That won him an outright laugh from Kate. “Oh for God’s sake. Enough. I’m just saying Jessica seems to require little else from a man than a pulse, and let’s face it, a couple of the security guys don’t seem like mental giants to me.”
Jake took another sip from his cup. “You won’t get any argument from me on that,” he said. “You certainly handled Jessica’s prying well.”
Earlier in the evening Jessica had leaned toward Kate and asked with exaggerated interest, “How many security personnel do you keep on the ranch? Are they here because you’re still looking for archaeological artifacts?”
Kate’s impassive gray eyes didn’t betray a flicker of emotion one way or the other when she responded with a perfectly honest, but completely opaque statement. “We are running an archeological institute on the ranch.”
Jessica, realizing she’d gone too far, immediately demurred, saying, “That is such a lovely tribute to the memory of your late father. I’m so sorry I never met Uncle Langston.”
For her part, Kate chose not to mention that “Uncle Langston” would have chewed Jessica up and spit her out. At that juncture, Mandy skillfully maneuvered the conversation into safer waters, shooting Kate a warning look. Jessica didn’t bring up the topic again, and Kate and Jake had wandered off by themselves at the first opportunity.
After their conversation at the edge of the pool, they rejoined the group and the rest of the evening passed pleasantly enough. Everyone gave the distinct impression that Jessica Northrup was just as welcome as she could be and they were all so very pleased to meet her.
But when Jenny and Josh joined Kate and Jake for the walk back up to the main ranch house, it was the usually affable Josh who blurted out as soon as they were out of hearing range, “What in the hell is that stuck-up Yankee woman up to anyway?”
Jenny blew out a relieved sigh. “Oh thank God,” she said, “you were fixing to get your ass chewed out for falling for her line of bull.”
“Darlin’,” he said, “I wasn’t falling for anything. I was being polite. Cousin Jessica spent the whole evening fishing for information about the ranch and the family, and it’s as plain as the nose on my face she thinks we’re one step off living in a double-wide jacked up on cinder blocks. What’s really going on here?”
“Your guess is as good as ours,” Kate said. “Maybe the Northrups really are hard up for money and she’s just trying to figure out how receptive we’ll be to a poor relation.”
“Huh,” Josh said. “If that’s how she acts when she’s got her hand out, I’d hate to see her when she’s walking in tall cotton.”
Kate laughed. “Her manners do leave something to be desired,” she agreed, “but she is a Yankee.”
“Our mother was a Yankee,” Jenny pointed out.
“She didn’t act like that,” Kate said, “even if she was a Northrup. What else was Jessica trying to find out?”
“I heard her ask Joe about the crime rate in town,” Josh said. “She wanted to know how many ‘officers of the law’ the city employs.”
Jake, who had been listening to the others talk, cleared his throat. “I hate to be an alarmist,” he said. “But if I didn’t know better, I’d say she’s casing the ranch for someone. She wanted to know how many security personnel are on site and the size of the local police force?”
“Oh,” Josh said, “there’s more. She asked Joe about ‘emergency response times’ as well. Covered the whole thing up like she was concerned about how fast help could get out here if Mandy had any problems with her pregnancy.”
Kate made a disparaging sound in the back of her throat. “Well, that was smooth,” she said. “I’m telling you, I don’t like any of this and I haven’t since the first time I laid eyes on Cousin Jessica.”
“Do you think she’s working for someone?” Jake asked.
“So far as we know the only person who wanted a piece of the treasure bad enough to come in here guns blazing was Robert Marino,” Kate said, “and he’s in prison.”
No one said anything for a few steps, and then in a soft voice Jenny said, “No, he’s not.”
The whole group halted as one, and Kate turned toward her sister in the dimming light. “What did you say?” she asked.
Jenny looked away, swallowed, and then met her sister’s eyes. “I said Robert isn’t in jail.”
Josh stepped closer. “What the hell are you talking about, darlin’?” he demanded. “And why am I just hearing about this now?”
Jenny wheeled on him. “You’re just hearing about it now because I knew you’d have a fit,” she barked. “And look at you not disappointing me on that score.”
Josh started to say something, then had the good sense to clamp his mouth shut and look at Katie as if to say, “You do this.”
Kate put her hand on Jenny’s arm and said, “Quit ripping the man’s head off. I’m not very damn happy that I’m just now hearing about this either. Talk to me, honey.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Jenny said. “I’ve been following Robert’s case online. He never actually went to jail. Because of the severity of his abdominal wound, the courts allowed him to be placed under house arrest while he recuperated; they made him wear one of those ankle things. Since he wasn’t personally involved in anything that happened on the ranch until the night he was shot, his lawyer pinned everything on John Fisk.”
Josh jammed his hands in his pockets and swore under his breath, kicking a rock out of the lane and sending it sailing into the pasture.
“Stop that,” Jenny ordered. “You’re acting like a six-year-old.”
“I’m acting like a man who just found out that the son of a bitch who broke his woman’s jaw is on the loose out there somewhere,” Josh countered hotly.
Jenny’s mouth dropped open. “Josh Baxter, tell me you did not just refer to me as your woman.”
“Stop it,” Kate said in a tone of voice that shut them both up. She pointed first at Josh and then at Jenny. “You quit acting like a bull pawing the dirt, and you stop flying off the handle. He didn’t mean that the way you’re taking it and you damn well know it. We don’t have time for this crap. How did Marino get off for holding us at gunpoint?”
“You’re not going to like this,” Jenny warned.
“I have no doubt about that,” Kate said, “but tell me anyway.”
“His lawyer argued that in a state as contentious as Texas where the locals are known to brazenly carry loaded firearms, Robert was afraid for his life,” she said.
It was Kate’s turn to let out with a long, elegant string of profanity that made Jake’s eyebrows go up in surprise. “Good Lord,” he said, “you really can cuss, can’t you?”
“I learned from the best,” Kate growled. She turned back to Jenny, “You mean to tell me that greasy Yankee son of a bitch convinced some judge that we were the threat that night?”
“Yes,” Jenny said. “His lawyers are still fighting the government over the matter of the taxes he never paid on all the artifacts he bought and sold under the table, but Robert has been back in New York City for several months now.”
“Do you think he could be behind sending Jessica down here?” Kate asked.
Jenny looked away again, clearly uncomfortable, and then said, “Let’s just say that I was not Robert’s type. Which should have told me from the beginning he wasn’t on the up-and-up. But Jessica? Jessica is absolutely his type.”
Without warning, Josh slipped his arm around her waist. Jenny looked up at him and said, in a small voice, “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” he asked, kissing her on the temple.
“For not telling you about Robert,” she said. “For ever getting involved with him in the first place.” She shook her head, angrily blinking back tears. “I wanted all of this to be over. I didn’t want to upset you. Any of you.”
Josh pulled her closer. “You can upset me any time you want, darlin’” he said, “but if there is a next time, can I please shoot that man?”
Jenny lau
ghed and leaned into his shoulder. “Be my guest,” she said. Then, she looked up at Kate and said somberly, “I think we may have a problem.”
“I agree,” Kate said. “We all need to have a conversation with Miles. Now.”
As the four of them covered the distance from the main ranch house to the security trailers, Jessica Northrup sat in her bedroom clutching her smartphone.
With her thumbs she rapidly typed, “Was just forced to dine on local cuisine. Dear God, Robert, they actually eat goat in this God forsaken place.”
When the device buzzed with an incoming message, she read, “I am not interested in culinary reviews. What did you find out?”
“Not much,” she typed. “Kate doesn’t trust me. Mandy’s husband says law enforcement needs 30-45 minutes to get out here.”
“Good,” the reply read. “How many security personnel?”
“I’m not sure,” she answered. “I counted six, but couldn’t see in the trailer, and I think some are located elsewhere on the ranch.”
“Find out and let me know asap,” the screen commanded. “Be discreet. I need to know what they’re doing up in that draw.”
“Understood,” she typed. “The sooner I can come back to civilization the better. Make this worth my time, Robert.”
After a few seconds a new message flashed on the screen. “I suggest you make it worth my time, Jessica. Do not forget, I hold all the cards.”
82
Miles Riley listened to Kate’s account of their evening with Jessica Northrup, only occasionally interrupting to ask a question or to clarify a point. When Jenny described her relationship with Robert Marino, Riley said, “We are aware of Mr. Marino’s role in what happened here last fall.”
“So do you think he’s behind our cousin suddenly showing up?” Kate asked.
“I think it’s a theory we have to consider as a very real possibility,” Miles said. “And rather than wait for her to make her move, I suggest we provide your cousin with a . . . what did you call it . . . ‘hunky’ man?”
Kate laughed, “Yes, that’s what I said.”
Riley reached up and keyed the microphone attached to his vest. “McManus, get in here.”
Within seconds, they heard combat boots on the steps into the trailer and a mountain of a man stepped in the door. “Yes, sir!” he said crisply.
Miles turned to Kate. “Is he hunky enough?”
Brad McManus, who was well over six-feet, blonde, blue-eyed, and ruggedly handsome, said, “Excuse me, sir?”
Both Kate and Jenny laughed. “Perfect,” Jenny said.
“Excellent,” Miles said. “Sit down, McManus. We have a job for you.”
Later that night, from his position crouched in the brush along the periphery of Mandy’s new pool, McManus saw Jessica Northrup emerge from the house, light a cigarette, and sit down in one of the chairs on the patio.
McManus waited until she was settled, and then stepped out of the brush, purposefully breaking a branch with his boot.
Jessica startled, as he had intended, and called out. “Who’s there?”
“My apologies, ma’am,” McManus said, stepping out of the shadows. “Just patrolling the periphery of the residential compound. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
As he stepped into the dim glow thrown up by the submerged pool lights, McManus saw Jessica’s eyes widen in appreciation. “Well, hello there,” she breathed. “My heavens. I do feel safe now. What’s your name?”
“Bradford McManus, ma’am,” he said. Then, glancing around as if to make sure they weren’t being watched, he said. “Any chance I could bum a smoke? The chief of security won’t let us have cigarettes on the job.”
“How positively Draconian,” Jessica purred, holding out the pack. As he took it from her, she purposefully traced one finger across the back of his hand. “Won’t you keep me company for a bit, Bradford?”
“Just Brad,” he said, leaning down to ignite his smoke from the lighter flame in her hand.
“I’m Jessica,” she said. “And I would love to hear about everything you do on the ranch. I think security work is just so thrilling.”
A little after 3 a.m., McManus reported to Miles Riley in the command trailer.
“How did it go?” Miles asked, looking up from the video screen on his desk that showed a live HD feed from the cave in Baxter’s Draw.
“Went off without a hitch, sir,” McManus said. “I’m supposed to sneak her into the trailer night after next to show her the video links from the cave.”
“Good,” Miles said. “We’ll make sure the cameras are repositioned by then. What did you tell her about our manpower numbers?”
“I underestimated by 50% as you ordered, sir,” McManus said. “And I told her we were unable to use the drones because of geomagnetic anomalies in the area.”
Miles arched his eyebrows. “Geomagnetic anomalies?” he said.
McManus grinned. “I don’t think the lady is a science major, sir.”
Both men laughed. “Get some rack time,” Miles said.
As McManus started out of the trailer, he stopped and looked back at Miles. “Did you tell those women I have a doctorate in military history?” he asked.
Miles looked up with a grin. “What’s the matter, Brad, don’t like the reverse sexism?”
McManus looked uncomfortable. “Not really,” he admitted.
“Then consider it a moment of enlightenment courtesy of the Lockwood sisters,” Miles said. “I suspect at one time or another we’ve all had it coming.”
A little after dawn, Miles Riley knocked on the kitchen door at the main ranch house. Kate answered the door. “Come on in,” she said. “We’re just having coffee.”
Miles walked into the room and nodded at Jenny, who was seated at the table.
“Have a seat,” Kate said. “You want a cup?”
“Please,” Miles said, pulling back one of the chairs.
“How do you take it?” Kate asked.
“Black as night . . .,” he started.
“And sweet as sin,” Jenny finished for him.
They both laughed. “I see I’m among kindred spirits,” Miles said.
“You are,” Kate affirmed. “We take our coffee pretty seriously around here. So, did Cousin Jessica take the bait?”
“Hook, line, and sinker,” Miles said. “McManus will be sneaking Ms. Northrup into the command trailer tomorrow tonight to show her the video from the draw. We will have repositioned the cameras by then so she sees only what we want her to see. She also has incorrect estimates of our manpower strength. While she and Mrs. Mason are shopping in Kerrville today, we will be installing monitoring devices in her bedroom.”
Kate and Jenny exchanged an uneasy glance. “Are you sure our sister won’t know anything about that?” Kate asked. “Just in case we’re wrong about Jessica?”
“Absolutely,” Miles said. “There’s no need for Mrs. Mason to be upset in her condition. We won’t go into the house until we’re sure that they’re all off the ranch. Five minutes, tops, and we’re out.”
“And if Robert Marino is behind this?” Jenny asked. “Then what?”
Miles regarded her for a minute and said quietly, “What would you like to see happen, ma’am?”
Jenny stared at him. “Excuse me?” she said.
“The law had an opportunity to deal with this man and it didn’t go well,” Miles said.
“What are you suggesting?” Jenny said, still shocked.
“I’m not suggesting anything,” Miles said. “I’m asking what you want of us.”
Jenny thought for a minute and said, “I don’t want Robert Marino to hurt anyone or anything I love ever again.”
Miles nodded. “Then we’ll see to it that doesn’t happen.” He stood up. “Thank you for the coffee,” he said. “I have to get up to the draw and supervise the re-positioning of the cameras. I’ll check back later in the day.”
After he walked out, Jenny looked at Kate. “Why do I fee
l like I just ordered a hit?”
Kate blew on her coffee and said, “You know what Daddy always told us if we had to shoot someone?”
“Drag one leg over the threshold and make sure there’s only one story to tell?” Jenny asked. “Katie! You’re not serious.”
Kate leaned back in her chair and regarded her sister. “Robert Marino broke your jaw and he tried to break your spirit. He indirectly influenced our father to kill himself. He held a gun on me and threatened to cripple me. I could put a bullet in him and sleep just fine tonight, Jenny, and I’m not going to pretend I couldn’t.”
Jenny shook her head. “The last thing I want is more gun play on this ranch.”
“I feel exactly the same way,” Kate said, “but I assure you that this time Marino is not going to catch us unprepared.”
“You do know that Mandy is not going to be happy with us.” Jenny said.
“Well,” Kate said, “she’s not going to be happy with Jolene either.”
“With Jolene?” Jenny asked, frowning. “What does she have to do with any of this?”
“Jolene called me yesterday to tell me that she and Rick and the kids are leaving for Big Bend today,” Kate said. “And that while she’s out there, she’s going to look up Mandy’s father.”
Jenny threw her head back and groaned. “You are not serious!” she said. “Jolene found Phillip Baxter?”
“It seems our Baby Sister has been going into town and using the library computers to get on that Ancestry.com site and look for her father,” Kate said. “She went rushing out with the screen still open. When Jolene went to shut it down, some information caught her eye and she started digging. Phillip Baxter lives off-grid between Marfa and Terlingua and runs some kind of blog.”
“Does Mandy know any of this?” Jenny asked.
Kate shook her head. “No,” she said. “Jolene hid it all from her. She told me she wasn’t about to let Mandy get hooked up with her birth father until she’s had a chance to check him out first.”
“Thank God,” Jenny said. “But why did she call to tell you?”
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