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Brett had just parked and gotten out of his SUV when he heard a gunshot.
His heart stopped.
Dania!
He forced himself to breathe as he drew his weapon, then he sprinted for the front door of the house. Two other cars were parked out front: a deputy sheriff’s car and a Mercedes coupe that looked like the one Vanessa had driven to Gran’s.
Without hesitating, Brett kicked open the front door. “Police!”
A cloud of pungent nitroglycerin hung in the air. Holding his weapon in front of him, he scanned his surroundings and slowly, carefully, deliberately made his way into the house. Just past the door to Matt’s office, he saw them: Vanessa and Dania pointing guns at each other as if they were in a duel. Except between them on the floor lay a dead man.
He had to defuse the situation.
He looked to Dania. Her pretty face pinched with worry and confusion, as if she couldn’t believe what had just happened. He wanted to make sure she was okay, but he didn’t dare. Not with Vanessa still armed.
How on earth had the woman gotten here so fast? He was a bit surprised that Walter had let her leave. He had to be wondering about Vanessa’s character and motives, especially after Brett had accused her of ordering Matthew’s death.
Vanessa aimed her revolver at him and glanced at Dania. “Well, look at the three of us. I believe we have an O.K. Corral situation. Though, Marshal Rollins, I don’t think you compare to Wyatt Earp. Not after the performance you put on in Eli Wheeler’s office.”
Dania’s gaze went from Vanessa to Brett, confusion still marring her face.
“Tell her what you said.” Vanessa aimed at Dania with her index finger on the trigger. “She deserves to know before she dies. Because sheisgoing to die.” She cocked the hammer back. “See, Marshal, I want you alive so you can relive your failure over and over. You need to be as humiliated as I’ve been. You’ll go down as the worst marshal in history.”
Brett could shoot her now, but he couldn’t chance her killing Dania. “At least admit that you had Matt killed because he found out that you were behind Blue Skies. You were the one doing the hostile takeover of Skinner’s ranch. Was Matt going to expose you? Was that why you hired the thug to kill him?”
“They don’t pay you the big bucks for nothing, do they?” Vanessa licked her lips. “Yes, to all of it.” She looked at Dania. “But I didn’t mean for you to be blamed for his death. I’d set it up so Val would take the fall. Then you walked in before this worthless idiot got away.” She stared down at the dead man. “He stole the wrong file, the one that would have framed Val. And then, by luck, a few days before, Sherry overheard you arguing with Matt about his will, which gave you motive. The topper was that you picked up the murder weapon and even had GSR on your hand.”
Dania didn’t flinch. She just stood there staring at the woman who had stolen so much from her. “You killed this man to keep him quiet, didn’t you?”
If Dania kept Vanessa busy, Brett might get the drop on her. He inched closer to the maniacal woman.
“You’re pretty smart. You should have been the lawyer, not Matt.” Vanessa glanced at Brett.
He froze, still aiming his gun at her.
“What was the plan?” Dania drew her attention again. “You hired the same man who killed Matthew to kill me, too, and then you were going to kill him?”
Brett moved closer still. One more inch, and he might be able to knock Vanessa’s gun away.
“Pretty much.” Vanessa sniffed and looked down her nose at Dania. “I don’t like loose ends. They tend to fray at the worst possible time.” Her grip tightened on the revolver. In what seemed like slow-motion, her index finger pulled the trigger.
Brett leaped at the woman as the gun fired.
The blast reverberated in Brett’s ears as he took her down. He wrenched the weapon out of her hand and grabbed his handcuffs from his hip pocket. Jerking Vanessa’s arms behind her, he slapped the restraints on her wrists.
He whirled around and found Dania lying on the floor beside the dead man.
He willed his legs to carry him to her. His pulse thundered in his head. This couldn’t be happening. Getting down on his knees, he gently turned her over.
Dania looked up at him, holding her left shoulder. “I’m okay.”
He scooped her into his arms. She wasn’t okay. She was wounded. Overwhelmed with emotions, he didn’t dare speak.
All at once, Jasper jumped on him. Brett looked out the opened front door as Gabe and BB rushed toward them, BB already calling in an ambulance and backup from the sheriff’s office.
Brett could hardly believe it. “How did you know where I was?”
