Harlequin Intrigue, Box Set 1 of 2 (16 page)

“Jericho?” Her father's greeting was as frosty as Jericho's glare. The one he was volleying between the phone and her.

“No, it's me,” Laurel said. “I understand you're in town. Are you coming to see me?”

“Right. As if I'd let you know where I am or where I'm going. You'd just tell Jericho, and he'd arrest me. Or kill me.”

“Jericho's not a killer. But you are.”

Her father cursed, and like Jericho's glare, some of it was aimed at her. “I didn't kill Rossman.”

“That's not what he said,” Laurel argued.

“Well, he was mistaken. I was there, yes, because I got a call from one of my men. He said there was something I needed to see. Turned out to be a trap. Somebody shot Rossman, and now I'm getting the blame.”

That was possible, for her father to have been set up, but it was just as possible that he was lying.

“Rossman isn't the only death connected to you,” she said.

“Ah, now we're talking about Sherman Crockett. Since I suspect your
husband
is listening to our every word, then that's one topic that's not up for discussion.”

Jericho opened his mouth, no doubt to return verbal fire, but Laurel lifted her hand, motioned for him to stay quiet. Yes, her father probably did know that Jericho would be there with her, but she figured she would get more information out of him than Jericho would.

Well, maybe.

At the moment her father probably hated her more than he hated Jericho, and she might be able to strike a nerve. One that would get him to blurt out a confession.

“First Sherman, then my mother,” Laurel said.

Silence. For a long time. “Your mother was dying.”

“Possibly. Did you help that process along by giving her an overdose of painkillers?”

More silence. “She was in a lot of pain. No matter what you think of me, I loved her in my own way. I couldn't stand to see her suffering.”

It took her a moment to rein in her own temper just so she could speak. “You didn't love her. And she didn't love you. She was terrified of you, and so help me, you'll pay for killing her.”

“I didn't kill her!” he shouted. “What, are you recording this? You think you can use it against me?”

“There's already enough evidence against you. And there's already a warrant out for your arrest.”

“A warrant, yes,” her father agreed, “but they'll have to find me to serve it. In the meantime, I've got my entire legal team working to clear my name. And it will be cleared... What the hell...”

Laurel was about to ask him why he'd said that, but Jericho's phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen and immediately stepped away and answered it.

Laurel hurried after Jericho. “What's wrong?”

Jericho was already talking to the person on the other end of the line, but he paused to answer her. “Someone just fired shots into the Sweetwater Springs sheriff's office.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

So, someone had taken the bait.

Jericho was partially happy about that, but he darn sure wasn't pleased that Sheriff McKinnon and his deputies were under fire.

“Are they okay?” Laurel asked. The color had drained from her face.

He considered going with a lie so that maybe he could ease some of the fear in her eyes, but Laurel was right in the thick of this with him. “I don't know,” Jericho answered honestly. “Sheriff McKinnon only had a few seconds to tell me what was happening. I heard shots in the background,” he added.

She nodded. And, yep, the fear stayed. “What if they don't capture one of their attackers alive?”

“They will.” Okay, that was possibly a lie, one that Jericho had to believe. If they didn't or if they couldn't get the hired gun to talk, then all of this danger had been for nothing.

Well, except for the fact that if the hired guns were there in Sweetwater Springs, they weren't anywhere near the safe house that contained Maddox. Jericho hated to put fellow lawmen's lives on the line, but if their situations were reversed, Jericho would have done the same for them.

Jericho went back to the window to keep watch, but he also tipped his head to the phone she was holding. “Is your father still on the line?”

She shook her head. “He hung up.”

That was just as well. Herschel had come darn close to incriminating himself, but he was too clever to spill anything important. Especially anything that would get him the death penalty. Of course, he might not have to spill anything if they could get the murder charges to stick. Or if Sheriff McKinnon managed to get a confession from the thugs who were now shooting at him.

“Is anyone out there?” Laurel asked. Still too pale, and he was pretty sure she was trembling now. Jericho wanted to go to her, but the shooting at Sweetwater Springs could be a ruse to get them to lower their guard.

Wasn't going to happen.

“You should go back in my office,” he insisted. Fewer windows there. “Make sure you leave the light on.”

That was a departure from what he usually told her, but Jericho had turned on every light in the place. Including the bathroom. He hoped that way, if hit men did show up, they wouldn't know what room Laurel was in. Plus, the interior lights helped illuminate the front sidewalk and the sides of the building.

“Be careful,” Laurel said.

Jericho glanced back at her, their gazes connecting. Usually when that happened, he felt a punch of heat from the attraction, but now he saw something else.

Something he didn't like.

“I'm not going to get shot,” he let her know. Possibly another lie, but there was no need for her to be worried about him.

“See anything?” Jericho asked Levi once Laurel was back in his office.

“No. You?”

“Nothing.” Jericho reminded himself that was a good thing, but he still had a knot in his gut. A knot that tightened when his phone buzzed, and he saw the caller's name.

Theo.

Jericho didn't want to tie up his hands for the call, so he hit the answer button, sandwiched the phone between his shoulder and ear. “Make it quick,” Jericho snarled. “I'm busy.”

Plus, Theo could be calling to try to distract him, which meant Jericho didn't care to have a long chat.

“Is Laurel okay?” Theo asked.

That didn't help his uneasiness, and Jericho made another sweeping glance of the area around the building. “Why do you ask?”

“Because she's in danger, that's why. Hell, we're all in danger.”

“Some of us more than others,” Jericho remarked. “Unless you've got something new and interesting to tell me—like a confession—then this call is over.”

“Don't hang up!” It wasn't a shout. More like a plea. But it took Theo a few seconds to continue. “I think someone wants me dead.”

“That's not a confession. Heck, it's not even a surprise. You piss people off, Theo. Me included.”

“But you didn't just try to kidnap me. Did you?”

“No. That wasn't on my to-do list tonight.” Now it was Jericho's turn to pause. “First, did this so-called kidnapping attempt really happen? And if so, did it happen in my jurisdiction?” Because if it didn't, then that was yet another reason to end the call and have him whine to somebody else.

“It happened just a few minutes ago. I'm a couple of streets away from the sheriff's office near the hotel. Two big guys jumped out of a black car when I was at the traffic light, and they tried to Taser me. I got away.”

“Convenient.” And possibly the truth. Because it could be true, Jericho had to use his lawman's voice. “Were you hurt?”

“Just some scrapes and bruises. I carry a concealed .38. Yes, I have a permit,” he added before Jericho could ask. “Anyway, I managed to draw it, and I think I hit one of them when I fired.”

Hell. Discharge of a weapon. Possible injury along with a possible kidnapping attempt. It would have to be investigated, but this was one duty Jericho would have to delegate.

“Call the Rangers,” Jericho told Levi. “Tell them there's a situation I need them to handle at the Saltgrass Inn.”

“You're not coming to help me?” Theo asked. Clearly, the man had heard what Jericho had said to his brother.

No way. Jericho had no intention of leaving Laurel to walk into what could be a trap or a ploy to get him away from Laurel. “Why are you here in town?”

“I got a call from one of your deputies who told me Laurel was in trouble, that I needed to go to the sheriff's office and check on her because she wanted to see me.”

Theo hadn't hesitated, which meant it could be the truth or he could have just practiced the lie until it rolled right off his tongue. “Laurel doesn't want to see you, and no deputy of mine called you.”

“But he did. He said his name was Mack Parkman—”

“Was his name on the caller-ID screen?” Jericho snapped.

“No. It said unknown number. But I figured your deputies were just using secure cells.”

Mack was, since he was at the safe house with Jax and Maddox, but there would have been no reason for Mack to call Theo. Still, the lawman in him had to rule it out. Jericho jotted down a note for Levi to call Mack and verify that he'd had no phone contact with Theo.

“I want to come to the sheriff's office and see Laurel,” Theo started up again. “And don't say she's not there, because she'll be wherever you are.”

“Don't be so sure of that.”

“I need to talk to her,” Theo said, not even addressing Jericho's comment.

“Mack didn't call him,” Levi whispered to Jericho.

Just as Jericho had figured. And yes, he trusted Mack, had known him his entire life. Theo, however, had reason to lie—so he could try to worm his way in and see Laurel. And if he wasn't lying, then someone like Herschel or Dorothy could have hired anyone to make the call to lure Theo out so he could be kidnapped.

And there's where Jericho's theory came to a sudden stop.

Would Dorothy really try to hurt her own son?

Probably, if she blamed Theo for blowing the engagement with Laurel. That broken engagement had cost Dorothy a bundle. Then there was also the possibility that she hadn't wanted to hurt Theo but rather had wanted to set up someone to make it look as if they had murder or kidnapping on their mind.

Someone like Herschel.

Because if Dorothy was riled at Theo for losing those big bucks, she might aim the same venom at Herschel.

Or vice versa.

Herschel definitely wasn't a saint.

“Well, can I see Laurel?” Theo pressed.

Jericho was about to tell him a loud no, with some curse words added to it. But he didn't get the chance to say anything.

Because a blast shook the entire building.

* * *

T
HE
SOUND
WAS
DEAFENING
, and Laurel caught on to the wall to steady herself. Not a gunshot. This was something much bigger and louder.

What the heck had Theo done now?

She'd known that Jericho was talking to him, but from what she could hear, it didn't seem as if he'd been threatening Jericho. However, something had definitely happened.

Laurel didn't bolt from the office, but she peered out the door. Jericho was still at the window where she'd last seen him. One of the blinds had fallen to the floor, and she could see the fireball in the street directly in front of the sheriff's office.

“Stay back,” Jericho warned her. “It was a bomb.”

Her heart was already pounding, but that news made it worse. “How did Theo get close enough to use a bomb?”

“I'm not sure it was Theo. I think someone on the roof of the diner tossed it down.”

Oh, mercy. That meant they could have been aiming for the building itself. It also might mean this bomb wasn't the only one they had.

“Get under my desk,” Jericho added.

“You should, too.” Though she knew it wouldn't do any good.

Jericho just shook his head. “Go!”

Laurel did as he said. She scrambled under his desk just as she heard another sound. Not the blast from a second bomb.

But rather a gunshot.

Then, another.

She couldn't be sure, but Laurel thought maybe they'd been fired into one of the front windows. The glass was bullet resistant, she remembered Jericho saying that, but it didn't mean the shots couldn't eventually get through. She prayed that Jericho and Levi were staying down.

“The shots stopped at the Sweetwater Springs office,” Levi relayed to Jericho. “No one was hurt, and the shooters ran off.”

That was good. The lawmen there were no longer under attack, but it was clear the shots hadn't stopped here. Because she heard several more of them crack into the windows.

Laurel gasped when another sound shot through the room. Since she was already bracing herself for the worst, it took her a moment to realize it was a landline phone on Jericho's desk. She wasn't sure if she should answer it or not, but when it kept ringing, Laurel thought it might be someone calling to report a sighting of their attacker. She grabbed the phone and got back under the desk.

“Who is this?” the caller immediately asked.

Laurel groaned. Because it was Dorothy on the line. “It's me. And I don't have time to talk.”

“Then, make time,” the woman insisted. “Because what I have to tell you could save your life.”

All right. That grabbed her attention. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, Theo has gone stark raving mad, that's what. He's trying to get to you so he can kill you. And he's trying to do the same thing to me. Don't trust him, Laurel.”

“I won't. I won't trust you, either.” Laurel could also add her father to the list of people who might want her dead. She had no plans to trust any of them.

“Somehow, he'll get to you,” Dorothy added. “Jericho, too. Theo wants him dead because of what you two did to him. He blames both of you for ruining his life. Just be careful.”

“Is Theo the one shooting at the sheriff's office right now?” Laurel asked.

But Dorothy didn't answer her. “No!” the woman shouted, and it was followed by an ear-piercing scream.

And a gunshot.

This one hadn't come from immediately outside the building, either. It had come from the other end of the phone.

“Dorothy?” Laurel said. “What happened?”

Nothing. The line was dead.

Maybe Dorothy was, too. Did that mean Theo had had his own mother shot? Or was this some kind of trick?

Laurel debated whether she should tell Jericho about the call, but it would have to wait. The bullets were still slamming into the front of the building, and she didn't want to say or do anything to distract him. Hopefully soon, the Rangers or backup would arrive and help put a stop to this.

Whatever
this
was.

Two attacks of sheriff offices in the same night. Yes, the one in Sweetwater Springs was no doubt to get the fake evidence that Jericho had leaked. But then why had it stopped? And why were the gunmen now attacking them here? They must know there were lawmen inside. Four of them. Hardly a fortress, but the gunmen, and their boss, had to be desperate to try to shoot their way inside.

“Hell,” she heard Jericho say, and again she nearly bolted out from beneath the desk to make sure he hadn't been hurt. By now, some of those bullets had to be getting through.

But Laurel didn't get the chance to bolt.

Everything happened fast. There was a crashing sound behind her, followed by the howl of the security alarm. Before she could even turn around, the glass from the window came flying out over the room. If it was bullet resistant, then something big had shattered it.

Then a hulking-size man wearing dark-colored camouflage scrambled through the gaping hole and grabbed her. She fought him. Tried to scream out for help. But she didn't manage even that before another man on the other side of the window took hold of her and pulled her through.

“Laurel!” Jericho shouted. And even over the sounds of the continuing shots and the alarm, she heard him running toward the office.

But it was too late.

She landed on the ground outside the window. So did both of her attackers. One turned and fired shots into the office window.

Right where Jericho would be.

Oh, God.

Had the man managed to shoot him?

Laurel couldn't see. Couldn't hear much of anything now with the roar of her heartbeat in her ears and the shots that were no longer buffered by the wall. They were loud, thick blasts.

Too many of them.

One of the men stuffed a gag in her mouth, and they continued to drag her away from the window. Away from Jericho.

There was white smoke snaking through the air. From the explosion, no doubt, but part of it also seemed to be freezing fog. The men ran right into it, using it to conceal them.