Page 61 of Murder at Rescue Ridge

Heath’s weapon still pointed in her direction, but she ignored it. “I didn’t,” she said. “Not until I got half a mile away from the ranch.” It wasn’t entirely true. She’d wanted to gauge her father’s reaction before making a final decision. Loyalty counted for a lot when it came to parenting. In a perfect world, Heath’s parental love wouldn’t be tainted by jealousy of her birth father. “But then it came to me that loyalty is more important than anything else, especially biology.”

Some of the tension eased from Heath’s face. She stared at someone who was willing to kill to get what he wanted. Or was it to protect her? In his twisted way, she figured the latter might be true.

But it was still murder. Heath had taken away any chance she’d had to mend fences with Harrison, to find out if he really would rather her go away. If he’d known the reason for her visit, would he have had an epiphany?

Any chance for her childhood fantasy of the man having a change of heart and telling her how much she meant to him was gone.

Heath took that from her.

“Why hide behind the deal?” she asked, still unable to fit certain puzzle pieces together. The questions were also a stall tactic, but she desperately wanted answers.

“Less messy,” Heath said, shifting his weapon just enough so that the barrel was no longer trained on her. “And I would never be tied to it. Only three people had to die. Their bodies could be buried and not found for years. The deal would never come back on me.”

It took Lukas a few seconds to catch on that Heath intended to kill him from the start. When he did, his gaze widened, and his jaw dropped. Nikki took advantage of the distraction, stepping into him and throwing an elbow into his solar plexus.

Lukas gasped for air like a fish writhing on the bank.

And then another shot was fired.

Nikki prayed the bullet hadn’t hit her. There was no time to check. She dove for the shotgunandcame up with it. She’d never fired a weapon a day in her life. Could she shoot a human? A parental figure? Lukas?

One glance to her left answered the last question. She wouldn’t have to find out if she could shoot Lukas because he was already sitting on his backside, staring out at the water, bloody hand over the center of his chest. His mouth was open like he wanted to speak but couldn’t. Shock stamped his features as blood pumped out of him like an open fire hydrant spits water.

At this range, Heath had scored a direct hit. Would he shoot her next?

Could he?

Conrad scrambledto get a view of what had just happened. He’d been knocked unconscious after going head-first into a tree trunk when he’d dove behind the tent. He must not have been out for long. His vision wasstill blurred; he scanned the area for his shotgun but couldn’t see it.

Not that anything would stop him from getting to Nikki, including not having a weapon of his own.

A shot had been fired, and Nikki could have been hit. As he came around the back of the two-man tent, crawling on all fours, he saw Lukas.

Getting a better line of sight, he realized Lukas had been shot. He also saw that Nikki was still alive. She’d retrieved the shotgun and had it pointed at her stepfather.

Fuzzy details came together. Had Beau been set up? Did that mean his half-brother’s intentions were good?

Conrad didn’t know what to believe.

“Put the gun down, Nikki,” Heath warned. “Don’t force me to shoot you.”

“How will you be able to look my mother in the eyes if you do that?” she quipped, anger lacing her tone.

A noise to his right sounded a second before an arm hauled him upright.

“What are you doing here?” Beau asked under his breath before walking Conrad around the tent.

Conrad tried to shake the fog out of his brain. “What the hell?”

“Are you looking for this?” Beau asked Heath.

“I was just about to go find it,” Heath sneered.

“Wait!” Despite Nikki’s protest, Heath took aim.

“Hold on a damn minute,” Beau stated. “You’re about to accidentally shoot me.”

“Who said it would be an accident?” Heath laughed. “I hope you didn’t take me seriously. Bring him closer so I can get a better shot.”

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