Against the Odds (17 page)

A pause on the other end of the line. “Let’s hope you’re
right.” Kaplan ended the call and Alex hung up the phone.

“I guess the District Attorney wasn’t too happy with you,”
Sabrina said, having heard the call over the mic.

“He has to play it that way, but the truth is Kaplan wants that
bastard nearly as much as I do.”

“You and the parents of that little girl.”

“That’s right.” Alex took a deep breath and dialed down his
temper. He reached over and touched Sabrina’s cheek. “In the meantime, we need
to find out if someone is trying to make you dead.”

Eighteen

R
ina sat back in the passenger seat of
Alex’s BMW. “I punched Bob’s address into your navigation system while you were
on the phone.” She had called his office at R. T. Eckhart Development before
they left the house, found out he had taken a day off and was probably at home.
She’d called there and told him she would like to stop by.

Alex drove the car toward Bob’s house in the Woodlands, a
prestigious neighborhood about twenty-five miles north of downtown. The homes in
the area were hidden away among a lush landscape of green foliage and leafy
trees, making it an extremely desirable place to live.

Rina had been to Bob’s house a couple of times over the years.
It wasn’t one of the huge mansions in the area, but it was at least thirty-five
hundred square feet on a lovely oversize lot with a kidney-shaped pool. When Bob
got divorced, his ex-wife had wanted to move to Dallas, so Bob had kept the
house, and Linda had gotten enough alimony to live in a fancy high-rise in the
city.

They walked up to the door and Alex pressed the bell. Chimes
sounded, and a few minutes later, the door swung open. Bob Eckhart stood in the
opening, a big man eight years older than Rina, attractive, with thick dark hair
beginning to silver at the temples, eyes a light shade of blue and a body that
was going to fat.

Bob smiled. “Rina—it’s good to see you.”

“You, too, Bob.” She turned. “Bob, this is Alex Justice.”

Alex made a nod. “Bob.”

“Nice to meet you, Alex. Any friend of Rina’s and all that.”
The men shook hands. “Come on in.”

“Alex is a private investigator,” Rina said. “He’s
investigating the helicopter crash in Rio Gordo.”

“And her car wreck on the freeway,” Alex added, watching Bob’s
expression.

Bob frowned. “I heard about the helicopter crash. Glad you’re
okay. You wrecked your car, too?”

She nodded. “Last week. I’ve been having some bad luck
lately.”

“Sorry to hear it.”

“Alex wanted to talk to you and I told him you wouldn’t
mind.”

“Not at all.” He tipped his head toward the sliding glass doors
visible through the great room on the other side of the kitchen. “I was sitting
out by the pool. If you don’t mind the heat, we can talk out there.”

The heat hit them as Bob slid open the heavy glass door and
they stepped outside. A blond woman in a navy blue swimsuit reclined in a chaise
lounge, the brim of a floppy straw hat tilted over her eyes.

“That’s Polly. She’s a friend.”

Polly waved, a good-looking woman in her thirties. She took a
sip from the tall, frosty glass on the table next to the chaise, and went back
to reading her book.

“You guys want a drink or something?”

“We’re fine,” Alex said.

“So how can I help you, Alex?”

“Well, the thing is, Bob, the sheriff in Rio Gordo says the
chopper crash wasn’t an accident.”

“Really?”

“That’s right. Sheriff Dickens says someone purposely fouled
the engine. I’m trying to figure out who was responsible. That led me to motive.
One possibility stood out. Since you and your siblings are the beneficiaries of
your father’s property, should something happen to Sabrina, it would seem to me
that you three had the most to gain if Sabrina had died in the crash.”

“That’s crazy. None of us ever wanted that worthless hunk of
land. That’s the reason my father left it to Rina. She actually believed the
ridiculous stories he told.”

“So you think the land is worthless?”

“Isn’t it?”

“That’s something we’re trying to find out. What about your
brother and sister? They feel the same way?”

“If they’d wanted it, they could have had it. My father would
have given it to them. He knew they weren’t interested in wasting their lives
out in the desert the way he had.”

“If you had it, you could always sell it.”

“That’s not what my father wanted. He thought Rina might be
willing to pick up where he left off and try to find the silver he believed was
out there.”

“And if she does?”

“More power to her.”

“So none of you had anything to do with the helicopter crash or
her accident on the freeway.”

“Hell, no, and if that’s what you’re trying to prove, I think
its time for both of you to leave.”

“I’m sorry, Bob,” Sabrina said as they made their way toward
the door. “But Alex has to explore every possibility.”

“I can’t believe you think one of us would try to kill
you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Get out, Rina. You aren’t welcome here anymore.”

Her chest squeezed. Bob was family. But then she had never
really been part of any of her cousins’ lives. She was adopted and to them an
outsider. On top of that, they had all resented her relationship with their dad.
Still, she felt as if she had somehow betrayed them.

Alex’s hand settled at her waist as he guided her back through
the house and out the front door.

“Well, that got us nowhere,” she said as she slid into the
passenger seat and Alex closed the car door.

“Maybe, but it gave me a sense of how he feels about you and
how much he knows—which is a lot more than he’s telling us.”

“From what he said, he doesn’t know the mine could be
valuable.”

“That’s what he said. He also said their father would have
given them the land if they’d wanted it. That true?”

“I think it might be. Walter’s attorney told me it was only a
few weeks before he died that Walter changed his will. Originally he had left
the property to all four of us. A little before he died, he decided to
disinherit his kids and leave the property solely to me.” Which had so far
caused her nothing but trouble.

“Bob and the others didn’t know they’d been cut out of the
will,” she continued, “until the attorney contacted them after Walter’s death.
They were really upset when they found out. At least that’s what my mother
said.”

“Interesting. Any idea why he changed it?”

“My mom might know something about it.”

“Since we need to talk to your cousin Priscilla, we’ll ask your
mother in person when we get up to Uvalde.”

“We’re flying up?” She wondered what Alex would think of the
simple life her mother lived, the kind of home she had grown up in. It certainly
wasn’t the estate he must have lived in as the child of a wealthy Connecticut
family.

“We’ll go tomorrow. In the meantime, I want you to get things
rolling with those core samples.”

“I’ll call Arturo as soon as we get home.”

Alex sliced her a glance. “Just don’t make any more dinner
dates with the guy.”

“It wasn’t a date. It was business.”

One of his dark blond eyebrows went up. “Yeah? Then maybe we
can talk a little
business
when we get home.”

Rina knew what that hot look meant and her heart skipped a
beat.

Alex drove too fast all the way back to his house.

* * *

Rebecca walked into the kitchen where Joe McCauley was
standing on a ladder installing one of the new oak cabinets she had ordered for
the remodel. He looked good. Why a man in jeans and a tight-fitting T-shirt
doing manual labor was so appealing she couldn’t begin to understand.

Joe looked down at her. “Have you seen the news this
morning?”

She smiled. “Why? The world still seems to be turning. Or have
I missed some new catastrophe?”

“Edward Bagley’s out of jail.”

Her smile slid away. “That’s impossible. My brother found DNA
evidence that matches—”

“Judge tossed it out. I have a feeling Alex played a little too
fast and loose with his evidence gathering. Without it, they haven’t got a
case.”

Rebecca sighed. “Sounds just like him. So what are the police
going to do? Now they know Bagley’s the killer. Surely there’s some way to get
him off the streets.”

“You can bet they’ll be doing their best.” Joe climbed down off
the ladder and walked toward her. She found herself taking a step back.

Joe frowned. “You aren’t afraid of me, are you? Because I’d
never do anything to hurt you or Ginny.”

“I know that.”

“I know about your husband. I know he beat the crap out of you.
Alex told me. I guess he went down there and had a little chat with him.”

Alex had played big brother and done a lot more than chat. Her
brother was lucky Jeremy hadn’t pressed charges.

“It happened. It’s over. Jeremy’s not in our lives anymore.”
Not even in Ginny’s. He called a couple of times a year, sent her a birthday
present and a couple of presents at Christmas and that was it.

“Maybe not,” Joe said, “but it’s like he still lives here.”

“What does that mean?”

“Do you like me, Becca?”

Alex called her Becca. Since Joe and Alex were friends, she
supposed it was all right. And she kind of liked the way it sounded when he said
it.

“I like you,” she said. “Of course, I like you. You’re doing a
wonderful job and you’re very kind to Ginny.”

“I’m not talking about that kind of like. Are you attracted to
me? I realize you’re used to guys with a lot more money, but I’m not poor. I
want to know if you feel anything when you look at me. Because I sure as hell
feel plenty when I look at you.”

Her insides tightened. She wasn’t prepared for this
conversation. Hadn’t begun to see it coming. She opened her mouth to say
something that would calm the situation, but before she got a word out, Joe
hauled her into his arms and kissed her.

For an instant, she was too stunned to breathe. Then his arms
tightened around her, heat settled low in her stomach, spread out through her
limbs and her eyes slid closed. She couldn’t stop herself from reaching for him,
curling her fingers into his T-shirt, parting her lips, inviting him to deepen
the kiss.

Joe groaned and didn’t hesitate. The kiss he took wasn’t what
she would have expected from a gentle man like Joe. It was hot and wet and it
turned her insides to honey. She thought he would stop, but he just kept kissing
her, as if he had no choice, as if he knew how good he was making her feel. By
the time he eased away, she was trembling all over, her lips tingling, her
nipples hard beneath her sleeveless top.

His dark eyes burned into her. “I want to see you, Becca. Not
just here in the kitchen. I want to take you out—Ginny, too. I want to spend
time with you.”

She started shaking her head. Her heart was beating too fast
and she felt a little light-headed. “I admit I—I find you attractive. You’re a
very...well, your kind of man has a very potent appeal.”

“My kind of man?”

“You know...a...a masculine man like you.”

His mouth edged up. He had a very sexy mouth, she noticed,
surprised she hadn’t realized it before.

“A masculine man like me would like to take out a very sexy
woman like you. Say yes, Becca. What have you got to lose? You can always fire
me. There’s a boatload of carpenters out there who need jobs.”

“Not like you. I mean...you’re extremely capable.”

“And masculine,” he teased. “You said that.”

“Well, yes.”

“We’re going out. All of us or just you and me. Whatever you
want. Tomorrow night.”

She looked him over top to bottom: wide, heavily muscled
shoulders, powerful biceps, flat abdomen. For the first time, she allowed
herself to feel the attraction she had been forcing herself to ignore. “I’m not
ready for a relationship, Joe.”

“Sometimes things happen whether we’re ready or not. Tomorrow
night. Seven o’clock.” Turning, he climbed back up the ladder and went to work
as if nothing had happened.

But a monumental event had occurred.

Rebecca had just discovered she was coming back to life after
her painful divorce and that her tastes in men had changed. She knew she
shouldn’t go. She and Joe were far too different for anything serious to
develop. She’d been raised in East Coast high society, gone to Wellesley College
and graduated with honors. Joe was a former naval officer, a carpenter and—

Rebecca frowned, realizing how little she actually knew about
him. The truth was, she hadn’t wanted to know. She’d been determined to keep her
distance. Apparently, that was going to change.

She wouldn’t take Ginny. She didn’t want her daughter to get
her hopes up. Rebecca knew how badly her little girl wanted a father, and Ginny
already idolized Joe. She would get a babysitter and go by herself. She knew Joe
wouldn’t press her for more than she was willing to give, and she was sure she
could handle her growing attraction to him.

As Rebecca headed back upstairs, she found herself smiling.
Tomorrow night she was going out with Joe.

Nineteen

T
he plane landed at Garner Field in Uvalde
the next morning. With a population of a little over sixteen thousand,
three-quarters of which were of Hispanic descent, Uvalde was the most southerly
town in the Texas Hill Country. But the land itself was flat and arid with nary
a hill in sight. Lots of trees, though, in the town itself and along the
numerous rivers in the area.

It was a nice little town, Alex thought, kind of old-fashioned,
with a row of old buildings along the main street downtown. It was hotter than a
West Texas barbecue as they picked up a rental car from Hertz and he followed
Sabrina’s directions to a small, flat-roofed, single-story house in a 1960s
subdivision just outside town.

The yard was well-maintained, with trees spreading thick
branches over the lawn and a neatly trimmed cement path that led to the front
door.

“It isn’t much,” Sabrina said as they walked along, “but it’s
home.”

“This where you were raised?”

“That’s right. Now it’s paid for.”

“You paid off the mortgage?”

She shrugged. “I was making a lot of money at the time. Mom
loves the house and she wouldn’t leave Uvalde for all the money in Texas.”

He thought he caught a hint of something in the words, reached
over and caught her arm, stopping her before they reached the porch.

“It doesn’t matter where you come from, love. It’s what you
make of yourself, and whether or not you’re happy.”

She smiled up at him, seemed to relax. Florence Eckhart opened
the door before they reached it, spread her arms and gathered her daughter into
a welcoming hug.

“I’m so glad to see you!” She turned, beamed a smile at Alex.
“And this must be that handsome pilot you told me about. The one who took such
good care of you when you got stranded with him out in the desert.”

Sabrina’s cheeks colored a little, which meant she’d really
said that and pleased him more than it should have.

“Hello, Mrs. Eckhart. I’m Alex Justice. It’s a pleasure to meet
you.”

Instead of taking the hand he held out to her, Florence went up
on her toes and hugged him, something his own mother would never think of doing
to a stranger. Hell, she rarely hugged her own kids.

“It’s wonderful to meet you, too. Now you both come on inside
where it’s cool. I’ve made some fresh iced tea and ham sandwiches. I figured
you’d be hungry by the time you flew all the way out here.”

Sabrina cast him a glance. “Mom thinks food is the answer to
just about everything.”

Which was clear from Florence Eckhart’s plump figure. She had
dark brown hair and hazel eyes, and when she smiled, which was often, her whole
face lit up. Alex liked her immediately.

“A sandwich sounds great,” he said.

Passing an overstuffed blue-flowered sofa and chair in the
living room, Florence led the way into the kitchen, which had ruffled blue
curtains at the windows and was as immaculately clean as the rest of the little
house. The furnishings were simple but neat.

They sat down at a round oak table in the kitchen and ate ham
sandwiches and drank sweet iced tea while Sabrina and Florence chatted about
family and what had been happening in Uvalde.

“We talked to Bob the other day,” Sabrina said, easing into the
conversation they’d come to have. “Alex is helping the sheriff up in Rio Gordo
find out what happened to the helicopter. Bob didn’t seem to know anything
useful.”

Florence started frowning. “I heard you were there. Marlene
called yesterday. I don’t understand why you would think Bob would know anything
about it. Marlene said you thought he was somehow involved. I told her that was
ridiculous. You would never believe something like that about your cousin.”

“We’re just eliminating possibilities,” Alex said, having
already warned Sabrina to say as little as possible since her mother wasn’t very
good at keeping secrets. “We’re just tying down loose ends.”

Florence smiled. “I knew there had to be some other
explanation. Bob’s a good man, even if he and his father never got along. Bob
never fails to call on my birthday or send a gift at Christmas.”

“We’re going to talk to his sister while we’re here,” Alex
added. “Just to make sure there’s no connection.”

Florence frowned again. “I still don’t understand. Connection
to what?”

Sabrina reached over and caught her mother’s blunt-fingered
hand. “The thing is, Mom, the sheriff says the chopper crash wasn’t an
accident.”

Her eyes widened. “It wasn’t?”

“It was made to crash on purpose. We still don’t know why. The
problem is that if something happens to me, Uncle Walter’s mine goes to Bob,
George and Priscilla.”

“Why, I didn’t know that.”

“It was in the will. It just didn’t seem important until
now.”

“The crash might have nothing to do with the will,” Alex added,
“but certain questions have to be asked.”

“That’s right,” Sabrina said. “There could be any number of
motives.”

“As I said,” Alex finished, “we’re just eliminating
possibilities.”

“I see.”

“Mom, after Walter’s death, his attorney told me he changed his
will a few weeks before he died, leaving the property solely to me. Do you have
any idea why he might have done that?”

“Well...as I recall, I think he and the kids had some kind of
falling-out. You know how they were always belittling poor Walter.”

“Do you know what happened?”

“I remember Walter stopped by the house in late October. He
told me he’d come to see Priscilla. He planned to visit each of his kids before
he went back to the mine. A week or so later, Marlene called. She said his trip
hadn’t gone well at all—which probably pleased her no end.”

“Why is that?” Alex asked.

“Marlene and the kids never forgave Walter for abandoning them
to go off hunting treasure. They never got over it, not even after Marlene
divorced him and married Cliff Beringer. My guess is that when Walter went to
see them they treated him as badly as they usually did.”

“Bad enough to cut them out of the will and leave the property
entirely to his niece?”

“Maybe. It’s the only reason I can think of.”

“And a month later Walter died.”

Florence set her glass of iced tea back down on the table.
“That’s right. In a car accident right here in Uvalde. He was on his way over
here that night—he always came back for Christmas, even after my husband
died.”

“I gather your husband and his brother were close,” Alex said.
Florence hesitated. Something passed over her features, but Alex couldn’t tell
what it was.

“That’s right,” she said. “Walter loved Big Mike. They were
inseparable as kids. That never changed. They became even closer as Walter and
his kids grew further apart. Rina and I were the closest family Walter really
had.”

Sabrina set her glass back down on the table. “We were waiting
for him to get here that night so we could all open our presents together,” she
said softly.

Florence shook her head. “Poor Walter never arrived. Instead
the police came to the door. They said there was a hit-and-run accident in front
of the Stop & Shop market. Someone hit Walter when he was walking back to
his car after he’d stopped to buy a bottle of champagne. They’ve never found the
person responsible.”

Alex looked at Sabrina.
Hit-and-run.
She must have made the same connection he just had,
because her eyes were as big as saucers and suddenly they filled with tears.

“Oh, my God,” she said.

“What is it, dear?” her mother asked worriedly.

Sabrina shook her head. Digging a Kleenex out of her purse, she
wiped the moisture from her eyes. “Nothing, Mom,” she bluffed. “It’s just...you
know, talking about that night always makes me sad.” She looked up and Alex read
the question in her pretty blue eyes.
Do you think someone
killed him?

And though he wanted to believe it was just another in the
string of coincidences that all seemed linked to the mine, he couldn’t convince
himself.

Alex shoved back his chair. “The lunch was great, Mrs. Eckhart.
I wish we could stay, but we’d like to talk to Priscilla before we head home so
we haven’t got a lot of time.”

She rose from her chair. “Of course, and please, just call me
Flo like everyone else.”

Alex leaned down and hugged her. “Thanks, Flo.”

She walked them to the door and he waited while she and Sabrina
said last-minute goodbyes.

“We’ll talk again soon,” Sabrina promised, hugging her mother
hard.

Then she and Alex headed for the rental car parked at the
curb.

Sabrina blew her nose and blinked against another round of
tears. “I don’t know why I didn’t put it together,” she said as he drove the
rental car toward Priscilla’s apartment on the other side of town. “It’s
just...it all seems so impossible. Like something out of an old Alfred Hitchcock
movie.”

“We have to be careful not to jump to conclusions, but I have
to tell you, from my point of view, your uncle’s death is just one coincidence
too many.”

She glanced away, fixed her gaze on the flat land passing by
outside the window. “So what do we do now?”

“Two things. First, we talk to your cousin Priscilla, see what
she has to say. Then we find out how the Uvalde police are coming along with
their investigation into your uncle’s death.”

“How much do we tell them about what might be going on?”

“Nothing. At least not yet. At this point, we can’t do much
more than make unfounded accusations.”

“If my cousins believed the mine was worthless, why would one
of them kill him? They had to know or at least believe it had some kind of
value.”

“Maybe when he talked to them in October he told them about the
molybdenum. Maybe this time they believed him. By the time he was killed, Walter
had already changed the will. Maybe the mistake he made was in not telling them
what he’d done.”

“So one of them might have killed him or arranged for him to be
killed believing they were still going to inherit.”

“It’s a theory. If the mine turns out to be as valuable as
Hernandez thinks it is, it makes sense.”

Sabrina sighed and leaned back in her seat. “According to
Arturo, it shouldn’t take long to get those core samples done.” Though Alex
wasn’t too happy about it, Sabrina had phoned the mining engineer yesterday.
Hernandez planned to have his company begin the work within the next few
days.

“I wish Uncle Walter hadn’t changed the will,” she said
grimly.

Alex flicked her a glance. “In a way, so do I. You’d definitely
be safer. But the land’s yours now and making it productive is what your uncle
wanted. What he may have died for.”

She turned to face him and determination strengthened her
features. “If there’s something there, I’m going to find it. I’m going to give
Uncle Walter his dream.”

Alex felt a shot of admiration. She was an amazing woman. But
he had learned that when they had crashed and nearly died in the middle of the
Texas desert.

* * *

Priscilla wasn’t home. Rina had phoned her that morning
before they’d left Houston and asked if she could stop by. Priscilla had said
she would be there.

Instead, a lanky, darkly tanned man with shaggy brown hair and
brown eyes met them at the door.

“You Sill’s cousin?” he asked, clearly expecting her.

“Yes. I’m Rina and this is Alex Justice. We had a couple of
things we wanted to talk to her about.”

“I sent her out to fetch some beer. Shouldn’t take long. I’m
Rusty Jenkins. You wanna wait?”

“Sure.” Alex urged her into the apartment. “Good to meet you,
Rusty.” He stuck out a hand and the two men shook.

“Priscilla mentioned you,” Rina said. “I guess you two have
been seeing each other for a while?”

“’Bout a year, I guess.”

“What kind of work do you do?” she asked.

“I’m a mechanic down at Pete’s Garage.” Which accounted for the
grease under his fingernails and the way his hair stuck to the back of his neck.
Of course it could have been remedied with a shower.

Alex picked something up off the table next to the sofa, held
it out for Rina to see. It was a framed photo of Rusty wearing coveralls,
standing next to an airplane marked with an army insignia. Her pulse kicked into
gear.

“Army.” Alex studied the photo. “I’m a navy man myself. When’d
you get out?”

The guy reached over and took the photo from Alex’s hand, set
it back down on the table. “Couple of years.”

“That where you learned to mechanic? Working on airplanes?”

“Only thing good I got out of it.” Unlike her mom’s neat, clean
home, her cousin’s apartment was a shambles. Dirty clothes on the floor, a load
of laundry piled on the brown vinyl sofa, a pizza box with a leftover slice
sitting on the coffee table next to a couple of empty beer bottles.

“You wanna Pepsi or something? Sill ought to be back pretty
soon with the beer.”

“We’re fine,” Rina said.

Rusty turned at the sound of a door opening and Priscilla
walked into the living room, a brown paper grocery bag in her arms. She was
dark-haired and a little taller than average. She had always had a fabulous
figure and beautiful face.

“So you made it,” she said, handing a six-pack of Lone Star to
Rusty, who grabbed an opener off the breakfast bar and popped the top on one,
held the beer out to Alex.

“No, thanks,” he said.

Rusty shrugged and upended the bottle, took a hefty swig.

“We flew out to see Mom,” Rina explained. “We wanted to stop by
and say hello.”

Priscilla’s full lips flattened out. “Bullshit. I just talked
to Bob. He told me you thought he rigged that chopper you were in so it would
crash and we could get our hands on Daddy’s mine.”

“Priscilla, I’m Alex Justice,” Alex cut in smoothly, saving
Rina from having to make a reply. “I’m a private investigator.”