Free Taking Aim at the Sheriff by Delores Fossen Page A

easy way
Grandma
had rolled off her tongue. It had to be hard because of the bad blood between their families. Still, Iris was either putting on a good show or else she wasn’t letting any of that bad blood extend to Maddox.
    “The oatmeal will be fine.” Laurel went to the stove to dish him up a bowl so it could cool.
    “Tar,” Maddox said, showing Iris Jericho’s badge.
    “Yes, it is. A pretty one. And there’s another star. A gold one.” Iris pointed to the one on top of the Christmas tree by the breakfast table, and she went in that direction with Maddox. Maddox discarded the badge when Iris plucked off a horse ornament for him to play with.
    That’s when Laurel noticed the blinds were down. Not just in the breakfast area, either, but in the kitchen, as well. That probably wasn’t their usual position, but she was thankful for it. The ranch was likely well protected, but that didn’t mean someone with a rifle couldn’t fire a shot into the house, as they’d done to Jericho’s the night before.
    Not exactly a good thought to settle her already churning stomach.
    And speaking of unsettling things, Laurel glanced around at the empty kitchen. She’d known Chase and Levi wouldn’t be there yet, but she’d expected to see the others. “Where is everyone?”
    Iris and Jericho exchanged an uneasy glance before Jericho answered. “Addie and Weston are in Austin visiting his sister. Jax’s son is staying with his other grandmother for a few days.”
    Laurel understood the uneasy glance then. “They’re not here because of me. Because of the danger.” She huffed. “Maddox and I should have been the ones to stay elsewhere.”
    “Nonsense.” Iris got another ornament off the tree for Maddox. “Addie and Weston understand.”
    Laurel didn’t get a chance to argue about that because Jericho’s phone rang, and she saw Jax’s name on the screen. Since this probably had something to do with the investigation, he stepped out of the breakfast area and into the hall.
    “I’ll feed Maddox,” Iris volunteered, taking the bowl of oatmeal from Laurel.
    “Thank you.” And Laurel meant it. She was thankful because it gave her the opportunity to go into the hall with Jericho and listen in on his conversation.
    Jericho didn’t put the call on speaker. Probably because he didn’t want his mother to hear if it turned out to be more bad news. That meant Laurel had to go close to him.
    Very close.
    And despite the fact her mind should be on anything but Jericho, her body gave her a little nudge to let her know Jericho would always be on her mind.
    “We haven’t found anything on DeWitt’s lawyer,” she heard Jax say. “He used a fake ID when he checked into the sheriff’s office, and we can’t get any usable fingerprints off the sign-in sheet.”
    All planned, no doubt. Heck, the man probably wasn’t even a lawyer.
    “I reviewed the surveillance footage from the camera outside the holding cell,” Jax continued, “and he did hand DeWitt some papers. It’s possible that’s when he passed DeWitt the poison he used to kill himself.”
    “So, he didn’t actually murder him,” Jericho concluded. “Any reason why DeWitt would commit suicide?”
    “Nothing I can find so far.” Jax added something under his breath she didn’t catch. Profanity, maybe. “In fact, I’m not finding anything on anybody that’ll put an end to this danger.”
    Jericho whispered some of that profanity himself. “Get some rest. I’ll be there in about an hour.”
    He pushed the button to end the call but didn’t budge. Maybe because Jericho needed a moment to take some of the gloom and doom off his face. Laurel was sure there was plenty of it on her face, as well.
    “What now?” she asked.
    Jericho stared at her and touched her arm, rubbed gently. “I’ll make arrangements for a safe house for the three of us.”
    She was partly relieved that Jericho would be going with her. No one would protect Maddox the way he would.