Truth and Dare

by Candace Havens

  Racing outside, she found Cade and the foreman talking in the barn.

  “Cade?”

  “Are you okay?” He walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders. “You’re flush.”

  “I ran. I need your help with something.”

  She smiled at Deacon.

  The man dipped his hat. “I’m headed out to check the cattle, anyway.” He waved them off.

  “What’s up?” Cade followed her into the house.

  Leading him into his father’s office, she motioned toward the safe.

  By the shock in his eyes and the crinkling of his forehead she knew he’d had no idea the safe was there.

  “It’s locked. Do you know the combination?”

  He shrugged. “I’ve never seen it before.”

  “Chances are the combination is something simple.”

  “How did you know it was there?”

  She stood next to the safe. “My dad always said my artwork and my brother’s were his most precious treasures. That meant a lot to us since he had a huge art collection, which filled our house. I just had a feeling that your dad felt the same way. We should try to open it.” Pursing her lips, she tapped a finger against them. “What was your mother’s birth date?”

  Cade rattled off the numbers but they didn’t work.

  “Tell me your birthday.”

  He sat on the edge of the desk and called out the numbers. This time there was a click.

  “It can’t be that easy.” She pulled on the handle and it opened. Inside were a number of folders and a carved wooden box. She handed the box to Cade and set the files on the desk.

  Some of the files contained birth certificates, passports and that sort of thing. Then she found other things that made her heart thump loudly. The first was a date book. She thumbed through to the day Joseph had disappeared. Harold’s name was the only item scribbled on that page. Her breath caught. Then she pulled out a number of papers in the back of the book. There were several contracts. As she read them, she began to understand. There were four lease agreements with four different ranchers. The first two names she recognized, Harold and Moses. She bet the sheriff would know the rest if the men were still in Phosphor.

  Closing her eyes she took a deep breath. This might be enough, at least for the sheriff to bring Harold in for questioning. It was still circumstantial, but if the sheriff could confiscate Harold’s gun, she could have the lab do the ballistics check. The lease agreements weren’t signed, which meant something had held up the process. If the sheriff didn’t know, her friend Chi at Stonegate, their resident lawyer, might be able to figure it out.

  She’d done it. Excitement bubbled to the surface and she almost squealed.

  There was a choking sound behind her.

  Turning, she saw Cade with a tortured look on his face.

  What had been in that box?

  18

  THE KNOT OF PAIN IN HIS CHEST tightened as Cade examined the items in the box. His baby shoes, the first tooth he lost and pictures of the first time he rode a horse were only a few of the items included from his childhood. Cade fingered his grade one report card and several letters he’d written to his dad when his father had to travel for business.

  “Cade?”

  Patience’s worried eyes took in his face and she touched his cheek.

  He set the box on the desk so she could see it.

  “Oh,” she whispered.

  Picking up the baby shoes gingerly she glanced up at him. “He loved you so much.” Her voice hoarse with emotion. “These really must have been his most precious treasures. I don’t know anyone who keeps baby shoes in a safe.”

  The air in the house was stifling. He had to get out, almost running for the door. Bellowing at the sky seemed appropriate as he kicked through the dirt on the way to the barn. But he wouldn’t embarrass himself that way. Before he even knew what he was doing, he picked up a bale of hay his foreman had brought and stacked it in the area they’d cleaned out. By the twentieth bale, his muscles were screaming and sweat dripped from every pore, but he kept on.

  For so long he’d hated a man who had obviously loved him more than anything. Patience was right. No one kept baby stuff in a safe.

  Cade sat down on one of the hay bales and put his head in his hands.

  Would his father ever forgive him for thinking the worst? Cade had betrayed the man’s memories by turning him into a monster. When in truth, his father had never been anything but kind to him.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I don’t know if you can hear me, Dad, but I’m sorrier than I’ve ever been in my life. I loved you so much. I still do.”

  One thing he was certain of, he’d make sure everyone in town knew what a stand-up guy his father had been. Hatred for his dad’s murderer burned brightly inside him.

  He would restore his father’s name for both of them. He wasn’t sure how yet, but he would find a way.

  Not quite ready to go back into the house, he finished unloading the trailer. He wondered what Patience might think.

  The thought of her sweet face as she touched his cheek was enough to cause his chest to tighten again. There’d been such honesty in her voice. Her eyes had held tears for him, and for all the pain he’d been through.

  As Cade put the last bale on the pile he’d made, he heard a car pulling up on the gravel.

  Grabbing a towel from his truck, he wiped his face and hands on it.

  “Sheriff.”

  “Cade, good to see you. Looks like you’ve been busy.”

  “We’ve got a ways to go before we get there, but I am making progress. What brings you out here?”

  The sheriff glanced away for a moment. “I have to talk to Patience about something.”

  “How did you know she was here?”

  “She called me. Is she in the house?” The sheriff studied him for a moment.

  Cade nodded. “What’s going on? Is it about my father’s case? Did you find out who killed him?”

  The sheriff strode past him toward the porch. “I’m not at liberty to say. Right now what we have is circumstantial, but I think Patience may have found some real evidence. That’s why I need to talk to her.”

  “Then by all means let’s go in and have a chat.” Cade’s tone betrayed his renewed anger.

  “It would be best if you stayed out here and let us sort this out. I promise you as soon as we know for certain, either myself or Patience will tell you everything.”

  What were these people thinking? “No, Sheriff. The secrets stop here. Who killed my father?”

  The walkie-talkie on Beau’s shoulder squawked, “We’ve got him, Sheriff.”

  The sheriff replied quickly. “Put him in the jail and do not let anyone else in there.” He gave Cade the once-over. “No visitors, you understand? That includes the mayor and her grandchildren.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Instead of going into the house, the sheriff backtracked and opened the door to Cade’s truck. He pulled the keys out of the ignition and stuck them in his pocket.

  “Care to explain?” The words were ground out between clenched teeth. Whatever the sheriff and Patience were up to, Cade had had enough.

  “We’d better go inside,” Beau said as he climbed onto the porch.

  Cade followed him into his father’s office.

  “Patience.” The sheriff held out his hand.

  She shook it. “Thanks for coming out here, Beau.” She glanced at Cade and frowned.

  “Show me what you found,” the sheriff said.

  Motioning him to come around to the other side of the desk she gave up her seat to him. “This is the kicker,” she pointed out. “Everything is time-stamped and dated.”

  Patience glanced up at Cade, her eyes tight with worry. Whatever she’d found, it was enough to get someone arrested.

  Cade stayed in the doorway. His temper wasn’t exactly in check and he had to force himself to think clearly. Why were they keeping the truth from him? They had n
o right to do it. The victim was his father.

  “Well, this gives us motive. It’s certainly enough for me to talk to him officially.” The sheriff gathered up the documents and folded them against his side. “Once I speak to him, maybe we’ll find out if the others were involved. Patience, you can tell him everything after I leave.”

  “Okay.” Her voice was shaky and she glanced at Cade nervously.

  The stubborn part of him refused to move aside so Beau could get through the door.

  “Cade, let me by. I don’t want to have to arrest you for obstructing justice.”

  “You’ve got my keys.”

  “Yep, and I’ll send them back with one of the deputies in an hour or so. That should give you time enough to calm down.”

  “I’m not some idiot who is going to go off all half-cocked. I just want to know who in the hell killed my father.”

  Beau patted his shoulder. “Understandable that you’re frustrated, son.”

  Cade shifted and allowed Beau to pass.

  Cade’s attention shifted to Patience who had gone pale. She was ill.

  All his anger dissipated.

  He immediately guided her to the sofa, but she pulled out of his arms and ran for the door.

  PATIENCE MADE IT TO THE EDGE of the driveway before being sick. Her stomach wouldn’t stop roiling, and her knees shook with weakness.

  A hand pulled back her hair as she doubled over again.

  Embarrassed he was there to witness her weakness, she waved him away, but her stomach heaved again.

  This time Cade swept her up in his arms and carried her to the truck.

  “I’m okay,” she said. “Really.”

  “No, you aren’t.” He jumped up and sat next to her on the tailgate, handing her a bottle of water. “Sip this.” He opened her other hand. “And these are peppermint, they’ll help.”

  After swallowing some of the water, she popped two of the mints in her mouth. Cade sat beside her and rubbed her back.

  She took a deep breath. “Bad case of nerves,” she said uneasily. “Sorry about that. Not one of my best moments.”

  “Are you sure it’s just nerves?”

  She shrugged. “I might have some kind of bug, but I feel better right now. I’ve been so tied up in knots today and I didn’t like keeping things from you, Cade. I really didn’t.”

  He squeezed her closer to him. “I shouldn’t have gotten upset. I know you’re just doing your job, as is the sheriff. But you can tell me the truth now.”

  She began by explaining about the gash she found in the tree and her thought that it was made by a rifle. Then she told him the truth about what happened with Harold out by the grave and the records she’d found in his dad’s office.

  “There were lease agreements in your dad’s safe. We know that Harold was involved, but we don’t know about the other names on the agreements. A couple of them are the ranchers who have given me a hard time. The water rights around here are a complex web, but from what I can tell, the ranchers wanted to lease land from your dad that had natural-fed wells. He’d drawn up the agreements. What I don’t understand is why Harold was arguing with your father. I’m no legal expert, but everything looked straightforward. Maybe they were arguing over the cost? Hopefully, the sheriff will get Harold to confess. It’ll make everything much easier if he does.”

  Cade was completely quiet as he stared off into the horizon.

  After sitting for a few minutes more, she slid off the tailgate. Her legs were a little stronger and she had to clean up the office. She’d left the other files out on the desk and the box with Cade’s baby things.

  Cade grabbed her hand and pulled her to him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight between his legs. “Thank you,” he whispered.

  She’d given him closure and no one understood how important that was more than she did. Not trusting herself to speak, she squeezed him tight hoping he could feel how much she cared for him.

  While the outcome wasn’t ideal, he knew what had happened to Joseph. More than anything Patience wanted that kind of closure for herself.

  19

  BACK AT THE B AND B, Patience sat on the top step of the stairs, listening to Cade relay the events of the day. The sheriff had since wrestled a full confession out of Harold, and he’d been shipped off to Austin for processing.

  She hadn’t wanted to intrude on the Randalls, but she also wanted to stay close to Cade.

  “All these years that man has given me such a hard time about everything,” his grandmother said vehemently. “He was the first one to start the rumors in town about your father and he supported my opponents every time I ran for mayor. I thought he just didn’t like women. I thought I was a better woman than this, but I hope he suffers like hell.”

  The other cousins, the ones who lived in Phosphor and those still in town for the festival, were outraged, accident or not. Cade calmed them down.

  “Patience and the sheriff have built a strong case against Harold and with his confession, there’s no question he’ll get what he deserves,” Cade told them.

  “That girl deserves a medal,” GG said. “Solved a twenty-year-old case in less than a week.”

  Patience wouldn’t want any medal. Honestly she felt as though she’d stumbled through the whole thing. If Harold hadn’t made the mistake of driving out to the grave site… Her detective friend, Shannon, had told her half of what they did was sheer dumb luck of being in the right place at the right time. Patience believed her now.

  Packing was next on her list. As much as she didn’t want to leave town or Cade, she needed to get back to Austin and process the evidence she’d found. Since she was an expert in this area, the sheriff and district attorney agreed that she should do any testing.

  Gathering her clothes from the closet, she carefully folded everything and placed it in her suitcase.

  The last week had been a wild ride and she remembered again why she enjoyed the calm confines of her lab. But would she be happy going back to that?

  Yes. The unfamiliar emotions she’d experienced the last few days had shaken her to her core. Still, she’d survived and solved the case.

  Admittedly, leaving Cade would tear her heart out. In some ways he already had.

  Her logical side said they’d latched onto one another so intensely because they’d shared the same sort of tragedy. She had lost Jeremy, and Cade, his father. She had been out of sorts with her first time detecting, and he had been recovering from the shock of discovering his father had been murdered. It was no wonder they had reached out to each other for comfort, but that was all it was.

  That’s why she needed to make the break as quickly as possible. It was the best thing for both of them.

  Sighing, she stood and snapped her small suitcase closed. She had to stop by and give Andy and Celia the check for the antiques she’d bought at the festival before she returned to Austin. Downstairs she was almost glad the family had gone their separate ways so she could tell Cade goodbye.

  Truthfully, she didn’t want to go through all the questions they might have about why she was leaving so abruptly. She had grown to love the Randall family the past few days, but they were a nosey bunch, in the very best sense. Besides, she would have enough to explain once she found Cade.

  Never one for small towns, she’d grown to enjoy Phosphor during her short stay. With a few exceptions, the people were friendly and they certainly cared for and looked after one another. It was commendable and not something you found everywhere.

  Yes, Phosphor was different from any other place she’d been—and she’d been all over the world.

  A quick glance out the window revealed it was dusk and the place was already filled with fireflies. The tiny insects did look like fairies flying here and there. Instantly she recalled her night under the waterfall with Cade. That had to be one of the most intimate moments of her life, and one she would treasure long after they parted.

  She sighed again. She’d never connected to a
nyone like she had Cade, and she wondered what it would be like to date in Austin, away from the cocoon of Phosphor. Would they have the time? Cade was preoccupied with the follow-up to his company’s merger, meanwhile, Stonegate was never short of cases. She could work morning till midnight, but was that the life she wanted?

  Maybe she was just scared?

  What if their magic simply didn’t last? Wouldn’t they both be worse off than if they ended it now?

  Stop being silly, and grow up. It was a fling, and now it’s back to the real world.

  “Where are you going?”

  Cade stared down at her suitcase.

  “I told you. I have to process those samples I took from the site.” Cade frowned.

  “It’s Saturday night. No one else is working. And the sheriff has his confession.”

  She shrugged. “Cade, this isn’t my only case. I have to get back to my lab. Certainly it won’t hurt for the sheriff to have his evidence as soon as possible.”

  “But you don’t have to do it tonight. It’s late and you shouldn’t be out on country roads in the dark.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  Why can’t he understand that it’s better if we just get this over with now?

  Cade reached for her. “Give me one more night, please. I care for you and I’m not ready for you to go.”

  She smiled at him. “It’s been so good here with you, but it’s over. What we had here wasn’t real.”

  Cade bent his head and kissed her, the kind that set fire from her heart to her toes and left her breathless when he stopped.

  “Doesn’t get any more real than that, Patience. Do you think when we get back to Austin that this is going to be over? I care about you. Let’s find out if we could have a future together.”

  Patience stepped back. “It’s all too fast, Cade. I need time and so do you. I’m glad we were both here for one another, but we knew going in this was temporary.”

  “No, I didn’t know that.” His eyes narrowed. “Stay tonight and let me show you what we have.”

  Patience placed a hand against his heart. “We’re two people who came together at a difficult time and survived it. Like I said, Cade, what you’re feeling isn’t real.”