Colton's Secret Bodyguard

“There’s more?” Trey raised a brow as he looked up from the notes he was making.

“I’ve been getting more emails. They’ve been getting more threatening.” Bree held up a hand. “I know what you’re going to say. I should have come to you sooner.”

“Damn straight.” Trey frowned. “I’ll need copies of the emails. Anything else?”

“Other things have been happening.” Bree shot a glance in Rylan’s direction. He couldn’t tell if she was annoyed at him for forcing her to tell all or including him as a coconspirator in her silence. “Someone has been moving my property.” She told him about the digital recorder, the coffee and the teacups.

Trey was silent for several seconds after she finished speaking, his eyes fixed on his notes. When he looked up, Rylan wasn’t looking at the by-the-book sheriff. He was seeing Bree’s brother.

“I don’t suppose you’d consider going to stay at the farm until we catch this guy?” Trey didn’t sound particularly hopeful.

“No.”

Trey turned to Rylan. “Then I guess Mom and Dad did the right thing after all.”

“I’ll keep her safe.”

Bree made a sound like an enraged kitten. “Uh...still here, guys. Still not happy.”

Trey rubbed a thumb along his jaw. “Bree, if I had the resources to assign an officer to watch over you 24/7, I would. Since I don’t have that sort of manpower at my disposal, I’m glad to know Rylan is doing the job instead.”

“I don’t want preferential treatment because I’m the sheriff’s sister,” Bree said. “And especially not because I’m a Colton.”

Trey flicked a look in Rylan’s direction. It was a silent plea for help that, in other circumstances, would have made him smile. In that moment, he was too focused on Bree’s well-being to share a male bonding moment with her brother.

“Just for a second, stop trying to take stubborn to a whole new level. If someone stalking you wasn’t serious enough, think about the bigger picture. What if this is linked to the other problems the family has been experiencing?”

Bree’s trim frame stiffened at Trey’s chastising tone. Rylan might have only known her for a short time, but he knew her brother was going the wrong way about this. Bree might be quiet and reserved, but she’d spent too much of her life being told what to do by her family. When she’d broken free, she had vowed to stand on her own two feet.

“What family problems?” Rylan asked. “Both Blaine and Bree have hinted that there’s something going on. If I’m responsible for guarding Bree, I need to know if there is anything that could affect her safety.”

“We’re a big family with a lot of business interests, as well as individual personal issues. Inevitably, things go wrong sometimes. We’ve had a bad few months, and most of the things that have happened are unrelated.” Trey tented his fingers beneath his chin. “What I’m about to tell you is confidential. The body found on Wyatt’s ranch may not be the only murder victim.”

“What?” Bree sat up straighter, her antagonism forgotten. “I didn’t know about this.”

“That’s because it’s not public knowledge,” Trey said. “I recused myself from the investigation because Wyatt is my cousin, but obviously I’m aware of what is happening. The body found on the Crooked C was that of a high-class call girl named Bianca Rouge. Initially, Wyatt came under suspicion because she was found on his land and he didn’t have an alibi for the time of her death. He was cleared when another man killed himself and took the blame for Bianca’s death in his suicide note.”

“You said she may not have been the only one,” Rylan said. “That sounds like it’s not conclusive.”

“That’s the difficulty my deputy, who took over the investigation, is facing. Shortly after Bianca was found, a woman called Ruth Thomas arrived in Roaring Springs looking for her missing daughter, April, who left Denver and came looking for work in Roaring Springs. She looks almost exactly like Bianca Rouge.”

Rylan frowned. “That’s a mighty big assumption. April looked like Bianca, so you think she might also have been killed here?”