Capturing a Colton

by C. J. Miller

“The manhunt for Livia Colton. How’s that coming?” Declan asked.

  Bud set his cola on his desk and swung his feet to the ground. “We haven’t found her.”

  Obviously. “Leads?”

  “Nothing that I’ve been clued into. Why? Do you have something? If she’s around and watching, she can’t like that you’re tearing down her place. I figure she’ll show up again spitting mad.”

  “I haven’t seen her,” Declan said. If he had, he would have called the authorities immediately.

  Declan thought of the slip of paper where he had written the license plate for the sedan outside Jade’s farm. If Bud expected Livia to show up, he’d have deputies posted and on the lookout. “You have someone watching Hill Country?”

  Bud shook his head. “Should I be? Jade up to no good?”

  Before Declan could answer, Bud leaned forward and shook his finger at Declan. “I never liked those Coltons. Bad seeds, all of them.”

  Declan’s defensiveness rose. He shouldn’t take what Bud was saying personally. Jade was a good person. Lumping her in with her mother was unfair. “Jade isn’t involved with her mother.” Knowing her for a short time, he was certain of it.

  Bud knew nothing. If he was involved with the case, he was either pretending to be ignorant or willfully choosing to be.

  “I’ve seen a car hanging around the Coltons’,” Declan said.

  “At La Bonne Vie?” Bud asked, scratching his head.

  The Coltons didn’t live at La Bonne Vie. Declan tamped down his irritation. Bud wasn’t really listening because he didn’t care. “Nope. At Jade’s farm,” Declan said.

  “I don’t know about that. Could be someone from that support group,” Bud said.

  “What support group?”

  “They have those flyers all over town. The Victims of Livia Colton support group. I checked them out. Seems legit. They have a website and meetings, get together and talk about Livia Colton and what she did to them. A little bit whiny if you ask me. It happened decades ago. But if that’s what they need, then okay. They aren’t breaking any laws.”

  Declan hadn’t heard of such a group. “Are they new to town?”

  Bud shrugged. “Don’t know. Just saw the flyers last week. I figured it was a long time coming. The Coltons ruined this town. Brought their lies and crimes and bad vibes. I’m surprised they haven’t been run out of town yet with torches and pitchforks.”

  Declan’s irritation prickled. “The Colton children are Livia’s victims too.”

  Bud snorted. “Maybe. Maybe not. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them knew where that criminal is hiding. And all that money she made? Where exactly is it? One of those kids had to have taken a cut.”

  Declan wasn’t getting anywhere with Bud. He stood. “I’m just looking out for my investment. Doesn’t help me if Livia Colton shows up anywhere near my property.”

  “Call me if you see her,” Bud said.

  He sounded bored, like he didn’t care either way and he certainly had no intention of getting up off his rear end and looking for her. Declan kept cool. Shooting off at the mouth to protect Jade would get him in trouble down the line. Bud could have influence over the local government and Declan didn’t need the hassle.

  * * *

  “Pass the pretzels,” Maggie said, reaching across the ottoman between her and Jade for the open bag on the coffee table.

  Jade handed her the bag. If Maggie was going to keep helping Jade with her accounting for her farm, the least Jade could do is provide her pregnant friend, and now her sister-in-law, with good treats.

  “I don’t know, Jade. This doesn’t seem so bad,” Maggie said, turning the page on the spreadsheet where Jade had painstakingly laid out her expenses and income how Maggie had showed her.

  Maggie was trying to be positive. The truth of the matter was that running a nonprofit seemed to mean no profit for the owner. While Jade was happy to give everything she had to help her horses, she needed a salary, enough to cover her basic expenses. She had known it wouldn’t be easy when she’d come up with the idea of running the farm to rehabilitate retired racehorses. But some of the bigger, longer running farms that did similar work had more volunteers to handle fund-raising and promotion and help with the horses.

  Maybe it was a good thing she didn’t have much of a personal life. Her last one had ended a few months after Livia had escaped from prison. Dumped because of her mother. It didn’t bother Jade much; in her life, Livia had disappointed her and ruined so many precious things, another broken relationship was par for the course. For someone to walk away when she needed him most meant she was better off without him.

  A good man would stay by her no matter what. The right man would care for her, regardless of who her mother was or what her family had done. Declan came to mind. Jade thought of him, about his visits and bringing her lunch and allowing her to go to La Bonne Vie. Being in her old house had been good for her.

  “What’s that face mean?” Maggie asked. She removed her reading glasses and narrowed her eyes.

  “No face,” Jade said. “Just thinking.”

  “Worrying about this stuff? Because maybe there’s some way we could help you.”

  Jade appreciated Maggie’s offer, but she was about to have a baby. She and Thorne would be incredibly busy, too busy to help around the farm. From a financial perspective, they needed their money. Figuring out how to run her business was her challenge. “I’ll be okay. I’ll figure something out. You should be resting while you have time.”

  “Thorne makes sure I rest plenty. We have everything we need for the baby.”

  That wasn’t entirely true. Leonor was planning a baby shower at the end of the month. Jade had purchased the bassinet from Thorne and Maggie’s registry and stored it in her guest bedroom closet. It was more than she could afford, but the beautiful white bassinet with storage for diapers and wipes and onesies and the soft bedding with tiny ivy printed on it had struck her as something her future niece or nephew needed.

  “We could run an online fund-raiser,” Maggie said. “Or do a walk or run to benefit the farm. Host an open house so prospective donors could see the horses and the work you do.”

  Jade had put together a website for the farm and had included profiles of her horses. “No open house. The horses might get skittish around too many people and if they act out, I’ll look like I don’t know what I’m doing.”

  “Good point,” Maggie said, dipping her pretzel in honey mustard sauce.

  Jade liked the idea of a digital campaign with the right hook, but also thought of Leonor’s experience with Everything’s Blogger in Texas, a wildly popular gossip blog that had run stories about the Colton children. Unbeknownst to Leonor, her former boyfriend David had gotten information from her and sold it to the site. When the site went live with the information, it had hurt the Colton children for many reasons: among them, being associated with their mother and having their family trashed all over again in the media was working at scars that had never healed properly. To expose her farm to more scrutiny was something she couldn’t handle. Opening the doors to her farm would mean some folks would feel it was perfectly acceptable to verbally assault her, as well.

  “With my mother’s prison escape, I don’t know that many people would be willing to donate. The Colton name is associated with scams and lies and fraud. I don’t know how to convince donors that I’m using the money for the horses,” Jade said. She had tried posting pictures and explaining her horses’ weekly improvements, but it was another task in a list of endless to-dos. And it didn’t seem like it was helping.

  Maggie sat up and rubbed her belly. “You could hire a CPA to review your accounts and have her write something confirming where the money is going. Or what about asking Declan for the money?”

  Jade’s initial reaction was complete di
sagreement. She didn’t want to ask him for money. If he wanted to donate to the farm, he would. Asking him would change their relationship, and she liked where it was and where it might be going. “Maybe the CPA idea. But it’s a firm no about Declan. I can’t do that.”

  “Why not? He’s rich and he’s in town doing who-knows-what at La Bonne Vie. He’s investing in the community. That includes your farm.”

  Jade tried to see it from another point of view. While she would like to spend her days working with her horses, she understood running the business had an office component and a financial obligation. “I feel like he would see it as a personal request and not just me pitching him on a local nonprofit.”

  Maggie inclined her head. “Back up. Personal request? Since when are you and Declan Sinclair personal?”

  Jade wouldn’t lie to her friend. It would make its way through the family grapevine eventually anyway, since now Allison knew about her and Declan after their visit to La Bonne Vie. Jade explained about talking to him at Edith and River’s engagement party and then about the interactions they’d had since. “It makes me think he likes me, but I don’t know how to best handle it. Or even if he wants something. He’s from Louisiana. He’ll go back there when he’s finished with La Bonne Vie.”

  “Edith isn’t going back to Louisiana.”

  Jade had heard that. “I don’t know what her situation is there. She’s a great enough employee and Declan might let her telecommute from Austin.”

  “I’m just saying that you shouldn’t get too worried about the future this soon in your relationship.”

  “I don’t even know if it’s a relationship.”

  Maggie laughed. “From what you said, it’s at least an attraction. Just because you haven’t slept with him doesn’t mean it’s not real. Wait, you didn’t sleep with him, did you?”

  “Of course not. We barely know each other,” Jade said.

  “Hang in there. Things have a way of working themselves out.”

  “Are you thinking of Thorne when you say that?” Jade asked, seeing something in Maggie’s expression.

  “Thorne and the baby, yes,” Maggie said, her eyes sparking with joy. Maggie set Jade’s accounting log on the ottoman. She stood. “I need to stretch my back and my legs. Let’s go for a walk. I want to hear more about this romance with Declan.”

  “I didn’t call it a romance,” Jade said.

  “That’s what it is though? Right?” Maggie asked.

  Jade liked Declan. He made her feel safe and happy. The idea of him showing up at the farm brought tingles of excitement. “I hope so.”

  They walked out onto the front porch. The sight of her farm made her happy. At the end of her driveway, a black sedan was parked. “I need to call the sheriff about that. That car has been there every day and I know everyone is looking for Livia, but it’s starting to creep me out.”

  Maggie glanced in the car’s direction. “You want to call Sheriff Jeffries about an actual problem? You’d have more luck reporting it to Hawk or Josh. I haven’t seen any cars hanging around Mac or Thorne’s.”

  A few months ago, Maggie’s car had exploded in an act of violence against her, and Sheriff Jeffries had begun with the assumption that Maggie had set off the blast herself. No goodwill existed between Bud and Maggie. Lately, Bud didn’t seem to be impressing anyone. “Another reason why I hope Knox wins the election. But I should call it in. It’s getting weird. If it’s an FBI agent, they’re making it known that they’re watching, but whenever I approach to talk to them, the car speeds away.”

  “That is weird. Let’s go back inside and call the guys. I don’t like the sound of this and after what’s been going on around here the last five months, it would be wise to be overly cautious.”

  * * *

  Twenty minutes later, Mac and Thorne arrived at Hill Country. Thorne and Maggie embraced as if they hadn’t seen each other in years. Jade tried not to be jealous that her brother had found such all-consuming love. He and Maggie deserved it.

  Mac slung his arm around Jade’s shoulder.

  “You doing okay? I didn’t see the car you were talking about,” Mac said. He helped when he could, and he was a stable and loving parent figure when Jade had most needed one.

  “It was there,” Maggie said. “Watching her. Strange and creepy.”

  Thorne kissed his wife’s temple. “Maybe until things settle down, you stay close to me.”

  Maggie shot him a look. “I’m fine. I know how to protect myself and this little one.” She rubbed her belly.

  “I called Josh. He said he was planning to be in Shadow Creek tomorrow for another assignment for his security firm. He’ll keep an eye out and ask a few questions,” Mac said.

  “We could hire Hawk to do some digging into the car’s owner,” Maggie said.

  “No money for that,” Jade said.

  Three pairs of eyes turned in her direction. Though Maggie was aware of Jade’s financial constraints, Jade hadn’t told Mac or Thorne about the issues her farm was having.

  “Are you having problems with the farm?” Mac asked, concern bringing wrinkles to the corners of his eyes.

  He and Thorne had been there too. Lean years and tough times. It was part of starting a new farm, being entrepreneurs in a new venture. “Not problems. Just trying to work a few things out. Forget I mentioned it. Let’s just focus on why someone is watching me,” Jade said.

  “The FBI thinks we’re in touch with Livia,” Thorne said. “At least, they believe one of us is. For her to hide this long and evade them, she probably has help.”

  “Help in the form of her former contacts and whatever she squirreled away over the years. Not help in the form of her children.” Jade would bet her farm that her siblings and Mac weren’t helping to harbor Livia.

  “It doesn’t help that rumors keep circulating that we’ve helped her escape prison. Every time I think the community realizes we wouldn’t do that, I overhear someone whisper the name Livia and then give me a sideways look,” Mac said.

  Mac deserved better than what Livia had done to him and what he had been through after she’d had Thorne. “Until she’s caught, that’s something we’ll need to face,” Jade said.

  “Livia planned a dozen steps ahead. She has contingency plans and plenty of hidey holes to disappear into,” Mac said. His history with Livia was cloudy. Though his affair with her had been a mark on his honor, it had resulted in Thorne, a bright spot in Mac’s life. Despite his shady past with Livia, Mac had stepped up to help the Colton children when Livia was in legal trouble.

  “Then let’s hope the FBI knows more of those places and catch her soon before she slips away for good,” Thorne said.

  * * *

  Sunday afternoons were quiet in Shadow Creek. Declan enjoyed the chance to work with minimal interruptions.

  Edith had scouted a few real estate opportunities. Declan liked to have four or five projects at SinCo in various stages at any given time: analyzing the potential of a given space, deciding to purchase and arranging financing, acquiring the property and then moving through the phases of development. When he’d first started his career, he had worked one property at a time, learning the technique, mastering the ins and outs of tax codes and legalities. Now that he was more experienced and his cash flow was significantly higher, he could juggle multiple projects and he enjoyed it. To date, he only purchased and sold real estate in Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi. He wanted to be able to fly, or in some unfortunate instances, to drive to those locations when the need arose.

  All seven properties Edith had drafted portfolios for were in Texas. Spoke plainly enough about where her heart was. Staying close to Austin was important to her, doubly important as a newlywed starting a life with a man who had some deep issues: his mother and his own. Edith and Declan’s relationship would ch
ange after she married River. Declan worried about losing her, both in the workplace and as his friend. He wouldn’t be her first or only confidante. They had become brother and sister through their shared experiences. After Edith became a Colton and if she started a family of her own, Declan didn’t see how he would fit in.

  Already, after she had connected with Mac, she had found family. After Edith’s mother, Merrilee, had been admitted to an inpatient psychiatric hospital, Edith had been in foster care. Mac felt guilty for losing touch with his sister, but he was doing his best to make it right with Edith and being as supporting and loving as he could.

  Declan didn’t like the Coltons. Couldn’t trust them. What would he do at holidays? Sit around a table and pretend he was part of their family? They wouldn’t accept him any more than he could open his heart to them.

  The ties were there, of course, to the Colton clan. Being River’s paternal half brother was a connection. But Declan didn’t know how to forge a relationship with River. He had been through some tough stuff on the heels of leaving the marines. River hadn’t left willingly. An explosion had caused the loss of his right eye. Declan felt like they’d had a brotherly moment when they had been focused on finding and rescuing Edith, but even now, Declan didn’t know if he had imagined the connection or if their bond had been over mutual concern for Edith. When Edith and River were together, Declan felt like the third wheel and most definitely not part of their family.

  Thinking about it hurt more than it should. Declan’s mother had left him in Louisiana after his father betrayed the family and it all fell apart. His father had killed himself and his mother had abandoned him. His foster homes had been temporary stopovers and Edith was the one good thing to come out of them. Being alone wasn’t something Declan enjoyed, but he hadn’t been lucky enough to be born into a tight-knit family.

  Declan read through the information Edith had gathered. The properties were the type he most liked to buy. She knew him well and by working together, she had honed her business senses. The last dozen properties they had purchased had been wild financial successes. Though Edith was technically his assistant, she was more like a partner and he paid her as such.