Son of Texas (Count on a Cop) Page 17

  “What I want is the truth. Why would you hate someone who had nothing to do with making your life turn out the way it has?”

  “I was so afraid you’d tell Ashley the truth,” Lorna shouted. “I wanted you away from here before that could happen. Just like Mason did.” Her voice lowered. “And you look just like Marie and brought back all those memories I want to forget. You don’t belong here. I don’t think you ever will.”

  “Until my full memory returns, I’m not sure where I belong.”

  Lorna looked at her manicured nails for a second. “I am sorry for the pain you’ve been through. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone—not even Marie’s daughter.”

  Josie wasn’t too sure about Lorna’s sincerity, but decided they’d all been through enough for one day.

  “Ashley, please, we need to talk,” Lorna pleaded with her daughter.

  “I’m not ready.”

  “We’ll go on a trip, a cruise, anything you want. I’ll tell you everything you want to know and I won’t lie to you ever again. I can’t change the past, so please let’s work together on the future.”

  Ashley wavered for the first time. Josie could tell by her hesitation.

  “I’m not ready,” Ashley said again. “Not sure if I’ll ever be. But, please, do something for me.”

  “Sure. Anything.” Hope kindled in Lorna’s eyes.

  “Stop lying to yourself,” Ashley told her mother.

  “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  “I’m talking about Mason. After all these years, you’re still sleeping with him, so it has to be more than just sex. Admit that to yourself. And to him.” Saying that, she walked toward the front door.

  “Ashley…” Lorna called, but Ashley never stopped.

  Josie looked at Lorna’s defeated expression. “My father didn’t deserve what you did to him and his life and I should hate you. But oddly all I feel for you now is sympathy. I hope you listen to your daughter.”

  Josie walked away feeling no victory. Too much had been lost to experience any kind of victory in someone else’s pain. She and Caleb met Ashley outside. Ashley was talking to Caddo by her car.

  “If that offer is still open about staying with the woman in Austin, I’ll take you up on it,” she said to Caleb.

  “Sure. I need something to write the address on.”

  Ashley got a pen and paper from her car. Scribbling on the paper, Caleb said, “We’ll call and let her know you’re on the way.”

  “Thank you.” Ashley blinked against the morning sun. “Right now I just feel lost and I have to find my way to who I really am.”

  “You might find your way back here,” Josie said.

  “Maybe.” Ashley looked at the hacienda. “When I would go away to school, I couldn’t wait to get back home. Now I can’t wait to get away.” She smiled at Caddo. “Remember, every night at nine I will be calling.”

  “Sí.” Then a smile broke out on his face. “Yes. I will be waiting. Go with God, sister.” He nodded to Josie and Caleb and strolled toward the barns. A Mexican rode to him, leading the paint. Caddo swung up on his back and in a flash he was gone.

  Ashley hugged Caleb then clung to Josie. “I’m sorry you still don’t know who tried to kill you. I’d stay, but I’d be no help whatsoever.”

  Josie drew back. “Go and find some happiness. You deserve it.”

  “We all do,” Ashley replied as she slid behind the wheel. A moment later, she was driving away from Silver Spur.

  Josie climbed into the truck. In an upstairs window, she noticed a curtain pulled back. Lorna. She was watching her daughter leave. How that must hurt. As Josie had told Lorna, all she felt for the woman was sympathy. In trying to manipulate other people’s lives, she’d lost everything. Josie found no joy in that. Lorna’s life would now be very lonely. She’d spend her days waiting for her daughter to return.

  “Hey, over there. You okay?” Caleb’s sweet voice reached her.

  “Yes. I was just thinking how sad all this is. How the people we love, we hurt the most.”

  “That’s very sad,” he replied. “It makes me think about the years I brooded over a father who didn’t want me and how that must have hurt Andrew. He was there loving and caring for me, but I kept thinking about the man who didn’t care at all.”

  “I’m sure Andrew understood.”

  “Yeah. But when I return I’m going to make sure he knows how much I love him.”

  “You are so special, Caleb McCain. And fearless.”

  He lifted an eyebrow at that.

  “What would you have done if twenty vaqueros had swarmed the room?”

  He smiled. “Fight like hell. And I knew Caddo wasn’t far away.”

  “Poor, sweet Caddo. I don’t know what his future holds.”

  “Time will tell,” Caleb mused, staring at the wrecker coming toward them. Caleb stopped to speak with the driver.

  The man was looking for the Tahoe and couldn’t find it. Caleb drove to the spot and saw to it that the Tahoe was hooked up and pulled back to Austin.

  Sitting and waiting, Josie’s mind went over all that happened. One thing stood out very clearly. The Becketts hadn’t tried to kill her and she still didn’t know who had. The shooter was still out there. Watching. Waiting. Goose bumps popped up on her skin as her old friend fear made a brief appearance.

  Caleb slid behind the wheel.

  “You should be going back to Austin, too,” she said. “You have a job and you need to return to it.” Although she felt that moment of fear, she also knew she could take care of herself. Her dependency on Caleb had to end and his leaving would be a start.

  He started the engine. “I’m not going anywhere until I know you’re safe.”

  “But that could take a long time.”

  “I don’t think so. Your memory is almost complete. Just give it a little more time, and you’re not getting rid of me.”

  She knew he was going to say that. That’s the kind of man he was. She should have insisted. Why didn’t she?

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  LENCHA WAS FEEDING the chickens when they drove into the yard. Shooing away the hens, she hurried to the truck.

  Getting out, Josie looped an arm around her thin shoulders. Out of the corner of her eye she glimpsed the guard parked at the road, keeping an eye on Lencha.

  “Just wanted to let you know I’m okay and that Caleb and I are going over to the police station for a while. I didn’t know if you were back or not and I was going to leave you a note.”

  “Got back about six and you were gone. Where you been, child?”

  “It’s a long story. I’ll explain tonight.” Josie kissed her cheek. “See you then.”

  “Take that guard with you. I don’t need him,” Lencha called.

  Josie just shook her head.

  “Take care of her, Ranger,” Lencha shouted to Caleb.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Josie climbed back in the truck and they drove to the station. Eric had called and said he’d pulled a lot more files from the last two months Josie was in Beckett.

  “Something has to be in one of those cases,” she said. “But I don’t know if I’ll recognize it.”

  “The missing girl is going to be the key,” Caleb replied.

  “Yes. Now we just have to find the file.” She glanced out the window, feeling a sense of desperation. “This is taking too long.”

  “But we’re narrowing the list of suspects and that’s good.”

  “Yes, but it’s getting very discouraging.”

  Caleb parked at the station and handed her his phone. “Call Gertie. That should cheer you up.”

  Their eyes locked for a minute. He always knew what to say to her. She quickly poked out Gertie’s number.

  Martha answered. “Martha, this is Jos—Belle.” She stopped herself just in time, realizing Martha wouldn’t know who Josie was. “May I speak with Ms. Gertie, please?”

  In a second, Ms. Gertie was on the line. “Belle, dar
lin’, are you coming home?”

  “No, Ms. Gertie.” A part of her wanted to say yes and leave all this pain behind her. She was stronger than that, though. “My memory hasn’t fully returned, but I’m sending someone your way. I hope you’ll let her stay with you awhile.”

  “Who, darlin’?”

  Josie told her Ashley’s story.

  “Of course she’s welcome here. I’ll have Martha prepare a room. What is Boone thinking? Has he lost all his good sense? No, I take that back. He never had any to start with.”

  “This isn’t about Boone,” Josie told her. “It’s about Lorna and Mason and how they lied to Ashley for so many years.”

  “I’ll take very good care of her,” Gertie promised. “I miss you so much. This house is very empty without you.”

  “Thank you.” Josie swallowed and changed the subject before she burst into tears. “How are the girls and Harry?”

  “Pampered and spoiled and they miss you, too.”

  I miss you, too. And she couldn’t believe how much. That life was familiar to her. Comfortable. Safe. Everything that Beckett wasn’t. No. She wouldn’t settle for safe or allowing herself to go backward. She had to remember everything to be whole again.

  “How’s Caleb?” Gertie asked, penetrating her thoughts.

  “Helping me as usual.” She glanced at Caleb and smiled. He was familiar, too. He… No, she wasn’t doing that, either.

  “Mmm. He’s a good man. I don’t worry so much about you while he’s there. I hope you’ll come home soon.”

  “I don’t know. My life is topsy-turvy right now.”

  “You just take care.”

  “I will. Bye.”

  She clicked off and stared at the phone, experiencing a moment of regret. She would never be Belle again.

  “Josie?”

  She looked into Caleb’s worried eyes.

  “What did Gertie say?”

  “Exactly what we expected her to. She’ll make Ashley feel very welcome just like she did me.”

  “Then why the sad face?”

  “She called me Belle and…”

  “What?”

  “It’s hard to explain.”

  “Try.”

  “As Belle I had these wonderful people who cared about me. As Josie I don’t feel any of that and I miss it.”

  He reached out to touch her cheek. “I’m still here, Josie Belle.”

  She loved the way he called her that. She supposed she was part Belle and part Josie. Maybe always would be. Her head tilted toward his hand, needing his touch, his voice. But she shouldn’t. It was unfair to him. She had…

  Eric tapped on the window. “Everything okay?”

  They drew apart and got out. Josie felt a moment of sadness, of loneliness, and she quickly shook it away.

  Inside, Eric said, “Got the forensic back on the bullet fired through Josie’s window. Came from a small .25 caliber pistol. Now all we have to do is locate the gun, which is a million-to-one shot. The gun is very popular, sold in gun shops all over the country.”

  Caleb looked through the report. “The gun that shot Josie was a .22 caliber. Our shooter likes small guns.” He laid the file down. “Did you put it in the system?”

  “Yes,” Eric replied. “But the odds are slim of it being used in another crime.”

  “Yeah, but it doesn’t hurt to try. We might get lucky.”

  The rest of the day they read through files. Dennis helped, too. By six o’clock they were exhausted and frustrated. No file disclosed a missing girl and neither Eric nor Dennis remembered the case.

  “Josie.” Dennis leaned back, flexing his arms. “Maybe you need to talk to Lencha again to see if she can remember anything else because clearly we didn’t have a missing person back then. This is a small town and if someone was missing, everyone would know about it, especially me.”

  Josie heaved a sigh of frustration. “I’m sorry, Dennis, to take up all this time. But it’s the only clue I have.” She rose and stretched her shoulders. “It’s time to quit for the day and I’ll go home and talk to Lencha again.”

  “Anything I can do?” Eric asked eagerly, and she looked into his blue eyes searching for the light that would lead her to the answers about their relationship, about her life. But that part of her mind was still blank.

  “No, thanks. I need to be alone and think. Maybe something will come back to me.”

  “Just be careful,” Eric warned.

  “I will.”

  She and Caleb rode back to Lencha’s in silence. There wasn’t anything left to say and she could feel her emotions balancing precariously between anger and tears. She refused to give in to either and she refused to lean on Caleb one more minute. But, oh, she wanted to.

  In the house she had one goal—to jog Lencha’s memory. “Please think back to that day,” Josie begged her. “Put garlic around your neck, chant, stir something in a pot, whatever it takes to remember exactly what I said the last time you saw me. My life may depend on it.”

  Lencha went outside and Josie and Caleb stared at each other in puzzlement. In a minute she came back with a string interwoven with garlic, peppers and something that Josie couldn’t identify. Lencha looped the strand around her neck.

  At the smell, Josie took a step backward and bumped into Caleb. Her back felt his broad chest and his hands lightly clutched her elbows. She didn’t move away. The urge was strong to lean into him and let him wrap his arms around her and… She could preach to herself day and night about Caleb, but nothing was getting through. The only way to accomplish that was to remember—that would wipe away her dependency on him.

  She focused on Lencha, never really expecting her to use garlic or anything else to remember. She just wanted to get her attention. Now Lencha had hers.

  Wrinkling her nose, she said, “That’s a little strong.”

  Caleb cleared his throat and she forced herself not to smile.

  “Awakens the senses, the mind,” Lencha said, closing her eyes and breathing deeply several times.

  “And the dead,” Caleb whispered for her ears only and they both stepped back farther.

  Chula scratched at the door and Caleb let her out. Even the squirrel wanted fresh air.

  “What happened that morning?” Josie asked.

  “I was eating my raisins when you walked in winding your hair in that loop thing you do. I gave you a cup of coffee and you said you knew I had put something in it, but you didn’t even care. You’d had a lead on a case and you might need a little extra energy.”

  Lencha stopped and took several deep breaths.

  “What lead?” Josie said, barely audible.

  “A phone call. You said you were expecting a phone call about a missing girl and you had to get to work.”

  “And,” Josie prompted in desperation when Lencha stopped speaking.

  Lencha opened her eyes. “Nothing. You left and I never saw you again until you walked in here with the ranger.”

  “Dammit.” Josie sank into a chair. “Why is everything a dead-end?”

  Lencha looked at Caleb, then went outside to put away the smelly strand.

  “We’re missing something,” she said. Jumping up she ran to her room and grabbed the box of files. She spread them out on the bed, looking at each name carefully, trying to jog her memory.

  “Give it a rest for the night,” Caleb suggested from the doorway.

  “I can’t. I have to keep looking.”

  He walked into the room. “It’s a waste of your time.”

  She blinked. “What?”

  “Sometimes older people remember things the way they want and I didn’t pay too much attention to Lencha’s memory of the last time she saw you. But we keep coming back to it. Now I’m not sold on the garlic and peppers and whatever, but she seems pretty clear about that morning.”

  “What’s your point?”

  “I’m certain you were working a missing person case and I’m just as certain you’ll never find the file.”
>
  She shook her head. “I’m not following you.”

  “Whoever shot you destroyed the file.”

  “Oh.” She grabbed her cheeks. “Of course.” Why hadn’t she thought of that? Suddenly she knew they were on the edge of finding the truth.

  “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

  “But it doesn’t explain why Eric and Dennis don’t know anything about the girl.”

  “No.”

  She took a long breath. “Then let’s find out.”

  He caught her arm as she made to walk past him. “We’ve been with them most of the day and neither has a chink in their story. I want to do some checking tonight so I’ll have some hard facts, then we’ll talk to them tomorrow.”

  “What facts? What are you looking for?”

  “Background on both men to see if there are any skeletons in their closets.”

  “I’m engaged to Eric,” she said, her voice sounding anxious.

  “Try to get some rest. Maybe Lencha can give you something.”

  She glared at him. “Caleb McCain, this is the first time I’ve wanted to hit you. I’m not some sniveling, weak-kneed woman who needs to be sedated.”

  He held up both hands, as if to defend himself. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. I’m just worried about you.”

  She knew he was and that one thing saved his hide.

  He grinned. “I’m retreating now to my own room.”

  As his door closed, Josie picked up the files and stuffed them back into the box. This seemed to be a ritual she’d been doing since she’d returned here. Where was the missing file and who’d destroyed it? Why hadn’t Eric or Dennis known about the case? Surely she discussed it with them. Could they both be involved? Could they both be afraid of what she’d remember?

  With the files tucked away in the box, she lifted it and stopped. A piece of paper lay on the bed. She set the box on the floor and picked it up. A telephone number was scribbled on it—nothing else. She recognized the area code for Corpus. She studied it for a long time, but it wasn’t a familiar number or one she remembered. The paper must have fallen out of one of the files and she had no idea which one. She laid it on her dresser wondering if it meant anything.

  Lencha had said that she was waiting for a call. She gritted her teeth in frustration and went to help Lencha with supper. Caleb was busy on his laptop so she carried him a plate and went to take a bath.