Westin Family Ties

by Alice Sharpe

He murmured his thanks as she left, then noticed Cassie. “Which blanket do you like?” he asked, a shy smile hovering in his eyes. “The green-and-yellow.”

  That one went into the basket, the other one got folded rather ineptly and replaced on the shelf.

  She looked at him closely, trying to reconcile this Cody with the Cody she’d known for the past four years. No way.

  “You don’t have to keep these things if you don’t like them,” he said, misreading her speculative stare. He tapped the biggest box and added, “The salesgirl said this is the highest-rated car seat, though, and we have to have one of them, right?”

  “Everything is perfect,” she said, kind of overwhelmed with it all.

  After they’d carried everything to the truck, Cody announced he wanted to stop by the inn, which was just across the street, to see if they’d found his uncle’s book. He looked surprised when she got out of the truck to accompany him into the office, but she’d made a decision back at the department store when she’d watched him shop.

  If they were going to rebuild a married life better than the one they had before, then they needed to start acting married. Doing things together. Sharing things. Little things as well as big things. They had less than a month to make a stable family for their baby—time was a’wasting.

  And so, face it, was honesty. She would tell him about the jewelry she’d discovered in her handbag and sent back to the Banners. No more secrets. She got out of the truck and made her way around to his side. When she took his hand, he repaid her with a soft kiss on her cheek.

  Inside the office, they found a thirtyish woman behind a desk. She asked if they needed a room. Cody told her his name and explained where he’d left his book the night before last.

  “One of the maids turned it in yesterday, Mr. Westin,” she said, as she slid open a drawer. “In fact, I called your home a little while ago and talked to a woman named Pauline to tell you that we’d found it.” As she handed him the book she added, “Did you run into your cousin yet?”

  “My cousin?” he asked.

  “A kind of average-size gal with red hair. She didn’t leave her name. She said she was supposed to meet you and your wife but she got held up.”

  “When was she here?” he asked. His voice sounded suspicious. There were no Westin cousins besides Echo, and she was a cousin only by virtue of Cody’s uncle Pete marrying her mother.

  “A couple of hours ago. I told her you’d left yesterday.”

  “Did you mention where we live?”

  “I think it came up,” she admitted, as her gaze swept over Cassie’s blossoming figure. “I mean, she was your family and knew all about your baby and everything. A group of guests seeking restaurant information came in about then and I lost track of her. You haven’t met up with her yet?”

  “Not yet,” Cody said.

  As they left the office, Cassie braced herself for what was sure to come next, holding her breath until Cody had helped her back into the truck, then climbed behind the wheel.

  “Who’s looking for you now?” he said, turning to face her. His voice was calm but his eyes were darker than thunderclouds.

  “It sounds like Donna Banner Cooke.”

  “Any idea how she could have known where we stayed—unless she followed us?”

  Cassie gently rubbed her forehead. Donna’s presence in Woodwind cast a deep shadow on the aura of normalcy that had been burning bright that day. Until now.

  “I don’t get this,” Cody added. “Someone shoots at you yesterday, which makes it clear they knew exactly where you live, then asks questions about your whereabouts today? It doesn’t make sense.”

  “I don’t get it, either,” she said.

  “I have to tell you, from where I’m sitting, your identity seems to be the worst-kept secret in Wyoming.”

  “Yeah? Well, there’s something you don’t know about.”

  His eyes narrowed as he stared at her. “Why aren’t I surprised to hear that?”

  “Listen, Cody Westin, don’t get snotty with me. We really haven’t had a decent conversation since we got back together. There are bound to be things—”

  “Like the fact you didn’t have a regular doctor?”

  “I went to a clinic! It’s hard to see the kind of doctor you’re talking about when you don’t have insurance.”

  “You had insurance.”

  “But I didn’t have an identity.”

  A knot bulged in his jaw, but at least he didn’t counter with the fact that she knew perfectly well she had an identity, and all she had to do was claim it. Instead he said, “You’re talking about things that happened before you left Idaho.”

  She bit her lip. “Well, of course. But even other things…”

  “I don’t like the sound of that.”

  “I’m not thrilled with it either, trust me,” she said. “But you have to know. I should have told you sooner.”

  He cleared his throat in a way she knew meant he was struggling with patience. “You’re scaring the daylights out of me,” he said after a pause. “What are you talking about?”

  “I think I know how Donna found out about the inn. After we left Cherrydell I found a bunch of jewelry sewn into my purse the same way it had been sewn into the lining of my suitcase back at the Priestly house. I’m not sure why I didn’t just tell you.”

  She saw his gaze shift and she took a deep breath. “Okay, you’re right, I do know. You would have insisted we take it to the sheriff and I didn’t want to do that, so I mailed the items back to the Banners yesterday. That put a Woodwind postmark on the envelope, and I used a washcloth to pad everything. I didn’t think to check—the name of the inn must have been on the washcloth label or something like that. I never dreamed they would come looking for me.”

  “That’s why you left when I went to get breakfast. To mail a package of jewels.”

  “And make the phone calls, yes.”

  He sat there staring at her.

  “Come on, Cody,” she said with a gentle pat on his thigh. “Start the truck. We’d better get back to the ranch and see what Donna wants.”

  He did as she asked, but the relaxed silence of the drive into town was gone, replaced by retreats to their own corners.

  “I know you’re angry with me,” she said, when they entered Open Sky land.

  He cast her a swift glance. “I don’t know if I’m angry or just terrified of your recklessness.”

  “I’ve turned over a new leaf,” she said.

  “I hope so. But this isn’t all your fault. You’re right about us not talking. I haven’t wanted to say the wrong thing so I’ve been saying damn near nothing.”

  “I know.”

  “That can’t go on.”

  “You’re right.”

  “So let’s make a new deal. No more secrets. And from now on we make important decisions together.”

  “Okay,” she said, amazed that they’d arrived at the same place today by such different paths. As they pulled into the yard they found a long black vehicle with Idaho plates parked by the front walkway.

  “Is that Donna’s car?” Cody asked.

  Cassie narrowed her brow as she thought. “You know, I don’t think I ever saw her car, but the plates are a dead giveaway, right?”

  At that moment, the driver’s door of the sedan opened and a man in a black suit with a dark overcoat got out.

  Cassie covered her mouth as she gasped. Emerson Banner stood there in the waning light, scrutinizing their advancing truck as though thinking of ways to blow it up. Funny that should be the image that came to her.

  His icy gaze cut through the windshield, and she flinched.

  Chapter Eight

  “What in the hell is he doing here?” Cody said.

  He hadn’t liked the man the first time he’d set eyes on him, and he didn’t like him now. And he really didn’t like being ambushed on his own land. He regretted sending Bonnie off with his father to mend fence. It would be kind of nice to have the d
og standing there barking at this yahoo.

  “There’s only one way to find out,” Cassie said. Cody watched as she unbuckled her seat belt with trembling fingers. He took her hand in an effort to lend moral support, hating Banner even more when he noticed the derisive way he looked at Cassie.

  He had cold, gray eyes, the kind that seemed to reflect light as though nothing got through them either coming or going. Today he seemed a little more fidgety than he had before, jumpy maybe, his hands jammed in his overcoat pockets, looking around as though expecting a herd of cows to stampede.

  “This is quite a little spread you have here,” Banner said.

  Cody narrowed his eyes. “Well, it’s not the first time you’ve seen it, is it?”

  “Of course it is. What do you mean?”

  “I mean you were here yesterday taking potshots at my wife,” Cody said.

  Banner managed to look startled. “I did nothing of the sort—although by all rights, I should have brought the police with me today.”

  “Why didn’t you?” Cassie asked.

  “Donna wouldn’t allow it. She said you must have made a mistake.”

  “A mistake?”

  “A mistake of omission,” he said with a sneer. “But you and I both know what you made was a choice, not a mistake.”

  Cassie had stopped dead in her tracks. “I don’t know what you mean,” she said.

  “I’ve come for what’s mine. For what’s Donna’s.”

  “And what would that be?” Cassie asked.

  “I’m not going to play games with you people,” he said, glancing from one to the other. He took a step toward Cassie, which Cody intercepted.

  “Maybe we’re the ones who need to call the police,” Cody said, as he stared down at Banner. “They might be interested in knowing if you own a handgun.”

  “Someone stole mine,” Banner said. “It was a good one, too. I had it fitted with ivory grips, just like General Patton. Anyway, this is the West. Everyone owns a handgun.”

  “That’s not true, I don’t,” a woman said, as she came along the deck from the direction of the pond. Despite her auburn hair, Cody could see the Banner family resemblance in her eyes and chin.

  “Perhaps, Donna, but your husband has half a dozen,” Banner said, scowling. “He’s always shooting at things.”

  “I wish you wouldn’t talk about Kevin that way,” Donna said, and immediately turned her attention to Cassie. “Laura,” she said warmly. “It’s so nice to see you.”

  Even though Cody knew Cassie had used her dead mother’s name, this was the first time he’d seen her respond to it and it jarred him. Cassie stepped forward to be engulfed in a big hug.

  “It’s nice to see you, too, Donna, but what are you doing here? Have they found out who killed your grandmother?”

  Donna took Cassie’s hands in hers as tears filled her eyes. “No, no, still no idea. They keep asking me where Kevin is. If I knew where he was, I’d go get him. All I know is he didn’t have a thing to do with Grandma’s death.”

  “How do you know that?” Cassie asked.

  Donna touched her chest. “Kevin would never harm anyone,” she said with utter conviction.

  “But he did disappear right after her murder,” Cassie said gently.

  “They have no leads or anything?” Cody asked.

  Donna looked up at him as though noticing him for the first time. “They found a shoe print under Grandma’s window right after her death, and yesterday they found a ladder with the same mud on it. It was in the neighbor’s boathouse. He says he hasn’t been in the building for months.”

  “The police are incompetent,” Banner snarled.

  “But why are you and your father here?” Cassie persisted. “I don’t understand.”

  Donna lowered her voice. “Honey, I know you were desperate,” she said. At the change in her demeanor, Cassie withdrew her hand from the other woman’s clasp and clutched the collar of her coat closer to her chin. “Robert said I shouldn’t blame you for taking Grandma’s things. He said you were desperate and didn’t have any money. But this ranch is beautiful. What were you doing at Grandma’s house using a different name and everything? I don’t get it.”

  “It’s a long story,” Cassie said with an upward sweep of her lashes toward Cody. “Let’s just say I was confused. I’m home now.”

  “Well, that’s good. I’m happy for you, I really am, although I kind of hoped you and Robert might hit it off.”

  “Over my dead body,” Emerson Banner muttered.

  “Mine, too,” Cody said. At last, he and Banner had something they could agree on.

  “Anyway,” Donna continued, “I’m so glad you gave back the things you took.”

  “But how did anyone know they even came from me?”

  “Who else?” Donna asked, wide-eyed. “You’d been caught before, and the postmark was Wyoming and your husband told Dad you were from Wyoming—it didn’t take a brain scientist to put it together. Mom and Dad got the package in the morning mail, and then Dad called me and we decided to come after the last piece.”

  “What last piece?”

  “Grandma’s ring. You know, the emerald one? You sent the rest of the stuff, but you must have forgotten the ring. It was her favorite and it would mean the world to me to get it back.”

  “But I did return it,” Cassie said. “It was in with the other things, sewn into the lining of my handbag.”

  “There, see, she admits she’s a thief,” Emerson Banner said, taking out his cell phone.

  Donna turned to her father. “Dad, please, just wait a second.” Addressing Cassie again, she added, “You sent the sapphire necklace and the ruby broach, but not the ring.”

  Cassie looked over her shoulder at Cody. “I did send it back,” she said.

  “Is it possible it fell out of the washcloth before you put everything in the envelope?” he asked, swearing at himself for indulging any of this. They should call the police and their lawyer right that second. He wouldn’t put it past Banner to be carrying the gun he’d used to take shots at Cassie.

  “I bet that’s what happened,” Donna said, and actually looked as though she believed it.

  “Well if it did fall out it would be in my purse—”

  Banner thrust a pointed finger at Cassie. “I knew it. After what you tried to get away with using your suitcase, I should have insisted we search everything you carried or wore.” He looked at her shoulder bag. “Empty that thing right now.”

  “Back off,” Cody warned.

  “No, it’s okay,” Cassie said, as she slid Emerson Banner a nervous glance. “Please, come inside. Both of you.”

  “Wait just a second,” Cody said. “Cassie, I don’t think you should say another word without a lawyer.” He looked from father to daughter and added, “Are you people pressing charges of some kind?”

  Donna said, “No.”

  Banner said, “Yes.”

  “If the ring didn’t arrive in the mail, then it has to be in my purse,” Cassie insisted. “I want the opportunity to clear this up. I have not been stealing jewels. They’ve been planted on me, either to make me look guilty or to get them out of the house so they could be stolen back without anyone knowing. So, please, everyone calm down and come this way.”

  Cody followed along behind the three of them, watchful and alert. At the first sign of trouble, Donna and her father were getting the boot.

  Cassie led the way into the living room, where a small fire burned in the grate. As Banner and Donna watched, Cassie upended her purse on the big, square coffee table, her possessions skittering here and there.

  She methodically began separating things, going so far as to open her cosmetic bag and her wallet and shaking out the contents. She flipped through a notepad and a paperback book, the pages fluttering by without incident. She unrolled an extra pair of socks and patted them flat, unscrewed the lid on a small antacid bottle and emptied the contents into her palm.

  “What about zipp
ered pockets?” Emerson Banner demanded.

  Cody swallowed a jab of anger. He was doing his level best to let Cassie handle these people as she’d made it obvious that was what she wanted. Him? He just wanted to kick the guy.

  He heard a vehicle outside and he wondered if his brother and Echo were stopping by the ranch after a day in court, or if his dad was about to storm into the house and make things worse…?.

  “Dad, please,” Donna said, pulling on his arm. “Let’s go. With Kevin gone, I need to get back to the shop.”

  “Just a moment,” Cassie insisted, a bright spot of pink dotting each of her cheeks. “I have nothing to hide.” She turned the leather satchel inside out and showed them the ripped seam, explaining she’d found the jewels the night she left Cherrydell and mailed them back the very next day.

  “I wonder what happened to the ring,” Donna said, staring at Cassie’s pile of odds and ends.

  Banner, who had sat on the sofa to be closer to the contents of Cassie’s purse, shot to his feet, hands curled into balls, eyes brimming with venom. “This doesn’t prove a thing,” he said, once again taking out his cell phone. “She’s had a day or two to hide things wherever she wanted. No, don’t tell me to quiet down, Donna, this charade has gone on long enough. This woman is an opportunistic fraud. Don’t forget she conned your grandmother into leaving her your inheritance, which means you’ll get less and that husband of yours won’t have as much to squander on that business of his. Even if the police don’t consider her a murder suspect, she’s proven herself a world-class liar and a thief, and I’ve heard enough.”

  “That’s it,” Cody said. He glanced at Cassie and added, “I’m sorry, honey, but this is too much. You can’t expect me to stand here and listen to this. I’m going to call the sheriff. If this guy didn’t shoot you yesterday, I’ll eat my damn hat.”

  “How dare you try to blame some drummed-up blunder on me? As for your sheriff, what is he? Some hick you have sewn up in your back pocket. I know how that works, Westin. No thanks, I’ll summon a real lawman.”

  From the direction of the dining room came a new voice, one low and soothing in its own rumbling way. “Now, I can’t say as I much appreciate that kind of talk, Mr. Banner. Almost sounds like you’re casting aspersions on the sheriff department.”