The Missing McCullen

by Rita Herron

  Jasper’s boots shuffled on the concrete as he approached. When he reached Cash’s cell, he halted, keys jangling in his beefy hand. The woman stood beside him, her dainty chin lifted high as if she was assessing Cash.

  “Koker, this woman claims she’s your lawyer.” Sheriff Jasper looked at him as if Cash was an animal who needed to be put down, not have representation.

  He narrowed his eyes. “My lawyer?”

  The woman cleared her throat. “Mr. Patton had a stroke. My name is BJ Alexander.”

  Damn, her husky voice made Cash’s body tighten even more.

  “Sheriff Jasper, I need to talk to my client in private,” she said. “Open the cell, please.”

  Jasper scowled at her, but jammed the key in the cell door and opened it. For a brief second, something akin to fear flickered in the woman’s eyes.

  She might be tough, but she was afraid of Cash.

  That didn’t sit well in his gut.

  He would never lay a hand on a woman, at least not in violence.

  But that damn sheriff had probably already convinced her he was guilty.

  * * *

  BJ SCRUTINIZED CASH. The man looked rough. Hair a little too long. Eyes deep, dark. Distrustful.

  Body...well, hell, he was built. Broad shoulders. Tall. Muscles everywhere.

  Which meant he was strong enough to overpower a woman.

  The McCullens had just learned they had two brothers who’d been kidnapped at birth. They thought Cash was one of them.

  Since she’d spoken to them, she’d done her research.

  Cash had grown up in the foster care system. At twelve he’d been placed in a ranch home for troubled boys. He’d learned ranching skills, and as an adult had worked on several spreads across Wyoming. He’d moved half a dozen times, though, which made her wonder if he was searching for something, or if he’d been asked to leave.

  The head of the ranch for boys had described him as sullen, brooding, angry. Said he needed guidance from a strong male.

  Guidance he’d never received.

  Two of his employers claimed he was an excellent rider, a natural cattleman and that he’d kept to himself but done a good job. After a season or two, he’d left of his own accord, saying it was time for him to move on.

  He was a drifter. Probably had a new woman in every county he moved to.

  All the more reason she should maintain her professional demeanor. She wouldn’t fall prey to his charms like she had with Davis.

  Although at the moment, Cash looked beaten—not like a womanizer. The disdain in his eyes was palpable.

  “Sheriff, please show Mr. Koker to an interrogation room so we can talk.” At least they would both be more comfortable. Sitting on that tiny cot beside Cash Koker was not an option. Sex appeal radiated from him in waves. There was also an air of danger about him that put her on edge.

  The sheriff grunted in compliance, then gestured for Cash to hold out his hands so he could cuff them.

  A muscle ticked in Cash’s jaw, but he did as the man ordered. Jasper led him to a small room with a plain wooden table and two chairs. Cash’s expression was grim as he sank into the chair. Handcuffs clanged as he spread his fingers on the table. Calluses and scars marked his hands and arms, a telltale sign that he did manual labor.

  The sheriff cleared his throat. “You want me to stay?”

  BJ shook her head. She couldn’t show fear or any emotion. “No, I’m fine.”

  Jasper worked his mouth from side to side, one hand on his holster. “Yell if you need me.” He squeezed Cash’s shoulder so hard the prisoner’s jaw tightened. “Touch her and you’ll be sorry.”

  A frisson of nerves prickled BJ’s spine as the sheriff left the room and Cash turned his rage toward her.

  A jagged scar curled beneath his hairline on the right side, making him look frightening and sexy at the same time. She envisioned him riding a bull or galloping across rugged terrain, and her heart stuttered.

  She gripped the edge of the table, silently cursing herself. She could not allow herself to think of him as attractive.

  “All right, lady,” he said gruffly. “What are you doing here?”

  BJ forced herself to remember that he had no clue he was a McCullen. She’d expected the McCullen men would want to meet him, but they’d had trouble with a half brother named Bobby, and were cautious.

  After all, Horseshoe Creek Ranch belonged to all of Joe McCullen’s sons, which meant that Maddox, Brett and Ray would have to share land with the lost twins.

  They intended to find the truth about Cash’s character before they disclosed their relationship.

  “I came to decide if I want to represent you,” BJ said. “To do that, I need to hear your version of what happened the night Sondra Elmore died.”

  He arched a thick brow. “Why? You gonna believe me?”

  BJ leaned forward, snagging his gaze with a cold look. “Sarcasm is not your friend right now, Mr. Koker. The truth might be, though, if you want to tell it.”

  Shoulders squared, she gathered the file, ready to leave. The last thing she intended to do was work for some ungrateful jerk who didn’t want her help. “If not, I’ll leave you alone and you can rot in that cell.”

  Chapter Two

  BJ folded her arms across her chest. “You have ten seconds to decide how this will go before I walk out that door.”

  Anger flashed across Cash’s face, along with distrust—and the realization that he did need help. That he might have to suck it up if he wanted to fight these charges.

  “Just sit down,” he growled.

  BJ shook her head. “I don’t take orders from you, Mr. Koker. If I accept your case, I expect respect. But first, you have to convince me that you’re innocent.”

  Tension rippled between them. He shifted and stared at his fingers again, obviously torn. Or was he trying to concoct a convincing lie?

  “All right, Miss Alexander,” he said. “Please sit back down.”

  A tiny smile of victory twitched at her mouth, but she masked it, maintaining her neutral expression. He had said please, though, so she slipped into the chair facing him.

  “Now tell me—has Tyler been found? Is he okay?”

  “I’m afraid there hasn’t been any word on the boy,” she said quietly.

  Cash pressed his knuckles over his eyes. “You have to find him.”

  “Do you know where he is?” she asked in a tight voice.

  “No.” His gaze met hers, suspicion flaring. “Are you working for Elmore?”

  BJ frowned. “Why would you ask that?”

  “Because Lester Elmore never thought I was good enough for his daughter.” A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Did he pay you to get dirt on me so he could railroad me to prison for killing his daughter?”

  BJ locked stubborn gazes with him. “For the record, I’ve never met the man, and he didn’t pay me to do anything.” She let that sentence sink in for a brief second. “In fact, I can’t be bought by anyone, so even if he had offered, I would have turned him down.”

  “Really?” Koker’s mouth curled in a sardonic grin. “You mean I’m looking at a real-life honest lawyer?”

  She gave him a flat look. “Believe it or not, yes.”

  She removed photos of the crime scene and spread them across the table. Cash zeroed in on a shot of Sondra Elmore drenched in blood, and his face paled.

  “Did you kill Sondra?” BJ asked.

  A tortured look darkened his eyes. “No.”

  BJ waited, hoping he’d elaborate, but he didn’t.

  She tapped a picture of a bloody hunting knife the sheriff had found at the scene. “This isn’t your knife?”

  Cash cursed. “Yes, it is, but I didn’t kill Sondra with it.”
<
br />   “Then why was it lying on the floor beside her?”

  “I have no idea.” He leaned his head on his hands and inhaled several deep breaths. “Think about it. If I had killed her, you think I’d be dumb enough to leave a weapon behind with my fingerprints on it?”

  No. But she had to ask.

  Still, this man was a stranger to her. She wasn’t certain she could trust her instincts, either, not after the mess she’d made with Davis.

  * * *

  THE PICTURE OF Sondra covered in blood made Cash’s stomach roil.

  The lawyer cleared her throat. “You knew Sondra well, didn’t you, Cash? You were friendly?”

  He gave her a scathing look. “We were friends. Period.”

  “According to the sheriff’s notes and his interview with Mr. Elmore, you were more than that.”

  Cash shook his head. “Not true.”

  “You weren’t lovers?” she asked bluntly.

  Cash shifted. “I answered that already. We were just friends.”

  “They why did her father think you two were involved?”

  He made a low sound in his throat. “Sondra may have implied that we were.”

  The lawyer tapped her manicured nails on the table. A reminder that his were ragged and had been bloodstained, that the cops had forensics that would work against him.

  Even though he’d washed them, in his mind’s eye, he could still see Sondra’s blood.

  “I see,” she said wryly. “And you allowed her father to believe a lie?”

  “I didn’t like it. I told her that.” Cash shrugged. “But I didn’t dispute it.”

  “You two argued about the issue?”

  “Not really. She begged me not to say anything and I agreed.”

  Cash rolled his fingers into fists. If he admitted that he and Sondra had argued the afternoon she died, he’d give this lawyer a motive.

  “Why did Sondra allow her father to believe you were the boy’s father? And why would you let her do that?”

  “Elmore’s a paranoid jerk who warned all of his employees, including me, to keep their hands off of his daughter. He wanted to keep her in some kind of bubble, but she was rebellious.”

  The woman raised a brow. “Rebellious as in she dated the hands to make him angry?”

  “Sometimes.”

  “If she was so rebellious, why didn’t she just move out?”

  Cash shrugged. “First of all, Elmore controlled her trust fund. But I think she was secretly hoping her father would come around and accept Tyler.”

  “She dated you to get back at her father?”

  “I told you, we never dated,” he said firmly. “She was too young for me.”

  “But she got pregnant and told Elmore you were the father.”

  Cash heaved a weary breath. God, she was a professional interrogator. “Yes. But the boy wasn’t mine. Do the DNA test and you’ll see.”

  “We’ll get to that.” She glanced at her file, then back up at him. “So who was the child’s father?”

  He wished to hell he knew. “She never told me.”

  “Why not? You said you were close.”

  “I don’t know why. She just didn’t want to talk about him.” Cash tensed. He was painting himself into a corner.

  “Tell me more about your relationship then.”

  “She was like a kid sister to me,” he said. “She used to come out to the barn and yammer on like a teenager. Mostly venting about her father and how overprotective he was. He pressured her to give up the baby after it was born so she wouldn’t shame the family.”

  “But she kept the child?”

  “Yeah, she was tenderhearted. Loved animals and kids.” She’d cried on his shoulder about that decision. Cash had promised to provide emotional support if she kept the child and raised it on her own.

  Yet he’d let her down and she was dead.

  “Elmore allowed you to stay on after Tyler was born?”

  Cash gritted his teeth. “No, he fired me, then bad-mouthed me to other ranchers. Finally, I found a job on a small spread not too far away.”

  “You still saw Sondra and Tyler?”

  “Mostly Tyler. Sometimes she dropped him off so we could spend time together. Said he needed a male role model.” Cash had been surprised she’d chosen him for the job. But hey, the kid didn’t have a daddy and Cash related to that.

  Images of the little boy tagging along behind him taunted Cash. Tyler loved horses and riding. He constantly talked about joining the rodeo.

  “Cash?”

  BJ’s soft voice dragged him from the memories. God, what if something had happened to Tyler? “Tyler’s three now. He’s a pistol.”

  “Do you think Sondra intentionally got pregnant? Maybe she thought this man would marry her if they had a child.”

  “Sondra wouldn’t have done that.”

  Disbelief tinged the lawyer’s eyes. “Did she tell the father about the baby?”

  Cash nodded. “He didn’t want anything to do with Tyler.”

  “So Sondra never revealed the boy’s father’s name?”

  “I told you she didn’t,” he said, his irritation mounting.

  She fell silent for a moment. “If you didn’t kill Sondra, it’s possible that this other man did. Was Sondra afraid of him?”

  Cash scrubbed his hand over his chin. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  “Tell me about the night she died,” BJ said.

  He’d been struggling to recall Friday evening, but the entire night was a fog. “She was upset when she called me, but she didn’t explain. I assumed she and her daddy had had an argument, but I guess she could have fought with Tyler’s father.”

  BJ pursed her lips. “She must have had a good reason to keep his identity a secret. He could be married or a prominent figure in the community. He had something to lose if word leaked he had a child.”

  “That’s what I figured.” Cash’s heart hammered. The only way to clear himself was to find Sondra’s killer. “What if she’d decided to come clean about him? Or maybe she needed money or help.”

  “Makes sense. If he didn’t want his identity exposed, he could have killed her to keep her quiet.” BJ crossed her legs, drawing his attention to their long slender shape. She must have noticed, because a second later she uncrossed them and leaned forward. “We need to know his name.”

  “If I knew his name, trust me, I’d tell you.” Fear made his throat thick. “If your theory is right and he didn’t want the boy, he could have killed him.”

  Her frown deepened. “It would be pretty coldhearted to kill a child.”

  Cash nodded. He couldn’t allow himself to even think about losing Tyler. But he didn’t want to go to prison for a crime he hadn’t committed. Offering another suspect could help his case.

  “I’ll try to get ahold of Tyler’s birth certificate,” she suggested.

  Cash nodded again. “Look into Elmore, too. Maybe someone had a grudge against him and kidnapped Tyler for blackmail money.”

  BJ cleared her throat. “True.”

  “I tried to tell Sheriff Jasper this, but he didn’t believe me.” Cash didn’t like any of the scenarios that flashed through his mind. “A few of the ranchers had squabbles with him, but I don’t think they’d resort to kidnapping.”

  “I’ll ask around,” BJ agreed.

  “Has Elmore received a ransom call?” Cash asked.

  She shook her head. “Not that I know of, but I’ll talk to him.”

  Emotions thickened his throat as he pictured the times he’d played horseshoe with the little guy. Then another time when Tyler had climbed a tree, but was too afraid to climb down, so Cash had rescued him.

  That little boy had dug a hole in Cash’s heart
.

  They had to find him and make sure he was safe.

  * * *

  BJ TAPPED HER fingernails on the table again. “There’s another possibility, Cash. Do you have any enemies? Someone who would frame you for murder?”

  Turmoil hardened Cash’s face. “Elmore disliked me, but I haven’t seen him in a while. Other than him, I can’t think of anyone.”

  BJ’s lungs squeezed. She’d come here skeptical about this man’s innocence. But he couldn’t fake the fear in his eyes or voice—he was sincerely worried about that child.

  Still, she had to remain objective and consider every possibility.

  “The sheriff thinks that you took Tyler and planned to blackmail Elmore.”

  “That’s ridiculous. Besides, I didn’t have to kill anyone to execute that plan, if that was really my intent.”

  “You must have hated him for firing you and blackballing you. You could use the money to buy your own place.”

  “I did want my own spread, I’ll admit that.” Anger sizzled in his eyes. “But not bad enough to hurt Sondra. I know what it’s like to grow up without a family. I loved Tyler and would never have taken his mama away.”

  The pain in his voice was too raw to not be real.

  “Tell me what happened then,” BJ said. “How did you wind up in that motel room with Sondra’s blood all over you?”

  He released a frustrated sigh. “Like I told you, she called me, upset, and I met her at the tavern.” He rubbed his chin. “I got there and ordered a drink. She came and...we walked outside for a minute. Then everything goes blank.”

  “Someone knocked you out?”

  “I don’t know.” Confusion clouded his eyes. “Either that or I was drugged.”

  An excuse or the truth? “Unfortunately, it’s too late to test your blood for drugs.”

  “I realize that, but it’s the only explanation I can think of.” His expression turned grim. “Seriously, one minute I was talking to her, the next I woke up in the room with Sondra, and she was dead.”

  BJ studied him. Shock and sorrow radiated from his eyes. If he was a liar, he was a damn good one.

  But the security camera had captured his face outside that motel room. “You woke up and found her, then what?”