The Marshal's Hostage - By Delores Fossen Page 0,20
arm so that he wouldn’t move any closer to the man.
But the gesture clearly didn’t have a good effect on Owen. He glanced at her grip on Dallas’s arm. At their faces. At them. And his smugness turned to an ice-cold glare.
“This isn’t finished,” Owen said to Dallas. “If Joelle doesn’t go through with the wedding, both of you are going down for Webb’s murder. Kirby, too.”
Dallas’s jaw turned to iron. “What the hell does Kirby have to do with this?”
“Everything. There was a detailed account of how Kirby disposed of the body in the second package someone sent me. That makes him an accessory to murder, which carries the same penalty as murder itself.”
Joelle’s stomach churned again, but she forced herself to think. “I know the law, and I know you need proof. Some anonymous statement won’t do it.”
An oily smile tugged at Owen’s mouth. “Oh, didn’t I mention what else was in the package? Must have slipped my mind. The knife containing Webb’s blood and your prints was wrapped in a handkerchief. Kirby’s. And it has his DNA on it to prove it. All together, it looks like some kind of family effort to murder Webb. Throw in Joelle’s obstruction of justice, and I see the three of you landing in jail.”
“We won’t be alone,” Joelle snapped. “If we’re arrested, I’ll spill everything.”
“Oh, yeah?” Owen countered. “Well, so will I.”
She flinched, and the oh, Gods started to run through her head again.
“What’s he talking about now?” Dallas demanded.
Joelle didn’t answer. Couldn’t. Suddenly, all the old memories came flooding back, and she couldn’t speak over the lump in her throat.
Owen leaned in and pulled her grip off Dallas’s arm. “I figure you’ve got a couple of days at most until that knife is processed and you’re arrested. At any time Joelle can stop it by marrying me.”
“I won’t let Joelle marry you to save me,” Dallas snarled.
Owen’s smile flashed again. “No, but you would let her do it to save Kirby. Plus, there are things you don’t know. Things Joelle wants to keep secret.”
Now it was Dallas who stopped her from going after Owen. How dare he do this? But what had she expected? Joelle had known the man was a piece of work, but what she hadn’t known was that he’d be able to get this kind of information.
“I will stop you,” she warned him, though she didn’t have a clue how to do that.
“Stop me?” Owen repeated. He stayed quiet a moment, but she couldn’t tell from his expression what he was thinking. But it couldn’t be good. “Then maybe you should speak with Kirby.”
“Why?” Dallas asked immediately, and it sounded like a threat, warning Owen not to bring Kirby into this. On this point, Joelle agreed with Dallas. She didn’t want Kirby any more involved than he already was.
“Kirby has a lot of answers,” Owen finished seconds later. “But the question is—will he give them to you?”
“He’s lying,” Joelle said, hoping she was right.
“What answers?” Dallas pressed.
Another lift of his shoulder. “You should ask him.”
“Kirby’s sick,” Joelle reminded Dallas, but he only made a sound to let her know he was still giving it some thought.
She wanted to throttle Owen again. There was no way Dallas would drop this now unless Kirby was genuinely too weak to talk with them. Joelle didn’t want to benefit from the too-weak possibility, but she was afraid of what Kirby might say.
“Call me when you’re ready to go through with the wedding,” Owen said to her. He opened his mouth to say more, but the sound of footsteps stopped him.
Dallas and Joelle turned, and she spotted the man coming up the stairs. He was bald and bulky, and she recognized him as one of Owen’s bodyguards who’d been at the church. He was carrying a package.
“Ah, the knife and other evidence are here.” Owen threw open the door to the marshals’ office where Clayton, Harlan and Chief Warner were all waiting.
Owen’s bodyguard went inside with the package, but Owen stayed back, leaned in and put his mouth to Joelle’s ear.
“Can you feel the seconds just ticking by?” he taunted in a whisper.
“Give me a week,” Joelle pleaded.
But Owen just shook his head. “No deal.”
“Don’t even try to do this,” Dallas warned her. “You’re not marrying him.”
Joelle ignored Dallas. Or rather, she tried to. It was hard to ignore him when he was right in her face.
“Give me three days then,” she tried again with Owen.
Another headshake. Another smile. “You’ve got