“Not yet,” Owen replied. “But when I was driving by your ranch, I saw Roy and Randy and figured I’d bring them up to date.”
“We stopped by to see how you’re doing,” Roy said. “Everything is good at the store.”
“As you know, I took a group of skeet shooters out earlier,” Randy said. “The horses are in the stables, brushed down, fed, and settled in for the night, Sully.”
“Thanks guys,” Sully said. “I’m feeling better, and I’ll be back at the store in a couple of days or so to check on things.”
“If Charley thinks he’s up to it,” Owen added with a chuckle.
“That’s right, Owen,” Charley agreed.
Charley was glad for their families, dinner, and the distractions, because inwardly she remained on edge. A murderer and would-be rapist was on the loose, and she’d once been his victim. Were the young women in Old Colorado City his victims as well? She felt the familiar shudder, and maybe Sully sensed it because he wrapped his arm around her and said good night to his dad and cousins. With a wave goodbye, she and Sully went into his house.
After changing into comfortable clothing, they watched a movie on the big flatscreen in the den. As the movie ended, Charley saw Sully yawn. She coaxed him into the bedroom and he a tugged her into bed with him. Wyatt curled up in his cozy dog bed, they all fell asleep.
Charley saw the intruder as soon as she left the bathroom. He wore a black ski mask and hoodie. He grabbed her and shoved her onto the bed. He tore at her robe. She scratched him and screamed.
“Charley, wake up. You’re with me. You’re safe.”
Charley opened her eyes. Her heart was slamming against her ribs. Moonlight showed her that Sully was in bed beside her. She whispered his name like a prayer. He pulled her into his arms, and she clung to him. Taking a deep breath she fought against the terror. When her trembling calmed, she rolled to her side, and Sully’s muscular body molded to the length of hers. He kissed the back of her head, and his arm came around her,protecting her. Charley breathed a sigh of relief and closed her eyes.
He was obsessed with her.She seemed oblivious. He was tired of getting nowhere. He burned for her and needed the blissful numbness. Bipolar, narcissistic, borderline personality disorder, and schizophrenia. Those diagnoses had been thrown at him over the years. He spat on the floor. How insulting. He wasn’t mentally ill, just a normal man with normal needs. The voices kept repeating that he was losing it. Medicine helped control the voices, but he resented taking it. True, he had been careless. The last victim, the one who looked like Charley, had escaped. That had unnerved him. Why hadn’t Sullivan Custis died in that recent car crash? He should have died! The fact that Custis was alive was not going to stop him from pursuing Charley. He would not stop until Charley was his. Or until one of them was dead.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
“They caught him,” Sully told Charley as he walked into the kitchen two mornings later. She was so beautiful, intelligent, and adorable, no wonder Rod Vaughn had lost his mind over her. Sully was crazy about her too. “Colorado Springs police got a tip on his whereabouts.”
Clad in her red boots, a white sweater, and blue jeans, Charley was an all-American girl. His girl. With her loose braid down the center of her slender back, she turned to Sully with two cups of coffee in her hands.
“Thank God.” Charley placed the cups on the quartz counter of the island and walked into his embrace. She twined her arms around his neck and asked, “Where was he?”
“Hiding at the ex-girlfriend’s place. Evidently, Vaughn was freaking her out.” Holding Charley to his heart, she felt delicate and vulnerable. Sully knew he would do anything in his power to keep her safe. “She wanted rid of him and tipped off the cops.”
“Will they be able to keep him in jail?” Charley asked, hugging herself to him. “Will there be a trial? I’ll probably have to testify. I’ll gladly do so.”
“Me too,” Sully said. Then, both Sully and Charley picked up their cups of coffee and sat down on barstools at the island.“My dad says Burt Groves told him that Vaughn had a bad attitude as soon as they showed up at the girlfriend’s apartment. Apparently, he had knocked her around before the cops got there.”
“Yes, we’ve seen his bad attitude.”
“They cuffed him and hauled him off to jail. During the initial interrogation with Groves, Vaughn claimed he vandalized your property and slashed all four of your tires only because I had shot out two of his tires first.”
Charley’s blue eyes snapped with fire. “That’s a lie!”
“I know, and Groves wasn’t fooled or sidetracked,” Sully said with a shake of his head. “Instead, Groves started nailing Vaughn with the evidence they have on him: the confirmation from ballistics, his fingerprints on the gun that killed your mother, and his DNA proving he was your attacker. Vaughn lost the attitude, waived his right to an attorney, and immediately started begging to make a deal. He knows they have him.”
“And the scorpion tattoo?” Charley gently touched her collarbone. “Does he have one?”
“Oh yeah, he does.” Sully nodded. “With a couple of fresh scars across it right where you said you scratched him.”
“Good. What a despicable person he is,” Charley said softly. “Do the police think Rod Vaughn is also the Cave Killer?”
Staying close on the barstool next to her, Sully splayed his hands. “They hope his DNA will match and show that he is the Cave Killer, but?—”
“But what, Sully?”
A knock on the back door caused Charley to jump. Sully placed his hand on hers and then got up to answer the knock.
“Hey, Dad. Come on in and have a cup of coffee with us.”
