The paper that showed Juniper Holdings was one of Ranger’s many clandestine subsidiaries.
“I’m not sure what it means,” she said, handing him the page, “but it connects what happened to your father to Ranger Corporation. I don’t understand Hurley Zeller’s involvement, but the possibility that he killed your dad— Do you follow the connections? Sheriff Martin Steele’s death was the first relating to Ranger. Then Andrew McGovern’s, Jeb Rawlins’s and now Nancy’s. You’ve got to nail Ranger, Mitch. Stop all the killings.”
“I intend to. With your help.”
Shocked, Cara looked into Mitch’s golden eyes. Was he mocking her? If so, she didn’t read it there. He even looked a bit amused. Something else shone there—blatant desire. His warmth heated her instantly, as if he had ignited a pilot light in her soul. One she insisted remain a tiny, unfueled flame.
He continued. “I need to run by you what we learned from Zeller this afternoon. Granted, it isn’t much, but I figured we could brainstorm. Your insight’s helped me before, Cara.”
“The consummate loner, Deputy Mitch Steele, is actually asking me to brainstorm with him?”
“Yeah. Wild, isn’t it?”
More than that, it was unnerving, as it thrust a sharp sliver of hope into her damaged heart, which Cara had thought was already healing.
She didn’t want hope. She wanted distance. This man had taken her information for his own use. Had promised her nothing in return except what he chose to tell, which wasn’t much. Had made it clear to the world how much he mistrusted her.
Had made it clear that their astonishingly thrilling love-making had been a pleasant bodily function to this man whose self-sufficiency could become as legendary as tales of Shotgun Sally.
The Sally legend had more than one ending. The sad one suggested that Sally had died in the ambush in which she’d saved Zachary Gale, her lawman lover.
The happy one said they’d both survived, vanquished her foes and lived happily ever after….
Don’t even think about that, Hamilton. It wouldn’t happen for Mitch and her.
She raised her chin. “You’re right about one thing. Insight is my business. So, sure, I’ll brainstorm with you as long as you promise I’ll get the story—and mean it this time.”
“I’ve always meant it, Cara.” He leaned across the table. She intended to move back, but he took her hands, menu and all, and held them.
Glancing around to make sure no one was near them, Mitch related to her Hurley Zeller’s interrogation that afternoon, his voice as low as if he spoke words of love.
Trying to maintain her nonchalance while being too conscious of their contact, Cara asked questions now and then, most of which he couldn’t answer. She sought to weave threads from her own knowledge among the scant facts Mitch had gleaned from the interview as well as his own as-yet-unprovable speculations. And the side issue of Deputy Stephanie Greglets’s apparent relationship with Zeller? Cara would have to mull that over. She didn’t see the relevance. And yet, could she find some link between Stephanie and Ranger? Ranger seemed to have a tie with nearly everyone else in town.
“So we have Zeller accepting bribes from Juniper,” she said, “framing your dad to make it look as if Juniper bribed him and then killing your dad.” Mitch’s grip loosened, but she wasn’t about to let him go. “I’m so sorry, Mitch,” she whispered.
“Yeah, me, too.”
Taking a deep breath, she continued. “I’ve done some checking into Juniper. It’s out of business now, but it was a subsidiary of another affiliate of Ranger’s—Multistate Holdings. Multistate holds property that’s already been developed. The biggest are a couple of theme parks in California and New York. The only site around here that Multistate owns of record is an office building in a Ft. Worth suburb. And guess which construction company built it?”
“O’Hallihan’s?” Mitch sounded excited.
Cara nodded. “Not that it proves anything but an additional tie of Shem O’Hallihan’s to a Ranger subsidiary.” Regretfully, she pulled her hands from his. But he didn’t need her comfort now. And he’d begun to stroke her palms with his fingertips. That tiny touch nearly drove her crazy with desire as she forced herself to concentrate on their conversation.
Quickly she recapped the murders and their apparent ties to Ranger. “But I don’t know about Nancy’s murder. She worked for Lambert & Church, but that doesn’t connect her enough to Ranger. She had something to show me, but we don’t know what it was.”
“Ah, but that was why I wanted to talk to you.” The somberness of Mitch’s face was replaced by a half grin. He lifted something from the seat beside him. “The real article is at the lab being tested, but here’s a copy.”
Cara took it from him and looked at it. “A book about Shotgun Sally?” Puzzlement swept through her. “I could see her wanting to show me this. But it shoots to smithereens my theory that whatever she wanted to show me caused her murder.”
“Maybe, maybe not. That’s the other thing I wanted to ask you to do. Look this over, including the notes inside, and see if there’s any connection.”
“Okay. Sure.” Cara grinned.
They’d finished this conversation. It was time for them to go their separate ways.
“You’ll keep in touch with me, Cara, and not wait till you’re in trouble to call me? Better yet, stay out of trouble.”
“Of course,” she said, hoping it was true. “What are you going to do?”
“Pay another call on Shem O’Hallihan first. Make sure he’s aware of Zeller’s arrest and my knowledge of O’Hallihan’s connection with Juniper Holdings and the bribes Zeller took. See O’Hallihan’s reaction. And you?”
“First, I’ve got an article to write about Deputy Zeller,” Cara said. “Then, I’m going to curl up with a good book.” She grinned, indicating the pages about Shotgun Sally.
THERE WERE SOME strange things about the book Mitch had copied for Cara. After writing and e-mailing her article about Hurley Zeller, she had stayed up nearly all night reading it. Alone. Thinking about Mitch too much.
Pondering how the heck she was going to eject her lawman lover from being under her skin so deeply. From her heart…
Her conclusion: she simply would. That was all there was to it. He was using her now. Brainstorming.
They were using each other; she would get her story about Nancy’s murder. He couldn’t stand in the way by keeping so much off the record forever. And if he did, then she would have to defy him, no matter what.
One way or another they would go their separate ways.
It didn’t take much effort to force herself to concentrate on the book. After all, the legends, full of Shotgun Sally’s courage, common sense and integrity, were amazing. Cara was intrigued by everything about Sally.
The notes, in familiar handwriting, suggested that Nancy had been, too. They said things like, “This is great.” “Must use this.” “Visuals here.”
Was Nancy involved with a potential movie about Shotgun Sally? But surely that wasn’t what she had been killed over.
That was one of the oddities about what she read. The other was what appeared to be a discrepancy.
By ten in the morning, she was at her office putting together the article on dark-horse candidates for the local school board that she’d been researching for the edition later that week. She’d also worked on a follow-up on her article about Hurley Zeller’s arrest that had appeared in that morning’s edition, being careful not to include anything that Mitch could consider to be off the record. She sent both by e-mail to Beau for his review and then reached into her desk drawer, where she’d put the book pages for handy access.
Putting them on her desk, she made a phone call. This time, she actually reached Della Santoro, rather than having to leave her usual message. Della had been recuperating well from eating the poisoned candy and had insisted on returning to work, although she was on a reduced schedule. “Hi, Della? It’s Cara. Guess what. I have a surpri
se for you.”
“Really? What?”
“If I told you,” Cara said, “it wouldn’t be a surprise. I’ll drop by this afternoon to show you, okay?”
“Sure.”
They scheduled a time, and then Della asked questions about Cara’s latest excitement the day before—not surprising, since the article Cara had written about it was hard-hitting against Hurley Zeller, yet sketchy as to particulars.
“I can’t go into it in detail now,” Cara said, “because it’s involved with a larger investigation by the Sheriff’s Department. But Hurley Zeller’s gotten caught up in some really nasty stuff.”
“Nancy’s murder?” Della sounded aghast.
“No, not that,” Cara said, “except maybe in a remote way.”
“What do you mean?”
“Can’t talk about it.” To change the subject, Cara said, “There’s another thing I wanted to tell you about. You did all that research about where Shotgun Sally’s family’s land was probably located, and I really appreciate it. I went out and visited the area.” With Sally on her mind, she’d gone there yesterday after meeting with Mitch instead of going straight home. “The thing is, I couldn’t visualize it as both ranchland and the area where Sally hid out and dodged traps set for her by her nasty foe, that easterner who’d do anything to steal her family’s land. It was too flat, not enough trees, that kind of thing. I suppose some trees could have been cut down in the century since then, but it still didn’t feel right.”
“I gave you the printouts.” Della sounded defensive.
“I know,” Cara said placatingly, “and that seemed to be the right spot. But I’ve just come across some other information that suggests it wasn’t on the eastern side of town but the western side. It’s not that important, but I was curious.”
“Me, too,” Della said. “If I didn’t have a class to teach right now, I’d go take a look at the area you found, just to see.”
Cara pondered for a moment. Her current articles were complete. She had more research and writing to do that afternoon, but, hey, why not follow up while it was on her mind?
“Tell you what. I’ll go take a look and report back to you when we meet this afternoon. I have to admit that my curiosity is stoked.”
“Mine, too,” Della said. “See you later.”
There was another reason besides sheer curiosity that drove Cara to want to go see the property now. If she was right, it was the same area where Ranger Corporation had been buying up land. It was certainly near the Rawlins family property, where Cara’s friend Lindsey now lived with her fiancé.
Cara dug in a file drawer and pulled out copies of the deeds she’d gotten from the County Recorder that had Ranger’s name on them, plus the two remaining subsidiaries she knew about. Then she pulled a map of Mustang County from another drawer and made a copy. She sketched in where she understood the locations of the Ranger Corporation property to be, then the Rawlins ranchlands. Finally, she attempted, from the scant descriptions in the Shotgun Sally book, to overlay the area that seemed to have been in Sally’s family way back when.
“Damned if it doesn’t seem like the same place,” she muttered aloud.
Not that she’d be able to tell any better in person, but she was certainly interested enough to go take a look.
OF COURSE, Cara thought as she neared the land in question, the area was vast. Plus, the description in the Sally book was not very detailed—just west, near the Brazos River, with juniper trees clustered into thick, green woods.
Juniper? As in Juniper Holdings? That could be coincidental, but Cara didn’t believe much in coincidences.
Ranger Corporation was interested enough in juniper trees to name a covert, now defunct, subsidiary after them. And Ranger Corporation and its other affiliates still tried to buy up this land.
Why?
She wasn’t certain where to go to view the area best, but there was one road off a major highway that led into it. The hills there rolled enough that, if she remembered correctly, there was a vista just off the road. That was where she headed.
Her cell phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID number.
“Hi, Mitch,” she said, ignoring the rush of pleasure she felt at even so remote a contact as an electronic call.
“Hi.” His voice was low and sexy and seductive. “What are you up to today? Getting into trouble?”
“Sure,” she said lightly. “Right now, I’m trying to figure out the location where Shotgun Sally’s family’s land was, based on what’s in that book. It’s incredible, by the way. I really appreciate your sharing it with me.”
“The original’s evidence in a murder investigation,” he reminded her. “And that’s still off the record.”
“I know.” Everything was off the record to him. But this one she understood and had to agree with, even though it hurt. She wanted Nancy’s murder solved, too. Fast. And that meant she had to share once more the fruit of her own musings. “By the way, Mitch, I sketched a map this morning that showed the property Ranger Corporation and its affiliates have bought with Sally’s family’s land superimposed on it, to the extent I could figure it out. It looks like the same property. I’m on my way there now to take a better look,” she said.
“Now? Cara, didn’t you get the message? I want you to stay far away from Ranger and its property till we get this all resolved, unless I’m with you.”
Yeah, she’d gotten the message. But she’d chosen, in her mind, to tear it into tiny pieces. She didn’t tell him she intended to ignore his orders again, though. Calmly, she said, “You sound as if there’s something wrong, Mitch. Did you learn something else this morning?”
“Not really.” She thought she heard an irritated sigh over the phone line. “O’Hallihan was out at a job site somewhere. I tried Roger Rosales instead, but he was tied up on a phone call when I first phoned his office, and then he ran out before his secretary told him I was on the line. But something just doesn’t feel right.”
“No kidding.” As he talked, as Cara thought about Hurley Zeller and the book and the property, she realized she was getting the same sense of unease she felt the night she’d found Nancy Wilks’s body. The news itch. Shotgun Sally’s tattle bug stinging her right where it was most irritating—deep in her gut.
“Any interest in taking a look at the site with me, Mitch?” How foolish. It wasn’t as if she needed protection, or even company, to take a gander at a major piece of property.
Still, having him there would feel awfully good.
“Sure, I’m interested. Thing is, with Zeller no longer on duty, my responsibilities have multiplied. Tell you what. I’ll meet you there in an hour.”
“Don’t bother. I’ll tell you all about it later.”
“No, Cara. Don’t go there on your own.”
“Afraid I’ll find something I won’t share with you, Mitch?” she taunted, then regretted it. “You know that if I learn something vital to the investigation, I, at least, will pass it along to you. I’ll call you later.”
“Cara—” His tone sounded ominous, but she hung up. She was almost there, anyway.
She signaled and pulled off the highway onto a two-lane road that led toward the rear of the Rawlins ranchlands and other adjoining property. It was a pretty area, with stands of junipers on both sides of the road.
She hadn’t gone far before a big, black SUV pulled out from behind a bunch of trees. She gasped in surprise, since she hadn’t noticed it before.
She was even more surprised when it pulled up beside her. Roger Rosales was inside. He motioned her to pull over.
A frisson of unease loosened Cara’s grip on the steering wheel for an instant. Her heartbeat quickened, a thunderous tattoo that reminded her of the night she found Nancy’s body. She didn’t like this.
Staying on the road, she grabbed for her cell phone and, half watching where she was going and half watching the phone, she pressed in Mitch’s number.
But her reduced attention was a mista
ke.
Roaring in front of her, Roger’s SUV swerved. Cara slammed on her brakes to avoid him, and her phone slid from her hand as her Toyota jounced off the road.
“Damn!” she muttered.
Before she could back up onto the pavement, Roger had exited his vehicle. In moments he was standing beside her. “I need to talk to you, Cara,” he said, his voice muffled through her closed window.
“I don’t think so,” Cara called angrily, despite the way her skin turned cold with fear. What was he up to?
She knew in a moment.
Roger was aiming a gun right at her head.
Chapter Sixteen
Trying to ignore the continued cacophony of her heartbeat, Cara exited her car. The road was dappled with sunlight sneaking between the branches and leaves of the surrounding juniper trees.
“What’s this about, Roger?” She didn’t really have to ask. The guy was Ranger Corporation, at least in Mustang County. Ranger had been involved with three, maybe four, murders—so far—and she hadn’t hidden the fact that she was looking for the truth, to make it public.
Would she be the next victim?
Mitch! she called out silently. He’d said he would meet her here. She’d pushed the button to make her cell phone call before Roger forced her off the road. Surely he knew by now that she was in trouble.
Would her lawman lover get here in time to help her? She couldn’t count on it.
Shotgun Sally’s lawman lover Zachary had walked right into a trap set for Sally. She’d had to save him.
Oh, Lord, if Mitch had to count on Cara to save him, he could be in big trouble.
“You’ve been meddling too much, Ms. Hamilton.” Roger, in his white shirt, red necktie and herringbone sports jacket, remained pompously formal. Yet the pallor of his face and the way his gun hand shook indicated he was uncomfortable. Was that a good thing?
“It’s my job to look into newsworthy stuff,” she said as casually as she could with a wobbly weapon pointed at her. “Did you kill Nancy?”
Lawful Engagement - Linda O Johnston Page 20