by B. J Daniels
Nikki tried to relax but the tension in the dining room was dense enough to smother her. Patricia had lowered herself into her chair at the end of the table with a sullen dignity, only to glare down the length of it at her husband.
Boone was the last brother to come in. She hadn’t met him yet because he’d been out of town picking up a horse, she’d heard. He stopped in the doorway. He could have been Cull’s twin. He had the same thick dark hair, the same intense blue eyes, the same broad shoulders, the same scowl.
“What’s going on?” Boone asked as if feeling the tension in the air before his gaze lit on her.
Travers got to his feet. “Please sit down, son.” He waited for Boone to take a chair before he said, “This is Nikki St. James. She’s a true crime writer and will be investigating the kidnapping for a book. I want you all to cooperate with her.”
“Like hell.” Boone shoved back his chair and stood, towering over the table. “I’m sorry, Dad, but this was a huge mistake. I’m not having anything to do with this...book or—” he turned his gaze on Nikki “—or this woman.” With that he stomped out.
“I apologize for my son,” Travers said wearily.
“You don’t have to do that,” she said as she heard the front door slam and the sound of an engine rev after it. “I know how hard this is on your family.” She glanced around the table. She could feel Cull’s gaze on her. Like Boone, he didn’t want her here.
Kitten was giving her that snotty look she’d apparently perfected. Her mother’s steely blue gaze could have burned through sheet metal. Ledger was the only one who gave her a slight smile as if he felt sorry for her.
“I will try to make it as painless as I can, but I need all of your help if I have any chance of solving this,” she finished.
“Solving it?” Patricia said with a snort, but quickly reverted her gaze to her plate as her husband gave her an impatient look.
“I’ll speak to Boone,” Travers said. “I should have told him about this. He doesn’t do well with surprises.” Though Boone had been only five when the twins were kidnapped, he might still have memories of that night.
“I should help Frieda.” Patricia got up and went into the kitchen. A few moments later, she returned with the cook, who was carrying a large tray full of small bowls of soup. Patricia put a bowl in front of Travers and another in front of Cull before she sat down. Frieda placed soup in front of Patricia, then worked her way around the table until she came to Nikki. For a moment, she looked confused. “I guess I left yours in the kitchen,” the cook said.
“Let me,” Kitten said, jumping up and hurrying after her.
The two returned moments later. Kitten, all smiles, put a bowl of soup in front of Nikki before sitting down again.
“Thank you, Kitten,” Travers said, smiling at the teen, though looking surprised she would get up to help.
Cook placed two large plates of sandwiches in the center of the table and left.
Nikki picked up her spoon. Steam rose from the soup. She caught a scent she didn’t recognize. Kitten leaned behind Waters to whisper, “Aren’t you afraid it might be poisoned?”
Normally she had a good appetite. Even without Kitten taunting her, she wasn’t that hungry. She started to dip her spoon into the soup, when Cull reached across the table and switched bowls with her. He gave his stepsister a challenging look. Kitten rolled her eyes and waited for him to take a bite.
“What is going on?” Patricia demanded.
“It seems Kitten thinks Nikki’s soup may be poisoned,” Cull said. The man had remarkably good hearing. Or he knew Kitten too well.
“What?” Patricia seemed beside herself.
Kitten gave her a shrug as if she had no idea what Cull was talking about.
“This is ridiculous,” Patricia said, and started to get up. But before she could, Travers reached over and switched bowls with Cull.
“Kitten, I will speak with you later,” he said. He picked up his spoon and took a sip of the soup.
“I didn’t do anything,” the teen whined, and glared over at her brother who hadn’t touched his soup.
Travers started to take a second spoonful, when he suddenly dropped his spoon. It hit the edge of the bowl. The sound was startling in the silent room. Everyone looked in his direction as he clutched his chest, his eyes wide and terrified before he toppled to the floor.
Chapter Nine
CULL STUDIED THE toes of his boots. Anything to keep him from looking at Nikki St. James sitting a seat away from the family in the hospital waiting room.
If his fool stepsister had tried to poison the woman... He glanced at Kitten. She was sulking in the corner. On the way to the hospital, all of them piled in Patricia’s Suburban, Kitten had continued to protest that she hadn’t poisoned Nikki’s soup, that she’d just been teasing and that maybe the cook had done it.
Finally, Cull had told her to keep quiet, at which point Patricia had gone off on all of them for mistreating Kitten. “She’s as upset as the rest of you and she’s just a child!”
Cull had concentrated on the road ahead, determined not to get into it with any of them. They’d followed the ambulance to the hospital and were told to wait.
Earlier Ledger had gotten everyone coffee. Cull had watched him ask Nikki if she wanted some. She’d volunteered to go with him to the machine. After hearing how it was that Cull had brought her to the ranch, Ledger had accused him of “literally running her down on Main Street.”
Since then Ledger had been especially nice to the crime writer in spite of Cull telling him that he didn’t trust the woman. He could see what Nikki was up to and he planned to put an end to it once they were alone.
At the sound of footfalls, Cull looked up—as did the rest of them—and saw Boone storming in. “What happened?” he demanded. He had beer on his breath, which answered the question as to where he’d gone after he’d stomped out earlier.
“We don’t know for sure—” Cull didn’t get to finish.
“Someone poisoned Dad,” Ledger said. “At least that’s what we think happened.”
“Poisoned him?”
“We don’t know for sure,” Cull said.
Patricia jumped to her feet. “This is all her fault,” she accused, pointing a finger at Nikki. “It was her bowl of soup—”
Boone shot a look at Nikki.
“Hold on, everyone,” Cull said, raising his hands as they all started talking at once. “Nikki was the intended victim. Perhaps, Patricia, you should be talking to your daughter. She was the one who brought the bowl of soup out of the kitchen.”
Patricia sputtered as if unable to get the words out fast enough. “Kitten? Kitten wouldn’t... How can you possibly think...”
“I was just teasing.” Kitten burst into tears and ran from the waiting room.
“Now see what you’ve done?” Patricia demanded before she went after her daughter.
“Let’s all just calm down,” Cull said. “I called the sheriff when we got here. I’m sure McCall will be able to—” He stopped as he saw the doctor and the sheriff coming down the hall toward him. Heart in his throat, he waited, fearing what the news was going to be.
* * *
NIKKI WATCHED THE two come down the hall. She couldn’t tell from their somber faces what they’d discovered. If Travers had been poisoned... Her stomach knotted at the thought. Was there someone in this family that determined to keep her from learning the truth? What if because of her, Travers McGraw lost his life? She couldn’t bear the thought.
Boone started to speak, but the sheriff cut him off. “Your father wasn’t poisoned.”
Nikki felt a wave of relief wash over her. She’d been so afraid that Kitten had done something stupid in an attempt to get rid of her.
“He’s had a heart attack,” the docto
r said. “He’s in stable condition, but not out of the woods yet. Were any of you aware of your father’s heart problems?”
The attorney, who’d been sitting at the edge of the group, spoke for the first time. “Travers knew he had a bad ticker?” Jim Waters asked.
The doctor nodded. “I’ve warned him how important it was for him to relieve stress and eat healthy and slow down. I had hoped he might have shared that information with his family.”
Cull groaned. “It was just like him not to.”
“I want to see him,” Boone said.
“If anyone should get to see him, it should be me,” Patricia said as she came down the hall.
The doctor held up his hands. “None of you are going to see him. Right now the last thing he needs is more...stress.” As Patricia started to argue, the doctor said, “You will be able to see him possibly in the morning, but only one at a time. And I won’t have any of you upsetting him.”
They all fell silent for a moment before Cull said, “You heard him. Dad’s in stable condition. Let’s all go home.”
Nikki’s head ached. She couldn’t wait to get back to the ranch and take a couple of aspirin.
“I’m not riding with you,” Kitten announced to Cull. “I’m riding with Boone.”
Patricia took her daughter’s hand. “No one’s leaving until you all apologize to my daughter.”
Cull let out a curse. “An apology? Have you forgotten that no one would have thought that Dad had been poisoned if it wasn’t for Kitten? Fortunately the doctor recognized his condition as a heart attack, otherwise they would have been pumping his stomach while he was dying of heart failure.”
“All that matters is that Dad is going to be all right. But this constant bickering has to stop,” Ledger said.
“Then get rid of her!” Patricia said, pointing again at Nikki. “Now with Travers in the hospital, the whole idea of a book on the kidnapping should be scrapped.”
“Patricia’s right,” Boone said, speaking up. “You just heard what the doctor said. Dad doesn’t need the stress of having someone digging up the past, and for no reason, since we all know who kidnapped the twins.”
Cull shook his head. “This isn’t the time or the place to discuss this, and if any one of you dare bring this up when you see Dad...” He saw from their faces that they got the message. “In the meantime, Nikki stays and does whatever it is she does. If Dad changes his mind, he’ll send her packing—but not us and not before Dad is well enough to make that call. Boone, I’m going to take your pickup. You can ride in Patricia’s Suburban since you’ve obviously been drinking. Nikki, you come with me. The rest of you can go with Patricia or walk, I don’t care.” He reached for Nikki. “Let’s go.”
* * *
CULL GRIPPED THE steering wheel so hard he was white-knuckled as they left the hospital.
“Thank you for sticking up for me back at the hospital,” Nikki said once they were on the road headed toward the ranch.
“I didn’t do it for you,” Cull said through gritted teeth without looking at her. “I did it for my father.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her turn away to look out her side window. Open prairie ran for miles, broken only occasionally by farmland all the way to the Little Rockies. He loved this country. Where some people saw nothing, he saw the beauty of the wild grasses, the rolling landscape, the huge sky overhead that ran from horizon to horizon, living up to the name Big Sky Country.
The night was clear and cool. Stars glittered in a canopy of navy velvet. He rolled down his window as they left town behind. The smell of sage and dust and wild grasses filled his nostrils. He breathed it in and tried to calm down. This was home. The prairie soothed him in a way no other landscape ever had. He loved this part of Montana the way others loved the mountains and pine trees.
For a moment, he wondered what Nikki saw when she looked out there. Or did she yearn for towering mountains studded with pine trees? He’d found few women who appreciated his part of the state. It was one reason he’d never settled down.
“I feel responsible for what’s happened,” she said. “I’m so glad your father is going to be all right.”
He glanced over at her, his expression softening when he saw the tears in her eyes. “It’s not your fault. Dad hasn’t been well. You heard what the doctor said. The anniversary of the kidnapping is just one more weight piled onto all the stress he’s normally under.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I wish there was some way I could help. If my leaving would help...”
He slowed for the turn into the ranch. “You would give up that easily? I thought you were determined to find out the truth about the kidnapping?”
“I am, but I can’t promise—”
Cull laughed. “Now you play coy?” He shook his head. “Sorry, I’m not buying it. I think you’d do anything to get this particular story and that makes me wonder about you.”
“What you see is what you get,” she said, then added quickly, “You know what I mean.”
He smiled. “You would have eaten that soup, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes. Why does that bother you?” she asked.
Cull scoffed. “Because it shows me the kind of woman you are. You don’t back down.”
“I’m going to take that as a compliment.”
“Suit yourself.” He could feel her gaze on him as he pulled up in front of the house and parked.
“You know what I think? I think the reason you and the others are frightened of my digging into the kidnapping is because you have something to hide. There’s something you held back all those years ago. Maybe it’s just a memory that has haunted you. A sound, something that was said, something that you saw but didn’t understand at the time.”
He wanted to tell her how crazy she was, but she’d gotten too close to the truth. But some secrets were best kept silent, since they wouldn’t change the kidnapping. Nor would they change who’d been behind it. “That’s what you’re counting on to solve this? Good luck.”
“I was hoping that all of you would want this solved as much as your father does,” she said.
Cull turned off the engine and turned to face her. “You just don’t get it. We’ve been living with this for twenty-five years. Do you have any idea how painful all this is for us to have to relive every year? Can’t you now see that it’s killing my father?”
“That’s why he needs to know what really happened.”
Cull shook his head as he took off his Stetson and raked a hand through his hair. A dark lock fell over his eyes before he shoved the hat back on. For a moment, he simply studied her, wanting to look deeper, clear to her soul. If she hadn’t already sold it for a story.
“I swear this tops it all. A true crime writer? And I thought the psychic he hired was bad enough.”
“The sooner I can get to work, the sooner I will be gone.”
He cocked his head, narrowing his eyes. “Gone, but not forgotten.”
She seemed to ignore that and met his gaze with a steely one of her own.
“Why? What does it matter to you? I’m sure there are other tragic stories for you to delve into out there. So what is it about our particular story?”
Nikki looked away, giving him the impression that for some reason this time it was more than finding out the truth for a bestseller. Again he found himself wondering, Who is this woman?
All his instincts told him that she was hiding something but he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what it was. She was already a New York Times bestselling author. From what he could tell, she didn’t need the money or the attention. She’d already made a name for herself. Writing another book about some horrendous crime wasn’t going to get her anything she didn’t already have.
Or would it?
“I’m not sure what you�
��re after,” he said carefully. “But I saw the way you were with my brother. You’re not using Ledger to get whatever it is you’re really after. Right now because of another woman who took him for a ride, he doesn’t know his ass from a teakettle. You stay away from him. He was too young to remember anything about the kidnapping. I won’t have you using him.”
“I’m not using your brother.”
Cull scoffed. “And you just happened to be in Whitehorse today sitting across from the café where my brother has breakfast on the days his ex-girlfriend waitresses there.”
He caught her moment of surprise before she carefully hid it. “That’s right,” he said with a bitter chuckle. “For whatever reason, you will do whatever you have to, use whoever you have to, tear this family apart to get what you want.” He frowned as he studied her. “For a book? I don’t think so. Just know that while you’re digging into every dark corner of our lives, I’m going to be digging into yours. I can’t wait to find out what your real story is, Nikki St. James.”
With that he opened his door and climbed out. He heard her open her door and exit, as well. A set of headlights washed over him as Patricia pulled the Suburban up in the yard.
Cull was in no mood for any of them. He didn’t bother going inside, but instead took the path beside the house and headed for the stables. He was breathing hard, sucking in the cold night air as he tried to cool his anger. Chill down the heat that filled him whenever he got around that woman. Nikki St. James rattled him more than he wanted to admit. No good could come of this for any of them. He had to find a way to get rid of her and soon.
* * *
NIKKI STOOD NEXT to the ranch pickup feeling as if she’d just gone three rounds in the ring. Cull suspected there was more to her story for being here. He hadn’t found it. Not yet, but he suspected enough that he wouldn’t stop until he discovered the truth about her.
She let out a humorless chuckle. He said she wouldn’t stop at anything? He was just like her. She watched him take off and realized he’d left her not so she could deal with his family, but so he could escape all of them.