Ambushed! Page 17

  She was too shocked to speak. She’d never heard him raise his voice, let alone seen him this furious. His fingers were biting into her flesh.

  Bernard’s words rang in her ears. If your sheriff had found out what you were really up to…

  Cash saw the fear in her eyes and quickly let go. “I’m sorry. But do you realize what you’ve done, telling Bernard that your memory is coming back?” He swore. Just the sight of her reminded him of their lovemaking up on the mountain overlooking the ranch. He was angry with her for lying to him, but at the same time he wanted to pull her into his arms and make love to her all over again. “Aren’t you in enough danger? Molly, why in the hell would you do that?”

  “I owe it to Jasmine for stealing her life.”

  “What are you talking about?” he demanded. “You don’t owe Jasmine anything.” He caught one of her short blond curls between his fingers. “You’re more beautiful than she was in so many ways.”

  “I owe it to you,” she said, sounding close to tears.

  He let go of her hair. He wanted to shake some sense into her. “Me?”

  His face was stone. In it, Molly saw nothing of the man who’d made passionate love to her earlier on the mountain. She feared she might never see that man again.

  “I’m sorry, Cash. When I came up with this plan, I hadn’t met you, I never thought…” Never thought that she might fall in love with the sheriff of Antelope Flats. Isn’t that what she was going to say? “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  “Hurt me? You think that’s what I care about? You’re nothing like Jasmine. I should have known right away and put a stop to this.”

  She felt as if he’d slapped her. “I know how much you loved her….” She turned away, unable to face him and say the words. “Let me help you find her killer—”

  He spun her around to face him. “Listen to me. She wasn’t the love of my life. I won’t have you lose your life for something that wasn’t true.”

  She stared at him. “You were engaged to be married.”

  He raked a hand through his hair and shook his head.

  Fear squeezed her heart like a fist. He’d been keeping something from her about him and Jasmine. She’d known it. “Tell me,” she said, her voice a whisper.

  He shook his head again, but she’d already seen the answer in his face.

  “You knew,” she said on a breath. “You knew about her and Kerrington.”

  He didn’t move, didn’t speak, his face frozen in a mask of ice.

  Her body went cold. “I know you didn’t kill her,” she said, fear compressing her lungs, making it hard to catch her breath. But she also knew he’d done something, something he’d been hiding. “I know there’s something you aren’t telling me.”

  His face seemed to melt, his expression going from anger to pain. He slumped, turning away from her.

  She reached out, touched his shoulder, felt the warmth of his body beneath her fingers. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and tell him everything was going to be all right, but she feared that was a lie.

  He turned slowly to look at her. “I wanted to kill her.”

  “But you didn’t. You couldn’t.”

  His smile held no humor. “How can you be so sure of that?”

  She shook her head. She didn’t know how, just that her heart promised her it was true. “You aren’t a killer.”

  He looked down at the floor, then up at her. “Jasmine and I were never engaged. She told everyone we were. I went up to Bozeman the day before she disappeared to find out why she’d done that. Jasmine and I dated a couple of times. I was flattered. Jasmine had a way of making you feel like you were the most important thing in her life.” He sighed.

  “You found her with Kerrington,” Molly guessed.

  He nodded. “They didn’t see me.”

  Molly held her breath.

  “I waited until she was alone.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “It got ugly. She admitted that she was just using me in some game she had going with Kerrington and her father. I demanded she call off the newspapers who’d been hounding me about this stupid engagement. I had avoided the press, not wanting to embarrass Jasmine. I wanted her to call them back and tell them we weren’t engaged.”

  He walked over to the front window, his back to her. “I found out that she’d even gotten a key to the house I’d just bought and was telling everyone it was my engagement present to her. I demanded it back. She jumped into her new little red sports car and took off. I ran my pickup into her car, denting the side, taking out a headlight.”

  Molly couldn’t help her startled expression. There would be evidence of an accident on Jasmine’s car.

  “I was sorry at once and offered to have it fixed. She was livid. Damaging her car was the ultimate sin. If she had had a weapon, she would have shot me on the spot. I know I should have told the state investigators as soon as I heard Jasmine was missing…”

  So that’s what he’d been hiding.

  “I thought it was a stunt, her being missing. That she wanted me to look guilty, that she was trying to take away the one thing that meant anything to me, being a sheriff. The accident had happened the day before she disappeared. It didn’t seem relevant. Then, once it appeared she really was missing, it was too late.” He raked a hand through his hair again as he turned to look at her. “I kept waiting for her to turn up. I refused to believe she was dead. Then when you walked into my office…”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I can’t tell you how much I hoped you were Jasmine,” he said. He must have seen her change of expression. “Not because I loved Jasmine but if she was alive, then I was off the hook.”

  “You believe she’s dead?” Molly asked.

  “If Jasmine was alive, she wouldn’t have waited seven years to come back and seek her revenge.”

  “What does she have to be vengeful about?”

  “Jasmine didn’t need a reason. Her father had just disinherited her. She was angry.” He shook his head. “The irony is, after she disappeared Archie and I finally met. He liked me, said he would have been proud to have me for a son-in-law, thought I would be good for his daughter. It was Kerrington he didn’t want her marrying. And Archie would never have left Jasmine penniless no matter what she did. It was just this battle between the two of them. He left part of his estate to Jasmine always holding out hope that she was still alive. Another reason Bernard must be beside himself thinking you’re Jasmine.”

  “Why do you think she was driving down to Antelope Flats?”

  “It wasn’t to fix things up with me, I can tell you that. Maybe she wasn’t driving down here at all. Whoever hid her car in that barn might have done it to frame me for her murder.”

  “Jasmine seems to have had a few enemies,” Molly said.

  He laughed. “That’s putting it mildly. That’s why we have to let them know that you aren’t Jasmine. If I’m right, one of them killed her, possibly left her for dead. That person can’t let Jasmine remember what happened that day.” She shivered and he pulled her to him. “The sooner we make the announcement the better.”

  She smiled up at him. He was so trusting. Deception came hard to him and because of that he would never understand the world she came from. “Cash, her killer is just going to think you’re trying to protect me until I remember and you can arrest him. We have Jasmine’s killer right where we want him. If we work this together—”

  He started to argue but she put a finger to his lips.

  “It’s too late to do anything else and you know it.” She met his pale blue eyes and felt a jolt. His look sent heat straight to her center, making her ache for him. His mouth dropped to hers in a kiss that curled her toes.

  Sweeping her up into his arms, he headed for the stairs. “Don’t you want to hear my plan?” she asked.

  “No,” he said. “I want to make love to you.”

  The doorbell rang. He ignored it and started up the steps. The doorbell rang again an
d a deep voice said, “It’s Mathews. Open up.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  With obvious reluctance, Cash set Molly down on her feet with a curse as Mathews pounded on the door.

  “Sounds like I’d better tell you my plan quickly,” Molly said.

  “Just a minute!” Cash called to Mathews and Molly told him her plan.

  Cash swore again and went to open the door. “Come on in,” he said to a steaming John Mathews.

  “What took you so long?” Mathews demanded, then saw Molly and stopped dead in his tracks. “Jasmine? What the hell, Cash?”

  “Come on in. Wanna drink?” Cash asked.

  “Am I going to need one?” Mathews asked.

  “It might not hurt. State Lead Investigator John Mathews meet Molly Kilpatrick.”

  Mathews frowned, his gaze going from Molly to Cash and back again. “Not Jasmine Wolfe?”

  “No, I just look like her,” Molly said, holding out her hand.

  He shook it. “Cash, I thought I told you to stay away from this investigation. In fact, I relieved you of your duties as I recall.”

  “Look, John—”

  “I want to help you catch Jasmine’s killer,” Molly interjected. “I’ve already started the ball rolling, so to speak.”

  “I think I will take that drink,” Mathews said.

  Cash led him into the living room. Molly perched on the edge of one of the chairs. Mathews lowered his large frame into a chair opposite her as Cash made them all drinks.

  “I came over because of the Teresa Clark murder,” Mathews said, taking the drink Cash offered him.

  When Cash had called him from his office, he’d told Mathews what he’d learned about the bartender and the matchbook found in Jasmine’s car.

  “I thought you’d like to know that Teresa Clark talked to one of her regulars here in Antelope Flats, Charley Alberta, before she was killed. She said she knew the woman who’s car was found. And that the last time she saw Jasmine Wolfe was the night Jasmine disappeared seven years ago. It seemed Jasmine came into the Dew Drop Inn all the time with two different men. Based on her descriptions of the men according to Charley, one was her brother Bernard. The other was Kerrington. It seems Bernard had a fight with Jasmine the night she disappeared and he left the bar. Then Kerrington came in and got into it with her, even following her outside, still arguing.”

  “On the day Bernard and Kerrington both said they were hiking and camping in the backcountry together?” Cash asked.

  Mathews nodded. “Teresa Clark could have blown apart both of their alibis. Had she lived. Guess who had a drink at the Mello Dee the night Teresa Clark was murdered? Kerrington, only he lied and said he didn’t know her, even gave her a fake name.”

  “Kerrington,” Cash said like a curse.

  Mathews nodded. “I came by to tell you before I go pick him up at the motel and to tell you that if you continue to butt into my case I’m going to throw your ass in jail.”

  “Then you probably aren’t going to want to hear about the plan Molly came up with,” Cash said. “But I think you should hear her out. As much as I don’t like it, it’s a damned good plan and it might put an end to this once and for all.”

  Mathews took a gulp of his drink and looked to Molly. “There’s probably a good reason you look so much like Jasmine Wolfe.”

  “There is, but that’s not important right now. I think I know how we can catch Jasmine’s killer. By using me as bait.”

  “And you think this is a good idea?” Mathews said. “You got a death wish?”

  HOW COULD MOLLY EXPLAIN that she’d fallen in love with Cash and wanted to help him? That she owed this to Jasmine because she’d stolen the woman’s identity to save herself?

  Cash filled Mathews in on how Molly had seen the story in the newspaper and noticed the remarkable resemblance.

  Mathews raised one heavy brow. “And what did you hope to gain by pretending to be her? Jail time?”

  “Time.” Molly filled him in on Vince and Angel.

  Mathews whistled and shook his head. “And that’s when you got this harebrained idea that you could catch her killer?”

  She nodded, ignoring the harebrained part. “By then I’d met Jasmine’s former fiancée, Kerrington Landow, her stepbrother, Bernard, and her two former roommates, Sandra Perkins Landow and Patty Franklin. Anyone of them could have killed her.”

  “I agree on that account anyway,” Mathews said.

  “Today, I told them that I was starting to remember what happened the day I disappeared,” Molly said. “The killer won’t come after me—until he or she knows for certain that I’m Jasmine. There is only one way the killer can be sure of that. Dig up my grave.”

  Mathews drew back as if she’d hit him.

  “But the killer can’t check the grave because you have men out there looking for it yourself,” Cash put in.

  Mathews was nodding. “Let me guess. I pull off my men, stake out the farm, catch the killer.”

  “Pretty much,” Cash said.

  “Except you need to let the suspects know it is suspected that I’m Jasmine, that there is a chance my memory is returning and the search of the farm has been called off until the fingerprint results come back,” Molly said.

  Mathews shook his head. “You think the killer will go to her grave tonight to make sure she’s there.”

  Cash nodded. “I think the only reason he hasn’t gone there already is that the farm has been crawling with investigators twenty-four-seven since her car was found.”

  “I suppose I could have my men stake out the farm—”

  “No,” Cash said. “We don’t know which way the killer will access the farm. I know the area. I know a place where I can see most of the farm. And if your men don’t leave, the killer will know in a town this size.”

  “Cash, if you think I’m letting you go alone—”

  “You don’t still think I’m the one who killed her?” Cash said in obvious frustration.

  “I’ve never thought that. But I need to cover my behind—and yours. Don’t forget, you’ve been relieved as sheriff.”

  Cash started to argue but Mathews cut him off. “You have a point though about the stakeout and you do know the property. You can go in with me. I’ll deputize you.”

  “What about Molly?” Cash asked.

  “I’ll put three of my best men on the house,” Mathews said.

  “Wait a minute, don’t I have some say in this?” Molly protested.

  “No!” they both said in unison.

  “It was my idea. I want to be there when the killer is arrested,” she complained.

  “Not a chance. You’ll stay here in the house with guards right outside so I know you’re safe until we get back,” Cash said. “No argument. Otherwise John has the authority to lock you up in jail.”

  “That’s not a bad idea,” Mathews said. “I’m definitely going to want to ask you more about the two men after you and that little issue of identity fraud, so don’t get leaving into your head.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” she said. “Not with three men guarding the house.”

  Cash looked as if he wished she had a half dozen or more guarding her.

  “How soon can we do this?” Cash asked.

  “I’ll set everything in motion. I guess we’re on for tonight. If I were the killer I’d want to find out just as quick as I could,” Mathews said as he got to his feet. “I’ll go let Bernard, Kerrington, Sandra and Patty know. They’re all staying at the Lariat. On my way here, I noticed that they had all returned from dinner.”

  “You’ve had them under surveillance?” Cash asked in surprise.

  “Isn’t that what you would have done if you were still sheriff and not involved in this case?” Mathews said with a smile. “I just wish I had put a tail on them before Teresa Clark was killed.”

  Molly listened as Cash and John Mathews worked out the details. She couldn’t help but be anxious. Cash was going out by the lake to trap a kil
ler.

  Mathews used Cash’s phone in the den to make the call to the motel. She heard Cash in the kitchen, then upstairs. What was he doing? Searching the house, she thought. Making sure she was safe.

  “Are you sure you’ll be all right here by yourself?” he asked when he joined her in the living room.

  “I won’t be by myself,” she reminded him. “It’s you I’m worried about. She cupped his warm cheek in her hand. His face was rough with stubble. He had never looked more handsome. “Be careful?”

  He smiled and nodded.

  Mathews came back into the room. “It’s all set. My men are here. I’ll have them stay outside out of sight.”

  “Lock the door behind me,” Cash said to her. “Don’t let anyone in, no matter what.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. There’s still brownies in the cupboard, right?”

  He smiled, his gaze locking with hers, and for just a moment she thought he would tell her that he loved her. The daughter of a known crook? Not likely.

  “Ready?” Mathews said behind him in the now-open doorway.

  Cash nodded, pulling her to him and kissing her hard. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” And then he was gone.

  She waited until the sound of the car engine died away in the distance, still reeling from the kiss. Going to the door, she peered through the peephole. She couldn’t see anyone. But then that was the way it was supposed to work.

  Locking the door, she turned to look at the old house. It needed so much work. She’d been delighted to hear that he hadn’t bought the house for Jasmine. It didn’t sound like she was the kind of woman who would want to strip all this woodwork. Same with the hardwood floors.

  Molly squinted, imagining the house with a fresh coat of paint, something bright and cheery for the kitchen and maybe a nice sage green for the living room. As for the foyer—

  She stopped herself cold, surprised at her train of thought. She hated old houses. And it would take months if not years to remodel this one. She’d never stayed that long in any one place in her life.

  She heard a creak upstairs and froze, waiting to hear it again. Nothing. Suspicious noise was the reason she’d never liked old houses. Right now she didn’t like being alone in this one without Cash. Vince and Angel could break into this house way too easily. The men were professionals.