The Texas Ranger's Family

by Rebecca Winters

  “Then I’ll have to speak to the people at LifeSpan. Did he have the Sentra when he met you?”

  “Yes. He said he’d bought it three years earlier.”

  “From a dealership here in Austin?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Did he continue making monthly payments on it?” Amy toddled over to give him a horse from her farm collection. “Thank you, honey.” She smiled and got busy again.

  “No. Rod said he’d paid it off.”

  “Do you know where he kept the title?”

  “At the office with everything else. You’ve probably never met a wife so in the dark about her husband’s dealings. It never occurred to me not to trust him. I’ve been so naive, I’m embarrassed and ashamed.”

  He grimaced. Harold Park had put her on a short leash. He sat forward in the chair and handed Amy a dog she’d dropped. He made a barking sound she tried to imitate before handing him a goat. “There’s no shame in trusting someone.”

  Natalie looked up at him. “My mother never trusted my father and always questioned him about everything. They had a lot of fights. At twelve I was old enough to understand their marriage wasn’t happy. I swore that if I ever got married, I would never do that to my husband. If she were still alive, I’d ask her to forgive me.

  “After what’s happened to me, I’m thinking my father must have done something to ruin their marriage from the beginning, but Mom tried to shield me from the worst of it. She didn’t believe in divorce. Thank heaven, she didn’t live long enough to find out I married a true, hardened criminal. Mother and daughter both lucked out, didn’t we?”

  Kit took a deep breath. “Bad marriages happen to wonderful people. Tell me about the early days before Amy came along. What did you do? Did you take trips, go out a lot? Did you make friends with other couples? Did he have a favorite sport or hobby? I’m trying to get a picture of the pattern of your lives.”

  The answers to those questions and many others—How much time did he spend away from home? Did he take the occasional business trip? Was he an early riser? Did he get home from work late? If so, how often? Did she go to his work once in a while? Which people at work did he associate with?—took up the rest of the day. Natalie’s observations led Kit to realize Harold Park had been the worst kind of controlling husband.

  By nightfall Natalie had fed Amy dinner and now whisked her off for her bath. Kit took advantage of the time alone to prepare for the trip and make half a dozen phone calls to get his investigation started.

  Their flight to Denver was booked for eight fifteen. It meant they’d have to be at the airport by six thirty. Kit hadn’t been on a trip since April when he’d flown to Billings, Montana, to watch his brother compete at the Wrangler Rodeo Competition.

  Natalie peeked into the den to say good-night. Kit looked up from the desk. “We’ll need to leave the house at six.”

  “We’ll be ready.”

  “I’ve already taken the liberty of putting Amy’s car seat in the back of my car. When we reach the airport, it will go on the plane with us. Technically, Amy qualifies as a lap baby, but I want her secured no matter what. In Denver we’ll install it in the rental car.”

  “Thank you for taking care of that. I’ve been wondering how it was all going to work. Don’t stay up too long. Good night, Kit.”

  “Good night, Mrs. Harris.”

  “Please call me Natalie.”

  He nodded.

  Once she’d vanished, he walked through the house to make sure windows and doors were locked. When he finally stretched out on the floor of the den in his sleeping bag, Kit rolled onto his side. He’d put his .357-caliber SIG Sauer halfway under his pillow, very much hoping he wouldn’t have to use it while he stayed here. Natalie was living through a horror story with her daughter and didn’t need anything else to add to her pain.

  He was determined to solve this case as soon as possible because already he could tell he was emotionally involved to a greater degree than he should be.

  “Be careful not to cross the line,” Cy had warned him.

  Unfortunately that advice had come too late. In truth Kit found himself looking forward to tomorrow with more excitement than the occasion warranted.

  * * *

  AT 11:00 A.M. they entered the Cottonwood Nursing Home in downtown Denver. Amy had sat on Natalie’s lap for most of the flight, but she seemed happy enough to be held by the Ranger as they spoke to the people at the front desk. Everywhere they went, whether it was the tourists on the plane or the staff here, people stared at the fabulous-looking, dark-haired priest holding Natalie’s little golden girl.

  “Father Segal? If you’ll go down the hall and around the corner on the left, you’ll find Gladys Park in room 120. She’s had bouts of pneumonia that have weakened her. This is the best time of day to visit. Once she’s had lunch, she usually sleeps and it’s difficult to wake her.”

  As they walked along, Natalie got a good feeling about the clean, nicely decorated facility. If Gladys’s care was as good, that was the most important thing. When they reached her door, they found it open. The ninety-two-year-old woman was in bed with the head raised. She was listening to the radio.

  Kit nodded to Natalie. “Go ahead and talk to her while I hold Amy.”

  Her heart pounded extra hard as she walked over to the side of the bed. She’d already made up her mind to keep certain facts to herself to be kind. The woman’s eyes were closed. “Gladys?”

  “Yes,” she responded without opening them.

  “My name is Natalie. I’ve come to visit you.”

  “That’s nice.”

  “I used to know your grandson Harold.”

  A long silence ensued before the woman turned her head toward Natalie. “You knew Harold?”

  “Yes. I was married to him. We live in Austin, Texas.”

  That revelation caused her eyes to open. “Come closer. My eyes aren’t what they used to be.”

  Natalie leaned toward her. “Can you see me better?”

  “A little. What’s your name?”

  “Natalie.”

  “You married Harold? When?”

  “Two and a half years ago.”

  “I haven’t seen him since he was sixteen. He went to prison. He must be thirty-three now.”

  “He passed away last week,” she said gently. “Of complications from an infection. But we have a daughter, sixteen months old. Her name is Amy. Would you like to see her?”

  Gladys tried to lift her head off the pillow but she was too frail and feeble. “You brought my great-granddaughter to see me?”

  Tears filled Natalie’s eyes. “I did. My cousin, Father Segal, came with us.” She looked over her shoulder at Kit who moved toward her. She reached for Amy.

  “Can you see her?”

  “Bring her closer.”

  Natalie leaned in close with her little girl. “Amy, this is your great-grandmother Gladys.”

  The older woman lifted her hand to touch Amy’s. “Oh...my precious girl. I wish I could see better, but I have glaucoma.” In the background Kit was taking pictures of the three of them with his phone.

  “She’s golden blond and has gray-green eyes.”

  “Harold had gray eyes like his mother. His parents were killed in a car crash you know.”

  “Yes. Harold told me.”

  “We did what we could for him, but he was inconsolable. I think something happened inside his head. When he got older, he got mean and kept running away. We didn’t know what to do to help him. I didn’t know he’d been released from prison. I’m glad he met someone like you after all those terrible years. You sound so kind.”

  “Natalie is a very kind woman, Mrs. Park,” Kit interjected. Natalie moved far enough away so Kit could lean toward Gladys.


  “Who are you?”

  “I’m Natalie’s cousin. She wanted you to meet your great-granddaughter before any more time passed. We flew here from Austin with Amy.”

  Tears trickled out of the corners of the older woman’s eyes. “My prayers have been answered.”

  “What prayers were those?” His question was so tender, the sound of his tone pierced Natalie’s heart.

  “That I would hear some news of our grandson. Now that you’ve brought my great-granddaughter to see me and let me know Harold has gone to heaven, I can die knowing he met a wonderful woman and had a baby.”

  While the older woman wept, Natalie buried her wet face in Amy’s hair.

  “Is there anything I can do for you, Gladys?” Kit asked.

  “Did you know Harold?”

  “No,” he answered. “Tell me about him.”

  “He was a beautiful-looking boy and a good child.”

  “Did he have good friends?”

  “Not after he changed. There was one boy he ran around with. They got into trouble all the time.”

  “Do you remember his name?”

  “Salter. Jimmy Salter. I’ll never forget him. His parents couldn’t do anything with him, either. My husband and I felt like such failures...you can’t imagine.”

  “What did your husband do for a living?” Natalie interjected.

  “He was an architect for a firm here in Denver. We had hopes our son might be an architect one day.” Her voice faded.

  “In his last years of freedom Harold became an accountant.”

  “Harold? An accountant? Oh, my. He hated school.”

  “Which high school did he attend?” Kit asked.

  “Tabor High.”

  “Did you work when you were a young, married woman?” Natalie discovered she wanted to know everything this woman could tell her.

  “Oh.” She gave a half laugh. “I taught girls’ physical education at Tabor High for thirty-eight years. I used to run marathons. Now I can’t make this body work anymore.”

  “Amy runs constantly. I think she might have inherited that trait from you.”

  Natalie’s gaze swerved to Kit’s. Streams of unspoken thoughts ran between them. “Do you have friends who visit?”

  “Oh, yes. People from our church. I’ve been well looked after. My husband saw to that. But we couldn’t do anything for our Harold.” She wept again.

  “Yes, you did,” Natalie contradicted her. “You gave him a wonderful home after his parents died. No one could have done more, but I’m sure you’re tired now. I’ll come to visit you again soon and bring Amy. I want her to get to know you.”

  There was no more talk. They’d worn her out. Natalie held Amy until her little girl started to squirm to get down. Kit must have seen the signs and plucked her out of Natalie’s arms. Gladys had gone to sleep.

  With tacit agreement they left the room and walked down the hall to the reception area. Kit approached the desk. “We had a nice visit with Gladys and can see she’s well taken care of. We’ll come again soon.”

  “She’ll love that.”

  Natalie left her name and phone number in case they needed to call her. Then she joined Kit and they left the nursing home for the rental car.

  Kit got behind the wheel. “What do you say we stop at a drive-through for lunch and go to a park for a little while before we have to head to the airport? It’ll give Amy a chance to run around.”

  “That’s a wonderful idea.”

  Before long they located a nearby park. They found a nice spot for their picnic and Natalie laid Amy down on a quilt to change her diaper. With that accomplished, she disposed of it in the diaper bag then sanitized her hands.

  Kit opened the sacks. Natalie fed Amy some yogurt with fruit. She ate part of Natalie’s grilled-cheese sandwich while Kit tucked into a ham-and-cheese melt. They drank soda and laughed at Amy’s antics as she walked around on unsteady legs in the grass, carrying her cow. It went everywhere with her.

  “I don’t think I fooled Gladys. She had to have known he’d escaped from prison and was a fugitive. I’m just thankful she didn’t press me.”

  Kit eyed her thoughtfully. “In my opinion she was so thrilled you gave her news about Harold and let her see her great-granddaughter, she was willing to go with what you told her.”

  “She’s a lovely, bright woman. So was her husband. It means—”

  “It means Harold’s parents were great people, too,” he interrupted her. “Something did go wrong inside his brain. It’s tragic, but it happens. Are you glad we came?”

  “Oh, yes, Kit. Thank you for making it happen. I’ve learned so much...the kinds of things I’ll be happy to tell Amy about when she’s older. But what about you? Do you think the name of that former friend of his could give you a lead?”

  “I’m counting on it, but I’ll look into it tomorrow. Tonight I’d like you to call your friend in Phoenix and ask her when would be a good time for a visit. We’ll fly out there. The sooner the better. Wednesday if we could.”

  Natalie felt a fluttering in her chest. “I’ll call her after nine when she’s off work.”

  “Good. I need to talk to her in person. Her answers could prove crucial to this case.”

  Natalie waited until Amy drank the fresh milk she’d poured into her sippy cup. “All right, young lady, it’s time to get you back to the car.”

  Time to bring an end to this amazing day with Kit Saunders, Texas Ranger extraordinaire in every sense of the word. In three days Natalie’s life had undergone a drastic change. She could tell she wasn’t the same person who’d walked into her house on Saturday to find it violated the way Rod had violated her. The life she’d had with him seemed light-years away.

  * * *

  TUESDAY MORNING KIT was up and out of the house early. He left a note for Natalie that he needed to get to headquarters and that a surveillance team in a television-repair van was parked near the house to keep watch over her until he got back.

  He’d dressed in his clerical shirt and headed for the office. Before he did anything else, he needed to talk to his boss. Everyone who saw him walking down the hallway did a double-take before he reached the captain’s inner sanctum and knocked on his partially open door.

  “Come in.”

  Kit did as he was told. “TJ?”

  The gray-haired man looked up and gave Kit the once-over. “I thought I’d seen it all. Don’t get any ideas about changing careers, Father Saunders. We need you around here.”

  “Thanks.” Relieved to find his boss in a good mood, Kit sat.

  “Give me an update.”

  After five minutes TJ had been brought up to speed. “What’s your next move?”

  “I’ll be in my office for a while. I’ve got to check out the information on Jimmy Salter. After that I’ll touch base with Forensics. Tomorrow I plan to fly to Phoenix. Mrs. Harris’s friend may hold the key to the person who killed Harold Park.”

  TJ regarded him shrewdly. “I take it you’ve cleared Mrs. Harris as a suspect?”

  “I’m one-hundred-percent certain she’s innocent of everything except falling in love with an expert con man.”

  “Are you taking her with you again?”

  “Yes. I believe her friend will be more comfortable with Mrs. Harris there.”

  “What about the toddler?”

  Just thinking about the little girl put a smile on Kit’s face. “Amy will be coming, too. I don’t want her separated from her mother.”

  “So it’s Amy now.” TJ looked amused.

  Kit could see where this conversation was headed and got to his feet. “I won’t take up any more of your time.”

  “Watch your back. Let me know if you need more help.”

  “Thanks, TJ.”


  Once he’d settled at his desk, Kit made two calls to Denver. The first was to the school board to request information on Jimmy Salter and his family from their records. His second call was to the police in Denver to have them search their files for a rap sheet on a Jimmy Salter. Thanks to Mrs. Park he had approximate dates to go on.

  With that accomplished he called Forensics. Stan, the lead forensics expert, invited him to come downstairs to discuss what he knew at this point in the case.

  Before he could leave, his cell rang. He saw Natalie’s name and his pulse sped up. Maybe she’d reached her friend. “Hi.”

  “Hi. You told me to phone if I got one of those hang-up calls. It just happened.”

  Kit checked his watch. It was ten to ten. “I’ll get someone on it immediately. That’s three so far, right?”

  “Yes. The two last week and now this one.”

  “Okay. Did you reach your friend?”

  “My call went to Colette’s voice mail. I asked her to call me back ASAP.”

  “Then I’m sure she will. I’ll be here awhile if anything else comes up. How’s Amy?”

  “Running around as usual with toys in both hands.”

  He chuckled. “See you later.”

  On the way down the hall Kit almost collided with his friend Luckey, who grinned. “Well, well. Do I call you Monsignor?”

  “It’s Father Segal.”

  “On you it actually looks believable. Cy told me you’ve gone undercover on the Harris case and she’s really hot.”

  “I didn’t say a word about her.”

  “That’s why Cy figured it out. Where’s the fire?”

  “I’ll tell you later.”

  “I want to know chapter and verse. If you need backup, I’m available.”

  “Thanks. I just might need you.”

  Kit hurried past him and took the stairs two at a time to reach the bottom floor where the forensics department was located. Once through the doors he stopped at the office of another colleague. Rafe.

  The man smiled. “The collar looks good on you, Kit.”

  “Thanks.”

  “What can I do for you?”