"But you did," Dallas said at once, sliding a protective arm around her. "You did what any one of us would do. And you did put Lopez away. It's not your fault that he slipped out of the country."
Jessica smiled. "Thanks."
"You going to marry my mama, Dallas?" Stevie piped up.
"Stevie!" Jessica exclaimed.
"Yes, I am," Dallas said, chuckling at Jessica's red face. "She just doesn't know it yet. How do you feel about that, Stevie?"
"That would be great!" he said enthusiastically. "You and me can watch wrestling together!"
"Yes, we can." Dallas kissed Jess's hair gently and looked at his son with proud, possessive eyes.
Sally, watching them, knew that everything was going to be all right for Jessica, once they were out of this mess. She'd be free to marry Eb and she'd never have to worry about her aunt or her cousin again. Even more important, Jessica would be loved. That meant everything to Sally.
Eb followed them to school the next morning, keeping a safe distance. But there were no attempts on them along the way, and once they were inside the building, Sally felt safe. She and Stevie went right along to her class, smiling and greeting teachers and other children they knew.
"It's gonna be all right, isn't it, Aunt Sally?" Stevie asked at the door to her classroom.
"Yes, I think it is," she said with a warm smile.
She checked her lesson plan while the students filed into the classroom. A boy at the back of the room made a face and caught Sally's attention.
"Miss Johnson, there's a puddle of something that smells horrible back here!"
She got up from her desk and went to see. There was, indeed, a puddle. "I'll just go and get one of the janitors," she said with a smile,
But as she started out the door, a tall, quiet man appeared with a mop and pail.
"Hi, Harry," she said to him.
"Hard to be inside today when it's so nice outside," he said with a rueful smile. "I should be sitting on the river in my boat right now."
She smiled. "I'm sorry. But it's a good thing for us that you're here,"
He started to wheel the bucket and mop away when one of the wheels came off the bucket. He muttered something and bent to look.
"I'll have to carry it. Can I get one of these youngsters to help me carry the mop?" he asked.
"I'll go!" Stevie volunteered at once.
"Yes, of course," Sally said. "Would you rather I went with you?"
He shook his head. "No need. This strong young man can manage a mop, can't you, son?" he asked with a big grin.
"Sure can!" Stevie said, hefting the mop over one shoulder.
"Let's away then, my lad," the man joked. "I'll send him right back, so he won't miss any class," he promised.
"Okay."
She watched Stevie go down the crowded hall behind Harry. It wasn't quite time for class to start, and she didn't think anything of the incident. Until five minutes later, when Stevie hadn't reappeared.
She left a monitor in charge of her class and went down the hall to the janitor's closet. There was the broken bucket, and the mop, but Stevie was nowhere in sight. But the janitor was. He'd been knocked out. She went straight to the office to phone Eb and call the paramedics. Fortunately Harry only had a slight concussion. To be safe, he was taken to the hospital for observation. Sally felt sick. She should have realized that Lopez might send someone to the school. Why had she been so gullible?
Eb arrived at the front office with the police chief, Chet Blake, and two of his officers. They went from door to door, combing the school. But Stevie was no longer there. One of the other janitors remembered seeing a stranger leave the building with the little boy and get into a brown pickup truck in the parking lot.
With that information, the police put out a bulletin. But it was too late. They found the pickup truck minutes later, abandoned in another parking lot, at a grocery store. Stevie was nowhere to be seen.
They waited by the telephone that afternoon for the call that was sure to come. When it did, Eb had to bite down hard on what he wanted to say. Jessica and Sally had been in tears ever since he brought Sally home to the ranch.
"Now," the voice came in a slow, accented drawl, "Stevie's mother will give me the name I want. Or her son will never come home."
"She had to be sedated," Eb said, thinking fast. "She's out cold."
"You have one hour. Not a second longer." The line went dead.
Eb cursed roundly. "Now what do we do?" Sally asked, He phoned Cy Parks. "Did you get that message sent for me?" he asked.
"Yes. Scramble the signal." Eb touched a button on the phone. "Shoot." Cy gave him a telephone number. "He should be there by now. What can I do to help?"
Eb didn't have to be told that the news about Stevie's abduction was all over town. "Nothing. Wish me luck." "You know it."
He hung up. Eb dialed the other number and waited. It rang once. Twice. Three times. Four times. "Come on!" Eb growled impatiently. On the fifth ring, the receiver was lifted. "Rodrigo?" Eb asked at once. "Yes,"
"I'm going to put Jessica on the line, and leave the room. She'll give you a name. You know what to do with it."
"Okay."
Eb gave the receiver to Jessica and motioned everybody out of the communications room. He closed the door.
Jessica felt the receiver in her hands and took a deep breath. "The name of my informant was Isabella Medina," she said quietly. "She worked as a housekeeper for..."
There was an intake of breath on the other end of the line. "But surely you knew?” he asked at once.
"Knew what?" Jessica stammered.
"Isabella was found washed up on the rocks in Cancun, just before Lopez's capture," Rodrigo said abruptly. "She is long dead."
"Oh, good Lord," Jessica gasped.
"How could you not know?" he demanded.
Jessica wiped her forehead with a shaking hand. "I lost touch with her just before the trial. I assumed that she'd gone undercover to escape vengeance from Lopez. She wasn't going to testify, after all. She only gave me sources of hard information that I could use to prosecute him. Afterward, there were only three people who knew about her involvement, and they died under rather...mysterious circumstances."
"This is the name Lopez wants?" he asked.
"Yes," she said miserably. "He's got my son!"
"Then you lose nothing by giving him the name," he said quietly. "Do you?"
"No. But he may not even remember her..."
"He was in love with her," Rodrigo said coldly. "His women have a habit of washing up on beaches. The last, a young singer in a Cancun nightclub, died only weeks ago at his hands. There is no proof, of course," he added coldly. "The official cause of death was suicide."
He sounded as though the matter was personal. She hesitated to ask. "You knew the singer?” she ventured.
There was a pause. "Yes. She was...my sister."
"I'm very sorry."
"So am I. Give Lopez the name. It will pacify him and spare your son any more adventures. He will not harm the boy," he added at once. "I think you must know this already."
"I do. At least he has one virtue among so many vices. But it doesn't ease the fear."
"Of course not. Tell Scott I'll be in touch, and not to contact me again. When I have something concrete, I'll call him."
"I'll tell him. Thank you."
"De nada." He hung up.
She went into the other room, feeling her way along the wall.
"Well?" Sally asked.
"My informant is dead," Jessica said sadly. "Lopez killed her, and I never knew. I thought she'd escaped and maybe changed her name."
"What now?" Sally asked miserably.
"I give Lopez the name," Jessica replied. "It will harm no one now. She was so brave. She actually worked in his house and pretended to care about him, just so that she could find enough evidence to convict him. Her father and mother, and her sister, had been gunned down in their village by his men, because the
y spoke to a government unit about the drug smuggling. She was sick with fear and grief, but she was willing to do anything to stop him." She shook her head. "Poor woman."
"A brave soul," Eb said quietly. "I'm sorry."
"Me, too," Jessica said. She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling chilled. "What if Lopez won't believe me?"
"You know," Eb said quietly, "I think he will."
"Let's hope so," Dallas agreed, his eyes narrow and dark with worry.
Sally put a loving arm around her aunt. "We'll get Stevie back," she said gently. "Everything's going to be okay."
Jessica hugged her back tearfully. "What would I do without you?" she whispered huskily.
Sally exchanged a long look with Dallas. She smiled. "I think you're going to find out very soon," she teased. "And I'll be your bridesmaid."
"Matron of honor," Eb corrected with soft, tender eyes.
"What?" Jessica exclaimed.
"I'm going to many your niece, Jess," Eb said gently. "I always meant to, you know. And," he added with mock solemnity, "it does seem the least I can do, considering that she's saved herself for me all these years, despite the blatant temptations of college life..."
"Temptations," Sally chuckled. "If you only knew!"
"Explain that," Eb challenged.
She let go of Jessica and went close to him, sliding her arms naturally around his hard waist. "As if there's a man on the planet who could compare with you," she murmured, and reached up to kiss his chin. Her eyes literally glowed with love. "There never was any competition. There never could be."
Eb lifted an eyebrow. "I could return the compliment," he said in a deep, quiet tone. "You're in a class all your own, Sally mine."
She laid her cheek against his hard chest. "They'll give Stevie back, won't they?" she asked after a minute.
"Yes," he said, utterly certain.
Sally glanced at Jessica, who was close beside Dallas now, leaning against him. They looked as if they'd always belonged together. Things had to turn out all right for them. They just had to. Lopez might have one virtue, but Sally wasn't at all sure that Eb was right. She only prayed that Stevie would be returned when Jess gave up the informant's name. If Lopez did keep his word, and that seemed certain, there was a chance. She had to hope it was a good one.
Chapter Eleven
In exactly an hour from the time Lopez hung up, the phone rang again. Eb let Jessica answer it.
"Hello," she said quietly.
"The name," Lopez replied tersely.
She took a slow breath. "I want you to understand that I would never have given up my informant under ordinary circumstances. But nothing I say can harm her now. I only found out today that she's beyond your vengeance. So it doesn't matter anymore if you know who she was."
"Who...she was?" Lopez asked, his voice hesitant
"Yes. Was. Her name was Isabella..."
His indrawn breath was so harsh that Jessica almost felt it "Isabella," he bit off. There was a tense pause. "Isabella."
"I lost touch with her before your trial," Jessica said curtly. "I assumed that she'd gone away and taken on another identity to escape being found out. I didn't know that she was dead already."
Still, Lopez said nothing. The silence went on for so long that Jessica thought the connection was cut.
"Hello?" she asked.
There was another intake of breath. "I loved her," he spat. "In my life, there was no other woman I trusted so much. But she wanted nothing to do with me. I should have known. I should have realized!"
"You killed her, didn't you?" Jessica said coldly.
"Yes," he said, and he didn't sound violent He sounded oddly subdued. "I never meant to. But I lashed out in a moment's rage, and then it was too late, and all my regrets would not bring her back to life." He drew another breath. "She was close enough to me that she knew things no one else was permitted to know. It occurred to me that she was asking far too many questions, but I was conceited enough to believe she cared for me." There was another brief pause. "The boy will be returned at once. You will find him at the strip mall in the toy store in five minutes. He will not be harmed. You have my word. Nor will you ever be threatened by me again. I...regret...many things," he added in an odd tone, and the line went dead abruptly.
Jessica caught her breath, still holding the receiver in her hand, as if it had life.
"Well?" Dallas asked impatiently.
She felt for the instrument and replaced the receiver with slow deliberation. "He said that Stevie would be in the toy store in the strip mall, in five minutes, unharmed." Her eyes closed. "Unharmed."
Eb motioned Dallas toward Jessica.
"Let's go," he said tersely.
"What if he lied?" Jessica asked as Dallas escorted her out to the big sports utility vehicle Eb drove.
"We both know that Lopez is a man of his word, regardless of his bloody reputation," Dallas said tersely. "We have to hope that he told the truth."
Jessica nibbled on her fingernails all the way to the mall, which was only about six minutes away from Eb's ranch. She sat close beside Dallas in the back seat, holding his hand tightly. Sally glanced back at them, silently praying all the way, worried for all of them, but especially for little Stevie. Her hand felt for Eb's and he grasped it tightly, sparing her a reassuring smile.
The minutes seemed like hours as they sped into town. Eb had no sooner parked the vehicle in the parking lot than Jessica was out the door, hurrying with Dallas right beside her to guide her steps.
Eb and Sally followed the couple into the small toy store, and there was Stevie, sitting on the floor, playing with a mechanical elephant that walked and lifted its trunk and trumpeted.
"It's Stevie," Dallas said huskily. "He's...fine!"
"Where? Stevie!" Jessica called brokenly, holding out her arms.
"Hi, Mom!" Stevie exclaimed, leaving the toy to run into her arms. "Gosh, I was scared, but the man taught me how to play poker and gave me a soda! He said I was brave and he admired my courage! Were you scared, Mom?"
Jessica was crying so hard that she could barely speak at all. She hugged her child close and couldn't seem to let him go, even when he wiggled.
"Let his dad have a little of this joyful reunion,” Dallas murmured dryly, holding out his arms.
Stevie went right into them and hugged him hard. "I don't have a real dad now," he said, "but you're going to be a great dad, Dallas! You and me will go to all the wrestling matches and take Mom and describe everything to her, won't we?"
"Yes," Dallas said, his voice husky, his eyes bright as he rocked his child in his arms with mingled relief and affection. "We'll do that."
Jessica felt her way into Dallas's arms with Stevie and pressed there for a long moment. Beside them, Sally held tight to Eb's hand and smiled with pure relief.
"I had an adventure," Stevie said when his parents let go of him. "But it's nice to be home again. Can I have that elephant? He sure is neat!"
"You can have a whole circus if I can find one for sale," Dallas laughed huskily. "But for now, I think we'll go back to the ranch."
They paid for the elephant and got into the truck with Eb and Sally.
"Can you drop us off at our house?” Jessica asked Eb.
There was a hesitation. She heard it and smiled.
"Lopez said that he had no more business with me," Jessica told him. "He didn't even question what I told him," she added. "He said that Isabella was always asking him questions and pretending to care about him. He knew she didn't. He did sound very sorry that he killed her. Perhaps the small part of him that's still human can feel remorse. Who knows?"
"One day," Dallas said curtly, "we'll catch up with him. This isn't over, you know, even if he is through making threats toward you and Stevie. He's going to pay for this. And, somehow, we're going to stop him from setting up business in Jacobsville."
"We have Rodrigo in place," Eb agreed, "and Cy watching the progress of the warehouse. It won't be easy, but
if we're careful, we may cut his source of supply and his distribution network right in half. Cut off the head and the snake dies."
"Amen," Dallas replied.
Dallas got out of the sports utility vehicle with Jessica and Stevie, waving the other couple off with a big smile.
"You really believe Lopez meant it when he said he was quits with Jessica?" Sally asked, still not quite convinced of the outlaw's sincerity.
"Yes, I do," Eb replied, glancing at her with a smile. "He's a snake, but his word is worth something."
Sally turned her head toward Eb and studied his profile warmly, with soft, covetous eyes.
He glanced over and met that look. His own eyes narrowed. "A lot has happened since last night," he said quietly. "Do you still mean what you told me at dawn?"
"That I'd marry you?" she asked
He nodded.
"Oh, yes," she said, "I meant every word. I want to live with you all my life,"
"It won't bother you to have professional mercenaries running around the place at all hours for a while?" he teased.
She grinned. "Why should it? I am, after all, a mercenary's woman."
"Not quite yet," he murmured with a wry glance. "And very soon, a mercenary's wife."
"That sounds very respectable," she commented.
"I'm glad you waited for me, Sally," he said seriously.
"So am I." She slid her hand into his big one and held on tight. It tingled all the way up her arm.
"We've had enough excitement for today," he said. "But tomorrow we'll see about getting the license. Do you want a justice of the peace or a minister to marry us?”
"A minister," she said at once. "I want a permanent marriage."
He nodded, "So do I. And you have to have a white gown with a veil."
Her eyebrows arched.
"You're not just a mercenary's woman, you're a virtuous mercenary's woman. I want to watch you float down the aisle to me covered in silk and satin and lace, and with a veil for me to lift after we've said our vows."
She smiled with her whole heart. "That would be nice. There's a little boutique..."
Books By Diana Palmer Page 257
