Safeguarding the Surrogate Read online

  “No.” Leo paused. “Why? Is he giving you trouble again?”

  “Trying to. I want to see if I can connect him to anything at the fertility clinic or the murders.”

  “All right,” his brother said without missing a beat. “I can help with that. Maybe SAPD can give us something, too. By the way, a couple of the homicide detectives there agreed to contact anyone who’s been a surrogate at the clinic for the past two years. They’ll warn them of the possible danger and offer protection to any one of them who wants it.”

  Good. That’d perhaps take a lot of manpower, but it might prevent someone else from being killed.

  “I’m pulling up in front of your house now,” Leo added.

  Daniel did indeed hear the cruiser’s engine, and he checked out the window to make sure it was his brother. It was. “We’ll be out in a few,” he told Leo and ended the call.

  He turned to get Noreen, Sadie and Kara, but they were already heading his way. With a diaper bag looped over her shoulder, Noreen was carrying Sadie, and Kara had their suitcases, one in each hand. Daniel wouldn’t be able to help her with that because he wanted to be able to draw his weapon if necessary. He hoped like the devil that it wouldn’t be necessary, though.

  “We move fast,” Daniel told them and was thankful that Sadie was smiling as if this was some sort of fun game. “The three of you will go in the back seat. I’ll ride shotgun.”

  Noreen gave a shaky nod. She was afraid but as determined as he was to make this trip fast and safe. Kara’s sound of agreement wasn’t shaky at all. He could see a steely resolve in her expression. Good. Because he needed everyone to be ready to protect Sadie.

  At the knock on the door, Daniel disengaged the security system so he could open the door to let Leo in. His brother kept things light, too, giving Sadie a quick kiss before they hurried out together.

  Daniel and Leo stayed on the sides of Noreen and Kara. Using their bodies to shield them. It wouldn’t stop a sniper, but if someone had been in place to shoot, Daniel figured those shots would have happened when he’d been talking to Rizzo. Of course, that only applied if he was the target. If it was Kara the killer wanted, then this could turn deadly fast.

  He fired his gaze all around the yard and ranch, and the second they all reached the cruiser, Daniel practically shoved Kara and Noreen inside it. His brother had thought to put in a car seat, which looked out of place in the center back of a cruiser, but Daniel was thankful for it. Thankful, too, when he had everyone inside the bullet-resistant vehicle.

  Daniel could finally release the breath he’d been holding. No way, though, would his heartrate ease up until he had them safely at the inn. That would be another breath-holding situation, but at least Leo would be able to pull right up to the back porch of the inn. It would still mean they’d be out in the open, but there’d be fewer places for a gunman to hide there. Added to that, Barrett had already sent out reserve deputies to patrol the grounds of the inn.

  As soon as Noreen had Sadie in the car seat, Leo took off.

  Kara had to adjust the suitcases, which thankfully weren’t full-sized, and she stacked them on her lap. It wouldn’t make it easy for her to get down on the seat if it came to that, but he hadn’t wanted to risk taking the time to put them in the trunk.

  “Ites,” Sadie blurted out, clapping her hands.

  “Lights,” Daniel translated for Leo.

  About a month earlier, Barrett had dropped by the ranch in the cruiser, and he’d shown Sadie the blue emergency lights. Obviously, they’d made an impression on his little girl.

  Leo turned on the lights, including the one on the dash. It was actually the only one that Sadie could see from inside the car, but again, it made an impression. She squealed with delight, and despite their circumstances, it made everyone else in the cruiser smile.

  Leo kept the lights on as he drove away from the ranch, and even though a cruiser with whirling lights wouldn’t be a deterrent to a killer, it probably wouldn’t hurt, either. After all, if the killer had the ranch under surveillance, then he had almost certainly seen Leo arrive.

  Not exactly a comforting thought.

  Daniel continued to keep watch as they made their way to the road that would lead them to town. Leo was doing the same. He saw that Kara was, too, after he glanced in the mirror. He only looked at her for a split second because something else grabbed his attention.

  Leo must have seen it, too, because he hit the brakes, stopping only about twenty-five feet from the turn to the road that led into town.

  “What the heck?” Leo muttered, and both Daniel and he drew their guns.

  There was a person, a woman, lying on the ground just ahead of them. She wasn’t moving but was instead stretched out on her back, her arms and legs forming an x. And Daniel had no trouble seeing what was on her light-colored clothes.

  Blood.

  Chapter Seven

  Kara’s heart went to her knees. She got just a glimpse of the bloody woman lying on the road before she threw her hand in front of Sadie to shelter her eyes.

  Thankfully, the little girl wasn’t paying any attention to what was beyond the whirling blue emergency lights, but just in case, Kara directed Sadie’s attention to her phone that she pulled from her pocket. Kara loaded a cute kitten video and handed it to Sadie for her to watch.

  “Is she alive?” Kara asked, trying to choose her words carefully. She hadn’t wanted to say dead, though that certainly seemed to be the case.

  Oh, God.

  Had another woman been murdered?

  “It could be a trap,” Daniel muttered just loud enough for her to hear.

  That gave Kara a jolt of adrenaline. Her gaze flew around, looking for any signs of danger. From the front seat, Leo and Daniel were doing the same. Leo called in the incident to Dispatch, reporting the location of the body. Or maybe not a body at all but rather a person who was pretending to be dead. Either way, Leo requested an ambulance and backup.

  “Drive around the woman,” Daniel instructed his brother. “Don’t stop. The EMTs will take care of her when they get here.”

  Kara knew that had to be hard for Daniel, especially if the woman truly did need help, but getting out to check on her could result in the killer launching a full-scale attack on them. Sadie could be hurt. Or worse.

  Leo inched the cruiser forward, maneuvering around the road so that the woman was on the passenger’s side of the cruiser. There wasn’t room for him to get around her any other way. That gave both Daniel and Kara the chance to get a good look at her.

  Even though her voice and hands were shaking, Noreen managed to keep Sadie’s attention on the kitten video. Kara, however, looked down at the ground as they drove past the woman. She definitely looked dead, and it was either an excellent makeup job or else there truly was a gaping hole in her chest.

  Seeing all the blood turned her stomach, but Kara forced herself to look at the woman’s face.

  And she bit back the profanity that came with the shock.

  “I know her,” Kara blurted out, and she would have bolted from the cruiser to try to help if Daniel hadn’t reached over the seat and taken hold of her.

  “Stay put,” he warned her. And much to her horror, he opened his cruiser door while barking out to Leo, “Cover me.”

  Leo probably would have cursed had Sadie not been there, but he did cover his brother as Daniel opened his door and leaned out enough so he could reach the woman. It took some doing, and he was obviously trying to stay behind the cover of the door, but he touched his fingers to her neck. He didn’t say anything, but the look he gave Kara confirmed it.

  The woman was dead.

  This wasn’t some ruse. Well, not on her part. That didn’t mean her killer wasn’t nearby, waiting for a chance to kill them. That was no doubt why Daniel didn’t waste any time closing his door, and the second he did that, Leo
sped away.

  “Who is she?” Daniel asked.

  Kara’s heart was beating so loud, the sound pounding in her ears, that it took her a moment to realize what he’d said. “She’s Georgia,” Kara managed to tell him. “I can’t remember her last name, but...” She had to stop and swallow hard before she could continue. “I met her at the fertility clinic when we were both waiting for appointments. She was a surrogate.”

  And just saying that filled her with a new wave of dread. Another connection to Willingham Fertility Clinic. Another dead surrogate.

  Her breath broke, and she couldn’t stop the hoarse groan that tore from her mouth. Sadie clearly thought this was a game because she giggled and tried to imitate it before Noreen got the child’s attention back on the video.

  “Obviously, the body wasn’t there when I drove by less than ten minutes ago,” Leo murmured. The moment he was on the highway, he hit the accelerator to get them out of there.

  Ten minutes. That wasn’t much time, but Kara had no idea how much time it would take to drag a body from a vehicle or the ditch and pose it that way. It was possible Georgia had been dead for hours. Days even. Of course, it was just as possible the woman had been murdered in the short time that Leo was at Daniel’s ranch.

  Kara tried to tamp down the swell of emotions. Definitely tried to make sure she kept the stark expression off her face so that Sadie wouldn’t see it and get upset.

  She fired glances all around, keeping watch. Staying alert. There were no signs of the killer, but Kara’s thoughts immediately went to Rizzo. This could still be connected to him. After all, the man had just been at the ranch, and while he wouldn’t be able to see Daniel’s ranch from his place, he could have been watching the road.

  Daniel took out his phone, and Kara saw him press Barrett’s number. “I need to give Barrett an update about this,” he said. However, he didn’t put the call on speaker. Again, probably because of Sadie.

  “The DB is a female, midtwenties. About five-six, medium build. Brown hair and eyes,” Daniel told his brother when he answered. “COD appears to be gunshot wound to the chest.” He whispered that last part. “Kara believes the woman is Georgia, surname unknown, and that she was a surrogate at the fertility clinic around the same time Kara was a patient there.”

  Daniel had managed to deliver all of that info in his cop voice. It was void of emotion, but Kara knew there was no such void inside him. He was almost certainly feeling plenty of anger and disgust, coupled with the need to put a stop to this now. Too many people had already died, and they weren’t even close to being able to find the killer and put an end to the danger.

  “Georgia Marshall,” Daniel said a moment later, obviously repeating what Barrett had told him. Barrett must have already had access to the files from the clinic to be able to pull it up that fast.

  Daniel looked back at her to see if she could confirm that, but Kara had to shake her head. “I only met her once, and I’m not sure we even exchanged surnames.”

  The only reason Kara remembered Georgia was because the woman had made a comment along the lines of her name being the same as the state where her mother had been born.

  Daniel gave her a nod, relayed that to his brother and then said, “Eldon Stroud. Did you get in touch with him?”

  Kara couldn’t hear Barrett’s response, but a moment later, Daniel added, “Good. I’ll be interested in hearing if he has an alibi for last night and this morning.”

  Hearing that helped the tightening in Kara’s chest to ease up some. Maybe Eldon could give them some answers. Heck, maybe he’d just confess to everything so that Barrett could lock him up.

  “Stroud is coming in for an interview this afternoon,” Daniel relayed to Kara in a whisper.

  “Rizzo showed up at my place this morning,” Daniel went on, talking to his brother now. “He’s like a pressure cooker about to go off.” It seemed as if he was about to say more, but his gaze drifted back to Sadie. She was no longer watching the video, and Noreen couldn’t seem to get her attention off Daniel. “Bring in Rizzo for an interview,” he finally said to Barrett. “See if you can convince him to be tested for gunshot residue.”

  That was a good call if Rizzo would agree to something like that. Kara doubted that he would even if he was innocent. Rizzo didn’t seem the sort to cooperate with the law, especially when the sheriff was Daniel’s brother.

  Daniel ended the call just as Leo pulled to a stop at the rear entrance to the Serenity Inn. Other than the owner’s car, there were no other vehicles in the tiny parking lot. No one in the yard, either, but Daniel, Leo and Kara still glanced around, making sure it was safe to move Sadie.

  Even though Kara often drove by the inn, she tried to look at it with a fresh eye. The two-story white Victorian was one of the oldest houses in Mercy Ridge, and the owner, Ellen Deavers, kept it in pristine condition. Flower beds burst with color, and while there was no fence, low-growing manicured hedges marked the property lines.

  Kara glanced at the motion-activated lights that would no doubt flare on if someone came into the yard. There’d be a decent security system inside, too. Ellen was friendly. Welcoming, even. But she was also a woman in her sixties who was often alone. She hadn’t wanted her beautiful home to be easy pickings for someone out to steal something, so she’d added far more security than most folks had.

  Daniel and Leo got out together, each of them opening one of the back doors of the cruiser. Leo helped get Sadie out of her car seat, immediately rushing her up the porch steps and into the inn. Noreen was right behind them. Daniel took one of the suitcases from Kara’s lap, but he kept his shooting hand free as they hurried inside.

  Ellen was there in the large kitchen waiting for them, and she turned on the security system once they’d shut the door. She also handed Daniel a piece of paper with the code and instructions to control the system.

  Despite the tense situation, Ellen had a smile for Sadie. By now, though, Sadie wasn’t so cheery. Maybe she was picking up on the dour mood because she started to fuss. Adjusting the diaper bag on her shoulder, Noreen took Sadie from Leo.

  “Let me read her a story and try to get her to settle down,” Noreen suggested.

  Ellen nodded. “You can use any room in the place, but there are two large connecting rooms on the second floor. Daniel said something about a deputy staying, too—”

  “Cybil Cassidy,” Leo provided. “She’ll be here before I leave to go back to work.”

  Kara knew Cybil. She was a deputy who was working on a criminal justice degree. She was young, probably only twenty-four, but from what she’d heard, Cybil was a good cop. She’d certainly come from good stock since her grandfather had once been the sheriff of Mercy Ridge.

  “Cybil can stay in a room on the first floor if that works for you,” Ellen said. “Maybe the one near the front door?”

  Daniel made a sound of agreement, and when Sadie fussed again, he motioned for Noreen to go ahead and take her upstairs. Both Ellen and Leo went with her, each of them taking a suitcase, and Kara had no doubts that Leo would check every inch of the second floor to make sure it was safe. On the bottom floor, Daniel began to do the same.

  Kara followed him as they made their way through the large front parlor, where there was a reception desk. Together, they checked the door and every window to make sure they were locked and armed with the security alarm. They also closed the curtains and blinds. It helped settle her nerves a little, but Kara could see much too clearly the images of Georgia lying dead on the road. Images that would no doubt stay with her for a lifetime.

  Oh, mercy.

  Why was this happening? Why were so many women being murdered? Maybe the interviews Barrett was going to do would give them some answers, but it still wouldn’t undo what had already been done. The killer had already taken and ruined so many lives, and there were no guarantees that this wouldn’t just continue.


  Daniel whirled around to face her, and that’s when Kara realized she hadn’t quite tamped down the sound that’d torn from her mouth.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, waving him off when he went to her. “You’ve got enough to worry about without having to deal with me.”

  “I want to deal with you,” he assured her. Daniel’s voice was barely a whisper, and when he pulled her into his arms, he brushed a kiss on the top of her head. “Trust me when I say that I’ll do everything I can to keep you safe.”

  “Ditto.” She pulled back, looked up at him and saw his slight smile. “I’ve always trusted you.” But she wanted to wince when she heard her own words. They sounded, well, intimate. As if she meant more than just his keeping her safe.

  And she did.

  Kara had indeed always trusted him. That had never been a problem between them. The only problem was how to justify the other things she was feeling for him. The heat. The pull of her heart to him. He’d been her sister’s husband. Her brother-in-law. And while Maryanne was alive, Kara would have never let her feelings for Daniel cross any lines.

  Never.

  However, she certainly felt capable of crossing some lines right now.

  It was probably a combination of the danger and the spent adrenaline. And the fact that she’d ended up in his arms again. She wasn’t at her strongest right now, and she needed to be. Not to resist Daniel. She was no longer sure that was possible. But she needed to be strong to face whatever the killer had in store for them.

  “I should check on Sadie,” he murmured, but he didn’t move. Neither did Kara. Daniel continued to hold her, and she could feel the conflict going on inside him. The moment ended, though, when his phone rang. “Barrett,” he said glancing at the screen.

  Daniel stepped back and put the call on speaker. “Are you settled in at the inn?” Barrett asked.

  “We’re here. How long are you going to be able to spare Cybil?”