he might not have to worry about that if it turned out that April wasn’t the baby’s mother. And if she wasn’t, he really needed to remember the name of the woman he’d met at the bar.
Because if that woman was the mother, then it meant the baby could possibly be his after all since they’d had a one-night stand.
Yeah, this was a tangled mess, all right.
Cassidy paced by the office door again, and Sawyer saw her check the clock on the wall next to the sheriff’s desk. It was going on 6:00 p.m.
“The kidnappers should have called by now,” she grumbled. “Maybe I should check and make sure the calls to my house are routed here.”
“If a call comes in there, you’ll get it here,” he assured her.
He’d made the arrangements for that himself. Ditto for getting her a replacement cell phone with the same number, and he’d had it delivered to the office so the kidnappers could contact her. She had a death grip on the phone now, and other than some emails having to do with her family business, there had been no communication from anyone.
Especially not from Bennie.
She huffed, pushed her hair from her face. “Maybe I should just go home and wait for the call.”
He gave her a flat look to let her know that wasn’t going to happen. Not without him anyway. “Should I remind you one more time that you were kidnapped, too? Those thugs might try to take you again, and the safest place you can be is here with me.”
Sawyer hoped that was true anyway.
He didn’t have time to add to his argument because his phone rang, and he saw Mason’s name on the screen.
“There’s been a snafu with Social Services,” Mason said, “and they want to know if we can keep the baby overnight. It’s either that, or she can be admitted to the hospital.”
Even though Cassidy probably couldn’t have heard what he said, she was studying Sawyer’s face and obviously saw the concern in his expression.
“No hospital,” Sawyer insisted. “Go ahead and take the baby to the ranch. Cassidy and I will be there soon to pick her up and take her to my place.”
He ended the call, knowing that she’d want an explanation about several things. “It’s either the hospital or my house for the baby,” he said. “I figured she’s already been through enough. And besides, there are plenty of us at the ranch to help take care of her.”
“Including me?” Cassidy asked with a boatload of skepticism.
And here was the part she was not going to like. Heck, Sawyer didn’t like it much, either. “You need to be in protective custody. So does the baby. Because the kidnappers could come after either of you again.”
Cassidy’s mouth trembled a little. Not enough to stop her from arguing though. “But your family’s ranch? I won’t be welcome there.”
“You won’t be turned away. Besides, there’s a lot of baby stuff already out there.”
In addition, there were plenty of ranch hands who could provide extra security. To get that kind of security at the hospital, he’d have to tie up several of Grayson’s deputies. They were already busy enough with a murder investigation, the kidnappings and the search for Bennie.
“We’d be in the same house with all your cousins?” Cassidy asked, nibbling on her lip.
“No. There are a lot of houses on the grounds. Including mine. It’s on the back part of the property. It used to be my parents’ house before their divorce.”
Definitely a no-frills kind of place, but it suited Sawyer, and it would have to suit Cassidy, too, since he wasn’t giving her another option.
She still didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t have time to continue the argument. The bell on the front door jangled, and Sawyer pulled Cassidy into the office just in case there was a problem.
And there might be.
The man who stepped into the sheriff’s office had trouble written all over him. From his greasy black hair, prison tattoos on his neck and dingy gray muscle shirt.
“I’m Willy Malloy,” he told the woman at the reception desk, who was Deputy Bree Ryland—his cousin’s wife. And as she stood, she slid her hand over the butt of her gun.
If Willy was intimidated by that, he didn’t show it. The man’s gaze landed on Sawyer. “Are you Agent Ryland?”
Sawyer nodded and gave him back the badass stare that the man was giving him. “Wait here,” he told Cassidy, and Sawyer walked a few steps closer to the man.
“You gonna pay me back for gas?” Willy asked, propping his hands on his bony hips. “Because it was a long drive all the way out here, and I’m not made of money.”
“Didn’t figure you’d mind the drive since this visit is about April, your ex.”
Judging from the surprised look in his eyes, that got Willy’s attention. “She’s not my ex. She’s still my girlfriend, and I’ve been looking for her for months now. You know where she is?”
Oh, man.
Willy hadn’t heard about the murder, or else he was pretending not to have heard. In case it wasn’t an act, Sawyer decided to do this fast and hard.
“April’s dead. Did you kill her?” Sawyer asked, and he studied Willy’s body language and expression.
Sawyer expected the man to curse or howl his innocence, but he just stood there, his mouth open, staring at Sawyer. “Is this some kind of bad joke?”
“No. Someone murdered her earlier today. Was it you?”
Willy put his hands on each side of his head, and blowing out some loud breaths, he practically fell back against the wall. “Murdered,” he repeated. “Who the hell did that to her?”
“I asked you first,” Sawyer fired back.
“Well, it sure as heck wasn’t me. I love her. I wouldn’t have killed her.”
Sawyer looked down at the notes he’d been reading. “According to your rap sheet, you were arrested for assaulting her not once but twice. Doesn’t sound like love to me.”
“I slapped her around, yeah. And she deserved it. That woman’s got a smart mouth on her.” Willy stopped, shook his head. “Had a smart mouth,” he corrected, groaning. “She sure as heck didn’t deserve to die. How’d it happen? How was she killed?”
“We’re still trying to determine that.” It was a lie. She’d been shot point-blank in the head, but Sawyer kept that detail to himself. Best not to give a suspect too much information because Willy could use it to concoct an alibi.
Despite his warning, Cassidy stepped into the hall. “My brother’s Bennie O’Neal. Do you have any idea where he is?”
Willy’s eyes instantly narrowed. “Bennie O’Neal,”
