Present Danger by Elizabeth Goddard (shoe dog free ebook .txt) 📗

can’t get used to this old house. Every creak, every noise wakes me. I stopped watching those murder mysteries. That did help me some, but then . . .”

“It’s all right, Ruby. Take your time, dear,” Jack said.

She gave him a shy smile. “When I heard the guns go off, at first I thought it was firecrackers. I went to stand on the porch, and I realized someone had machine guns. I . . . I was scared. I did like Will always instructed me to do. I ran down into the basement. He kept a loaded shotgun for me down there. It’s our safe room. I bolted the door and grabbed the shotgun. Down there, I couldn’t hear the gunfire. I’d planned to call the police, but I’d left my cell upstairs.” Ruby glanced at Jack. “I waited for what I thought was a good long while, then I started back upstairs. But that’s when I heard someone come inside the house. I thought I would have a heart attack. I froze in the shadows down under the stairwell, holding that shotgun I never had need to use in over six decades.”

Tears slipped from Ruby’s eyes, but she straightened, sitting tall in the chair. “That’s when I heard Will’s voice in my head. To be the strong person I had always been. I stomped right up those stairs and pointed the shotgun at a man standing in the hallway. I told him to get out of my house or I’d blast a hole through him.”

Jack shared a look with Nathan.

“What happened next?” Nathan asked.

“He lifted his hands as if he meant no harm. Didn’t say nothing, but he marched out the front door. I ran to the door and bolted it. I guess I hadn’t locked it earlier, so I only have myself to blame for him coming inside. I tell you, my heart was pounding so hard. The sirens came then. The police. So I knew I was safe.”

“Ruby,” Jack said. “Why didn’t you tell the other officers this story?” Jack tried to keep his incredulity concealed.

Ruby hung her head again, then just as quickly lifted it. “I’m ashamed, son. I truly am. But it was always my Will’s mantra that we mind our own business. We don’t borrow trouble. We stay out of it. I thought I was doing what Will would want. After all, what does it matter that the guy came in the house and left of his own accord? He’s dead, I hear.”

“Yes, and he was found inside your silo.”

“I didn’t kill him.” Determination carved deeper into the lines on her face.

Jack could almost smile at that. She was a feisty woman, ready to defend her home and herself. He couldn’t blame her for that. “We know you didn’t, Ruby.”

He couldn’t see her climbing up the silo ladders or steps, much less carting Leif’s body up and dumping it, though he wasn’t clear on the events of the murder. Then again, Leif could have made his last stand up on the catwalk at the top of the silo, battling it out before being shot and killed. Even then, Ruby wasn’t a suspect. He glanced at Nathan. “Just how did we learn Leif was in the silo?”

Nathan cleared his throat. “Tracks through the cornfield. More bullet holes in the tower.” He looked at Ruby. “Sorry, ma’am.”

“I already know this. No need to be sorry. Anything else I can answer for you?”

“Did you get a good look at the man in the house?” Jack asked.

“It was dark, but I got some of him. He was like a ghost.”

On his cell, Jack showed her an image of Leif. “Was this the man in your home?”

Ruby shook her head. “No, that’s not him. Who is he?”

Her reply surprised him. Then again, he knew there was another shooter out there—Leif’s killer. Jack sent Nathan a warning look. He didn’t want to scare Ruby by sharing that the man who had entered her home was not the man who had died in her silo.

“I appreciate your help, Ruby,” Jack said. “Here’s my card. Please call me if you think of anything else.”

Nathan thanked her too, and they headed for the door. As Ruby opened the door for Nathan, Jack lingered at the mantel and looked at the family photographs again. Ruby came rushing over and was only too happy to tell him the names of her children. Three sons and a daughter. Twelve grandchildren. Quite a few pictures of the kids and their activities. Soccer. Football. Twirling. Running around in the backyard with dogs. The usual.

A photograph of a soldier standing next to a helicopter drew his attention, and Ruby was quick to notice.

“Oh, that’s my son. He died years ago when his helicopter crashed overseas.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” He waited a few moments in case she would share more, but she seemed lost in thought.

“Well, thanks again, Ruby.” Jack joined Nathan, who’d been waiting on the porch.

Following Nathan down the steps, Jack stumbled on the last one but caught himself. Pain ignited in his arm.

“You okay?” Nathan asked.

“No.” Jack continued toward the vehicle and climbed into the passenger side.

Nathan hopped in the driver’s seat and started the vehicle. “You want to tell me what’s wrong?”

“I recognized her son who supposedly died.”

“What? No way.”

“Yes way. He looks much different now than he did years ago when that picture was taken, but there’s some resemblance. Ruby believes her son is dead, so she would never think that the man she saw standing in her house was him. Instead, she said he was like a ghost.”

“Well, come on, man, who is he?”

“Robert Vandine’s campaign manager. Marcus Briggs.”

SIXTY-ONE

The darkness slowly edged away.

Terra’s head pounded. She couldn’t remember a thing beyond . . .

Oh no.

A familiar laugh sent dread through her. Nausea roiled in her stomach. Terra opened her eyes. Gramps sat across from her on the other side of his desk. His desk. In his office.

She’d been transported from her apartment to the ranch.

Gramps tried to appear