them, demanding to know where she was. He was happy Clint was not going to be there when they arrived.
He didn’t want a Tyler mob ripping Clint apart for touching their baby sister right now. Joel made a quick decision—one for the peace of his county. Maggie’s pregnancy was just going to have to remain a secret for the time being. Besides, it wasn’t his place to tell her brothers that information.
Joel didn’t have a clue what to tell them. He’d better think of something fast.
Tylers had a reputation around town. And he just didn’t have the time to diffuse a bomb right now. And when they learned Maggie was missing…
He was actually contemplating calling in the Wyoming National Guard for the moment that happened.
There were a lot of Tylers in his county. And they protected each other, fiercely. Joel had seen it firsthand.
His cell rang. Sage Lowell was usually one step ahead of him, and Joel greatly appreciated her. “Sage? What have you got for me?”
“Eight reports of a WSP patrol car being driven erratically on the highway between Clint’s place and town.”
“Reputable?”
“Well, since four came from your family members—your mother and brother, Matt, not to mention your wife, who was with her sister, Perci, who corroborates—I’m going to say yes. Highly reputable.”
“Do we know who?” There was a good possibility they had a WSP patrolman in pursuit of the shooter—but they would have already heard about it. He’d just ignore the mention of Phoebe being near any of what had happened today. For his own peace of mind.
Clint Gunderson wasn’t the only man who had a Tyler woman they loved out there to worry about.
“Boss, partial plates and tentative identification by a witness says it was most likely Officer Jim Hollace. I called as soon as I put the name together. Isn’t he the officer who we’ve already spoken to regarding the Caudrell case?”
“Yes.” Joel’s mind ran all over the angles. Nothing made sense, unless he factored in that Jim Hollace was as dirty as his old buddy Clive Gunderson.
And had targeted Clint because of it. Weatherby had told him himself there was history between Hollace and Clint. None of it good.
“Sage? Get Hollace’s supervisor on the line. Rex Weatherby. Have him meet me as soon as he can. I have questions.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll do that.”
Joel disconnected the call just as the crime scene supervisor came up to him and Max Jones, who’d joined him for an update.
“What is it, Lindy?”
She held out a slip of paper. Max took it first, holding the now-bagged evidence up to the setting light. “A sales receipt from the gas station in town. Dated today. And signed. It’s almost illegible, but—”
“We can confirm it with the gas station and security cams in the area.”
“I’m not sure that’s needed,” Max said, fury hard to miss in his tone. “Look at the signature.”
Joel did, his curses just as quiet as the federal agent’s, but just as potent.
“We need to go find him,” Joel told the other man. “But I don’t want to leave Gunderson alone at the station with just Knight for now. Knight can probably handle himself, but it’s Gunderson’s family that was targeted. He may be more than Knight can handle. Still waters run deep, after all.”
“Knight’s still with him. I’ll stay with him, too,” Jac Jones said quietly. She’d been speaking with the forensics team about the barn and the blood that had been found there. Joel highly suspected that blood would come back a match for Maggie Tyler. “I’ll make certain he stays in town.”
“Just buy us twenty minutes to get Hollace’s supervisor up to date. I don’t want Clint to know until we have Hollace in custody. Just to keep this from escalating.”
“Thanks. We’ll fill Weatherby in, then grab Knight from the station. If you and Sage will stay with Gunderson, that will help.”
“No problem,” Jac said.
“Thanks.” Joel looked at the other man next to him. “You feel like helping me round up a rogue officer?”
“In a heartbeat. I have a daughter of my own. I’d love to help do this for Gunderson. No doubt Knight will feel the same way.”
Joel nodded. Exactly what he’d hoped. He’d need some federal backing to arrest a WSP officer. And Knight and Jones looked like they could handle the task just fine.
51
Jim was being stupid. He should get in his car and go home. Pretend he’d been there with another headache or something. It was just a matter of time before people