Desperado Lawman by Harper Allen

Author:Harper Allen
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Suspense
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2004-06-04T05:00:00+00:00

“The police?” Tess blinked. “How did they know a robbery was in progress?”

“What?” Connor frowned, and then his brow cleared. “Oh. Because of the silent alarm.” He saw her confusion and elaborated. “The one by the leg of the loan officer’s desk. When my father gave her that nod, she pushed it.”

He had no idea what he’d just said, Tess thought in shock. Virgil Connor had seen his father commit suicide—maybe not commit it consciously, maybe with no clear intent of doing so when he’d risen from the floor and pulled a gun on two desperate men—but whatever had been in the man’s mind at the time, he’d taken the one course of action that had been almost certain to result in his own death.

His own unnecessary death, she thought. Connor’s father had been well aware that the men racing out of the bank would run straight into the arms of the police.

The boy Connor had once been had known all that. That knowledge had made such a devastating impact on him at the time that he’d translated it into a vision of a man putting a gun to his own head, and when that vision had proven too much for him to endure he’d told himself it had been a complete lie.

Which was why he couldn’t allow himself to buy Joey’s story. Because if he bought Joey’s, he would no longer be able to reject his own.

So what are you waiting for? It’s only been possible for him to avoid the truth all these years because he hasn’t spoken about it, but Connor’s not blind. Ask him if he realizes that he’s blanked out the detail about the alarm. Force him to face what it means, for heaven’s sake.

The voice in her head was firm and decisive…but the voice in her head was wrong, Tess thought heavily. He needed to come to the truth by himself for it to release him.

“Paula’s heading back to Albuquerque early tomorrow.” His tone held enough briskness to indicate that the previous discussion had ended. “I think you and Del should sit in on the meeting I intend to have with her before she leaves. We need to clear the air over this MacLeish matter.”

Maybe Paula could convince him to give Joey’s story the benefit of the doubt. It was worth a shot.

“A meeting’s probably a good idea.” She forced a small smile. “I’d better get some sleep, I suppose.”

“Yeah, I should be turning in soon, too.” He gestured toward the holstered gun he was wearing. “Before I do I might take a run up to the gate, give Joseph Tahe a break for a while. ’Night, Tess.”

“Good night, Connor.”

She was halfway down the length of the verandah before he called out her name. She turned to see him still standing by the railing, a faint frown on his features.

“Why did you swerve the night of the accident, Tess? I could tell you didn’t want to talk about it earlier, but now it’s just you and me.

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