Gambling on a Secret (40 page)

He considered the news for a moment. “Ferguson isn’t in Dallas. He keeps a plane and a helicopter at the local airstrip. Did you check them out?”

“The plane’s gone. If he lands anywhere in the U.S., I’ll have him, but my guess is he’s fled the country.” Zack huffed. “On a brighter note, Kyle decided he’d rather sing than shoulder all the blame, especially when I started suggesting he killed Ella. He’s made a full confession. I’ve called in the D.A. and told him about Ella’s confession.”

He closed his eyes to absorb all the information, but opened them when Zack continued.

“He believes there’s enough to go after Leon for the forgery and for killing Ella. The Texas Rangers are building a case against him for a whole laundry list of crimes, including murder.”

Dylan took one of Charli’s hands from his shoulder and held it against his chest.

“Ask him about Annie,” she chimed in from his side.

He nodded and held the phone so she could hear the answer. “Have you talked to the girl–Annie?”

“She’s taking this hard. Jeremy Greenberg refused to have anything to do with her. According to Julie, Jeremy told Annie he isn’t her father. He always had a mean streak.”

He looked at Charli.

She took the phone. “Zack, do you think I could see her?”

“You’ll have to contact Julie,” Zack said.

She handed him the receiver again. “Thanks for letting us know, Zack.”

“You bet. Until we catch Ferguson, you watch your back, Captain.”

“Affirmative.”

“Make sure Tracy knows what’s up, too. The crazy bastard might try to come after her or her boy to get to you.”

“I’ll talk to her. Catch him, Zack.”

“Roger.” Zack hung up.

“God, Dylan.” Charli got out of bed and headed for the closet. “I need to see Annie.”

“Yes, you probably understand her better than anyone.” He rummaged in the dresser drawer for a t-shirt.

“What can you do about the will?” she asked when she returned from getting her clothes for the day.

“I don’t know.” With a shirt in hand, he turned and leaned against the dresser. “My father is going to get back to me when he finds out what we can do. I’m hoping we can contest it, but things would be so much easier if we could find the original.”

She puckered her brow. “Wouldn’t he have destroyed the will?”

He pulled on a pair of jeans. “Maybe. But knowing Leon the way I do, I think he kept it.”

“Why? Seems awfully risky. He’s a businessman, and from what I’ve heard, a damned shrewd one. Unless he’d keep it for some sick reason, I don’t see it.”

“Which is precisely why he’d keep it. It’s a trophy in his sick mind. He’s always despised my relationship with Granddad. He and Leon never got along, despite Granddad’s best attempts at trying to be a good father to him. That’s why it was such a shock when Leon inherited the ranch and all his money.”

* * * *

“Annie,” Julie Larson said after leading Charli into the small living room of her apartment above the Longhorn. “Miz Monroe came to see you.”

The girl, stoop-shouldered and sitting across an overstuffed chair, grunted and continued to change channels with the remote.

Julie turned red-rimmed eyes on Charli, and she could almost
feel
the hopeful pleading pouring from the other woman.

She sat on the edge of the couch that, if the blanket and pillow were indicators, Annie had used as a bed the night before.

Julie put her hands into the back pockets of her jeans and turned away.

“I’m sorry, Annie.” She rested a hand on Annie’s arm. “I’m here if you need to talk about what’s going on.” When no response except more vicious channel changing came from the girl, she took a deep breath.

“You know when I was your age, my momma died, too. I hated a lot of people after that day. My grandfather, my father, the driver of the truck who’d hit her, the bank where she worked. The list goes on. But mostly I hated myself.”

Annie looked at her.

“I even thought if I hadn’t been born, Momma wouldn’t have moved away from the ranch. She wouldn’t have been working at a bank in Tulsa. I blamed myself for everything, including her bad choices–which included her sleeping with my father to begin with.”

Annie still didn’t speak, but sniffed and looked away again.

“But I didn’t make those choices, my mother did. In the end, I just had to make sure I didn’t make even worse ones, but I didn’t realize that until I’d already made them. My hate and anger led me down a road I never want anyone else to follow. Think about coming to the ranch, Annie.”

“Aunt Julie told me Leon Ferguson is my father. Why would he kill her?” Annie choked on a sob and peered at her with pleading big brown eyes. “Why?”

She knelt beside the chair and took the girl’s free hand. The other held the TV remote in a death grip. “I don’t know, Annie, but I’m here to help you figure out how to get through this. I’m not like most therapists you’ll probably talk to. I’ve been there, but more importantly, I’m your friend.”

“Will you still let me train your horses?”

She fought the sting of the tears for as long as she could, but it was a losing battle. “You bet.”

* * * *

“I was beginning to think you stood me up, hotshot,” Dylan said in way of greeting when Zack showed up in the hallway of the meeting room of the country club on Friday afternoon. In spite of the chaos in which the county found itself, the annual charity ball was still going on, which meant he was still slated to talk to the planning committee.

He paced the floor and was sweaty under his pressed white shirt and bolo tie. He still had no idea what he’d say to the group of women gathered to listen to him, but he’d let Zack go first, since his aunt and mother ran this shindig, and wing it from there.

Zack flashed him a smug grin. “Don’t get your panties all tangled in a wad. I told you I’d be here. But I
am
trying to hunt down a wanted man. Plus there was a cattle rustling last night.”

He let Zack’s smart-assed greeting slide. “The bad guys figure y’all are distracted, I guess. Any leads into where Leon might be hiding?”

Zack shook his head. “No. The FBI is now involved, but it’s like Ferguson disappeared. His mother swears she knows nothing.”

“You don’t believe her?” he asked in response to something in Zack’s tone.

“I believe her claim of not knowing where he is, but I do think Mrs. Ferguson knows more than she’s letting on.”

“Maybe she knew about the will forgery. You remember from your Tracy days, Maddie and my mother got along like two wild cats stuck in a burlap sack, don’t you? Maddie hated my mother because she felt Mom was Granddad’s favorite. Leon’s mother would do anything to protect him.”

“Maybe. But if she did know about the forgery, she’s an accessory to the crime and will go down with her son.” Zack looked around the hallway. “How’s Charli?”

“She’s holding up. Talked Ella’s girl into coming out to the ranch and helping with the horses. I think Charli would like for Annie to move in with us. Sam and Julie don’t have room for her.”

“Not a half-bad idea. Neither Sam nor Julie is parenting material. Sam can barely take care of the kids he has, and Julie is too wild. Charli will be great with Annie.”

“Yeah. She knows exactly what she’s going through.”

“Is Charli at the ranch?”

“No, she and Tracy went to the mall to buy a dress. We’re going to the ball tomorrow night. I don’t know how much fun we’ll have, but we decided to go for it.”

Zack groaned. “Don’t remind me about the ball.”

“Will you be working and had a hot date planned?”

Zack laughed and shook his head. “Hell, I wish I was working. I’ll be at the party, but I don’t have a date. I can’t date anyone.”

“Why not?” He frowned. “
You
surely haven’t given up women, have you?”

The sheriff narrowed his eyes on him. “I have a six-year-old daughter who still asks me every night when her momma will come home from heaven. I can’t confuse her by bringing another woman home. Besides, I’m too busy with work and the ranch.” Zack slapped his hat on his thigh and looked away from him. “But God, sometimes I wish I could find a good woman. Amanda needs a mother. She’s six going on sixteen.”

Winnie Cartwright opened the door of the meeting room and smiled broadly at them. She ushered them into the conference room. “We’re happy you could take time to come and talk to us today, gentlemen.”

Zack charmed his aunt with a big grin. “Not a problem, ma’am.” He glanced at Dylan. “I’m glad we’re here, too.”

Dylan needed to do this. Talking about what had happened was a way to heal, but so was accepting not everything had been bad. He wasn’t speaking about his last mission. He’d tell the ladies about the missions that had defined him, made him want to go back again and again, and given him a feeling of accomplishment.

He wasn’t surprised when he saw Brenda sitting beside her mother. As Zack greeted several of the other women, Dylan approached his ex-wife and her mother. “Good day, Mrs. Grady,” he said to his former mother-in-law.

Linda Grady scowled at him. “We don’t want any trouble here, Dylan. I didn’t want Brenda to come, but Winnie insisted she had to be here.”

He grinned. “I put Winnie up to it. So, don’t worry, I’m not here to cause trouble. Brenda, I’d like to talk to you before we start.”

Brenda glanced at her mother and nodded. After she and Dylan were outside the room, she spun to face him. “What do you want?”

He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”

“What?”

Looking down into her narrowed brown eyes, he gently said, “I’m sorry I never was the husband you wanted me to be. I guess by now you’ve heard Charli Monroe and I are living together.”

“Yes, I’ve heard.”

“I’m in love with her, and I realized you and I were never meant to be. I hope you’re as happy with Nicholas as I am with Charli. Goodbye, Brenda.”

He walked back inside the conference room, leaving Brenda gaping after him.

While Zack told his own story, Dylan gathered his thoughts.

He needed to accept the past, and put it behind him. With Charli, he was a new man, a better man.

Zack finished his story about his time in the Marines and the attack at the checkpoint that nearly killed him.

With each beat of his heart, Dylan was reborn. Like he’d shed a cocoon. When Zack stepped away to give him the podium, Dylan grinned and spread his wings.

He was free.

Chapter 22

Every eye in the place turned toward Charli as she entered the ballroom on Dylan’s arm. She fidgeted and murmured, “Maybe, I should’ve gotten a longer dress.” Or one that wasn’t backless, or showed so much cleavage.

Dylan tightened his arm around her waist and leaned over to whisper by her ear, “Stop. Since when did you start feeling uncomfortable in your own skin? You are easily the most beautiful woman in the whole damned place.”

“I think you’re biased. But that wasn’t what I meant.”

“Charli, no one here knows your past, and even if they did, I wouldn’t care. And you shouldn’t either. You are a better person than most of the people in this room.”

She relaxed a little.

Tracy huffed as she came up beside her brother and looked over the crowd. “Why did I let you talk me into coming to this thing? I feel stupid.”

He lifted his free hand and rubbed his index finger and thumb together. “Here, let me play you a sad song on my little violin.”

Tracy rolled her eyes. “You are so juvenile sometimes.”

“Go mingle. You might just be surprised who you’ll find.”

“Yeah, with my luck I’ll find Mr. Right, and I’m dressed in a God-awful hot pink bridesmaid dress. I wore this thing to the wedding of a couple who aren’t even together anymore. How romantic is that?”

Charli couldn’t hide her smile. “You could’ve bought a dress yesterday, or I offered you one of my dresses. You would’ve looked great in the little blue slip dress.”

“Sure, that would’ve worked. I’m four inches taller than you and am stick-figure skinny. The strip of silk you call a dress looks great on you, you look great in anything.” There was only a hint of envy in her friend’s voice, but it wasn’t malicious. If anything, it was sisterly. “On me it would have been worse than this rag.”

She picked up the full satin skirt of the floor length dress and let it fall in disgust. Turning her indignation on Dylan, she gestured at his Texas tuxedo. “You guys have it so easy. Hell, you wear the same getup to the grocery store.”

“Oh, for Christ sakes, Tracy. Go!”

Before she got lost in the crowd, Tracy glanced over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out at him.

“Oh, yeah, sis, that’s real mature.”

Once they moved toward the bar in the corner, Charli asked, “What do you have up your sleeve?”

“Playing matchmaker.” He turned to the bartender, requested two glasses of ginger ale and paid for them. He handed her one of the tall plastic cups. “I only know of one other person here, who doesn’t have a date and isn’t either too old or too young.”