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“Positive. I’m guessing he didn’t mention any of those meetings to you?”
“No,” Cullen said, the surprise and confusion in his voice.“Meetings?”he repeated. “How many of them were there?”
“Four over the past month. They met in a café once, and the other times I trailed her going into his office.”
Leigh tried to figure out why Austin would have done that, and she only came up with one possibility. Well, one possibility that didn’t involve anything illegal or shady. “Maybe Alexa had business with him?” Leigh suggested.
She looked at Cullen to see if that was a possibility even though she knew it’d be a slim one. Austin was a cattle broker, and Alexa didn’t seem the type to need such services. Still—
Cullen shook his head in response to her silent question, and making a frustrated groan, he scrubbed his hand over his face. He also whipped out his phone, no doubt to try to call Austin again, but Leigh lifted her hand to have him hold off on that. If Austin finally answered, she wanted the first crack at him.
“I’ll get those pictures to you first chance I get,” the PI added a moment later. “Good luck with your investigation, Sheriff.”
The moment Leigh ended the call, she turned to Cullen. He wasn’t going to like her having a go at him like this, but it had to be done. “Tell me why you think Alexa would have visited Austin,” she insisted. “Were they friends?”
“Friendly,” Cullen answered after a long pause. He cursed. “Hell, they were all friends. Austin, Kali and Alexa. Austin and Kali are the ones who introduced me to Alexa.”
Leigh tried to jump on the “no way was Austin guilty” bandwagon, but this wasn’t looking good. Especially since Austin had been spotted on the patio while the party had been going on. Added to that, the man wasn’t answering his phone, and the cop in her wondered if that was because he had something to hide.
“Maybe the meetings have something to do with Austin and Kali’s engagement,” Cullen said several moments later. He was obviously trying to make sense of this, too. “It’s possible Alexa helped him pick out the ring.” He paused. “It’s equally possible that Alexa was working Austin so she could figure out the best way to send a thug after me.”
Of those possibilities, Leigh was choosing the last option Cullen had come up with. If it’d been something as simple as ring selection, Austin probably wouldn’t have kept it from Cullen. Then again, maybe Austin felt it was best not to bring up anything to Cullen about his ex. The relationship lines became a little blurred when there was a breakup of a couple in a group of friends. Austin might not have wanted it to get around that he was staying in touch with Cullen’s ex.
“All right,” Leigh said, “go ahead and try to call Austin again. I’ve already left a message insisting he contact me immediately for questioning and then to come into the station the moment the roads are clear. If you’re able to reach him, let him know I want that interview to happen ASAP.”
Cullen nodded, made the call and then cursed when it went to voice mail again. She hoped Austin wasn’t just trying to avoid them, but if so, she’d just pay him a personal visit after she talked with Jimbo. If he continued to dodge her, she’d be forced to get a warrant to compel him to come in for questioning.
“I’ll try to call Kali again,” Cullen insisted. “I can leave her another voice mail, too.”
However, before he could do that, Leigh’s own phone rang. She answered it and immediately heard a familiar voice.
“It’s me, Jamie,” the ranch hand blurted out. “Someone just threatened to kill me.”
Cullen must have noticed the change in her body language and expression because he hurried to her. “Jamie,” she said so that Cullen would know who was on the phone. And she put the call on speaker. “Who threatened to kill you?”
“I don’t know.” Jamie’s voice was shaky, and she figured that shakiness applied to the rest of him, too. “I got a call from a man. It popped up on my screen as unknown, but I answered it anyway because I thought it might be somebody from the Triple R. The man’s voice was muffled, but he told me if I kept talking to the cops that I’d end up like Alexa.”
Sweet heaven. Leigh reined in what would have been a brusque cop tone because she knew Jamie had to be terrified. “You’re still in the hospital?” she asked.
“I am, but I asked the security guard to come in the room with me. Don’t tell anybody I called you. At least not until I’m out of the hospital and can fend for myself.”
“I have no intention of letting you fend for yourself. The guard will stay with you and make sure you’re safe. Now, tell me about this call you got.” She started with an easy question. “You’re sure it was a man?”
“It sure sounded like one,” he answered after a pause long enough to let her know he was giving it some thought, “but like I said, his voice was muffled. You know, like someone with a bad sore throat.”
The person had obviously tried to disguise his voice. Maybe because the caller had believed Jamie would recognize him.
“He threatened to kill me,” Jamie repeated, and his fear had gone up another notch.
“I know. And I’m sorry. Cullen and I are just up the street. We’ll be there in a few minutes and will stay with you until a deputy arrives.” Leigh started putting on her coat. “I’ll also need to take a look at your phone to see if we can trace the call.”
“You have to trace it,” Jamie insisted. “You have to stop him from killing me.”
Leigh would do her best on both counts, but the trace was a long shot since the person had likely used a burner cell.
“Jamie, did Alexa ever mention someone named Jimbo McNash?” Leigh asked.
He repeated the name several times. “No. Why? Is he the man who just threatened me?”
