Colton by Blood, page 5
She hated the possibility that the mention of Faye now would feel to him like the ripping off of a freshly set scab. Yet she owed it to him, as much as to Faye, to do everything she could to help catch the mastermind behind her dear friend’s death.
“It’s okay, Kate,” Liz said. “We all know how close you and Faye were. No one thinks worse of you for wanting to bring peace to her spirit.”
Kate nodded, her heart heavy anew.
Agnes grunted, as if she had no patience for their grief. “And you’re so full of yourself that you think you can identify the letter writer when the police haven’t been able to do it? You barely ever leave the walls of this home, so now you expect me to believe you’re going to go traipsing around town looking for a criminal?”
“Unless she thinks it’s someone here on the ranch,” Misty said.
A murmur rippled through the crowd. Kate smashed her lips together, wondering how the conversation had gotten out of control so fast.
“That’s it, isn’t it?” said Agnes. “You think one of us is guilty, don’t you?”
With fingers that trembled with adrenaline and tension, Kate picked up the pace on the dessert prep. “I never said that.”
“You didn’t have to. But let me remind you that fools who stick their noses where they don’t belong are likely to get them cut off.”
“Oh, now, Agnes. Don’t be so hard on Kate. If she wants to play like she’s Sherlock Holmes, let her.” Misty’s snippy voice had a singsong quality that made Kate want to lob a spoonful of whipped cream in her direction. “We need her here to keep an eye on Dr. Colton and report back. I, for one, am dying to know what he’s doing here and whether or not Mr. Colton is planning to make him one of his heirs—if he hasn’t done so already. Maybe she’ll solve both the Faye and Dr. Colton mysteries.”
As if Kate would ever stoop so low as to spy and gossip on the family. She stuck the whipped-cream spoon in her mouth to keep from giving Misty and Agnes and the rest of them a piece of her mind. That hadn’t gone so well the first time. She arranged the desserts and spoons on the tray, then sprinkled on the finishing touch of a cinnamon, sugar and nutmeg blend.
“I bet he wants to see for himself if the rumor’s true that the SOB is dying,” said one of the men gathered in the door.
“Or maybe revenge,” said another. Uncomfortable laughter arose.
“That is enough.” Mathilda’s scolding voice preceded her appearance. She pushed through the crowd. “Have you all forgotten who’s paying your salaries? Hmm? You will not speak about the master of this house with anything other than deference. Now, you must all have something to do that is a better use of your time or I will be happy to assist you in discovering such a thing.”
The crowd dispersed, heads down. Liz and Jenny tossed off a line about turning in for the night and disappeared up the stairs. Dylan wondered aloud about the wildfire and wandered toward the staff dining room. Only Agnes, Mathilda, Kate and Misty remained.
Kate set the spoon she’d sampled whipped cream with into the sink. Under Mathilda’s questioning gaze, she gathered the tray in her arms. “Dr. Colton asked for dessert,” she said by way of explanation.
Mathilda offered a brittle smile. “Then you’d better make haste.”
“I’ll wait up to show Dr. Colton to the guest suite when he’s ready,” Misty said with a swish of her skirt.
Eyes straight ahead, Kate breezed past Mathilda, aiming for the stairs and trying not to show any hint of emotion. Which was tough because it was far too easy to imagine the vigor with which Misty planned to throw herself at Levi once she had him trapped in the guest room. Being none of her business, the thought shouldn’t have bothered Kate, except that it did.
It bothered her a great deal, actually. Because what if Levi responded to her advances? She’d wager he wasn’t the kind of man to normally be so careless with his affections, but people did all sorts of things that were wrong for them when they were stressed or looking for escape.
Behind her, she heard Mathilda’s response. “Thank you for the offer, Misty, but—” Kate froze, one foot on the bottom stair “—since Kate will already be in service, she can show him to his suite.”
She sucked her lips, reining in her relief before answering, “Yes, ma’am.”
But as she climbed loop after loop of stairs to the third floor, a new problem occurred to her. She’d been quite certain what Misty would do if left alone with Levi, but faced with the same situation, she had no idea how to act. It was exhilarating enough to think of seeing him again in a couple of minutes, and the thought of him savoring the dessert she’d created sent a thrill coursing through her.
But the idea of being alone with him? It wasn’t excitement or fear that had her pulse racing, but the thought that maybe he’d want to be alone with her, too.
And that was a terrifying prospect indeed.
She rounded the top flight of stairs and caught movement out of the corner of her eye.
A figure emerged from the shadow near the third-level door. “Boo.”
Kate startled, gasping, and stumbled, rattling her tray. “Jenny, you scared me half to death.”
Jenny shrugged and descended the stairs to the landing where Kate was standing. “I want to see that kidnapping-for-hire note. Give it to me.”
“It’s none of your business, and, anyway, I don’t have it on me.”
“Yes, you do.”
And before Kate knew what was happening, Jenny was frisking her. With the unwieldy tray and her back against the wall, there was little she could do to defend herself from the assault. “Hey!”
She attempted a kick at Jenny’s shin, but she was already dancing out of range, waving the note.
“Aha.” Jenny went silent, reading the note.
Kate set the tray down before she upended her second one of the night and scrambled up the stairs after Jenny.
Jenny jerked the paper out of her reach. “How did you get this?”
She lunged for the note again. “Like I would tell you.”
Jenny danced around her, then bounded down the stairs, stopping just shy of Kate’s tray. She slid the side of her shoe against the tray and scooted it a few inches over the edge of the landing.
Kate stopped her approach and waved her hands in front of her. “Not the tray. Please.”
“Don’t come any closer.”
Kate stood still, jaw clenched. She’d always known Jenny was a manipulative wench, but had no idea how coldhearted she could be. “What do you want from me?”
Jenny folded the note, then stuck it in her bra. “Nothing anymore. Since you haven’t been able to come up with any clues, I think I should give it a try. Maybe I’ll find something in this note I can give to the police. Mr. Colton might even give me a reward.”
Kate was so mad she could barely breathe. “I had no idea how greedy and shallow you were.”
“This isn’t greed, honey. This is self-preservation. I learned the hard way that nobody in this world is going to give you a damn thing. You’ve got to take it for yourself—and that’s exactly what I aim to do.” She patted her bra, then stepped around the tray and headed down the stairs. “You’d better get the good doctor his dessert before it gets cold. You wouldn’t want it to spoil.”
Chapter 4
Levi stood in the second-floor suite that Kate had escorted him to four hours earlier. She’d hovered just inside the door, nervous, even after he’d praised her bread pudding all the way from Jethro’s third-floor suite. Even after he’d invited her to sit because he had questions about the house and the people in it that he knew she’d answer without artifice.
After the first round of basic questions, Kate’s shoulders had finally relaxed a smidgen and she’d no longer looked as if she were ready to bound away like a frightened gazelle. From her, Levi discovered that all three daughters dearest did indeed call the ranch home, that Gabriella was engaged to a man named Trevor, who was the head of ranch security, and that Amanda was the ranch veterinarian and the single mom of a four-month-old daughter. Jethro must have blown his top when he found out one of his precious, perfect children was having a baby out of wedlock.
While that news had sunk in, Levi had poured Kate a glass of water from a pitcher of paper-thin china and maneuvered her by the shoulders to the desk chair, a stiff-backed ergonomically incorrect design that was probably worth thousands.
According to Kate’s answers during his second round of questions, the woman and young adults who’d watched him from the second-floor hall were Jethro’s latest ex-wife, Darla, and her two kids, Trip and Tawny. What they were doing living in the house even though Darla and Jethro had divorced, Kate had no idea. She’d said that while flicking glances at the door, so Levi figured she was worried about being overheard and that there was far more to the story than she was at liberty to discuss.
He didn’t want her to get in trouble for lingering in his room or talking out of turn, so he’d let her go after that. The problem was, when she’d left, she’d taken all the warmth in the suite with her. For a long time, Levi stood in the center of the sitting room listening to the whistle of wind gusts outside and the tick of the face clock above the mantel. Alone for the first time since arriving at Dead River Ranch, his brain decided it was time to process the events of the day, and despite the physical exhaustion of a long road trip and grueling night, he couldn’t get his mind to quiet down.
The frustrating part was he hadn’t reached any conclusions or settled any issues in his mind. He kept replaying the same moments over and over, like a car stuck in sand with its wheels revolving but not going anywhere.
The suite had the same setup as Jethro’s but on a smaller scale, and without any of the larger room’s touches of comfort. Showy was what it was. Showy and sterile. The ornately carved wooden four-poster bed was topped by a silk brocade spread that matched the drapes. The dark hardwood floor in both the bedroom and sitting room was shiny and cold. The fireplace was marble and, perhaps most disappointing of all, was not buffered by bookshelves but only a spindly-legged sofa and a matching spindly-legged table that looked as if it couldn’t hold more weight than a glass of water.
No books, no personal touches, no imperfections. It smelled and looked as nondescript as an upscale hotel. About a million miles outside his comfort zone.
He hated it. The poshness, the lack of a comfortable mess, the fact that it all belonged to Jethro.
After a shower, he stole another glance at the bed then sank his hands into the silk bedspread, reaffirming his conviction that he’d never be relaxed enough to fall asleep in it. He didn’t want to live like the Coltons of Dead River Ranch, not even temporarily.
How many servants had been roused from their evening rest to prepare the suite? Their night disrupted for a stranger who’d arrived unexpectedly. A pang of regret had him frowning. He’d have to be more attentive about respecting the staff. But though he was sorry for the obvious effort put into readying the suite, he needed a new room that was better suited to him.
Two a.m. was too late for that, but he could still go exploring. At this late hour, the house would be quiet enough that he could get his bearings in peace. He had a feeling that come the morning he’d be under the careful scrutiny of both the Colton family and the staff. Good thing he’d be gone most of the day filling Jethro’s prescriptions and renting an oxygen tank.
Barefoot and dressed in nylon workout pants and a white T-shirt, he stuck his head into the hall to make sure the coast was clear. The space glowed with soft blue light from intermittent night-lights plugged into the outlets near the ground.
Most of the doors on the second-floor wing where his assigned suite was located were closed. He imagined they belonged to the daughters dearest or perhaps Jethro’s ex and her kids.
There was one door that caught his interest, though. A strip of police tape was strung across it. A crime scene?
The best course of action would probably be to ignore that door in favor of exploring downstairs, but he couldn’t stem his curiosity. He turned the knob, then pushed it open until he could stick his face in enough to tell it was vacant. Not in his wildest imagination did he think he was disturbing a real crime scene.
He opened the door the rest of the way. Enough light from the hall spilled in that he could see it wasn’t a bedroom but a nursery, complete with an empty crib, changing table, rocking chair and plush baby toys. A nursery blocked off by police tape. A niggling unease crept up his spine. The only baby he knew of that lived in the house was Amanda’s daughter, but Kate hadn’t made mention of anything bad happening to her.
He pressed his belly into the police tape, inching forward and craning his neck. His toes curled over the lip of the hall carpet. Surprised, he lifted his foot and looked down. Bare plywood.
What the hell...
Reaching around, he groped for the light switch and flicked it on, staying in the hallway. If this was a crime scene, the last thing he wanted to do was compromise evidence. The carpet and padding underneath had been cut away in a wide, jagged circle from the center of the floor. Much of the exposed plywood was stained a dark brown. Blood-brown.
Whoever’s blood it was, enough had been spilled to make the injury potentially fatal. Especially as far into the country as the ranch was. Blood spatter on the wall confirmed Levi’s sinking suspicion—this nursery wasn’t merely the site of a traumatic injury, but of a fast, gruesome death.
Something hard poked into his kidney. Surprise wrenched a noise like a yelp from Levi’s throat. He tried to turn, but a hand on his shoulder pinned him straight.
“Don’t move. You’re on the business end of my gun and I’m not afraid to use it.” It was a man’s commanding voice.
Levi kept his hands in plain sight. His heart pounded in his ears, even though the voice sounded as if it belonged to the police rather than a killer returning to the scene of the crime. Been a while since he’d had a gun pulled on him. It’d happened a few times when he was a kid when his mom’s dealers or friends got riled, then once in med school by a junkie looking for a fix. It never got easier to accept.
Maybe this was Gabriella’s fiancé, the ranch security guy. He dug through his mental files in search of the name Kate had told him. “Trevor, is it? I’m Levi Colton. I got in tonight and was having a look around.”
The hand on his shoulder loosened. The gun’s muzzle left his back. Levi tried to relax.
A tall, dark-haired man came around to Levi’s side, his gun lowered. “Strange time and place to be snooping around.”
Levi turned to face him. “I couldn’t sleep. And the police tape caught my attention.” He held his hand out in offering. “Like I said, I’m Levi.”
“Trevor Garth.” He transferred the handgun to his pocket and shook Levi’s hand. “Gabriella told me you were here, but we’ve had some problems on the ranch and there’s no harm in being too careful. Sorry if I scared you.”
Levi shrugged it off. “Doing your job, right? You’re ranch security?”
“Yes, sir. And I’ve been busy lately.”
Levi nodded toward the nursery. “What happened here? That’s a lot of blood loss.”
“Last month, my daughter was kidnapped—” At Levi’s look of horror, Trevor held his palms out. “She’s fine now. But when she was taken, the ranch’s governess, Faye Frick, was shot and killed.”
“Holy...”
“Yeah. Tell me about it.”
“You caught the man responsible?”
“You better believe it. Caught and arrested him, and got my daughter home safe and sound. The culprit swore he’d been hired for the job. If that’s true, then whoever it was, we haven’t caught up with him yet. You can see why I can’t afford to take any chances with the safety around here.”
Levi nodded, processing the idea that a criminal might be nearby, threatening the people of the ranch. “You think someone on the ranch or in town was calling the shots on the kidnapping?”
“Hard to say. Except for a note with detailed kidnapping instructions that the hired gun had at his apartment, we haven’t found any proof that someone else was involved, besides the maid who had provided the kidnapper with his alibi. Trust me, she’s gone, too. This ranch is as safe as we can make it, so you don’t worry about that. I wouldn’t let my daughter, Gabby and the rest of them stay here if I didn’t think it was.”
“Relieved to hear it.” Relieved, yes, but not completely at ease. The whole thing left a bad taste in his mouth. His gaze roved to the bloodstain on the floor.
“The police and FBI gave us the go-ahead to remodel yesterday, which is why the room still looks like this and the tape’s still up. Gabby’s had a lot to deal with—all three sisters have—and I know it’s a relief to them that you’re here taking care of Jethro.”
Trevor seemed like a good guy. A blue-collar, hardworking type who knew what it meant to struggle. Never in a hundred years would Levi have guessed that one of the daughters dearest would end up marrying someone who wasn’t a richie-rich like them. And lo and behold, Gabriella was doing just that. It was as shocking as Amanda having a baby on her own. It made him wonder what else he’d gotten wrong about Jethro’s daughters.
“It’s hard to see a parent that ill, refusing help.” Something Levi knew from experience, if one acknowledged drug addiction as the illness it was. Not that he was jumping at the chance to equate what his mom had gone through with Jethro’s privileged situation. Eager for a topic change, he hooked his thumb over his shoulder. “Just so you know, in case you hear more rattling around, I was thinking of going to the kitchen and getting myself a midnight snack.”
The two men said good-night and Trevor headed off to a room farther down the hall. Levi made for the stairs, but though Trevor had insisted the house was safe, he kept one eye looking over his shoulder the whole way.
