not going anywhere, not until I get some answers first,” Rayanne insisted right back.
That started a staring match between his boss and the deputy he’d apparently crossed lines with. Big ones.
All four of them volleyed glances at each other. “I’ll give you a few more minutes,” the doctor finally said. “After that my patient will get some rest.”
Dr. Howland shot Caleb and Rayanne a warning glance that only an experienced doctor in charge could have managed, and he walked out.
Even with the doc’s latest exit, Caleb didn’t answer right away, and when he finally did open his mouth, he looked at Rayanne, not Blue.
“I can’t wrap all of this up in a neat little package for you,” Caleb started. “I honestly don’t know why Blue disappeared.”
“You said it was because he had ties to criminals,” Rayanne reminded him.
Oh, man. And Blue just kept mentally repeating that.
“He did have criminal ties.” Caleb’s gaze finally came to Blue’s. “If you’ve got an explanation about that, I’d like to hear it, because you didn’t just disappear five months ago. You walked away from your job at the Justice Department, and the only reason you’re still on payroll is because I’ve covered your butt and put you on a leave of absence.”
Hell. This just kept getting worse. Not the leave-of-absence part but the reason Caleb had been forced to do something like that for him.
Criminal ties?
No way. He didn’t need his memory to know that.
“The doc must have given me some meds that messed with my head.” A head that Blue now shook. “Because the last thing I remember was finishing up a case with Rayanne. After that, it’s just bits and pieces that don’t make sense. Why did I leave? And why did I come to the McKinnon ranch today with gunmen after me?”
“That’s what I’d like to know,” Rayanne mumbled, but then she waved off any answer he might give. “My brother Seth got IDs on the two dead guys. The bodies are being examined now, and there’s a CSI team searching the woods for evidence.”
Seth, an FBI agent. Blue had never met him, but he’d heard Rayanne mention him.
“The dead men’s names are Leland Chadwell and Brian Kipp,” Rayanne continued, and she watched his face. Maybe to see if there was any sign of recognition.
There wasn’t.
Blue had to shake his head again. “Who are they?”
“They’re hired thugs,” Caleb provided, “and, among other criminal sorts, they often work for Rex Gandy.”
Now, that was a name that rang bells the size of Texas.
Could this mess possibly get any crazier?
Gandy wasn’t just a thug—he was a rich one and had all kinds of nasty ties to gunrunners, money launderers and drug traffickers. As an ATF agent, Blue had dealt with Gandy on several occasions but always when he’d been undercover, and Blue had never been able to find evidence to arrest the piece of dirt.
“Gandy hired these men to come after me,” Blue said like gospel. “Why?”
Caleb gave him an odd look, as if the question had come out of left field. “You don’t know?”
Since it seemed the answer was clear to both Caleb and Rayanne, Blue went with the obvious answer. “Because Gandy’s riled that I keep investigating him.” But he investigated a lot of people, and that didn’t spur an attack to kill. “Why come after me now?”
Again, he got that look. Obviously, he was missing something here.
“I’ve arranged to have Gandy brought in for an interview,” Caleb added.
That was a good start, but Blue wanted a whole lot more. “You plan to answer my question about why Gandy would want me dead now?”
Caleb shrugged. “I figure it’s connected to whatever the heck you’ve been doing for the past five months, and I don’t have any details about that.” He mumbled something that Blue didn’t catch and scrubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “I need to talk to Dr. Howland and see how long this memory problem of yours is going to last.”
Caleb added some really bad profanity and made a swift exit. Only then did Blue see the cop outside his door. Local, no uniform, but he had a badge clipped to his belt and was wearing a sidearm.
That didn’t do much to ease the already twisted knot in Blue’s gut.
Of course, a cop-bodyguard was only partially responsible for that. The main reason for the knot was the woman standing beside his bed and glaring at him.
“All of this is true?” he came out and asked.
She nodded. Her jaw muscles stirred. And she studied him. “Is this memory thing an act?”
“No.” He couldn’t say it fast enough. “I have no reason to fake memory loss.”
He hoped.
Though he knew it would hurt, Blue lifted his head off the pillow and levered himself up. It wasn’t pretty, and he did a lot of wobbling to get to a sitting position.
“What the heck do you think you’re doing?” Rayanne snarled, and she reached out to take him by the arms.
Probably to force him back down. But being flat on his back wasn’t much of a bargaining position, and if he hoped to get answers from her and not smart-mouthed comebacks, he needed to try to soothe some things with Rayanne.
If that was possible.
She continued to protest, even called him a bad name, but Blue got his feet off the bed. He also reached for the metal pole that held his IV so he could use it for support.
That, however, ended a lot faster than he’d planned.
Everything started to spin, and the dark spots winking in and out prevented him from seeing much. Or keeping his balance. He would have pitched forward if Rayanne hadn’t caught him.
“Don’t make this worse than it already is,” Rayanne snapped.
She put her hand on his back to steady him. Bare skin on bare skin.
The hospital gown hardly qualified as a garment with one side completely off his bandaged shoulder. Judging from the drafts he felt on various parts of his body, Rayanne probably got an eyeful.
Of course, it apparently wasn’t something she hadn’t already seen, since according to her they’d slept together five months ago.
“Will saying I’m sorry help?” he mumbled, and because he had no choice, he ditched the bargaining-position idea and lay back down.
“Nothing will help. As soon as you’re back on your feet, I want you out of Sweetwater Springs and miles and miles away from McKinnon land. Got that?”
Oh, yeah. It was crystal clear.
It didn’t matter that he didn’t know why he’d done the things he had, but he’d screwed up. Maybe soon Blue would remember everything that he might be trying to forget.
Her phone rang, the sound shooting through the room. And his head. Rayanne fished the phone from her pocket, looked at the screen and then moved to the other side of the room to take the call. It occurred to him then that she might be involved with someone.
Five months was a long time.
And this someone might be calling to make sure she was okay.
Blue felt the twinge of jealousy that throbbed right along with the pain in various parts of his body, and he wished he could just wake up from this crazy nightmare that he was having.
“No, he doesn’t remember,” she said to whoever had