try to put a halt to the process by claiming it was something they needed to learn more about.

He and Eden followed Livvy down the hall, but then they peeled off, going into the observation area while Livvy continued into the interview room. Rory immediately spotted Ike seated at the metal table, and he had two lawyers on each side of him.

Yeah, lawyered up to his eyeballs was right.

Livvy turned on the recording, adding the pertinent details of the date, time and the names of those present. She was in the process of repeating Ike’s Miranda rights when Rory’s phone rang.

“It’s Detective Vernon from SAPD,” he said to Eden.

No need for him to clarify who that was. He was the cop assigned to supervise the search of Brenda’s house and office in San Antonio.

“Deputy McClennan,” Rory said when he answered, “and you’re on speaker with Deputy Eden Gallagher.”

“Good. Because you’ll both want to hear what turned up in Brenda’s bedroom.”

Rory silently groaned at the detective’s tone, and he steeled himself for what he was certain was going to be bad news.

“The CSIs found a burner phone in a plastic bag,” Vernon explained. “It was tucked away at the back of the top shelf. So, hidden from sight.”

Rory’s mind began to whirl with possibilities. And they weren’t good possibilities, either. Some people did keep burners around for emergencies, but they didn’t usually bother to hide them.

“The burner wasn’t locked,” the detective continued, “and there were some texts on it.” He paused. “They match the replies on the messages on Brenda’s other phone.”

Hell in a handbasket.

“You understand what I’m saying, right?” Vernon asked.

“Oh, yeah.” Rory understood all right. If the burner belonged to Brenda, then she had likely sent those texts to herself, and there was only one reason she would have done that.

To set Ike up.

“Are there any other messages on the burner, or was it used to make calls?” Rory queried.

“No. That was it, just those replies.”

So the odds were Brenda had indeed planned on using those texts to try to frame Ike. Had the woman also murdered Mellie?

Maybe.

It was definitely something that needed to be investigated. In fact, it changed everything about how they needed to approach this case. And it left Rory with a huge question.

If Brenda had murdered Mellie, then who the hell had killed Brenda?