Page 29 of The Sheriff's Baby

Not yet, anyway.

Slater went slow, no doubt doing his own checking, and he finally came to a stop in the circular drive in front of the house. He positioned the cruiser close to the porch steps but still had a good view of the barn. Of course, that meant any gunman would have a view of them, too.

“Woodrow and Ronnie will deal with Hamlin,” Joelle relayed after she got a response from Ronnie. “They’ll cuff Hamlin, put him in the back of the cruiser and drive closer to assist.”

“Good,” Duncan muttered, and he turned to her. “You’re staying put. I’m going inside the house to look around.”

Oh, that gave her a nasty jolt of fear. “You’re not going in there alone.”

Duncan’s mouth tightened, and she saw the debate in his eyes. “I want Slater to stay here with you in case you’re attacked again.”

She shook her head. “You’re just as likely to be attacked in the house. Slater can go with you, and I can crawl over the seat and get behind the wheel.” Her baby bump wasn’t so big, not yet anyway, to prevent her from doing that. “Then, I can move the cruiser if necessary.”

Joelle didn’t want to think of what might make that necessary, but it would almost certainly mean some kind of attack. Maybe a firebomb to the house. But if that happened, she wouldn’t be driving away unless Duncan and Slater were out of harm’s way and with her.

The debate in Duncan’s eyes continued a moment longer, and when he cursed, she knew he’d made his decision. So did Slater. They both reached for their doors.

“Don’t get out of the cruiser,” Duncan warned her one last time. He looked as if he wanted to add more, so much more, but thankfully he didn’t. Now wasn’t the time to bring up anything about “if the worst happens.”

“Find Molly,” Joelle said as they exited the cruiser.

The moment the doors were shut, she climbed over the seat and got behind the wheel while she continued to keep watch. Behind her, she saw Woodrow and Ronnie’s cruiser pull to a stop, and in the distance, she heard yet more sirens. More vehicles, too, and Joelle spotted Slater’s ranch hands as they arrived. Good. The more, the better.

But “more” didn’t help Slater and Duncan right now.

Joelle quickly lost sight of them after Slater unlocked the front door and they hurried into the house. She could imagine, though, that they would immediately start the room-to-room search. It was a big house, and that meant there were plenty of places to check.

Plenty of places for a killer to hide, too.

Added to that, the house didn’t have an open floor plan so Duncan and Slater wouldn’t be able to do a quick visual sweep to determine if anyone was there. It’d be a slow process, searching through all eight rooms on the bottom floor before going to the second floor and then likely the attic if there was no sign of Molly before then.

She purposely didn’t watch the time because she didn’t want to mark off the seconds and minutes of the search for Molly. That wouldn’t help her stay focused. Just the opposite. She didn’t want to think of the extreme danger Duncan and her brother were in. Molly, too.

The baby stirred, a reminder of why she had to stay safe. It was also a reminder of Duncan. For the past five months, she’d worked so hard to keep her distance from him. Worked hard not to feel anything. Because those kinds of feelings also deepened the guilt and grief. But it was impossible to keep him out of her thoughts when they were thrown together like this. The closeness and the danger were breaking down barriers she’d fought to keep in place.

She forced all of that aside for now and tried to get a glimpse of the upstairs windows, to see if Duncan and Slater had made it to the second floor. It was impossible, though, with the way Slater had parked. The eaves of the porch blocked her view.

Another cruiser pulled in behind the others, and her phone dinged with a text. From Luca.We’re coming closer, he messaged.

Hamlin is cuffed in the cruiser. Woodrow, Ronnie and I are going to check the barns and the other outbuildings. David will be here any minute now to help.

Deputy David Morales who normally worked the swing shift. Obviously, he’d been called in, and he would probably have his usual partner with him, Deputy Sonya Grover. Since Sonya and Molly were also friends, the woman would have insisted on coming to help.

All possible help would be needed since in addition to the big barn adjacent to the house, there were two smaller barns farther away and four other smaller outbuildings scattered around the grounds. There was even a fishing cabin on the banks of the creek that snaked through the ranch.

Joelle responded to let Luca know that she understood the plan, and she watched as they sprang into action. Not just the two cruisers but the three ranch hands from Slater’s ranch. They didn’t park near her, though, but rather between the house and the barn, and soon the deputies and hands began to pour from their vehicles. That didn’t make her breathe easier, though.

It just meant a gunman would have more targets.

Her phone dinged again, and the relief washed over her when she saw it was from Duncan.

First and second floors cleared. Molly’s not there. Heading into the attic now.

That rid her of any relief she’d just gotten. Yes, Duncan and her brother were still safe, there was no gunfire, but Molly wasn’t there. It sickened Joelle to think of where the woman could be. And if she’d been hurt or worse. Now Duncan and Slater would have to basically climb a ladder to get into the attic, and there could be a gunman waiting for them.

She caught some movement from the corner of her eye and turned to the side of the house that was on the opposite side of the barn. Joelle immediately saw the white rectangular spots on the ground. Not the lingering morning mist. These appeared to be sheets of paper.

Joelle didn’t want to move too far from the front door in case Slater and Duncan had to come running out, but she backed up the cruiser, keeping close to the porch so she could have a better look. Definitely paper and not some kind of explosives. She inched the cruiser back even farther, and she looked down.

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