Chapter Thirteen
Boone rubbed his neck and stretched as best he could as he drove.
“You should have taken the bed last night,” C.J. said.
“The recliner was fine.” He’d had enough trouble convincing her to come to his motel last night. It was that or the two of them staying in her house. He hadn’t liked the idea that the man might be the same one who’d tried to run her down and then broken into her house. He wasn’t taking the chance that the man might come back.
“At least at my motel, he won’t know where you are.”
“I can get my own room.”
“Could you possibly just let me take care of you for one night? Two brushes with death in one day? Haven’t you been through enough today?” She’d given him a look he couldn’t read. “Come on, you need sleep. Right now, it appears that the only thing keeping you on your feet is pure stubbornness.”
She’d finally relented. But when they’d gotten to the motel, she’d wanted to argue about who was going to take the bed.
“You’re taking the bed. You want the bathroom first? Then get in there.” When she’d come back out he’d gone right into the bathroom after, giving her a warning look not to argue with him.
Exhaustion had taken her down. When he came out of the bathroom, she was lying on the end of the bed as if she’d been sitting there and had just keeled over for a moment to rest.
Shaking his head, he’d picked her up and carried her around to the side of the bed. He’d never met such a mule-headed woman. She reminded him of... He’d chuckled. She reminded him of himself.
She’d barely stirred but he’d hushed her up as he took off her shoes and tucked her into the bed. Then he’d stood there for a long moment watching her sleep before he’d headed for the recliner.
Not that he’d been able to fall asleep. He kept thinking about C.J. Her loyalty to Hank. Her determination to find his killer at all costs. Her sweet, vulnerable look when she was sleeping. It made him smile.
C.J. West was a complicated young woman who intrigued him more than he wanted to admit.
* * *
HIS LEG HURT like hell. Cecil hadn’t gotten any sleep. The first thing he’d had to do was put a new bandage on his gunshot wound. Now standing in the bathroom naked, he braced himself for the pain. Pouring more of the rubbing alcohol on the wound, he let out a cry and clutched at the sink.
At least the wound had stopped bleeding, he thought as he covered it with gauze and then a bandage before pulling on his jeans. He hadn’t thought to bring more clothing. He hadn’t thought out a lot of things, he realized. So many mistakes. And now he couldn’t go into a store the way he looked. No, it didn’t matter how he was dressed. He needed to finish this.
At the thought of how badly that had gone last night, he wanted to scream. If Boone hadn’t come back... Not that he could blame him.
He’d rushed it, just wanting to get it over with instead of waiting until he knew she was asleep. Once inside the house, he’d had a chance to finish it. He’d knocked her down. How much harder would it have been to take the gun away from her, choke the life out of her or use the gun on her?
His first plan had been to wait until she was in bed asleep and then sneak in and put a pillow over her head. He knew he couldn’t do it looking at her. But he’d gotten impatient and couldn’t wait for her to fall asleep. He had a piece of cord in his pocket. He’d thought that he could get behind her and strangle her as long as he didn’t have to see her face.
But things had gone badly. He’d panicked. Isn’t that why he hadn’t killed her in the hallway last night? It had been so close and personal. Nothing like running someone down in a car.
But he’d even failed at that. His life had been one failure after another. Now if he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life in prison...
With a groan, he limped out of the motel bathroom. He had to go back to C.J. West’s house. If she wasn’t there, maybe he could wait inside for her. Wait and surprise both her and Boone when they came back.
But when he’d gone by her house he’d seen one of her neighbors out in his yard. He’d parked and gotten out, limping over to him.
“I was looking for the woman who lives in that house,” Cecil said, and realized he might be able to pass for a delivery boy even at his age. “She placed an order. I was trying to deliver it.”
“Must be some mistake,” the man said, eyeing him. “I saw her leave this morning with a suitcase. I got the impression she wouldn’t be back for a while. Left with some man. What did you do to your leg?”
“Old war injury,” he lied.
“Sorry you came all this way. Is it anything I can take off your hands?”
“No, I don’t think so, but thanks for the information.” He limped to his vehicle and climbed painfully back in. She’d left with a suitcase?
He quickly called Boone McGraw’s motel only to be told that he’d checked out. Swearing, he tried his ex-wife’s number, telling himself that Tilly probably wouldn’t know anything if she answered. Since she’d gone back to work, often she was vacuuming the McGraws’ big new house and didn’t even hear her phone.
She picked up on the second ring. “Hi.” She sounded a little breathless. He pictured her with a duster in her hand standing in one of the many bedrooms. She’d been dark-haired when he’d married her all those years go. Now over fifty, she’d gone to a platinum blonde as if thinking it made her look younger.
“Hi,” he said. “Busy?”
“These cowboys,” she said with a sigh. Tilly usually could find something to complain about. He wondered what she’d found during the years that they had been divorced.
“Well, at least you have less to clean with Boone gone,” he said.
“Ha! I just heard not only is he on his way back, but he’s bringing some...” she lowered her voice “...woman. I have to get a room ready for her.”
“No kidding?” So they were headed back to Whitehorse, back to the ranch. He swore silently. He’d never be able to get to her at the McGraw Ranch. Even though security wasn’t as bad out there as it had been following the kidnapping, it would still be impossible to break in without getting caught.
But then again, he had Tilly there, didn’t he? No one would suspect anything if she brought her ex—and soon-to-be husband again—out to the ranch where she worked to see the new house.
“How did the job interview go?” she asked now, reminding him of the reason he’d given her for leaving town for a few days.
“I’ll tell you all about it when I see you. I’m about to head home. I’d like to take you out to dinner when I get back.”
“A date?” He could hear the pleasure in her voice and should have felt guilty for all the lies.
“Why not? You’re still my Tilly girl, aren’t you?”
* * *
C.J. LOOKED OUT at the passing landscape of towering mountains and deep green pines. Boone had told her it was a six-hour drive. She’d wanted to take her own car, but she knew he was right. It made sense to go with him since they were going to the same place, he knew the way and someone was after her. So it was safer being with him, at least according to him.
She hated this feeling of vulnerability and Boone McGraw only made it worse. Being around him left her feeling off balance. Before all this, she’d felt she had control of her life. She’d felt safe knowing what she would be doing the next day and the day after that. She had a plan.
Hank’s death had changed all that. She’d lost her biggest supporter. She’d lost her friend and the man who’d filled in all these years as her father. Boone showing up had turned an already confusing time into... Just the freshly showered male scent of him made it hard to think. And she needed desperately to figure this all out. It’s what she did for a living. She solved mysteries. She helped people, just as Hank had taught her.
But right now she felt as if she couldn’t even help herself. Too many of the pieces were missing and her grief over Hank’s death had her too close to tears most of the time.
She rubbed a hand over her face and told herself to quit whining. She was still strong, still determined. She’d gotten through her mother’s death. But only because Hank had been there for her. Now she felt...alone. And yet not alone, she thought as she looked over at Boone.
“Thanks for last night.”
He shot her a glance. “No problem.” His smile warmed an already unbearably handsome face.
She felt her heart do a little tap dance against her ribs and was glad when he turned back to his driving. “I keep going over it in my head. There’s no reason anyone would want to harm me.”
“You were Hank’s partner. Whatever he knew, the killer must assume you knew it, as well. Or realized that you were looking for the truth.”
But she knew nothing. The fact that Hank hadn’t told her what was going on with him hurt heart-deep. Her head ached from trying to understand what had been going on with him in the days before his death. So many secrets. Not just the stocks and bonds, but Seattle. And maybe Whitehorse as well?
“So tell me about your family,” she said and turned to look at Boone, desperately needing to get her mind on something else.
* * *
BOONE GLANCED AT her in surprise. “You mean more than what you’ve already read about my family? I doubt there is much to tell.” He knew she’d researched the kidnapping. As she’d said that first night, she didn’t leave things to chance.
“I did some research, but it’s not the same. You have two brothers you grew up with, Cull and Ledger. So what are they like?”
He could see that she seriously wanted to know. He suspected it was only to keep her mind off the long trip—and what she’d been through the past week—but he was happy to oblige.
“Cull’s the oldest, the bossiest.” He laughed. “He’s great. You’ll like him. He’s a lot like you, actually,” he said and glanced over at her. They’d left Butte behind and now traveled through the mountain pass toward the state capital.
“How so?” she asked suspiciously.
“Stubborn to a fault. Determined to a fault. Independent to a fault. But he’s changed since he fell in love.” He saw her turn more toward him as if he’d piqued her interest. “He and Nikki St. James, the crime writer, are engaged. She came up to the ranch to do research for a book and her digging around set some things off.”
“I heard it also almost got her killed. I suspect I’m going to like her.”
He chuckled and nodded. “I suspect you will.”
“And Ledger?”
Boone sighed. “Ledger. He fell in love in high school with a girl named Abby. They broke up when he was in college, some misunderstanding perpetrated by her mother, and she married someone else. A bad idea on her part since her husband was abusive.”
“Wade Pierce.”
“Yep.” He grinned. “You probably know all this.”
“No, please continue.”
He studied the road ahead for a moment, thinking. “But Ledger, also a bit stubborn and determined, hung in there, determined to save her.”
“Sounds like someone I know,” C.J. joked. “Did he?”
“He did. They’re finally together again. This time I don’t think anything will tear them apart.”
“So you’re the last single brother.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that she was smiling. But he wasn’t about to take the bait. “Actually, my brother Tough Crandall is still single.”
“Right, the one who doesn’t want to be a McGraw. Oakley McGraw, the missing twin.”
“Yep. Talk about stubborn. I suspect he will always be Tough Crandall. He’s made it very clear that he doesn’t need the McGraws or want what comes with us—lots of unwanted publicity.”
“I guess I can understand that. You don’t think he will come around eventually?”
“My dad does. Dad never gave up looking for the twins, never gave up believing they were still alive, just never gave up. Of course, my dad is one of those men who looks at a half-full glass and thinks it is three-quarters full. You’ll meet him.”
“One of those,” she said with a shake of her head and a smile.
“He’s never given up on finding the twins, even when we wished he would,” Boone said. “For years, the kidnapping has defined us all.”
“Probably why you can’t get a date,” she joked.
He smiled over at her. “I had a date the other night at the steakhouse.”
She shook her head. “You call that a date?”
“I would have if I’d gotten up the nerve to kiss you.”
C.J laughed and met his gaze. “So why didn’t you?”
“I kept thinking about that gun in your purse. I didn’t want to feel the barrel poking me in the ribs.”
“You’re smarter than you look.” She turned to glance out the windshield as they passed Helena and began the climb again up another mountain pass. “Strange, the paths our lives take. Not always easy. Was it horrible growing up with the kidnapping hanging over you?”
“Not all the time. My brothers and I love horses so we spent a lot of time on the back of one. We stayed away from the house during the bad times, especially when the anniversary of the kidnapping rolled around. There was always something in the newspaper—thanks to our Dad. That’s why I have to help find Jesse Rose if she is still alive. Maybe then Dad can just enjoy his family.”
“You’re lucky to have such a large family, and with your brothers getting married...”
“Yes, and it’s growing. One of the reasons Dad wanted the new house to be so large. He wants plenty of room there for all the family. You’ll see.”
She shot him a look.
“We’re staying out at the ranch.” He held up a hand before she could argue. “I’m not letting you out of my sight until this is over. I know you’re very capable of taking care of yourself, but if I’m right, the reason someone wants you dead is because of my family tragedy. So let me do this.”
She’d opened her mouth to speak, but closed it for a moment. “Fine. Is your stepmother still behind bars?”
He laughed. “Last I heard, thank goodness. Patty, yes. Still locked up so it’s safe.” He shook his head at thought of her. “I told you that she didn’t just try to kill my father by poisoning for months with arsenic—we believe she did the same thing to my mother twenty-five years ago. When Patty wants something... And she wanted my father—until she got him.”
“Do you think she was the kidnapper’s accomplice?”
“I certainly wouldn’t put it past her. But if so, her plan backfired. She didn’t get my father—at least not then. She went away for nine years. The only reason she came back when she did was she needed a home for her and her baby.”
“Sounds like she had another reason for returning to your ranch and just used the baby to get what she wanted.”
He smiled over at her. “It certainly worked. My father raised Kitten all those years only to have Patty send the girl off to some relative. Kitten was a lot like her mother so while it was hard on my father to see her go...”
C.J. nodded. “A lot of drama?”
“Since she was little.”
“So what was it like growing up on a horse ranch?” she asked as she made herself comfortable in the passenger seat.
“It was an amazing childhood, actually.” He began to tell her about learning to ride at an early age, of horseback rides up into the Little Rockies, of swimming in the creek and racing their horses back to the corral. “Cull usually won, but there was this one time...”
Boone glanced over to see that C.J. had fallen asleep. He smiled and looked to the road ahead. He couldn’t shake the feeling that his life had changed in some way he’d never planned. It unsettled him. But soon they would be on the ranch. And once Jesse Rose was found... Well, things would get back to normal. Right, normal—as if that was ever going to happen.