Scorned Justice: The Men of Texas Rangers Series #3 (Men of the Texas Rangers)

by Margaret Daley

  Until now.

  Steven eyed the man who was his father, but she doubted her son recognized him. He then turned to go to the den where he played his video games every waking moment she would let him sit in front of the screen. She gritted her teeth to keep from saying anything to Harris until she heard the door to the den close.

  “What do you want?” she asked in a surprisingly civil tone although her first urge was anything but civil.

  “To see my kids. I heard you came back to Summerton.”

  “Who told you that?”

  “A friend in town.”

  “You still have friends?”

  He winced. “Yes. In fact, I returned last week. I have a job here. I’m staying for a while so I thought it was a good time to get to know my son and daughter.”

  She’d so desperately wanted to hear those words from Harris in the past. Now she dreaded them the most. “No.”

  “Did I tell you one of those friends is a lawyer?”

  “Jeffrey Livingston.”

  “Yes, you remember what good friends we were back in the day.”

  “You can have visitation rights when you pay me for all those years of back child support. The amount is over a hundred thousand dollars. Come back then and we’ll talk.” Harris could never keep money for long, so the thought he had that kind of cash was ludicrous.

  He stuffed his hand into his jacket pocket, withdrew a wad of money, and tossed it to her. “That’s five thousand. The courts will look at it as an attempt. All I want is to see them and get to know them. You can be there.”

  She unrolled the money, all hundred-dollar bills, and examined them. They looked real, but she couldn’t believe it. “What bank did you rob?”

  “I’ve changed over the past few years. I’ve got a steady job as a private investigator, and I’m good at my job. Been at it for three years. I’ve settled down. My kids have a right to know their dad.”

  “Do you even know their names?” Derision dripped off each word. Lord, I’m trying not to lose it. But it isn’t easy.

  “Steven.”

  “And?”

  “I don’t know my daughter’s name. You know how I am with people’s names.”

  “These people are your kids. You call yourself a private investigator? You could have at least found out before showing up here.” As much as she could use the money, she put the rubber band back around the wad and threw it at her ex-husband. “I don’t want your money. Get out. If you don’t leave, I’ll call my brother. Just in case you haven’t heard, he’s the police chief of Summerton.”

  “I’ve heard.” He snatched up the money and returned it to his pocket. “This doesn’t change anything. You’ll be hearing from me soon.” Stepping back, he rotated toward the door and left, the slamming sound echoing through the house.

  Shaking, Sadie finally collapsed back against the wall and slid down. She drew her legs to her and dropped her head on her knees. She’d never thought Harris would come back to Summerton. While growing up here, he’d loathed the town and couldn’t wait to get away.

  Being a teacher, she still had most of the school year to finish out. She was tired of doing everything alone. She needed her family around her, but she couldn’t have Harris in her children’s lives.

  Can I wait until next May to leave again?

  “Is Mr. Montgomery here?” Ethan asked the man who wasn’t technically the butler because Bradley would scoff at that term. But the guy was always there to answer the door and bar anyone from seeing Bradley if he thought his employer didn’t want to see the visitor.

  “He’s getting ready for church and—”

  “This is official police business.” Ethan showed him his badge, staring down the large employee with beefy arms and bowed legs.

  “He hates to be disturbed at this time.”

  “He’ll want to talk to me. It’s important.” Ethan stressed the last word, narrowing his eyes on the gatekeeper as though Ethan could will him to move.

  “Very well. I’ll ask Mr. Montgomery, but don’t be surprised if he tells you to come back another time.”

  The man escorted Ethan to the formal living room, sterile and stuffy, containing expensive pictures with a western theme on the walls and bronze Remington statues on the tables. There was a time when Bradley would have opened his own door to Ethan. Millions of dollars later his friend kept barriers between him and the townspeople. He missed the days when Bradley and he had ridden a bit recklessly across his family ranch, much smaller in those days.

  “Ethan, it’s great to see you.” Bradley offered him his hand.

  He shook it. “I wasn’t sure I would get through your man at the door.”

  Bradley grinned. “I pay him well to keep the riffraff out, but I’ll have a word with him about you. I’ll let him know you’re a longtime friend, even though we’ve lost touch lately. What brings you here that couldn’t wait until church in half an hour?” He waved his hand toward a chair while he fit his long, lean length in one across from where Ethan stood.

  “I won’t be at church today, and this is something I must tell you in person as soon as possible.”

  Bradley sat forward, his shoulders thrust back. “What’s happened?”

  There was never an easy way to inform a parent their child was dead. “Jared was found this morning by hikers in Red River City Park. He’s dead.”

  The color drained from his friend’s face. He gripped the arms of the chair and leaned so far forward that Ethan was afraid Bradley would topple from his seat. “No, this has to be a mistake. My son is . . .” His mouth moved up and down, but no words came out.

  “I’m sorry, but it’s Jared. I saw the body. The police chief ID’d your son. Of course, you’ll be asked to make a formal ID.”

  “How could it be Jared? He should be upstairs.” Bradley shot to his feet and strode from the room. “He refuses to go to church, so I haven’t seen him yet today, but I’m sure I’ll find him sleeping in.”

  Ethan followed Bradley to his son’s bedroom. For Bradley’s sake, he hoped Cord was wrong, but the car’s registration was to Jared Montgomery.

  When the man thrust the door open and stepped inside, he came to an abrupt halt. His hands balled. “No. No. Not Jared. It can’t be.”

  Ethan guided Bradley to the neatly made bed. “Sit. Is Annabelle home?”

  “No, she’s in Dallas. I’ll have to call her.” Bradley sank onto the mattress, but he didn’t move to get in touch with his wife. “How did this happen? Why Jared?”

  “We don’t have the answers yet on those questions. Cord stayed to make sure we processed the scene quickly. He knew you would want to know what occurred as soon as possible.”

  “Was—was he . . .” Bradley brought up a shaky hand and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his palm.

  “We don’t know the cause of death yet. He was found in his car in the Summerton Lake by the boat ramp.” He decided not to mention suicide. Bradley had enough to process at the moment.

  “An accident? Why in the world was Jared at Red River City Park? That isn’t his normal hangout. And how did he end up in the water? We keep a boat at Monarch Lake.”

  “Good questions. Ones we will get answers for. Did you see him last night?” Ethan made a visual sweep of the tidy room—nothing like what he’d had when he was growing up.

  “Yeah, right before he went out on a date.”

  “With who?”

  “This girl he’s been dating for a couple of months. I don’t think he was serious about her, but she is beautiful and Jared is always . . .” Tears glistened in Bradley’s gray eyes, making them shine like polished silver. He dropped his head. “I don’t think I can get used to saying was. He’s all I have.” Bradley fell silent for a long moment, then he lifted his head and directed his intense, cold gaze to Ethan. “I want you on this case. Actually, I want you to be in charge of the case. If I have to, I’ll call the governor. I need to know what happened. Who’s responsible?”

&n
bsp; “Cord already asked me to assist him.”

  “No. I want you running it. I want the state lab to run all the tests. I need to know.” The urgency and fierceness in Bradley’s tone heightened the tension already gripping his friend.

  “I’ll take care of it. I’m sure Cord will be fine with that.” Ethan captured Bradley’s full attention. “Understand I will dig until I discover what happened, but I won’t put up with you dogging my every step about the case.” He knew if his friend called the governor he would have to oversee the case, and he really wouldn’t have a say on how Bradley conducted himself. Like Cord, he suspected this was the tip of something big going down in his hometown.

  “Fine, but I ask you to keep me informed of any progress.”

  “I will, but I can’t have you hampering my case.” Because you might not like what I find.

  “I understand.”

  Ethan didn’t think Bradley really did. What if it were suicide? Or murder? Either situation brought a whole slew of questions that were hard on a family. “I have a few questions for you before I go back to the scene. Did you see your son return after his date?”

  “No. He’ll be—would have been eighteen in six months. He didn’t have a curfew, but he was always home at a reasonable hour.”

  “But you don’t know if he returned last night and went out this morning or if he was out all night?”

  Bradley scowled. “No. He never gave me a reason to question his judgment. What are you saying?”

  “Nothing. I need to figure out what he was doing last night. What’s the name of the girl he was dating?”

  “Kelly Winston.” Bradley bit out the words, a nerve in his cheek twitching.

  Ah, Bradley had dated Kelly’s mom in high school, nothing too serious, but he imagined it didn’t set well with Bradley since Mary Lou and he didn’t end on a good note. Wasn’t Lexie friends with Kelly? He’d seen the girl over at his niece’s house a few times in the past month since he’d returned to Summerton.

  Bradley pushed to his feet, his gaze fixing on a photo on his son’s desk of a younger version of Bradley with someone who looked like Mary Lou. Kelly, the girl he’d seen his niece with. “I didn’t want Jared dating her, but I was afraid he would go behind my back if I told him not to.”

  Like Bradley had with Mary Lou. “So you tolerated him seeing her.”

  “Barely. Do you think she had something to do with this? Her mother certainly could mess with a guy’s mind. I should have listened to my gut and put my foot down concerning Kelly.” Bradley began to pace.

  Ethan walked to the desk. “Teenagers love to oppose what you think is good for them. Sometimes we have to let them make their own mistakes. You did what you thought was right.”

  Bradley swung around, his strong jaw line hard. “But Jared is dead.”

  “Kelly might have nothing to do with this. We don’t even know if she was really with Jared last night. Let me do some investigating. Let me do my job.”

  “My son didn’t lie to me. If he said he was going out with Kelly, then he was. Talk to her.”

  “May I take a look at his computer and this room? See if I can find anything to help me reconstruct his whereabouts last night.” A suicide note or an indication someone was mad at Jared.

  “Sure, but I can’t stay in here. I’m going to call Annabelle.” Bradley crossed to the exit, an ashen tint to his tan features. “Keep me informed.”

  When Bradley left, Ethan began his search of Jared’s bedroom. Apprehension nipped at Ethan. Since he’d returned home, he’d only had routine investigations, but he was afraid all of that was going to change with this case.

  Lexie eased open the back door of the warehouse, its creaking noise clamoring through her head and the vast building. The sound announced to anyone around that someone was coming in. As Lexie squeezed through the opening, sunlight poured into the place, mingling with the cloudy streams coming in through the dirt-crusted windows scattered along the walls on both sides of her. The stench of stale beer, urine, and vomit permeated the air, nearly gagging her.

  Find Kelly and get out of here.

  Her eyes quickly adjusted to the dimness while she started to the left, searching for her friend. The beer bottles and cans littered the concrete floor—lots of them. What went on here? The question kept running through Lexie’s mind as she moved further into the warehouse.

  Then she spied Kelly, or at least it looked like her, curled into a fetal position on the dirty floor, her back to Lexie. Not moving.

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