Deadly Texas Rose
Lenora Worth

To Faye Ulmer, everyone’s Nana

I love you.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

ONE

“Don’t move or I’ll kill her.”

Deputy Sheriff Eric Butler did as he was told, since the mustached stranger standing about five feet away had the new waitress at the Courthouse Café held against her will and a revolver pointed at her head.

“We’re all cool here,” Eric said, nodding toward all the other customers and the three or four employees who had just minutes before been laughing and talking. “Nobody wants to get hurt today.” He silently prayed, asking God to keep everyone safe.

“That’s good,” the dark-haired, sweating man said, his head bobbing up and down. Then he slanted his gaze around the room where he had ordered the kitchen staff to gather with the customers. In the kitchen, unattended food sizzled and burned on the griddle. “Everybody here, listen to the officer.”

Acting on instinct, Eric held his hands away from his body and stared down the shaking man, wondering what kind of idiot would try to rob a restaurant right across from the courthouse in the tiny East-Texas town of Wildflower. Any number of cops and sheriff’s deputies ate here every day, and any smart criminal would have scoped the place out in advance to save both himself and everyone else grief.

Of course, desperate people did desperate things, and this man seemed very near the brink. Eric took in the scene and tried to decide how best to handle the situation.

Cat Murphy, the petite, no-nonsense owner of Cat’s Courthouse Café, stood just to the left of the man holding waitress Julia Daniels near a wall that gave the culprit a bird’s-eye view of both the entrance door and the kitchen. Cat’s expression showed shock, but her eyes held a kind of resolve that didn’t bode well for the grungy-looking man who’d disrupted the last minutes of the lunch hour. Cat had been married to a police officer who was killed in the line of duty. And given that Julia Daniels was related to Cat and had moved here about five months ago at Cat’s request, Cat sure wasn’t going to stand by and let anything bad happen to her. That made her not only dangerous but impulsive, too, Eric reasoned.

But right now he was more worried about Julia. He liked her a lot, had even thought about asking her out on a date. So that made him just a tad dangerous, too. Not impulsive like motherly Cat, yet dangerous just the same. But he had to protect Julia and everybody else in here, somehow. Help me, Lord.

The other diners had stopped eating to stare with fright at the man and woman in the corner of the room. And Eric’s buddy and fellow deputy Adam Dupont was sitting across from Eric, his trigger finger itching from the way the pulse was pounding in his jawline.

“Steady,” Eric whispered to Adam. “He looks real serious about using that gun.”

“Shut up!” The robber’s fidgety, shifting gaze moved from Eric to Adam. “I mean it, man. You two need to take out your guns and slide them across the floor.”

Eric glanced at his friend, sending Adam a silent message. Then he nodded. Best not to argue with the man holding the gun to the blonde’s head. Besides, she looked as pale as a ghost, her big gold-green eyes widening each time the gun was pressed harder against her temple.

Carefully, with one hand in the air, both deputies took out their weapons. “Okay,” Eric said. “I’m gonna send them both your way.”

The robber nodded, then waited, watching intently as Eric did as he’d promised. The only sound in the tiny café was that of weapons hitting linoleum and fat hitting the grill as the guns flew across the black-and-white-patterned floor.

“What do you want?” Julia managed to ask the man, her tone shaky.

The man holding Julia glanced around, hesitant at first, sweat popping out on his forehead. He eyed the back of Julia’s head so close to his own, then glanced around the restaurant as if he were looking for something or someone. Then his gaze skittered to the counter near the kitchen.

“I need some cash,” the burly man replied, lifting his chin toward the back of the restaurant. “All of it.”

Cat nodded. “I’ll have to go behind the cash register. Don’t hurt Julia, okay. You can have the money, but you don’t need to hurt anyone.”

“Shut up and get it.” Then he pressed the gun closer to Julia’s tousled hair a little harder. “And let me worry about Julia.”

The robber shifted around, facing Cat as she slowly moved toward the counter in the far corner of the room, forcing Julia to turn. “And if anybody tries anything, I’ll kill her.”

Eric watched as Julia pivoted around with the man, her willowy frame shaking, her shoulder-length golden hair swishing over her black-and-white uniform. The woman was terrified, but she was cooperating. That showed she had common sense at least. He just prayed she wouldn’t try anything crazy, like fighting this man. He stared at her, willing her to let Adam and him do their jobs.

Her gaze met Eric’s and held. She seemed to be silently screaming a message at him. He could see the plea in her eyes, could almost feel exactly what she was thinking: What about my little girl? What will happen to her if I die?

He knew from hearing Julia and Cat chattering away as they worked that Julia was Cat’s cousin and she was a widow with an eight-year-old daughter named Moria. And he also knew that she was a devoted mother. He’d seen both mother and child in church last Sunday.

He wanted to see both of them there again next Sunday, too. So he held her gaze, hoping he could relay a sense of calm to her. He sat silently, his mind screaming for her to hold on. I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise. He inclined his head just an inch, but it seemed to be enough to give her courage. She lifted her chin a notch in response.

Eric tore his gaze away, then tilted his head toward Adam. They’d worked together for the past seven years, to the point where they could almost read each other’s minds. He hoped Adam was doing that very thing right now. They needed a distraction.

But they also needed to be very, very careful so no one in here would end up dead.

Especially the pretty blonde who’d only lived in Wildflower for a few months. Julia might be new to the area and new to the café, but she was already a favorite among the lunch crowd.

Eric liked Julia, even though he didn’t know that much about her. He surely wasn’t going to sit by and witness something horrible happening to a hardworking, quiet, pretty woman who didn’t bother anyone. No, sir. That wasn’t gonna happen. Not today, at least. And not before he’d had some of Cat’s famous hamburger steak and mashed potatoes.

Be still and know that I am God. That verse played through Julia’s head, so she stood still and decided to keep her eyes on the deputy sheriff. There was something about Eric Butler that made her feel safe. Maybe it was his quiet, controlled nature, or the way he tried to put everyone he encountered at ease. He had always been polite to Julia, in spite of his friend Adam’s jokes and flirtatious nature. Eric didn’t flirt. He just made small talk and asked her about Moria, his chocolate-colored eyes full of life and contentment. Eric had a secure, sure masculine presence that could fill a room. That presence, that security, such a contrast to her late husband’s passive personality, was the only thing keeping Julia sane right now. She said a prayer, silently and quickly. Please, God, help us. She hadn’t turned to God very much throughout the ordeal of her husband’s death. But she sure needed Him here today. Because of Moria.

Julia kept telling herself to stay calm, to do as the skittish robber holding her body in front of his as a shield had said, to not move. But it wasn’t so easy. She was worried about Moria. Her daughter was safe at school. She had to keep repeating that phrase inside her head, her heart pounding in cadence with the rapid breaths of the man holding her. Moria was safe; she had to be. Isn’t that why she’d taken Cat’s advice and left San Antonio to come to this nice, quiet little town all the way across Texas, near the Louisiana border? Moria is safe. Please, Lord, keep her safe.

Safe. Julia had brought her daughter here after her husband Alfonso had been murdered while he was working late one night. Murdered at his fancy desk in the high-rise De La Noche building in downtown San Antonio. And Moria had been there with him, hidden in the ladies’ lounge down the hall, dialing Julia’s number on her father’s cell phone even as the murder had taken place, from what the authorities could piece together.

“Tell Mommy to come right now,” Moria had repeated to Julia and the police after they’d found her sitting in a chair in the lounge, her doll Rosa clutched in one hand and the phone in the other. “Daddy said we were playing a game, like hide-and-seek. He said to talk to you and tell you to come and find me. Where’s my daddy?”

Julia hadn’t been able right then to tell the little girl that her daddy was dead. That had taken all of Julia’s courage a few hours later at home.

Julia and the therapists still weren’t sure what Moria had seen or heard that night. The little girl didn’t talk about it much and the therapists couldn’t agree on the validity of repressed memories. But her nightmares told the tale of horror Moria had gone through, sitting there all alone, waiting for her parents that night at the De La Noche complex.

Alfonso had worked for the Gardonez family since high school, only to end up dead.

Of the night. The La Flor De La Noche, or the flower of the night, was what had started the Gardonez family dynasty over one hundred years ago in Mexico. Night-blooming jasmine, moonflowers and the beautiful but deadly angel trumpet, started from seeds, and one woman’s determination, had created a legend within the floral industry. Now the Gardonez family not only grew beautiful flowers but also farmed and marketed vegetables and fruit, too. And they had worldwide distribution, with a trucking and shipping company that was the industry standard.

But someone within their ranks, or someone who wanted to do the company harm, apparently had a secret that had killed her husband. Did her child also know that secret?

Now, as Julia stood here in the bruising grip of an armed man, she had to wonder if that secret had followed her all the way across Texas. She didn’t know anything for sure; she only wanted to protect her daughter. But she did know that something had been bothering Alfonso before his death. Something that had him up at night and brooding all day long. Something that had told Julia not to let him pick up Moria from school that day. It was as if he’d also known something bad might happen to him. As if he’d known he’d have to take some sort of secret to his grave.

What if this man wanted that secret? What if this man hadn’t come here just to rob the café? What if he’d come for her, instead?

Eric sensed the war behind those pretty golden-green eyes. He knew that look. Julia was weighing her options. He’d seen that kind of confused, centered gaze before in the eyes of men who’d made the wrong choices and regretted them. He’d also seen it in the eyes of other victims, haunted and frightened, wondering and waiting. She was afraid, but she held her head up with a determination that caused him to admire her. The woman had so much to live for. She had a child. He only hoped that spark of spunk shining inside her eyes wouldn’t get her killed.

And he hoped this nagging feeling inside his gut would just go away, that it wasn’t a sign of things to come. He didn’t like this at all. The man had come in through the door and zoomed right in on Julia instead of the cash register. Now, why was that? Eric wondered.

“What now?” Adam asked as he watched Cat fumbling with the cash register.

“We wait,” Eric replied under his breath.

Cat started walking slowly back toward Julia and the man, her ever-present red cowboy boots clicking against the linoleum, her eyes slanting toward Eric and Adam. She knew they would stop this. She had to know. Cat trusted them, as did everyone else in this sleepy little town. Eric gave Cat a reassuring look, holding his breath as she neared the gunman.

The robber clutched at Julia and said the words no lawman ever wanted to hear. “I’m gonna have to take her with me. Just until I get down the road.” He pushed at Julia. “Hold the money.”

Adam shot Eric a look. The chances of Julia surviving this once the strung-out man took her to another location were slim to none. There was no apparent reason for this man to take a hostage. Well, except maybe that he knew the two deputy sheriffs staring him down would surely come after him. They had to do something before the culprit got Julia away from the premises, or this could go from bad to worse.

Cat shook her head, obviously thinking the same thing, her usually down-to-earth candor breaking. “You’ve got the money. Please let her go.”

But the man wasn’t listening. He kept pushing at Julia. “Take it, so we can get out of here!”

And then everything happened at once.

One minute Cat was stretching her hand out, pressing a wad of cash toward Julia, her gaze meeting Julia’s in a silent communication. Then Cat went into action, and instead of handing Julia the money, she dropped it just out of Julia’s reach, all around the robber’s feet. Adam took over, scraping his chair back with just enough abrasiveness to cause the robber to tear his eyes away from the fluttering money falling to the floor. The robber turned, yanking Julia around as Adam skidded his chair again, this time knocking it over and slamming his body behind it for protection.

Eric yelled, “Get down! Everyone get down!”

The frantic robber shook his gun in the air, giving Julia a split second to kick Eric’s gun back toward him. Watching the gun slide across the floor, the robber grabbed at Julia, holding her tightly as he spun around to shoot at Adam and Eric. Adam ducked low, while Eric slid his body across the floor in a drop and roll, diving for the gun Julia had sent his way. It landed right on his trigger finger.

Julia watched in horror as the two deputies went into action. Then Cat’s hand dug into her arm, pulling her free as the man waved his gun and dived for the fallen money all around his feet.

And then Julia heard the deputy scream again, “Get down! Everybody down!”

Julia saw Deputy Butler lift his gun and skid back toward the protection of his table at the same time the robber aimed his own gun toward the deputy.

Julia waited, her breath held, for the man to fire. Instead, he pushed Cat away and grabbed Julia again. “She’s going with me. Get it?” He had the gun back at her head, but he was shaking almost as hard as Julia. Maybe because Deputy Butler now had his own weapon aimed at the robber.

Julia looked at Eric, saw the message clear in his eyes. He wasn’t going to let this madman take her.

“Over my dead body,” the deputy said, his determined eyes centered on the criminal holding Julia. “Now do us all a favor and drop the weapon.”

Julia looked from Eric to Cat, wondering what she could do to get away. Then she remembered the swinging door. If she twisted ever so slightly, she could use it as leverage to make the man lose his balance. Mustering all her strength, she fought against the man holding her, twisting until she could see the door in her peripheral vision. Hearing her own scream locked inside her head, or maybe she was screaming out loud, she braced herself as the robber held her tight, dragging her toward the kitchen door. “I have to take her, man. I have to. I don’t want to hurt anyone, but I have to take her with me.” He held the gun close. Guiding Julia backward with him, he reached the swinging door, then stood inches away.

“Don’t do it,” Adam called, standing up. “Just drop the gun and we’ll get you some help.”

The man shook his head. “Can’t do that.” Then in one swift motion, he grunted, tugging Julia toward the rickety old door. Julia took one last look at Eric Butler, hoping to give him a sign that she wasn’t going to go willingly through that door.

But Eric was watching the man holding her. “Don’t make me shoot you. Because I can bring you down before you ever pull that trigger.”

“Try it,” the robber goaded, stepping back, the swinging door now inches behind him.

Julia knew if they got past the swinging door, she might not live to see her daughter again. She had to do something right now. With a grunt and all the force she could muster she pushed with one foot against the wobbly door, then grabbed the solid wood frame with both hands as she used her body to slam against the man behind her. When she felt him shifting backward, she held on to the frame so she wouldn’t fall with him, steeling herself against the chance of getting shot.

Shocked to find himself moving through the open space, the man had no choice but to loosen his grip on Julia and grab for a handhold. While Julia lunged back against the robber, Cat pushed at the door, causing the confused man to let go of Julia as he went falling through the open doorway. He hollered his displeasure, then lifted his gun in the air as he lost his balance. A round of shots rang out. Then the man grunted as he went flying into the kitchen. Scrambling up, he clutched his left arm, then ran out the back door of the kitchen, leaving Julia crumpled on her knees, shaking, as she clung to the door frame. The swish of the door banging back toward Julia’s slumping body echoed through the building, followed by the slamming of the metal back door. The man was gone and she was still alive.

And then silence, followed by a rush of action all around her.

“It’s over, honey,” Cat said, pulling Julia up to hug her close. “It’s all over.”

Adam jumped up, heading for the kitchen door. “I think you hit him, Eric. Everybody okay?”

People begin lifting off the floor. Julia heard women crying and saw a crowd gathered at the front door. A buzz of energy surrounded the screams still echoing inside her head. Her ears were ringing; her blood pressure was pumping inside her temple. But she was alive.

Thanks to Deputy Butler. He’d shot the man holding her. She knew, because she had splatters of blood on her white shirt.

“Where’s the other deputy?” she asked Cat as Adam brushed past her, her head coming up to search for Eric.

And then she saw him, lying behind an upturned table with blood covering his left shoulder. He wasn’t moving.

“He needs help!” Julia shouted, pointing toward Eric. “Somebody help him.”

“Eric?” Adam bolted around, then screamed, “Call 911, Cat. Eric’s been shot.” He headed past Julia and through the kitchen door, already talking into his radio about being in pursuit. “I’m going after him!”

The call was unnecessary. Julia could hear the sirens and the banging of the front door as the café became swamped with deputies and policemen and the lone reporter from the town newspaper, the Wildflower Gazette.

The first responders looked over the place and took in the grim scenario, then started moving people out of the café, which had now become a crime scene.

“He saved my life.” Julia went limp against the wall, all of the strength drained out of her as the reporter’s camera flashed in her face. Deputy Butler had saved her life.

And now he might be dead because of it.

TWO

Eric woke up in the emergency room, his left shoulder throbbing to beat the band.

Trying to raise his head, he called out, “What—”

A gray-haired nurse pushed him back down. “Easy, cowboy. You’ve been shot and you’re about to go into surgery to debride the wound. We just need to clean it out a little bit, make sure everything’s intact in there. You’re lucky, though. Bullet went straight through without hitting any major arteries or bones.”

“Bullet?” Eric lay back, trying to remember. Then it all came rushing back. Julia Daniels. An armed robbery. The man was going to take Julia as a hostage. They’d exchanged gunfire. Darkness and voices in his head. Adam telling him to hang on. Now he had vague flashes of the EMS team…someone applying pressure to his wound, asking him questions about his medical history, a needle shoved into his arm.

“The waitress?” he managed to croak over the sound of doctors rushing all around, poking him here and there and shouting out orders about X-rays and vital signs.

“That pretty little thing,” the nurse said as she checked the IV drip, her expression all business. “She’s just fine. Outside waiting with your family to hear how you’re doing, though. She said you saved her life.”

Eric managed a weak grin. “My buddy Adam did most of the hard work.”

“Yeah, right. But you shot the bad guy.”

Eric tried to lift up again. His bloody shirt was gone. “The robber, where…is he?”

The nurse shook her head. “From what we’re hearing, he got clean away. But don’t fret, now. Your buddies have put out an APB on him.”

Eric tried to speak, but his fatigue, coupled with whatever medication they were pumping into him, caused drowsiness to overtake him. He went to sleep with the memory of Julia’s face, front and center in his frazzled mind.

Julia paced the tiny E.R. sitting room, her sturdy, black wedge-heeled work shoes clumping with each step. Cat had insisted she go home and rest, but Julia was too keyed up to do that. After rushing to the elementary school to check on Moria—no, make that after making a scene at the school because she was so frantic to make sure her daughter was safe—and then checking Moria out and taking her to the neighbor’s house just to be sure, she’d come straight here. And she planned on being right here when Eric Butler came out of surgery.

Thank goodness Mrs. Ulmer hadn’t minded watching Moria. Julia knew Moria would be safe with the Ulmers. They’d seen how upset she’d been and promised to keep Moria inside and quiet. Even though he didn’t get out much these days, Mr. Ulmer had once been an avid hunter and he’d assured her he’d watch over Moria, using one of his many rifles and shotguns if need be. But there had been enough shooting for one day, Julia thought, her mind reliving how the gunman had tried to take her and how Eric had fired a shot to stop him. Then she remembered seeing Eric lying there, bleeding and unmoving.

Please don’t let him die, she prayed.

She’d seen too much death lately.

And her daughter had seen enough grief and death to last her a lifetime.

That thought caused Julia’s knees to go weak. Sinking down in a fabric-covered blue chair, she put her head in her hands and prayed that Moria didn’t hear about this. She’d warned the Ulmers not to discuss it in front of her already-fragile daughter.

“You okay?”

Julia looked up to find Adam and Cat standing in front of her. Cat settled in the chair beside her while Adam stood with his hands in his pants pockets, looking as worried about his friend as she felt.

Down the way in another chair, Eric’s father, Harlan, sat staring at the tiled floor. Julia had introduced herself to him the minute she’d come in the door, telling him how much she appreciated what Eric had done for her. But Mr. Butler had only grunted and nodded, his eyes so like his son’s, blank and unyielding, in spite of their warmth.

Harlan Butler was a retired sheriff’s deputy himself, who, according to Cat, now lived out on the lake in a cabin his son had apparently built right next to his own house. Eric wanted his widowed father near, which only endeared him to Julia since she’d never been close with her own parents. So now the Butler men lived on connecting lots, two bachelors enjoying their time as father and son. Mr. Butler certainly understood the risks of the job. But right now that didn’t help matters. Right now they were all worried, and somehow Julia couldn’t help but feel responsible for all of this.

“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.

Now Moria’s secrets about what she’d seen or heard that night were also hidden away, deeply embedded inside her child’s mind because no one, not the team of therapists or her own mother, could bring it all to the surface for Moria. She kept whatever she knew intact. That is, until she went to sleep at night.

Then, all the horrible scary things hidden in the dark seemed to come out to taunt the little girl.

No wonder her daughter never wanted to go to sleep.

And no wonder Julia was so worried that the secrets locked inside her daughter’s mind might bring harm to both of them. Not knowing was driving her crazy.

But finding out the truth might be even more dangerous.

He had to know the truth.

Eric stared at the yellow crime-scene tape slashing across the double doors of Cat’s Courthouse Café. He’d come here straight from the hospital, and although his arm was in a sling and he still felt woozy from all the pain medication, it felt good to be out in the bright springtime day with a fresh breeze blowing over his face. His shoulder still ached, but his mind was spinning like the whimsical metallic garden ornament Cat had hanging by the front door. He stood back, leaning against the old-fashioned hitching rail in front of the café, his mind reliving every minute of what had happened here two days ago.

“Got it figured out yet, buddy?” Adam asked as he came up and handed Eric a bottle of soda. “Thought you could use a drink.”

“Thanks,” Eric said, taking a long swig of the amber liquid. Then he glanced back through the windows of the restaurant. “He went in through the kitchen, and he brought Julia out through the swinging doors with him.”

“That’s odd,” Adam said, sipping his own drink. “I mean, going in through the kitchen I can understand. But why didn’t he just head right to the cash register?”

“Maybe he thought grabbing the first person he saw would give him more cover,” Eric replied. “But that notion didn’t exactly work out to his advantage. I just wonder where he went. If he bled out or even if he is alive somewhere, we’ll never find him now.”

Adam must have sensed his remorse. “Don’t beat yourself up, old man. You shot him in self-defense, and to protect Julia. We can only imagine what he would have done to her if he’d taken her with him.” Then he looked down the street where a few cars passed by now and then. “Besides, I’m the one who let him get away.”

Eric thought about that. “He must have had help, someone waiting for him.” He didn’t like the nasty scene playing inside his head. “I don’t want to think about that. I just hate—”

“You don’t like having to shoot someone. We’ve all had to deal with that at times.”

“What if he just needed some money? Maybe I should have tried to talk him down more.”

Adam shook his head. “You saw the man’s eyes. He was too far gone. For some strange reason, he picked a bad day to rob the place.” Then he shook his head. “And even though we let him get away, he left a trail of evidence—bloodstains on Julia’s blouse and fingerprints on both the outside door and the swinging door from the kitchen.”

“Got any leads?”

“As a matter of fact, I think we do,” Adam said, handing Eric a printout, then added, “Of course, officially, I’m not supposed to have this information. So, unofficially and just for your information, we had a sketch artist come over from Longview and talk to several of the witnesses, including Julia, Cat and me.”

Eric lifted his chin. “Yeah, I gave a description while I was in the hospital, the whole routine. Tell me something I don’t know.”

Adam tapped the papers he was holding. “Based on the sketch and the fingerprints we were able to lift, we’ve established his identity. We found some fresh prints on the back door, ran ’em through AFIS and came up with a positive match. We’ve narrowed it down, based on the eye witness descriptions and the sketch. When we hear from the DNA samples, we’ll have it confirmed. His name is Mingo Tolar, last known address a seedy hotel in El Paso. And he has a record as long as my arm.”

Eric read over the sheet, then glanced at the sketch. “Petty theft, drunk and disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, trespassing and resisting arrest, possession of narcotics. Why does that not surprise me?” Then he shook the rap sheet. “So if this is our man—and this looks exactly like him—how’d he wind up all the way across the state in a tiny town like Wildflower?”

“Maybe he was a mule,” Adam replied. “Just passing through on a drug run along the interstate. Maybe he needed some drug money. He might have sampled the goods, panicked, thought he’d better replace the merchandise. He was high when he hit us, so that means he was also careless. We’ll know more when the DNA results from the blood drops we found come back from the CODIS lab in Ft. Worth.”

“Did we locate a vehicle?”

“Not yet. He either had someone waiting in a getaway car, or he might have hidden until he could run. He was pretty strung out, best I can remember.”

“No wonder he was such a loose cannon.”

“All the more reason for us to get Julia away from him before he could take off with her.” Adam shrugged, shook out the tightness in his muscles. “I just wish I could have caught him. We searched every building around here and immediately sent out patrols. Amazing how he got away so quickly.”

Eric nodded, letting the information settle in his gut. Letting a bad guy slip right through their fingers hadn’t gone over very well with the department. Reminding himself that he and Adam had at least saved Julia, he shifted on his feet. “Something just isn’t sitting right.”

“Maybe the fact that I’m stuck on a desk job until this is cleared up, and you’re on sick leave for a few more days, or that we’re not even supposed to be investigating this thing, period?”

Eric looked around, then shrugged. “We were involved. That tends to make a man curious. And…regardless of whether I’m the official investigating officer or not, I need some answers.”

Adam slanted a look at him. “Talk to me, brother.”

Eric closed his eyes, going over the details one more time in his mind. He thought about Julia’s expression, about the man’s skittishness, about how she’d silently appealed to Eric to help her. There had been something else there in her eyes, something Eric couldn’t quite pinpoint.

But Adam’s next words brought it all to the surface. “It’s like he went straight for Julia, know what I mean? Almost like the money was an afterthought.”

Eric glanced from his friend back into the restaurant. “Yeah, I do know what you mean. And you know what else? It’s like Julia Daniels had been expecting someone to do just that.”

She hadn’t expected all this attention. The publicity generated from both the newspapers and the television stations had Julia’s head throbbing. And had her even more worried that she’d somehow be discovered. It was bad enough, having to give detailed statements to the investigators, then having to describe the man to a sketch artist.

If she only knew what she’d been running from, she might be able to get a better grip on her sanity. Between the ringing phone and the network crews from both Longview to the west and Shreveport to the east in Louisiana, she hadn’t had a chance to even do her Saturday chores and errands. And Moria was asking more and more questions.

Julia glanced out the front window, glad to see the camera crews had left. She wasn’t giving any more statements. She was done with this.

But as she turned to go do the laundry, she heard a car door slam. Rushing back to the window, she peeked through the blinds to see who was out there now.

Eric Butler.

Julia’s heart went into overdrive. What was he doing here? And why hadn’t she combed her hair and put on some makeup this morning? Running her hands through her long tresses, Julia decided she didn’t care. She had too much to worry about. The good deputy was probably just checking on her out of a sense of duty.

And she did owe him a lot. At least a cup of coffee and a slice of pie.

But when she opened the door, Eric Butler didn’t look as if he were in the mood for either. “Hello,” Julia said, trying to give him a reassuring smile.

“Hi, yourself. Got a minute?”

“Of course.” She waved him into the room. “I’m glad you came by. I’ve been meaning to come and see you.”

He gave her one of his level, steady looks. “Oh, and why is that?”

Julia’s heart sent a warning jolt through her system. “Well, to thank you, of course. You most likely saved my life. I…appreciate it.”

He waved his good arm in the air. “Don’t worry about that.” Then he looked into her eyes, his expression as calm and centered as the still American flag hanging on her front porch. “We couldn’t let that man take you with him.”

“I didn’t want to go with him.” She turned toward the kitchen. “Want some coffee? Some of Cat’s famous apple pie? She brought a fresh one by just this morning.”

Silence.

Julia turned to look at him. “Deputy?”

“Call me Eric,” he said, lifting a shoulder off the porch post.

“Okay. Eric, would you like some coffee and pie?”

“What I want, Mrs. Daniels, is the truth.”

Swallowing back her surprise, she retorted, “Call me Julia.”

“Okay. Julia, we need to talk.”

Julia could understand how a criminal would be intimidated by this man. He stood almost six feet tall and right now he was all business. “I’m not sure I understand,” she said, wondering if he’d already found out about Alfonso’s mysterious death. Had he also found out something that would incriminate her? “I’ve talked to just about everyone in the sheriff’s department and the police department. What do we need to discuss?”

Eric took two long strides toward her. “I want you to tell me why that man would have come to Wildflower…. Looking for you?”

Julia gasped, then shrank back. “I don’t…I mean…I didn’t know he was looking for me.” She sank down on a chair, then stared up at him. “What are you talking about? Was he looking for me?”

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Eric replied, his tone gentle now, his expression relaxing. “I’m just trying to figure this thing out, so it can make some sense. I don’t believe this was a routine robbery. Got anything you’d like to share with me about all of this?”

“I didn’t know that man, if that’s what you’re asking,” Julia replied, praying Moria would stay in her room a little while longer. She didn’t want her daughter to hear this conversation. “I’m telling you the truth. I’d never seen him before. Maybe you need to be honest with me, too, Deputy. If I’m in danger. If my daughter is—”

“I didn’t say that.” He let out a breath. “We’re still investigating. We’ve put out an APB based on eyewitness descriptions and our findings, and we have a rap sheet and a positive ID on someone who fits the robber’s description. He’s a dangerous man, which is why I’m trying—on my own time—to do a more detailed investigation into his background.”

“So I don’t have to talk to you, since you’re not even supposed to be here, right?”

His gaze swept over her face, then back down. “No, you don’t have to tell me anything. But…I’m trying to help you here.” He glanced at the picture of Moria sitting on the coffee table. “For your daughter’s sake, at least.”

Julia couldn’t tell him to go away after that. “What do you need to know?”

Satisfied that they understood each other, he said, “His name was Mingo Tolar. Ring a bell?”

She shook her head. “No, I’m sorry, it doesn’t.”

Eric nodded, then pinned her with another level look. “But, did that man happen to know you? That’s what I’m wondering. And I’m not giving up on this until I find out what’s going on. Because if he did know you…if he did come here looking for you, then yes, you and your daughter might still be in danger.”

Julia gulped back her fear, her gaze meeting his. He gave her the same steady, reassuring look he’d given her in the restaurant the other day. Then he looked past her into the hallway, his eyes full of surprise.

Julia turned around to find Moria standing there with Rosa clutched to her chest. And a brilliant fear shattering her big brown eyes.

FOUR

Julia rushed to Moria. “Hey, honey. I didn’t see you there.” Bringing her daughter into the room, she pulled Moria close as she sat down on the couch. “This is my friend Mr. Butler.”

Moria sent a big-eyed look toward Eric. “Are we in trouble, Mommy?”

“Now why would you think that?” Julia asked, trying to keep her tone calm. She glanced over at Eric, hoping he hadn’t noticed the fear in her child’s eyes. Or her own, for that matter.

Moria leaned close, her hands going around Julia’s neck. “The policemen came yesterday, just like they did when Daddy went away.”

Julia’s gaze slammed into Eric’s. She could see the questions burning there inside his eyes. Pulling at Moria’s long hair with her fingers, she tried to laugh. “Oh, that. Well, it’s just that something happened at my work the other day and the police are trying to get information. But you and I haven’t done anything wrong. We’re okay, honey. It’s okay. And Mr. Butler is…he’s a sheriff’s deputy. That’s like a policeman, sorta. And he’s just trying to help out.”

Moria didn’t look convinced. “He scares me. I don’t like policemen and I don’t like strangers.”

Eric’s smile was short and quick. “I’m a friend of your mother’s. But you’re smart to be careful around strangers. Has anyone besides the policemen come by to see you or your mother?”

“No.”

“Has anyone who scares you tried to bother you at school or anywhere else, like when you’re playing outside?”

Moria shook her head but refused to say anything else.

Julia sent Eric a pleading look. “Can we finish this later?”

His nod was so subtle she almost missed it, but his eyes were on Moria. “You know, I’ve sure heard a lot about you from your mother. She loves you a lot.”

Moria didn’t reply, instead she clung to Julia even more. Afraid for her daughter, Julia gently lifted Moria up onto the couch. “Honey, stay right here while I show Mr. Butler out, okay? You can color in that new book I bought you at the grocery store yesterday.”

“Okay,” Moria said, taking Rosa in her lap. She stared up at Eric with obvious distrust, then went to the small kitchen table where her crayons and coloring book lay.

Julia motioned for him to follow her out onto the porch. After she’d shut the door, she said, “I appreciate your concern, but…Moria doesn’t understand what’s going on, and I don’t know anything about this man. I only know that I was scared, very scared, when he had that gun aimed at my head. And I am so thankful that you helped to get me away from him.” Then a new fear penetrated her already frazzled mind. “You don’t think he’d come back, do you?”

Eric’s gaze moved over her, glassy and unreadable. “That depends. He’s wounded and he’s wanted for attempted armed robbery, and somehow he managed to get away. He’d need a mighty good reason to come back to Wildflower, don’t you think?”

She thought he was fishing again, and Julia refused to give him any more information than necessary. “I think he’d be crazy to do that, but…I want to feel safe. I did feel safe here until this happened.”

He leaned back against the porch railing, his quiet gaze moving over her face. “Want to tell me about…your past? Where’d you come from?”

“I don’t have to answer that.”

“Anyone in your past who might want to do you harm?”

She glanced away, then back. Should she tell him the truth? But what purpose would that serve? Until they found this man, if this was the right man, who knew why he’d come to the diner? Maybe it had just been a random robbery and maybe she was just imagining things because of her husband’s horrible death. She didn’t want to relive all of that unless she had to.

Finally, she said, “I don’t think so.”

His harsh gaze made her edgy. “But you’re not sure?”

Dropping her hands to her sides, she asked, “How can I be sure? I’ve tried to live a quiet, normal life. I don’t have anything to hide. I just need to protect my daughter.”

“From what?”

Impatient, she said, “From the press, from the police asking too many questions. I don’t want Moria to worry about me. She’s been through enough.”

He latched on to that. “Because?”

Letting out a sigh, Julia said, “Her father died last year, okay? Surely you’ve heard I’m a widow and she’s lost her father. We’re both still trying to cope with that, but Moria is having a very hard time. I moved here to start over and to help her get through her grief. I just didn’t need this on top of everything else. So could you just go, please?”

He stepped back, palms up. “I understand and I’m sorry. Did you tell—”

“I told the sheriff’s investigators, the police officer who questioned me yesterday, and…Cat knows, of course. I didn’t tell the newspapers and television crews that my daughter has horrible nightmares about losing her father, because it’s none of their business. Can we just leave it at that?”

“They’ll keep digging.”

“I’m afraid of that.” She ran her hands through her hair. “And I know you can keep digging. You are a lawman, after all. You can find out anything you want about me. Which means I’ll probably have to pack up and move again.”

He went on full alert now. “Why would you do that?”

Wishing he hadn’t pushed her so much, she let out a bitter laugh. “I just want to get on with my life, and I thought I’d be able to do that here. But I won’t have my daughter being harassed because I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

He lifted off the railing then, his eyes moving over her with suspicion and concern. “Or…maybe you were the right person in the right place at precisely the right time. Maybe that robber knew exactly where you were and how to get to you. Which is why, if you have anything else you’d like to tell either me—off the record—or the official investigators for the record, you’d better do it, and quick. Or you won’t be able to protect yourself or your daughter.”

With that he turned to leave. But he stopped on the steps to look back at her, then pulled a card out of his shirt pocket to shove toward her. “Take this. And call me if you need anything. Anything at all, okay?”

Julia took the card, her fingers moving over the etched lettering that included his name and work number. “Thank you.”

“My home number and cell are written on the back,” he added. “Again, off the record since technically I’m off the case.”

She turned it over to scan the scrawled numbers. “Are you always this prepared?”

“I do my homework, yeah.”

That sounded like a warning. As in, he wasn’t going to give up on this. And how could she expect him to? The authorities were trying to find a man who had tried to commit armed robbery. And she was caught right in the middle. It only made sense that every area of her life would be scrutinized and analyzed until they found some answers. But…she wasn’t the criminal, she reminded herself. She just prayed they’d find the man and this would end before she had to bare her past to all of them.

“I hope you find that man,” she said as he headed down the steps. “And I’m sorry I couldn’t help you more.”

He turned one last time, his fingers on the door of his car. “And I hope you learn to trust me, so I can help you.”

Julia watched as he got in a big black truck and drove away. Could she trust him? She remembered how she’d looked toward him the day of the robbery. His strength had given her courage. The connection she’d felt that day as their eyes had locked had stayed with her, making her think she had found a champion. But she was still afraid to tell him the truth. What should I do, Lord?

It was just too dangerous, too risky. Or was she afraid of more than her past? If she poured out her heart to Eric Butler, she could lose a part of herself all over again, the way she had with Alfonso. And she refused to give control of her life to another person ever again. She wanted to be the one in charge this time around. And that meant protecting her child.

Julia went inside where Moria had her coloring book and crayons out on the kitchen table. “Want a snack, honey?”

Moria bobbed her head. “Is that big man gone?”

Julia had to smile at that description. Eric Butler did cast a tall shadow. “Yes, he’s gone.” She sat down across from Moria. “Mr. Butler is one of the good guys, Moria. He’s very nice and he works hard to help people every day. You don’t have to be afraid of him, okay?”

“Okay.” Moria’s dark eyes looked solemn and unsure. “I wish he could have helped Daddy.”

“Me, too, honey,” Julia said. “Me, too.”

“Will that nice man keep them away?”

Julia’s heart went still at her daughter’s innocent question. “Keep who away, darling?”

“You know, the mean people.”

Wondering if Moria was beginning to remember something, Julia tried not to show the terror holding her heart like a vise. “What mean people, Moria?”

Moria kept right on coloring the picture of flowers in a big basket. “The ones I heard that night Daddy and I played hide and seek. They were shouting.”

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