Surrendering to the Sheriff. Delores Fossen

      He let that hang in the air.

      “Obviously, that’s true. You don’t like me, and you’re protecting me,” she said.

      Aiden thought about that a moment, and he decided there was no way to answer that so it wouldn’t put him in butt-deep hot water. If he agreed that he didn’t like her, it would only make this protective custody arrangement even more uncomfortable than it already was.

      Besides, it was a lie.

      He did like her. Well, her mouth anyway.

      Okay, the rest of her, too.

      He was just opposed to putting his mother and his sister Shelby through any more hell because of the choices that brainless part of him made in sleeping partners.

      Of course, Kendall was more than just a former sleeping partner. She was the mother of his unborn son.

      A reminder that required him to take a deep breath.

      The fact they’d slept together didn’t automatically mean he had to like her, but again reminding her that they were bad news for each other wouldn’t fix anything right now.

      “You’d rather I stayed with you than the McKinnons?” he asked, knowing the answer to that.

      Now she was on the spot. Similar to him not liking her comment.

      “It wouldn’t be smart for you to stay with me,” she answered.

      Finally, they could agree on something, and once he had the McKinnon boys in place, he could get back to figuring out what the heck was going on and stopping any other attacks.

      Not that he was positive there’d be another one.

      The kidnappers had clearly lost, and with the evidence already moved, the danger might be long gone. Aiden hoped so anyway, but it still wasn’t a risk he was willing to take.

      He took the turn to Sweetwater Springs and moved onto the next subject. “How’d you know my mother was seeing a shrink? And spare me the answer of you’d rather not say, because that won’t work with me.”

      “It worked when your mother used it so she wouldn’t have to tell me how she found out I was pregnant.”

      “That ship hasn’t sailed yet. I’ll find out who told her. Now it’s your turn to come clean.”

      She raked her fingers over her eyebrow and shifted in the seat a little. “I’ve been doing some checking, to try to find anything that might free Jewell.”

      Of course she had. “And you decided to check out my mother?”

      Kendall nodded. “I had a PI follow her, and he reported back to me that she’s been visiting a psychiatrist in San Antonio.”

      “My mother has a history of depression.” Though he hadn’t known about these visits to a shrink. Did that mean her depression had gotten worse? “It’s a stretch, though, to think depression would have caused her to come after you to make Jewell look bad. Especially since I could have gotten hurt.”

      “But she knew about the baby,” Kendall quickly pointed out. “Maybe she was willing to risk hurting you to make sure I’m out of your life for good.”

      It turned his stomach to think of that, and he wished he could totally dismiss it.

      But he couldn’t.

      The truth was, his mother had been flirting with mental instability for years. All the way back to the time of his father’s murder. He’d seen that vacant look in her eyes one time too many. Ditto for the sheer hatred that she just couldn’t let go of. So yeah, news of a baby could have tipped her over the edge, and that was why Aiden needed to learn when she’d found out about the pregnancy and who’d been the one to tell her.

      “While you were doing this checking and having people followed, did you hear anything else I should know?” he asked.

      “Lee Palmer,” she said without hesitation. “He also hired a PI to follow your mother.”

      Yet another hit of news that he hadn’t been aware of.

      Palmer.

      The man’s name kept turning up like a bad penny. A nearby rancher and his father’s old nemesis. Palmer would love to see Jewell walk on this murder. Heck, Palmer would have loved to do the kill himself. Too bad he had a decent alibi for the time of Whitt’s death. The man had been in the hospital recovering from a mild heart attack.

      Still, Aiden had to shake his head on this one. “So, why would Palmer have my mother followed?”

      “Maybe for the same reason I did.” She paused. “He had your younger sister, Shelby, followed, too.”

      Aiden cursed. “And you didn’t think you should come to me with this?”

      Kendall lifted her shoulder. “You and I aren’t exactly on the same side in this investigation, and technically I’m one of Jewell’s attorneys. If anything had come up that was legally pertinent to the investigation, I would have disclosed it as I’m required to do. But a private citizen hiring a PI isn’t something I have to disclose.”

      Hell’s bells. She sounded like a lawyer and it set his teeth on edge again. “I’ll have a talk with Palmer, and these little following adventures will stop.” Aiden gave that some more thought. “Did he have me followed, too?”

      “No, not that I know of anyway, but Palmer’s digging into your old investigations. Into the McKinnon investigations, too. I think he’s looking for anything that’ll weaken the case against Jewell.”

      Yes, and he could try to smear Aiden’s name in the process. He followed the law, but there was always a gray area or two when it came to investigations. Palmer better not be looking to throw him to the dogs to save the likes of Jewell.

      Palmer also had better not be behind tonight’s fiasco.

      Apparently, Aiden had yet someone else to question, along with Jewell’s attorney, Joplin. Maybe if he poked around enough, he’d find the snake responsible for that bullet Kendall had taken.

      “I need some good news,” she said, staring out the window into the darkness. “Any good news.”

      Aiden could possibly help with that. “Leland managed to get the surveillance footage from a camera just up the street from your office. One of the deputies is looking at it now to see if they can find any clues about the attack.”

      She shivered, rubbing her hands along the sides of her arms. Then she winced when her fingers brushed against the stitches.