Trouble in Texas_A Flight Risk Cozy Mystery

by Susan Harper

  “I don’t know. It would make them rich!” Laurie exclaimed, but then she paused. “It would make Mr. and Mrs. Carson rich. Not Junior.”

  “Exactly,” Pauline said. “They must have all agreed to keep the gold a secret… Maybe all three of them have been pulling gold from the reserve?”

  “And so…that means…one of them took out Monica…to make sure they got more gold…” Laurie said, her face turning red. “Oh no.”

  Pauline nodded. “We need to go speak to Junior and Brenton…and everybody else…right now.”

  14

  Brenton had just moved the truck a few miles out, leaving Kendell and the others time to rest while he went and dumped the debris into a wood pile they had started. Mr. Carson and Mr. Johnson were both sitting on a large log they had managed to roll away from the road, leaving the duty of chopping it up for another day. The important thing was that they cleared the road. “I hope Laurie gets back soon,” Mrs. Carson said, stretching her back. “I’m looking forward to an update on how the authorities are handling it on their end.”

  “I doubt they’re moving as fast as us,” Junior boasted.

  Jesse was sitting in a lawn chair that had been in the back of the truck. She had been doing most of the driving that morning, but even the constant use of her right leg for something as trivial as driving had caused her stitching to start rubbing against the bandages. She was now pretty much just moral support for everyone else. Jesse smiled up at Junior. “You guys are moving pretty quick,” she said. “I got to say, I’m impressed.”

  “I’m impressed by you,” Junior said to her. “If I had a gash in my leg like that, I’d be milking it.”

  Jesse smiled. “Not too bad for a city girl, right?”

  “Right,” Junior said, grinning.

  Kendell laughed, brushing her hands off onto her jeans after removing her gloves. Her hands were getting awfully sweaty, and she was glad to have a break. They had managed to cut up two trees that had fallen and had gathered a tremendous number of oversized limbs, as well as what looked like half of a demolished shed that the Carsons and Johnsons were both thankful not to recognize as one of their own.

  “I have to say, I misjudged you all,” Mary said, giving Kendell a friendly bump of her hip. “I thought you New Yorkers wouldn’t be able to keep up.”

  “Hey, New York is the city that never sleeps,” Kendell said. “We know how to pull our weight.”

  “I mean, honestly, between this and you catching those chickens, you’ve certainly changed my perspective,” Mary said.

  Mrs. Johnson had now joined her husband and neighbor on the large log. She stretched her legs out in front of her. “Laurie has been gone for a while now,” Mrs. Johnson said. “You think that girl is avoiding work?”

  Junior pulled out his cell phone and shook his head. “Nah, she is probably just having a hard time finding service. We had it in the house for a little bit there, but it went out. She’s probably walking all over the property trying to pick up a few bars.”

  “Oh, would you look there,” Mr. Carson said, pointing out behind them. “Looks like Ms. Pauline is feeling better.”

  Kendell turned around, looking back toward the homestead. Sure enough, she saw the beat-up old truck heading in their direction. “Oh, hey, Laurie’s with Pauline,” Kendell said. “Guess Pauline must have seen her and picked her up.”

  “I hope she’s got an update for us,” Junior said, putting a hand on Jesse’s shoulder.

  Jesse smiled. “I hope so. No offense, Mrs. Carson, your patchwork was wonderful, but I’d like to have a doctor at a hospital take a look at my leg as soon as possible.”

  “No offense taken, dear,” Mrs. Carson said.

  As soon as Pauline parked the truck, Laurie jumped out of the passenger’s seat. She looked furious, and honestly, Kendell’s first assumption was that Pauline must have said something that annoyed her. But she marched right up to Junior. “All right, creep, let’s talk,” she hissed, and the Carsons and Johnsons all jumped up from where they had settled down because Laurie’s demeanor was incredibly intimidating.

  “Excuse me?” Junior asked, taking a step back because Laurie was in his face.

  Pauline came scooting out of the truck, joining the hostile group as casually as ever. “Pauline, what’s this about?” Kendell asked.

  “Well, we think we know what happened to Monica,” Pauline said to Kendell loud enough for the group to hear.

  “What!” Mary exclaimed. “What happened?”

  Laurie reached into her pocket, pulling out what looked like a decent hunk of gold.

  “Whoa,” Kendell said.

  “Pauline and I found gold!” Laurie announced.

  “Gold!” Mr. Carson exclaimed. “Where did you find gold!” Laurie tossed the golden nugget to Mr. Carson. The man examined it, his eyes widening. “This is real!” he cried.

  “They’re by the caverns,” Laurie said. “That hole the boys fell in when they were kids is full of the stuff. Junior and Brenton knew all about the gold, and so did Monica.”

  Junior stiffened.

  “Junior!” Mrs. Carson exclaimed. “Did you really know about this?”

  Junior’s face turned red. “Yes, I knew about the gold.”

  “You found those caverns when you were just a kid,” Mr. Carson said. “How could you not tell me that plot was filled with gold?”

  “Because he didn’t want his daddy taking the money, that’s why,” Laurie said, poking him in the chest. “He convinced Brenton and Monica to stay quiet so that when he inherited the ranch, he’d inherit the gold too.”

  “What! No, that’s not it!” Junior yelped.

  “And,” Laurie added. “This is the real reason he and Brenton had a falling out. Brenton tried to talk him into selling the land to him, but obviously Junior wasn’t going to sell him a literal gold mine. No doubt Monica was flirting it up with you because she knew you were going to be rich!”

  Junior’s face turned red. “You’re way out of line!”

  “Junior, explain yourself!” Mr. Carson snapped. “Are you really so greedy, son, that you wouldn’t tell me about gold on my land?”

  “Dad, that’s not it at all, I swear!” Junior shouted. “I didn’t tell you about the gold because I was worried you’d sell the ranch.”

  Mr. Carson raised brow. “You think I’d sell the ranch?”

  “I thought you’d liquidize the gold and retire,” Junior said. “And sell the ranch. I didn’t want you to do that because I want this ranch. I would sometimes take a few gold pieces and sell them when we weren’t doing great at the ranch, and I’d put the money in your account. I hadn’t ever stolen any of your gold, Dad. It’s your land, not mine. I would never do anything like that, I swear.”

  “But Monica knew about the gold,” Mr. Johnson said. “Junior…you didn’t kill her to keep her quiet, did you?”

  “What!? No! Monica was my friend, I would never—”

  Junior was interrupted as Brenton returned in the now-empty truck. Brenton stepped out and wiped his brow. “Okay,” Brenton said, everyone staring in his direction. “Next time I go to dump a load in the fire pit, someone else is coming with me.” He paused, realizing everyone was staring at him. “What’s up, you guys?”

  “Brenton, did you hurt Monica?” Junior hissed.

  “What? No!” Brenton exclaimed, taking a step back. “What makes you all think that?”

  “They found the gold. Everyone knows about the gold,” Junior said.

  “Oh,” Brenton said, shaking his head. “Well, that doesn’t mean a thing. That was a secret between the three of us. Did you hurt Monica, Junior?”

  Brenton had a point. If Monica’s death was about keeping the gold a secret, either one of them could be guilty. If Monica had threatened to tell Mr. Carson, would that be enough for Junior to want to kill her? Was he lying and was really trying to hoard all the gold himself to keep his father from claiming it? Or if Brenton was the guilty party—when
Junior had refused to share the land and the gold, did Brenton decide to start taking out anyone who knew? What if he was planning on going after Junior too?

  Then, a thought suddenly occurred to Kendell just as tensions were starting to rise further. “Brenton!” Kendell snapped, pointing at him. “Take off your work gloves!”

  Brenton had been wearing his work gloves ever since the night Monica had been killed. Whoever had killed Monica would’ve put their hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming. Monica could have bitten her attacker when they had tried to keep her quiet.

  “What? Why?” Brenton asked.

  “Take. Off. Your. Gloves,” Kendell demanded slowly, enunciating ever word. “Monica had blood dripping down her lips. I think whoever stabbed her had held their hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming—we were all together in the cellar, after all—and I think she bit whoever attacked her. I bet if you take those gloves off, there will be a bite mark on one of your hands.”

  Brenton glared at Kendell. “I didn’t hurt Monica! She was one of my best friends.”

  “What happened, Brenton? Have you been taking gold off the Carson’s property, and Monica found out about it? Is that it?” Kendell asked, and she could tell this stirred him. She felt like she had probably hit the nail on the head with that one. “And I bet you were planning on taking Junior out next.”

  “And without Junior, you would easily be able to convince Mr. Carson into selling that piece of land that, without the gold, would be completely useless for a rancher,” Pauline said.

  “That’s ridiculous!” Brenton shouted and started toward his truck. “Screw you guys! I’m out of here. Finish clearing the road yourself!”

  Just as he opened the driver’s side door of the truck, Mr. Johnson bolted over and slammed the door shut, staring his son in the eye. “Take off your gloves, son,” he said.

  Brenton stiffened. He stared at his father, and after a moment of hesitating, he removed his gloves. His left hand, sure enough, was wrapped in a bandage. Mr. Johnson grabbed his son by the wrist and slowly began unwrapping the bloodied bandage. Then, clear as day, was a very obvious bite mark that had pierced through his skin.

  Mr. Johnson’s head lowered. He looked more devastated than Brenton. Kendell shook her head. They had figured it out. Brenton had killed Monica, and it was evident by the hateful look he was shooting in Junior’s direction that he had planned on going after him next. Kendell half-expected Brenton to attempt some maddening escape—perhaps grabbing a gun and going after the Carsons all together. But, he didn’t. It would have been quite futile because just as Mr. Johnson revealed Brenton’s hand, they heard sirens in the distance.

  It seemed that the local authorities had finished clearing the road. They were coming, finally responding to the emergency call about Monica. Not that they would need to do any investigating now. They all knew, and Brenton didn’t seem willing to run—not with his own father gripping him by the arm and looking at him with such devastated disappointment.

  15

  Kendell arose the next morning feeling somewhat refreshed. She reached over, picking up her now-fully charged cell phoned. The nearby service towers had evidently been repaired, because her phone had over fifty missed messages—mostly texts from her boyfriend, Jack. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” she groaned. Some of them sounded like he was just worried; she had told him she was flying to Texas before turning to South America, so he had probably seen the crazy storm on the news.

  Jesse and Pauline had already gone downstairs, it seemed. She sat up on the little cot and called Jack. When he answered, she half-expected him to start yelling in her ear, but instead he cried out, “Thank God!”

  “I’m so sorry,” Kendell said. “Pauline, Jesse, and I got stuck in Texas, and these local ranchers let us stay on their property. The cell towers went out, and the roads were totally blocked off. I had no way of reaching you. They don’t even have internet out here, otherwise I would have reached out to you.”

  “You’re okay, though?” he asked, a bit breathless.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” she said. “I’m sorry to worry you so much, Jack.”

  “No, I totally overreacted… I’m guessing you have service now if you’re calling me…so you probably see all those texts… any chance you haven’t read them?”

  “I haven’t, why?” she asked.

  “Because I probably started sounding like a real jackass about thirty text messages ago,” he moaned. “Do me a favor and just delete those instead of reading them, please? I got worried and then I got mad and then I got worried again. I’m sorry.”

  Kendell laughed. “You know, this is probably the sweetest you’ve sounded since I started on this little adventure with Pauline.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been a little much, haven’t I?” he asked.

  “A little bit,” Kendell said with a smirk. “You want to tell me what’s really going on with you, Jack? You know I’ve always been really independent, and it’s never bothered you before. What’s going on? Have I done something to make you not trust me or something?”

  “No! No, nothing like that… Honestly, there is something kind of going on. Nothing you need to worry about or anything, but it’s a conversation I would rather have face-to-face, if that’s okay?” he said.

  Kendell frowned, finding herself sitting up a bit straighter. “Something going on? What? Are you okay? Did something happen?”

  “No! Nothing happened. You don’t need to worry, I promise,” he assured her. “I just have some stuff going on that I want to talk to you about when you get home, okay?”

  “Okay… I mean… Is it really serious? Do you need me to come back to New York?” Kendell asked.

  “No, no, no,” he said quickly. “Look… Lil and your buddy Brandon kind of went their rounds with me. Told me to back off you. You’ve got some good friends there. I’ve heard Jesse has been with you in Texas, so I’m guessing she probably has some words for me too with the way I’ve been acting. They knocked some sense into me…quite literally.”

  “Oh no!” Kendell yelped. “Please don’t tell me that you and Brandon got into a fight!”

  “I didn’t say Brandon,” Jack laughed. “Lil socked me in the jaw and told me to quit being such a whiny brat.”

  Kendell laughed. That sounded about right. “I’m so sorry.”

  “And, you know, they both told me about what you’ve been up to. Lil says your old lady friend helped her escape authorities and get her to the US Embassy in Nairobi, and Brandon tells me you solved a murder in Hawaii too… Why didn’t you tell me about all this?” Jack asked.

  “I didn’t want you to worry,” Kendell admitted.

  “Well, between those two crazy incidents and the storm you got yourself caught in, I hope your adventure is almost over?” Jack asked hopefully.

  “Not quite,” Kendell said. “But getting there.”

  “Okay, well, I’m going to be more supportive from now on. I promise,” he said. “Just, do me a favor, and don’t keep stuff like that from me anymore. I know you can take care of yourself, but I’d rather know if you’ve gotten yourself into some trouble, you know?”

  “Okay, well, I guess I should tell you Pauline and I witnessed a decapitation in London and that we watched one of the rancher’s sons get arrested for homicide last night,” Kendell said.

  “What!” Jack cried, and Kendell just laughed and reassured Jack that she and Pauline and Jesse would be heading out soon. “Do me a favor and just keep me posted… No more secrets, okay?”

  “No more secrets,” Kendell assured him. “I love you.”

  “Love you too,” he said.

  “I’m going to head down for breakfast before I miss it. The Carsons sure do know how to cook. I’ll talk to you later,” Kendell said, hanging up the phone and laughing. She got dressed and then finished packing her bags before going downstairs.

  The Johnsons were not at breakfast—not that Kendell expected them to be. They had followe
d Brenton to the police station after he was arrested. Brenton had confessed to everything. He even admitted to the police that he had planned on killing Junior as well and to setting the fire in an attempt to cover his tracks. He was hoping that if he cooperated, he might get a lighter sentence.

  Junior and Jesse were sitting next to one another at breakfast, laughing and getting quite close. Pauline was speaking with Mr. and Mrs. Carson about the wonderful breakfast they had prepared and all of their hospitality. Mary was picking fun at Junior and Jesse for getting so close. When Kendell came and sat down, Pauline made an abrupt announcement. “Kendell, Jesse has decided that she is going to spend some time here at the ranch with the Carsons.”

  “Really?” Kendell asked, grinning in Jesse’s direction as her cheeks turned red.

  “They offered to rent me a room… The airline we work for has an airport in Dallas, so I can make it my new, temporary home without inconveniencing them,” Jesse said perkily.

  “Aww,” Kendell said, smiling at her and Junior. The two of them had really hit it off. Kendell turned to the Carsons. “So, what are you all going to do about all of that gold you found?”

  Junior and Mary each turned to their parents curiously. “Well,” Mr. Carson said. “We’re going to hire some hands to mine it out. I’m going to put a fourth of it into a gold reserve. Then the Mrs. and I will liquidize a fourth of it to help expand the ranch. We’re going to let Junior and Mary each have a fourth as well, to do whatever they want with it.”

  “But you’re not selling the ranch?” Kendell asked.

  “My boy said he doesn’t want us to sell the ranch. We aren’t going to sell it. Mind you, we might retire early,” Mr. Carson said, smiling at his wife. “With that gold, we’ll be able to—especially if we’re able to expand the ranch. I think we’re going to stick around for a while as we do all that, buying more land and dealing with hired help and cattle. Once we’re sure it’s settled in, the ranch is going to belong to my kids. If I can retire early, I will.”