Cowboy Truth: Cowboy Justice Association #3 (30 page)

“Please have a seat and help yourselves. Juice? Coffee?”

Both Ava and Logan answered affirmatively to the offer of coffee and began filling their plates. Helen sat down with them at the bar and began pouring maple syrup over her pancakes.

“You always were a heartbreaker, Logan. Goodness, you had every female in Corville in love with you.”

As far as Ava could tell, nothing had changed except that she was now added to those ranks.

“Not every one, Helen,” Logan said dryly. “I’m sure there were more than a few who had no interest.”

“Name two,” Helen retorted. “You had to beat them off with a stick if I remember right.”

The back of Logan’s neck had turned a dull red. “Where are Katie and Todd?”

Helen laughed. “Grown. Katie’s a schoolteacher and married with two children. Todd owns an extermination business and is divorced with a son. They weren’t that much younger than you.” She turned to Ava. “Katie and Todd are my children from my first marriage. They worshipped the ground Logan walked on. He was older and therefore idol-worthy.”

“I remember,” Logan said slowly, his gaze far away. “Katie always wanted to be a teacher.”

“She did,” Helen agreed. “I also have two more children from my second marriage. But they’re grown as well. Two fine girls.”

They ate in silence for a few minutes, no one wanting to rock the tenuous boat they were on. Helen stood up and went to the coffee pot, refilling their mugs. Her expression closed, her lips pressed together. The smiling woman who had met them at the door was suddenly filled with tension.

“Has Sheriff Jesse retired yet?”

Logan nodded. “He’s passed on, actually. I’m sheriff of Corville now.”

If Ava wasn’t mistaken, Helen took a deep breath of relief. Her entire body language seemed to change back, becoming more relaxed.

“May God have mercy on his soul.” Helen returned the pot to the warmer. “He was a hard man.”

“Bill Bryson is dead also. Shot in the head a few weeks ago.” Logan appeared to be watching Helen’s reaction closely. She didn’t disappoint. Clutching the counter, her face went white with shock.

“Bill is dead?” She sat carefully on the chair. “May God have mercy on his soul as well.”

Logan put down his fork and pushed his plate away. The pleasantries were done. His jaw was tight and clearly he was a man on a mission. “I need to know the truth, Helen. I need to know what happened. I’ve learned some but it only created more questions. I hope you can answer them.”

Helen nodded and wrapped her hands around her coffee cup. “I’ll tell you what I know and what I think. Those are two separate things. I can’t prove any of it. Not really.”

“I might be able to,” Logan replied. “Tell me about Bill and my mother. I know he’s my father.”

Helen’s eyes shone with tears. “Your mother never wanted you to know, Logan. I don’t know how many times Bill would show up at the apartment and try and convince your mother to tell you. I lost count. But she never would, and it only got worse as you grew up. Bill could see you were head and shoulders above his other sons. He blamed Margaret but it was him that raised them to simply be yes-men. He hated them in his way, and admired what you were becoming. He wanted it, coveted it, so he tried bullying your mother. She wasn’t afraid of him and always sent him away. In the end it may have been a fatal mistake.”

“Was that what was in your statement to the sheriff?” Ava asked. “Something about Bill?”

Helen’s lip curled in distaste. “Frank Jesse was bought and paid for by Bill Bryson. Bill was the one that got him the job and then continued to keep him on the payroll. I made a statement the day your mother disappeared, Logan. Like any good friend would do. I always assume Frank burned it. It certainly didn’t do any good. He declared your mother’s disappearance a missing person’s case.” She shook her head. “She never in a million years would have left you willingly. Never. You were the light of her life. She loved you more than anything in the world. Never doubt that.”

Logan’s body next to hers had gone stiff. She could feel the emotional tension radiating from him and she placed her hand on his thigh trying to soothe him just a little. He was so focused on Helen Ava’s gesture didn’t even seem to register.

“She left me.” Logan’s voice was flat, daring this woman to argue with him.

“No.” Helen shook her head. “I don’t believe that and neither should you. She never would have left you voluntarily.”

“Maybe you could tell us what your statement contained? It had been redacted so we couldn’t tell what you’d said.” Ava asked gently.

Helen took a sip of her coffee before beginning. “It was a Friday. Logan, Katie, and Todd were at school. Both Jackie and I worked at the local diner waiting tables. We had so much in common,” Helen explained. “We were both divorced, single mothers living paycheck to paycheck. Jackie got me the job at the diner and it was a good one. I made good tips there and with my child support we did okay.”

“Anyway, we both had worked the lunch shift but were back home before the kids got out of school. Bill Bryson came by that day. It wasn’t the first time. The walls were thin and I could hear them arguing. Bill wanted to tell Logan and Jackie wouldn’t hear of it. She considered Bill to be a mistake she’d made when she and John were having problems. But, she always considered John to be your real father. He’d been there for you when you were young.”

“He left too,” Logan replied bitterly. “I don’t seem to inspire parental devotion.”

Helen straightened in her chair, her eyes stormy. “I should smack your face for that, Logan Wright. Your mother couldn’t have been more devoted to you. As for John, well, he fell in love with another woman. And yes, he left.” Helen shook her finger at Logan. “But it had nothing to do with you. That was on Jackie. She had terrible taste in men. Just awful. Give her a room of ninety-nine good men and one bad apple, and she’d find the rotten one. She tried to raise you to be a better man than Bill was.”

Logan scraped his fingers through his hair, an exasperated look on his face. “I’m sorry, but I feel like I’ve been in the dark most of my life. I think I have a reason to be angry about it.”

“You do, but you can’t let it ruin your life. You can’t let Bill Bryson win,” Helen urged.

“What else happened that day?” Ava asked, trying to move the conversation back to where it had started. Things could easily escalate if they weren’t careful.

“The arguing was loud and it seemed to go on forever. I finally couldn’t take it anymore and pounded on the door to see if Jackie was alright. She opened the door and Bill was there, his face red with anger. She assured me everything was okay and she would call me if she needed anything. That was the last time I saw her.” Helen’s voice caught. “It did get quiet. When you came home, Logan, she wasn’t there so you checked at our apartment. Of course she wasn’t with me. To this day I think Bill Bryson did something to her. Lured her away and hurt her in some way. I tried to tell Frank Jesse but he was only concerned with covering up for Bill.”

The older woman’s tone was filled with anger. She’d had seventeen years to think about what had happened that day and it was clear to see it still haunted her.

Logan swallowed and he seemed to sway with the shock of what he’d heard. She squeezed his thigh and he turned to look at her, his brilliant blue eyes dull with pain. There wasn’t much she could say to take away the hurt there.

He turned back to Helen. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

This time tears did spill over. “I wanted to but you were so young to bear that burden. Frank made it clear to me that if I pushed the issue he would make it his mission to ruin my life. He hinted I could lose my job, or worse, end up in jail on some trumped up charge. I would have lost my kids. I couldn’t take that chance. Please try to understand,” Helen pleaded. “I tried to care for you when Jackie disappeared. I did my best, and then you went into the Army. I knew you’d be safe there, away from Frank and Bill.”

“Frank sent me there,” Logan said, clearly shaken. His face was ashen and he practically vibrated with tension.

“Yes,” Helen agreed. “He wanted you out of the way where you wouldn’t ask questions. His promise of a deputy job was just to get you under his thumb.”

Logan stood and walked over to the sliding glass doors that overlooked the backyard. “We think Bill Bryson killed Margaret Bryson, and that George killed Bill.”

“I wish I could say I was surprised but the whole town suspected Bill abused Margaret. She would disappear for days and then when we would see her again, her makeup was applied with a heavy hand. She was terrified of Bill and would jump whenever he came into a room. I didn’t know her well but she seemed like she was afraid of her own shadow. As for George, I doubt he’d have the backbone to kill anyone, honestly. He was weak and cowardly. His only mission in life was to follow Bill around like a puppy.”

“Did George know about what Bill did?” Ava asked.

“I expect he did.” Helen shrugged. “He was with Bill once when he visited Jackie.”

“Were you ever going to tell me my mother didn’t abandon me?” Ava could hear the tightly leashed fury in Logan’s tone. His back was ramrod straight. Every line of body spoke of a man holding onto his control by a thread.

“I told you every day,” Helen exclaimed. “All the time. I always told you that your mother never would have left you, Logan.”

Logan whirled around his expression full of anguish. “Did he kill her, Helen? If he did, where is she? Where’s my mother’s body?”

Helen looked sick to her stomach. “I do, indeed, believe that Bill is the reason your mother disappeared. As for where she might be, I don’t know. They did have a meeting place out by the lake. He may have taken her there. I just don’t know.”

It was surreal to hear them talking about the location of Jackie Wright’s body. Logan’s chest was rising and falling rapidly and Helen didn’t look much better. She’d grabbed a tissue and was dabbing at her eyes. This journey into the past had been painful for all involved.

“We need to go.” Logan paced the kitchen liked a caged lion. “I’ll call you when I find something out.”

Helen placed her hand on his arm, a pleading expression on her face. “I don’t want to lose you this time. When I left town at Frank’s urging, I lost track of you. I don’t want that to happen again.”

“It won’t.” Logan shook his head, his features softening. “I promise I’ll keep in touch. I want to hear about everything that’s happened in the last seventeen years.”

“Me too,” Helen agreed softly. “I can see you’ve grown into such a fine man. Jackie would be proud.”

A spasm of pain crossed Logan’s face. “I hope so. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

Ava felt her own throat close up with emotion. The veneer of cool calmness that Logan had cultivated for years had been stripped away leaving him raw and exposed. She wanted to heal the wounds that had been festering too long but didn’t even know where to begin. How did you heal a heart and soul that had been battered and then abandoned?

Logan hugged Helen and moved toward the door. Ava quickly said her goodbyes and followed him to the truck. It had all come to a head and something had to give. Soon.

Chapter Twenty-Three

L
ogan simply hadn’t been able to take it any longer. Not being able to stand the sympathetic expression on Ava’s face, he’d headed out for a walk after he’d dropped her at the cabin. He wasn’t fit company for anyone at the moment.

She’d tried to comfort him but he wasn’t ready for a sympathetic hand on his forehead yet. He needed to move, to breathe. He needed space around him to be able to make sense of all the secrets and truths that had been laid before him these last several days.

He walked for a long time, pushing his body hard, the brisk mountain air clearing not only his lungs but his head. By the time he reached a ridge that overlooked an expansive valley, he was exhausted and sweaty. But he wasn’t just tired from physical exertion, he was tired of being emotionally pummeled at every turn.

He wasn’t a goddamn victim, had always railed against that. He hated the pussy whining of those that felt their childhood shaped their entire life. Now here he was faced with the decision to let the past define his future or reject the baggage that people had burdened him with. It simply wasn’t in his nature to look backwards although he was being forced to at the moment. The present was what truly mattered.