by Sheryl Lynn
A man and woman, strangers to Elaine, burst out of the building. Both were wide-eyed and white-faced. The man waved both arms in the air. “Help! Help! Call the police!” He pointed at the door. “There’s a crazy old cowboy in there with a gun!”
The woman sniffed and smoothed her blazer jacket with both hands. “We came out West to get away from crime. I can tell you right now, we’re not buying a house in this town!”
Elaine turned to Ric. “I’ve got to put a stop to this. Call my mother.”
He began punching numbers into the phone. “You aren’t going in there. King is nuts.”
“He won’t hurt me.”
“He’s going to hurt somebody,” the tourist said. “He’s holding two people hostage. He has a huge gun.”
“What he wants,” Ric said, “is a confession. I got him calmed down before. Maybe I can do it—Lillian? Here’s Elaine.” He thrust the telephone at her and headed for the door.
Glaring at him, she said into the phone, “Mama? Get into town right now. King has a gun. He’s inside the realty with Axton. The sheriff is on his way.”
“I’ll kill him,” Lillian said, menacing and low. “Tell Gil not to shoot King—I’m gonna do it!”
Elaine ran after Ric. He stood just inside the door. He put a finger over his lips in a shushing gesture, then tapped his ear. He wanted her to be quiet and listen.
They stood in a short hallway. On the left was a deep niche where the office workers could prepare coffee and keep snacks in a small refrigerator. On the right was a storeroom. The door was slightly ajar. Bagged trash and a stack of boxes awaited pick-up.
“Keep typing, boy,” King said, his voice graveled and raw. “Every detail. Don’t be leaving out no words.”
Elaine exchanged a look with Ric.
“Confession,” Ric mouthed.
Elaine could see Linda Pallo’s desk. A free-standing cubicle wall gave the office manager a semblance of privacy when viewed from the Main Street entrance. Elaine could see Linda’s computer monitor. There was an accounting program on the screen. She couldn’t see King or Axton. She had no idea where Linda might be.
Ric touched her shoulder. He whispered in her ear. “Talk to your uncle. Let him know we’re here.”
“Woman, sit your butt down,” King said. He sounded peeved. “Ain’t you in enough trouble? Ought to shoot you for what you did to poor old Tom and Jodi.”
“This is crazy!” Axton said. “You can’t force me to confess to murder! I didn’t do it!”
“I said, keep typing, boy. And while you’re at it, explain the real reason you bailed this blockheaded old heifer outta jail. Are you two conspiring? Is that it?”
Elaine peeked around the corner. Axton Cross sat before the receptionist’s computer. Mouth scrunched into a thin line and arms crossed, Linda sat on a chair. King had his pistol pressed against the back of Axton’s head. King’s appearance dismayed Elaine even more so than the gun. His complexion was mottled, his expression was grim. The mustache of which he was so proud was dirty and unkempt, and his cheeks bore several days of stubble.
“Cavalry is here,” Ric whispered.
She knew it already. Emergency lights flashed on Main Street. A deputy was peeking through the window. The door squeaked open behind them. Ric waved at the acting sheriff, indicating silence. Gil Vance’s smooth brown face twisted in a scowl. He used emphatic hand movements in an attempt to make Elaine and Ric leave the building.
Ignoring Gil, Elaine shifted her stare to Linda’s cubicle. She looked at the storage room and back to the computer screen glowing on the desktop. Memories of another desk, another place coalesced in her mind. Dusty bank receipts. A ledger sheet. Bobby’s blood staining the floor.
“Ric,” she whispered. “If Bobby walked in that door, to pick up trash out of that room, what kind of shabby stuff could he see?”
“I want you two out right now!” Gil whispered harshly. “That’s an order.”
“Remember the money at the graveyard?” she asked. “‘I’m sorry,’ it said. Remember? And the lodge? Those receipts you asked about? I didn’t think much of them, but I should have. Those were from rental properties. Linda has always managed Daddy’s rental properties. He never bothered with it.”
Comprehension dawned and his eyebrows raised. “Do you think she was embezzling from your father?”
“Bobby could have witnessed her tampering with the accounts or found evidence in the trash. Oh my God, she didn’t attack Tom to keep him away from Axton. She did it to stop a lawsuit. She managed to hide what she did from the probate audit, but they weren’t looking for irregularities.”
“If Tom brought suit,” Ric said, “his attorney would be looking specifically for evidence of theft.”
“Hold on a minute,” Gil said. “Linda killed Bobby?”
“Who’s that over there?” King roared.
“It’s me, Uncle King. Elaine. Ric and Gil are with me.”
“I’m working, girl. Go on home.”
“Not until you leave Axton alone.”
“I know the law, young lady. I been the law almost longer than you been alive. Let me do my job. And it is my job, damn it! Had no right to go snooping around behind my back. Filling your mama’s head up with lies and nonsense. Turning her against me. Betraying our family for some no-account boy. Git! And you, killer, keep typing.”
“But what about the gun?” Ric asked Elaine. “Tate went over every inch of Linda’s property and didn’t even find a shell. He can’t find evidence she ever owned a handgun.”
That stymied her for a moment. “What if she borrowed Axton’s?” Only one way to find out. She stepped into the office.
“Girl,” King said. “I told you to git.”
Quite a crowd had gathered on Main Street. Deputies were having a hard time keeping rubberneckers away from the realty’s plate glass windows.
“I have to ask Axton a really important question,” she said.
“I’m doing the questioning around here.”
“You are a mess, Uncle King. When is the last time you got any sleep? Oh, never mind. I’ll let Mama deal with you. She’s on the way right now.” She looked Linda up and down. Anger rose, tightening her muscles and filling her chest with a shaky sensation. Del Crowder had respected Linda, trusted her, admired her. “Axton, you own a revolver, don’t you?”
“Has everyone in this town gone nuts?” he cried. His tie was askew and his eyes were wild, pleading for rescue.
“Just answer the question, please.”
“Yes! Your father talked me into buying it. You can’t honestly think I shot your husband. I’ve never even fired that gun. Or taken it out of its case, for that matter.”
“Where is it?”
Axton rolled his eyes toward King and his shoulders hunched as if in anticipation of a blow. “In my desk drawer. Go on, look at it. I think the price tag is still on it. I only bought it to get Del off my back. I’m begging you, Elaine, don’t let him shoot me!”
Elaine watched Linda. She was as furiously rigid as she’d been the night she attacked Tom. “One more question. Does this office have a manual typewriter? An old electric?”
Color had drained from Linda’s face. Her complexion was as gray as her hair.
“I—I—I think so.” Axton gulped. “Back room, I think. Had it for envelopes until we got a new printer. Why? What is going on?”
“Axton didn’t shoot Bobby,” Elaine said. “It was you, wasn’t it, Linda? He caught you stealing from Daddy. That’s why you lured Tom up to Branch Road. You were trying to hide what you did. You meant to kill Tom. If Jodi hadn’t been there, you would have, wouldn’t you?”
King cocked his head as if he were trying to make out words in a foreign language.
“Bobby came by after hours to pick up trash from the office. You were here. Either you didn’t hear him come in or you were away from your desk. He saw what you were doing.” Elaine walked across the office. Emotion choked her throat. “He to
ld you to confess to Daddy. Only you threatened him. If he blabbed, you’d blab about Jodi to Ric. Bobby didn’t want to embarrass you, Linda. He wanted to keep it quiet. He didn’t even tell me what you’d done. That’s why he went to the lodge. It’s the one place where there was complete privacy. But Bobby wasn’t expecting you to be there.”
King looked past Elaine. She sensed Ric and Gil behind her.
“Do you know what’s really pathetic?” Elaine swiped a tear from her eye. “Daddy thought the world of you. He used to boast about how you held your head high even when life got you down. He would have worked it out with you.”
“It wasn’t really stealing,” Linda said quietly. Her face looked carved from wax. “I paid it back to him. Every penny.” She looked from face to face as if seeking support.
King lowered the revolver. Axton stared at Linda as if she’d sprouted another head.
“None of you know what it’s like to want. To be so far in debt there aren’t enough lifetimes to dig myself out. To see a no-account man spend every penny I earn for his drinking and gambling. To finally get my feet under me, then get dragged under again and again. Bobby didn’t understand. Del could not understand. I wasn’t stealing.”
Linda lifted her chin in defiance. “If Bobby had kept his nose out of my business, none of this would have happened. It wasn’t my fault. The gun went off by accident.”
King shoved the revolver into the front of his trousers. He shoved Axton’s shoulder. “Get out of here, damned fool,” he grumbled. He slapped at his pockets. “Anybody around here got handcuffs?”
Elaine turned away, unable to listen to Linda’s excuses or watch her uncle make a drunken fool of himself. Ric was there to hold her against his broad chest.
Acting Sheriff Vance strode forward. Linda stood in stony silence while she was handcuffed and read her rights.
Chapter Fifteen
“You’re a dangerous man, ranger,” Tate said. “Guy with your powers of persuasion could rule the world.” Chuckling, he set a bottle of very old, very expensive cognac on the table.
Ric and Elaine shared a table in the Track Shack. Tate had closed the place for this day of special celebration. She smoothed hair off her face, still not quite able to believe it was all over. She still couldn’t believe what Ric had done.
He’d somehow convinced Axton not to press charges against King. Then, with Lillian and Gil Vance’s help, he’d convinced the town that King and Axton had been part of a sting operation to get Linda Pallo to confess. King received credit for solving Bobby’s murder. His suspension was made out to be part of the ruse. Now everyone believed King had been investigating the murder all along. In exchange, he retired from office, with honors; Lillian convinced him he needed twice weekly AA meetings instead of just going once a month. Business was returning to normal at the realty. Folks were treating Axton like a hero, applauding his courage.
When Elaine asked Ric why he was being so magnanimous toward her uncle, he’d said, “Our little town has been through enough. Time to get back to normal.”
Our little town. She liked the sound of it.
Tate poured cognac into three delicate crystal snifters.
“Is it really over?” Elaine asked. “Is Linda really going to plead guilty? No trial?”
“Her prints were all over Axton’s gun. We got a match on the threatening note and the typewriter from the realty. Auditors ferreted out her embezzlement. With that much evidence, she doesn’t stand a chance at trial. The plea bargain should be signed and sealed by now.” His broad shoulders rose and fell. “Depending on what Tom Greene wants to do, she still might have to stand trial for attempted murder. Meanwhile, she’s going away for a long, long time.” Tate raised his snifter. “To Bobby. A stand up guy. Rest in peace.”
“To Bobby,” Elaine said and clinked her glass against Tate’s.
Ric echoed the toast, then added, “To Del. Unsung hero. A good old boy in spite of himself.”
“To Daddy.” She tossed back the cognac. It burned a smooth trail of fire down her throat. Tears filled her eyes. Let them think it was because of the liquor.
ELAINE DROVE Ric to Walt’s house. “You’re hardly limping today. Are you about ready to go home?”
Ric tapped his lower lip. He stared at the house where he’d grown up. “No place will feel like home without you in it, Laney.” He touched a knuckle to her cheek. “I love you. Always did. Always will.”
“Oh, Ric…”
“You’re my soul mate. I want us to be together. Forever. I want to marry you.”
She kept her eyes forward, showing him her profile. “What about Jodi?”
He considered the question. “Maybe I’m a symbol for everything that’s wrong in her life. If I have to play the role of scapegoat for her, than that’s what I have to do.”
She looked at him then. “She needs you.”
“She’ll be eighteen in a few years. An adult.”
“I’m supposed to wait patiently? Pretend you mean nothing to me? All because you’re scared?”
“I’m not scared.”
She cupped his face in her soft hands. He could smell her subtly vanilla scent and a hint of toothpaste, and grew dizzy on the sensations she roused. She whispered, “The thing about soul mates, Ric, lies are impossible between us. You have to be brave now and risk Jodi’s rejection.” She pressed her mouth to his in the sweetest of kisses.
He felt her love. He felt her determination, too. Until he faced his daughter, Elaine’s love wasn’t his to claim.
RIC DUCKED into the humid, earthy atmosphere of the main barn. He pulled off his hat and shook off rainwater. His back was aching from the weather, but it was nothing compared to the knots in his belly. Elaine was right. He was scared Jodi would prove as unforgiving as himself.
Lightbulbs beneath tin shades dispelled some of the gloom, and cast fantastic shadows inside the stalls and up in the hayloft. At the far end of the aisle, Jodi rubbed down Savvy. Ric could tell by her tense posture that she knew he was here. He listened for other people. Hearing nothing, he felt relieved. If he was about to be humiliated, he didn’t want an audience.
“Hello,” he called.
She dropped a brush in a bucket. It clanged. Then she picked up a steel comb and went to work on the Morgan’s long, black tail. Ric walked down the aisle. Friendly horses stuck their heads over doors and snuffled at him.
The Morgan’s red coat gleamed, stripped of coarse winter hair. He seemed to have lost some weight, too. “Savvy looks great. You’re doing a good job with him.”
Keeping her attention on her task, Jodi grunted.
“I brought you a birthday present.” He fished a slim box from his jacket pocket and held it out to her. It was a gold necklace with a pendant engraved with her name and decorated with a tiny ruby. She glanced at the box but made no move to take it. He set it on a stool. “Sorry it’s late, but I wanted to give it to you in person.”
This was too hard. He raked a hand through his hair. “I loved your mother back then. I would have married her.”
Jodi kept combing Savvy’s tail.
“I know why you’re mad at me.”
She turned her head. Her expression was carved from ice.
“You have every right to be mad. I turned your whole life upside down. I deceived you.” He loosed a long breath. He loved this girl, this child of his. Even if she did look at him as if he were a bug she debated whether or not to crush. “But here’s the deal. I am not a sperm donor. No matter how you feel about me, I am your father.”
“No you aren’t.”
“I haven’t earned daddy status. Maybe I never will. That won’t stop me from trying.”
“Whatever,” she said with snooty sarcasm that rasped his nerves like sandpaper.
Feeling put upon, he jammed his damp hat on his head. He wanted to leave, go somewhere private to lick his wounds. Even as his body started to turn away, his head and heart ordered him to stop. Maybe he hadn’t been thinki
ng about fatherhood and all it entailed when he created this child, but here she was. There was no going back to the way things were.
He thought of his uncle, who’d never complained about having a nephew dumped in his lap. Walt had accepted the responsibility because he was a real man. Ric thought of his mother, who’d chosen booze over responsibility. She’d been sick, but help had been available, and she hadn’t accepted it. Whatever Ric did right now would prove if he were strong or weak.
“I’m going to learn how to be a father whether you like it or not.”
She peeked from the corner of her eye. Was that a hint of a smile? “For starters, you’re supposed to say, because I’m the grown-up and I said so.”
He arched his brows. “I thought kids hated hearing that.”
“We do.” She shrugged to show it didn’t matter. She rested a skinny arm on Savvy’s thick hindquarters. “Do you know what they call me in school? Buke’s Puke, the bastard’s bastard.” Her glare held challenge, as if daring him to comment on her coarse language.
Ancient hurts mingled with new ones. “Sorry about that. I got the same crap when I was a kid.”
“Did you get in fights?”
“Oh yeah.”
“At least I’m finding out who my real friends are.”
He considered the comment, and agreed.
“Are you going to marry my mom?”
Her question made him wary. He tried to guess what answer she expected, then stopped himself. Jodi deserved the truth, the whole truth and nothing but. “If she’ll have me, yes.”
“And if she doesn’t?”
“You’re still stuck with me. Forever.”
She dropped the comb in the bucket and picked up the gift-wrapped jewelry box. She stared at it as if it might bite her. “You grown-ups are so screwed up. You act like us kids are just toys. You should have told me. Everybody should have told me. I’ve got feelings, too, you know.”
