Court had already had a bad feeling before he saw his mother and sister crying, but that feeling went up a significant notch.
“Is Dad...” But Court couldn’t even bring himself to finish the question.
“He’s alive,” Egan assured him.
The relief came, but the bad feeling remained. That was because of the tense look on Egan’s face.
“In the few minutes that Dad was conscious,” Egan went on, “he kept repeating one thing. A woman’s name. Alma.”
Court shook his head. “You think that’s maybe the real name of the dead PI he supposedly hired?”
“No.” Egan took in another of those breaths. “According to Griff, it’s the name of dad’s longtime mistress.”
That bad feeling fell like an avalanche on him. “No. Dad wouldn’t cheat on Mom,” he insisted.
“That’s what I said, too, but Griff says it’s true, that Dad’s been carrying on an affair with this Alma for thirty-five years. Dad recently broke off things with her though.” Egan turned back to Rayna. “And that’s where you come in. It’s possible this woman hired someone to kill Dad and set you up to take the fall.”
“Hell,” Court growled, and that was all he could manage to say.
His stomach was in knots. His heart, in his throat. And he figured Rayna wasn’t feeling exactly great right now to hear confirmation that someone had set her up to take the fall for his father’s attack. That part made sense—especially since they’d found Hallie dead. But none of the rest of this was sinking in.
“Alma,” Court repeated. He glanced at Griff. “And he is certain it’s true, that Dad cheated on Mom?”
Egan nodded, scrubbed his hand over his face. “He apparently found out a few months ago and said he told Dad to come clean. Dad obviously didn’t do that, but he did break off things with this woman.”
“The woman who maybe tried to set me up. I want to see her,” she insisted.
Egan nodded. “You will. I’ll have her brought into the sheriff’s office as soon as I can arrange it.” He motioned toward Rachel and their mom. “Needless to say, they’re upset.” He paused again. “Griff also told me that Warren had a son with Alma. I didn’t say anything about that to Mom.”
Court hadn’t figured there’d be any other shocks, but that certainly was one. All of this was coming at him too fast. Of course, this wasn’t something he could absorb with just a conversation. And he was sure there would be backlash. How the devil could his father have done this?
“The son’s name is Raleigh Lawton,” Egan added a moment later. “He’s a year older than you.”
Court belted out another “Hell.” Because he knew the man. Sheriff Raleigh Lawton was from a small town just one county over. Warren and he had worked on a murder case about three years ago, and Raleigh had visited McCall Canyon several times. Court thought of something else that’d happened.
“Wasn’t Raleigh involved with Thea?” Rayna asked.
“Yes,” Egan confirmed. “But they broke things off a while ago. I’m not sure if Thea knew he was Warren’s son, but Griff says that Raleigh didn’t know. He thought his father died in the military before he was born.”
So, the lies had extended to not only their family but to Alma’s, as well. Yeah, he definitely wanted to talk to this woman. Wanted to talk to his father, too.
“Are you okay?” Rayna asked. She touched his arm and rubbed gently.
No, he wasn’t okay, not by a long shot, and Court figured things were about to get worse when he glanced at Rachel again. Griff had tried to put his arm around her, but Rachel practically pushed him away. She said something to their mom, something that Court didn’t catch, and then his sister started toward Egan, Rayna and him.
“Egan told you?” she asked Court. There were fresh tears in her eyes and other tears spilling down her cheeks.
He nodded, tried to hug her, but Rachel waved him off. “I just need to get out of here. Away from Dad and away from Griff,” she added. Her voice was shaking now. “He knew, and he didn’t tell me.”
“Maybe he didn’t know how,” Egan said.
“Then he should have found a way,” she snapped. “He definitely should have found a way before—” She stopped, waved that off, too. “I need to go. Please. I just need to leave.”
“I’ll drive you,” Egan volunteered. “Mom, too. Just wait here for a second until I can get her.”
Egan started toward their mother, and Court went with him. Rayna stayed behind with Rachel. Which was good. As upset as the woman obviously was, she might try to leave on her own. If she did, at least Rayna could alert them. It wasn’t safe for his sister to be out there alone.
Court went to his mother and pulled her into his arms. Unlike Rachel, she didn’t push him away. She dropped her head on his shoulder.
“Warren loves me,” Helen muttered. There was some anger in her voice now. “Why would he do this?”
Court didn’t know, and he wasn’t sure he’d get any answers from his father, either. “I’m sorry” was all he could think to say.
Griff was clearly sorry, too. The man was shaking his head and mumbling some profanity. Neither would help. But then, there wasn’t much that could help this situation right now.
Helen pulled back and looked Court in the eyes. “You think that woman could have shot him?”
“Maybe,” he admitted. “But we’re looking at Mitch for this, too. He hates Dad as well as the rest of us.”
Still, if his father had hired that PI, then he must have believed that Alma could be some kind of threat.
“Mom, I want to take Rachel and you home,” Egan insisted.
Helen didn’t argue with that. She didn’t look as if she had the strength to argue with anyone. In fact, she seemed broken.
“I’ll stay here and help guard Warren,” Griff offered. “Just tell Rachel that I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he repeated to Helen.
But Court wasn’t sure his mother heard Griff’s apology. Even if she had, it wouldn’t be nearly enough to help her get through this. Still, it hadn’t been Griff’s place to tell them.
That blame was squarely on his father’s shoulders.
Egan slipped his arm around Helen to get her moving, and Court followed them. “Why don’t you take Rayna to the sheriff’s office?” Egan told him. “I’ll meet you there after I’ve driven Mom and Rachel to the ranch.”
Court was still feeling stunned, but he forced himself to get moving. The sooner Rayna and he got to the sheriff’s office, the sooner Egan and he could get Alma in for questioning. Not that Court was especially looking forward to meeting the woman, but this might be the start of getting those answers they desperately needed.
“Did you ever meet Raleigh or Alma?” Court asked Rayna as they walked toward the exit.
“No, but I remember the talk about Hannah Neal, the woman whose murder Warren and Raleigh were investigating. She was a surrogate who’d recently given birth, and she was killed around the same time Bobby Joe went missing.”
Yeah. Hannah had been murdered in McCall Canyon, but her body had been dumped in Durango Ridge, Raleigh’s jurisdiction. That was why both Raleigh and his father had been investigating it. All of that had happened just a few months before his father retired.
“You