Loe raamatut: «Texas Showdown»

Chapter One

“You didn’t have to take a bullet to get me to stop by and see you,” Austin O’Brien teased Sheriff Tommy Johnson as he entered room 119 at Bluff General Hospital. Tommy was more like family and had grown up on the ranch alongside all six O’Brien sons. At six feet tall with light brown hair and eyes that matched, he looked like he could be an O’Brien.

“If I’d known that’s all it would take, I’d have done it years ago,” Tommy retorted. He’d been shot in the line of duty a few days ago. A two-hour surgery later to remove a bullet fragment from a rib and he’d been recovering nicely. At least his sense of humor was returning. That was a good sign. The first day he’d been too full of morphine to crack a smile and no one had felt like joking.

Between Austin and his five brothers, one of the O’Briens had been at Tommy’s bedside since the incident. They’d been taking turns stopping by, making sure he had everything he could ever want.

“I figured you’d be tired of trying to choke down hospital food by now.” Austin opened the container of homemade spaghetti, set it on the tray table next to the bed, and positioned the stand where Tommy could access it. “Just don’t rat me out to the nurses.”

“Janis made this?” Tommy asked with a smile. She’d been employed at the ranch for more years than Austin cared to count. So much so, she was more family than employee and the boys had voted to give her shares of the family ranch and Cattlemen’s Crime Club now that they’d inherited the place.

“You know it,” Austin said, taking a step back and crossing his arms as Tommy picked up the fork and dug in.

“I forgot how good a cook she is,” he said after swallowing the first bite.

“Stop by for Sunday supper anytime. Or any other night of the week, for that matter.” Austin took off his white Stetson and set his hat on the foot of the bed. Tommy already knew about Sunday meals being a big deal and they’d become even more important recently. Each of Austin’s brothers could’ve died at different points in the past nine months. As a result, Austin found he had a new appreciation for life and family. It was most likely the baby boom at the ranch that had him feeling soft, or the fact that he couldn’t put to rest his feelings for Maria O’Brien, soon to be Belasco again, that made him resolve to talk to her and see if they could give their marriage another chance. He missed her and he was still scratching his head over what had happened to make her walk out. Sure, they’d been through a rough patch, but wasn’t that true of every relationship? He and Maria had never really had a big fight, a final blow to know they were both throwing in the towel. And then, divorce papers had arrived a couple of weeks ago. With everything going on at the ranch, he’d been too busy to look them over.

“How are you really feeling?” Austin asked Tommy.

“About as good as you look, so like a cow that just spent twenty hours in labor,” Tommy teased.

“That good, huh? Well, some people just take a vacation when they want to lay in bed and watch TV for a few days instead of taking a bullet and rolling in via ambulance here at the Bluff Resort and Spa.” Austin waved his arm in the air. “What time does the massage therapist come?”

“She’ll be here any minute, so don’t get too comfortable. And, by the way, she has the hands of a goddess,” Tommy fired back with a chuckle in between bites, keeping the joke alive.

It was good to see him awake and alert rather than overmedicated and with tubes sticking out of him. None of the brothers, Austin included, could shake a similar image of their parents from nine months ago in this very hospital where they’d died. A later autopsy revealed they’d been poisoned and Tommy didn’t seem any closer to an arrest.

“Found this last night and thought of you.” Austin fished in the pocket of his shirt for the plastic badge he’d worn when they were kids. He pulled it out and tossed it onto the tray table.

“Wow. How old is this?” Tommy picked up the child’s toy and spun it through his fingers.

Austin shrugged. “What age were we when we decided to become sheriffs?”

“Couldn’t have been more than nine years old, right?”

“It was long before either one of us had hair on our chest, that’s for sure,” Austin said with a laugh. He couldn’t imagine being anything other than a cattle rancher, although his childhood had been filled with the usual cop, fireman and Batman fantasies.

“Where on earth did you find this?” Tommy held the badge flat on his palm.

“Been in the top drawer of my desk,” Austin said with a shrug.

“You never could throw anything away.” Tommy examined the toy. “Good thing you went up north to that fancy school instead of law enforcement. I’m pretty sure your accounting skills are needed at the ranch more than your rifle acumen.”

Going to a school in the Northeast had netted Austin the nickname Ivy League.

“Between you and Joshua, I figured the family was well represented in the badge-toting department,” Austin said, referring to his brother who had left the ranch and moved to Denver to pursue a career in law enforcement. He returned over Christmas to take his rightful place alongside his brothers and had the toughest time adjusting.

Austin’s cell buzzed. He fished it out of his jeans pocket and checked the screen. The text from his oldest brother, Dallas, read, Another calf is sick. Putting her in the pen.

“Everything okay?” Tommy asked, his gaze fixed on Austin’s phone cover.

“Fine. Got some kind of sickness moving through the new stock. Half a dozen calves are isolated and under quarantine. Vet can’t figure out what’s going on and we’re taking a wait-and-see approach for now. Hoping it doesn’t get any worse,” Austin stated.

Tommy didn’t look away from the honeymoon picture of Austin and his wife that she’d had made into a phone cover. Soon to be ex-wife, an annoying little voice in the back of his mind corrected.

The look on Tommy’s face sent a thousand fire ants crawling up Austin’s spine.

“What is it?” he asked.

Tommy took a minute to speak and when he did, he fixed his gaze on a spot on the wall behind Austin. More reasons to be worried.

“Hey, Ivy League, do you remember Deputy Garretson?” Tommy finally asked.

“Yeah, sure. Why?” Garretson was a year ahead of Austin in school, so Dallas knew him better. Austin was the second-oldest O’Brien. The former deputy had moved to the capital a couple years back craving more day-to-day excitement than Bluff, Texas, had to offer. He should’ve stuck around, Austin thought, because there’d been more than enough activity in the past year to keep him busy.

“He stopped by to see me yesterday,” Tommy said and then paused.

“Everything okay with him?” Austin asked.

“He’s fine,” Tommy said quickly. “He’s a detective now at Austin PD. Hangs out with his FBI liaison after work sometimes. Both are big Cowboys fans so they catch games together, grab a few beers.”

Tommy was normally a straight-to-the-point guy. That he felt the need to dance around a topic didn’t sit well with Austin. There was also a reference to the FBI, which was Maria’s employer.

“What does this have to do with me?” Austin asked outright. Also a straight shooter.

“This guy, Special Agent DeCarlo, who Garretson buddies around with, is planning his wedding.” Tommy’s gaze bounced from the phone to Austin. He hesitated again before he spoke but he didn’t need to say the words. Austin already knew what Tommy was about to say.

“He’s planning to marry Maria.”

* * *

DENALI, THE FAMILY’S Chocolate Lab, had been working alongside Austin for the better part of the night. Now, the hundred pound dog lay next to Austin’s boots, panting and whimpering in his sleep. Austin would give a nickel to find out what went on in that dog’s brain. Never mind, he thought wryly. Denali probably thought about food, treats and getting his ears scratched.

Austin pushed back from his desk and rubbed blurry eyes, thinking a few hours of shut-eye was a good idea considering how punchy he was getting. Between a record number of calves being born this winter and a bout of some kind of sickness causing him to quarantine half a dozen of them now, Austin had been working overtime for months. After learning his parents’ deaths were being investigated as murders, he wasn’t sleeping, either.

The news about Maria he’d received from Tommy earlier had been as unexpected as a sucker punch in broad daylight. His brain refused to process it, like it somehow wouldn’t exist if he kept it at arm’s length. So far, the only emotion he could strongly identify when he allowed it to surface was anger.

Adding to his sour mood was the fact that there was constant wedding/baby/adoption planning going on at the ranch. All five of his brothers had newborns, newly adopted children and/or wedding plans in the works. He didn’t begrudge his brothers their happiness. In fact, he was over the moon for them and each was the happiest he’d ever seen. They’d found true love, fought for it, and had earned the reward of real partners in life and that was great. Personally, he was on the opposite end of the spectrum as divorce papers stared at him from the corner pile of paperwork on his desk and his wife made wedding plans with another man.

The papers had been sitting there for a while now. Austin had lost track of how many days. A dozen? More? The thought of signing them had proved harder than he’d expected, so he kept putting off the task. He should probably be glad to end that chapter of his life and move on, good riddance and all. Maria had made her decision clear and he wasn’t one to stand in her way.

That familiar mix of anger and heartache cut through his chest as he made a move to pick up the legal document. He stopped midreach. He’d been staring at the laptop so long that his eyes were practically crossed and every letter on the screen was a haze. Numbers ran together like highway signs at a hundred miles an hour, a blurry streak. His brain was toast. He wanted to be in the right mind-set before looking over those papers and make sure he had time to read the fine print.

On second thought, a signature could wait. A few more days wouldn’t make a difference in either of their lives. The annoying voice in the back of his mind said that wasn’t exactly true for Maria. Austin shoved the thought aside. The clock read half past eleven. He’d be up again at four thirty sharp, an unholy hour for a natural night owl like him. He needed a hot shower and a firm mattress. The news from Tommy about Maria had knocked Austin off balance and all he needed was a little rest to get his emotions in check. That little piece of him that had said it wasn’t over between them yet—that they still had a chance as long as they were still married—had been shattered all to hell. It wasn’t Tommy’s fault. He was trying to protect Austin from finding out through a different source. O’Briens were news. The story would be out soon enough. Anything to do with his family made headlines.

Austin picked up his cell that had been sitting on top of his desk and looked at the picture on his phone cover. He and Maria had been so happy, or so he’d believed. How could any of it have been real if she was willing to throw it away so easily? And for what? Because the pregnancy didn’t work out? Yes, it had been a difficult time for both of them. He’d retreated into himself and had shut down. He could be honest and admit that now. Maria had started spending longer hours on her caseload at the FBI. Then, a few weeks later when the doctor had cleared them to try again, she’d said that she reconsidered the timing of having children. The timing was right for her to go for the promotion into the Crimes Against Children program, saying it had been a job she’d always wanted. News to him, he’d thought. She’d pointed out that they were still young and had plenty of time to start their family. In hindsight, he should’ve picked up on the oversell.

Austin had figured that she was saying she needed a little more time to get over what had happened. So he gave her what she’d asked for, what he’d believed she needed: time and space.

Neither had worked out so well.

It had become easier to stay apart than to face each other and try to build a bridge to cover the space between them. He’d started spending more time in the barn and on the range. The divide between them became a cavern until she’d rented a loft apartment in the capital to be closer to work and then stopped coming home altogether.

A dull ache pounded Austin’s temples as if a dozen hammers were a marching band in his ears. Sleep. He needed a few hours of shut-eye before the day started over again. He’d been working so much lately that days and nights ran together and he lost track of the calendar. He’d rest come July when he got the healthy calves sold at auction. Right now, the sick calves deserved his attention.

“Let’s go, boy,” he said to Denali, who’d stopped whining and was settled into a pattern of steady breathing.

The Lab didn’t so much as hike an ear at the sound of Austin’s voice. A good cattle dog was worth three men. Denali did his own thing, which generally meant sleeping a lot. But he was good company and he’d been in the family fourteen years.

“Okay, old man,” Austin said, figuring he could keep the door to his office open so Denali could come and go as he pleased when he woke, like usual. The dog liked to roam around, stopping in to visit who he wanted each day.

Austin maintained his workplace in the horse barn to be closer to the men. His father had occupied the big office next door. Austin stopped in front of Dad’s office. The room was dark and empty now.

Since the murders, no one had claimed the big office as theirs, as though everyone realized there’d be no filling the boots of their father.

Austin took in a sharp breath.

“You stay here and rest,” Austin said to the snoring Lab, thinking that he sorely needed to get out and socialize again in the summer since he’d taken to talking to the family dog more than people. Of course, most sane people didn’t wake up before the sun.

Austin hopped onto the bench seat of the golf cart and headed east toward his home. The place had been constructed almost a decade ago. His had been the first built on the ranch because he’d always known he’d come back to work the land he loved after college. Yeah, Tommy was right, Austin had gone to a fancy school. And he needed every bit of his Ivy League education to carry the ranch into the next generation and beyond.

Winding down the path beside the flowing water of Bull Creek, Austin noticed how the water flowed through the land, always moving. He stopped the cart next to the creek, stepped out and listened to the rush of water.

His thoughts drifted back to Maria. Smart, beautiful, focused. She’d been everything he’d ever wanted in a relationship and so much more. That first year they’d stayed up long past a reasonable time every night talking. His mornings might’ve dragged the next day but he’d do it all over again the next because he wanted to be with her that much. Her good looks had attracted him. She was a classic brown-haired, brown-eyed beauty. But it was her intelligence that rocketed his attraction to a whole new dimension. And the sex...he didn’t even want to go there about how mind-blowing that had been. No doubt a product of the intensity of the emotions they felt for each other.

Austin stood over the water, watching it flow. He shook his head, wondering how he could’ve let their relationship slip through his fingers.

Back inside the cart, he let the word he’d been avoiding circulate through his thoughts...divorce.

It sat heavy on his chest as he stood in front of the locked door of his traditional ranch-style home, remembering that he’d left the key back at his office on top of the divorce papers.