The Sheriff of Horseshoe, Texas. Linda Warren

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      When he walked into his office, he heard a faint moan. A flicker of apprehension shot through him. He ran into the jail and saw Lamar lying on the floor. Zeke was gone and so was Ms. Ross. Damn it all to hell!

      Kneeling, he felt for a pulse. When he found it, a sigh of relief escaped him. Lamar moaned again and Wyatt helped him sit up.

      “Are you okay?”

      Lamar rubbed his throat. “That bastard choked me.”

      “Zeke?”

      “Yeah.”

      With Wyatt’s help, Lamar staggered to his feet. They walked into the office and Lamar flopped into a chair.

      “What happened?” Wyatt asked.

      “Zeke said he was sick and had a fever. I…I fell for it. He had me around the neck before I knew it. I’m…I’m sorry, Wyatt.”

      “Did he take Ms. Ross?”

      Lamar went still. “Is she gone?”

      “Yes.”

      “I heard them talking.” Lamar rubbed his throat.

      “About what?”

      “I…Oh, Sheriff…” Lamar was shaking and his skin was a grayish color.

      “Take a deep breath,” Wyatt coaxed while reaching for his cell to call Judy Deaver, the nurse. Since Horseshoe didn’t have a clinic, they depended on the nurse for minor emergencies.

      “Judy, this is Wyatt. I need you at the jail immediately.”

      “Be right there.”

      “Keep taking deep breaths,” he told Lamar.

      Next he called Stuart and didn’t waste words. “Get to the jail now.” He had a feeling time was of the essence.

      Lamar was about to slide out of the chair, so Wyatt urged him to stand, wrapped an arm around his waist and guided him to a cot in the back room.

      “Relax and try to breathe normally.”

      “My throat hurts and…and I can barely breathe.”

      Judy came through the door with her bag.

      “Back here,” Wyatt called.

      “What happened?” she asked, taking Lamar’s pulse.

      “Zeke near choked the life out of him.”

      She spared Wyatt a glance. “When are you going to do something about that man?”

      “Tonight,” he replied. He’d let Zeke Boggs get away with too much because of his diminished mental capacity, but kidnapping a prisoner was way over the line. Or at least he assumed she’d been kidnapped. Ms. Ross might have talked Zeke into letting her go. Then he’d have two prisoners on the lam. Either way, it wasn’t good for his department.

      Stuart charged through the door, still stuffing his shirt into his pants. “What’s happening?”

      Wyatt reached for his rifle in the gun cabinet. “Zeke assaulted Lamar and escaped. Ms. Ross is gone, too. I don’t know if they’re together or not, but I will find out.”

      “Holy crap! We’ve never had a jailbreak.”

      That didn’t sit well with Wyatt, either. “Call Bubba and get him to watch the office. Use your truck with the four-wheel drive and head to Earl Boggs’s place and let him know you’re going through his property to get to Zeke’s place. Tell him I’m going through the back way on horseback. It should be faster. I’ll meet you at Zeke’s.”

      “Okay.”

      Wyatt handed him a rifle. “Be careful and watch your back.”

      The only way to get to Zeke’s quickly was through the Daniels property, which bordered Boggs’s land. As Wyatt spun away from the office, he reached for his cell and poked out Tripp Daniels’s number.

      Tripp answered on the second ring.

      “This is Wyatt. I hate to bother you at this time of night, but I need a fast horse.”

      He and Tripp were friends. They went to school together for a time when the Carsons had moved to nearby Bramble to take care of his mother’s mother. Tripp was a rodeo rider, but he’d retired and settled down with a wife and a family.

      “You got it.”

      Wyatt liked that about Tripp. No questions. He knew Wyatt wouldn’t ask unless it was important. “See you in about ten minutes.”

      Wyatt swerved onto the dirt road that led to the Lady Luck Ranch, hoping his instincts were right and Zeke had hightailed it to his shack and moonshine still on the river. He also hoped he hadn’t taken Peyton Ross with him. That would mean, though, that Ms. Ross had persuaded Zeke to unlock her cell and let her go. She would be an escaped prisoner. A huge knot formed in his gut. And it had a name. Peyton Ross.

      He had a feeling he was going to rue the day he’d ever set eyes on the woman.