Page 32 of Deputies Under Fire (Renegade Canyon #2)

Eden jolted when she saw Helen with that gun pointed at them, and she was already dropping to the ground, catching hold of Rory to pull him down with her. She wanted both of them out of the line of fire.

Mercy, her heart had jumped to her throat, and it wasn’t budging. It was stuck there like a rock. Of course, she’d known the killer could be Helen, but it still had been a shock to see her and that weapon.

Rory immediately rolled to the side and came up, taking aim at his aunt. “Put down your gun,” he shouted.

But Helen didn’t respond. Didn’t move.

The woman stayed seemingly frozen there against the tree. No. Not frozen, Eden realized. But Helen was unable to move.

“I think she’s been taped to the tree,” Eden muttered.

The clear, wide kind of tape used for securing packages.

It was hard to tell from this distance, but Eden thought she could see the light on the shiny surface.

If that was it, then her neck had perhaps been taped as well, since her head was upright.

The gun could be taped in place, too, since it was aimed outward, but Helen wasn’t adjusting it so that it would be aimed at them.

“The killer could have put her here,” Rory added.

Yes, that could have happened, but like Ike, this could be a ruse. A deadly one.

“Helen?” Rory shouted.

There was still no response, and the woman still wasn’t trying to shift that gun around and shoot them. Was she waiting for them to get closer so she could get a better shot? Heck, was she even alive? Unlike Ike, there was no blood, but there were no obvious signs of life, either.

“I’m moving closer,” Rory said.

Since he didn’t order her to stay put, Eden didn’t. When he started to belly-crawl closer to Helen, so did she. If this took a turn for the worst, she wanted to be by his side to help him.

Rory kept his attention pinned to his aunt, and Eden continued to keep watch behind and around them. She also kept an eye out for IEDs, and that was a little easier to do with her face only inches from the ground.

She cringed when she saw another of those deep holes off to the side. Any minute now, there could be an explosion. Any minute, Rory and she could die.

Of course, living with that threat of possible death was part of the job, but they had so many reasons to live, and she hoped she got a chance to tell Rory how she felt about it. She promised herself then and there if they made it out of this alive, she wouldn’t put up another barrier between them.

And she would tell him that she loved him.

For now, she had to push that thought away and keep moving.

They finally got close enough to Helen for them to see there was indeed tape around her torso and her neck. Her hand, too, the one holding the gun in place.

Had the killer done that so that they would see the weapon and then shoot first, killing her? Or was this all Helen’s doing? Maybe a way to try to make herself look innocent of the other murders since she was now seemingly a victim, too.

She was alive because Eden could see her chest moving. But her eyes were closed, and the woman definitely wasn’t responding when they called out to her.

“I don’t see any IEDs around her,” Rory whispered.

“Neither do I.”

Eden wasn’t sure what to make of that. Again, if this was the killer’s doing, then he or she hadn’t staged the scene like Ike’s.

There were differences in Mellie’s and Brenda’s stagings as well, with Brenda left at the back of the barn and Mellie’s body toward the front. And Carter’s murder was nothing like the other victims except for the cause of death. That’s the only thing that all of them had in common.

They’d been stabbed and left to die.

As far as she knew, Ike hadn’t been stabbed. Judging by the lack of blood, neither had Helen. So as far as Eden was concerned, both of them stayed on the list of potential suspects.

Eden thought back to the way Ike had been tied up against that tree, and that was something he could have done himself. Ditto for the head wound. It would have taken a lot of guts to hit himself on the head, but it might be a small price to pay to make himself look innocent.

And it was the same for Helen.

They had no idea if that tape went all the way around the tree so Helen could have posed herself this way and be lying in wait.

A clever way to get them closer and kill them.

Still, that didn’t feel right. If the plan was to pin all of this on Ike, then why hit him and tie him up?

Helen could have probably figured out a way to get him on scene, so he could be blamed for the latest attack.

Eden didn’t voice that thought, and she continued to move with Rory, inch by excruciating inch. They were still a good ten feet away from Helen when Eden saw another of those holes in the ground.

Right in front of Helen.

If they’d charged toward her, they would have fallen in. Maybe landing right on an IED that would have then exploded.

“Frank!” someone shouted.

Eden groaned because she instantly recognized the voice. What the heck was she doing there?

Diedre.

“Frank,” the woman shouted again.

Eden looked behind them to see Diedre running up the trail toward them. Bennie was right behind her, and he practically tackled the woman before she could get to Rory and her.

Diedre shrieked, and there was probably some pain that went along with the tackle. But Eden was glad Bennie had done that because they had no idea what the woman’s intentions were.

“Where’s Frank?” Diedre called out, her voice breaking into a sob. “Did Helen kill him?”

“Sorry,” Bennie said. He was huffing and fighting to hang on to Diedre, who was trying to wriggle out of his grip. “I didn’t see her until she started running right past me. She didn’t drive up in a vehicle, and she must have cut her way through the woods, so Judson didn’t spot her.”

So Diedre had sneaked onto the scene, and Eden couldn’t think of a single good reason for her to do that.

“Did Helen kill him?” Diedre repeated, and she was flat-out crying now.

Maybe it was an act, but if so, she was certainly putting a lot into it. Then again, she might need that effort to try to convince them she wasn’t there to kill them.

“Why are you here?” Rory snapped.

“For Frank,” Diedre said quickly. “I know he’s here…somewhere.”

“And how would you know that?” he asked.

“Because I put a tracker app on his phone,” Diedre blurted, but then stopped and gasped as if she hadn’t meant to say that aloud. “I, uh, I thought he was seeing Helen or someone else.”

So…jealousy. Or a way to track him so she could kill him. But if so, then it was stupid of her to admit that she was tracking him.

“I went to his house, and when he wasn’t there,” the woman continued, “I used the tracker, and it led me here. To her,” she spluttered, her gaze landing on Helen. There was rage in Diedre’s eyes now. “Did you kill him?” she shouted to Helen.

“What makes you think Frank is dead?” Eden asked.

“There was blood on his porch. So he’s been hurt. She hurt him and brought him here to kill him the way she did Brenda and Mellie,” Diedre said.

Rory was quick to respond to that. “You’re certain Helen killed them? You have proof?”

“No, but she did it,” Diedre snarled. “She must have so she could set up Ike.”

Diedre’s gaze met Eden’s, and suddenly the woman didn’t seem so certain of that. Again, it could all be an act, but there seemed to be some doubt now.

“Oh, God,” Diedre muttered, her gaze slashing to her left, where there were more of those clustered cedar trees. “Frank?” The sobbing came to a quick halt, and there was shock coating both her voice and her face.

Eden was still on her belly, but she automatically turned in that direction, too, bringing up her gun. Beside her, Rory did the same. And they both took aim at Frank, who stepped out from behind one of the trees.

He didn’t have a gun, but there was something else in his hand. Something that Eden knew could kill them all.

Frank was holding an IED.

R ORY BOLTED TO his feet, getting in a firing stance.

But he didn’t have a safe shot.

Not with Frank’s fingers on what Rory was pretty sure was the detonator of that IED he was holding.

“This ends here,” Frank said, glancing at all of them. “It’ll end for Ike, too, since he’ll be blown to bits in ten minutes or so. Those IEDs are all on timers. And there won’t be enough time for the bomb squad to get in here and defuse them.”

Rory silently cursed. So Frank was cleaning house. Or rather, that was his plan, anyway, but Rory didn’t intend to let that plan come to fruition. Somehow, he had to stop this.

But how?

And why had Frank gone off the deep end like this?

Diedre had started sobbing again, and she was muttering stuff that Rory couldn’t make out. But she wasn’t the only one making sounds. So was Helen. She was moaning, regaining consciousness.

“Rory?” Judson shouted. “What the devil is going on?” He was running toward them, but pulled up when he saw the answer to his own question.

All hell was about to break loose.

“What will it take to get you to put down that IED and surrender?” Rory asked Frank.

Frank laughed, but there was no humor in it. In fact, just the opposite. He groaned, the sound of a man in emotional agony. Rory didn’t have a shred of sympathy for him, though, since he was looking at the face of a killer.

“No surrender,” Frank muttered. “This ends now.” And he shifted the IED as if ready to set it off.

Think. Think fast. Rory had to do something.

“At least tell us why we’re dying,” Rory insisted. “You can do that much for us. We deserve answers.”

Frank seemed to consider that, and Rory could feel the seconds ticking by.

He had no idea how much firepower was in those IEDs around Ike, but it was possible they’d blow up the entire area.

If that was the case, though, then Frank likely wouldn’t be holding yet another IED.

Unless that was insurance that they all die.

Frank included.

But maybe that had been his plan all along.