Ms. Demeanor (Mystery Christmas Book 4)

by Danica Winters

  “Why don’t you guys wait right here?” She pointed to the leather sofa and chair set in the reception area, and the family sat down. “I’ll be right back.”

  She walked over to the secretary’s desk and was greeted with a smile from the woman sitting there. “Hello, Ms. Blade, your father is expecting you. Would you like me to let him know that you and your friends are here?”

  “Please.”

  She waited as the woman made a call to her father’s inner sanctum, and they spoke in hushed tones. From the look on the secretary’s face, her father must have been giving her what-for, making Laura’s anxiety grow.

  “I’ll head on in,” she said, not waiting for the woman to get off the phone. “I’ll come get my friends in a moment. I just need to speak to my father alone.”

  The woman held out her hand for her to stop, but Laura didn’t heed her warning and she strode down the hall and tapped on her father’s door. She could hear the phone slamming down on the receiver through the heavy wooden panel.

  “Come in, Laura,” he said, his baritone echoing through the empty hallway.

  She swallowed back her fear and shook out her hands, then made her way inside, careful to close the door behind her.

  “Father,” she said with a nod. “Thank you for finding time in your schedule to talk to us today.”

  “Where are your friends?” he hissed. “I would think if they were coming here to request representation they would have the decency to at least show up.”

  “Oh, the Fitzgeralds are here,” she said, gesturing toward the lobby. “They’re just outside. Before bringing them in, I wanted to speak to you for a moment.”

  “What about? Them or some other harebrained scheme of yours?”

  She wanted to stand up to her dad, to tell him he had no right to be so demeaning toward her, but right now, when she’d come here for a favor, it didn’t seem like the right time to start a fight.

  “I was hoping we could talk about them and what I would like to see happen with this taxes mess.”

  “I got the general idea, thanks to your late-night phone call. Don’t you remember that I have to get up every morning at 5:00 a.m.?”

  So that was the reason he was in such a foul mood today.

  “I’m sorry to have disturbed you. That wasn’t my intention. I just knew that this all had to be handled as quickly as possible. Though I would think you get phone calls at night quite regularly.”

  He gave her a heated look that told her she had made another mistake. “I have a call service for a reason. And you know, Laura, there are at least a hundred other things I could be doing with my morning besides dealing with more of your nonsense.”

  Hopefully he wouldn’t go so far as to actually talk about Tanner, they had been down that road a thousand times and she didn’t want to rehash what had happened with her ex.

  She gritted her teeth. She couldn’t be insolent.

  “I appreciate you taking the time...as I said. I understand you’re busy, but as you know, this is about William Poe. You have to stop him.”

  Her father chuckled. “William couldn’t have done something like this. He doesn’t have the power.”

  “But he knows the right people to make this happen. And explain to me how he could’ve gotten their mail. It just doesn’t seem legal.”

  He tented his fingers in front of him on his desk and turned slightly in his chair. “That is odd, and as much as I respect William, it is suspicious that he would involve himself in something like this. Either he got sloppy and is playing more of a role than I’d assumed, or he really is innocent.”

  “I think we both know the answer to the question if William is innocent or guilty.”

  “You’re naive if you think that we’re not all a little bit of both. To be successful in life and at business means being able to make choices others aren’t capable of, and William certainly is good at his job. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that he is guilty of any wrongdoing.”

  “But you’ll take the case?”

  “What you’re asking is far more complicated than you can possibly know.” Her father put his hands down on his desk. “And we both know that you have a tendency to get wrapped up in things like this—things that you have no business including yourself in. It’s just like that mess with Tanner.”

  Of course he would go there. Whenever she asked for something, and he wanted to say no, he would always go to the subject of her former boyfriend, Tanner.

  “He has nothing to do with this, Father.”

  “He may not, but it’s a perfect example of your weaknesses. You always waste your time on losers.”

  “The Fitzgeralds aren’t losers.”

  Her father snorted. “If they’re going against William Poe, then that’s exactly what they’re setting themselves up to become.”

  If this was what it was going to be like to work with her father, maybe they would be better off getting another lawyer. But if she went out and faced the Fitzgeralds now, it would deal them a hard blow. They’d rested all their hopes with her and her ability to have a civil conversation with her father, a conversation that could make or break their future.

  “Besides, right now public opinion is starting to turn against the family, and that makes it even harder to take this all the way. Especially with this new finding on the ranch—that set of remains is going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back when it comes to the public being on their side.”

  “How do you know about the remains?” she asked, shock riddling her voice. Wyatt and his team were out at the ranch now, and they likely hadn’t even finished up yet—and her father seemed to know all about it.

  “Something like that isn’t going to stay a secret for long. You and I both know how living in western Montana is. All gossip is just a phone call away. And it’s my job to keep a close tab on what you are choosing to do with your life. You can’t really think that I’d let you work with convicted felons all day long and not check up on you.”

  “So you’re spying on me?”

  Her dad shook his head as if he was growing tired of her. “Laura, I’m your father. No matter what you think of me or my choices, I’m always going to do what I feel is best for you. Even if you don’t like it.”

  She couldn’t stand him sometimes. “Dad, I’m old enough to take care of myself. I don’t need you constantly looking over my shoulder. I’m an adult.”

  “If that’s true, then take your friends and figure this out yourself.” He pointed toward the door. “Mark my words, the Fitzgeralds are in a situation from which there is no coming back. If they are implicated with this body—if they had anything to do with this person’s untimely death—and you are associated with them, everything you’re fighting for is going to come to an end. You will find yourself in trouble right next to them. You need to go.”

  “They had nothing to do with this person’s death,” she said, ignoring his order for her to leave. “For all we know, the person has been dead for years. Long before the family owned the ranch.”

  “From what I heard, that may not be the case. Regardless, you need to stay away.”

  Her father had this all wrong. No matter what he had heard or what he assumed, the Fitzgeralds weren’t the antagonists here. No, this family hadn’t done anything wrong. Eloise and Merle had gone above and beyond in their attempts to take in foster kids, adopt Rainier and his brothers and run a guest ranch that brought smiles to their guests’ faces. They weren’t murderers. They weren’t tax evaders. They were always trying to do the right thing, and she had no idea why her father couldn’t see them for who they really were.

  “If I show you, if I can prove that the Fitzgeralds had nothing to do with do with this fiasco with these human remains, would you agree to help them?”

  He sat quietly for a moment. “
We’ll see what you’re capable of. But let me say it again—you need to get off the boat before it sinks.”

  That was as close to help as she was going to get with her father for now, and the only thing sinking was her stomach. She turned and started to make her way out of his office.

  “And Laura, be wary of William Poe. He’s got his fingers in a lot of pots.”

  She gave a cynical laugh as she thought about William’s reputation for seducing women. She was sure that was not what her father was referencing, but she couldn’t get the image out of her mind.

  Her laugh echoed down the hall, and as Laura made her way to the waiting room, Eloise stood up at the sound and looked toward her.

  “So everything went well in there?” She smiled. “Is he ready for us to come and talk to him?”

  Laura wanted to tell Eloise the truth, that they were barely hanging on by a thread to the hope that he would involve himself in their case, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

  “Actually, he’s up-to-date on the situation. I’m hoping he’s going to start looking into things.”

  She felt okay as she skirted around the truth. What she had said wasn’t a bold-faced lie, rather a twist on words. For now, that would have to work.

  “In the meantime, we need to make sure that Dunrovin focuses on clearing its name and restoring its place as a premier guest ranch.”

  “We can do that. Isn’t that right, Merle?” Eloise said, joy speckling her voice and making Laura feel even worse about keeping the truth from them.

  As they turned to leave, Rainier walked with her. As soon as they were out the doors, he took her hand and slowed her to a stop, while his parents walked ahead of them to the car.

  “He isn’t going to help us, is he?”

  The blood drained from her face. There was no way he could have heard her and her father talking, so how could Rainier possibly know what had happened behind those closed doors? “I... He...he doesn’t think there’s a way to win the case—no matter if he or another lawyer takes this on,” she said, letting the words pour from her. “And he’s worried that the body is going to make the law come down on your family even harder, regardless of your brother’s role in the department. The only way we even have a fighting chance of sorting this all out and getting any lawyer to take this case on is if we can prove that you all had nothing to do with those remains.”

  Rainier sucked in a long breath, as though composing himself before speaking. “Okay.” He nodded. “You said I needed a job as a condition of my parole. From this moment on, my job is going to be to help Wyatt get to the bottom of this. Come hell or high water, my family is going to get the help they need.”

  Chapter Eight

  When they made it back to the ranch, Wyatt and his team of investigators—which consisted of Lyle and Steve, who looked oddly like Andy Griffith and Barney Fife—were screening dirt that they had dug up from around the spigot. From the looks of things, they hadn’t found anything else, which made a profound sense of relief wash through Rainier. If they couldn’t find any more bones, that meant there wouldn’t be a whole lot for the medical examiner to study, which hopefully meant the case would go cold and soon be forgotten.

  If only they could get that lucky.

  He looked over at Laura as she got out of her car, thankful that she had agreed to come back to the ranch after she’d made a few phone calls to make herself available. He couldn’t believe how helpful she was being, or how many risks she was taking in helping him and his family. He doubted that she was normally this involved with her parolees, but maybe he was wrong. Maybe this was just her way—giving, selfless and filled with the spirit of altruism.

  He couldn’t deny that he’d gotten lucky in being assigned a parole officer like her. She wasn’t anything like what he’d expected—some middle-aged, balding guy with a chip on his shoulder and a heavy drinking problem. Rainier chuckled at the thought of how far from the stereotype she was.

  She closed the door to her car and turned to him. “Did you talk to your brother yet?”

  He shook his head. The entire drive home from the city he had been trying to come up with a way, or something to say, that could mend the fences with his brother. Yet he had nothing, and the closer they got to the ranch, the more his nervousness had amplified. “Everything is going to be okay, Rainier,” Laura said as she walked over to him. “Your parents told him what was going on, right?”

  He looked toward the ranch house, where his parents had disappeared when they had gotten home. They had talked at length on the ride back, including about how thankful they were to have Laura’s help, but the one thing no one had spoken of was what they had said to Wyatt.

  Rainier cringed as he thought about the possibility that they hadn’t mentioned the back taxes to Wyatt, and what would happen if he had to be the one to break the news. It would only give his brother more of an excuse to despise him.

  “I dunno,” he said.

  “Let’s just talk to Wyatt and see how it plays out,” Laura said. From the way she wrung her hands in front of her, Rainier wondered if she was even more nervous than him.

  He watched her as she walked toward the barn and the crew. Lyle was standing over the screens, pushing a clod of dirt through the mesh. He looked up as they approached and wiped his gloved hand over his brow, leaving behind a line of dirt complete with bits of rotting grass.

  “Hey, Lyle. How’s it going?” Rainier asked, trying to make ground with his brother’s team.

  “Slow and steady,” he said, sounding every bit as stoic and relaxed as he looked.

  “With something like this, I’m sure that you are going about it right.” Rainier gave an approving nod. “You guys find anything interesting yet?”

  Lyle glanced toward Steve, who was standing in the water-filled hole. A thin layer of ice had collected around the edges during the night and Steve lifted his hands and blew into them in an attempt to stave off the cold. He was wearing a pair of neoprene chest waders and a coat, but from the blue hue of his lips, the only thing the man probably wanted to do was get out of the freezing water.

  “Steve, you know where Wyatt is?” Lyle asked.

  The half-frozen man shook his head. “He disappeared a little while ago. Not sure where he went.”

  Rainier tried to tell himself that it wasn’t strange that his brother would leave these two men alone and not tell them where he had gone. He could have been doing any number of things, or maybe he was talking to their parents or something, but there was a part of Rainier that went on high alert. Wyatt was always the kind of guy to see things through to the end.

  “If you see him, would you let him know that we’re looking for him?” Laura asked.

  Lyle answered with a nod and went back to pushing another piece of dirt through the mesh.

  They walked back around the barn. “That was odd, wasn’t it?” she asked in a whisper.

  “Either they found something and they didn’t want to tell us, or Wyatt had warned them not to speak to us about anything,” Rainier said.

  “To be honest, I’m a little surprised that your brother is even heading this investigation. I would think it would be some kind of conflict of interest for him to be involved. You know, this being the family’s ranch and all,” Laura said.

  “Well, you know how it is. His department isn’t all that big. If people walked away from investigations just because they knew someone vaguely involved, every case in the entire town would have to be outsourced.” Rainier chuckled. “And maybe that’s why he brought Penny along. That way there’s another set of hands in case he is ever scrutinized for his role in the investigation.”

  “You know, if you guys are gonna talk, you should talk a little quieter,” Wyatt said, walking out of the barn and wiping his hands on a dirty rag. “The reason I’m heading this investiga
tion is that, unlike you, people trust me. Just because I have some tie to this place doesn’t mean that I won’t do what is right, or prosecute those that need to be prosecuted—even if it’s my own brother.”

  Rainier tried to control the anger that started to roil within him at the veiled accusation. “Look, I don’t have anything to do with this body. I don’t know why you think you need to keep threatening me. I’m sorry for what happened with my father. I know that it screwed everything up—probably for you more than anyone else in the family.”

  “You got that right. Do you know the kind of crap I have to take from the guys at the station? The questions I’ve had to field about having a felon as a brother?”

  “Wyatt, I’ve done my time. I’ve paid for my crime. Why do you think I need to keep paying?”

  “It’s not about wanting to make you keep paying. We both know it’s not that simple. I know what kind of person you are, Rainier. We both know that you have a hair-trigger and it’s going to get you back in trouble in no time.”

  “Can’t you see that I’ve changed?” he countered. “If I was still the man I used to be, do you think I’d be standing here and just taking it as you talk to me like you are?”

  Laura reached up and put her hand on Rainier’s arm, calming him. “Wyatt, I understand that you and your brother have had a lot happen between you two, but don’t you think that you should start fresh?”

  Wyatt peered at her, a look of confusion and disbelief on his face. “Are you serious? You should know better than anyone what the return rates are for prisoners. People don’t change. They are who they are.”

  Laura hand slipped down Rainier’s arm, releasing him and making him wonder if Wyatt’s words were making her question her approach. The anger within him grew, threatening to spill out. He wanted to tell his brother to go to hell, that it didn’t matter what he thought, and to chastise him for screwing up the only thing he had going for him—Laura’s belief that maybe he was worth helping. It had been a long time since he’d had an advocate besides his parents; and yet Wyatt thought it best that he stand in his way.