“Siobhan Rachel McKenna!”
They didn’t have time to get into the family disagreement he saw coming. He only hoped they’d have the time and wherewithal to get proof that Galvan was orchestrating the Double JA’s collapse.
Chapter Thirteen
Siobhan was out of breath by the time they got to the parking lot. When Clay helped her into the truck, she wanted in the worst way to put her arms around him. She’d seen how her mother had looked at him and knew that couldn’t have been pleasant for him. He didn’t deserve that. Not when he was putting his own life on hold and in danger to help get hers in order.
The things he’d said to Galvan added to everything else she knew about Clay, had made her heart open to him once more. Clay Salazar was the best man she knew.
As much as she hated the idea of breaking into someone’s home, she just didn’t see another way to find the proof they needed. Still, she didn’t take an easy breath until they were back on Canyon Road.
“Which way?” Clay asked when they reached the fork in the road.
“It’s close by. I can get you to El Caminito, but we’ll have to look for the house numbers.”
Senator Raul Galvan lived in the Eastside neighborhood that had once been considered the barrio. Now, with the historical importance of Santa Fe, the neighborhood was one of the most prestigious and wealthiest. It had long been gentrified with new multimillion-dollar homes sitting among the equally pricey old adobes and territorial-style structures. Many were set on big lots in a deeply wooded area.
“So what are you going to tell your mother about tonight?” Clay asked as he drove.
“Just that we were in a hurry. Another appointment. Don’t worry, I won’t be telling Mom what we’re really up to.” She didn’t want her mother worrying about her. Or trying to stop them. “If she knows what a hard time I’ve been having since Jeff died, she didn’t hear it from me.”
“I meant about my being with you. She wasn’t happy to see me, Siobhan. Obviously if you don’t want her to know what’s going on at the ranch, you won’t want to tell her what I’m doing there.”
“I’ll think of something.”
“I always knew she didn’t like me.”
“You’re wrong, Clay. Mom never disliked you. She feared for you. For us,” Siobhan said, her thoughts going back to the worst day in her life…
“SIOBHAN, YOU’VE GOT TO stop seeing Clay Salazar before it’s too late!” Sorcha McKenna told her daughter on the very day Siobhan was considering taking their relationship to the next level.
“But, Mom, I love him!”
“That’s the problem. I’ve let it go on too long without saying anything. You have to think about what you’re doing, Siobhan, now, or you’ll spend the rest of your life regretting your actions. I know what that’s like. I don’t want to see that boy die. And I don’t want you to go through what I went through afterward.”
Her mother had never talked about it before. Not openly. Not relating the details.
“How exactly did my father die?” Siobhan demanded to know.
She knew why Mom wanted her to break up with Clay, and she was desperate to figure a way around the curse. Maybe if she heard her mother’s story, she would see where Mom missed her opportunity.
“What difference does it make? Vaughn died because of me. It would break my heart if you did that to yourself!”
“I know, Mom. You’ve never tried to scare me before, but I’ve heard the stories. Aislinn and I don’t keep secrets,” she said of her cousin and best friend. “You never talk about my father other than to say you loved each other and he would have loved his children if he’d lived to see them born. Why don’t you ever talk about him?”
“Because the pain of losing Vaughn never went away. Nor the guilt. He died for loving me. That’s the McKenna curse, Siobhan. The legacy that has destroyed this branch of the family.”
“Tell me. Please.”
Mom looked in Siobhan’s eyes, and her expression shifted. “All right. When I was young, I didn’t believe in the prophecy. I thought no one could stop Vaughn and me from loving each other all our lives, so I threw myself willingly into your father’s arms and became pregnant with you and Daire. He insisted on marrying me, and I threw caution to the wind and said yes. It started out as the happiest day of my life.”
“Wait—you did get married? You’ve been lying to us?”
“We intended to marry…but before that could happen…the beautiful day turned into a nightmare.” Her expression darkened as she remembered. “A storm came up out of nowhere. We were at the church, racing along the walkway to go inside. He pushed me through first.” A sob caught in Mom’s throat and her eyes went hollow. “Lightning struck him, right there in the doorway, killing him instantly.”
Siobhan dissolved inside. There was no way out, then. Mom hadn’t missed it. There was nothing Siobhan could do to get around the prophecy, to stop it from taking Clay away from her if she took their relationship to the next level. Her father’s death had been due to no reason other than fate. McKenna fate.
The McKenna curse.
She couldn’t let Clay die because of her. She loved him too much. She knew what she had to do.
Some time later, Clay arrived to pick her up. When she looked at him, he didn’t have to say a word for her to know how he felt. She could read the love written on his face.
Slowly, his smile slipped. “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t go with you, Clay.”
“Did something happen?”
“Something terrible. And something equally terrible will happen to you if you don’t get away from me for good.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Our love is cursed. We can’t ever be together.”
He sought their psychic link, tried to use it as he put his arms around her. Siobhan, you know how much I love you. And I know you love me.
Refusing to acknowledge the connection, she slipped away and said, “I’m serious, Clay. You have to go. Go and never look back!”
Again he communicated without speaking, as if he could force her to acknowledge the connection she was trying to deny. You can’t mean that! I’m not going anywhere, Siobhan!
That was when she stepped back through the doorway and slammed the door in his face.
Then crumpled to a heap and sobbed her heartbreak on the Saltillo tile floor…
THOUGH SIOBHAN HAD regretted losing Clay, she’d never regretted the choice she’d made. Better to break his heart than to be responsible for his death.
Clay turned onto Galvan’s street.
“Slow down,” she said.
The street was dark, the houses scattered on big pieces of wooded property, many hidden behind walls of piñon or adobe, the numbers difficult to see. But at last she found it.
“This one.”
Clay drove a little farther to an adjoining property where several other vehicles were parked diagonally outside an adobe fence. They walked back, careful to check around them to make certain no one was watching. Though lights flickered at them through the pine trees, the area felt spookily deserted. Galvan’s house was surrounded by an adobe fence, but as was typical in the area, there was no gate.
They slipped inside. A huge patio was surrounded by a lush garden that fronted two attached buildings—an original century-old house and a newer casita, probably a guesthouse.
“No dogs,” Clay said, keeping his voice down.
“Thankfully. Where do we start?” Siobhan’s stomach roiled at the thought of breaking into someone’s home.
“Stay here and let me look for an alarm system.”
Using the flashlight he’d brought from the truck, Clay carefully started checking the windows of the main house.
Alone for a moment, she wondered if it was too late to change her mind. She’d never done anything like this before, but she had to admit she was getting desperate. If they didn’t resolve this situation soon, she would lose the ranch, no
t to mention the possibility of losing her life, as well.
“Can’t see any signs of an alarm system,” Clay said softly. “Let’s check for an open window or door.”
Siobhan could hardly breathe as she crept along the casita, trying to find a way in, while Clay took the main house. She stood on the small covered porch that was like an outdoor living room with upholstered love seat and chair. Surrounded by myriad pots of flowers and cacti, she followed her instincts and lifted the pot closest to the door.
“Clay!” she called in a loud whisper, removing the key from beneath the pot. “Look what I found.”
He was at her side in a minute.
They were inside in seconds and quickly dismissed the casita as holding nothing of interest. A long hallway connecting the addition to the main building led them into the living area of the house. The focal point of the viga-ceilinged room was a kiva fireplace in one corner of the white-plastered walls. They crossed through the room filled with leather couches and chairs and pine tables to a smaller hallway where they opened doors until they found Galvan’s home office.
As she entered, Siobhan said, “I wish we knew what we were looking for.”
“Anything that has to do with uranium.”
Information on uranium mining turned out to be most of what they found in his file drawers and in the folders on Galvan’s desk. One wall held a map of New Mexico with existing and potential mines marked off.
“Nothing in the Soledad area,” Clay said.
Which made Siobhan wonder for a moment if they were on a wild-goose chase. But she kept up the search, and a few minutes later, she found an oversize envelope in the desk’s middle drawer.
“Wait, what’s this?” Slipping the contents out of the envelope, she put aside the letter on top and took a good look at the contents. “Plats of survey…I think of that land Galvan bought.”
At her side in a second, Clay swore under his breath and pulled his cell phone from his pocket.
“Aislinn.” He answered, listened for a few seconds then said, “Thanks,” and slipped the cell back into his pocket. “Your cousin stalled Galvan as long as she could, but he’s on his way. We have to hurry. Start turning off lights.”
Siobhan’s chest went tight, but she nodded and turned off everything but the desk light.
Together they spread the envelope’s contents across the desktop. Siobhan was so nervous, she had trouble focusing her mind on what was before her eyes. Then one plat in particular took her attention.
“This is the Double JA! He has a plat of the ranch! And look at this.” She pointed to an area marked out in red. “What do you think that means?”
“That he thinks he can find something in that area—like uranium?” Clay picked up the letter. “The letter’s addressed to Galvan and it details the plats he requested. Proof that he’s after your property.”
“Let’s take it.”
“He’ll know it’s missing.” Clay looked around. “He has a copier.” Picking up the survey of the Double JA and the letter, he rushed to the copier and turned it on. “Put the other surveys back in the envelope. We have to leave everything the way we found it.”
Siobhan did as he asked. Time was ticking away. Finally the copier was ready and Clay printed the letter just as they heard a vehicle pull up. “He’s back!”
Siobhan snapped off the desk light. Her stomach whirred in time to the copier. She thought she was going to be sick right there.
“Done! Put the copies in the envelope,” Clay said, handing them to her. “If he checks the contents, Galvan won’t know the letter and survey were switched until it’s too late.”
Hands shaking, she did as he asked and then put the envelope back where she found it.
Clay was already at the door, waiting for her. “We’ll go out the way we came,” he whispered.
She heard Galvan slam the SUV’s door as they left the room. Her stomach clenched and she had trouble breathing as Clay rushed her into the living area. They were halfway across the large open space when she heard Galvan insert his key into the lock.
“C’mon!” Clay urged softly, pushing her.
Siobhan tripped and would have fallen had Clay not caught her around the waist. He pressed her into his side, stealing the little breath she had left. Then he half carried her the rest of the way, only letting her down when they got well into the hall that would take them back to the casita.
They were halfway there when the front door swung open behind them and Clay caught her and stopped her from moving. Siobhan expected to hear voices but all was quiet. Had Jacy gone home?
Clay urged her to move. She did so. Slowly. Careful not to make a sound. His big warm body was pressed against hers, moving in sync. Behind them in the living area, Galvan was moving around, muttering something to himself. Then noise suddenly blasted them and she started and nearly tripped over her own feet. He’d turned on the television. Luckily the sound of the basketball game was so loud, he probably wouldn’t have heard no matter what they did.
At last they were back in the casita.
Shaking, she stood on tiptoe so she could whisper in Clay’s ear. “Should we replace the key?”
His lips tickled her ear when he murmured, “Let’s not take the chance. Maybe no one will look for it any time soon. We need to be careful when we get out there. We’ll be in the open. If Galvan looks out his window at the wrong time…”
Cracking open the front door, she whispered, “Then let’s go along this building into the garden. It’s farther away and we’ll at least have some camouflage.”
“You slip out first. I’ll give you ten seconds, then follow.”
Siobhan’s heart thundered so hard she swore Galvan could hear it as she slid along the side of the building and behind a tree. Was that a curtain she saw moving in his living area or did she just imagine it? Thinking Galvan might be watching them made bile surge up her throat. She almost choked on the bitter taste.
A glance back assured her Clay was following. Certain that at any minute Galvan would spot them and yell at them to stop, she took comfort in the fact that Clay was there with her, that he would protect her. He was a man she could count on, no matter how dire the circumstances.
She only prayed she didn’t get him killed.
Chapter Fourteen
Late the next day, Clay let everyone off early enough that he and Siobhan could ride out while there was still some daylight left. Using the survey they’d taken from Galvan’s study, they set out to find the marked-off area. Chief, the horse Clay had chosen to ride, had recovered enough from the oleander poisoning to work, but Warrior needed more recovery time, so Siobhan took Garnet out.
Clay didn’t know how many miles they rode along the dry creek bed lined with cottonwoods, but eventually they reached sandstone. He stopped and took out the survey. Siobhan pulled Garnet up next to him and leaned in so she could see it, as well.
Aware of her closeness, of the warmth of her leg pressed up against his, he had trouble concentrating for a moment.
“This area sure can’t be used for cattle,” she said, jar ring him back to the situation. “And looks like the marked-off area, right?”
He focused back on the survey. “It’s the place of interest, all right. To investigate further, we’ll have to leave the horses here.”
They dismounted and looped the reins over a low branch of a cottonwood. What he wasn’t about to leave was the rifle he’d insisted on taking. They could be walking into a dangerous situation for all he knew. He’d wanted to order Siobhan to stay behind, to let him do this himself, but she’d never been good at taking orders.
They set off on foot, traveling deeper into the canyon where the sandstone walls and rims were laced with oak brush that provided food and shelter for mule deer, elk and turkey. It was a bit of a walk and they were in the open, definitely at risk.
Clay’s instincts kicked in and he tuned in to his senses. His nerves sizzled, but he heard nothing unusual, and when he looke
d around, he saw no apparent sign of danger.
Suddenly he realized Siobhan had grown really quiet. Because she was considering the possibility of finding uranium on her land…or was she thinking about the husband she’d lost?
The reminder made him pull back. He needed to stay on an even keel emotionally. He needed to remember he couldn’t trust her when it came to what might be going on between them. He’d seen how easily she’d walked away from him before.
They were close to finding some answers; therefore, he needed to keep a clear head, which meant he had to keep his thoughts on their search.
As the ground beneath their boots shifted from sand to sandstone, Siobhan asked, “What exactly are we looking for?”
“I guess we’ll know it when we see it.”
Clay swept his gaze over the rocky terrain that gradually rose higher up the side of a hill. What to look for—that really was the question. But as they penetrated the area farther, each exploring a different area, it didn’t take long to come up with an answer.
“The rock over here looks like it’s been tampered with,” Siobhan said.
Clay looked over the expanse before Siobhan. Rather than sitting in big formations as though they’d been there for hundreds of years, chunks of smaller pieces littered the ground.
“Looks like someone took a pick to the sandstone,” he said, “which probably means that someone was searching for uranium here.”
“And uranium looks like…?”
“I’ve never seen it myself,” Clay admitted, “but I understand uranium-bearing ore can have a yellow or brownish hue.”
Having set down the rifle, he was already sorting through the pile, examining chunks that were fist-size and larger. Nothing and more nothing.
A few yards away, Siobhan was doing the same. When she made a noise that was somewhere between a gasp and a choke, he quickly dropped the rock he was inspecting and went to see what she had found.
It wasn’t a rock with yellow ore in her hand. Instead, she held a small metal ring like the one found at the site where Jeff Atkinson had supposedly died accidentally.
“The other half of the grommet,” Siobhan said. “Looks like you might be right, then. Jeff at least had to have been here the same day he died—once the grommet came apart on his boot, the other side wouldn’t stay put for long. But why was he here in the first place?” she asked softly. “And if he did die here, why would the murderer move his body up near the rimrock?”
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