Page 3 of Deputies Under Fire (Renegade Canyon #2)

Not literally. Eden wouldn’t get violent with him, but she would dig, and dig hard, to prove Ike was responsible for the attack on Brenda.

Because if he had indeed done it, that might also lead to his arrest for Mellie’s murder.

Not being able to solve that had no doubt been a constant, painful thorn in her side.

In his, too.

There’d been no physical evidence to tie Ike or anyone else to her death.

Ike had been home alone at the time so he had no alibi, but there was also no proof that he’d gone out that night.

The CSIs hadn’t been able to find squat to get justice for a good woman who’d devoted her life to helping kids.

So, yeah, a thorn in his side as well.

“I’m not seeing any photos or posts about Ike on Brenda’s Facebook page,” Eden muttered. “She probably deleted them, but once I’m back at the station, I’ll see if I can recover anything useful.”

Ike wasn’t on social media, so Eden wouldn’t have that available to her, and while the ranch was sometimes in the news for its prize horses, Ike wasn’t usually included in those articles.

His father had basically washed his hands of the ranch and his sons.

But for reasons Rory would never understand, he continued to live there.

So did Ike’s much younger brother and his wife, Asher and Kitty, and their twelve-year-old adopted daughter, Jamie.

Jamie was one of the few people who Ike actually seemed to like and vice versa.

Rory hoped like hell that she wasn’t in danger.

He made a mental note to talk to Asher, Kitty and Jamie about maybe staying elsewhere until the dust had settled on this investigation.

Rory didn’t think they were in actual danger, but Ike was a bear to be around during the best of times.

No way were the best of times happening with him currently as their number-one murder suspect.

Rory drove past the Welcome to Renegade Canyon sign and continued to follow the ambulance onto Main Street and then into the parking lot of the hospital.

The EMTs had obviously already alerted the medical staff, because the moment the ambulance pulled to a stop, two nurses and a doctor came rushing out.

Since there were very few degrees of separation in a small town, Rory recognized all of them and knew they weren’t a threat to Brenda’s safety.

They were fast and efficient in working with the EMTs to get Brenda out of the ambulance, and she was then rushed not toward a treatment room, but straight toward the critical-care area.

Rory took out his phone to text Dispatch to get a reserve deputy here, and he went to the hall to wait for the EMTs to return so he could question them.

If Brenda had regained consciousness in the ambulance, he wanted to know everything she’d said.

However, he saw someone who had him stopping cold.

The tall brunette was making a beeline toward him.

His aunt, Helen Weatherford.

She was his late mother’s younger sister, and while she’d been raised in Renegade Canyon, she hadn’t lived here since she left years ago for college. She now made her home in San Antonio.

Helen was wearing black jogging pants, a workout top and running shoes. As usual, she had her long hair pulled up into a ponytail. She looked like an AARP ad for a super fit fiftysomething-year-old woman.

“What are you doing here?” Rory asked, trying not to sound as if it was an accusation. Though that’s exactly what it was.

Helen got closer and gave a rather frosty nonverbal greeting to him.

Frosty because his aunt believed Ike, Dutton and he hadn’t done enough to save her sister.

And Rory had to admit he did feel some serious guilt about that.

He simply hadn’t realized just how serious his mother’s illness was until it’d been too late.

“I was visiting an old friend. Sheila Mendoza,” Helen said, her tone as icy as her expression. “She’s recovering from an appendectomy.”

Rory was sure he frowned. And that he looked confused. He didn’t recall Helen being especially close friends with Sheila, and it was late. Well, late for hospital visits, anyway.

“Why are you here?” Helen asked, volleying glances at Eden and him. Her attention settled on the blood that was on Eden’s shirt. “There’s nothing wrong with your baby, is there?”

“No, Tyler’s fine,” Eden replied. “We’re here on police business.”

Helen made a sound that could have meant anything. “How’s Dutton and his new baby?” she asked, but there didn’t appear to be any real interest in her question. Dutton was clearly still on her bad side, too.

“They’re good,” Rory assured her.

Helen stared at him. “And Ike?” Her tone slid right from cool politeness to venomous.

With reason. Helen was no fan of Ike, and Ike felt the same way about her.

She had plenty of disapproval for Dutton and him for her sister’s death, but she downright hated Ike.

In fact, it’d been Helen who’d talked her sister into signing over the ranch to Dutton.

It had essentially cut Ike out of being a part of the ranch that he had run for several decades.

“I’m guessing Ike has a reason for being here,” Helen commented. She glanced in the direction of the ER doors.

Rory heard the footsteps before he even turned to see Ike storming toward them, and judging from his expression, he was spoiling for a fight. Good. So was Rory, and he wasn’t in the mood to take any flak off his father.

“Make one wrong move, and I’ll arrest you,” Rory snarled. He aimed his index fingers as a warning to Ike.

“One wrong move?” Ike howled, and he didn’t stop until he was right in front of them. “I’d say you already did that by demanding I come in to be grilled.” He spared Eden and Helen a narrow-eyed glance. “Did one of them convince you that I’ve done something to get me locked in a cage?”

“No, the evidence did that all on its own,” Rory replied, firing right back at him. “Your ex-girlfriend, a woman you threatened right in front of me, was brutally assaulted. During the grilling, I’ll expect you to give me a full, truthful account of what went on between Brenda and you.”

Ike kept his glare on Rory a moment longer before he shifted to Helen. She seemed to be enjoying this moment a little too much.

“Did you try to kill your ex…again?” Helen asked. There was a taunt in her voice. “I mean, technically my sister wasn’t your ex, and you didn’t actually murder her, but you sure as hell contributed to her death.”

Rory sighed. This certainly wasn’t the first time he’d heard his aunt voice that particular theory.

And she might even be right. When Rory’s mom, Doreen, had been diagnosed with cancer and been told she had six months to live, Ike hadn’t gotten her to receive traditional treatment, but instead had encouraged her to go to an experimental clinic in Mexico. She’d died within three weeks.

“Well?” Helen persisted. “Did you try to kill this woman, too?”

Ike took one menacing step toward his former sister-in-law. “At the moment, you’re the only woman I’d like to see dead, Helen,” he snarled, though he shot a glance at Eden to indicate she might be on this hit list, too.

“Enough of this,” Rory snapped, and he moved between Ike and Helen. “Time for you to go home,” he said to his aunt before shifting to his father. “And you need to go to the police station. I’ll be there after I question Brenda.”

Both Helen and Ike went silent, and Rory tried to figure out what the heck their expressions meant. Were those nerves he saw?

“Question her…” Helen murmured. “Good,” she added a heartbeat later. “Maybe she’ll remember everything Ike did to her.”

Apparently, Helen decided that was a good thing to say before exiting, because then she turned and walked away.

Ike didn’t. “What did Brenda say when you found her?” he asked.

Not spoken like a demand but rather…what? A plea? Maybe. But Rory could take that two ways. Either Ike genuinely cared about what had happened to Brenda, or else he was worried she’d rat him out. Rory didn’t get the chance to find out because he saw the doctor, Amy Calvert, heading their way.

“Stay here,” Rory warned Ike, and Eden and he went to the doctor so that Ike wouldn’t be privy to whatever they said.

One look at Dr. Calvert’s face, though, and Rory knew. Hell. He knew. That’s why her words weren’t a surprise. Still, they gave him a gut punch.

“I’m sorry,” Dr. Calvert said, keeping her voice at a whisper. “But Brenda Watford is dead.”