Outlaw Lawman by Delores Fossen Read Free Book Online

any evidence that the shooter might have left, not just on the paper but in the truck itself.
    “Something’s written on it,” Tinsley pointed out.
    “Yeah.” Harlan shook his head, repeated it. “It’s a message,” he said, looking at Caitlyn. “For you.”

Chapter Five
    Harlan cursed the bad phone reception at the Maverick Springs Hospital, and everything else he could think of.
    There was a lot on that particular list.
    He could make out only half of what his brother Slade Becker was saying, but even so, Harlan wasn’t hearing anything good.
    His other brother Declan had brought Harlan his phone from the house because it had all his contact numbers, but what he needed was to hear some good news.
    According to Slade, there was no sign of the shooter and no security cameras at the motel in Cross Creek where he and Caitlyn had been taken, cuffed and left for a killer to finish them off. If the crappy news had ended there, it might not have been so bad.
    But it didn’t.
    Sergeant Tinsley had added to the growing heap of bad by telling Harlan that there didn’t appear to be any prints or traces in either the truck or on the note the SOB had left with Caitlyn’s name scrawled on the folded sheet of paper. A note with just a handful of words.
    This isn’t over. You’re a dead woman.
    Harlan wanted to disagree with that threat, but he couldn’t. As long as the shooter and his accomplice were out there, this was far from over for Caitlyn. And as for the dead part—well, that’s what he had to stop from happening.
    “What about any info on Jay Farris?” Harlan asked his brother.
    “Still trying. He was transferred to a private facility about a month ago—” And the rest was static gibberish, but Harlan thought Slade said something about the facility not giving them access to records without a court order. “You’ve got to call the Ranger back, Harlan.”
    Now, that part came through loud and clear.
    Figures.
    It was the one thing in this conversation that he didn’t want relayed, because the Ranger in question was none other than Griffin Morris, who’d been assigned to investigate Jonah Webb’s murder. If Harlan had thought for one second that Morris had any info about this incident, he’d be on the phone to him, but no. Morris wanted to question Harlan as a possible suspect—accessory to Webb’s murder.
    Harlan didn’t have time for that.
    The door to the examining room opened finally, and Harlan told Slade that he would call him back. Right now he needed to make sure Caitlyn was all right, and judging from the glimpse that Harlan got of her face from over the doctor’s shoulder, she wasn’t. She was shades too pale and looked ready to collapse.
    Dr. Cheryl Landry stopped in the doorway and met Harlan’s gaze. “She’ll be okay. Your turn now. Want to go into the examining room next door so I can give you a checkup?”
    “It can wait.” Yet something else he didn’t have time for—and besides, he’d already done the important part. He’d had the lab draw a blood sample to see if they could identify what had been used to drug him.
    The doctor frowned, but she didn’t look surprised. Probably because she’d been stitching up Harlan and his brothers for the better part of a decade. She knew cooperation wasn’t their strong suit.
    “At least get some rest,” the doctor grumbled. “And that goes for both of you. I’ll call as soon as I have the lab results from the tox screens.” She walked away, still mumbling and scribbling something on a chart.
    Caitlyn didn’t get up from the examining table. Practically limp, she sat there wearing green scrubs that were identical to Harlan’s. One of the first things on his to-do list was to get them a change of clothes, since theirs had been bagged for processing. He doubted there’d be any usable trace evidence on them, but their luck might change.
    He sure as heck hoped so anyway.
    Harlan walked closer, easing the door shut behind him so he