Kitabı oku: «Ransom At Christmas», sayfa 3
Chapter Four
Kelly’s reaction threw off Will. But then she seemed to be having a day if ever there was one. “You’re wearing a wedding dress. It seems to fit. I assumed you meant to put it on. So, I’m guessing it’s your wedding day.”
“I put that much together for myself but I have no idea what I’m doing in this getup,” she admitted. If she was lying she was damn good at it.
“You’re Will Kent,” she added.
“That’s right.”
“We were in grade school together,” she said.
“Right again.” His phone buzzed, indicating a text message. He cupped the screen to block light so as not to make it act as a beacon, and checked the message.
“The sheriff is outside.”
He texted back, letting his cousin know the two of them were in position and alone as far as he knew. Zach would take extra precaution so as not to bring the shooter to their doorstep. The last thing anyone wanted was a shootout. A text informing him that Domino had been found spooked but unharmed had come forty-five minutes ago and was a welcome relief. Thoughts of his horse being butchered like the heifer had anger brewing inside him.
He glanced up. His eyes had long ago adjusted to the dark. He could see Kelly’s outline and she was making a move to stand.
“Whoa. Hold on there.” In the next second he was by her side, steadying her and stopping her from taking a fall.
Physical contact sent more unexpected and unwelcomed currents of electricity thrumming through his veins. It hadn’t been that long since he’d been with a woman. An annoying voice in the back of his mind reminded him that it had been too long since he’d been with one who caused that kind of reaction from him. The thought was about as productive as drinking a shot of whiskey after eating a ghost pepper.
“I can’t stay here,” she said and her voice was shaky.
“Why not?” He remembered that she’d warned him against bringing in the law. “Are you involved in something illegal?”
“No.” She took a step and her knee gave.
Will pulled her in tighter, ignoring the shot of electricity.
“Thank you,” she said and her voice was laced with emotion. He didn’t need to see clearly to know that she was crying and it caused his heart to squeeze. Whatever was going on, she was in a fix and he found himself wanting to help. Then again, his blood was pumping for the first time since returning to the ranch. He couldn’t ignore the possibility that being shot at a little while ago was the first time he’d felt alive since leaving the military. Readjusting to the real world, when he’d been damn good at being a soldier, was proving harder than he expected. Thinking about it caused the restless feeling to return.
Those were dangerous thoughts so he shoved them down deep.
“Hang in there. Help is almost here,” he reassured Kelly as she leaned more of her weight against him. The soft curve of her hip came up to the outside of his upper thigh and lit a thousand fires at the point of contact.
His hands felt a little too right on her as he shouldered more of her weight. He told himself that he needed to call Renee back. She’d been after him for a date since her friend’s New Year’s Eve shindig. Will had gone to the party out of boredom and found himself even more restless among the dancing and boozing. He was definitely off-kilter. The old Will would’ve enjoyed a night with a pretty woman. But that was before Lacey had left him at the altar and shredded his heart. He’d tried to convince himself that he wasn’t over her, but that wasn’t true, either. Being burned still stung, but part of him had known he and Lacey had been making a mistake.
Being on the ranch was supposed to provide the answers he searched for. So far, he’d just counted cattle and shoveled manure. Busy work kept his mind from spinning out.
Will moved to the door, maintaining a slow pace so that Kelly could keep up. He situated her so that she could lean against the wall as he texted Zach. The rescue team was in position. He and Kelly were stationed and ready to go.
The doorknob jiggled.
Even knowing who was on the other side didn’t stop the familiar—and comforting?—adrenaline rush from thrumming through him, awakening all that had been dead. There had been one too many times that he felt like one of his parents, or both, would come walking through the kitchen door of the main house since his return. He needed to get it through his thick skull that both were gone.
Within a couple of minutes Will and Kelly were being guided out of the woods and ushered toward the main house.
Kelly had that frightened-deer expression, her violet eyes wild.
He tightened his grip around her waist in a move of silent reassurance as he led her into the house, then to the living room and onto the sofa, where he gently placed her.
Dr. Carter, a longtime family friend, went to work. The man was in his early sixties and had the face of a weathered grandfather. He had a medium build and kept himself in shape with a competitive cycling club. He was average height, had medium brown hair and a prominent nose. In his office there were enough degrees and accolades hanging on the wall to litter a small town. The doc was the best.
“Thanks for coming on short notice,” Will said with a handshake.
The doc smiled, then sanitized his hands and put on a pair of gloves. He took a knee beside Kelly. “I can see that you’re in pain. On a scale of one to ten, how much does it hurt?”
“A solid seven,” she said in between breaths. Those huge violet eyes of hers outlined her panic.
Will rounded the coffee table and perched on the edge, opposite the doctor. Kelly reached for Will’s hand and issued a sharp breath with the move.
“I’ll be able to give you something to help with that pain when I’m finished with the exam,” the doc assured her.
“Okay.” Kelly’s shoulders tensed as he dabbed what Will could only guess was some type of cleaning agent on her wound. Her chin came up and he admired her strength. His heart pitched and he reminded himself not to notice these things about her. Soon enough, she’d be whisked away to the hospital and would be out of his life.
EMTs were pulling up outside as Zach came through the front door. Deputies Lorenzano and Peabody were outside standing guard, after having rushed Kelly and Will to the main house.
Will turned and caught a look from his cousin.
“Do you remember Kelly Morgan from elementary school?” Will asked.
Zach shook his head.
Will motioned toward her. Zach had been two grades behind them, so it wasn’t a shock that he didn’t remember her.
“We were classmates. Haven’t seen her since her family moved away from Jacobstown in fifth grade,” he said by way of explanation.
“I just got a call about an abandoned vehicle,” Zach warned. “The owner is missing.”
“We can all see that I’m right here,” Kelly said as she winced.
For the second time, Zach shook his head. “I’m sorry, but the name the car is registered to is Christina Foxwood.”
Kelly took in a sharp breath. “She’s my cousin.”
“When did you last see her?” Zach asked.
Kelly seemed to search her memory. “I can’t remember.”
“Is it safe to say that it’s been a long time?” Zach had a notepad out, and was jotting down a few notes.
“No. We live in the same building.” She massaged her temples as though that might stimulate her thoughts. “I know I’ve seen her, I just don’t remember where or when. I also know that I was forced to drink something and it’s playing havoc with my memory. There was a man. I mean, he’s so hazy but I feel like there was a guy in a tux trying to hurt me. I struggled and got away from him but things are hazy. I feel dizzy and like I might vomit.”
“But you remembered me,” Will stated.
She nodded. “When I saw you. You seemed familiar, so I searched my brain and came up with the connection.”
“Do you have any idea where your cousin might be right now?” Zach asked.
“Not really.”
“Have the two of you spoken to each other?” Zach asked and Will figured his cousin persisted with the line of questions to see if he could spur something in Kelly.
“This can’t be happening.” She had that bewildered look Will had seen earlier when he’d first found her. “Who reported her missing?”
“We know that her abandoned vehicle was found on the side of the road alongside the Jasper property two hours ago. There was blood splattered inside the vehicle.” He held up a hand, as though in surrender. “We don’t know who it belongs to. I put a call in for help from neighboring counties. My deputies are processing the scene but that’ll take time.” He shot a glance toward Will. “Keys were still in the ignition and the vehicle was left running with the passenger-side door open.”
“She wouldn’t just run off and leave her car on the side of the road,” Kelly choked out in between sobs. She bent forward and clutched her stomach, as if she was staving off throwing up.
“I want you to take in a few slow breaths,” Doc soothed, but Will was certain the comforting words fell on deaf ears.
Will moved next to her and, ignoring the sharp look from his cousin, put his arm around her shoulder. She repositioned underneath his arm and she felt a little too right there.
Zach’s cell buzzed. He glanced at Will and Kelly.
“Excuse me,” he said, before moving outside to the front porch.
“What is happening?” Kelly asked in between sobs.
“I’m not sure,” Will said. “But we’ll figure this out. We’ll find Christina and whoever it was that drugged you.”
Kelly looked up at him with those piercing violet eyes. “Promise?”
He nodded. Damned if he didn’t know better than to make promises he couldn’t keep. There was something about being with Kelly that made him feel grounded, connected for the first time since returning to Jacobstown. He needed to hold on to it.
A minute later, Zach stepped back into the room. “I just got a call from a Fort Worth businessman by the name of Fletcher Hardaway.”
“What did he want?” she asked with a mix of shock and disdain in her voice.
“He’s looking for his bride,” Zach informed her. His gaze bounced from Kelly to Will.
Before Will could demand answers, Kelly turned to him with the most lost look in her eyes that he’d ever seen.
“I promise I have no idea what’s going on but I’d know if I was supposed to get married,” she said softly so he was the only one who heard. “Please, help me.”
“Hardaway is under the impression that the two of you had plans to marry today.” His cousin’s words shouldn’t have been a punch to the gut. Will’s stomach lining took a hit, anyway.
He should stand up and walk away from this tangled mess. The feeling of being alive again won, against his better judgment.
“Stay here,” he said to Kelly, pushing to his feet. He squared up with Zach. “Can we have a word outside?”
“I’m afraid not,” Zach said. “That dress is evidence, she’s a witness at the very least and I can’t let her out of my sight.”
THAT DRESS IS EVIDENCE. Those four words hit Kelly hard. They followed “she’s a witness,” and the sheriff’s statement wouldn’t have bothered her if it had stopped there. Kelly’s instincts were screaming at her to get up and get the hell out of there.
The sheriff would stop her.
She already looked guilty without adding to her mounting problems.
Running would only make it worse. So, she fought her fight-or-flight instincts.
Christina was missing. Those words were daggers straight through her chest.
“There was a man in a tuxedo. He made me drink something. It was a clear liquid. He said it was water but it had this awful taste,” she blurted out, figuring she needed to say something in her defense. Her gaze bounced from the sheriff to Will, searching for any signs that either one believed her. For some reason what Will thought especially mattered to her. “I spit it out and then he pushed me up against the wall. Hard. He pushed my head back and poured more of it down my throat. I managed to kick him, break away and run. Everything’s hazy after that, and before is a total wash.”
Will looked at Doc. “Is it strange that her short-term memory seems to be the problem?”
“It depends on what she was given,” Doc Carter said.
“Do you remember where you were when that happened?” the sheriff asked. His voice told her that she wasn’t doing a great job of convincing him.
“Had to be a wedding chapel. Right? I think I was in a bride’s room but I swear I don’t know why I’m the one in this dress.” She pleaded with Will with her eyes. She met a wall of suspicion and it hurt.
“Can you stand?” the sheriff asked.
Will moved to her side and offered a hand up.
She took the offering, ignoring the frissons of heat from contact. They were more complications she didn’t need to focus on right now.
Standing made her woozy. She almost took a tumble, but Will’s hand wrapped around her waist to catch her. She had the fleeting thought that she wondered if the chemistry she felt pinging between them was real. Did he feel it? Those random thoughts had no place inside her head.
Christina was missing.
Kelly glanced down at the bloodstain on her white dress.
Someone was trying to kill her.
She’d trade places with her cousin in a beat because Christina hadn’t turned up and she might be lying in a ditch or an alley somewhere.
Tears spilled down her cheeks.
“Thank you,” she said to Will and her voice came out shaky. She chalked it up to overwrought emotions and whatever had been in the glass that Tux had given her.
None of this could be real.
Kelly prayed this was all a nightmare and she’d wake any second to find the world had righted itself again.
“What did the person who drugged you look like?” the sheriff asked and his voice was laced with sympathy. “Tell me everything you can remember. Hair color. Eyes. General size and shape.”
“Tall. Built. He was linebacker-big but shorter. The rest of the details are fuzzy,” she admitted. “He had darkish hair. I think. And he smelled like he’d taken a bath in aftershave. That much I remember distinctly. The scent was cheap, piney and overpowering.”
Zach had taken out a pocket notebook and was writing down the few details she’d given him.
She knew it wasn’t much to go on.
“Am I under arrest?” she asked.
“No, ma’am,” the sheriff said but his serious tone didn’t exactly cause warm and fuzzy feelings to rain down. “I will need to take that gown as evidence, though. I’d also like to have you checked out at the hospital.”
“She’ll need something warm to wear,” Will stated. “She looks close enough to Amber’s size. I’ll find something in my sister’s closet for Kelly. Everyone keeps clothes in the main house.”
Will’s face was like stone, hard and unreadable.
The doc finished his exam and declared that there was too much blood for all of it to belong to her and the small wound on her hip.
“There’s blood spatter,” he continued, “which isn’t consistent with the type of injury she’s sustained.
Will had already explained that everyone in the family kept clothes at the main house just in case the need to stay over arose. The reasoning usually included working too late to drive home.
A few moments later, Will returned with garments in hand.
Kelly released the breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding.
“Is there somewhere I can change?” she asked, flashing her eyes at the sheriff. He’d been a child the last time she’d seen him. Strange how coming back made her think everyone would still be the same age as when she’d left town years ago. It was silly, she knew that. But in a strange way she’d half expected Zach McWilliams to still be in third grade, his younger sister, Amy, in preschool.
“Deputy Deloren can wait in the hall while you change in the bathroom. Door’ll have to stay open, of course,” Zach said.
Panic gripped Kelly at the thought of a stranger watching her undress. She shot a wild look toward Will, whose forehead creased with concern.
He didn’t speak.
Chapter Five
“To be clear. Whatever’s going on legally with Kelly Morgan is none of my business,” Will said to his cousin.
“No argument there.” Zach nodded.
Will issued a loaded sigh. “I’ll look after her while she changes.”
Kelly turned so quickly, the hopeful look on her face shot a spear straight in the middle of Will’s chest.
“I’ll take it from here,” Will said to Deputy Deloren.
The deputy looked to his boss for confirmation.
Zach studied Will for a long moment. And then he gave a nod.
Deputy Deloren held out an evidence bag and a pair of gloves. “Don’t get your prints on the gown.”
“They’ll be on there already,” Will said. “I had to carry her in the woods to get her to safety. She was in and out of consciousness.”
He had the bloodstains on his shirt to prove it.
“Keep her in your sight at all times,” Zach shouted as they rounded the corner into the hallway.
His cousin was taking a risk by allowing Will to accompany Kelly. Will knew that if anything happened, the move could easily cost Zach his job. The only reason Will had insisted was because he would never allow it to come to that. Still woozy, she wasn’t going anywhere.
Will helped Kelly down the hall, ignoring the heat fizzing between them. He stopped at the door.
“Can you take it from here all right?” he asked.
She blinked up at him, those violet eyes wide and even more beautiful this close. His heart fisted when their gazes lingered. Inappropriate didn’t begin to define the reaction he was having to Kelly. He did good to remind himself that she wore a wedding dress. Details of her life were sketchy at best.
She took in a sharp breath as she tried to move on her own. She stopped and he tucked a curly loose tendril of hair behind her ear.
“Did the guy wearing the tux hurt you in any way?” he asked her in the serious tone he used when he was trying to keep from hitting someone. He wanted five minutes alone with the guy in the tux who’d put those marks on her back.
She cocked her head to the side and it was sexy as hell.
“Aside from what you already told us. Did he put a hand on you?” Will asked through clenched teeth. He had half a mind to hunt down the man himself and spend a couple of minutes outlining why a person shouldn’t pick on someone smaller. Although, she’d given the guy hell, and a feeling of pride Will had no right to own welled in his chest.
This close, he could see her pulse racing, thumping at the base of her throat.
Kelly didn’t speak. Instead, she bit her lip and slowly shook her head, maintaining eye contact.
“I’ll wait out here,” he finally said but didn’t move.
A few seconds later, Will took a step back and let go of her waist.
She gripped the doorjamb for support and then stepped inside the bathroom. Will followed but only to place her change of clothes on the counter.
“If you need anything, I’m right here.” He stepped out and, in a show of trust, closed the door behind him.
Memories of a younger Kelly struck him. Her freckle-cheeked smile. The way the sun bounced off her long hair. The easy way she’d laughed.
Even as kids he knew she came from the other side of town. Hell if he’d cared. The two got along and were fast friends. He remembered having a crush on her, his first real crush now that he thought back. The two had been inseparable at school. Her father would wait at the door some days. Will remembered the man had permanent worry lines creasing his face.
The difference in their economic status had never bothered Will. Looking back, it might’ve been a problem for Kelly and could explain why she’d always insisted on walking home by herself. He could walk her to the corner, but where the road forked and he turned left to go down the road to the ranch, she wouldn’t allow him to walk with her. She forked right and to a side of town Will had never seen at age ten.
There were times she missed school. At first, he’d figured she was sick. She’d been out often, he’d noticed. She never wanted to talk about it and the subject dropped as soon as it came up.
What did he know as s kid?
The Kents had never known what it was like to miss a meal.
Looking back, Kelly must’ve. He’d noticed how little there’d been in her lunches at the cafeteria. When he’d asked she’d make up an excuse about not liking to eat a big lunch. She’d said it made her stomach cramp to eat too much before recess. How stupid he’d been not to realize she was covering. She’d been too proud to take anything from his plate. His lunches were packed to the brim with more fresh food than he had time to eat. Never one to waste, and being from a family that looked at wastefulness with the same vigor some people went to church, he’d brought home his leftovers and then had them for a snack after school. That came especially in handy when he’d joined athletics. He’d had almost a second full meal to chew on before hours-long practices began.
Kelly opened the door and held out the evidence bag.
She’d kicked off her boots and had tucked them under her other arm.
“Clothes look like they fit okay.” He skimmed her body. Amber’s T-shirt was tighter on Kelly and revealed a figure of generous curves and ample breasts. She stood there in her stocking feet, looking more lost and alone than he’d ever seen her, and he had to suppress the urge to pull her against his chest and be her comfort. An annoying voice reminded him that she wasn’t his to comfort.
Dozens of questions flooded his mind. He didn’t see a wedding ring and wanted to believe her that she wasn’t the one who was supposed to get married.
“They’ll do all right,” she said and that honey-laced voice stirred other places he didn’t want to acknowledge.
“Thanks for letting me shut the door,” she said.
He tipped his chin before helping her down the hallway. She looked good in casual clothes with her hair tied away from her face.
“We’ll need to head over to the hospital before my office,” Zach said.
Will shot him a questioning look.
“Would you be more comfortable giving the rest of your statement to a female deputy?” Zach asked and the reason dawned on Will. Anger was an explosion in his chest.
“No. I’m fine. I already told you everything I can remember.” She glanced from Zach to Will.
“Then let’s go,” Zach said.
The muscles on her face pulled taut.
“Mind if I tag along?” Will asked his cousin.
Before Zach could answer, Kelly said, “That would be great.”
“Anyone I should call? Let them know that you’ll be late today?” Will asked.
“There’s no one special in my life right now and my cousin…” She wiped the moisture from her eyes.
The drive to the hospital took half an hour. Will had made a few calls using Bluetooth technology in his custom-made crossover vehicle so that everything would be expedited when she arrived.
He followed his cousin’s SUV, respecting the fact that Kelly had to ride with him instead of Will. Protocol needed to be followed and especially since she couldn’t be ruled out as a suspect. At this point, Zach was treating her like a witness, but that could change.
Zach pulled into the ER bay. Will parked nearby.
The look in Kelly’s eyes when he’d first caught up to her would stay with him until he saw this thing through.
More memories stirred. He thought about the time she’d been cornered by Butch Dryden. Butch was tall and played sports. He’d filled out early, while Will was all height and gangly limbs. Butch stopped growing just shy of six feet tall. Will had shot past him by junior year of high school. Middle school was the time Butch had peaked.
Kelly had been beautiful even back then. Her shy smile wasn’t easy to see or coax out of her. But it brightened her face when it finally made an appearance.
Butch had set his sights on Kelly becoming his girlfriend. Much to Will’s relief, she’d had no interest. At five feet eight inches by the fifth grade, one-hundred-sixty-pound Butch had become accustomed to taking what pleased him. That cold winter day in late February it had been Kelly.
Will had rounded the corner of the building after school that day. He’d had to stay late because the science teacher, Mrs. Pander, had asked if he could help her to her car with a prop she’d brought to class to illustrate the solar system. The 3-D model had to be broken down and taken to her SUV in pieces.
His helping Mrs. Pander saved Kelly from Butch, who had decided to pin her up against the wall and force her to kiss him while he touched her.
Kelly might’ve been shy but she knew how to stand up for herself. As Will had rounded the corner she’d belted Butch, blackening his eye.
Will chuckled at the memory of her jerking back her fist, her face wrinkled with pain from hitting such a hard skull.
What had come next wasn’t so funny.
Will had stepped in and, after getting in a couple of good swings, took a decent beating. It was the last fight Will had lost. Unless he counted his relationship with Lacey. That had been a KO.
That same fighting spirit in Kelly’s eyes had returned earlier. But if he looked too deep, he also saw pain and loss.
He chalked up his offer to see this through to old protective instincts kicking in. He should know when to leave something alone. When to walk away. He put the gearshift in Park and leaned both elbows against his steering wheel.
It was the middle of the night and he’d need to get up in a couple of hours to work the cattle ranch. Speaking of which, they needed to be informed of what had happened on the property. He’d wait until sunrise to give them updates. Kelly was all right. That was the only thing that mattered right now.
So when his cell buzzed in his pocket he was caught off guard.
Will glanced at the screen. It was Mitch, the oldest brother and the only one older than Will.
“What’s going on?” Will asked. “Why are you up so late?”
“I just put the twins down for the second time tonight and saw your text about following Kelly to the hospital.”
“What are they doing awake at this hour?” he asked, watching in the rearview as an expensive-looking custom-model sports car parked in the ambulance bay.
From this distance, Will saw the silhouette of a medium-size, slightly build man climb out of the sporty red vehicle. He rushed past the turnstile and disappeared.
“Stuffy noses. Rea had a fever so it’s only a matter of time before Aaron does.” No matter how tired Mitch sounded Will knew that his brother wouldn’t trade his life with his kids for the world. He was the happiest Will had ever seen him. All of which had to do with the happiness he had when his wife had returned. Kimberly had been forced to fake her death in order to disappear from men who were hunting her because her foster father—the man who’d adopted her—was murdered. Her father had helped out a desperate young man and put himself in the sights of a deadly human-trafficking ring. Mitch and Kimberly had been through hell and back, but had come out the stronger for it.
“Tell me what’s going on with Kelly.”
“What do you remember about her family?” Will asked.
“Not much. Seems like her parents blew into town. Her father made a lot of people mad and then he picked up the family in the middle of the night and left. Only reason I remember any of it is because Mrs. Owen complained for years to Mom about him leaving town without paying anyone back, including her. Put a few people in a rough spot for a while, according to her.”
“I don’t remember her mother much. Do you?” Will asked, hoping his older brother’s memory was more reliable than his own.
“She did hair for some folks. That’s about all I know,” Mitch admitted. “Why?”
“Just curious.”
“The two of you were tight at one time. You don’t recall anything about her family?” Mitch asked.
“Not really. I was too young back then to remember my homework let alone what went on in town.”
“Pop kept us busy on the ranch.” Mitch chuckled.
There was always work to be done and William Kent had always included his children in the family business. Patricia, their mother, had always insisted on allowing them to be children with plenty of playtime. Pop would wink at her when she voiced her concerns about her children growing up too fast. He’d knock off work early and take them into town for ice cream or to a movie the next day just to show her that he hadn’t forgotten kids needed to have fun. Pop had joked that it had taken having a second son to convince his wife to name a child after him.
Of course, growing up on a ranch with land as far as the eye could see, animals everywhere and a big family with his cousins, Zach and Amy, over every day had been a magical childhood as far as Will was concerned. There’d been eight kids running around, not including those of the ranch boss, Jessup. His added another four to the mix and Will’s mother had called them a dozen angels. She might’ve come up with another name if she’d known what they were really up to half the time. They were all good kids, don’t get him wrong. Thinking back, they’d been a handful with all the antics to go along with it.
But Will had become restless in his teenage years after his girlfriend became sick. She’d moved to Chicago to be closer to a specialist there and Will had lost touch with her after. He’d never been one for social media or he guessed they could’ve kept in touch. Now that his mother and father were gone his losses were piling up.
Instead of going to college like everyone else, he’d joined the military, needing to find his own definition of what it meant to be a man. He was proud of serving his country even though it had cost him a relationship with the woman he believed he was going to spend the rest of his life with, Lacey.
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