Addie prayed that Rory and Calvin could do just that. Eliminate the threat before any more shots were fired. But she also understood the necessity of them verifying who the heck this was. They couldn’t risk killing someone who had simply been curious and was in that barn to poke around a crime scene. Still, it would be stupid of someone to do that, knowing that everyone on the ranch would be in a state of heightened alert.
“Let’s get the babies into the bathroom,” Addie insisted, and after grabbing two bottles of the formula, she went in that direction with Lily.
Etta Jean was moving along right behind her, and, keeping a firm grip on Rose, she climbed into the bathtub. Despite the commotion and Lily’s crying, Rose somehow stayed asleep.
“Hand Lily to me,” Etta Jean insisted. She grabbed a clean towel from the rack, putting it on the surface of the tub like a pallet and easing Rose onto it to free up her hands.
Etta Jean had no doubt made that offer when she noticed Addie firing glances at Judson, who was still in the bedroom. He was on the phone again, probably getting an update from Rory, and she wanted to hear what the deputy had to say.
Addie went ahead and passed Lily to Etta Jean, and the woman immediately opened one of the bottles. The moment the nipple touched Lily’s mouth, the baby latched on and the crying stopped. Addie hoped it stayed that way.
She hurried back into the bedroom with Judson and realized that he was still on the phone but no longer had the call onspeaker. Addie moved right next to him, hoping to catch the gist of the conversation, but she could only hear murmurings on the other end of the line.
“I’ll find some binoculars and have a look,” Judson finally said, and then he added, “Stay safe,” before he ended the call.
Judson put his phone back in his pocket, but before he could ask, Addie motioned toward the hall. “There are several pairs of binoculars on the top shelf of the foyer closet.” Mellie had been an avid bird-watcher and had always kept extras on hand for any foster kids who’d taken an interest in that as well. “Bring me a pair. I want to try to see who’s in that barn.”
He frowned, and for a moment she thought he was going to refuse to do that last part, but he rushed off. Addie listened to the thuds of his running footsteps. She also heard the soft sounds Lily was making while she drank her bottle. What she thankfully still didn’t hear were any gunshots.
She didn’t like the notion of having weapons anywhere near the babies, but she wanted to be able to protect them. Addie went to her closet and took down the lockbox she’d stashed there. It, too, had been Mellie’s, and Addie scrolled through the numbers on the lock to open it. She took out the loaded .38, and after making sure the safety was on, she went back into the bedroom.
Carrying two pairs of binoculars, Judson came rushing back in and caught a glimpse of the gun as she was slipping it into the pocket of her jogging pants. That deepened his frown even more.
“I don’t want you in the line of fire,” he was quick to point out, and he was adamant about it.
“Neither do I, but I want to be able to stop someone if they get past Rory and Calvin. Past Bennie and the other hand inside as well. You know full well there are too many ways in and out of this house, and a killer could slip past all of them.”
He didn’t dispute that. Couldn’t, since he had personally used many of those ins and outs. It was an old Victoria house with side entrances and nearly two dozen ground-floor windows as well as the front and back doors.
“Try to stay out of the line of fire,” Judson amended, and after he handed her a pair of binoculars, he crossed the room to the window that would give them a view of the barn.
Well, a partial view, anyway.
She wanted to curse when, after he pushed aside the curtains, she could see there were some trees in the way. Judson ended up dropping onto his knees to try to get the right angle. Addie went to the floor with him, using the binoculars to peer over his shoulder.
Since there was thick clouds blocking the moon and sunrise was still hours away, it wasn’t hard for her to spot the faint light coming from the loft area of the barn. She adjusted the binoculars, trying to zoom in, but the only thing Addie saw was that light, and it didn’t seem to be moving.
“I’d rather you stay in the bathroom with Etta Jean and the babies,” Judson grumbled. Like her, he was making some adjustments to his binoculars, trying to find a possible killer.
“I want to know who we’re up against,” Addie argued. “And whether it’s one of our suspects or a hired henchman, I want to be ready.”
Judson opened his mouth, probably to make another attempt to convince her to go into the bathroom, but he stopped and dropped down a few inches more. He kept his attention pinned to the barn.
“There you are, you bastard,” he snarled.
“Where?” she couldn’t ask fast enough.
“Not by the front of the hayloft. Look toward the back,” Judson instructed.
Addie immediately shifted her aim, not onto the light itself but past it. And in the murky darkness she did indeed see something.
A person wearing all black, blending in with the night.
She leaned slightly to the side and saw something else. The light glinting off the barrel of what appeared to be a rifle. But neither the person in black nor the rifle was moving.
“What’s he waiting for?” she murmured to herself.
Maybe he or she was trying to determine the best target. With Rory and Calvin out there, she prayed the attacker wouldn’t just gun them down.
