Blame It on Texas (36 page)

Relief washed over Rick’s face. “Thank you.” He looked at his watch and then the door. “I should check on him.”

Ellen walked out behind him. “Is everything okay?” she asked.

Rick shook his head. “Hell, no! Right in front of the boy, Candy’s mom told me Candy didn’t want him anymore. I swear to God I almost hit her.”

“Oh, my!” She motioned Rick to move into the conference room and closed the door behind them. “I’m so sorry.” She touched his arm. “How is Ricky taking it?”

“I don’t know. The first word he said all day was to you. I couldn’t get him to eat anything, either. I’m so fucked, Ellen.”

“No, you’re not. It’ll be fine. He’s scared and needs some time to adjust.”

He grimaced. “I called the lady who babysits your daughter, and she said she could take Ricky next week. I’ve already told my lieutenant that I’m taking the rest of the week off to try to figure everything out.”

She nodded. “It will be fine,” she told him again.

He looked at her. “I’m so scared, I’m shaking. I don’t know where to start. Should I take him to the doctor?”

“Is he hurt?” Her gut tightened.

“Not that I know of, but there’s no telling what he’s been through.” He raked his hand through his hair again. “I should be shot for letting this happen!”

“You were trying to get custody,” she told him, feeling his pain.

“I should have done it years ago.” He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, she saw the moisture there. “I swear to God, if Ricky’s messed up because I screwed up, I’m never going to forgive myself.”

He inhaled deeply, held the air a moment, and then blew it back out.

She moved her hand from his arm and touched his chest. “Don’t borrow problems. Take it one step at a time. Kids are so resilient.”

He placed his hand over hers. “Thank you. You have no idea how much I appreciate this.” Frowning, he looked at his watch. “I gotta go. I swear, I’ll come right back here when it’s over.” He started out, then turned around. “I don’t know the redhead. Do you think she’s okay to watch him?”

The fact that he wasn’t willing to leave Ricky with a stranger gave her perception of him another boost. “It’s okay. She’s a kindergarten teacher. But I’ll be here, too.”

He walked out.

Ellen followed him into the front office. Zoe and Tyler stood beside Ricky. The fact that Tyler had his arm around Zoe’s waist told Ellen they’d been right about Tyler’s good night.

“Roll over,” Tyler said. But the dog kept raising his paw.

Ricky chuckled. “He doesn’t want to,” the boy said.

Ellen saw a smile brighten Rick’s face when he heard his son laugh. Rick walked up to his son and knelt down. “I’m gonna have to go for a few hours, but I’ll be back. I promise.”

The boy nodded but didn’t speak. Ellen saw the disappointment in Rick’s expression as he ruffled his son’s hair. Her heart ached for Rick, and for Ricky.

“Be good,” Rick said. Then he looked back at Ellen, nodded, and walked out.

Ellen brought a chair for Ricky over to her desk, and Tyler loaned the kid his laptop to play games. She told him all about Britney, and an hour or so later, he started opening up. Ellen got the feeling that the kid was going to be okay.

“Where is your little girl?” he asked.

“She’s at school and then she goes to the sitter. I think your dad said it will be the same place you’ll be staying.”

He frowned and looked at the door as if worried his dad might walk through it.

“I’ve only known your dad awhile, but since I met him, he’s been talking about you.”

He looked up, uncertainty flashing in his green eyes. “My mom said he wouldn’t take care of me when I was little. I don’t think he wants me, either.”

Ellen swallowed a lump of emotion. “Sometimes mommies and daddies get mad at each other and they say things that aren’t true.”

He looked back at the computer. “Do you get mad at Britney’s daddy?”

“Yes. And I try not to say things, but it’s hard. I think your daddy is a nice guy.”

“He yelled at Mama sometimes. I heard him in the other room.”

“He probably shouldn’t have done that, but I’ll bet he’s sorry.”

Tyler listened to the phone ring for the hundredth time. Frustrated at not getting anywhere on Zoe’s case, the calls to the government officials were getting him nowhere.
Everyone was too busy to help out a PI. He’d even had his cousin run down the list of employees who had worked for Bradford during the kidnapping. One had a criminal past, and Tyler got excited until he found out the guy had died five years ago. That would make it kind of hard for him to be behind the shooting.

Finally, Tyler decided to follow another lead with less potential. He called the Tourist Bureau for Shadows County and asked for the telephone number of any historian in the area.

He was given the name Burnett Bankhead, who was supposed to be older than dirt, but who loved to chat about his town and the townsfolk and had even written a book on the subject. Unfortunately, Burnett was either not home, deceased, or hard of hearing, because he didn’t answer his phone. And he didn’t have an answering machine. Tyler hung up the phone in disgust.

Austin leaned back in his chair. “I just got a call from that retired detective Phillips, who worked the Bradford case. He said he’d rather come in and talk, but he can’t come until tomorrow.”

Tyler rubbed a hand over his face. “Great. Maybe that will pan out. I’m going to check on Zoe, and then I’m going to head over to the Bradford place and talk to Bradford’s security guy, Randall Windsor, and Mrs. Daniels.” He also wanted to go check on Sam.

Dallas looked up from his desk. “I thought you didn’t want to talk to the family yet.”

“That changed when I found Bradford’s PI at Zoe’s apartment.”

Dallas nodded. “I’m surprised Windsor hasn’t called to give us hell. He was chapped when Bradford hired us.”

Tyler looked at his list of questions. “And Windsor worked for the old man when the kidnapping took place.”

Dallas frowned. “You think he’s behind it?”

“He could be,” Tyler said. “Okay, I’m checking on Zoe and heading out.”

Austin’s chair squeaked as he leaned forward. “Try not to bang the headboard into the wall this time. It was distracting the last time you checked on her.”

Tyler scowled. The guys had given him hell all day. While he hadn’t admitted anything, they’d figured out he’d had sex with Zoe. He almost denied it but decided not to bother. He was sleeping with Zoe, and it was freaking amazing. Every other second, he was thinking about how good it had been. Mentally, he’d compiled a list of all the ways he wanted to pleasure her tonight. And if he could just stop thinking about her leaving in two weeks, he’d be on top of the world.

“Do me a favor and one of you stay here until I get back. It should be before five, but just in case I get hung up. I don’t want her to be by herself.”

Dallas looked up. “I’ll be here. I spoke with Tony about digging up the Bradford case files. He won’t give it to us outright, but if there’s something he thinks could be useful, he might help us out. You do realize that the statute of limitations on kidnapping has passed. If we find out who did this, they’ll be going after a murder charge for the kid in the casket?”

Tyler sighed. “I know. But we’ll get him on attempted murder for shooting at Zoe.”

Tyler walked out. He found Zoe in the kitchen, bent over, pulling their sheets out of the dryer.

“Hey.” He studied her butt. She wore her jeans again, the ones that fit so damn well.

She stood up and turned around. “Hey.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

“I don’t know why you’re washing them,” he said when the kiss ended. “We’re just going to dirty them up again tonight.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re that confident?”

“Oh, yes. I’ve already come up with my plan of seduction.”

“And what’s that?”

“I bought a book on Amazon about erotic massages.”

“You did not.” She poked him in the stomach.

“I did.” He leaned close. “They mention a lot of interesting pressure points.”

She laughed, and he ran his hand down her back. “I’m going to run out for a while. I shouldn’t be long, five at the latest, but Dallas is going to stay until I get back.”

“I don’t need babysitting.”

He frowned. “If the PI tells the family I caught him going through your apartment, then they might suspect you’re here.”

The humor in her eyes faded. “Have you gotten in touch with Mr. Bradford yet?”

“No, they won’t let him on the phone. I’ve tried, but I was told he’s being discharged in two days.”

“You think someone in the family is behind trying to kill me?”

He hated admitting it, but he did. “I haven’t ruled it out yet.”

Her frown deepened. “Then I don’t want you going over there alone.”

“I’ll be fine.” He gave her a quick kiss and started out.

“If someone shoots at you, duck and stay down.”

“Got it,” he tossed over his shoulder, and had to force himself to leave. Because what he really wanted to do was to drag her to the bedroom and try out a few pressure points.

Ellen knocked on the apartment door right at lunch. Zoe, still feeling overwhelmed at her night with Tyler, was pretty much hiding out.

“I was thinking of grabbing some burgers for the guys and Rick’s son Ricky, and wondered if you wanted one.”

“Nah, I had a banana sandwich a bit ago.”

“A what?” Ellen asked.

“A banana sandwich.” When Ellen made a face, Zoe added, “I think it’s an Alabama thing.” Then she couldn’t help but smile, remembering Tyler trying the delicacy.

Ellen stared at her for a few minutes, then she arched an eyebrow. “Hmm?”

“Hmm, what?” Zoe asked.

“You and Tyler both have that same look about you.”

“What look?” Zoe asked, but she suspected she knew what Ellen was talking about. It was the oh-God-I-had-fabulous-sex look. And it had been fabulous. But it had also been confusing. Oh, heck, she was so damn confused right now.

Ellen chuckled. “It’s okay. You don’t have to say a thing.”

Zoe pushed her own issue aside and remembered earlier when Rick had shown up. She arched her own brow at Ellen. “Fine. I won’t say a word. Just like you don’t have to explain the look you got on your face when Rick was here.”

“I was… I did not look any different,” Ellen said, and
then guilt followed by relief flashed and she chuckled. “Okay, why don’t we both plead the fifth?”

“Sounds good,” Zoe said, but something about just chatting with Ellen about not talking about it felt right. But damn, when she left, she was going to miss more than just Tyler.

Tyler had to wait for the guard to check before he’d let him through. Did Bradford think this was Fort Knox?

Finally, the guard opened his bulletproof window. “Mr. Windsor is going to meet you at the entrance.”

Tyler drove up to the house and eyed the grounds. He couldn’t help but imagine Zoe running around the yard. Then he wondered if she’d be the same person she is now if the Bradfords had raised her instead of the Adamses. Generally speaking, Tyler didn’t care too much for people who came from old money. Considering Zoe’s giving personality, he had to admit the Adamses had done a damn good job with her.

As Tyler got out of his car, he gave the grounds another glance, and a more dismal thought ran through his mind. Was this where the abduction took place? According to the press, the mother said Caroline had gone outside to play, and when she’d checked on the child a short time later, she was gone.

Good to his word, Mr. Windsor appeared around the corner. When Tyler got a good look at the man, he got a sneaking suspicion that this visit wasn’t going to go well.

“I was wondering when one of you guys would show up and fess up,” Windsor said.

“And we were wondering why you didn’t come to see us earlier.” The older man started walking toward the
house, and Tyler followed. They entered the first room on the right, an office.

“Mr. Bradford isn’t here, but I almost guarantee that the first order of business when he does arrive will be to fire your asses.”

“Really? What for? Taking a case? How did we know your guys were involved?” It was a lie, but it sounded good.

“You nearly killed someone who was working for us.”

“Bullshit. We fought a little. And we wouldn’t have done that if you had come to us in the beginning to do your checking.”

“You do the hiring for security, that’s all. This was a private matter.”

“What kind of a private matter?”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but the chick was hanging out here. Following the boss’s limo.”

“So you hire a PI to check into anyone who has an interest in the famous Bradford family? Isn’t that a bit much?”

“The old man’s a bit paranoid. So yeah, we do.”

“Do you also shoot up these women’s places and try to scare them off?”

“We didn’t do that.”

Tyler studied him and couldn’t tell if the old man was lying. “What about Mrs. Daniels?”

“What the hell does she have to do with this?”

Tyler couldn’t tell him what he knew, so he skirted the truth. “I figure she’s looking out for her old man, too.”

“She’s looking out for her next liposuction, or some young stud who’ll tell her she looks twenty-nine. She doesn’t have shit to do with security.”

Interesting, Tyler thought.

“So what do you know about this chick?” Windsor asked, and Tyler got a feeling he might be hiding something.

“I know someone has been leaving her threatening phone calls and that they shot up her apartment.”

“That’s why she hired you?” he asked.

“What other reason could there be?” Tyler asked.

“Don’t know, but I thought maybe you could tell me why she was snooping around the place, besides the obvious.”

“Obvious?”

“Just tell me the girl left and went back to Alabama and won’t be wagging her little ass around here hoping to get the old man in bed and land herself a quick million.”

Tyler’s insides tightened. “Why don’t you ask your PI what happens when people piss me off?” he growled. “Tell Mr. Bradford to contact us when he gets back.”