Delivering Justice

“And where is home?” Tommy asked.

“Louisiana, like on my license. You saw that earlier,” Milton said. “You’d like to come home with me, wouldn’t you, darling?”

There he went with that darling business again. Tyler wanted to vomit. Again, Milton was pouring it on a little thick.

While Tommy was finishing his interview, Tyler excused himself in order to talk to Jennifer’s doctor, Dr. McConnell.

McConnell was a no-nonsense middle-aged woman who’d been working at the hospital since graduating medical school. A local, she wore jeans and boots under her white coat and she’d been a close family friend since longer than Tyler could remember.

“Is there any chance she’s being abused?” he asked McConnell when he was sure they were out of earshot.

“I’m bound by oath not to respond to that question,” Dr. McConnell said. “However, since you found her, I don’t mind telling you that she has quite a few bruises on both of her arms.”

“I’m guessing that’s a yes,” he said.

“She’s been through a lot.” McConnell frowned. “I’m not saying she’s been abused, but even if she has there’s no way to prove anything. And, of course, nothing can be done unless a victim is willing to talk about it or press charges.”

“In theory, would you have offered that kind of help by now?” he asked.

“I would’ve. We’re not talking about a child here, where I’d be forced to report suspected abuse and Tommy could step in,” Dr. McConnell said. “I can only help patients who want it.”

Tyler didn’t like what he heard.

“When I see a patient with bruising like we’ve discussed, I’m always sure to have another conversation with her. I can promise that she’ll know that there are folks who can help. I’ll offer assistance, but it’ll be up to her to accept,” Dr. McConnell said, placing her hand on Tyler’s shoulder. She had to reach up, considering she wasn’t more than five foot three.

“Much obliged to you, doc,” Tyler said.

“Before you go, any word on the investigation? It’s been two weeks since I submitted the results from the third-party analysis of the toxicology report,” she said, and he knew that she was talking about his parents. She’d been one of his mother’s closest friends and he could see how much the doctor missed her in the dark circles under her eyes. The recent news that his parents had been murdered hit their friends hard, their children harder.

“Nothing so far, except that Tommy is reviewing the case file personally,” he said. Tyler and his brothers benefitted the most from their parents’ deaths so they’d be at the top of anyone’s suspect list. There were no other leads at the time.

Dr. McConnell gave that a minute.

“Give your brothers a hug for me,” she finally said.

“I will.”

Walking toward Jennifer’s room, Tyler’s footsteps fell heavy. Even though he wanted to take James Milton out back and teach him a thing or two about why real men didn’t hurt women, the reality was that there wasn’t much else he could do at the hospital.

Tommy seemed to be wrapping things up by the time Tyler returned to the room. As much as it soured him to do so, Tyler shook James Milton’s hand. Milton’s wasn’t moist or hot, indicating that he was fairly relaxed about the situation.

But should he be?

A man who hit a woman might be a practiced liar. Tyler didn’t care much for people who couldn’t be bothered to tell the truth. And this jerk was poised to walk right out the door and go scot-free. He hadn’t violated any laws that Tommy could arrest him for. Tyler could see Tommy’s frustration written all over his face.

“One last thing,” Tommy said to Milton. “Did you have permission to ride on the O’Brien ranch?”

“Permission?” Milton echoed. His eyes widened when he heard the name O’Brien. Most people knew it and had a similar reaction.

“The land that you and your fiancée were riding ATVs on is owned by the O’Brien family,” Tommy continued. “It’s protected by a fence and No Trespassing signs are posted everywhere. I’ve been out hunting on that property myself. So, my question to you is, were you aware that you were breaking the law when you took your recreational vehicles on the land?”

“Well, no, we hadn’t planned on being on his property. We got lost. Is that a crime?” For the first time in the interview, Milton looked like he might break a sweat.

“Being lost? No. Trespassing on someone else’s land and destroying their property? Yes.” Tommy turned to Tyler. “Will you be pressing charges today, Mr. O’Brien?”

Tyler might not be able to stop Jennifer from walking out of the hospital with this jerk but he could slow them down.

“As a matter of fact, I will,” Tyler said, shifting his gaze to Milton. “You say that you innocently got lost, but how do I know that you weren’t out on my property, illegally hunting?”

“I don’t own a gun, for one,” Milton shot back.

Tyler figured that Tommy could check the gun registration database all day long and not find a gun registered to James Milton. That didn’t mean he wasn’t carrying one anyway. There was no shortage of illegal guns on the black market and in the hands of people who had no business with them.

“I can’t know that for sure. Besides, you might’ve ditched it when you realized you were close to getting caught. In fact, I have another scenario worth the sheriff’s consideration,” Tyler said.

“Care to enlighten me?” But Milton’s gaze said the opposite.

“How about this? You take your fiancée here on a hunting trip on my land. We offer excursions but you don’t want to pay the price. You decide to do things on your own. But then you hear someone and you know you’re about to get caught. Rather than risk it, you take off, leaving your fiancée to fend for herself. You go hide in your motel room waiting for her to come back. You clean up because you don’t want to risk anyone realizing you might’ve been outside. But here comes the problem. Your fiancée gets herself in trouble and ends up in the hospital, so you make up this wild story about the two of you fighting to cover for the fact that you were illegally hunting on my property,” Tyler said, his gaze zeroed in on Milton.

“You can’t be serious.” Milton’s gaze darted from Tyler to Tommy as he took a step back. A few more and he’d be in the corner.

“Sure I can,” Tyler shot back, watching Milton’s reaction.

“Can I see your hunting license, Mr. Milton?” Tommy asked.

Milton balked. “I don’t have one. I’ve already told you that I don’t even own a gun.”

“Did you realize that you’d need one?” Tommy continued.

“I didn’t come here to hunt. I wasn’t out looking for game on his land.” Milton shot daggers toward Tyler before narrowing his gaze when he looked at Tommy again. “I’ll ask again. Am I under arrest?”

“If you were, we’d be having a different conversation right now, Mr. Milton. One that would include reading your Miranda rights to you. Since I haven’t done that yet, you’re free to go.” Tommy turned toward the door. “But I have every intention of investigating Mr. O’Brien’s complaint. In which case, I’m advising you not to leave town until this dispute has been resolved.”

It was weak. Tyler knew enough about the law to know that, but Tommy was betting that Milton didn’t realize it.

“I have no plans to go anywhere until my Jennifer is better. And then I have every intention of driving out of this town and back to Louisiana,” Milton said.

“Mind if I speak to you privately, Mr. Milton?” Tommy shot a wink toward Tyler so subtle he barely caught it.

Tyler immediately caught on. He grabbed the pen and paper off the wheeled tray table and jotted down his cell number. Then, he moved to the bed next to Jennifer.

“You sure you’re okay?” he asked.

She nodded, looking resolved. If she was engaged to Milton, then wouldn’t she seem more comforted by his presence? Tyler figured he could rack his brain trying to solve that and other mysteries for the rest of his life and still come up short. There wasn’t much else he could do or say if he stuck around. Red...Jennifer, he corrected himself, seemed intent on staying with this jerk. Just in case she changed her mind and wanted a friend, he folded up the piece of paper into a tiny square.

“You change your mind or need anything, call me.” He managed to slip it under her pillow before Milton returned.

Tyler figured it might help him sleep at night, knowing he’d done everything he could.

Heck, who was he kidding? Those sea-green eyes were going to haunt him.

* * *

TYLER’S CELL BUZZED. He glanced at the clock on his nightstand. It was hours until the sun would rise. The noise should’ve jolted him awake but his eyes had barely closed all night thinking about Red.

He threw off the covers and walked over to the dresser where his phone sat on its charger, thinking what he really needed to clear his head was a night on the town and a stiff drink.

The number didn’t look familiar but he answered anyway.

“I don’t have anyone else to call. Please help me.” The frail voice on the other end of the line belonged to Red.

Was she ready to talk? To get out of the relationship with Milton? To get help?

“Are you there?” she asked. Panic raised her voice a couple of octaves.

“Yes,” he said. “As long as you’re ready to tell me what’s really going on.”

“I’m sorry about before. It’s just...” She paused, sounding almost too tired or scared to finish what she started to say. “If he finds out I’m talking to you, to anyone, then I’m dead.”

“Seems to me that he’s going to hurt you either way, Jennifer,” Tyler said.

“My name isn’t Jennifer. It’s Jessica,” she confided.

“I saw your driver’s license,” he said, chalking up the mistake to her head injury.

“Please, give me a chance to explain,” she begged. “I’m not who I said I was. I know who I am and my name is Jessica.”

Chapter Four

“Okay.” The handsome cowboy paused as if he was seriously considering what Jessica had just said. “Is the license a fake?”

“No.”

“Well then, I’m the one who’s confused,” he said, his voice gruff from sleep.

Jessica didn’t know Tyler from Adam and yet his calming voice and masculine strength had her believing she could trust him. There was something about the tall cowboy that made her believe he would protect her.

Then again, it wasn’t like she had a lot of options. The game had changed somewhere along the line and she hadn’t expected Milton to try to kill her. He didn’t even know that Jennifer had an identical twin, let alone that Jessica was posing as her sister.

“What’s really going on?” Tyler asked.

How much should she tell him? Could she tell him? She needed to say enough to convince him that she wasn’t crazy.

“I wish I knew,” she said honestly. All Jessica thought she was supposed to be doing was subbing for her party-girl sister, Jennifer, in order to give her time to fix whatever needed fixing. Since no one in Jennifer’s circle knew she had an identical twin, the two figured they could pull off a switch and no one would be the wiser. “I need to contact my twin sister and I can’t do that while he’s watching my every move.”

“You’re a twin?” Tyler sounded surprised but not shocked.

“Yes. Sorry for lying to you earlier,” she said quietly into the phone, praying she wouldn’t disturb Milton, who was sleeping ten feet away from her bed. Jessica despised lies. Anyone could ask her ex-boyfriend, Brent, about that. He seemed to be an expert at manipulating the truth when they’d been together.

Jessica refocused. She’d waited all night for Milton to doze off, and this might be her only chance to reach out for help. She’d be released sometime tomorrow afternoon and if she didn’t get away from Milton it would be all over. Jessica’s memory was still spotty but one thing was clear. She needed to get away from that man while she was still alive and connect with her sister before he figured her out. He kept asking her where she’d hid “it.” Jessica had no idea what he’d been talking about. Her sister had warned her that Milton believed she had something valuable and had said to pick a place to take him. When she’d taken him to the O’Brien ranch and told him she’d buried it nearby, he’d slammed a rock against her head.

“What are you asking me to do?” he asked in that deep raspy voice.

“Get me out of here,” she whispered. She was taking a huge risk in calling the cowboy. Milton could wake at any second. She had no idea what her sister had gotten herself involved in, but it must be pretty darn bad for that man to want her dead.

“Is he there right now?” the cowboy asked.

“Yes.”

Milton stirred in his sleep and Jessica panicked. She hung up the phone before he could catch her. If hospital staff didn’t show up every hour or so she figured Milton would’ve already found a way to finish the job. The fact that his earlier attempt to kill her had been staged to look like an accident made her believe that he didn’t want to be associated with a murder investigation.

If Jessica didn’t figure out what was going on and find her sister, they’d both be dead. Losing contact yesterday had settled an ominous feeling over Jessica. She wasn’t sure who she could trust anymore, except the rich cowboy who seemed determined to help. He sent her pulse racing for a whole other set of reasons she didn’t want to examine. But she’d called him as a last-ditch effort to try to help her escape and find her sister. Was that a mistake?

Milton rolled onto his other side in the chair next to her bed, causing her pulse to race.

Jessica had no idea how long she’d been lying there, staring at the white ceiling, when a pair of nurses walked in pushing a gurney.

Milton shot straight up and rubbed his puffy eyes. “What’s going on?”

The nurse shot him a warning look before checking the chart affixed to the foot of Jessica’s bed. “We’re taking our patient for an X-ray.”

Milton stood, blocking her path to Jessica.

“At this hour?” he asked, puffing out his chest, and Jessica noticed he’d done that earlier when he tried to intimidate Tyler. It hadn’t worked with the rich cowboy.

“This is a hospital, sir. We run 24/7,” the nurse shot back and she didn’t appear affected, either. “Now, if you’ll step out of the way on your own it’ll save me the trouble of calling security and having you removed from the building. We can do this any way you want. It’s your call.”

Jessica grinned despite trying to hold it in. Luckily, Milton’s back was to her so he couldn’t see her face. The man frightened her.

The nurse could see her, though, and she winked at Jessica as she brushed past him.

Between the two nurses, they detached Jessica from the monitors and hoisted her up onto the gurney.

Milton made a move to follow them into the hall, but the lead nurse put up a hand to stop him. “I don’t think so, sir. No one but the patient and X-ray tech are allowed where we’re taking her.”

His agitation was written in the severe lines of his forehead, and his eyebrows looked like angry slash marks. Jessica worried that wouldn’t bode well for her later. Then again, he’d made his intentions pretty clear.

Milton stood in the doorway, watching, as Jessica was wheeled down the hallway. She could almost feel his eyes on her and she’d never be able to shake the horror of turning to find him standing there, rock raised in the air, and then a sharp pain before everything went dark.

With him in the room, she hadn’t been able to sleep a wink for fear he’d make sure she never woke. But that didn’t make sense, did it? Would he be so bold as to kill her in the hospital where he could be discovered? Especially now that their situation had drawn so much attention. He’d gone to great pains to make his first attempt look like an accident. Jessica had every intention of figuring out why he wanted to kill her sister and what she’d gotten herself into by agreeing to help.

The nurses made a right turn at the nurse’s station and then broke into a run. Before Jessica could manage to get a word out, they stopped. A blanket was tossed over her head as she was ushered off the gurney. Her claustrophobia kicked into high gear but she resisted the urge to fight against it, taking a deep breath instead of giving in to panic. She could only pray that the nurses could be trusted.

* * *

“DON’T SAY A WORD,” Tyler said, turning the light on his phone toward Red as he took off the blanket.

“What are—”

“You asked me to help and that’s what I’m doing,” he said, hating how scared she sounded, looked. He expected her to argue or put up a fight. Instead, she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his neck.

“Thank you,” she said, and he could feel her shaking.

Tyler would do whatever it took to help Red. The mystery woman stirred up all kinds of unfamiliar feelings. And seeing her in an abusive relationship dredged up all kinds of bad emotions from the past...feelings he couldn’t set aside as easily as he’d like. He’d told himself that he’d agreed to help her solely based on the fact that she was a woman in need, but there was more. The best Tyler could do was let Red explain herself. He intended to get to the bottom of what was really going on.

“Can I use that phone?” she asked.

“As soon as you tell me why you’re with that jerk.”

Shock widened her sea-green eyes. “I’m not. We’re not. It’s just that everything’s so complicated right now. I’m not sure how to explain.”

“Start at the beginning.”

“I need to get ahold of my sister first, so I can sort this out. Please.”

Tyler figured he needed to buy some goodwill so he handed over his cell.

Red made a phone call and it ran straight into voice mail.

“That’s not good. She should be picking up.” Exasperation ran deep in her voice. She called another number.

A sleepy-sounding woman answered.

“Where’s Jennifer?” Red asked.

Tyler now knew that she’d been posing as her sister. It was a trick his twin younger brothers had played on the family more than once when they were growing up. It had all been good-natured fun. But Red’s life was on the line.

And then a thought dawned on him. Red wasn’t in a bad relationship with Milton, her sister was. Maybe she was giving her sister time to get her bearings enough to leave the jerk. She might’ve been the one to deliver the message. A guy like Milton wouldn’t have taken news like that lying down. Had he gotten angry, found the nearest rock and bashed her in the head?

“What do you mean she just disappeared?” There was outright panic in Red’s voice now as she spoke quietly into the phone. “No. Don’t call anyone. Don’t tell anyone. Promise me you won’t look for her.”

Red’s shoulders slumped forward and tears rolled down her cheeks as she ended the call. She closed her eyes as if trying to shut out the world.

“Tell me what’s going on and we’ll figure something out.” Tyler’s fingers itched to hold her but making that move was a slippery slope. “Does he know who you really are?”

“No. And I have no idea what I’ve actually gotten myself into,” she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. “My head hurts.”

“You can start by telling me what your sister’s relationship to James Milton is,” Tyler said.

The mention of Milton’s name got her eyes open in a hurry.

“We can’t talk here.” She glanced around. “Where are we anyway?”

Tyler didn’t like the idea of taking her out of the hospital without knowing exactly what kind of danger she was in and from whom, but he had no choice under the circumstances. Milton would be asking questions soon and wouldn’t be satisfied without an answer. Tyler needed to get her away from the building. He pulled out a bundle of clothing. “Here. Put these on.”

“Scrubs?” she asked, and when he nodded she turned to face the other way.

He took the cue to untie the back of her gown and had to force his gaze away from the silky skin of her shoulder as she slipped out of the cotton material. In addition to the surgical scrubs, Dr. McConnell had provided a bra and panties and shoes. He needed to call her in the morning to thank her for arranging everything on such short notice.

Luckily she’d believed the story about Red wanting out of the relationship. Since she’d planned to release her the next day, McConnell didn’t see the harm in giving Red an out tonight. She’d joked that it was already morning somewhere and made him promise to let her stop by his place after rounds to check on her patient. Lying to McConnell sat sourly in Tyler’s gut. He’d explain the situation when he could. His first order of business was getting Red away from Milton and to safety. Then, the two of them would have a conversation about delivering justice to Milton.

“What now?” Red said, turning around to face him.

“Put these on.” He handed her a surgical mask and hair covering. “And then meet me downstairs near the ER. If he sees me he’ll think something’s up. I want to give us as good of a head start as I can.”

She took a deep breath and he assumed it was to steel her nerves.

“Okay. Let’s do this,” she said.

“You go first. That way, if he’s wandering around and happens to see you, I won’t be far behind,” Tyler said. “Once you walk out the door, make a right toward the stairs. I don’t want you waiting around for an elevator. The ER is on the first floor so you’ll have to make it down eight flights of stairs on your own. Can you handle it?”

She nodded and all he could see were her eyes, the green stood out even more against the light-blue face mask.

“Okay, then. Once you’re down, I’ll meet you at the ER bay,” he said. “Don’t forget to take off the mask before you walk out of the stairwell.”

Red stood at the door for a long moment. She pressed her flat palm against it but stopped short of opening it.

Then she stole a last look at him before walking out and to her right.

Tyler figured he needed to wait a bit before he followed. It would take all his self-control not to hightail it to Red’s room and deliver his own brand of justice. Milton needed to see what it was like to fight with a man. But that would only alert the creep to the fact that Jessica was on the run. Since Tyler couldn’t be in two places at once, he waited a few minutes, then pushed the door open. If Milton saw him at all, it could be game over.

Besides, there was a lot more to this situation than met the eye and Tyler needed to get to the bottom of what was going on before he let his fists fly. He’d take Jessica to the ranch for tonight. There wasn’t a place around with better security than home.

Tyler made it down the hall and then to the elevator without incident. In the ER, Red was standing right where he’d told her to and a part of him sighed in relief. He couldn’t be sure that she wouldn’t bolt as soon as she had the chance and he had all kinds of questions that needed answers.

Then again, she was in a strange town. Running from the one person helping her didn’t make a bit of sense.

So far, Red had told Tyler that she’d stepped in for a sister who was now missing. Twins. He shook his head as he walked toward her. Wouldn’t his little brothers Joshua and Ryder have a field day with this? Red and her sister’s trick would be right up their alley. Even though they weren’t actually identical, his youngest brothers looked enough alike that they got away with a few too many pranks, switching places to confuse people.

Tyler took Red’s arm and led her out to his waiting SUV.

“What has your sister gotten herself into?” he asked as soon as they were safe inside his vehicle. He turned the key in the ignition and backed out of the parking space.

As he meandered through the lot and onto the highway he expected her to speak. She didn’t.

“We can turn back and I’ll ask Milton, if that makes you feel better,” he threatened. No way would he go through with it but she needed a little motivation to get her talking.

“I told you before, she’s my twin sister. She’s in trouble.”