Chapter Sixteen

Duncan had already started running toward Joelle before he even saw Brad press whatever he'd had in his pocket. Some kind of detonation device no doubt.

The last ditch act of a dying man to kill the person in the barn.

Joelle moved fast, too, hurrying toward the barn. "Molly or Kate could be in there."

Yeah, the heat source they'd seen on infrared could definitely be one of them, but it was equally possible this was another hired gun, lying in wait to finish what his boss had started. That's why Duncan raced ahead of Joelle.

Slater hurried in to help, too. "Joelle, make sure Brad and his hired help aren't anywhere near weapons," Slater told her.

That accomplished two things. Joelle would no longer be close to the barn, and Duncan definitely didn't want Brad or the thug to try any retaliation if they'd managed to survive the gunshots. He was pretty sure they hadn't, but it was too big of a risk to take.

Woodrow hurried to help Joelle, and Ronnie stood guard, making sure no one else was about to launch an attack. Duncan reached the barn first and was thankful that most of the flames were on the sides of the building. Not for long, though. Brad had obviously used some kind of accelerant because the fire was quickly eating its way to the door.

Duncan threw open the barn door and immediately stepped to the side in case he was about to be gunned down. But no shots came his way. Smoke did, though, thick billowing clouds of it. Something that had no doubt been part of Brad's sick plan. The rain would help, some, with the flames, but if the fire didn't kill the person inside, smoke inhalation might.

Even though the storm had blocked out so much of the light, Duncan still spotted the figure on the ground in the center of the barn. "Kate," he muttered. She was trussed up and gagged, but she was conscious and trying to move.

Duncan didn't take the time to untie her. He scooped her up and started toward the door. Not a second too soon. The fire must have triggered some kind of secondary device because the back wall of the barn burst into flames. That got Duncan moving even faster, and in that short distance, the smoke was already clogging his throat and lungs.

The rain was definitely welcome when he darted out into it, and he continued to run, continued to get Kate and himself as far away from the barn as possible. Because there could be another device, one meant to bring the whole barn down, and he didn't want Kate or anyone else hit with fiery debris.

"I just called for an ambulance," Joelle said, hurrying to help him with Kate when Duncan placed the woman on the ground. He got to work on removing the ropes while Joelle tackled the gag.

"Brad's going to kill all of you and set me up for it," Kate blurted the moment she could speak. "He bragged to me about, egging on that PI so he'd look guilty of these attacks."

"Yes," Duncan confirmed. "Brad admitted to planting some evidence that would point to Hamlin."

"Did he also tell you he drugged me?" Kate asked, and Duncan shook his head, though he'd suspected that's what had happened. "He said he drugged my tea, and then he cursed because I apparently didn't drink enough of it. He wanted me unconscious so he could kill me. But I managed to get out of the house and go to Saddle Ridge."

Duncan nodded since that worked with his theory, too. Brad would have eliminated his mother so she wouldn't tell the cops about him, and then he could have chalked up her death to Hamlin.

"Brad spooked me into leaving the hospital," Kate murmured. "I thought he was going to sneak in and kill me. That's why I ran." She squeezed her eyes shut a moment and shook her head. "At least I tried to run, but one of Brad's hired thugs caught me."

Duncan hated to question the woman, but while they were waiting on that ambulance, she might be able to provide him with more answers. A big one in case any other lives were at stake. "Did Brad say anything about the PI's sister?"

"Isla," Kate was quick to say. "Yes. Brad did more bragging about her, too. He took her a month ago when he started setting all this up. He said she was insurance. That if the cops didn't arrest Hamlin for murder, he would use Isla to force Hamlin to do it. And that if the cops did arrest him, then he could still sell the baby when she had it and then get rid of Isla."

Duncan cursed. "Where was Brad holding Isla?"

Kate shook her head again. "He didn't say. Maybe at his house in San Antonio? It's a big place, and he told me he'd closed off the second floor because he never used it."

Before Duncan could even ask, Slater was taking out his phone. "I'll get SAPD out there right now to do a search."

Good. He prayed she was there and safe. He didn't want Brad to add any more victims to his list.

"My son was a very sick, very disturbed man." Kate's gaze slid to the bodies, and a hoarse sob tore from her throat.

"One of them is Brad," Duncan told her. Not the best way to do a death notification, but she had to know. "I stopped him."

Kate looked up at him, and a mix of both tears and rain slid down her cheeks. "You did what you had to do," she muttered.

He had, and while Duncan didn't need Kate's validation about that, he was glad she didn't appear to be on the verge of being hysterical with grief. But there would be grief. He was sure of that, and somehow Kate would have to try to come to terms with what her son had done.

And what Brad had done was create a nightmare.

Five dead hired guns. Duncan wouldn't mourn that. But he was desperately sorry for the hellish memories Brad had given Joelle, Molly and Kate. Hell, had given him, too, because he doubted he'd ever be able to forget the terror of Brad coming so close to putting Joelle in that well.

One thing that Duncan was certain of was that Kate had had no part in her son's plan. That was good for tying up the loose ends of the investigation, but again, Kate would have to deal with her son pulling her into all of this.

Duncan looked at Joelle, their gazes connecting, and he didn't care who was watching. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. There was both relief and hope in that kiss. Relief that she and their baby were alive. Hope that nothing like this would ever happen to them again.

"SAPD already had officers in the area of Brad's house, and they're going in right now," Duncan heard Slater say, and he looked up to see Joelle's brother watching them. Well, watching as much as the rain would allow. It was coming down hard now.

Woodrow was heading to the back of the ranch house, and Ronnie was near the bodies. The chaos of a crime scene had already gotten started.

"Woodrow's getting some umbrellas from the house," Slater explained. "We won't move Kate any more than necessary until the EMTs give us the okay, but why don't Joelle and you go wait on the porch? No need for all of us to get soaked."

Duncan didn't care about the "getting soaked" part, but he wanted Joelle off her feet. Of course, she'd need another exam at the hospital, but he wanted to check for himself to make sure she hadn't physically been harmed.

Even though he figured it wasn't necessary, Duncan scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the porch. She didn't balk. In fact, she sighed and buried her face against his neck. He held her that way for several moments until they were beneath the porch roof. Then, he eased her back to her feet so he could kiss her.

It was another of those comfort kisses, and she didn't balk about that, either. Just the opposite. She returned the kiss, making it long, hard and deep.

"I thought Brad was going to shoot you," she said when she finally pulled back. She looked at him, examining him as he was doing to her.

Duncan didn't voice his fears about what he thought Brad would do to her. No need. They both knew how close they'd all come to dying.

"I think Brad was telling the truth when he said he didn't kill my father," Joelle muttered.

He nodded. And wished it weren't true. Because if Brad had killed Sheriff McCullough, then that would have given them all some closure. It would have closed the case, and they could have started the process of moving on. From that, anyway. In other ways, Duncan felt as if Joelle and he had, indeed, moved on.

In the best possible direction.

He hoped he wasn't wrong.

"I'm in love with you, Joelle," he said, "and I'm sorry I didn't tell you that sooner. I'm sorry that it took us almost dying for me to realize that I love you and I want a life with you and our baby."

Duncan braced for her reaction, which he knew could be a shake of her head and a reminder that the timing was all wrong for this. That the timing might never be right.

But that didn't happen.

Joelle smiled. Actually, smiled. And like the kiss, Duncan felt as if it lifted a whole mountain of weight off his shoulders. He would have kissed her again to taste that smile, but Slater called out to them.

"The cops found Isla," Slater said, adding a fist pump of celebration. "She's alive and as well as she can be. They're transporting her to the hospital as soon as the ambulance arrives."

"Did she have the baby?" Joelle asked.

Slater shook his head. "She's due in a couple of weeks." He motioned toward his phone. "Should I call Hamlin and let him know?"

"Call him," Duncan verified. From everything that Kate and Brad had said, Hamlin hadn't been responsible for any of this mess.

Slater moved away to do that, and Duncan turned back to Joelle to give her that kiss. But she beat him to it and kissed him first. She seemed to pour everything into it. Especially her heart. It turned way too hot, considering they were on a porch with a yard full of cops and the approaching sirens from an ambulance and more cruisers.

Joelle didn't break the kiss until there was a risk of passing out from lack of oxygen, and when she finally did pull back, she laughed.

"I'm in love with you, too, Duncan," she said, pinning her gaze to his. They were eye to eye. Mouth to mouth. Breath to breath. "And, no, that's not the adrenaline crash talking. Or the effects of that kiss. Though it was pretty potent," she added in a mutter.

Now he laughed, and he let the heat and the joy of the moment wash over him. Duncan knew it would be the start of more moments just like this one. With the woman he loved and their baby.

Don't miss Protecting the Newborn , the second book in USA TODAY bestselling author Delores Fossen's miniseries, Saddle Ridge Justice, available next month!

Keep reading for an excerpt from Smoky Mountains Mystery by Lena Diaz.