Son of Texas (Count on a Cop) Read online

  “Eric,” he said in surprise.

  “I’d like to speak with Josie.”

  Josie’s first instinct was to go to her room, but she couldn’t keep avoiding this conversation. She had to talk to Eric, her fiancé.

  “Come in,” she called, and Caleb opened the door wider.

  Eric hurried to her side. “Josie, I’m so sorry for what Teri did. I just keep thinking I should have double-checked to make sure it was done. I feel it’s all my fault.”

  “I think I’ll check on Lencha,” Caleb said, heading for the back door. “She’s been outside for a while.”

  Josie couldn’t have loved him more at that moment, but he didn’t have to leave. Nothing was going to be said that he couldn’t hear. She had to start to break those ties, though.

  “It’s not your fault,” she told Eric as Caleb left. “That wouldn’t have stopped me from getting shot. Someone wanted me dead.”

  “I can’t believe that.” He sat by her and she was comforted by his nearness. She didn’t even have the urge to move away.

  She pulled back her hair to show him where the bullet had gone in—a small spot on the left near the temple where her hair would never grow again.

  “Oh God!”

  “I’m very lucky to be alive. They said it was a .22 caliber pistol and the shot was fired from a distance. That’s the only reason I’m probably still alive.”

  “Oh, Josie.”

  She stared at his handsome face and tried to force the memories, their love, to the surface. But that blank void was still there. Letting go of Caleb was going to be harder than she’d ever imagined.

  Eric watched her. “You still don’t remember me, do you?”

  “I’m remembering bits and pieces. It’s like a puzzle and soon I’ll have the full picture.”

  “I’ll be here and I’ll give you all the time you need.”

  “Thank you.” She twisted a strand of her hair. “Do you remember any missing person’s report I was working on? Lencha said I was excited about finding a girl who was missing.”

  “No. I’d been gone two weeks and had just gotten back into town. My father broke his ankle and I went home to Three Rivers to help out. We talked several times, but you never mentioned a missing girl.”

  “What did we talk about?”

  “Mostly about setting a wedding date.”

  “Did we?”

  “No.” He sighed. “You were still battling with Boone over moving your father’s body and you didn’t want to get married under those circumstances.”

  She flung her hair back to keep from fiddling with it. “He had both bodies moved while I was gone.”

  “I know. I hope you’re pleased about that.”

  “Yes. They were both born on the Silver Spur and that’s where they should rest, but I couldn’t move one without the other.”

  “I understand.” His hand reached out to touch her, but suddenly he pulled it back and she was glad. They were talking in an easy, comforting way that was familiar. She wasn’t ready for anything else.

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out several chocolate kisses. She stared at the wrapped chocolate and remembered. Smiling, she took one and unwrapped it.

  “You used to bring me candy kisses.”

  “Yes.” His voice was excited. “And you kept them in your desk drawer.”

  “My chocolate fix during the day.”

  “You’re remembering.”

  “Slowly, yes, just give me some time.” Wonderful memories were filling her head bit by bit, but a big chunk was still missing.

  “Like I said, I’ll be here.”

  “Thank you, and thanks for the candy.”

  Eric left soon after and she got ready for bed. Caleb didn’t ask anything about Eric and she could feel a bit of distance between them.

  Let yourself remember, you don’t need me anymore.

  How she wished that was true—that letting go would be easy. But she’d spent the last year with the most incredible man and a part of her was always going to need him. Was it possible to love two men and someone not get hurt? Even she knew that answer was no. She just didn’t want that person to be Caleb. But how could it not be?

  CALEB LET THE WOMEN have the bathroom first. He made a call to check in with his office and talked to Tuck for a few minutes. Then he called Beau to let him know he wasn’t coming home just yet. His brother would tell the rest of the family.

  Removing his gun from his belt, he laid it on the dresser. He unbuttoned his shirt and sat down to take off his boots. Josie had been quiet after Eric had left and he didn’t question her. She didn’t need that kind of pressure. Her memory was returning and soon all the pieces would fall into place. And he would return home alone.

  That’s the way it had to be.

  As he yanked his shirt out of his jeans, the sound of a gun firing echoed through the house. In a split second, his gun was in his hand. His one thought was to protect Josie.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  HE FLUNG HIS DOOR OPEN at the same time that Josie opened hers. She held a gun in her hand and all she had on was a T-shirt.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “Someone fired a shot through my window. I’ll check the front, you get the back.”

  Clearly she didn’t need protecting. She’d shifted into her officer’s training in a heartbeat.

  “What the…” Lencha came out of her room, her gray hair as wild as her eyes.

  “Stay in your room,” Josie shouted. “And away from the window.”

  Josie ran down the hall, dropped to the floor and crawled to the door so as not to be seen through the window. Caleb headed for the back door. In a few minutes they met back in the kitchen.

  “Anything?” she asked. Her voice was different. Eager. Excited. It held no fear at all.

  “Nothing,” he told her. “Everything’s quiet, except I could hear Chula in a tree.”

  She charged down the hall to her room. They both stared at the mess. The bullet had come through the window facing the road. Shattered glass lay on the hardwood floor.

  Josie placed her gun on the nightstand. “I was getting ready for bed when the glass exploded and the bullet whizzed right past me. The bullet is probably lodged in this wall.”

  Caleb caught her arm as she started toward the wall. “Josie?”

  “What?” She looked at him.

  “You’re…you’re very calm.”

  She blinked. “I’m a police officer. I’ve been trained to do this and for the first time it feels right. Adrenaline is pumping through my veins. This is what I do.”

  “Someone just tried to kill you—again.” He hated to point that out, but he wanted her to be careful.

  “Yes. This person has now made a move and next time I will be ready.”

  “Please be careful.”

  “I intend to and I intend to nail this bastard.”

  He watched her closely. “Have you remembered anything else?”

  “No. But I’m not afraid anymore.”

  He could see that. Her eyes were as bright as he’d ever seen them and he became acutely aware that all she had on was a T-shirt. And he wore only his jeans.

  But Josie’s mind was clearly on the business at hand. She yanked up the phone and called Eric.

  “I’ll get dressed,” he said.

  “Oh.” She glanced down at herself. “Guess I better do the same.”

  “Coast clear?” Lencha peeped out her door, a shotgun in her hand.

  “Yes,” Josie answered. “I reported the shooting so Eric is on his way over.”

  “I’ll put on the coffeepot.”

  Caleb barely finished dressing when he heard Eric’s voice. They dug the bullet out of the wall and Eric put it in a plastic bag to send to the lab. The shooter was getting nervous. Making mistakes.

  Caleb and Eric cleaned up the glass and taped plastic around the window until it could be fixed. Lencha went to bed and the three of them sat around the table, drinki
ng coffee, talking about their next move. Caleb and Josie would visit the Becketts and Eric would start an investigation. Both Caleb and Eric were worried about Josie being a moving target. And they were worried about Lencha’s safety, too, since she lived in the house.

  “I’ll have a guard put on the house,” Eric said. “That will make us all feel better.”

  “And Josie should go nowhere without one of us with her,” Caleb added.

  She made a face at this, but complied.

  Plans made, excitement over, they retired for the night. Caleb couldn’t sleep, though. Too much coffee and too much going on in his head. Who would be this stupid? To openly try to kill Josie now?

  Josie was taking this well. Actually the frightened Belle he’d known had all but disappeared and the fiery, strong and resourceful Josie had emerged.

  That’s what he wanted—had been working toward for a year. He rolled out of bed in pajama bottoms, deciding to get a glass of water. He heard a noise and was instantly on the alert. Voices—Josie’s and Lencha’s. He moved down the hall and spotted them in the living room.

  Josie lay on the sofa on her stomach and a sheet covered her to the waist. Her back was bare and from the lamp he could see the outline of her breast and the smoothness of her olive skin. But his attention was on her scars—deep, diagonal ridges. The cult leader had beaten her with a board and a rope and he’d left his mark. Deep anger boiled inside him.

  The doctors had told him about the scars and he’d felt them through the fabric of her dress when they’d danced, but he’d never seen them.

  Lencha knelt on the floor and began to rub cream from a jar into the raised ridges. She chanted in Spanish, engrossed in her task, her gray hair all around her. Caleb turned and went back to bed, not wanting to intrude or make Josie feel uncomfortable. If Lencha could make the scars go away, then he was all for it.

  He fell across the bed thinking, as he had so many times, that Josie had to be strong to survive what she’d endured. Not only had she survived, but she’d overcome the trauma. He went to sleep with visions of her smile in his mind.

  “YOU HAVE MAGIC FINGERS,” Josie murmured as Lencha rubbed her secret salve into her skin.

  “That’s what it’ll take to get rid of these scars. Lawdy, child, why didn’t you tell me about these sooner? And I wouldn’t have seen them tonight if I hadn’t walked in on you undressing.”

  “It’s not something I like to talk about.”

  “Dios! Child, you’re stubborn. This scar tissue has to be broken up and we have to do this every day.”

  “Mmm.” Josie was half-asleep as her body relaxed at Lencha’s gentle pressure. She’d been so revved up and she knew she’d discovered an important part of herself tonight—the cop in her. As soon as she’d heard the shot, she’d instinctively known what to do. She didn’t cower in fear. She didn’t feel any fear at all. Josie Marie had surfaced in a heartbeat.

  She felt good about that and she wasn’t ever going to cower again. She was fighting back. One thing was very clear—the person who’d shot her was still in Beckett. But who? That part of the picture was still blank, but it wouldn’t be for long. From all she’d read and from what Dr. Oliver had told her, being in a familiar place was the catalyst she needed to trigger her full memory. The shooting, the trauma, would be the last piece to fall into place. Her mind’s defense mechanisms would finally give way because she was strong enough to handle it.

  Her eyes grew heavy and she smiled as she remembered the shocked look on Caleb’s face as he saw her with the gun in her hand.

  Josie Marie Beckett was back. Weak, helpless Belle was fading and she felt a moment of sadness—maybe Caleb was right. She wouldn’t need him much longer.

  THE NEXT MORNING was hectic. Dennis called and wanted them at the station. After filling out a report, Dennis decided they needed to check for any unusual tire tracks on the road. Caleb, Eric and Josie did a thorough investigation of the area and found where someone had pulled over into the ditch in front of Lencha’s house. On a long shot, Eric had a tire print made and it was late afternoon by the time Caleb and Josie drove out to the Silver Spur. Caleb had called ahead so the Becketts knew they were coming.

  Josie had attached her gun to her belt that morning. She wasn’t back on the police force, but she wore it anyway. Caleb and Eric were doing everything to protect her, but she had to protect herself, to be on guard and stay focused.

  They walked into the den where Boone and Mason stood at the built-in bar.

  “Want anything to drink?” Boone asked. “Just name your poison.”

  “Answers,” Josie replied. “I would like some answers.”

  “Whoa, girl.” Boone held up a hand, his voice projecting to the next county. “You come in here packing heat and all revved up with that light in your eyes. I done told you there’s no criminals here.”

  “Point taken, Boone, but—” her eyes swung to Mason “—before I leave here Mason is going to tell me why he had Teri not file the missing person’s report.”

  Boone downed a shot glass of whiskey. “She better be lying, boy.”

  “She’s not,” Mason said matter-of-factly. Boone’s ire never affected Mason. Boone’s money did. “I didn’t see any need to waste officers’ time in looking for someone who wasn’t missing. Josie made it plain she was leaving and never coming back and Lencha is loony as a bat.”

  “Why was I leaving and never coming back?” Josie asked just as calmly. “What happened here that day?”

  Mason slammed his glass onto the counter. “I already told you and I’m getting tired of this interrogation.”

  “And I’m getting tired of the lies.” Josie stood her ground.

  “No one’s lying to you,” Mason shouted. “Get your damn memory back and you’ll know that.”

  He charged past her, but she wasn’t through. “Most of my memory is back. Do you want to talk about Caddo?”

  Mason swung around, his eyes narrowed to tiny slits. She had his full attention.

  “Caddo?” Boone asked. “What the hell has that half-breed done now? I told you, Mason, to fire his damn ass. Let him go terrorize someone else’s ranch for a change.”

  “Caddo stays on the Silver Spur.” Mason’s voice was hard and unyielding. And there was something else—almost like fear. Fear of losing Caddo. Did he actually care about his son? That was a staggering thought.

  “Now you listen here, boy, I don’t understand your loyalty to this half-breed. He’s scary as hell sometimes. Howling with the coyotes and chasing the wind.”

  “He’s different, but he saves this ranch time and money and I’m not losing a hand like that. I don’t care if he wears heels and a dress in his off time, he gets the job done.”

  “Now don’t get your britches in a knot.”

  Again Mason was fighting for Caddo. That meant he had to care something about him, but Josie also knew that Mason would never admit it, never let on to Boone. His inheritance was at stake.

  “Can you tell us where you were about ten-thirty last night?”

  Josie was glad when Caleb took over the questioning. She needed a reprieve.

  “He was drunk on his ass.” Boone spoke for him. “Felipe and Pablo carried him upstairs about eleven. Why?” Boone walked to his chair and sat on the edge, a cigar in the corner of his mouth.

  “Someone took a shot at Josie last night.”

  “Dammit. What’s Dennis doing about this?”

  “Do you or Mason own a small caliber pistol?” Caleb asked instead of answering.

  “Sure do.” Boone took a puff on the cigar. “Cabinet over there is full of all kinds of guns. You’re welcome to look.”

  Caleb didn’t move, as Josie knew he wouldn’t. If anyone had used the gun, it wouldn’t be in plain sight.

  “I’d like to ask Lorna a few questions.”

  “Well, ranger man, all you’re going to get out of her is some muttering and moaning. She’s been sedated since yesterday.”

  �
��And Ashley?”

  “She’s in her room, pouting. Does that better than anyone I know.” Boone blew plumes of smoke into the air. “Any more questions?”

  “Not today, but tomorrow I’d like everyone present and fully conscious. Josie’s life is at stake and this person has to be stopped.”

  “My sentiments exactly, ranger man.”

  Josie walked toward the door.

  “Josie.” Boone’s voice halted her.

  She turned to face him.

  “I know you think I’m hard, crude and a lot of other things, but you’re my granddaughter, just like Ashley. No one here would hurt you. You’re a Beckett. Never thought I’d admit that, but you are.” He removed the cigar from his mouth. “Lorna might want to hurt you, but she hasn’t got the nerve. You’re like your father—strong, spirited and stubborn as hell. I saw that in you the first time I met you. You’re a Beckett, girl. Don’t ever forget that.”

  She didn’t know what to say so she nodded and walked out. Caleb met her at his vehicle.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  She shivered. “It’s almost surreal. When I first came here, I waited and waited for him to admit that. Now that he finally has, I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel. It’s not like I thought it would be.”

  “Because so many doubts are connected to it.”

  “Yes.” She smiled slightly, knowing she could count on Caleb to put things into perspective.

  Before they could get into the Tahoe, a squad car drove up behind them on the circular drive. Josie thought it was Eric, but Dennis climbed out.

  “Get any information?” he asked.

  “No,” Josie replied.

  “I got a call so I better see what the big man wants. Catch you later.”

  As they drove away, Caleb remarked, “I guess Dennis is pretty much in Boone’s pocket.”

  “Yes. As Caddo said, Boone is the law in Beckett.”

  “Does Dennis have a family?”

  “Yes. Rhonda—that’s his wife’s name.” She knew that without having to think about it. As Dr. Oliver had said, some of her memory would return without her being aware of it. “They’d been trying to have a baby for years. She had several miscarriages, then a stillborn baby. Finally they decided to adopt. The paperwork had all been done and they brought the baby home, then the mother changed her mind. They had to give the little girl back. Rhonda and Dennis were devastated, but the agency promised them another baby. That was fourteen months ago, so I’m sure they have the baby by now. I’ll have to ask Dennis about it.”