Delivering Justice (5 page)

“I don’t know exactly what’s going on,” Jessica said, staring out the front window.

“Then start with what you
do
know,” he said.

“I got a call from my sister three days ago asking if I could take time off work to help her out,” she said. “She needed me to step into her life and go on a trip with a friend of hers for a few days while she fixed a problem. She said go along with whatever he said, so I did. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to bail her out of a bad situation, so I agreed.”

“Is your sister involved in something illegal?”

“Before yesterday I would’ve been ready to fight if you asked that question about her. Now, I’m not sure what she’s gotten herself into,” Jessica said on a heavy sigh. “She’s not a bad person. I normally get called in for a relationship that has gone south and she doesn’t have the heart to break it off herself. I show up and help ease her out of it. At least that’s how it started five years ago. It kind of grew from there.”

“So you had no prior relationship with Milton?”

“We’re not engaged, if that’s what you’re asking, and neither was Jenn,” she said with an involuntary shiver. “I’d never seen the man before two days ago. My sister sent me with him. She said I could trust him and to go with him and pretend that I knew what he was talking about. We checked into the Bluff Motel and he started demanding that I tell him where something was. Some kind of box. I can’t remember clearly.” She touched the bandage on her forehead.

“Is that how you ended up on my property?”

“Yes. I picked a remote place thinking that he’d give up when we couldn’t find the box right away. He got angry instead. Demanded that I tell him where it is, told me to stop playing games. I said that I’d tricked him and had no idea where the box was. The next thing I know I’m being hit in the head with a rock,” she said, leaning back against the headrest. “Where are we going, by the way?”

“My ranch,” he said.

“Maybe you should just take me to the airport and drop me. I can grab a flight or rent a car there and drive to Louisiana. I have to find my sister.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, you’re in no condition to drive anywhere. Milton still has your ID so renting a car or getting on a flight is out of the question,” Tyler countered. “And then there’s the issue of him trying to kill you. We need to update the sheriff first thing in the morning.”

“No. We can’t.”

Was she serious? She balked pretty darn fast when he mentioned Tommy.

“This is his town and he has a right to know the truth. You should be pressing charges against that jerk who tried to kill you,” Tyler said. “In case you hadn’t noticed, he seems intent on finishing the job.”

“I have,” she retorted, motioning toward her forehead. “But I have no idea what’s really going on, I can’t remember everything, and I’ve already put my sister in danger by leaving the hospital. All I know for sure is that Milton isn’t the one in charge. Until I know who’s trying to hurt her, I can’t bring in the police. You can drop me off at a bus station.”

She wouldn’t last a day without money or transportation, and she seemed to realize it about the same time Tyler started to tell her.

“This must look bad to an outsider,” she said. “But I have to ask you to keep everything I’ve told you between us. Give me a little time to figure out what happened to my sister and help her.”

“She might be hiding.”

“Or hurt,” she said.

“In which case, doesn’t it make more sense to bring in the law?” Tyler turned in to the ranch and security waved him ahead.

“This isn’t a good idea. I shouldn’t have called you and gotten you involved,” she said, and he could hear the fear and panic in her voice. Not a good combination.

She looked exhausted, and his first priority was to get her inside where she could rest.

“Let’s not make any decisions tonight,” Tyler said, pulling up to his two-story log-cabin-style house. Their parents had built each of the brothers a home on the expansive ranch in hopes they would someday take their rightful places at the helm. Tyler’s was on the south side to take advantage of the sun. Most people hated the heat in Texas but it couldn’t get hot enough for Tyler. His mom used to joke that he had to be cold-blooded because of how much he loved summer.

He’d spent most of his childhood outdoors, throwing a baseball, football or whatever was around with one or more of his brothers. His childhood had been happy and filled with loving memories, and his blood boiled at the thought that someone had wanted his parents dead. They were kind, respected members of the community. His mother had one of those hearts that had no bounds. Pop was honest, albeit stern.

Tyler pulled into his attached garage and parked his SUV.

“Hold on,” he said as he slid out of the driver’s seat and then rounded the vehicle to open her door for her.

“Are you hungry?” he asked, offering a hand.

“I’m more thirsty than anything,” she said, putting her fingers in his.

A frisson of heat fired through his fingertips and he noticed how small and delicate her hand was by comparison. He pushed those thoughts aside. His mind was still reeling over how much he’d misjudged his last girlfriend, Lyndsey. The last thing he needed was another complication in his life. “We can fix that.”

There was a noise at the front door, a scratching sound.

Tyler opened the front door and let the family’s chocolate lab inside. He patted his old friend on the head and scratched him behind the ears.

“This is Denali,” he said to Red.

“Is he yours?”

“Denali?” Tyler glanced up. “Nah. He belongs to everyone. He drifts to each of our houses now that we’re home, and he’s been known to stay in the barn from time to time.”

“He’s beautiful.” She hesitated. “And big.”

“This old boy won’t hurt you,” Tyler said.

She moved a few steps closer and bent down. Denali jumped up at about the same time and her cheek met a wet nose. Jessica let out a yelp before reaching to scratch Denali behind the ears.

“You hit his favorite spot. Don’t be surprised if he follows you around now,” Tyler said.

She smiled as he helped her into the kitchen and for the first time could see just how weary she looked. Even in an exhausted state, Red would be considered beautiful with those big eyes, thick lashes and creamy complexion.

“I have some homemade chicken soup in the fridge. How does that sound?”

“Impressive. You cook?” She eased onto a bar stool at the large granite island.

“Not me. I had some delivered from the main house.”

“This ranch is amazing. Are you telling me there’s even more to it?” she asked. She glanced around the room as he divvied up the soup into two bowls and heated them in the microwave.

Tyler couldn’t help but laugh. “More” was an understatement. “Each of my brothers has a house on the ranch, and then there’s the big house my parents lived in. They kept one wing open for guests of the hunting club we own.”

“What kind of ranch is this?”

“We raise cattle and provide hunting expeditions.”

“How many brothers did you say you had?” she asked as he set a steaming bowl in front of her.

“Five. Six if you count Tommy. He spent most of his childhood here. He and my older brother Dallas have been best friends since before I can remember.” He took a seat at the island next to her. “Be careful. It’s a little hot.”

She blew on the spoon before taking a mouthful. “Either I’m
that
starved or this tastes even better than it smells.”

Denali had gone to sleep at her feet.

“Probably a little of both but Janis Everly is an amazing cook. Her soups are a whole experience in and of themselves,” he said with a smile. It was true. The woman could cook. “You should see the main house during the holidays. Everything’s decorated to the nines and the whole place smells like cinnamon and nutmeg. Janis cooks every kind of cookie imaginable. She dresses up like Mrs. Claus and delivers them just about everywhere in town.”

“She sounds like an amazing woman,” Jessica said.

“She’s a saint for putting up with us all these years,” he said with a laugh, liking the smile his comment put on Jessica’s face as she bit back a yawn.

He showed her to one of the guest rooms after she’d drained her bowl. A few hours of rest should clear her thoughts and let her come to her senses.

Then they could get to the bottom of whatever was going on. And even though she’d protested, he had every intention of bringing in the law.

Chapter Five

The
rap, rap, rap
against the front door shot Tyler straight up out of bed and to his jeans, which were laid out across a chair next to his bed. The machine-gun-like knocks fired again. Tyler hopped on one leg trying to get his second leg in his pants and stay upright.

He shook his head like a wet dog, trying to wake up, and glanced at the clock. Almost six thirty. What on earth?

He took the stairs several at a time and saw that Tommy was standing on the other side of the door.

“What’s going on?” he asked as he opened the door and motioned for the sheriff to come in.

“I’m here on official business,” Tommy said, and the tone of his voice didn’t sound good.

For a split second Tyler thought his friend might be bringing news about his parents, except that he would’ve called all the O’Brien’s together first. So this had to be about Red.

“You want a cup of coffee?” Tyler asked, moving toward the kitchen.

“No, thanks. I’ve already been on duty for an hour.” Tommy followed. “I’m here to talk to you about a murder.”

Tyler stopped in his tracks and spun around. Those words had the same effect as a good, strong cup of coffee. “Let me guess. Milton’s dead?”

“No. He’s missing. We haven’t identified the victim yet,” Tommy said.

“What does this have to do with me?”

“The body was discovered at the Bluff Motel,” he said with an ominous sigh. “In Jennifer and Milton’s room. I have to ask. Where were you an hour ago?”

“Here. Asleep,” Tyler said, and he could see that his friend didn’t like asking that question.

“Have you been here all night?” Tommy asked.

Tyler’s phone records would tell the story so he decided to come clean. “No. I went to the hospital to check on Red after she called and said she was ready to leave the jerk. I brought her home with me.”

Tommy’s eyebrow arched severely.

“What else was I supposed to do?” Tyler asked, his shoulders and hands raised in surrender as he stood there in the kitchen in an athletic stance. “She reached out for help and I said I’d protect her. Dan Spencer was working the security gate when we came home and he can tell you that we arrived around three o’clock this morning. I fed her soup and put her up in the guest room, and that’s all.”

“She’s here right now?”

Tyler nodded, motioning upstairs.

“Get your coffee. It’s going to be a long day,” Tommy said, taking a seat at the granite island.

A few minutes later Tyler joined him with a fresh mug filled with strong coffee. He took a sip. “You want me to wake her?”

“I’ll need to talk to her,” Tommy said.

“What happened to Milton?” Tyler asked. “He was at the hospital with her when she called asking for help.”

“He must’ve left after you got her out of there,” Tommy supplied.

Tyler took another sip, letting that information sink in. “He must’ve realized pretty quickly that something was up at the hospital.”

“How’d you get her out of there without him knowing?” Tommy asked.

“Dr. McConnell arranged it on the condition she could check up on her at my house. She sent in a couple of nurses saying they were taking her for X-rays. I took over once they got her safely away from him.” He paused long enough to take another sip. “I tried to convince Red to press assault charges a few hours ago.”

“But she refused,” Tommy finished. He knew the drill all too well. Except that this was no run-of-the-mill abuse case.

Tyler nodded. He’d let his friend make his own assumptions for now. But he had every intention of filling Tommy in as soon as he could.

“What happened at the motel?” Tyler asked.

“A couple in the room next door heard two men arguing, banging noises against the wall and then a few minutes later a car sped away. They didn’t think much about it at the time, figured someone had too much to drink. The noise woke their baby and the husband got sent out to the car to get extra supplies from a diaper bag. When he returned he noticed the door next to his was still open. He thought it was strange and decided to check it out, make sure everyone was okay. That’s when he saw a man splayed out on the floor, bleeding out. He tried to administer CPR and yelled for his wife to call 911,” Tommy said.

“But it was too late,” Tyler said.

Tommy nodded.

“Sounds personal,” Tyler said.

“Very personal,” Tommy echoed. “He stabbed him with a hotel pen, which means he grabbed anything he could find. Then he panicked and ran without thinking about closing the door behind him, which leads me to believe that he wasn’t expecting the confrontation.”

“Any chance this was a random mugging?” Tyler asked. Red was in more danger than she realized. If she truly was covering for her sister, and he believed her story, then Jennifer was into something very dark and dangerous. He also believed that Red had no idea what was going on and he found himself wanting to help her even more.

The truth lay somewhere between Texas and Louisiana, and Tyler had every intention of finding it.

“Nothing appears to be missing, although we won’t know what happened for sure until we talk to James Milton.” Tommy leaned against the counter. “If it had been a coincidence, though, he would’ve reported it.”

“You’re expecting to get the truth out of that man?” Tyler coughed.

“About as much as I’d expect a deer to drive a car. This whole scene looks like self-defense, but then Milton took off in a hurry, leaving behind his clothes, shaving cream, pretty much everything he brought with him as far as we can tell.” Tommy dragged his boot across the tile floor. “And I’m left wondering why he would do that and not go straight to my office.”

“Seems strange.”

“Everything about Milton is off. From his fiancée ending up in the hospital and him expecting us to believe that lame story about losing her, to a man being stabbed to death in his motel room.”

“What about the dead guy? Have you identified him yet?” Tyler asked, trying to absorb just how much danger Red was in. He also hated lying to Tommy, allowing him to believe that Jessica was her sister. He had every intention of clearing up the misunderstanding as soon as he spoke to Red. Tyler despised lies and they were racking up.

“No. He had ID on him but it was fake.” Tommy’s boot toe raked behind his other foot.

“What about transportation?”

“We’re still working on the rest of the pieces.” Tommy glanced up and tilted his head to the left. “We have no leads. Unless Jennifer knows what’s going on.”

“I can vouch for her whereabouts last night. She’s been with me the whole time.”

“The neighbor heard male voices. We aren’t looking for a female.” Tommy said. “And yet that doesn’t rule out the possibility she might be able to fit the pieces together for me. Right now I have a dead stranger at the morgue with a fake ID, and a man on the run who could be anywhere or right under my nose looking for Jennifer. Based on his actions yesterday, I’d say the man doesn’t want to leave town without her.”

“I didn’t trust or like that guy from the minute I laid eyes on him, but I’m just as confused as you are. She hasn’t told me a thing since we got here.” He glanced at the star-shaped metal clock in the kitchen. It was ten minutes until seven. “I’d hoped to give her a few hours of sleep before I talked some sense into her and brought her down to the station to press charges against Milton. At the time, I thought that SOB shouldn’t get away with hitting women.”

“That’s not all he does,” Tommy said on a heavy sigh. “The problem is figuring out what else he’s into before I have another dead body in my town.”

And if Tyler could save Red in the process that would be even better.

“It goes without saying that I’ll need to speak to his fiancée to find out if he had enemies,” Tommy added.

Why did the sound of the word
fiancée
string Tyler’s neck muscles tight? He nodded, feeling the tendons cord and release.

“Did the witness hear what the two were arguing about?” Tyler asked.

“He said he was half-asleep but he thinks he remembers hearing him ask something about a necklace and where the girl was,” Tommy said.

“They argued about Red?” Tyler did his best to act surprised. Damn, he hated withholding information from Tommy. But the surest way to lose Red’s trust would be to go behind her back by telling his friend everything he knew. Tyler feared she’d strike out on her own and end up getting herself hurt again or worse...dead. She was in so far over her head she couldn’t see right from wrong anymore, and Tyler was her best bet at finding the straight and narrow again. She seemed like a good person in a crazy situation, and Tyler of all people understood her need to protect her family.

“I believe I will take you up on that cup of coffee,” Tommy said.

“Help yourself,” Tyler said, draining his cup and pushing to his feet. “I’ll go wake her so you can talk to her.”

He could take a few minutes to prep her for what was to come, he thought as he knocked on the door of the guest room. He hated the idea of waking her before she’d had solid sleep. There was no movement on the other side so he cracked the door. “Jessica.”

No answer. She must be out cold. His ringtone sounded from down the hall as he pushed open the door to her room. The bed was empty and there were no clothes to be seen. The door to the adjoining bathroom was wide open but he checked inside anyway.

Jessica was gone.

Tyler darted into his own room and answered his phone before it rolled into voice mail. The call was from Dan in security and Tyler knew right away that Jessica had hit his radar.

“What happened,” Tyler asked.

“Sir, a white female is being detained in the guard shack. She was seen running across the south side of the land after exiting your house,” Dan said.

Tyler needed to make a decision. Bring her in and let Tommy question her, or make an excuse and talk to her first? He opted for the second. “Take her to the main house for me and wait there with her.”

“Yes, sir.”

Tyler ended the call, threw on a shirt and made his way downstairs where Tommy waited in the kitchen.

“I’m afraid she’s gone,” he said, stuffing his cell in his pocket.

“What do you mean gone? Do I have anything to worry about with her?” Tommy asked, setting his cup of coffee on the counter.

“She’s afraid and she’s been traumatized. There’s no way she could’ve been involved with the stabbing because she was with me. I know you have to handle this like every other case, so I already told you that Dan at the guard shack can corroborate our story. The only reason I didn’t call you before is that she didn’t want me to involve law enforcement even though I told her it was the right thing to do.” Tyler hedged, hoping his excuse would hold water and Tommy would chalk her disappearance up to her being abused. “I’m sure one of the guards will see her. In the meantime, she’s been through a lot and I’d like to get out and search for her myself. She doesn’t exactly trust men right now.”

“By all means,” Tommy said. “Bring her by the station for a statement when you find her. Or give me a call and I’ll come right over. Time is the enemy in a homicide investigation.”

“I will,” Tyler said, hoping he could convince her that Tommy was on her side. Having help from someone in law enforcement could prove beneficial.

“This mess could take a while to untangle. A man like Milton probably has a lot of enemies.” Tyler grabbed his keys from the counter.

“I’d bet money on it.” Tommy was already walking toward the door. “I’m heading over to the motel now. Maybe we’ll know more once we process the scene.”

“While I have you here, have you made any progress on your investigation into Mom and Pop?” He thought about Tommy’s comment about time being the enemy of a murder investigation. Were all the leads cold on the O’Brien case?

“I’m sorry. I don’t have anything new yet. You’ll be the first to know when I do.” Tommy excused himself and walked out the door.

Tyler grabbed a pair of socks from the downstairs laundry room and slipped into his boots. He was ready to head to the main house when someone knocked on the front door. He could see Red with Dan standing next to her.

“What happened?” he asked as soon as he opened the door.

“I’m not ready to talk to the sheriff. I decided to take a walk and this guy forced me to go with him,” Jessica said, chin up in defiance. Determination filled those sea-green eyes.

“I’m sorry, sir. I tried to take her to the main house but she went ballistic,” Dan said, looking exasperated. “Given her condition, I thought it was safer to bring her back to you.”

“Thank you. I can take it from here,” Tyler said to Dan.

“Yes, sir.” Dan excused himself.

“Are you okay?” Tyler asked Jessica as soon as he closed the door behind her. He couldn’t help but notice the red marks on her arms and wrists, still fresh from yesterday, as he ushered her into the kitchen. And she was shivering.

“Me, yes. At least for now. My sister is the one who is in trouble,” she said, rubbing her arms to warm them.

“Pull another stunt like that and I might not be able to help you,” Tyler warned, his anger raised from a place deep inside...a place that made him feel helpless and weak. He bit back a curse as he retrieved a blanket from the couch and handed it to her.

“I can’t make any promises. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure my sister is safe.” Jessica draped it around her shoulders before folding her arms across her chest in a defensive position.

“Come and sit down. I’ll get you a cup of coffee.” Tyler didn’t wait for her to make a move toward the kitchen before he walked over to his counter. He poured two fresh mugs. He needed to tell her the news about what had happened back at the motel and he needed to find a way to do it without scaring the hell out of her. “You like sugar or cream?”

“Black is fine,” she said, accepting the mug and taking a sip.

“You want to sit?” Tyler asked, motioning toward the bar stools at the granite island.

Red seemed to catch on to the fact that he had news. She set the cup on the counter and turned to face him, hands fisted on her hips. “What is it? What’s happened?”