Page 7 of The Sheriff's Baby

“Who are you?” Duncan demanded. “Are you hurt?” He didn’t see any signs of injury, but it was possible some of the stains on her clothes were dried blood.

“I’m sorry,” the woman said as she came even closer.

That put some ice in his veins. “Sorry for what?” And because it had to be asked, he added. “Are you the one who took Molly?”

She didn’t answer but rather just kept walking, her feet dragging through the yard. Her eyes looked vacant. Robotic, even. As if someone had forgotten to turn on a switch. Duncan was betting she’d either been drugged or was in shock.

“This is all my fault,” the woman muttered. Her voice was flat and barely a whisper. “Everything that’s happening is my fault.” She dropped to her knees, her gaze shifting to Joelle. “I’m so sorry, but he wants you dead.”

A hoarse sob tore from her throat, and the woman collapsed into a heap on the ground.

Chapter Three

While Joelle sat in the waiting room of the emergency room of Saddle Ridge Hospital, she tried to keep her breathing level and tamp down the worry that was threatening to cloud her mind. Worry wouldn’t help—not her baby, not Molly and not her. What she needed right now was for Molly to be found alive and well and for her to find answers as to what the heck was going on.

Duncan was clearly after those answers, too, and he had been on the phone nonstop since they’d arrived at the hospital with the mystery woman. The woman who’d delivered that sickening message.

I’m so sorry, but he wants you dead.

That was definitely something Joelle hadn’t wanted to hear, and it’d left her with even more questions. Who was the woman and who was theheshe’d proclaimed wanted to kill her? Was he the person who’d driven that stolen car to her house and set the fire? It was hard for her to believe that it wasn’t connected, but until the woman regained consciousness, all Joelle could do was speculate and deal with her own phone calls. So far, none of those calls had given her any good news.

Plenty of bad, though.

Her house was basically in ashes now because the fire department hadn’t been able to move in to try to save it since there’d been the threat of an active shooter. There were no signs of the shooter now, though. No sign of Molly, either. And the now-unconscious mystery woman had had no ID on her so they didn’t even know who she was.

However, Joelle had gotten some good news, not from a call but rather the checkup she’d had shortly after Duncan and she had arrived at the hospital. Despite the traumatic situation she’d experienced, the baby was fine. The monitors had shown a strong, steady heartbeat and lots of movement—signs that had fulfilled a lot of Joelle’s prayers. Her baby was okay.

Now, Joelle had to make sure she stayed that way.

The only instructions the doctor had given her was to get some rest, and Duncan had been there to hear that part. Which meant he’d soon be trying to get her off her feet. She was exhausted, no doubt about that, and exhaustion wasn’t good for the baby, but neither was having shots fired at them. To make sure an attack like that didn’t happen again, they needed answers fast.

Since Duncan was still on the phone, Joelle went after some of those answers by making a call to dispatch to check if there’d been any missing persons’ reports in the area of someone matching their mystery woman’s description. There hadn’t been, but Joelle had known that was a long shot, that the woman could have come from anywhere and maybe wasn’t missing at all. She could have arrived shortly before she’d staggered toward Joelle’s house.

Emphasis onstaggered.

She hadn’t been steady on her feet at all and seemed dazed, perhaps even drugged. But it was also possible she had been experiencing some kind of medical emergency that had created those symptoms. If so, the woman might not have even been aware of what she was saying.

I’m so sorry, but he wants you dead.

Though she certainly hadn’t seemed so dazed or drugged when she’d spoken those words. She’d seemed adamant about delivering a warning with a potential deadly outcome.

Joelle was about to text one of the deputies to see if there’d been any signs of a vehicle that the woman could have used to get to or near her place, but before she could press the number, she got an incoming call from one of her brothers, Ruston McCullough, a homicide detective with San Antonio PD.

It wasn’t Ruston’s first call of the morning. That initial one had come while Duncan and she were en route to the hospital. She had assured Ruston and her other brother, Slater, and their kid sister, Bree, that she hadn’t been harmed, but Joelle knew they were worried about her. Knew, too, that the calls to check on her would continue until they could see her face-to-face and make sure the baby and she were, indeed, okay.

“Anything?” Ruston immediately asked. His tone was brusque as it usually was, but Joelle was aware that the question covered a lot of bases, including her own state of mind.

“No. We’re still in limbo when it comes to any info that’ll help.” She paused, had to because of the sudden lump in her throat. “Still nothing on Molly. Someone took her, and she has to be terrified.”

Joelle refused to believe it could be worse than that. She wouldn’t accept that Molly could be hurt or dead. She had to cling to the hope they would somehow find her and bring her safely home.

“Any ransom demand?” Ruston questioned.

Joelle had to repeat her “no.” But in a way, a ransom demand would be a positive sign. It meant she’d been taken for money and would presumably be released unharmed if the money was paid.

Ruston sighed and paused a long time. “I’m sorry about your house. You’ve got the keys and security code to stay at my place, but I don’t want you there alone. Just hang with Duncan until I can get there. I want to keep coordinating with the Rangers to try to locate Molly.”

“Keep on that,” she insisted. She would have also told him she would come up with a safe place to stay, however, when Duncan ended his latest call and started her way, she put the rest of this conversation on hold. “I have to go,” she told Ruston. “I’ll let you know if I get any updates.”

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