Revenge (47 page)

“Oh, Lord...”

“I'll get it,” Jenner said, but he slipped a little as his crutch caught the edge of a pothole. Still holding Cody, Beth bent down and retrieved the jacket by the lining. A manila envelope slid out of the inside pocket.

She heard Jenner's sharp intake of breath as she grabbed the dripping packet and the contents fell out onto the wet driveway. “Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean—” Her name swam before her eyes, and for a second she didn't realize what it was that she was reading. But as she picked up the soggy pages and recognized copies of her birth certificate, her report cards, credit reports, various other typed documents and Cody's birth certificate, she froze.

“You—you had me investigated?” she stammered, turning to face him as rain ran down the back of her neck and Cody, blinking against the drops in his face, began to cry.

Jenner's face was stony, his eyes without emotion. “I asked Rex Stone to look into your background.”

“Why?”

“Because I thought you were a fake.”

“Even though your grandmother...” she began, then words failed her. They would never trust each other, she realized, and he would always have trouble believing that Cody was his. Even if all the tests pointed to him, Cody would still be his bastard, his mistake, the reason he had to keep seeing Beth.

“I told Stone to back off,” he said.

“But not until you got what you wanted.”

Tossing the offensive documents back into the mud, she held her son close to her breast, protecting his head from the rain just as she wished she could protect his innocent heart. “I think you'd better leave.”

“I can't.”

“Like hell. You didn't want us involved in your life and that's just fine with me. You and all your family can go to hell!” She turned but he caught her arm, spinning her back against him.

“Beth—”

“Don't, okay? Just don't.”

He kissed her then. His wet lips captured hers in a kiss that threatened to draw the life from her body. She felt the passion, the raw desire that he inspired, and her heart shattered into a million pieces. With all the strength she could muster, she broke away, and her hand drew back as if to slap him.

“Mommy!” Cody cried and Beth let her hand drop to her side.

Jenner's expression was harsh. “Listen, I don't want you to think, I mean, I'll take care of you and Cody. I—”

“What? You feel
obligated?
You feel
responsible?”

“Hell, yes!”

“Too late, Jenner. Cody and I, we don't need you!” That was a lie. Both she and her son needed him on the most basic of levels. “Just leave us alone.”

“I can't.”

“Well, you'll have to.”

“No way!” His fingers tightened over her forearm. “That boy's mine, too, and—”

“Oh, so you finally believe me.”

“I want to be a part of his life.”

“What life?” she demanded, her voice catching. “I won't allow him to be ridiculed by the people of this town, nor will I have your mother treating him like something that should be swept under the rug. He's my son, Jenner.
Mine!
” She hooked her thumb at her chest. “You made your noble gesture, but now you can just bow out.” Balancing Cody, she reached into the back of the truck and yanked out her bags, tossing them onto the soggy ground.

“I'm not going anywhere,” he insisted, the rain slashing down his face. “You can't take my son away.”

“Watch me!” Grabbing one bag she spun around and ran up the steps to the front porch. Water washed down her face and she didn't know if it was raindrops falling from the dark sky or her own tears flowing down her cheeks.

T
he Black Anvil with its smoky atmosphere and loud patrons didn't lift his spirits. Jenner had downed one beer and was nursing his second. After the fight with Beth, he'd driven back to the Rocking M and, keeping silent about his problems, worked with Max on blueprints for the new stables. Max, sensing something was wrong, but smart enough not to pry, had told him that the investigation into the arson and Jonah's murder was still progressing. The list of suspects was narrowing, even though the leads offered by would-be snitches for their share of the reward had heretofore been busts. Max was still keeping security tight on the ranch, but nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Jenner hadn't stayed at the Rocking M for dinner and instead had wound up at the saloon with the regulars. Slim Purcell was shooting pool with Fred Donner. Elvin Green occupied his usual stool, and Cyrus Kellogg, Jeff Stewart and a few others clustered at a couple of tables and griped about hunting restrictions.

Jenner wondered where Beth was and if she'd already taken off for the Willamette Valley. The thought depressed him and he tried to think of his life without her—the life he'd found so appealing before she'd shaken up his world. And what about the boy? How could he go on from day to day knowing that there was a kid out there—his kid—who needed to be raised properly, with a father? He couldn't help but smile when he thought of the little blond scamp and hoped old Jonah was roasting in hell for trying to screw up his grandson's life.

He saw a movement in the mirror over the bar. Jake was drawing another beer for Jimmy Rickert's glass and Jimmy glanced at Jenner before looking quickly away.

“Think that's about it,” Jake said as he slid the mug over to Jimmy. “This is your last.”

“You cuttin' me off?” Jimmy's speech was already slurred, but that was a normal state. “Hell, I'm one of your best customers.”

“That's why your next drink is coffee. And you might want to settle up your tab.”

“Shiii—” He bit off his curse as his eyes met Jenner's in the mirror again. This time he didn't look away. “Well, McKee, surprise, surprise. I thought you gave up hangin' out here.”

“I have,” Jenner said, startled at his admission. The Black Anvil held no appeal for him anymore and he was sorry he'd shown up. Ignoring the rest of his beer, he left some bills on the bar as Jake fiddled with the knobs on the television mounted near the ceiling.

“Too good for the rest of us since your woman blew back into town?”

Every muscle in Jenner's body tensed.

Jimmy, seeing Jenner's reaction, cackled. “Didn't think we knew, did ya? Hear ya got yourself a son.” Another cackle of malicious laughter. “Pr'bly got seven or eight strung out along the ol' rodeo circuit, eh?”

“You're listening to gossip, Jimmy. Never a good idea.”

“Yeah, well, I hear a lot. Keep my ears open.” His grin was wide. Sly. Teasing. He knew something, all right, and he was enjoying having one over on Jenner. Jimmy reached into his breast pocket for a crumpled pack of cigarettes and lit up. Plucking a piece of tobacco from his tongue, he blew smoke to the ceiling. “Learn more'n I should sometimes, if ya get my drift.” Puffing out a smoke ring, he slid Jenner another knowing glance. “Anyone collect on that reward yet?”

“You tell me. You seem to have all the answers,” Jenner said, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully on this barfly. If anyone would know what was happening in the Rimrock underground, it would be Jimmy. He knew who hunted without a license, who was sleeping with another man's wife, who'd been in a fight and who was driving with a suspended license. Nickel-and-dime stuff, but the gleam in his eye promised something more.

“I don't know nothin'.”

Jenner doubted it. Jimmy had always been a snitch, but the sheriff's department had questioned him repeatedly and Jimmy had come up with an alibi for the night Jonah was killed as well as for the time of the fire. “Twenty-five grand isn't anything to sneeze at,” Jenner drawled.

“Petty cash to you McKees.”

“Could set a man up, though.” Jenner rubbed his chin. “Someone could put a down payment on a ranch or buy a new truck or bet the ponies.... Hell, I dunno, a guy could even take a vacation.”

Rickert's smile faded and his nose twitched a little—like a rat sniffing cheese. He was hooked. All Jenner had to do was reel him in and the drunk would spill his guts.

“G'night, Jake.” Jenner slid a glance at Jimmy. “You, too, Rickert.”

He walked outside and smelled the rain that still lingered in the air. The storm had passed, but water filled the potholes in the parking lot. How had Jimmy learned about Beth and Cody? That thought chilled him as much as the wind ripping down from the north, reminding him that winter was just around the corner. Snow had already been predicted for the weekend.

He'd started for his old Dodge when he saw Jimmy stagger out and head toward a battered four-wheel-drive rig that had already tangled with a ditch or two. Both front fenders were crumpled, and where there had once been a headlight, there was now only a black hole.

“Let me drive you, Rickert.”

“You?” Jimmy spit his cigarette into one of the puddles. “You're a goddamned cripple. I'll take care of myself.”

Jenner's muscles tightened. “You're drunk.”

“I hope so...the amount of money I spent in there.” He swayed a little as he tried to shove his key into the lock. Jenner didn't believe in being holier-than-thou, but he didn't like the idea of Jimmy's truck weaving through the streets of Rimrock, streets where Beth might be driving or into which Cody might inadvertently dash.

“Hard up?”

“I do all right,” Jimmy said, still unable to locate the lock. “Son of a—”

“Your truck could use some work. Here, let me help you.” Before Jimmy knew what hit him, Jenner had reached forward and snagged Jimmy's key ring.

“Hey, what d'ya think yer doin'?” Jimmy shouted.

“Probably saving your useless neck.”

“Don't do me no favors.” With that, Jimmy took a swing at Jenner and it was all the incentive he needed. Balancing on his good leg, he slammed Jimmy up against the side of the truck and forced a crutch beneath the sorry little snake of a man's chin.

“Don't even think about it,” Jenner snarled as he saw Jimmy's fingers curl into a fist.

“What the hell's goin' on?” Jimmy rasped, his eyes bulging a little.

“You tell me everything you know about the fire and my dad's murder.”

“You heard me. Were you in on it?”

“Hell, no. Are you crazy? I was with Maryellen Inman, I swear.”

“Do you swear?” Jenner pushed the crutch a little harder and Rickert began to cough.

“You bastard. Just you wait. You McKees will get yours!” Jimmy's face was turning an ugly shade of red.

“That's more like it, Jimmy. Lay your cards on the table. Maybe you'll get lucky and get twenty-five grand, or maybe you'll end up in jail.”

“Damn it, let me up!” the drunk sputtered. “Okay, okay. I know a little, but I wasn't involved. Swear to God.”

Jenner pocketed Jimmy's keys and eased up a little, just enough so the snake could breathe but still applying enough pressure to keep Rickert's spine curved over the hood of his truck and his mind on the business at hand.

“Hey, what's going on here?” Jake was peering from the doorway and some of the other patrons were staring through the windows.

“Call Hammond Polk,” Jenner growled. “Jimmy here has a story he wants to tell the sheriff.”

 

“So you're leaving? Just like that?” Harriet snapped her fingers, then threw her hands in the air as her daughter stripped clothes from the closet and threw them into suitcases. Her wet bags were drying over a heat vent and Cody, in his playpen, was crying to be let out.

“You knew this wasn't permanent!”

“I know, but I'd hoped.” Harriet walked over to the wailing child and picked him up. “What's wrong, darlin'?” she whispered against Cody's curls.

The little boy sniffed. “Want a horse.”

“He's been this way ever since Jenner left.”

“Well, if you want one, surely you can have one.”

“Mom!”

“I'm talking about a stick horse or a stuffed animal or a figurine or—”

“Want a horse! A big horse!”

Give me strength,
Beth silently prayed. She should never have come back here; she'd been a fool to think that returning to Rimrock would solve anything and she'd let an old woman's letter get in the way of her common sense. Why? Because, deep down in the darkest recesses of her heart, the place where she'd hidden all her feelings, she'd
wanted
to face Jenner again, she'd
wanted
to show him his son, she'd
wanted
to try to win his heart. Oh, she'd told herself differently, bravely facing him and pretending that she didn't care, but the entire situation had blown up in her face. Now Cody was involved, caring for a man who would never claim him. She zipped up the bag and remembered doing the very same thing—packing her things—at the lodge with Jenner after three blissful days of falling in love with him.

God, she was a fool!

“Stay one more night,” her mother said softly.

“Why?”

“Because I need you and I don't want you driving over the mountains at night in this storm. It's raining here and snowing in the mountains. Beth, please.” She laid a hand on her daughter's arm. “What will one more night hurt?”

Beth looked at her son, his cheeks red from crying as he clung to his grandmother's neck. She was still too angry to drive safely, and in the morning the mountain passes would be blocked with snow. “All right,” she agreed, “but bright and early, first thing, we're out of here.”

“Fair enough. We'll eat dinner, then we'll go out to the McKee ranch.”

“What?
That wasn't part of the deal.”

“I know, Beth, but I have unfinished business out there and I want you to go along.”

“No way. It's over.”

Her mother's fingers dug deep into Beth's arm. “Do this for me, Beth. It's important. To me. To you. And to him.” She looked at her grandson and Beth felt a quiver of apprehension at the thought of facing Jenner one last time.

 

Jenner, along with Max and Rex Stone, listened to Rickert's nonconfession to Hammond Polk.

The punk admitted seeing Jonah on the night he died—everyone who'd been at the Black Anvil knew that Jonah had been drinking. But Jimmy, rather than going straight to Maryellen Inman's as he'd first said, had staggered out the back door, slipped near the garbage cans and nearly knocked himself out. He'd seen Jonah arguing with someone, but it was dark, the other man's voice was muffled, and Jonah, after telling the man to go to hell, had gotten into his Jeep and roared away. The other guy had climbed into his rig—a dark blue or black pickup—and hightailed it after Jonah.

But Jimmy was short on details. The suspect had been a man nearly as large as Jonah and he wore a light-colored Stetson and cowboy boots. The description could have fit half the ranchers in the county. Jimmy claimed that he hadn't come forward before because the man had recognized him and had shouted out the window as he'd driven off, “Careful, Rickert. I know where you live. If you squeal, I'll kill you and that woman you're livin' with.”

Jimmy had been too drunk to recognize the man, but the words had screamed through his head. Even after the McKees had posted the reward, he'd been too scared to say what he knew. But now he figured that he was owed the money.

As for the arson at the ranch, Jimmy could provide no insight. If the two events were related, he suspected that the same man was behind the fire. Hammond Polk found no reason to hold him and Jimmy was released.

And Jenner was scared to death. Now, it seemed, his mother's crazy theory was dead on and everyone who was involved with the Rocking M was a potential target to some psycho. Including Beth and Cody. And he'd let them get away. Despite the fact that he loved them and couldn't live without that mule-headed woman and her sprite of a son, he'd let them slip through his fingers.

He
loved
them? The thought stopped him cold. For years he'd told himself he didn't love anyone. No member of his family. Not even himself. Yet here he was thinking about a woman and her child and he didn't give a damn whose blood flowed in the kid's veins; he just wanted to be a part of that life. And come hell or high water, he intended to do just that.

 

“Just tell me what's going on,” Beth demanded as she drove past the outskirts of town and headed north toward the McKee ranch. Her mother was in the passenger seat and Cody was buckled in his car seat in the back. A pickup was following them at a distance, headlights bright in the rearview mirror.

“I guess you could say that I have a score to settle.”

“With?”

“Virginia.”

“Jenner's mother? Why? What kind of score?”

Harriet frowned. “You'll hear soon enough.”

“Look, Mom, I'm not into high drama. Why don't you just tell me—” She noticed the pickup gaining speed, though there was no place to pass as they wound past Elkhorn Lake and into the foothills. “Damn it all.”

“What?”

“A truck's been following us. Ever since we left town.”