by Riley Murphy
Her sister was eyeing the gear shift. “Yeah?”
“I’m sorry.”
She looked up. “For what?”
“I know what happened between you and Travis.”
Cat’s mouth parted in surprise and she seemed more freaked out over this news than she was over everything that came before. “You do?”
“Yes.” Charlie nodded. “And I forgive you.”
Charlie was expecting many reactions, but not the one she got when her sister pushed open the driver’s side door and got out.
A second later she walked away without a word.
Not one word.
*****
Neil was fuming. His fail safe LoJack system was a bust. He’d gotten as far as pinpointing her stopped on Bayside Road. He’d been sure she was going to get on the last ferry of the night, but then just as he went to get in his Mercedes, something odd happened. The three sensors blinked and started traveling in different directions. Cat being the car person she was, must have found them. The way he had it figured she’d managed to stick them on the cars that were exiting from the ferry before she was loaded on to cross. Who did she know on the other side of the Bay? Max had told him her parents lived landside. So, while he waited for the club owner to get back to him with the address, he headed over to Sharp’s place and was immediately confronted by The Butler. The guy’s name should have been Bear.
“Where’s your boss?” Neil didn’t want to stir up too much shit, so he played it nonchalant as he walked around the small reception room. There were pictures of Kelli all over the walls. With various people. Even some military pictures with his combat buddies.
“You just missed him. He’s combing the city for something special.”
“Oh?” Neil turned. “If it’s so special why aren’t you out helping?”
The giant shrugged, giving him a leer. “Someone has to stay and watch the subbies play.”
Just then a server called to Butler. “The boss is at Tangles. He wants you to bring over the truck as soon as you can.”
Neil tried to keep his relief in check. If Kelli was still mid-town he’d have no idea about Cat being on the ferry. And if Max was right, and she’d gone to her parents’ place she’d be out of the city and safe for now.
“You want to give him a message?”
Neil was going to say no, but thought better of it. “Yes. Tell him Neil Cannon is looking for him.”
Simple, vague, and potentially threatening. That would work.
Chapter Sixteen
By the time Charlie and Cat had arrived at the ranch last night, the only one awake had been their dad. Charlie knew he’d been living on the edge this last year with her mother’s worsening condition, but this was different somehow. She’d thought finding the map would put him at ease being that they’d be one step closer to finding the deed of the property, but now she worried it was something else. Something that had nothing to do with her mom’s health or the ranch.
She barely got any sleep and when Cat came to get her in the morning, telling her their dad wanted to talk, she knew something wasn’t right.
After her father walked them through the drawing he’d made of the property using the map as a guide, Charlie knew what was going on.
“You’re not coming with us, are you?”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry, guys. I have to stay with your mother. It’s not a good day today.”
She and Cat stood at the same time, eager to go see her, when their father raised his hand in a bid to stop them. “Mornings are the worst for her and she wants to look her best before you see her. Don’t worry. I take good care of her.”
“We know, but it’s hard not to. She should have been on a plane yesterday. You know what that doctor said.” Their mom had a ticking time bomb in her chest.
Cat picked up the map with the other directions that their dad had drawn for them, and said, “Yup, so let’s do this thing, Charlie.”
“Wait. Your mom did want me to tell you something before you head out.” By the set of his jaw Charlie knew they’d had a disagreement over whatever it was. “She wants you to know that when you find the right spot there’ll be a metal box, but that you’re not to open it. You need to bring it to her.”
Cat nodded. It was Charlie who wanted to know more. “What’s in there besides the deed?”
He lifted his chin, remaining silent.
“Dad,” both girls said in unison.
“She knew you’d ask. These are her words, not mine. She says there’s a part of her in there that she needs to see before she dies.”
“Oh Dad.” Both Charlie and Cat sprang forward to give him a hug. Each of them assuring, “She’s not going to die. She’s not.”
He hugged them tightly and brokenly whispered, “It’s not me you have to convince.”
Charlie knew Cat was feeling a renewed sense of purpose as they revved up the ATVs. For over two hours they narrowed the search area, following the landmarks on the map. The terrain had changed so much in places it was tough until Charlie spotted the rock shaped like the Washington Monument. That helped them to pin down the immediate area until they finally found the cluster of jagged rocks that marked the X on the map.
She pulled over under one of the nearby trees and parked. “That’s it.”
Cat pulled up beside her. After they both got off the vehicles, her sister said, “Yep.”
“I’ll get the shovels.”
Cat stopped her. “What if it’s not here?”
“Well then we’ll use the money we do have to pay for Mom’s medical. Do you think we should wait to open it? I brought the key. Maybe it’s for the metal box.”
“If it is, we’ll decide when we see it.”
Charlie agreed and once she had the shovels she handed one to Cat. “It’s not about the deed. It’s about what’s in the box.”
“Yeah. I know.”
*****
Although it took Neil longer than he would have liked to track her down, he knocked on Cat’s parents’ door the next day. It was her father who answered. He could tell it was her dad. She had his eyes.
After Neil introduced himself something bothered him. “Do I know you? You seem familiar to me.”
“No.” The man’s reply was short and to the point. Much like his actions when he went to close the door on him.
The huge hinges creaked and Neil stepped back, but then a small feminine voice called, “Be nice. He could press charges over the car.”
When Cat’s dad glared at him, he sighed. “I’m not going to do that. Where is she?”
“Parked in the barn.”
“Not the car. Cat. I have reason to believe she’s in trouble or soon to be. I need to speak with her.”
Cat’s father checked around the door. Odd, but the man looked completely different when he turned away. Worried and soft, but then he was back to being a hard-ass when he faced him once more. He motioned for Neil to move and then stepped out, closing the door. “What kind of trouble?”
“She took something that someone wants.”
“Maybe it was stolen in the first place.”
So, he knew about the museum piece. “Doesn’t matter. Kelli Sharp is the kind of guy you don’t want as your enemy. Trust me.”
That glare her dad was working on got more intense. “Kelli…?”
After that information had a moment to settle, Neil realized the guy was having a meltdown. He could see it in his eyes. Cat’s father knew Sharp. Judging by the instant loathing he read in his expression he knew the bastard well.
And then Neil knew something else. Maybe it was the way her dad shifted or the pose he affected, but whatever it was it triggered Neil’s recall. Cat’s father was one of the men with Sharp in those pictures he’d seen on the wall last night. “You’re his military buddy.”
“We were friends once, yes, but not anymore.” He scanned the distance, and whispered, almost to himself, “Why didn’t they tell me?”
“They?�
�� Neil moved so her father could pass by him. He seemed preoccupied. “Mr. Wood. Is Cat here?”
“My name is Daniel, but you can call me sir.”
So it was going to go down like that? “You mentioned ‘they’?”
He turned back, scowling. “I did?”
Neil nodded.
“The wife and Cat. Women, you know how that goes?” He looked him up and down. “But then again, maybe you’re too young.”
There was no way Neil was having that conversation. He didn’t care whose father this guy was. “Did I make a mistake coming here?”
They stared at each other for a long second and Neil now knew who Cat inherited her balls from.
“That depends. How do you know Sharp?”
“I had the pleasure of almost killing him once and if I ever get the chance to do it legally again, I’m not going to hesitate.”
He seemed to come to some resolve hearing that. His tone wasn’t so frosty when he said, “From what I understand my girl likes you, so I’m going out on a limb here telling you this.”
Neil was expecting to hear the talk. About how Cat was his little girl and she had deep feelings for a guy like him so he better have the best intentions moving forward. He was dreading the next few minutes as even he didn’t know what his intentions toward her were. Neil couldn’t explain why he felt the way he did about her. Everything in her file, everything he’d been told, and everything he’d imagined about her before he met her, screamed no way.
And yet he was here. Sharing breathing space with her father who looked like he had nothing to lose when it came to killing off potential suitors. Neil scanned the acres of tree-dotted landscape and decided the man certainly had the property for it.
“My girls…”
The guy looked away so Neil offered, “Your wife and Cat.”
“Exactly.” He turned back. “They’re, well, Cat is on a scavenger hunt for my wife. For both of us, actually.”
“That’s why she stole the map?”
“Yes. It was the missing piece to our half. Did I mention that’s what I used to do in the military? Sharp and I were the team to call when some regime was hiding the gold. We were bounty hunters. Nicaragua, the Falklands, we went all over the world.” He motioned for Neil to follow as he continued talking, “Sometimes the booty was found and returned to the government and sometimes, it had to be used to buy us out of bad situations. What did that teach me? Some treasures have nothing to do with material things and when Kelli and I got back stateside we found that out.” He stopped at one of the barns and eyed the house.
Neil knew why. “Women?”
It always came down to them.
“Soul mates. A guy can have as many women as he puts the effort into wooing, but until a man finds his soul mate the opposite sex are just casual partners he shared a good time with.”
Okay, so as far as father to prospective male suitor talks go, this one was turning out to be deeper than most. “I understand.”
“Do you?” He opened the barn door and Neil fully expected to see the Cobra except it wasn’t there. “Sharp didn’t get it. The years we’d spent together were tough, sometimes brutal.” He walked over to a large storage locker and started rummaging through drawers. “We weren’t saints, but then I met an angel and that all changed for me.”
Neil caught the bundle of rope the guy tossed his way.
“Kelli didn’t like it. The last job we did together was in Mexico. To this day I don’t know what really went down during that time. One minute we were hauling the mother lode of precious metals out of an abandoned mine we were tasked to strip, and the next I’m wandering the streets of Laredo a few months later with no idea how I got there or where the hell I’d been. It was as if the two and a half months never existed.”
Neil caught the flashlight he threw and managed to stick it into his back pocket before the guy handed him a knife.
“We’re going next door.” He pushed open a stall gate and Neil followed him through it. “Condensed version? I came home and found my angel had been broken. First by thinking I was dead and then by placing her trust in Kelli Sharp.” Cat’s dad went right to a shiny black ATV and popped the storage trunk. “Stick the gear in here. They—she forgot it. So where was I?”
“At the part where a friend badly fucked you over.”
“Huh. Maybe you do understand.”
Neil finished packing the trunk and then caught the keys, looking at her father. “You’re not coming with me?”
“I have to stay here. My angel is broken again. And depending on what’s in the box that the gi—that Cat is going to bring home, I may not be able to fix her this time. Every moment I have with her is a gift I’m not willing to give back. You know what I’m saying?”
Neil had never been in love so technically he didn’t. “What do you hope to find in the box?”
“Hope to find?” Cat’s father slowly shook his head and spoke so softly Neil had to lean forward to catch the words. “It’s not that. It’s all about what I hope not to find. I don’t think I’ll be able to walk us through hell a second time without dragging Kelli with us. Are you sure you want to get involved? Maybe you came for another reason. She told me how much your car meant to you. I have the keys to it in the house.”
Neil eyed the ATV. “I’m sure.”
And he was because this had nothing to do with his much-prized legacy, which scared the fucking hell out of him.
“You ever handle a four wheeler? The terrain in the southwest pasture—that’s where you’ll find them—is mostly sand so you’ll have to control the slides.”
Neil wasn’t concerned about handling the vehicle. He was totally focused on getting to Cat. He had questions he wanted answers to.
After her father pointed him in the right direction he took off. Once he got the hang of the gears, he pushed the machine to its limit. Racing so fast, when he reached a berm, he went airborne. Damn, the chase was on. Playing out like a scene in The Amazing Race. If anyone had told him yesterday morning that he’d be back locking horns with Sharp and going after a woman he was crazy about across a stretch of land on an ATV, he would have cried bullshit and yet here he was.
Chapter Seventeen
“Is that it?”
Cat dropped down on her knees and swept the dirt off the square of wood. “No, Mom said it was made of metal.” She used the end of the shovel and banged on it. “It’s hollow. This isn’t the box,” she feverishly clawed at the dirt until she found a wooden knob, “it’s a door.”
“No, it’s a hatch.” Charlie worked with her to expose the whole surface and after they got it free of debris¸ they pulled it open.
“Did you bring a flashlight?”
Charlie scowled. “Did you see me bring a flashlight?”
“What about a match?”
“I don’t smoke and I really wasn’t expecting to go spelunking today so no light source, okay?”
Cat bent down to peer inside. “Don’t go getting all pissy on me. I didn’t make this happen.”
Charlie gave Cat room to examine the inside. “So?”
“It’s pretty deep.”
“Why was Dad so sure the box wasn’t on this part of the property for all those years? We should have checked it anyways. All those summers wasted out here.”
“It was fun, though, wasn’t it? Yeah, this looks like an abandoned mine shaft or something.”
“Close.”
Cat snapped her head up and Charlie angled hers down as they both looked at one another.
“It was the cellar of the old house that used to be on this property before your mother and father built the ranch.”
Charlie didn’t need to turn around to know that the voice belonged to Mr. Sharp. She’d spoken to him over the phone frequently enough. She waited until Cat slowly stood and then both of them turned at the same time.
“Kelli Sharp.”
“Mr. Sharp?”
The man didn’t look anything like what Char
lie had imagined he’d look like. She’d pictured a short, lean man with glasses. She was wrong on all accounts as he inclined his head at their twin greetings. “After your parents razed the old house, I came back and buried the box down there. It was the only way I could be sure they’d never find it until I wanted them to.” He held up the decorative metal ‘stick guy’ key Charlie had left in the ATV and said, “All I wanted you to do was display this at the Dalton for a few months until I needed it back. That’s it. And then what happens? You allow it to be stolen by some wise ass who fancied himself a treasure hunter.”
Charlie put a hand over her eyes like a salute, against the noontime sun, and said, “I got it back, didn’t I?”
“Yes.” He nodded and shoved the key in his pocket. “But instead of returning it to me I catch you doing your own hunting. Why isn’t your mother down here digging with you? She’s been waiting twenty-four years to see what’s in that box.”
Cat took a step forward, but was forced to stop when Charlie grabbed the back of her shirt, and pleaded, “Stay calm.”
“Like hell.” She pulled to break free. “Let me go.”
Charlie held on tight and shook her head.
“Your sister is wise, Catherine. If I were you I’d pay attention to her.”
Predictably, Cat turned and lashed out. “Our mom is too sick to be here. What the fuck business is it of yours? You’re trespassing on our land.”
“Ah,” Kelli said, walking toward them, “but is it your land? I thought there was a legal dispute of some kind and your daddy was being forced to produce the original deed that he doesn’t have. A deed that’s been buried in that cellar all these years.” He stopped a few feet from them.
“What do you want, Mr. Sharp?”
“The key.” He patted his pocket. “That’s all. Well that and the satisfaction of knowing I get to reinvigorate the pain your mother went through the last time I was here.”
Cat shot forward and slapped him right across the face. He didn’t even blink when he shoved her away from him.