Trouble in Texas

by Leann Harris

  “I will.”

  She prayed he would keep his word.

  Chapter 9

  The front end of the beige ‘65 Chevy Super Sport sat in the ditch. The rear wheels were suspended inches above the ground.

  “That’s the reason the driver abandoned the car,” Derek said, pointing to the back tires. He had followed the DEA agents out to the remote spot on the dirt road that crossed three different ranches.

  Agent Beavins, the DEA agent in charge, motioned toward the car. “Let’s see if we can turn up any evidence.”

  In a matter of minutes Agent Collins pulled a marijuana cigarette from under the driver’s seat. “Maybe this is the reason the driver ran off the road,” he said, holding up the reefer.

  “Could be,” Derek replied.

  There was nothing else in the interior of the car, but when they opened the trunk, they hit pay dirt.

  Collins grinned. “Bingo.”

  The trunk was filled with eighteen duct-taped bricks and several boxes. Derek took the Swiss Army knife from his front pocket and sliced open one of the bricks. He pinched out a bit of the substance. “Marijuana.”

  Collins bent and sniffed the brick. “What else is in there?”

  Derek pulled back the tape. On the back side of the tape was a blue sheet. “It’s a sheet of fabric softener.”

  The three men looked at each other.

  “Someone ought to tell the drug smugglers it’s an old wives’ tale about sheets of fabric softeners,” Beavins said. “It doesn’t throw the dogs off. They can still smell the drug.”

  Collins pointed to the unmarked boxes. “What’s in there?”

  Derek reached for the nearest carton. He opened the lid and stared down at twelve bottles. He pulled out one of the five-milliliter bottles. “Halotestin.”

  “Are they all steroids?” Beavins pointed to the other boxes.

  “Let’s see.”

  The next one contained pills. Derek read the brand on the plastic bottle, “Anadrol. Seems our smugglers aren’t picky about how they get their testosterone.”

  In the remaining boxes they discovered several other anabolic steroids commonly misused by people who wanted to increase muscle mass.

  “Now we know what we’re looking for,” Derek said.

  “Partly.” Collins closed the lid on a cardboard container. “Whoever is smuggling might bring something else in the next time. It looks like maybe they take orders, then fill them. It might be cocaine next time.”

  “Damn.” Derek took off his hat and raked his fingers through his hair. “There’s no place safe anymore, is there?”

  Beavins stared out at the horizon. “Afraid not. This poison is everywhere.”

  * * *

  As he drove back into Saddle, Derek tried to pinpoint a place between the Grey, Moore and Schuller ranches where an airplane could set down. Nothing came to mind.

  He turned onto the street where his house was located and hit the brakes. “What the hell?” he mumbled to himself.

  On the left side of the street were four houses. On the right side was a flat field that ran to the dry creek bed. Parked across from his house was a black-and-gold helicopter with Anderson Oil stenciled on the side of it. If he didn’t miss his guess, Alexandra’s daddy had come to see what had happened to his daughter. The time to pay the piper was here. Too bad he was going to have to face George Anderson alone, because he knew without being told that Billy Mayer would be nowhere to be found.

  Derek parked his Jeep in the driveway and climbed out. The helicopter pilot leaning against the copter’s door nodded at Derek.

  A booming voice greeted Derek as he entered the house.

  “How long is it going to take to get your car fixed, Alex?” George Anderson sat in Derek’s reclining chair, his white hair a striking contrast to his deeply tanned skin. Alexandra and Sarah were on the sofa.

  “I talked to the mechanic today, Dad. The water pump hasn’t arrived from El Paso. He’s sure it will be here tomorrow.”

  “You should’ve called me. I’d have brought a water pump for that damn car of yours.”

  Sarah noticed her father by the front door. “Dad.” She ran into his arms and gave him a hug. “That’s Alex’s dad,” she whispered in his ear.

  Introductions were quickly made.

  George leaned back in the chair. “So, Alexandra, you ready to go home? I’ll fly you to Midland and when your car is fixed I’ll bring you back.”

  “That’s not necessary,” she quietly replied, but Derek caught the ring of steel in her voice.

  “What are you going to do here until that guy installs the new water pump?”

  “I won’t be bored.”

  George leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “You sure that all you’re doing is waiting for your car?” He studied Alex, then shifted his gaze to Derek. “You know it’s a long time since Vincent died. I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing you get married again.”

  Derek’s eyes widened, not believing he had heard George correctly. But one look at Alex’s tight expression convinced him he’d heard right.

  “That’s not the issue here, Dad. I need to stay through tomorrow and read a woman’s TB test. I can’t leave sooner.”

  “TB? What are you doing testing someone for TB?” he demanded.

  Her eyes glowed with icy indignation. “Because I suspect she has it.”

  “I wasn’t questioning your call, Alex.” George’s voice took on a conciliatory tone. “I know you’re a damn fine doctor. I was just wondering why you decided to see a patient while on vacation.”

  “I did it as a favor.” She stood and kissed her father on the cheek. “It’s good to see you, Dad. I’ll call you when I get back to Houston.” She turned to Sarah and held out her hand. “C’mon, Sarah, why don’t we start dinner.”

  George gaped at his daughter as the two females left the room. “I didn’t know she could cook,” George muttered.

  “She can’t,” Derek answered without thinking.

  The old man’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know that?”

  The tone of the question rubbed Derek the wrong way. For an instant Derek considered letting the old man stew in his own juices. “Alex told Sarah and me.”

  George motioned with his head toward the front door. “Let’s talk.”

  Derek followed the older man outside.

  The instant the door closed behind them, George launched. “What’s going on here, Deputy Grey?”

  The old boy didn’t pussyfoot around but cut straight to the heart of the matter.

  “Exactly what Alexandra said.”

  “Alexandra?”

  Why did her dad sound so surprised that he’d used Alex’s full name? “That is her name, isn’t it?”

  That speculative gleam appeared again in George’s faded blue eyes. “It sure is. But as long as I can remember, she’s wanted to be called Alex. When I want to get under her skin, I call her Alexandra.” He shook his head. “That girl was the biggest tomboy in Midland. In the fifth grade she gave a boy a black eye when he called her Alexandra.” George placed his Stetson on his head. “You call her Alexandra often, huh?”

  The knowledge George had just imparted sent a shiver of alarm down Derek’s spine. How often had he used her full name? And had Alex ever objected? “I usually call her ‘Doc.’”

  George considered the response, then said, “If anything happens to my little girl, it’s going to be your rear in a sling.”

  What did George Anderson think, that he went around putting women in danger? “Nothing is going to happen to her.”

  A sly grin curved George’s mouth. “You single, deputy?”

  Derek definitely didn’t like the question but telling George Anderson to butt out of his business would probably cause more grief than it was worth. “I’m divorced.”

  “Good.”

  With that cryptic last word, George Anderson walked to his helicopter, climbed inside and flew off.

  “Wel
l, what do you think?”

  Derek glanced over his shoulder and saw Alex standing behind him. Her anxious expression, the furrowed brow and the worried bottom lip, touched his heart.

  “He’s quite a man.” It was as neutral an answer as he could give her. He couldn’t say what he really thought, that the man was an overbearing SOB.

  Her eyes met his, and she must have gleaned from his face that he was whitewashing his opinion. A laugh burst from her mouth. “A creative way of stating it.” The mirth died from her eyes and her mouth turned down at the corners. “I apologize for the unexpected visit. Dad called my sister J.D. and discovered where I was.” She kicked a stone with her foot. “He has this overprotective tendency....” She shrugged.

  “You could’ve gone with him.”

  “No, I couldn’t. I gave my word, and I’ll keep it.” She started into the house, stopped and looked over her shoulder. “But if I were you, I’d make sure Billy Mayer fixes my car as soon as that water pump comes in, because I expect my dad will show up again in a couple of days.”

  The idea was mind-boggling. “I’ll be sure to call Billy tomorrow.”

  He heard her chuckle as she walked inside the house.

  * * *

  “How are you feeling, Norma?” Alex asked. She carefully observed her patient’s expression.

  She shrugged. “Kind of bad.”

  “Are you running a fever?”

  “Yes.”

  “You wake up in the middle of the night damp with sweat?”

  The older woman nodded.

  Alex pulled out a thermometer. “Open.” She placed it under Norma’s tongue.

  Norma glanced nervously at the inside of her forearm as Alexandra measured the size of the reaction area.

  “What’s the verdict, Doc?” she asked, around the glass thermometer.

  Alex removed the thermometer, read the temperature then sat on the rolling stool. “It’s positive, Norma.”

  Norma thought for a moment. “What now?”

  “We need to take a chest X ray. Since there’s an X-ray machine here, we can take the film today.”

  They walked to the large machine located at the back of the clinic. As Alex loaded the film, she smiled at Norma. “You’re lucky I know how to do this. A year ago I wouldn’t have known how. But after having to do my own X rays in the field, I know what I’m doing.”

  Twenty minutes later Alex studied the picture of Norma’s chest.

  “How’s it look?” Norma tilted her head to one side then another as she looked at her X ray.

  Alex pointed to the area around the collarbone. “See this area that looks like a snowball?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s the TB.”

  “Oh, heavens.” Norma stumbled back and collapsed in a chair as if overwhelmed by seeing her disease. “Am I going to die?”

  Alex sat beside the older woman. “As I told you before, in this day and age TB is completely curable. I’m going to prescribe a four-drug regimen for you to start on, but I’m going to need to do another test to make sure you’re getting the right medication.”

  One penciled brow arched. “What kind of test?”

  “It’s nothing exotic. All you have to do is spit into a dish for me. Then I’ll send it to a lab for them to culture and see which drugs kill the bacteria.”

  “I can do that.”

  Alex nodded. “I’ve searched through the drugs they have here at the clinic, and the drugs I want you to take aren’t here. When I talk to Dr. Shelly in Alpine and tell him about your case, I’ll have him send down a six-week supply of the drugs.”

  “All right.”

  “Now this is important, Norma. You need to take these pills every day, even after you start to feel good again. If you don’t, your TB could become resistant to the drugs, then it will be doubly hard to find a drug to kill the bacteria. Also, a public health nurse will be assigned to your case. She’ll check with you to make sure you’re taking your medication.”

  “Is that normal?”

  “Indeed it is. In Houston everyone gets a nurse. And if we run across a patient who won’t cooperate, the district attorney can order the patient to a sanatorium in San Antonio for the year it takes to complete the treatment.”

  “You’re pulling my leg, Doc.” Disbelief rang in her voice.

  “‘Fraid not. I’ve requested the D.A. to send an uncooperative patient to the sanatorium.”

  “Oh.”

  “I was dubbed by one TB patient the meanest doctor at the hospital.”

  The corners of Norma’s lips twitched.

  Now that she had lightened Norma’s mood, Alex decided to drop the other shoe. “I would recommend, Norma, for your health, that you stop smoking. If you don’t, it’s only going to slow down your getting well.”

  Norma’s mouth compressed into a tight line.

  “Have I gone from doctoring to meddling?”

  Norma heaved a deep sigh that turned into a cough. “No, you’re just telling me the truth.”

  “Also, the post office is going to have to be moved until you can get a better ventilation system installed and some different lighting for the building.”

  Norma shook her head. “I don’t know where the money will come from.”

  “I think if the health department orders the place closed, the government will find some money to fix the problem.”

  “Doc, do you work for a public institution?”

  “Yeah. Ben Taub is a county hospital.”

  “Then you know how money works in government. You can never get it for needed repairs and then there’s always too much wasted on five-dollar paper clips.”

  Norma pegged it right.

  “When can I go back to work?”

  “Not for a while. You’re going to have to stay at home for a couple of weeks until that medication starts working.”

  “You’re kidding me, right?”

  “I wish I was. But until you’ve been on that medication for a while, you’re still contagious. Besides, you probably don’t feel like going back to work.”

  Norma’s eyes darkened with concern and she clamped her hands together. “I feel this entire mess is all my fault.”

  Alex laid her hand on Norma’s arm. “You caught TB from someone. It just didn’t spontaneously appear in your lungs. The person who gave it to you didn’t do it on purpose, just as you didn’t purposely infect anyone.”

  “Are you going to test my family?”

  Now that Norma had turned out positive, Alex faced another dilemma. Almost everyone in this part of the county had come in contact with Norma, and if they had, they needed to be tested. Testing everyone would take days, maybe even a couple of weeks. How could she just hop in her car and drive off and wish everyone well? “Derek and I brought back several more tests from Alpine. I’ll test Billy and Lorraine.”

  “Who’s going to do the mail until I get back?”

  “Your daughter-in-law seemed to know what she was doing yesterday. She could fill in until we know if she’s positive for TB.”

  “What a mess,” Norma muttered.

  Those were Alex’s exact sentiments.

  * * *

  Derek pushed open the door of the clinic. “Anyone here?”

  “Back here in the examining room,” came Alexandra’s voice.

  He made his way through the clinic and stopped at the examining room door. “How did your test turn out, Norma?”

  “I got it,” she said in a shaky voice.

  Alex touched the older woman on the shoulder. “You’re going to get well. Believe that.”

  Gratitude showed on Norma’s pinched features as she looked at Alex. “I wish you were going to be here. I’d feel better if I knew you were close by.”

  Pain flickered in Alex’s eyes, but it was gone so quickly that if Derek hadn’t been watching her face, he would’ve missed it. But he knew Norma’s remark had touched a raw spot in Alexandra’s heart.

  “Thanks for your vote of
confidence,” Alex calmly replied, no hint of her reaction showing. “But I promise we’ll get you help. Now, you go home. I’ll call Dr. Shelly and get your medicine.”

  Norma hesitated. She looked as if she wanted to argue but then relented. “Okay. Thanks for everything, Dr. Courtland. I know my son-in-law forced you into this situation. You’ve been great.” Norma walked out of the room, then Derek heard the front door of the clinic open and close.

  He watched the play of different emotions across Alexandra’s lovely face. Anguish, regret, guilt.

  “She only meant to compliment you.”

  “I know.”

  “You’re doing all you can.”

  She nodded her head but didn’t speak. After a moment he wondered why she hadn’t said something.

  “What now?” he asked.

  Alex straightened her shoulders. “I report Norma’s positive test to Dr. Shelly. Everyone who’s been in contact with Norma is going to need to be tested.”

  A deep, cold fear slammed into his gut. Sarah. He knew the possibility was great that if Norma was positive, then she might have given the disease to Sarah. Faced with the reality, the horror and panic were worse than he expected.

  He felt her hand touch his arm, then heard her soft voice. “Derek.” He looked down into a pair of blue eyes that brimmed with understanding and compassion.

  He latched on to her desire to comfort him. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulled her close and buried his face in her shoulder. Maybe her warmth would drive away the fear eating his gut.

  She didn’t try to say anything. She simply held on to him, stroking his back with her small hands while he fought for control. Finally he lifted his head and looked down into her face. Her fingers touched his cheek, then traced his jaw.

  “She’ll be all right. Sarah’s come through too much to let this stop her.”

  “Thanks, Doc.” He didn’t release her. She felt too good.

  “Have you ever thought that you might have TB yourself?”

  That caught him by surprise. His forehead wrinkled with a deep frown. “No, I can’t say I have.” Absently he ran his hand over her back. She made a choked noise and pushed away from him.

  “Well, think about it. I’ll need to test you along with everyone who’s come in contact with Norma in the last month.”