The Other Laura

by Sheryl Lynn

  Ryder thrust out his hand to Abby. She shrugged away from him and brandished her paintbrush like a sword. “I’m working.” Her chin jutted and her eyes glittered, telling him she had no intention of leaving Teresa.

  He planted his hands on his hips. Anger surged. Not anger with Abby, but with Laura, who was still creating strife and turmoil in the kid’s life. He dropped to a crouch, putting himself almost eye level with her. “You know I love you more than anything in the whole wide world, right?”

  Lips pushed into a tight little scowl, she nodded.

  “I love your mama, too. We’re going to work things out. Everything will be all right.”

  “I don’t want Mama to go away. I don’t want that other mama.”

  He glanced at the office, able only to see Teresa’s back as she hunched over her work. He stopped himself before he made promises he might not be able to keep. “She’s not going anywhere. Let’s go find Mr. Tom.”

  They found the cowboy in the back corral. He’d rounded up and penned the year’s crop of calves. Five longhorn weanlings with their big deer eyes and loppy ears watched Ryder’s approach. In the distance, a mama cow peered at them from the safety of an oak thicket. Her spread of horns glinted in the sunshine. Even farther away, the rest of his longhorns grazed in a meadow. He kept his herd at fifteen adult animals, enough to make his ranch feel like a ranch and give him a good supply of models.

  He climbed the fence and perched on the top rail. Tame as critters in a petting zoo, the young heifers and bulls ambled to the fence, their long tongues working in a search of treats. Abby used both hands to pet the calves.

  Carrying a clipboard, Tom wandered across the corral. “What’s up, boss?”

  Ryder studied the biggest calf. The young bull had a dark roan coat, almost burgundy colored, with pure white socks and a handsome face. Ryder liked the look in his eyes, wise and a little bit wild. “I’m thinking we ought to keep this fella.”

  “Will you finally get rid of old Judy? She’s too good a breeder for the likes of us. I know a rodeo stock man who’d pay top dollar for her.”

  Judy was the cow watching them from the brush. She had a mean streak that had set Tom to cussing more than once. With her long, sharp horns, she was capable of doing major damage to a man or horse if she ever set her mind to it.

  “I’ll leave that up to you.” Ryder gestured for the man to come near. “Take a look at this.” He handed the fax sheet to Tom. “What do you know about this?”

  Tom studied the sheet for a moment. At first, his expression was carefully blank, but slowly his shaggy brows knit into a scowl and his lips tightened. He handed back the paper. “I don’t know anything about it, boss. I don’t write checks for cash. Never have.”

  Ryder turned to Abby. “Those babies are looking mighty thirsty, sugar bear. Run on over and grab the hose. Fill the trough over there.”

  She trotted away, and the calves followed her along the inside the fence.

  Lowering his voice, Ryder said, “I know you didn’t write these checks. I’m thinking Laura forged them. She needed cash to give Donny Weis.”

  “What are you saying, boss?”

  Ryder watched Abby wrestle with the hundred-foot-long water hose. “Laura really isn’t Laura, she’s Teresa.”

  “She remembers?”

  “Not exactly. I’ll tell you later. More important right now is figuring out what happened to Laura. We figure she took off because she’s the one who shot Teresa.”

  “Does your missus—Teresa remember being shot?”

  He shook his head. “She remembers some things, but not everything. We think those checks are proof that Laura was trying to kill me. Donny Weis stopped by. He has a tape recording of Laura telling him to kill me. He’s trying to blackmail her.”

  Tom slumped, his shoulders against the fence. Head down, his face hidden by his hat, he made a choked noise deep in his throat. “Where is he?”

  “Don’t know. Weis told her to cough up twenty-five grand or he’ll kill me.” Ryder passed off the threat with a wave of his hand. “He’s all smoke, no fire.” He glanced across the corral, then lowered his gaze to the fax sheet. “I won’t ask you to get involved unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

  “You don’t know where Weis is?”

  Ryder shook his head. As far as he knew, Weis had never lived anywhere for more than a few months. He thought only suckers actually paid the rent.

  “Are you putting the cops on him?”

  “Don’t worry about the cops. Far as I can see, they’ve got no cause at all to bother you.” Ryder hopped off the fence. “I’ll let you know if I need your help.”

  Distracted by the animals, Abby appeared to forget her need to be clingy. Pointing the hose into the trough, she stood inside a knot of calves, the smallest of which outweighed her by a good two hundred pounds.

  If he lost her, he’d die. “Come on, sugar bear. Let’s go on in the house.”

  As Ryder walked away from the corral, he folded the fax and tucked it in his shirt pocket. Nothing to do now except wait and trust Tess to figure out the right thing to do.

  The next few days were tense for all of them. Ryder couldn’t paint, so he puttered around the ranch, never letting Abby out of his sight. Teresa spent a lot of time inside the office. He doubted if she’d discover any good evidence, but the busywork gave her something to do while they waited for Donny to contact her.

  When he did, it was almost anticlimatic. He called on her private line and asked if Teresa had made up her mind. Cagey and sly, he didn’t identify himself or make a direct reference to the money. When she mentioned money, he sidestepped. Finally, she told him he had to come to the ranch because she couldn’t yet drive. Tomorrow, she said, Ryder would be gone.

  After she hung up, she called Becky Solerno.

  “Remember our deal,” Teresa said. “You can’t arrest him. He has to lead you to Laura.”

  She suddenly gasped and grabbed the telephone with both hands. “You can’t do that! Abby is perfectly safe. She’ll be with Mrs. Weatherbee. She won’t be anywhere near the ranch when Donny shows up.” She bounced on the edge of the bed and thrust the telephone at Ryder.

  “Hudson, here, what’s going on?”

  “I was explaining to Teresa how Abby’s safety is of prime concern,” Solerno said. “I’m dispatching a deputy and a social worker to remove her from the premises.”

  “You can’t do that!”

  “I have no choice. I’ve talked to a judge, and explained how Abby isn’t living with a custodial parent. Both her parents are involved in a criminal investigation. The judge issued the order. Please cooperate, Mr. Hudson. It’s out of my hands.”

  Tears streamed down Teresa’s cheeks. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so very, very sorry.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Some bad people are doing bad things to Mama and Daddy,” Teresa said. Abby, her eyes enormous and dark with distrust, stood before her. “So you need to go somewhere safe. Okay, baby?”

  Abby shifted her suspicious glare to the brown-clad deputy and the social worker. “I’m gonna go see Aunt Gracie?”

  “Not this time, sugar bear.” Ryder ruffled her hair. “I want you to be extra good. I’ll come get you just as soon as I can.”

  The social worker took Abby’s hand. When the little girl struggled, the woman forced a grim smile. “Come along, Abby.”

  “No, Daddy! I don’t want to go! Daddy!”

  When Ryder moved in, so did the deputy. “Please don’t interfere, sir.”

  Gary Holstead, who’d arrived only minutes ahead of the sheriff’s department vehicle, put a restraining hand on Ryder’s arm. “The paperwork is ironclad, Ryder,” he said softly. “I’ll get right on it. Don’t worry.”

  “Daddy!”

  The social worker picked up Abby and carried her, screaming and wriggling, to the patrol car. The deputy helped wrestle the child inside and shut the door.

  Teresa shook with t
he effort it took to restrain her tears She watched her baby leave until the patrol car was out of sight. She turned to Ryder. His face was gray, his eyes were stricken. His throat worked convulsively.

  The attorney clapped a beefy hand on Ryder’s shoulder. “You’ll cooperate with the sheriff’s department tomorrow. That’ll go in your favor. You’ll get her back. No sweat.”

  Ryder’s gaze slipped unseeing past Teresa. She knew he blamed her. She blamed herself. When he trudged past her without a word, she suspected he hated her, too.

  DONNY WEIS arrived right on time. Because of Ryder’s suspicion that Donny had been surveilling the house, he sent Mrs. Weatherbee into town. He drove away from the ranch, too, heading toward Denver. He met with the deputies and showed them the back way onto the ranch so they could set up their recording equipment in the barn.

  According to plan, Teresa refused to allow Donny inside the house. Becky Solerno wanted him in the open and vulnerable in case he was armed and decided to get stupid. Teresa made him follow her to the barn, where she sat on wooden bench. Sunshine made her squint.

  Laura’s ex-husband pushed his hands into his trouser pockets and rocked on his heels. He grinned, his gaze locked on the paper sack Teresa held on her lap. She hated him, loathed him, blamed him for her broken heart. If not for him and his greed, Abby wouldn’t be lost inside the social services system. The judge wouldn’t even allow Ryder to know the location of the foster home where she’d been taken, nor was he allowed the phone number so he could call her.

  “It’s hot out here,” Donny said.

  “Suffer. I don’t want you contaminating my house.”

  He winced. “Touchy, touchy. Did I tell you you look like hell, baby? Didn’t you get any sleep last night?”

  “Why are you doing this to me, Donny?”

  “Why not?” He looked over his shoulder at the log cabin where Tom Sorry lived. “Where’s the old cowboy?”

  “He went to Denver to sell some calves. We’re alone.”

  “Good.” He held out his hand. “You have something for me?”

  She made herself look at him. “I want to know something first. How much money did you take from me? As payment for murdering Ryder?”

  “What difference does it make?”

  “Maybe I want to know what your limit is.”

  “Oh, baby, you’ve forgotten, old Donny boy knows no limits. Give me the cash.”

  “Where’s the tape?”

  He laughed. “I’m holding on to it.” He cocked his head, smiling like a salesman. “Did I forget to mention, this is just the down payment? I figured, oh, let’s say ten grand a month for the next year or so?”

  “I can’t believe you’re blackmailing me.”

  He bent at the waist, leaning so close she could smell the sickly sweet scent of his cologne. “This is America, land of opportunity.”

  She clutched the sack with both hands. “There’s only five thousand dollars here. If you want the other twenty, you have to do something first.”

  He snatched the sack off her lap. She grabbed for it, catching a corner. He easily dislodged her grip and strode a few steps away, hunched over like a coyote protecting a kill.

  Teresa’s breath caught in her throat. The muscles in her back went into a sharp spasm and her legs twitched. “Give me back the money, Donny. I haven’t finished talking to you.”

  He grabbed the fat wad of cash and thumbed through it. “This isn’t enough. I said twenty-five and I mean it.”

  “I have the rest of it, but you don’t get a penny of it until you sign something first.”

  His face scrunched in a puzzled grimace. “Are you nuts?”

  “No.” She handed over a folder containing the termination of parental rights forms. “Sign these papers, then I’ll give you the rest of the money.”

  He opened the manila folder and scanned the papers. “You are nuts. I’m not signing anything.”

  “I’ll make it worth your while, Donny.”

  “Oh, yeah? How so?” He looked between her and the folder. “You care about the kid that much?”

  “I love my husband and my child very much. I want Ryder to adopt Abby. If you make that possible, I’ll give you anything you want.”

  A sharp report rang out and echoed off the surrounding rocks.

  Teresa screamed and clapped her hands over her ears. Donny dived to the ground and locked his arms over his head.

  Tom Sorry stepped from around the far side of the barn.

  Wide-eyed, hand pressed to her mouth, Teresa whispered, “Tom? What are you doing here? What are you doing?”

  He inhaled deeply and pointed the business end of the barrel at Donny Weis’s head. “I saw his car, knew he was up to no good. This polecat’s got to go.” His finger tightened on the trigger.

  Donny whimpered, only one eye showing. It was black with panic.

  “Tom, no, you can’t!”

  He looked her straight in the eye. “He threatened you, ma’am. It’ll be self-defense. I witnessed it, gave him fair warning. If we can get our stories straight right now, nothing needs come out of it.”

  “You don’t understand—”

  “Yeah,” Donny said, “you don’t understand!”

  “No, ma’am, you don’t understand.” The rifle was unwavering. “See, you don’t remember what happened. You don’t know what kind of damage this boy can do to you and Ryder. He’s a leech and a liar. Now, Ryder, he’ll be wanting to do the right thing and all, so you and me, we have to work together. It’s just like shooting a varmint. That’s all he is, a no-account, egg-stealing varmint.”

  “Tom,” she said, trying to stay calm. “Please put down the gun. We have this all taken care of. You don’t need to get involved.”

  “Involved?” Donny taunted, his voice quavering. “This stupid stump-jumper is already involved up to his eyeballs. Tell her about you and Laura.”

  Tom snarled at Donny. “I made a mistake with Laura. She was so pretty and all, I thought she cared about me.”

  Beginning to suspect there was more to this than Tom coming home too soon, she asked, “You had an affair with Ryder’s wife?”

  “Everybody had an affair with her,” Donny said. He looked at Tom. “She used you, cowboy, just like she tried to use me.”

  “She wouldn’t let me alone. I never had a woman look at me like that.” He gazed mournfully at Donny. “I guess, in the end, she’s going to get what she wanted from me after all.”

  “Ah, no,” Donny whispered and squeezed his eyes shut.

  Teresa lurched off the bench and caught Tom’s arm. “You can’t shoot him. No, please, don’t.”

  “Listen to her, man!” Donny cried. “I never hurt Ryder. I never hurt anybody. It was all Laura. She’s the one.” He turned his attention to Teresa. “Everything was Laura. She called me, she gave me the money, she laid out all the plans on how to kill Ryder. It was her. I just played along. I saved Ryder’s life! Don’t you see? If I told her no, she’d have hired a real hitter.”

  Teresa tightened her hold on Tom’s arm. His muscles were like rocks, unyielding. The deadness in his eyes frightened her most of all.

  She looked at Donny. “You know I’m not Laura. You’ve known all along. Where is she?”

  “You know you’re not Laura?” Donny recovered quickly and shifted his attention to Tom. “Ask the cowboy.”

  “She was trying to get Donny to kill Ryder,” Tom said. “Then I was supposed to kill Donny for her. I don’t know how it happened, but I got all tangled up before I knew it. I didn’t want her killing Ryder. He’s my friend. I thought I could handle her, but after she put a bullet in you, I knew there was no stopping her.”

  “What happened that day?” Teresa wanted to run, but fear paralyzed her. The barn at her back was full of cops listening to every word they said. So, where were they?

  “Laura found out Donny was taping their phone calls,” Tom continued. “So she lured him out here. I got him tied up in the barn and was
supposed to kill him. Only he tells her he’s got the tapes locked up in a bank box and a friend of his has instructions to turn them over to the cops if anything happens to him. She gets this plan. She gives her bank cards to Donny and tells him he has twenty-four hours before she reports the cards stolen. I’m supposed to follow him, find out who the friend is and kill him and Donny.”

  “Tell her the really good part, cowboy,” Donny said. He flashed a grin at Teresa.

  “You came back to the ranch to tell Ryder why Laura fired you.”

  “I heard everything?” Teresa asked.

  He nodded. “You took off running. I didn’t want nothing to do with it. None of it. Hell, I didn’t even want to kill this worm here. She grabbed my gun and took off after you herself.”

  “Laura shot me?”

  “She panicked. She got you in her car and took off. Wasn’t twenty minutes later, she was back. She’d wrecked her car. So I went to the quarry and helped her push it off the side.” His expression crumpled and his eyes turned red. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. Honest to God, I didn’t. I wasn’t thinking. She was scared, I was scared. I knew she was going to blame it all on me. And I’d go back to prison. That’s what I kept thinking. Then Weis here got away.”

  Donny actually looked proud of his exploits.

  “Then Laura told me I had to kill Ryder now. We’d make it look like he’d killed you and then got killed himself. She was saying we could make it look like Donny was involved, but I know she was figuring a way to pin it all on me. And seeing her like that, I saw how ugly she was. I saw how she’d been using me. Ryder’s my friend. I didn’t want him dead.”

  “Tom?” she whispered. “Where is Laura?”

  “Yeah, Tom,” Donny said, “where is my lovely ex-wife? I saw you stuff her in the trunk of Teresa’s car, but I didn’t stick around to see what happened after that.”

  Tom winced, and pain rippled across his face.

  “Where is she?”

  “In the quarry. I didn’t mean to kill her, but it was her or me. Self-defense. It was for Ryder, too. That woman was no good. You’re good for him, Teresa. Always have been. It was pure luck, everyone thinking you’re Laura. You can just keep on with it now. Donny’s the only one who can blow it for you. With him dead, no one has to know anything. It’ll be our secret.”