Last Stand Ranch (11 page)

He was a little concerned at where this was going. Was she reconsidering leaving? He set his coffee mug on the counter and crossed his arms. “What are you saying?”

“I'm saying I've been pretty self-centered, letting you drop everything to take care of me.” She sighed. “If you want to go back to your own ranch for the day, I'll go with you. You could help your dad without worrying about my safety. Vanessa's flying in later this morning. There's no reason she can't go from the airport to your house. We'll all come back here when you're finished working.”

He could get back to his usual routine for a day. Not spend so much time around Olivia. Have some time to get his head back on straight.

“Good idea,” he said.

ELEVEN

“W
ow. This is different from your apartment in Vegas.”

“You don't know the half of it,” Olivia said as Vanessa glanced around the living room of the Morales ranch house.

“I've traveled to northern Arizona before,” Vanessa added, “but I've never had the good fortune to visit a ranch with a gorgeous view like this. I've got a few vacation days I've been ordered to use before they expire and I do believe I'll use them here.”

If Olivia wasn't mistaken, Vanessa's gaze was lingering on the cowboys visible working outside. Elijah was one of them.

“Sorry I couldn't meet you at the airport,” Olivia said. “But it's a long drive from here and, well, someone's been trying to kill me.” It felt ridiculous saying the words aloud.

Vanessa turned and strode over to Olivia for another hug, having already swept her up in an embrace as soon as she'd walked through the Morales door.

She was a tiny little thing, decked out in expensive designer jeans, a silver knit top and pointy-toed shoes with four-inch heels. She wore her platinum curls piled high on her head and when she came in close to hug Olivia she nearly jabbed her in the eye with a red lacquered chopstick hair ornament.

“I'm so sorry this is happening to you,” Vanessa said after she let go of her. “And we're going to find the idiot who's doing this and nail him. I promise.”

Tiny and outlandish looking, Vanessa had already earned herself a reputation as a pit bull in the courtroom. She'd told Olivia that she witnessed her stepdad hitting her mom on multiple occasions when she was a kid. She'd grown up tough. And she wanted to help people stuck in domestic abuse situations, which was how she came to meet Olivia.

“Thank you for the very sweet driver you sent to pick me up at the airport, by the way,” Vanessa added.

Bobby had been assigned that job. Upon arrival back at the Morales ranch he had escorted Vanessa into the house, sat in a living room chair, immediately picked up an electronic tablet and immersed himself in cyberspace. Olivia got the impression he found Vanessa to be kind of intense.

“Bobby's part of that group you told me about, Vanquish the Darkness, right?”

At the sound of his name, he glanced up at them.

Olivia nodded. “He is.”

“A Christian motorcycle group,” Vanessa mused. “I had no idea such a thing existed. But I ran down everything I could find on Vanquish and they seem legit.”

“Vanessa!”

“Hey, you're my friend and you're in trouble. You can't blame me for doing what I do.”

“Wish I could say the same about your law firm,” Bobby said, looking up from his tablet. “I mean about the legit part. Your legal firm has represented some pretty sketchy people.”

Vanessa turned to him, frowning, hands on her hips. “Are you checking up on me?”

“Yes.”

She broke into a broad grin. “Cool.”

“Seriously?” Olivia looked back and forth between the two of them. “Does no one take anyone on face value anymore?”

“So, about your firm?” Bobby prompted, ignoring Olivia's small outburst.

Julie had brought in a tray with glasses of iced tea a few minutes earlier. Vanessa picked up a glass and took a sip. “When my firm hired me, they made it clear they believed everyone is entitled to a robust defense and if I didn't agree I could leave. I happen to agree. I'm not a personal fan of all of our clients, but I don't have to be.”

Bobby looked ready to follow up on that, so Olivia hurried to change the subject. “Well, I just want you to know I appreciate you coming to see me.” She gestured toward one of the couches. “Let's sit down.”

“I figured it might not be safe to talk on the phone, so I had to come,” Vanessa said, taking a seat. “Anyone who thinks their phone is secure these days is kidding herself.”

The front door opened and Elijah walked in, looking every inch the cowboy in jeans and cowboy boots. He glanced at Bobby. “Thanks for the text.” Then he introduced himself to Vanessa. “I wanted to hear what you had to say.”

Vanessa's eyes practically glowed when she looked at him.

He walked over and sat next to Olivia, and for some stupid reason that made her feel better. Not that she had any kind of claim on him. Or wanted one.

“I don't have very many specifics to offer,” Vanessa said.

“What does that mean?” Olivia asked.

“It means your local sheriff's department has been calling Kurtz's law firm asking about him, his friends and his associates. I'm not sure if you know this, but Kurtz is out of the country. Vegas PD sent a couple of detectives to his office for a chat with some of the senior partners, at the request of your local sheriff, and that didn't make anybody happy.” She flashed a sharklike smile.

“I thought Kurtz always liked attention,” Olivia muttered.

“Not this kind. The state of Nevada is investigating him, too. Again. They've been trying to pull his license to practice law for years, but given his influential friends, they need to build an overwhelming case against him. The man has dirt on a lot of people that he wouldn't be afraid to use to his advantage.” Vanessa glanced out the window, then turned to face Olivia.

“My sources tell me the state wants to build a full-blown criminal case against him,” she continued. “Brutally attacking his wife and apparently getting away with it seems to be the last straw for a lot of people. Several useful anonymous tips have come in. If the investigators talk to you, maybe you'll be able to help build their case. You might know a small detail that's more important than you realize.”

“I lied on the witness stand,” Olivia said flatly. “I have no credibility.”

“This isn't for a trial. An easily confirmed fact you could give them might connect him to a bigger picture.”

“If Kurtz loses his legal license, he loses some of his value to his mobster friends,” Elijah said. “That could be why he's so intent on coming after you. Or hiring somebody to come after you. Maybe he blames you for this new investigation. He could be nervous. Maybe he thinks you're outsmarting him and finding another way to get him locked up. It would be an added blow to his ego and he might not be able to handle that.”

Olivia nodded. A bruised ego was the reason for a lot of the violence she saw at the shelter. Someone fearing a loss of control might lash out, too.

“I think the state investigation is the best explanation for why Kurtz would suddenly act so brazenly,” Vanessa said. “The timing of the attacks lines up with that. If he's trying to take care of the problem himself, that might explain why things have been so messy. As far as I know, Kurtz has never actually murdered anyone. Do you know for a fact if he's in the UK? I'm just going by what his people are saying. They could be lying.”

Olivia glanced at Elijah. Bedford had told them to keep that information to themselves.

“Do you have any other suspects?” Elijah asked.

“I'm still trying to get hold of a couple of parole officers I know so I can put together a list. Whether we're looking for Kurtz or someone else as our attacker, this looks like revenge violence to me. I see a fair amount of it in my work at the law firm. Trying to drive you off the road. Shooting you—but only hitting you in the shoulder. And now setting a fire. Bold, but not very efficient. Not very...well, professional.”

“I'm glad he's not efficient. This is my life we're talking about,” Olivia said.

“I know.” Vanessa smiled sadly. “You remember Dan Vickers?”

Olivia nodded. “He came to the safe house looking for his wife and I called the police.”

“And he threatened you.”

“That man was full of hot air.”

“He got paroled about a month ago.”

“Considering everything else going on in his train wreck of a life, I have a hard time believing he'd even remember me.”

“We're not talking about normal people who are just angry,” Vanessa said. “We're talking about men who have crossed an important line. They've used violence before—all of the men whose wives or girlfriends you met at the shelter. Or maybe these attacks have nothing to do with that at all.”

Olivia felt her hopes for a quick solution begin to crumble. “You're a real buzzkill.”

“Nature of the beast, kiddo. You're talking to a lawyer.”

* * *

Elijah knew there was no point trying to see anything in the darkness of the night from the veranda behind his house later that evening, but he did it, anyway. Whoever was after Olivia might be out there right now, on the Morales property, watching.

That was why he had Olivia sit across from him, tucked into a corner formed by a trellis woven with night-blooming jasmine. No one lurking on the property would be able to see her. But they would see him. They would know he was watching out for her.

Elijah, Olivia, Mark and Linda, Bobby, and Jonathan were gathered at the back of the Morales house, seated on cushioned patio chairs, watching the flames die down in a fire pit on the veranda. The oncoming autumn night had a sharp bite to it.

Elijah watched Olivia in the fading firelight. Her face was fascinating, and he couldn't help staring. He liked the open, guileless expression he usually saw when he looked into her eyes. What you saw was what you got with Olivia Dillon. She wore her feelings on her sleeve and shared her thoughts whether you wanted her to or not. Her decision to lie to put Kurtz in jail must have weighed heavily on her.

Olivia had been quiet and pensive after Vanessa gave her report. And who could blame her? But shortly after dinner her demeanor had changed. She'd started smiling again.

She suddenly looked up and caught him staring. He looked away. He was supposed to protect her, not be fascinated by her.

After listening to Vanessa, he'd had Mark call his wife and ask her to drop by the Morales ranch after work. Franklin, who owned the Buckskin Bistro Grille in town, had also been available. Elijah wanted at least a few people from Vanquish the Darkness to be up to speed and ready to help in case anything new happened.

Because something
would
happen.

The guy tormenting Olivia wasn't going to stop. Elijah knew the type only too well. He would be fueled by Olivia's fear. Energized by hurting her. Eventually, he would kill her unless someone stopped him.

With extra people in the house, Julie had been unable to resist cooking for everybody. She'd barbecued beef ribs and they'd eaten outside on the veranda. After dinner, Elijah had gathered his troops and gone over what they knew. Vanessa stayed long enough to repeat what she'd told Olivia earlier, and then she'd gone inside the house to check her work email. She'd been there ever since. Franklin had gone into the house with Joe and Julie, offering to help package the leftovers from dinner.

Now those who'd stayed outside relaxed by the fire pit. Or tried to.

“What would Vanquish the Darkness be doing if you weren't watching me?” Olivia asked. She directed her question to Linda, but her tone set off alarms inside Elijah.

Linda sat beside her husband. Mark was the best, most natural cowboy on the ranch and more like a member of the Morales family than an employee.

“We have enough members that we can still do our normal activities and keep an eye out for you,” Linda answered. “Next week we're holding a fund-raiser carnival at the high school in town. Tomorrow's Saturday, so we've got a ride scheduled. We're heading over to Quartz Creek. A nice man who's been through some rough times is finally getting back on his feet.” She looked at Elijah. “You remember Dean.”

Elijah nodded.

“He's reopening a small hobby and craft business he had to shutter for a while,” she explained to Olivia. “It's his grand reopening so we're going to show up to support him and hopefully help attract some new patrons.”

“I'd like to go with you,” Olivia said.

“Maybe another trip,” Elijah immediately countered. He knew where this was going. She was getting claustrophobic with all the protection. Unfortunately for her, it was going to get worse. He was not letting her out of his sight. He glanced into the darkness again. He was tempted to put on his night-vision goggles, but it would probably freak her out.

“No, not another trip,” Olivia said calmly. “I want to go on
this
trip. Tomorrow. I can ride with Linda. If you don't mind,” she said to Linda.

“I don't mind.”

“You can ride behind us,” Olivia quickly said to Elijah before he could object. “You can watch for anyone following us when we leave town. But I doubt that will happen. Whoever's after me wants to catch me alone. But I won't be alone.”

“No way.” Elijah needed to put a stop to this. “You'd be too easy a target on a bike. And you haven't been on a motorcycle before other than when I brought you to Aunt Claudia's after you got shot. It's a long way for a first real ride.”

She turned back to Linda. “Do you have another vehicle going along? Like a car or a truck?”

Elijah felt his jaw muscles tighten and he shifted in his chair. It wasn't just the fact that Olivia was ignoring his advice that bothered him. That happened all the time when you were protecting someone. And it was fine with him that she was directing her questions to Linda. Linda was one of the most levelheaded people he knew. What concerned him was that Olivia was pointedly pushing him away. Why?

“We'll have a van going, carrying some coolers with food and sodas plus some gifts for Dean and his children. Franklin's wife, Darlene, will be driving it, and I'm sure she'd love the company.”

“Perfect. Count me in.”

“And that's our cue to get on home and get to bed early so we can get up and ride in the morning.” Mark held out a hand and pulled his wife to her feet. She gave him a quick kiss on the tip of his nose.