Beef Stolen-Off

by Liz Lipperman

  “Don’t touch it, Victor,” Jordan screamed when he leaned toward the dead snake. “Their biting reflex remains intact even after they die.”

  “Are you okay down there?” A masculine voice called out.

  Both Jordan and Victor hollered at once before Jordan clamped her hand over her mouth. What if it was one of Bella’s henchmen here to finish the job?

  She leaned closer to Victor and whispered, “Push back again. Let’s not make it easy for whoever’s up there to pick us off like sitting ducks.”

  “I’m dropping a rope down. Grab on to it, and I’ll use my vehicle to pull you out, one at a time.”

  Victor’s eyes lit up. “Why would someone go to all the trouble to rescue us then kill us once we’re out of this hole?”

  In her mind, Jordan recited all the reasons why they should take their chances with the dead snake rather than risk facing a live one with a gun, which was way more deadly than a hemotoxin. She was still debating what to do when the heavy rope descended.

  Victor grabbed it and pushed it her way. “Ladies first.”

  “Maybe we should go up together because of your arm.”

  “I’m okay, really.”

  She hesitated momentarily, then grabbed the rope, murmuring to herself, “Okay, God, it will be Sunday masses for me from now on if there’s a good guy waiting up there.” She took a deep breath and one last look at Victor before hollering, “I’m ready.”

  Slowly she was lifted up the twenty-foot wall until she was over the edge. Only then did she make eye contact with the man who had just rescued her.

  “Farley?”

  The smile that crossed the man’s face could have lit up a room. “You’re that reporter girl, aren’t you?”

  Her return smile faded fast as pain shot up her leg when she tried to stand and couldn’t. The man she and Danny had met the day of Rusty’s memorial service jumped down from the three-rowed golf cart and was by her side in a flash. He scooped her up as though she were lighter than air and carried her to the cart, positioning her sideways to elevate her right foot on the seat.

  “That looks like a nasty sprain,” he said, taking a moment to examine her ankle.

  Jordan glanced down to see that it was now swollen to double its normal size. “How did you find us?” she asked.

  “First things first. I need to get your friend out of that pit in case there’s another snake I might have missed.”

  “I only saw the three you shot,” Jordan said. “One of Bella’s bullets grazed my friend’s shoulder, but he says he can make it.”

  Farley threw the rope down in the hole for a second time, then raced back to the cart and slowly drove it forward after Victor gave the okay. Jordan’s eyes were glued to the edge of the pit, and when she saw Victor’s smiling face, she burst into tears.

  Farley stepped down and moved to the other side to help Victor into the cart. Once he was situated in the seat behind Jordan, Farley started off.

  “You can’t take us to the ranch house, Farley. Bella will kill us.”

  Instead of looking surprised, the old man merely lowered his head and nodded. “I know. I saw what she did to you.”

  “How?”

  “When I noticed a car driving toward the hunting area, I figured it was a couple of good old boys with a cooler full of beer and an array of high-powered rifles trying to sneak in a little hunting. Although Lucas has made it perfectly clear the area is off-limits, I still have to scare off trespassers every now and again.”

  “Where were you? We didn’t see anyone on the road.”

  “There’s a twenty-foot length of fence over yonder that I’ve been meaning to repair for weeks. With everything that’s happened, I never could seem to find the time. Fortunately for you, I finally made it out there today and spotted the SUV. When I didn’t recognize it, I jumped in the cart and followed. I was almost to the hunting stand when I saw Bella following you two with a gun. Before I could confront her with my own shotgun, I heard the shots and saw you both jump.”

  “You can’t possibly know how grateful we are to you,” Jordan said, finally getting her tears under control.

  “You can bet your sweet one that I’m coming back in a day or so and get that big-ass snake,” Victor said. “After all I went through, that mama owes me a man purse.”

  Both Farley and Jordan laughed. It was great hearing Victor cracking jokes again.

  “You’re not going to be laughing so hard when I tell you what Bella did to your car. I saw her drive it to the lake several hundred yards from the hunting area, and she let it slide in. It bubbled a few times, then disappeared.”

  Jordan twirled around and giggled. “Ray is gonna kill us.”

  Farley chuckled as he turned down a gravel road and pulled up to a small house.

  Turning around, he handed Jordan his cell phone. “There’s a strong signal here. You’d better call 911.”

  CHAPTER 25

  The next few hours were chaotic. When the police arrived at the ranch, they found Lucas semiconscious with a feeding tube down his throat. Apparently, when he was no longer able to swallow or refused to, Bella had decided to use her nursing expertise to speed things up. They arrested her and whisked him off in an ambulance, along with Jordan and Victor.

  After X-rays confirmed Jordan’s ankle wasn’t broken, the ER doctor wrapped it and fitted her with crutches. Victor fared better with only a bandage on his shoulder and a prescription for antibiotics. Once cleared and allowed to leave the hospital, he’d insisted they take him to Jordan’s room while she waited for the physical therapist to stop by and give her instructions on how to walk with the crutches.

  When the gang arrived and surrounded her bed, Jordan finally got the scoop on Bella. After the police discovered Lucas near death, they’d obtained a search warrant. In a drawer next to Santana’s bed, they’d found several empty bottles of potassium and blood thinners as well as the gun used to kill Diego, Cooper, Cooper’s friend, and Jake Richards.

  “And you had no clue Bella might be the killer?” Lola asked, squeezing her ample bottom in between Michael and the bed.

  “None,” Victor answered for Jordan. “I still don’t know how Jordan figured it out.” He leaned over the bed rail. “Well?”

  “She asked if I’d seen Cooper kill Diego that night.”

  “What’s wrong with that?” Michael asked.

  “When the newspaper reported the murders, they didn’t mention there’d been a witness.”

  “Aha!” Michael exclaimed. “You knew there could only be one explanation for her knowing you’d been there.”

  “Exactly. The reason I never play poker is because one look at my face and you know what I have in my hand. Bella knew immediately I was onto her. When I grabbed Victor and tried to get out of there to call the cops, she pulled out the gun.”

  “Holy cannoli,” Rose said. “You must have really been scared.”

  “I don’t know about Jordan, but I came this close to needing an underwear change,” Victor deadpanned, holding his thumb and forefinger up about an inch apart. “And I didn’t even connect Bella to the killings when she pointed the gun at us. If I had known what was going on in Jordan’s head, I would have embarrassed myself for sure.”

  “She threw a scarf at me,” Jordan added. “And immediately, I knew it as the one Lucas had given me the last time I was at the ranch. I’d torn it on a nail outside the warehouse, and when I ran across the parking lot after hearing the shots, it blew off. I was too frightened to stop and pick it up.”

  “That must be how she knew you’d been there,” Lola said.

  “It is, plus she saw Jordan on the security tape from the warehouse.” They all turned as Ray walked into the room and stood at the end of the bed. “The police found the tape at the ranch. It shows Jordan sneaking across the parking lot.”

  He snickered. “A cat burglar, you are not, Jordan. Anyway, I just had a conversation with my old partner’s kid, Paul Rutherford. He said Bella confes
sed to killing Diego and the other two men when ballistics linked the gun they found to the murders. Apparently, she’s denied having anything to do with Rusty’s death, though.”

  “She admitted killing him to me and Victor,” Jordan said. “Mentioned something about it being Maria’s fault that he had to die. Never in her wildest dreams did she picture us climbing out of that hole to tell anyone, which is probably why you’re not viewing us on a slab in the morgue right now.”

  “She must have thought the snakes would do the job for her,” Victor said. “And they almost did.”

  “Lucky for you that old ranch hand was around.” Rosie held a glass of water with a straw up to Jordan’s lips.

  “I’m not helpless, Rosie.” She closed her eyes after she took a sip. The truth was, she could get used to the TLC from her closest friends in a hurry. Shortly after the ambulance had brought her to the ER, it had finally registered how close she and Victor had come to dying.

  If it wasn’t for Farley…

  She couldn’t even think about it without tearing up.

  “We may never know who actually paid the waiter to kill Rusty or if he acted alone,” Ray said. “When they investigated his death, the police discovered he had a sister who committed suicide a few years back.”

  “That’s true,” Jordan said. “Bella told us that’s why it didn’t take much to persuade him to do the deed. But she was still the one behind Rusty’s death.”

  “It’s a moot point, anyway, since she’ll most likely spend the rest of her life behind bars without a chance at parole for the other four murders,” Ray added.

  “Make that five if Lucas dies,” Jordan said, unable to keep the sadness out of her voice. “Has anyone heard how he is?”

  Ray grinned. “Here’s why it pays to be nice to cops. Paul said Lucas is still in ICU, but he’s coming around slowly. They managed to get his potassium level down and hope it won’t be too much longer before his blood clotting is back to normal. Unless something unexpected happens, Paul said the prognosis looks good.”

  Jordan exhaled in relief. Although she never wanted to spend time with Lucas Santana again, he was just as much a victim as she was.

  “How long do you have to walk around on crutches?” Michael asked. “The cruise is coming up, you know.”

  “Don’t worry. It will take more than a little sprain to keep me off that ship.” She pointed to her ankle, now elevated on pillows. “You know the old RICE routine—rest, ice, compression, and elevation for the first forty-eight hours. The only time I’m allowed up is when nature calls. The doc said I could get rid of the crutches when it doesn’t hurt to put my weight on it anymore.”

  “That settles it. I’m moving in with you for a few days,” Rosie announced.

  “I’ll be okay,” Jordan said. “I appreciate the offer but I’ll—”

  “No arguments. Knowing how much you hate fancy food, I’ll need to fatten you up before the cruise, anyway. With all those wannabe chefs cooking up dishes we can’t even pronounce, you’re probably the only person on this planet who will lose weight on a cruise ship.”

  When they all laughed, Jordan caught Rosie’s eye and mouthed, I love you.

  “Back atcha,” Rosie said.

  “Okay, then it’s settled. Rosie will stay with Jordan for a few days. Now then, there’s another problem that needs our attention. Who’s going to call Alex and tell him we almost lost her again?” Ray asked. “I guarantee it won’t be me. Before that boy left for El Paso, he looked me in the eye and made me promise to take care of her.”

  “Oops!” Michael said, covering his mouth with his hand. “I say we let Jordan tell him. And be forewarned, we’d better make damn sure nothing happens to our girl on the cruise.”

  It felt strange being alone in a car with Lucas Santana, but he’d insisted, even though Jordan was perfectly capable of driving herself. She’d been off crutches for two weeks but still had trouble putting all her weight on the ankle. When he’d called and told her what he was planning, she’d jumped at the chance to be there when he discussed it with Maria.

  Shortly after he was discharged from the hospital, he’d contacted Jordan and asked if he could stop by the apartment. Initially, she’d dreaded seeing him again, thinking that with Bella now sitting in a Huntsville’s cell awaiting her trial, she was through having to make nice with Lucas.

  But the man who walked into her apartment that day wasn’t the same obnoxious jerk she’d met in the limousine. Clearly, his priorities had changed, and she’d seen a side of him she never would have believed existed until he broke down and cried when he’d talked about Maria and Diego Morales. She’d even found herself empathizing with him.

  Finding out the woman he’d allowed to manipulate everything in his life was responsible for all that pain and misery must have been devastating. He knew he couldn’t bring back Diego or Rusty for Maria, but he’d spent a lot of time trying to come up with a way to make it up to her.

  After several conversations with the Dallas specialist who ran a rehab hospital catering to stroke victims, Jordan knew exactly how he could help. Although the private facility was world renowned, it was also pricey, and way beyond Maria’s financial capability.

  Lucas hadn’t blinked or even asked how much it would cost him when Jordan suggested he foot the bill. And now they were on their way to visit Maria at the nursing home to tell her she would be transferred to the new facility in the morning.

  “Jordan, before we go in, there’s something I want to say.” Lucas sniffed back a few tears. “The doctor tells me I would have been dead in a matter of hours if you hadn’t sent help. I will always be grateful. If you ever need anything, all you have to do is ask.”

  She studied his face, trying to decide if this was just another attempt at seducing her into becoming his next conquest. She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

  “We’d better get in there. I can’t wait to see Maria’s face when you tell her.”

  As they walked into the nursing home, Jordan couldn’t stop thinking about how many times Maria had tried to tell her she was afraid. Unfortunately, they’d lost valuable time because Jordan had assumed Maria’s fear was of her husband. But Maria had already figured out Bella was the one trying to kill her. It must have been so frustrating to be unable to get help, knowing Bella would try again.

  When they got to her room, Lucas opened the door to let Jordan lead the way. Maria glanced up when she heard them and immediately noticed Jordan’s limp. Her face showed her concern as she pointed to Jordan’s foot.

  “I sprained my ankle. It’s good now, though.” She plopped down in a chair opposite Maria’s wheelchair, and Lucas stood behind her.

  When Maria’s eyes questioned why he was there, he took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “Jordan and I are here to give you some good news. God knows you could use a little of that.”

  Her eyes darted from one to the other.

  “Bella’s in jail,” Jordan started. “She’s admitted to killing Diego because he was blackmailing her.”

  Maria’s eyes grew wide.

  “We also know she was the one who gave you the overdose of blood thinners,” Lucas said, bending down on one knee to grab her hand. “She nearly killed me the same way.”

  “Do you know why Diego was blackmailing her, Maria?” Jordan asked. Although she had no intention of telling this woman that Bella had blamed Rusty’s death on her, Jordan felt she deserved some answers, considering she’d almost gotten herself killed over it.

  Maria shook her head.

  “Oh well, it doesn’t matter. They found the man who poisoned your son. He was dead in a field outside of town. Since Bella wouldn’t say why she paid this man to kill Rusty, I thought it might clear up a few questions if we knew what Diego had on her.”

  Maria rubbed her forehead as if she were chasing away a migraine. Jordan decided the woman had heard enough depressing news for one day.

  “I spoke to a specialist in Dallas
who works with stroke patients. He’s had a lot of success, especially with people like you who can’t speak. He’s agreed to admit you to his facility tomorrow morning to begin your therapy.”

  Maria turned to the window and stared for a few seconds before turning back to them. She used her thumb and forefinger to make the classic motion for cash.

  “That’s the good part, Maria. All you have to worry about is learning how to speak again. Lucas is taking care of the rest.”

  A lone tear slid down Maria’s cheek. She reached under her blanket and pulled out the photo of her and Diego with her sister, Gia, and began thumping on it with her finger.

  Jordan’s first thought was, Here we go again. She took the photo from Maria’s outstretched hand and showed it to Lucas.

  He made a choking sound as he stared. “I loved Gia, you know. I was so sorry when she left me and went back to Mexico so suddenly. Then when I found out she’d died, I didn’t think I would ever get over it.”

  Maria lifted herself out of the wheelchair far enough to snatch the photo from his hand. Maintaining eye contact with Lucas, she threw it against the far wall with so much force, it shattered into a million pieces.

  Jordan’s eyes widened and she cried out. She’d seen Maria angry before, but never enough to destroy a cherished photo. But when she studied Maria’s face, there was no telltale sign of anger, no flaring nostrils or narrowed eyes. Instead, she was smiling as she pointed to the broken picture frame across the room.

  “I’ll get you a new one,” Jordan said, thinking this must be Maria’s way of saying, I’m mad as hell and I ain’t gonna take it anymore. Since she couldn’t express her anger verbally, maybe it was just the therapy she needed to heal.

  Maria grabbed her arm and motioned for her to retrieve the picture. Jordan reached down and pulled out what was left of the frame, and the first thing she noticed was the piece of paper taped to the back of the photo. She turned to Maria and arched her eyebrows in question.