Free The Marshal's Justice (Appaloosa Pass Ranch 4) by Delores Fossen Page B

brother and had always acted like a mother hen whenever she was around him.
    “I’m glad you came,” Quentin greeted, his attention going straight to her stomach. “I heard you had the baby.”
    “Who told you?” she snapped.
    Quentin’s frost intensified. “It doesn’t matter. I’m sorry someone tried to kidnap her.”
    “They didn’t try. They succeeded. Chase and I just got her back last night.” She glanced away from him. “Deanne’s dead.”
    “Yes, I found out about that, too.” Something flickered through Quentin’s eyes. Grief maybe? Or it could be fake grief. “Who killed her?”
    “We don’t have an ID on him yet, but he was working with a man named Gene Rooks,” Chase answered. “Do you know him?”
    The icy look he’d given his sister was a drop in the bucket compared with the one Quentin gave Chase. “Are you accusing me of something?”
    “I’m only asking a question. You have a guilty conscience?”
    Quentin growled out some profanity under his breath. “No, I just know how you are. You’ve been on a vendetta to get me for years.”
    Chase tapped his badge. “Just doing my job. I’m funny like that.”
    His attempt at smart-mouthed humor didn’t soften Quentin’s glare one bit. And it wasn’t moving this conversation in a direction it needed to go. “Did you have anything to do with the kidnapping and attack on April and me that took place yesterday?”
    “Of course not. Why would you think such a thing?” The denial was loud and intense enough. But that didn’t mean Chase was buying it.
    “Because you could be broke enough to be desperate.”
    Quentin dodged his gaze. Definitely not a good sign. “I do need money, but there’s no way I’d kidnap my own niece to get it.”
    The room went completely silent for several moments.
    “How’d you even know I’d had the baby?” April asked, taking the question right out of Chase’s mouth. “And while you’re explaining that, tell us how you found out about the kidnapping and that Deanne was dead.”
    Quentin huffed. Then, he sighed. “When I was attacked last night, the man said my niece had been taken and that if I didn’t cooperate and pay up, I’d never see her.”
    Chase went through each word of that, but there were some huge gaps in the information. Chase tipped his head to Quentin’s bandaged shoulder and went to April’s side. “Who shot you?” he asked Quentin.
    “I don’t know. Maybe it was you?” Quentin countered.
    That got Quentin a huff from not only just Chase but Jax and April, too. She went closer to the bed and stared down at her brother. “Tell us everything that happened so we can try to prevent any further attacks.”
    Quentin held the stare for several moments and then eased his head back onto his pillow. “Someone broke into my house yesterday. A man wearing a ski mask. He told me my niece had been kidnapped and that he would take me to her. I didn’t believe him. We fought, and I’m pretty sure I managed to cut him with a kitchen knife. I couldn’t get to my gun so I ran out the back, and that’s when he shot me.”
    That explained the blood on the floor at his house. However, it didn’t mean Quentin was telling the truth. “What happened then?” Chase asked.
    “I kept running. I wasn’t sure who to trust so I didn’t call the marshals. I haven’t trusted them right from the start. So, I made my way here, figuring April would be with you.” He paused, glancing at them. Or rather glancing at how close they were standing to each other. “I was right.”
    Quentin seemed to be implying there was something going on between April and him. Something more than just Bailey.
    And he was right.
    The old attraction was indeed still there, and anyone within a hundred yards of them could likely see it. Chase wanted to believe he could keep pushing it away, but it just kept coming back. That’s why he needed to concentrate on the investigation. Because losing focus now could put Bailey