Cowboy's Reckoning

US marshal Alex Jordan sighed. “Barnes pulled some legal magic. He won his appeal.”

Her heart pounded so loud in her ears that she could barely hear herself think. “He’s out?”

“One of the arresting officers screwed up. He got off on a technicality.”

“When did he get out?”

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about, but—”

“When did he get out?” Her voice had risen dangerously high. She was trying to hold it together, but he was making it hard.

“Today.”

“Today? And you are just now telling me about this?”

“We had a tail on him, but—”

“But he got away.” She groaned.

“You should come in,” Alex said.

Billie Dee could barely breathe. Her thoughts were spiraling. “Not happening.”

“The only way we can protect you is if you come in.”

“There was a man watching my house last night.” She blurted it out.

“Did you get a look at him?”

“No.”

“Well, it certainly wasn’t Barnes. He only got out today and you’re far enough away that he shouldn’t be able to get to you very fast—if he even comes after you.”

So they knew where she was. And she’d thought she was being so smart by not going into the WITSEC program. They’d still been tracking her.

Billie Dee wanted to scream. “You promised me that he would never be on the streets again after I testified against him.”

“I know.”

She thought of the man she’d seen watching her house. Not Barnes. But then who? Barnes had snitched on so many of his former associates, she doubted it would be one of them.

“We don’t think he’ll chance going back inside by coming after you. We can’t know what Barnes is thinking, but—”

She almost hung up, she was so furious. “What he’s thinking?” Her laugh made her chest hurt. “He’s thinking how easy it will be to find me. Someone already knows or there wouldn’t be a man watching my house.”

“It could be a US marshal. I didn’t send one, but there was talk among one of my bosses of trying to provide some protection for you.”

“If the man is a US marshal, then he is only here waiting for Barnes to kill me so you can arrest him again. And you wanted me to stay in the witness protection program? Ever find that leak in your department?”

“There isn’t a leak.”

“You keep telling yourself that.”

“We have thousands of people in WITSEC who are still safe. You chose to go it alone and still the department hasn’t forgotten about you. Like I said, someone higher up could have sent a marshal because they didn’t want you to worry.”

“Not worry, Alex? You’re letting loose a psychopathic killer who wants me dead and you think I’m not worried?”

“Look, if you come in—”

“You almost got me killed last time at one of your safe houses.”

“Billie Dee, that was unfortunate, but—”

“No.” She shook her head and looked out at the Montana landscape. She’d come to love this valley surrounded by four mountain ranges. She’d come to love her life here. She didn’t want to leave.

“We can relocate you, give you another name—”

“No. I tried it your way.”

“What are you going to do?” he demanded.

“None of your business.” She disconnected, wishing she hadn’t called. Hadn’t she known last night that something was wrong? She had no doubt that Barnes would find her. He had gotten out today. Could he already be on his way to Montana?

So maybe it was a US marshal watching out for her. That should have relieved her mind, but it didn’t. She knew Barnes. She’d looked into his eyes the second time he’d tried to kill her. He’d told her then that he would kill her no matter what it took. He would come for her—only this time he would succeed.

CHAPTER THREE (#u6de82b5b-8ab3-5030-bef0-4bc798bf5955)

BILLIE DEE DROVE by her house before returning to work, but she didn’t see a US marshal lurking around. If that was who the man really was. If he was any good, then he wouldn’t have let her see him. So why had he made his presence known last night? To relieve her mind?

Or maybe the man was a friend of Barnes. Maybe he’d wanted her to see him so she’d know it was just a matter of time. Barnes had gotten out today and already gotten rid of the law following him. That didn’t bode well.

Maybe with luck, the men he’d snitched on would find him before he could figure out how to get from Houston to Gilt Edge, Montana. She’d calmed down some since the phone call. She felt...resigned. There was nothing she could do. Running would be fruitless. It would be just a matter of time before Barnes found her.

She thought about the Cahills and her job. None of them should be in danger. Barnes would come in the night for her, and since she lived in a wooded area in a house isolated from other ones in town, he shouldn’t have that much trouble getting to her. Hadn’t she known from the moment she’d witnessed the murder that it was going to get her killed?

In a perfect world, she would have left work five minutes earlier—or later that day. She wouldn’t have been a witness. She wouldn’t have had to decide if she could live with what she’d seen and keep her mouth shut. She wouldn’t have looked into Barnes’s eyes when he saw her and known that he was going to kill her.

And he almost had. Twice. She touched the scar hidden under her hair, running her finger the length of the path the bullet from Barnes’s gun had taken the night of the murder. Life was all about timing. Five minutes one way or the other could save you—or get you killed.

Back at the saloon, she saw that the family meeting must be over. The only vehicles out back were Darby’s pickup and Mariah’s motorcycle. The two still-practically-newlyweds were working the bar today. Billie Dee could tell by the romantic western music coming from the jukebox. It made her smile. Mariah and Darby were obviously so in love.

She threw herself into her cooking, whipping together a huge batch of brownies from scratch. Cooking and baking were the only things that kept her mind off what was happening. There’d been a time when she would have thought about taking off, relocating, changing her last name, getting a different job...all things that she now knew wouldn’t help. If Barnes wanted to find her, he would.

It wasn’t a coincidence that she’d looked out her window last night and happened to see the man across the street. She’d learned the hard way to watch her back. Still, there was only so much she could do.

When the back door opened, she thought it would be a member of the family.

“Billie Dee?”