Page 98 of Proof of Guilt

Judging from the glare Gabriel aimed at Theo, her brother felt his question had priority over Theo’s. Theo must have felt the same way, because he started talking.

“I don’t know who he is, but I have a recording of a CI who says that a killer is on the way to the ranch. I didn’t call because supposedly this killer had managed to plant bugs in the house and the sheriff’s office, and I didn’t want to tip him off that we were onto him. But obviously we’re past the point of being worried about tipping him off.”

“Yeah.” A muscle flickered in Gabriel’s jaw. “How long had Theo been here before you texted me?” he asked her.

“Just a few seconds.” That was possibly true. Ivy honestly had no idea how long it’d been. Time had sort of frozen when she’d come face-to-face with the man she’d never expected to see again.

Gabriel stared at her as if he might challenge that, but then he growled out, “Follow me.”

Ivy was certain that put some renewed panic in her eyes, certain that her brother saw it as well, but Gabriel kept moving, anyway. “We’ll go into my office.”

Not upstairs. Though that’s where Ivy wanted to go. “Nathan,” she said.

“He’s in the guest room with Jameson and Jodi,” Gabriel quickly answered. “They moved him into the bathroom and will make sure he’s all right.”

That steadied Ivy a little. Jameson was a lawman, and Jodi had been trained as a private security specialist. Still, Ivy didn’t want a gunman anywhere near the house or anyone in her family.

“Nathan?” Theo asked.

“Ivy’s son,” Gabriel said before she could answer. “If this gunman makes it to the house, he’ll be seriously outnumbered. But it might not even come to that, because I have three armed ranch hands headed out to stop him.”

Gabriel must have made those arrangements shortly before he’d come to the mudroom. Good. Ivy wanted every precaution taken. Correction: she needed it, because she had to keep Nathan safe.

“You have a son?” Theo asked, his voice practically a whisper now.

“Yes.” She didn’t give any other details. No time. Because Gabriel spoke again.

“I want to know everything about the recording,” Gabriel insisted, glancing at Theo again. “I want to hear what this CI has to say.”

Theo nodded and followed Gabriel into his office, which was just off the family room on the bottom floor. There were plenty of windows here, but Gabriel had already shut the blinds and drapes. He also didn’t turn on the lights. No doubt because it would alert anyone close enough to the house that there was someone in that particular room.

However, her brother did go to one of the windows that faced the back of the house, and he opened the blinds just enough so he could keep watch. Theo did the same to the window across from Gabriel. That one would give him a view of the side of the house. While the inside of the house was practically dark, there were security lights on the grounds, so maybe they’d be able to see this monster coming.

“Is there an extra gun in here?” Ivy asked.

“Bottom right drawer,” Gabriel quickly provided. It was locked, but he rattled off the combination, and she took out a Glock he had stashed there. She wasn’t an expert marksman, not by any stretch of the imagination, but she would use it to defend her son if necessary.

“The CI is someone who regularly gives me intel,” Theo started. “I’ll write down his name for you later. In case the place really is bugged, I don’t want to compromise his identity. The other person you’ll hear on the recording is a federal agent. He’s the one who sent me this, and the voices have been altered—again so that no one will be compromised.”

While still keeping a grip on his gun, Theo took out his phone and hit the play button. He held it up so that Gabriel would be able to hear it, and it didn’t take long before the man’s voice began to pour through the room.

“I heard some stuff,” the man said. “Stuff about them Becketts. I figured I oughta tell you because that family’s been through enough.”

Yes, they had been. The murder of their parents. Also the near murder of Gabriel’s bride-to-be, Jodi. It had changed their lives forever.

It was still changing them.

“There’s a killer coming after them,” the man went on. “I don’t know the fella’s name, but I heard him talking at the Silver Moon Bar over on St. Mary’s Street. He said he’d been hired—and these are his words, not mine—to put some more Becketts in the ground. He said he was going to the Blue River Ranch tonight to finish off as many of them as he could.”

A chill slid through Ivy, head to toe, and she felt her stomach clench into a tight knot. “God, will this never end?” she said under her breath.

Ivy clearly hadn’t said that softly enough, because it caused both Theo and her brother to look back at her. Theo hit Pause. He stared at her as if he might need to intervene in some way. Definitely not something she wanted. Nor did she want to give in to the fear. So she went to the window next to Theo in order to help him keep watch.

Theo continued to look at her while he volleyed glances out the window, but he finally hit the play button again.

“Describe the man who said that.” It was a second person on the recording. Theo’s fellow agent, no doubt. “And did he say who hired him?”

“Didn’t mention a word about that,” the CI answered. “Of course, it wouldn’t have been too smart if he had. And I couldn’t exactly ask him without maybe gettin’ my own self killed. But he was tall, bulky. Built like one of those navy SEALs or something.”

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