by B. J Daniels
Travers McGraw seemed preoccupied, one hand on his forehead, his elbow resting on the large oak desk in front of him.
Nikki stopped in the open doorway, studying him for a moment. She’d seen dozens of photographs of Travers McGraw, most taken right after the kidnapping. He’d been a big, strong, handsome man, dark-haired with the same pale blue eyes as the two sons she’d seen.
The past twenty-five years had not been kind to him. While his hair hadn’t turned as white as his ex-wife Marianne’s, it was shot with gray and there were deep lines etched around his eyes. He seemed to have shrunk in size, his body thin, his shoulders stooped.
But as he looked up, his smile was welcoming.
“Mr. McGraw, I’m Nikki St. James,” she said, stepping forward to extend her hand. “The crime writer.”
He seemed to come alive as he got to his feet. Hope burned bright in his eyes with such intensity that the weight of it hit her hard. He was depending on her to solve the case.
“Please, call me Travers,” he said as he shook her hand, clasping it with both of his. “I’m so glad you’re here. I didn’t hear you come in.” He glanced toward the open doorway. “I thought you were going to call for directions to the ranch.”
“Actually, I ran into your son Cull in town—” literally, she thought “—and he brought me out.”
“Wonderful,” Travers said a little distractedly. “All that matters is that you’re here and you’re going to find out what happened to the twins.” He rubbed his temples as if he had a headache, too.
She hoped she didn’t make it worse. She started to reiterate that she couldn’t make any promises, but she didn’t get the words out before Patty burst into the room.
“Tell me I’m misinformed,” Patricia said, looking from Nikki to her husband, her blue eyes wild with anger. “Tell me you haven’t brought this...this...woman into our home.”
“Patricia.” He sighed, looking defeated again. “This is not the place to—”
“Not the place? This has to stop. I thought we decided—”
“You decided,” he said, looking a little less beat down. “I will never stop looking for them.”
His words fanned the flames of the woman’s fury, but seemed to leave her speechless for a moment.
“We need to talk,” Patricia said to her husband between gritted teeth.
“I’m sure we will,” he agreed as he sat back down behind his desk and motioned for Nikki to take a seat. “But right now I need you to leave and close the door behind you.”
All color drained from the woman’s face. Clearly appalled, she stormed out, slamming the door behind her.
“I apologize for my wife’s behavior,” he said after a moment. “I hope this doesn’t change your mind.”
Nikki shook her head. “Not at all.” It wasn’t the first time she’d run into a relative who didn’t want anyone digging into the past. It wouldn’t be the last.
She hadn’t expected to get much out of Patty Owens McGraw anyway. But if the answers were on this ranch, she told herself she would find them even without the woman’s help.
“You said that I would be allowed the run of the ranch,” Nikki reminded him. “I hope you haven’t changed your mind.”
He shook his head. “If there is even the slightest chance that you might find out the truth... Just let me know what you need from me. I should warn you. My wife isn’t the only one who might be opposed to this.”
“Your sons.”
He nodded. “Also my lawyer and a close family friend who was in the house that night. They both are quite adamant that this is a mistake. I completely disagree with them, understand. But you might find getting information from them difficult, and I’m sorry about that.”
“I’ve worked with families before that were...skeptical,” she said.
He smiled at her understatement of the current situation and raked a hand through his graying hair, looking apologetic. “I had hoped that once you were here it might be easier. Please don’t think I’m a coward for not telling my sons. They don’t want me to be disappointed again and I really wasn’t up to arguing before you got here. With so much time having passed and no new evidence...”
“I hate to get your hopes up as well, but I can promise you that I will do everything I can to find out the truth. I’d like to take a look around the house and the ranch,” Nikki said, getting to her feet. “But first if someone can show me to my room. I’m afraid my car and luggage are still in town.”
“Not a problem. I’ll have someone pick it up for you,” he said as he rose from behind his desk.
There was a tap at the door before it swung in. She turned to see Cull silhouetted in the doorway. He stepped forward, holding out a glass of water and two aspirin. She took them as she listened to Travers asking his son to see that Nikki’s car was brought out to the ranch.
“But first if you wouldn’t mind showing her to the guest room,” the older man finished.
“I’ll show her to her room,” came a voice from the open doorway. It was the teenager who’d accosted her earlier on the porch steps. It was clear that Kitten had been close by, eavesdropping.
The insincere smile had an almost demented quality to it. Nikki wondered again about Patricia’s daughter, the mystery child she’d brought back to the ranch years ago.
“Kitten, this is Nikki St. James,” Travers said, introducing them. “She will be staying with us while she works on a book about the kidnapping.”
The girl raised one brow. “Fascinating.” She sounded like her mother, the word just snide enough.
“I want you to be nice to her,” he said.
“Of course, Daddy,” Kitten said, almost purring. “Later, can I borrow your car to go into town? I’m meeting some friends.”
“You just got your license. I’m not sure that’s a good idea. What did your mother say?”
“She said she didn’t care if I went after dinner, but...” She mugged a face. “She’s afraid I’m going to wreck her precious car.”
“You can take mine,” he said, sounding tired. “Just promise me that you’ll be careful and come home whatever time your mother tells you.”
The teen rushed to him and kissed his cheek. “Thank you, Daddy.” As she turned, she mugged a face at Nikki.
Travers turned to Nikki. “Leave me your keys. Cull will see that everything is taken care of.”
She thanked him as she handed them over, only to find Cull standing behind her. He scooped the keys up from the desk and pocketed them, then left without a word. She figured he’d been too surprised earlier to voice his displeasure, but his swearing had given her a clue as to how he felt about her being here.
“We can talk after dinner, Ms. St. James,” Travers said as she and Kitten started out of the room.
“Nikki, please,” she said, stopping in the doorway.
He smiled. “I can’t tell you how glad I am that you’re here, Nikki. Dinner is at six. It’s informal.”
She nodded and followed Kitten out the door. “Can you point out the wing where the twins’ nursery was?” Nikki asked the girl.
Kitten smiled. “Of course.”
They’d barely left the room before Patricia, who’d clearly been waiting only yards away, rushed into her husband’s office, slamming the door behind her. Nikki could hear her raised voice as Kitten led her up the wide stairway.
* * *
CULL COULD HAVE handed off the job of retrieving Nikki St. James’s car and luggage from town to a couple of the hired hands. After all, he was as unhappy about this turn of events as his stepmother. He was also anxious to talk to his father.
But right now Patricia was chewing Travers’s ear, and the best place to be was far from the house until some of the dust settled.
Also, he wanted to know
more about Nikki St. James before he confronted his father.
“I could use your help,” he said when he found his younger brother in the barn. “Can you drive me into town?”
“Can’t Boone do it?” Ledger asked as he rubbed a hand down the long neck of the newest horse.
“He’s gone to pick up that stallion Dad bought last week.”
Ledger sighed. “Fine. What’s going on in the house, or do I even have to guess?” he asked as they walked along the path next to the house.
Even from here, Cull could hear Patricia’s voice raised in fury. He and his brother usually escaped to the horse barns when their father and Patricia were arguing. That’s how he’d known where he would find Ledger, especially today after the newspaper article.
“We have a surprise guest.”
Ledger blinked. “Guest?” He perked up so much that Cull realized for some unknown reason his brother had hoped it was Abby Pierce, the waitress at the Whitehorse Café and his brother’s former love. For some reason, Ledger thought that Abby was going to come back to him.
“Dad has hired a crime writer to do a book on the kidnapping,” he said before Ledger’s unrealistic hopes could be raised further.
“What?”
“I’ll tell you all about it on the way into town.”
True to his word, he told his brother everything he knew, which wasn’t that much.
“Dad has lost his mind,” Ledger said when he’d finished.
“Seems that way. She’s going to be staying at the house. That’s why I need to pick up her car for her. According to what it says on the key, it’s a blue compact with Billings plates. We should find it parked near the café where I found you this morning.”
“Wait, how did she get to the ranch?”
“I drove her. It’s a long story. But suffice it to say, we’re apparently stuck with her for a while,” Cull said.
“So what does she look like?” his brother asked, turning toward him as they reached town.
He hesitated a little too long.
Ledger laughed. “I’ve never seen you at a loss for words when it comes to describing a woman.”
“It’s not like that with this one. She’s all right to look at, but I don’t trust her.”
“Well, once she realizes there is nothing new to write about, she’ll leave.”
“Let’s hope so. I’m just worried about how much damage she’ll do before that. Dad—”
“He looks bad, doesn’t he?”
Cull nodded around the sudden lump in his throat as he pulled up behind the rental car parked on the main drag of Whitehorse. “I’m going to do what I have to to protect him. Starting by finding out everything I can about Nikki St. James.”
* * *
NIKKI AND KITTEN were almost to the top of the stairs when Kitten turned abruptly. Swinging around, her large purse hit Nikki, throwing her off balance. Her gaze shot up to Kitten’s.
The teen looked surprised for a moment, then a small smile curled her lips as Nikki teetered on her high heels. She grabbed wildly for the handrail. The tips of her fingers glossed over it, but she couldn’t find purchase. She could feel herself going over backward.
At the last minute, Kitten grabbed her hand, the two of them almost tumbling down the stairs as Nikki fought to get her feet back under her.
“That was a close call,” the teen said in a mocking tone. “You really should be more careful. People in town say this house is cursed. Terrible things have happened here.” She blinked wide blue eyes. “We should get you to your room. You don’t look well.”
With that she turned and started up the stairs. It was all Nikki could do not to grab the back of her shirt and fling her down the stairs. She was shaking from the near fall and still a little unsteady on her feet. It didn’t help that the two aspirin Cull had given her hadn’t started to work yet on her headache.
Nikki had faced opposition before. She’d also put herself in dangerous situations. It went with the territory. But as she stared after Kitten, she realized that she’d glimpsed something in the teen that frightened her more than the near accident.
She would have to watch her back in this house—just as her grandfather had warned her. Except it wasn’t the kidnapper she apparently had to worry about. But it could be the spawn of one of the kidnappers, she thought, reminded of the look in Kitten’s eyes moments ago.
While Nikki thought the purse incident had been an accident, the girl hadn’t been that sorry it had happened.
Chapter Six
WHEN MCCALL WANTED information about Whitehorse, she went to her grandmother. Even though Pepper lived on Winchester Ranch miles from town, she had always known what was going on in the county sooner than most.
McCall hadn’t doubted that she would remember the McGraw kidnapping.
“Remember it?” Pepper exclaimed after the two of them were seated in the living room. For most of her life, McCall had never laid eyes on Winchester Ranch—or her grandmother. Pepper had denied that McCall was her granddaughter until events had thrown them together. Now they had a mutual respect for each other that verged on love.
“I dug this out after you called,” Pepper said, and handed her a file stuffed with newspaper and magazine articles.
“All this is about the kidnapping?”
Her grandmother nodded.
McCall glanced at a couple of articles, but this wasn’t what she was looking for. She turned to her grandmother. “I need the dirt. The rumors. The things your old cook used to bring you.”
Pepper laughed. “I’d almost forgotten about her.” The woman had drugged her grandmother to keep her from demanding too much. McCall had never understood the relationship between the two women, since her grandmother knew what was going on and did nothing about it. Apparently Pepper had some affection for the woman to put up with it for so long.
“There were lots of rumors, if that’s what you want. Marianne McGraw and the horse trainer, Nate Corwin. Travers McGraw and the nanny, Patricia Owens. Then there were disgruntled ranch hands looking to make a buck. There is the former ranch manager and close friend Blake Ryan. But I always suspected the lawyer. He was one sleazy bastard, that one.”
“Jim Waters? But he’s still the McGraw lawyer.”
Pepper raised a brow. “That should tell you something.”
“That he’s trusted?”
“That Travers lives in a houseful of vipers and doesn’t realize it,” her grandmother said. “The man married Patricia Owens.” She raised a brow as if that said everything.
“I suppose you heard—”
“About the true crime writer?” Pepper laughed at her granddaughter’s surprise. “Also heard that Patty threw a fit.”
“Nikki St. James is writing a book about the kidnapping,” McCall said.
Her grandmother lifted another finely tuned eyebrow. “You don’t trust her?”
“Something happened in town—”
“That little accident in front of the Whitehorse Café?”
McCall laughed. “You must have thought the same thing I did.”
“The young woman staged it.”
She nodded. “I’m just not sure what she thought it would get her. Cull McGraw was driving the pickup. He’s the oldest. He was upset and gave her a ride out to the ranch. But when he found out who she was, I’m sure he was suspicious.”
“Probably,” Pepper agreed. “Those McGraw sons are smart as well as good-looking.”
“I’ve heard there is no love lost between them and Patricia.”
“What do you expect? No one in town can stand her,” Pepper said. “The question you should be asking yourself is why Travers married her to begin with.”
“He’s a nice guy. She was young, had a baby, needed his help,” the
sheriff suggested.
“Or she had something on him,” her grandmother suggested. “Guilt is a huge motivator—if not blackmail.”
* * *
NIKKI PAUSED AT the top of the stairs for a moment to look back at the house. She felt she needed to catch her breath—and not just from her near fall. She still couldn’t believe she was in this house—her father had once walked some of these halls. From what she’d gathered in her research, Nate Corwin had been a frequent guest.
But she wondered if it had been at Travers’s request—or his wife’s.
Pushing that thought away, she turned to look back down the stairs.
She’d wanted to see the inside of this house from the moment she’d found the newspaper clippings and discovered how her father had really died.
Now she looked around at all the grandeur, not surprised how beautiful it was. She’d read that Travers McGraw had built the house for his first wife as an anniversary gift. The two had started out relatively poor, living in a small house some distance away. But when he’d begun siring prize-winning quarter horses, he’d had the house built for Marianne. By that time, she had already given him three sons—Cull, Boone and Ledger.
He’d spared no expense on the house and it had no doubt become the talk of the town as well as the county. Was that what had given the kidnapper the idea of taking her two youngest children?
After meeting him, Nikki had hated to get Travers McGraw’s hopes up. He seemed a fragile man who’d been through too much. She wondered if another disappointment might kill him.
But she had hoped that there was something here to find—someone who had something to hide. She thought of Patricia. The former nanny had ended up with Travers, and if she played her cards right, she could end up with the ranch, since he didn’t seem long for this world.
Except for the fact that Travers still had three grown sons. Did she plan to get rid of them, too? So why would she have kidnapped the twins all those years ago? What would have been her motive?
True, she’d implicated Marianne McGraw. But even if she wanted to be rid of both the wife and the babies, it seemed a little too desperate as a means to an end. Especially if that end was getting Travers McGraw.
