by Carolina Mac
Austin-Bergstrom Airport.
TYLER and Annie arrived at Austin-Bergstrom at nine-thirty a.m. Paul had customers coming in the afternoon to check out the Quantrall breeding stock and he wanted Tyler, keeper of the Appaloosa sperm bank, to be there.
Annie had left Jacks with his grandfather for another week at Pete’s urging. He loved having his grandson around to amuse him now that he was retired.
“I had a great time, Annie. I love Santa Fe and I wish we never had to come home.”
“We can fly up anytime you want, Ty. There is always work for me in the store, and we always have a place to stay.”
“Next time we’ll spend more time at Buffalo Thunder playing poker.”
Annie smiled. “Sure.”
“I’ll talk to Jesse as soon as I see him,” said Tyler. “I want everything out in the open. No more bullshit.”
“Okay. I’m for that. Jesse and I can never be more than friends.”
Lost Creek. West Austin.
TRAVIS and Carlos drove to the west side of Austin following the nav system. Lily had pulled up an address in the Lost Creek area for Bert Palacha. Whether he’d be home or not was another story. If he wasn’t, he reportedly worked as a real estate broker with his own office not far from his home turf.
“Think this guy is trigger happy like the boss said?” asked Carlos.
“Gotta listen to everything Blacky says,” said Travis. “I’ve learned that the hard way. “He never says anything to hear himself talk.”
“If this dude is a real estate guy, he might not start too early,” said Carlos. “People don’t look at houses at seven in the morning. He might be home.” Travis made two left turns and Carlos began looking for the house number.
“That’s it on your side. Number seven twenty.”
“Nice house. I’ll block the drive.”
Carlos smiled as he checked his sidearm and jumped out of Travis’ big Ford truck. “Let’s go get him.”
A dog barked on the other side of the door when Travis rang the bell. A petite woman in her forties with bottle blonde hair opened the door and seemed surprised to see the creds Travis was holding up in front of her face. “The police? Why are the police at my door?”
“Is Bert Palacha here?”
“Bert’s my husband, and he was just leaving for work. I’ll get him for you.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
The woman came back with a tall, bald guy wearing an expensive silver-gray suit, a leather brief case under his arm.
“My wife said you wanted to speak to me?”
“Yes, sir,” said Travis, “You’re under arrest for sending threats through the mail. I’ll have to ask you to come with us.”
Palacha took a step back. “I did no such thing and I’m not going anywhere with y’all.”
Travis gave Carlos a look and Carlos was behind Palacha cuffing him before the man knew what happened. If he was armed, he didn’t have time to draw his weapon.
“Are you armed, sir?” Carlos began patting him down.
“Of course not.”
Carlos fished a Glock out of a shoulder holster, an SW out of a waist holster and a Colt from an ankle holster. “You expecting a rough day at the office?”
“Why are y’all arresting him?” asked the wife. “Bert would never do anything like that.”
“He did do it, ma’am. His prints are on the letter.”
“Bullshit,” hollered Bert. “Call Max Wellington, Sheri. Have him meet me… where are we going?”
“DPS.”
“Have Max meet me at DPS.”
Quantrall Ranch. Giddings.
JESSE caught Brian on the porch before he left for the clinic. “I want to talk to you about Skylar. Do you think she’s on the level?”
“What do you mean?” asked Brian. “I think she’s wonderful with Charity. A great addition to our household staff.”
“Fuck household staff, Brian. Is she scamming us?”
“Why would you even think such a thing, Jesse. You are way too suspicious. Must be your PI side.”
“She was coming on to me yesterday, Brian, and I didn’t like it one bit. I want to get rid of her.”
“Well you can’t at least until you talk to Tyler. He was the one who hired her.”
“Okay, I’ll talk to Ty first, but I’m telling you right now, I’m not in favor of keeping her on.”
Brian turned to go. “We’ll talk about this later.”
Jesse watched Brian head out and his cell rang on his belt. “Yeah, Trav. What have you got?”
“Interview at DPS for you. Bringing him in now. Bert Palacha. He left a print on one of the threatening letters in McLean Cornish’s file.”
“Leaving Quantrall now. Be there in half an hour.”
“Thanks, boss.”
The Blackmore Agency. Austin.
LILY spent a half hour on the phone with Paul Leggatt and got nowhere. The guy was slick with his ‘down home’ talk and wasn’t giving an inch. He maintained that he had no group of pro-gun people under his leadership and therefore he could not give her names from a list that didn’t exist.
Blaine maintained Paul Leggatt had a group and there was a list and it must be so. Blaine wouldn’t say so unless it was factual. There was a list. Lil believed it existed.
She grabbed her purse and headed for the carriage house to fulfill part two of her mission and for that she needed Rick.
Coulter-Ross Ranch. La Grange.
ANNIE walked from the gate to the house after Tyler dropped her off. She’d accomplished a lot at the store and it was a fun getaway with Tyler. Their relationship had been rocky—off and on through the years—but he seemed determined to make it work this time. Who knew he was so set on getting back together? You never knew what cowboys were thinking. Maybe it would work out. Probably not.
She took her suitcase to her room, tossed her purse on the bed and went back to the kitchen for a coffee. They’d been up early to catch their flight and only grabbed a muffin at the airport for breakfast. Her cell showed a missed message and she’d forgotten it was on airplane mode.
Fuck, it was him.
Annie scrolled to the private number and called. “Yes, sir. Sorry I was on a flight.”
“That’s okay, sweetheart, you’re home now. I have a little job for you.”
Downtown. Austin.
THE CENTRAL AUSTIN LIBRARY was an impressive structure in the downtown core. One Farrell had never spent any quality time in up to this point in his life. He loved reading, but lately he never had time to read a book and barely had time to pick up the latest Guns and Ammo mag when it arrived in the Agency mail.
Farrell arrived shortly after the building opened for business and tried to get the lay of the land without arousing too much interest. After touring around for several minutes wondering who would be the best person to talk to, he spotted the office of the head librarian on the second floor and knocked on her door. The brass name plate said Miss Laura May Schell. A voice on the other side of the door invited him in and in he went.
He stood in front of a small woman in her fifties. Gray hair and no makeup, her hair pulled back into a tight bun, a stereotypical librarian. Even her gray suit was plain. “Miss Schell, I’m Deputy Farrell Donovan from the Texas Rangers and I’d like to ask you a few questions about one of your library members.”
“Of course. How can I help?” She indicated the guest chair in front of her desk, and Farrell sat down and removed his hat.
“I have a book borrowed by Bren Chavez and I’d like to know if he came into the library a lot. Did you know him or any of his fellow students?”
Farrell noticed the woman’s hand shaking and he wondered if he’d scared her. “If he was a student and came to do homework or borrow a book, I may not have seen him. I don’t get out of my office too much. Some of the girls downstairs on the floor may know him. Possibly Luanne. She’s young and friends with a lot of the student members.”
“Thank
you, ma’am.” Farrell stood up, plunked his hat back on his head, touched the brim as a farewell gesture and left.
He wandered around the main floor showing Bren’s picture to many of the girls who worked at the library and got the same response from all of them. They’d never seen him hanging around the library.
“Okay, he came in, got the book and went home. Didn’t hang around and didn’t chat to girls.”
Maybe he chatted to boys.
Medical Arts Building. Downtown Austin.
BLAINE worked on his laptop while he waited for Misty at the speech therapist. The waiting area was quieter than he’d expected, and he accomplished a lot. Jesse had called and asked him to look into the background of the nanny that Ty hired, and he’d done so.
Skylar Alward was nobody. She was a non-entity. How could a reputable employment agency not discover this little piece of non-information? Maybe she had a friend at an agency and she bypassed the vetting? Was she posing as a nanny and trying to get herself a chunk of Quantrall cash? Something was going on and Blaine wouldn’t let Jesse or any of the Quantrall boys be scammed by a fake nanny. Never happen.
Blaine tried Jesse’s cell and it was turned off.
He’s in the interview with Palacha.
Ranger Headquarters. Austin.
JESSE ARRIVED at headquarters and checked in with Chief Calhoun. “I heard there was a match on one of the letters to Cornish.”
“Yep, one thumb print, Sue in the lab matched it up. Blacky sent the boys out to pick the guy up and he’s in room three.”
“If his prints were in the system did he have a sheet?”
“Nope. Clean up to this point. Military. He was army.”
“Uh huh. I got it.” Jesse stood up, “Has he been booked?”
“Yep. His lawyer is in there with him, so you may not get too much out of him.”
Jesse entered the interrogation room and introduced himself to Bert Palacha and his attorney, Max Wellington. He set up the interview and started the recorder.
Facing Wellington who sat at the end of the small metal table, Jesse said, “Your client has been charged with sending threatening letters through the mail and Uncle Sam frowns on the practice. We have his prints on the letter so there’s not much doubt about it. When I finish this interview, I’ll be adding suspicion of murder to the charge, so y’all can prepare yourselves for that eventuality.”
“Understood,” said Wellington. “Bert will only answer the questions I advise him to answer.”
Jesse nodded. “Clear.”
“What did you hope to accomplish by sending McLean Cornish a threat in the mail?”
Wellington held his hand up to stop his client from answering.
Palacha shrugged. “Seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“You’re admitting that you sent the letter,” said Jesse.
Wellington was shaking his gray head.
“You have the fucking print. How can I not admit it?”
“You’re right,” said Jesse. “There’s no point. You sent the letter. Now I want to know who killed Cornish? If you know, it will go easier on you if you help us put the murderer away.”
“We should talk,” said Wellington to his client, “before you commit yourself any further.”
“Yeah, okay. I better talk to Max.”
“Agreed,” said Jesse. “That would be a damn good idea for you, sir. Talk to your lawyer. Y’all take half an hour and call me when y’all are ready.”
West of Austin.
RICK drove Lily out to the Leggatt ranch on the west side of Austin after she made no headway with him on the phone. Several vehicles were parked in front of the three bay garage but there was no sign of life near the house.
Lily rang the bell and waited and there was no response. “He must be home, look how many trucks are here.”
“Out back,” said Rick. “Listen, I think I hear gunfire way back there.”
“Should we take a look?” asked Lily.
“We could take a peek at what’s going on—as long as we don’t get shot.”
Medical Arts Building. Downtown Austin.
BLAINE was helping Misty into the front seat of his truck after her appointment when Annie called. “What’s up, Mom?”
“Back away from Leggatt.”
Blaine paused to digest the information. “Okay, I understand.”
Blaine called Lily’s cell. “Are you at the ranch?”
“Just got here and there’s no one at the house.”
“Leave the ranch and don’t let anyone see you.”
“Okay… want to tell me why?”
“Go now.”
“Okay, boss. We’re gone.”
Ranger Headquarters. Austin.
AFTER GIVING Palacha and his attorney a half hour to talk, Jesse returned to the interrogation room. “Did y’all have enough time to sort things out?”
“Yes,” said Wellington. “Mr. Palacha would like to speak to someone from the DA’s office. We have something to offer.”
“I’ll set it up for tomorrow morning,” said Jesse. “I’ll call Mr. Leighton and get back to y’all with a time.”
“Thank you, Ranger Quantrall.” Max Wellington shook Jesse’s hand.
After Palacha had been taken back to his cell, Jesse checked his messages and he’d missed one from Blacky. He called.
“Hey, Jesse, how did the interview go?”
“Palacha has something. We’re setting up with Leighton for tomorrow morning.”
“Great, maybe we’ll break it open.”
“Hope to hell we do,” said Jesse, “Is that why you called?”
“Nope. Nanny. Nanny nobody. She ain’t anywhere, partner. Skylar Alward has no ID. I’d blow her off like a stick of dynamite.”
“Fuck, Ty said the agency sent her.”
“She may have come via the agency but she’s using a fake name for some reason and she may be working some kind of a scam. Take her into custody and bring her in for questioning.”
“Fuck, Brian is gonna go nuts. He thinks she’s fuckin sliced bread.”
“Let her take his money,” said Blacky.
Jesse chuckled. “I should.”
Old West Austin.
NERVOUS and unsettled, Laura May drove home through heavy Friday traffic. Her frustration heightened as she seemed to catch every red light. She’d fretted and worried the whole day after that Deputy had come into her office asking about the book. She’d never had to deal with any suspicious policemen before when Todd was handling the physical part of the job for her. Where was he? Was he gone for good? When he came back she’d punish him and make him pay for putting her through this.
The minute she arrived home, she opened a bottle of wine and poured herself a tall glass. She had to relax, and she had to think. There must be a way for her to carry on with the list without Todd.
Instead of making dinner like she always did for the two of them, she opened a can of soup, heated it up and sat down at the table.
The overdue list was growing. Two more offenders were added just today. How would she ever manage the list alone? The name at the top had borrowed a book more than six months before and she’d overlooked it as long as she could. Something had to be done to get the book back.
After washing her dishes, Laura mixed up a batch of her special serum and readied a syringe. She put the needle safely into a Ziplock bag.
I hate driving at night, but what am I going to do?
North Dallas.
LUKE AND FLETCHER drove the surveillance unit up to Dallas and were in place on Doyle Marshall’s street at ten to five. They hunkered down in the back of the camper with large coffees and a bag of donuts and readied themselves for a long and boring wait.
Quantrall Ranch. Giddings.
JESSE arrived home at Quantrall and parked his Rover near the barn. He strode down the aisle to the office to talk to Tyler about Skylar. His feelings of wariness about the woman had been correct, Blacky confirmed it.
They had to get rid of her immediately.
Ty wasn’t in the office and he didn’t see Paulie around either. Where were they? It was chore time and his brothers were always at the barn at chore time.
Jesse gave a shout out to the foreman, “Hey, Jamie, where’s Ty?”
“Had to run to the house. Some kind of emergency. Paulie too.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Jesse turned and left the barn. He couldn’t run even though ever fiber in his body sensed the urgency. Something was wrong, and it probably had to do with Skylar or whoever she was.
He mounted the porch steps a little out of breath and leaned on the door handle for a moment before he went inside. He stepped into the foyer and could hear raised voices in the dining room. Why were his brothers all in the dining room? It wasn’t time to eat. Not yet.
He walked in and the room went silent. The only sound was Molly crying. “What’s going on? Jamie said y’all had an emergency.”
“Sit down, Jesse,” said Brian.
Jesse gripped the back of a chair and said, “I ain’t sitting down. Tell me what happened.”
“Skylar took Charity,” said Tyler.
Jesse felt a stab of pain and a veil of blackness descend on him.
The Blackmore Agency. Austin.
BLAINE grabbed a Corona out of the Sub-Zero while he waited for Carm to finish making dinner. Now that Annie was on Leggatt, he had to back off and figure out if Marshall had anything to do with Cornish’s murder or if it was all Leggatt and not a joint effort. His cell rang, and it was Tyler.
“Blacky…”
“What Tyler?” Tyler never called him unless something was going on with Jesse. Blaine’s heart thumped double time. “What happened to Jesse?”
Tyler didn’t speak, and Blaine jumped up and hollered in the phone. “What’s happening? Tell me.”
“Blaine, this is Bobby.” He paused, the ever-calm Bob Quantrall could barely say the words either. “The nanny took Charity. She’s gone.”
“I told Jesse she was a fucking fake,” he yelled at Bob without meaning to. “Jesus Christ, have you called anybody?”