Delores Fossen - Laying Down The Law

Certainly not back home.

That thought alone caused her to curse this monster. Her horses were there. Her things. Her life. Well, her temporary life anyway. And now she might not ever feel safe there again.

Cord finished his latest call and made his way to her. She was surprised he wasn’t limping. Or maybe he just didn’t want her to see that.

She’d only known him a month and couldn’t quite figure him out. Hurt and bitter. Determined to put his biological father away for the rest of his life.

Drop-dead hot.

Yes, she’d noticed that, too, and hated that she’d noticed.

“After you’re released, I’ll drive you to the sheriff’s office so Jericho can take your statement,” he explained. “Then, we can arrange for you to go into protective custody.”

Karina nodded. This was going to be a very long night, and while she just wanted it to end, she wasn’t stupid. She wouldn’t refuse protective custody.

“Certainly, this attack must make you doubt that Willie Lee is really the Moonlight Strangler?” she asked.

Cord shook his head. “It only convinces me that we have a copycat or else a groupie who wants to pretend he’s a serial killer.”

She didn’t bother with a sigh, though it was frustrating that Cord wouldn’t even consider his father’s innocence. “Then at least tell me they found the man responsible for this latest attack.”

Cord shook his head. “Nothing. So far. But Jericho’s got a CSI team out there now. One out at your place, too. They’re going through every inch of it so something might turn up. After that, they’ll go through your house to make sure your attacker didn’t stash something inside.”

He didn’t sound very hopeful, though, that they’d find anything. Neither was Karina. Mainly because she didn’t believe the attacker had actually been in the house.

Oh, God.

Had he gone inside?

Just the thought of that required a deep breath. It was bad enough that he’d been in her barn.

“Are you remembering something else?” Cord asked.

He’d no doubt noticed the hard breath she’d taken. Heck, she could have even gone pale, too. But she didn’t want to spell out her fears to him. Especially since what was done was done. If the killer had been in her house, if he’d watched her, stalked her, she couldn’t undo that. No. It was best to move on and try to work through this.

She looked up at Cord and caught him in mid-grimace. So, he wasn’t perfect at masking his pain after all.

“You really should let the doctor check you out,” Karina suggested.

Cord must have considered that a closed and shut argument since he didn’t even address it. He dragged over a chair and sank down on it so they were facing each other. She braced herself for another round of “blame this all on Willie Lee,” but it surprised her when he reached out and lightly touched his fingers to her cheek.

To the cut that was there.

Karina hadn’t seen it yet. No mirrors in the treatment room. She figured that was intentional since all kinds of injuries were treated here.

“How bad is it?” she asked, though she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer. Especially since just looking at her had caused Cord’s forehead to bunch up.

“It’ll heal,” he said, obviously dodging her question. “You’re the third woman I know who has that scar. My sister, Addie, and her sister-in-law, Paige. Of course, plenty of other women had it, too, but they’re not alive.”

Karina knew about the other women. About Paige, as well. She was the deputy’s wife and had been left for dead by the Moonlight Strangler. However, the other person was a shock. “I didn’t realize your sister had been cut.”

He nodded, leaned back in the chair and scrubbed his hand over his face. “When she was three, Addie was found wandering around the woods near the Crockett ranch. Jericho’s dad found her, and she had the cut then. Of course, nobody knew what it meant at the time.”

No. But Karina knew the rest of this particular story. The Crocketts had adopted Addie and raised her along with their four sons: Jericho, Jax, Chase and Levi. Because the Crocketts had wanted to find Addie’s birth parents, they’d entered her DNA into the databases, and there’d been no match until a year ago, when Addie had learned she was the daughter of the Moonlight Strangler. Cord had been matched a short time later and was Addie’s fraternal twin brother.

Ever since then Cord had made it his mission to find the killer. Which would mean also finding his father. And Cord was certain he’d managed to do that now that Willie Lee was in custody.

“Did you ever find a birth certificate for Addie or you?” she asked, not sure he would even answer. They’d had so many uncivil discussions about his paternity. Well, his insistence that Willie Lee was a killer anyway, and Karina thought he might just blow her off.

Much to her surprise, he didn’t.

“No. And believe me, I looked. The county clerk said that some home births don’t get registered.”

Neither would someone wanting to hide those babies. But why would Willie Lee have done that?

No answer for that, either. No answer for a lot of things, but Karina was certain she could get to the bottom of it if she could just talk to Willie Lee. He’d have to come out of the coma first, and there were no indications when or if that would ever happen.

“Addie’s scar is barely visible,” Cord went on. “Yours will fade, too.”

All in all, it was a kind thing to say. And a surprising one since it took this civil conversation to a different level.

“I must really look bad for you to be so nice to me.” Karina was only partly joking. She was dead certain she looked bad.

The corner of his mouth lifted. Almost a smile. Almost. But it was gone as quickly as it came. He leaned forward, his gaze connecting with hers, and she could see that he was all lawman again. Not that he slipped out of that mode for more than a second or two.

However, the brief change in his demeanor gave her another reminder of that drop-dead-hot thought she’d shoved aside earlier. And continued to shove aside now. Hard to do, though, with him right in front of her.

He was pure cowboy with that tousled hair and those bad-boy eyes. Sadly, he was her type, and her body just wouldn’t let her forget that wherever she saw him. Thankfully, Cord didn’t seem to notice.

Or maybe he did.

He gave her a look. The kind of look a man would give a woman who was hands-off. Which described how he felt about her to a T.

He cleared his throat, looked disgusted with himself. “I keep going back to that note found on the tree.”

Good. A change of subject. Exactly what she needed to get her mind back on track.

“The note said, ‘Remember what I told you, Karina-girl,’” Cord continued. Not that he had to say the words aloud. They were etched permanently in her mind. “And you did remember.”

She nodded. “‘You know exactly who I am, Karina-girl, don’t you?’” she repeated. “But here’s the problem with that. I don’t know who he is. I really don’t.”

“Then why would he say that? He could have put a lot of things in that note, but he didn’t.” Cord paused, apparently waiting for her to will the memory into her consciousness.

When she didn’t come up with anything, he huffed. “All right. Let’s try a different angle. Who would want to kill you? An ex-boyfriend, maybe? A stalker?”

Karina didn’t get a chance to answer because the sound of footsteps had Cord springing to his feet and drawing his gun.

However, it was only Rocky.

Her ranch hand was all right. The killer hadn’t taken him after all. He looked a little disheveled, but that was it.