Page 9 of Enforcing the Rules

“You go there. Do not leave the house.” I stepped closer, studying her eyes. “Are you on drugs?”

“No. I swear. I tried some, but I’m not addicted. It was mostly Wes.”

“You better be telling me the truth. Now go.”

After Chloe left, I went to my computer. The only way for me to get that money was to do this skip on my own. Could I do it? I really had no choice.

I tapped on the keys and opened the company email. My mouth dropped open when I saw the attached photo. “Ho-ly shit.”

It was our father.

Raymond Lee Baker, forty-eight

Vehicular homicide

$100,000 bond

Fourth DUI

During which he was accused of killing two people

The bounty would be ten percent of that or ten thousand dollars. If I could find him and bring him into custody. And that was a big if.

I had one advantage. I knew my father.

He may have bailed on us when I was a kid, but he’d come around to see us once in a while, bearing gifts. He even introduced me to his new family on my graduation day.

Mom wasn’t too thrilled.

He was living with a woman named Edina. For as much as I wanted to hate her, I couldn’t. She was a sweet woman, and she had a disabled child. The girl’s name was Bethany, and she was eight years old. She had muscular dystrophy and was in a wheelchair. She was my half-sister. It broke my heart. Especially, since I knew from experience good old dad couldn’t be counted on to stick around. But as I watched them together, they seemed truly in love in a way I’d never seen him act with my mother.

I quickly searched for the average penalty for a fourth DUI in Colorado. Two to six years in Colorado State Prison. That would be enough to make dear old dad run for sure.

But he wouldn’t go far. He wouldn’t leave his new family. He loved Edina too much, and her daughter needed specialized medical care. Edina wouldn’t pull up roots to follow him.

No, Ray Lee Baker wouldn’t go far.

CHAPTER THREE

Kate—

I printed out the bounty paperwork and headed to Edina’s house. She lived in Pueblo. It was quite a drive from Durango and would take me hours to get there. I didn’t care. If he wasn’t there, she’d probably know where he was. I stopped and deposited the check I’d gotten for Mavis’s bounty, gotten some cash, then filled up my tank.

It was late afternoon by the time I pulled up in front of the house. I knew the address from sending Christmas cards and gifts to my half-sister, but I’d never been here before.

The house was a brick ranch, one level that looked like it was probably built in the late forties or early fifties. The yard was nice, with a big tree out front. I pulled into the drive and parked. There was only one small sedan parked ahead of me.

I picked up the donut box and shoved my door open.

When I hit town, I’d stopped and picked up a dozen strawberry frosted with sprinkles. I got them for Bethany. I knew from the few letters she’d sent me over the years they were her favorites.

I strode up the walk and knocked on the door, then waited.

Footsteps approached, and Edina’s face appeared in the diamond-shaped window in the wooden front door.

She frowned and swung open the door.

“Kate. What are you doing here?”

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