Killer Cowboy (Cowboys of Holiday Ranch) Read online

  As they pulled out onto the road into town he turned on the car heater. She had to be freezing, clad only in his jacket and the short silk nightgown. At least she’d stopped crying, but she was unnaturally pale and quiet.

  He couldn’t begin to imagine what she’d been through. He also had no idea how traumatized she was right now. He just wanted to get her to the hospital as quickly as possible and let a doctor determine what her condition was at the moment.

  “I thought I was dead.” Her voice was a soft whisper. “I thought for sure you were going to find my dead body and my death would just be another mystery that people would talk about for years to come.” She began to weep quietly once again.

  “It’s over, Cassie. You’ve been so brave through all of this and now it’s really over. Adam will never be able to hurt anyone ever again.”

  She swiped at her tears. “He told me he killed his mother when he was fourteen and buried her body in the woods. He also killed Sam Kelly because Sam said something crude about me. How did he manage to hide his craziness for so long? Why didn’t any of the other men or anyone else see that he was a monster? Why didn’t I see it?”

  “I don’t know. I certainly didn’t see it,” he confessed. There were so many things he wanted to say to her, but now wasn’t the time or the place.

  By the time they reached the hospital she’d told him about the picture she’d found with Adam wearing the ring and how she had pretended to be sick when he’d come to the back door to give her his daily report.

  “You can tell me more once the doctor sees you,” he said as he parked the car in front of the emergency room. Minutes later she was being wheeled back into a room and Dillon was cooling his heels in the waiting room.

  He sank down in a chair and slumped back, for the first time really processing what had happened. If he’d been one minute longer in getting to the barn, he knew with certainty Adam would have killed Cassie.

  He could have lost her. Tears welled up in his eyes and blurred his vision. You could still lose her, a little voice whispered in his head.

  This whole harrowing incident would probably make it much easier on her to decide to sell out and head back to the city. This place would only be terrible memories for her. As much as he wanted her here forever, he would have to let her go if that was her wish.

  Still, at least she was safe. Through the grace of God, he had gotten to her in time. He swiped the tears from his eyes. There would be lots of work ahead of him to close this case down. Thankfully, he knew his men would be working to process the scene both inside the barn and in the house.

  Finally the voices of the seven dead young men would be silenced. Adam’s death had been their justice and now Dillon’s peace.

  He had no idea how much time had passed when Dr. Clayton Rivers finally came out to speak to him. Dillon scrambled to his feet. “How is she?”

  “She’s got some cuts and contusions and I put twelve stiches in her knee, but that was the worst of her injuries. She couldn’t tell me what she fell on so I also gave her a tetanus shot just to be safe.”

  “How’s she doing mentally?” Dillon asked.

  Clayton’s brown eyes deepened in hue. “She’s doing better now. She was definitely shaken up when you brought her in. We’ve moved her to a room for the night and she’s been sedated.”

  “Can I see her?” Even if she was sleeping Dillon needed to see her again before he headed back to the ranch to deal with his investigation. He needed to assure himself she was really okay before he closed his eyes to sleep later.

  “As long as you make it brief,” Clayton replied. “I don’t need to tell you that she’s been through a traumatic experience and what she needs right now more than anything is rest.”

  “I’ll just be a few minutes,” Dillon replied.

  “She’s in room 103.”

  “Thanks, Clayton.” Dillon turned and headed down the corridor that would take him to her room.

  The hospital was quiet and the lights in the hallway were dimmed. Dillon looked at his watch and was vaguely surprised to realize it was after one.

  He turned into her room and his heart squeezed tight. She looked so small and so fragile in the bed. A small light was on above her bed and her blond curls looked achingly soft.

  She appeared to be sound asleep. He remained standing just inside the doorway, drinking in the sight of her. Thank God she was in the hospital and not in the morgue. His chest hurt as he thought of all that might have happened to her.

  Before he could back out of the room her eyes opened and a soft smile curved her lips. “Dillon.”

  He walked over to the chair next to her bed and sat. “Cassie, how are you feeling?”

  “Wonderful,” she replied drowsily. “They gave me something in my IV and I’m simply wonderful.”

  Jeez, he was so crazy about this woman. “I’m glad you aren’t hurting. I’m glad you’re okay.” The words were so inadequate to express the relief...the love that burned in his heart.

  “You’re my hero, Dillon. You saved my life. If you hadn’t come when you had, he would have killed me.” Her eyes darkened for a moment and he reached out and took her hand in his. Her hand was wonderfully warm in his.

  “But I got there in time and you were smart to get out of the house and run. You were smart and so brave, Cassie.”

  “If I could have gotten to my gun I would have shot him through his evil heart...or I might have possibly shot myself by accident.” She offered him a wry grin even as her eyes began to drift closed. “I think we need to work some more on my shooting abilities...”

  She was out. He remained seated for several long minutes just watching her sleep. The sound of her steady, faint breathing was music to his ears.

  Had she been joking when she’d said they needed to work on her gun skills? If she was serious, did that mean she intended to stick around?

  He hoped so. He wanted her with him in Bitterroot for the rest of his life. He desperately wanted to be enough for her... He wanted to be her happiness.

  He finally let go of her hand, got up and walked quietly out of her room and then on out to his car. He needed to get back out to the ranch and see how things were going there.

  When he reached the ranch he went into the house, where Ben told him the medical examiner had already come and taken away Adam’s body. Photos had been taken and the ax had been placed in evidence. “We didn’t have a key to his room and wasn’t sure you’d want us to break in,” Ben explained. “So, we haven’t done anything in there yet.”

  “I know where Cassie keeps the keys.” Dillon opened the drawer in the desk and plucked out the large key ring with the glittery charm. “I’ll check it out while you all finish up in here.”

  He left the house and walked toward the cowboy motel. The cowboys had all returned from their night of revelry and now stood in a somber group near their rooms.

  They all descended on him as he got closer. Questions flew from them, most of them inquiries about Cassie. He assured them she was fine and in the hospital for the night but should be returning home tomorrow.

  “We still can’t believe it was Adam,” Brody said.

  “And why in the hell did he go after Cassie?” Clay added.

  Another volley of questions shot off, these expressing their shock that their foreman, their brother, was the killer. Dillon held up his hands to still them.

  “I don’t have all the answers right now. Cassie was in no condition for me to question tonight. I’ll know more tomorrow.” Dillon frowned. “Where’s Sawyer?”

  “In bed. We almost always have to carry him home and tuck him in after he’s had a few beers,” Flint explained. “We all still can’t believe it was Adam.”

  “But we’ve all talked and understand now that Adam was here before all of us,” Clay added. “He’s responsible for those seven skeletons, isn’t he?”

  Dillon nodded. “All of you go get some sleep. Cassie is going to need all of your support through the
coming days. I’ll try to answer any questions you might have more thoroughly tomorrow.”

  He waited until all of them had disappeared into their rooms and then he unlocked Adam’s door, clicked on the light and walked in. He closed the door behind him, not wanting to be interrupted as he thoroughly checked the space for clues to what had gone on in Adam’s mind.

  The room was neat and clean, but this didn’t surprise Dillon. There was nothing chaotic or disorganized about Adam the man, or Adam the killer, which is why he hadn’t left any clues behind each time he’d murdered or attempted to kill.

  The small closet held nothing but clothes and the bathroom held no unexpected surprises. He moved to the chest of drawers and went through each one, carefully checking for false bottoms and underneath each drawer for anything that might be hidden away.

  Nothing. He was aware that it was possible he wouldn’t find anything. Still, he moved to the nightstand to check those two drawers.

  The top drawer held an old Western paperback, a tube of cream for sore muscles and a bottle of pain relief pills. There was also a key chain that held no keys but instead held small long white items.

  Curious, Dillon picked it up. He stared at the items dangling from the key chain and then threw it on the bed with horror. One of the skeletons had been missing fingers. He’d just found them.

  It shocked him that he’d discovered them, but what was even more shocking was that Adam had not only kept them but had them in his nightstand.

  Far too easily Dillon could visualize the man taking them out of the drawer each night before he went to sleep to relive the murder and mayhem he had caused.

  Adam had definitely been a monster. However, acknowledging that didn’t scratch the itch Dillon had of wanting to know why and what had happened to turn him into such a heinous killer.

  In the second nightstand drawer Dillon found a journal. He flipped through a couple of pages and realized what he had was a chronicle of Adam’s life. Hopefully it would hold some answers as to what had turned a young boy into a killer.

  He placed the bones in an evidence bag and then carried them and the journal with him back to the house. He handed the evidence bag to Ben, who was seated at the kitchen table waiting for him with several other officers.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Ben said as he looked at the bones. “Where did you find them?”

  “In his nightstand. I’m assuming you all checked Adam’s office in the barn?” he asked.

  “We went through it with a fine-tooth comb, but didn’t find anything noteworthy,” Mike Goodall said. “I figured those fingers had probably gone into the pond with the skull that Dusty fished out.”

  “I thought the same thing,” Dillon admitted.

  “Looks like he bleached them,” Mike said, revulsion evident in his voice.

  “He breached the back door with the ax. Needless to say the door doesn’t lock anymore so Cassie will want to have a new one put in as soon as possible,” Ben said and then smiled at Dillon. “It’s over, Chief. This has all been a monkey on our backs since the day those skeletons were unearthed and now it’s finally over.”

  For the first time Dillon released a deep sigh of relief. The curse of the Holiday ranch had been solved and a murderer was now resting in hell.

  Within thirty minutes Dillon was alone in the house. He carried the journal with him up the stairs, but instead of going into his twin bed, he went into Cassie’s room.

  There was still a jumble of things on the floor, and it didn’t take him long to find the photo she’d told him about. The ring was on Adam’s finger, the same ring he’d found in the graves. It was now evidence he didn’t need, but he would take it into the station tomorrow and put it in the evidence room.

  Case closed.

  He started to go back to his room, intending to read as much of the journal as he could before sleep overtook him. But instead he turned on the lamp next to Cassie’s bed and then turned off the overhead light.

  What he wanted more than anything was to sleep in the sheets that smelled of her. He shucked his clothes and got into the bed. He opened the journal, but his thoughts were momentarily filled with Cassie.

  He’d sworn to himself that he’d never tell a woman he loved her only to have her leave. He’d been wrong. Tomorrow he intended to tell Cassie that she was the woman he’d been waiting for...the woman he wanted by his side for the rest of his life.

  Tomorrow he’d press her for a final decision on whether she was going to leave Bitterroot or stay here with him. He only hoped her answer didn’t rip his heart out.

  Chapter 16

  Cassie awoke suddenly, a gasp escaping her as she left a nightmare behind and came to full consciousness. Faint morning light danced in through the hospital window.

  The dream had been visions of reality. Adam had chased her out of the house, swinging the ax as he advanced on her. She’d hidden in the barn and he’d found her and dragged her out of the hay and into the open. Only in her nightmare Dillon hadn’t arrived and just as Adam swung the ax, she’d awakened.

  Her heartbeat slowed to a more normal pace. Her knee hurt and her body ached, but she was safe. She was finally safe and she’d never felt more free than she did at this very moment.

  There was no more danger, no more fear inside her. The rest of her life stretched out before her as a blank page in a book. All she had to do was decide what she wanted written there.

  Did she want to be a rancher in Bitterroot, Oklahoma, who sold paintings on a website? Or did she want to return to an uncertain life in New York City to pursue what Dillon had said and what she knew now was a childish dream?

  One thing was clear. It would be terribly difficult to remain here with her love for Dillon so deep and abiding in her heart.

  He’d told her he loved her, but he’d also told her he didn’t like it. She knew she wasn’t the kind of woman he wanted in his life. She’d never be that woman. But she also wouldn’t be chased out of town because of any emotional wound left behind by him.

  She’d faced off against a killer and she’d come out on the other side. She was strong enough to deal with anything. A peace resonated inside her.

  She drifted back to sleep, and when she awakened again it was because her breakfast had arrived. There were scrambled eggs and toast, fresh fruit and several slices of bacon.

  “Oh, my gosh, this looks delicious,” she said to the woman who had delivered the tray. Her name tag read Rhonda, but Cassie had never met her before.

  “You deserve a good breakfast after all you suffered through last night,” Rhonda replied. “You’re already the talk of the town and it isn’t even nine o’clock yet.”

  Cassie took the lid off a cup of coffee. “I’m just glad it’s all over.”

  “Everyone is glad about that. In fact, there are a bunch of cowboys outside who are eager to see you. Do you want me to send them in a couple at a time?”

  “Sure,” she replied.

  As Rhonda left the room Cassie ran her fingers through her hair in hopes of looking more presentable and then leaned back and took a sip of the coffee.

  Sawyer, Brody and Clay were the first ones into the room. They all held their hats in their hands and Sawyer held a vase full of flowers.

  “These are for you,” he said and set the vase on her bedside table.

  “Thank you. They’re beautiful,” she replied.

  “It’s good to see you looking okay,” Clay said. “We’ve all been worried sick about you.”

  “I’m a little battered and bruised, but I’ll be all right,” she replied, surprised at the rise of emotion in her chest as she gazed at the three men.

  “We didn’t know,” Sawyer said. “Cassie, if we’d known about Adam we would have taken him down ourselves.”

  “Dammit, we should have known. We grew up with him, but he never let on what demons were inside him,” Brody added.

  “We would have never let him get close to you if we’d known,” Sawyer added w
ith vehemence.

  “All’s well that ends well,” she replied. “I don’t want any of you blaming yourselves. Adam hid his demons well, but it’s over and now we all go back to business as usual.”

  For the next hour she assured all the cowboys who had come to visit her that she was fine. By the time they’d all left she had more flowers than she knew what to do with and a renewed love for all the men who worked for her.

  However, the beautiful flowers and all the men’s good wishes didn’t take away from the fact that the one man she’d wanted to see hadn’t come to see her.

  * * *

  It was just after two o’clock when Dillon arrived at the hospital. He’d spoken to the doctor and had been told that Cassie would be released as soon as he arrived to take her home.

  As much as he’d wanted to see her he’d had official business to take care of that morning. He’d taken the evidence collected into the station to log it into the evidence room and had written up his report as to the events that had occurred the night before.

  He’d stayed up most of the night reading Adam’s journal and had gotten a much clearer picture of the forces that had worked in Adam’s life to turn him into the monster he had become. But even a tragic childhood didn’t justify what Adam had ultimately chosen to do.

  He now turned down the corridor that would take him to Cassie’s room and he couldn’t control the leap of his heart when he saw her sitting in a chair next to the window.

  “Looks like a flower store in here,” he said.

  She turned and smiled. “My cowboys went a little overboard. I’ve already told the nurse to see that the flowers all get distributed to any other patients here.”

  “I see somebody got you some clothes.” She was clad in a pair of blue scrubs. He frowned. “I should have thought to have something from the house brought up to you.”

  She stood and winced slightly. “It’s okay. One of the nurses let me borrow these. I’ll bring them back to her tomorrow.”

  “Your knee is still hurting.”

  “A little. The doc says I need to come back in about a week from now and he’ll take the stitches out. I’m just more than ready to get home. My orders have already been written so I’m free to go.”