Severed Trust: The Men of the Texas Rangers | Book 4

by Margaret Daley

  Sadie continued prowling the office, trying to figure out what she would say to her assistant principal. She needed to be calm, in control. But the second he stepped into the room, all her carefully thought out words fled her mind.

  “If you’re here about Kalvin Majors, there’s nothing else I can do at this time.” Maxwell crossed to his desk and sat behind it. “And I have a lot of work that needs to be addressed.”

  Sadie stood in front of him, leaning against the desk, her hands clutching its edge. “You let him go. Why?”

  He looked up from shuffling some papers. “Because he didn’t have anything in his pocket.”

  “I saw him put something in it. There had to be something there.” Sadie’s voice rose several decibels, and she clamped her teeth together before she made the situation worse.

  “I took him directly to my office and had him turn his pockets inside out. Nothing.”

  “Did you keep an eye on him as you took him to your office?”

  “Yes, but it was crowded in the hallway. A group of kids was coming into the building. Regardless of that, I’m sure he didn’t get rid of anything.”

  “He had to because there was something in his pocket—front right one in his jeans.”

  Maxwell pinned her with a sharp look. “He turned out all his pockets and let me check his backpack. Nothing. You were mistaken, Ms. Thompson. In your passion to do something about the drug problem at the school, you jumped to a conclusion that wasn’t right.”

  She bent forward. “I know what I saw, and I’ll be keeping my eye on Kalvin. Did you talk with Sam? What about the money exchanged?”

  “He owed Kalvin some he’d borrowed from him.”

  “They’re friends? Those two don’t run in the same crowd.”

  “There’s nothing I can do, but make sure you’re professional and careful about what you say and do or we’ll be facing a lawsuit.”

  “I’ll do that,” she said, sweeping around and marching from the office, anger imbuing her body.

  “Take a seat,” Ethan said, waving his hand toward a chair in the interview room.

  Wide-eyed, Patti Shea sat, her back stiff, her clasped hands in her lap. “Why am I here?”

  “I believe the officer who brought you in told you that some of the patients under your care haven’t received their prescribed dosage of medication.”

  “All I can do it give it to them. I don’t force it down them.”

  “That might be the case with one patient, but on your wing we’re talking about twelve that we’ve tested out of twenty-four. Fifty percent. The whole nursing home is now being tested because of what we discovered. They’re bringing the DEA in on this case. We’ll get to the bottom of it. One patient died recently because she wasn’t on the medication she needed. In pain, she freaked out when she shouldn’t have if properly medicated. That woman was under your care.”

  “I’m only one nurse out of three on that wing who dispenses meds. I want my lawyer.” Patti chewed on her thumbnail.

  “That’s your right. While you arrange for your attorney to be here with you, we’ll be digging even deeper into your finances. You recently purchased a new car.”

  “My old one died on me. I need transportation. There’s no crime in doing that.”

  “And you paid a large amount of cash as a down payment. Not a check or money order, but cash.”

  “Again, no law against that.” Patti bit down on her thumbnail and spat it out into her hand.

  “True, unless you got that money illegally. If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about.” Ethan rose. “Don’t say anything else until your attorney arrives. But I do want you to know the more you cooperate with us, the easier the DA will be on you. If you caused the death of that woman by withholding her medication, you’re looking at manslaughter charges at the least. Maybe murder. This is serious.”

  Patti’s eyes widened as Ethan spoke. “Murder?”

  Ethan ignored the woman’s question and headed for the door.

  “Wait.”

  He glanced over his shoulder, his hand on the knob.

  “What do you mean by cooperating with you?”

  “We can’t have this discussion until your attorney shows up since you said you wanted one. Make your call and when he comes, we’ll talk again.” Ethan left the room before Patti could say another word.

  “Do you think she’s going to talk?” Cord asked out in the hallway.

  “I don’t know. My gut says she did it, but we need hard evidence. Have your detectives keep looking into her finances as well as her associates and friends. Search her house from top to bottom. Whoever took the medication might have been using some of it, but not all, which means she was selling it to someone, possibly a supplier. I want that supplier. I’m going to the school to interview Missy without her sidekick. Her attorney is meeting me there.”

  “Why not bring her back down here?”

  “I want to surprise her. I don’t want her talking to anyone except her attorney and certainly not Carrie.”

  As Ethan started down the hall, Cord said, “Say hi to my sister.”

  Ethan turned around, backpedaling. “Who said I would see her?”

  “Just a hunch. You’ll be good for her.”

  His friend’s words stayed with Ethan the whole way to the school. It really was the other way around. Sadie was good for him. For years, he’d been so wrapped up in his work he’d neglected the other aspects of his life. Until he’d come home, he hadn’t realized how removed he was from people. Even in church he’d participate but more as an observer, not truly a part of the church community. He’d seen so much pain through his job he’d thought if he held himself back, he wouldn’t be a victim of that pain.

  At the high school, Ethan checked in at the office with the secretary and the principal. The man set aside his conference room for Ethan to interview Missy and sent a campus police officer to escort Missy from Sadie’s class with the instruction she wasn’t to talk to anyone or use her cell phone. Colleen Stover sat in the conference room with Missy and called the eighteen-year-old’s parents as a courtesy, although Ethan could question Missy without her parents. Missy listened to Colleen talk to them, her face paling with each word spoken.

  When the girl’s attorney finished the call, Ethan faced Missy across the wide table, his gaze glued to the teen for a long moment before he asked the first question, “Have you thought about my proposal from the other day? The first one who talks about what happened that night with Jared will get a deal with the DA.”

  “I don’t know . . .” Missy pressed her lips together and turned toward her lawyer.

  Colleen leaned close and whispered to her.

  Missy held her necklace with a large male ring on it and rubbed it between her fingers. She shook her head, slanted a look at Ethan, then returned her full attention to her attorney.

  Colleen Stover twisted forward and said, “Free from any kind of prosecution?”

  “If her testimony leads to what really happened to Jared, and she isn’t the one responsible for him being in the lake.”

  The attorney nodded at Missy.

  The teenage girl stared down at the table, her lips a thin white line. Her fingers still frantically caressed the ring until she clenched it in her fist and raised her gaze to his. Her eyes shone with tears.

  “We thought he was dead. We panicked. Luke didn’t want Jared found at his father’s warehouse, so Luke drove Jared’s Porsche to the park by the lake with all of us following him. Then the guys transferred Jared from the trunk of Brendan’s car to the Porsche. But when we left him, he wasn’t in the water, but in the parking lot near the road that led to the boat ramp. We wanted Jared found. Just not at the warehouse.” Tears spilled from her eyes. “I don’t know how the car ended up in the water. None of us do. We thought some bum or bad guy must have robbed Jared and put the car in the water.”

  The kids hadn’t been thinking clearly from the beginning. Jared’s wallet
had been on him, so there was no indication of a robbery as the motive. Not to mention Jared was found in his expensive car in the lake. “Who was with you at the park?”

  Missy tilted her head toward her lawyer.

  “You need to tell him if you want the deal.”

  “Brendan Livingston, Carrie Bannister, Luke Adams, Kalvin Majors, Zoe Sanders, and myself.”

  “Who else was at the party?”

  “Just Kelly and we left her at the warehouse. She was passed out.”

  “That’s all?”

  Missy blinked. “Yes.” Her answer came out slowly as though she were unsure.

  “There was someone else there?”

  Her eyebrows scrunched together. “I didn’t see anyone else . . .”

  “But?”

  “I don’t know. There was a time I felt like I was being watched, but when I looked around at the other kids, they weren’t. I think it was that warehouse. Dark, almost menacing. I told Luke it wasn’t a good place, but we needed somewhere private where no one would bother us.”

  “You were dating Luke?”

  “Yes,” Missy said in a choked voice, her eyes closing while she fiddled with the male ring on the necklace.

  “Did he take tranquilizers often? According to his parents, never, but then he was at the pill party. Would he have gotten into a car after downing a large quantity of them? Would he have a reason to kill himself?”

  Missy swallowed hard. “No. He was upset over Jared’s death and had sworn off taking any more pills. He was scared because of what happened. He was sure everyone was going to find out about what we did.”

  “Would he have spiked Lexie’s water to make her back off? After all, she is the one who told us about the warehouse. A warehouse that belongs to his dad.”

  Missy dropped her head, sliding her gaze to the left and mumbled, “No, none of us did. Why would we? You’re her uncle. That would draw attention to us.”

  “I suggest you level with me. Right now you aren’t. Could Luke have spiked Lexie’s water bottle? Remember, there is no deal if you lie to me.”

  “Thursday night he was so angry at Lexie. He talked about all kinds of things he could do to get back at her, but I calmed him down, and I thought he was okay when he went home.”

  “Was one of the ways putting something in her drink?”

  Missy turned to her lawyer, tears glistening in her eyes, then looked back at Ethan and nodded.

  “So let’s assume Luke doctored Lexie’s water bottle. Would he do the same thing to himself out of remorse?”

  “Luke? No, he might have a hair-trigger temper, but he had everything to live for. I believed him when he swore off taking any more drugs after his best friend died.”

  “So that leaves someone else drawing attention to you all? Any speculation who?”

  Her mouth fell open. “You think someone is after us?”

  “Or someone in your group is causing trouble no one else knows about.”

  “Brendan, Zoe, Carrie, and Kalvin wouldn’t do that.”

  “Have you had other pill parties?”

  Missy closed her eyes for a long moment, then nodded. “Two others at my grandparents’ cabin.”

  “Who mentioned having pill parties in the first place?”

  “Kalvin.”

  “What about Kalvin selling drugs? Have you seen him do that?”

  “Kalvin? Selling drugs?” Missy shook her head, glanced at her lawyer then back at Ethan. “He doesn’t need the money. His father is a doctor.”

  “With access possibly to drugs. Did you all take all the pills in the bowl that night at the party?”

  Lowering her head, Missy pushed her fingers through her hair that fell forward. Finally she shook her head again. “There were a lot left over. I remember seeing them when we left to take Jared to the lake. “

  “So you don’t know where all the leftover pills went?”

  “No. I never thought about it. Not after what happened to Jared.”

  “Who cleaned up the warehouse?”

  “Luke, Brendan, and Kalvin.”

  “Then maybe they took them.”

  “Luke didn’t. In fact, he wondered what happened to them. He thought Kelly took them. She was gone when they went to clean up the warehouse.”

  “No, Lexie picked Kelly up Sunday morning, and she said the bowl was empty.”

  Tears returned to glisten in Missy’s eyes. “I don’t know what happened to the pills. We panicked. Weren’t thinking clearly at all. I didn’t wake up until almost noon the next day when Luke called me to tell me they just finished cleaning up the warehouse.”

  Ethan stood. “Mrs. Stover, I’d like you to take your client to the police station to make a statement. You can have her parents meet you down there.” He switched his attention to the teenage girl. “It was a smart move on your part to finally tell us what happened. Three kids from the party are dead. I’m beginning to think something else is going on here.”

  17

  Ashley, Steven, get your homework done now. Later, when everyone is here, it’ll be too hectic to do it.” Sadie said as she entered her house Thursday after school.

  As Ms. Thompson’s kids headed up the stairs, Lexie walked to the window nearby and looked out. “It feels odd having an officer going everywhere I go.”

  “My brother and your uncle are circling the wagons. They’re worried.”

  “Do you think we’re in danger?” Lexie twisted away from the sight of the patrol car parked out in front of the house.

  “Maybe. I trust their instincts and abilities, but that’s not to say you need to worry about it.”

  “Yeah, Nana used to say to me when she still recognized me that all worry gave me was heartburn and wrinkles. Then she’d tell me the Lord is much better at handling that burden.”

  “A wise woman, but sometimes it’s hard not to worry.”

  “Are you?” Lexie set her backpack on the couch.

  Ms. Thompson peered at her. “Yes. Not so much for me but others.”

  Lexie pointed at herself. “Me?”

  “No, because you’ve got a good head on your shoulders. But some kids don’t and that does worry me.”

  “Are you talking about Steven?”

  Ms. Thompson nodded, glancing toward the stairs. “But also Ashley. Her dad is coming over to pick her up to take her to a nice place for dinner. She’s all excited. I’m not.”

  “For thirteen, your daughter is pretty smart.”

  “Has she said anything about her father to you?”

  Lexie thought back to the conversation she’d had with Ashley yesterday about their dads and not having them around. “There’s something missing because my dad is gone. Most of the time I don’t think much about him dying anymore, but every once in a while I do and there’s an emptiness that’s hard to fill by another. Questions left unanswered.”

  “Like what?”

  “What would my life be like if Dad was alive? What am I missing out on? I think Ashley wonders the same thing.”

  “Yes, I see what you mean.” When the doorbell chimed, Ms. Thompson walked toward the door. “I bet that is Oliver. He said he would be over after school to help you with your Algebra II.”

  “Oh, good. I need it. It’ll be good to talk to another kid from school.” She’d been isolated most of the time since the incident with her passing out last Friday. Other than talking with Ashley, Steven, and Kelly, she had been around adults, even at church when she helped the pastor in the office these past couple of days. She wanted to go to Luke’s funeral tomorrow, but her mom had said no because of the probability he spiked her water.

  When Ms. Thompson opened the door, Oliver, a pale cast to his face, stood on the porch with a uniform officer next to him. Eyes large, Oliver kept his attention on the young cop.

  “Ma’am, he says he has been invited to your house to help Lexie with her homework.”

  “Yes. We’ll be fine. Thanks.” Ms. Thompson swung the screen door wide to
allow Oliver into the house. “I’m sorry about that. I forgot about the officer being outside, or I would have warned you about him.”

  “No problem. He surprised me when he hurried up the sidewalk after me. I thought I had done something wrong.”

  “Oh, no, Oliver,” Lexie gave him a smile, “I really appreciate you coming over to help me. I’m stuck in this whole section of the book. I need a whiz kid to help me.”

  Oliver reddened. “Sure. Anything I can do.”

  “I’ll be in the kitchen trying to decide what to fix for dinner. I have tea, water, or Coke to drink.”

  “That’s okay, Ms. Thompson, I’m fine.” Oliver trailed after Lexie into the living room.

  When he sat next to her on the couch, she dug into her backpack for work. As she lifted the heavy math book out of the bag and her folder, she released a long breath.

  “I’m sure this is hard on you. Hang in there, Lexie. Things will turn out for the better.”

  Hang in there, stuck in Lexie’s mind—all she could visualize was Kelly dangling from the warehouse rafter. Tears flooded her eyes. She dropped her book and folder on her lap and covered her face, her fingertips pressing into her eyes to keep the tears inside. Oliver didn’t need to see her fall apart.

  “What’s wrong, Lexie?” His hand settled on her shoulder. “Did I say something wrong?”

  She shook her head. “I just miss Kelly. She was my best friend.”

  “But she called you a liar and spread the rumors about you around the school.”

  The past couple of weeks crashed down on Lexie, and she couldn’t hold back the sorrow any longer. She cried for Kelly, Jared, and even Luke.

  “Who just left here?” Ethan asked as he came into Sadie’s kitchen later that evening.

  “Oliver. He’s my student aide, and I volunteered him to help Lexie with her math. They didn’t get much done.”

  “Why not?”

  “Poor guy. He told Lexie to hang in there, and she broke down about Kelly. He felt awful. He’s coming back on Saturday afternoon. I told Beth not to worry, I’ll be here on Saturday since she’s going to be working. In fact, she’ll be late which means Cord will be. I fixed a stew that should be easy for them to heat up later.”