Trail of Lies

by Margaret Daley

  “Yes and I checked it. Uncle Tyler and I went to it to secure any papers for the business. Although my husband worked a lot from home, he did have an office at his corporate headquarters. I cleaned it out, too, and brought his personal items here.” She waved at some boxes in the corner. “I left the business papers there for William Thompson.”

  “Could there be something in those that might help us?”

  “I didn’t see anything and my uncle looked over everything. He knows more about running a business than I do. Nothing seemed out of place.”

  “Would you allow us to look into the business and see if we can find anything?”

  Once she said yes, she would be fully committing herself to this plan of action, which would put her and Kaitlyn in danger. But she already was a target. “Yes.” She wanted this to end.

  “Then I need to move on this right away. Can you call Mr. Thompson and tell him to cooperate fully with the Texas Rangers I’ll be sending to his office?”

  She nodded. “Are you going?”

  “No. You trusted me with your secret even though it might put you and Kaitlyn in danger. I promised your daughter I would protect you two and I will. I’ll be staying here until you’re safe.”

  “Staying here?” she murmured, not sure how she felt about that. Part of her was comforted; another part was scared of the feelings he aroused in her. She hadn’t felt safe in a long time and with him she did. But it was more than feeling safe. It was a connection that went beyond his work.

  “Yeah, and when I can’t be here another Ranger will be. I’ll call my office and send two Rangers to begin going through your husband’s business today. I don’t want to waste any more time or give anyone a chance to cover up something.”

  “I’ll go check on Kaitlyn and make sure she’s still all right and call William to tell him to expect some Rangers.” She left the office and strode to the kitchen, withdrawing her cell as she walked.

  At the kitchen entrance she spied Kaitlyn sitting at the table with a big bowl of ice cream, which would no doubt spoil her dinner, but she knew what Juanita was doing. Trying to get her daughter to forget about the wreck. She entered the room. “I see you’re enjoying your ice cream.”

  With some on her upper lip, Kaitlyn nodded then spooned some more into her mouth.

  “Juanita, Daniel will be staying for dinner.”

  A slight widening of her housekeeper’s eyes was the only indication she was surprised. Since Axle’s disappearance she had rarely entertained.

  Kaitlyn bounced up and down in the chair and said, “Oh, goody. I’ll get to show him Patches.”

  “Have you fed him?”

  “Not yet. I will when I finish my ice cream.”

  Melora turned and strolled toward the large picture window in the dining room and stared out front while she called William Thompson. When she informed the man of her wishes, she could hear the censure in his voice. “I must insist on this. Someone murdered my husband and needs to be found. Wouldn’t you say so?”

  “Well, yes, but—”

  “Then we agree. There will be two Rangers showing up in a little while. Accommodate them any way you can.”

  After she hung up, she called the hospital, hoping that the cab driver was out of surgery by now. She had a friend on duty in the recovery room.

  After learning the driver was in serious but stable condition, Melora slipped her cell into her pocket, thinking about the cab driver who had gotten caught up in what was happening to her. She couldn’t let that happen to anyone else. Although she hadn’t driven the truck that caused the wreck, she felt responsible. If she hadn’t tried to run away, this might never have happened. She couldn’t live like this anymore, and she hoped Daniel was the answer because she was placing her and Kaitlyn’s lives in his hands.

  Daniel let himself into his apartment and headed for his bedroom to pack a bag. With Gisella staying temporarily at Melora’s, he would grab what he needed to stay indefinitely at her house. Both he and his captain felt she was a pivotal player in this case involving the Lions of Texas. That meant he had to keep her alive to help him get to the bottom of what was going on. Why had Axle been murdered? Who did it? What was Axle’s connection to the Lions of Texas? Where was the flash drive? What was on it? Question after question tumbled through his thoughts.

  Anderson and Oliver were at Axle’s business, reviewing the business papers under the watchful eye of William Thompson. His own interview with Thompson a few days ago had proved fruitless, but maybe something would come of going through the paperwork at Hudson Restaurant, Inc. Ben had already heard from Tyler Madison demanding to know what was going on. His captain was fielding the man’s inquiries, but threats to go to the governor were being tossed around.

  When Tyler had called Melora, not two hours after his visit to his niece’s, she’d been upset, telling her uncle that she needed to help with the investigation into Axle’s murder. Her shaken demeanor after the phone call momentarily made Daniel forget that she’d kept quiet when she shouldn’t have. In his job he lived with danger and fear. Melora didn’t. He had to remember that. They needed to work together to find the connection between Axle’s and Captain Pike’s murders.

  Daniel threw together the clothes and toiletries he would need for a week, then glanced around to make sure he wasn’t forgetting anything before making his way toward the door. A knock on it slowed his pace. He wasn’t expecting anyone. Dropping his bag at his feet, he leaned forward and checked who it was through the peephole.

  Clay. What was his son doing here? Then he remembered and groaned.

  Pulling the door open, he stood to the side to let his seventeen-year-old into the house. “You’re early.”

  “Basketball practice was over early so I came on over.” Clay spotted the bag on the floor nearby. “Going somewhere?”

  “I’m sorry I have to cancel tonight, but a case I’m working on—”

  “Fine. It’s not something that hasn’t happened before.” His son started to turn to leave.

  “Hold it. Why don’t you take the tickets to the Spurs’ game and have a friend go with you? We can go to dinner and a game another night.” Daniel withdrew his wallet and removed the two tickets he’d bought for a night with his son. He held them out to Clay, not sure by the frown on his face if his son would even take them.

  Clay glared at them for a long moment, then snatched them from Daniel’s grasp.

  “If this wasn’t important—”

  “Dad, don’t. I’ve heard that before. Thanks for the tickets.” He pivoted and hurried out the door.

  Daniel stared at the empty entrance. He’d done it again. He’d blown it with his son and he couldn’t blame Clay for being upset. After three years of clashing over just about everything, he’d started making some headway with Clay recently and now this would set him back. If he didn’t get so wrapped up in work, maybe he would have remembered about his plans with Clay and been able to make other arrangements.

  With a heavy sigh, Daniel grabbed his bag and left his apartment. When this case was over, he would make it up to Clay somehow. Their relationship had always been rocky since Cheryl had divorced him when their son was four. She’d found another man who could give her what she wanted, and she’d made it clear to Clay it was his dad’s fault their marriage had fallen apart. Cheryl had done everything she could to make sure her son didn’t want to live with Daniel through the years.

  Shaking those memories from his mind, Daniel reached his truck and slipped inside. He needed lessons on how to be a father. He certainly couldn’t use his own sire as an example. He and his dad had butted heads most of their relationship. Like father, like son? He hoped not. He didn’t want to make the same mistakes his father had with him, but it seemed as if he was heading down that path. Somehow he had to break the pattern.

  When he parked behind Gisella’s car in front of Melora’s large house forty-five minutes later, darkness blanketed the landscape as though it were trying to cut t
hem off from the rest of the world. Melora’s place was in an area with few houses surrounding her. Each home in Lone Star Estates had several acres, which gave the impression of isolation.

  Gisella opened the door for him.

  “Any problems?” He entered the house, the scent of baking bread and roasted chicken peppering the air. His stomach rumbled its hunger.

  Gisella chuckled. “Welcome to my world. I’ve smelled that for a couple of hours. And there weren’t any problems other than my allergy to cats rearing its ugly head. It’s been quiet except for Kaitlyn who let it spill that Patches had been missing for several days last week, then suddenly returned. The little girl thought they had lost him for good, but she’d been saying her prayers and God brought him back to her.”

  “Patches was missing? Melora didn’t say anything about that.” What else was she keeping from him?

  “It’s probably nothing, but you wanted to know if I learned anything out of the ordinary. Cats do tend to be independent and go off, but I didn’t get the impression that Kaitlyn’s had ever been gone overnight.”

  He removed his cowboy hat and tossed it on the table in the foyer. “Thanks. I’ll check with Melora about it. She ran this morning for a reason.”

  “Kaitlyn is very attached to Patches. If something happened to the cat, that would certainly make a statement.”

  “And I intend to find out why someone is terrorizing Melora. What does she know about the flash drive?”

  “She doesn’t think she knows anything.”

  “Maybe she does but doesn’t realize it. I’m taking her tomorrow to see the man in a coma at the hospital. She may have seen him meeting with her husband here at the house.”

  “That would be a break if we can find out more about him. See ya.”

  After Gisella left, Daniel was drawn toward the kitchen by the sounds coming from there. Leaving his bag in the foyer, he covered the distance to the room quickly, his appetite whetted by the aromas wafting to him.

  Kaitlyn leaped to her feet when she saw him come into the kitchen. “You’re here. We can eat now.”

  “You waited for me?” Daniel asked, realizing he and Melora had never talked about him eating dinner tonight with them. He’d even considered grabbing something on the way here, but for some reason he didn’t stop, almost as if the aromas drew him across miles of San Antonio.

  “We haven’t been waiting long. I asked Gisella to stay if she wanted, but she had something she had to do tonight. If you’ve eaten, that’s okay.”

  “Are you kidding? I haven’t, and this smells wonderful.”

  Kaitlyn took his hand. “First, we’ve got to wash up. Mommy won’t let me eat until I do. I’ll show you where.” Tugging on him, she led him toward the mudroom. “Mommy put a stepstool for me to use. One day I’ll be tall like you and not use one.”

  While the child chattered about how important it was to sing the “Happy Birthday” song two times while washing her hands, Daniel stood there still slightly in shock, the words to the tune filling the air. Remembering his own son’s childhood put Daniel on alert. He hadn’t been very successful with Clay, and he was male. Daniel didn’t know the first thing about a young girl.

  Kaitlyn hopped down from the stool. “Your turn. Remember Happy Birthday,” she held up two fingers, “two times.”

  “Sure,” he murmured.

  When he didn’t start singing, Kaitlyn did. Halfway through the first time, he joined in, his voice strained. He said her name while she said Mr. Riley.

  At the end she giggled. “Silly. This is your song.”

  “But it isn’t my birthday.”

  “You have to pretend.”

  Pretending he knew how to do. For seventeen years he’d been pretending to be a father and not doing such a good job, according to both Cheryl and Clay. “I’ll remember that next time.”

  Reentering the kitchen, he immediately captured Melora’s attention and saw the twinkle in her eyes. Her mouth twitched as if she could barely contain her laughter. He could imagine how he sounded—off-key, stumbling over the words to a simple well-known song.

  “It’s been a while since I sang that,” he said to her as he sat at the table set for three. “Juanita isn’t joining us?”

  “She’s going out with a friend. She does most Mondays.”

  He lowered his voice and said, “So it isn’t my presence that’s keeping her away?”

  “Don’t flatter yourself.”

  “I understand, Juanita, you’re leaving us to enjoy all this delicious food alone.” Daniel gestured toward the table laden with a roasted chicken, cooked potatoes, carrots, onions and celery. “If I cooked all this, I wouldn’t be able to resist sampling it. Must be an important person to keep you away…” he drew in a deep breath of the smells tempting him to salivate “…from this.”

  The housekeeper pinned her dark eyes on Daniel. “I’ve tasted my own cooking before.” She untied an apron she had around her waist, slung it over the back of a chair and strode toward the hallway that led to her suite of rooms.

  “She goes to see her older sister at Uncle Tyler’s.” Melora took her seat.

  “Older sister?” Which one? When he investigated Juanita, he’d learned she had three.

  “Carmen is Uncle Tyler’s housekeeper.”

  “I see.” He couldn’t shake the feeling the reserved housekeeper wanted to avoid him. Why? Was it as Melora had said and Juanita didn’t trust law enforcement or was it something else? The preliminary information Evan had found on the housekeeper didn’t indicate anything that would make him think she was hiding something, but still the niggling sensation he’d learned to listen to plagued him when he was around the woman.

  “C’mon, Mr. Riley. Mommy’s waiting to say the blessing.”

  Daniel sat. “Just wondering if Juanita had a date.”

  “Like on TV?” Kaitlyn took a gulp of her milk, leaving a white mustache as evidence.

  “Honey, remember the blessing. You need to wait.”

  The little girl leaned toward Daniel and whispered loud enough that Juanita could probably hear it in her room. “See what I mean?”

  He winked at Kaitlyn, who had her mother’s features but the coloring of her father. “Yes, I do.”

  Melora blessed the meal and not a second later Kaitlyn dived into her food as though she hadn’t eaten in days. “We’re not racing to see who is going to finish first, honey.”

  Kaitlyn paused shoveling in the vegetables and slowed her movements almost to a crawl—that lasted all of ten seconds.

  Daniel kept his chuckle to himself, his gaze connecting with Melora’s across the table. In that moment he felt her intense protectiveness toward her daughter, and he could begin to understand why she didn’t know what to do when the threats started. He was exposed to evil in his job, but not Melora. She spent her time raising her daughter and volunteering to help others. Something inside him softened toward Melora as if he could place himself in her shoes and see where she was coming from. He did know he would do anything to protect Clay even if their relationship was rocky.

  “It’s been a long day, honey. It’s time for you to get some sleep.” Melora’s body still ached from the wreck that morning. She covered Kaitlyn with the pink coverlet and bent down to kiss her.

  Before she could, her daughter scooted up and sat back against the headboard. “How about a story?” She peered around Melora toward Daniel who stood in the entrance. “Will you read me one? Please, Mr. Riley.”

  “You don’t want your mom to?” Daniel’s surprised look encompassed his whole face.

  Kaitlyn shook her head. “She can anytime.”

  “If it’s okay with your mom.”

  Melora straightened and went to the bookcase, selecting the story that her daughter wanted to hear every night the past few weeks. Handing it to Daniel, she gave him a smile. “Go for it. If you can do voices, she loves that.”

  As Daniel took the book, Kaitlyn clapped her hands. “Yeah, Mommy doe
s a great troll.”

  “I’ll have to hear that one day.” Daniel sat on the bed next to her daughter and opened the fairy-tale collection to the first story.

  Kaitlyn splayed her fingers across the written page. “Not that one.” After flipping through the book, she found the fairy tale she wanted and tapped it. “I want to hear Snow White. A prince saves her.”

  As Daniel began to read, Melora eased into the chair to listen to his deep, gruff Texas drawl. At first he was hesitant, but soon the words began to flow from him as he got into the story. By the end he even had the evil queen down with a wicked-sounding voice. Would he be her Prince Charming and save her and Kaitlyn? If he could, she was sure he would.

  When he closed the book, Kaitlyn clapped. “Another one, Mr. Riley.”

  “Call me Daniel. We’re gonna be spending a lot of time together. And as far as another story. Maybe tomorrow night.”

  Kaitlyn threw her arms around Daniel’s neck and kissed him on the cheek. “Okay. You read better than Mommy.”

  Daniel’s face reddened. He rose, peering back at Melora as though he didn’t know what to say to her daughter.

  Melora stepped forward. “Time for bed now.”

  As Kaitlyn snuggled down under the covers, Melora kissed her and switched off the bedside lamp with scenes of princesses from Disney movies.

  “Good night, Mommy, Daniel.”

  In the dimness of the night-light, Melora made her way toward Daniel framed in the doorway, waiting for her. The soft look in his eyes hinted at a vulnerability that spoke to Melora. She’d known he had been married once and had a teenage son who lived with his mother. She couldn’t imagine being separated from her daughter. That was the reason she’d stayed with Axle.

  She closed her daughter’s door partway then headed toward the kitchen. She still needed to clean up the rest of the dishes. If she kept herself occupied, maybe then she wouldn’t focus on the pain she’d glimpsed in Daniel’s eyes—as though he’d realized what he’d lost.