Page 5 of Deputies Under Fire (Renegade Canyon #2)

“No.” And Rory didn’t add to that. “But if you’re worried about your safety, you should take precautions. Is there a friend or relative you can stay with for a while?”

“Yes,” she said on a sob. “But if you just arrest him, I’ll be safe. All of his enemies will be safe. You have to know Ike’s behind this. Don’t let your family ties blind you to what Ike is.”

Rory groaned and shook his head. If anyone was aware of the kind of man Ike was, it was Rory.

“I’ll let you know if and when Ike is taken into custody,” Rory told the woman. “And I have to go. If you have any immediate issues with a threat, you should contact SAPD since you’re in their jurisdiction.”

“But they can’t arrest him,” Diedre spluttered. “You can.”

“Call SAPD if there’s a threat,” he repeated.

With that, Rory ended the call and dragged in a long, weary breath. Maybe because he hadn’t wanted to deal with the woman who had possibly caused his mother some emotional pain. Of course, there could be many of Ike’s ex-lovers who’d done that.

Rory immediately made a call to someone they knew. Detective Hailey Patterson at SAPD. Eden had worked with her, and he had met her several times when she and Rory had been in one of their on-again cycles.

Hailey’s call went to voice mail, and Rory left a message to let the detective know about Diedre’s concerns for her safety.

There wasn’t much SAPD could actually do in situations like this.

Not even man power to provide personal security when there hadn’t actually been an attempt to harm Diedre.

Still, the woman would be on SAPD’s radar in case something did happen.

“Even if Ike is the killer, I can’t see him going after her,” Eden muttered. “Not when there’s this much attention focused on him.” But then she stopped, and rethought that comment. “Unless he has some kind of urgency to rid the world of people on his bad side.”

Rory didn’t seem the least bit surprised by her last remark, which meant the same idea had likely already occurred to him. “I can’t get access to his medical records, but I’ll have a talk with the housekeepers and Jamie.”

“Jamie,” she repeated. Not a question.

She knew that was Rory’s twelve-year-old cousin, who lived in the main house on the ranch with Ike and her parents.

Rory had told her that because of the age difference, he’d always thought of Jamie as his niece, and they were fairly close.

It was possible Jamie had seen or heard something that would shed some light on whether or not there’d been a trigger for Ike to start killing.

“Do you think you should try to encourage Jamie and her folks to stay elsewhere?” Eden asked.

“I advised them to do that this morning before I went to your place. But Ike doesn’t consider them enemies. They’d never crossed him. Never butted heads with him over something Ike wanted.”

The way Ike had butted heads with Rory and her.

Good. She was glad the girl and her parents weren’t having to face that kind of ugly wrath.

Eden looked up when the barn came into view and felt exactly what she’d been expecting.

That overwhelming sense of dread. It didn’t matter that the barn was no longer cloaked in darkness.

Sunshine and a clear sky weren’t going to diminish the eerie feel of the place or lessen her memories of what had gone on there.

As expected, the county CSI van was parked off the trail and in a small clearing beneath some trees, and she saw one of the CSI team, dressed in his white protective jumpsuit, boot covers and gloves.

He was stooped down, looking at something on the right side of the barn, but he glanced in their direction when they got out of the cruiser.

Eden figured there was at least one other CSI inside.

They made their way to the investigator outside, and as she got closer, she saw it was Lou Garcia, a fairly new CSI. But he had worked the same barn after Mellie’s murder.

“Have you found anything?” Rory immediately asked him.

Lou motioned toward an even smaller trail on the far side of the barn. “We found tire tracks over there, but they were practically obliterated. Looks like some deer trampled over them. Still, I took a casting so we might come up with something.”

Eden frowned when she turned toward the trail. She wished that they had looked there the night before, but it’d been too dark for them to see much of anything. Added to that, their focus had been on getting Brenda some help and talking to her to see if she could ID her attacker.

“That trail’s even rougher than the one we used,” Rory remarked.

“Yes, it is,” Lou agreed. “If the killer came that way, he or she would have needed an off-road vehicle, and even that wouldn’t have been a pleasant drive.” He shifted and pointed toward the back of the barn. “There were drag marks there. Along with some of the victim’s blood.”

“So she was bleeding before he put her in the barn,” Rory muttered. “That means whatever vehicle he used would have her blood, too. And there’d be blood at the location where she was attacked.”

They were looking for another crime scene. SAPD had already ruled out Brenda’s house and office, so the next step would be to search Ike’s house.

Rory took out his phone and requested a warrant to have the CSIs examine all of Ike’s vehicles and the main house.

She was betting Ike and his lawyers would fight that, but it was a fight they’d lose.

With Ike’s motive and means, and with no verifiable alibi, that would be enough for a judge to issue a warrant.

Once he’d finished his call, the two of them started toward the front of the barn. “The attack happened elsewhere,” he said as if spelling it all out for himself. “And the killer brought her here. Not an easy trip. And a risky one. Why take that risk?”

“To make some kind of statement,” she mused. “To put her in the same place as Mellie.”

Rory stopped in the entry of the barn and turned to her. “But he didn’t put her in the same place. He put her at the back of the barn. And he didn’t use the same trail to get here. He used one that’s more visible from the main road.”

True, and that caused Eden’s mind to whirl with possibilities. “We didn’t disclose the exact location of Mellie’s body in any of the reports.” She stopped, cursed. “And that means we could be dealing with a copycat.”

“Bingo,” he murmured, and she could see the worry in his eyes.

Two victims. Two killers. And if one of those killers wasn’t his father, then someone was trying to set Ike up.

They were about to step inside when they heard the approaching vehicle. A motorcycle. They turned to see Rory’s brother, Dutton, and he pulled his Harley to a stop behind the cruiser.

“A problem?” Rory immediately asked. “Is the baby all right?”

“He’s fine,” Dutton said, nodding a greeting to Eden. He walked closer, stopping next to them and staring at the barn. “I considered just calling you, but I decided this was a conversation best done in person.”

Rory sighed. “You’re here to tell me something that could get Ike arrested,” he said, guessing.

“No. Not Ike,” Dutton said. “Aunt Helen.”

Eden didn’t know who was more surprised by that, Rory or her. “What did she do?” Rory asked.

“It could be nothing, but it’s been eating away at me all night.

” Dutton gathered his breath. “Two days ago, Helen came to the ranch. I know because I happened to be taking out one of the new horses for a ride, and I spotted her with Ike. They were on the back porch, arguing. About what, I couldn’t tell, but as I rode closer, Helen whipped out a knife from her purse and seemed to threaten Ike with it. ”

Sweet heaven. “Neither one of them mentioned a word about this,” Eden said.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Dutton grumbled.

“I got off the horse and hurried to them, and when Helen looked in my direction, Ike knocked the knife from her hand. Then, he mocked her, saying she was nothing but a coward. Always had been, always would be. He continued to goad her until she burst into tears and ran off the porch. She got in her car and sped away.”

Eden shook her head. “What was the argument about?”

“Ike wouldn’t say. I called Aunt Helen, and she finally answered a couple of hours later. She said it was all a misunderstanding.” Dutton shrugged. “Maybe it was. Ike and Helen have certainly had a lot of clashes over the years.”

Rory made a sound of agreement. “But I’ve never known Helen to pull a knife on him. What did Ike say about the incident?”

“He laughed it off, insisted it was no big deal, that Helen had just gotten her dander up, and he added a few more clichés, like making a mountain out of a molehill.”

It didn’t sound like a molehill to her. “What did Ike do with the knife?” Eden asked.

Dutton shook his head. “I don’t know. It wasn’t on the porch by the time I got back there after I went to check on Helen.” He paused. “Why? You think it was the murder weapon?”

“Well, we don’t have the murder weapon so it’s possible. What did the knife look like?” she persisted.

“It was one of those Swiss Army ones. Not a long blade. Maybe three inches,” Dutton answered.

Rory took out his phone again. “I’m texting the ME to see if he can determine the depth of the stab wounds on Brenda’s body.” He finished the message and looked at his brother. “And I’ll talk to Helen.”

Dutton sighed. “Yeah, that’ll be fun.” He glanced around. “I’ll leave you to it. Let me know, though, what Helen says.”

“I will,” Rory assured him. They said their goodbyes and as Dutton headed back to his motorcycle, she and Rory went inside the barn.

Once again, she had to force her attention away from the stain of Mellie’s blood.

It was easier to do that today since she could focus on the two CSIs, Molly Hanks and David Barrow, who were working all the way at the back of the barn.

There was enough light coming through the cracks that she could see they were examining something on the wall.

Rory must have noticed, too, because their pace quickened. Maybe the CSIs had found something they could use.

They stopped a few feet from the stall, and Rory opened his mouth, no doubt to question them. He didn’t get the chance.

Because an explosion ripped through the barn.