Shadow Protector. Jenna Ryan
ship a gifted clairvoyant? “
Humor stirred. “Jessie-Lynn has her moments, but the answer’s no on both counts. Remote as this town is, we have a local newspaper, and believe it or not, Internet access.”
Pushing the hat back, she lowered her sunglasses. “I’m not a snob, Logan, whatever you might think—and God knows it probably isn’t flattering. I’m just a little—no make that a lot—out of my element here. I don’t usually see horses grazing outside San Francisco diners, and unless we wander into the wrong area of the city, big, hairy men seldom make a habit of grabbing women’s breasts.”
“So, no conquest for Charlie, then. He’ll be bummed.”
She laughed, and the sound of it sparked a sensation Logan didn’t need to feel in his groin. Keeping his eyes on the road, he returned to topic. “Paxton walked because the arresting officer screwed up, but he was the Blindfold Killer. Every cop on the coast knew it.”
Sera regarded the dying orange glow in the western sky. “He’d have known the police were watching him, ergo, for a while at least, his desire for freedom must have outweighed his need to kill. Either that or he’d achieved his initial goal of eleven people dead. It’s possible his more recent victims are unconnected to the first group.”
“No one ever established a connection between the first eleven victims.” Logan chose to ignore the out-of-town driver who whizzed past in a mud-spattered four by four. “Any thoughts on that, Doc?”
“Without getting inside his head, no.” But as he’d expected, after a moment she ventured to ask, “Were the victims primarily female or male?”
“Eight female, three male.”
“Ages?”
“The youngest was twenty, the oldest forty-seven.”
“And Paxton’s age at the time of his arrest was?”
A smile touched the corners of Logan’s mouth. “That’s the sticking point. No one knows. He has no official record of birth and the kind of appearance every cop hates.”
“Changeable?”
“Big time.”
“Which explains why Sig showed me multiple versions of ten different men, more than a hundred shots in total. I figured there were disguises involved—but, big surprise—Sig refused to explain. He said the less he told me, the less chance that my memories, when they did return, would be colored. All he really needed to say was that the suspect took his cue from Lon Chaney.”
Logan sent her a brief smile. “It’s not a bad comparison. Twenty pounds more or less, from dreadlocks to buzz cuts, stubble to mustache to beard, tooth caps on or off, contact lenses in or out—Paxton knows how to alter his appearance. It’s one of the reasons he was so difficult to nail in the first place. The other was the obvious lack of credible witnesses.”
“I assume that’s how he slipped under the radar. In disguise.”
When the radio squawked, Logan reached down. “Probably, but I was gone by then, and Sig was so disgusted that they’d lost him, he wouldn’t talk about it.”
Her eyes slid to his, but she said nothing, and he pressed the Receive button. “Problem, Fred?”
“The Bulley boys are at it again, Chief.”
“Home or town?”
“Home now, but they came through town on a big old tear. Near as I can tell, they’re riled up over the workers who are camped out—quite legally, I might add—on their farm. Did some pushing and shoving on Main, went into Tommy Gray Wolf’s bar, had a shouting match, punched someone, then took off for home when Tommy threatened to call it in. Which he did anyway ten minutes before Edgar Bulley did the same. Old Edgar says there’s no point sending deputies. The boys’ll just threaten to gore them and carry on ‘til you show up.”
Logan glanced over. “I’ll be there in five. Tell Edgar to fire a couple rounds of buckshot into the barn wall. Might take the edge off.”
“Always a first time,” Fred returned cheerfully. “Good luck, Logan.”
As the sun dipped below the mountaintops, he switched on the lights and siren. “How are you at following orders, Doc?”
She dropped his hat on the seat between them. “The mood I’m in, spectacularly bad. Did I hear the word ‘gore’?”
“It’s the Bulley’s word for ‘stab.’ Used to be a kid’s game involving plastic horns. Now it’s a drunken threat when they’re feeling ornery.”
“Sounds like your Bulley boys have serious anger management issues.”
“You could say,” he agreed. “Their grandfather grazes a stingy herd of cattle, but the number’s been dwindling over the years, so the boys, six of them, have been forced to find other ways to augment their income.”
“Ways you smoke or drink?”
“Drink mostly. We’ve dismantled three stills since late March. Last one was five days ago. Supply’s probably running low, so Bulley logic would dictate that they down the last of it and take their anger out on someone else.”
“Like deputies and campers.”
“They’ve also been known to fire warning shots at trespassers.” Logan slowed as the lights of a ramshackle farmhouse came into view. “Challenge is to see how close they can come without actually hitting the person. Fortunately,” he flicked off the siren, “they’re not in love with firearms. Knives tend to be their weapon of choice.”
Braking behind a stand of pines, he reached for his rifle, stuck the hat back on his head and caught her chin between his thumb and fingers. “Whatever happens, Sera, keep the doors locked and the engine running. Anyone who isn’t me shows up, don’t check for blood, just turn the truck around and head back to Frank’s Diner. You got that?”
“Every word,” she said. “Uh, tell me, are two of the Bulley boys tall, wiry and left-handed?”
A brow went up when her eyes touched on a point over his shoulder. “Coming from behind?”
“Faster than speeding bullets.”
Anticipation glimmered. Releasing her chin, he reached for the door handle. “This is gonna be fun.”
Chapter Three
“Logan?” As amused as she was amazed, Sera worked her way over the console to the driver’s seat. She stared into the rapidly expanding darkness. “Forget Jesse James. Houdini must be one of your ancestors.”
No matter which direction she looked, she couldn’t see him. He was gone, and so were the two men. Obviously they’d vanished into the trees, but talk about witchy people—this place had it all over San Francisco—and that was saying a lot.
She was searching for the lock control when a face popped up at the driver’s side window. A split second later the door flew open and a pair of grimy hands, one of them wielding a knife, shot inside.
Startled, Sera jumped back. She gave the passenger door a shove and the man’s wrist a kick.
Spying Logan’s gun, she grabbed it and tumbled from the truck.
It was hardly surprising that her heels unbalanced her and she landed on the ground. But she didn’t spend three nights a week at the gym for nothing. She was on her feet before the man could wriggle through the interior.
His lips peeled back when he got his first good look. “Hoo-ee, you are a pretty thing, aren’t you, baby doll?”
On her feet now, Sera raised the gun. “Don’t make me shoot,” she told him. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
He hopped