Cowboy Cop. Rita Herron

      Miles McGregor was one of the biggest, toughest-looking men she’d ever met. He was not only a cowboy, but Brody had told her he was a cop who chased down the dregs of society.

      Miles was also hurting inside and felt powerless to help his son. That made them kindred spirits.

      “Tell me what happened,” Jordan said gently.

      He slanted her a condescending look. “I thought you said Brody filled you in.”

      Jordan simply folded her arms. “Yes, but I want to hear it from you. Everything from the day Timmy’s mother died to how and where you found Timmy to what the doctors said.”

      A muscle jumped in his chiseled jaw. “You can read the police report.” He yanked an envelope from inside his denim jacket pocket. The movement revealed the weapon he had holstered to his side. “Here’s the doctor’s report, too.”

      Jordan forced a calm into her voice. “I will read it, but it’s important I hear what you have to say.”

      “Why? All I need for you to do is to get Timmy to look at this picture.” He yanked another envelope from his jacket, pulled out a photograph and slapped it on the table. “If he can identify this man as his mother’s killer, then I can put him back in jail where he belongs.”

      Jordan gritted her teeth. “So Timmy witnessed the murder?”

      Miles gave a clipped nod, the pain so intense in his eyes that it nearly robbed her breath. “I believe so, but he hasn’t spoken since that day. That’s why I need you to get him to talk.”

      Jordan glanced through the window at Timmy, her heart aching for the boy. “I understand your impatience,” she said. “But Timmy has undergone a terrible shock. It may take him time to open up.”

      Miles glared at her. “I don’t have time.”

      Jordan’s anger rose. “Then you’d better damn well find it, because the important thing here is that your son heal.”

      A muscle ticked in his jaw, his eyes flaring with rage. “The important thing is keeping Timmy safe. This man Robert Dugan is a cold-blooded killer. He threatened me in court, he slit Timmy’s mother’s throat, and if he knows Timmy is a witness, he’ll probably come back to kill him.”

      * * *

      TIMMY ROCKED HIMSELF back and forth in the chair. He thought the lady said something to him. Something about horses. But he couldn’t make out her words. It was too noisy in his head. Voices...things crashing...the screaming.

      And he couldn’t see any horses.

      All he saw was the red.

      Red blotches...black blotches...more red...more black...

      Someone else was in the room with him, too. His daddy...at least he thought it was his daddy...

      No, he was mad at him. He hadn’t come home...

      His eyes blurred and then it was dark. So dark everything went black.

      Like night all the time. Scary night.

      Scary night when the monsters came...

      He buried his head in his arms and rocked harder. Pushed at his ears to make the noises be quiet.

      He didn’t want to see the monsters. They were bad. They were going to get him.

      He had to run....

      But he couldn’t run...he couldn’t move. Couldn’t do nothing to stop the noises and the dark from coming...

      Or the red from splattering the walls...

      Or his mommy’s cries...

      Chapter Two

      Miles had never wanted to be anything but a lawman. Not since he was young and Sheriff Silas Weatherby had saved his butt from jail and taken him in as his own.

      Miles’s old man had used him to help carry out his own crimes. Cattle rustling—not murder like Robert Dugan—but it was illegal and every crime, no matter how small, hurt somebody.

      Still, Silas had a code of ethics, which meant that he tried to save kids when even their own families had taught them to lie, cheat and steal.

      Which was the main reason Miles had chosen to contribute to the BBL. He figured it was payback time.

      Yes, Silas had taught Miles right from wrong and given him a chance to become a man and protect others.

      Only that job had gotten Timmy’s mother killed.

      He fisted his hands, sweat beading on his lip as he tried to control the rage burning through him. His son was drowning in a world of hurt because Miles had chosen to do the right thing.

      Worse, he was hurting because he’d witnessed a crime that nobody, much less a five-year-old, should have to see.

      Miles’s gut churned as he stared at the swirls of black and red Timmy had savagely drawn on the pad of paper. Not signs of a happy Christmas or the new bike Santa had brought.

      No, dark swirls of colors that Timmy hadn’t even seemed to realize he was drawing.

      Swirls of colors that it didn’t take a rocket scientist—or a shrink—to decipher because that sea of black and red represented the darkness and the blood that his son had seen.

      Timmy’s mother’s blood.

      Had he watched Dugan viciously slash her throat?

      For just a moment, those images became his own, and Miles’s legs nearly buckled as guilt and pain suffused him. If only he’d gone to get Timmy that night and brought him back in the morning like Marie asked, he could have saved her.

      Damn Dugan—just like the other murders, he’d left no evidence. And somehow he’d managed to fabricate an alibi for the time of Marie’s death.

      It had to be a lie.

      Even though Blackpaw had suggested that Marie might have had a lover or boyfriend who had killed her and copied Dugan’s M.O. to throw off the cops, he couldn’t believe it.

      Dugan had promised payback and he’d gotten it.

      “Mr. McGregor—Miles—” Jordan said. “I understand that you’re angry—”

      “Wouldn’t you be?” Miles’s temper exploded, and he whirled on her, needing to vent his frustration, no matter who took the brunt. “Just look at my son. He’s traumatized and motherless yet his mother’s killer is walking around free. Hell, he’s probably bragging about it as he plans his next kill.”

      Jordan released a low breath, then eased back a step as if she thought he might use his fists instead of just his words. But he was shaking too hard with rage to care that she was half his size and looked as if the wind could blow her over. Her expression showed concern, but she was too damn beautiful with all that flowing golden hair, he couldn’t yell at her.

      His friend and the cowboy who’d started the BBL, Brody, had said she was good at what she did because she’d had problems of her own.

      Hell, he didn’t care about her problems. He hated everything about this counseling BS.

      Talking did no damn good. Only action did. And finding solid evidence that would put Dugan away for good.

      Evidence that he might have if the sadistic monster hadn’t totally traumatized his child.

      His gut tightened as he watched Timmy cover his ears with his hands and rock himself back and forth. The poor little guy was not only motherless but lost in a silent hell, and he didn’t know how to help him.

      Except track down the bastard who’d done this to him.

      But worry gnawed at him, unsettling and cutting deeper than any physical pain ever could.

      Even