Hideout at Whiskey Gulch

by Elle James

  “Why you? Couldn’t I get one of the sheriff’s deputies to shadow me?”

  Matt nodded. “But why do that, when you have me?”

  “I don’t want to—”

  “Be a bother.” Matt shook his head. “You’re not a bother.”

  Though she enjoyed the way he was holding her hand and the touch of his lips on her knuckles, her frown deepened. “Will I put my patients at risk by going out to visit them?”

  Matt tilted his head. “It’s possible. Although, the attacks have all been under the cover of darkness. I think as long as you stick to daylight hours, they will be okay.”

  “Good, because Mrs. Blair is expecting me at noon to help her with her lunch and meds. She recently had hip replacement surgery and doesn’t have anyone else to help.” Aubrey thought about her workweek, coming to a conclusion she didn’t like but knew was the right strategy. “I’m going to call the service and have one of the other nurses cover for me for the next few days. I want to focus on finding Isabella.”

  “That might work out for the best anyway. It will make it easier for us to keep an eye on you.”

  She twisted her lips. “Now you make it sound like I need a bodyguard.”

  “You do.” He snorted softly. “The attack on the cottage should have convinced you of that.”

  Aubrey couldn’t argue that. A flashback of the terror she’d felt while being fired on nonstop for what felt like a lifetime reminded her of what she’d lived through. Because of Matt. “Okay. I guess I do need a bodyguard.”

  “And you’re in luck.” He sat back with a grin. “I’m free and volunteering for the task.”

  “Thank you.”

  He released her hand and set his coffee mug on the table. “Thank me when we come out the other side of this nightmare intact.”

  Barb brought their food and set it on the table in front of them. Her eyes narrowed. “What’s this I heard about your old house getting shot up last night? You weren’t in it, were you?”

  Matt looked at Aubrey. “As a matter of fact, we were.”

  Barb’s eyes widened. “Both of you?”

  Aubrey nodded with Matt.

  “Dear Lord, I’m glad you came out relatively unscathed.” She looked at them closely. “You weren’t injured, were you?” Her gaze took in Aubrey.

  “Not really,” Aubrey said. “Thanks to Matt. He knew what to do.”

  “I hear they took one of the guys who shot at you to the hospital in Kerrville,” Barb continued. “Who were they and why did they shoot at your house?”

  “We don’t know for sure,” Matt said. “You seem to have heard a lot. Have you heard rumors about who they might be?”

  Barb shot a glance around the diner and bent closer. “I heard there’s one of those people brokers in the area. You know, the kind that sells little girls.”

  Aubrey leaned toward the woman. “Do you know where he might be located?”

  Barb frowned. “Those guys aren’t going to announce where they’re holed up. I bet they move around a lot to keep from being caught. Whiskey Gulch might be a small town, but this is big country, with lots of places to hide.” She shook her head. “No. I just heard they’re in the area. Told my girlfriends with kids to keep them close. Crying shame we have to be so careful these days. Too many nutjobs out there.” Barb frowned. “You don’t have little ones, do you?”

  Aubrey closed her eyes to the pain and drew in a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

  Matt reached for Aubrey’s hand and squeezed it.

  “Did I say something wrong?” Barb asked.

  Aubrey shook her head. “No. It’s okay. I had a little girl. She’s no longer with me.”

  “I’m sorry.” Barb’s lips pressed together. “There I go, putting my foot in my mouth.”

  “No, really. It’s not your fault. I should be better at handling that question by now.”

  “No mother who has lost a child is ever going to handle the pain,” Barb said. “I can imagine it never goes away.” She paused, overcome with emotion. “I’m sorry for your loss. She must have been very special to have a mother who loved her as much as you did.”

  “She was special.” Aubrey fought back the ready tears that surfaced when she spoke of Katie.

  “You two eat while the food’s hot.” Barb turned away, rubbing her eye. “Got something in my eye I need to take care of.”

  Aubrey lifted her fork, determined to eat, despite the fact her appetite had gone.

  “I’m sorry. Barb has a big heart.”

  “And a big mouth,” Dottie called out.

  “And there are no secrets in this town,” Matt said loud enough that everyone in the diner could hear.

  Aubrey laughed at the friendly exchange of barbs between the waitress and Matt. It spoke of familiarity and mutual respect, laced with sarcasm. “I take it you come here often.”

  Matt grinned at Dottie. “I had, until I inherited half of the Whiskey Gulch Ranch. Up until then, I ate breakfast here every other day.”

  “Every other day?”

  “Yeah. I would have eaten here every day, but it got expensive tipping the waitresses.” He winked at Barb as she passed him, carrying a carafe of coffee.

  “We’re worth it,” Barb said.

  “Every penny,” Matt said. In a lower voice, he said, “Dottie and Barb were friends to my mother. I guess that’s why I like it here so much. They remind me of her.”

  “Like you’re closer to her by being here.”

  He nodded.

  Aubrey leaned closer. “Did they know what she was doing in that storm shelter?”

  Matt’s eye narrowed. “Good question. Let’s ask.” He waved to Barb. “Could I get you to top off my coffee?”

  Barb finished at her other table and hurried over with the carafe of hot coffee. “Do you need anything else?”

  “Actually,” Matt said, “I have a question for you and Dottie.”

  “Dottie, get your carcass over here. Our boy wants you.”

  “I haven’t had a handsome man want me in I don’t know how long.” Dottie hurried over, tucking her notepad into the pocket of her apron. “What can I do for you?”

  “You two were my mother’s friends,” Matt started. “Did you spend much time at the cottage?”

  Dottie laughed. “Did we?”

  “Thursday evening was our poker night,” Barb said. “Phyllis, from the library, was our fourth.” She sighed. “I miss those nights.”

  “Only because you won half the time.” Dottie shook her head. “It was nice because we could walk there and walk home, after having a few glasses of wine or whiskey.” Her eyes shadowed. “I miss those nights.”

  “I miss Lynn,” Barb said, her shoulders drooping. “She was the nicest person you ever met. She’d do anything for anyone.”

  Matt shared a glance with Aubrey. “Did she share her secrets?”

  Dottie turned to Barb. “She was tight-lipped. If we told her a secret, she kept it.”

  “What about her own secrets?” Aubrey asked.

  Barb crossed her arms over her chest. “Like Dottie said, if she had a secret, she kept it. It blew our minds when we found out her only son was James Travis’s firstborn. As far as I know, she was the only one who knew that secret. Even the lawyer didn’t know what was in the letter he delivered to James. And then none of us knew until James was killed and the will was read.”

  “Talk about setting the town on fire with gossip.” Dottie grinned. “We’re just glad our favorite customer got some of what was coming to him.”

  “Yeah, you put up with a lot from those snot-nosed high school kids picking on you because you didn’t have a father,” Barb said.

  “How did you know that?” Matt asked.

  “Your mama told us how she put you in martial arts training and how th
at set those other kids straight,” Dottie said.

  Barb nodded. “None of us were surprised you joined the Marine Corps and got the hell out of this small-minded town.” She turned to Aubrey. “We all knew he was destined for bigger and better things. His mama was so proud when he made it into Marine Force Reconnaissance. She was practically busting the buttons off her blouse all through our poker game that week. I beat the pants off her, she was so distracted and excited.”

  “We were surprised when you came back to stay after your mama died,” Dottie said quietly.

  “Other than the secret about my lineage, did she share anything else about her life that she might have wanted to keep secret from the rest of the town?” Matt asked.

  Dottie frowned at Barb. “Not sure what you’re talking about.”

  Barb shook her head. “If she didn’t want anyone to know something...they didn’t know. She was that good.”

  “Why?” Dottie’s eyes widened. “Was she in witness protection or something like that?”

  “I could see her being in witness protection,” Barb said. “Other than the four of us having drinks once a week, she didn’t spend time with too many others unless she was helping them at the feedstore.”

  Having sat back and observed Matt trying to lead the ladies into confessing to knowing something about Lynn Hennessey’s storm shelter, Aubrey became impatient. “Did she have any secrets about the house she lived in?”

  Dottie’s eyes narrowed. “I feel like you’re trying to lead us to the water, but we’re not drinking. What are you trying to ask? Just go ahead and spit it out.”

  “Did you know there was a storm cellar in her house?” Matt asked.

  Barb laughed. “Of course we did. That’s where she went to get the wine.”

  “Did she take you down there?” Aubrey asked.

  “No.” Dottie waved a hand. “We were always deep in a game when she’d go down to get more to drink.”

  Barb tilted her head to the side. “Although one time, I swear she was talking to herself in her bedroom. In Spanish, no less.” Barb grinned. “I had far too much whiskey that night.”

  “Why do you ask, Matt?” Dottie wanted to know. “Did you need to get rid of her stash of wine? We’ll gladly take it off your hands. Not that we have poker games anymore. None of us had the heart to bring someone new into the game. It just wouldn’t feel right. God broke the mold when he made Lynn. She was a pure joy to know and call my friend.”

  “That’s the truth,” Barb said. “Or did she have a body buried down there? We always wondered if she’d killed her husband and that was why she was raising her boy alone. It’s those quiet ones you have to worry about.”

  “Oh, shush, Barb,” Dottie said. “Lynn didn’t have a mean bone in her body. If she had, she would have outed James Travis as Matt’s father a long time ago.”

  “You have a point,” Barb said. “Is there anything else you want to know about your dear mother?”

  “No. I think that about covers it. Thank you, ladies,” Matt said. “Now, if you could bring me my bill, I might consider leaving a tip.” When they turned to go, he stopped them, “Ladies...”

  Both women turned back to face him.

  “Thank you for being a friend to my mother. I know how much she treasured her time with you. She’d send me letters about getting together with her friends. Had I known she was playing poker, I would have sent her some stake money.”

  “Oh, we played for pennies and sometimes baked goods,” Barb said. “It was never about the money. Some of our dreams were out there, I’m tellin’ you. Someone wanted to be a war correspondent, and another wanted to be a pole dancer at a gentleman’s club.”

  “That was me.” Dottie smiled. “Mostly we gossiped and talked about what we would have been had we not settled in Whiskey Gulch.”

  “I believe Mom was happy here. And that had everything to do with her dear friends.” Matt stood and pulled the two women into a big hug. “I love you two like you were family.”

  Dottie and Barb brushed tears from their eyes.

  “Sweetie, you are family,” Dottie said.

  “Family.” Barb sniffed. “I’ve got something in my eye. I’d better go check on it.”

  “Me too,” Dottie said, and hurried back to the kitchen after Barb.

  “It’s almost seven o’clock,” Aubrey reminded Matt.

  He pulled out his wallet and slapped a few twenties on the table.

  Aubrey would have added a couple of her own, if she could have spared them. The ladies were lovely, and they truly cared about their friend and her son.

  And they didn’t know their friend as well as they might have thought. Lynn Hennessey hadn’t told them about the people she was helping escape a terrible life they would have been sentenced to had the coyotes sold them to the highest bidders.

  Chapter Seven

  Matt held the driver’s side door for Aubrey as she climbed in behind the steering wheel. After he got in the passenger side, she shifted into Drive and pulled out of the parking lot, headed back to his auto shop and their meeting with Juan Salazar.

  At the shop, Matt helped Aubrey out of the Jeep, noting again the dark circles beneath her eyes. “There’s a couch in my office if you want to lie down while we wait for Juan.”

  She shook her head. “Thank you, but I think I’ll stay on my feet. If I go down, I might not get up for the next forty-eight hours. We have a little girl to find. The sooner we get on it, the better.”

  “Fair enough.” He wouldn’t talk her into resting until the child was recovered. “I’m going to open this place up like I plan on working. I don’t want Juan to think it’s all about the questions I want to ask.”

  “Go,” she said. “Do what you have to do. In the meantime, I’ll call the sheriff’s office and see if they’ve learned anything about the people who killed Rosa and attacked my—your mother’s cottage. Maybe the guy you shot has come to in the hospital and confessed.”

  “We can always dream,” Matt said, his tone flat. The chances of the guy he shot confessing to shooting a woman were slim to none. Not when he was probably in the country illegally, and murder, no matter his nationality, was punishable by death in the state of Texas. Not to mention, the people he was working with would just as soon kill him to keep him from saying anything about their organization, or where they hid the girls they kidnapped.

  Matt hit the button to open the overhead door to the repair bay where he had a car up on one of the two hydraulic lifts. He was working on rebuilding the transmission and replacing the oil pan in this one. Thankfully, the owner wasn’t in a hurry to get it back. He would be out of town for the next two months, working on the oil pipeline as a safety inspector.

  Since he’d inherited half the Whiskey Gulch Ranch, Matt had cut back on the work he did at his auto shop. He’d wanted to spend time learning the business of ranching, but that, too, was on hold until he solved the mystery of his mother’s death. He’d just cracked the cold case files when he’d nearly run into Aubrey on the highway going home to the ranch.

  By helping Aubrey, he had a feeling he might uncover the secrets of his mother’s murder. The house of angels was his clue, and a pretty big one at that.

  The overhead door had just ground to a halt above when Juan Salazar pulled up in a pickup that had seen much better days on the outside.

  Matt knew the engine, though, and it was in prime condition, having been replaced by an engine Juan had found in a junkyard. All it needed was a few new gaskets, belts and a thorough flush of the oil and transmission fluid and it had hummed like a brand-new motor. Matt suspected Juan liked driving around in the junky-looking truck because he could negotiate better prices from the owners of the yards for the parts he pulled himself. And, for the most part, he did get better prices and passed them on to his customers, like Matt who rebuilt engines for people who cou
ldn’t afford to pay the big bucks it would take to send a vehicle to a dealership’s auto repair service.

  No, Matt had started his business to make money, but not at the expense of those who didn’t have the money to spend. He looked for every way to cut expenses so that the old ladies, single mothers and guys out of work could get their cars fixed at the lowest possible cost. And if someone couldn’t pay, he always gave them the option to pay him in trade. A batch of cookies here, sweep the garage for another account or a few parts pulled from the local junkyard.

  He’d bartered with Juan on numerous occasions. He considered the man a friend. He hoped he didn’t damage their friendship by asking questions Juan might consider too personal or dangerous. No matter what it did to their friendship, he’d still probe. A little girl’s life hung in the balance. Anything Juan might know could help them in their search for Isabella.

  Juan climbed out of his pickup and reached into the back for a dirty cardboard box and an even dirtier oil pan.

  “Oh, good.” Matt took the box with the oil pan from the man and studied it briefly. It appeared to be a perfect match for the one he was replacing. “Thanks. What do I owe you?”

  Juan gave him the price. Matt reached into his wallet and paid him cash. He always paid in cash, knowing Juan preferred to work on that basis. He barely made enough money to feed his wife and six children, and giving half of his money to the government in taxes meant his children might go hungry.

  Juan pocketed the money and then looked at Matt. “Why did you ask me to come earlier? You don’t appear to be working on this job today.”

  Matt should have known the parts dealer would see through his ruse and call him on it. He decided truth was his best option to get the answers he needed and to retain his friendship with this man who only wanted to provide for his family.

  “You heard about my mother’s house on Maple Street?” Matt asked.

  Juan stiffened. “I had nothing to do with what happened.”

  Matt gave the other man a half smile. “I didn’t expect you had. You’re a good man, and a good friend. You also know a lot of people in this area. I thought you might know who did participate in the attempt to kill me and my date, Aubrey Blanchard.”