The Mommy Mystery by Delores Fossen Page B

that would cause. Yeah. What harm could it do? was racing through his head and mocking him.
    They sat there staring at each other, with their breathing too heavy and their gazes too locked. Both of them were obviously primed and ready, but Gabrielle was right. Physically, all the pieces were in place, but the timing was far from right.
    She groaned, stood up and squeezed her eyes shut. “Why this? Why now?”
    He shook his head and shrugged at the obvious answer he was about to give her. “You’re an attractive woman, and I want you. It’s as simple as that.”
    “It’s never as simple as that.”
    Houston begged to differ, mainly because he didn’t want to look beyond this as a simple attraction. Since she’d given birth to Lucas, that might be playing into it. But for now, the attraction was strong enough to justify this burning need. And he’d leave it at that.
    His phone buzzed, indicating he had a call. After waking up Lucas the day before, Houston had changed the ring tone to something much softer. He glanced down at the caller ID and saw that it was a call he’d been waiting for.
    “Sheriff Whitley,” Houston said, greeting the caller.
    Gabrielle was obviously interested in what the sheriff had to say, because she sat back down next to Houston. He switched the call to speaker.
    “My deputy just found Harlan Cordell,” the sheriff explained.
    “Where?” Houston immediately wanted to know. The house was locked down, and the security system was on, but those things weren’t foolproof. That’s why Houston had slept with a gun next to his bed.
    “Cordell was at a hotel over on Miller’s Creek. We got him, Houston. He’s in custody and on the way here to my office.”
    “I’m on my way there, too,” Houston said, standing.
    “Good. Because the first thing Cordell said was that he wanted to talk to you and Gabrielle Markham.”
    “Gabrielle?” he questioned. “Why?”
    “Cordell says he’s got some news about who’s after her, and he wants to tell Gabrielle that news to her face.”
     
    G ABRIELLE’S FIRST IMPRESSION of Harlan Cordell was that he was slimy. Her second impression, he was dangerous.
    Her stomach knotted just looking at him, even though the sheriff and his deputy were standing between Cordell and her. There wasn’t much of a chance that Cordell would come after her right there in the Willow Ridge sheriff’s office, but Houston apparently thought that was a strong possibility.
    He caught on to her arm and anchored her in the doorway of the lone interrogation room. That put her a good fifteen feet from Cordell, who was seated at a gray metal table, but she had no trouble seeing every detail of his expression.
    Cordell smiled at her.
    It was creepy, and it went with the rest of his appearance and demeanor. He was in his early forties, bulky at the shoulders and had signs of a double chin. His five-o’clock shadow was scruffy and well past the fashionable stage. So was he. His white shirt was wrinkled, and he looked as if he’d combed his copper-brown hair with his hand.
    But then, according to the deputy, Cordell had spent most of the day before, and part of the night, trying to get to Houston and her.
    Why? was the question Gabrielle wanted to ask him. But she wasn’t certain she would get a straight answer from him.
    “I wish you hadn’t come,” Houston whispered to her.
    It wasn’t his first objection. Gabrielle had lost count of exactly how many there had been on the twenty-five-minute drive from the ranch to the sheriff’s office. But his protests had started almost immediately after Houston ended the call with the sheriff, and they had continued while she nursed Lucas so the baby wouldn’t be hungry while she went into town to confront Cordell.
    Houston had wanted to attend this meeting without her. He’d wanted to get the answers himself from Cordell. But this was her fight, and even though Gabrielle was exhausted and frightened for her baby’s safety, she