Delores Fossen - Finger On The Trigger

She tried not to go stiff. After all, Brad and she had once dated in college, and he’d hugged and kissed her back then. However, it didn’t feel right for that little display of affection to happen in front of her brothers. Or Griff.

Especially Griff.

Rachel silently cursed him. And the blasted attraction. She wished she could make herself immune to him.

Brad eased back, making eye contact with her. Except it wasn’t just mere contact. He was looking at her as if examining her, to make sure she was all right. She wasn’t, but Rachel tried to appear a lot stronger than she felt as she stepped out of his grip.

“How’d you know about the attack?” she asked, and she prayed it wasn’t on the news. Rachel didn’t want her mother to find out that way—or any other way, for that matter.

Brad flinched a little. Maybe because her tone had been so brusque. Or maybe because she hadn’t greeted him with the same enthusiastic hug he’d given her. “I’m friends with the DA in Silver Creek.”

She glanced at Griff, and before she could voice her concern about that, he took out his phone once more. “I’ll make sure no one at the hospital mentions it to your mother.” He stepped outside the office to make the call.

Rachel made a mental note to thank him for that, too. Another mental note to make arrangements to put some distance between Griff and her. She needed to think, and right now, her head wasn’t cooperating. She was dizzy and exhausted, and being around Griff had a way of making her not think straight. The blasted attraction kept getting in the way.

“Are you really okay?” Court asked her.

That’s when Rachel realized she was massaging her right temple. “I’m not about to have a seizure. And I’ve been taking my meds.”

Of course, that didn’t mean a seizure wouldn’t happen, but if it did, there was nothing she could do to stop it now.

“Please tell me you know who tried to murder Rachel,” Brad said to Egan.

Egan lifted his shoulder. “Sorry, my ESP isn’t working so great tonight. But I’ve got a lead, and I’ll question Alma Lawton.”

“Alma!” Brad spat out the name like he would profanity. Maybe some of his tone was due to Egan’s smart-mouthed remark. “Yes, definitely talk to her. She hates every one of you. What kind of lead do you have?” he pressed.

Egan hesitated, as if debating if he would tell him. Brad and he were on the same side of the law, but Rachel figured sometimes it didn’t feel that way. They’d butted heads on several cases over the years. However, Rachel thought the underlying current was because Egan didn’t want her to be with Brad any more than he wanted her to be with Griff.

At the moment, she felt the same way—despite the simmering heat between Griff and her. There was heat, too, when it came to Brad, but it was all one-sided.

“Marlon Stowe,” Egan finally answered. “He’s a guy who might blame Rachel for his girlfriend leaving him. Did the Silver Creek district attorney happen to mention him to you?”

Judging from the way Brad’s mouth tightened, that would be a no. “When are you bringing him in for questioning?”

Egan shrugged. “When I’ve got probable cause, and right now—”

“You’ve got it,” Griff interrupted, stepping back into the room. He looked at Egan and then tipped his head to the laptop on the desk. “First things first. Sheriff Ryland just emailed you the surveillance footage from the bank camera.”

That sent both Court and Egan to the computer. Rachel would have joined them, but it was obvious Griff had something else to say.

“Marlon’s ex-girlfriend from a year ago took out a restraining order against him because he was stalking her,” Griff continued. “Sheriff Ryland said Marlon also hit her, but she wouldn’t press charges against him. There are rumors that he hit his last girlfriend, Taryn Harrison, too. That’s the woman you saw with Marlon while you were staying at the inn.”

Yes, and Marlon blamed her for the breakup. Rachel felt the chill slide through her. Here, she’d left McCall Canyon to escape, and instead she’d crossed paths with a bully. One who might be unhinged if he was indeed into stalking.

Brad turned toward her. “See? This is why you should have never left,” he snapped. “Did that man touch you?”

“No. He just said I should mind my own business.” She stopped, thought of something else. “But the next time we crossed paths, he seemed to know who I was. I mean, I was using an alias. I’d told everyone there at the inn that my name was Margaret O’Malley.”

“Mom’s middle and maiden names,” Court supplied, looking up from the laptop. Egan kept his attention planted firmly on the screen.

She nodded. “I lied and told them I didn’t have any ID because my wallet had been stolen. I used cash to pay for the room.”

“Cash that you withdrew from your bank account right before you left town,” Brad said.

So obviously he’d checked on that. That wasn’t a surprise, not really. They’d probably all been looking for her. It was ironic that Griff had been the one to find her.

“What made you think Marlon knew who you were?” Griff asked.

She almost dismissed it, but that would mean dismissing the knot in her stomach. After what’d happened, it was best if she listened to it.

“When I was paying for my room last week, Marlon was in the office, and he wrote the receipt,” she explained. “He started writing my name with an R , then he quickly scratched it out and wrote ‘Margaret’ instead. I think he’d been about to put down ‘Rachel.’”

Brad made a sound to indicate he was giving that some thought. “Maybe he saw you on the news. After Warren’s shooting,” he clarified.

It was possible, but Griff didn’t look as if he was buying it, either. Good. She wanted him and her brothers to dig into Marlon’s activities and see if there was something to find.

“Hell,” Egan said. “There’s someone on the footage.”

Brad hurried behind the desk to have a look, but Griff stayed right next to her. Egan turned the screen so they could see, and it didn’t take long for her to realize they were looking at the man who’d been in the alley.

A man she instantly recognized.

Oh, God .

Chapter Four

What the hell was Warren doing on the Silver Creek surveillance video?

That was the question Griff was very anxious to ask the man. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who had an urgent need to know, because Rachel whipped out her phone and pressed in her father’s number. Since Griff had been about to do the same thing, he just waited for Warren to answer.

But he didn’t.

After a few rings, the call went to voice mail. “Call me now,” was all that Rachel snapped into the phone when she left her father a message.

Since Warren was worried about Rachel and had spent the past month trying to find her, he would no doubt do just that. Well, he would unless he’d done something stupid.

“It appears you’ve got a new person of interest,” Brad said, his mouth tight and his eyes narrowed as he stared at the screen.

Griff didn’t like that Brad had jumped to the worst-case scenario. Of course, he’d never been a fan of Warren, because they, too, had clashed when Warren had been sheriff.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Griff said to Rachel. “Warren wouldn’t hurt you. He wouldn’t hurt any of his kids.”

“Not unless he was finished with me,” Rachel quickly pointed out. But even she had to wave that off. “No. He wouldn’t hurt me. Not intentionally, anyway.” She pointed to the screen. “So why is he there?”

Griff had a theory, and this was going to be a good news/bad news kind of deal. “Maybe Warren found out where you were and went to check on you.” That was the good news. “And maybe while Warren was watching you, he could have gotten caught up in the attack.”