Tucked behind a row of evergreen shrubs that lined a white picket fence, it was the perfect house for someone like Alex. He’d been raised with three sisters, and Jordan knew he would appreciate the quaintness of the tiny seafoam green house with the wraparound porch.
It must be nice to have a place like this and have someone else pay the bills. She parked her car by the curb and made her way to the front door.
Before she could maneuver the dessert box to free up a hand to knock, the white, colonial-style door, dressed up with a Texas bluebonnet wreath, swung open.
Alex leaned against the doorjamb and grinned like the proverbial Cheshire cat up to no good.
Which was fine with her.
“Hey, gorgeous, did you make this especially for me?” He grabbed the box from her and made a sweep with his empty arm, beckoning her to enter.
“Oh, yeah. Myrtle and I whipped it up when I got home from my forty-hour-a-week day job—right after I gathered the eggs and milked the cow out back. I almost didn’t get the butter churned because I had to sneak in a pedicure and shave my legs.” She smiled, already anticipating spending time alone with this man. “I’ll bet you’re worth the extra effort, though.”
Okay, she had shaved her legs and did wish she’d had time for a pedicure. That much was true. She leaned in to kiss his cheek. “Ooh, something smells good.”
“Grandma Serafina’s Lasagna.” He took a step back and looked her over from head to toe. “In those tight black jeans you deserve the best,” he said, giving her another once-over. “Come on. I’ve got another treat. There’s a glass of homemade sangria waiting for you.”
Here she was, alone with a guy who made George Clooney look like just another dude, and all she could think about was how much her readers would love the new recipes.
What did that say about her?
She took the glass from him, not about to confess that she usually drank wine only in small doses. Not only had she never acquired a taste for it, but she usually paid a high price with a monster morning-after headache. She preferred margaritas, especially the ones with a little sangria swirled through them like the ones she’d had last week at Santana Ranch, though they tended to give her a headache as well.
Just to be nice, she sipped the drink and was surprised by the pleasant fruity taste. Licking her lips, she looked up at him and realized he was waiting for the verdict. “You made this, too?”
“It’s the recipe you printed this week in your column. Are you impressed yet?” He set his glass on the table and came around behind her to nuzzle her neck with his lips.
As an electric current shot up her spine, she tilted her head forward to give him better access.
Abruptly, he stopped. “Aha! I knew the sangria would render you helpless against my charms.”
She turned, ready to hit him with some smart-alecky comeback but began to laugh when she saw the comical expression on his face. “Geez, Moreland, I wouldn’t brag about that if I were you. Bet your cop buddies would love to hear how you have to ply a girl with homemade cocktails to get her interested.” She bit her lip to hide the smile and finished off the wine.
“That’s a valid point, but let’s see what you say after tasting my lasagna. You will be defenseless, McAllister.”
“Promises, promises. Now feed me before this wine goes to my head.” She handed him her empty glass. “This time, fill it all the way to the top.”
An hour later, they finished Myrtle’s Better Than Sex Cake and were still teasing each other about everything from their childhoods to their jobs. Just as Alex predicted, the lasagna was fantastic, and he promised to get a copy of the recipe to her the next day. After yet another glass of sangria, Jordan was feeling pretty mellow.
“I had a long meeting with your brother and the sheriff this morning. We mapped out how Danny’s going to approach the cattle-rustling problem. He’s the lead, and I’m only going to be a consultant.” He paused to shove his dessert plate away. “Your brother’s a smart guy, Jordan.”
“He said the same thing about you,” she replied. “I mean about being smart. He mentioned you were going to work with a forensic toxicologist from Dallas who’s trying to figure out what kind of poison was used on Rusty.”
Alex nodded. “That’s the real reason I’m here. Dr. Maldonado and I worked a case in Dallas a few years back. The symptoms were very similar, with signs of asphyxiation and seizures right before death. Both of those autopsies came up empty as far as something in the blood or the stomach contents. For the Morales case, the plan is for Dr. M. to come up with the poison, and I’ll figure out how and when it got into Rusty’s body.”
“Has he found anything yet?”
“He’s about eighty-five percent sure he knows what it is, but that was only after reexamining a lot of tissue samples. Even then, he found only a trace of the suspected poison. Luckily, knowing the results from the other two cases, he was able to test for the specific toxin in the organs.”
“What was it?” she asked.
“Aconitum napellus. It’s extremely deadly and works almost instantly.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“Most people haven’t. It isn’t that common even though it’s relatively easy to acquire.”
“That’s kind of scary.” She wrinkled her nose.
“Danny said you were sitting next to the dead guy all night. Did you know him well?”
Jordan noticed the twitch that started on the side of his mouth as he waited for her response. The mischievous part of her would have loved to tease him for a while longer about her relationship with Rusty, but this was too serious to make light of.
“I only met him that night. I went to the Cattlemen’s Ball so I could write a review about it in my column.” She didn’t mention that Rusty had been an arranged date, or how hot he was, sure that wouldn’t make for good pre-pillow talk.
A look of relief flashed in Alex’s eyes. “What about the other people at the table? Did you know them?”
“No, that night was the first time I’d met any of them.”
She lowered her eyes, not willing to tell Alex that she suspected Cooper. Since it was obvious his fiancée was still in love with Rusty, it might have been a good motive for wanting to see him harmed.
Might have been a good motive for wanting to see him dead.
And then there was Bobby Carvella, who now held Rusty’s job at Santana’s ranch. But he hadn’t been at the hotel in Fort Worth that night.
“Aconitum napellus roots are the deadliest, but they have a horrible taste. It would be hard for someone to put that into food without the victim knowing. However, the powder form, aconite, could have been slipped into his drink or even sprinkled on his food,” Alex said, gathering up the dishes.
When Jordan stood up to help, he pushed her back in the chair gently. “Sit. You’re my guest tonight. I’m just going to rinse these off and load the dishwasher. You can talk to me while I work.”
“Holy cow, Moreland! I need to talk to your mother and get her to write a book about raising a son. A girl could really get spoiled by all this.”
“My intentions exactly. A pampered woman lets down her guard.”
“You wish,” she said, trying to be playful, but her thoughts were still on Rusty. “You know, I never saw anything suspicious that night, Alex. Rusty ate the same thing I did, and his drinks were delivered by a waiter who had a tray full of them. I can’t imagine how that acanat, or whatever you called it, could have been slipped into something Rusty ate or drank.”
“Aconite,” he corrected. “It’s also known as wolfsbane because it was thought to be potent enough to kill werewolves, according to ancient lore. It’s been said some hunters even put it on the tips of their arrows and used it to kill real wolves.”
Jordan’s mouth dropped and her eyes widened. She wasn’t aware a sound had escaped her lips, but it must have, because Alex was kneeling by her chair in a flash.
“My God, Jordan! What’s wrong?�
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She took a calming breath, then another, before she turned to him. “Is this the same poison that can be used in homeopathic remedies? The one that’s produced from monkshood?”
It was his turn to look surprised. “How do you know about that?”
She pointed to the bar stool. “Hand me my purse.” Her heart felt like it would beat its way out of her chest as she remembered the conversation in Karen Whitley’s greenhouse two weeks before.
Taking her handbag from Alex, she reached in and grabbed her phone. After a few seconds of scanning she found what she was looking for and handed it to Alex.
“What’s this?” he asked, puzzled.
“Monkshood,” she replied. “It’s growing in the greenhouse behind Brenda Sue and Marcus Taylor’s ranch house over in McKinley. Brenda Sue and Rusty once had a thing, and I believe she was still in love with him.”
Alex studied the picture of the plant with the purple and yellow blooms. “Do you think her husband knew how she felt about Morales?”
Jordan nodded. “He definitely knows.” She covered her mouth with her hands. “Ohmygod! They were both at the ball that night. She seemed really distraught when the policeman told us Rusty was dead. Marcus, on the other hand, looked angry.”
“Send me this picture, Jordan,” he said, handing her phone back and reaching for his own. “I have to call Danny. We need to get a warrant and drive out to that ranch.”
For the next ten minutes, Alex made plans over the phone for the McKinley police to get the warrants and meet him and Danny at Taylor’s Wagyu Ranch to search Brenda Sue’s house as well as the greenhouse behind it.
Grabbing his coat, he bent down and kissed Jordan, who was in the kitchen finishing up with the dishes. “Leave those. I’ll do them when I get back.” He studied her wistfully. “Looks like our big date will have to wait one more night. I’m sorry, Jordan, but we really have to do this now.”
“I know. Get out of here.” She gave him a hug and nudged him toward the door. “I’m going to stay and clean these up before I go home, so don’t argue. Our date can wait. I have to be at the newspaper super early in the morning, anyway.”
“Tomorrow will be fantastic, I promise.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You have your work cut out for you, Alex. I won’t be so easy without chocolate to soften me up.”
“Then I’ll have to bring some. Hell, I’ll drive into Dallas and visit the Ghirardelli store at the Galleria if I have to.” He tipped up her chin and gave her a long delicious kiss before pulling away. “Hold that thought.” And then he closed the door behind him.
“Bummer!” she said aloud. She’d been so close to being in his arms, and now she had to wait one more day. Time was ticking for them, and if they weren’t careful, Alex would be on a plane back to El Paso before they ever got to have their big date.
Not if I can help it, she thought before her mind wandered to the task at hand for Alex and Danny.
Was it possible that Marcus Taylor poisoned Rusty that night? He certainly seemed cold enough the few times Jordan had seen him. In his defense, it must be hard watching your wife lust after another man right in front of you.
Jordan froze, letting the hot water run over the dishes. What if Brenda Sue was not so sweet and innocent? What if underneath that adorable southern drawl, she had a killer mean streak?
The old if-I-can’t-have-you-no-one-else-can adage was a powerful motive.
She reached for the last plate, which still had a small piece of cake on it, and wondered how anybody could leave chocolate. Popping in into her mouth, she closed her eyes, enjoying it all the more because she knew it was Alex’s.
Myrtle’s Better Than Sex Cake should have a patent on it.
But she’d have to wait another twenty-four hours before she could vote on whether or not it lived up to its name in this case.
CHAPTER 16
Despite being called back to Egan’s office the next day, Jordan couldn’t keep the smile off her face, knowing she and Alex would finally get to have a real date that night. After she’d finished the dishes at his house the previous evening, she’d hung around awhile, hoping he would return, but she’d eventually headed home, eager to know whether he, Danny, and the McKinley Police Department had successfully served the warrant at the Taylors’ ranch.
By the time Danny had gotten home, however, she was already asleep, so she’d had to wait until the morning to find out what went down. She’d been surprised to find Danny already dressed and ready to leave for the police station when she woke up. Quickly, she’d dressed, grabbed a Pop-Tart, and walked out to the car with him.
As she’d expected, they’d found the monkshood in Karen Whitley’s greenhouse, but so far, they had uncovered nothing to implicate Karen, Brenda Sue, or Marcus Taylor in Rusty’s murder.
They were waiting to see if there was anything suspicious on the computers they’d confiscated from both the greenhouse and Brenda Sue’s house. Danny had mentioned how Marcus Taylor had lost his temper during the search and had to be restrained by three cops.
Now, there was a surprise—not!
Although Karen processed the monkshood into a fine powder used to make the aconite she sent all over the country, the homeopathic concentration wasn’t enough to kill a big man like Rusty. That is, unless he had ingested a boatload of it. Given how quickly his symptoms had appeared and how he’d stopped breathing within such a short time, both Danny and Alex thought it unlikely that Karen’s monkshood was the cause of Rusty’s death. However, the toxicologist was running tests today to verify that theory one way or another.
As soon as Jordan got off the elevator, Jackie Frazier tilted her head toward Egan’s office, a signal that he was waiting. When she entered the room, he motioned for her to sit down.
“McAllister, I know I don’t have to remind you where Longhorn Prime Rib Steak House is located, right?”
Jordan nodded, wondering where this conversation was going. It was the second time in two days she’d been called to the editor’s office. This couldn’t be good.
“I just got off the phone with the new owner, a man named Hiro Tamaki, who’s interested in buying advertising space on a weekly basis.”
Jordan braced herself, knowing from past history that the next thing out of Egan’s mouth would involve her doing something she’d rather not.
He didn’t disappoint.
“He’s turned the old Longhorn into Tamaki’s Hibachi Grill and Sushi Bar and wants you to come by there tonight for the grand opening. Then you can write about it in tomorrow’s column.”
She jumped up from the chair, shaking her head. “No way!”
Egan eyed her suspiciously. “You misunderstand me, Jordan. That isn’t a request.”
She eased back down, resigned to the fact this was his playground and she’d have to play his game of choice. She decided to try a little diplomacy. “Any other night would be fine. Just not tonight, please.”
The corners of his eyes crinkled with mischief. “Got a big date planned?”
The man had no boundaries. “Yes, and he’s leaving town in the morning. I don’t know when I’ll see him again.”
“Then take him with you.” Egan rested his chin on his hand. “The Globe is picking up the tab, since we’re trying to convince Tamaki to spend his advertising dollars with us. I’m sure he won’t mind the bigger check. He’s anxious to get the word out about his restaurant, so it’s a given he’ll treat you good. And you don’t even have to worry about writing a review. Simply have a good time tonight and mention it in your column if you like the food. If you don’t, then tell it like it is and chalk it up as a free meal for you and your boyfriend.”
Jordan sighed. Although she hadn’t planned on spending the night anyplace other than Alex’s house, they had to eat, didn’t they? “It’s a Japanese restaurant?”
“Yeah. One of those places where they chop up the food and cook it right in front of you. The good news is, besides steak, they also hav
e chicken and shrimp. Nothing should end up in your purse like the duck did the last time you reviewed a restaurant.”
Jordan grimaced, remembering how that incident had nearly gotten her killed the night she’d reviewed the steak house that used to be at that location—the steak house whose owner now sat in a federal prison somewhere in Texas. “And both Alex and I can eat free?”
“Oh, so mystery man has a name?” Egan chuckled. “I think I can spring for one more meal. I’ll call and make a reservation for two at eight. That will give you plenty of time to say your proper good-byes to—what was his name again?”
“Alex,” Jordan answered, not sure she wanted to go there with her boss.
If she really thought about it, though, she’d have to admit it would be nice to enjoy a delicious meal with Alex without having to fork over any cash. That would still allow them to spend time alone at his place.
She stood. “I’ll do it, but make the reservation for seven. And I want tomorrow morning as my half day off.” She headed for the door, positive she heard the man snicker.
She didn’t care if the whole world knew about her date tonight. It was anyone’s guess when Alex would be able to get back to Ranchero, and they’d already given up one night in the name of law and order.
After Jordan made her way back to her desk, she picked up the phone and dialed Alex’s number. Just hearing his voice made her pulse quicken. “Danny told me you were out pretty late last night. You should have slept in this morning.”
She heard him laugh and would have given her entire stash of Ho Hos to see his face right now.
“I’ll have plenty of time for sleep when I get back to El Paso tomorrow. What’s up? Do you miss me already?”
She reached into the drawer for one of the chocolate treats. She should never have thought about them. “How would you like to take me to a Japanese restaurant tonight? I’ll even spring.”
“Seriously, Jordan, like I would even consider letting you pay for a meal.”
Jordan’s insides turned to butter, totally convinced that if his mother did write a book about the correct way to raise a son, it would be an instant best seller.
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