Angel of Mercy & Standoff at Mustang Ridge

by Heather Graham

  “Then make the arrests,” Royce said.

  “I can’t.” Lott didn’t seem pleased about that, either. “I needed a specific set of papers to tie Travis to all of this, and Sophie claims she didn’t find them.” Lott’s gaze froze on her.

  “I don’t know what you mean,” Sophie lied.

  Maybe it was a guilty conscience, but Lott seemed to see right through the lie. “You’re not helping yourself by hiding them. And you’re not helping your father.”

  “What papers?” Royce asked.

  Sophie tried not to react, was sure she failed, and gave Royce a look that she hoped he would understand—a silent promise to tell him the truth when Lott wasn’t around.

  Or at least the semitruth.

  Of course, she’d already mentioned to Royce that she’d found something that wouldn’t paint her father in a good light, so this wasn’t a total surprise. Except that Royce had no idea how important those papers were to Lott’s investigation.

  The silence that settled over the room was long and uncomfortable. She prayed that Lott didn’t press for those papers. Prayed, too, that Royce didn’t press her for an immediate explanation.

  Lott pushed his thumb against his chest. “I’m in charge of this investigation, and withholding evidence is a crime.”

  “A crime,” Royce repeated before she could respond and tell Lott to take a hike for threatening her. “Yeah. There’s been quite a few of those on your watch. So, since you’re in charge, you can tell me who hired that goon in there.” He hitched his thumb in the direction of the holding cell up the hall.

  “Oh, I will, as soon as I know,” Lott insisted. “As soon as Sophie starts cooperating. And if necessary, I’ll get a court order to take Sophie into custody as a material witness.”

  Her stomach dropped, and she whipped toward Royce. “Can he do that?”

  Royce glared at the agent. “Not without a fight, and trust me, I’ll fight it.”

  “So will I,” Chet said, stepping to her other side.

  Sophie didn’t know who looked more surprised by that—Royce, Lott or her. She hadn’t expected Royce’s father to back her up.

  “I’m not going to let some pissant federal agent come in here and ride roughshod over us,” Chet added.

  “Like father, like son, I see,” Lott grumbled.

  She felt Royce’s arm stiffen and knew that was a major insult, but he didn’t say anything. Maybe that’s because some movement outside the building caught everyone’s attention. A familiar car came to a stop behind Royce’s SUV, and her brother, Stanton, stepped out.

  Sophie didn’t care for the timing of Stanton’s visit. She wasn’t up to chatting with anyone, but her brother had made it clear earlier that they needed to talk, so it was no surprise that he’d come.

  The surprise, however, was Agent Lott’s reaction.

  Lott mumbled some profanity and looked at Sophie. “You might want to rethink that protective custody.”

  She shook her head. “Why, because of my brother?”

  “Yeah,” Lott warned. “You’d be stupid to trust him.”

  “What the heck does that mean?” Royce asked the agent just as Stanton stepped inside.

  Lott turned so that he could volley glances at both Stanton and her, and he reached in his pocket and handed Sophie a business card. It was for an Amarillo attorney that she’d never heard of.

  “Who is this?” she asked. She gave the card to Royce, but he, too, only shook his head.

  “Someone you’ll want to call first chance you get,” Lott answered. “Because Stanton did more than just take pictures of you and Royce last month. A lot more.”

  “Care to explain that?” Royce insisted.

  But Lott ignored him. He shot Stanton a glare, grabbed his coat and gloves and headed for the door. “I’ll be back with that court order to take Sophie into custody.”

  11

  Royce didn’t know what to react to first—the fact that Lott was still threatening that court order, the lawyer’s business card or the bombshell the agent had dropped about Stanton.

  Stanton did more than just take pictures of you and Royce last month. A lot more.

  Since Lott hurried out the door and Stanton was making a beeline for Sophie and him, Royce decided he couldn’t delay dealing with her brother. Later, though, he’d need to make some calls to see how to stop Lott.

  But there was also the issue of those papers.

  The ones that Lott had accused Sophie of withholding. She certainly hadn’t denied it. Which meant those papers were more important than she’d led him to believe.

  The papers went on the back burner, and while Stanton was still making his way inside, Royce punched in the numbers on the card Lott had given him. The female assistant for Ellen Burkhart answered. Royce identified himself and told her that he needed to speak to the lawyer about an investigation he was conducting. The assistant told him that Ms. Burkhart was in a meeting but would call him back shortly.

  With that out of the way, Royce turned to Stanton, who was now standing directly in front of him. “What did Lott mean about the pictures?”

  Stanton didn’t have much of a reaction. It was as if he’d expected the question. Probably had. He glanced at Billy and then tipped his head to the sheriff’s office. “We should discuss this in private.”

  Sophie groaned, but inside Royce was having a more serious reaction. Mercy. What the devil had Stanton done and had it nearly gotten Sophie killed?

  “I’ll head back to the ranch,” Chet said to them when they started out of the reception area.

  Royce glanced back at him, nodded and made brief eye contact to thank his father. Later, he’d make that a real thanks for Chet’s part in staving off the attack. Royce led Sophie and Stanton to Jake’s office just off the reception area, and he shut the door.

  “Start talking,” Royce ordered Stanton.

  Sophie’s brother didn’t exactly jump into an explanation. He first helped himself to a drink of water from the cooler in the corner. “I drugged you,” Stanton said, still with his back to Sophie and him.

  Even though it was just three little words—not much to process at all—it took a few moments to sink in.

  It didn’t sink in well.

  “You did what?” Royce took a step toward him.

  “I drugged both of you,” Stanton repeated. “I put some Rohypnol—roofies—in your drinks when you were at the Outlaw Bar.”

  “My God.” And Sophie repeated it several times. Her voice was all breath now, and she, too, walked closer to Stanton. “Why?”

  Royce didn’t want to wait for the why because there was no reasonable explanation for this. Mercy. Now he knew why he couldn’t remember anything.

  “Have you lost your mind?” Royce charged forward, ready to beat him senseless, but Sophie reached him first and held him back. “What you did was stupid, reckless. Hell, even dangerous.”

  “I want to hear what he has to say,” Sophie insisted. “And then you can punch him.”

  Good. Sophie and he were on the same page there. Of course, he hadn’t figured she’d be happy about her brother drugging them. There could be no good reason for that.

  Stanton wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and leaned against the desk. “I wanted to break up Travis and you. I didn’t want you to have to marry that SOB.” And that was it, apparently what Stanton considered to be a reasonable explanation for what he’d done.

  “So your solution was to drug me and a deputy sheriff?” Sophie’s voice wasn’t a shout, but it was close.

  “I needed a way to get those pictures so I could show Travis. I figured if he saw them, he’d break things off with you.”

  “Or kill us.” Sophie huffed, cursed and let go of Royce. This time, he caught her s
ince she seemed ready to slap her brother. Stanton deserved a slap, maybe more, but Royce didn’t want Sophie to have to be the one to deliver the blow.

  “Why me?” Royce asked. “There were others at the party that night.”

  Stanton lifted his shoulder. “I saw you looking at Sophie a couple of times. I thought you were interested in her. Besides, you weren’t in a relationship with anyone else, and based on those looks, I didn’t think you’d mind making out with my sister.”

  Sophie went back to repeating some Oh, God’s. “Stanton, Royce and I didn’t just make out. We ended up in the motel. Did you plan that, too?”

  His eyes widened, and the color drained from his face. “No, of course not. I didn’t intend for things to go that far.”

  Sophie’s hands went on her hips. “Then explain how far you meant it to go.”

  Stanton nodded, swallowed hard. “I took the pictures of you kissing while you two were in Royce’s truck, and the plan was for me to get Sophie out of there. But when I went to my car to put away the camera, there were some deputies doing Breathalyzer tests. I flunked, and they took my keys.”

  Sophie looked at Royce to verify if that could have happened. He had to nod. “Jake had a couple of deputies from nearby towns come in and do the tests so we could cut back on DUIs and accidents.”

  Stanton made a sound of agreement. “They wouldn’t let me leave, and by the time I passed the test an hour later, I couldn’t find either of you.”

  “Because we were in the motel,” Sophie informed him through clenched teeth.

  Her brother squeezed his eyes shut a moment. “God, I’m so sorry. What happened? I mean, did you...”

  That was one apology Royce wasn’t about to accept. “I have a vague recollection of us walking over to the motel. Or rather staggering there. But I don’t remember what happened once we were inside, because you drugged us.”

  That hung in the air between them for several long moments. “I didn’t mean for things to go this far. I just didn’t want Sophie to have to marry Travis.”

  “Neither did I,” Sophie said. “But this wasn’t the way to make that happen.”

  Stanton paused, studied her face. “You’re not still marrying Travis, are you?”

  “No,” she snapped. “I prefer not to say ‘I do’ to someone who’s possibly trying to kill me.”

  “Then I stopped it,” Stanton concluded, suddenly not sounding so apologetic after all.

  “Yes, you did,” Sophie agreed. “But as plans go, this one sucked. For heaven’s sake, Stanton, did you even think it through? I mean, without the marriage you and Dad lose everything. How were you planning to fix that, huh?”

  “I’m trying to work out a deal with some, uh, loans of sorts so I can expand the ranch and bring in more livestock.”

  Royce glanced at Sophie, but she clearly didn’t know anything about this.

  “Your father’s credit is shot,” Royce reminded him. “Probably yours, too. Just who’s willing to lend you that kind of money?”

  Stanton dodged his gaze. “I’d rather not say, not until the details have been worked out.”

  Sophie groaned again. “You’re not going to a loan shark?” She didn’t wait for him to answer. “Because that hasn’t worked out well so far for the family.” She stopped, stared at Stanton. “Does this deal involve anything illegal?”

  The knock at the door stopped Stanton from answering, not that he would have anyway. Before Royce could tell the person knocking that they didn’t want to be disturbed, the door flew open, and Eldon hurried in as if there were some kind of emergency.

  “What’s going on here?” Eldon asked. “What’s happened?”

  Royce wasn’t sure he wanted to get into Stanton’s drug confession, especially when there were so many other things to discuss.

  “Someone tried to kill Sophie and me again,” Royce explained to Eldon.

  Eldon immediately looked past Royce and at Sophie. He went to her and pulled her into his arms. “Travis did this?”

  She shook her head and eased back so she could face him. “We’re not sure, but Royce does have one of the gunmen in custody, and he says he’ll tell us who hired him when his lawyer shows up.”

  Royce was glad he was watching Eldon’s expression because he didn’t miss the man’s blink. It was just a split-second change of expression before Eldon became the loving father again. He gave Sophie’s arm a pat, and then he hugged her again.

  “I need to talk to this gunman,” her father insisted, turning his attention to Royce. “I need to find out if, well, if the loan shark hired him to come after Sophie.”

  Maybe that explained the blink, but Royce wasn’t feeling very generous about taking anyone, including Eldon, off his list of suspects.

  “I can’t let you question him,” Royce explained. “He’s already made it clear that he won’t talk without his lawyer, and besides, this is an official investigation. I can’t let civilians go in there and question a suspect. I’ve already called in the Rangers to assist me with the interrogation.”

  Not because Royce didn’t think he could do the job, he could, but he wanted a Ranger present. There was a clear conflict of interest here since Royce himself had been one of the gunman’s targets and therefore couldn’t be impartial. He didn’t want the gunman’s lawyer to use that in some way to get his client out of the charges that would be filed against him.

  Eldon nodded as if that was the answer he expected. However, there was also fear in his eyes. “Ask him if he’s working for Teddy Bonner, the loan shark.”

  “Oh, I will,” Royce assured him. In fact, he would ask that right after demanding to know if the man worked for Travis.

  Eldon turned, looked at Stanton. “Why are you here?”

  “I had to talk to Royce and Sophie.” Stanton paused and groaned softly. “Last month, I drugged them and took some compromising pictures to show Travis.”

  That reaction was much more than a blink. Eldon moved fast. He shoved Stanton against the wall. “You did what?” he snarled.

  Sophie got between them and maneuvered her father away. Royce made sure Eldon stayed back by latching on to him.

  “Stanton didn’t want me to marry Travis,” Sophie explained. “And he thought this was the way to prevent it.”

  Eldon opened his mouth, closed it. Every muscle in his body went board stiff, and he seemed too outraged to speak.

  “I couldn’t let her marry Travis,” Stanton added. “I had to do something.”

  “You had to do this?” Eldon cursed and turned away from his son. “The attacks hadn’t even happened yet. There was no reason to do anything this extreme. Besides, I still think the attacks are tied to the loan shark, not Travis.”

  Royce didn’t like the sound of that. “Are you saying you think Sophie should go through with a marriage to Travis?”

  It took several long moments for Eldon to answer. “No.” But his tone said yes. So did his body language. “He hit her. I don’t want her to be with a man like that. But I have to see this from the other side, too. If Sophie could have married him, just for a month or two, then the family wouldn’t lose everything.”

  Royce hadn’t been wrong about those body language cues. Eldon still wanted this marriage. And while he didn’t agree with Stanton’s drug plan, Royce was glad it had succeeded in ending Sophie’s engagement.

  Of course, it might have created another situation if she was indeed pregnant. Despite everything going on, Royce was beyond anxious for her to have that test done.

  Stanton moved away from the wall, fixed his clothes that had gotten askew when his father grabbed him. “There’s no guarantee that Travis would have given us the money. You can’t trust him. He could have married Sophie, murdered her and claimed all her money as his.”

  “We could have fo
rced Travis to sign a prenup,” Eldon pointed out.

  “Again, no guarantees,” Stanton reminded him. “Besides, you and I created this financial mess. Not Sophie. She shouldn’t have to pay for what we did.” He looked at Royce and his sister. “I’m really sorry about what happened.”

  Stanton didn’t wait to see if his apology would be accepted, and he turned and walked out. And Royce let him go. For now. He might still arrest Stanton for slipping Sophie and him that drug, but that was minor considering everything else that was going on.

  Eldon didn’t waste any time going back to Sophie and pulling her into his arms. “Your brother’s right about one thing,” Eldon said softly. “I shouldn’t have asked you to get me out of this financial mess.”

  Royce saw her grimace, and he figured she was feeling a lot of things right now. Anger for what Stanton did. Fear from the attack. But she also clearly loved her father and maybe saw this as a failure on her part.

  “Stanton said he’s trying to work out something to have the debts paid off,” Sophie told her father. “Any idea what?”

  Eldon eased away from her, and like Sophie, there was a boatload of concern in his eyes. “No. But I’ll find out and let you know.” He kissed her cheek. “I love both Stanton and you, and I know you were just trying to help me by marrying Travis. I’m so sorry it’s all come to this.”

  There was nothing but fatherly love in Eldon’s tone and in the last look he gave Sophie before he walked out. It didn’t take Sophie long to react to that fatherly love, either. She groaned, made a sound of pure frustration and rubbed her hands over her face.

  “I hate to see him like this,” she mumbled.

  Yeah. Fatherly love could create a lot of guilt. Royce didn’t have that problem because Chet wasn’t loving. Well, not like Eldon, anyway. And it made Royce wonder. Eldon hadn’t begged and pleaded with Sophie to go through with the marriage to Travis, but maybe he thought that fatherly love/guilt was enough to push Sophie back in Travis’s direction.

  “Do you trust him?” Royce came right out and asked.