by Peggy Dulle
Obviously Grace wasn’t ready to let go of it either.
When we came to a set of double oak doors, Grace knocked.
“Come in,” a voice said.
When we came in, Priscilla sat in a high backed chair in front of a roaring fire. Her lap was covered with a beautiful quilt and an open book was in her hand.
“Liza? What brings you to our doorstep so early in the morning?” she asked.
“I have some questions and I was wondering if you could take the time to talk to me,” I told her.
“Pull up a chair and enjoy the fire. Would you like something to drink?”
I glanced at the small table next to her where a mug sat. “What are you drinking?”
“Hot chocolate,” she said with a smile.
“I’ll take the same. Thanks.”
Grace went off to get my drink and I settled into the chair. It was soft and very comfortable.
“Would you like a quilt?”
“I see Sheryl Ann’s handiwork there,” I said.
“Yes, she makes them for everyone. I’ve got a chest full.”
“No, I’m okay with the fire.”
“I just can’t seem to get warm these days.” She tucked the quilt around her legs.
We sat for a few minutes while she stared into the fire and I watched her. Now that I was close to her and she obviously didn’t have any makeup on, I could tell that her cheeks were sunken and her hair thinner than I had thought it was. Had she been wearing a wig earlier in the day?
Grace came back into the room and handed me a cup of hot chocolate. I took a sip and felt the warmth all the way down to my toes. It was delicious.
“You want me to stay?” Grace asked her mother.
“No, Liza and I are fine. Would you turn up the heater?”
“Mom, you’re going to roast us out of here. I’m already sleeping naked, on top of the covers, and with all my windows wide open.” Grace laughed.
Priscilla shrugged and said, “Okay, it’s fine in here.”
When Grace had left, she asked, “What do you need to know?”
“Let’s go back ten years,” I began.
“Really?” Priscilla said, setting her cup down and turning her attention to me.
“Yes. The floods of 2000.”
“Oh, that was a mess. The trailers were floating away and everyone’s home was under five feet of water.”
“You didn’t have any flood insurance, so you took on a partner to pay for the damages, right?”
Priscilla raised her eyebrows. “Yes, but nobody knew that.”
“Was it Henry Mullins?”
“That ass? Absolutely not!”
“Then who?”
“It was a corporation out of Vegas. They heard about our problems and wanted to invest in some land, so they paid for all the damages and put the town back together.”
“And you gave them twenty-five percent of your corporation.”
She nodded. “It didn’t seem like much at the time.”
“But in the last five years, they’ve accumulated up to fifty percent of your business. How did that happen?”
“So slowly that I didn’t even notice it until six months ago. I’m not the business person that my husband was. Until he died, he took care of everything and afterwards it was left to me. I have a college degree in English – never took any math past the basics. So when we needed some money to outfit a new clinic or spruce up the town, they’d open a checkbook and I’d pay them back with another half percent of the business.”
“Who’s behind the corporation?”
“I have no idea. It’s just a name.”
“What’s the name?”
“Diamond Rio.”
I took my phone out of my purse and dialed Justin.
“Hey Teach,” his voice sounded excited. “I found it!”
“Diamond Rio?” I asked.
“You already know?” his voice deflated.
“Just found out a second ago. What can you tell me about them?”
“Big money. They’ve got fingers into over two thousand little companies. They seem to get into a company when it’s in trouble and then pick away at it until they own the entire thing. Then they sell it and move on.”
“Is there a person behind the corporation?”
“Yes, his name is Jack Daniels.”
“Like the liquor?” I asked.
“Yes, it’s hilarious, isn’t it?”
“Who is he?”
“He’s thirty years old, lives in a penthouse apartment in New York. He comes from old money out of Philadelphia. His family was in the timber business. When he was nineteen, his parents were killed in an automobile accident. The money was supposed to go into a trust for him until he was twenty-five, but he fought the will and was able to inherit a couple million dollars. He built that into a ten billion dollar corporation called Diamond Rio.”
“Is he a bad guy?”
“You mean like part of organized crime or something?”
“Yeah.”
“No, I can’t find anything like that.”
“Do you think he knows that he’s acquiring these companies through illegal activities?”
“I don’t think so, Teach. He gives money away to a multitude of charities, schools, and urban clinics every year. But I can tell you that he’s got over a thousand employees spread all over the world. I doubt he knows what they’re all doing.”
“Can you find me a phone number for the company?”
“Sure, I can do that. They’ve got lots of them on the web.”
“See if you can find me a direct line to Jack Daniels.”
“I’m on it. I’ll call you back.”
I hung up the phone and Priscilla said, “Jack Daniels?”
I told her what Justin had said about Diamond Rio and its owner.
“So Blue Stripe Enterprises is just one of many,” she nodded.
“Five years ago, did you pay off Doc Sander’s gambling debts?”
“No. Glen’s a gambler?”
I nodded.
“I didn’t know that. We started spending more time together after my husband fell off that stupid bull.”
“But you’ve been dating?” I asked.
“Not really, we’ve seen each other a few times but he’s also my doctor, too.”
“How sick are you?”
“I’ve got cancer. It started in my breasts and spread out from there. I’m done with surgeries, chemo and radiation. They all made me sicker. Now I just want to live out the time I have left with some dignity.”
“Grace told me that you had the water, air, and land tested for toxins.”
“Yes, after that stupid article came out in the Sacramento paper about there possibly being a cancer cluster here. It’s not true, there was no evidence that anything in the ground, water, or air is causing a few of us to get cancer.”
“It’s more than a few according to the doctor,” I told her.
“I know,” she nodded.
“Do you still have a copy of the reports?”
“Sure, they’re in the desk over in the corner.”
I went to a huge mahogany desk and opened the file section. There were seven files labeled testing. I pulled them out and placed them on the desk. Four of the reports stated that the hydrocarbon levels in the ground were higher than they should be. Cancer causing or oil?
“Can I have these?” I told her.
“Sure,” she shrugged. “What’s going on?”
I told her about the hydrocarbon levels and the seismic trucks.
“There’s oil in the ground?” she said when I finished.
“It’s possible.”
“Oh, then everyone would have enough money around here.”
“That’s just it. They don’t necessarily own the mineral rights. You own the land, so they belong to you.”
“I don’t want them. That’s why we lease the land to the people in this town for a dollar a year.”
�
��Somebody wants the oil.”
“This Jack Daniels guy?”
“I don’t know. I’m pretty sure Henry Mullins is behind some of this.”
“He’s a bastard, if you’ll excuse my language.”
“Yeah, but I’m thinking he works for Diamond Rio and if he can get your daughter on his side, then they have fifty-one percent of Blue Stripe Enterprises and can do what they want with the people and the land.”
“My daughter may be young and naive, but she’s not going to let him tell her what to do.”
“She lost her father five years ago and she’s searching for another one. I’m pretty sure if he told her they needed to get married to help the corporation you and your husband built, she’d do it.”
“No!” Priscilla tried to get up and started coughing, then gagging.
“What can I do?”
She pointed to the top of the desk where a carafe of water sat. I poured her some water and she drank it. I noticed that she had a little blood on her lips but didn’t make a comment. I wondered just how long she had.
My phone rang and I answered it.
“I’ve got you a number, Teach. It’s a direct line to his office in New York. I couldn’t find a home number for him.”
“Okay, give it to me.”
“How about if I text it to you and then all you need to do is touch the number and it will call it for you?”
“I can do that?”
Justin laughed and said, “Yes, hang up and I’ll send it to you.”
I pushed the red button and waited. A few seconds later my phone beeped and a number displayed in the middle of it. When I pushed the number the phone immediately dialed the number. I love modern technology! It was Sunday morning and only five a.m. in New York, so he probably wasn’t in his office but I left a message.
It was an animated voice that repeated the number and told me my party was unavailable. When it beeped I quickly told the recording everything I knew about Henry Mullins, Doc Sanders, Priscilla Banner, Grace Banner, and Blue Stripe Enterprises, leaving out the part about somebody trying to kill me, Tom, Dad, and Agent Souza. Thinking about Tom made me mad all over again. I hoped that the message machine would hold it all. Then I hung up.
Priscilla’s eyes were closed and I couldn’t tell if she was still breathing.
When I stepped closer, she opened her eyes and said, “I’m still here.”
“Good.” I put my hand on her shoulder.
I heard the door click. Good, we needed to tell Grace everything we knew.
Henry Mullins came in, pulling Grace by the arm. He had a pistol pointed at me.
CHAPTER 25
“You are not supposed to still be alive,” were the first words out of his mouth.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you,” I said, sitting back down in the chair I had occupied earlier.
“Let my daughter go!” Priscilla said to Henry.
He released Grace who went directly to her mother.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” Grace whimpered.
Priscilla smoothed Grace’s hair and said, “It’s okay.”
“What are you going to do now, Henry, kill us all?”
“Nope, I’m going to marry Grace,” he stated.
“I’m not going to marry you!” Grace said, more than a hint of disgust in her voice.
Henry pointed the gun at Priscilla. “Fine then, I’ll kill your mother.”
“No!” Grace shouted.
“If you want her to live, then you’ll marry me,” Henry told her.
Grace lowered her head in defeat and sat down on the floor in front of her mother.
Then he pointed the gun at me. “But you, I don’t need. I’ll just tell everyone I saw you leave with one of the rodeo cowboys who’ll take off after the rodeo tomorrow. After all, I saw you break up with your fiancé tonight and by tomorrow everyone in town will know about it so people will believe it.”
I glanced down at my left hand where Tom’s ring had been. “I’m a kindergarten teacher. Nobody is going to believe I would abandon my class to run away with a cowboy.”
“Father in jail and a broken engagement is enough to make anyone go off the deep end. I’ll get Doc to back me up. The town will believe us.”
“Why is Doc helping you?” I asked, even though I was pretty sure I knew the answer.
“I got a corporation to pay off his gambling debt and help set up his stupid little clinics all over this part of the country. He owes me.”
“Diamond Rio is filtering money through Blue Stripe Enterprises to set up the clinics?” I asked.
Henry stared at me for a moment. “How’d you know about Diamond Rio?”
“I knew that you didn’t have the balls or the money to be behind this oil scheme but Jack Daniels is a mover and a shaker – he could do it.”
“He doesn’t even know anything about it. I’m going to get a million dollar bonus when I hand over the rights to Blue Stripe Enterprises and all the property it owns, except this little piece of land where Grace and I are going to drill and keep the oil.” He walked over and yanked me to my feet.
He pointed the gun at Priscilla and Grace. “You call the cops and I’ll come back and kill you both. Just keep your mouth shut and you’ll both be okay.”
They didn’t have a choice, I knew that. They were each concerned for the other and I was a stranger. I didn’t blame them when they both nodded their heads in agreement.
Henry dragged me out the door, down the driveway and to my car.
“You drive. Keep it slow and easy.”
“Where are we going?”
“I’m taking you to my ranch on the other side of the town. I’ll keep you there until after the rodeo.”
“Then what?” I asked.
Henry smiled and I felt the terror spike down me.
I got into the driver’s seat, leaving my purse tucked under my arm, and Henry took the passenger seat, stabbing his gun into my side. I deliberately didn’t put on my seatbelt. If I did have the chance to escape – it would slow me down.
“Drive,” Henry grunted as he closed the door.
When the bell went off for the seatbelts, Henry fastened his and said, “Aren’t you going to put on your belt?”
“What’s the point?” I asked.
He laughed.
I wasn’t going to go back to school and see my kindergarten students graduate or even see my dad through that plastic window. And Jordan? We had just started getting along. The last face I was going to see was Henry Mullin’s smug expression.
Henry had me take the back road out of the Banner ranch. Since it was still close to three in the morning, the roads were deserted and even if I could get out of the car, where would I go? I didn’t know this area the way that he did. He had grown up here, had a ranch all his life in this place. Where could I go that he wouldn’t find me?
We took the road to the north of the town which would take us a few blocks from Doc’s house but what good would that do? He was in on this whole scheme - probably not the killing part, but everything else. That’s when I saw her. Bless Brenda and her sneak-in attitude! She was walking up the right side of the road.
I didn’t want Henry to see her, so I distracted him by asking. “So is there really oil under this dirt?”
“The geologist and the chemist think so,” he said, leaning his back against the passenger door and looking at me.
“That’s going to be worth billions, isn’t it?”
Henry smiled. “Yes, I’m going to have so much money, I’ll never spend it.”
“What are you going to buy first?”
“Someone to kill my new wife, Grace,” he said without inflection or emotion.
“Is that before or after Priscilla dies?”
“She’s on her last few breaths anyway. I guess I can wait until she croaks naturally. Unless it takes too long.”
Brenda saw my car and I saw her sigh in resignation. We were only a block from her house and she sho
ok her head in disbelief. I knew she thought she had been caught again and that I would take her to her front door. She stopped and waited for me.
“So I’m the last loose end?” I asked.
“You and that cowboy.”
“What cowboy?”
“Jackson something. He saw me and Doc arguing and then he talked to you. I’ve got to take care of him, too.”
“He’s staying at Sheryl Ann’s house, you’re not going to be able to get to him there,” I reminded him.
“That’s okay. I already know that after the rodeo today, he’s spending some time with his family. They’re all staying with the Costellos. Remember the rodeo always marks the beginning of a two-week spring break for all the kids. On Thursday, April 15th, the Costellos are leaving early in the morning to go to Disneyland with their kids. That will leave Jackson and his family alone at the house until they pack it up and go home themselves. I’ll take out him and his entire family and then all the loose ends will be gone.”
“Why the entire family?” I asked.
“He might have told them something and I can’t take any chances.”
Was that the family that was going to be murdered on Thursday? Was it my fault they were going to be killed? I was the one talking to Jackson. Would he have even said anything to anyone about Doc and Henry arguing if I hadn’t been there? Was it my fault he and his entire family were going to be killed? Did destiny work that way? Everything we did altered our destiny – had I changed Jackson’s and his family’s?
Brenda was only a few feet from us. It was now or never. I cranked the wheel, jammed on the accelerator and sent the car toward the ditch next to her. When the front of the car hit the bottom of the ditch, the airbags deployed and smacked me and Henry in the chest. His gun went flying down by his legs. He desperately tried to grab the gun.
Brenda pulled open my door. “Liza, are you okay?”
“Get back,” I yelled when I saw the gun coming up.
Thank God I hadn’t put on my seatbelt. I slid my body to the left, falling out and on top of Brenda when Henry’s gun went off.
Doc must have heard the crash because he was running out of his front door.
“Stop them!” Henry screamed, still struggling with his seatbelt and airbag.
