Unexpected Protector Read online

  Didn’t he get it? “You’re talking in general, I’m being specific.” Serena tried again. “Demi wouldn’t kill the father of her baby no matter how much she couldn’t stand Bo.”

  Carson moved his head from side to side as if he was trying to clear it. “You realize that you just proved my point with those last few words you said, right?”

  “No,” she cried. “I proved mine. Demi wouldn’t want her baby to someday hate her for killing its father. She wanted her baby to eventually come to know Bo—and make up its own mind about what a lowlife your brother was,” she concluded with feeling.

  Carson laughed shortly again as he shook his head. “You know,” he told her, “that almost makes sense—in a weird sort of way.”

  “The point is,” Serena said, “even though she had a temper, Demi was practical. She wouldn’t have killed him—she would have waited until the baby was born and then she would have confronted Bo and made sure that your brother lived up to his responsibilities toward the child.” She paused, pressing her lips together. It took effort to keep the bitterness out of her voice. “Men can’t just have their fun, sowing their seed and disappearing. Not when there’s another life involved.”

  He thought of the baby he saw her with last night. He was aware of Serena’s circumstances. “Is that what you told her?”

  But Serena shook her head. She wouldn’t presume to give Demi advice. “Nobody tells Demi anything. She marches to her own drummer.” Serena paused for a moment, her eyes meeting his. “This is just between the two of us.”

  He thought of Demi. “Seems like there’s more people involved than that.”

  She blew out an exasperated breath. He knew what she meant. “Demi told me this in confidence the last time I saw her. I don’t want this getting out, do you understand? I only told you because I wanted you to understand why Demi wouldn’t have killed your brother.”

  He was far from convinced. “If she didn’t kill him, why was his last act before dying to write her name in his own blood?”

  “I don’t know,” she exclaimed. “You’re the detective. You figure it out. But she didn’t kill him,” Serena insisted again. “I’d bet my share of the ranch on that.”

  She looked intense as she said that, and he had to admit that it did rather impress him. “You’re that certain?” he questioned.

  “I’m that certain,” Serena confirmed.

  He lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “I’ll keep that in mind. And I’ll be getting back to you,” he told her just before he walked away.

  She didn’t win, Serena thought. She hadn’t convinced the detective that Demi had nothing to do with Bo’s murder. But she could see that she’d created doubt in Carson’s mind, which meant that she didn’t lose, either. And for now, that was good enough.

  Chapter 7

  Out for a ride to clear her head a few days later, Serena abruptly reined her horse in.

  She stared at the horizon, trying to make out the two riders in the distance, also on horseback.

  Ever since Bo Gage’s murder, everyone in the area was spooked and on high alert, taking note of anything remotely unusual or out of the ordinary.

  Anyone who had business with her father or mother came up the main road to the house, driving a vehicle, not on the back of a horse.

  Because she no longer felt as safe these days as she used to, Serena had taken to bringing her rifle with her when she went out for a ride on the range. She felt that it was better to be safe than sorry and she was quite proficient with a gun.

  Her hand went to her rifle’s hilt now as she watched the two riders. There was something uncomfortably familiar about them even though she couldn’t make out their faces at this distance.

  And then she saw Anders coming from the opposite direction. Her brother was riding toward the two men. Even so far away, Serena could tell from his body language that the Double C foreman wasn’t happy.

  Rather than hang back, she kicked her mare’s flanks, urging Nighthawk to head over in Anders’s direction. She didn’t know why, but something in her gut told her that her brother might need a little support.

  And then, as she came closer, she realized why. The two riders she had observed, who were now engaged in some sort of a conversation, were Noel and Evan Larson.

  She felt an icy chill shimmy up and down her spine.

  Twins, the Larsons were businessmen with extensive real estate holdings who used both their good looks and highly developed charm to get people to trust them. Word had it from Finn and some of her other law enforcement relatives that the Larsons were dangerous and building a criminal empire involving drugs, guns, high-stakes theft and money laundering.

  But to Serena, Noel and Evan Larson would always be the creepy duo who had duped her in high school. Back then, she had briefly dated Evan—up until the time Noel had decided to switch places with his twin. Posing as Evan, he’d tried to pressure her into going further with him than she was willing to go. Upset, Serena summarily dumped Evan only to be told by him that it was his twin who had tried to get her into bed.

  Stunned, Serena was furious that he had so cavalierly passed her off to his twin without her consent and Evan had reciprocated by being angry with her because she hadn’t been able to tell the difference between him and his twin immediately. He wound up reviling her and calling her a number of names, including a dumb bitch. It was the last time they ever exchanged any words.

  From that time on, Serena steered clear of both the twins, wanting nothing to do with either of them because of the deception and because of the demeaning way they had acted toward her.

  In a nutshell, the Larsons scared her. They had scared her then and they scared her now, she realized as she rode up toward her brother. Even so, she felt that Anders needed backup.

  She reached her brother just as Evan and Noel rode away.

  Just as well, Serena thought. The very thought of being anywhere near the Larsons or having to talk to either one of them, left a really horrible taste in her mouth.

  The only thing worse was allowing the duo to roam free on the Double C Ranch. She wanted them gone from the family property.

  “What did they want?” she asked Anders the moment she reached her brother.

  Anders frowned, intently watching the twins as the duo rode away. “Exactly what I asked them—after I told those two that they were trespassing on private property.”

  “And what was their answer?” Serena had no idea what to expect when it came to those two.

  “Noel, at least that was who he said he was,” Anders said, “told me they didn’t ‘realize’ that they were trespassing. According to Noel, they were just out here ‘admiring the gorgeous land’ and they were thinking of buying a ranch themselves. They wanted to know if there were any ranches for sale in the area and asked a bunch of general questions about ranching. Seemed innocent enough, I suppose.”

  She didn’t believe a word of it. There was something underhanded going on, she just didn’t know what it was yet.

  “They’re not,” Serena assured her brother with feeling. “Everything the Larsons do or say has some kind of hidden agenda, some kind of underhanded motive. A hundred and fifty years ago those two would have been snake oil salesmen—or made a living as gun runners to the Native population.” She felt her stomach turning every time she thought of the twin brothers. “I wouldn’t trust either one of them any farther than I could throw them,” she told Anders. “From where I was, it looked like those two were riding around, casing the Double C Ranch.”

  Anders laughed shortly. “They know better than that.”

  “No, they don’t,” Serena maintained. “If you ask me, I think we should be on our guard.” But waiting for something to happen would put the ranch’s hands on edge, she thought. Something more specific was needed. “I think that we should also call Finn so his people will be on alert.”


  Anders shrugged. She knew he didn’t care for the implication. He didn’t like the idea of having to go running to his older brother. “I can take care of the ranch.”

  She was quick to correct the misunderstanding and set his mind at ease. “Nobody’s saying that you can’t take care of the ranch, Anders. But these guys are dangerous,” Serena reminded him. “I get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach just knowing that they’re out there, poking around.”

  Anders sighed. “Okay, if it makes you feel any better, call Finn and tell him the Larsons were out here, looking like they were getting the lay of the land.” He paused, his gaze on his sister. “I don’t like the Larson twins any more than you do, Serena, but until they do something wrong that can be proved in a court of law, I don’t think there’s all that much Finn and his people can do about it.”

  One step at a time, Serena thought. “We can leave that up to Finn. At least we can get him started by giving him the information. Meanwhile,” Serena said, as she leaned over in her saddle, patting the hilt of her rifle, “I’m keeping my rifle loaded—just in case.”

  Turning her mare around, Serena headed back to the stables. She left Nighthawk with one of the stable hands. It wasn’t something she would normally do—she liked looking after and caring for her own horse, and that included unsaddling the mare and grooming her—but right now, she felt this sense of urgency nagging at her. She wanted to call Finn and tell him about finding the Larsons on the family ranch.

  The call to the station proved frustrating. The person manning the front desk told her that Finn was out on a call. Before she knew it, she was being switched to someone else.

  And then a deep voice was in her ear, saying, “Gage. What can I do for you?”

  There were a number of Gages working in the police station. The odds of getting Carson were small. And yet, she just knew it was him.

  Hoping against hope that she was wrong, she asked, “Carson?”

  “Yes,” the rumbling voice said gruffly.

  Oh great, just the person I wanted to have talk down to me, she thought, annoyed. But she had a feeling that it was Carson or no one and she disliked having the Larson twins casing her ranch more than she disliked talking to the K-9 detective, so she decided to remain on the line.

  “Detective Gage,” she said, addressing him formally, “this is Serena Colton.”

  The detective’s voice was just as cold as hers was. “Hello, Miss Colton. Did you think of something else you forgot to tell me?”

  She almost hung up on him then. His tone of voice annoyed her. He sounded judgmental. But then maybe she was reading something into it, Serena told herself, struggling to remain fair. She decided to give him another chance.

  “No,” she told Carson, “I didn’t forget anything. I just thought you might be interested in knowing that the Larson brothers were just out here, riding around the Double C. I swear they were taking measure of the ranch like a tailor measuring someone for a suit.”

  Mention of the Larsons had Carson immediately sitting up, alert.

  “The Larsons,” he repeated, digesting what she’d just said. “Anyone in your family have any reason to have dealings with those two?”

  “No one in my family deals with vermin,” Serena informed him coldly.

  “Just checking,” he told her. “I meant no offense,” he added, taking her tone of voice into account.

  And then she suddenly remembered something that had slipped her mind until just now.

  “For the record, you might want to look into the dealings that your brother had with them,” she told Carson. “Demi mentioned something about that to me one of the last times I saw her,” Serena added.

  “My brother? Dorian?” he asked.

  Dorian, younger than he was by six years, was a bounty hunter, and this last year, Dorian had been Demi’s chief competitor.

  “No,” Serena answered. She paused for a moment for effect before telling him, “Bo.”

  “What?” He was certain that he had to have heard her wrong.

  Serena gave him all the information she had. “Demi told me that Bo sold the Larsons two of his German shepherds and that the Larsons paid one of the trainers at the K-9 center a lot of money on the down low to cross-train the dogs to attack. They were also trained to protect and detect.”

  “To detect what?” Carson wanted to know. He wasn’t exactly happy about this piece of information. Bo had never said anything about selling two of his dogs to the Larsons.

  What had Bo been thinking, doing business with the likes of the Larsons? He had to have known that they were under investigation. The twins’ unsavory dealings weren’t exactly a secret.

  “Sorry,” Serena answered. “I have no idea. That’s something you’re going to have to ask the Larsons.”

  He fully intended to, Carson thought. It was funny how the investigation into his brother’s murder was making him come full circle, back to the investigation he’d been focused on prior to Bo’s murder.

  Were those two would-be crime kingpins somehow responsible for Bo’s death? This case was getting more and more complicated.

  “Thanks for bringing this to my attention,” he told Serena, feeling that he owed her something, especially after the way he’d talked down to her.

  It wasn’t his attention she’d been after, Serena thought. “To be honest, I was trying to reach Finn to tell him about this,” she said, not wanting any credit she didn’t have coming to her.

  The woman certainly made it difficult to give her a compliment, Carson thought. “Yeah, well, thanks anyway,” he said just before he hung up the landline.

  * * *

  The Larson brothers, Carson thought, getting up from his desk. Maybe he was going to get to nail these bastards in this lifetime after all.

  Dozing next to Carson’s desk, Justice was instantly alert the second Carson had pushed back his chair. The German shepherd scrambled to his feet, ready to go wherever his two-footed partner went.

  “I don’t want you taking a bite out of either one of these slime-buckets,” Carson warned as he secured the dog’s leash onto his collar. “Not until after we have the goods on them. We got a deal, Justice?”

  The German shepherd barked in response and Carson nodded his head as if they had just struck a bargain. “Deal,” he echoed.

  * * *

  Noel and Evan Larson had a suite of impressive, swanky offices located downtown. Initially, the office had housed a real estate business. The story was that their business “grew,” necessitating more space until their so-called “holdings” caused them to take over the rest of the building.

  Decorated to create envy in the eye of the beholder, Carson found that the suite of offices looked to be pretentious. He himself had always favored clean, simple lines. In his home and in his partner, he thought, glancing over at Justice.

  Walking into the Larsons’ offices, he didn’t bother waiting for the administrative assistant sitting at the front desk to announce him. Instead, he walked right past her into the inner suite and announced himself.

  One step behind him, the administrative assistant looked at her bosses in obvious distress. “I’m sorry, sirs. He got away from me.”

  “That’s all right, Bailey Jean,” Noel said. “We’ll take it from here.” He waved the woman back to the front desk.

  Carson held up his ID for the two brothers to view. “Detective Gage,” he told the duo, although he knew that they were well aware of who he was. “I’d like to have a word with you if I could.”

  He was sure the look on his face told the two men that this wasn’t a request but a flat-out order. Knowing that they liked playing the game, he wasn’t expecting any resistance from either one.

  “Sure thing, Detective,” Evan said, standing next to his twin. “You mind leaving that mutt outside? Like in your car?” he stressed. It wa
s obvious that he felt uncomfortable around the German shepherd.

  Carson was not about to leave the dog anywhere but at his side. Having the animal there evened the odds in his opinion.

  “This is Justice. My partner,” he told the duo. “Justice goes where I go.”

  “Rather simplistic, don’t you think, Detective?” Noel asked with a smirk.

  Identical in every way when it came to their appearance, Noel had always been the one everyone regarded as the ringleader, and he had taken the lead now, as was his habit.

  “No, I don’t,” Carson answered flatly. He made it clear that no matter what their unspoken criminal connections were, he was not intimidated. “Can we get on with this, gentlemen?”

  “We’ll answer any question you have, Detective,” Noel said in a friendly, easygoing manner. He glanced in his brother’s direction. In contrast to Noel, Evan appeared to be as stiff as a board. “Sit, Evan,” Noel told his twin. “You’re making the detective’s dog nervous.”

  Evan hadn’t taken his eyes off Justice since the dog had walked into the office. Carson saw that there was a thin line of perspiration all along the quiet twin’s upper lip.

  “The dog’s making me nervous,” Evan retorted.

  “Don’t mind Evan,” Noel told Carson. “My brother doesn’t get along well with dogs. Or, on occasion, people,” he added as a snide aside. “Now, what is it that we can do for you, Detective?”

  For now, Carson just wanted a couple of questions answered. “Did you buy two German shepherds from my brother?” Carson asked.

  “Such a shame what happened to Bo,” Noel said as if talking about the weather. “But to answer your question, as a matter of fact, we did.”

  “Why?”

  Noel smiled at him. “I really don’t see how that’s any business of yours, Detective.”

  “This is a murder investigation,” Carson informed him in an unemotional voice. “Everything’s my business.”