Chapter Fourteen

Joelle's entire body felt slack. Sated. Incredible. But she also knew without a doubt that she wouldn't be able to stand on what she was sure would be wobbly legs.

Duncan took care of that.

Just as he'd taken care of her with that sexual release.

He turned off the shower, scooped her up in his arms and stepped with her onto the rug. He didn't stop there, either, but rather sat her on the vanity while he pulled a huge towel around her. Since he proceeded to dry her off, that meant she got an amazing view of his completely naked wet body.

Mercy, she wanted him all over again.

This had been the problem with them for years. The heat. The need. And she'd thought that once they finally ended up in bed five months ago, the need would lessen some. It hadn't. And later, she was going to consider why that was. Consider, too, if it would ever go away.

Judging from the way her body was humming, the answer to that was no.

After he dried her off, he kissed her again. One of those scorching, heart-melting post-sex kisses that held promises of more to come. Too bad her body was absolutely onboard for that. Her mind, though, was reminding her to hold back, to guard her heart. And to put up those barriers again.

Joelle didn't do any of that.

She kissed him right back in the full-throttle mode. It lasted some very long moments, and when she eased back, she saw the fresh heat in those amazing eyes of his. The corner of his mouth lifted, flashing her a smile that also fell into the amazing category.

Of course, the smile didn't last. It faded by degrees, but at least she'd gotten to enjoy it for a bit.

"I'm guessing we'll have that talk now," he muttered, not sounding the least bit enthusiastic about that.

Neither was she, but Joelle thought they should spell out that this could be temporary. That this was "no strings attached" sex. Because she didn't want Duncan to feel this had to be the start of some grand commitment. He'd already committed to the baby, both offering child support and shared custody, and that was enough.

Had to be enough.

Joelle wasn't exactly sure what her feelings were for him... She stopped, mentally regrouped. All right, she was sure. She cared deeply for Duncan. Was perhaps leaning toward being in love with him. But this was so not the right time to delve into all of that.

"Let's put the talk on hold," she suggested. "Instead, let's go over the reports Luca's done, and I'll see if he needs help with any others."

Of course, Joelle had offered to help Luca when they'd arrived at Duncan's, and he'd declined, telling her to get some rest. Sex had been an incredible substitute for rest, and now she wanted to dive back into the investigation.

Duncan didn't seem convinced. He frowned. She wasn't sure if that was because he did, indeed, want to talk. Or maybe he wanted to keep kissing her and go for round two of sex. That was tempting. Mercy, was it.

"The sooner we make an arrest, the sooner the baby will be safe," she said, knowing Duncan was already well aware of that.

However, it seemed to be the exact nudge he needed to move away from her and start drying off. He did mutter some profanity, though, under his breath that had her smiling again.

Joelle started to get dressed, and despite the reminder she'd just given him, she didn't ignore the peep show going on right in front of her. Duncan was hot, but he was even hotter when he was naked.

He pulled on his boxers, his gaze meeting hers, and she saw the heat that was still there. She felt the tug deep within her body. Not sexual. Well, not totally. This was something different. Something just as strong. And it had her going back to falling in love with him. She probably would have had a mental debate with herself about that had her phone not rang.

She got a jolt when she looked at the screen and saw Unknown Caller , and part of her realized she'd been waiting for another would-be kidnapper to get in touch with her. Yes, four hired guns were dead, but Joelle was pretty sure their boss was still out there somewhere.

Out there and had possibly already hired new thugs to come after her.

Duncan became all cop, and he hit the recorder on his phone a split second before he nodded for her to take the call. She did, expecting to hear some muffled threatening voice of a stranger.

She didn't.

"Joelle?" the woman asked.

She nearly dropped the phone. "It's my mother," she said, the words rushing out with her breath. She looked at Duncan to see if he'd recognized it as well. He did, and he looked just as stunned as she was.

"Mom," Joelle finally managed. "Where are you? How are you?" And she had so many other questions she wanted to add to that.

For five months, she'd been terrified for her mother. Not only for her mom's safety since Joelle considered that she, too, might be dead. But there had also been the worry that Sandra McCullough had somehow participated in her husband's murder. Or was on the run because of something she'd learned or witnessed.

"Joelle," her mom repeated, but she didn't launch right into answering those questions. "I need help."

The static crackled across the phone connection, but Joelle still heard that loud and clear. "Where are you?" she repeated. "What's wrong?"

Again, there wasn't a quick answer, and the static increased. There was also the sound of a revving car engine.

"I'm at the ranch," her mother finally said. "Please, Joelle, please, come and get me before it's too late."

J OELLE FELT AS if she'd had way too much caffeine and her mind was whirling from it. However, the jumble of thoughts wasn't from any coffee but rather from hearing her mother's voice.

Slater was hearing it now, too.

Her brother and Carmen had arrived within minutes after Joelle had phoned him to let him know about the call, and now Slater was standing in Duncan's living room, listening to the recording. It wasn't the first time Slater had played it, either. This was his third, and he seemed just as shell-shocked as she had been.

Still was.

"That's Mom's voice," she muttered to Slater. That was a repeat as well.

Her brother made a soft sound of agreement, and he looked up as if yanking himself out of a trance. "Yeah. But you know this is some kind of a trap."

"She knows," Duncan was quick to say.

Joelle did, indeed, and that's what had prevented her from bolting out of Duncan's house, jumping into the cruiser and driving straight to her family's ranch. Because this could all be a ploy to draw her out into the open like that. But there was a flipside to this.

Her mother could be in grave danger.

Could be .

And that was the sticking point here. Slater obviously knew something about that could be because he played the recording once more. Duncan and she had done the same thing when they'd waited for Slater to arrive.

"The call was almost certainly made from a burner," Slater pointed out, and Joelle made a sound of agreement. That was being checked as they spoke. Techs were also repeatedly trying to call the number with the hopes that someone would answer. So far, nothing.

"Mom never answered any of your questions," her brother added a moment later.

Joelle nodded. "And there's the static. A lot of it," she emphasized. "It seems to be coming from maybe a TV station or radio that's offline. It's too steady for the intermittent kind of static you'd get from a bad phone connection."

Slater nodded as well, and he shifted his attention to Duncan. "So, the fact that we're not charging over to the ranch right now tells me you don't believe my mother is actually in danger."

"I wish I knew for sure," Duncan said, drawing in a long breath. "It is Sandra's voice," he verified. "But it could have been spliced together from old recordings. Maybe interviews taken from the internet."

Her mother had certainly done some of those since she'd often campaigned for bond issues to better fund the schools and libraries. Joelle couldn't recall a specific speech or such that could have been used to piece together what she'd heard, but it was possible. There was a huge but , though, in all of this.

"If the killer actually has her..." Joelle started, but then she couldn't force out the rest of it. Not aloud, anyway. But inside her head, the possibility was flashing bright and nonstop.

Her mother could be murdered.

She could be being held right now. Could be hurt. And she could need their help. In fact, it was possible her father's killer had taken her mother five months ago and had been holding her all this time, planning to use her to punish Joelle for whatever the killer believed she needed to be punished for. Maybe Brad for what'd happened to Shanda. Maybe Kate because her father had been on her trail for the illegal baby sales. Or Hamlin who wanted revenge for his arrest as a juvenile.

Duncan was well aware of that, too, and that's why he'd spent the past fifteen minutes assembling a team. Or rather two of them. And even though Duncan hadn't spelled it out yet, Joelle was pretty sure she knew what he was planning.

"You'll stay here," Duncan said, his gaze spearing hers. "I would take you to the sheriff's office, but this SOB could be hoping for that. To attack us along the road and try to take you."

Joelle had already considered that as well. It was the very definition of a rock and a hard place. If she went anywhere, she was a target. Ditto for if she stayed put. Duncan couldn't stop that, but he could maybe stop her mother from being killed if she was being held at the ranch.

"Luca and Carmen will stay here with you," Duncan went on. "And the two armed ranch hands will continue to guard the grounds. They'll block the driveway to prevent anyone from using a vehicle to get to the house. Stay inside and keep the security system on."

She recalled him saying all the windows and doors were rigged so if someone did attempt to break in, they'd at least get a warning. Then, whoever tried to get inside would be facing three cops.

"Slater and I will go to the ranch," Duncan continued a moment later.

But Joelle immediately interrupted him. "And you'll have extra backup with you," she insisted. "As we learned with Molly, there are plenty of places for someone to lie in wait."

Duncan didn't argue. "Ronnie and Woodrow are already on the way to the ranch. They'll hang back and use binoculars and infrared to try and spot any threats. Try and spot your mother, too, if she's actually there." He checked the time. "The plan is to make this as quick as possible."

His gaze lingered on Joelle's for a couple of moments, and she nodded. Not because she liked the idea but because there wasn't another option. The ranch had to be checked, and Duncan was the sheriff.

He went to her, and while he didn't kiss her, not with other cops watching, Duncan took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "It's only a trap if we aren't ready for it, and we are," he whispered to her. "We'll take every possible precaution, and I want you to do the same."

She nodded again. "Come back to me in one piece," she muttered.

Duncan looked as if he wanted to groan at that. Because it seemed to be the start of some grand confession about her feelings for him. About how important he was to her.

Which he was.

But no way did she want to send him off with that kind of distraction running through his mind.

"Stay safe," she added, using her cop's voice, and Joelle purposely turned away from him and faced Luca. "I can help you type up the witness statements from the hospital."

That would give her something to focus on. Or rather something to try to focus on. Joelle didn't know how long this would take Duncan and the others, but she would be on pins and needles the entire time.

"I'll reset the security system with my phone once we're out," Duncan relayed to her as Slater and he went to the door. Both Duncan and her brother gave her one last look before they headed out. One last stomach-twisting look.

Joelle stayed put, listening, and she heard the sound of the cruiser ignition. Heard, too, when Slater and Duncan drove away.

And the waiting began.

"Luca, I can do some reports as well," Carmen said, drawing Joelle's attention back to the other deputies. "So email me the notes of the ones you want me to do," she added as she took out her laptop.

Carmen didn't sit in the kitchen though but rather moved to the front window. No doubt so she could keep watch.

Since the keeping watch was a good idea, Joelle tipped her head to the hall. "Duncan's bedroom has a good view of the backyard. I can work from there. And yes, I'll stay back from the windows."

Luca didn't make a sound of agreement until she added that last part. "The office has a view of the east side of the property, and since that side doesn't face any of Duncan's neighbors, I can keep an eye on things from there. I'll email you both some of the statement notes," he added, heading to the office.

Joelle took her laptop and went into Duncan's bedroom. Of course, it was a reminder that less than an hour ago they'd had shower sex. Amazing shower sex . But since that brought on images of Duncan, the worry came with it, and she said a flurry of quick prayers that Duncan, her brother, Woodrow and Ronnie would come out of this unscathed.

Her mother, too.

Part of her wanted to hope her mother was there at the ranch. Because if she was, then it meant she probably hadn't voluntarily left her family. But if that was the case, then it was unbearable to think of the hell her mother had gone through all these months.

Since that kind of thinking wasn't helping her already frayed nerves, Joelle got to work—away from the window, though, she did open the curtains enough for her to be able to see out. There was a small seating area in the corner of the bedroom, and Joelle turned the chair so it was facing the window. That would keep her in the shadows and hopefully out of the line of sight of any shooters.

While she booted up her computer, she glanced out in the backyard. Unlike her place, this area wasn't thick with trees. Just the opposite. There was a small barn and some white wood pasture fence. A shooter wouldn't be able to use the fence to hide or sneak up closer to the house.

But the barn was a different matter.

The door was closed, and if a determined shooter belly-crawled through the pasture, they could slip behind the barn and try to fire into the house. With that unsettling thought, Joelle wasn't sure how much work she would get done, but she opened the file that Luca sent her, anyway.

There had apparently been thirty-one statements taken from patients, medical staff and anyone who happened to be in the parking lot at the time Arlo launched his attack and Kate went missing. Luca had sent Joelle six, nowhere near the one-third he should have given her. When she got through these, she would ask for more.

The statements were basically notes taken by the questioning officers, and they needed to be cleaned up and put in an official file that would then have to be verified and signed by those interviewers. Normally, cops did their own reports, but with so many aspects to the investigation, they all needed to chip in. Especially since she wasn't the one out there looking for Kate.

Joelle made it through the first one when she heard a soft thumping sound coming from the large walk-in closet/dressing area that was on the other side of the bathroom. The closet door was closed, and there wasn't a window in there that someone could use to break in.

She waited, her fingers poised on the keyboard while she continued to listen. Nothing.

And she was ready to dismiss it when she heard it again.

Joelle quietly set her laptop aside and got to her feet. She drew her weapon and inched to the closet door while also keeping watch of the window in the bedroom. It occurred to her that someone could be tossing something against the exterior wall to distract her so they could make sure no one was watching them if they sneaked up to the barn.

She stopped to send a text to Frankie Mendoza, one of Slater's ranch hands who was out front watching the road.

Do you see anyone on the right side of the house toward the back?

Joelle's heartbeat kicked up a few notches while she waited the couple of seconds it took him to answer. No one's there , Frankie replied.

That settled her down some, but Joelle remembered Duncan whispering to her about taking every possible precaution so she decided to get some help, especially since she was only a couple of feet away from the closet door. Even though it should have set off the security alarms, maybe someone had managed to get into the house.

"Luca?" she called out, keeping her voice calm and level. "Could you come here a second?" If it turned out to be nothing, then she would owe him an apology for interrupting him.

But it was something.

Before Joelle even heard Luca's footsteps, there were two loud thumps as if something heavy had fallen onto the floor of the closet. Her gaze whipped to the closet door as it flew open.

The two men were wearing ski masks, and they charged right at her.

D UNCAN ' S STOMACH KNOTTED when he saw the McCullough ranch come into view on the horizon. Considering the god-awful things that'd happened here, the place had an eerie feel to it. The approaching storm didn't help, either. The thick clouds were an angry-looking slate gray and shut out so much of the light that it looked more like twilight than daytime.

He stopped the cruiser at the end of the road and fired glances all around while Slater sent off a text to Woodrow. According to the two messages they'd already received from Woodrow while Slater and he had been en route, Woodrow and Ronnie had arrived at the ranch about seven minutes earlier, and they had done an immediate check with the binoculars.

They'd seen no one.

So they'd driven slightly closer to accommodate the short range of the infrared, and they were about to scan for heat sources. Since the deputies should have had time to at least start that, Duncan needed an update.

"Nothing so far," Slater relayed when he got a response from Woodrow. "They're moving closer now that we're here."

Ahead of them, he saw the deputies' cruiser start inching toward the house. Duncan did the same, driving slightly faster than Woodrow since he wanted to be right there with them in case someone opened fire.

It'd been less than ten minutes since he'd left Joelle at his place. Ten minutes of constant worry and doubts. And now Duncan hoped he could do this search as fast as possible so he could get back to her. He had a bad feeling about this whole situation, but he didn't know if the feeling was because he and his deputies were in immediate danger.

Or if Joelle was.

Possibly all of them were.

So far, their attacker had used guns and the fire at Joelle's to attempt to kidnap her, but it was possible they had something much bigger in their arsenal now. Then again, they wouldn't need bigger if they had Joelle's mom. If Sandra was truly here, she would be a damn good bargaining tool. One no doubt designed to draw out Joelle.

Slater's phone dinged again. "Woodrow spotted a heat source in the center of the barn," he told Duncan as he read the text. "If it's a person, he or she is lying down."

Hell. Lying down because she could be tied up. Like proverbial bait.

"No other heat sources," Slater finished.

Of course, that didn't mean no one was around. If the hired guns or their boss figured infrared would be used, they could be staying just out of range.

"Tell Woodrow that I'm going to pull ahead of them," Duncan instructed Slater. "I'll have to knock down a fence, but I'll drive to the barn." Maybe even into the barn itself since the person wasn't near the entrance. That would keep Slater and him protected for a while longer.

While Slater dealt with sending the text, Duncan maneuvered around the other cruiser and drove through the yard. He accelerated when he got to the fence, and the reinforced cruiser bashed right through it. Wood went flying, some of it thumping against the cruiser, but Duncan didn't think there'd be any real damage to the vehicle. He'd owe the McCulloughs a fence, though.

"Heat source hasn't moved," Slater said, giving Duncan the latest update from Woodrow.

That added some weight to the possibility of the person being tied up. Or maybe unconscious. Hell, perhaps even dead, because a body could continue to register as a heat source for minutes after dying.

Duncan was about to rev up to bash the front end of the cruiser into the barn door, but his phone rang. His heart went to his knees when he saw Luca's name on the screen.

"What's wrong?" Duncan immediately asked.

But he didn't get an immediate answer. And no answer at all from Luca. "It's me," Carmen said, and her trembling voice confirmed something was wrong.

"What happened?" Duncan snarled.

"Luca was hit with a stun gun," Carmen muttered. There was both urgency and pain in her voice. "And someone clubbed me on the head. I didn't see the man in time, Duncan. He just charged right at me."

Duncan had to fight the fear that was clawing its way through his throat. "Who charged at you? And where's Joelle?" he couldn't ask fast enough.

"A man wearing a ski mask." Carmen moaned. "There's a hole in the ceiling of your closet, and I think that's how they got in. Through the roof."

Hell. The roof wasn't rigged with the security sensors so an intruder wouldn't have set off the alarms. No one in the house would have known they were about to be attacked.

Duncan hit the accelerator, not heading into the barn but turning around. The tires kicked up clumps of dirt and grass as he sped away.

"God, Duncan," Carmen said. "They took her. They took Joelle."