“What if he was coming there to attack us?”
Wyatt sat in silence for a moment. “William Poe’s many things, but stupid isn’t one of them. And if he came after the family on our ranch with the intention of hurting us, that would be more than stupid. There’s no way he would’ve walked away from something like that alive.”
“Maybe that’s why he lost his nerve,” Rainier said. “Maybe once he saw us and got a chance to speak his piece, maybe he realized the error he was making.”
Rainier couldn’t stand it anymore. He turned around in his seat and stared out the back window. William was talking on the phone, and as he spoke his free hand flew in angry gestures. From the look on his face, he was yelling at someone.
They drew up at a stoplight. William and Rainier locked eyes, and the man stopped talking. Neither would look away, and even from that distance Rainier could see the distaste and hatred William held for him.
Wyatt started to drive forward as the light turned green, but instead of following them, William swung left.
“What the hell is he doing?” Rainier asked.
Wyatt peered out the window and watched as William’s car disappeared down the road. “Who knows what that guy is up to.”
They were only a block from the police department. If he was turning away, did that mean he wasn’t planning on pressing charges? Or was he playing some kind of stupid mind game? Rainier wouldn’t put it past him. He was certain he hadn’t scared him away with simply a look. William wasn’t that weak.
Wyatt parked the car in front of the station and opened the door for Rainier to get out.
As he stepped from the car, he took in a long breath of the cold winter air. For all he knew, it was his last breath of real freedom.
“What do you want to do?” Rainier asked.
“If he does show up and sign the documents, then it will be to your benefit if you stay here and prove to the courts that you didn’t try to run, and you were trying to make the best of a bad situation. Maybe the judge will be more lenient and won’t add more time to your sentence in prison.”
He still had five years left on his sentence if he went back. Until now, he hadn’t really thought about the fact that if William did press charges those five years could easily turn into ten. The realization made him nauseous. That would mean by the time he got out he very well could be thirty-six years old. He would have spent a third of his life behind bars. It would be such a waste.
“Then I guess we need to go inside,” he said, but the words passed from him in the same way a judge would’ve passed a ruling—without emotion.
“Are you sure?” Wyatt asked. “If you wanted, the Widow Maker Ranch—you know, Gwen’s family’s spread—is buttoned up. They’re about to put it on the market, and no one is living there. If you wanted to hide out for a little bit and let everything die down and see what happens, you could stay there and nobody would know where you were.”
“You would know,” he said, giving his brother a weak smile. “It would compromise your integrity if you had to lie for me. You can’t get wrapped up in this. I can’t let you put your career in jeopardy for me.”
He appreciated what Wyatt was doing for him, and the offer he was making, but from the look on his face, his brother knew that it was unfeasible, as well.
“We’ll get through this,” Rainier said. “You just lead the way to where I need to wait for William. From there, I’ll navigate this journey the rest of the way.”
“No matter what goes down in there, I got your back. No matter what’s happened in the past, you’re my brother. I’ll always be your brother,” Wyatt said.
Rainier wasn’t a hugger, but right now it was the only thing he could think to do that could express the way he was feeling toward his older brother.
“Wyatt, I don’t know what I’d do without you, man,” he said, his voice cracking. “And hey, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
Wyatt shrugged as Rainier stepped back and they let go of one another. “Like I said, if you hadn’t gone after William, I’m not sure that I wouldn’t have. Maybe, if nothing else, you saved me.”
This relationship would be one of the things he would miss the most.
“If they lock me up, I want you to look after Laura.”
Wyatt nodded. “She’ll always be welcome at my home, and I know Mom loves her almost as much as you do.” He walked toward the front doors of the station and, opening it, waited for Rainier to walk in ahead of him.
“Mom has taken a shine to her,” Rainier said with a laugh. “Can you believe she asked her to spend Christmas with us the first time she met her?”
“You know Mom. She knows from the get-go whether or not she likes someone. If I were you, I’d take that as Mother’s official seal of approval.”
“What do you think of Laura?”
They walked into the main office, and the secretary behind the glass smiled at Wyatt and gave them a little wave as they made their way past her.
“I mean, aside from the fact that we shouldn’t be together, that is,” Rainier said.
“I know I told you that I didn’t want to get wrapped up in all of your drama, but we both know it’s too late to stop whatever is going on between you two. And believe me when I say I know better than anyone how the heart wants what the heart wants. I mean, just look at Gwen and me.”
“How did you guys end up back together?”
“It’s a long story, but after her sister was killed...we both realized that we were just meant for each other.”
“What about her mother? Didn’t she have something to say about it? Especially after Gwen’s father was killed on the ranch after his accident with the hay tedder?”
“Oh, her mother had plenty of issues with our getting together.” Wyatt paused. “Come to think of it, our story ain’t that different from yours—a lot of people didn’t want to see us end up together. But if it made one thing abundantly clear, it’s that we don’t get to pick who we fall in love with. And when it comes to true love, nothing and no one should get in the way.”
They turned a corner in the hall that led to Wyatt’s office. Standing on the other side of his brother’s office door was Mr. Blade, who was holding his briefcase.
Rainier came to a dead stop. “Shit. What is he doing here?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing. You think Laura called him or something?”
From where they were standing, Rainier couldn’t see the lawyer’s expression, but he wished he could so he’d have some clue as to what kind of hornet’s nest he was walking into.
“You want to wait here?” Wyatt asked.
Rainier shook his head and then bulled his way into his brother’s office. Mr. Blade looked a little shocked at his sudden appearance.
“Are you here to yell at me? Go right ahead. But know that whatever you have to say to me, it’s not going to change my feelings about your daughter.”
He shook his head. “No, my daughter is the reason I’m here right now,” Mr. Blade said, raising a finger as if threatening. “Know that if you break her heart or if you continue to hurt her, I’ll be far more dangerous to you than William Poe.”
“I have no intention of hurting your daughter any more than I already have,” Rainier said. But as he spoke to the man, he found that he couldn’t look him in the eye, and instead focused on a forensics manual on his brother’s bookcase behind him.
“I’m glad to hear it, but regardless of your intentions, it doesn’t guarantee her safety.”
Wyatt stepped forward. “No, but I do. If Rainier has to go back to prison, she won’t be left out to dry.”
Mr. Blade looked Wyatt up and down, weighing and measuring him in a glance, then cracked a smile. It was almost imperceptible, but Rainier had a feeling that was about as big as the lawyer’s
smile ever got.
“Laura wasn’t wrong about you Fitzgeralds. You’re good people.” Mr. Blade sat down in front of Wyatt’s desk. “And that’s why I’m here today. I already heard what happened with William.”
“Did Laura call you?” Rainier asked, a bit surprised that she would’ve already reached out to her father.
“No, William did.”
Apparently, being good people wasn’t enough to keep them on good terms with her father.
“Sir, are you here to let us know that you’ve decided not to take our family’s case?” Rainier inquired.
“Far from it.” The little smile on Mr. Blade’s face disappeared. “In fact, he asked my firm to help him file assault charges against you. However, due to recent findings, I had to decline. I may have mentioned to him that if he wished to pursue assault charges against you, it would force my hand in acting upon your family’s case, and we would be moving to court more rapidly than I intended.”
“What did you find? And does that mean he’s not pressing charges?” Rainier asked, a sense of excitement moving through him.
Mr. Blade nodded. “I think he realized it would be in his best interest to simply put what happened between you two at the ranch behind him. However, I strongly recommend that you do not act on your impulses again. If you were dealing with any other parole officer besides my daughter, I am sure that by now you would have already found yourself behind bars. You’re just lucky that she likes you, and you have a brother who is in law enforcement. Professional favors can go a long way, but they can’t keep you safe forever.”
Rainier was glad he was sitting down, as he feared his knees would have given out on him had he been standing. “Thank you so much, Mr. Blade. I can’t tell you how much that means to me. How relieved I am. I’m so sorry that all this happened. I swear I won’t let it happen again.”
“See to it that it doesn’t.” Mr. Blade reached down to his briefcase. He pulled out a series of papers and laid them on Wyatt’s desk. “Now, to the other business at hand and what we managed to find... Have you ever talked to your parents about how they came into possession of the Dunrovin Ranch?”
The brothers looked at one another questioningly, and Wyatt shook his head.
“I had a feeling that may have been the case.” Mr. Blade tapped the paper on top of the stack. “We managed to find the bill of sale on the property. Did you know that Dunrovin Ranch was on the chopping block twenty-five years ago?”
“What do you mean, on the chopping block?” Rainier asked, peering at the stack of papers. The page on top looked like a jumble of legalese that only a lawyer could understand.
“I mean it was up for auction. From what I could find out from the paperwork, the family who owned the ranch before lost it in a situation very similar to that of your parents.”
“That’s impossible. William Poe has been a tax appraiser only for the last ten years. He couldn’t have screwed anyone over twenty-five years ago,” Wyatt said, taking his seat behind the desk.
“You’re right,” Mr. Blade said with a nod. “He wasn’t screwing anyone out of their land twenty-five years ago. No, it was actually his family who had owned it before you and yours.”
“No!” Wyatt dropped his hands down on the desk with a thump. “That can’t be true. Mom and Dad said they had gotten it from a family who had decided they didn’t want to be ranchers anymore.”
Mr. Blade’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “I think your parents may have been lying to you. From the looks of it, William’s father, Paul, had lost the property due to a tax lien. When the place went to auction, the Poes had thought they would be able to buy it back. However, your parents came in and bought it out from under them.”
“Does he think he can recreate the same chain of events? Is this some twisted attempt to pay my parents back for getting the ranch?” Rainier asked.
“I have no idea what William Poe is thinking,” Mr. Blade said. “But if I can prove that he is behind these taxes and is doing it so he can buy the ranch, I think we have a really strong case, as we certainly have found a motive for his erratic behavior.”
“Thank you, Mr. Blade,” Rainier said. “We’ll see if—”
“Wait.” Wyatt interrupted with a wave of his hand. “What about the body? How did Paul Poe’s remains end up on the ranch?”
“That’s one thing I can’t make heads or tails of,” Mr. Blade said. “But we are going to have to hope that your parents had nothing to do with his death. If they did, everything we’re working toward is going to go up in smoke.”
Chapter Eighteen
He couldn’t believe his parents had lied to him. Surely their lie had been well intended, and they had never thought it would come back to haunt the family, and yet here they were. Or maybe Merle and Eloise had been kept in the dark about the circumstances in which the ranch had gone up for auction. Since they had bought it before the days when a person could Google just about anything, perhaps they hadn’t been told who the ranch had once belonged to. Rainier had to hope that his parents weren’t involved in anything that would cast a bad light upon the family.
Wyatt turned the squad car down the road to the ranch, and as they drew nearer to home, Rainier’s stomach tightened. He was more nervous now to face his mother and father than when he’d been released from jail. It was one thing for him to know he was guilty of wrongdoing, and another to think that his family may have been guilty, as well.
“Do you realize today’s Christmas Eve?” Wyatt asked, looking over at him in the passenger seat.
“Damn.” He had barely thought of anything beyond what they were dealing with and what was happening between him and Laura. Somehow the date had slipped through the cracks. He had no presents for anyone. Hopefully, the family wouldn’t be even more disappointed with him than they already were. He was so tired of feeling like a disgrace. With every choice he made it seemed he was screwing up.
If this was what life on the outside was, he wasn’t sure which lifestyle—his present situation or prison—was harder. At least in jail very little was expected of him. Yet he could never let himself go back to that place. It killed his soul. “I’m sure you haven’t gotten the chance to pick anything up for Laura, but in my experience women tend to like what comes from the heart the most.”
“So you think I should write her a love poem? ‘Roses are red, violets are blue...’” he said with a laugh.
“That’s not what I meant, smart-ass. But I’m glad you’re feeling good enough to be your normal smart-mouthed self.”
“It’s amazing what not going back to prison can do for a man,” Rainier said with a smile.
“Do you know if your birth father is still alive?” Wyatt asked.
Why was he bringing that up right now?
“Did you hear something?”
Wyatt shook his head. “No. I’m just thinking about what happened with you and him. If you saw him again, do you think you would do to him what you just did to William Poe, or would you do something worse?”
“You know how I feel about what happened with William. I won’t make the same mistake. And with my father, if he’s still alive and if I see him, I think I would turn around and walk away. One thing I did learn in prison is that the worst punishment someone can undergo is isolation. The mind does strange things when you’re forced to be alone with it, and think about all the mistakes you’ve made. All I can hope is that my father, like William Poe, is haunted by his wrongdoings.”
“You should make that into a Hallmark card, man,” his brother said, giving him a soft punch to his upper arm, reminding him exactly what it was and how it felt to be brothers.
Wyatt parked the car next to Laura’s and chuckled as he noticed the reindeer antlers on her doors. “Those are hilarious. Gwen would love something like that. She’s all about Christmas stuff. Now that
her mom’s in rehab for her alcoholism, she grabbed all of their old decorations and brought them over to my place. It’s like Santa’s workshop in there.”
“Laura’s house is the same way. Heck, it might even be worse. Her house actually is Santa’s workshop. She was telling me that she makes and sells Christmas decorations online.”
“You mean like on Etsy or something?”
He had no idea what Etsy was, but he nodded. “She seems to really enjoy it.”
At the thought of Laura, all that they had last said to one another and what had happened between them, Rainier stopped in his tracks and stared up at the front door. He glanced over at her car, surprised that she was still here and hadn’t gone home.
“It’s going to be okay, man,” Wyatt said.
“No. I have a feeling that I’m not gonna have time to worry about a Christmas gift or lack of one for Laura. She must hate me. And she has every right to. I can’t believe what I did to her. How she must feel. I put her in an impossible situation.”
“You made a mistake, Rainier, and thankfully, you avoided trouble by the skin of your teeth. I think she’s just gonna be excited to see you. I can tell from the way you two look at each other that you guys are in love. And when you love each other, I mean really love each other, you can get through a lot.”
“But when is it too much?”
“Too much isn’t really something that applies when you love. Because you can never really love someone too much. All that love equates to a lifetime of learning to forgive one another, and accepting the person for who they really are—stupid decisions, screwups, bad sense of humor and all.”
“Hey, I’m not the one with the bad sense of humor,” Rainier joked.
It all came down to this. If she loved him like Wyatt assumed, she would forgive him. And if she couldn’t move past this, and it was too much, then what he was feeling toward her wasn’t being reciprocated and he would have to take a few steps back. It would never work if they weren’t in the same emotional place.
Ms. Demeanor (Mystery Christmas Book 4) Page 15
