Read Online A Lawman's Justice (Sweetwater Ranch Book 8) by Delores Fossen - Free Book Online
Authors: Delores Fossen
Tags: Fiction, thriller, Suspense, Romance, Contemporary, Crime, Adult, Survival, Western, Journalist, romantic suspense, revelation, justice, Lawman, Series Conclusion, FBI Special Agent, Relentless Killer, Shocking
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bad one.
Sweet heaven, was her father’s killer really still out there?
Chapter Six
This was
not
how Seth had intended to spend the night and following morning.
He’d planned on using the time to go over the latest developments in the investigation. Alone. At his office or back at the guesthouse at the McKinnon ranch, where he’d been staying for the past seven months. He certainly hadn’t planned on being under the same roof with Shelby.
Yet, here he was.
Drinking his third cup of coffee at her kitchen table, watching the sunrise and waiting for Shelby to wake up so he could give her yet another dose of bad news.
As if she hadn’t already had enough.
The news about the money deposited into Boutwell’s account had shaken her up. No doubt because she now had to face the truth.
That Jewell possibly hadn’t killed her father after all.
And that the person who had killed him had planted those bone fragments for someone to find.
Of course, Shelby wouldn’t accept it as fact just on the basis of the three grand someone had given the man. She’d need a lot more than that. Ditto for the DA, and with Seth’s stepmother’s trial now just two days away, they were running out of time to find something to prove to everyone that Jewell was innocent.
And she was innocent.
However, Seth hated that voice in the back of his head that whispered,
What if she isn’t?
His mother didn’t have a violent bone in her body, but maybe she’d been pushed to the limit. Seth hated to admit that, too. Hated that he was starting to have any doubts about her.
Yeah, it was definitely time to put some distance between Shelby and him.
He finally heard Shelby stirring in her bedroom. Several minutes later, she turned on the shower. Seth glanced at his phone again, willing it to ring with good news that would put an end to this.
Nothing.
But at least it was his own phone and not a borrowed one from Cooper. Seth could thank his brother-in-law for that. Austin had brought Seth not only the phone but also his laptop, a weapon and a change of clothes. Along with playing deliveryman, Austin had even offered to pull night duty guarding Shelby.
Something Seth had strongly considered.
But Austin and Seth’s sister Rosalie had a toddler daughter, and with Rosalie on edge because of Jewell’s approaching trial, Seth figured Austin already had his hands full.
He heard Shelby turn off the shower and tried to brace himself for all the bad news he had to tell her. However, he heard a sound that pushed all that bad news to the back burner.
Shelby gasped, followed by a strangled sound that Seth had no trouble interpreting.
Fear.
That got him to his feet. Seth slapped down his coffee cup and ran toward the bathroom. Since Shelby’s room was the first one in the hall, he got there in a matter of seconds and drew his gun along the way.
Seth didn’t knock and wasn’t sure what he’d find when he threw open the door, but what he saw was a half-naked Shelby standing at her bedroom window. A flimsy white robe clung to her still-damp body. She whirled around, her hands coming up as if expecting a fight, and her breath swooshed out when she saw him.
“Outside,” she managed to say.
He went closer, automatically pushing her away from the window and behind him, and looked out into the yard.
Hell.
There, on the grass outside her window, someone had spray painted a single word in bright yellow paint.
Traitor
.
“Those men were here,” she said, her voice strangled. “Less than five feet from my bedroom window.”
Yes. If not the kidnappers, then someone working for the same scumbag who’d hired them.
Seth glanced around the yard, looking for any signs of who’d done this, but he didn’t see anyone. It also didn’t appear to be fresh paint. Bits of leaves covered some of the letters.
“Did you look out the window last night?” he asked her.
She shook her head, and because she was wobbly again, Seth hooked his arm around her
Sweet heaven, was her father’s killer really still out there?
Chapter Six
This was
not
how Seth had intended to spend the night and following morning.
He’d planned on using the time to go over the latest developments in the investigation. Alone. At his office or back at the guesthouse at the McKinnon ranch, where he’d been staying for the past seven months. He certainly hadn’t planned on being under the same roof with Shelby.
Yet, here he was.
Drinking his third cup of coffee at her kitchen table, watching the sunrise and waiting for Shelby to wake up so he could give her yet another dose of bad news.
As if she hadn’t already had enough.
The news about the money deposited into Boutwell’s account had shaken her up. No doubt because she now had to face the truth.
That Jewell possibly hadn’t killed her father after all.
And that the person who had killed him had planted those bone fragments for someone to find.
Of course, Shelby wouldn’t accept it as fact just on the basis of the three grand someone had given the man. She’d need a lot more than that. Ditto for the DA, and with Seth’s stepmother’s trial now just two days away, they were running out of time to find something to prove to everyone that Jewell was innocent.
And she was innocent.
However, Seth hated that voice in the back of his head that whispered,
What if she isn’t?
His mother didn’t have a violent bone in her body, but maybe she’d been pushed to the limit. Seth hated to admit that, too. Hated that he was starting to have any doubts about her.
Yeah, it was definitely time to put some distance between Shelby and him.
He finally heard Shelby stirring in her bedroom. Several minutes later, she turned on the shower. Seth glanced at his phone again, willing it to ring with good news that would put an end to this.
Nothing.
But at least it was his own phone and not a borrowed one from Cooper. Seth could thank his brother-in-law for that. Austin had brought Seth not only the phone but also his laptop, a weapon and a change of clothes. Along with playing deliveryman, Austin had even offered to pull night duty guarding Shelby.
Something Seth had strongly considered.
But Austin and Seth’s sister Rosalie had a toddler daughter, and with Rosalie on edge because of Jewell’s approaching trial, Seth figured Austin already had his hands full.
He heard Shelby turn off the shower and tried to brace himself for all the bad news he had to tell her. However, he heard a sound that pushed all that bad news to the back burner.
Shelby gasped, followed by a strangled sound that Seth had no trouble interpreting.
Fear.
That got him to his feet. Seth slapped down his coffee cup and ran toward the bathroom. Since Shelby’s room was the first one in the hall, he got there in a matter of seconds and drew his gun along the way.
Seth didn’t knock and wasn’t sure what he’d find when he threw open the door, but what he saw was a half-naked Shelby standing at her bedroom window. A flimsy white robe clung to her still-damp body. She whirled around, her hands coming up as if expecting a fight, and her breath swooshed out when she saw him.
“Outside,” she managed to say.
He went closer, automatically pushing her away from the window and behind him, and looked out into the yard.
Hell.
There, on the grass outside her window, someone had spray painted a single word in bright yellow paint.
Traitor
.
“Those men were here,” she said, her voice strangled. “Less than five feet from my bedroom window.”
Yes. If not the kidnappers, then someone working for the same scumbag who’d hired them.
Seth glanced around the yard, looking for any signs of who’d done this, but he didn’t see anyone. It also didn’t appear to be fresh paint. Bits of leaves covered some of the letters.
“Did you look out the window last night?” he asked her.
She shook her head, and because she was wobbly again, Seth hooked his arm around her
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