by Carolina Mac
Blaine smiled at Farrell knowing he wasn’t in much better shape than his brother. “Did you have a good time, Misty?”
She nodded, and her blue eyes sparkled.
Blaine was going to comment on how beautiful she looked when his cell rang. “Yeah, Chief, tell me you just called to see if I had a nice weekend.”
Chief Calhoun chuckled. “Nope. Can’t do that. A Doctor Warren Milburn called and reported that his wife had been murdered.”
“What’s the address?”
The Chief recited it and Blaine wrote it down. “Okay, I’ll go there first thing. Is the scene secure?”
“Mort should be there by now.”
“Let’s go, Farrell. We’re up.”
Farrell’s arms were folded on the table and he was resting his head on his arms. He looked up when Blacky spoke to him. “Don’t think I can, bro. Think I need a sick day.”
“Stay here for the morning. I’ll take Carlos.” Blaine met the boys in the foyer as they checked in for work. “Carlos, you’re with me. Travis and Fletcher go to the lab and work up something on our John Doe from yesterday. We have zero on him. Find out when his autopsy is.”
“What about me, boss?” asked Lil.
“Phone Annie and see how Jesse is this morning. He might not be working for a couple of days.”
“Okay,” said Lil, “phone me with anything else.”
“While you’re talking to Annie, see if Luke needs anything. He’s on leave until his arm heals.”
West Lake. Austin.
THE MILBURNS lived on one of the estates in West Lake. An imposing piece of property perched on a manicured slope and commanding a spectacular view of the city. The acreage was surrounded by wrought iron fencing and high hedges for security and to protect their privacy.
“Nice place,” said Carlos. “Haven’t been invited to too many of these estates.”
Blaine shrugged. “Just big houses that need a cleaning lady and a goddam gardener. Too fuckin big.” He parked behind a squad car and hurried through the drizzle to the front door. The door opened before he had a chance to ring the bell and listen to the classical piece it played—not that he would know the composition or the composer.
“Ranger Blackmore, come in please.” The man providing the invitation was tall and slim, sandy hair a little long with a matching beard and moustache. He was wearing corduroy pants and a black turtleneck. A nice cozy outfit for a humid rainy day in Texas.
Blaine followed the man he figured was the bereaved husband into a den furnished all in tan leather. One wall held floor to ceiling bookshelves and a stone fireplace filled the opposite end of the room. A faint hint of burnt wood lingered in the air.
“This is Deputy Carlos Rios, and you are Mr. Milburn?”
“Yes, I’m sorry.” He extended a hand and Blaine took it. “I’m not thinking clearly.”
“Before we talk, I’d like to see the location of the deceased, if I may,” said Blaine. “Where is she?”
Milburn covered his eyes with his hand. “Upstairs. People are with her. Please go ahead, I’d rather not go with you, if that’s all right?”
“Of course,” said Blaine. “Wait here. I’ll only be a minute and then we’ll talk.”
The wife was pretty. Strawberry blonde hair spread out under her head on the thick gray carpet. Her eyes were closed. She was fully clothed in a designer workout suit. No outward signs of injury.
“Anything, Mort?”
“Not a goddam mark on her, Blacky.” The Medical Examiner shrugged. “Possibly poison. No telling until we open her up.”
“Thanks,” said Blaine. “I’ll talk to the husband.”
Blaine and Carlos returned to the den as an older woman set a tray on the coffee table and patted Mr. Milburn on the shoulder. Maybe his mother.
Blaine sat down and sized up the husband. “What made you think your wife was murdered, sir? Could she have died from natural causes?”
“There was nothing wrong with her. She was healthy and strong. Spent a lot of time in our work-out room and was more physically fit than a lot of women her age. We were enjoying a quiet weekend at home—we both teach at the U. Summer courses are beginning and I went to the campus to pick up a couple of files I forgot. I was gone maybe an hour or two at the most. When I came back, Leslie was dead in our bedroom and I couldn’t believe it.” He buried his head in his hands and stifled a sob. “I still can’t.”
“The only time you weren’t with your wife was the period you were at the U?” Blaine was taking a few notes besides recording the statement.
“We were together all weekend, and because of the rain we were staying in, making popcorn and doing Netflix marathons. Something we never get to do during the work week.”
“That’s a small window of opportunity for someone to come in and kill your wife, sir. What would their motive be? Did your wife have any enemies?”
“Absolutely not. Leslie was a sweet person. Everyone liked her.”
“Did you notice anything missing?” asked Blaine.
“I haven’t looked,” said Millburn, “but there wasn’t a thing out of place. No drawers open or anything like that. Her jewelry box was on the dresser.”
If she was murdered, there was one person who didn’t like her.
Downtown Austin.
LAURA MAY sat behind the head librarian’s desk in the downtown branch of the city library. She’d spent her whole career working her way up to head librarian and she’d finally made it. The brass nameplate on her door confirmed her achievement. She ran the library like a well-oiled machine and anyone who didn’t like her ways, or her methods didn’t last long. She was fair but firm.
The first thing she did every morning was check the overdue book list and send out friendly reminders. There was nothing more important than getting the books back. Library members could renew the borrowed books on line if they couldn’t make it in person to the branch and what was easier than that, but did they bother?
If she got no response after the third reminder, she had no choice but to put them on the list.
I’m not going to school this morning but I’m not telling Aunt Laura. I caught a cold yesterday walking from the bus stop to the Milburn estate and when I got there I had to wait an hour in the rain for the husband to leave.
I’m making hot chocolate and staying in my pajamas all day.
First, I’d better text Marta. She’ll be in math class already and wondering where I am.
Ranger Headquarters. Austin.
TRAVIS and Fletcher sat in Chief Calhoun’s office after they checked with the lab. Sue, the head tech had come up empty on the corpse on Governor Campbell’s lawn and they had no place to start.
“Nothing on the John Doe, sir,” said Travis. “Any hints on what we should do there?”
“Check with missing persons all over the state and see if you get somebody in the general description and age category,” said the Chief. “It’s a long shot.”
“I’ll have Lil do the calling,” said Travis.
“Other than that, we’ll have to wait until somebody misses him. Nothing we can do but wait and keep him on ice.”
They left headquarters and Travis checked in with Blacky. “Nothing on the John Doe. Need a hand with the new case?”
“Yeah, I need a D to D out here in the hills and the estates are spaced pretty far apart. Can’t imagine the neighbors saw anything, but we have to check.”
“Sure, Fletch and I can start on that.”
Coulter-Ross Ranch. La Grange.
ANNIE plied Jesse with cup after cup of black coffee until she figured he was half-way sober. She still wasn’t in favor of him driving anywhere with Charity in the back seat of the Range Rover.
“I’m fine, Ace. I don’t know why you’re so worried about me driving to Quantrall. I’ve done it at least a million times.”
“If you want to smash yourself up, that’s one thing, but I’m not letting you drive like an idiot with Charity in her car se
at.”
“As if I would.” His lip curled in annoyance with his ex-wife.
“You’ve done a lot of things I never thought you’d do, so I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“I think it’s best if I steer clear of here for a while,” said Jesse. “Every time we’re in the same room, we seem to fight about something.”
“Fine with me,” said Annie. “I’ll get your daughter for you.”
Annie flew down the hall to the nursery with tears burning behind her eyes. The last thing in the world she wanted to do was say goodbye to Charity. Jesse was drinking heavily of late and he wasn’t making sensible decisions. She needed to talk to Tyler.
“There’s my beautiful girl,” said Jesse with a big grin as Annie handed Charity to him. “Want to go home and play with Ty?”
Charity shook her dark curls. “No, Daddy. I play Loo and Jacks.”
“You can play with Lucy and Jacks another day. We have to go home.”
Charity began crying and Jesse walked out the door without kissing Annie goodbye.
Once Jesse was gone, Luke came into the kitchen. “I heard y’all having a bit of a disagreement over the baby, and I have to say I agree with you. I know how soon a life can be lost.”
“Jesse is as stubborn as an old mule, and he always thinks he’s in the right.”
Luke gathered Annie into his arms and held her while she sobbed.
STILL FUMING at Annie, Jesse buckled Charity into her car seat. She wouldn’t stop crying and her wailing wasn’t helping his pounding head. “Stop crying, baby. You can play with your toys at home.”
“Mama,” she held out her little arms and hollered for Annie. Jesse ignored her. He slid behind the wheel and took off down the Coulter-Ross lane towards the highway.
The roads were slick from all the rain the past two days and a steady drizzle fell and kept the wipers busy all the way home. North of Giddings and almost to the Quantrall sideline, there was no traffic in sight. Jesse sped up and suddenly two dogs sprinted out of the ditch and ran across the road in front of him. He swerved, the Rover skidded on the slick pavement and Jesse hit the ditch on the right hand side of the road hard.
Charity screamed in her car seat and Jesse’s heart almost stopped beating. He ripped open the back door to check on the baby and she seemed unhurt, just scared. He called Triple-A first and then he called Tyler, even though he didn’t want to.
“Ty, can you drive out to the highway and pick up Charity? I skidded on the pavement and ditched the Rover.”
“Is Charity hurt?”
“No, not hurt. Just scared,” said Jesse. He was going to say something else, but Tyler was gone.
North of Giddings.
THREE MINUTES later one of the blue Quantrall trucks with a picture of Jesse’s horse Prince Corcoran on both the front doors pulled up beside the ditched Range Rover. Tyler jumped out, ran to the Rover and opened the back door. Without a word to his brother, Tyler unbuckled Charity, grabbed the baby and the first toy his hand touched and hurried through the drizzle to his own truck. He kissed her face as he buckled her into the car seat in his truck, wiped away her tears and drove back to the ranch.
Quantrall Ranch. Giddings.
JESSE arrived home twenty minutes later and rushed upstairs to see how Charity was. Tyler was cuddling her in the rocker and reading her a story from her favorite book about the bunnies.
“I’m glad she’s not hurt,” said Jesse.
“No thanks to you,” said Tyler. He stood up, sat Charity in her crib with a couple of toys and pointed at the hallway. “She could have been hurt or killed,” hollered Ty. “You’re still wasted.”
“I’m not,” said Jesse. “I had gallons of coffee at Annie’s. And I said I’m sorry. The pavement was wet.”
“I don’t give a flying fuck,” hollered Tyler. “You shouldn’t have been driving with the baby.” He pointed a finger at Jesse’s chest. “You were an asshole at Annie’s last night and embarrassed her in front of a bunch of people.”
“Bullshit,” said Jesse.
Tyler shoved his brother up against the wall in the hallway. “You accused her of sleeping with Luke in front of the whole final table, you goddam asshole. You were a jerk and you’d better call her and apologize.”
“Aw, shit. Why did I do that?”
“Because you won’t accept responsibility for what you’ve done. You took Charity and left Annie, but you won’t mind your own fuckin business. She can’t move on because you’re always checking up on her, calling her your wife—which she ain’t—and making sarcastic comments. You try to hurt her every chance you get. Leave her alone, Jesse. You made your choice—live with it.”
LIVID with his brother, Tyler stomped back into Charity’s room and gazed down at her sleeping in her crib. A blue mark had started to materialize on the side of her little face and the sight of the bruise added more fuel to the fire.
Tyler stepped into his own room next door and called Blacky. He laid down everything that had just happened, then asked for a number for an agency that could send him a nanny for Charity. “Thanks, Blacky. I’ll try them right now.”
“Do you want me to drive out there and talk to Jesse?”
“Maybe you should. He listens to you, and he ain’t been himself for a good long while.”
The Blackmore Agency. Austin.
BLAINE got the call from Tyler as the boys were checking in at the end of the day. “Anything from the Millburn’s neighbors?” he asked.
“The two neighbors who weren’t away for the weekend saw nothing,” said Travis. “A lot of those rich people have cabins they go to on long weekends to escape the city heat.”
“Hope the autopsy gives us something,” said Blaine. “Mort wasn’t optimistic.”
“Nothing on the John Doe yet, boss,” said Lily. “Lots of guys missing and it’s going to take a while to narrow the field by height and weight, and like that.”
“Yeah, it will,” said Blaine. “We need a gift.”
Misty winked at him from across the table.
“Jesse had a little mishap earlier,” said Blaine. “I’m going to drive out to Quantrall to check on him.”
“I’ll go with you, bro. Avery might like to see the horses at Quantrall.”
“The best horses in all of Texas,” said Avery. “I’d love to spend some time in the Quantrall barn if I’m allowed to.”
“Sure, you are,” said Farrell. “Tyler or Paul will show you around one of the biggest barns and training facilities in Texas.”
Quantrall Ranch. Giddings.
BLAINE parked close to the house in the Quantrall compound and he, Farrell and Avery ran from the truck to the porch through the rain that never seemed to end.
Molly came to the door and told them Jesse had gone to the trailer with the dogs.
“Okay,” said Blaine. “I’ll talk to him out there. No problem.”
“Drop us off at the barn, bro. The boys are probably doing chores. Good time for Avery to look around.”
“Uh huh.” Blaine let Farrell and Avery out close to the barn, then drove through the cattle guard and across the muddy pasture field to the trailer where Jesse used to live. He’d moved back to the big house when Charity came into his life.
He parked beside Jesse’s Range Rover and checked for damage as he ran by. Didn’t seem to be much from the little bout in the ditch.
The dogs raised a ruckus as Blaine opened the door and walked in like he’d done hundreds of times before. “What’s going on, partner?” he called. “Heard you went one round with the ditch.”
“Skid that’s all it was. Ty was furious because Charity was with me.”
“And that’s why you’re hiding out here? Because Ty is pissed at you?”
“Partly, but mostly I’m pissed at myself. Ty was right in everything he said. I’ve been drinking way too much lately, and I acted like an asshole at the picnic. I was just about to call and apologize to Ace when you came in. Can’t remember saying anythi
ng to her about Luke and that’s what bothers me the most. I’ve always been able to remember every stupid stunt I’ve pulled when I’ve had a few too many, but I don’t remember a thing that went on at the final table. I made up my mind to quit drinking.”
Blaine raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”
Jesse nodded. “If I quit smoking, I can quit drinking just as easily. I’m giving it a shot anyway.”
“How long are you planning on staying out here?”
“Don’t know yet. Few days maybe. Charity is better off without me.”
“No, she’s not,” said Blaine. “You’re her Daddy and she loves you.”
BLAINE LEFT the trailer thinking he’d done nothing to help the situation. If Jesse quit drinking what would that solve? He might feel better physically, but it wouldn’t fix his life.
He parked near the barn door and went in to see if Avery was done her tour. She was in the office with Tyler, who had Charity on his knee. Paul was perched on a corner of the desk, and they were all talking horse talk while Farrell leaned on the doorframe and listened.
“You guys ready?” asked Blaine.
“Yep, ready,” said Farrell.
On the way back to the city Avery had lots to say about the Quantrall operation and the thing she loved above all was the training arena. “I’ve never worked in an indoor arena, but I dream about it sometimes.”
RIGHT AFTER Blaine left the trailer, Jesse called Annie. “Hey, Ace, it’s me. I called to apologize for saying stuff about you and Luke. Tyler told me what an ass I was, but honestly, I don’t even remember a thing beyond a certain point, and that says it all. I was way too drunk.”
“Uh huh. You were also too hung over this morning to drive with the baby in the truck. Tyler told me you went in the ditch.”
“True, but because of the road conditions. I wasn’t drunk, and Charity didn’t get hurt. She was only scared.”
“Not true. Ty said she has a blue bruise on her face.”
Jesse sucked in a breath. “I’m sorry, Ace. I didn’t know she had a bruise.”