Chapter Fourteen
“That leaves us with more questions than answers, if you ask me.” Mona stared at the truck parked in front of her house and moaned. Why did he have to show up when she had bigger problems to solve? “Is Molderhauer hiding from his family, having found cattle rustling more lucrative than sales? Or has someone assumed his identity to sell the stolen cattle without himself being fingered?”
“My friend said that Molderhauer’s car was found with traces of blood on the steering wheel in Palo Duro Canyon. My bet would be whoever is rustling the cattle had something to do with Molderhauer’s disappearance and possible death.”
Mona dragged her feet through the front door of her house, tired to the bone and so dejected by the lack of definitive information she struggled to lift one foot after the other.
The last thing she needed was a confrontation from an estranged uncle paying her a visit so late at night.
“At last. I thought you’d never get here.” Uncle Arty rose from the couch in her living room and strode toward her, looking so much like her father, Mona wanted to cry.
Sucking in a shaky breath, she squared her shoulders, prepared for battle. “What do you want? If you came to gloat, well, then get the hell out.”
Her uncle stopped in midstride, his hat in his hands. His gaze raked over her from head to foot before he shook his head, a sad smile playing around his mouth. “I guess I deserved that.” After a glance down at the black Stetson in his hands, he cleared his throat. “We have a problem.”
Reed stepped up behind her and laid his hands on her tight shoulders, leaning her back against him. “Which one?”
“We found Dusty Gaither’s body in the canyon close to where the cattle were taken. He’d been dumped behind a bush.”
Blood rushed from Mona’s head, leaving her dizzy. “How?”
Her uncle swallowed. “Shot in the back of his head.”
Mona’s knees buckled. If not for the support of the man behind her, she’d have dropped to the floor in a miserable heap.
Though she’d fired him the day before, she didn’t wish ill on Dusty, even if he’d betrayed her. No one deserved death, especially a bullet to the back of his head.
Her uncle paced across the wood flooring of the living room and back. “I thought, at first, whoever killed him wanted it to look like I did it.”
Mona shook her head, the room hazy in her sight. Reed eased her toward the couch, urging her to sit. When she did, her head didn’t feel quite so fuzzy and she looked up at her uncle. “Why?”
“One of my guns was stolen from my gun cabinet. It was the same one used to kill Dusty. My fingerprints will be all over it because it’s the one I used most recently shooting at rabbits. The gun was left beside the body. Pretty obvious, if you ask me.” Her uncle shrugged. “I already reported it to the sheriff. I was surprised he didn’t haul me in to jail. Maybe he’s waiting for the state police to do the job.”
“What the hell’s going on?” When Mona leaned forward to push to her feet, a warm hand on her shoulder held her down.
Reed stood behind the couch, his hand firmly clamped on her. She wasn’t going anywhere.
Too tired to argue, she sat back in the seat and spread her hands wide. “That’s two men now. What’s going on? Why won’t this all stop?”
“What I’m more concerned about is that since they didn’t take me in, they might look at other suspects. Since you’ve already been arrested on one murder charge and you were out all last night in the same location, they might come after you.”
Mona closed her eyes and inhaled the lemony scent of furniture polish, wishing she could keep her eyes closed and ignore her world imploding around her. “When did you find the body?”
“Fernando found him around sunset and called me immediately.”
A stab of annoyance shot through Mona. Fernando had no reason to call her uncle. Any questions he had should have been directed to her. Then again, they might have been out of cell phone range, the reception being spotty at best out in the wide-open spaces of the Texas panhandle.
Reed squeezed her shoulder and let go. “I’ll be back in a minute.” He gave her a stern look. “Stay put.”
Mona glared at him, annoyance at his command and the entire situation making her testy. “I’ll do as I please.”
Her uncle plunked his hat on his head. “If you don’t mind, I’m headed home. Be on the watch for Sheriff Lee. He’s bound to come asking questions. I’m sorry this is all happening to you. You don’t deserve it.”
“Do I detect empathy?” Mona’s brows rose. “Why the change of heart?”
Her uncle’s feet shifted. “I never agreed with who your father married. That’s no secret.”
Mona opened her mouth to tell her uncle to get out, but he stopped her with his raised hand.
“After seeing how hard you’ve worked to keep this place afloat, I admit I was wrong. And since you’re the only family I have left, I don’t want to see you go under too. I’m sorry for all the grief I gave you and your father.” He spun on his cowboy booted heel and left.
Mona stared at the empty doorway, wishing her father was alive to witness his brother’s about-face. Too bad he hadn’t come to the same conclusion a year ago. Tom Grainger had never said a word about his brother, but Mona knew he grieved for the loss of the closeness they’d shared as children.
Mona wanted to crawl into the shower and then into bed to sleep until next week. Fat chance that would happen once Parker Lee sank his teeth into this murder. She’d probably end up accused of Dusty’s demise as well. Mona had had her fill of law enforcement officials, false accusations and mug shots.
Reed returned to the living room, carrying a plate with a sandwich on it. “Your uncle left?”
“Yeah.” Her stomach rumbling, Mona hadn’t realized how long it had been since she’d eaten. The thought of facing another Parker Lee inquisition almost made her refuse the offering, but her baby had to have nourishment. She stood, accepted the plate and turned toward her bedroom. “I’ll be in the shower. If anyone needs me, they’ll have to drag me out in handcuffs.” She hurried away before the dam burst.
Alone in her bedroom and even too tired to undress herself, Mona sat on the floor, biting into her sandwich. All of her troubles washed over her in endless waves until her eyes filled and her throat closed. She chewed, hoping eventually she could swallow again. Tears trickled down her cheeks, increasing in intensity until sobs shook her body. She dropped her sandwich on the plate and buried her face in her hands.
Too caught up in her misery to notice, she didn’t realize someone else had entered the room until Reed sat on the floor beside her and gathered her in his arms. Wordlessly, he held her, stroking her back and pushing limp strands of her long black hair out of her wet face.
When her tears were spent, she leaned her cheek against his chest, the warmth of his body seeping into her cool skin, the special scent of leather and soap filling her senses.
She could get used to leaning on Reed Bryson. But how long would that last? Hadn’t he said he would leave when her troubles were over?
With a work-roughened finger, he tipped her chin up. “All done?”
In more ways than one. Staring up into cool-green eyes, she could forget everything else around her. But another man had died and she was running out of suspects to question. “Yeah. I’m all done.” She pushed against his chest and stumbled to her feet. “We have to get to Les and Wayne.”
“You’re not going tonight.” He blocked her escape from the bedroom door. “You have to have sleep.”
“I can’t risk losing my last two sources of information.”
“You have to rest.”
Impatience surged inside. She planted her fists on her hips, prepared for battle.
Reed used a weapon even Mona couldn’t resist. Guilt. “If you won’t rest for yourself, do it for the baby.” He reached out and touched the swell of her belly, the concern in his expression forcing her to consider his request.
As if responding to his voice, the baby kicked against his hand.
Mona gave in. “Okay, but first thing in the morning, we’re going to have a talk with Les and Wayne.”
“Agreed.”
She just hoped they were still alive to answer questions. The way things were going, they’d be gone too. Then what?
* * *
R EED LAY AWAKE half the night, listening for Mona, afraid she’d try to go see Les and Wayne by herself in the middle of the night.
She hadn’t asked him to sleep with her and he hadn’t pushed the issue. Their night in the cave might as well have been a dream to Mona.
Not to Reed. Every time he rolled over in the sheets, he wished he had her to roll up against, her body spooned against his, her dark hair spread across his pillow.
Around two o’clock in the morning he rose and took a cold shower to calm his galloping libido.
When sunrise finally graced the Texas skies, Reed didn’t bother pretending to sleep anymore. He got up.
As he suspected, Mona was exhausted. She slept past her usual six o’clock. Not until eight did she rustle around in her bedroom, finally emerging wearing her signature jeans and baggy blue shirt.
How any woman could make the saggy, sloppy outfit look good, Reed didn’t know. After thinking about her all through the long night, he just wanted to pull her into his arms as soon as he saw her. Instead, he handed her the plate of eggs and toast Rosa had prepared.
She pushed his offer away. “I don’t have time to eat. I overslept and I want to get to Les and Wayne first thing.”
He didn’t give her a choice, he lifted her hand and set the plate in it. “Eat first, then we’ll leave.”
Mona sighed and sank into the chair proffered. “Where’s Catalina?”
“Gone to work.”
“To work? But she’s barely out of the hospital.”
“She insisted and actually, she looked all right. Plus, she wants to go in to Amarillo to check on Jesse when she gets off work.” He smiled. “She said something about setting a few things straight.”
Her head tipped to the side as Mona stared at Reed. “Did she say what she wanted to straighten out?”
He lifted his shoulders. “No. But she looked pretty determined.”
“After we talk to Les and Wayne, we can swing by Dee’s.” Before long, Mona had cleaned her plate, eating every last bite.
Reed smiled. “Where do you put it all? You’re not any bigger than the dog I had growing up.”
Mona rolled her eyes and stood, carrying her plate to the kitchen. “Oh please, don’t overwhelm me with your compliments. That’s the second time you’ve likened me to a dog. A girl can only take so much.” When she returned from the kitchen, she wiped her hands on her jeans and said, “Okay, let’s go.”
The streets of Prairie Rock were busy at nine o’clock in the morning. Dee’s Diner had cars parked around the block, the salty scent of bacon frying drifted through Reed’s open truck window.
“Cat will be busy this morning. I hope she’s up to it.” Mona’s soft smile turned into a hard, straight line as they drove past the diner and turned the corner to the body shop.
The two trucks parked out to the side of the shop yesterday weren’t there this morning, and the place looked deserted.
Reed parked the truck around the side less visible from the road and climbed down. Mona followed. After a thorough search of the exterior, Reed dug a pocketknife from his jeans and jimmied the lock on the shop door. With only a little effort, he opened the lock and was stepping through.
Mona’s gaze narrowed. “What did you say you did in Chicago?”
“I was a cop.” He pushed the door inward and stepped out of the bright sunshine into the dingier office. “You coming?”
With a three-sixty glance darted around the street, Mona slipped in behind Reed. “Cop, huh? What are they training in cop school nowadays?”
“Whatever it takes.” A smile lifted the corners of his lips as he entered the dark interior. After a quick scan of the papers scattered across Wayne’s desk, Reed glanced up.
Mona had her hand clamped over her nose and mouth.
“Smell getting to you?”
She dropped her hand, her lips twisted. “How can you stand it? Last time I was here, it was all I could do not to throw up.”
“I’m not pregnant.” He carefully arranged the papers into their original disarray and moved toward the shop’s bay area. “You want to wait outside in the truck?”
She straightened her shoulders. “No. Two pair of eyes have to be better than one.”
Inside the shop, two vehicles were in various stages of repair. One was a black sport-utility vehicle, the front masked and taped with only the heavy-duty grille exposed, the paint chipped in one spot. The other was a silver economy car with the rear bumper removed.
Reed leaned into the open window of the sport-utility vehicle and spotted a blue light fixture, the kind used by unmarked police cars. He circled to the back of the vehicle for the license plate number, but the plate had been removed.
Mona leaned into the passenger window and called out, “It’s Parker Lee’s unmarked car.”
“How do you know it’s his and not one of the other deputies’?”
“I dropped cherry soda on the floorboard a while back.” She pointed inside. “The stain’s still there.”
Reed stared at her instead of the rug. “And why were you in the passenger seat?”
Mona walked to the front of the vehicle.
For a moment, Reed thought she wouldn’t answer his question.
“I had a temporary lapse in sanity and dated the man.” She stared across the hood of the truck at Reed. “What can I say? It was a mistake, I realized it and that’s the end.”
“Is Parker Lee your baby’s father?”
Mona’s gaze dropped to greasy concrete, her shoulders hunching. Then she pushed herself straight, her glance meeting his. “No one is going to take my baby away from me. Do you understand? Not Parker Lee or anyone else.”
“You can’t keep your pregnancy a secret, Mona. People are bound to talk. And when a baby shows up at the Rancho Linda, someone’s bound to do the math.”
“I can’t let him take my baby from me.”
“Why would he?”
“You know Parker Lee. He’s a small-minded, mean man. I just didn’t see it soon enough. If he knew I was pregnant with his child, he’d take my baby, my ranch and everything I own.” She waded through the tools and parts to Wayne’s office. “I won’t let that happen.”
“Unfortunately, the legal system thinks a father has the right to know.”
“To hell with the legal system!” She spun to face him, her eyes rounded. “You aren’t going to tell him, are you?”
Reed shook his head. “Your secret’s safe with me.”
“Good.” She inhaled and let the air out slowly. “If there’s nothing to find here, let’s go by the diner and see if Les and Wayne are having breakfast.”
He crossed in front of her and blocked her from stepping out into the Texas sunshine. “Really, Mona, you can’t keep the secret for much longer.” He touched a hand to her belly. “Your condition is becoming more evident by the day.”
She pushed around him and out the door. Her bottom lip trembled and was that a tear leaking from the corner of her eye? “Don’t bother worrying about me. I’ve managed on my own since my father died. I can continue.”
Reed locked Wayne’s office and hurried to catch up with Mona. “Maybe, but you’ll get to the point you can’t do it all by yourself. Then what?”
“Then I’ll hire another ranch hand.” She beat him to the driver’s side and climbed behind the wheel. When he got in the passenger seat, she held out her hand. “Keys.”
His brows drew together but, rather than argue, he handed her the truck keys. At least now he knew for certain Parker Lee was the father. And she was right, the man was mean. If he thought someone was pulling a fast one on him, he’d go for the throat. No wonder she’d kept that information close to her chest.
She drove the short blocks to Dee’s Diner. The crowd was beginning to thin, but there were still a healthy number of cars parked around the eatery.
Mona didn’t wait for Reed to open her door. She was opening the door to the diner by the time he reached her.
“Mona!” Catalina hurried across the smoothly polished black-and-white tile floor, the usual coffee carafe in one hand.
“Hi, Cat. How are you feeling?” Mona stared at her friend, touching a hand to the bruise on her cheekbone.
Catalina smiled. “Besides a residual headache and a couple of bruised ribs, I’m okay and I’m glad I came in. We had a lot of customers and Kelly called in sick. Let me find you a table.” She glanced around the busy room, spotted a table in the far corner and pointed to it with the carafe. “Take that one. I’ll have the busboy clean it up.”
Mona and Reed eased between empty tables littered with dirty dishes and napkins. When they reached the table Catalina had indicated, Mona dropped into the chair facing the door.
Reed sat beside her, not across from her, so that he’d have a similar view.
Mona groaned and dropped her face in her hands.
“What’s wrong?” Reed placed a hand to her forehead. “Are you sick?”
“Yeah. Jeffrey Kuhn just came in.”
Reed recognized the man as the president of Prairie Creek’s one and only bank. He strode in dressed in a suit and shiny leather shoes, his attire standing out among the typical blue jeans and cowboy boots. “So?”
“Look, you might as well know—” Mona took a deep breath “—he’s threatening foreclosure on Rancho Linda if I don’t pay the note in full by the end of the month.”
“Why?”
“I’ve been so busy working the ranch, I didn’t look at all the bills like I should have. Dad had a balloon note due this year.”
“Won’t the bank refinance?”
Mona’s lips thinned. “Kuhn said that the bank has lost faith in my ability to meet my obligations and feels it’s prudent for me to find other means to finance my loan or sell my property.”
Kuhn glanced her way, eyes narrowing. His gaze raked over Reed before he found a table as far away from Mona as he could get.
Coward. Reed started to stand, ready to put his fist through the man’s teeth for giving Mona hell.
Mona grabbed his arm and shook her head. “He’s not worth it. I’ll find a way to manage. Don’t worry. I’ve never missed payroll with my employees.”
“I could care less about payroll, the man has no right to put that kind of burden on you.”
“Well, apparently he does.” She shrugged. “I’ve got loan applications out to several banks in Amarillo, but they tell me my credit rating is in the toilet.”
“Have you ever missed payments?”
“Never. And my father was a stickler for making payments on time.”
“Sounds like someone’s jerking you around.” If not for Mona’s hand, Reed would have stalked across the diner and demanded answers from the banker.
“I’ll figure it out. But first, we need to find Wayne and Les. One problem at a time. My cattle come first.”
“You won’t have to worry about your cattle if you lose the ranch.”
The corners of her mouth turned downward. “I refuse to believe that will happen.”
Catalina wove her way through the tables with a big plastic tub balanced on one hip. “We’re down one busboy as well as Kelly. Must be something going around.” She cleaned up the dishes and wiped the table. “I guess you heard about Dusty? Papa told me last night.”
Mona nodded. “Yeah.”
Reed and Mona helped Catalina place dishes and cups in the tub.
“I don’t like to speak ill of the dead,” Catalina said, “but I have a feeling he had it coming to him. Working for you, dipping in your uncle’s pocket and probably knee deep in the cattle rustling as well.”
“That’s why we’re here.” Mona placed the last glass on top of the rest of the dishes. “I think Dusty is dead because he knew too much about the rustling. Cat, have you seen Les and Wayne this morning?”
“No. But someone mentioned they’d gone to Oklahoma to one of the casinos last night. Maybe they didn’t make it back. Why? Do you think they’re involved as well?”
“We don’t know. But they might have some answers.” Mona’s gaze shot to the door. “Great. Just when I thought the day couldn’t get worse.”
The Teague Oil & Gas men held the door open and a woman stepped into the diner, looking as if she was walking into a fancy restaurant in New York City. She wore a tailored navy blue suit that fit her slim body to perfection and complemented her pale complexion. Although she walked as if she owned the place, dark circles shone through the carefully applied concealer, and her eyes darted from person to person inside the diner. When she spotted Kuhn, her brows arrowed downward and she turned around in the doorway.
The two Teague speculators blocked her way. When they moved to let her pass through to the street, she hesitated, her hands fluttering. Instead of leaving, she straightened and made her way to a table in the middle of the diner, her head held high. She sat with her back to the door, casting sideways glances at Kuhn.
Mona eyed the group as if waiting for them to converge on her and talk her into selling. She recognized the two men, but not the woman. “Who is she?” she asked.
Catalina snorted softly. “You recognize the guys as the speculators who work for Teague Oil & Gas. Well, meet Teague.”
“She’s Teague?”
“Patricia Teague, widow of Andrew Teague. She comes to town once in a while, I guess to check on her investments.”
“What’s she doing in the diner?”
“I don’t know.” Catalina shifted a few plates and glasses in the tub. “But the way things have been this morning, you’d think this place was Grand Central Station. Did you hear about the guy who got run off the road last night?”
Mona shook her head. “No.”
“Some guy from Amarillo wrecked just outside Prairie Rock. His truck was flipped, killing him instantly.”
“That’s too bad.”
“Yeah, half the deputies in the county were in here earlier after cleaning up the accident scene. They said there were black paint marks on the back of the bumper. They think he was forced off the road. A hit-and-run. That and Dusty’s death have been the talk of the morning.”
Mona’s face grew serious. “Do they know who it was? Anyone we know?”
“Not anyone I know.” Catalina tipped her head to the left and stared at the ceiling. “Someone named Dilbert or Gilbert Dean, I think. Something like that.”
Reed’s heartbeat sped up. “Could it have been Gil Deiner?”
“That’s the name.” Catalina lifted the tub onto her hip. “Look at me gossiping. Let me dump this stuff and grab a headache pill. I’ll be right back for your order.”
“No hurry, Cat.” Mona waited until Cat moved away before whispering, “Another witness gone. We have to find Les and Wayne.”
Reed agreed with Mona. He was leaning forward to stand and suggest they drive around town looking for the two, when another thought occurred to him. He sat back in his seat. “What if they were the ones who forced Gil off the road?” He didn’t want Mona anywhere near the two men in that case.
The diner door opened and Grace Bryson walked in, her steps slow and labored. She turned to thank her husband for holding the door, giving him the lopsided smile of one recovering from a stroke. Despite the distortion, the soft look of love for her husband was evident in her eyes. She looked almost as young and beautiful as the picture of her and William on their wedding day. The wrinkles around her eyes and mouth only accentuated her maturity.
To Reed, she’d always been the most beautiful mother a kid could have.
And the care with which William Bryson cupped her elbow and helped her along went against everything Reed knew about his stepfather. When had the man ever shown his wife any kind of love? He’d seemed angry at her and everyone else in the world ever since Reed could remember. Had his mother’s illness changed him? Or was it that he no longer had a ranch to deal with, which gave him the time to dedicate to the woman he’d sworn to love, honor and cherish?
Whatever it was, Reed found his anger toward his stepfather fading. Knowing that his mother would be loved and taken care of made all the difference. The entire reason he’d come back to Prairie Rock in the first place was to make sure she had the care she needed. He hadn’t trusted his stepfather to do it. And William Bryson had proven him wrong.
“Reed?” Mona rested her hand on his arm, her touch light and questioning. “Who are they?”
“My parents.” He pushed to his feet and walked across the floor. “Mom, Mr. Bryson, I’d like you to meet someone.”
His mother frowned at the formal way he addressed his stepfather, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she leaned against her husband and started toward Mona, sitting at the back of the room.
They didn’t get more than two tables deep into the diner, when a keening wail rent the air. Patricia Teague stood up so fast her chair tipped backward and crashed to the floor. She stared at Reed’s mother, her face fading to a sickly green. Then a hot flush of red filled her pale cheeks and she rushed across the floor, pushing chairs aside, her fingers curled into claws. “You! You home wrecker!” She lunged at Reed’s mother. “Bitch!”
William Bryson curled his wife into his arms and Reed stepped between the crazed woman and his mother.
She hit Reed full in the chest with the power of her assault, her shoulder crashing against his ribs.
Reed grunted under the force of the woman’s body, but held steady. “It’s all her fault! Jezebel!” She raised her fingernails to Reed’s face. Sinking one in before he could ward her off. “Get out of my way! Let me at her.”
Reed grabbed her wrists, holding away from his face her sharp-tipped fingernails, stained in subtle pink nail polish and the dark red of his blood.
He turned, with the woman still in his grip, and stared at his mother. “Mother, do you know this woman?”
His mother stared back at Patricia Teague and nodded, tears springing to her eyes. “Yes, I do,” she said in blurred words.
“She should, she ruined my marriage the night before my wedding. She’s a snake! Don’t trust her.” The woman struggled, kicking her pointy-toed shoes.
The woman who, a moment before, had been the epitome of grace and style now spewed venom with every word she spoke. Her carefully coiffed hair shook loose of the pins and fell over eyes quickly filling with tears. “You ruined my life.” She sagged into Reed, tears leaving a trail of mascara down her cheeks.
“I’m sorry for what happened,” his mother said, reaching out for the woman. “But it wasn’t my fault.”
Patricia Teague pulled herself away from Reed. “The hell it wasn’t.” For the first time, she stared up at the man still holding her wrists and her face went ghostly white. She stared from Reed, over her shoulder to Jeffrey Kuhn and back. Then passed out in Reed’s arms.