because he’d been the only one who had applied for the job.
“References can be faked.” Cord made a sound that could have meant anything and sent another text. “I told the Crocketts it would be a good idea to lock down the ranch.” He finally turned, walked back to her. “You trust Rocky? Any gut feelings about him?”
“Yes, I trust him. No reason not to.”
Was there? Maybe it was because of the frayed nerves, but Karina mentally went through the handful of interactions she’d had with the man.
“He works well with the horses, but the truth is, I don’t know much about him,” she admitted.
That was partly her fault. She’d been so preoccupied with Willie Lee and staying in business that she hadn’t even bothered to get to really know the man she’d hired. A man who was living just yards from her.
“I’ll have a thorough background check done on him,” Cord said. He walked closer, standing over her and looking down at her. “Now, back to the question I asked before Rocky came in. Is there anyone who would want to do you harm?”
Karina didn’t even have to think about this. “DeWayne Stringer.” Just saying his name aloud caused her stomach to churn. “He’s a wealthy cattle broker over in Comal County and lives near my ranch. I’ve had run-ins with him for nearly a year now since he bought the property next to mine. He wants me to sell him my land so he can expand and isn’t very happy that I won’t do that.”
A huge understatement. DeWayne had done everything in his power to pressure her into selling. Plain and simple, he was a bully.
“Over the past couple of months, I’ve had livestock go missing,” she went on. “Some vandalism. I’m sure it’s his doing. Or else he hired someone to do it. He doesn’t seem the sort to get his hands dirty.”
“And what have the local cops done about it?” Cord asked. He used the note function on his phone to type in DeWayne’s name.
“Nothing because there’s never any proof. DeWayne always covers his tracks.”
Cord stared at her. “You think he’s capable of murder or attempted murder?”
Now, she had to pause. “Maybe.” Then she shook her head. “But I heard my attacker speak, and it wasn’t DeWayne’s voice.”
“He could have disguised it,” Cord suggested. “Or else hired someone to do the job. You said he didn’t like to get his hands dirty.”
That was true, but there was still something that didn’t make sense. “Why would DeWayne come after me here in Appaloosa Pass?”
“Because you’re more vulnerable here,” Cord answered without hesitating. “You have six hands at your place in Comal County, but here it’s only Rocky and you. Plus, you’re distracted, worried about Willie Lee. That made you an easier target.”
The word—target—made her want to throw up. “I was distracted at my house, too, after I heard about Willie Lee,” she pointed out. “I was there for several days before I made arrangements to come here.”
Cord didn’t miss a beat. “And it would be far easier to get onto the place here sight unseen than it would be to get on your ranch in Comal County. I’ve seen pictures of your ranch. There, the house is in the center of acres of pasture. No trees, no place for a would-be killer to hide while sneaking onto the grounds.”
Karina couldn’t argue with any of that, and she could go even one step further with it. “I think it might have been DeWayne who planted Willie Lee’s DNA at that crime scene.”
Cord stared at her, not exactly rolling his eyes but almost.
“Willie Lee stood up to DeWayne, and DeWayne hates him. They’ve had plenty of verbal run-ins. And one not so verbal,” she added in a mumble.
She hated to explain this because it might make Cord believe Willie Lee was a violent man. He wasn’t. Not normally anyway.
“I’m listening,” Cord said when she hesitated.
Best just to tell him because Cord would find out anyway now that he was going to have DeWayne investigated. “Willie Lee punched DeWayne after DeWayne insulted me. Please don’t make me repeat the names DeWayne called me. Anyway, it was only about a week later when Willie Lee’s DNA was found at the crime scene.”
“Now exactly how would DeWayne have managed to do that?” There was so much skepticism in Cord’s voice.
But maybe she could do something to remove a bit of that doubt. At least she could try. “The DNA found at the crime scene was in some chewing gum. Willie Lee quit smoking a few years ago, and he’s been a gum chewer ever since. It wouldn’t have been hard for DeWayne to get a piece that Willie Lee had spit out on the ground.”
Cord’s eyebrow rose more than a fraction. “And then what? DeWayne happened to find a crime scene so he could plant the gum?”
It did sound far-fetched when Cord put it that way. Still, it was possible. “Maybe DeWayne held on to the gum for a while until he could plant it. And then perhaps DeWayne just happened to find that scene. I mean, it wasn’t that far from my ranch and his land.”
“Ten miles,” Cord quickly declared, which meant he’d memorized all the details. With reason. It was the first time DNA had been recovered from the crime scene of the Moonlight Strangler.
Cord leaned in closer again. Too close. Probably a lawman’s ploy to violate her personal space and make her uneasy so she’d spill any secrets she was hiding. Sadly, it would have worked if she’d had secrets.
She didn’t.
But it also worked in a different way, too. For a man who hated her, her body certainly didn’t let her forget that she was a woman. And that he was a man.
“I’ve been looking into Willie Lee’s life,” Cord went on. “He was in the area at the time of that murder because his signature is on a feed purchase in town.”
She knew all about Cord’s efforts to seal the deal and pin these murders, all of them, on Willie Lee. And Cord had indeed managed to place Willie Lee in the areas of several of the murders. That still didn’t convince her.
Karina leaned in closer to him, too. “You’re asking me to believe that a man I’ve known for fifteen years, half of my life, murdered women and then calmly went on as if nothing had happened. A man I trust—”
“A man you don’t really know,” Cord interrupted. “According to your own statement, he just showed up one day, and your father hired him. Willie Lee had no references. No past. He just materialized out of thin air fifteen years ago.”
Karina knew there was an explanation for that. One that Willie Lee could give her if he ever came out of that coma.
Especially since Cord’s DNA had proved that he was Willie Lee’s son.
“Do you have any childhood memories whatsoever of Willie Lee?” she suddenly asked.
“None. Neither does Addie.” He moved away from her. Fast. “I’ll have Jericho get DeWayne
