trouble could he get into if he didn’t obey an officer of the law?
I started to cry.
He grabbed my hand and squeezed. “Don’t worry. I’m gonna make sure you’re safe.”
“I’m more worried about you.”
He shot me a grin. “I knew you liked me,” he said, repeating what I’d told him when I was saving him from the truck.
“Wyatt.”
He eyed the rearview mirror.
Desperate for a solution that wouldn’t end in his arrest, I said, “If we pull over and Deputy Spigot gets out of the car, we’ll take off before he reaches your door. Or we can call ahead somewhere and tell them we’re worried for our safety. That way we can prove we had just cause to not pull over.”
He frowned but gave it a couple of seconds of consideration. Moments later, he made a hard right onto the county road toward Ewing and picked up his radio. It shocked the hell out of me when I heard him say, “Drummond Ranch. Do you copy?”
“You’re calling your father?”
He cast a glance at the sheriff car that was still trailing us. “Other than Bingham, he’s the only one powerful enough to help us, and I’d rather not be askin’ any favors from Bingham.”
“The devil you know,” I said, my heart sinking. This was all my fault.
“Drummond Ranch,” Wyatt said, more insistently. “This is Wyatt Drummond needing emergency assistance. Copy?”
“Wyatt?” Carson’s voice crackled over the radio. “Where are you?”
“On Highway 25, heading toward Ewing. I have a deputy with lights following us, and I don’t think it’s legit. I have Carly with me, and I suspect Seth Chalmers’ murderers are tyin’ up loose ends.”
“I’m coming back from Ewing,” Carson said, “I have a few men with me. Pull into the parking lot for Balder Mountain Trailhead, and I’ll meet you there in five minutes with reinforcements.”
“Roger,” Wyatt said, but he didn’t look reassured.
“Do you trust him?”
“While there’s no love lost between me and my father, my mother is a different story.” He cast me a quick glance. “She’s why I came back. She’s sick. Cancer.”
A lump formed in my throat. “Wyatt. I’m sorry.”
He gave a quick shake of his head. “I’m only tellin’ you because Carson has a soft spot for her. He won’t let anything happen to me. It would kill her if something happened to me.”
“Then we’ll do as he says and meet him there.”
He nodded. “Okay.”
The sheriff’s car still followed us, but it wasn’t gaining on us. The driver didn’t seem too worried about the possibility of losing us.
“What if the sheriff car’s legit?” I asked.
“I don’t see how,” Wyatt said. “I didn’t do anything wrong.” He made the turnoff for the trailhead, then pulled into the lot and parked the truck sideways in front of the trail. “Come on,” he said, unfastening his seatbelt while I did the same. “We’re sittin’ ducks here. We’ll hide in the trees until Carson shows up.”
I fumbled with the door handle, then practically fell out, remembering to grab my purse at the last minute. Wyatt took my hand and pulled me into the darkness. The path was smooth at the entrance, but less than ten feet in, my boot hit a stone and I nearly face-planted. Wyatt caught me just before I hit, but my ankle screamed with pain.
The sheriff car pulled to a halt, and a few seconds later a man called out, “Wyatt! It’s Marco! Max’s friend!”
Wyatt froze as though weighing his options. He positioned us behind a tree, pressing my belly into the trunk while his body completely covered mine from behind.
“Why were you tryin’ to pull me over?” he yelled back.
“Detective White is worried about Carly. She thinks someone is going to try to kill her. I’m supposed to bring her to the sheriff’s station until the state troopers arrive.”
“Why is she involving the state troopers?” Wyatt shouted back.
“Because we’ve tied Deputy Spigot to Seth Chalmers’ murder with the bullet casings found in the parking lot. She thinks the department needs outside supervision.”
Wyatt was silent for a moment. “This is your call,” he whispered.
“You believe him?”
He pushed out a heavy sigh. “I don’t trust anyone as far as you’re concerned.”
“What if we ask him to escort us to the nearest state troopers’ headquarters?” I glanced over my shoulder at him. “He could have tried to run us off the road, but he didn’t. He kept his distance.”
“But that doesn’t explain why he didn’t call me on the radio. Everyone in town knows my call sign.”
He had a point.
Wyatt