Settling an Old Score - Delores Fossen Page 0,37

Gus was likely calling about that. She stepped back a little and tried to tamp down the nerves that were already firing beneath the surface of her skin. She also tried to brace herself for whatever Gus was about to tell them.

Gus made a hoarse sob, and with just that sound alone, Ashlyn heard the heavy emotion. “She’s not there,” Gus blurted out, his voice choppy. “Marta’s not there in the grave. The coffin is empty.”

* * *

ELI FELT AS if someone had slugged him in the gut. Hell. What was going on?

“This means my girl is alive,” Gus continued a moment later. “Alive,” he repeated, crying now. “I have to find her.”

Eli agreed with that, but it didn’t answer a really big question. How had Marta managed to pull this off? Eli could figure out the why. Well, if he was to believe Oscar. Marta had faked her death to hide from some drug lords with ties to Drake.

But that didn’t feel right.

“I’m going to make some calls,” Gus went on. “The first will be to Remy—”

“Hold off on doing that. Remy should be arriving at the sheriff’s office here in Longview Ridge at any moment,” Eli explained. “I want to see how he reacts when I tell him Marta’s body wasn’t in the coffin.”

“Remy will know where she is,” Gus argued. “I need to talk to him.”

“If you tip him off, Remy might go rabbit on us. He’s got the money to do that now, and if he disappears, we might lose our best chance at finding out where Marta is. Just hold off talking to him for a couple of hours—that’s all I’m asking.”

“My daughter’s alive.” The man’s voice broke. Then he paused. “I’ll give you those two hours, but I’m coming to talk to Remy in person.”

Eli knew he stood no chance of talking Gus out of doing that. If their positions had been reversed, no one could have convinced Eli to stay back while the law got involved. That’s why he just thanked Gus and ended the call.

“Let me make a quick check on Cora, and I’ll go with you to Kellan’s office,” Ashlyn insisted.

He wasn’t surprised she was sticking to her guns on this. Especially now. Marta had been her best friend, and if the woman was truly alive, then Remy would almost certainly know where she was.

“Am I staying here or going with you?” Gunnar asked Eli after Ashlyn hurried into the bedroom.

“You’re coming with us. I can’t guarantee you, though, that you won’t get shot at again.”

Gunnar lifted his shoulder. “I’m hoping we’ve met our bullet quota for the day. Plus, Owen and Raylene are better with baby-guarding duty than I am.”

Eli could agree with all of that. Or rather he wanted to agree on the bullet quota, but there could be another hired gun. While he waited at the front door, he wondered if it would do any good to remind Ashlyn of that. It wouldn’t, he decided. She was seeing the big picture here, and that meant they had to cut off the head of this snake to stop any other attacks.

He made a quick call to Kellan to update him about Marta and asked his brother to pass along the info to SAPD. Since the cops there were primary on the mortician’s murder, they’d want to know. And they would almost certainly want their own interview with Remy.

“Be careful,” Owen warned Gunnar and Eli as he came out of the bedroom with Ashlyn. “Don’t worry. We’ll keep watch,” he added to Ashlyn. “And there are two Rangers on the grounds along with the hands. We’ll make sure no one gets to Cora.”

She thanked him, and as if it were the most natural thing in the world, she gave Owen a quick hug. It was amazing how an intense life-threatening situation could change things. It was as if they’d stepped back in time to when she’d cared for Owen like a brother.

And Eli as a lover.

It riled him that his mind kept going back to that. He had plenty of things to do, and none of them involved taking Ashlyn to bed.

Even before they hurried out to the cruiser, Eli glanced out the window, looking for any kind of threat. Both Gunnar and Ashlyn did the same, but Eli didn’t see anything other than some armed ranch hands who were clearly standing guard.

“Remy might have murdered the mortician,” Ashlyn said as she, too, kept watch.

Eli made a sound of agreement.