“Wait, hold on,” Trevor insisted, and now there was some panic rising in his tone. Maybe the real deal. Maybe fake. Addie couldn’t tell. “Just wait,” he repeated. “I’m going to try calling Yvette now.”
Judson didn’t stop him from doing that. Trevor put them on hold, hopefully to make that call and not flee. Addie also hoped that once he came back on the line, he’d have answers about Yvette’s location.
But that didn’t happen.
“She’s not answering,” Trevor relayed several seconds later. The panic in his voice had gone up significantly. “Is my wife all right?”
“Like I said, we don’t know. We need to speak to both of you,” Judson informed him.
“Of course,” Trevor muttered, and he repeated that several times. “But I want to look for her. I want to try to find her. I have to know if something happened to her.” He stopped, groaned. “You said a woman was attacked in my house. Was it Yvette?” he demanded again.
“No,” Judson replied, “it was someone else, but I can’t discuss the details with you. Best if you come in and give that statement.”
“Okay,” Trevor said after a long pause. “But can it wait until morning? It’d be dark before I could get to Renegade Canyon, and I have trouble driving at night. Plus, I guess I need to find some place to stay since my home is a crime scene.” His voice broke on those last two words.
Livvy and Judson exchanged a long look, probably trying to decide the timing for the interview since Shane would be coming back in at eight. Jennifer might possibly still be here as well.
“Have him come at 8:00 a.m.,” Livvy mouthed.
Judson gave a quick nod, indicating he wanted the same thing. “Be here at eight tomorrow morning,” he told Trevor. “And if you do hear from or find your wife, call us immediately.”
“Will do,” Trevor assured them, and he ended the call.
“It’ll be interesting to see how Shane reacts to Trevor and vice versa,” Livvy muttered.
“Yeah, and maybe by then, we’ll know where Yvette is,” Judson added, and they started for the door again. “I also want to verify some things about Trevor. The camping trip, for one thing. I want to make sure he was where he said he was. And that bit about him not being able to drive at night. He’s only forty-nine, and that’s not usually something that happens to someone in his age bracket.”
Addie agreed, but she didn’t ask the questions on her mind until after Judson and she were in the cruiser and driving toward the ranch. “I understand why Trevor might lie about the camping. He could be using that as a sort of alibi to make us believe he was nowhere near Yvette or Courtney today. But why would he lie about the driving to stall the interview?”
“Maybe he wants to find Yvette first.” Judson stopped talking, scrubbed his hand over his face and groaned. “Or, hell, maybehe’s telling the truth and has no part in any of this. It’s hard to trust the guy based on what Yvette’s kids have said about him, but none of what they spilled could have been the truth.”
It was frustrating not knowing if Trevor was a killer, but maybe something incriminating would come out during the interview. If not incriminating about himself, then maybe for one of their other three suspects—Elijah, Shane or Jennifer.
Addie’s phone sounded with a text, and she saw it was from Etta Jean. No actual message, just a photo of the twins side by side on a quilt on the floor, awake and alert. Etta Jean had even managed to catch Lily smiling. Addie smiled, too, and texted the woman that Judson and she would be home soon.
Judson took the turn to the ranch, and she spotted one of the ranch hands patrolling the fence that was next to a deep ditch. The other was in the backyard between the house and the barn. Addie appreciated the extra eyes, and guns, and made a mental note to thank Rory’s brother for sending them.
Judson pulled to a stop directly in front of the house, parking the cruiser so that she was only a few inches from the bottom porch step. He didn’t repeat hismove fastorder. No need. Addie knew what she had to do, and added to that, she was anxious to get inside and see the babies.
She threw open her door. Across from her, Judson did the same, and he barreled out of the cruiser. So did she. But she had made it up only four of the eight steps when the sound of a gunshot ripped through the air.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Judson had no trouble hearing that gunshot. Or seeing the bullet slam into the post right next to where Addie was standing. But before he could even shout out for her to get down, another shot came toward them. Then, another, with all three coming too damn close to Addie.
Hell, they were under attack.
Judson didn’t look for the shooter. He’d do that later, when Addie was safe. If that was possible. But at the moment, any of those shots could turn out to be deadly.
He tried not to think of that and focused on what he could do. Staying low and using the cruiser for cover as much as he could, he drew his gun and scrambled toward Addie. Thankfully, she had already dropped down and was trying her damnedest to flatten her body against the steps, but the wood porch wasn’t going to provide much protection.
“The babies,” Addie called out.
Yeah, Judson had already considered them and everybody else in the house. It was wood, too, and the bullets could go through the walls. The shooter didn’t seem to be interested in doing that, though, since all the shots were aimed at the two of them.
That was both good and bad.
Addie and he were the targets. No doubts about that. And they could keep the gunfire and attention on them by not tryingto get into the house. If they did, that’s almost certainly where the shooter would turn their attention.
