Out for Justice

by Susan Kearney

They strode past Mayor Daniels’s campaign headquarters where red, white and blue balloons attached to parking meters outside whipped about in the wind. A banner had come loose and flapped, a broken cord dangling.

  “Andrew told me you were a fashion plate, but I thought he exaggerated,” Wade teased as he walked beside her wearing the same jeans and dark blue shirt he’d worn since this morning.

  “Dressing for the part gives me confidence.”

  “You look like confidence personified.”

  “Thank you,” she said as self-assurance welled up in her.

  Kelly was surprised his patience with her investigation hadn’t worn thin by now, but although his long legs ate up a steady pace on the sidewalk, he didn’t hurry her. He also didn’t pepper her with questions. Unlike the men she’d dated, some of whom could have filled up the Grand Canyon with their compliments, Wade’s simple words touched her. That he actually seemed willing to let her take the lead, she appreciated even more.

  Wade opened the door for her at Lambert & Church and the cool air-conditioning caused goose bumps to form on her skin. Or perhaps it was the stench of the burned annex out back where Andrew had died. Although a construction company had cleared the burned timbers, the scorched earth still reeked of smoke.

  Kelly headed straight for the receptionist. “Hi, Wanda.” She greeted the friendly woman who answered the phones and guarded passage to the inner sanctum. “I’d like to speak with Mr. Lambert or Mr. Church, please.”

  “Sorry, Kelly. Mr. Lambert’s in court and Mr. Church has a meeting with Mayor Daniels.” Wanda spoke softly. “I want to tell you again how sorry I am about Andrew. We all miss him.”

  “Thanks.”

  Beside her Wade squeezed her hand as if he realized how difficult it still was for her to talk about the loss of her brother. But for Andrew’s sake, she had to be strong.

  “If there’s anything I can do—” Wanda’s phone rang and she answered it, then transferred the call. “If you like, I can make you an appointment for next week.”

  Kelly was considering the time slots Wanda offered her just as Lindsey Wellington breezed through the front doors. Kelly recognized the woman lawyer as one of Andrew’s co-workers but didn’t know her well. A newcomer to Mustang Valley, Lindsey wore her blouse buttoned up to her neck and a long-sleeved jacket as if she still lived in Boston, where Kelly knew she was from.

  “Kelly McGovern.” Lindsey shifted her documents and stuck out her hand, shaking Kelly’s then Wade’s as Kelly made introductions.

  Lindsey shoved back her shiny brown hair and surveyed them with piercing blue eyes. “I didn’t expect you so soon. But please come into my office.”

  “You’re expecting me?” Kelly looked at Wade, who shrugged and appeared puzzled, too.

  “Would you like a cup of coffee, tea or a soda?” Lindsey asked as they followed her into her office where stacks of legal documents perched on top of file cabinets and flowed in a river across the floor. In contrast, her desk was immaculate.

  “No, thanks,” Kelly answered for both of them.

  Lindsey walked behind her desk, opened a closet door and spoke over her shoulder. “You didn’t get my phone message?”

  “I’m afraid not.”

  “Well, I’m glad you came.” Lindsey picked up a carton and set it down on her desk right in front of them in a forthright manner. “Before I moved in here, Andrew had this office. When he relocated to the annex, he forgot to take some of his things. I thought you’d want them.”

  At the familiar smell of Andrew’s faded brown leather jacket, Kelly’s throat clogged and her voice hitched. “Thanks.”

  “There’s not much here.” Lindsey’s tone, although brusque and polite, still managed to convey sympathy. “A few family pictures. Some work notes. Just old memos and junk he forgot to move.”

  That old junk was all she had left of her brother. Oh, God. Kelly hadn’t known this would be so hard. Dealing with his death struck her at the oddest and most unexpected times.

  She grappled for self-control. Wade had taken a chair beside her, seemed to understand her difficulty and inserted himself smoothly into the conversation. “Lindsey, did Andrew have any enemies here?”

  Lindsey’s eyes widened. “At the firm? Everyone gets along.”

  “What about clients?” Wade persisted. “Surely Andrew might have had a few criminals who believed he could have defended them better?”

  “Possibly. But they’re in jail.” Lindsey frowned, her gaze cutting from Wade to Kelly with sharp suspicion. “What’s all this about? And why are you here if you didn’t get my message?”

  Kelly finally collected herself by ignoring that box of Andrew’s. “We don’t think the fire was an accident.” She didn’t reveal that the killer had used the fire to cover up a shooting. If the sheriff wanted to keep his investigation quiet, Kelly would abide by the man’s wishes.

  “You’re implying the fire was deliberate?” Lindsey spoke in her strong Boston accent. “We’re talking murder?”

  “Yes,” Kelly admitted. “But please keep this to yourself. The sheriff wants it that way.”

  “All right. I always liked your brother.” Lindsey sounded both sympathetic and careful. Clearly cautious and holding back, she peered at them as if trying to make up her mind about something.

  “What?” Kelly’s heart hammered her ribs. “If you know anything that might help us figure out who killed my brother…anything at all,” Kelly pleaded, “tell us.”

  “I probably shouldn’t—”

  “—but you will.”

  “—give you this.” Lindsey opened a file cabinet and used a key to unlock a compartment. “Andrew was working on these papers right before he died. It’s a copy of a file.” Lindsey spilled the rest. “I think Andrew left this here for safekeeping, but I have no idea why.”

  “What is it?” Wade asked.

  “It’s a contract offer to buy the family ranch of Andrew’s girlfriend.”

  Debbie’s family was moving? Andrew had never said a word to Kelly about it, but then, he didn’t like to talk about his girlfriend since the family had clearly disapproved of her. And due to that lack of communication, Kelly had no idea if this file could be important. Perhaps Wade knew more than she did, and she made a mental note to ask him about Debbie and her family later.

  Wade reached for the documents. “Is there anything unusual about the offer?”

  “None that I can see.” Lindsey frowned at them. “But maybe you should talk to the family.”

  “We will.” Kelly stood. “Everything you’ve told us is confidential. No one will know where those papers came from. After all, Andrew could have left them at home.”

  Lindsey motioned her to sit. “There’s one more person you might question.”

  “Who?”

  “I shouldn’t be telling you this.” Lindsey shrugged, then sighed. “But I’d like to see justice done.”

  “I don’t want to compromise your position, but any help you can give us would be appreciated.”

  Lindsey gestured with her hands. “It’s nothing that wasn’t reported in the Mustang Gazette just a few months ago.”

  “I was away at college then,” Kelly told her.

  “Andrew represented Sean McCardel during his divorce last year. Apparently the client wasn’t satisfied with his representation. When the judge awarded full custody of the kids to his wife, he blamed Andrew. Apparently the man blew up on the courthouse steps, vowing to get even. Of course, it may have just been talk.”

  Kelly would ask Cara. If her friend hadn’t covered the story, she would know who had. Kelly stood, walked around the desk and hugged Lindsey. “Thanks so much for all your help.”

  WADE DIDN’T WANT to be impressed with the way Kelly had handled Lindsey, but he was. As he carried Andrew’s box to her pretty new silver Jaguar and stowed it in the trunk, he realized that Kelly had displayed the exact right mix of sympathy and determination to elicit Lindsey’s help. Kelly might look
and act like a fashion plate, but she had keen instincts about people. While he wouldn’t call her tactics outright manipulation, he would call them brilliant. The way she won people to her cause, Mayor Daniels would have been smart to have hired her on his campaign staff.

  Already today she’d learned from the doctor that Andrew hadn’t died in an accidental fire but from a bullet. The sheriff had admitted to her that the gun was a 9 mm, and now Lindsey had just given her several new leads. And they hadn’t yet had time to go through Andrew’s box.

  Kelly glanced up at the darkening thunderclouds. “I want to change back into jeans before we head out to Debbie’s ranch. Could we please take your truck?”

  “Good idea.” Not only would Debbie’s family resent her pulling up to their struggling ranch in her nifty new sports car, but with the storm brewing and the roads slick, he’d rather have four-wheel drive. “I’m parked behind the saloon.”

  Ten minutes later the storm broke, drenching his truck, but they were ensconced safe and dry inside. He switched on his lights and wipers, almost turned up the country station but decided he’d rather talk to Kelly instead—which rocked him back in his seat. Wade had always liked women. He liked their scents, their smiles, the way they moved. And he especially enjoyed how Kelly sugarcoated her determination with an ultra femininity that conveyed a strength he’d never suspected.

  He found her too damn attractive and wondered if she was playing him just as she’d done with the doc, the sheriff and Lindsey. He didn’t like that idea at all, but he also didn’t understand why it bothered him as much as it did. What was it about her that called to him? Perhaps she was simply his last living tie to Andrew, his best friend since high school.

  Wade turned onto the highway. The heavy downpour had caused several cars to pull under the overpass to wait out the storm. With the large-size tires on his truck, he had good traction and the large cab gave him decent visibility, so he proceeded with caution.

  “Tell me about Debbie,” Kelly requested, her eyes focused before them on the road, her tone firm—and yet he sensed a hesitancy to pry into Andrew’s private life.

  He risked a glance at her. Her eyes looked troubled. “What do you want to know?”

  She rested her hands loosely in her lap. The air-conditioning cleared the moisture from the windshield and carried her scent to him, making the cab seem intimate and cozy, especially with the rain pattering the roof.

  “Andrew was going to bring her home to Sunday breakfast. He didn’t care what our folks thought. He was certain of his choice and determined to marry her. But did he love her? Or was he rebelling against my father?”

  Astute questions and ones Wade wasn’t sure he knew the answers to. “He didn’t talk much about her to me.”

  “But you saw them together?”

  “He brought her to the saloon most Saturday nights.”

  “And?”

  “And what?” Distinct discomfort about answering her questions made him stall.

  “What was your impression of her?”

  He reminded himself that betraying Andrew wasn’t possible. The most he could do for his dead friend was help his sister seek justice. “If you’re asking me if Debbie was with Andrew because he was successful and had a bright future or because she loved him, I wouldn’t know.”

  “You’re holding out on me,” Kelly complained. “I’m not asking you for facts—just your impression. Certainly you must have given some thought to Andrew’s choice in a wife?”

  “Frankly, I thought he could do better.” Wade swerved around fallen debris on the highway. “But you know Andrew—”

  “He wanted to fix the world.”

  “Exactly. He liked to be needed and therefore he tended to pick women in distress.”

  “What did Debbie need from him besides legal help with her property?”

  Kelly obviously didn’t know much at all, and Wade found himself reluctant to reveal his friend’s secrets. First, he didn’t want to cause the McGovern family more pain. Second, he had to remind himself once again that Andrew was dead and talking to his sister wasn’t a betrayal. Still he knew his revelation would come as a shock and braced himself before speaking sympathetically. “Debbie had been married and divorced.”

  “You’re sure?” Kelly’s brows lifted in surprise and consternation.

  “Yeah.”

  “How could I not know that? How could my parents not know that? Mustang Valley is simply too small for gossip not to have reached us. Daddy has all kinds of connections and not even Cara knew Debbie was married, because she would have told me.”

  “According to Andrew, Debbie married Niles Deagen after she got pregnant her sophomore year in high school.”

  Kelly gulped. “She has a child?”

  “She had a miscarriage. So the hush-hush elopement and Vegas wedding were unnecessary after all. She wanted the marriage annulled, but Niles wouldn’t agree to it, although he did keep it quiet to avoid looking like a fool.”

  Trouble seemed to follow Debbie like a dark shadow. While Wade had nothing against her personally, he always had felt she came attached to too many problems. Which was exactly why Andrew no doubt had found her irresistible. His friend had a thing for the underdog, while Wade preferred to keep things simple.

  So what was he doing with Kelly? Because sure as hell, there was nothing simple about her. She came with her own set of problems that slowly but surely were becoming his. But even if he could withhold his help, he could never deny Andrew the justice he deserved.

  “Why would he look foolish for marrying Debbie?” Kelly asked with an innocence that made him realize once again how protected she’d been. Her folks had made sure she’d only seen the better side of life. Wade didn’t blame them. Kelly had a special spark around her that caused optimism in others. She saw the up side in people, expected the best and was rarely disappointed.

  “Debbie was sixteen. Her husband was thirty-eight.”

  “Oh.”

  “Andrew finally helped her obtain a messy divorce. I heard that Niles still wants her, but that’s rumor—not fact.”

  Kelly didn’t let the nasty facts deter her from plunging right in to find out more. “Niles Deagen. Why does that name sound so familiar?”

  “He’s a big-time Dallas oil man, with a penchant for teenage girls.”

  “But Debbie’s no longer a kid.”

  “She still looks like a kid. She’s flat-chested and slender-hipped and has that round baby face that makes her appear about twelve.”

  Wade didn’t understand the man. Wade liked his women full-grown and grown-up. While Kelly would fit his physical requirements, he usually dated women who wanted nothing more from him than a good time. Instinctively he knew that when Kelly hooked up with a man, she would be thinking about the possibility of happily ever after.

  Kelly shot him a sharp glance. “You think Niles could have had anything to do with Andrew’s murder?”

  “That would be pure speculation.” But the thought had occurred to Wade. More than once. However, he didn’t have a shred of evidence to back up that hunch.

  “If he’s an oil man, he has the means and a motive.” Kelly sighed. “I never thought finding Andrew’s killer would be simple, but the more I learn, the more complicated this seems. I keep adding suspects to my list and haven’t eliminated anyone.”

  He didn’t like the idea of Kelly getting discouraged. Not when she’d done such a good job of keeping herself together.

  “Hey, chin up. Today’s only the first day. You’re doing great.”

  “Maybe I should ask Daddy to hire a private investigator.”

  “You could.”

  “But?”

  “He’d be a stranger to Mustang Valley, and the folks here don’t open up to outsiders.” And then Wade wouldn’t have an excuse to spend more time with her.

  “I imagine you hear all kinds of gossip in your saloon.” She hit him with one of those innocent-sounding, sideways comments that made it diff
icult to anticipate where she was taking the conversation.

  “We’ve been busy lately. That means I have to draft lots of beer and rustle up my Texas-famous chili. You stop by sometime and I’ll serve you up a bowl—on the house.”

  “Thanks.” As if uncomfortable with the notion of them spending time together for any reason other than Andrew, she changed the subject. “So what hot buttons have stirred up the town lately? Does Tony Barker have a shot at defeating Mayor Daniels?”

  “I doubt it.”

  “That’s what Cara said, too. Tony was a friend of Andrew’s, I should probably stop by and see him.”

  “Even Andrew, as much as he liked the underdog, didn’t think Tony had a chance of defeating the mayor. Daniels’s contributors have deep pockets, and the town isn’t much interested in local politics these days. Folks are more concerned about the price of beef, land, oil and—”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Maybe nothing.”

  She caught him scanning his rearview mirror, glanced over her shoulder, spied the tow truck with its flashing yellow lights. “It’s Aaron’s Towing. Probably someone broke down in the rain.”

  Wade checked his speedometer. Fifty-five. The tow truck must be barreling down the highway at eighty mph to be closing the distance between them so fast. It wasn’t as if the truck was an emergency vehicle with lives at stake, so to be driving at that speed in the stormy weather wasn’t just reckless, but brainless.

  Wade pulled over, steering his tires onto the shoulder to give the big truck ample room to pass.

  “Wade! He’s not passing.” Kelly tightened her seat belt and braced her feet on the dash. “He’s going to hit us.”

  Wade overrode his first instinct to hit the brakes. A collision at a slower speed would cause a more forceful impact. Instead he jammed his foot on the gas and took satisfaction as his truck lunged forward.

  Kelly tugged on his arm. “Are you crazy?”

  “I’m not racing him. I’m trying to avoid a crash.” In his mirror he glimpsed the tow truck gaining on him and shook her hand off his arm. “Let me drive.”

  “He’s catching us. I thought this truck was fast.”