Margaret Daley - Texas Ranger Showdown

“Neither do I.”

While Caitlyn made her call, Ian reviewed what little he’d discovered when he’d talked with Jane’s two closest friends. Terri and Zoe said they didn’t know where she went after seeing Caitlyn or anything about Jane’s whereabouts the day before. They both thought she’d stayed at the Shephard ranch yesterday, not feeling well. They didn’t know of her dating anyone seriously after Max and she broke up. Ian and the sheriff had met at the ranch Jane’s family owned, next to the Pierce family’s land, and gone through it. The only thing out of place was her missing car. He couldn’t find anyone who’d seen Jane after she left her therapy appointment.

When Caitlyn finished talking with her grandmother, she shook her head. “I’ve changed my mind about staying with Granny. She wants me to and said if I didn’t, then she was going to come to my town house. With all that’s going on, I think we’d be safer next door to you. Did you say anything about me staying at her place?”

“No, I only mentioned it to you earlier.” The sight of her reinforced all the reasons he needed to find the killer. As a child, he’d been her protector, and he would be now. The guy had involved Caitlyn. Why? He didn’t like any of his answers. “I figured I could talk you into it.” He smiled at her.

Her eyebrows shot up. “You did? You’re awfully sure of your powers of persuasion.”

“Well, if that didn’t work, then I was going to let Granny know about that time you broke her favorite lamp.”

She shot him a glare. “Traitor! It was an accident. I knew how much she loved that lamp. Gramps gave it to her that year for her birthday. You know, I have a few incidents that I could blackmail you over.”

He chuckled. “Yep, and that’s the reason I haven’t said a word.”

“Smart man.”

As he turned into the main gate at the family ranch, he slowed the car. After he’d moved back to Longhorn this past weekend, he’d come out to see Sean, but the housekeeper had told him his brother was gone. Today when she’d called, she admitted that Sean had insisted she say that or he would fire her. Alice had been with the family twenty-five years. For Sean to resort to threatening her didn’t bode well for this meeting.

They hadn’t openly fought, but they had drifted apart with the state of Texas between them. Sean and he were only two years apart but, in many ways, they were strangers, even as they grew up, and especially after their mother died.

Ian parked in front of the large two-story, white brick house with four white columns and switched off the engine. But for a long moment, he just sat there, gripping the steering wheel and trying to decide how to deal with his older brother—if he even saw him.

“Worried?” Caitlyn asked.

“Yes. We once had a good relationship, but over the years it’s deteriorated.” He explained what happened when he came to see Sean the past Sunday. “We’ve talked on the phone a couple of times, but when I make the call, it always goes to voice mail.”

“Has it been that way since you left?”

He shook his head. “Mostly since Dad’s passing last year.”

“He could still be grieving.”

“I thought about that, but I think it’s something else. That’s why I’d like you here. If I suggested he see you, he wouldn’t. He’s like Dad was. He won’t admit when he’s not doing well—physically or emotionally.”

“I’ll do what I can.” Caitlyn scanned the pastures and buildings. “It looks like he’s keeping the ranch up.”

“Yes, because the foreman we’ve had for years does a great job. I didn’t have a chance to talk with him on Sunday, but I will soon. He’s probably gone for the day. I don’t see his truck by the barn.” He rarely avoided an issue that needed to be dealt with, and he couldn’t avoid Sean any longer. “Let’s go.”

Before Ian and Caitlyn reached the front door, it opened. Alice, petite with sal-and-pepper hair pulled into a bun, waited in the entrance. A frown carved deep lines into her face.

“Sean’s in his room. I heard a crash followed by sounds like stuff being smashed against the wall and floor. When he didn’t answer my knock, I tried my master key. He must have a new lock. I couldn’t get in. I’m afraid he’s hurt.”

As Ian headed for the staircase, he asked, “How long has he been in his room today?”

“I heard him come home midmorning. I was in the kitchen and didn’t know until I heard a crash from the foyer. He knocked over a table by the staircase.” Alice gestured toward an empty place along the wall. “A leg broke as well as the lamp and the bowl on it.”

Drunk, no doubt, since he’d been drinking yesterday. “Did you see him then?”

“No, but I heard his door slam shut when I came into the front hall.”

On the stairs, Ian pivoted toward the older woman. He didn’t want Sean to blame Alice for him being here. He didn’t know what to expect from his older brother anymore. “We’ll handle this.” As they ascended the steps, he grabbed Caitlyn’s hand. “I won’t take no for an answer. I want you to stay in the hall. If my brother attacks me, call the sheriff.” He passed her his cell phone. “Use my recent-calls list.”

Ian approached the door and knocked. “Sean, it’s Ian. Let me in.”

After a full minute, he repeated his request, waited twenty seconds, then put all his power behind a kick right under the lock. Nothing happened. He did it again. On the third attempt, the door flew open.

As he moved into the trashed room, Caitlyn sidestepped until she could look inside, but she didn’t go in.

It appeared as though no one was in the bedroom. Ian’s heart thumped against his chest, adrenaline pulsing through his body as he scanned the chaos of items smashed into shards on the carpet, all the objects on the tables and dresser swept onto it too. One nightstand had toppled over.

When Ian rounded the king-size bed, he found his brother on the floor, lying on tousled sheets, blood staining the white linen.

THREE

When Ian stiffened next to Sean’s rumpled bed, Caitlyn came to the entrance with the phone in her hand. “What’s wrong?”

“Call 9-1-1.” Ian knelt beside the far side of the bed.

As she punched in the numbers, she hurried into the room. “What happened?”

Ian reached down to check Sean’s pulse and breathing. “He’s unconscious and has a head wound.”

Caitlyn reported the emergency, then returned Ian’s phone. “It looks like someone tore this place apart. Do you think he interrupted a robber?”

Ian carefully rolled Sean onto his back, then glanced around. “Check the window to see if it’s unlocked.”

Caitlyn inspected the locks, then turned back to Ian. “Unless he let them into the room somehow, no one got in here by the window.”

He hovered over his brother, removing a sheet tangled around Sean’s feet. “Maybe he got up, tripped on something and, when he went down, he hit his head against the corner of the nightstand.” He examined the piece of furniture. “There’s blood on it.” When he shifted his attention to Sean again, he leaned down and sniffed the air. “He reeks of alcohol.”

“I’ve never seen him drinking liquor.”

“He hasn’t since he crashed his car into a tree when he was a teenager. He broke an arm and a leg. This is new, or he’s kept it a secret.”

Caitlyn covered the short distance to the trash can and picked up a bottle of whiskey. “Is this what he’s been doing up here in his room?”

“Probably, but last night he left the house and came home this morning. I’d say he was drunk then, since Alice said he knocked over the table in the foyer.”

Sean groaned and tried to curl onto his side.