Warrior Son

by Rita Herron

  “She had just started it when she lost them,” Mama Mary said. “Your daddy painted over it in a hurry, thinking it would help. But it only made Ms. Grace mad.”

  Maddox seemed to absorb that information. “Because she thought the babies were alive.”

  Mama Mary nodded. “Losing those boys tore him up, too,” Mama Mary continued as though reliving those days. “Then he and Ms. Grace started fighting, and she slipped away.”

  “That’s when he met Barbara,” Maddox said.

  Mama Mary nodded gravely. “I think he just needed some comfort, but it didn’t last long. He loved your mama more than words, and wanted to help her get better.”

  “Except she couldn’t because she believed her babies had been kidnapped.” Roan chewed the inside of his cheek. “Where are the babies buried?”

  Mama Mary’s eyes widened. “Well...they...they didn’t bury them. Dr. Cumberland had the babies cremated. He said it would be easier on the family that way.”

  “What?” Anger hardened Maddox’s tone. “Did my parents ask him to do that?”

  Mama Mary fumbled with the tissue in her hands. “I don’t really know. Mr. Joe and the doc talked behind closed doors. I...assumed that was what your daddy wanted.”

  “I have to talk to Cumberland.” Maddox reached for the phone. “He has some explaining to do.”

  * * *

  HE CERTAINLY DID, Megan thought.

  And without bodies, she couldn’t perform an autopsy to determine cause of death or use DNA to verify that the McCullen infants had actually died.

  “Good Lord,” Mama Mary muttered. “Here, all this time I thought Ms. Grace took those pills and had a drink and drove into that wall to kill herself.”

  Maddox scrubbed a hand over his face as he punched the doctor’s number.

  “So if those twins lived,” Megan cut in, “who took them?” She paused, mind spinning with more questions. “And if Grace suspected foul play and was asking too many questions, maybe her death wasn’t an accident or suicide.”

  Hushed murmurs of worry echoed through the hospital room.

  Megan waited until Maddox left a message for Dr. Cumberland to call him, that he had questions about his mother and the babies she’d lost. He put the phone down, his face strained.

  “Was an autopsy performed on Grace?” Megan asked.

  “I don’t believe so,” Mama Mary said. “Mr. Joe and the doc talked and said they didn’t want it coming out that she was drinking and taking pills. That Ms. Grace had suffered enough. He wanted her to rest in peace.” Mama Mary gave Maddox a sympathetic look. “Mr. Joe was worried about you boys, too. Pistol Whip’s a small town, and he didn’t want people gossiping.”

  “That sounds like Dad.” Maddox squeezed Rose’s hand, and she rubbed his shoulders.

  “So we’re looking at the possibility that someone kidnapped the twins, then drugged your mother, causing the accident that killed her,” Roan said, summarizing what they were all thinking.

  “But who would take those babies?” Rose asked.

  A thick silence fell while everyone contemplated that question.

  “Someone who either wanted them for themselves,” Megan suggested.

  “Or someone who wanted to hurt Grace, and possibly Joe,” Roan finished. “What about the doctor?”

  Mama Mary frowned. “He loved this family. He was distraught over losing the babies, too.”

  “But if they’re still alive, he must know something,” Roan pointed out.

  “I think he had a young doctor working with him at the time,” Mama Mary said. “Maybe he had something to do with it and Dr. Cumberland didn’t know.”

  “I’ll find out.” Maddox rubbed at the bandage on his chest again. “What if Barbara knew my father before my mother lost the twins? Maybe she thought if she could drive my parents apart by kidnapping the babies, she’d have a chance with Dad?”

  Maddox angled his head toward Mama Mary. “Did they know each other before?”

  Mama Mary ripped the tissue in her hands into shreds. “Ms. Grace met Barbara at the garden club. Later, I remember hearing your father tell Barbara to stay away from your mother, that it was over between them, that Grace had already been hurt enough.”

  Compassion for the family engulfed Megan.

  Barbara was a gardener. She had access to cyanide—Roan had found it at her house.

  Had Barbara pretended to be Grace’s friend, then killed her in an attempt to keep Joe for herself?

  * * *

  ROAN SHIFTED, FOLDING his arms. “Barbara is the most viable suspect, but there are a couple of problems. She had the opportunity and means to kill your parents. But someone attacked Megan and threatened to kill her if she didn’t leave your father’s murder alone. Barbara and Bobby are both locked up, so it’s impossible that they threatened her.”

  “They could have hired someone.” Maddox reached for his IV to remove it. “I need to get up and do something.”

  “You are not going anywhere.” Rose put a hand on Maddox’s to stop him, and Mama Mary moved to her side for reinforcement.

  “Listen to your wife.” Mama Mary gestured toward Rose’s baby bump. “You need to take care of yourself. You got folks who need you now.”

  Maddox grunted in frustration, but sank back against the bed. “I hate this. I should be working leads.”

  “Roan will take care of things,” Rose said. “Won’t you?”

  “Of course.” Roan had more reason to find the truth than anyone thought, but he kept that to himself.

  “I’ll have the IT team dig through Barbara and Bobby’s financials to see if they made any large payments to anyone,” Roan said. “And I want to talk to Dr. Cumberland.”

  “He was upset when he left,” Maddox said. “He still can’t understand how someone poisoned my dad while he was under his care.”

  Roan gritted his teeth, but said nothing. He had no personal attachment to the physician like Maddox and his family did, so he was more skeptical.

  “What about Clark?” Roan asked. “He was bitter about losing his land.”

  “But that happened long after my mother died,” Maddox said.

  Still, if Grace McCullen’s death hadn’t been murder, Clark could have killed Joe. But it was looking more and more like Grace was murdered first, and then Joe discovered something that made him suspicious, hired the PI and then he and the PI were killed because of it.

  “Didn’t you say Edith Burns visited your father when he was ill?” Roan asked.

  Maddox nodded. “A few times. She said she promised my mother that if anything ever happened to her, she’d always look in on us kids.”

  Close friends did that, but considering the fact that Edith and her husband had been shot to death, it made Roan wonder if there was a connection. Maybe a cover-up that had gone back years.

  A cover-up that was about to be exposed when Joe McCullen hired Buchanan.

  * * *

  FEELING ANXIOUS, MEGAN swept her hair back into its bun and pinned it in place as Roan drove toward the doctor’s office. She didn’t like the train of thought her mind had taken. “If those babies didn’t die and were kidnapped, that means Dr. Cumberland had to know something about it.”

  A muscle jumped in Roan’s cheek. “That’s what I was thinking. Maddox has to be thinking it, too.”

  Dr. Cumberland had a private practice in Pistol Whip in the square. Two cars sat in the parking lot. A gray Lexus and a black SUV.

  “You’ve known the doctor through the ME’s office. Do you think he’s capable of such deception?”

  Uncertainty crept through Megan. “I don’t know. From what I’ve seen, he’s truly caring and kind to his patients. He listens to elderly people, is patient with children and everyone in town knows him and has been to his office for one reason or another. He’s delivered most of the babies in town and he’s never had a lawsuit filed against him.” She paused. “In this litigious society, that’s a miracle.”

  “May
be we’re jumping to conclusions,” Roan said. “Joe could have hired this PI to look into Clark or Gates.”

  Megan nodded. “But it still doesn’t explain why Grace’s name was on that sticky note in the PI’s office.”

  “It’s possible that there was another Grace.”

  Megan nodded again, although he didn’t sound convinced and neither was she. They knew for a fact that Joe had been poisoned. Maybe Joe had hired the PI because he’d received some kind of threat or suspected someone was trying to hurt him?

  Together, she and Roan walked up to the doctor’s office and went inside. The receptionist, a gray-haired woman with a kind smile, greeted them. “What can we do for you?”

  Roan identified himself and introduced Megan. “We need to speak to Dr. Cumberland.”

  “I’ll let him know you’re here. He’s with the new doctor now.” She pressed an intercom button and announced their arrival. Dr. Cumberland told her he’d be right with them.

  “A new doctor?” Megan asked. “Is Dr. Cumberland expanding his practice?”

  The woman’s smile faded slightly. “No. Dr. Cumberland decided to retire so he’s bringing in a replacement.”

  Roan studied the pictures on the waiting room walls—photographs of babies Dr. Cumberland delivered along with families and individuals he’d treated.

  “I thought he wasn’t retiring until next year,” Megan commented.

  “The doc’s wife is pushing him to travel more.”

  Interesting, Megan thought. The timing could be coincidental, although it also could indicate that he wanted to get out of town to escape scrutiny over Joe McCullen’s autopsy report.

  Perhaps the reason he’d been so upset with her when she’d run the test a third time was because he didn’t want anyone to know that he’d doctored the report to hide the fact that his friend was murdered.

  * * *

  THE PHOTOGRAPHS ON Dr. Cumberland’s wall chronicled the story of a well-loved, small-hometown doctor who’d served his community since he was a young man.

  Roan had to tread carefully or he might wreck an innocent man’s life.

  Or...expose the truth and tear the town apart with lies and secrets that dated back decades.

  The door leading to the offices in back opened, and the older man appeared wearing a worn shirt and dress pants. He looked tired, the age lines around his eyes carving deep grooves into his skin.

  A younger man, probably early thirties, with thick dark hair and dressed in Western attire including a bolo tie, appeared beside him.

  Dr. Cumberland raised a brow when he saw them, then introduced the doctor as Seth Griffin.

  They shook hands and made introductions, and Roan gestured toward the back office. “Can we talk in private, Dr. Cumberland?”

  He adjusted his glasses, his face sagging with fatigue, but nodded, and Dr. Griffin left.

  Roan and Megan followed Cumberland to his office. He offered coffee or water, but they both declined. Cumberland poured himself a cup of coffee, though, and claimed a seat behind his desk, but his hand shook as he set the mug down.

  “Dr. Cumberland, we need to ask you some more questions,” Roan began.

  “I don’t know what’s going on with you two, but I’ve apologized to Maddox and explained that I don’t know how I missed what was happening with Joe.”

  Roan cut his gaze toward Megan, then back to the doctor. “There’s more,” Roan said. “We discovered that Joe McCullen hired a private investigator named Barry Buchanan.”

  Dr. Cumberland’s face paled. “What would Joe need a PI for?”

  “We were hoping you could explain,” Roan said.

  “I have no idea.”

  “I think you do,” Roan said, cutting to the chase. “Joe was murdered. So was the private investigator.”

  The doctor’s breath whooshed out. “Good God.”

  “Buchanan’s office was also ransacked, some of his files stolen. The file on Joe McCullen was gone.”

  “You think the man was murdered because of what he was working on for Joe?”

  “Yes,” Roan said.

  “It probably had to do with that cattle rustling ring,” Dr. Cumberland suggested. “Joe suspected someone in the community was stealing from others and was determined to find out who it was.”

  “That’s possible, but I found a sticky note with the word ‘Grace’ written on it. I think Joe hired the PI because of her death.”

  “But Grace died in a car accident years ago,” the doctor said.

  “You didn’t request an autopsy on Grace, did you?” Megan asked.

  He swung a startled look at Megan. “No, didn’t need to. I smelled the alcohol on her, and knew she’d been taking antidepressants. I didn’t want to put Joe through any more suffering.”

  “But autopsies are standard in that kind of situation,” Megan pointed out.

  Dr. Cumberland’s voice took on an edge. “Maybe in big cities where there’s lots of crime, but not here in a small town. Not when everyone knew the family. Joe loved Grace, but she was severely depressed. There was no need to drag her name through the mud.”

  Roan arched a brow. “Grace was depressed over losing her babies, correct?”

  Dr. Cumberland drummed his fingernails on his coffee cup. “Yes. But that was understandable. She had two stillborn infants.”

  Roan and Megan exchanged a look. “Were they stillborn?” Roan asked.

  The glare Roan received indicated he’d hit a nerve.

  “Yes,” Dr. Cumberland said through gritted teeth.

  “Tell us about the night they were born,” Megan said. “Were the babies premature?”

  “Yes, about four weeks, but that’s not uncommon for twins. Joe was out of town, had gone to buy more cattle. I called him when Grace went into labor, but he was hours away. He never got over the fact that he didn’t make it back in time.”

  “She delivered at the hospital?” Megan asked.

  The doctor shook his head. “No, there was no time. Edith came over and took the other three boys to her house for the night. I wanted to get Grace to the hospital, but her contractions were one on top of the other. I tried to make her comfortable and help her through it, but when I delivered the babies, they weren’t breathing. And one of them, well, he was also deformed.” Emotions twisted the doctor’s mouth. “I tried to resuscitate them, but failed.”

  “Did you request an autopsy to determine cause of death?” Megan asked.

  “Look, it was thirty years ago. Rules and regulations weren’t so tight.” He shrugged. “Besides, Grace was so distraught. She didn’t want anyone desecrating their little bodies, and I respected her wishes.”

  “Did she hold the babies?” Megan asked.

  He shook his head again. “No, like I said she was distraught. I had to give her a sedative to calm her.”

  “And you had the babies cremated instead of letting the family bury them?” Roan pressed.

  The doctor’s mouth tightened. “It was what the McCullens wanted. Grace said she didn’t think she could bear to look at those tiny graves.”

  “What happened to the ashes?” Megan asked.

  “Joe and Grace scattered them in the pond on Horseshoe Creek.”

  So there was no chance of testing the ashes.

  Roan folded his arms, his voice hard. “Are you certain that’s the way it happened?”

  “Of course. It was a terrible time. I loved that family and afterward did everything I could to help Grace and Joe mourn their loss.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Roan said. “I have reason to think that Grace suspected her babies hadn’t died, that someone kidnapped them.”

  Dr. Cumberland gasped. “That’s ridiculous. For God’s sake, I was there.”

  Roan leaned across the desk, hands planted firmly on top, eyes boring into the doctor’s. “Exactly.”

  The man’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Just what the hell are you implying?”

  “That for some reason you took tho
se babies and gave them to someone else. Maybe for money. Maybe it was someone you knew. Either way, later Grace questioned it, and she was killed because she refused to stop looking for them.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Dr. Cumberland stood, his nostrils flaring. “I don’t like the implications, Deputy Whitefeather. Does Maddox know that you’re here making these kinds of accusations?”

  Roan met his gaze with a cold stare. “Yes.”

  That sucked the bravado out of the man. “This is unreal. I’ve devoted myself to this town and the McCullens were my personal friends. I’d take my own life before I’d hurt one of them.”

  “Then how do you explain all the inconsistencies and the deaths,” Megan interjected.

  “We know for a fact that Joe was murdered. We suspect Grace might have been, as well. The private investigator Joe hired was also killed in a suspicious car accident, an accident similar to Grace’s.” Roan hesitated. “Also, Morty and Edith Burns were shot to death. You knew them, didn’t you?”

  “Yes, but...” Dr. Cumberland shook his head in denial. “When did that happen?”

  “A couple of days ago,” Roan answered. “Did you say that Edith took care of Maddox and his brothers the night Grace gave birth?”

  The doctor nodded, although he suddenly looked ill. “Edith and Grace were good friends.”

  “Then Grace probably confided her fears to Edith.”

  More questions ticked in Roan’s head. What if Edith was killed because she found out that Dr. Cumberland had kidnapped the McCullen twins? Or what if she actually aided in the kidnapping?

  “If you want to know who would kill Joe, look at Barbara,” Dr. Cumberland said. “She was bitter toward both Grace and Joe.”

  “We’ve already questioned her,” Roan said. “She claims she would have never hurt Joe.”

  “But she might have killed Grace.” Dr. Cumberland stood, eyes fixed with anger. “Now, I’ve answered your questions, it’s time for you to leave.”

  Roan planted his hands on the desk again. “There’s one more thing, Doctor. The day Megan ran that third test on Joe McCullen’s blood, someone pushed her into the street. And shortly after she got the results, someone attacked her in the morgue and threatened her.”