One Night Standoff - By Delores Fossen Page 0,22
handler. He was also her top suspect in these murder attempts.
With his hand over his gun, their suspect was making a beeline for the front door.
Chapter Seven
Clayton recognized the tall, dark-haired man walking up the porch steps. They’d met briefly when Clayton had been assigned to protect Lenora and Jill. Of course, at the time he hadn’t known that James was Lenora’s boss.
“I’ll take care of this,” Lenora insisted, and she might have tried to do just that if Clayton hadn’t caught her by the hand and forced her to stay put.
No way was he letting her go out there.
Clayton wasn’t ready for a confrontation with a man who might be working for the killer, Riggs. Not yet, anyway. First he wanted Lenora checked out with the doctor and then moved to someplace safe. But with James on his doorstep, Clayton decided to go ahead and question the man.
While Lenora stayed inside, that was.
The doorbell rang, but Clayton ignored it and phoned his brother Harlan. “I got a visitor,” Clayton explained. “Special Agent James Britt. I need a fast background check and let me know ASAP if you see any red flags on this guy.”
“You think he’s somehow connected to the shooting?” Harlan asked.
“At a minimum. He could be connected to Riggs.”
Harlan mumbled some profanity. “I’ll send Wyatt out there to the ranch while I work on this. He’ll get there as fast as he can. I’ll also make sure a few of the ranch hands move closer to the house.”
Clayton didn’t refuse the backup, but he hoped it wouldn’t be needed.
“I’ve been looking deeper into Lenora’s background,” Harlan continued. “And before you blast me out of the water for doing that, just hear me out. Something’s not adding up about her, and I want to know what it is.”
Yeah, it was something, all right. “She has a connection with Agent Britt. She worked for him on the task force that investigated Riggs.” It wasn’t the whole story, not by any means, but it would have to do for now, because the doorbell rang again.
“How long have you known this about her?” Harlan snapped.
“Not nearly long enough.” He’d give Harlan more details later, but it wasn’t exactly comfortable talking about her criminal past with his family. That didn’t mean Harlan wouldn’t find it on his own.
“Wait here,” Clayton told Lenora when he ended the call with Harlan. The doorbell rang yet again, and it was followed by a heavy knock.
She didn’t listen to him. In fact, Lenora moved in front of him when he reached to open the door. “I know the right questions to ask him, and it could lead to his arrest. If I talk to him, it could end the danger right here.”
That was the only thing she could have said that would have made him think twice about letting her in on this impromptu interrogation.
But Clayton did think twice.
And after doing that, he still shook his head. Ending the danger right here could put Lenora in the middle of something that he wanted her and the baby to avoid.
He glanced out again and saw the two ranch hands making their way toward the house. Both were armed with rifles, probably on Harlan’s orders. Good. It might be overkill, but Clayton welcomed it. If Agent Britt was dirty, he likely wouldn’t start any trouble with three guns ready to return that trouble.
“Stay behind me,” Clayton said to her as a way of compromising. “If anything goes wrong, I want you to get out of the way fast.”
She didn’t argue, maybe because she knew it was a huge concession that he’d just given her, but she did draw her gun from the back of her jeans. Clayton drew his gun as well, and he opened the door only a few inches, keeping his weapon out of sight but ready.
“Marshal Caldwell,” James immediately greeted him. He glanced back at the two armed ranch hands, and his scowl deepened.
“Agent Britt,” Clayton replied in the same crisp tone. “To put it mildly, the timing of your visit is suspicious, so why are you here?”
Despite the direct question, James didn’t answer right away. His gaze went from Clayton’s sunglasses to the scar on his forehead, and then to Lenora, who was peering over his shoulder.
“I heard about the APB out for the two thugs who took shots at you,” James finally said. The chilly tone of his voice came through in the equally chilly glance he gave her. Maybe a dismissal. Maybe