by Jude Pittman
“Why don’t you go see if they’ve taken him to his room?” Stella asked.
Gillian got up and walked to the desk. “Do you know if Mr. McWinter’s been moved to his room yet?”
The nurse shook her head. “The doctor has ordered some more tests. We’ll let you know as soon as he’s settled.” She gave Gillian a brief smile, then turned her head in obvious dismissal.
“Not yet,” Gillian said, sitting back on the couch.
Suddenly Stella jumped up and dashed across the room. Gillian looked up and smiled. Cam stood at the entrance to the waiting room.
Stella flung herself into his arms.
He pulled her against him, wrapped his arms around her and pressed his lips against the top of her head.
“How did you know?” she sobbed.
“Gillian called me.”
Stella flashed a grateful smile at Gillian and turned back to Cam. “I’m so scared,” she whispered.
He nodded, moved to a chair and pulled her into his lap. “What about the bar?” she asked looking up into his face. “To hell with the bar. I left Marty in charge.”
Stella giggled. The sound was high-pitched, half hysterical. “He’ll drink all the booze.”
Cam smiled, drew her head against his shoulder and stroked her back.
“Have you heard anything else?” He spoke to Gillian over the top of Stella’s head.
She shook her head. “We’re waiting for them to move him to his room. The doctor said I could sit with him. I told them I was his wife.”
“That was smart.”
“I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t just dump him here and leave.”
“Mrs. McWinter?” A volunteer, dressed in a cheerful pink overall, stopped in the doorway and searched the room.
Gillian rose and walked toward her.
“It’s Larson. I use my own name.”
She smiled. “Your husband’s in his room now if you’d like to follow me.”
“Can they come with me?” She pointed to Cam and Stella.
“I’m sorry... only one visitor at a time for right now.”
Gillian flushed and looked back.
“That’s fine,” Cam said. “Stella’s worried about Jake out there in the Bronco. We’ll run him home, check on Lucy, then stop for a bite to eat and be back in a couple of hours.”
“Thanks.” Gillian smiled her gratitude and turned to follow pink overall down the hall.
They took the elevator to the fourth floor, walked the length of a long, dim corridor and stopped in front of room 406.
“I’ll leave you here.” The volunteer pressed Gillian’s arm and gave her a cheerful smile.
Gillian nodded, pushed the door and stepped inside the room. Kelly was stretched out on the bed. His dark brown hair was tangled over his forehead and into his eyes. She moved up to the bed and sidled in next to the IV stand. His heart monitor beeped and her eyes flew up and fastened on the jagged line flowing across a dark green screen. She held her breath and watched it dip and peak in a monotonous line. She realized she’d been holding her breath, let it out and moved up to the bed.
Taking care to avoid the IV tube, she moved her hand up his face and brushed the hair out of his eyes. His skin was tinted a frightening shade of gray. She leaned over him and pressed her lips against his cheek. His face was cool and scratchy with dark stubble.
After a while she crossed the room, fetched a chair from the small table by the window and placed it next to the head of his bed. Her eyes went back to the monitor. The white line still dipped monotonously across the screen. Reassured, she lowered her head, leaned it gently into the pillow beside him and closed her eyes.
Stella’s observation in the waiting room had hit her like a ton of bricks. Everything had happened so fast. Last year, when she’d met Kelly at the Stagecoach, she’d been attracted but they’d both been busy with their lives and when he’d broken their date and drifted out of her life, she hadn’t given it much thought. Then he’d called and asked her to the barbecue. On a whim, she’d decided to go but she hadn’t expected to fall head over heels in love with him.
Kelly moved his head and Gillian’s eyes sprang open. She gazed into his face but nothing had changed. His eyes were still closed, his skin still pale. She reached out and stroked his cheek.
Butterflies danced in her stomach. She couldn’t begin to sort out her feelings. She’d claimed to be his wife but that was just a necessary lie she’d told the hospital. Or was it a subconscious wish?
She lifted her head off the pillow and moved away from the bed. She stood at the window and looked out at the glowing lights in the parking lot. What was going on with her? Was Stella right? Have I fallen in love with this man?
Darn. She needed to get control of herself and remember the vow she’d made. How long had it been? Ten years.
She’d been nineteen, lonely and impressionable when Matt had galloped into her life. He was a rodeo cowboy — a smooth talking charmer who literally danced her off her feet. She’d married him in a rush and spent the next six years regretting the impulse. He’d followed the circuit and on one of his infrequent trips back to Fort Worth, she’d finally served him with papers and gotten her divorce. Then she’d made herself a promise that if the idea of marriage ever entered her head again, she’d run like hell.
Chapter Ten
Mark had stayed late at the office to catch up on some paperwork. His preparations for Marcy’s trial had been taking up most of his time and he’d let a lot of other stuff slide. He’d nearly finished the brief on a hit-and-run driver he was defending when the telephone buzzed and the light on his private line flashed. He grabbed the receiver.
“Hello!”
“Mark, it’s Chris Thorne. I’ve got something for you.”
Mark straightened up in his chair. Chris’s voice was excited. Maybe they were finally getting a break. “What’s up, Chris?”
“One of my sources just came through with the financial stuff you wanted on Winn Gordon. Of course, my source will have to stay covered but I think we’ve struck pay dirt here.”
“Well, give, damn it. Don’t keep me in suspense any longer.”
Chris chuckled. “Okay. First off, there’s no money in the family. Winn’s parents own a small appliance store in Memphis but it’s strictly nickel-and-dime stuff. Theresa’s parents are divorced. Her father’s some kind of an engineer but there’s bad blood between father and daughter. As far as their own incomes are concerned, Winn makes about sixty thousand a year as a sales rep and Theresa doesn’t work.”
“I see. So what’s got you so excited?”
“As you know, I’ve got a couple of friends in the banking business. It took a bit of doing but I talked one of them into running a check on Winn’s accounts for me and he hit the jackpot. It seems that over the past two years, Winn’s deposited close to a quarter of a million dollars in a Hong Kong bank account.”
“Hong Kong?” Mark’s voice was puzzled.
“Yep. Of course this is just speculation but I’ve got an idea.” Chris squeaked with eagerness. “Winn’s a sales rep for a record company. He could’ve set up his own operation with a distributor in Hong Kong without letting Miller-Wyatt in on what he was doing.”
Mark wrinkled his brow. “I suppose it could be done. He’d need a pirate to supply the stock and he’d have to have his own billing system set up, but it’s possible.”
“Pretty neat if he could get away with it.”
“It might not be too difficult. All he’d have to do is set up a dummy phone and mail address, represent it to the Hong Kong outfit as Miller-Wyatt’s foreign office and he’d be in business.”
“Sounds logical,” Chris agreed, “but how would that tie in with Alex Wyatt’s murder?”
“Let’s suppose Alex stumbled onto this operation. Remember, he spent the night out at their ranch a couple of months ago. What if he was snooping around Winn’s office and found something that made him suspicious? Wouldn’t it
be natural for him to run a check on Miller-Wyatt’s operations in Hong Kong?”
“The fat would be in the fire then.”
“That’s right and it’s quite possible Alex dropped a hint about what he’d found when he stopped at the Gordons’ table that night. He might even have threatened to go to the cops. Winn would be desperate if that was the case. Maybe it was Winn who was waiting in the car when Alex left the restaurant?”
Chris paused, thinking about Mark’s idea. “Wouldn’t his wife have to be in on it?”
“Sure she would but I’ve met the lady and I wouldn’t put anything past her if she had enough to gain. Matter of fact, if I had to pick a killer between the two of them, she’d be the one to get my vote.”
“So what are you going to do now?”
“First, I’m going to call Kelly and see if he can get anything out of Miller-Wyatt’s Dallas office about the purpose of Alex’s trip to Nashville. Then I’m going to call Winn and ask him if he’ll stop by the office in the morning and verify the statement I received from Theresa.”
“Will he come?”
“I think so. He’s probably anxious to get the amended statement on record before another witness shows up and puts the lie to his first one.”
“Are you going to hit him with this Hong Kong stuff?”
Mark leaned back in the chair and stretched out his arms. “I don’t know. I’ll play it by ear but I’d like you to stand by, just in case.”
“No problem. I’ll stick close to home.”
“Good! I’ll get back to you later.”
Mark pushed the button to disconnect the line then punched out Kelly’s number at Indian Creek. He listened to half a dozen rings before Kelly’s voice invited him to leave a message.
“Kelly, this is Mark. I think we’ve had a break on this Gordon thing. Give me a call as soon as you can. It’s nine-thirty now. I’ll be at the office for a couple of hours and after that, you can catch me at the house.”
He dropped the receiver back in the cradle, picked up the phone book and rifled through the pages for Winn Gordon’s number. He found it and dialed the number.
It rang twice and Theresa’s voice was on the line. “Gordon residence.”
“Mrs. Gordon, this is Mark Fischer. I’d like to speak with your husband.”
There was a pause and then her voice came back, brisk and businesslike. “Winn’s in Dallas for a few days.”
“I see. Do you know if he had a chance to stop at the police station and change his statement?”
“He took care of it yesterday morning before he left town,” she snapped.
“That’s great. I appreciate it. When do you expect him back?”
“I’m not sure. He’ll be gone at least a week. Mike Langley’s taking over the company and Winn’s been promoted to vice president.”
“Well, I guess congratulations are in order. Perhaps you’ll have him call me when he gets back in town.”
“All right. I’ll tell him.” The phone clicked and the line went dead.
Mark rose and headed for the coffee pot. He planned to stick around and wait for Kelly’s call. Mike Langley hadn’t wasted any time taking over the company and it was interesting too, that both he and Winn Gordon were in Dallas. This could be a good time for Kelly to have a talk with them.
Mark went back to his brief. He glanced at his watch a couple of times. It was after eleven and still no call from Kelly when he decided to hang it up for the night and head home. He packed his briefcase and was just ready to leave when his private line buzzed again.
“Hello.” he said grabbing it on the first ring.
“Mark, it’s Stella. Somebody tried to murder Kelly.”
“What?”
“We don’t know if it’s connected with Marcy’s case. Somebody’s been blackmailing Lorena Wyatt and she hired Kelly to track down the blackmailer. Kelly was hoping he’d find a connection to Alex’s murder and he went to meet the blackmailer at a storage lot in Arlington.”
“Whoa there, gal,” Mark said. “You’re getting way ahead of me. I talked to Kelly the other day and he didn’t mention anything about blackmail.”
“I know. He wasn’t sure if it was connected, so he kept it to himself. I didn’t even know about it until Gillian, that’s Kelly’s girlfriend, called me when Kelly didn’t show up for a date they had tonight.”
“Where’s Kelly now?”
“He’s in the hospital. Cam and I have just come from there. We had to bring Kelly’s dog home and when I saw the light flashing on his answering machine, I listened to your message and figured I’d better call and let you know what was going on.”
“How did he end up in the hospital?”
“The blackmailer trapped him inside one of the sheds out at that storage place and asphyxiated him with carbon monoxide.”
“Damn! Kelly mentioned he might be on to something but he didn’t say what it was. I called him tonight to let him know Mike Langley and Winn Gordon are in Dallas. I was hoping to send him over to Miller-Wyatt to ask them a few questions.”
“He’s in a coma right now and we don’t have any idea what kind of shape his mind will be in when he comes out of it.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Stella.”
Stella’s voice caught on a sob. “Thanks, Mark. I’ll let you know as soon as we hear something.”
“Okay. You take it easy, gal and call me in the morning, will you?”
“Wait, Mark. Don’t hang up yet. Why can’t I go over to Miller-Wyatt and ask those guys some questions?”
“I don’t think so, Stella. I’m going to have to give this blackmail thing some thought. We don’t even know if there’s any connection between Kelly’s blackmailer and Alex’s murderer but whatever’s going on, it’s too dangerous for an amateur to get involved.”
“I’m already involved, Mark. Look, I’m going to go over to Miller-Wyatt and ask those guys a few questions about Alex Wyatt whether you like it or not.”
“You’re just like my mother—all guts and no common sense.”
Stella laughed. “Yeah but you’ve got to admit we usually get results.”
“You could also get killed.”
“Don’t be silly. I’m not a fool. Besides, Lorena Wyatt knows that I know about the blackmailer and I’ll be able to use her to get me in to see these guys.”
“I don’t like it but I suppose it’ll be better for me to tell you what to ask than to have you go charging up there and raising hell without knowing what you’re talking about.”
“Exactly.” She laughed again. “Now what do you want me to ask them?”
“First, Mike Langley. I want to know if he knows why Alex was in Nashville last weekend. You can tell him you’re doing some background checks on behalf of Marcy’s lawyer. If he says he doesn’t know, I don’t want you to push it. I just want to get it on record whether he was aware of a specific purpose for Alex’s trip.”
“Okay and what about the other one?”
“With Winn Gordon, it’s a bit more complicated. I’ve got some suspicions about Gordon that I’m not going to go into right now. However, it might not hurt for you to spook him a bit. Ask him about the night Alex spent out at his ranch. I’ve reason to believe Gordon was gone that weekend and Alex actually spent the night with Gordon’s wife. Gordon will probably deny it but I think we can prove he did know and it might help to have his lie on record, if we have to go to trial.”
“What was all that about?” Cam asked when Stella hung up the phone.
“Oh, nothing. Mark just wants me to check out a couple of things for him.”
“It sounded to me like you were the one deciding what needed to be checked out.”
Stella grinned. “Would I do that?”
“Yes. You damn sure would. Look Stella, whatever the hell’s going on here, somebody almost killed Kelly and I’m not taking any chances of the same thing happening to you. I don’t want you getting involved in this shit.”
“Oh
, you don’t. Well, you listen here, Cameron Belcher. You and I have been getting along just fine lately and I’d like to see that continue. There’s one thing we’d better get clear, though. I don’t take orders. Especially not the kind of orders that smack of who’s wearing the pants in the family.
“I’m involved in this ‘shit’ as you call it because Marcy’s my niece. If there’s anything I can do to find out who killed Alex Wyatt and get her out of the trouble she’s in, I’m going to do it. Now if you can’t handle that, you’d better get on back to your bar and take care of your own business.”
“Whoa there, Stella.” Cam lifted his hands and grinned. “I’m sorry. Okay? I was out of line. I didn’t mean to tell you what to do and I sure didn’t mean to interfere with your concern for your niece. I’m worried about you. That’s all. I guess I kind of forgot myself for a minute. What say we start this conversation over again?”
Stella nodded and snuggled into his arms.
“Okay then,” Cam whispered against her hair. “How about if I ask you if you’d mind if I drove you over there and waited out in the car while you went inside and had your little talk with those fellas?”
She pressed her mouth against his cheek. “I’d like that,” she murmured and turned her head to meet his lips.
“We better get back to the hospital,” Cam said before giving her another hug and turning her toward the door.
“You stay here, boy,” Cam said to Jake who’d jumped up and followed them to the door.
“Poor fella.” Stella stroked his head. “He knows something’s wrong and he doesn’t understand why we’re leaving him behind.”
“I know. It’s tough on him. Do you want to run him over to your place and drop him off with Lucy?”
“That’s a great idea. They can keep each other company and at least Jake won’t be left to pace around this cabin all by himself.”
“Okay. Come on, Jake. Let’s go see Lucy.”
They stopped at Stella’s cabin, put out food and water for both dogs and then headed back to the hospital. They’d been gone three hours and Gillian was probably dead on her feet.
“I’m going to check us into a motel over by the hospital,” Stella said. “We all need to get a bit of rest and I know darn well Gillian’s not going to want to go home until Kelly’s out of danger.”