Luke's Fate

by Kathleen Ball

  “How many cattle?”

  Sighing she shook her head. “I can’t get a count. They’ve all been scattered but near as I can tell, at least two hundred. It could be more, I just don’t know. Plus I don’t have the manpower to replace the fencing and count heads.”

  “Meg, why didn’t you call me? I would have come.”

  Still shaking her head, her eyes filled with tears, which trailed down her face. “I don’t know.”

  Luke stood and pulled her up. He stared into her eyes waiting to see any sign of rejection and when he didn’t see it, he pulled her to him and held her close. He stroked her hair as she cried into his neck. Her body shook with her sobs.

  “I’m here.” He kept her in the enclosure of his arms for a long time, until she finally stopped crying.

  Slowly, she pulled away just enough so she could see his face. “Thank you, Luke. I don’t know what came over me but, well, thank you.”

  “I’m always here for you when you need me.”

  “I know. I just wanted to stand on my own, and I was doing a good job until today.”

  “Oh, honey, today wasn’t your fault. You do need to figure out a plan to have the fences watched.”

  “We need to figure it out.”

  “We?”

  She nodded. “I’m asking for your help. I can’t do this alone.”

  “You know I’ll help you.” He pulled her back against him and held her.

  Her body was well toned, yet so soft, sweet, and supple in his arms. Her hair smelled like sunshine and everything green from the grass to the trees. Luke closed his eyes cherishing the feel of her against him.

  His whole body hummed, but he decided to take it slow. He wasn’t going to lose her trust this time or make her run in the other direction. He’d loved his wife, Mary, but it hadn’t been the profound love he held in his heart for Meg.

  She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her cheek against his chest while he rubbed her back. Finally, she tilted up her face as though expecting a kiss but Luke just smiled and kissed her on the cheek.

  The questions in her eyes almost had him, but he needed to stay on course. He loosened his hold and took a step back. “You know I’d do anything for you. Who do you have guarding the downed fence area?”

  “Greg is out there now, and Ron will spell him at dawn. Greg rode out and sent me home, that’s why I’m so late.” She sat at the kitchen table and sighed. “I’m in shock someone stole my cattle. Dad never had a problem, and I haven’t heard of anything like this happening around here.”

  Luke sat in the chair across from her. “They might have thought the place would be an easy target without Owen. Listen, it’s not your fault. Tomorrow we’ll fix the fence, and I’ll go into town and ask around.”

  She opened her mouth and he cut her off. “You know as well as I some of those ranchers are hardcore, and they don’t like dealing with women.”

  “Sad, but true,” she said with a heavy sigh. “They had one of their gala dinners and didn’t invite, me and I don’t think it’s because I’m in mourning.”

  The misery in her eyes and the frown on her face bothered him, but he knew from experience, mourning was a deeply personal thing and it could not be fixed quickly.

  “Now what about Greg Sparks? You trust him to be foreman?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Good you need someone you have faith in. Why don’t we get some sleep and talk with Greg in the morning to work out a plan to keep this place secure?”

  “Luke? Thank you for having my back.” She gave him a small smile.

  Warmth zinged through his body. “Well I’m tired, I’m going to bed.”

  He stood and walked to his room, feeling her gaze upon him the whole while.

  Later in bed, he wondered if he would ever get his wish of Meg loving him back. There was so much going on and he didn’t want her to mistake loving him for needing him. It was a very long time before sleep finally came.

  The next day, Meg sat on the front porch taking a much-needed break. She had worked out a schedule with Greg for guarding the ranch, and they both agreed they needed to hire a few more men. It still outraged her that the sheriff would only take her statement over the phone. Of course, dead women trumped cattle rustling any day, but couldn’t he have spared a man to look at the crime scene?

  Sitting back against the old rocking chair, she tapped her fingernails on its scarred arm. And there was Luke and the comfort he’d given her. Her eyes closed as she relived their embrace and almost kiss. The tenderness and sweetness of it haunted her, and tears filled her eyes as she wished for her father. The torment in her heart never subsided, if anything it grew.

  A huge sigh escaped her when she saw Detective Timbers’ car drive up to the house. What now? It sure wasn’t about her cattle, and she couldn’t stand to hear more bad news. Her whole body stiffened as he got out of the car and walked up the porch steps.

  “Morning, I’d like to talk to you.” The look in his eyes gave the impression he knew something, and it made her uneasy.

  “Finally. I’m surprised they sent you but missing cattle is serious business.”

  He didn’t acknowledge her comment; instead, he sat down and took a small notebook out of his jacket pocket. “How well do you know Harry Kelly?”

  The question threw her—she thought for sure he was going after Luke. “All my life. We weren’t close neighbors, but I saw him occasionally. Why?”

  Timbers scribbled something down in his notebook before he glanced up at her with his beady, brown eyes. “He did own the property, and from all my research, he wasn’t a very likable man. He beat his wife and kids. Now, if everyone knew about his abuse, why didn’t anyone stop him? Your father should have done something.”

  The urge to slap him overwhelmed her. Standing up, she stared at him. “Well, that’s all the time I have for today. If you’ll excuse me I have cattle to find.”

  “No, I’m not done with you.”

  “Oh, I think you are. In case you haven’t heard, my father just died, someone stole my cattle, and there are dead people on land I now own. I think I have more than enough on my plate. If you’re not here to take a statement about my cattle I’m asking you to leave.”

  His nostrils flared and his lips flattened into a grim line. “I’ll ignore your little tirade, you are in mourning as you say, but I will be back and I will get answers to my questions. I wonder what the townspeople will think once they’ve heard you’re being uncooperative.” He stood, put his notebook back into his pocket and went back to his car.

  Shocked, she sank back down into the chair, her heart raced and her jaw dropped open. What the hell?

  Luke tramped through the dense woods looking for the old, abandoned cabin he and David used to hide in. Ever since he’d talked to his father, he’d had an urgent need to see it.

  The nursing home was pleasant enough. It had been hard to see his father so withered in a wheelchair, and he’d had a hard time looking the old bastard in the eye. There was never any love between them.

  Luke shook his head, remembering. He still couldn’t figure how he’d been so wrong about his brother. According to his dad, David had killed those women and probably many more, hence the reason his father had killed him. The brother he had known would never be capable of killing anyone, but life was so crazy and turned around, he didn’t know what to believe anymore.

  The century-old dwelling came into sight, and he stopped, staring at it. They’d planned futures together without their old man. It had been their secret refuge, but somehow his father knew about it. He had said the evidence of David’s insanity was in the cabin, and now Luke hesitated to enter.

  Slowly, he walked to the door and pushed it open. It was dark and smelled of dampness. Leaving the door open, he located the oil lamp on the table near the door and lit it. There were two windows in the place, but they had been long ago boarded up.

  The log cabin only had one room. The history he always im
agined intrigued him, but today he wasn’t here to imagine, he was here to find the truth. It’d been about eight years since he’d been there, and a few things had been added. A couple chairs and a decent sized kitchen table sat in the middle of the room. Luke’s stomach roiled at the possibilities.

  Taking the oil lamp, he brought it to the big table and immediately felt the blood drain from his face. There were pictures, many pictures of women— some alive and some dead. A loud noise of distress came from his throat and he closed his eyes. Why? How?

  Finally, he picked up some of the photos and examined them. They were before and after shots of too many women. The before pictures showed a relaxed smiling female and the after, they’d clearly been beaten to death. Slumping down into a chair, he put his head in his hands and swore.

  David? How could he have done these things? Sitting up he glanced around the cabin remembering how David had played doctor, trying to undo the destruction their father had left. Cuts, bruises, a broken arm— David took care of them. Perhaps the constant beatings had made him a killer. It was too hard to reconcile. He needed to go to the police; there were a whole lot of pictures, and a whole lot of bodies yet to be found.

  Deciding to leave the cabin as he found it, he blew out the lamp and put it back on the table near the door. He closed the door and traipsed back through the woods, got into his truck and drove into town.

  Luke sat in the truck staring at the police station door. The last thing he wanted to do was drag his brother’s name through the mud, and there was still the little problem of David’s body. He didn’t want any blame shifted on him. His shoulders tensed as he got out of the truck. Truth time.

  As soon as he walked in, he immediately honed in on Detective Timbers, who was smirking at him. “Detective.” He nodded and took off his hat. “I might have some info you need.”

  Timbers stood up and somehow he looked more authoritative than usual. If he was trying to be imposing, he was doing a damn good job. “Coffee?”

  “No, I’m fine. I just want to tell you what I know and leave.”

  “Of course, follow me we can talk in this room.” He opened the door that bore the words INTERROGATION ROOM in black, block letters. “Sit.”

  Damn, Timbers made him feel like a suspect, and he didn’t like it one bit. Not one little, tiny bit. But he sat in the chair and waited.

  Timbers took a digital recorder out of his pocket, placed it on the table between them and turned it on.

  “You are here of your own free will?”

  “Yes.”

  “Please state your name for the record.”

  “Luke Kelly.”

  “Not Lucas?”

  “No, Luke.”

  “I’m led to understand you have a confession to make.”

  Luke’s eyes widened. “No, no confession. You must be thinking of someone else. I came here to share what information I have in the case of the dead women.”

  “Sure, go ahead. Where did you meet these women?”

  “Damn, if you aren’t mule headed. I found evidence on the property in a cabin no one but David and I knew about.”

  “So you’re the only one around who knew of this place?”

  Luke shook his head. “I have to amend my last statement. My father knew about it, too.”

  “I see. What is in this cabin?”

  “Pictures of women, alive and dead. Many pictures. I hadn’t been there for years but someone moved a table and chairs into it. It’s a small rundown place. I hate to have to say this, but I think David might have had something to do with all this.”

  “You think or you know?”

  “I have no smoking gun if that’s what you mean, but my father thinks it’s David too.”

  Timbers laughed. “You’re father doesn’t even know what year it is. His words mean nothing, absolutely nothing. So let me get this straight. Your father told you about the cabin and David recently. To top it off, you expect me to believe you?”

  Luke clenched and unclenched his hands. This is not what he had planned. Now Timbers thought him guilty. How did everything get so turned around? “Believe what you want, I just thought I’d give you the info I had, but if you’re not interested, fine.”

  “I never said I wasn’t interested. I just wanted to test the waters. I’ll need you to take me to the cabin. I suppose your fingerprints are all over it.”

  Luke offered a grimace of regret. “Yes, they are.”

  Timbers shook his head. “Your fingerprints, but it wasn’t you?”

  “I was just there to look around, and I touched everything. You’ll probably find other prints besides mine. My father knew about the place, and of course David’s would still be there.”

  Timbers stared at Luke until he felt as though his throat was closing. Rubbing his neck, the sensation finally went away but the anxiety of being a suspect remained.

  “So, tell me, Luke, where is David?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You’re lying. You know, Luke, I’ve been a cop for a long time, and I know these things.”

  Luke’s shoulders relaxed, and he had to hold back a smile. Timbers wasn’t old enough to have been a cop for a long time. It was all a show with this guy. He didn’t know a thing, and he wasn’t going to know anything else.

  Timbers cleared his throat. “I’ll give Miss O’Brien a call and ask if we can search the cabin. I still think you have something to do with the murders. Nothing gets by me.”

  Damn. He didn’t want Meg involved. It hadn’t occurred to him the cabin was on her property. This whole thing was a mess, and now he was sorry he’d opened his mouth. Good thing he hadn’t mentioned that David was dead or they’d have strung him up already.

  Timbers stepped out into the hall for a minute and then came back in. “Miss O’Brien is on her way. She didn’t even know there was a cabin, but she gave her okay, and men are heading up there now to search it.”

  “Well, I’ll go out front and wait for Meg.”

  “Sit down. You are my prime suspect or person of interest. I hate that term, person of interest, people aren’t stupid they know it means suspect, at least it does to me.”

  Luke opened his mouth but no words came out. “Suspect? I’m the one who told you about the cabin,” he protested.

  Timbers laughed. “Damn, you don’t know nothin’ do you? The real perpetrator always inserts himself into the case.”

  Luke’s eyes narrowed. “Just how long have you been a detective?”

  Timbers threw back his shoulders. “Almost a year now. I was working in the next county, but I’m needed here for this investigation. I guess you don’t get many murder cases here, and the sheriff called for reinforcements.”

  “How lucky for the sheriff you were free.” Luke sneered. He wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn’t remember if not-guilty people slept or if it was the guilty ones who took naps in the interrogation room. He’d better not chance it. He sat back in the chair, his arms crossed, trying to appear innocent.

  “You know you could just confess and save your town the cost of a lengthy trial.”

  Luke almost laughed. He wasn’t much of a TV watcher but he knew he’d heard those words on some cop show. “I guess those words would interest me if I was guilty, but you’ll have to save them for some other person of interest.”

  The door opened, and Meg stood there, distress written all over her face. “Luke?”

  Meg’s heart pounded so hard she could hear it thumping in her chest as she stared at Luke. Detective Timbers had said Luke confessed, and for the life of her, she couldn’t understand it. Luke a killer? A serial killer? Nevertheless, there he was in the interrogation room. Her heart dropped watching Luke frown and Timbers gloat.

  “I didn’t know about the cabin. I never ventured that far into the woods in that section of the property. Have they arrested you yet?”

  Luke shook his head, and his eyes pleaded for understanding.

  She hardened her heart and looked
away. “Now what?” she asked Timbers.

  “We have our best guys gathering the evidence now but just his fingerprints being there is enough for me. I’m going to arrest him. Are you sure you don’t know anything? I know you two were close.”

  “I never knew…” She took a deep shaky breath. “I’m having a hard time believing the whole thing.”

  “Then don’t,” Luke said.

  Glancing at him, she wanted to cry. He looked so hurt and angry. He probably expected her to come to his defense but she just didn’t know. The flicker of raw pain in his eyes changed her mind— he wasn’t a killer.

  “Fingerprints don’t mean a thing. All it proves is he was there, which, from what I understand is why he came here, to tell you about the cabin. Why would he tell you if he was the killer? Makes no kind of sense to me. I’ve known Luke all my life, and we’ve had our ups and downs, but he couldn’t and wouldn’t hurt a woman.”

  Timbers smiled at her. “Good thing what you happen to think doesn’t matter. I appreciate you giving us permission to search the cabin.”

  “I’d like to talk to Meg alone,” Luke requested.

  Timbers laughed. “So you two can cook up a few alibis? I don’t think so.”

  “I want a lawyer.”

  Timbers gave Luke a look of disgust. “Fine, Miss O’Brien, I need you to leave.”

  “I’ll call a friend of my dad’s. He’ll be here in no time, Luke.”

  Luke nodded. “Thanks for believing in me.” He gave her a worried smile.

  “You’re a good man, Luke Kelly, and don’t you forget it.” She shot him what she hoped was a reassuring smile, ashamed she had doubted him for a single second.

  “Just give me the name of the lawyer, and I’d be happy to call him,” Timbers offered.

  She laughed at him and left the room. He’d never make the phone call. There was something off with that arrogant man. She wished she’d looked at the cabin before granting permission to have it searched. All she wanted was to have the murderer caught and then maybe she could work on getting closer to Luke. She wanted him to stay with her, to love her and perhaps marry her.