Her Texas Ranger Hero (15 page)

“She said you were restless like your father, but that she'd adapted.”

“She adapted to a lot of things, but it's a lie that she didn't worry about him getting killed. She worried every time he left for work, but she put up a good front around him. Robin's the same way around Randy, but he and I know differently.”

“That describes my mother, too,” Ally confessed. “Dad will never know how hard her life with him has been at times. He's had death threats. It's a miracle he wasn't shot during his tenure.

“They never spoke about the close calls and Mom and I pretended we didn't worry. But nothing could have been further from the truth. Early on, she decided to fight her fear by doing something dangerous herself. That gave me courage and I helped her. Somehow we survived those years.”

A grimace marred Luckey's handsome features. “Only to meet me and hear me bring up marriage on the same night one of our legendary Rangers was gunned down.”

Ally bit her lip. “I won't lie. It shook me to the core. I thought of his poor wife. I thought of your ex-wife. I'm sure when she heard the news, she was thankful she didn't have to bury you.”

“I have no doubt that's true. I hate to tarnish your vision of your childhood idol, Ally, but it has to be said.”

She shivered at the direction their conversation was taking. “What do you mean?”

“The Lone Ranger didn't marry. Now you know why. It's good we cleared the air. Come on. Persey and I will race you to the trailer.”

He took off like a silver bullet. She let him go. Of course she couldn't catch up with him, but that wasn't the reason she didn't try. Their conversation had reminded him of his divorce and the choice he'd made to stay with the Rangers, which meant losing his wife.

By the time she reached his horse trailer, the shadows of evening were lengthening and she knew he wouldn't ask her to marry him a second time.

Silence reigned on their way back to her parents' house. When he pulled up in front of the barn, he darted a glance at her and said, “I've decided to get a tutor for my Chinese lessons. Agent Chen said she'd fit me into her schedule when she could. She could never be you, but we can't always have the things we want.”

He didn't say it in a cruel, punishing way. Luckey simply sounded resigned, but every word caused Ally excruciating pain.

After levering himself from the truck, he walked around to help Silver back out of the trailer. Ally took over and led her horse into the barn. While Luckey stood by, she fed and watered her Morgan before walking out of the barn.

Gathering her courage, she looked up at him. “I had a fantastic time with your family. Thank you for that. I know you need to get back to work. You don't have to drive me to the front of the house. I'd actually prefer to walk.”

His face had turned into a frozen mask. “As I dig further into this case, I'll give you and your parents updates. You know where to find me if there's anything you need. I think you're an amazing woman, Ally Duncan. What you did for Shan won't be forgotten. It's been my privilege to spend time with you.” He tipped his Stetson and climbed into his truck.

Her vision blurred as he drove off. She felt as though she'd been run over by a tank and couldn't move.

* * *

W
ITH
P
ERSEY
PUT
to bed, Luckey grabbed a beer out of the fridge and stood in the kitchen, feeling at the lowest ebb of his life. Nothing could alter what had just happened between him and Ally. If he lost her, he didn't know how he was going to carry on.

He was in hell, but he had a job to do. Work would help stave off the red-hot pain until he dropped from sheer exhaustion.

Yesterday he'd spent all day in Freeport, three hours from Austin, looking for evidence of any kind that would lead him to find Robert Martin. The two addresses where cream had been delivered turned out to be a health care facility and an elderly couple's home.

As for the adoption, he'd discovered it had been closed. That was too suspicious under the circumstances. Luckey visited Brazosport Independent School District in Freeport to make inquiries about Anna Martin. No one could shed any light on her.

He'd decided to visit some kung fu facilities. At the fifth one, an older man in charge of a Chinese gym that taught martial arts told him Anna Martin had worked out there for several years. She'd won some local awards for kung fu. He remembered that she took take care of her sister's boy. When her Chinese boyfriend wanted her to go to China, she wouldn't go unless he took the boy, too. They'd had a big fight, and the manager of the gym never saw them again.

Luckey was excited to have learned that Robert Martin was the son of Anna's sister. It brought him a step closer to solving this case. The adoption had to be illegal. Luckey went to the vital statistics bureau, where he found a birth certificate for a Caucasian baby boy, Robert, the son of Sybil Martin and Andrew Mott.

Further inquiry proved the two parents were deceased.

Momo Demott was one of Robert's aliases. Sid Marteen was a close fit for Sybil. That led Luckey to look up any Martins, Marteens, Motts or Demotts, who'd lived in Freeport, but nothing that could be linked to Robert Martin turned up. No matter. Luckey wouldn't stop until he found him and sent him to prison for the rest of his life.

At two in the morning Luckey finally staggered to bed. As soon as he woke up the next morning, he went outside to see to Persey's needs and put him in the corral. After eating breakfast, he started cross-checking all Robert Martin's aliases against the remainder of names he hadn't yet gone through from the international carriers' files.

He left his phone on voice mail while he worked. Randy called to announce his approval of Ally. Following that call, he heard from both his parents and three cousins, all letting him know they were very impressed with her. The only person he knew who wouldn't call him was Ally herself. But when he looked for her name on his phone anyway, and discovered it wasn't there, he received another gut punch that came close to incapacitating him.

Around noon an email came through from Mr. Guan. At last! Luckey opened it.

I have two contacts for you, Mr. Davis. A silk merchant in Chengdu named Mr. Li Wang will be expecting to hear from you. Also a Mr. Mahyadi Suharto from Jakarta. Their phone numbers and email addresses are written below. I hope this helps you in your investigation.

Luckey was impressed with Mr. Guan. He replied to the email to thank him for his invaluable help. Then he sent messages to both men, explaining the situation so they'd understand this was a matter of life and death. Thirty minutes went by before Mr. Wang responded by email.

Mr. Davis, we've analyzed the fabric sample photograph. The particular pink silk you've inquired about is a relatively new product manufactured eighteen months ago here in Chengdu. Our company has sixty outlets throughout China. Seven are in Chengdu. It would be most helpful if you could supply a date for the time you believe the pink and-gold embroidered silk would have been purchased and in what city and province.

Where and when? At this point Luckey was really stretching the boundaries of his imagination to think Yu Tan's mother had been in possession of that fabric. But Beatrice Duncan
had
traveled to Chengdu with Soo-Lin's parents. Was it possible she'd made a purchase for the Tan family? There was only one way to find out. If nothing jived, he could forget that route to discovering the name of the girl in the morgue.

He phoned Ally, steeling himself not to react when she answered. To his surprise, he got her voice mail. He left a message that he was coming over, but on a Sunday she could be anywhere. Without hesitation he reached for the silk sample and left the house for the Duncan ranch. Maybe she was at home, maybe not. But no matter. He needed to talk to her parents and would make this an official visit.

Beatrice answered the door. “Oh—Luckey—I don't believe Ally knew you were coming. She's out riding.”

So she
was
home. “It's all right. I'm here on official business, but I did leave a message with her. Is your husband home?”

“Yes.”

“I'd like to talk to you for a few minutes if that's possible.”

“Of course. Come in.”

She led him to the living room and went to look for him. In a minute they'd joined Luckey and sat down. He explained why he'd come. “My contact has traced the fabric found on the girl's body to Chengdu, where it was manufactured.

“Ally tells me you've been home from China since the end of August. Is there any chance you visited Chengdu anytime in the last eighteen months?” Before they had a chance to respond, Luckey frowned. “Wait, now that I think about it, Ally said you always went to see the pandas in the fall, which would put you there prior to eighteen months ago. That discounts my theory.”

“No,” Larry interrupted. “Our very last visit to Chengdu was in June.”

Beatrice nodded. “That's right!”

“I had to attend a US-China bilateral meeting on commerce and trade, and took the family with me. We invited Soo-Lin's family to go with us. Soo-Lin came with her husband.”

Luckey's heart began to pound. “Where did you stay?”

“The Saint Regis Hotel.”

He leaned forward. “Beatrice, this is very important. Did you go shopping while you were there?”

She nodded. “We shopped our heads off for the whole two days.”

“Do you remember visiting a fabric shop with Soo-Lin's mother?”

“I know we went in and out of several stores. Their silks are beautiful beyond belief.”

Luckey pulled the fabric sample out of his pocket. “I'd like you to take a good look at this.” He handed it to her.

She took it from him and examined it. “Larry? Turn on the lamp.” He did her bidding so she could get a better look at it. “That gold thread with the pink silk... I
do
remember it. Soo-Lin's mother bought it and two other fabrics from that shop to take home as gifts for the extended family.”

Beatrice turned to him. “Oh, Luckey—I can't believe it, but I'm sure you've found Yu Tan! You don't know what this will mean to their family. Thank you! Thank you!” She threw her arms around his neck and wept.

Elated to realize his wild hunch had paid off, he was slow to realize Ally had just walked into the living room. “What's happened?” she cried, looking agonized, but so beautiful, even wearing jeans and a pullover, that he could hardly breathe.

Her dad put his arm around her. “Luckey has just learned that Yu Tan is the girl in the morgue.”

“What?” Her face had gone white.

Luckey nodded. “Your mom took one look at this sample and remembered the day last June when she and Soo-Lin's mother bought fabric at one of the shops in Chengdu. Soo-Lin's mother wanted to give them as gifts to her extended family.”

“That means Mr. Guan contacted you.” Ally sounded as if she was in shock.

“He's already performed one miracle for us and he's also put me in touch with a silk merchant in Jakarta. If that lead pans out, we might be able to identify the Indonesian girl in the morgue, too. I believe taking you with me to Houston to act as interpreter was the charm. I'm indebted to you for that, Ally.”

Luckey turned to her father. “Let me know how you would like to handle giving the news to the Tan family. We'll go from there and make arrangements for Yu Tan's body to be shipped back home.”

Larry walked over to shake his hand. “You've closed down that spa, freed Shan from a life of horror and now you're about to give a daughter back to her family. There's no way to repay you for what you've done. If there's anything
our
family can do for you...” His voice shook.

“It's my job, Larry, and couldn't possibly compare to the one you did for our country over the last fifteen years. But as my boss would tell me, my job's not done. I've still got to find the leader of that trafficking ring and am getting closer, thanks to Ally. She was the one who could read the secret message on Yu Tan's dress that gave us the clues we needed. But your daughter's brilliance couldn't be news to you.”

“Luckey...” Ally whispered.

“We are now looking for Robert D. Martin, a tall, dark blond Caucasian gymnast operating under many aliases, known to dye his hair black and red. He has both an American and Chinese passport and speaks Xiang and Mandarin.

“I went to Freeport and discovered that Robert's adoptive mother, a local expert in kung fu, raised Robert, her sister's son, and married a Chinese sports facilitator from Beijing. Both of them have disappeared off the radar. I went to the vital statistics bureau and found a birth certificate for a baby boy, Robert, the son of Sybil Martin and Andrew Mott. Both are now deceased.

“Momo Demott is one of Robert's aliases. Sid Marteen is a close fit for Sybil. I looked up any Martins, Marteens, Motts or Demotts who'd lived in Freeport, but nothing that could be linked to Robert Martin turned up. No matter, I only have a few more addresses to check in one section of Austin. I won't stop until I've found him and sent him to prison for the rest of his life. As soon as I can prove this cream was delivered to him, we'll have positive proof that Robert kidnapped Yu Tan, Shan and an Indonesian girl who was freed from the spa. Who knows how many hundreds more throughout China.”

He heard gasps from the three of them.

“All his victims are young gymnasts. He disappeared after robbing a security company in Las Vegas of eight million dollars. He killed the guards with an injection of DMSO. He himself uses the DMSO cream himself for joint pain, which was found on the sleeve of Yu Tan's cheongsam. Robert Martin is dangerous and still on the loose, but we're going to catch him. I believe he's operating in Houston or Austin when he's here in the country.