The Luxury of Being Stubborn (The Stubborn Series Book 4)

by Jeanne Arnold

  “Nothing to it,” said Judson.

  “Do you do this often?” I asked. Even if he wasn’t going to be truthful, I needed to hear myself talk. It always calmed me.

  “Once a month. My Betsy’s all over the place.”

  “So you fly to see her in your private jet?”

  “If she’s working in the states. Otherwise I hitch a ride on the HalRem jet. It flies intercontinental.”

  Gabe pinched my neck as the plane lifted off the ground. I wanted him to join in and ask questions. “When did you get married?” I asked.

  Judson leaned back and brought his hands together in front of his mouth like he was going to pray. I didn’t blink. I had his full attention.

  “Two years ago.”

  I felt Gabe’s body shift and tense beside me. “Does Joel know?” I asked.

  Judson nodded and set his hands in his lap. “He introduced us. Betsy’s a powerhouse. My brother was fighting ExxonMobil for her contract and called me to help reel her in.”

  “I thought you go after bad guys,” I said. “Aren’t you a bounty hunter?”

  “I’m a bail bondsman. However, I go after my own investment. I have skills that allow me to branch out into other vocations.”

  “Skills that allow you to buy private jets and traipse around the world with nothing tying you down,” Gabe muttered.

  “Do you get to keep the bail money and that’s how you make a living?”

  “No, missy. Bail enforcement is my hobby. It doesn’t earn me squat.” He took off his cowboy hat and set it on the cushion. Then he chuckled. “Man, you don’t stop with the questions.”

  “So how come you never told Gabe about Elizabeth? How come she didn’t know you had children? That’s a big secret to keep.”

  I sensed Gabe was uncomfortable. If he hadn’t been belted to his seat, he would have been out of the room in a pinch.

  To my surprise, Judson unbuckled his seat belt. We hadn’t reached cruising altitude. He stood and straightened his belt buckle. Then he reached for his hat and set it on his head. “I think we’ll do this when we land.”

  Gabe didn’t say anything, although a small part of me hoped he would stand up and demand that Judson answer me.

  “You’ll answer my questions when we land?”

  “I’ve been forthcoming, have I not?” He tipped his cowboy hat. “Make yourselves at home.”

  “Can you at least tell us how long the flight is?”

  “A little over four hours,” Judson said as he entered the next room and then shut the door behind him.

  Gabe unbuckled his seat belt. He fell over and rested his head on his hand.

  “What if we crash?” I asked.

  “I’ll be asleep if we crash. C’mere.” He grabbed a fistful of my tank top and tugged.

  I unbuckled my seat belt and stretched out beside him. He slung an arm over me, and we lay together in silence while the jet continued to climb.

  “Sometimes I think I’m dreaming,” I said after a few minutes of listening to the aircraft sounds. “Where do you think we’re going?”

  “Texas,” he drawled. “It’s about four or five hours.”

  “What answers can he give us in Texas?” I rolled over so I could see Gabe’s face. I studied the freckles on his nose. They were adorable. I loved how they were darker in the summer.

  His hand was in my back pocket. He pulled me closer until we were touching from head to toe. Then he whispered in his hallmark drawl, “Wanna join the club?”

  I laughed into his neck. “No way.”

  “You got a quarter on you?”

  “No,” I said. “Why?”

  He reached between us and fished a coin out of his pocket and then held it to his forehead. “Heads I win, tails you lose.”

  I stared at him for a beat and then covered his lips with mine. He leaned over me excitedly and made me slide to my back on the leather. Soon we were a tangled mess of arms and legs and lips. The kiss fired up fast. We got lost in the moment.

  A bell chimed in the speakers. I pushed Gabe off my chest and gasped for a breath.

  “We’ve reached cruising altitude. Feel free to move about the cabin as you wish,” the pilot announced.

  “Feel free to get undressed now,” Gabe said as a grin painted his rosy features.

  I slithered out of his arms and sat up. “What are we going to do for four hours?”

  He snorted and rubbed his chest. “You have the shortest memory on earth.”

  “We’re not alone up here.”

  “An in-flight movie would be my second choice.” Gabe stretched across my lap and grabbed a remote from the table. He pointed it in the air. The glossy wall separated and a screen appeared. “Chuck Norris is waiting.”

  We ate delicious sandwiches and watched two back-to-back movies before the pilot announced he was preparing to land. Judson popped in to check on us every hour. I didn’t bother asking him what he was doing behind the closed door. I liked my quiet time with Gabe. He was sitting on the floor in front of me while I played with his hair. He seemed content keeping his pants on and watching Kung Fu.

  Judson shook hands with the pilot and the butler and then climbed in a white Suburban that was idling in the open lot at the end of the runway where we landed. I had no idea where we were until I saw his rear license plate. Gabe saw it too. He looked disappointed. He wanted to go to Texas.

  “Is this your truck?” I asked from the middle row of seats. I sat behind Gabe. A Texas flag hung from the rearview mirror.

  “Yup,” Judson said as we pulled out of the airport. The landscape reminded me of Texas and North Dakota mixed together.

  “You live in Oklahoma?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I live here part-time.”

  “Where’s the other part?” Gabe asked. “Does your wife live here?”

  I leaned into the center of the truck so I could hear their conversation better.

  “Why did you bring Gabe here last month?” I asked.

  No answer. I crossed my arms and sat back. I was going to figure him out. He was aggravating, yet the whole idea of being flown across five states with no explanation was keeping me in suspense.

  Judson drove through arid, flat lands that were scattered with pump jacks. There were hardly any trucks on the boring stretch of road. When he turned off the main highway, I started paying better attention. The road was rough. Trees began to fill in the landscape.

  “Welcome to Tornado Alley.”

  “Have you seen a tornado?” I asked.

  “Sure have. They hunt down the Haldens every few years.”

  We were headed to a lakefront property. The water appeared out of nowhere, suddenly visible through the trees. We drove up to a two-story structure with several garage doors on one side of the road and a huge lodge building on the other.

  “It’s a private lake. Skinny dippers—have no fear.”

  “My kind of lake,” Gabe said and bumped my arm as he helped me out of the Suburban.

  “Are we staying here?” I asked as I turned around to take in the beautiful estate. There were no visible cars or people. I could see a dock jutting out from the beach. “Is this a house or a business?”

  “Both. Why don’t y’all come in and have a look?”

  We grabbed our bags from the trunk. Judson pulled out a suitcase. I hadn’t noticed that he brought one. I followed Gabe and Judson through a side door that led us into a kitchen that overlooked the lake where the sun was going down. The orange and pink sky made the kitchen cabinetry look like it was on fire.

  Judson opened a refrigerator. He selected a bottle of beer and tossed it at Gabe, who caught it and opened it. When he was about to toss one at me, I shook my head. “I won’t tell,” he drawled. “It’s just one beer.”

  “Where is this?” Gabe asked as he drank his beer. “Are we near the border?”

  I tried to pinpoint where we were on the drive, but I couldn’t get cell coverage.

  “Texas? Nope. We’re just
west of Tulsa. Five-hour drive from Benjamin.”

  I leaned on the center island and stared at Judson. “Is now the right time to ask why we’re here?”

  He laughed. “Come with me,” he said.

  Gabe wove his fingers through mine. “I like it here,” he whispered and squeezed my hand. “You gotta lighten up.”

  “Why? So he can get away with lying to you some more? Why didn’t he bring you here before?”

  Gabe shrugged.

  “What’s the hold up? Dick around on your own time,” Judson shouted from the next room.

  He was standing at another wall of windows that was made of triangular-shaped cutouts and stained glass designs in a great room. It was exactly what I wanted Gabe’s lodge to look like when he finished it.

  “Nice digs,” Gabe said as a phone rung on Judson’s body. “You live here?”

  “Sorry.” Judson held up a finger and pulled his phone out of his shirt pocket and then walked into a room behind us. “I gotta take this.”

  I glared at Gabe. He was resting on the arm of a sectional sofa that wrapped around a fireplace. He set his cowboy hat on the seat.

  “Just when you decide to open your mouth and demand an explanation, he leaves. I give up.”

  Judson came out of the room. He shut the door tight. “Y’all make yourselves at home. I have to step out. I’ll throw some dogs on the grill when I get back. Help yourselves to anything, you hear?”

  He galloped out through the kitchen and slammed the door. We listened to his truck take off, and then both of us looked around like lost sheep.

  “How much at home should we make ourselves?” I asked. “Is this his house?”

  Gabe slid down the cushion, sat back, and stretched out his long legs. “How the heck is this all his? How does he have a jet?”

  “Great question. You should’ve asked when you had the chance.”

  I walked toward the wall of windows and unlocked the double door. I stepped out onto the impressive porch and watched the sun fall behind the lake as it changed the scene from day to night.

  “This is beautiful.”

  “This has gotta be his. He’s got something going on,” Gabe speculated quietly. I tried to turn and look at him, but he strung his arms through mine and sighed in my ear.

  “Something big. Do you think it’s illegal?”

  He laughed. It was guttural and sinister. “Like drug smuggling?”

  “I don’t know. He doesn’t own oil wells. He said his work is a hobby. What else could it be?”

  “His wife’s a prominent lawyer. She wouldn’t let him get away with it.”

  “Or she’s in on it. Maybe she’s in North Dakota on a mission to get him out of being charged for murder. What if he murdered the guy on the farm way back for drug money?”

  Gabe didn’t answer. It was farfetched.

  “He’s always been out of the picture. Private,” he told me. “He freaking got married and didn’t tell anyone.”

  “He was in love with your mother and had two kids and no one knew.”

  Gabe released his hands on my waist. He scratched his head and made his hair stick up. “I gotta know what he was doing with Barrett the other day.”

  “Let’s hope he won the lottery and was giving him a loan,” I said as I turned around and walked inside. The view of the room looking in was familiar.

  “This place reminds me of my lodge,” said Gabe from the doorway. “It’s the same layout.”

  I pointed to the second floor. “I was thinking the exact same thing. You have rooms up there. You have that wraparound balcony and a fireplace in the same spot.”

  Gabe explored the space and picked up items and examined paintings on the wall. I went straight to the room where Judson had been and turned the doorknob and opened the door. It was an office with a big desk and a conference table. The walls were lined with book shelves and windows.

  “He didn’t say not to go in here,” I told Gabe when he flashed me a look. I stepped inside and drew my gaze up to the second story. The room was at least twenty feet tall. There were twelve guns standing in a glass case on one of the walls. I didn’t touch anything as I walked around.

  “Holy shit—books,” Gabe said as his eyes lit up.

  “I never took him for a big reader,” I said.

  “Maybe they aren’t his. But those are. The lieutenant has that same Springfield. They got them as kids.” He wagged his finger at the rifles. “Me and Eli used to fight over who was going to inherit it.”

  Gabe returned to the books and started pulling out titles and setting them on the table while I glanced at the contents of the desk. Judson’s name was on the top envelope on a stack of mail. I tapped the pile and it toppled. “Judson Halden care of Valentine Enterprises.”

  “What’s that?” Gabe asked as he ran his hands along the spines of the books. He was making his way around the room and watching me at the same time.

  “Valentine Pipeline Enterprises,” I said as I read it again. “All of these say VPE.”

  “Look it up.”

  I pulled my phone out of my shorts. It was dead. I needed to get a new battery.

  “Check on your phone.”

  Gabe patted his pockets and lifted his T-shirt to reveal his midsection. He shook his head, and the sides of his eyes crumpled. “I musta left it in the truck. Damn. I hope it’s not on the plane.”

  “I’ve heard the name somewhere,” I said.

  Gabe approached me with a book in his hand. “I told you Valentine was my grandfather’s partner. Check this out.”

  He held open a book.

  “Is that someone’s initials? Wait, that’s your mother.”

  “Yup. I wonder how many other books are hers.”

  “How did he get them?”

  “I stole them,” Judson said in a deep voice from the doorway.

  I got a chill along my spine. Gabe and I locked eyes and turned to the voice.

  “No, go ahead. Snoop all you want,” Judson told us. “Then I won’t have to answer so many questions.”

  “That was fast. Where did you go?” I asked. Gabe returned his attention to the books. He had a few balancing in the crook of his elbow.

  Judson sat on top of his desk and lifted his hat off his head. He ran his fingers through his bangs and then placed the hat on the desk beside the envelopes. “I had a small crisis communication management issue. The crisis was averted as I was heading out.”

  “You sound like Joel,” I said. Gabe was off in book heaven.

  Judson looked up. “I’ll have to work on that.”

  “Do you work for Valentine Pipeline?”

  Gabe dropped the pile of books he was collecting. He straightened without picking them up. “Hey, these are all mom’s books.”

  Judson nodded. “I was going to divide them up for you and Deliah.”

  “Did you really steal them?” I asked.

  His lips formed a line as if he was contemplating what to say.

  “This place looks like Gabe’s lodge,” I said when he didn’t answer.

  “Sara loved that lodge. I built this to look like her home,” he said as he drew his eyes around his office. “You know, Avery? I was thinking on my way out—you’d make a mighty fine FBI agent.”

  I raised my eyebrows and cocked my head. “You’d make a great CIA agent.”

  We all turned to the sound of a lawnmower coming at the house at warp speed. Seconds later a helicopter shot out of the trees and flew so close to the windows I jumped back. The pilot waved.

  Gabe abandoned his books and sprinted across the room to the windows. He touched my shoulders as if to protect me. “What do they want with you?”

  Judson walked over to Gabe. I turned to look at both of them. “Nothing,” he said as a matter of fact. “It’s my Sikorsky doing a security sweep.”

  Gabe opened his mouth but didn’t say anything. The helicopter was circling back. I watched outside for another appearance.

  All of a sudden
Gabe got in Judson’s face. “What in the friggin’ hell is going on here?”

  Judson ran his fingers along his jaw. Almost the same height, they appeared to be staring each other down. Then Judson broke the silence.

  “On the porch, boy,” he said and sauntered out of the room with his thumbs jammed behind his belt buckle.

  I didn’t follow Gabe. It took all of the will power I could muster from deep inside. If he was finally in the mood to get Judson to talk, he didn’t need my help. The doors to the porch were wide open when I left the office. I sat in a chair beside the wall of windows and watched their figures as they turned into shadowed silhouettes. My palms were sweating. The suspense was indescribable. Gabe paced while Judson leaned against a railing with his cowboy hat on and his arms crossed.

  I could only hear bits and pieces of their discussion. Gabe didn’t stop moving for the first twenty minutes. His voice was heated. Then he sat on a step and faced the water with his hands on his head. A short while later Judson stepped inside and waved me out in a way that made me think he wanted me to comfort Gabe. I couldn’t imagine what he told him.

  “Hey,” I said to Gabe. The steps went all the way down a hill to the water. He didn’t remove his hands from his head. I sat quietly and bit back everything I wanted to ask.

  “I’ll fetch some grub. We’ll eat out here,” said Judson.

  Lights went on along the shore and across the porch. The lakefront came alive. The water twinkled like a billion diamonds in the moonlight. I leaned into Gabe’s shoulder, and he didn’t make a sound. Judson opened a window in the kitchen, and I could hear what he was doing.

  When I couldn’t take another minute of Gabe’s silence, I asked, “Are you okay?”

  “I think I am,” he said a few octaves higher than his usual voice. “I don’t know.” His shoulders were trembling ever so slightly. I held onto his arm.

  “Tell me he had nothing to do with the skull.” My voice shook. He was scaring me.

  “He didn’t do it.”

  “That’s good.”

  He turned and looked at me with shaded eyes. I couldn’t read his expression, but his body language was telling me he was in shock. “He had something to do with it—but he didn’t kill him.”