Trail of Lies Read online

  “I shouldn’t be long.”

  Melora swept her arm across her front, indicating the hallway Juanita disappeared down, then started forward. “Her room is back here.”

  The hair on her nape tingled under the Ranger’s hard gaze. He wasn’t going to let this investigation die until he’d turned over every clue he could get. Fear mingled with her frustration. She hadn’t wanted to say anything to Uncle Tyler about what had happened two years ago. She didn’t want him worrying or worse—trying to do something about it and getting hurt. He’d taken her in after her parents died when she was nine. He was all the family she had except for Kaitlyn.

  Melora stopped in front of a closed door and knocked. Her housekeeper answered, peering first at her then Daniel, wariness in her dark eyes. Although she knew about the break-in after Axle had vanished, Melora hadn’t told her about the threat. And Juanita had never questioned why Melora hadn’t reported the break-in to the sheriff. Juanita was an American citizen, but she was leery of law enforcement. Some of her family had been deported back to Mexico.

  “This is Daniel Riley with the Texas Rangers. He has a few questions for you. We had an intruder today, and Ranger Riley managed to chase the man away but didn’t catch him.”

  Juanita’s attention remained focused on Melora for a few seconds. “I don’t know anything about a break-in.”

  Touching her arm, Melora gave her housekeeper a reassuring look. “I know.” She bit back the words, “Humor him and he’ll leave.”

  “May I come in?” Daniel asked, nodding toward the sitting area visible behind Juanita.

  “I was getting ready to leave. I have to get dinner ready.” The housekeeper blocked the entrance into her suite. “I don’t understand what you think I know. I wasn’t here.” She shifted her gaze to Melora. “Was anything taken? Nothing was bothered in my room.”

  “No, not that I can tell.”

  “Who left first, you or Mrs. Hudson this afternoon?” Daniel asked, scrutinizing the housekeeper.

  “I did with Kaitlyn. I had a few errands to run before the play date.”

  “What errands?”

  “Pharmacy and dry cleaners.” Juanita glanced at Melora.

  “Did you talk to anyone?” Daniel shifted to hamper Juanita’s view of Melora.

  “Just the cashiers.”

  “Did you notice a white Honda Accord parked in this area when you left?”

  Juanita tilted her head to the side and thought for a moment. “No.”

  “No one unusual around?”

  Juanita shook her head.

  Daniel withdrew a business card. “If you can think of anything that might help us find the man who broke in here, please contact me.”

  Pocketing the card, her housekeeper moved out into the hall and closed her door. “If that’s all, I’ve got dinner to cook.” She ambled toward the kitchen without giving Daniel a chance to say anything.

  “She’s tough,” Daniel said with a chuckle.

  “Yes, and observant, so if she said she didn’t see anyone, there wasn’t anyone out there.”

  “What time did you leave this afternoon?”

  “1:00. My meeting was at 2:00 and since we’re a ways out of San Antonio, I needed to leave early. And I didn’t see anyone, either.” She trailed after her housekeeper down the hall, again feeling the Ranger’s scrutiny.

  “Either the man is good at hiding or he came after you left. Do you follow a certain routine?”

  “No. This meeting, however, is public knowledge and so is my participation.” Remembering that the man had indicated he’d been waiting for her return made her fearful. Her hands quavered, and she had to curl them into fists to keep the Ranger from seeing her alarm.

  “But the man wouldn’t know about your daughter and her play date?”

  The question brought Melora up short. She gripped the frame of the door that led into the kitchen. “So you think he either didn’t care my daughter would be home or he was watching the place?”

  Daniel skirted around her. “It’s a possibility we need to consider.” The pounding of her heartbeat nearly drowned out his next words, “I’ll keep you informed of my investigation.”

  In other words, he’d keep in touch, possibly come back to the house. Alert whoever was watching her. She wanted to tell him she didn’t want the case pursued, but there was no way she could tell him her reasons. She didn’t know what to do anymore.

  Why, Axle? Why did you get mixed up in something illegal? Those questions had rumbled around in her mind for the past two years, and she was reminded yet again that her judgment concerning her husband hadn’t been good. What had she missed? Why couldn’t she have seen what kind of man he really was?

  “Mrs. Hudson?”

  Daniel’s voice, full of concern, wrenched her back to the present—a present filled with a Texas Ranger who asked too many questions.

  “Are you okay?”

  She blinked. “What do you think?”

  He peered over her shoulder at the housekeeper and moved close to her. “I think you’re scared and hiding something.” He tipped his cowboy hat. “Good day. I can find my own way out.”

  Melora watched the man stride away, his steps long, economical, as though he never had a wasted motion. Dressed in tan slacks and a white, long-sleeve shirt with a black tie, he looked the part of a Texas Ranger down to his brown boots, his white cowboy hat and silver star he wore over his heart. Confident. Controlled. Capable—in any situation.

  She wished she had those traits, especially right now. Then she would know who to trust, what to do. How to get out of the mess her husband had put her and Kaitlyn in.

  Frustration churned Daniel’s gut. Everywhere he’d gone he’d run into dead ends. But he knew that Axle’s widow wasn’t telling him everything. Behind the exhaustion, he glimpsed fear. Of what? He intended to find out. Somehow he felt it was connected to her husband’s murder and possibly Captain Pike’s. It wasn’t just the break-in that had scared her.

  Daniel could still remember the text message he’d received, along with all the Texas Rangers in Company D, from Captain Pike three months ago. His last one. Convene at my house, ASAP. Major case about to explode. When they’d arrived, they found him dead from a gunshot wound and another man critically injured. That man still hadn’t woken up or been identified. If only one of the Rangers had gotten there before someone had killed their captain.

  Daniel pulled into the parking lot of the Texas Ranger’s station in San Antonio. On the way here from Melora’s house, he’d had Ranger Oliver Drew run the partial license plate numbers against white Honda Accords in Texas. He hoped the list wasn’t too long. He needed a break. After climbing from his truck, he strode toward the building, the temperature warmer than usual for the end of November, a hint of rain in the air.

  Inside he found Oliver right away, sitting at his desk. “Did you get anything?”

  “A list of seven vehicles in the San Antonio area—more for the whole state of Texas.”

  “Seven. That’s not bad. First check them and see if there are any that have been reported stolen. Maybe the suspect was dumb enough to use his own car.”

  Oliver chuckled. “You’re dreaming, but I’ll take care of this list for you. Captain wants to see you.”

  Daniel looked toward Captain Benjamin Fritz’s office. As a lieutenant, Daniel often ran things by his captain. Pushing open Ben’s door, he stuck his head in. “You wanted to see me?”

  “Yep, come in. I need you and Anderson to go back to the Alamo Planning Committee meeting. I don’t like what’s been happening. A lot of important dignitaries will be attending the celebration. Stress that, with the threatening letter the committee received in October and the phone call Hank Zarvy got a few weeks ago about the event, we want them to think about having a smaller, more intimate event for the 175th anniversary of the Battle of the Alamo. We think it would be better and far safer. I know the threats have been vague. Nothing but warnings that if we don’t cance
l the celebration, something bad will happen. But we haven’t been able to trace anything.”

  “Okay. I’ll check when the next meeting is and get on the agenda.” Daniel immediately thought of the last meeting he’d gone to. Melora was on the committee. Maybe he could talk to her afterward. In a different environment after she had time to think about the break-in, she might be more forthcoming with her information.

  “How did it go with Mrs. Hudson?”

  “She’s not saying much.” He went on to give Ben a detailed report of the break-in and his interview with Melora and Juanita.

  “Get Gisella to help you with digging into Axle Hudson’s background and dealings. We need to know everything about him.”

  “Especially if he’s a member of the Lions of Texas. You can certainly say he was a powerful person with lots of connections.” One of the first breaks in their captain’s murder case was the few details about the group they got from Eddie Jimenez, a low-level member of the Lions of Texas, who had tried to get the captain’s notes after the shooting. Eddie hadn’t been successful in getting what he had been after. When caught, the thug hadn’t been able to tell them who had killed Gregory Pike or who had sent Eddie after the notes, but the man did tell the Rangers that the group behind all this was called the Lions of Texas. According to Eddie the members were powerful—and very dangerous. Not much to go on, but a start. And if Axle was a member of the Lions, then getting to know everything about the man could lead to others in the group.

  “Do you think Mrs. Hudson knows what her husband was up to? What got him killed?”

  His image of Melora, frightened and vulnerable, didn’t fit with her being a cold, calculating woman who approved of her husband’s illegal activities. “I aim to find out. I don’t think the intruder was there to rob her place. Oliver is tracking down the getaway car.”

  “Stay on her. Get to be her new best friend. Find out what she knows.”

  “That’s what I plan on doing.” As Daniel headed toward the door, his cell rang. Noticing the call came from the sheriff, he answered it as he left Ben’s office. “Riley here.”

  “We’re at Alicia Wells’s apartment. I think you should come take a look at the place.”

  “She’s not there?”

  “Nope, and it appears she left in a hurry.”

  After the sheriff gave him the location of the apartment, Daniel slipped his cell into his pocket and started for the exit.

  Oliver stopped him. “I tracked down the white Honda, at least I think it’s the one. It was reported missing this morning. It belongs to Paul Carson.”

  “Has the car been found?”

  “No.”

  “Check Carson out and interview him. The man I chased was compact, five feet nine inches with medium-length black hair. See if he fits the description.”

  Daniel hurried toward his truck. He felt as though Melora was the key to what was going on. He would stick to her like glue.

  Thirty minutes later, he pulled into the parking lot of the building where Alicia Wells lived. When he entered the apartment, the sheriff waved him over and pointed at a spot on the rug, the size of a quarter. “Found this after I called you. We tested it. That’s fresh blood.”

  THREE

  “So you think it’s human?” Daniel scanned Alicia Wells’s living room.

  “Yes. No signs of a pet. But the lab will have to confirm it and the blood type.”

  “Why do you think she ran?” Daniel spotted a desk with some open drawers.

  The sheriff stiffened.

  “Because her clothes and most of her personal belongings are gone. I didn’t see this blood until a second walk-through.”

  “So you’re thinking someone took her and made it look like she left?”

  Sheriff Layton stroked his chin. “Possibly. I suppose there could be a simple explanation for the blood, like she cut herself. It certainly isn’t enough to kill her.” He flipped back the edge of the rug.

  Daniel noticed several more spots of what looked like dried blood along that edge—not nearly enough to indicate she was seriously injured. But his gut feeling on this was they’d find Alicia dead. He hoped he was wrong, but the people they were dealing with wouldn’t hesitate to kill someone after they got what they wanted. “I’ll have my office look into Alicia Wells if that’s okay with you.”

  “Fine by me.” The sheriff started for the bedroom. “I suspect Ms. Wells didn’t go willingly.”

  “If Alicia gave someone the code and key to the house, that would explain the how of the break-in but not the why or the who.”

  “You don’t think it was just a robbery attempt?”

  “I think there’s more to it. Possibly connected to Captain Pike’s murder.” Halting at the entrance into the room, Daniel surveyed the open drawers, the empty closet, the rumpled coverlet on the bed.

  “All connected to Axle’s body being found?”

  “That’s what I’m thinking. It was found at a drop site used by the group we think is responsible for Greg’s death.” Axle was somehow connected to the Lions of Texas, either he was one of them or he crossed one of them.

  Daniel covered the distance to the closet and examined it—hangers tossed on the carpeted floor, a few clothing items still hanging on the rod, a box of papers scattered about the remaining three pairs of shoes. Kneeling by the mess, he took a pen out of his pocket and used it to move some of the pieces around.

  “Look at this.” Daniel glanced over his shoulder at the sheriff. “These are financial papers. If she was running, why didn’t she take them with her?”

  “Maybe she was interrupted and didn’t have time to come back for them? Maybe that blood has been there for a while. Someone obviously tried to cover it up but missed the few spots on the rug. It kind of blends with the other colors.”

  “We’ll need to look into her accounts and see if she’s received any large amounts of money.” Something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Leaning forward, Daniel poked under the shelving in the closet with his pen. He slid out a hundred dollar bill. “Or not. Cash works just as well.”

  Melora left the hospital gift shop after volunteering behind the counter. She had to keep up appearances, act as though nothing was wrong. And every Wednesday morning she helped in the auxiliary’s gift shop. She didn’t want to make anyone nervous.

  Looking down, she opened her purse and dug around for her car keys. She nearly collided with Dr. Jorge Cantana, the father of Kaitlyn’s friend Cara, but stopped herself one step short when she glanced back up.

  Startled, he pulled his gaze away from a folder he was reading, his dark hair tousled. “Sorry, Melora.” His warm appraisal skimmed down her. “Where are you heading to? Finished volunteering?”

  “Yes. I have a meeting at one for the Alamo Planning Committee. We’re really getting geared up for a big celebration for the Battle of the Alamo anniversary.”

  “How do you keep everything straight?”

  She withdrew her PDA from her purse. “By counting on this. What’s got you flustered?”

  “Flustered?”

  She flipped her hand toward his white doctor coat, buttoned wrong.

  He chuckled. “Oh.” After fixing it, he peered up at Melora. “One of my patients isn’t responding to his treatment. I’m trying to figure out what else I can do.”

  Jorge had been their family doctor for years. He was her uncle’s doctor, too. He and his wife had been there for her after Axle had disappeared. He’d even tried to help her with Kaitlyn when his busy schedule allowed.

  “Just remember to take some time for yourself. I worry about you working so hard.”

  He grinned. “Don’t. I thrive on working. Thankfully, my wife understands.”

  “Tell Beth hi for me. I hope our daughters can get together again. Kaitlyn enjoys playing with Cara.”

  “That sounds like a good idea.” He started to move away, stopped and turned back. “If you need to talk, I’m available. So is Beth. I
know Axle has been gone for two years, and you felt something had happened to him, but now knowing for sure still has to be processed.”

  “I appreciate that.” If she wasn’t so afraid, she might actually have time to do that very thing. But all her energy had to be focused on keeping her daughter safe. Figuring out a way to get their lives back.

  Checking her watch, Melora noticed she was running late for the meeting. She hurried from the hospital and located her silver Lexus in the parking lot. As she slid behind the steering wheel, she scouted the area. She couldn’t find anyone watching her, but she felt it deep in her bones. She’d felt that way ever since Axle’s body had been identified.

  Who was watching her? Why were they watching? She wasn’t going to talk. She didn’t even have much she could tell the authorities. She didn’t know the details of her husband’s activities, and she planned to make that clear to the Texas Rangers.

  Two years ago, the two men who had broken into her house had told her they were after a flash drive. They hadn’t found it then and had thankfully left her unharmed but with a warning. Had the man broken into her house two days ago because of the police’s renewed interest in Axle? Had they stopped looking for the flash drive because they’d thought Axle had it on him? Then when his body was discovered, they realized the device wasn’t with him?

  Her head throbbed with all the unanswered questions. She pulled out of the parking lot and drove toward the meeting’s location.

  She really didn’t know whom to trust. Trust in the Lord. The thought popped into her head as she turned into the space at the side of the office building. She’d pleaded with the Lord to help her when everything had started falling apart three years ago. He obviously hadn’t thought she was worth His trouble. So somehow she had to find a way out of this mess by herself.

  On the elevator ride she composed herself. She couldn’t let people know what was going on. She had to be in control, poised—play the role she’d been cast in.

  When she stepped into the hallway on the tenth floor, she came face-to-face with Rangers Daniel Boone Riley and Anderson Michaels. She tried to hide her surprise mixed with concern, but Daniel’s assessing gaze honed in on her. She remembered at the funeral last week the kindness in his eyes when they had connected with hers.