by Rita Herron
“What about Arlis Bennett? Was he working with Gates?”
Romley clammed up. “I don’t know. Gates wasn’t exactly my buddy, you know. He paid me. I did what he said.”
“Did he pay you to kill Morty Burns and his wife?”
Romley cut his gaze back to Roan. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Arlis’s cousin Morty was in a lot of debt. We think he worked for Gates, too. That he and his wife were murdered because they had information that could expose all of you and send her brother Arlis to jail.”
“Listen here,” Romley said. “I don’t know anything about that. Like I said, I was a hired hand.”
“You were a hired killer,” Roan said. “You shot Morty and Edith Burns. And you killed Joe McCullen for Gates.”
Romley nearly came off the bed. “You’re crazy. I didn’t kill anyone.”
“You expect me to believe that? You shot Sheriff McCullen.”
“That’s different,” Romley said. “He was after me. But I didn’t kill anyone. And you’re not going to railroad me into prison on a murder rap.”
Roan studied him, searching for the truth. He would ask the ballistics lab if the gun that shot Maddox was the same type that had killed the Burnses.
But if Romley hadn’t killed the Burnses or Joe McCullen, who had?
* * *
MEGAN RECEIVED A text from Roan saying he intended to tell Maddox about his father. He wanted her to join him.
She dreaded the conversation, but Maddox deserved to know the truth. He might even be able to help. After all, Maddox had lived with his father, so he’d probably know who else had visited him.
Still nervous about the attack, she kept her eyes peeled for trouble as she hurried to the floor where Maddox was. She found Rose at the coffee machine. She looked exhausted, but she still offered Megan a smile.
“How is he?” Megan asked.
“Sore, but stable,” Rose said. “At least he’s out of the woods.”
“You should go home and rest, Rose.”
“I will.” She stirred sugar into her decaf coffee. “I just couldn’t bear to leave him yet.” She shrugged, a blush staining her cheeks. “I’ll go home tonight.”
“He’s lucky to have you,” Megan said.
“We’re both lucky.”
Megan sighed, wishing Roan felt that way about her.
“What are you doing here?” Rose asked as if she suddenly realized that there was no reason for the ME to visit.
“Roan is on his way. He talked to Romley about the shooting. And there’s more information he had to discuss with Maddox.”
“I hope they finally figure out who’s trying to hurt the family,” Rose said. “Maddox and his brothers lost a lot. First their mother, then their father, then there was the trouble with Barbara and Bobby. And now the sabotage with the ranch.”
Guilt tugged at Megan. There was still the bomb Roan had to drop about his father’s murder.
Roan appeared then, his big body filling the space.
“You have news?” Rose said.
“I just talked to Romley. He admitted that he set the fires. Gates was behind it.”
“What about the Burnses?” Megan asked.
Roan shook his head no.
“Who are they?” Rose asked.
“If you come in with Maddox, I’ll fill you in.”
“Dr. Cumberland is with Maddox now,” Rose said.
Megan’s pulse jumped. Roan frowned, then turned and strode down the hall. She and Rose followed.
As soon as Roan opened the door, Maddox’s angry voice boomed into the hall.
“What do you think you’re doing, Whitefeather?” Maddox shouted. “You find out my father was murdered, and you don’t tell me?”
Chapter Fourteen
Roan silently cursed.
His gaze met Dr. Cumberland’s. Dammit, the doctor had already broken the news to Maddox.
“I’m sorry, Deputy Whitefeather, but I felt it was my duty to tell Maddox what I knew about his father. He had a right to know.”
Anger shot through Roan, but he tamped down a reaction. After all, the doctor was a friend of the McCullens. Maybe he had felt compelled to inform Maddox.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me?” Maddox asked, his voice gruff.
“I was coming here today to do just that,” Roan said, although judging from Maddox’s look of disbelief he realized that argument sounded weak. “But I wanted to verify my information before we talked. And then you were shot and I couldn’t tell you last night.”
Maddox planted his fists on his sides, pressing them into the bed to sit up. “So it’s true?”
Roan gave a clipped nod, then glanced at Megan. She offered him a sympathetic look, then spoke. “Actually, I brought my suspicions to the deputy.”
“You did?” Maddox said in a gruff tone.
“Yes. I detected something suspicious in your father’s autopsy, but—” She glanced at the doctor, and Roan wondered if she’d confess that Dr. Cumberland had implied that she’d made a mistake.
“But what?” Maddox asked.
“But there were two contradictory reports, so I ran a third test to verify the information. You were out of town so I contacted your deputy and relayed my findings.”
Rose moved over to stand by Maddox and laid her hand on his shoulder in a comforting gesture.
Maddox inhaled sharply. “What exactly were those findings?”
Roan forced a neutral tone to his voice. Maddox couldn’t know how personal this case was to him. “Dr. Lail found poison, specifically cyanide, in your father’s tox screen.”
Maddox stared at him, stunned. “Cyanide?”
“That’s correct,” Megan said.
“I’m so sorry,” Dr. Cumberland said, his voice cracking. “Your father was so sick that I didn’t notice the signs. That is, if there were any.” He wiped a handkerchief over his sweating head. “When your father complained of nausea, I assumed it was his illness coupled with a reaction to the pain medication.”
Which made sense, Roan had to admit.
“I feel terrible.” Tears leaked from the doctor’s eyes. “Maybe if I’d known, I could have bought him a little more time.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” Maddox said to the doctor. “But I don’t understand. Why would someone kill my father when he was already dying?”
“That’s the reason I wanted to investigate before I came to you,” Roan said.
“Do my brothers know about this?” Maddox asked.
“No, of course not. I was going to talk to you as soon as I had something concrete.”
“And do you?” Maddox asked.
Roan sighed. “Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
Roan jammed his hands in his pockets and glanced at the doctor. “Maybe we should discuss this in private.”
Maddox studied him for a moment then agreed and asked Cumberland and Rose to step outside.
Roan waited until they’d left before he spoke again.
“I questioned Barbara about the poison, but she seemed shocked when I implied that someone hurt Joe. I haven’t spoken with Bobby, although of course Barbara defended him.”
“You suspected them because?”
“I thought your father might have planned to change his will to cut them out. If they found that out, it would have been motive.”
“True.”
“But your father’s lawyer claims Joe had no intention of changing his will. He insisted that Barbara and Bobby be taken care of.”
He drew a breath. “Arlis Bennett and Gates are top on the list, but so far I have no proof that they poisoned your father. Stan Romley confessed that he set the fires at Horseshoe Creek. He said Gates paid him to keep tabs on the farm and instructed him to do whatever was necessary to slow down your progress.”
“Son of a bitch,” Maddox muttered.
“There’s more,” Roan said.
Maddox released a tired
sigh and dropped his head back against the stack of pillows. “What else?”
“Gates pointed the finger at another man named Clark. He said that your father refused to give Clark water rights and that eventually caused him financial trouble. That your father forced him to sell.”
“So he had reason to hate my father. Or at least in his mind he did.”
“It appears that way. I’m going to investigate him, too.”
Maddox pinched the bridge of his nose.
“There are a couple of other developments,” Roan continued. “Arlis Bennett’s sister Edith and her husband were murdered. I’m not sure their deaths are related to your father’s death or the fires, but both were shot with a .45, so it’s definitely a possibility that they’re connected.”
“Edith?” Maddox asked.
Roan nodded.
“She used to visit my father a lot,” Maddox said. “She and my mother were friends way back in the day.”
Mama Mary had said something similar. If Edith had been friends with Maddox’s mother, surely she wouldn’t have hurt Joe. Would she?
“I talked to Mama Mary about your father’s regular visitors,” Roan said. “Of course Dr. Cumberland, Bobby and Barbara. Edith came, too. And your foreman.”
“He would never hurt Dad,” Maddox said. “He’s the most loyal man I’ve ever known.”
“But Barbara and Bobby might have,” Roan said. “I found fertilizer at Barbara’s. It contains cyanide.”
“But if the same person killed my father and the Burnses,” Maddox said, “it couldn’t be Barbara or Bobby. They’re both locked up.”
“True. There’s something else,” Roan said, knowing he had to make full disclosure.
“Go on.”
“Someone knows we’re looking in to your father’s murder and that Megan had a part in it. She was attacked and almost murdered last night.”
The protective instincts of the McCullens darkened Maddox’s face as he looked at Megan. “Are you all right, Dr. Lail?”
“Yes, but call me Megan. Please.”
Maddox studied her for a second then nodded.
Roan folded his arms. “This morning Mama Mary called. Someone broke into your house, into your father’s office.”
Maddox made a move to get out of bed, but Roan shook his head. “She’s all right, Maddox. I talked to her. She’s safe.”
“Then why did they break in? More sabotage?”
“I don’t think so,” Roan said. “I think they were looking for something.”
“Looking for what?”
“I was hoping you might know. Were there any deeds in question? Any bank accounts or transactions that looked suspicious? Did your father keep cash in his safe?”
“No, none of that.”
Roan removed the private investigator’s business card from his pocket and offered it to Maddox. “I had a crime team dust for prints. In the desk, I found this card. Do you know who this PI is?”
“No. I didn’t hire him.” Maddox frowned as he skimmed the card. “And I don’t recognize his name.”
“Do you know why your father might have hired him?”
Maddox wrestled with the sheet as if to get out of bed again, but Roan firmly held his arm. “I know you’re upset, but you have to rest, Maddox. I can handle this.”
“My father was murdered and this man might know the reason. I have to talk to him.”
Roan cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, but that’s not going to happen.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because he’s dead,” Roan replied.
A tense silence fell.
“How?” Maddox asked, frustration in his voice.
“Brakes failed on his car. His wife said it was ruled an accident, but—”
“She thinks he was murdered?” Maddox filled in.
Roan nodded. “When I leave here, I’m meeting her at her husband’s office. She agreed to let me look through his files.”
Maddox rubbed his eyes again. “Dammit, I want to help.”
Sympathy for his half brother settled in Roan’s chest. “I understand. But I swear that I’ll find the truth, Maddox. I owe you for giving me a chance to prove myself in this town.” He owed his father, too, although Joe McCullen had never done a thing for him.
Still, he was his biological father and Roan didn’t intend to let his killer go free.
* * *
MEGAN FELT FOR MADDOX. But the questions kept adding up. There were too many to dismiss anything as coincidental. Too many that seemed to be connected for them not to be.
She was a woman of science. Concrete evidence.
Proof.
Rose came back in, and Maddox quickly filled her in.
“Trust me, Sheriff,” Roan implored Maddox. “I’ll find the answers for you.”
“Let him handle the investigation,” Rose said softly. “You have to rest, honey.”
Maddox winced at her endearment, but his hand was shaky as if his injury was wearing on him. He had lost a lot of blood.
“Only if you keep me abreast of what you find every step of the way,” Maddox said. “I may have been shot, but I’m not dead. And this is my father we’re talking about.”
Megan bit her lip at the spark of anger in Roan’s eyes. She didn’t quite understand it, except that sometimes prejudice still existed, and maybe he’d had to struggle to get where he was.
“I’ll call my brothers,” Maddox said. “Ray is a PI. Maybe he’s heard of this guy.”
“Let me know what he says.” Roan’s phone buzzed, and he checked the number, then answered. “Deputy Whitefeather.” A pause. “Yes. All right, thanks.”
When he hung up, he sighed. “Romley’s gun, the bullet that he shot you with—it’s not the same as the one that killed Morty and Edith Burns.”
“So someone else killed them,” Maddox said as if thinking out loud. “Maybe Arlis?”
“You think he’d kill his own sister?” Megan asked.
Roan and Maddox exchanged questioning looks. “Hard to say. I don’t know Arlis that well.”
“Could be Edith discovered that your father was murdered, and she was killed because of it.”
* * *
ROAN HATED THE seed of resentment sprouting in his gut. He couldn’t resent Maddox for what he’d said about his father when Maddox didn’t know the truth. Still...sometimes he had wondered what his life would have been like if Joe had known about him.
If he’d acknowledged him as his son.
But if Maddox found out now...he’d probably not only fire Roan, but by withholding the truth, Maddox would consider him a liar and be suspicious of his motives.
“I can drop you at home or at a friend’s,” Roan offered. “With that maniac who attacked you still out there, I don’t want to leave you alone.”
Megan offered him a brave smile. “I’ll go with you. Maybe I can help.”
He studied her for a moment, but agreed without an argument, and they hurried to his SUV.
“Are you okay?” Megan asked as he drove from the hospital parking lot.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” he said, his voice tight.
Megan frowned. “You seemed upset when you were talking to Maddox. Has there been tension between you two before?”
He shook his head. The last thing he wanted was for Megan to figure out the truth. To see that he cared, for God’s sake.
Anyone he cared about ended up dead.
“Don’t read so much into things, Megan. I’m just working a case and trying to keep you alive.”
Megan lapsed into silence, and he studied the road, unwilling to pretend that he wanted to talk when the last thing he wanted was for someone to get inside his head.
Twenty minutes later, the tension was still thick as he parked at a small office building in a business park. Several other businesses occupied offices in the complex, and the lot was filled with cars.
He opened the car door, then adjusted his Stetson as he and Megan walked up
the sidewalk to the PI’s office. When he knocked, a woman with white-blond hair greeted him and introduced herself as Carrie Buchanan.
Roan made the introductions, and he and Megan both expressed regrets for the loss of her husband.
“You believe he died because of a case he was working on?” Roan said.
The fortyish woman toyed with her gold wedding ring. “Yes. Like I told you, Barry was meticulous about keeping his car in good shape.”
“Did he mention any specific problem or person?” Roan asked.
“No, but he was agitated lately. He kept getting odd phone calls that upset him, but when I asked about it, he refused to discuss it.”
Maybe Roan could look at those phone records, find out more about the calls.
Megan ran her hands through her hair, pushing the wind-tousled strands back behind her ears. For some reason, she’d forgotten the bun today.
It was damn near distracting, too.
That bun had kept him from touching her the first few times he’d seen her. He needed her to wear it again.
“Did your husband ever mention a man named Joe McCullen?” Maddox asked.
“No, like I said, he never revealed his clients’ names.” She led them inside the office. The front held a receptionist’s area divided by a door that must lead to the back and Buchanan’s private office.
Roan watched as Megan studied the pictures on the walls. Photographs of the man’s credentials, then pictures of several families, smiling and hugging, all nostalgic scenes.
“Mrs. Buchanan,” Megan said softly. “Did your husband specialize in any particular type of investigations?”
Mrs. Buchanan adjusted a stack of folders, which didn’t need adjusting. They were already neatly stacked. “Yes. He worked with people trying to reconnect with lost family members. Missing kids. Adoptions. Runaways.”
Roan scraped a hand over his beard stubble, wondering how that fit with Joe McCullen. He had knowledge of Bobby, his illegitimate son, so he hadn’t been searching for him.
But...what if he suspected he had another son? That Joe was looking for him?
No...that was impossible. His mother had kept her secret to the end.
“Do you mind if I examine his files?” he asked. “I need to know the reason Joe McCullen hired him.”