Lies That Bind

by Willows, Caitlyn

  Good news is that you’re Mike’s only offspring, Tess. That’s why Mike did what he did. Yeah, he could have left it to me, and he wanted to. But with all his wild oats possibly runnin’ around, there was no way to ensure the ranch would stay in good hands once I died, even if I did leave it outright to Rex and Tyler. Someone could have contested, saying it had to stay in the Ford family or be sold outright. And you know Old Man Turnbauer would do just that if he thought it’d give him a chance to grab the land. No one could argue with the oldest child having it. Considerin’ how y’all feel about it…

  Kiss and make up. Y’all are being stupid. The only love I’ve seen greater than you three is mine for Robert. Can’t say I handled that any better. I wish I’d met him years ago. You tried to do the right thing last year, Tess. Now you can do it with full knowledge of why things were the way they were. Why didn’t I tell you then? You were damned pissed and not thinkin’ straight. Don’t blame you a bit. I’m still pissed too. Disgusted as well. Hard to hold your head up in a town, knowing what they did. Imagine what they’d say if they learned I was gay. I know y’all will do right by Robert. My attorney can help with that. He’s very good at what he does.

  Love y’all. See you on the other side.

  She folded the letter and put it back into the envelope. “I have to say I didn’t see that one coming.”

  Rex shuffled through the DNA reports. “Me either, but it certainly explains everything.”

  “Any names we’d recognize?” Tyler asked.

  “An interesting collection of pillars of the community. Martin, Caldwell, Llano—”

  Tessa’s eyebrows shot up. “As in Tito?”

  “One and the same. No match, sweetheart. Don’t freak out.”

  “Too late for that.” She shuddered.

  “Ethel’s here. So is Margaret Simpkiss.”

  “God. I wonder what Mr. Simpkiss would have to say about sinning if he knew his daughter was involved.” Or Turnbauer. It might explain why Ethel was trying so hard to win his favor. She stuffed the envelope back into the box. “Is it too early for a good stiff drink?”

  “Nope, it’s four o’clock somewhere.” Tyler tossed the policies in the box and stood. “We can deal with those later. Too bad he didn’t think to leave a list of who was left.”

  Rex committed the matches to memory. Here was motive to kill Derek. “I’m sure we’ll find it somewhere. Maybe in the storage locker.” He stuffed the reports in with the rest of the paperwork and shut the box. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  “You won’t hear any argument from me.” Tessa stood, taking the box with her. “I won’t be long. Then once I add the two of you to this box, we can leave. This is all too much. I feel like I need a shower, but I don’t think there’s enough water in all of Texas to wash away how dirty I feel inside and out right now.”

  Rex watched her walk away. He knew how she felt. They’d put their all into a ranch that had had a black mark against it from the start. It was a wonder Rustlers had succeeded at all.

  “I’m seeing Ethel in a whole different light,” Tyler whispered as Tessa and the woman returned from the vault.

  Rex tried not to smirk. As they’d waited for Tessa in the bank, he had to admit he’d been watching others and wondering. Among them was a killer. Now they knew the possible motive. The hell of it was, there wasn’t anyone they could go to with the information.

  A jerk of Tessa’s head ordered them to the counter. Her frown told them to behave. It wasn’t easy. It was going to be a long time before Rex could look any of the townspeople in the eye with a straight face. Probably how they all felt when he and Tyler had moved into the area. Realizing that was enough to sober him.

  “Derek said we can trust Kevin,” he told Tessa and Tyler when they finally left the building. “We should tell him what we’ve found.”

  “No,” Tessa snapped.

  “Why?” Rex opened the rear car door for her.

  “Don’t like him. Don’t trust him. How long have you known him?”

  Tyler slipped in beside her from the other side. “About a year and then only in passing.”

  “Never heard of him until then.” Something that deserved a closer look. Rex sank behind the wheel and added that to his growing list of things to do.

  “We tell Nate,” Tessa said. “He’s got connections. He’s got people. He’ll know what to do. Someone’s going down.”

  Scorched earth policy, no holds barred. Dragging out the big guns. Rex had never been more proud or felt more helpless.

  Tyler cupped his shoulder. “You’ve been staring out the window for a full minute. Want me to drive?”

  “As a matter of fact, I do.” They switched places without another word.

  As Tyler pulled onto the street, Rex leaned back against the headrest. Tessa tucked her fingers around his and pulled his hand to her lap. He closed his eyes and listened to the miles rumble away beneath the tires, opening them when the crunch of the oyster-shell road told him they were at the ranch. And so was Nate, judging from the rental car in front of the house.

  Nate stepped outside when Tyler pulled to a stop. His arm was in a sling, whiskers darkened his face, and he looked like he was ready to chew somebody up and spit them out. He was at their car before the screen door banged shut behind him.

  “Tessa, stay in the car behind the wheel, engine running, cell phone in your hand.” He motioned to Rex and Tyler. “Found a man inside going through the basement. Coop’s got him handcuffed inside. We were just getting ready to call your half-assed sheriff when you pulled up.”

  “Who is it?” Tessa was half-in, half-out of the driver’s seat.

  “That damn ER doctor. We saw the basement door open, went to investigate, and found him in the gun safe.”

  Considering his relationship with Derek… “He and Derek were involved. He’d have a key and the combination.”

  Nate waved his fingers toward the vehicles. “Then how the hell did he get here? And what the hell was he doing putting a gun into the safe?”

  If there was a reasonable explanation, Rex sure as hell couldn’t think of it. “Well, let’s see what he has to say about that.”

  “And I’m not sitting out here while you find out.” Tessa shut the door and was at his heels before he reached the first step. Tyler flanked her rear. She had the good sense to remain between them.

  Inside they found Robert on his knees, hands behind his back, before a man who looked like he ate nails for breakfast. Coop, as Nate called him, boasted a tan rich from the sun or else was genetically blessed. His dark hair matched the glower on his face. The man could face down bulls and make them give up their balls willingly.

  Robert glanced up, revealing a skinned cheek, then dropped his head on a slow shake. “This is so fucked-up. Just let me explain.”

  “Uncuff him.” Tessa pushed her way forward and dropped to her knees before Robert.

  “He could be dangerous, Tessa.”

  Coop reached for her arm, then thought better of it when she glared up at him. So, they knew each other. How and why came to Rex’s mind. Did it really matter, considering how they faced-off?

  “This man saved Nate’s life yesterday,” she said through clenched teeth.

  “I understand.” The man cupped her elbow in one hand and braced the other against her back. “But things seem to be twisted in and around each other. Facts, fiction, who knows what’s going on. I’ll uncuff him, but I’d feel better if you were a safer distance away.”

  Yeah, the how and the why mattered a hell of a lot. Nate arriving with Tessa roused uncontrolled jealousy in Rex, but watching Coop take control and lead her to the sofa, watching Tessa let him without an argument, the way her cheeks flushed… Not only did Rex feel threatened, he felt like he didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell if Coop decided he wanted her. Rex would give Coop this one. But if the man pulled a stunt like that again, he’d find out real quick no one comes between a cowboy and his woman.
/>   Coop leaned down to uncuff Robert. “One wrong move, slick, and I’ll snap your neck like a toothpick.”

  Tyler sank into the cushion beside Tessa, laying claim. Sounded like a damn fine plan to Rex, even if his only option was to sit on the armrest.

  Robert jerked away when Coop grabbed his arm to help him up. Anger blazed from his eyes. Rex tensed, anticipating an altercation. Fortunately, both men were wise enough to step apart.

  Robert sank into the recliner, then braced his forearms on his thighs and leaned his head in his hands. “This is such a fucked-up mess. I did not kill Derek, even though he begged me a thousand times to put him out of his misery when the time came. That’s why I had the gun. I’d like to say it was the only way to shut him up. But the truth is, I did get to the point where I didn’t think I could bear to see him suffer. But I couldn’t. I just couldn’t. I’d hoped to put the gun away while you were gone, before you got into the basement.”

  Too late for that.

  Nate tossed a ring of keys to the coffee table. They skidded to a stop in front of Robert. The Galveston logo was a match to Derek’s. “How the hell did you get here?”

  Robert pulled in a breath and leaned back. “I parked on the road leading to the line shack, waited until I figured you’d left and the guests were out doing their thing, then picked my way over.”

  “On foot?” Tyler asked. “With pigs roaming the area?”

  Not to mention a killer.

  “Well, I had a gun and ammo.” Robert looked at him like he was crazy.

  “Well, you wouldn’t going back.” Sarcasm dripped like acid from Tyler’s voice. “You couldn’t have come to us directly?”

  Robert spread his arms. “And risk someone seeing me drive up? No one knew we were together. We had to work in this area. Do you realize—”

  “Enough.” Tessa snapped to her feet. “It was an arrow that killed Derek, not a gun.”

  Tension leached from Nate’s and Coop’s shoulders. Rex wished he could say the same for the room.

  She loomed over Robert, coffee table be damned. “And the phone works damn well. You could have told us.”

  “I don’t know you.” A flimsy excuse.

  “Bullshit,” she shot back. “If you were that intimate with Derek, you knew all about us. Maybe even more than we knew about each other.”

  Robert broke eye contact, pretty much verifying what Tessa said.

  Rex slipped onto the cushion Tessa had vacated. “No more backdoor shit. You come through the front like everyone else or not at all. You’ve got nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of. Someone gives you shit… Trust me, people in this town have no reason to throw stones.”

  Robert let out a breath and nodded. “I’d appreciate a ride back to my truck. You’re also going to want to take a look at the line shack. Looks like someone broke in and tore the place apart. I didn’t go any farther than looking in the window when I saw it was shattered.”

  “Derek provided for you, Robert.”

  Tessa managed to wiggle into the minuscule space left between Rex and Tyler. Rex had to admit, he liked the feel. She ducked her head until Robert made eye contact with her.

  “He loved you very much. He said Kevin Drummond is discreet and would make this transition seamless without exposing you.”

  He squinted, looking confused. “What’s Kevin got to do with any of this?”

  For an attorney, Kevin sure kept a low profile. “He’s Derek’s attorney,” Rex said.

  Furrows ridged Robert’s forehead. “No, he’s not. Justin Clark is Derek’s attorney. He met him in Galveston.”

  “Then who the hell is Kevin Drummond, and why did he have Derek’s will?” Tessa shrieked.

  Rex brushed his hand over her shoulders to keep her calm. She clutched her fingers over his. “Calm down. We’ll figure this out. Kevin is an attorney. He moved to the area about a year ago and set up practice. Maybe Derek hired him initially, then changed his mind and didn’t tell Kevin or thought he did and forgot. With brain tumors, there’s no telling where his mind was. And besides, Derek was very firm about not hiring anyone local.”

  “About not hiring anyone who’d lived here for a long time,” Tyler clarified. “There’s a big difference. Kevin’s a newcomer.”

  Robert shrugged. “Considering his local connection—”

  “What local connection?” Tessa’s grip on Rex’s hand tightened.

  “He’s somehow related to Ethel. A nephew, I think. I heard him call her Mother Ethel once, and she sure wasn’t very happy about it.”

  Tessa stared into space. “We’re missing a DNA report.”

  They sure as hell were. Either Derek hadn’t been able to get one yet, or someone had stolen it before Derek could get it to the bank. The bank where Ethel worked.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Well, I have to say, that’s one hell of a story,” Nate said.

  They’d all kicked back to tell what they knew over sandwiches and iced tea around the worn kitchen table. The busywork had kept Tessa occupied, gave her time to piece together scenarios and possibilities while she listened to the facts as they were laid out.

  “See?” Nate nudged Coop. “I told you no one was after me.”

  “And they would be…why?” Tyler asked.

  She held her breath, waiting for an answer she’d never dared to ask.

  “I was undercover a while back, trying to bring down a drug lord,” Nate replied. “Been lying low since then, but even more so with the trial coming up. When I was shot…”

  A logical conclusion to presume it was someone after Nate. “Now the question is… Why were you shot?” she asked.

  “I can think of a number of reasons.” Coop leaned his forearms on the table, long fingers curled around his glass of tea.

  Cooper Hawkins aka Hawk. The man unnerved her. Made her think of things… God, she’d never get that night out of her mind. It ranked up there as number one on her what were you thinking list. Under the table, she placed her hands on Rex’s and Tyler’s thighs. Both reached down and gave her fingers a squeeze.

  “So can I,” Rex countered. “Wrong place, wrong time doesn’t wash. Whoever shot Nate was likely the one who killed Derek. This is a person who cleans up after himself.”

  “Or herself,” Tyler added.

  Rex gave a nod and mirrored Coop’s pose. Tessa got the feeling of competition and rather liked it. Coop might be able to handle whips and floggers like nobody’s business, but Rex could top him in all other things. Heat crept over her body at the terminology.

  “Nate either saw something he wasn’t supposed to see and didn’t realize it yet, or he was close to doing so. Also, his presence made it pretty clear there was a new sheriff in town, so to speak. A law enforcement officer who knew his shit. He’d be a threat the killer didn’t count on.”

  “And if that’s the case, that limits our suspect pool to the four people who knew Nate was a cop. Kevin Drummond, Carmen and Heath Ford, and Tito Llano.” Tyler ticked off each name on his fingers. “Of those, Carmen and Heath did have motive to want Derek dead. Kevin might have motive.”

  Coop leaned back, crossing his arms. “What can I do? Where do you want to start?” He pointed at Nate without looking at him. “You aren’t going anywhere.”

  “He can stay here and protect me.” Tessa gave Nate a wink and received his smile back.

  Coop smirked. “Sweetheart, you’ve proven time and again you’re pretty good at protecting yourself.”

  “Uh-uh.” Rex stabbed his finger into the table so hard the glasses rattled. “You don’t sweetheart another man’s woman. Got it?”

  Coop’s grin widened. “Got it. Nice to know she’s in the right hands.” His smile faded. “So, where do you want to start?”

  Rex settled back. Tyler didn’t. “Considering how diligent this person is,” Tyler mused, “it’d be futile to recheck the two scenes.”

  “That leaves out Carmen and Heath as suspects,” Rex mumbled. “Nothing
diligent about those two.”

  “True enough,” Tyler agreed. “Let’s head over to the line shack so Robert can get his car. From the look of things, Derek was either headed to or returning from there when he was killed. Now it’s been trashed, so someone doesn’t want something found.”

  That left Kevin as a suspect. She couldn’t sit here with her thumb up her ass and wait for news. Other than confronting Kevin, which would place her in the too-stupid-to-live category, she couldn’t think of what else to do.

  “I’m coming right back here.” Robert pushed away from the table and started to clear it. “I intend to help you as much as I can, work at the hospital permitting.”

  “Good. You can start by seeing what you can turn up about Mother Ethel,” Rex said. He, Tyler, and Cooper stood as one. In less time than it took to think about it, the four men were out the door, leaving Tessa alone with Nate. She glanced up as she stood to see him smirking at her.

  “What?” she snapped.

  He grinned. “Ever going to tell your men about—”

  “Not if I can help it.” She hurried to finish clearing the table.

  Nate chuckled. “Yeah…I don’t think that’s gonna happen.”

  * * * *

  Robert wasn’t kidding when he said someone had torn the line shack apart. It looked like someone had trotted javelina through the place. Tyler wouldn’t have discounted that possibility. Not only was the window broken, so was the only door to the place. It opened and closed as the wind decreed. Otherwise, the shack looked like it had been fairly secure before that. Immaculate too, despite the bottles, cans, paper cups, and cigarette butts now littering the floor. Each was in its own plastic baggie. All baggies had code numbers on them. That was when Tyler realized…

  “This is where he was hiding his DNA collection samples.” Probably in the cabinets lining the walls. Cabinets that were now wide open with their shelves falling down.

  Rex squatted and sifted through the debris with his pocket knife. “There’s a code on these paper cups.”

  It’d be Derek’s system of finding out what belonged to whom. The key to deciphering it was probably on his laptop or in the storage locker in Austin.