Chapter Sixteen
C.J. said she’d like to lie down for a while. Boone took that opportunity to go into town before dinner. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back in plenty of time,” he told his father.
He drove straight to the sheriff’s department and asked to see Patty, his former nanny and stepmother. When she’d been his nanny, she’d had straight brown hair, appeared shy and reserved.
When she’d returned to the ranch nine years later with a baby in her arms, she’d changed in more ways than her bleached hair color, from everything that Boone had heard. All he knew was that she’d certainly conned his father. Travers had married her to help her raise the baby, father unknown. Patty had been hell on wheels for those years as his stepmother. She’d made all their lives miserable.
Boone was just glad to have her out of their lives.
The dispatcher started to explain the visiting hours schedule when Sheriff McCall Crawford came out.
“I need to see Patty,” he said, “and I’m not going to be able to make visiting hours for a while.”
“Probably just as well since she posted bail and will be released later this evening,” the sheriff said.
“What? How?”
McCall shook her head. “She came up with the bail and got a judge to grant it. It’s out of my hands.”
Boone pulled off his Stetson to rake a hand through his hair. “Then I really need to talk to her before she’s released.”
The sheriff hesitated for only a moment. “Just keep it short, okay?”
He nodded and let her lead him to the visiting room. He’d barely sat down when Patty slid into the seat on the other side of the glass. She smiled at him before picking up the phone.
The smile was enough to set him off, but he reined it in. He came here hoping for information. Ticking her off wouldn’t get him anything except maybe a little satisfaction.
“You’re looking good,” he said into the phone.
She smiled at that. “You McGraws are such charming liars. Heard you’d been out of town. Go somewhere fun?”
“Butte. Went to see a PI who had information on the kidnapping.”
“Really?” Her expression hadn’t changed. “So you got it all solved, do you?”
“Not quite. Where is my mother’s diary?”
She shook her head. “Diary?”
“I know you have it.”
“You’re wrong. Everyone thinks I’m responsible for whatever was going on in that house twenty-five years ago. Well, I wasn’t the only drama.”
“We know about Frieda and her love affair that set off the kidnapping.”
Patty smiled. “That was just the tip of the iceberg. Tilly ever confess anything to you?”
Tilly? Their housekeeper?
“I believe Tilly had taken cold medicine the night of the kidnapping and was knocked out and had to be awakened.”
Patty just smiled.
“Are you trying to tell me it isn’t true?” When she said nothing, he lost his cool. “Dammit, Patty, I know you poisoned my mother twenty-five years ago and then did the same thing with my father over the past year. I know you, remember? I saw how you treat people.”
She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Boone, I’m a bitch, but I’m not a killer. Nor did I poison anyone.”
He studied her, surprised that a part of him believed her. Was it possible she might be telling the truth?
“Then who was poisoning my father?”
“Anyone with access to that house. Your former ranch manager, Blake Ryan. Your family attorney, Jim Waters.” She shrugged. “They ate at the house all the time.”
“What was their motive?”
She looked away for a moment. “Maybe they thought they’d get me and the ranch if Travers was gone.”
“Where would they get an idea like that, I wonder?”
Patty swung back around. “Not from me.”
“Frieda is dead, thanks to you. Or are you going to tell me that you had nothing to do with that, either?”
“I didn’t.”
He narrowed his gaze at her. “You had a lot to lose if she talked.”
“But not as much as the person who helped with the kidnapping. Yes, I kept Frieda in line with what I knew about her boyfriend. Like I said, I was a bitch but I had nothing to do with killing her.”
“Sounds like you’re innocent of everything.”
“I didn’t say that. I’ve made my share of mistakes. My biggest regret is your father. Believe it or not, I loved him. But I always felt like I was living in your mother’s shadow—because I was. He never loved me the way he did her and I knew it.”
With Patty in a talkative mood, he had to ask. “Who is Kitten’s father?”
She laughed. “Who knows? That’s not true. It was nobody. A one-night stand. A handsome guy at a bar when I was feeling vulnerable.”
“Not Jim or Blake or my father?”
She shook her head.
“Jim and Blake both think they’re her father.”
Patty shrugged.
“Again, I wonder where they got that idea?”
She smiled. “Like I said, I’m not innocent of everything.” Sighing, she looked him in the eye. “What do you want from me, Boone? I’m about to blow this place and I doubt we’ll be talking again for a while, if ever.”
“The truth would be nice.”
“I guess you’ll have to wait for my tell-all book,” she said with a sad smile and replaced her phone as a deputy came into the room.
* * *
C.J. SAT AROUND the big table in the dining room and listened to stories about the boys growing up. It felt good to laugh. She especially liked the stories about Boone.
“He was five when he tried to ride one of the calves,” Cull was saying. “He hung on all right. Straight across the pasture. We thought we’d probably never see him again. He was hootin’ and hollerin’.” They all laughed.
“Came back looking like he’d been dragged through the mud, as I recall,” Ledger said. “Told everyone he’d ridden a bull.”
C.J. loved the sound of their laughter. It was clear that they all loved each other. She felt the warmth and the camaraderie. And for a while, she forgot what she was doing there with them. Forgot about the thumb drive she kept in her pocket. Forgot that Hank was dead. And worse, that someone might be getting off the train tomorrow who would forever change the way she felt about the man she’d loved as a father.
By the time she’d gone to bed, all she wanted was the oblivion of sleep. She’d thought her thoughts would keep her awake. But the moment her head touched the pillow she was out. In her dreams, though, she kept seeing Jesse Rose’s face. The woman was trying to tell her something, something about Hank, but C.J. couldn’t hear her because of the noise from the train.
* * *
BOONE STAYED UP late talking with his father and brothers. It felt good to be back at the ranch. He’d needed that horseback ride earlier. It was the only place he felt at home.
He couldn’t help thinking about C.J.—and what he’d told her on the horseback ride. Would he really leave the ranch for a woman? Not just any woman, but her?
Unable to sleep he went outside. It was a clear, cold night but he needed the fresh air. He loved it here, loved the dark purple of the Little Rockies on the horizon, and the prairie where thousands of buffalo once roamed.
He thought of Butte and C.J. Would she leave it for a man? For him?
Shaking his head, he couldn’t believe the path his thoughts had taken. He hadn’t even kissed the woman. But at dinner tonight, he also couldn’t keep his eyes off her. She was so beautiful. He thought of her with that ragtag bunch of half-homeless people at the funeral. She’d called them her and Hank’s family. He doubted he’d ever met anyone with such a big heart.
Or anyone more stubborn.
“I know that look.”
He turned to see Cull come outside.
“Something bothering you?”
Boone let out a laugh. “Seriously? I’m terrified that I’m wrong about this whole thing. Who knows if there will even be someone on the train tomorrow and now I’ve got Dad’s hopes up and—”
“What’s really got you out here wandering around in the dark?” Cull asked, cutting him off.
“I just told you.”
His brother shook his head. “Like I said, I know that look. You think I didn’t wander around in the dark after meeting Nikki?” Cull let out a laugh. “I used to go out in the barn and talk to myself. I thought I was losing my mind. How could I fall for a damned true crime writer—one who turned our house upside down for a story?”
Boone chuckled. “You’ve got it all wrong.”
“Just keep telling yourself that. A private investigator from Butte? Wondering how you got to this point in your life, aren’t you?” He held up his hands. “Don’t bother lying. I saw you out here and thought I could dispense some sage advice. Take it from me. I’ve been there. So just go for it. Seriously. Anyone with eyes can see how crazy you are about her. Stop kidding yourself. You’ve fallen.”
Boone shook his head. “You should get some sleep, big brother. You’re talking out your—”
“Yep, just keep telling yourself that,” Cull said as he laughed and headed in the direction of his cabin.
Boone watched him go. “Just go for it? Right. So much for sage advice, big brother.”
* * *
STOPPING JUST OUTSIDE the sheriff’s department midmorning, Patricia “Patty” Owen McGraw breathed in the fresh air and looked toward the deep blue sky overhead. A Chinook had come through and melted all the snow, but she’d heard a couple of deputies talking about a white Christmas. A storm was supposed to blow in by this afternoon.
She’d completely forgotten about Christmas. Her only thought had been freedom. And now here she was. Free. At least for a while.
“Are you all right?” asked the deep male voice next to her in a tone that told her he didn’t really care. Probably never had.
“I am now,” she said without looking at the former McGraw ranch manager. Blake Ryan wasn’t one of her favorite people right now. Hell, no one was.
“You realize it’s temporary,” he said. “Only until your trial. If you take off, you lose—”
“I know what I lose,” she snapped and took another deep breath. Having Blake pick her up from jail had been a mistake. He hadn’t wanted to do it. She’d had to almost beg and when that failed, she’d had to resort to blackmail. It seemed no one wanted to get on the wrong side of Travers McGraw.
You betrayed Travers when you slept with his nanny twenty-five years ago—not to mention his wife much more recently, she’d snapped on the phone earlier. He knows about us, so come pick me up. I need a ride and you need me to keep at least some of the things about you out of my book.
“This money they advanced you on this tell-all book,” Blake said now as he opened the car door.
“What about it?” She couldn’t help the irritation in her voice. It was none of his business. She owed him nothing.
“Do you have to give it back if you don’t write the book?”
“Why wouldn’t I write it?”
He shot her a look and cleared his voice. “Patricia, you can’t tell everything.” She suspected Travers had set up some sort of retirement plan for the ranch manager and still contributed to it. Everyone had their reasons for distancing themselves from her, but they would all pay when the book came out. Or when this went to trial.
She glanced out the side window. “I told the publisher it was a tell-all book that dished the dirt. All the dirt. You wouldn’t want me to have lied, would you?” She smiled to herself as she felt his gaze on her before he turned back to his driving.
“It wouldn’t be the first time you lied,” he finally said.
She burst out laughing as she turned back to him. “I wondered if you’d have the guts to call me on it. And you did. What is it you’re afraid of, Blake? How about I write that you were an amazing lover?”
“I don’t think that’s funny.”
“I wasn’t trying to be funny. I meant what I said, I’m telling it all. Anyway,” she said with a shake of her head as bitterness rose like bile in her stomach. “What do I have to lose? Do I have to mention that I asked for your help and you couldn’t be bothered?”
“You know the position I’m in.”
“Unlike the one I’m in?”
“Patricia, give me a break. I don’t have the kind of money you need to get out of this.”
“But I sure found out who my friends and lovers were, didn’t I?” She bit at her lower lip as silence filled the truck. “You’re in this just as deep as I am.”
“Where do you want to go?” he finally asked. “You want a drink? Something to eat? We could swing by Joe’s In-n-Out for a quick lunch.”
His offer was like a knife to her heart. He didn’t want to be seen with her, hoped to get rid of her as quickly as possible. She studied him for a moment, glad she didn’t have a knife because it would be in Blake’s chest right now. Why did she always fall in love with weak men?
“Just drop me at the Great Northern Hotel.” Had she thought earlier that he would have wanted to take her to his place? Would she have gone if he had asked her?
He drove around the block and pulled up at the entrance to the GN, as it was called locally. As she opened her door to get out, he said, “I wish you wouldn’t do this.”
She glanced back at him. “Spend a night in a motel room alone?”
“You know what I mean.”
She laughed and forced a smile. “You mean what I tell during my trial? Or the book? I’m going to give you a whole chapter, Blake,” she said and slammed the door. She didn’t look back as she fought the burn of tears.
* * *
“HOW IN HADES did Patty make bail?” Boone demanded as he stormed into his father’s office. “I just heard. Tell me you didn’t—”
“I didn’t.”
“Did you know?”
His father shook his head. He pushed away the papers in front of him and sat back in his chair. “She must have sold the book she’s been threatening to write about the kidnapping. Her tell-all book. She tried to get me to buy her off. I don’t care what she writes.”
Boone swore. “Well, if anyone knows the truth about what happened that night, I’m betting it was Patty.” He frowned. “But that kind of truth won’t set her free.”
“Maybe she knows more than she has ever told about someone else being in the house that night,” Travers said.
“Is that what you’re hoping?” he asked.
“Truthfully? I just want Jesse Rose found. As far as the other kidnapper...”
“You don’t want justice?”
“Justice.” Travers chuckled. “There can never be justice. Too much was lost.” He got a glazed look in his eyes.
Boone studied his boots for a moment. “How is Mom?”
“Better. She wants to see Oakley.”
He looked up in surprise. “You told her about Tough Crandall?”
“He’s her son.”
“Are you sure about that?” He ground his teeth at the thought of the arrogant cowboy who’d paid them a visit to set them straight. Tough Crandall had outed the man pretending to be Oakley.
But Tough had refused to take a DNA test to prove that he was the lost twin. In fact, Tough wanted nothing to do with the McGraws—any of them.
“Has Tough agreed to see Mother?”
“Not yet, but he will.”
Boone shook his head. His father had lived in a fantasy world for twenty-five years, first believing the twins were alive and would come home one day. And now he thought that cowboy who’d known for years that he was the missing twin—and kept it from his own grieving birth father—would find it in his heart to visit his birth mother?
“Dad—”
“Boone, he just needs time.”
He told himself that he didn’t want to argue the point with his father. He didn’t have time anyway. He and C.J. had to meet the train. He’d had trouble getting to sleep last night and had been anxious all morning. Cull’s little talk with him hadn’t helped.
Now he tried to concentrate on what had to be done. He just hoped that whoever was on that train knew something about Jesse Rose’s whereabouts. That was if she was still alive. That thought was the fear that had dogged him since his father had asked him to talk to PI Hank Knight.
Oakley had been found—kind of—not that it was the happy reunion his father had hoped for. But that didn’t mean that Jesse Rose would be found. Twenty-five years was a long time. Anything could have happened.
* * *
C.J. FOUGHT TO still her nerves as they drove into Whitehorse. The afternoon wind sent a tumbleweed cartwheeling across the road in front of them as they reached the outskirts of town.
“This is Whitehorse? And you made fun of Butte?” C.J. joked as she took in the small Western town.
“Easy,” he said and grinned. “You’re in the true heart of Montana.”
She scoffed good-naturedly at that as he pulled up to a small building that had Whitehorse printed on the side. She recalled that he’d said it was unmanned. Tickets were bought online. There was only one car parked next to the depot but no sign of anyone.
Across the tracks was apparently the main drag. She saw a hotel called the Great Northern, several bars, a restaurant and a hardware store. Like a lot of towns, Whitehorse had sprung up beside the railroad as tracks were laid across the state.
Looking down the tracks, though, she saw nothing in the distance. They got out into the waning winter sunlight. The air smelled of an impending snowstorm. C.J. shivered although it wasn’t that cold as they went to stand on the platform in front of the depot. The train was due to arrive soon, but they were the only ones waiting.
She could tell that Boone was as anxious and worried as she was. Looking down the tracks for the light of the locomotive, she tried to keep her emotions in check. If they were right, Hank had been planning to meet this train.
“What if a dozen people get off the train?” C.J. asked, merely needing to make conversation because she knew exactly what Jesse Rose looked like.
“Not likely,’” he said with a laugh. “This will probably surprise you, but like I told you, not many people get off here.”
“That is a surprise,” she said.
He smiled over at her. “This area of Montana would grow on you. If you gave it a chance.”
She met his gaze. “You think?” She thought about what he’d said the day before. That he’d leave for the right woman. But no woman who’d seen him on his ranch would ever take him from what he loved. No woman who loved him, anyway.
“Ever thought about a change of scenery?”
“Whatever are you suggesting, Mr. McGraw?”
He shrugged as if embarrassed.
What had he been suggesting? Whatever it was, he seemed to wish he hadn’t brought it up. “You know, if you ever got out this way in the future.”
Little chance of that, she thought as snowflakes began to fall. In the distance, she thought she heard the sound of a train.
* * *
BOONE COULDN’T BELIEVE what he’d just said to her. What had he been suggesting? Whatever it was, it wasn’t like him. Like he could take Cull’s advice. Like he ever would. And yet he’d realized this morning that no matter who got off that train today, C.J. would be leaving.
He’d take her back to Butte and that would be it. That thought had made him ache. C.J. had gotten to him, no doubt about that. She was funny and smart. He loved the tough exterior she put up. But he could see the vulnerability just below the surface. It made him want to protect her and he knew the kind of trouble that could get him into. Look at his brothers.
But now, as he waited for the train, he couldn’t help looking at her as if memorizing everything about her. Her cheeks were flushed from the cold. Her eyes were bright. He watched her stick out her tongue to catch a snowflake as if not even realizing she’d done it.
“We could wait inside,” he suggested, seeing her shiver.
Hugging herself, she shook her head. “I think I heard the train.”
He could guess what she was hoping. That whoever was on this train would know who might have wanted Hank Knight dead. C.J. wouldn’t rest until she found her partner’s killer.
He hoped he was around when that happened. C.J. might just find out that she did need someone. Even him. While he loved her independence, he’d learned it was okay to lean on family occasionally. He got the feeling that it had only been her and Hank against the world for too long, and now with her partner gone...
As much as he fought with his brothers and knocked heads with his father, Boone was damned glad he had them in his life. He couldn’t imagine how alone C.J. must feel. He felt another stab of that need to protect her.
Not that there was any reaching out to her. She’d rebuffed any attempt to offer comfort. She was determined to go it alone and had only grudgingly put up with him because she had no choice. But she had let him put his arm around her at the funeral. She’d even leaned into him. For a few minutes.
Snowflakes whirled around them. C.J. had her face turned up to the snow, her eyes closed. He saw her shiver again and couldn’t help himself. He stepped to her and pulled her close.
She opened her beautiful brown eyes and looked at him. He felt his heart bump against his ribs. He wanted this woman. The thought terrified him. And yet he wrapped her tighter in his arms and drew her into him as the snow spun around them.