At the mention of Rusty Morales, Jordan shot up in the seat. The last thing she wanted was to make Bella more irritated than she already was, but she couldn’t resist. If curiosity did in fact kill the cat, she was about to be one dead feline.
“Why kill Rusty, Bella?” She knew it was fishing, but one way or another, she was going to find out.
“See, Jordan, this is why you’re wasting your talent posting recipes at a podunk newspaper like the Globe. You have a nose for investigative reporting.”
Jordan wasn’t ready to let it go. “Were you and Rusty lovers?”
Bella laughed. “We had a fling at one time, but that ended when we decided we were much better as business colleagues than bed partners.”
Victor, who had been unusually quiet up until now, spoke up. “You were a part of Rusty’s cattle-rustling ring?”
Bella leaned forward and pressed the muzzle of the gun against the back of his head. “Let’s get something straight, gay boy. It was never Rusty’s cattle-rustling ring, although we operated out of his house behind the ranch. He was too busy chasing every skirt in town. He answered to me.”
“And that’s why you killed him?” Jordan figured if she and Victor were going to die, at least they could find out the whole story.
“Rusty has only Maria to blame for his death.”
Jordan whirled around to face Bella, then turned back to the front when Bella jerked the gun from Victor’s head and poked it into her face.
“You came this close to eating a bullet, Jordan.”
“What did his mother have to do with it?” Victor asked, shooting a quick glance Jordan’s way. It was obvious he was looking for her to come up with some sort of plan, but she had nothing.
After a moment, Bella leaned back against the seat. “Since neither of you will walk out of here alive, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to tell you why I had to kill him.” She chuckled. “But I like the idea of your not knowing. It will give you something to think about when you meet your friends.”
Jordan caught her breath as a glimmer of hope battled the fear. “We’re going to see our friends?”
“New ones who can’t wait to crawl all over you.”
Jordan had no idea what she meant, but she decided the smart thing to do now was to keep Bella talking. If they could distract her from her present course of action, maybe they could somehow get the gun away from her.
Remembering that Bella’s house had been filled with fresh flowers from Karen Whitley’s greenhouse every week, Jordan went with a hunch. “How’d you get the waiter to slip the poison you stole from Karen Whitley into Rusty’s drink?”
She snorted. “Jake Richards didn’t need much persuading. He would’ve poisoned his own mother for the right price. But to answer your question, it seems Rusty had a thing with Jake’s sister years before, and she blew her brains out after he broke her heart. I think Richards would have paid me for the opportunity.”
She paused when Victor hit a bump in the road, and they all went airborne, hitting their heads on the top of the car.
“Slow down,” she hollered, her voice getting even more agitated.
Victor eased up on the gas pedal, and she began again. “I called in a favor with David Whitley, the man who does the hiring for Marcus Taylor. We needed an inside man at the Wagyu ranch to help us move the cows. Plus I knew sooner or later the cops would figure out where the poison came from. You have to admit, Jake looked guilty as hell.”
“Not after the police found him in a deserted field with a bullet in the back of his head,” Victor fired back.
“Yeah, well, I hate loose ends.”
“So Marcus and Brenda Sue were in on this, too?” Jordan asked.
Bella snorted. “They didn’t have a clue that Jake was personally directing us to every new hiding place on the ranch. It was quite a setup. Too bad Jake had to go.”
They’d been on the dirt road for about fifteen minutes when Bella instructed them to turn left.
Victor maneuvered the car through the heavy brush until they came to an opening. To the right a hunting tree stand stood sentinel, overlooking miles of open acreage. A sudden shiver skittered up Jordan’s spine when she realized this was where Lucas had towered above the land, picking off the helpless animals, all in the name of decorating his walls.
And now she and Victor were about to become Bella’s helpless prey.
As that realization hit her, she hung her head, wishing she’d gone to church more often. She made an on-the-spot promise to God to remedy that if He got them through this ordeal. Her heart sank, knowing The Man probably heard so many of those empty promises every day, He was probably shaking His head right now saying, And I’ll bet you have some ocean front property in Arizona to sell.
“Stop the car and get out slowly,” Bella ordered from the backseat. “Keep in mind I’m a marksman and can shoot the tail off a rabbit at a hundred yards.”
Victor and Jordan complied. When they were standing side by side with their backs to Bella, Jordan reached for his hand and found he was shaking.
Bella pointed to a path to their right. Jordan grasped Victor’s hand tightly and they began to walk.
“At least tell us why you killed Rusty,” Jordan said one last time.
“I told you, his parents were the reason.”
“Were you really so angry at Diego and Maria that you would kill the only thing that meant anything to them?” Jordan knew she was taking a big chance making Bella talk about it. The woman wouldn’t hesitate to shoot her in the back. Jake Richards was proof of that.
“Yes, I was, but not for the reason you might think. Diego had been blackmailing me for the past few years. His demands increased after Maria’s stroke. When he figured out he could suck more and more money out of me, he made a fatal mistake. He threatened me, and I snapped. I knew he’d never stop seeing me as a cash cow—no pun intended—as long as Rusty was alive.”
“Blackmailing you for what?” Victor asked. “And what did Rusty being alive have to do with anything? You were all involved with the cattle theft, so why did he have to die?”
“If I tell you, I’ll have to kill you.”
Bella’s sarcastic laugh sent more shivers skittering up Jordan’s spine.
“Since the day Lucas brought me to the ranch ten years ago, I have gone far and above to be a good wife to the man.”
“But you weren’t his wife, Bella,” Jordan interrupted. “And what does that have to do with Rusty’s death?”
Bella jammed the gun into Jordan’s back. “You talk too much, you know? And just so you understand, I am Lucas’s wife, at least according to Texas law. We registered our informal marriage at the courthouse years ago. Without a will, everything goes to me when he dies this week. I wasn’t about to let that be jeopardized by another whore.”
Both Jordan and Victor stopped walking, and Bella nearly ran into them.
“Do that again, and you’ll wish I had killed you back at the house,” she barked.
“Another whore?” Victor finally asked when they closed in on a circular area of dead branches and leaves.
Bella laughed, a sickening, twisted sound that made Jordan’s skin crawl. “Every single woman who has ever paraded half-naked in front of Lucas, including you, Jordan.” Bella’s voice escalated with mounting rage. “No red-blooded man can resist that kind of temptation, and Lucas was no different.” She poked Jordan with the gun. “Stop right here.”
They were on the edge of the circle, and even though she had no idea what would come next, Jordan knew it was not going to be pleasant. She had to keep Bella talking until she and Victor could wrestle the gun from her.
“Is that why you’ve been mad at Maria all these years? Lucas had his eye on her?”
Bella snorted. “I take it back about you being smart, Jordan. Maria thought of me as her best friend and confided in me before the stroke. She would never do that to me.” She stepped closer. “This is where Lucas used to trap the animals. He called it th
e Prey Pit. The two of you are going to jump when I tell you, or I’ll shoot you in the back.”
“Oh shit!” Victor said, loud enough to startle Jordan.
“You don’t have to do this, Bella. We won’t tell a soul what you said, we promise. Just don’t do this,” Jordan pleaded.
“Get ready, get set, jump.”
When neither of them moved, Bella fired a warning shot, close enough for the foliage between them to slap Jordan’s leg.
Still, they didn’t move.
Jordan’s heart was beating so fast, she thought it would burst from her chest. When Bella fired another shot and Victor cried out, she squeezed his hand and both of them jumped.
CHAPTER 24
Jordan landed with a thud and immediately grabbed her right ankle. It felt like something had exploded on the inner side of her leg, and for a second, she thought she might pass out. She tried standing when she heard Victor moan beside her, but she immediately collapsed. Twisting toward him as far as she could, she said a quick prayer, terrified that he was badly hurt—or worse. Facing away from her, he was slumped over, a dark red stain spreading across his sleeve. When she touched his back, he screamed.
“Victor, talk to me. Are you okay?”
She heard him blow out a breath. “The bullet grazed my upper arm, and it hurt like hell when I hit the ground. Otherwise, I think I’m fine. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for Cooper Harrison.”
“What?” She leaned forward, straining to see around Victor. Cooper was lying on his back with his head in a weird position, his eyes open and staring grotesquely. “Is he dead?” she asked, even though she already knew the answer.
“I’m pretty sure he is,” Victor responded, before poking him to double-check. “Yep, he’s a goner. It looks like he has a bullet wound to his head. He can’t have been dead too long, though. Even with the cooler temperatures, he would be getting ripe if he’d been here longer than a day or two.”
“I’m beginning to understand what Bella meant when she said we’d see our friends,” Jordan said. “But I don’t get the part about them crawling all over us.”
Victor moved closer to Jordan and farther away from the dead body just as another bullet rang out and the dirt immediately in front of him flew up in the air. It took a moment for Jordan to realize Bella was still up there and had no intention of leaving their fate to chance.
She grabbed Victor’s shoulder, eliciting a scream of pain from him. “Press your back as far as it will go against the wall and tuck your legs under you. Hopefully, Bella won’t be able to get a good angle on us.” She prayed there was some truth in her words, though she’d said them only to keep him calm.
After another couple of shots hit the ground in front of them, there was silence before they heard Bella’s evil laughter from above.
“You think you’re so smart. Well, I have news for you. Nobody ever comes out this way since Lucas gave up hunting. How long do you think you’re gonna last down there with no food or water and all your little friends welcoming you?” She cackled again, and then they heard her footsteps crunching the leaves as she walked away.
Jordan glanced toward Victor and put her finger to her lips so he wouldn’t speak. It would be just like Bella to be up there eavesdropping, trying to figure out a way to finish them off. When they finally heard Ray’s Suburban drive away, she let out the breath she’d been holding.
“Do you think she’s really gone?”
Jordan turned toward Victor and nodded, noticing the fear in his eyes. She smiled, hoping he bought into her fake bravado. Then she noticed that Cooper’s body had shifted, leaning more toward Victor, and she scooted so that he could move farther away from it.
She wondered how Bella had lured Cooper to the ranch in the first place, but then remembered his saying he hadn’t seen who’d killed Diego and his friend.
He had told Jordan that when he heard shots fired and saw his friend go down, he raced back to his truck like a gazelle with a tiger on its tail. Because he’d had no idea who the shooter was, she knew he wouldn’t have thought twice about coming when Bella called, especially if she offered to help.
“Jordan?”
“Yeah.”
“I was just thinking about all the things in my life that I haven’t done yet,” Victor said, his voice breaking.
“Quit talking like that, Victor. It won’t be long before our friends realize we’ve been gone way too long and come looking for us.”
“They don’t even know we’re here.” He sighed. “I never did make it to Paris. That was my lifelong dream, you know.”
“I didn’t know, Victor, but you need to quit worrying about your bucket list. It isn’t doing you any good to get so morbid, and you’re freaking me out.”
She wrapped her arms around her chest, wishing she hadn’t thrown her sweater in a corner at Sandy’s house. Even though there was still an hour of daylight left, it was chilly in the hole. As she breathed in the smell of wet dirt and rotting leaves and listened to the sounds of what must be a quadrillion birds in the trees surrounding the pit, she thought back to what Bella had said.
“What do you think Diego had on Bella that he was using to blackmail her?” she asked, deciding she’d better get Victor’s mind on something other than dying.
“I don’t know. If I had to guess, I’d say he knew something about her past that she didn’t want revealed. That’s usually how it works in the movies.”
“Yeah, or maybe he threatened to tell Lucas about her affair with Rusty.”
“That sounds more like it, since her goal was to inherit the old man’s money.”
“I guess we’ll never know,” Jordan said. She turned toward him, wincing when pain shot up her leg. “I’m so sorry I got you into this mess, Victor.”
“Hush now, Jordan. I was the one who wanted to check this place out.” He tried to smile. “What I wouldn’t give to be eating cold meatball subs with Michael and teasing him about his new haircut right about now.”
When Jordan heard him sniff, she reached over and patted his leg. “We’ll be out of this stupid hole soon, Victor. But instead of cold subs, I want a pizza with sausage, pepperoni, green peppers, and extra cheese.”
“Yum. That does sound good.” He was silent for a moment. “Do you honestly think we’ll make it out of here alive? I can’t bear the thought that the last thing I’ll ever see before I bite the bullet is a dead man.”
“I’m positive we will,” she replied, hoping he didn’t hear the desperation in her voice.
Bella had said no one ever ventured out this way anymore, and they hadn’t seen a single person on the ride over. For a ranch the size of this one that employed a lot of people, that seemed odd. Where were all the workers?
“I hope you’re right,” he said.
“I promise I’ll…” She paused to listen, hoping what she’d just heard wasn’t what she thought it was.
But when she heard it again, she realized her worst fear had come true. It wasn’t a sound you ever wanted to hear if you were stuck in a pit with no way out. She’d heard that rattle enough times hiking with her brothers in the woods behind their house in Amarillo to know exactly what it meant.
When her peripheral vision picked up a slight movement across from them, she jerked her head around and whispered, “Don’t move, Victor.”
“Why?” He sat up straight and followed her eyes. “Oh, sweet Jesus! Is that what I think it is?”
She couldn’t take her eyes off the biggest rattlesnake she’d ever seen, and she’d seen a lot of them in West Texas. “Be still. They have heat seeking receptors below their eyes. It’s already aware that we’re here, but we don’t want to make any sudden moves.”
The rattler had been coiled in the dark and was now staring at them menacingly, all the while flicking its forked tongue. When it began to slowly slither forward, Jordan spotted two smaller snakes that had been under their mother, and she nearly cried out.
Placing her hand on Victor’
s knee to stop the shaking, she whispered in his ear, “Don’t go crazy on me, but there are a couple of baby rattlers behind the big snake. That might explain why she might be more aggressive than usual, although rattlesnakes aren’t known for their mothering skills.”
“Oh shit!”
“Whatever you do, don’t let the babies near you. I was always told their venom is much more concentrated than an adult’s and gives you a bigger bang for the buck. I’ve since learned this probably isn’t true, but still, use caution.”
“You’re a cowgirl, Jordan. Do something,” Victor shouted.
With Victor’s voice echoing in the hole, the snake once again rattled its tail. Quickly, Jordan searched the ground with both hands, finally settling on a clump of dirt. Grabbing it, she flung it toward the reptile, causing another warning rattle before the snake hissed and slithered back to protect her babies.
When she thought it was safe to breathe again, Jordan exhaled noisily. “That was close.”
“Do you think that’s what killed Cooper?” Victor whispered, never taking his eyes off the snakes.
“I don’t know. Rattlesnakes inject a hemotoxic venom that destroys the blood cells. It’s strong enough to stun smaller prey so they can swallow them whole. It’s usually not fatal to a fully grown human if they can make it to a hospital quickly and get the antivenom.”
“Obviously, Cooper didn’t get it.”
“Judging by the hole in his forehead, I’d say the rattlesnake was the least of his worries,” Jordan said.
“Can that rattler reach out and strike from where it is?” Victor asked, sliding so close to her, she imagined she could feel his heart beating.
“They can only extend about two-thirds the length of their bodies. We have a little room to play with, but let’s not chance it. Just be still and don’t startle her. They normally only attack when they’re after food or they sense danger. Still, I wouldn’t want to mess with any mother and her offspring.”
Just then a shot rang out, and both Jordan and Victor screamed as the snake flew up in the air and landed several feet in front of them. Two more shots were fired in succession, killing the babies.
Beef Stolen-Off Page 22
