by B. J Daniels
Was it possible he was in town just to see his grandmother, and his brother had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time last night? It was beginning to seem that way.
She studied him, realizing he was much harder to read than most people. He must make a damned good private investigator. And like her, she suspected he didn’t let most people in.
There was something about him that made her also suspect he’d been hurt by someone. She felt that, rather than saw it, a built-in empathy for others you recognize because they’ve gone through something akin to what you have. A sixth sense. Who had hurt him? she wondered.
Raine heard Cordell swear as rain pinged off the hood, falling harder and faster. The car swerved several times in the mud forming on the surface of the road. Ahead she spotted a huge log arch over a narrow, weed-choked road. The sign on the arch read, Winchester Ranch, and Cordell seemed to relax as he slowed the car to make the turn.
She felt her heart beat a little faster as he drove down the road, the weeds between the ruts scraping loudly along the undercarriage to the beat of the pouring rain. She could feel the tires spinning out as the ranch lodge came into view.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Cordell’s expression was one of dread. “So you really haven’t been here in twenty-seven years?”
“Not since I was seven. This is the first time I’ve been invited back.”
“You must have been a pretty awful kid.”
Through the rain and the sweep of the wipers, she stared at the ranch buildings nestled against the hillside. The place looked very Western and rustic. A sprawling log structure, it ran out in at least a couple of wings and climbed to three stories on one of what appeared to be an older wing.
“About my grandmother… She’s…” He seemed at a loss for words. He let out a sigh. “You’ll see soon enough.”
Raine sat up straighter as they dropped down the slippery slope to the massive ranch lodge, not surprised that she was anxious to meet Cordell’s grandmother.
“How do you plan to explain me?” she asked.
He gave a devastating smile that made the interior of the car seem too intimate and definitely too close. “I’m going to tell her you’re a car thief.”
“That should impress her,” she said as he brought the car to a stop in front of the log mammoth. A curtain moved on the second floor. An old blue heeler hobbled out into the rain to growl next to the car. Other than that, nothing moved.
“Didn’t I hear something about a couple of murders on this ranch a month or so ago?” Raine asked as it suddenly hit her why the name Pepper Winchester had sounded so familiar.
Chapter Five
“I’m sure it won’t be the last murder out here, either,” Cordell said as he stared at the ranch lodge. If it hadn’t been for the rain, he would have turned around and left. But the roads had already begun to turn to gumbo.
Now he would have to see his grandmother when he hadn’t been the one who’d wanted to come here in the first place. Cyrus had been the one determined to see this place and now— Just the thought of his brother brought a wave of pain. The twin connection that had comforted him since they were born was still gone. He felt as if a part of him had been ripped out.
He’d left his number with the hospital along with instructions that they were to call if there was any change at all in his twin’s condition. Unfortunately, there was no cell phone service out here. He checked his phone anyway. No messages. He didn’t know whether to feel relieved or more concerned. He just had to believe that Cyrus would come out of this.
“Looks like we’ll have to make a run for it,” he said, noting that the rain didn’t look as if it planned to let up.
As he got out of the car, Cordell realized it had probably been a mistake to bring Raine here. Next thing he knew she’d be doing an investigative piece on the Winchesters and who knew how many more secrets were hidden in these old walls?
The front door opened as he and Raine ran toward the lodge. He was taken aback to realize the small, broomstick-thin elderly woman in the doorway was Enid Hoagland. His brother Cyrus would have gotten a kick out of the fact that the mean old woman was still alive.
“Which one are you?” Enid demanded as she stepped back to let them into the small foyer.
Before he could answer, his grandmother appeared. “He’s Cordell,” Pepper Winchester said. “Enid, why don’t you make something hot to drink for our guests? They’re soaked to the skin.”
Enid didn’t look the least bit happy about being sent away. For a moment, Cordell thought she would refuse to go. But with a huff, she turned and disappeared into the dim interior.
He was shocked that his grandmother had recognized him. She hadn’t been able to tell him and Cyrus apart when they were younger. Why now? Unless maybe she’d heard about Cyrus’s accident.
“This must be your wife,” Pepper said, turning her gaze on Raine.
Cordell flushed, realizing of course his grandmother hadn’t heard about his divorce. He’d just assumed everyone for thousands of miles around would have heard since it had been such an ugly one.
“No, this is Raine Chandler,” he said. “My wife and I are divorced.”
His grandmother raised a brow. “So like my attorney to get it wrong. I’d fire him if he was still in my employ.” She smiled as she shook Raine’s hand, her old eyes seeming to bore into the younger woman.
“Raine is an investigative reporter,” he said.
Pepper winced.
“Don’t worry, she isn’t investigating the Winchesters.” He took a breath and let it out slowly. “At least not yet,” he said under his breath. “So you’ve heard. Cyrus was attacked last night outside his hotel room in Whitehorse and is in the hospital in a coma.”
Pepper’s hands went to her chest. “I hadn’t heard. Is he…”
His grandmother’s concern surprised him. That and the fact that she really had been able to distinguish him from his brother apparently. Had she always been and just hadn’t bothered?
“It’s too early to know his prognosis,” Cordell said. “The doctor is hopeful he will regain consciousness soon. We all are.”
“Yes,” his grandmother agreed. “I’m sorry.” She glanced out at the rental car. “You’ll have to bring in your own bags. Alfred…”
“Yes, I heard. But we won’t be staying,” Cordell said.
“Why ever not?” his grandmother demanded.
“We’re just here to wait out the storm,” he said.
She raised a brow. “You were just in the area and decided to drop by? Enid has already made up two rooms anyway.”
Cordell started to argue, but realized this might be for the best. He and Raine would have the privacy they needed if they had rooms away from his grandmother and Enid. And if the storm let up…
“So this investigative piece you’re writing…” Pepper said, turning to Raine now that the lodging was settled.
“It’s about child abductions, one in particular. You might remember it. A ten-year-old girl named Emily Frank. She was abducted on her way home from school sixteen years ago in Whitehorse.”
Pepper frowned. “I’m sorry, I don’t remember.” But clearly she also didn’t want to hear any more about it. “I’ll make sure Enid has your rooms ready while Cordell gets your bags.” With that she turned and left them.
THE PHONE RANG AS Pepper Winchester started down the hall. She picked up one of the extensions before Enid could. “Hello.”
The news about Cordell’s twin had shaken her. But given the information, she wasn’t surprised to hear the voice on the other end of the line.
“Mother?” She hadn’t heard her son Brand Winchester’s voice in twenty-seven years. It surprised her that it could fill her with such a landslide of emotions. “Have you heard about Cyrus?”
“Yes, just now when Cordell arrived. He’s out bringing in his bags.”
“He’s staying there?” He sounded both surprised and disapproving.
“I heard about that. I’m going to be coming out.”
Her daughter, Virginia, had said it would take a gun to Brand’s head to get him to ever come back to the ranch even for a visit. Pepper couldn’t wait to tell Virginia how wrong she’d been. It had taken his son’s accident to get Brand back here.
“I hope you’ll stay here at the ranch.” She didn’t mention that his old-maid sister Virginia was also here. She didn’t think Virginia’s presence at the ranch would be a draw for her brother, but just the opposite.
Brand hesitated so long Pepper found herself getting irritated and had to squelch saying something she would regret.
“All right,” he finally agreed and Pepper heard the telltale sound of Enid replacing the extension in the kitchen. “I’ll be there tomorrow after I see Cyrus at the hospital.”
“Plan on having supper with us,” Pepper said. “The roads should be dry enough by then.” She hung up and stood for moment thinking that her plan had worked in ways she hadn’t expected.
After twenty-seven years, they were all wandering back to the ranch. She found little satisfaction in it, though, as she walked down the hall and shoved open the kitchen door. She’d thought that letting them believe she was dying would do the trick—that and greed. Surprisingly only one had fallen for that—Virginia.
Pepper shoved her annoyance with her only daughter away and considered that things might work out after all. With luck she would discover which of her spawn was a traitor and a murderer.
“MY GRANDMOTHER WASN’T being insensitive about the story you’re working on. Although she can be insensitive without much effort,” Cordell said, seeing Raine’s expression when he returned with the bags from the car.
He shook off the rain from his jacket as he set down the bags in the entryway. She hadn’t packed much for a possible extended stay in Montana. He wondered how long she’d planned to stay.
“As I told you, my grandmother’s been a recluse for the past twenty-seven years,” he continued when she didn’t say anything. “I’m sure she didn’t hear about anything that’s happened during that time.”
“What made her become a recluse?” Raine asked, looking into the dim interior of the house beyond the entryway.
“Her youngest son had disappeared, believed to have run off,” he said, keeping his voice down. “Apparently it was more than she could bear.” Cordell hesitated as a thought struck him. “Funny, but she seems to be taking his murder better than his disappearance. Odd, huh.”
“He was murdered?”
Cordell nodded. “Twenty-seven years ago. So what do you think she did? She invited the rest of her family back to Winchester Ranch, a family she hadn’t seen in all those years.”
“Maybe she wants to try to make up for it before she dies.”
He shook his head. “She’s up to something, something no good.”
“But you still came back.”
“I only came back because of my brother Cyrus. You and I are here only because of the storm and I needed someplace where I can keep an eye on you.”
“You’re not very trusting, are you?”
He didn’t bother to answer. “You couldn’t get me within five hundred miles of this place and that old woman in there if I had any other choice.” He saw Raine’s reaction. “Do you believe in evil?”
She seemed startled by the question.
“I don’t know if it is this place or what this place does to people.”
“Places aren’t evil. People are,” she said with conviction.
“Are you going to spend the rest of the day out there talking or let me show you to your rooms?” Enid demanded as she suddenly appeared, startling them both.
“Speaking of evil,” Cordell said under his breath.
RAINE LOOKED AROUND the ranch lodge, wondering about the Winchesters, especially Cordell Winchester, as she followed Enid up the stairs.
Divorced. She should have known. That could explain the coldness she’d felt in him. His ex had broken his heart, she’d bet money on it. He had all the classic symptoms of a man who had been betrayed by the woman he’d loved.
She dragged her gaze away from him and considered his weird family and this place where they lived that he thought evil. The Winchester Ranch lodge looked as if it had been dropped from an old Western movie set.
The log walls, a rich patina, were covered with Native American rugs, dead animal heads and Western art that looked old and expensive.
Enid was faster than she looked and Raine had to hurry to catch her, Cordell coming slowly up the stairs behind them.
Enid opened a door into a large room with a sit ting room and huge bed and private bath. “This is your room,” she said as if she thought Raine planned to sneak off and find Cordell’s as soon as the lights went out.
“Cordell’s room is across the hall.” Enid glanced down the stairs as if to make it known that anyone on the lower floor would be able to see her if she left her room for any reason.
“Thank you,” Raine said, wishing she was in some nondescript motel room. She’d never liked staying with strangers and the Winchester family and the hired help seemed about as strange as anyone could get.
As she glanced at Cordell, she was reminded of his brother. She could see the worry on his face and felt overwhelmed with guilt at the knowledge that the twin brother who’d saved her life was now fighting for his. She had no choice but to help Cordell.
“Your room is across the hall,” Enid said to Cordell.
“Thank you,” he said. “That will be all.”
The elderly housekeeper gave him a withering look, spun on her heel and disappeared down the staircase.
Cordell stepped through the open door to his equally large suitelike room and set down Raine’s overnight bag, purse and satchel on the table. He glanced at the fire going in the fireplace, then at the open-curtained French doors that led out onto the small balcony.
“I’m not going to try to escape,” Raine said, entering his room. “I’d like my things in my room.”
He nodded toward her overnight bag and purse. “They’re all yours. I still need to go through the satchel.”
Her gaze went to the double bed on the ornate iron frame. It was identical to the one in her room and would take a footstool to climb into it. Several homemade quilts were piled onto the end of the bed, making her wonder how cold it got out here at night.
Enid had made a point of letting them know she thought they were already sleeping together and that being forced to get two rooms ready only made more work for her. The old woman wasn’t as sharp as she thought she was, Raine thought. But the grandmother…well, Raine thought everyone probably underestimated her.
Cordell dumped the contents of her leather satchel onto the table by the window and Raine closed the bedroom door behind her. She didn’t want him going through everything without her here. Nor did she want everyone in the household to know what they would be discussing. Cordell didn’t seem to notice she hadn’t left.
She liked the sound of the rain as she stepped to the French doors, opening them a crack. She felt as if she needed the fresh air. She’d never liked being closed in. She looked out over the ranch, feeling antsy and wondering how long they would have to stay here. There was something about the place that made her uneasy. Or was she just anxious about what was going to happen next?
“Hopefully the rain will stop soon and it will dry up enough that we will be able to leave later tonight,” Cordell said behind her.
Raine watched the pouring rain thinking his grandmother was probably right. They were stranded here at least for the night.
She closed the door and stepped back into the room. Cordell had sat down at the table and was gingerly looking through the photographs and other information she’d gathered. She took a chair across from him.
“If you’re just writing about Emily
Frank, why do you have all these other photographs of missing children?” he asked.
She could tell the faces of all those missing children were taking their toll on him. It was impossible to look into all that innocence and know horrible things had been done to those children before their bodies had been dumped or buried or, in the case of the people Raine was looking for, burned like trash when they were finished with them.
“Because this isn’t just about Emily,” she said. “There are serial child abductors out there. Some keep the children a short period of time and kill them. Others keep them until the child is too old, then they get rid of that one and get another one the right age.”
Cordell swore under his breath. “These statistics can’t be right. About eight hundred thousand children are reported missing every year or two thousand a day?”
“Over fifty thousand of those are victims of abductions by strangers. The others are taken by family members or people they know.”
“I had no idea,” he said, clearly upset.
“Few people do unless it hits closer to home for them. Almost all of the ones abducted by strangers are taken by men.”
“I don’t understand how this can happen.”
“In eighty percent of the abductions by strangers, the first contact occurs within a quarter mile of the child’s home. In many cases, so does the abduction. Most strangers grab their victims on the street or try to lure them into their vehicles. About seventy-four percent of the victims are girls.”
Patiently, she stood and picked up a map. Opening it, she spread the map of Montana out on the table and saw his eyes widen when he noticed the dozens of colored stars.
“Don’t tell me that is where children have gone missing,” he said.
“The blues ones are believed to be runaways. The yellow ones are considered solved cases based either on a suspect’s confession or the discovery of remains. The red ones are unsolved missing children cases.”
He stared down at the map, a look of horror on his face. “And the green stars?”
“Those are only the cases a man named Orville Cline confessed to in this state. In only one study, child molesters averaged over a hundred child victims per molester.”
