Jenny took her eyes off Marino and looked into Josh’s honest, open face. Her lips began to tremble and in a small voice she said, “He hit me.”
“You want him dead, then you let me kill him for you,” Josh said. “Cause you’ve been hurt enough in this lifetime. You don’t need to live with that piece of trash on your conscience.”
“I can’t have you do that,” Jenny whispered.
“And I can’t have you do it either,” Josh said, reaching for the pistol, which Jenny let him take without protest.
In the hallway, Kate said to Mandy, “Go call the Sheriff.”
45
Lester Harper, the local sheriff, pushed his hat back on his head and sighed. “Katie, it sure would be great if people would quit getting shot in your living room.”
“I’m not arguing, Lester,” Kate said. “But at least this one is still alive.”
“I know,” he said miserably. “The dead ones are easier. Less paperwork.”
“I’ll keep that in mind for future reference,” Kate said in a tone of commiseration.
“And this one is a Yankee,” he went on unhappily. “Nothing is ever easy when you bring Yankees into it.”
“Well,” Kate said, “what are you gonna do, Lester? We lost the war.” A hundred and forty-nine years ago, she added mentally.
“And just look what it got us,” he said in mournful tones. “We were just saying the other night at the Sons of the Confederacy meeting . . .”
Kate interrupted him before the conversation turned into a lament for the Lost Cause. “You need anything else from us, Lester?”
“Huh? Oh. No, not right now,” he said, seeming to remember he was there in his official capacity. “Jack Swinton’s on the way from San Antonio. As far as I’m concerned, the Rangers can deal with this one.”
Kate watched the Sheriff shuffle down the walk. As he climbed in his car, she heard him mutter something about “damn Yankees.” After he drove out the gate, giving her a little wave on his way, Kate went back in the house, bypassing the living room and joining the others in the kitchen.
Josh was sitting in the window seat, Jenny leaned back in his arms with her eyes closed. At the sound of Kate’s boots on the hardwood, she mumbled, “Is Lester gone?”
“He just drove off,” Kate answered. “Am I the only one who could use a drink?”
“I’m in,” Josh said, but Jenny just nodded.
Kate and Josh exchanged a worried look before Kate turned to Mandy, who was sitting at the table. “Baby Sister?” she said.
“Can I have some warm milk with honey and vanilla like you used to make for me when I was little?” she asked.
Kate smiled, “You can have anything you want.”
She opened the cabinet and took out three glasses, hesitating with the whiskey bottle in her hand. Finally she just handed it to Mandy, who twisted the top off for her. Kate poured three fingers of amber liquid in one glass and handed it to Josh, repeated the pour for Jenny, and for herself. Then she put the milk on to warm for Mandy.
No one spoke and Kate contented herself with sipping her bourbon and watching the bubbles rise to the milk’s smooth surface as the liquid heated. Her thoughts wandered back to the statement Mandy had given a young sheriff’s deputy a few minutes earlier explaining how she’d come to be in the ranch house and in position to shoot Marino.
Mandy had walked up to the main ranch house from her place with a plate of sandwiches for her sisters and a stack of magazines, determined to draw them into her “girly girl” day. She came in the back door while Kate and Jenny were talking to Marino in the front yard and watched the conversation from the window by the front door.
When the bodyguard opened his coat to show off the Desert Eagle, Mandy knew her sisters were in trouble and that she was the only one on the Rocking L who could help them.
“I thought about calling you all,” she said to the deputy. “But I knew it would take too long for you to get here. Then they were starting to come into the house, so I had to do something fast. I ducked into Daddy’s study where they wouldn’t see me. I didn’t know what I was going to do, and that’s when I remembered the gun cabinet.”
In her desperation to help her sisters, Mandy choked down her loathing of firearms and took a snub-nosed .38 out of the gun cabinet. “I couldn’t let him hurt my big sisters,” Mandy said, in a voice filled with love and loyalty. “I don’t like guns, but I know how to use them when I have to.” Then she added a little shyly, “My Daddy taught me.”
“How did you know the gun was loaded?” the deputy asked, making notes on the clipboard in front of him.
Mandy looked at him like he had two heads. “All my Daddy’s guns are loaded,” she said with conviction. “He told me there’s no such thing as an unloaded gun. Don’t they teach you all that in deputy school?”
Kate looked away stifling a laugh and blinking back tears at the same time. They were all finding ways to forgive Langston Lockwood, something she wouldn’t have thought possible a few months ago.
Mandy told the officer she’d crept out of the study and down the short corridor that connected to the main hall. The bodyguard couldn’t see her standing just inside the doorway, but she could see Marino and hear what he was saying to her sisters. When he threatened to shoot Kate, Mandy fired.
Kate snapped out of her reverie in the kitchen, the sound of that gunshot still reverberating in her own mind. Hastily she took the milk off the stove before it scalded. She added the other ingredients, and handed the comforting drink to Mandy.
“Is this what you wanted, Baby Sister?” she asked.
Mandy cradled the tall mug in her hands as if to draw its warmth deep inside herself. She blew on the liquid, and then took a sip, a happy smile turning up the corners of her mouth. “Oh, yes! Thank you, Katie. You haven’t made one of these for me in just forever.”
“I’ll make you one any time you want,” Kate said, bending down and kissing the top of her sister’s head.
From across the room Jenny said quietly, “I guess I have a story to tell.”
Kate stood, and leaned against the doorframe. “Not if you don’t want to,” she said. “You don’t owe us any explanations. If you were ready to kill that man, then he needed killing. End of story.”
Jenny sat up, but stayed in the circle of Josh’s arms. “No, we’re not starting a new generation of half-told stories in this family. I met Robert Marino about five years ago at a gallery opening. It was a prestigious event and I was excited to receive an invitation. Robert struck up a conversation at the champagne fountain about a canvas I particularly liked. The next day, it was delivered to my apartment. I was speechless. From there the real wining and dining started.” She faltered, glancing over her shoulder at Josh a little uncertainly. “I was lonely. I went to . . . we became . . .”
“Darling,” Josh said. “There’s not one thing or one person in your past I’m worried about. Only reason I care about that bastard is that he hurt you. Go on, tell your story.”
Jenny nodded, took a deep breath and continued, “I went to bed with him. He seemed like everything a woman could want. Attentive, understanding, interested in every part of my life. I told him things about this place, about our family that I shouldn’t have shared. He convinced me I could make peace with Daddy. That’s why I really came down here that Christmas. But when I got back to New York and told Robert how badly it all went, he absolutely erupted.”
She shuddered at the memory. “He has a temper like Daddy’s. Worse even,” she said. “I . . . I can’t stand yelling,” she admitted, anxiety thinning her voice to the point of frailty. “I can’t think when someone yells at me like Daddy used to do all the time. Now, after everything that happened, I yell back. Usually before I need to. I’m sorry about that. I know you’ve all had to put up with it.”
“You haven’t noticed us going anywhere have you, sugar?” Josh asked, tightening his arms around her.
“No, thank God,” she said. “
Back then, when Robert yelled I tried to fix things, tried to explain myself and make him understand. The harder I looked for the right answer to satisfy him, the madder he got. That argument was . . . it was just awful. I started to get really scared. He had me literally backed up in a corner and the only weapon I had was my voice, so I used it and stood up to him.”
The memory of that night flashed through her mind. Herself, her back against a wall, Robert looming over her. “Well, well, well,” he’d purred, his lips turned back in something halfway between a smile and a snarl. “Listen to the little mouse roar.”
Jenny shook her head to clear away the image. “He hit me,” she said. “Full in the face with his fist and then he asked me if I needed more ‘instruction’ to correct my ‘arrogant defiance.’”
Josh’s mouth set in a hard line, but he said nothing. Kate walked over to the window seat and sat down beside her sister. She reaching for her sister’s hand. Jenny looked down. “I’m sorry, Katie.”
“Sorry?” Kate asked in a surprised but gentle tone. “What in the world for? I’m sorry that happened to you. No count son of a bitch.”
Still not looking up, Jenny said, “You didn’t raise me to let a man hit me.”
“I didn’t raise you?” Kate said, confused.
“Yes, you. You raised us both after Mama died. You gave up your girlhood to take care of us. You’re the only one I’ve ever wanted to be proud of me.”
“Look at me,” Kate said.
Slowly Jenny raised her head. “We raised each other,” Kate said. “And we did a damned fine job. You have nothing to be ashamed of. I’ve always been proud of you just because you’re my sister. You’ve never needed to do anything to win my pride. You’ve always had it.”
In a stronger voice, Jenny said, “In the end, I did do what you taught me.”
“What do you mean, honey?” Kate asked.
“The night it happened, I knew my jaw was broken as soon as I hit the floor, but I also knew if I stayed down he’d hurt me worse, so I stood up. When he came at me again, I kicked him in the privates, got the hell out of there, and went straight to the police. If I’d been in Texas, I’d have shot him in the balls.”
“Damn straight you would have,” Kate said, grinning. “You’re a Lockwood.”
“Good information for a man to know,” Josh said lightly, breaking the tension in the air.
All three women burst out laughing. Jenny turned and kissed him. “I don’t shoot the good guys,” she whispered.
“Also good to know,” he grinned.
Jenny turned back to Kate. “Of course, Robert’s lawyer smoothed the whole thing over, but Robert doesn’t like anything to be messy. The light of day is too strong and too honest for a man like him.”
“So he left you alone after that?” Kate asked.
“Not for weeks,” Jenny said. “He never did anything to make me call the police again, but he stalked me all the same. I finally had to hire a lawyer and threaten him with a restraining order. I moved to a building with better security and worked from home. Time passed. I thought he was gone for good. I had no idea why he was really interested in me, or how he found out anything about Daddy and the gold in that cave.”
“I do,” said Joe, coming into the kitchen and holding his arms out to Mandy. She sprang out of her chair and ran to him, hitting him so hard she almost knocked him over. “Easy baby,” he said, catching her. “My God, I am so proud of you.”
“We’re all proud of her, Joe Bob,” Kate said. “Do you know something about this Marino guy we don’t?”
“Yeah. I was at the Sheriff’s Office when Lester opened the guy’s briefcase,” Joe said. “It was full of photographs of the three of you and of Jake working up at the creek bed. There was a whole file on Langston. Apparently your Dad sold a gold Aztec ring set with a Colombian emerald to an antiquities dealer in San Antonio five or six years ago. Marino bought the ring from the guy and started trying to learn more about Langston and where he got the thing. I didn’t read all Marino’s notes, but from what I can tell, he’s kind of a professional treasure hunter. I saw the name Montezuma on one of the pages.”
“Damn,” Kate swore. “So much for keeping the gold under wraps.”
“He was trying to get to Daddy through me,” Jenny said. “That bastard. He wanted the treasure in Baxter’s Draw all along.”
“No, not entirely,” Kate said. “I think he wanted more than that. Remember, Marino said to us that all he wanted to do was look at what we found in the cave. I think he was looking for a clue to the real mother lode, Montezuma’s treasure. Jake said it’s supposed to be north and west of here, in Arizona or all the way up in Utah. Even with what Daddy sold, what was hidden in Baxter’s Draw can’t be the whole thing.”
“Well,” Joe said, “Marino’s not going to be doing any treasure hunting for awhile. He’s got plenty of legal problems and a big ole belly ache courtesy of some lead from this pretty lady.”
“Did I hurt him bad?” Mandy asked, her lip trembling.
“Sweetheart, you shot him in the gut with a .38 caliber pistol,” Joe said. “Yeah, you kinda hurt him bad, which is a good thing. Trust me.”
“Okay,” Mandy said. “I just wish I could have shot him without hurting him.”
Exhausted laughter erupted around her. “What?” she said perplexed. “Did I say something funny?”
Joe wrapped her up in a tight hug. “No, baby,” he said. “We’re just laughing because you’re the most wonderful woman in the whole world.”
“Oh,” she said happily, “that’s okay then.”
Everyone chose to spend the night at the main ranch house. Even with Marino safely in the hands of the authorities, the group felt safer together. Midnight found Kate once again by the fire in the study. She looked up at the creaking of a floorboard to see Jenny standing in the doorway, wrapped in a blanket.
“Come on in,” Kate said, gesturing to the empty chair.
When Jenny sat down, she gestured toward the kerosene lamp on the table beside Kate. “Forget to pay the electric bill?”
Kate snorted, “No, I just like the light. Old-fashioned things comfort me.”
“God knows we could all use some comfort,” Jenny said.
“Then why didn’t you stay in a warm bed with that cowboy of yours?” Kate asked, grinning. “He’ll wake up and wonder where you’ve gotten off to.”
“Oh, I told Josh I was coming in here,” Jenny said. “I knew you’d still be awake and well, he . . . he worries about me.”
“I’ll bet that’s taking some getting used to,” Kate said.
Jenny lowered her voice. “Katie, by light of day, I will deny I said this, but I like it . . . and I . . . uh . . . I asked him to move in to stay.”
“Well, thank God!” Kate said. “It’s about damn time.”
Blushing in the dim light, Jenny hastened to change the subject. “Is this your usual insomnia or are you hurting?”
“Both,” Kate said. “But hell, I never have slept worth a damn, so it just is what it is. Sometimes it helps to sit here by the fire and just unwind a little. When you came in, I was trying to get my mind wrapped around the idea that our baby sister shot a man today.”
“God, I know. Can you believe her?” Mandy said fondly.
“Yes,” Kate said, “I can. Under all that sugar sweetness, she’s got steel for a backbone. Just like us. We have Daddy to thank for that, and Mama to thank for the fact that in spite of everything, we know how to be a family.”
“Do you think we’re ever going to understand what happened back then? With Mama and Daddy, and Alice and George Fisk?” Jenny asked, staring into the fire.
“I imagine we’re gonna learn a lot from Daddy’s journals,” Kate said, “but the people who could really tell us what happened are all dead.”
“I know,” Jenny said, “and that just frustrates the hell out of me.”
“What are you going to do?” she said. “We can’t raise the dead. Wha
tever we find out will just have to be enough. We have to make peace with that.”
“I worry about you,” Jenny said suddenly. “I worry about your peace.”
“There’s no need for that,” Kate said. “I’m fine.”
“That’s what you always say,” Jenny persisted. “Mandy has Joe. I have Josh. You sit alone by the fire in the dark of the night and now you have that arm to deal with.”
Kate sighed, “The arm will be what I make of it. As for the rest, my choices are my own. And in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not sitting alone by the fire tonight.”
“No, not this night, but what about all the other nights?”
“All the other nights, I’ll know you’re just across the yard, and Mandy’s just down at the bottom of the hill. I was alone all those nights when you were in New York and she was in Houston, and the real distance between us was everything left unsaid. It’s not like that anymore.”
They smiled at each other in the wavering light and sat silent for a few minutes until Jenny said, “Do you know what Josh asked me when we went to bed tonight?”
“No, what?”
“What we were gonna fix for Thanksgiving dinner.”
Kate laughed, “Just like a man. Thinking with his stomach. When is Thanksgiving, anyway?”
“Next week.
“Good Lord, really?” Kate said. “Guess that means one of us better get busy shooting or buying a turkey.”
“Buying,” Jenny said with conviction. “Enough already with the guns.”
“Don’t say that!” Kate said. “That’s what we said after John Fisk got shot. Don’t go tempting fate.”
Jenny laughed. “I don’t think we have to tempt that bitch, she’ll come looking for us anyway. I’m going back to bed now. Are you going to be okay in here?”
“I’ll be fine,” Kate said. “Go on. Get some sleep.”
After Jenny left the room, Kate picked up one of her father’s journals and opened the book to the first page. She imagined him sitting in the fire-lit room up in Baxter’s Draw penning the scrawled lines, “Two years ago I found this place by accident. God only knows who entombed a golden treasure in this cave, but I thank Him that I am not here alone. I have my Alice . . .”
The Lockwood Legacy - Books 1-6: Plus Bonus Short Stories Page 24