Severed Trust: The Men of the Texas Rangers | Book 4

by Margaret Daley

  “Yes, and he won’t have anything to do with Harris. My daughter wants her father in her life. The tension at home has been thick between them as well as with me.”

  “I think the next session I would like you to attend part of it.”

  “So you think it’s his father showing up that set this all off?”

  “Could be. I did ask if his friends had done anything like what he did. He didn’t answer me.”

  “Thanks, Dr. Morgan. We’ll see you next week.”

  When Sadie reached the car, Steven stood by the passenger door, avoiding eye contact with her. “How did it go?” She pulled out of the parking lot into rush-hour traffic.

  “I’m sure he gave you the rundown.”

  “Actually he didn’t really other than to tell me you mentioned your father being in town. Is that what’s bothering you?”

  “Why should that bother me? I haven’t had a father for thirteen years. I don’t need one now, so as long as he stays away from me, I’m fine.”

  She turned down their street, her fingers locked about the steering wheel. “He’s coming over this evening to see Ashley.”

  Silence greeted that announcement.

  She drove into the garage and peered at Steven. The expression on his face shouted fury. She started to say something, but Steven escaped from the car and hastened into the house. After she pried her hands loose, she opened and closed them to relieve the ache caused by her tight grip.

  When she entered the house a moment later, Steven wasn’t in the kitchen where he usually stopped after he came home from school to grab something to snack on until dinner. The aroma of chocolate chip cookies, the twins’ favorite, saturated the room with a mouth-watering smell. Her daughter was at the sink, cleaning up.

  “Dad called and said he was going to bring over a couple of large pizzas, so you don’t have to worry about making dinner.”

  So, now it would be dinner, too. “That’s considerate of him.” Even Sadie winced at the sarcastic bite to those words.

  Ashley ignored them and continued. “I made cookies for when Dad comes. He mentioned he liked chocolate, so I’m sure he’ll love these.”

  Since when had her daughter begun baking? This was a first. She’d tried to get her to, but Ashley had always found a reason not to. “I’m sure he will. Where did Steven go?”

  “I guess his room. He glared at me and stomped through the kitchen.” Ashley wiped down the counter by the sink. “He did say he wasn’t going to be around when Dad came. I assumed you told him about tonight.”

  “I had to. This is his house, too, and you know how Steven feels about Har—your father. I have to respect those feelings.”

  “Why, because they’re what you feel?”

  “No. I’ve not kept it a secret how I’ve felt from the beginning.”

  “Then all I ask you to do is respect my feelings. I have a chance to establish a relationship with my dad.”

  “Why do you want one after all—”

  Ashley rotated toward Sadie, the look in her eyes full of disbelief. “I know if Grandpa forgave you, you’d welcome him into your life even though he pretty much disowned you when you ran away and married Dad. Why aren’t you angry with your father? Why do you want a relationship with Grandpa? He abandoned you—us when we needed him. I’ve heard you and Nana talking about it.”

  Good question. Why was she so eager to forgive her father and not Harris? “It’s not the same thing.”

  Ashley set her fist on her hip. “Yes, it is. Both are about being rejected and not forgiving.”

  She studied her daughter for a moment, seeing a maturity in her that she didn’t have at that age. “Maybe I have something to learn from you.”

  “Mom, are you okay?”

  Before she could answer her daughter, the phone cut into the quiet. The sound surprised Sadie, and she jumped. She hurried to pick up the receiver. “Hello.”

  “Do you know where your son is?” someone said in a deep, gruff voice as if through a cloth. The next thing Sadie heard was the dial tone, taunting her with the prank call. Or was it a prank?

  12

  Mary Lou’s eyes blinked open, sunlight leaking through the slats on her blinds over her west window. What time was it? The clock on her radio read 4:45 p.m. She closed her eyes, feeling the lure of sleep. Then she remembered work. She needed to get to Greenbrier by 5:45 p.m. for her twelve-hour shift that started at six.

  She rose—too fast. The room swirled. She sank back onto the bed and laid her arm over her eyes to still the movement.

  She couldn’t call in sick, not after taking a couple of days off last week. But it felt as though someone was tap dancing in her head to the beat of a bass drum. Being the office supervisor on duty at Greenbrier Nursing Home at night gave her perks other jobs wouldn’t. Not many people were around to supervise her activities. She liked that. She couldn’t jeopardize it.

  This time she pushed herself up slowly and took her time making her way to the bathroom where she intended to have an extra-long shower. After she dressed for work, she headed to Kelly’s room to see why she didn’t go to school today. No doubt, she was still having a hard time over Jared. She couldn’t blame her daughter with the police hounding her as if she knew something about her boyfriend’s death. Kelly made the same mistake she had—falling for a Montgomery. They married their own kind, not people like them.

  When she opened the door to Kelly’s bedroom, her daughter wasn’t in there. Her backpack sat by her desk where she put it when she came home from school. Her bedcovers looked like a wrestling match occurred last night. Before she left the house, she walked through it, checking to see if Kelly was anywhere else, then she called her daughter’s cell and had to leave a message for her to call.

  In the kitchen, she grabbed a bottle of water, went to her stash of pills, and downed some hydrocodone. She could no longer keep them in the medicine cabinet. She couldn’t afford to have her daughter take any of her medication. By the time she got to work, she would be better—capable of handling the job. And maybe Kelly would call her by then. She was probably with Missy and Carrie.

  Sadie raced out of the kitchen and took the stairs two at a time. The pounding of her steps as she ran down the hallway matched the frantic beating of her heart. She barged into her son’s room and came to an abrupt halt a few feet inside. Steven sat on his bed cross-legged with his earphones on, listening to his music.

  “I’m not coming down if that man is here, no matter what you say,” he shouted over the noise no doubt inundating his eardrums.

  She walked over to him and removed the headset. “I can’t carry on a conversation with you listening to your songs.”

  He frowned. “Ashley invited him. Not me. I’m staying up here until he leaves. Let me know.”

  “He’s not here, but he’s bringing pizza for dinner tonight. It’s your favorite food.”

  “I don’t care. I can eat it cold after he leaves. So now, you’re having him here for dinner, and you had to barge into my room to tell me. I thought you didn’t like him.”

  “Is that why you don’t want to have anything to do with him?”

  He opened his mouth, then snapped it closed. “No.”

  “Then why?”

  He scowled and put his headphones back on. “Isn’t it obvious? He had a chance to be the man of the house, to be our father. He didn’t. We don’t need him. We’ve done just fine without him.” Then he went back to listening to his music, using two sticks to tap against his bed.

  She turned off his iPod. “Is your father showing up in Summerton the reason you drank the cough syrup?” She stared at him for a long moment, not sure what was going through her son’s mind.

  The door chimes resonated through the house.

  “Is it the reason?”

  His eyes became slits. “All the kids are doing it. I wanted to see why.” He turned his iPod back on and lowered his head.

  She needed to talk with Steven about what he said, but
his body language proclaimed it was useless right now. She’d chaperone Ashley and her dad, then return to find out what Steven meant by all the kids were doing it.

  The sound of voices came from the kitchen. Sadie headed that way but paused before entering. What do You want me to do? Forgive him? What’s happening now can’t continue. My family is in turmoil. How do I make this better?

  But no answer came to her mind.

  When she finally strolled into the room, Ashley had set the pizza boxes on the table, poured four glasses of tea, and put the plate of chocolate chip cookies within easy reach. Her daughter beamed as she sat across from Harris.

  “I made the cookies for you. I hope you like them.” Ashley’s cheeks flushed.

  “For me? That’s the sweetest thing I’ve had anyone do for me in a long time.” Harris twisted toward the counter and grabbed a cookie, then took a bite. For a fleeting second, his eyes grew round, but he maintained his smile and popped the rest of the sweet into his mouth. When he was through, he gulped his drink until it was half-gone. “I will cherish these.”

  Keeping her lips pressed together, Sadie approached the table, stealing a cookie as she squeezed through the space behind Harris. She nibbled on it as she eased into her chair. Its salty flavor overpowered the chocolate. Her eyes watered, and she quickly swallowed some tea.

  When she looked up, she caught Harris’s gaze on her. In that moment, she realized he wanted to make this work with Ashley. What was she afraid of? That he would come in and take the kids away from her? That they would stop loving her and love him? Or was it built-up anger because he left her and she never really dealt with it?

  Ashley shifted her attention from Harris to her. “Is something wrong with the cookies? I haven’t had a chance to have one yet.”

  “This was a good first attempt, but they’re a bit salty,” Sadie said before Harris felt he had to reply.

  Ashley rose and plucked one off the plate. When she took the first bite, she went to the trash and spit it out, then glanced at her father. “You ate this? How? It’s awful.”

  “But you made it for me. That means the world to me.”

  Ashley marched to the counter, seized the product of her efforts, and tossed them in the garbage can. When she turned toward them, a huge smile plastered Ashley’s face. “I’ll do it again for you with Mom’s help. And I promise I’ll test them first.”

  He winked at Ashley. “I look forward to the next batch.”

  As her daughter retook her seat, Sadie decided what she needed to do.

  Mary Lou hurried to catch up with the elderly gentleman before he left the nursing home. “Dr. Wells, may I have a word with you?”

  The thin, gray-haired man, who had been practicing medicine for forty years, turned toward her. His immediate grin and the twinkle in his blue eyes reassured her she would get what she wanted. He hadn’t let her down yet. “Yes, my dear. Are you still having trouble with your neck after the wreck?”

  Mary Lou massaged her nape. “Yes. I thought I would be so much better after that little fender bender, but I woke up today with a pain shooting down my spine. I should have stayed home, but Greenbrier is already shorthanded. I don’t want to put a burden on the rest of the staff, especially after staying home a couple of days last week because of my daughter. She’s distraught.”

  “Ah, I heard about that boy dying. Did Kelly know him?”

  “They were dating seriously. It hit her really hard.”

  Dr. Wells, who was semiretired but still saw a few patients usually at the nursing home, sighed. “Young love.”

  Before he started talking about the good old days, Mary Lou inched closer, turning on her smile. “I’m almost out of the painkillers you prescribed for me.”

  “You are? Didn’t I refill it recently?”

  “Three weeks ago. The pain is getting worse. I doubled up a couple of times.” She fudged a week and hope he didn’t remember the exact date the last time she’d seen him at the nursing home. If she went through his office, his staff kept records of the dates. When she caught him at Greenbrier, he usually forgot to mark it down or just gave her the samples he had on hand. Lately, she’d needed more and more, and what he prescribed for the month wasn’t working anymore.

  He wagged his finger at her. “You can’t take too much of it. I suggest instead you go to my young partner, get another MRI, try physical therapy again. Your neck should be better by now. We need to determine why you’re still in so much pain.”

  “But—”

  “Call my office tomorrow. I’ll make sure you get in right away.”

  “Can you help my daughter? She is anxious and depressed because of everything happening. I’m worried about her.”

  “Bring her in with you when you come. See you soon, my dear,” Dr. Wells said then walked toward the double doors.

  No. No. In the past, Dr. Wells accommodated her with no questions asked. Why wasn’t he now? Kelly had taken some of her tranquilizers and painkillers, which had depleted her supply even more. She needed her medication.

  She paced the foyer, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. Did he know what she was doing? Was that why he wasn’t refilling the prescription? If she got another MRI, it would show her neck was fine. She couldn’t do that.

  What am I going to do?

  There were meds everywhere around here, and most of these old geezers didn’t need them like she did. She had to figure out how to get them without anyone seeing her. Late at night would be the best time. Having viewed some lock-picking videos on the Internet, she thought she could do it, and she wouldn’t be blamed, because she wasn’t a nurse. She didn’t have a key to the medicine cabinet.

  Pumping her arm into the air, she said, “Yes!”

  A young nurse’s aide stared at her from behind the counter nearby.

  Heat suffused Mary Lou’s cheeks. She nodded at the aide and hurried to her office to look again at the videos and find what she needed to use as a pick.

  She’d practice tonight and then come back tomorrow night when she wasn’t on duty. She could get into the nursing home through the kitchen area without anyone seeing her. She knew where the cameras were and could avoid being caught on them. The perfect crime. She would have enough pills to last her until she could come up with another source, possibly in a surrounding state.

  When her cell phone rang, she thought it was Kelly and answered it quickly, “It’s about time.”

  “Time for what?” the male voice asked.

  “Who is this?” Mary Lou was pretty sure she knew, but she needed time to change gears.

  “Ethan Stone. I’m calling because I went by your house earlier to talk with Kelly, but no one answered. I need to see her again at the police station. Tomorrow afternoon at one. If you need your attorney, this’ll give you time to arrange it with him.”

  “Haven’t you talked to her enough?”

  “Until I solve the crime, no.”

  He hung up, leaving Mary Lou desperately needing a tranquilizer to calm her frazzled nerves. When was this nightmare going to end?

  “I know this is a school night, so I’d better go.” Harris rolled to his feet and shifted toward Ashley who rose beside him on the couch in the living room.

  Ashley threw her arms around him and gave him a hug. “It was fun hearing about you and Mom in high school.” She pulled back and glanced at Sadie. “Now I know where she gets her fear of mice from.”

  Sadie laughed. “I did learn a lesson. Never have a science fair project with mice involved, especially when they must have been clones of Houdini. I won’t ever forget the one in my bed. I’ve never moved so fast in my life.”

  “Yeah, she called me and had me come over immediately and find that poor scared mouse and the other two.”

  “I beg your pardon.” Sadie pointed at herself. “I was the one scared. I’m sure the neighbors heard my scream. My parents were gone, and I wasn’t going to stay by myself in that house with a mouse.”

  “I guess
I can’t use them in a project then. Rats,” Ashley said with a giggle.

  “You better get ready for bed. School’s tomorrow. I’ll walk your father to the door.”

  “Sure.” Ashley’s forehead scrunched, her tone full of doubt.

  Harris sent Sadie a similar look. “She did get your okay for me to come tonight?”

  “Yes. I’d like to talk to you for a few minutes on the porch.”

  Harris strode to the door and moved outside with Sadie right behind him. She flipped on the light, eyeballed the swing at one end of the porch, and decided not to use it. Instead, she sat on the top step hugging the railing to give him plenty of room to sit also, but not too near her. The evening might have gone well, but she didn’t want to give him any ideas.

  “What’s up?” Harris stretched out his long legs as he sat across from her.

  “I’ve been thinking. I’ve decided not to pursue fighting you about seeing the kids. As long as they want to and I have a say in when and where, you can see them.”

  His eyebrows hiked up. “What changed your mind?”

  “Holding a grudge only hurts me in the long run. We should never have married. Neither one of us was ready for it. Ashley is determined to have a relationship with you, and I can understand that. Since we married, mine with my dad has been nonexistent. But I would like one with him even with all that has happened between me and Dad.” Harris started to say something, but she held up her hand. “But if you hurt Ashley, you’ll have me to answer to. If you get tired of the father gig, you better give Ashley warning, not just disappear one day like you did with me. And as far as I’m concerned, you’ll only get this one chance. Ashley thinks you have changed. I don’t know if you have, but I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt. Remember that Cord is the police chief.”

  Harris chuckled. “I’m aware of it. He’s paid me a visit and told me I’d better treat you fair or else. And I got the point what the ‘or else’ would mean.”