Bucking Bronc Lodge 04(58)

Miles’s phone buzzed at his waist. He thanked the officer, then checked the caller ID box. “I need to get this.”

He turned away for a second, spoke into the phone, then clicked it off and turned back, his body jumpy. “Dugan has been spotted near the border. We have to go.”

He grabbed Jordan’s hand and they rushed to his Jeep.

* * *

MILES’S MIND RACED with panic as he drove down the highway. If Dugan had been here and killed Connor, had he found Janet Bridges? Had he killed her or kidnapped her? If so, maybe she would at least keep Timmy safe....

“Where were they spotted?” Jordan asked.

“Near Rio Grande City.”

Jordan checked her watch. “He’s making good time.”

“Yeah, especially to have stopped here looking for his old girlfriend.” He tossed his Stetson to the seat and scrubbed his hand through his hair. “Why would he take the time to do that? He knows we’re after him. He has a hostage. And he must know she’s been hiding from him. It doesn’t make sense.”

“I don’t know,” Jordan said, although her brows were pinched in thought. “He and I discussed his mother and the fact that he didn’t have a father. I think the lack of that family is deeply rooted in his psychosis.”

Miles cursed. He didn’t want to understand Dugan, and he especially didn’t want to hear some sob story about how bad he had it growing up.

Dammit, he’d had a rough life, too, and so had half the men he knew. Especially the ones who’d started the BBL.

But that hadn’t turned them into serial killers.

“I don’t see how this helps,” he admitted in frustration.

Jordan pressed a hand to his arm. “Understanding his behavior, his reasons for his sickness, can be useful when we catch him. We can use those details to help calm him and get him to turn himself in.”

“You’re talking about profiling, aren’t you?”

Jordan nodded. “It works.”

“So how does it explain what he’s done now? The fact that he took time out to hunt for Bridges gave us more time to track him.”

“His actions may not make sense to us, but in his mind, they’re logical. But if we follow his thought process we can predict his next movements.” Jordan tapped her fingernails on her thigh. “What if he always wanted that happy family, a mother to love him, a child of his own?”

“I’m not following.” He sure as hell didn’t want the bastard raising Timmy.

“Maybe I started him thinking about his mother. The reason he wants her dead is so he can kill the source of his pain.”

“That makes sense.” In a demented way.

“He said you ruined his life, his future. What if he’s planning his future after he murders his mother?” She twisted her hands together. “He loved this woman Janet so once the slate is cleared by getting rid of his mother, he wants to build a life with her. Maybe have that happy family.”

Miles saw red. “Him and Bridges and Timmy. That’s what you’re suggesting.”

Jordan sighed and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “If that’s his mindset, Miles, it means he won’t hurt Timmy.”

His chest ached, but he latched onto the hope she offered, no matter how irrational it sounded to him. He had to.

Thinking that Timmy might be dead was something he couldn’t live with.

He would keep looking for him. And he would find him.

And bring him home.

Jordan squeezed his hand, and he squeezed hers in turn, grateful she was with him. If she wasn’t, he’d be falling apart.

“Miles, there was something else about Dugan that struck me as odd. He had a nervous tic, and his eyes...seemed funny, glazed, almost glassy as if he was on medication.”

“He’s a psycho,” Miles said flatly.

“Yes, but at the trial he didn’t exhibit any of those signs. It makes me wonder if he’s sick. An illness might explain some of his behavior. It could have incited him to come after you instead of resuming his life once he was freed.”

“I don’t give a damn about his health,” Miles snapped.

“Just consider the possibility,” Jordan said. “Call your friend and have him find out if Dugan had had any recent medical issues. An illness might have pushed him over the edge into coming after you.”

“He came after me for revenge,” Miles said.

“Just check,” Jordan said. “It might be important later.”

Miles cursed but called Blackpaw, explained Jordan’s theory and asked him to look into Dugan’s medical records. Mason agreed.

“Have you found Ables?” Miles asked.