Page 61 of The Sheriff's Baby

Where the blood was spreading fast.

“I’m not sorry,” Brad muttered, his gaze fixed on Joelle. “I wish I could have killed you.” He pressed something in his pocket before he slumped lifelessly to the ground.

Behind them, fire erupted around the barn.

Chapter Sixteen

Duncan had already started running toward Joelle before he even saw Brad press whatever he’d had in his pocket. Some kind of detonation device no doubt.

The last ditch act of a dying man to kill the person in the barn.

Joelle moved fast, too, hurrying toward the barn. “Molly or Kate could be in there.”

Yeah, the heat source they’d seen on infrared could definitely be one of them, but it was equally possible this was another hired gun, lying in wait to finish what his boss had started. That’s why Duncan raced ahead of Joelle.

Slater hurried in to help, too. “Joelle, make sure Brad and his hired help aren’t anywhere near weapons,” Slater told her.

That accomplished two things. Joelle would no longer be close to the barn, and Duncan definitely didn’t want Brad or the thug to try any retaliation if they’d managed to survive the gunshots. He was pretty sure they hadn’t, but it was too big of a risk to take.

Woodrow hurried to help Joelle, and Ronnie stood guard, making sure no one else was about to launch an attack. Duncan reached the barn first and was thankful that most of the flames were on the sides of the building. Not for long, though. Brad had obviously used some kind of accelerant because the fire was quickly eating its way to the door.

Duncan threw open the barn door and immediately stepped to the side in case he was about to be gunned down. But no shots came his way. Smoke did, though, thick billowing clouds of it. Something that had no doubt been part of Brad’s sick plan. The rain would help, some, with the flames, but if the fire didn’t kill the person inside, smoke inhalation might.

Even though the storm had blocked out so much of the light, Duncan still spotted the figure on the ground in the center of the barn. “Kate,” he muttered. She was trussed up and gagged, but she was conscious and trying to move.

Duncan didn’t take the time to untie her. He scooped her up and started toward the door. Not a second too soon. The fire must have triggered some kind of secondary device because the back wall of the barn burst into flames. That got Duncan moving even faster, and in that short distance, the smoke was already clogging his throat and lungs.

The rain was definitely welcome when he darted out into it, and he continued to run, continued to get Kate and himself as far away from the barn as possible. Because there could be another device, one meant to bring the whole barn down, and he didn’t want Kate or anyone else hit with fiery debris.

“I just called for an ambulance,” Joelle said, hurrying to help him with Kate when Duncan placed the woman on the ground. He got to work on removing the ropes while Joelle tackled the gag.

“Brad’s going to kill all of you and set me up for it,” Kate blurted the moment she could speak. “He bragged to me about, egging on that PI so he’d look guilty of these attacks.”

“Yes,” Duncan confirmed. “Brad admitted to planting some evidence that would point to Hamlin.”

“Did he also tell you he drugged me?” Kate asked, and Duncan shook his head, though he’d suspected that’s what had happened. “He said he drugged my tea, and then he cursed because I apparently didn’t drink enough of it. He wanted me unconscious so he could kill me. But I managed to get out of the house and go to Saddle Ridge.”

Duncan nodded since that worked with his theory, too. Brad would have eliminated his mother so she wouldn’t tell the cops about him, and then he could have chalked up her death to Hamlin.

“Brad spooked me into leaving the hospital,” Kate murmured. “I thought he was going to sneak in and kill me. That’s why I ran.” She squeezed her eyes shut a moment and shook her head. “At least I tried to run, but one of Brad’s hired thugs caught me.”

Duncan hated to question the woman, but while they were waiting on that ambulance, she might be able to provide him with more answers. A big one in case any other lives were at stake. “Did Brad say anything about the PI’s sister?”

“Isla,” Kate was quick to say. “Yes. Brad did more bragging about her, too. He took her a month ago when he started setting all this up. He said she was insurance. That if the cops didn’t arrest Hamlin for murder, he would use Isla to force Hamlin to do it. And that if the cops did arrest him, then he could still sell the baby when she had it and then get rid of Isla.”

Duncan cursed. “Where was Brad holding Isla?”

Kate shook her head again. “He didn’t say. Maybe at his house in San Antonio? It’s a big place, and he told me he’d closed off the second floor because he never used it.”

Before Duncan could even ask, Slater was taking out his phone. “I’ll get SAPD out there right now to do a search.”

Good. He prayed she was there and safe. He didn’t want Brad to add any more victims to his list.

“My son was a very sick, very disturbed man.” Kate’s gaze slid to the bodies, and a hoarse sob tore from her throat.

“One of them is Brad,” Duncan told her. Not the best way to do a death notification, but she had to know. “I stopped him.”

Kate looked up at him, and a mix of both tears and rain slid down her cheeks. “You did what you had to do,” she muttered.

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