All Is Calm: A Lonestar Christmas Novella

  She spied another child sitting alone at the next table and beckoned to her. “Summer, come sit with us.” The other girl was six, but that was close enough in age for the two to be friends.

  Summer’s shy smile emerged, and she quickly came to sit beside Carly. “Hi, Carly.”

  “Hi.” Carly’s answer was barely audible. She stared at her hands.

  Brendan pulled out his chair and sat beside her. “Where are you from, Summer?”

  “El Paso. Carly, I’ll go with you to get pancakes. We can bring a plate back for Mr. Brendan and Miss Lauren. We can pretend to be servers today.”

  Carly’s head came up and her eyes widened. “Okay.” She scooted back her chair and went with Summer to the serving line.

  “That was a good idea,” Brendan said. “You’re good with kids. Have any of your own?”

  She shook her head. “I’ve never been married.” Was that a lurking smile? She couldn’t deny the pull she had instantly felt toward him. It was surprising and incomprehensible, but maybe he’d felt something too. “How about you?”

  “Never had much time for dating or anything. I’m often overseas or flying in or out of hot spots. So no wife and kids for me. Rick and Allie would like to change that.” His smile finally did come then. “A happily married couple is constantly pushing others to join their state.”

  Silence was the best answer now. She smiled to see Carly and Summer heading back their way precariously balancing two plates each. “Looks like we’d better grab our breakfast before it ends up on the floor.” She jumped up and took the plate in Summer’s left hand.

  Brendan reached for his plate from Carly, but before he could rescue it, the stack of pancakes and syrup tilted and landed upside down on his flip-flops. Surprise spread across his face and his eyes went wide.

  Carly burst into tears and practically threw her plate onto the table before plopping into her chair. “I’m sorry, Mr. Brendan.” She looked down at the ground. “I can’t do anything.”

  He grinned. “You can get a paper towel and help me clean up.”

  Lauren tore some sheets from the roll on the table and knelt to help clean up the mess.

  Carly barely peeked up at him. “You aren’t mad?”

  “Accidents happen, kiddo. I like syrup so I’ll lick it off.”

  Carly glanced at Lauren, then back to Brendan to see if he was teasing. “I’ll clean it.” She started to kneel, but he laughed and grabbed her arm.

  “I got this, kiddo.”

  There hadn’t been a smile, but Lauren silently thanked Brendan for the lightening of the pain in Carly’s eyes.

  FOUR

  THE CHILDREN WERE ALL IN BED, AND THE FOUR ADULTS SAT IN the living room of the big house. Brendan opened the computer on his lap. “This might be a little uncomfortable, Lauren, but we’ll have to poke around into your private life pretty deeply. It may feel intrusive, but I won’t be asking questions just to be nosy. Even small details can help me find out more than you think you know about the murder.”

  Her eyes were apprehensive, and she fidgeted where she sat on the sofa beside Allie. “Okay.”

  “How long had you worked at the racetrack, and what exactly did you do?”

  She relaxed against the back of the sofa. “I was the stable manager for Nelson Stable for six months. It was my job to make sure the horses were fed the proper balance of nutrients and that they were exercised every day.”

  He typed in her answer in the new document he’d created. “You didn’t train them or race them yourself?”

  She shook her head. “I had no interest in racing, really. I loved the horses. Beautiful specimens of muscle and spirit.”

  Brendan glanced at her. “Did something happen to one of them?” He didn’t know what made him ask. Maybe it was the way she frowned fiercely down at her hands or how she bit her bottom lip.

  She glanced up then, surprise on her face. “Did you read about it?”

  Allie glanced at him quickly, and he spotted a smile lifting the corners of her mouth at the concern in his voice. The knowing glint in her eyes caused him to look away. Okay, so Lauren was the prettiest thing he’d seen in, well, maybe ever. Her mixture of spunk and compassion was even more attractive than her glossy dark hair and huge brown eyes. That didn’t mean he was going to go down on bended knee.

  He lifted a brow in Lauren’s general direction. “Nope. So what happened?”

  She heaved a sigh. “A horse, Lucky, died in my care.” She fell silent a moment. “I’d like to say it wasn’t my fault, but I just don’t know. I slept right there in the barn, but someone still managed to slip in and give Lucky a shot. He was scheduled to race the next day, and when I went in to check him out before his big day, I couldn’t rouse him. He’d foundered, but nothing I fed him could have caused it. The owner fired me on the spot, but before I went to pack my things, I poked around the barn and found a huge sack of grain. Something I’d never purchased for the horses. When we tracked the origin of the sack to a store in Nashville, the owner realized I had nothing to do with it and retracted his dismissal.”

  “He never found out who had done it?”

  She shook her head. “It could have been one of the other horse owners, maybe even the owner of the horse that won the race. A lot of money was riding on that race.”

  Notating her comment distracted him from how much he liked the melodious sound of her voice. Throaty and compelling. “When was this?”

  “About three months . . . before the other thing.”

  Rick leaned forward. “Dustin Windsor’s death. You think the two might be connected?”

  “Maybe. Though two different methods were used on the horses. Lucky died after being fed too much grain. Angel was injected with cocaine.”

  “They were probably hoping people would think your neglect caused Angel’s death. I assume he would have died if he hadn’t been treated?”

  She nodded. “It was a close call as it was. I’m sure they hoped his behavior had caused Dustin’s death. And I’m sure it would have come down that way if we’d just found a raging horse in with Dustin.”

  “What if Windsor hadn’t been killed and you’d just woken up to two dead horses? Would you have been able to discover what happened to them? Would a needle prick on the horse be visible to the naked eye?”

  “When a horse that valuable dies, there would have been an autopsy. Foul play is always a possibility, and insurance won’t pay out until it has to.”

  “I’ll check into it.” Brendan put down the name in his file. “Let’s talk about the week leading up to the murder. What did you do that week? Anything unusual stand out in your mind?”

  She rubbed her forehead. “Let me think.” Her brow furrowed and her eyes sharpened. “I got a couple of hang-ups two nights before the murder. I thought it was just a wrong number at the time.”

  “What did caller ID show?” Allie asked.

  “All that flashed across the screen was Alpine, Texas. No number.”

  “I assume you didn’t report it?” Rick put in.

  “No, like I said, I didn’t think a thing about it then. But now—”

  “Did you tell the detective about the calls during the initial investigation?” Rick asked.

  “No, it didn’t seem important.” The rapid-fire questions were getting her off-kilter.

  Rick stared at her. “Do you know anyone in Alpine?”

  She fidgeted and looked at the floor. “My cousin Tonia lived there then.”

  “You said Tonia was with whoever was in the barn that night,” Brendan said. “Did she actually bring them in, or did you see her waiting in the truck? What was the sequence of events?”

  “There was a black crew cab parked on the far side of the barn that night. As I told you, I’d fallen asleep and heard something. When I looked out the window, I saw Tonia in the backseat and a man in the front seat. She was pointing at the barn and saying something. Then she sat back and smiled.” Lauren twisted her hands together. r />
  Brendan nodded. “And then you turned around and saw another man in the barn with the needle. And Windsor dead.”

  “Two days later Tonia told the detective she saw me let a man into the barn, so of course I became a suspect.”

  “She was there too.” Brendan said. “Wasn’t she also a suspect?”

  Lauren looked down at her hands. “She told them she’d come by to, um, have a talk with me.”

  Rick frowned. “What else aren’t you saying?”

  She glanced at Brendan, and he nodded to encourage her. “She thought I was trying to steal her boyfriend.” She gripped her hands together. “I thought he was kind of repulsive, but he kept calling me and hanging around. She’s married to him now, so I thought she’d be over it and maybe she would tell the truth. I called her last night, and she won’t budge.”

  He would have to speak to this cousin.

  Lauren paused from training the young horse and wiped her brow. A red pickup rolled up the driveway, and she ducked through the corral fence and headed in its direction in case the occupants needed help figuring out where to go. Allie and Rick had gone to Betsy’s school Christmas play, and none of the other employees were close by.

  As she neared, she recognized the couple. When they stepped out of the truck, she hailed them. “Gary, Katrina! What a surprise, seeing you here!”

  Gary turned at her voice and grinned. About forty, he reminded her of a squirrel with his round cheeks and dark eyes. He always had a ready smile too. They’d met at one of Tonia’s parties and had hit it off immediately. His wife had been lonely and had found Lauren to be a soul mate. Lauren had gone out to dinner with him and his wife, Katrina, a couple of times in Fort Worth.

  Katrina had her blond hair in a sleek new bob. She was tall and leggy with an easy manner. She hugged Lauren. “Lauren! What are you doing here?”

  Lauren embraced her, then stepped back. “I’m working here now.”

  Katrina gasped and looked toward the ranch house. “What a small world. You’ve met Carly then, I assume?”

  Lauren blinked. “Carly?”

  Katrina’s eyes clouded. “We’re her guardians.” She looked at her husband, briefly, as if expecting dissent. “Her mother was my first cousin. We agreed to be her guardians when she was born. Of course we never imagined a tragedy like this.”

  “Oh I’m so sorry. As I understand it, her parents died in a fire.”

  Katrina nodded. “It was a terrible thing.”

  Gary interrupted. “Katrina and I never planned to have children, but when something like this happens, well, it’s not like you have a choice.”

  “Right, so we took her in. It hasn’t been easy, I’ll tell you that much. When she quit smiling and seemed so sad, I remembered how you’d raved about this place and how much it had helped you. I’d hoped it would do the same for her.” She glanced toward the house. “Is she around?”

  “Yes, she’s with the other children in the bunkhouse at the back of the property. I’ll call for her to come up.” She pulled out her cell phone and called the house mother to send Carly up. “She’ll be right here. Did she know you were coming?”

  Gary shook his head. “I had to go to Alpine on business, and we decided we’d shoot down here for a brief visit.”

  The screen door banged, and Lauren’s pulse jumped at the sight of Brendan’s broad shoulders. He smiled at their visitors and headed to greet them. His limp was a little more pronounced this morning. Had he been neglecting his physical therapy?

  “Hi, folks.” He held out his hand. “Brendan Waddell.”

  Gary took his hand and introduced himself and his wife. “We’re Carly’s guardians.”

  Brendan looked them over. “We’re pretty fond of that little girl. Lauren here has made it her quest to get her to laugh.”

  Katrina clasped her hands together. “I hope you can. I’ve tried everything.”

  Brendan leaned against the truck fender. “Anything special she’s crazy about? A special doll, stuffed animal, anything?”

  Gary shrugged. “Katrina’s bought her everything you can imagine, but it’s no use. She just goes back to sitting on her bed staring into the corner.”

  “Well, she’s improved a bit then,” Lauren said. “She’s made a good friend here, and she’s participating in the activities. I’m going to give her a riding lesson this afternoon, her first.”

  The wind was picking up. Katrina pushed her hair out of her face. “Good luck with that. I tried taking her to a riding stable, and she was afraid of the horse.”

  Brendan looked at the path from the bunkhouses. “Here she comes now.”

  Carly’s head was down as she walked toward the driveway. Dressed in white shorts and a red top, she scuffed her feet along the path. Lauren would give anything to see her skipping along like a normal five-year-old.

  Katrina waved. “Carly!”

  Carly’s head jerked up, and she stared at the truck. Her pace only picked up a little until she stood before her guardians. She stood with her arms stiffly at her side as Katrina embraced her. “Do I have to leave now?”

  Katrina’s arms fell away and she stepped back. “No, honey, we just stopped to see how you are.”

  She released her clenched fists. “I like it here.”

  “I’m glad.” Katrina started to touch Carly’s head, then her hand dropped to her side. “But you have to come home sooner or later, you know. The kitty misses you.”

  “I don’t like cats. I like dogs.”

  Lauren saw the helplessness on Katrina’s face and jumped in to help. “You’re doing well here though, aren’t you, Carly?”

  Her face brightened a bit, and she nodded. “I have a new bestest friend. Her name is Summer. She’s six.”

  Gary touched the top of Carly’s head. “That’s nice, honey. Is there anything we can get for you? Anything you need?” Carly shook her head. Gary looked at her, then at his wife. “Okay, then. I guess we’ll head on to my meeting. Call us if you need anything. Or even just to say hi. You haven’t used your cell phone at all.”

  A cell phone for a child this small? Lauren stared at Gary a moment, then stepped back as he and Katrina got in the car. They were obviously trying, but they didn’t seem to know how to relate to Carly. Lauren waved as they backed down the drive.

  “Can I go back to play now?” Carly asked.

  “Sure. Were you glad to see them?” Carly didn’t answer, so Lauren touched her on the shoulder. “Go on back.” She watched her run off with more eagerness than she’d shown coming their direction.

  “What if I got her a puppy for Christmas?” Brendan asked. “She said she liked dogs. A dog can heal all kinds of emotional pain.”

  Lauren watched Carly disappear around the side of the house. “Maybe.”

  FIVE

  BRENDAN HAD ALWAYS LIKED THE TOWN OF FORT STOCKTON, Texas. Cradled between the Davis Mountains and the Chihuahuan Desert, the area had a natural beauty that drew him. The town itself was a quaint and welcoming community with Old West storefronts and friendly people.

  He could sense Lauren’s tension in the passenger seat of his black Dodge pickup.

  He pulled into the parking lot of a Piggly Wiggly. “Do we just drive up to your cousin’s house and ask her the questions again?”

  “I think Steve might be the key. I haven’t talked to him since the murder. Maybe he could get her to tell the truth. He’s an attorney.”

  “Good plan. Point me in the right direction.”

  “His office is just across the street. We can leave the truck here.” She shoved open her door and got out.

  He turned off the truck and jumped out too. Pain shot up his leg, and he resisted the urge to wince.

  Lauren reversed direction and came to stand beside him. “What’s wrong? Your leg?”

  Though it was ludicrous, it bugged him that she’d noticed his weakness. “Just a twinge.”

  “It was a two-hour drive. We should have stopped along the way and let you e
xercise it. Did you do your physical therapy before we got started?”

  He grinned to lighten the tension he felt. “Where’d you get your license, Doctor?”

  Her full lips tipped up. “The school of equine injuries. I know a lot about this stuff, Brendan. I’ve got some liniment that would help it heal faster.”

  “It probably smells like cow dung.”

  She laughed then, a chuckle that grew from her belly into a sound that made his smile broaden. He liked the way she made him feel, the way she made him pause and pay attention. How did she do that?

  He took her arm. “Let’s go beard the tiger in his den.”

  She made a face. “He’s not much of a tiger. More like a muskrat. He’s not a man who makes most women take a second look to see if the muscles are real, like you.”

  Was that how she thought of him? It made him want to run to the nearest gym and pump up. The skin of her arm under his fingers was as smooth and soft as a new blade of grass. He caught a whiff of something sweet from her hair. His stomach rumbled. It was already nearly lunchtime. After they talked to the creep, maybe they could grab some food, and he could pry more of her personal life from her.

  A historical plate on the front of the brick building proclaimed it had been built in 1897. The gray-green window trim added a tasteful bit of color, and the place had been well maintained. The painted sign in green and red listed Steve McAvoy as the only attorney inside. When he held open the door for Lauren, Brendan saw a man standing in the hall. His only concession to attorney-like attire was a string tie. His cowboy boots were well polished, and his shirt held sharp creases on the arms. About thirty, his blond hair was already balding in front. He was thin, almost gaunt.

  His expression changed when his gaze fell on Lauren. His mouth dropped open, and he glanced behind him down the hall before taking two steps toward them. “Lauren, what are you doing here?” His voice was hushed, and he glanced behind him again.

  Her smile was cordial. “Hello, Steve, I hope we’re not bothering you.”

  “Um, actually, I was about to go out for lunch. Maybe you could come back this afternoon.”