by Barb Han
“Is that what you think I’m saying? I happen to love him and I don’t want to go anywhere. Life has been good. Was good,” her sister said, eyes brimming with tears.
“Really? Was it? Who was it good for? You? Clara?” Leanne couldn’t help herself.
“That’s not fair.” Bethany released a sob and her eyes were wild, but Leanne could also see the fog starting to lift and a good dose of anger stir. Good. Because that was so much better than her sister being too numb to feel anything.
“I’m sorry about what happened.” Leanne put so much emotion into those words. She was sorry. So sorry. Sorry that she’d let everyone down. “If I’d come sooner, maybe none of this would’ve happened.” She meant it. She meant every word. Guilt was a relentless pit bull nipping at her heels.
Bethany dropped to her knees and put her head in her hands.
Leanne scooted beside her half sister and wrapped an arm around her. “I know how much you loved your daughter.” Every word was absolutely true. Bethany had loved Clara as much as she was capable. It was part of the reason Clara had waited so long to ask her aunt for help according to her message. She didn’t want to leave her mother and Hampton alone with Gary.
Gary was a bad husband, stepfather. But was he a murderer?
“Sheriff and his deputies took her laptop and her diaries,” Bethany said. “What are they going to read about us?”
“Clara knew you loved her. I’m sure that comes across in all her communication,” Leanne clarified.
“Will they take Hampton away?” she asked and her voice was weak again.
“For what, Bethany?” Didn’t that get all of Leanne’s warning flares going? “What are you keeping from me?”
Bethany didn’t offer a response. She rubbed her still-red nose with a fistful of tissue she fished from her pocket. “I’ve already lost my little girl. I can’t lose anyone else.”
“Come with us to the ranch. Bring Hampton. You don’t want to stay here alone until Gary is released. Not after everything that’s happened.” Leanne stood and opened the curtain to the front window. “Take a good look, because those people aren’t going anywhere. Every time you leave the house, they’re going to follow you and that could create a dangerous situation for Hampton.”
Again, she was digging up everything in her arsenal to convince Bethany.
“What’s Gary looking at? Honestly?” Bethany stared blankly at the wall.
“Depends on how questioning goes. I’m guessing he’ll be detained for seventy-two hours. If they get anything out of him that they don’t like, he’s looking at a longer stay and a possible arrest.” Leanne wanted to lie to her sister and make her think he would be in longer. But she couldn’t. Not while looking at the fragile creature she’d become.
“That’s three days.”
“At a minimum,” Leanne emphasized. There was a possibility that Sawmill might release him sooner if his alibi for the other night checked out. Being at the deer lease didn’t exactly qualify unless one of his buddies could corroborate his story.
“Where’s the deer lease?” she asked.
“Bonham.” Bethany rubbed her raw nose again.
“That’s what...about two or three hours from here.” Leanne performed a mental calculation. “Maybe three and a half if traffic is bad on the highway.”
Bethany just shrugged.
“How long was he there?” Leanne asked. She’d rather be asking these questions somewhere else. Anywhere else than here, because there was a possibility that Gary could walk in that door at any moment. It was slim, almost nonexistent. But possible.
Bethany’s cell phone rang. She darted to it like it was lifesaving water to douse a raging fire. “I don’t recognize the number.”
“If it’s Gary, he’s calling from a line at the station. He wouldn’t be allowed to use his cell phone,” Leanne advised.
A mix of hope and fear flashed in Bethany’s eyes as she took the call. “Hello.”
It must’ve been Gary because her shoulders fell slack for a split second.
“Okay.” She ran to the kitchen and rummaged through a couple of drawers before locating a scrap of paper and a pen. “Okay. Got it.” Bethany jotted down a note. “Why do you need someone like him?” She fell silent for a few beats. “I’ll call right now.”
Bethany ended the call.
“Who does he want you to call?” Leanne asked, splitting her attention between her sister and the handsome cowboy keeping her nephew entertained.
“A lawyer.”
Leanne knew exactly what that meant.
Gary was under arrest.
Chapter Eight
Bethany’s phone rang in her hand, startling her. She fumbled it before recovering and checking the screen. “Another unknown number.”
“It’s not him,” Leanne said, and Dalton knew she was referring to Gary. “Let it roll into voice mail. Whoever it is can leave a message.”
Her sister was close to agreeing to come with them, and Dalton figured that Leanne didn’t want to lose momentum. He’d watched Leanne work on her, and it really was the best thing for Hampton and Bethany to get away for a few days. Leaving town immediately following his father’s murder had done wonders for his state of mind. His eldest sister, Ella, had stayed on to manage ranch business until Dalton and Dade realized she was being targeted for murder. They’d flown home immediately and stayed at the ranch ever since.
The white-knuckle grip the woman had on the cell outlined her stress along with the deep grooves carved into her forehead and the brackets around her mouth. She seemed worn out and greatly aged, even though she wasn’t more than a few years older than Leanne.
“Whoever it is, they’re done.” She held out the phone, showing that the voice-mail message icon had the number one written in the top left corner.
“Do you want me to check it for you?” Leanne offered.
“I’ll put it on speaker.” Bethany glanced toward her son. She turned the volume down so as not to draw Hampton’s attention away from the airplane.
This is Carson Trigg with NewsWhenYouNeedIt! I’d love to hear your side of the story. He left a contact number before reminding her that she had an opportunity to speak on behalf of her daughter and help other families dealing with similar tragedies.
Dalton fisted his hands. Jerks like Carson who dug into other people’s business in order to display their pain in public for ratings were some of the lowest bottom-feeders.
“It won’t be long before all those people out there get your number and your phone won’t stop ringing,” Dalton warned.
As if on cue, her cell buzzed again. She looked at it with a mix of fear and shock. “Unknown number.”
“That’s probably another one of those creeps who prey on other people’s tragedies,” he said with disdain.
“How do you know?” she asked.
“My father was Maverick Mike Butler.”
“Oh.” The word was so faint that he almost missed it.
And then the impact of his admission must’ve hit her full force because recognition dawned. Whether it was positive or negative remained to be seen, but he capitalized on the moment anyway.
“Hereford has the best security. You and Hampton would be safe on the ranch. Reporters wouldn’t be able to get to you and there’s plenty of help available so you can rest when you need to.”
Leanne chimed in. “Hampton’s a great boy but kids his age can be a handful. And you need time to catch your breath, process everything going on.”
Bethany seemed to be considering it as her phone vibrated in her hand again.
“It might not hurt to have a little help. For Hampton’s sake,” Bethany said, and she seemed to be making up her mind. She shot a look at her sister. “I lost my temper with him for no reason a little while ago. He spilled juice on the kitchen floor and
I snapped at him. Then I felt so bad we both sat on the floor and cried.”
“You’re under too much stress,” Leanne said, and there was no denying the genuineness in her tone. She cared for her sister even if from an outsider’s view their relationship was complicated. Hell, complicated relationships were a little too familiar to Dalton. He had no use to add to the list. But he would offer a hand-up to any decent person in need.
“How long do you think they’ll keep him?” She was referring to Gary.
“I can’t be certain until I speak to the sheriff. It’s a long shot that I’ll get much information given my connection to the case, but I might be able to get a few details out of him,” Leanne admitted.
“The ranch is probably a good idea.” Bethany exhaled and she looked exhausted.
“You need help packing a few things?” Leanne asked.
Her half sister shook her head as she pushed up to standing.
“Once we get her settled we can figure out our next move,” Leanne said to Dalton. For reasons he didn’t want to overanalyze, he wanted to make sure Leanne ate and had a chance to rest, too. Her sister wasn’t the only one running on empty, and they still had a lot of road to cover if they were going to find out who killed Clara.
He told himself it would be good for the case if Leanne refueled, but there was something far more primal at work. He cared.
Dalton excused himself to make a couple of phone calls. He only needed two. One to his twin brother, Dade, who put the other siblings on conference as Dalton explained the situation. The other to the family’s longtime housekeeper, May, to let her know what was going on and see if she could handle a few more mouths to feed. When she heard another child was coming to the ranch, she practically squealed. As he ended the second call, he realized he’d been white-knuckling his cell.
Frustration nipped at him.
The truth about what had happened to Alexandria felt like it was slipping away again with each passing minute. Answers that had felt so close hours ago were just out of reach.
What were they missing? They didn’t have long to find out. He didn’t have to be a detective to know the more time passed, the colder the evidence would get.
* * *
“YOU WANT TO take a walk?” Dalton asked Leanne once her sister was settled in one of the guest suites in the main house. May was already doting on Hampton and the little boy was eating up the attention. Of course, it probably didn’t hurt that she was the kind of person everyone wished they had for a grandmother. Case in point, she’d thrown a batch of her made-from-scratch chocolate-chip cookies into the oven the minute she found out a little guy was coming. She knew how to make the shorter set feel at home.
By the time they’d arrived, she had had the guest room ready to go, cookies coming out of the oven and had dug out some of Dalton’s and his brother’s old toys from storage. The woman was a force of nature and had been a surrogate mother to the four siblings who’d grown up under the same roof. The two siblings they’d gained since summer were getting their bearings and figuring out how they fit into the family. Accepting them had been easy. They were decent people despite having Maverick Mike Butler for a father. His absence from their lives growing up had most likely helped more than hurt them.
The one thing all six kids had in common was that no one had really known their father. Ella, Dade, Cadence and Dalton might’ve grown up with the man, but he’d stayed outside working the land and played his cards too close to his vest when he was alive. Ella had probably been the closest to their father. Several of the other children had made their peace with the Mav. Dalton wasn’t sure how he fit into that puzzle. It was hard to resent a man who was dead. And yet, Dalton couldn’t help but feel like their relationship was left unfinished.
The fact that the Mav’s relationships were so complicated probably made it difficult for the sheriff to find his murderer.
“What could the sheriff have on Gary?” Dalton asked once he and Leanne were out of earshot of Bethany.
“If I had to venture a guess, I’m betting his alibi didn’t pan out. Which means he wasn’t where he said he was,” Leanne said matter-of-factly. “It seems too soon for the sheriff to have any real evidence, but that would be enough to keep Gary in a holding cell for a while and let him sweat. He doesn’t have a history of violent crime, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t have escalated.”
“We both know he’s a jerk, but is he a murderer?” Dalton had his suspicions after talking it through with Leanne earlier. What if Clara had told her stepfather that she was moving to get away from him? Leanne had made a valid point about a heat-of-the-moment killing. But what if that wasn’t the case? Could Gary be smarter than they’d given him credit for?
“That’s the question,” Leanne said, interrupting his heavy thoughts. “My professional instinct doesn’t think so. I don’t trust him, though.”
“That last part’s a safe bet.” A selfish part of Dalton didn’t want Gary to be the guilty party. There was no way the man had a connection to Alexandria fourteen years ago. He wasn’t from the area and, as far as Dalton knew, never had been. Gary’s age didn’t match the age of the suspect to Dalton’s thinking. Although, he couldn’t rule out that a young person could be responsible for Alexandria’s death, but it seemed more likely that it would be someone older. And that someone would be in his late thirties by now, early forties at most.
“If I had to guess I’d say Gary is seeing someone on the side and didn’t want to give her name up,” Leanne said. “My sister will be devastated, but I’m going to look into some programs for her. Get some referrals. From what Clara told me he isn’t faithful. If Bethany can see it, she’ll do what she should’ve done before—walk out on him.”
“There should be a special place for men like Gary.” Dalton flexed and released his fingers again. He wouldn’t mind five minutes alone with the guy so he could see what it was like to fight his equal. But then, fighting Dalton wouldn’t be a level playing field for the jerk. At six feet four inches, Dalton had a solid five inches on the guy and Gary’s marshmallow for a spare-tire stomach had nothing on Dalton’s athletic build. He came by it honestly, working the ranch.
With the physical labor he performed every day, there was no need for a gym membership and he’d been doing morning push-ups since he was old enough to have a patch of hair on his chest. The push-ups were as much of a habit as brushing his teeth. He could acknowledge that some of his rituals had come from needing to blow off steam. There was no better release than a quick morning workout followed by a long day on the land working the ranch.
Although, glancing at the curve of Leanne’s hips, another thought came to mind as a way to work off stress. The thought was inappropriate. He chalked it up to too many nights without female companionship. Since everything he did made news, he’d been shying away from spending time with anyone out in public. Plus, he needed a little more than hot sex if he was going to spend time with someone. One-night stands hadn’t interested him since he became old enough to buy a lottery ticket.
A relationship in the midst of all the chaos he’d been through was about as likely as a dust storm in Dallas. It could happen, but it would make news.
Don’t get him wrong, he wasn’t ready to trade his sport utility for a minivan and had never seen himself as the kind of man who would ever be behind that wheel. But the maturity that came with being old enough to grow hair on his chest also kept him from slipping under the covers with a woman without knowing more than her first name. All hot quickie sex did was ease a few tension knots. Real release accompanied interesting sex, and he had to be beyond courtesies with someone from the opposite sex for that to happen.
Leanne was studying him when he snapped out of his unproductive revelry. There was something about being back on his family’s land, his home, that made him take stock in his life.
“What were you thinking about just the
n?” Leanne asked.
He wasn’t ready to come clean and he’d never been much of a liar. “Things I shouldn’t.”
She looked him in the eyes and her honey-brown irises intensified as it seemed to dawn on her that his thoughts might’ve included her.
There was also something else he didn’t want to see in those eyes—a familiar spark of excitement.
And then it dimmed like she’d turned a switch.
They stood there, neither of them moving as though at a stalemate.
It took a minute for her to speak but when she did, she’d recovered a cooler stare. “Maybe we should agree to keep a professional distance. It’s best for the case if we don’t get too...personal with each other.”
“Done.” It was true. Anything more than a working relationship was tempting fire based on his body’s reaction to her so far.
She stood there, staring at him. Hesitation was written all over her features. And he almost made a stupid mistake when she dropped her gaze to his lips. She slicked her tongue across hers, and it took all his willpower not to reach for her and find out for himself just what she tasted like at this moment.
Drawing on all his considerable self-control, he turned away from her and looked out onto the land that had brought him so much peace. No matter what his relationship with the Mav had been, Dalton always felt settled on the land. Until now.
He chalked it up to old feelings being dredged up about Alexandria’s case.
“What if I missed something?” Leanne asked, taking a step beside him. He could feel her feminine presence standing next to him and he could admit that it was nice. Maybe more than nice.
“Would Clara have come clean with you if you’d grilled her about her intentions?” he asked, needing a distraction.
“My experience interviewing people of all ages and from all walks of life has taught me that economic status, grades, none of that matters. When it came to teenagers, they were remarkably similar. All of them had secrets,” she admitted.