“How do you know this hired gun is for real?” the agent asked the CI.
“’Cause he knew things, that’s why. Things about Sheriff Sherman Beckett and his wife, Millie, who got killed ten years ago. It was all over the news, but this fella told me there was something the news didn’t mention. Something that the cops kept out of the papers. He said the killer took Sherman Beckett’s watch. Pulled it right off his dead wrist. And that he took Millie’s necklace. It was a heart-shaped locket and had pictures of her kids in it.”
It was true. All true. Those items had indeed been missing, though they hadn’t been found on the killer, Theo’s father, Travis. Ivy had always assumed that Travis had dropped them or hidden them somewhere, but how would this man have known that?
That didn’t help the knot in her stomach, and Ivy had to fight to hang on to what little composure she had left. She had prayed this was all some kind of misunderstanding, that the CI had been wrong, but apparently no such luck. There really was a killer headed to the house who had plans to finish them all off.
“Did this hired gun say anything else?” the agent pressed. “Anything that would help us figure out who’s paying him to do this?”
“Nope, but I figure it’s gotta be Travis Canton. Yeah, I know he’s in jail, but something like this could get him out from behind bars.”
Theo didn’t say anything, but even in the near darkness, she saw his jaw tighten. “I’ve already checked with the prison,” Theo volunteered, “and other than his lawyer, my father hasn’t had any visitors in the past week. Plus, he doesn’t have the funds to hire a hit man.”
So maybe this was the work of some kind of psycho groupie. There’d been so much interest in the murders, partly because Jodi had also been attacked and left for dead in a shallow grave. And all that interest had attracted some very sick people.
“I know you gotta tell this to the Becketts,” the CI went on a moment later, “but you oughta be careful when you do it. The fella at the bar said he’d put bugs in the sheriff’s place and his house. So if you say anything to them, sure as hell don’t mention my name. I don’t want that SOB comin’ after me.”
“That’s the end of the conversation,” Theo told them. “But you can see why I had to come.”
Yes, she could. Since the CI had been right about the hired killer, maybe he was right about that bug, too. It sickened her to think that someone had been spying on them, listening to their every word. Someone who now wanted to kill them.
Her brother must have realized that, too, because he cursed and fired off a text. Several seconds later, his phone buzzed. He set it aside and put it on speaker, no doubt to keep his hands free for his gun.
“Sorry, Gabriel,” the caller immediately said. It was Aiken Colley, one of Gabriel’s ranch hands. “But we lost sight of the guy.”
That was not what Ivy wanted to hear, and she made a frantic search of every part of the grounds that she could see. No signs of a gunman. No signs of anyone.
Gabriel cursed. “Where was he when you last saw him?”
“By the south barn.”
That wasn’t that far from the house. Worse, there were other outbuildings and fences between the house and that particular barn, and this man could use those to conceal himself so he could get closer.
“I never had a clean shot of him,” Aiken went on. “The guy was running, and every few seconds, he would duck behind cover. Jake and Teddy are out here with me, and I’ve alerted the other hands.”
Jake and Teddy were two other hands, and while none of the hands were in law enforcement, they all knew how to handle guns. But apparently this hired killer knew how to dodge those guns.
“If possible, I want this guy alive,” Theo said.
Gabriel didn’t disagree with that. Probably because a dead man couldn’t give them answers, but at the moment Ivy cared only about keeping this monster away from Nathan and everyone else in the house.
“Kill him only if necessary. And be careful,” Gabriel warned the ranch hand.
“We will. We’ll keep looking for him until we find him,” Aiken added before he ended the call.
Ivy got back to keeping watch. Not that she hadn’t been doing that, but she adjusted her position just enough so that she could try to take in more of the yard and the pastures. Still no sign of him, but she could almost feel him closing in on them.
Who the heck was putting this monster up to this?
The CI had said it was Travis, and perhaps it was. Maybe he’d somehow gotten the money. But there was also another possibility. One that had been a thorn in her family’s side since Travis had first been arrested.
“Could your uncle August be behind this?” Ivy asked Theo. “Because August has been adamant that Travis is innocent.”
August was Travis’s half brother. A hothead. In the past ten years, he’d never turned to violence to free his brother, but August could be getting desperate since Travis had exhausted all his appeals.
“I haven’t spoken to August since I left Blue River,” Theo answered. “I tried to call him, but he didn’t answer. If he had anything to do with this, I’ll deal with him.”
Judging from Theo’s tone, that would not be pleasant. Not a surprise. There was no love lost between Jodi and their uncle, and it appeared to be the same for Theo. Of course, that was probably because August was not an easy man to like, and he was always saying that Travis’s “ungrateful kids” weren’t doing enough to help their father.
Theo’s phone buzzed. “It’s the agent who recorded the conversation with the CI,” Theo relayed to them, but he didn’t mention the guy by name. However, as Gabriel had done, he put the call on speaker. “The gunman’s here,” Theo told the agent right off. “Not in the house, but it appears this is where he’s headed.”
The agent didn’t jump to answer. It seemed as if he took a moment to process that. “You want me out there?”
“Not yet. This goon could fire shots at you as you drive up. Plus, I don’t want to send him running.”
Part of Ivy wanted him to run. To get as far away from Nathan as possible. But Theo was right. If the guy ran, he could possibly just regroup and come back for a second attempt.
“Did you find any bugs in the sheriff’s office?” Theo asked.
“Not yet, but the deputies are looking. One of them spoke to Gabriel a little while ago. He stepped outside to do that.”
“Cameron,” Gabriel provided. “He called the moment the agent showed up at the office.”
Of course he had. He wouldn’t have kept Gabriel in the dark about something this big. That meant Gabriel had been plenty busy in the short time since all of this mess had started with Theo’s arrival.
“The deputy wants to know if you need backup,” the agent continued.
“Not yet,” Gabriel answered before Theo could say anything. “But keep watch, because there might be more than one hired gun. Whoever’s behind this could have sent someone there.”
Oh, mercy. She hadn’t even considered that. But if someone had indeed wanted to put the Becketts “in the grave,” then the person might have gone looking for Gabriel at work.
“I just got a call,” the agent continued. “The CI is dead.”
Other than hearing she had a son, Theo hadn’t seemed surprised by much of what had happened. But he was clearly surprised now. And riled. “How the hell did that happen?”
“We’re not sure yet. We had a tail on him, just in case he tried to follow the hired gun or something, but the tail stayed a