Luck of the Draw Read online

“Ask if I can call her?”

  Billy typed. “She wants to know who you are.”

  “Tell her I’m one of your clients who is trying to find Joslyn.”

  The PI typed, waited a beat and said, “You know more people should be careful about who they connect with through social media. Here’s her number.” He wrote it down, tore off the top sheet of the notepad and pushed it over to him.

  “Tell her I’ll call her.”

  His friend finished the conversation and leaned back in his chair. “As one of my alleged clients, how about you tell me what’s going on?”

  Garrett got to his feet. “I can’t right now, but I promise, when this is over...”

  “You’re scaring me, man.”

  “I’m scaring myself. Thanks. Want me to lock the back door on my way out?”

  “Naw. The lock’s broken.”

  Garrett shook his head as he left. He called Devon Pierce from his pickup.

  “You’re trying to find her?” the now elderly sounding woman asked.

  “You remember her?”

  Devon took a breath. He remembered what Joslyn had said about the woman being nosy. “How could I forget her? Always coming and going at all hours. Very secretive. And the men! I swear, I never knew who was going to drive up and usually in the middle of the night.”

  “There were a lot of men?”

  “The one looked like a cop. And the arguments she had with him.”

  Garrett frowned. Cop? “What made you think he was a cop?”

  “Oh, you know, the way he dressed. Short hair, suits or at least sport coats. Maybe not a cop. Maybe the FBI. It was clear that she was in some kind of trouble.”

  He thought about what Joslyn had said about Devon probably making up all kinds of stories about her. “You said there were arguments? Did you ever hear what was being said?”

  “The walls in this duplex are paper-thin. I’ve complained for years, but the landlord is so cheap and always makes excuses for why—”

  “So you could hear the arguments she had with the man?” he interrupted to get her back on track.

  “It was clear that he was trying to get her to do something she didn’t want to do. I never understood what it was. Maybe turn herself in. Who knows what she’d done. She looked innocent enough, but I could tell the first time I saw her that she was far from it.”

  “You said there were other men?”

  The woman harrumphed. “Slimy man with a camera wanting to know everything I knew about her. Said he was a detective, but he didn’t look like the other one so I think he was lying. I told her about him and she pretended she wasn’t worried, but I could tell that she was.”

  Garrett let her go on for a little longer before he ended the call. The walls weren’t so thin that Devon had been much help. That Joslyn had secrets didn’t come as a surprise. Nor did he trust the older woman’s judgment when it came to what cops or FBI agents looked like. Or what might have been going on next door.

  He thought about Joslyn’s original story about being an undercover cop. What if there had been some truth to it? The chief of police could have lied to him because Joslyn was still undercover. But if true, when Sid ran her fingerprints they would have come up. Unless she was in deep cover?

  Shaking his head, he started his pickup and headed for a clothing store. There was only one way to find out the truth. He glanced at the time. It wouldn’t be long before the arraignment. He felt confident he could get the judge to release her to him. All his instincts told him that he was headed for more trouble than he knew how to handle. But this was the woman he’d once planned to marry. Didn’t he deserve the truth at any cost?

  CHAPTER TEN

  GARRETT WAS COMING OUT of the clothing store when his cell phone rang. He saw it was his brother Will and picked up. “How was the honeymoon?”

  “Wonderful. But we have a problem at the valley ranch. Can you swing by?”

  He checked his watch. “I don’t have a lot of time, but sure. I’ll be right there.”

  The moment he walked into the house, he saw what he recognized as an intervention and figured he knew who was to blame. He shot a look at Dorothea, who of course, pretended innocence. He’d been ambushed and he had a pretty good feeling he knew why.

  “What were you thinking getting involved with this woman again, let alone inviting her to stay at the guest ranch?” his brother Will demanded and looked to their younger brother for his support.

  “He’s right,” Shade said. “This is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard you come up with.”

  “The bank sent you an email to the ranch account,” Will said. “You’re posting bail for the woman? This woman who lied to you two years ago and is still lying since you’re convinced she remembered you so she’s lying about having amnesia?” Will took a breath. “Not to mention, she killed someone?”

  “I’m not sure how much she actually remembers,” Garrett said. “But I know what I’m doing.”

  Will shook his head. “Big brother, you’re the one who always tries to talk sense into us when we come up with some stupid idea. Also, I understand that you have hired our attorney to defend her?”

  He understood why they would be upset. Even the sheriff had his reservations about this. “I’ve given this a lot of thought and it’s my own money,” Garrett said, digging his heels in. “You need to trust me.”

  Will laughed. “If there is one thing I’ve learned—and recently—it’s what a woman can do to a man’s common sense. Admittedly, I never thought it would happen to you. We knew you’d gotten your heart broken in law school. Otherwise you wouldn’t have quit. From what we’ve heard, this woman can’t be trusted.”

  “I really don’t have the time to get into this right now,” Garrett said. Not that he planned to ever get into this with them. Once he and Joslyn were at the guest ranch... Well, he planned to get to the truth one way or another.

  “Bro, that is messed up,” Shade said. “And what a crazy way to break up with you all those years ago, just disappearing like that.”

  “You have no idea how dangerous this woman is,” Will said. “Not to mention all of this feels...off. I agree with Dorothea. You witnessing the shooting feels like some kind of con.”

  “Exactly,” Dorothea interjected. “This woman knows you. She knows you’re the kind of cowboy who might suggest something like this to help her. This has disaster written all over it. One man is already dead. You could be next.”

  That Dorothea was making sense was enough to confuse him. “You don’t need to remind me of that,” Garrett said. “I think once we’re alone, she’ll open up to me. A woman who doesn’t know you, isn’t going to go with a complete stranger up to a secluded empty guest ranch to regain her memory even if she does believe I saved her life.”

  “I think it’s his trusting face,” Shade joked. “Sorry, I know this is serious, but clearly Garrett’s in love. Nothing is going to stop him. Even I can see that. Of the three of us, he has always been the most stubborn. So nothing you say is going to change his mind. We’ll just have to drive up there and check on him.”

  He shook his head adamantly. “I want the two of you to stay away and keep Dorothea away as well even if you have to hog-tie her.” He shot her a look. She mugged a face at him. “There is no doubt that what I’m doing is risky. I’ll be the first to admit it. But I’m not safe until I find out what’s going on. For her to turn up like this after all these years, for me to witness what I thought was her almost being killed... I agree. There is more going on here and Joslyn is the key.”

  “I agree with Dorothea,” Will said. “This woman is playing you like a fiddle. What if you’re being set up, walking into some kind of trap? And all because of these old feelings for this woman? You don’t have a clue what you’re in for—or just how dangerous it could be.”

  “It’s my choice. So
stay away. If I need you, I’ll call.” With that, he walked out.

  * * *

  THE SHERIFF STOPPED by the morgue on his way to the hospital. He’d hoped to have some evidence that would break this case wide open—and possibly keep Garrett Sterling from making the mistake of his life.

  “Anything new?” he asked Sam.

  The coroner pulled back the sheet to show the sheriff the dead man’s prison tattoos. “I did go online and try to track the tattoos to one specific prison but didn’t have any luck.”

  Sid had to smile. Only in small towns did everyone get so involved in a murder. “What about the altered fingerprints? That can’t be common even with hardened criminals.”

  “The scars are old. I suspect they were done before the man realized that he could be identified through DNA.” He pulled one of the man’s hands out from under the sheet to show Sid. The sight made him wince.

  “What I need is the connection between the woman and the dead man and I need it quickly,” the sheriff said. “I need that DNA report.”

  “Do you have reason to believe the man and woman knew each other?”

  “No. Nothing of hers was found in the stolen car.” Except for the printout of the map to the guest ranch. “I suppose it could have been a crime of opportunity on the man’s part. He could have abducted her off the street not having a clue who she was.” He didn’t believe that. One of them had that map. Isn’t that what tied them together? It would certainly explain what they were doing up in the mountains so near the guest ranch.

  “You think she was abducted?”

  Sid nodded. “She would have had a purse, some identification, on her. Unless she dropped her purse when she was taken.” He shook his head. He was clutching at straws, but it felt as if the clock was ticking. Garrett would be taking clothes to the woman and Deputy Conners would be taking her to the arraignment where Garrett had the family attorney waiting.

  “We’ll know more once we get the DNA results,” he told the coroner.

  “The woman still hasn’t remembered what happened?”

  He shook his head. He couldn’t shake the feeling that she was lying and Garrett knew it.

  Sid glanced at the time. “I need to go. Let me know if you find out anything else.” He got the call on the ballistics results as he was leaving.

  “Thought you’d want to know about this as soon as possible. That .38 bullet used on the dead man? I got a match—and, are you sitting down? There’s a local tie-in.”

  This was the last thing Sid had been expecting. Still gripping the phone, he dropped into his chair behind his desk. “Local?” He hated the way his voice wavered. He had only a matter of weeks before he would hang up his star and gun. He did not want to go out with any open cases hanging over his head.

  “Remember that convenience-store holdup a couple of years ago in Missoula? Garrett Sterling was involved. The shooter was the kid behind the counter, the night clerk.”

  “Right.” Sid remembered only too well since Garrett had reminded him of it not that many hours ago. “The young clerk got trigger-happy when it was almost over and shot the driver of the getaway car when he came through the front door of the store. The other one Garrett had beamed with a can of beans. The getaway driver died. Wasn’t he the robber’s younger brother, as it turned out? But how is the gun used in this recent shooting connected?”

  “The clerk had brought it in because he didn’t feel safe working nights. At least that was his story. Who knows where he picked up the gun since it’s unregistered and he said he couldn’t remember, he thought maybe he’d bought it at a gun show. Frankie Rutledge went to prison for the robbery. His younger brother, George, died on the way to the hospital from his gunshot wounds. In the confusion that night, the gun used by the clerk disappeared. And now it’s turned back up in your recent shooting.”

  “How is that possible?” Sid asked, scratching his head.

  “There was a third brother—just a kid at the time. Didn’t Garrett say he saw a kid in the back but just assumed he’d left the store before the shooting? Nicky Rutledge had come in first, possibly to stake out the store and let his brother know it was empty. He would have been eight or nine. He could have picked up the gun from behind the counter after the clerk drilled his brother.”

  He’d heard about the Rutledge family. Four brothers, all bad news. A couple of them were dead, the one Garrett had cold-cocked was in prison—or at least he had been until now apparently, and the youngest, Nicky was on the lam, wanted by the law.

  “Let’s say the kid picked up the gun and held on to it,” Sid said. “As far as we know, it wasn’t involved in any other shootings or the ballistics would have come up when you got this match. So where has the gun been the past two years?”

  “Who knows? But you have to admit, it’s interesting.”

  Very, he thought as he disconnected. Even more interesting if you knew that the woman Garrett called Joslyn Charles was the woman in the convenience store that night. Wasn’t it more possible that she’d picked up the gun as she was avoiding the cops—thanks to Garrett? That was even more interesting.

  And more dangerous to the rancher who now wanted to take the woman high in the mountains to the isolated family guest ranch.

  * * *

  GARRETT RETURNED TO the hospital with several bags of clothing he’d picked up, sorry that his family was upset about what he was about to do. But it wasn’t going to stop him.

  He hadn’t had to guess Joslyn’s size since from what he’d seen of her earlier standing at that window confirmed that she hadn’t changed much. She was a little fuller in the hips and breasts. Two years ago she hadn’t been more than a handful.

  He cursed that thought away, reminding himself that he might know this woman in the biblical sense, but otherwise, she was a complete stranger and one who couldn’t be trusted on so many levels it boggled his mind.

  The male deputy at the door just gave him a nod.

  “What’s this?” Joslyn asked when he tapped at her hospital room door and stepped in carrying the bags.

  “I thought you might need something to wear out of here,” he said. “As well as something to wear to your arraignment. I have an attorney who’ll be representing you. I hope that’s all right.”

  She looked amused. “Weren’t you worried that I might change my mind?”

  He wanted to laugh. “Why would you do that?”

  “After we talked earlier, the sheriff came back and told me about your guest ranch. I got the feeling he had some reservations about me going with you.”

  Garrett set the bags on the end of her bed. He wasn’t sure he could keep up this pretense for long. “Well, it’s entirely up to you. Either way, I figured you’d need something to wear since I believe your clothing is still being held as evidence.”

  The word evidence wiped the smile off her face, much like he had expected it would. She swallowed as she looked at the bags he’d put down. “How did you know my size?”

  “I guessed.”

  She didn’t meet his gaze. “Why are you being so nice to me?” she asked, her voice low.

  He was asking himself the same thing. “I’m a nice guy. That’s why I’m going to step out into the hall so you can change. Your doctor said he’d be by to release you soon.” With that he turned and walked out, his heart hammering. He’d never been one to play games with women. What they saw was what they got. But clearly Joslyn or whatever her name was, was a master at the craft.

  He questioned whether he was up to this as he went out into the hall to wait. Maybe his family was right and he was making the worst mistake of his life.

  Garrett hadn’t been in the hallway long when the sheriff showed up. The moment he saw Sid’s expression, he knew something had happened.

  “We need to talk,” the sheriff said and motioned to a nearby waiting room.

  * *
*

  SID RUBBED THE back of his neck after the door had closed behind them. Earlier, he’d had a psychologist try to help the woman remember what had happened before the arraignment. But the questions the psychologist asked hadn’t sparked a memory apparently.

  Which left him no choice but to tell Garrett the news. He got right to the point, knowing they didn’t have much time. “I just got the call on the ballistics test. The gun used on that mountainside? It was the same one the clerk at the convenience store in Missoula shot and killed George Rutledge with two years ago.”

  Garrett stared at him, clearly in shock. “How is that possible?” he asked, sounding as stunned as Sid had been. He could see that the rancher was trying to wrap his head around it. “Where has the gun been all this time if not on some shelf in police evidence storage?”

  “It went missing at the scene. We have two theories. That boy you thought you saw in the store and assumed had left before the robber came in? The cops identified him from the surveillance camera tape as Nicky Rutledge, the youngest Rutledge brother. He was about eight or nine at the time.”

  “A brother of the robbers. But I thought he left before the robbery,” Garrett said.

  “He might have just hidden in the back. He would have known his brothers planned to rob the place and could have been a part of it. Until everything went south. You didn’t see him again?”

  He shook his head. “But there was so much confusion... You think he picked up the gun?”

  “It’s one theory,” the sheriff said. “It’s the other theory that is more troubling, and that’s that your girlfriend picked up the gun.”

  Garrett tried to hide what he was feeling. But Sid could tell that the news had shaken him to his core. If his Joslyn picked up the gun two years ago, the same one that she’d killed the man on the mountainside with, that put a whole new spin on this case.

  “She is the most likely since she was definitely there and she could have pocketed the gun before you handed her your pickup keys so she could avoid the cops. She definitely wouldn’t have wanted to get caught with the gun on her. She could also have been involved in the robbery. You testified that she was on the floor near the counter when the clerk dropped the gun.”