Guardian

Leo nodded at Craig, who shut off the motor, then strapped on a buoyance compensator, his mask and oxygen tank. The man sat on the side of the boat and fell backward into the water. True barked and lunged for the water. Leo continued to hold him back.

“No, boy,” Leo said, adjusting his grip on True. “We’re staying here.”

Leo and True both watched the surface of the river. Leo pulled on latex gloves in anticipation of handling the body and prepared the large, waterproof plastic body bag. His gaze darted back to the shore, where Alicia stood sentinel on the rocks, flanked by the two officers.

She held her head up and her shoulders back like a fierce warrior. She was tall and so very appealing. He admired her commitment to being a voice for the victim. Most people would want to bail the second they could. Not Alicia. He liked that about her.

Bubbles rose as Craig broke through the surface. In his arms he held a red-haired woman. Anxiety curled through Leo. He gave True the command to lie down so he could help Craig bring the woman’s inert body onto the boat and into the body bag. Smoothing back a chunk of matted hair, Leo inhaled sharply then let out his breath in a swoosh.

It wasn’t Esme. They still had their prime witness in the Dupree case. But there was enough of a resemblance that for a moment he’d thought the worst. And though Esme was still alive, sorrow welled within him because this woman wasn’t.

Now he had the difficult task of identifying the victim and informing the family.

He took his cell phone from his pocket and called Chief Jarrett, who promised to send the coroner to meet them at the marina. The coroner would take possession of the body and then call in a forensic pathologist to do an autopsy.

Leo then called headquarters. The team’s general assistant immediately answered. “FBI Tactical K-9 Unit, Christy Burton speaking.”

“It’s Leo. Is Max available?”

“Good afternoon, Leo. He’s on another line talking to the US Marshals. Is this urgent or can he call you back?”

There wasn’t much Max could do from headquarters, so not urgent. “Tell him to call me. I found what we were looking for.”

“I’ll tell him.” Christy signed off and Leo tucked his phone back in his pocket.

Before he could zip the bag closed, Craig murmured, “There’s something pinned to her clothes.”

A baggie had indeed been pinned to the collar of her shirt. Leo had missed it at first because of her hair. And inside the baggie was a note, the words clearly visible through the plastic.

It’s not sisterly to snitch, Esme.

THREE

Alicia stood on the outcropping of rocks, her heart pounding so hard she thought it might burst from her chest. This spot held so many fun and cherished memories, but now...

Out on the river, Leo and the diver had pulled the victim from the water. Averting her gaze, Alicia sent up a prayer for the woman’s family. They would need God’s peace and comfort when they learned of their loved one’s demise. She hoped justice would be served. For both this woman’s sake, as well as for Alicia and Charlie’s safety. She couldn’t forget the man who’d done this, the one who’d shot at and chased after them and was still out there.

The boat carrying Leo, the diver and True motored downstream. Alicia watched them for a moment. Thoughts raced through her head. A feeling of uncertainty flowed through her.

Agent Gallagher glanced back and waved. She automatically raised her hand in response, signaling what, she wasn’t sure. See you later? A job well done?

They’d found the victim and would be able to give the woman’s family closure. That had to be worth something in the grand scheme of things. It hurt Alicia’s heart that anyone should have to die at the hands of another.

Her thoughts turned to her late husband, Jeff. Had he realized in those moments after being shot while on duty that he was leaving this world? Had he found himself regretting the less honorable things in his life? Of the sweet little boy they’d made together, Charlie? Had he thought of her?

She closed her eyes and willed the hurt and pain to dissipate.

“We should meet Agent Gallagher at the marina,” Officer Jenkins said in a gentle tone, forcing her to focus on the here and now.

“Will you grab the tackle box?” Alicia picked up her and Charlie’s fishing poles. She had half expected them to be gone, taken by someone either hoping to add to their own collection, or who would turn them into the marina’s lost and found. Lots of people used the rocks to fish, but apparently not today.

A part of her wished she and Charlie hadn’t been there. She couldn’t quiet the unease inside her, but if that had been the case, no one would have known about the woman. Sighing, she knew she would have to trust God that she was where she was supposed to be today. He’d seen her through so much. She couldn’t forget that now.

Ever so slowly, she and the two officers made their way through the trees and underbrush. She stopped by the tree where the killer’s bullet had taken out a chunk of the bark and shivered. Pointing at the hole, she said, “The killer shot at us here.”

Officer Reynolds took a picture of the hole in the tree with his phone. He did some pointing of his own. “See these gouges?”

She nodded.

“The assailant must have come back and dug out the bullet,” he observed. “But we have the one from your car, which unfortunately didn’t yield any clue to the suspect’s identity.”

They continued onward.

A careful killer. Would he see her as a detail to be eliminated?

Fear scratched at her mind, making her stumble over a root in the ground. She had to stay focused. The last thing she needed was to twist an ankle or worse.

She sent up a grateful prayer that Charlie hadn’t seen the man. However, the killer couldn’t know that. She hoped, prayed, the man wouldn’t consider Charlie a threat. A three-year-old wouldn’t make for a reliable witness.

Alicia led the way toward the gravel parking lot. They were only a few feet from clearing the forest when a noise sounded to the right that made the hairs on her arms rise. She darted behind a tree, trying to make herself as invisible as possible.

Officer Jenkins withdrew his sidearm. “It could be anything. A bear or an elk.”

Or a killer tracking her movements.

Paranoid much? The killer wouldn’t risk capture by sticking around, would he?

“Let’s hustle,” Officer Reynolds advised as he cupped her elbow and increased their pace.

They broke through the forest onto the gravel lot. With the two officers flanked on either side of her, they made their way to the marina at a fast clip.

The county coroner was already at the boat launch as the boat carrying Leo, True, the diver and the corpse arrived. Alicia and her escorts hung back as the body was loaded into the back of the coroner’s van. Both officers were twitchy, their sharp-eyed gazes returning to the woods as if they expected something or someone to come barreling out of the forest.

Alicia kept the agent’s SUV between her and the edge of the forest as a shield, just in case. She was all Charlie had left. He and her father needed her in one piece and breathing.

Leo shook hands with the diver and then, with True at his heels, he walked toward Alicia. There was a grimness to the set of his mouth and a tension in his wide shoulders that hadn’t been there before he’d gone out on the river.

“Thank you, Ms. Duncan, for your help today,” he said. “Having you point out the victim’s body’s location saved us time. I’m hopeful the forensics will lead us to her killer.”

“I pray so,” she murmured. “That man can’t be allowed to get away with this crime.”

Leo’s green eyes darkened. “He won’t.”

There was a world of determination and conviction in his husky tone that made Alicia suspect Agent Leo Gallagher was the type of man who never quit once he was on a case. For the victim’s sake, she appreciated that trait in the man.

Jenkins caught Leo’s attention. “Sir, can I talk to you a moment?”

Leo nodded and the two men stepped away, but not far enough that she couldn’t hear the officer telling Leo about the scare they’d had in the woods. Alicia wasn’t sure why the officer felt the need to leave her out of the conversation. She’d been there, too. She’d heard the unsettling noise. She just wanted to go back to the police station, grab Charlie and head home to the ranch.

Leo shook hands with Jenkins and Reynolds before they climbed into their cruiser.

“Let’s get you to your son,” Leo said as he held open the passenger door of his SUV.

Grateful to him for understanding her unspoken desire to return to Charlie, she whispered, “Thank you. I worry.”

“Of course you do. That’s what moms are supposed to do, right?”

Something in his tone caught her attention as she climbed into the passenger seat. While Leo and True took their places in the SUV, she struggled to reason out the note of...not sarcasm but resentment, maybe. Hmm. It was subtle but there. She’d learned to hear the subtext in words and voices as a teacher. Doing so had helped her detect a case of child abuse at her last school.

However, she curbed her curiosity about Agent Gallagher. Whatever his issues were, they were his and she had no desire to get roped into any type of relationship with the man, even if only one of sympathy. In less than an hour she’d be on her way home, and Leo would no longer be in her life.

“What did you hear in the woods?” he asked, surprising her.

She shrugged, hoping to come across as nonchalant. “Movement. But it could have been any number of things. The forests are home to many different animals both large and small.”

He slanted her a quick glance then returned his gaze to the road. “You weren’t alarmed?”

Her mouth twisted in a wry smile. “I didn’t say that. After what I witnessed today, being a bit jumpy is understandable.”

“Yes, it is understandable. I have to say you’re handling everything remarkably well.”

“Thanks. My late husband was a cop. I think maybe that has something to do with it.”

“My condolences on your husband’s death. From the sounds of it, he was a hero.”

She arched her eyebrows and ignored the comment about her husband being a hero. For Charlie’s sake, she wouldn’t ever dispute the assumption. She wanted him to be proud of his father. She hoped her son never learned the truth about the kind of man Jeff had truly been. “From the sounds of it? Did you do a background check on me?”

“I wouldn’t be a very good investigator if I didn’t do my homework,” Leo replied evenly.

“Right. Of course.” She shouldn’t be surprised. For all he knew, she could be a nutcase wanting attention by claiming to have witnessed a murder.

Still, it made her feel vulnerable to know he had information about her that she hadn’t shared with him. Was there a file on her? What did it say? Was her and Jeff’s dirty laundry listed in the file? She shuddered as she did anytime she thought about Jeff’s cheating and lying.

They arrived at the police station, and Alicia didn’t wait for Leo and True, but jumped out the second the SUV halted and hurried inside. She found Charlie with the chief’s wife, Lynette Jarrett. The silver-haired woman was reading a book to her son in the chief’s office.

Lynette smiled warmly at her as Alicia stopped in the doorway. “Here’s your mommy,” she said to Charlie.

“Mommy!” He jumped down from the chair to wrap his arms around her legs. “I missed you.”

Love tore through her heart and she scooped him up into her arms. “I missed you, too, bug.” He laid his head on her shoulder. Over his head, Alicia smiled at Lynette. “Thank you. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble for you to come to the station. I’m surprised the chief dragged you over here.”

Lynette rose and touched Charlie’s back. “Dwayne didn’t drag me. I called to see how his day was going, and he said he was watching your little one. I had to come. I haven’t seen my grandbabies in a while, and I was needing some little-boy time.” She picked up a sack from the floor. “I brought books and treats. We were well entertained.”

Grateful to the older woman, Alicia said, “I appreciate you keeping him busy.”

“Of course. How’s your father?”

“He’s doing okay. Ornery and not wanting to do as the doctor tells him to keep his blood pressure under control. His diet is horrible. He’s worse than a three-year-old when it comes to eating his veggies.”

Lynette laughed. “Disguise them. It worked with my kids and grandkids.”

“I will.” Alicia glanced down and realized Charlie had fallen asleep in her arms. She needed to get him home.

Leo stepped into the office with Chief Jarrett.

“Agent Gallagher,” Jarrett said, “this is my wife, Lynette. Lynette, Agent Gallagher is from the FBI and is helping on a case.”

Lynette’s smile widened. “Well, that’s special. I don’t think I’ve heard of the FBI visiting our small slice of life here. I hope you’ll find Settler’s Valley to your liking.”

Leo blinked, clearly not sure how to take the older woman’s words. “I’m only here until this case is solved. The town is quaint, though.” He turned to Alicia. “Are you ready?”

She tucked in her chin. “For?”

“The chief said you live on the outskirts of town. True and I will escort you to make sure you arrive safely.”

“That’s not necessary,” she said. “It’s a twenty-minute ride at best. We’ll be fine.” She could just imagine what her father would think if she brought home a federal agent.

Leo’s jaw visibly tightened. “Yes, you will be fine. I’ll see to it.”

“No. You don’t have to do that.”

Chief Jarrett cleared his throat. “If you’re willing to wait an hour or so, I can have officers escort you, if you’d rather.”

Alicia whipped her gaze to the chief. She had no intention of staying here any longer than she absolutely needed to. “That’s not necessary. The killer is most likely long gone.” At least she prayed so.

“We can’t take that risk. He might come after you since he knows you’ve seen his face,” Leo stated in a firm voice.

“But I’ve already talked to the police, so what good would coming after me do?”

“He could eliminate you as a witness.”

Leo’s dire words sent fear cascading down her spine. She’d had that same thought earlier in the woods, but had dismissed it as paranoia. But realizing that the FBI agent and the police chief both thought she was still in danger had her heart pounding. Better to be safe than sorry, as the saying went. “All right. Agent Gallagher, you may follow us home.”

And she’d send him on his way once they were safely back at the ranch.

* * *

Leo kept the SUV a couple of car lengths from the tailgate of Alicia Duncan’s little all-wheel-drive sport vehicle as they headed away from the police station. The kid had fallen asleep in his mother’s arms. Leo had to admit the little boy was very cute. And so was Alicia. He liked her spunk. She may not have wanted an escort home, but she was smart enough to realize that she was still in danger.

It was slow going through town due to congestion. Cars and people were out as evening was setting in. The turn-of-the-century architecture gave the place a quaint feel though he’d noticed a new hospital complex on the way in. Settler’s Valley was nestled in the shadow of the Blackthorn Mountains, and the Blackthorn River flowed down the middle of town.

Several bridges connected the two sides, some for pedestrians, and others for vehicles. Alicia turned off the main drag, traveling away from the river and town. They cruised at fifty miles an hour on a flat stretch of asphalt that had fenced pastureland on either side of the two-lane road.

Having never been to Wyoming before, Leo took in the countryside. It was similar to nearby Montana, but there were distinct differences, too. Like the huge, brown bison walking along the side of the road. True barked at the creatures as they passed by five or six of them.

The terrain became more wooded the longer they drove. They passed several turnoffs marked by mailboxes. Gravel driveways led to far-off ranches that could barely be seen. What would it be like to reside so far from civilization?

Leo had lived and worked on a ranch in Kansas as a teen, but it hadn’t been that far from town. He’d been able to ride his bike back and forth to school and later college. Those had been the hardest and the best years of his life. If not for the ranch foreman, Ben Smith, Leo’s life would have followed a different path. A less productive one.

After a series of foster homes, he’d run away from the last one at age fourteen. He’d lived on the streets for two years before landing in Andale, Kansas, on the outskirts of Wichita. Population, nine hundred.

In a back alley behind a diner, Ben had found him scrounging through the garbage looking for something to eat. Ben had dragged him to the Crescent Ranch, where he put Leo to work mucking out stalls in exchange for food and board. Ben had been the one to insist Leo enroll in the local high school. And later to apply for college and scholarship money.

Leo’s gaze snagged on a dark-colored muscle car with tinted windows waiting at the end of a driveway. Not exactly the type of vehicle one would expect to see coming from a ranch. Leo figured a teenager was probably at the wheel. No adult male would purposely put such a sweet ride through the torture of a gravel drive.

As Alicia’s car approached the driveway, the muscle car’s headlights came on and its engine revved, the rumble unmistakable despite the fact Leo’s windows were rolled up. True reacted to the rumble with a series of frantic barks.

The nerves in Leo’s gut constricted. He pressed the accelerator, forcing the SUV to gain on Alicia’s smaller one. He was right on her tail.

“Brace yourself,” Leo called to the dog. Thankfully, the compartment housing True was compact and padded for the dog’s safety.

Alicia’s car crossed directly in front of the driveway. The muscle car’s tires spun and gravel flew as the vehicle charged forward, the driver’s intention clear. He was about to ram into her. Leo stomped on the gas and swerved around Alicia, putting his SUV between her and the muscle car. Leo tensed, bracing for impact.

The driver of the other vehicle jammed on his brakes, barely missing Leo’s SUV, as Leo and Alicia zipped past him.

Slowing to allow Alicia to pull in front of him again, Leo twisted the wheel, bringing the SUV into a 180-degree spin so that he now faced the assailant’s car. He hit the dash lights that set off the unmistakable police strobe. The muscle car peeled out, sending a tail of gravel flying through the air, and sped toward town. Leo hit the steering wheel with the palm of his hand, torn between wanting to give chase and the need to protect Alicia and her son.

Decision made, he made another, slower U-turn and caught up to Alicia. He used the vehicle’s Bluetooth to call Chief Jarrett and reported the incident. Unfortunately, it had been too dark to make out the car’s license plate.

“I’ll have patrol officers searching for the car and driver. Keep Alicia and Charlie safe, Agent Gallagher,” Jarrett instructed with worry in his tone.

“Count on it.” Leo hung up and followed Alicia when she turned off onto a long gravel drive that led past rolling grass pastures populated with horses. A solid-looking log-and-brick house sat at the end of the drive, along with two other outbuildings and a large barn.

He drew the SUV to a halt beside Alicia’s smaller vehicle. She sat there not moving. Concern arced through him. He quickly got out and released True. The dog took a second to assess the area before racing off to a patch of grass.

Leo opened the driver’s side door of Alicia’s car. Her fingers were wrapped around the steering wheel and her breathing was shallow. Her long, wavy dark hair created a veil that blocked her face from his view. He touched her shoulder. “Alicia, it’s okay. You’re home. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

She leaned her head back against the headrest. “If you hadn’t been with us...”

“But I was,” he said gently. He held out his hand. “Let’s get Charlie inside.”

She peeled her fingers from the steering wheel and took Leo’s hand. Her skin was soft but cold as she curled her fingers around his. “Can you get him?”

He swallowed back the terror the request sent spiraling through him. Two decades had passed since he’d last held a child in his arms. The last one had been his little sister the day she died. Guilt clawed up his throat. He took a shuddering breath and opened the back passenger door.

After releasing the buckle on Charlie’s car seat, he cautiously lifted the sleeping boy into his arms, careful to keep the child’s leg from catching on the holstered gun at his waist, and held him close to his chest with one arm. His heart hurt but he pushed through the pain to wrap his free arm around Alicia to help her toward the front door. True trotted over and stayed at his side.

The front door opened before they could climb the four stairs to the porch. True growled and positioned himself in front of Leo.

A grizzled man with gray hair, dressed in a plaid flannel shirt, jeans and cowboy boots, stood there with a shotgun in his gnarled hands. No doubt Harmon Howard, Alicia’s father.

Leo stiffened. He’d been an agent long enough to recognize the protective gleam in the man’s eyes, and he knew better than to make any sudden moves or the situation could get out of hand fast.

“Who are you?” The old man’s jaw jutted forward. “What are you doing with my daughter and grandson?”

FOUR

“Dad! Put that thing away. You’ll scare Charlie,” Alicia admonished in a hushed tone to the man consuming the doorway of the ranch house, his shotgun leveled at Leo’s chest.

The old man was doing a good job of setting Leo’s nerves on edge, too. Tension knotted in his gut. Even though Alicia’s father didn’t have his finger on the trigger, Leo handed the sleepy child to his mother and then tucked them both behind him.

He’d rather take the hit square in the chest than allow anything to happen to anyone in his care. He wished he’d thought to wear a flak vest, but he hadn’t anticipated facing down the barrel of a shotgun.

His elbow nudged his sidearm, but he kept his hand from reaching for the weapon. Best to take a less threatening stance. Keep things calm. He held up his hands, palms out. “Sir, please, lower your weapon.”

True’s menacing growl echoed in the stillness of the evening air.

“Leave it,” Leo instructed. The last thing he needed was for True to tangle with Mr. Howard.

“Mister, you didn’t answer my question,” Harmon Howard grumbled, but lowered the barrel toward the floor. His gaze bounced between True and Leo. “Who are you?”

“Agent Leo Gallagher of the FBI.”

Harmon’s lip curled. His dark blue gaze jumped to Alicia. “Another one? You don’t learn from your mistakes, do you?” With that proclamation, Harmon did an about-face and disappeared inside the house.

Relief eased the stranglehold of tension in Leo’s body and allowed his curiosity to pique. He glanced at Alicia. A blush tinged her cheeks. Her late husband had been a police officer in Tacoma, Washington. “Is your father against law enforcement in general?”

Alicia grimaced. “Not normally. Only my late husband.”

Apparently her father wasn’t a fan of Jeff Duncan’s. Why?

Leo forced the question and the curiosity aside. No matter how attractive and compelling he found the pretty Alicia, he had no intention of letting anything get personal between them. The family dynamics here weren’t any of his business.

His job was to protect the lady and her son and bring a criminal to justice before he killed anyone else. Then Leo could get back to searching for his friend Jake and for the low-life criminal Angus Dupree.

Alicia sighed. “I’m sorry. He’s not the friendliest of men.”