Close Range Christmas by Nicole Helm (ebook reader for laptop TXT) 📗

at Liza? That doesn’t kill you. Metaphorically, maybe. But are we dealing in metaphors? Maybe the letters and the attempts to hurt us aren’t connected in the way we’re thinking,” Sarah insisted. “First it was Jamison, then Cody. If they’re going in involvement with Ace order, like I said, Gage would be next. Some kind of attempt that connects to the note. Then a note for Brady.”

“What Cecilia and I dealt with was Elijah, not Ace,” Brady said. But Sarah could tell even though they were voicing arguments, what they were really doing was thinking it through. Working out the angles.

“Elijah was a protégé of Ace,” Sarah continued. “Besides, you were involved with saving Gage from Ace even before that. So, either way, you’d be after Gage.” Sarah looked at Tucker. “Ace didn’t have too much to do with your showdown with the Sons, but he died while you were fighting them.”

“It doesn’t make sense, though,” Dev said gruffly. “If it was about Ace, I would have been first. It would have gone back to me. It doesn’t make sense to leave me for last.”

“Maybe it doesn’t have to make sense to us,” Nina said quietly. “It makes sense to him.”

Sarah couldn’t help but think there was something they were missing. Some piece of the puzzle that would allow them to make sense of things.

“I’m going to go help them follow the trail. I’ll notice things they won’t.”

“Not alone,” Jamison said sharply. “Under no circumstances are any of us going anywhere alone.”

“I’ll go,” Duke said, standing. “May not be as young as you lot, but I know how to shoot a gun and follow a trail. It’s my land too.”

Dev nodded and they both headed for the mudroom to get bundled up. When she stood, Duke gave her a censoring look. “Stay put.” Then they headed outside into the snowy, cold morning.

Sarah scowled after them. She was very tempted not to stay put, but she was nine months pregnant. She couldn’t go waddling around trying to track a killer. But what she could do was try to get to the bottom of the pattern. “I want to see the letters again. We need to compare them.”

DEV FOLLOWED THE trail of boot prints in the snow that led from where the county cops had parked their car, to the place they’d found the gun. It had since been processed and taken in as evidence with the hope of lifting a print.

Dev had his doubts. Why would Anth—or someone Anth had hired—drop a weapon that might have fingerprints on it? Didn’t make any sense.

Still, there could be something left behind. Some clue—either from the direction the trail went or something accidentally left behind. Something the cops might not know to look for.

“He isn’t headed back to my house, and he isn’t headed to the highway,” Duke said from behind Dev. They were walking close together, eyes sweeping the wide-open spread of land between them.

“If the trail is headed to where he’s going. Not sure he’s that dumb.”

“One way or another, we need this done before that baby comes along. You’re running out of time.”

Dev kept his sarcastic no kidding to himself. In an effort to not mess up the path the shooter had left, the police officers had ruined any secondary evidence Dev might have been able to pick up on. Necessary for them, but a shame for Dev.

He tried to focus on that. The footprints, what the path meant, and what he was looking for, but he could practically feel Duke’s disapproval waving over him.

He shouldn’t care. Duke’s approval didn’t matter. Maybe it had once upon a time, but Dev had given up on seeking approval after he’d ended up in the hospital, his law enforcement career over, and knowing he was a failure.

Utterly, in every way that mattered.

He’d eventually pulled himself out of that dark, self-pitying place. Or maybe more accurately, Sarah had poked him out of that place.

On purpose, he realized with a start. He’d always thought she was just annoying, but no. She’d gone about dragging him back into the land of the living since he’d been able to walk again.

She’d never given up on him, and never tipped her hand. She’d always known exactly what she was doing, but she’d never let him know. Probably because she knew he’d balk at it.

His chest felt too tight and now was not the time for after-the-fact realizations or emotions he didn’t want to analyze. But he owed Duke something, because through Sarah’s badgering and Grandma Pauline’s calm presence and his own stubbornness, he’d pulled himself out of that ugly place. He wasn’t perfect or maybe any good, but he’d put some pride in this ranch and his hard work here.

He’d made progress. Not just in the years, but maybe even in the months of Sarah’s pregnancy. “I’m not going to...shirk my responsibilities with her. Well, with the baby,” he said, half hoping the words died in the wind.

“Please tell me you didn’t say it like that when you told her,” Duke replied. “Well, you don’t have a black eye so you must have phrased it better.”

“Yeah, I phrased it better,” Dev muttered. “I said I’d be a father. That I wanted to be. I... Someone who’d protect my kid no matter what. I guess you don’t have to be perfect to do that.”

“No, son. You don’t. But it isn’t just about protecting. Being a parent is so much bigger than that.”

Dev stopped and rubbed at his aching leg. The cold exacerbated the pain and Duke’s words had a clutching, crushing sensation rocketing through his chest. So much bigger. You really think you can handle that?

Too late to rethink. He’d said he’d be a father to the baby, and he wouldn’t go back on his word. Besides, there was no time to panic about the future when the present was just as ominous.

“Then there’s being a partner to think about. You’ll both have different ideas of how to raise