Loving the Texas Lawman_A Texas Lawman Romantic Suspense

by Mary Connealy

  Sliding down from the truck, she walked between two patrol cars with their lights flashing and past a pick-up, almost as flashy as Ben’s, that two investigators had driven up.

  “What happened?” But Eleanor didn’t sound afraid, not even very surprised.

  Trudy’d been surprised.

  “Watson vandalized the house.”

  Eleanor gasped, then furrows of anger etched the corners of her mouth and furrowed her brow. “Why can’t they stop him. This is ridiculous.”

  “They’re searching for some way to prove it’s him right now.” Her voice was so sharp it could cut. She inhaled slowly, noticed her arms were crossed so tightly her arms were numb. She forced herself to relax. “I only stepped in the door. I haven’t seen anything else. Ben said I have to stay out here while the crime scene techs work.”

  “How did he get in? Why didn’t the security alarm go off and alert the police?”

  Shaking her head, Trudy said, “I don’t know much.”

  She described what she’d seen.

  Eleanor pulled her into her arms. “What if you’d been home.”

  A shudder wracked Trudy’s whole body. She forced herself to remain calm. “He probably only went in because he knew I wasn’t there.”

  “He’s a madman, Trudy. They’ve got to be able to prove he did this and lock him up.”

  Trudy had serious doubts they’d find what they needed to stop him. And now the question was, could she even stay here? And if not here, then where? She’d be hard pressed to pay her rent once she got out from under her house payments. She sure couldn’t afford a place until she retired her mortgage. And who knew what damage was done. Selling the house had just gotten a lot harder.

  She discussed what had to be done with Eleanor, glad she’d had time to calm down. It’d taken her close to forty-five minutes to think beyond horror. And now she was working up her backbone to face that house. And live there. Her backbone stiffened and for the first time she got mad. Watson wasn’t going to drive her out of her house.

  So, Trudy where can I drive you?” Ben finally finished with the crime scene. He’d pushed them hard to go over every surface. Hoping they’d find fingerprints. Hoping they could end this.

  It was a rich neighborhood so he didn’t have to push real hard. The police were here in force and doing a good job.

  Now he had to get Trudy out of here. And she tended to resist him when she should just do as she was told.

  He tried to imagine how she’d react if he told her that.

  “I’m staying the night with Eleanor.”

  Ben was so braced for an argument, he almost stumbled forward when she was so agreeable.

  “I’ll stay with her until the house is cleaned up. I’ve already phoned the insurance company. Eleanor will meet them here first thing in the morning.”

  “Ben, you bring her to my place,” Eleanor waited until he nodded, then headed for her car. “I’ll head on home and get things ready for company.”

  They watched Eleanor drive away.

  “I need to see the house. Is there a lot of damage?”

  “It’s bad.”

  Their eyes met. Every instinct he had was to protect her and that included shielding her from what was inside that house.

  But meeting her eyes, he was reminded that she was no fool. She had to suspect what was in there and she was going in anyway. Honestly, her imagination might be worse than the truth. Just as well to let her see it.

  “You brought a lot of clothes out to my folks’ house this weekend.”

  “I remember you teased me about overpacking, but it was for four days. I didn’t know if your family dressed up for Thanksgiving or if we’d go to church together. I thought we might end up hiking or riding horses. The weather sounded warm but this time of year—”

  “Yes, I teased you, but now I’m glad you overpacked. We can sort through things in the house and maybe find some stuff, but I’m thinking that what’s in those suitcases is about all you own.”

  Trudy frozen, then turned her head to look at him.

  “My clothes?”

  He should just take her in and let her see. Did it help to prepare her ahead of time, or was he making things worse? “Let’s go in.”

  He rested one hand on her back as they walked toward the house. “He slashed things, dumped drawers out. Except for that messed up poster of you—which might be his idea of a leaving you a calling card—all the damage is in your room. I’d say you get some painters in there and a bunch of trash bags, you can have it cleared out in a day and the painting done about that fast. But you won’t have many clothes left.”

  Trudy turned back to the house. “I’ve got to g-go in and look.”

  Ben put his hand gently on her arm. “Let Eleanor handle this. Let her hire painters and a cleaning service.”

  “With what money?” Her voice rose with despair.

  She’d been calm and happy out at the ranch and even pretty steady on the drive home. The fact that Watson robbed her of that so brutally the minute she came home made Ben want to find the man and serve up a little frontier justice.

  “Your insurance company should pay for that and the painters. I remember seeing bills for insurance and you’ve got a big policy. For once Liz’s overspending is working for you. Why don’t you just let Eleanor handle all of it. It’s ugly. It’s the kind of thing that you can’t unsee.”

  Nodding, Trudy said, “Poor Eleanor.” She inhaled slowly and let the breath out just as slowly. He saw her lips move and could read them.

  “Soft answer, soft answer, soft answer.”

  Then she snapped her head around. Her eyes blazed with anger. “I’d like to beat Watson to within an inch of his life. I’m not proud of that.”

  She jerked on the door handle and got out. Without looking back, she marched for the house. Ben scrambled to catch up with her.

  The poster was gone.

  “Thank you for taking it down.” She paused on the threshold. There was a flat wall a few paces in from the front door. Ugly strips of red paint showed on the wall with an almost perfect clean rectangle. An ugly gouge marked the wall where the knife had been embedded. One of her publicity photos, blown up to poster size and painted with garish splashes of red. It had been slashed, then two pairs of scissors pinned it to the wall. One of the scissors through an eye, the other through her throat.

  “It was evidence.” Ben put his hand on her back and the warmth steadied her.

  He tried to sound professional, but he couldn’t keep the concern from is voice. She remembered him kissing her. A mistake, he’d said. But he wouldn’t pretend to forget it.

  She wanted to throw herself in his arms and make another mistake. But she’d be reaching for him out of weakness. And she didn’t want that.

  “Except for this and the broken window in the back, everything that’s wrecked is in your room.” His hand pressed a bit closer and she realized they hadn’t moved. She was leaning on him. She straightened and headed for the stairs.

  “Why didn’t my alarm go off? I know I set it.”

  “We checked. It’s not working. I’m afraid you might not have paid the bill.”

  Trudy stopped dead in her tracks, in the middle of the staircase. She turned to him with narrow eyes. “I know I paid it. I’m sure.”

  “We’ll call tomorrow and find out what happened then.”

  “A little late to find out now.” With a look of frustrated fury, she whirled around and charged up the stairs.

  Inside her room she took one glance, then covered her eyes with both hands. Breathing in, holding it together, she forced herself to look.

  Her bedding was torn from the bed and slashed to ribbons. The pillows were cut up until the stuffing had exploded all over the room, as if he’d stabbed them in a frenzy.

  Her drawers were pulled out and dumped, the drawers cast aside. The closet door was open and she could see the wreckage in there, clothes piled deep on the floor, all hacked to bits.
<
br />   He’d destroyed things, then scattered them on the floor until the carpet was barely visible. She liked her clothes and heaven knew what she owned was valuable thanks to Liz, but she didn’t really care about these things, she only cared about the shocking signs of violence and a hate so vivid it hit her like a closed fist.

  “The bathroom is just as bad. Make up bottles smashed. Shampoo, every lotion and oil you own is spilled all over. Insurance will replace it, but that doesn’t change how frightening this is.”

  His hand was still there.

  “I lived with my grandma after my parents’ death in a car accident. I’d been with her a couple of years when I had my purse stolen at school and I was crying. I remember her hugging me and saying, “Don’t cry over anything that can’t cry over you.”

  Trudy turned from the destruction. “It always struck me as really wise. And I could measure almost everything against the pain of losing Mom and Dad. So, I took it to heart. I won’t cry, but I’m going to need a lot more prayer to get through my anger.”

  Ben said, “Maybe prayers and a punching bag. Just to take the edge off.”

  The shock of humor wrung a smile out of her, when she would’ve thought a smile was beyond her right now.

  “I wouldn’t want to break my typing fingers.”

  “Maybe you can buy some boxing gloves with the insurance money.”

  That got another smile.

  It must’ve encouraged him to go on being outrageous. “The insurance company is going to be shocked to find out how many designer clothes you have. They’ll probably drop you after this is over.”

  “That’s okay. I’m moving out.” Her shoulders slumped to think that she was starting over. What a failure she was. “I’ll probably drop the insurance company before they can drop me.”

  20

  They’d found nothing to tie the vandalism to Watson.

  Eleanor’s apartment was small but nice and completely affordable. It wasn’t lost on Trudy that her housekeeper, in her modest apartment, was a lot smarter with her money than Trudy.

  On the Friday after Watson’s attack, the house was fixed and it was time to go home.

  Ben came to pick her up and Trudy hurried out and climbed into his truck before he could shift it into park. She knew Ben would fight her, but she’d win.

  “Two things happened today.” She’d just get it all out before he could protest and she’d give him the good news first.

  Well, not good. But the news that was less likely to set him off.

  “I found out the security system was off because someone cancelled it. Liz was their contact, so it was probably her.”

  “Not Watson?” Ben was immediately alert.

  “They said it was done online with a request to cancel and refund any money. The system is password protected. Liz would have that info. I don’t think it’s written down anywhere for Watson to steal.”

  “So, the system is back up and running?” Ben started rolling toward the exit of the parking lot.

  “Yes, they hadn’t gotten around to refunding the payment yet, so they just switched it back on. And I set up a new password. And Eleanor said the painters are done and everything’s cleaned up. And she moved me into another bedroom, I have eight.”

  “I also contacted some stores about returning furniture. I found receipts and a lot of the bedding still had price tags on them. The mattresses hadn’t been unwrapped from their plastic bags. Liz must’ve paid for them in full because there are no credit card payments showing, but I know where it came from. I saw the delivery truck once.”

  Ben hit the brakes hard and Trudy jerked against her seatbelt. He turned to her, incredulous. “You saw the delivery truck? That’s how you know where it came from? Didn’t you pick it out?”

  Trudy looked at him and shrugged. “I let Liz handle it.”

  Ben made that rude noise…the one he no longer made in class.

  “I feel like I’m mining my house for cash. I’ll need one bedroom set in an apartment, so I’m going to get my money back for all of it.”

  “Well, then what’s the good news?”

  “That is the good news.”

  Ben flinched.

  She figured she knew what was coming. He’d tell her she couldn’t move back in there even if her security system was Seal Team 6. She talked fast.

  “Oh, by the way, I sold the house. The painters were done two days ago and Eleanor told the realtor it was ready. I guess upscale houses sell fast.” Trudy was shocked at how fast it’d sold. “It went for enough to clear the loan with enough of a profit I’ll get my down payment back. That will have to go straight to the IRS but it’ll go a long way to getting that bill paid. The new owners take possession January first. So, I’ve got until New Year’s Eve to find a place to live. That’s four weeks.” She’d been looking and there wasn’t much she could afford. But the financial burden was easing. No more house payments. Her taxes coming under control. No more stunningly high home owner’s insurance.

  With her expensive accountant working overtime, the IRS was appeased once Trudy agreed to let them confiscate what was left after the house sold, and take every royalty check the second it came in the mail. They had tentacles into her bank account so they could snatch the money out without inconveniencing her one bit. Except for being broke of course.

  Her professor’s salary, well, she hadn’t taken the job in this sweet, little Christian college for the money, but then she hadn’t needed money. It wasn’t exactly a pittance, but she’d yet to find a secure apartment building she could afford. When Eleanor refused her November pay, she produced her own checkbook and stock portfolio that proved she had a lot more money than Trudy.

  Trudy was putting the best face on it, but she was terrified to go back in that house. The fear was laced with guilt and failure. She was a reasonable woman. She knew he was dangerous, and she wouldn’t shrink from locking him up. Turn the other cheek didn’t mean you let a man beat you and kidnap you and terrorize you.

  Did it?

  But what if she’d tried harder to help him, right from the beginning? The defeat of all her high-sounding words pressed down on her heart.

  “Selling the house is the bad news? I thought you wanted to sell it.”

  “No, that’s not the second piece of news. I count it as part of the general news about the house. Sorry. I guess I have three pieces of news.”

  “What’s the bad news.” Ben seemed to brace himself.

  “I’m sleeping at home tonight.”

  Trudy was glad they weren’t going fast yet because he slammed on the brakes again.

  “No, you’re not.”

  “You can take me there if you want, or take me where ever you decide I should be, but I’ll just call a cab and go home.”

  Ben didn’t start driving. Maybe he was afraid his brakes couldn’t take it.

  Then he turned and studied her. She wasn’t sure of her expression but it must’ve been bad because his annoyance faded.

  “There’s nothing wrong with just leaving now. Stay with Eleanor until you find a place. I can help you. I know this town. I know the best neighborhoods and the most secure apartment complexes. Staying safe isn’t the same as letting Watson win. Just get out of that house right now and live somewhere he doesn’t have a good spot to sit and watch you. We’ll find a tall building and you can rent an apartment up high, with no tall buildings close. Then with some precautions, you can quit letting this maniac dominate your life. Yes, you have to be careful, but you don’t have to give him the power to terrorize you. With God’s help, you can find the strength…”

  “God’s help? Why would God help me, Ben?” Trudy turned to him. “I’ve failed Him. All my talk—all my preaching about love—and I hate that man. He’s walking around free while I’m little more than a prisoner, and I hate him.”

  “That doesn’t mean you’ve failed God. This is just a tough time. You’ll come through it. Watson will make a mistake and violate his restraining ord
er. When he does, we’ll be ready to arrest him. Or he’ll find someone else to torment.”

  “It’s not just Watson. It’s Liz. I open the mail, and all the bills are past due. I look for apartments, and they’re all out of my price range. Big Deal Trudy Jennings, shivers in her ritzy house at night because she can’t afford to run her furnace.”

  Trudy’s temper grew as she directed all the anger at herself. Ben had driven to her house. She was surprised he hadn’t fought her harder. He pulled up to her door, lifted the console, turned and slid halfway across the seat and rested his hand on her shoulder. “You know I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

  Trudy looked up. “I’m sorry for dumping on you this way. I should be strong enough to handle this. It’s just another way I’m a failure.”

  “Everything’s going to be okay. We’re going to find you a place to stay. Your money problems are going to iron out. And Watson is going to move on to some other form of craziness. So, you don’t love him. No one would love him while he treated them like this.”

  “Jesus would.”

  Ben nodded. “Jesus does everything a lot better than we do. It’s fine to ask, ‘what would Jesus do’ but the bottom line is: He’s so far above us in His ability to love that we’re only guessing what He would do. You know something else? There’s a difference between righteous anger and hate. You’re not failing. You’re succeeding against terrible odds.”

  Trudy shook her head. “You don’t know the rage and pain in my heart. The awful, vicious anger I feel.”

  “Wanna bet?” Ben arched an eyebrow.

  Trudy didn’t crack a smile. “I know that my soul is safe in Jesus Christ. I know this doesn’t separate me from my salvation. But it makes me a failure in the very thing God called me to do. I’ve become a Peter, denying Christ as soon as it got tough.”

  Ben laid a finger on her lips. “Is that the same Peter who went on to be a great witness for Jesus? One of the great heroes and great failures of Christianity, all wrapped up in one? A human being as much a sinner as any of us, and yet God used him to do great things? You should compare yourself to Peter. He did so much good, and you do, too.”