Rancher's Dream

by B. J Daniels

  “Not until after the investigation and we’re sure the structure is safe to enter.”

  She groaned inwardly as she disconnected. Smoke and water damage. Depending on how bad it was, it could take weeks, if not months, to get reopened.

  Unable to sleep any longer, she got dressed and made the calls to her employees. “I’ll let you know as soon as I know how bad it is and what it will take before we can reopen.” She heard it in their voices. They would have to look for other jobs if the remodel took months. She couldn’t even think about her head chef. She’d had to pay him a bonus just to get him to come to work for her.

  Her losses just kept mounting up. She sat for a moment, wishing she could call her parents. Her mother would be sympathetic. Her father would be practical. Both would offer money she would turn down. From the beginning she’d wanted to do this on her own. But she’d never been more on her own than she was right now.

  She started to call AJ but it was an hour earlier in Montana. Assuming her friend had worked last night, she would still be in bed asleep. Gigi held the phone in her hand, debating what to do next. It was too early to call her insurance company. She could drive downtown and see what she could from the street. Or wait until the fire department called back, but that might not be for several days.

  Looking down at her phone, Gigi knew even before she touched the screen what she was going to do. It only took a minute to book a flight to Montana. Getting to Gilt Edge wasn’t easy, though. She would have to fly into Billings, the largest city in the state, rent a car and drive northwest.

  She called up a map, surprised to see how few roads there were in a state the size of Montana. “Great.” Was she really going to do this? Why not? Even after the fire department got back to her, her insurance company would have to estimate the damage. She could leave a key to the restaurant with a friend. She’d be back before any work could begin on the interior.

  Booking a rental car, she told herself she was going to Montana but that didn’t mean she had any intentions of meeting her birth mother.

  * * *

  WAITING FOR CYRUS, Hawk thought about calling his brother Flint. Wasn’t it time to bring the sheriff in? But what did they really know? It wasn’t illegal to spy on your own house—or the wife in it. Nor did they have proof yet that Jet had done anything. Hawk was just hoping Cyrus would be able to help them find the evidence they needed.

  The gate buzzer made him jump when it went off. He and Drey had been in the kitchen, both of them lost in their own thoughts. She still seemed out of it and he suspected she’d ingested some of the missing pills from the container unknowingly. Who knew what in this house might have been doctored since Jet had been staying here—and possibly Ethan had been here, as well.

  Drey opened the gate for Cyrus. As Hawk watched her, he had to fight a growing need in him to comfort her. But he knew that they were both vulnerable right now, especially Drey. Earlier in the guest bedroom, he couldn’t help remembering their lovemaking. They were good together, always had been. Had she remembered how they’d been together?

  As she turned toward him, he saw her toying with her wedding ring. It appeared to be too tight.

  “I’ll run down and let Cyrus in,” he said, not wanting to read too much into the gesture. Every time he’d mentioned Ethan, she’d taken up for her husband. Which made him respect her even more. He was just going to hate seeing her heart broken, though, when this was over. All his instincts told him there could be no happy ending for Drey and Ethan Baxter.

  Then again, maybe that was just wishful thinking on his part. He felt guilty for the thought as he trotted down the stairs to the front door. He wanted Drey to be happy. Even with someone else. Just not Ethan Baxter, he told himself.

  “Your call sounded urgent,” Cyrus said.

  “When you see what we found, you’ll see why.” He let his brother up through the house. Cyrus lagged behind, rubbernecking as he took it all in.

  “This place is wild. Not to my liking, but still pretty impressive. How does Drey like it?”

  Hawk shot him an are-you-kidding look as they neared the kitchen where Drey was waiting on them.

  “What’re you doing here anyway?” Cyrus whispered as they entered the huge commercial kitchen and massive dining room.

  “Long story,” Hawk whispered over his shoulder before turning to Drey. She looked nervous and still scared. He could understand why. She had two Cahill men in Ethan’s house. Hawk had to wonder what would happen if the man suddenly returned. But at the same time, he didn’t believe any of them would be seeing Ethan Baxter again. He’d put his money on Ethan having skipped the country with the FBI hot on his trail. A man like that would have funds stashed in banks all over the world. No, they’d seen the last of Ethan Baxter.

  After a quick greeting, they led Cyrus down a floor to the guest bedroom with the secret entry into the surveillance room. His brother let out an oath and, rubbing his hands, stepped in as if entering a toy shop.

  “This is impressive,” Cyrus said, taking in all the gadgets.

  “I’m assuming that some of the video might be saved for a few days or at least twenty-four hours?” Hawk asked.

  “Possibly. What are you looking for?”

  “The video from yesterday morning about what time? From the camera on the pond and dock.”

  “Ten thirty in the morning,” Drey said.

  Cyrus sat down at the computer in the room and typed on the keyboard for a few minutes before looking up at the computer screen. “That video screen was turned off for some reason that day.”

  “We know the reason,” Hawk said. “That proves that someone has been remotely accessing this equipment, just as I suspected,” Hawk said. “Can you call up the kitchen? What day was the disposal incident?” he asked Drey.

  “That would have been my first day here.” She had to think for a moment before she gave him the date of the day after her wedding.

  “Can you call up the kitchen video? Time?”

  “About eleven in the morning,” she said and moved closer to the screen to watch.

  It took a few minutes for Cyrus to find the video from that date and time. The screen flickered and suddenly Jet appeared, his back to the sink.

  “You want audio?” Cyrus asked.

  “Not yet,” Drey said, mesmerized as she watched herself come on-screen and Jet move away. “He went to make himself another drink.”

  The bird’s-eye video continued with her standing at the sink. She watched herself look around for the disposal switch as Jet bent over the glassware at the bar.

  Jet appeared next to her again. “Audio now,” she said.

  Cyrus tapped the keyboard. There was that horrible grinding sound before Jet flipped off the disposal. They all watched him feel around in the drain for a moment before—coming out with what looked exactly like a man’s thumb.

  Both Hawk and Cyrus swore. “Is that real?” Cyrus asked. They listened to the discussion she and Jet had, then watched Jet put the thumb into a plastic bag and place it in the freezer.

  “I didn’t imagine any of it,” Drey said as if talking to herself. “I knew it. He lied. He’s lied about all of it.”

  “I don’t think we need to look at the video from the night I broke into your bedroom,” Hawk said. “I saw the mouse in the bottom of the water bottle that had been thrown from your balcony.”

  “What the hell has been going on here?” Cyrus asked.

  “Someone wants Drey to believe she’s unstable.”

  “Why?” Cyrus asked with a frown.

  “We don’t know yet,” Hawk said. “One more video. This one would have been from two nights ago—if whoever is watching hasn’t already wiped it clean.”

  Cyrus called it up. “Which room?”

  “My bedroom,” Drey said beside him as if she knew exactly what he was looking for. />
  The room came up on the screen. “The infrared camera is a nice touch,” Cyrus commented. They could see the room and Drey sleeping in the bed as clearly as if it were daylight.

  “Can you zoom in on her bedside table?” Hawk asked.

  He did. The bedside table held nothing but a lamp and a water bottle that was still half-full. The video kept playing. Hawk could feel Drey next to him, her tension palpable. He reached over and took her hand, squeezing it. If he was right, someone had left those drugs for her.

  There was nothing to watch on the screen except for an occasional movement from under the covers on the bed. Then, off to the left, a dark figure came into view. Back to the camera, the figure moved toward Drey’s bedside table.

  Hawk held his breath as a man dressed in all black, including the hoodie he wore, took something out of his pocket and placed it on the table. The container of pills. Drey moved on the bed. The figure froze, then stood over her for a long moment, before turning to leave. As he headed back in the direction of the surveillance equipment, he kept his head down until almost the last minute.

  The camera caught him before he stepped out of view and was gone.

  Drey let out a cry. For just a moment, Jet looked so much like his brother that it was clear that she’d thought it was Ethan.

  “Who was that?” Cyrus asked.

  “Jet Baxter, Ethan’s brother,” she said, her voice breaking.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  HAWK PULLED DREY to him. She stepped into his arms, burying her face in his broad chest. She was feeling so many conflicting emotions. She needed his strength right now and wasn’t up to fighting it. And yet she wasn’t free, wouldn’t be until Ethan returned, until she could get control of her life again.

  Jet. Of course it was him.

  Not Ethan. Hawk had been so sure that Ethan was behind it. Even the FBI didn’t believe he was in Mexico City.

  “Any way to make a copy of that video?” Hawk asked his brother.

  “I can email it to your phone.”

  Drey felt numb. For that second, she’d thought it was Ethan. What still made her sick to her stomach was that she wouldn’t have been surprised if it had been him. He’d left her on their wedding night and she hadn’t talked to him since. All she had was Jet’s word—for what that was worth—that Ethan had called from Mexico City.

  Drawing back from Hawk’s strong arms, she tried to pull herself together. She wasn’t going crazy. It was just as Hawk had suspected. She hadn’t trusted Jet and for good reason, as it turned out. But why? It made no sense.

  “I don’t understand what Jet hopes to gain,” she said, hating that her voice sounded so small.

  Hawk shook his head. “I don’t know. But I’m going to find him and when I do...” He turned to his brother. “Is there any way to disable this entire system?”

  Cyrus raised a brow. “I suppose you could just pull the plug on everything in this room. But if you’re right and someone is watching all this from another location...”

  “He’ll come see what is wrong,” Hawk finished.

  Cyrus made a not-sure-that’s-a-good-idea face.

  “We have to flush him out,” Hawk said.

  “Don’t you think you should get Flint involved before we start flushing out anyone?” his brother asked.

  “Before I go to Flint, I want to do a little investigating on my own. So far Jet hasn’t done anything that Flint could arrest him for. Ethan Baxter is being investigated by the FBI. Supposedly the feds are watching the house. Probably looking for Ethan. But now they know that you and I have been here.”

  “I’m not worried about the feds. But I am worried about what you’re planning to do,” Cyrus said.

  “Nothing right now.” Hawk looked to Drey. “Right now, we all need to get out of here and go somewhere and talk. For all we know, this room is also being monitored. It could have a camera just like the rest of the house. They are so well hidden that no one would know they were being spied on. Drey?”

  She nodded, still looking a little shell-shocked by everything.

  “This remote location,” Hawk said as a thought struck him. “He could be in this house, right?”

  Cyrus raised a brow. “You mean hiding out somewhere in some hidden part of this place?”

  Hawk saw Drey shudder and hug herself. “We can talk about it at the house.”

  “I better take my own car,” she said.

  Well, not hers exactly, he thought.

  Cyrus checked his phone and said he had an appointment with a neighboring rancher he was going to be late for. Also, they had a local beef growers association meeting after that, one Hawk had forgotten about. “I was headed there when I got your call. Big brother will have to chew me out some other time.”

  “I guess I’ll see you back at the house later tonight,” Hawk said, making it clear that he wasn’t leaving Drey alone—especially for the beef growers meeting.

  “Fine,” Cyrus said. “But if something comes up and you need me...”

  “We’ll holler. And for now, let’s keep all this under our hats.”

  His brother agreed. “Seriously, after what we saw on that video... Just be careful.”

  * * *

  GIGI THOUGHT ABOUT calling AJ to let her know she was coming to Montana. But she wasn’t sure she was going through with meeting her birth mother.

  Once in the rental car, she headed out of town with a map of Montana and Gilt Edge marked in red. She’d forgotten how beautiful the country was. Mountains lush with pines, creeks running crystal clear through tall green grasses, an endless blue sky dotted with puffy snow-white clouds.

  She rolled down her window, taking in the scents. It surprised her how quickly all the tension left her body. While she’d told herself there was nothing she could do about the restaurant for days, the amount of work ahead had been on her mind constantly.

  She smiled to herself thinking what AJ would say. “I told you so. You needed this.” That much at least was true. But she wasn’t sure she needed to see Billie Dee.

  She thought about the first time she’d laid eyes on Ashley Jo Somerfield.

  The memory made her smile. They’d both been eleven and sent off to boarding school. AJ, she suspected, for disciplinary reasons. Gigi, because that was what every young Buchanan woman had done for years.

  That she and AJ just happened to be roommates could have been only fate—at least according to her friend.

  But still Gigi would never forget the moment she walked into her dormitory room and saw the girl. Skinny, barefoot, wearing cutoff jeans and a tank top, her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, she looked like a waif.

  Gigi had stopped short in the doorway, thinking this couldn’t be her roommate. The girl had turned then.

  She hardly noticed the scabbed nose or the curse the girl let out. Instead she saw the big blue eyes and a face that was so much like her own that they could have been twins.

  AJ had broken into a huge grin. “Tell me this wasn’t meant to be,” she’d said.

  Gigi could laugh about it now. The two of them—it seemed at first—couldn’t be more different. AJ, so laid-back and yet so ready for anything. Gigi, uptight, serious and cautious. It was like they’d brought out the best in each other and toned down the worst.

  Gigi knew she wouldn’t own a restaurant now if it wasn’t for her friend. And AJ wouldn’t be a high-priced attorney turned bartender.

  She laughed. It felt good. She sped up a little, anxious to see her friend.

  * * *

  HAWK FOLLOWED DREY in his pickup to the ranch. She still looked shaken. He couldn’t imagine what a shock it had been for her to see her husband’s brother leaving the drugs by her bed. He wanted to go find the bastard, but he feared what he’d do to him. He had no desire to end up behind bars in his brother’s jail.


  “How are you doing?” he asked as he took a seat across from her in the ranch’s large living room.

  She let out a laugh. “How do you think? You were right. Somehow Jet knew, but how could he have known about my drug problem in college?”

  “You’re sure the only person who knew was the roommate you had in Spain? Because someone connected to Ethan had to have known about the drugs you were hooked on all those years ago,” Hawk argued. “Did you tell Lillie?”

  “No, I couldn’t tell her the reason for our breakup, so we had drifted apart at that point.”

  “But there must have been someone you confided in? Or at least someone who knew about the drugs other than your roommate in Spain.”

  “Lena. Lena Franklin. She knew, but she left school shortly after she got me the last bottle of tablets that I took. She met a boy our first semester in Spain and dropped out of school. I haven’t even thought of her in years.”

  “Was she the only one?”

  Drey nodded. “Right after that, I threw the pills away. I never took them again. But Hawk, you think Lena has something to do with this? That’s crazy.”

  “Someone told Jet. It’s too much of a coincidence that he just happened to leave you the very pills you were addicted to all those years ago. You’re sure there is no way Ethan could have known.”

  She shook her head. “What would Ethan have to gain by drugging me?”

  That was a question Hawk couldn’t answer. “What does Jet have to gain? How did you and Ethan meet?” He could see that the question took her by surprise.

  “What are you insinuating?”

  “It was just a question.” But of course it wasn’t.

  “He came into the library one day looking for a book,” she said.

  “And you just happened to be working.”

  “Hawk, what are you saying? That you think he targeted me?”

  “What was the book?”

  She seemed to think for a minute. “It was an architecture book. We didn’t have it. He told me about the house he was building and we got to talking.”