Chapter 34
BODIE
I sat back from the computer. I’d been doing research all morning on cigar importing, except for the breaks I took to look up engagement rings.
Did Lacey know the going rate for a two-carat yellow diamond ranged from five grand to over two hundred thousand dollars?
Probably. I’d gone from jewelry store websites to costume jewelry websites real quick.
The ring I’d chosen should arrive by the end of the week, putting an end to the reporter wondering about the ring.
Now I just had to hope she wasn’t some certified gemologist who’d be able to spot a fake.
With the ring issue resolved, I still had to figure out a way to get some photos created.
Why’d I have to go and give the name of Cattleman’s?
The ultra-exclusive steak place didn’t have any interior pictures on their website and I’d never actually been inside.
Would Lacey be willing to take a day trip to Houston to snap a few images?
If I couldn’t figure out how to fake it, we just might have to.
The threat of someone discovering the fake engagement paled in comparison to the threat of finding out my dad and pops were into something much more sinister. As I scrolled down another web page, Shotgun sat up from where she’d been lying at my feet and whined.
“Need to go out, girl?” I patted her head, still not comfortable with the fact that she was going to be a mother.
As an only child I’d never had to care for anyone or anything younger than me.
Sure, we’d had kittens from the barn cats and an occasional calf or two but that fell under my grandfather’s jurisdiction.
I might have helped a little bit but raising animals was typically left to the ranch hands.
I clipped Shotgun’s leash onto her collar and led her out of the stuffy office. Shotgun sniffed along the mulched flower bed before heading toward the bushes on the side of the building. While I waited for her to do her business, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
Dad. The text wasn’t really an invitation to lunch, it was more of a demand.
I hadn’t talked to my dad or my pops since the blowout we’d had.
My desire to keep my family safe battled with my need to get to the bottom of whatever asinine plan they had.
It was time to come clean. If I wanted to be able to help them dig themselves out of the hole they’d fallen into, they’d have to trust me.
I was about to respond when a text from Lacey lit up the screen.
Lacey: We need to meet. Can you come to the funeral home at 3pm?
Me: The funeral home? About what?
Lacey: Spreadsheet’s done. We need to sync schedules and I need to show you something.
Her and her damn spreadsheet. If I left soon, I could chat with Dad and Pops and still have time to meet her by three.
What could she possibly want to show me at the funeral home though?
Knowing Lacey, it could be anything. The thought of her all decked out in white sent a cold shiver through me.
She’d make a beautiful bride. Someday. For someone else.
What would Luke say when he found out about the phony wedding? If all went well, he never would. I would follow Lacey’s lead and let her figure out the plan. I had my hands full enough with my own family issues.
Twenty minutes later my dad greeted me as I walked into the office. “You said you needed to see me?”
Dad stood and walked around his desk. “I think it’s about time we put this deal to bed, don’t you?”
“I told you, I’m not going to fix the election. Now, why don’t you come clean with me and tell me exactly what’s been going on?”
“That won’t be necessary.” Mayor Little swiveled around in a chair, a thick cigar clenched between his teeth. “We’ve got some business to discuss.”
“What’s this?” I spread my hands. “I told you, I’m not selling out to Swynton.
I don’t care about the sheriff’s job. Just tell me what your involvement is in the cigar-smuggling ring.
If all goes well I can use the info you give me as a bargaining chip and we can figure out who’s at the top of the line. ”
“Deputy Phillips,”—Mayor Little stood—“you may want to rethink your options.”
My head shook from side to side. “I’ve made my decision. The cigar ring is going down.”
“Even if it means taking your entire family with it?” Buck’s eyes gleamed.
“Dad? Want to tell me exactly what your role is in this? Who are you working with?”
My father didn’t speak but the look in his eyes said more than if he’d launched into a long-winded explanation.
I turned my attention to Buck. “You seem to be running the show. Why don’t you tell me exactly what’s going on?”
“Oh, I will. But first we need to make sure you’re not going to do anything with the information we share. A little insurance, if you will.” Buck slid his phone out of his pocket.
“What’s he talking about, Dad?”
“I didn’t mean for it to come to this.” Dad hung his head. I had never seen him look so haunted, so wrung out, so low.
If I thought my dad and pops had been messing around, my mind was completely blown by the image staring back at me from Mayor Little’s phone screen. Lacey stared into the camera, her eyes smudged with makeup from crying, her cheeks stained pink, probably from shock and embarrassment.
“Where did you get your hands on that?” I asked.
“I happen to have a penchant for mug shots. You think the people of Idont—”
“She’s changing the name to Ido,” I corrected.
“Doesn’t matter. When the folks see their beloved mayor splashed across the front page of the paper they won’t care what name she wanted to call the town.
I can see it now.” Buck lifted a hand and made his point by punching the air with his palm.
“Small-town Texas mayor arrested for assaulting an officer.”
My hands clenched into fists at my sides. I couldn’t overreact. That would just fuel whatever fire Buck had started building. “What do you want?”
“I think you know, son.” Buck slid his phone back inside his linen blazer.
“Fine, the beavers are yours. Cigars, too. I’ll go get them tonight and meet you wherever you want.” I couldn’t let Lacey take the fall for something my family had started, not even if I went down with them.
Buck waved the notion away like a pesky fly. “That’s the least of it.”
“Then what?” I spread my arms wide, at a loss. Obviously Buck was in charge of whatever my dad and pops were involved in. What more could he want than the damn cigars?
Buck tapped his cigar against the ashtray on my dad’s desk. “Find anything interesting while you were digging around in the yard the other night?”
My forehead creased and I rubbed at a knot in my shoulder as I tried to make sense of Buck’s question. “I was filling in holes from the armadillos.”
“You sure those critters are what made those holes?” Buck kicked his feet up on the edge of the desk, making it crystal clear who was running the show.
“You buried something in the yard, didn’t you?” I stepped forward and slammed my hand down on the desk. “You sick sonofabitch. There’s something out there you can’t get your hands on now, isn’t there?”
Buck tapped a finger to his forehead as he cast a long look at my dad. “I knew you got the smarts in the family.”
“What’s out there?” I crossed my arms over my chest, my patience for Buck’s style of fun and games quickly dissipating.
“I want to make you an offer. You get me what I want and I don’t leak your girlfriend’s picture to the AP. Sound good?” Buck offered a hand.
I ignored it. “I’m not willing to consider any kind of offer until you tell me everything.”
“Your boy’s got a backbone.” Buck spit the words out toward my dad. “Turns out your pops didn’t necessarily trust the local bank with his savings.”
“What?” I glanced to my dad. “What’s he talking about?”
Finally, my dad shifted in his seat and a little bit of color returned to his face. “Pops was his own bank. He preferred to keep his cash right under his nose.”
“You mean . . .”
“Yes. Your grandfather stashed pockets of cash all over the yard of the house. Figured with it being so close to the warehouse and under the town’s protection that it would be a safe place to store it.”
“And he can’t go dig it up himself?” I asked.
Dad shook his head. “He doesn’t necessarily know we’re going after it.”
“Whoa.” I put my palms out. “There’s no way I’m crossing Pops.”
“Would it make a difference if I told you it’s not his?” Dad asked. “He owes some very dangerous people quite a bit of cash.”
“Then why won’t he dig it up himself?” I asked. Even though my pops might bend the law from time to time, his word was as good as gold. “Pops always honors his commitments.”
“Not this time.” Dad lowered his head. “Our customers lost patience with the disruption in service. Buck sent him up to Oklahoma to stall. But we’re not going to have enough, not unless we make up the rest with the stash from the yard.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I wiped the back of my hand across my brow.
“Wish I was. Then we’d all be happy,” Buck said. “I’ve agreed to help your grandfather out this time. But I still need to answer to my higher-ups. You get me fifty grand from the yard and I’ll let your grandfather live. Oh, and keep little Lacey Cherish from gracing the front page of the paper.”
I slid my gaze from Buck to my dad. “Pops doesn’t know about this?”
“He hasn’t checked his stash in years,” Dad said as he handed me a creased piece of paper.
“What’s this?” I took it, recognizing my grandfather’s chicken-scratch writing.
“A map. Just take some from each hole until you get what Buck needs. Pops will never know and we’ll get him off the hook. Lacey, too.”
“And then you’ll leave everyone alone?” I directed the question to Buck.
“You’ve got my word.” Buck held two fingers up like he was making some sort of pledge.
I regretted the words before I even uttered them, wishing I could take them back as they spilled from my mouth. “Fine, I’m in.”
“Great. I realize this will take quite a bit of effort so I’ve decided to be generous. You’ve got a month. If I don’t have that cash in hand by then you can kiss your pops and your mayor’s future goodbye.”
I waited until Buck swaggered out the door until I turned on my father. “What the hell were you thinking? Do you have any idea what kind of position you’ve put me in?”
“Would have been a hell of a lot easier if you’d gotten us the damn beavers when we asked for them in the first place.” Dad cradled his head in his hands.
My palm smacked the edge of the desk. “Would have been a hell of a lot easier if you’d been straight with me from the get-go.”
Dad looked up, his eyes streaked with pink lines like he hadn’t slept in days. The side of his face still held a greenish-purplish tinge. “I guess we both learned something from this experience.”
Not wanting to justify that remark with any kind of response, I took a final, long look at my dad then folded up the treasure map and slid it into my back pocket.
My grandfather and father had sealed their own fate.
But Lacey . . . she was only trying to do the right thing.
I couldn’t let her take the fall for something my family had done.
I needed to come through for her on this, and sooner rather than later.
Hopefully she’d never find out about it.