Page 29 of Ranger Devotion

Annie read the messages twice. Then she saw the timestamp. “These were sent an hour ago. What sense does that make? Kayla was murdered last night.”

“It’s not meant for her.” Tate straightened. “It’s meant for us. He knew once we survived the cabin assault, we’d check her messages to see if she received anything from Seth, like I did.” His mouth flattened. “This text is designed to scare us.”

Annie shivered. “It’s working.”

FOURTEEN

Tate stood in a corner of the newly built mess hall and adjusted his earbuds as he tried to hear over the sleet pounding on the roof. Cell service barely existed thanks to the storm. The west side of the professional kitchen was the only place he had enough bars for a video call. His eyes went to the walk-in fridge, the one holding Kayla’s body, and his chest tightened. “I’ve got thirty people trapped on the property with a killer bent on revenge.”

“Look at the bright side, he only wants to murder about fourteen of them,” Texas Ranger Luke Tatum drawled. His face filled the screen. Three or four days of stubble darkened his jaw, but his hair was combed. “The rest are staff, so they should be safe.”

Tate rolled his eyes. “Not helpful, Luke.”

The phone shifted, and Texas Ranger Grady West appeared. “Ignore him, Tate. He’s been wrangling kids fueled on hot chocolate and cartoons for two days, and I think it’s making him twitchy.”

As if to punctuate that remark, a toddler’s furious scream erupted over the line. The angle was wide enough for Tate to see Luke’s youngest, Benjamin, enter the office. His little face was red, hands balled into fists. He saw his dad and stamped his feet to emphasize the depth of his unhappiness.

Luke hustled to the little boy and scooped him up. He eyed Tate through the screen. “And you thought your situation was bad. We’re surrounded by angry ankle-biters.” He glanced down at his shirt as Benjamin smeared something slimy on it. “Eww, what is that? And why is it covered in glitter?”

Luke’s daughter, Ava Marie, entered. Her blonde pigtails were topped with pink bows. “Daddy, Ben won’t leave my art project alone. He tore the tail off my unicorn!” She thrust a paper at him.

Ben’s answer to that was to howl in indignation. Luke winced and then laughed. “Wow, that’s a set of lungs you’ve got there, little man.”

Tate smiled. It made him happy to watch his fellow Rangers—men who handled some of the toughest criminals in Texas—be waylaid by their kids. Both Luke and Grady were great fathers. Involved and present. It gave Tate hope that one day, when he met the right woman, he could have the same kind of family life.

Annie’s gorgeous face surfaced, and the memory of their kiss made his pulse quicken. They still hadn’t spoken about it. Tate suspected Annie didn’t want to. And who could blame her? With a killer stalking their classmates, it seemed ill-advised to discuss what’d happened between them. And Tate was in no rush to clarify things. Yes, Annie had kissed him, proving the attraction wasn’t one-sided, but her regret had been just as plain. Talking about it right now…well, Tate figured that would only end one way. In rejection.

Maybe it was for the best. Annie might have forgiven him, but she would never forget, and that betrayal would taint anything they tried to build. Far wiser to guard his heart. He could admire Annie, wish her all the best life had to offer, even include her in his prayers. Falling for a woman who would always be a reminder of his most shameful moment was something else entirely.

Right?

“Daddy!” Ava Marie’s insistent tone pulled Tate back. She shook her paper. “My unicorn!”

“Okay, you two. Let’s take this argument outside.” Luke steered Ava Marie out of the office, and the noise level dropped. Tate could barely hear Luke call for his wife, Megan, in the distance.

Tate wagged his eyebrows. “Sounds like you guys are having fun.”

Grady laughed. “Five kids, three under the age of four, make for a very interesting Christmas vacation. I’m surprised my kiddos aren’t joining in the fray.” His expression grew serious. “I don’t like that you’re protecting all of these people on your own. The storm is supposed to continue for another twenty-four hours, but my property is only three miles from Haven Ranch. Luke and I could get into some UTVs, cross over my neighbor’s land⁠—”

“No.” Luke and Grady were capable, but Tate didn’t want to risk them getting lost in the storm. “Annie’s a former cop. We can manage until the worst of the weather passes.” He paused. “But I’ll take you up on it once the storm is over. I don’t know how long it’ll take to repair Clemmons Bridge.”

Grady nodded. “Okay, then, what do you need from us?”

“Every message from Seth has come from the same number.” Tate rattled it off. “It’s spoofed, but somebody registered a CNAM record against it so the name would display, and that takes an account and a payment. Find out who filed it and when. The when matters as much as the who—I want to know how long he’s been planning this.”

The smoke was still embedded in his lungs, and he lost the next few seconds to a coughing fit. His stitched hand throbbed in time with it, despite the ibuprofen Evan had given him.

“It’ll take some time to run down the CNAM record.”

“That’s the one thing we don’t have much of.”

Patrick, Grady’s youngest son, toddled into the office on chubby legs. He spotted his dad and ran straight for him. Grady absently picked him up and planted him on his lap, all while keeping his focus on Tate. “What else?”

“I also need a background check on Seth and any male relatives he has. Seth’s dad was in prison for murder, but I don’t have any other details beyond that, not even his name.” Annie hadn’t known it either. “I’d start there, but Seth could have cousins or even siblings I don’t know about.”

Someone on staff could be related to Seth and might’ve taken a temporary job on the ranch. On the other hand, the killer could be one of their classmates who decided to get back at the bullies and was using Seth’s death as justification. “I’ll also send you a list of every guy attending the reunion and all the male staff members.”

Tate wanted to trace everyone’s movements during the times of the attacks, but he wasn’t sure it was possible. Too many people coming and going.