Page 26 of Deputies Under Fire (Renegade Canyon #2)

Rory paced across the guestroom while he listened to the latest update on Garrison. The deputy was alive, barely, but, according to Bennie, Garrison had been medevacked to a medical center in San Antonio, where he was in critical condition.

At least he was alive. And Rory was clinging to the hope he’d recover.

What he didn’t have a lot of hope about at the moment was that they’d be able to stop the killer from launching another attack. But he was working on it. Eden, too, but they’d opted to do that at Dutton’s rather than return to the police station. This way, they could be near Tyler.

Right now, they needed that.

After they’d dealt with the mop-up of yet another crime scene, they’d come back to the ranch and set up a makeshift office in one of the guestrooms. Tyler was just across the hall in the nursery with Leslie, and Eden and he had been popping over there all afternoon.

They’d continue to do that even though Tyler was down for the night in his crib.

But for now, they had the monitor on, and it was on the end table of a sitting area where they both could see it.

He finished his call with Bennie, knowing if there was a change in Garrison’s condition, that Bennie or someone else would let them know.

Rory put away his phone and looked at Eden.

She was sitting on the floor, her back against the small sofa, and she was volleying glances between him, her laptop screen and the baby monitor.

“Garrison’s in ICU,” he disclosed. Rory had already shut the guestroom door so their calls and conversations wouldn’t disturb anyone, meaning there was no reason for him to whisper. “And he’s still critical.”

She sighed and closed her eyes a moment. “He’s barely twenty-two years old,” she muttered.

Yeah, by far the youngest currently on the police force. That ate away at Rory. But then, a lot of things were eating away at him right now.

He tipped his head to her phone, which was on the floor next to her. “Any luck getting in touch with Aileen?” They needed to ask her about that shooting incident at the barn. They’d opted out of bringing it up to Frank until they had Aileen’s take on it.

Eden shook her head. “I left her a voice mail. Grace said her mom was in San Antonio visiting friends, and she often turns off her phone while she’s there.”

That eased some of his tension. When Aileen hadn’t answered their initial call, he’d been concerned that something might have happened to her, but if this was her norm, then maybe she was all right. He wouldn’t breathe easier about that, though, until he heard from her.

“A report came in a couple of minutes ago from the bomb squad,” Eden informed him.

Rory went to her, and since she was on the floor, that’s where he sat, too, and he soon saw that the report was three pages, and she was on the last one. Eden had obviously been reading it while he was getting the update on Garrison.

She moved the laptop closer to him and started the recap. “Each of the fires were ignited with small incendiary devices triggered by a remote. Maybe even a cell phone. The devices had been placed in holes in the ground from when there used to be underground mineral springs in that area.”

Rory knew about those holes. Knew, too, that some of them could be quite wide and deep.

On the surface, most of them looked like gopher holes or just shallow depressions in the ground, but sometimes when people stepped in them, they’d end up with a broken foot or leg.

Obviously, the killer had known about the holes, too.

And had made use of them.

“The IEDs were positioned over a mix of plastic bottles filled with gasoline and boxes of bullets,” Eden went on. “Dried leaves and grass had likely been used to cover the holes so they wouldn’t be easily visible.”

Rory considered that. The items themselves wouldn’t be that hard to get, but it would have taken time to plant all of that. And the rigging wouldn’t have necessarily happened this morning. No. The killer could have set all of that up earlier before he or she had brought Carter there.

“It was all a huge risk,” Rory muttered.

“Yes,” she agreed. “But it wouldn’t have taken much strength,” Eden added. “Which means it doesn’t rule out Diedre or Helen.”

No, it did not, and Rory could see how this might have played out.

“All three of the victims could have been lured to the places where they were killed. No lifting or dragging required for the killer. Just get them there and murder them. In Mellie’s and Brenda’s cases, the killer could have even been reasonably sure they wouldn’t be interrupted by someone just passing by. ”

“Not the case with Carter, though,” Eden murmured.

“True, but since it was dark, the killer might have parked off the road and dropped down into the ditch if they saw headlights. That was still a risk, but if someone had stopped, then that person might have been killed, too.”

It twisted at his gut to think of that possibility, but this killer hadn’t had an issue with collateral damage. One CSI was already dead, and a deputy was clinging to life. So, yes, killing any potential witnesses could have happened.

Eden stayed quiet a moment. “Any of our suspects could have done this,” she said on a groan.

Again, she was right. Because none of them, including Ike, had an actual alibi for the time of Carter’s death.

When Eden groaned again, he turned to her, and Rory automatically pulled her into his arms. Just touching her helped with this tangle of nerves and spent adrenaline, and she dropped her head on his shoulder.

Her breath was slow and rhythmic, hitting against his neck. Almost like a kiss. His body thought so, anyway, but his body didn’t get a chance to fuel that fantasy, or actually kiss her, because Eden’s phone buzzed with a call.

“It’s Aileen,” she said, glancing at the screen, answering the call. “You’re on speaker and Rory is here with me,” she told Aileen.

“I figured he would be. I just spoke with Grace, and she filled me on what’s been going on. I hope I’m not calling too late.”

“No,” Eden assured her, though it was past nine, not a common time for a phone call in a town where people often went to bed early and got up early, but then there wasn’t anything common about this situation.

“Did Grace tell you we wanted to ask you about the shooting incident at the barn back when Mellie and Frank were teenagers?”

“She did,” Aileen confirmed. “And even though it wasn’t my case, I remember that Mellie was the one who reported it.

She called it into the station, and she was upset and crying.

Cliff Marquez responded and came back a couple of hours later, and he went over the details.

Mellie and Frank were basically making out in one of the stalls, and someone fired a shot into the barn. ”

“Did they see who?” Rory asked.

“No, but Mellie thought it was Helen,” Aileen said.

Everything inside Rory went still. “That wasn’t in the report.”

“It wasn’t.” Aileen huffed. “Because as you’re aware, Helen’s family had money and influence.

Her father claimed she wasn’t anywhere near the barn, and since there was no evidence to prove otherwise, Cliff had to let her go.

And while I don’t know this for sure, I believe Cliff caved to pressure from Helen’s folks to keep her name out of it. ”

“But you believe Helen might have done it,” Eden concluded.

“Believed it but couldn’t prove it,” Aileen said quickly.

“Mellie said she’d seen Helen about a half hour earlier, and she was glaring at Frank and her as they were making their way to the barn.

I suspect there was some kind of jealousy or love triangle going on, and Helen was a hothead back then. Still is,” she added.

Rory had to agree with that. Both Ike and Helen were cut from the same cloth when it came to temperament. And holding grudges.

“Did Frank believe Helen had fired the shot?” Rory queried.

“If he did, he didn’t voice it to Cliff or anyone else that I know of.

Back then, though, Frank wasn’t what I would call a wave maker.

He was a star wrestler. A jock. Very popular in high school, and he loved the girls.

Not for long, though, since he seemed to leave a trail of broken hearts. Until he met his wife, that is.”

“Was Helen one of his broken-heart relationships?” Eden asked.

“I think so,” Aileen said after a short hesitation.

“Helen moved away when Frank got married, and she rarely came back to town. Then, after Miranda died, Helen started showing up again. I’m not sure she was actually in love with Frank.

More like he was that guy Helen just couldn’t get out of her system. ”

Rory made the mistake of glancing at Eden just as she was glancing at him. And he saw it in her eyes. They hadn’t been able to get each other out of their systems, either, so he knew how Helen felt.

Man, he knew.

The heat was always there. Always. If it’d been just the attraction, he might have been able to put that on the back burner.

But there were these deep feelings he’d had for her since, well, for as long as he’d known her.

Some might say she was his soul mate, but Rory knew that Eden would always be the love of his life.

“Both Helen and Frank have had relationships over the years,” Aileen went on, snapping Rory’s attention back to her, “but they always seemed to find their way back to each other.” She stopped again. “And that has to have you wondering if Helen’s obsession with Frank is playing into the murders.”

It was indeed. “Mellie had been involved with Frank, and she’s dead,” Rory explained. “But I can’t find any indications that Frank and Mellie had resumed their teenage romance.”

“It doesn’t have to have been a real relationship for Helen to believe it was,” Aileen pointed out. “Frank was spending a lot of time going to Mellie to complain about the foster kids. Helen might have seen that as Frank’s attempts to spend time with Mellie and maybe win her back.”