Maverick Sheriff (11 page)

Jessa looked around the massive foyer and the equally massive rooms that flanked it.

No sign of Peggy.

Just two terrified-looking women in maids’ uniforms. They were on the white-carpeted floor in the living room.

“She ran toward the back,” one of them said.

Cooper tipped his head for Colt and Reed to go in that direction. “Find her. The shooter, too. They’re probably escaping together.”

“She’s not going anywhere,” Donovan snapped, and he would have followed Reed and Colt if Cooper hadn’t grabbed a handful of Donovan’s jacket.

“Start talking,” Cooper ordered.

Donovan threw off his grip and looked on the verge of throwing a punch. His nostrils flared. Eyes narrowed. But then he stepped back and shot Cooper another of those smirks that made Jessa want to slug him. That was no doubt the reason he’d used it—because she could tell it infuriated Cooper, too.

“Start talking?” Donovan coolly repeated. He adjusted his jacket and brushed off some bits of the shrubs as if he had all the time in the world. “Why should I respond to that woman’s lies? Peggy’s clearly mentally unbalanced. You sure she’s not a relative of yours?” he asked, looking at Cooper. “Insanity seems to run in your family. Killers, too.”

If Cooper had any reaction to that, he didn’t show it. “Why would Peggy say you were the one who gave her the baby that Jessa adopted?”

Donovan lifted his shoulder. “Mentally unbalanced people say a lot of things that aren’t true. I can’t believe you’d listen to a word she said.”

“She said she had proof,” Cooper reminded him.

“Where?” He lifted his hands, palms up. Then he leaned in. “You shouldn’t believe everything crazy people say.”

“I didn’t say I believed her. I just want a straight answer. Did you give Peggy a baby that was meant to be adopted?”

They got into a staring contest that crawled on and on. Donovan was the first to break eye contact, and he laughed. “Me with a baby? Really? Do I look like the baby-handling type? I’m not, and if Molly were alive, she’d vouch for me on that.”

Because Jessa had her hand on Cooper’s back, she felt his muscles go stiff. “What the hell does that mean?” Cooper snapped.

“You want me to spell it out? Well, here it is. Molly and I were lovers—”

“And she broke off things with you and eventually married me,” Cooper interrupted. “Old water, old bridge. Why bring her up now?”

“Simple. I was just making a reference. Molly knew I wasn’t the daddy type, and that’s why she eventually left me and went to you. Because she knew you’d give her a kid.”

Cooper gave him a flat look. “I think you glossed over a few things, like Molly realizing you’re a jerk and ending a toxic relationship.”

Donovan lifted his shoulder, adjusted his suit again. “Obviously, she told you a different version of the truth. If I gave up Molly over my no-kid rule, then why the heck would I want to get into the baby business?”

“I don’t know,” Cooper fired back. “Why don’t you tell me?”

“There’s nothing to tell. Even if I’d wanted to be part of the
wonderful world
of adoption, why would I go looking for some kid to give to a whack job like Peggy? If I wanted to make money selling black-market babies, I sure as hell wouldn’t use her for a middleman.”

He sounded convincing, but Jessa didn’t trust him. She certainly hadn’t liked the way he’d thrown his relationship with Molly in Cooper’s face.

“You need to come with me to the sheriff’s office,” Cooper said, sounding all business now. But Jessa could still feel his knotted muscles.

“I don’t have time to play cop with you.” Donovan smirked again.

Cooper didn’t back down. “You’ll make time. Several felonies were committed here, and that means paperwork.”

Donovan stared at him, again looking as if he might challenge Cooper’s authority. And he might have done just that. If they hadn’t heard the footsteps.

Colt and Reed hurried back in, both shaking their heads. “No sign of Peggy or the shooter,” Colt relayed.

“Great, just great,” Donovan snarled. “You let them get away.”

Cooper didn’t even spare him a glance. He kept his attention on his brother. “What is that?”

Jessa had to go on her tiptoes to see over his shoulder, and she spotted what appeared to be a piece of paper in Colt’s left hand.

Colt unfolded it and held up a flash drive. “I found it in the kitchen on the counter by the back door. Peggy left it.” He looked down at the writing on the paper, then shook his head. “The note’s addressed to you, Jessa.”

Cooper reached out and took the note from his brother. Jessa quickly moved to his side so she could see what was written there.

Ms. Wells, the answers about the adoption are somewhere in these files. Read them and you’ll learn the truth about your son.

Chapter Nine

Cooper’s eyes were burning, but he forced himself to keep reading the computer files that Peggy had left on the flash drive. Jessa was doing the same on another laptop that she’d positioned on the other side of his desk in his home office.

“Anything?” he asked when she made a soft sound. But he quickly realized it was a sound of frustration.

“Nothing.” She checked the time, glanced at the baby monitor that she’d brought downstairs and mumbled something about Liam waking up from his nap soon. Jessa would want to check on him. Cooper would, too.

“Did you find anything?” she asked.

He had to shake his head. Nothing in the thirtysomething files he’d already gone through, but they had twice that to go. It wasn’t as straightforward as Cooper had thought it would be, because Peggy’s adoption notes read more like a disorganized personal diary of her feelings over the placements that she’d helped arrange.

But she hadn’t used names.

And sometimes she’d handled several adoptions at the same time and had merged those notes with ramblings of why she preferred one set of prospective parents over another.

That meant wading through page after page and trying to figure out which of the babies was Liam.

Read them and you’ll learn the truth about your son,
Peggy had said in her note. Cooper only hoped she was telling the truth about that.

His phone buzzed, and Cooper answered it right away when he saw Colt’s name on the screen. He also put it on speaker because Jessa looked as ready for news, any news, as he was.

“Please tell me you found Peggy.” Part of him wanted to be out looking for her himself, but that wouldn’t be wise, since it would leave Jessa and Liam without protection. Besides, someone had to go through Peggy’s files, and the people with the highest stakes in that potential info were Jessa and him.

“No sign of her, but I followed some footprints I found at the back of Donovan’s house, and they led to a heavily treed area. I’m pretty sure the footprints were hers and that’s where she’d left a vehicle, because there were tire tracks.”

Yeah. And it was reminder for Cooper that he’d screwed this up big time. He should have moved one of his deputies to the rear of the house to prevent Peggy and the gunman from escaping. But he truly hadn’t believed it was an actual hostage situation. In fact, he’d thought Donovon and Peggy might have been in on this ruse together.

“There’s more,” Colt said. “I found a second set of footprints and tire tracks on the east side of the property. Judging from the size of the footprints, they probably belong to the shooter.”

Jessa’s gaze met his, and he saw the question there in her eyes. Why hadn’t Peggy and her hired gun driven to Donovan’s together?

And that brought him back to the first shot that’d been fired.

“Peggy had screamed,” Cooper said, thinking aloud. “And it didn’t sound fake, either. It sounded like the reaction of a woman who’d been surprised. Terrified, even. So why would she have reacted like that if she’d known all along what was going to happen?”

“Maybe her hired goon jumped the gun and wasn’t supposed to shoot?” Jessa suggested.

It was a good theory, but Cooper had another possibility that only created more questions than answers. “Or maybe the hired gun wasn’t working for her. Maybe he was working for Donovan.”

“Or he could have been working with our hospitalized gunman, Vernon Graham,” Jessa added. “Think about it—Graham is the one who implicated Peggy, and she in turn said Donovan was guilty. All this finger-pointing muddies the waters and might be leading us in the wrong direction.”

“The direction of illegal adoptions,” Cooper finished for her. “But if it’s not about the adoptions, then it takes us back to Jewell or some other case that could cause someone to go off the deep end like this.”

Colt made a sound of agreement. “I found something else at the second scene,” Colt went on. “A scuff mark on one of the trees near the tracks. Looks like the vehicle ran into it while the driver was making an escape. I got some black paint chips. Already sent those to the lab. We might get lucky identifying the type of vehicle.”

Yes, and maybe that would in turn lead them to the driver.

“Tucker’s putting out feelers in case the driver brings the vehicle in for repairs,” Colt added. “I’ll go back to the hospital and have another chat with Graham. When I’m finished with him, I’ll see how Reed is faring with Donovan.”

Cooper doubted Donovan would say anything of importance, and the man darn sure wouldn’t incriminate himself. In fact, Cooper knew from Reed’s earlier call that Donovan had lawyered up before he’d even stepped foot in the sheriff’s office.

“When you talk to Donovan, ask him how a gunman could have gotten on his roof without him knowing about it,” Cooper said. “His place has to have state-of-the-art security, and I find it hard to believe that Donovan or his staff didn’t hear or see anyone suspicious.”

“Will do,” Colt assured him.

“What about the FBI agent that Hector Dixon said had contacted him? Gordon Riker. Any luck talking to him?”

With everything else going on, Jessa had forgotten all about the man. Thankfully, Cooper hadn’t.

“He doesn’t exist,” Colt said. “Well, he doesn’t exist by that name, anyway. So either Hector made him up or else someone called him using an alias. Someone who maybe wanted to feel him out and find out how much he knows.”

Yes, and maybe silence him if he knew too much. Of course, Hector had likely heard what’d happened with Peggy at Donovan’s house, so hopefully the man was being more vigilant. If he was innocent, that was.

“You making any progress with Peggy’s files?” Colt asked.

“None,” Jessa and he said in unison.

“But I think we should do a deeper background check on Peggy,” Jessa continued. Then she paused. “Because I’m not sure we’re dealing with someone who’s mentally stable.”

She looked at Cooper as if he might disagree, but he couldn’t. Maybe Peggy just had a bad case of attention deficient when it came to her notes, but she certainly rambled a lot. And so far there was nothing of importance. However, it did make Cooper wonder how Peggy had gotten started in this whole baby-brokering operation. She didn’t seem to have a lot of business sense, or any other sense, for that matter.

“I’ll ask Tucker to do another background check,” Colt said. “Unless you want me to involve the FBI in this.”

The image of Seth and his mirrored shades popped into Cooper’s head. “No. We’ll keep this between us for now.”

Cooper ended the call and went back to the notes. But he didn’t get far. He heard sounds coming over the baby monitor. Not a cry exactly, but Liam seemed to be fussing. A glance at the screen and Cooper saw the little boy moving around in the crib. It got Jessa to her feet, and with Cooper right behind her, she hurried out of his office.

“Sometimes, when he first wakes up, he picks at the bandage,” Jessa said from over her shoulder.

That was a good reason for her to hurry, especially since her mother had told them she’d be in the kitchen with Rosalie and the cook. But Cooper thought Jessa’s urgency had just as much to do with this latest attack. She was terrified for Liam’s safety.

Jessa practically ran once she reached the top of the stairs, but she stopped in the doorway. That sent a jolt of concern through him, but when Cooper reached the door, Jessa put her index finger to her lip.

“He went back to sleep,” she whispered.

She didn’t move, and neither did Cooper. They stood there and watched. Well, until Jessa looked up at him. And frowned. Probably because the emotion was written all over his face every time he looked at the little boy. Jessa wasn’t the only one who was worried for Liam’s safety.

And his future.

“I don’t want this,” she said, moving from the door. She leaned her back against the wall opposite the guest room where Liam was sleeping.

No need for her to qualify what
this
was. If she had her way, she’d shut Cooper out of Liam’s life. Cooper understood that, but he wasn’t going anywhere.

“I should leave,” she added a moment later. “I should hire some bodyguards to protect us in a safe, hidden location.”

He could see the panic starting to bubble up inside her. Cooper wasn’t about to dismiss that, either. But he also couldn’t let her do anything stupid.

Cooper took her hand when she reached in her pocket for her phone. “You’re both safe here.”

She huffed when her gaze dropped to the grip he had on her, and jerked away from him. But she didn’t reach for her phone again and she didn’t tell him to keep the heck away from her son.

“I just need this to be over,” she said, her voice breaking on the last word. “If we knew who was behind the attacks, then we’d know how to stop them.”

“Yeah,” Cooper settled for saying. And because she looked as if she needed it in the worst way, he hooked his arm around her neck and pulled her into a hug.

Now she resisted. She put her palms on his chest as if to push him away. That didn’t happen, either. A small sob sounded in her throat, and she dropped her head to his shoulder.

“It’s not right for me to be here like this,” Jessa mumbled.

He couldn’t argue with that. It wasn’t right even if it felt like it was. Because when Cooper caught the jerk responsible for the attacks and put him behind bars, there would still be unsettled issues with Jessa. His mother’s murder trial, for one. These ever-growing feelings he had for Liam, for another.