Deadly Texas Rose

“I’m fine,” Julia said in answer to Cat’s question, shaking her head as she stared at the lone man at the other end of the hall. “I couldn’t go home. I had to come and see—”

“If he’s gonna be all right,” Cat finished, her arm going around Julia’s shoulder. “We’re all right here, honey, praying for him. I think the whole town is praying right now. That was mighty close.” She glanced at Harlan, too. “His daddy is real worried, I can tell you.” Then she lowered her voice. “Of course, a Texas lawman can’t show his true emotions. It’s an unwritten code.” She shot Adam a pointed look. “Got to be tough as nails, every last one of ’em.”

Julia closed her eyes, reliving the vivid scene trapped inside her mind. She wasn’t as tough as nails. She could still feel the cold steel of that gun pressing at her temple. And she wondered for the hundredth time if that bright, stark terror was how her husband Alfonso had felt just before he died.

Was that the kind of terror her daughter experienced each time she suffered another horrible nightmare about her father?

Alfonso. She remembered sitting in another hospital room, waiting to hear the details of her husband’s brutal death.

She didn’t want to hear that again today. She didn’t want that nice, unassuming sheriff’s deputy to die. Not on her account. Not for something as stupid as a robbery that would have yielded very little money.

Trying to make sense of everything, she looked up at Adam. “Did you find the robber?”

Adam shook his head. “No. He took off like lightning. Pretty sure there was a getaway car parked around the corner, and in all the confusion we missed it.” He looked as if he were taking that failure very personally. “He was bleeding, so he’s wounded. I tried to find him, searched behind the restaurant and all the streets, too. Sent a patrol out. He either found a good hiding spot, or someone came back just in time to get him in a car. Found some blood, but that’s about it.” Then he lowered his head, unable to look at Julia. “Of course, we have the bloodstains from your blouse, too.”

Julia looked down at the clean lightweight sweater Cat had offered her after the police had asked her to remove her uniform blouse. Wishing she could go home and take a long shower to wash away all the fear and doubt, she could only nod toward Adam. “When will you know something?”

“Not sure,” Adam said. “It’ll take the state crime lab a while to get to it, but we’ve put a rush on it.”

Then he rolled his head, trying to release some of the obvious tension coiling through his muscles. “We’ve put out an all-points bulletin, and we’re checking all the area hospitals for any incoming bullet wounds. We’ve got roadblocks set up all around the area, too. I’m hoping they’ll haul him in any minute now, and I want to be the first person to get at him, trust me.” He shook his head, then pounded his fist against the wall. “I let him slip right through my fingers.”

Cat gave him a soft smile. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You and Eric did the best you could today. It was crazy, there, after he ran out. Nobody blames you. You and Eric saved Julia from becoming a hostage.”

Adam looked at the floor. “There’s a lot about this that just doesn’t make sense. But we’ll get the details figured out. We’re running a search right now, based on the descriptions we got from other witnesses. The boys will call when they have something conclusive on both him and the weapon. We found the bullet lodged in the front door.”

Cat asked, “And Eric?”

“He kept going in and out of consciousness, telling me he was okay, that it didn’t hurt too much. Of course that was right before he passed out cold.” Hearing Julia’s low groan, he said, “Don’t worry. He’s been through worse playing football back in high school.”

Then he glanced over at Cat, causing Julia to wonder if they were keeping something from her. Eric and Cat were close. Just how close Julia couldn’t be sure, but she knew they shared a lot with each other.

Feeling left out and afraid, Julia looked at her older cousin. “Cat, is everything okay back at the restaurant?”

“I had to shut her down, of course, so the investigators could look for evidence,” Cat said with a shrug, her dark curls shimmering around her face. “Who wants to eat there today, or ever again, for that matter?”

“Ah, now, you can’t quit,” Adam said, his grin tight with tension. “Who’d keep me fed and watered?”

“You sound like an old mule,” Cat retorted, her own smile weak. “I’m not gonna shut down forever. Just…needed to get away from there. The employees are still a tad jumpy.”

“We’re all jumpy,” Adam replied. “And right now your place is a crime scene, so we had to close the doors, anyway. Technically, I’m on administrative duty only until the Rangers get through investigating.” Then he looked down the hall at Harlan. “Hey, why don’t I go find us some coffee? I’ll ask Harlan if he wants some, too. Won’t be as good as yours, of course, Cat, but it might help.”

“Yeah, coffee,” Cat said. “Just what we need to calm the jitters.”

“I’m just offering,” he said with a shrug.

“Go on,” Cat said, her smile full of understanding. “I’ll take mine black. Julia?”

“Nothing for me,” Julia said, an uneasy feeling setting her stomach on yet another spasm of jangled, tingling nerves. “I just wish I knew who that man was.”

“I’ll call and harass the investigators,” Adam said. “We all want to know that.”

After he’d left, Cat turned to Julia, her big brown eyes full of concern. “So how’s Moria?”

Julia looked at her watch. “She’s fine. Mrs. Ulmer probably doesn’t like me calling every five minutes, though.” She was torn between staying here or just rushing to the Ulmers’ to get her daughter.

“Adam put a man on her, you know.”

Julia’s head came up, her heart racing. “Why? Is there something else—?”

“No, honey,” Cat said, her hand covering Julia’s. “Eric asked him to do it, in one of his more lucid moments just before they put him in the ambulance. Told Adam to send someone to check on your little girl.”

“How’d he know?” Julia said, amazed. “How’d he know to do that?” Or that the gesture would set her mind at ease. “You didn’t tell him anything, did you?”

Cat chuckled, soft and low. “No, against my better judgment, and because I promised you I wouldn’t, I haven’t told anyone about your troubles.” Then she looked down the hall toward the operating rooms. “But Eric can see things—that’s why he’s such a good lawman. The man has a sensitive side he hides from the world. He probably figured a mother would be concerned about the safety of her child—I mean after being held at gunpoint. And with the robber still on the loose.”

Julia nodded, rubbed her suddenly cold hands together. “I was worried. The school’s principal couldn’t understand why I wanted to pull her out of class, since they have a sheriff’s deputy as their resource officer, but I’m glad I did. I’ll call Mrs. Ulmer again in a few minutes, but I’m sure Mr. Ulmer will entertain her all afternoon.”

“You can count on that,” Cat replied. “The Ulmers love Moria like their own grandchildren. She sure is a sweetheart.” Then she let out a sigh. “Boy, I’m beat. What a day.”

Julia looked at her cousin, grateful for Cat’s calming presence. They’d always been close growing up, so when Cat offered Julia a job and a place to live to get her away from San Antonio and all the bad memories, Julia had jumped at the chance to start over in Wildflower. Although Cat was a few years older than Julia’s thirty-two, with her stylish curly bob and her big dark eyes, she looked younger than her actual age. Petite and becomingly plump, Cat was one of the nicest people Julia had ever met, a true Texan through and through. Cat loved God, people and her job. She loved to cook, especially for all the deputies and police officers who frequented her establishment. Maybe because her own husband had been a lawman and had died doing his job about five years ago.

Working at the café was like having one big, law-abiding family, Julia thought. Cat kept telling her she’d be safe in Wildflower. And living in this quiet town near Caddo Lake did make her feel safe.

That was something she’d never had before.

Thinking this whole thing had probably brought Cat some awful flashbacks, too, Julia leaned close. “Are you okay?”

Cat brushed at her hair with one hand. “Me? Yeah, sure. I guess I’m used to all the commotion. I tell you, though, when that man was holding that gun to your head, I ’bout had a heart attack. We just don’t get that kind of crime here.”

“Eric and Adam saved my life. They saved all of us,” Julia said, not sure how to comfort Cat. They’d both lost their husbands, but Cat’s man had been a true-blue Texas Ranger. Alfonso Endicott, on the other hand, had been a “yes” man. A hardworking man, but a man always willing to do the bidding of his powerful bosses, nonetheless. She shouldn’t hold that against him, but there it was, bitter and heavy, inside her.

Alfonso had sacrificed being with his wife and child to stay at the beck and call of the Gardonez family. And all for the love of money. Alfonso always wanted more, needed more, to prove himself. He’d gone beyond the call of duty in order to keep his high-paying job. The Gardonez family had depended on him to take care of their millions, to make sure everything they did was above board and by the books.

Then why had someone killed him?

Julia had a funny feeling that the motive had to do with money, too, since her husband had been the head accountant for the De La Noche Shipping Company. That brought her thoughts back to today’s events.

“Why did that man try to rob us right in the middle of lunch hour, Cat?” she asked, hoping her cousin could put a reasonable spin on things, because Julia didn’t want to put her own spin on it. She wasn’t ready to delve into all the implications right now.

Cat gave her an eloquent shrug. “I guess he needed some cash. Maybe for drugs, or maybe he just took a wrong turn somewhere. Or maybe he was being stupid. We’ve never been robbed before, ever, and I’ve been running the café for over a decade, and my mama before me for even longer than that herself. You’ve spent enough summers here with me growing up to know that. It’s just plain weird.”

Julia had to agree. She’d often traveled here with her parents to visit Cat’s family. They’d leave her in Wildflower for weeks on end while they traveled around in their RV camper. Julia had loved staying with her aunt and uncle and Cat and helping out at the café. And even though she just had Cat now, she liked working at the café and living right around the corner from her cousin. Or she had up until today.

“I hope we find out something soon about Eric. And that other man, too.”

Cat nodded. “Well, just think…you and Eric will both be famous from now on. Adam, too, probably. Even the restaurant, for that matter.”

Julia pushed a hand through her hair. “How’s that?”

“The Gazette, honey. Mickey Jameson is doing a front-page spread about the robbery. He wanted to interview you, but I held him back. Told him to give you a call later today before the paper goes to press.” Seeing the look on Julia’s face, she put a hand to her mouth. “Oh, my. I wasn’t even thinking straight—”

Julia jumped out of her chair. “Front page? I don’t want to be on the front page.”

But it was too late. The double doors leading from the E.R. driveway swished open and in walked debonair Mickey Jameson himself. “Ah, there’s my star witness,” he said, smiling broadly. “Got a great shot of you, Mrs. Daniels. Now I just need to finish the story. Cat, I know you said to wait, but I have a deadline. And you know what they say—‘If it bleeds, it leads.’”

Julia shook her head, backing away. “I’m not going to talk to you, Mr. Jameson. Not now, not ever.”

Eric woke up in the recovery room, his wounded shoulder bandaged but still throbbing. At least now his head wasn’t nearly as fuzzy. Finally he could take his time and remember everything that had happened during the robbery.

Lying back, he tried to think things through, but something just wasn’t right about the situation. Before he could figure it all out, his father walked in.

“You awake?”

Eric looked toward the end of the bed where his broad-shouldered father stood with his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “I’m fine, Dad. How’d you get in here, anyway?”

“I still have some connections. Managed to sweet-talk a nurse.”

Eric grinned at that. “Some things never change.”

Harlan didn’t dwell on hospital procedure. “Bullet skipped right through you, did it?”

“Yep. I don’t know why they even brought me to the hospital. I could have gone home and poured some alcohol on it and been good as new.” In spite of the jovial tone, Eric could see the worry in his father’s eyes. “Bullet went straight in and out, Pop. Probably still stuck somewhere in the café wall.”

Harlan kicked one boot against the other, as if he had mud on his shoes. “Good. That’s evidence now.”

“Yep. I’m sure they’ll find the bullet. I just wish I knew why that guy chose lunchtime to go and rob the place.”

“Yep, that is kinda odd. Most wait until closing time.” He stood silent for a couple of beats, then added, “Mighty strange how he got clear out of town so fast, too.”

“I’m gonna figure it out,” Eric said. “I shot the man, but I need answers.”

“Just be careful,” Harlan replied, rocking back on his worn cowboy boots. “You’ll need to rest up for a few days at least.”

“I’ll be on leave until the department finishes its investigation. Did they call in the Rangers?”

Harlan nodded. “Standard procedure. But you could use a rest, anyway. You’ve been burning the candle at both ends for a while, now.”

“I guess I have at that,” Eric replied, tiredness sweeping over him. And today, of all days, he’d planned on having a nice, leisurely lunch with his friend just so he could enjoy watching Julia Daniels go about her work. No rest for the weary. “You okay?”

“I’m good,” Harlan said, clearing his throat. “Just waiting for them to put you in a room. Then I’ll go on home and check on the animals.”

“You don’t have to come back tonight. I’ll probably sleep the night through, then be home tomorrow.”

Harlan nodded, his white-haired head down. “That waitress came and sat with me for a while during your surgery. She’s mighty grateful.”

“Julia? She’s a nice woman.”

“Do you know much about her?” Harlan put both hands on the steel footboard of the bed. “I mean, it struck me how she didn’t want Mickey to put her picture in the paper, didn’t even want to talk to him about the robbery and all. Either she’s real shy, or she really doesn’t want any publicity. Mighty odd to me.”

Eric moved his head, his eyes locking with his daddy’s. They were both probably wondering the same things. Instincts and natural curiosity made both of them good lawmen.

“No, I don’t know a whole lot about Julia Daniels, except that she’s related to Cat,” Eric replied. “But I aim to find out everything I can.” For more reasons than he wanted to explain to his clever father.

He’d been very aware of Julia since she’d started working at the café, mainly because she was pretty and pleasant and, well, he was single and lonely. But now that awareness had changed into concern and suspicion. Eric couldn’t answer why, except that today’s event had certainly put Julia in the spotlight. And like that nosy Mickey Jameson, Eric had some questions of his own. He didn’t want a story for the front page, though. He wanted the truth, especially since it occurred to him that even the usually talkative Cat hadn’t given up much information about her pretty cousin.

“I think that’s wise,” Harlan said, satisfied they’d cleared up that little matter of concern. “Might need to know what all we’re dealing with here.”

Eric lay back against his pillows, watching as his father threw up his hand and headed out the door.

“You can count on that,” he said to himself.

THREE

“C’mon, honey. Time for bed.”

Julia tugged on Moria’s hand, the sweet soapy smell surrounding her daughter causing her heart to swell with love. Glancing out the window where the streetlight illuminated the whole backyard and Cat’s big rambling white Victorian house just beyond, she wondered for the hundredth time today if they were truly safe here.

She should feel safe, since Deputy Sheriff Adam Dupont had come by not an hour ago to check on them, and to give her a report on Eric. They would only allow his father in to see him after his surgery. Adam had assured her Eric would be home in a day or so.

He’d also assured her that Eric didn’t want her to feel bad about things. It wasn’t her fault, Adam kept saying. Eric wouldn’t want her to worry at all. He’d be up and about in no time. But not back on the job just yet. His injury and an internal investigation of the shooting would see to that.

“Eric will get in some fishing, at least, while he’s on leave,” Adam had quipped. “He can toss a line and catch fish with just one hand, easy.”

“Easy,” Julia said now as she tried to put her uneasiness out of her mind. She focused instead on getting her daughter to bed.

Moria, dressed in a frilly pink nightgown and clutching her favorite doll, stood just inside her bedroom door, her big dark eyes surveying the dainty, feminine room. “I’m not sleepy, Mommy.”

Julia prayed this wouldn’t turn into another stand-off. True, it had become increasingly easier to get Moria to bed since they’d moved here, but every now and then Moria still had a bad night. The rental house that had been originally built for Cat’s late grandmother was purposely small, with just a den/kitchen combination across the front, a short hallway with a bath and laundry room to one side and two bedrooms on the other side. There was a clear view of both the well-lit front and back yards. No hidden nooks and crannies, no big deep closets or long winding stairways like those in the house back in San Antonio. She’d sold that gaudy dwelling for way under the appraisal value just to have moving money and a small nest egg to go with Alfonso’s life insurance, most of which she’d tucked away for her daughter’s future.

Small and safe, Julia reminded herself, glancing around at the clutter-free house. Simple and uncomplicated. Secure. No hiding places. Back at the big house, Moria had loved to play hide-and-seek with her daddy. But here, Julia discouraged that particular game.

Now Julia prayed they weren’t about to enter another kind of hide-and-seek. But the man who’d held her at gunpoint was still out there somewhere, she reminded herself. How could he have just disappeared in broad daylight? And where was he now?

“Moria, it’s past your bedtime,” she said, looking back over her shoulder to make sure the solid front door was dead-bolted. “You’ve had a big day, so I know you’re tired.”

“But tomorrow’s Saturday,” Moria pointed out, jumping up onto the ruffled yellow-rose-patterned spread covering her twin four-poster bed. Pushing stuffed animals, fashion dolls, and fluffy pillows aside, she added, “Rosa and I aren’t tired, honestly, Mommy.” She squeezed her favorite doll.

Julia shook her head then laughed. “Mr. Ulmer told me how you and he raced around the backyard today. He said you won every race.”

“But I was on my bike,” Moria said, her hands wrapped against her midsection. “Mr. Ulmer lets me ride the bike he bought for his grandchildren while he rides his scooter. Rosa sat in the basket.”

“That’s awfully nice of him,” Julia said, silently thanking God for the Ulmers. The couple lived right next door and had immediately taken a shine to Moria. Once they’d heard Julia needed after-school care for those days she worked late at the café, they’d volunteered, no questions asked, even though Mr. Ulmer had horribly arthritic knees and had to get around with a motorized scooter most days. And they didn’t even want any pay. But Julia made sure she did other things for them to compensate, such as bringing home leftovers from the café, or picking up extra groceries whenever she was going to the store. Today, especially, they had managed to distract Moria while the awful details of the shooting had blared across the local news stations.

Including her face and her name, Julia thought, unease causing her next words to come out harshly. “Moria, no more excuses. It’s bedtime. You might not be tired, but I sure am.”

Remembering her brief discussion at the hospital today with the overbearing Gazette reporter, Julia let out a sigh. She only hoped the paper wouldn’t make too much of this. She wanted to stay low-key. But Mickey Jameson kept pushing, telling her this was big news and readers would want to hear her side of the story. After all, she’d been in the clutches of an armed robber and she’d survived, due to the two deputy sheriffs who’d risked their own lives to save her.

How could she refuse such a request without looking ungrateful, Julia thought. So she’d given him a brief description of how the robbery had taken place, but she’d been very careful not to reveal too much personal information. Besides, her hair was longer now, and she didn’t wear the fancy clothes or the expensive cosmetics she’d favored while living in San Antonio. Most days, she hardly recognized herself in the mirror. So maybe no one else would, either. And after Alfonso had died, she’d had her name legally changed back to her maiden name, just as an added precaution. Maybe she’d covered all her bases. She prayed she had, for Moria’s sake at least.

“Want to lie on my bed and rest?” Moria asked, her brown eyes going wide as she brought Julia out of her troubled thoughts. “Rosa and I can make room.”

Julia grinned, then touched a hand to her daughter’s dark curls, seeing the hopeful look in her eyes. “How about I read you a bedtime story?” Julia offered, hoping to distract both of them for a few minutes. “That way I can rest my feet and you can get sleepy.”

Moria bobbed her head. “Can I pick?”

“Of course,” Julia said, watching as her daughter ran to the small bookcase beneath the window. “But not too long, okay?”

Moria giggled, then found a suitable book. “Rosa likes this one.”

Julia nodded, then snuggled up with her daughter, the ever-present doll Moria had named Rosa cuddled between them, her flower-strewn lacy yellow dress and her rose-encased little drawstring purse perfectly displayed.

Alfonso had given Moria the doll for her birthday last year because her dress had matched Moria’s yellow rose-decorated bedroom back in San Antonio and because the doll had reminded him of Moria. That had been a few days before his death. Which was probably why Moria clung to the doll from the minute she arrived home from school each day until she fell asleep at night.

Even after they’d moved here, Moria had begged for the same colors in this bedroom. Julia had readily agreed, hoping to make her daughter feel at home. The room looked like a rose garden, complete with a dainty silk oversize yellow rose sitting in a clay pot on the dresser. The rose looked so real, Julia reached out and touched it. Alfonso had loved yellow roses.

Looking down at the doll’s beautiful porcelain face and jet-black hair with its miniature combs and curls, Julia once again thought about Alfonso. He’d loved Moria so much. He would have never intentionally put his child in danger. And yet the night he’d been murdered Moria had been in danger. She’d been in the office with her father, hidden away.

I should have picked her up that day, Julia thought.

But she’d been running late from attending a charity event all afternoon, and Alfonso had been insistent. He wanted to spend time with their daughter, but in doing so, he’d inadvertently brought danger to all of them. At least he’d had the foresight to get Moria out of harm’s way once he’d seen that danger coming. He’d given her his phone and dialed up Julia, leaving Moria alone but safe. He’d known Julia was at a nearby hotel finishing up with her duties after the charity event.