by DiAnn Mills
“Who is named as the trustee?”
“Your husband named you as a cotrustee acting along with Chase Bank, or a bank of your choosing within guidelines set forth in the document. The bank can be changed at any time per your decision, but there must always be a professional cotrustee acting together with you. This is for both your and your sons’ protection, Mrs. Moore. We don’t know what the future holds, and you may find it helpful to have an uninterested third party involved should either of your children wish to withdraw monies in the future.”
Tori relaxed slightly. She glanced at her left wrist. How odd—she couldn’t remember touching it since she chose to follow God. Sally’s voice pulled her to the present.
“And I can contact you with questions?” The edge to her friend’s voice had disappeared.
“By all means, feel free to consult with me. The operation of Moore Oil & Gas in the United States and international holdings are solely yours, as well as day-to-day operations and—”
“Did you say the international holdings?”
“Yes. Unbeknownst to me until the FBI brought it to my attention were the purchases in the North Sea. Nathan was confident in your ability to maintain and build the corporation and has named two vice presidents who will mentor you.”
“What about Ms. Krantz?” Sally said.
“She’s been awarded 10 percent of the stock.”
Nathan, your family came first even though I question many of your actions. No mention of another child, either.
“Is there a contingent plan?”
“In the event of your refusal or inability to direct the company, Lance and Jack would take over. If they were not of age, the court would decide who’d manage the operation until Lance reached age twenty-one.”
Sally nodded.
“One more item,” Mr. Farr said. “Nathan has a document to be delivered to you two days after the reading of his will. He arranged this after the bombing of his drill site. You will need to be home this coming Thursday afternoon after three o’clock in order to sign for it.”
Sally released Tori’s hand and reached for a tissue on the desk. “Thank you, Mr. Farr. I’m pleased with how my husband arranged for our care.”
Within twenty minutes, the two women left the attorney’s office. Tori pulled her cell phone from her purse and unsilenced it. She texted Cole and Max.
Nathan appointed Krantz as executor & gave her 10% of company.
Do u have a copy of will?
Yes. Will drop it by office after taking Sally home.
In the elevator, Tori turned to her friend. “Are you okay?”
“I will be.”
“I wish I could spend time with you, but this is requalifying day with firearms, tactics, and other skills.”
“Standing on my own two feet is a prerequisite to raising my sons.”
They exited the elevator and walked wordlessly to the parking lot.
“Nathan provided well for you and the boys,” Tori said, disarming the alarm on her Charger.
Sally slid into the passenger side. “I’m not happy Anita is executor, but too many other things could have gone wrong, especially with the boys. I’m amazed Nathan had the confidence in me to run Moore Oil & Gas. I’ve always welcomed a challenge, and learning the business is definitely an undertaking. I’m thinking the document to be delivered on Thursday is about my running the business.”
“You’re a smart woman. You’ll figure it all out.” Tori drove toward the parking lot exit. In the rearview mirror, she detected the two bodyguards directly behind them.
Sally massaged her neck. “Nathan, who killed you? I really don’t think it was Anita. We . . . we used to talk about him, his perfectionism and workaholic tendencies. But I was wrong about my husband and very well wrong about her. You’ve told me everything, right? Anita’s refusal to have the paternity testing, Nathan’s dealings in London, Vince Greene, all of it?”
“All I can. We’re moving closer.” She’d not tell Sally about the London footage with the unidentified woman.
What had Nathan arranged for Sally to see after his death? A clue to his killer? More of his immoral activities? Other children?
Late morning, Cole sat in his makeshift office with Max and read through a copy of Nathan’s will. The document was straightforward with nothing unexpected, except for Anita’s share of Moore Oil & Gas and her role as executor.
“I’ve been thinking about Krantz and Franc Lawd.” Max rubbed his jaw. “Sorta out there, but both of them are part of this case. I can feel it.”
“Tori and I stopped in to see her last night about the paternity test, but she lawyered up. Another reason we need the DNA.”
“Do you think she’d go for Lawd?”
“When she had Nathan Moore?” Cole deliberated the matter. “The situation would get sticky if she turned up pregnant with Lawd’s baby.”
“It could implicate both of them in murder.” Max pressed his lips together. “Honestly, I can’t figure out how the crimes in Texas City are related.”
“Two separate crimes. Nathan was killed through technology. The Hermanos de Pistoleros are paid assassins, violent.”
“No. That isn’t the answer either. We’ve missed the obvious. I bet when we find one of the Hermanos de Pistoleros, we’ll get answers.”
“Neither Lawd nor Krantz have the money to pay a gang. Plus, murders and bombings only served to destroy Moore Oil & Gas. Not a smart move.” Cole pushed his thoughts into words. “I suggest pressing Krantz. One minute she offers cooperation, and the next she’s backpedaling.”
Max broke into a coughing spasm, and while he recovered, Cole pulled up Anita’s background. Motivation was always birthed in life experiences.
“Hey, Max, Anita was part of the drama team in high school and college. She could pull off the part of a wounded woman.”
His cell phone rang, and he snatched it the moment Manny’s name hit the screen. Once his friend finished with the how-are-you-feeling? remarks, he dug into the case. “I talked to my informant.”
“Bring it on.”
“The Hermanos de Pistoleros were hired to create trouble on the rig. Possibly Aznar was working with them and Ustach figured it out. Aznar wanted out, but the gang threatened his family.”
“Sounds like his usefulness ran out.”
“My thoughts too. Anyway, the gang members hang out at a bar in Galveston. I have to be someplace later on, but I’ll see what I can dig up there.”
“Thanks. Any other names for us to follow up on?”
“No.”
“What about the person who hired them?”
“Male. That’s all I was able to learn.”
“And it helps.” Too many inquiries could cost the informant’s life. “Appreciate your getting back to me.” Cole relayed the conversation to Max.
“What about the bar in Galveston?”
“It’s not a place you and I can go. Our white faces would shine like headlights. Manny will dig a little and get back to us.”
“Good thing I have a doctor’s appointment, or I’d be in Krantz’s face.” Max coughed long and hard, like his lungs were filled with gravel.
“You needed a lung yesterday.”
“I’m ready to have it yanked out and live a while longer. Janie is going with me to see the doctor after work today. She’s persuaded me to have a pneumonectomy.” He grabbed a tissue from a box. Without looking, Cole surmised there was blood.
“I’ll go through the surgery for her,” Max said, “even if it only gives me a couple of months.”
“She loves you.”
“We’ve been together over thirty years. She’s willing to give me another chance after I messed up our marriage. Don’t ever make the same mistake I did. Family has to come first. Nothing else matters at the end of the day.”
The closest Max had come to being a friend. “Try church. Will give you a new perspective. By the way, I’ll be there when you have surgery.”
“I won
’t have a clue. They’ll have me asleep.” He opened the door and stepped out.
The quiet moved Cole to concentrate on what he believed. Krantz and Lawd were both lying. Vince Greene might know more than he’d admitted too.
SUNSET MET TORI in undulating billows of pink and purple as she drove back to Sally’s home after requalifying. Her thoughts were rooted in unsolved crimes and unanswered questions. Right now, wisdom in how to proceed sounded good. Cole insisted Anita Krantz was hiding something, and Franc Lawd’s reason for visiting the oil rig before the bombing was connected. She’d go along with it and see how it played out.
Once she parked her car in the Moore garage, she found Sally on the patio in a lounge chair, her chin resting on knees drawn to her chest.
“How are you doing?” Tori eased into a lounge chair beside her.
Dark circles dug beneath her eyes. “Lost in a nightmare. The same one night and day. I’m being chased, and I’m running, but those who offer sanctuary are in the middle of a black forest. I’m afraid to venture either way.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I thought the reading of the will would be a mental exercise in composure, but it grew worse.” She looked sideways at Tori. “This isn’t a time to lecture me about being strong. I’m hanging on by a thread.”
“I’m your friend. Ready to listen and help.”
“How do you keep the pace of an agent and endure the flow of tragedies?”
“It’s my purpose in life. Although it’s often difficult and at times dangerous, I’ve never thought of working in any other career.”
“Nursing had its down days and stress, but I was never afraid for those I love or myself. Tori, I’ve spent hours this afternoon trying to look at the crimes from your point of view, and I see how I could look guilty with what’s been uncovered about Nathan’s activities. Thank you for believing in me, supporting me through all the roller-coaster emotions. You’re the best sister-friend I could ever have. I just want to learn the truth.”
“Me too, and soon.” Tori remembered the night Lance revealed the contents of Nathan’s computer. She and Cole had attempted to convince Lance that his mother could be strong. “You’re brave, Sally. Whoever’s responsible will not succeed. Don’t let the coward see your fear.”
“If not for Lance and Jack, I’d dissolve into a puddle of misery.”
“Sally, do you remember the promise I made to Kevin?”
“The God thing?”
“Yes. I’ve found what he treasured more than life.”
Sally’s blue eyes stared back in disbelief. “You’re kidding, right? In the middle of constant threats to our lives, and you decide God is real? Tori, you’ve lost it. Where’s your logic?”
“How else would you explain Cole’s and my survival?”
Her face reddened. “A God who loves also causes death and destruction? No thanks. You can grasp on to a crutch if you want, but don’t expect me to limp through life with a holier-than-thou attitude. I have two boys to raise without a father. He was murdered, or have you forgotten? And the business I inherited is plagued with bombings and murders.” Sally’s voice grew louder with each phrase. “Can’t count on my parents. They’re afraid. And you want me to do the God thing?”
Tori searched for the right words. “I need hope for tomorrow and the next day. This is what I’ve found.”
“Good for you.” Sally swung her legs over the lounge chair. “Time I did something about dinner.” Tears flowed over her face. She whirled around. Tori rose to comfort her, but Sally pushed her away. “I’m all right.”
Her fragile friend was about to bottom out.
Cole woke to his cell phone blaring in his ears. He snatched it. Manny. 11:15 p.m.
“Yeah, Manny. What do you have?”
“I’m on my way there with Jose Aznar’s widow.”
“What? Why—?”
“I’ll explain when I get there. About an hour out. Gotta watch the road, make sure I don’t have a tail.” Manny hung up.
Wide-awake, Cole pressed in Tori’s number. She answered on the second ring, and he explained Manny’s call.
“I’m on my way,” she said.
“No, Tori. I’ll call the moment I have information.”
Cole paced his foyer, sipping coffee and waiting on Manny and Mrs. Aznar. Exactly fifty-one minutes after his call, the headlights of Manny’s truck shone in his driveway. Cole peered through the window to see his friend and the petite woman move toward the front door.
He refrained from snapping on the lights before he opened the front door. Manny quickly ushered the young woman inside.
“Follow me to my office,” he said. They walked down the hall and to the left, where he shut the blinds before turning on a light. The first thing he saw was Mrs. Aznar’s bruised and battered face.
“Please sit down.” He motioned to a recliner. “What happened?”
She eased onto the chair, obviously in pain. “Earlier tonight I went to see César Vega at his house. I asked if he and the Hermanos de Pistoleros had killed my husband and Preston. César was drinking and got mad. Told me I could end up the same way. Did this to me. When he was finished, he left in his truck. I walked home and got Jose’s gun. Then went to the bar.”
“How did you know César would be there?”
“It was a place Jose said he hung out.”
Cole hated the beating the young woman had taken. “Why did you risk your life to confront this man?”
“Because I had to do something. I wanted to kill him. My Sofía will never know her father. Jose was not a bad man.”
Cole glanced at Manny. “How did you find her?”
“I was at the bar watching César when she showed up and accused him of murdering Jose. Waved a gun in his face. I pretended to be a friend and pulled her outside. He was too drunk to question it.”
“What about the baby?”
A tear trickled down Mrs. Aznar’s cheek. “She’s safe with my parents. They left yesterday for California and took her with them.”
“What else can you tell me?” Cole said. “We have to stop the Hermanos de Pistoleros before more people are killed.”
“When I was on the floor at César’s house, nearly unconscious, I heard him make a call. He said, ‘Tell the man that Austin is not beyond our reach. The law’s after us, and he’ll go down too. Just ’cause he’s white and rich don’t mean his blood isn’t red.’ I kept my eyes closed. Then he left.”
“Where does César live?” Cole said.
“I told Mr. Manny already.”
Manny handed her a tissue, and she wiped the blood from her mouth. “The place was empty,” he said. “I ordered a sweep. Found his truck abandoned.”
Where was Cole’s mind? “I’ll get a wet cloth and a bottle of water.”
“Wait,” Manny said. “I’m needed on another case. Can she stay here tonight until we can arrange a safe place for her tomorrow?”
“Sure.”
“I’ll get the water and cloth. You stay with her.” Manny disappeared down the hallway.
“Mrs. Aznar, you’re lucky to be alive.”
She sobbed. “I know. Is your wife here?”
“I don’t have a wife. You mean my partner, Tori?”
She nodded. “I’d like to talk to her.”
Cole pulled his phone from his jean pocket and pressed in Tori’s number. “Hey, we have a situation here. Can you drive over? And bring clothes for Mrs. Aznar.”
TORI HAD READ Cole’s text before she left home.
She’s asleep. Badly beaten by Jose’s cuz. Wants 2 talk 2 u.
That was twenty minutes ago. Tori couldn’t get answers fast enough. She remembered the lovely young woman with the beautiful baby. Was the child with her? Did she have information that would lead to arrests? Tori watched her speed because her foot was dancing on the gas pedal with the adrenaline speeding through her body.
She parked in Cole’s driveway promptly at 1:25. Outside lighting illumin
ated the front area of the tan-colored stone two-story home with a circular drive and cedar double-door entry. The beauty stole her breath. Cedar shutters gave it a definite Texas flair. She knocked on the door instead of ringing the bell, while admiring the artistry in the landscaping—color, plants, symmetrical design. If only these were better circumstances.
He’d accused her of kissing him after they were attacked, and she hadn’t denied it. Given the opportunity, she’d take another and another. Yes, he was extremely good-looking, had a definite rugged appeal and sky-blue eyes that could sweep her away. Putting the physical aside, as the outer appearance attributes would fade with time, she was drawn to his heart. Cole Jeffers took the trophy with Kevin as brilliant and compassionate. A tough combo. He’d claimed interest in her—many times. She had no gauge to measure if he was serious. Yet she hoped so.
And she definitely couldn’t get him out of her head and heart.
The door opened. Cole wore a grim smile and jeans that weren’t bought at Walmart and fit just right. He invited her inside.
Yes, if only this were a social call.
“Thanks.” He took the tote bag filled with things for Mrs. Aznar. They might be a little big, but they were clean. “I made coffee.”
She sniffed. “I smell it.”
“Ethiopian blend.”
“A hint of fruit. I’d say strawberry, orange . . .”
He faced her. “That’s it?” he said.
“Ruby red grapefruit?”
“Yes.” He frowned. “I’m sorry about the hour.”
“It’s our job.”
He studied her for a moment. “Follow me to the kitchen, and I’ll get us both a cup. Got a feeling this will be a long night.”
In the midst of chaos, dare she take a few minutes to figure out her feelings for Cole?
She took in the white cabinetry, distressed white brick backsplash, stainless steel appliances, gray-and-white granite countertops, and a bay window breakfast nook with an antique oak table. She longed to see the view into the backyard, envisioning a landscaped design worthy of a photo shoot. Perhaps in the daylight . . . someday.