Must Be Doin' Somethin' Right [The Chisholms of Texas 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) (12 page)

Frank was seventy years old and worked for the Ranch for more than fifty years. Five years ago, Alex Chisholm, Dillon’s father, talked Frank into a job as general handyman around the Ranch. Frank worked as a hand in the cattle operation for nearly forty-five years but was simply getting too old to keep working in that capacity and stay safe. Frank hadn’t wanted to retire, so they created a job for him that would let him keep his pride intact but not be so hard on his aging body.

The older man had access to most of the buildings that needed a security keycard to get into them. He was trusted implicitly and handled the janitorial work for those buildings, including the vet clinic as well as corporate headquarters. When Rio found out that Frank’s keycard was used to enter the vet office, he called him in to find out what was going on. Frank denied having used his keycard to enter the vet office since the day before yesterday. He was completely befuddled. He had his keycard on him and couldn’t remember any time today that it wasn’t in his possession.

“Did you take it off today for any reason?” Dillon and Rio had already talked about the possibility of Frank’s involvement. Both were sure that Frank wasn’t the secret admirer and knew that someone else on the Ranch had gotten hold of his keycard and used it to deliver the rose.

“No. I don’t take it off until I get home at night. Don’t see how anybody could have lifted if off me without me knowing.” Dillon could tell that Frank was getting distressed. He obviously didn’t like the fact that someone used his keycard to get into a restricted area.

“Where were you at eleven seventeen this morning, Frank? That’s when your keycard was used to get into the vet offices.” Rio had evidently decided not to pussyfoot around anymore.

“Well, let’s see. You know I get a two-hour break for lunch. I normally take it from eleven to one. I sit on the porch at the bunkhouse in one of the rockers.” Looking like he didn’t want to admit what he was about to say, he said, “Sometimes I drift off for a little while when I’m sitting there. Nobody’s usually around at that time and it’s pretty quiet. Chow time, ya know?”

Rio had asked more questions, but Frank seemed to have no idea who could have gotten hold of his keycard and returned it to him without his knowing. Finally, after another hour of questioning, Rio and Dillon let Frank go back to work, admonishing the old-timer to keep his keycard in his pocket from now on.

“I don’t like this.” Rio was pacing in his office at CRE headquarters. “I don’t like the fact that someone stole Frank’s keycard to get into a secure building, even if it was for something as innocuous as a gift from a secret admirer. Add to that the phone calls she’s been receiving, and it sounds like a clusterfuck in the making. Whoever is making these phone calls knows her, and your, movements. Close enough to know when you aren’t with her. He’s watching her, or you. That’s dangerously close to stalking.”

“Fuck. I was hoping you wouldn’t say that.”

“Well. It’s just my gut saying that. I don’t have a lot of experience in dealing with stalkers. In the teams, we
are
the stalkers. I need to contact Decker. We need to know what to expect if this guy is stalking Abby. Maybe he’ll have some ideas about how we can insulate her better so this guy can’t get to her. Does she have a security system at her apartment in town?”

“No, nothing like that. She has a lock and a dead bolt. That’s it.” Dillon didn’t like the feeling that this situation was spiraling out of his control. He needed to be in control, dammit. He needed to keep her safe. She was his woman. It was his responsibility.

“She’ll move in with me here at the Ranch. You and your team can’t watch out for her in town. I want her here where she’ll be safer.” Dillon knew it wasn’t going to be easy to talk Abby into moving in with him because of a possible stalker, but he couldn’t think of another way to keep her safe.

“What’s
she
going to say about that,
amigo
? I heard about the tussle you two had in the barn this morning. Still got your balls?” Rio asked with a smile.

“Barely. It was a close thing, but I managed to apologize my way out of it.”

“Let me talk to the sheriff. Get some information in general about stalkers and things Abby can do to protect herself. I’ll do it now and I’ll call you this afternoon when I get more information.” Rio was already dialing his phone when Dillon let himself out of Rio’s office and headed back to the clinic offices. When he got back to the vet clinic, Dillon decided to do an inventory on the meds they had on hand just to make sure the break-in didn’t have a more sinister meaning.

Half an hour later, Dillon was on the phone with Rio. “I did an inventory of the drugs we have on hand here, and four to six doses of ketamine are missing.”

“What’s that used for?”

“It’s a sedative. Sometimes we need to sedate an animal while we’re treating it. It’s a psychotropic drug. I’m required by law to report that we’ve got some missing.”

“Can it be used on people?”

“Yes. It has some bad side effects for people. Hallucinations, increased blood pressure, that sort of thing. Depending on the dosage, the person can be anywhere from incapacitated to fully unconscious.”

“Damn. This thing is getting more serious all the time. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Dillon could hear the frustration in his friend’s voice. Rio didn’t like the fact that someone had gotten past his security measures today. He would be doubly vigilant until they caught whoever had done this.

“I think so. Whoever this guy is, he’s getting bold. He might be planning to drug her for some purpose, and I don’t like to think of what that might be.” Dillon was angry, too. He didn’t like the idea of someone out to hurt the woman he loved.

“Xander and I will be down in a few minutes. I need to see what this ketamine looks like, how it’s packaged, that sort of thing.”

“See you in a few, then.” Dillon rang off and waited for Rio and Xander to show up.

“Where’s Abby?” From what Dillon could see, Rio was in full mission mode when he and Xander arrived at the vet offices. Rio would want as much information as possible. According to Rio, missions failed or succeeded on intel. “I thought she might be here. I’d like to talk to her about what’s been going on. See if she can think of anybody that would want to do this to her. Has she dated anyone but you since she came to Deseo?”

“No, she didn’t date, but she danced a lot on Friday nights with quite a few men before we started seeing each other. You think this guy could be one of those men?” Dillon was more thankful every day that he’d kept her too busy to date other men. He was already jealous as hell when men still asked her to dance at Chaps & Spurs.

“Anything is possible. When exactly did y’all start dating? It might help if we constructed a time line. You’ve been together a while now. We need to know when the calls started in order to see if there was some trigger that brought this on.” Rio walked over to the med room’s door and looked around for signs of tampering.

“By the way, I heard about this morning. Do you still have your balls? I can’t imagine Abby putting up with that shit.” Changing the subject, Xander looked at him sardonically.

“Barely, bro. I had some major groveling to do, and I had to promise to show everyone on the Ranch that I know she can do the job by being in the barn at 5:00 p.m., staying out of her way, and letting her finish Diablo’s vaccinations. Man, she can be tough.”

“No surprise to you there, is it? I’ve heard about the tussles you two got into when she was an intern. She doesn’t take any shit from you.” Xander looked closely at his brother. “She’s good for you. Maybe she can get that stick out of your ass and get you to ease up a little.”

“Fuck you, Xander. Why does everyone think I’m so inflexible?” Dillon wasn’t really mad at Xander. How could he be? Everything Xander said was the truth. He just hadn’t realized he’d been so transparent about his wants and needs. He hadn’t realized that what he wanted in the bedroom had bled over into other areas of his life. He’d led a pretty vanilla life since returning to Deseo. Most of the women he had dated and fucked would have run away if he had shown his full dominant tendencies in bed.

“You have a tendency to take over, and you know that. Now, I hear tell some women like that attitude in the bedroom and, if they’re a true submissive, they may let you get away with it in other areas of their lives. I don’t think Abby Barnes is one of those. When you push too hard, she’s gonna push back. The question is, what are you gonna do when she does?”

“Let her, I guess. She says she’s ‘educating’ me. I must have a lot to learn. Should be fun letting her. Can’t really see the downside unless she takes off on me. I don’t see that happening. Sure, I like to get my way, but she’d never let me get away with any crap anywhere but in bed. Shit! I can’t believe I just told you that. She’d knock me into next Sunday if she knew I’d shared that.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not telling anyone. Besides, I think the rest of the family and your friends already know what you like. It wouldn’t be an earth-shattering revelation to them. You’re thirty-one years old and have lived at the Ranch ever since you finished vet school. You’ve dated your share of women in town. I’m sure we’ve all heard whispers. You haven’t been completely vanilla in your past relationships, have you?” asked Rio.

“Why am I even talking about this to you two?” Dillon didn’t know how his brother had gotten him to talk so much about something he considered private and off-limits, let alone in front of an old friend like Rio. His friend didn’t usually talk this much and he didn’t butt into other people’s private lives.

“I need to ask you some things you’re not going to like but I need to find out as much as possible. When I talked to Decker earlier, he told me the prime suspect in a stalking case is usually the boyfriend, or former boyfriend, of the victim. Abby’s getting these calls when you aren’t with her. Because she doesn’t remember all of the times of the phone calls, you don’t have a solid alibi for all of them. You two seem to fight a lot. Could be you’re trying to scare her into running to you or something like that? I’ve got to check all the bases. For what it’s worth, neither Decker nor I think it’s you, but I told him I’d question you about your relationship with Abby.”

“What the fuck? You think I’m doing this to Abby? We’re friends. I thought you knew me better than to think I’d hurt a woman.” Dillon was trying not to get pissed. On the one hand, he understood why his chief of security would be asking him these questions. On the other, he was trying not to take offense at his friend’s questioning.

“Abby hasn’t been hurt—yet. So far it’s just been used to scare her. Is there some reason you’d want her to be frightened? Something you get out of the deal that you wouldn’t otherwise?” Rio didn’t let any feelings show in his face. Dillon suddenly realized how hard this must be for his old friend.

“Fuck. I suppose there is. I’ve been trying to get Abby to move out here with me since we started seeing each other. I was planning on asking her again to move in with everything happening and the fact that this pussy doesn’t call when she’s with me. Thought it might encourage him to go find someone else to play with.”

“I’m not surprised. It makes sense for her to move here. I can protect her better if she’s living on the Ranch. However, according to Decker, that may make the stalker bolder. It may piss him off enough that he starts to do other things. More threatening things. You need to know this if you’re going to try to get her to move in with you. Of course, if he gets bolder, he might make a mistake that will lead us right to him. Just remember he probably has the stolen ketamine.”

“I still think the safest place for her is on the Ranch. My place has a security system and we have your team to watch out for her. She’ll have to start taking some precautions, but she would anyway with this threat over her. I’ll talk to her again and see what she says. I’ll let you know.”

“Let me and Decker know about any new phone calls or other suspicious things that happen. I don’t think this guy’s done with Abby. I think this is just the beginning. I’m going back to the office to check on things. I’m thinking about putting security cameras on the doors of some of the more important offices on the Ranch. Because of the drugs you store, this office would be one of them. Do either of you have a problem with that?”

“Do it,” said Xander succinctly.

“Not at all. I wish we’d had one earlier today. Maybe we’d know who this asshole is by now.” Dillon was onboard with any security measure Rio wanted to put in place if it would help keep Abby safe.

“Okay. I’ll check back with you soon. Take it easy and good luck with getting her to move in with you. The sooner the better as far as I can see. We’ll get started installing the cameras tomorrow.”

Dillon watched his friend and chief of security head out of the building. He immediately began to plan just what he’d say to Abby to get her to move in with him. It wasn’t going to be easy. He looked at his watch. Shit, it was almost five o’clock, and he promised Abby he’d be down at the horse barn as a show of support while she gave Diablo the last of his vaccinations. He headed out to the barn. Xander moved to follow.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked Xander in a surly tone.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Xander laughed. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

“Asshole.”

* * * *

Saturday night Abby was sitting on Dillon’s couch with Dillon’s head resting in her lap. They were talking and relaxing. There was some reality show on television but neither was really watching it.

“Baby, I want you to move in with me here at the Ranch.” They had been snuggling on the black leather couch watching some television after having had a great dinner of Chinese takeout from Ming’s Dynasty in Deseo. They delivered out to the Ranch for a small fee. He’d been distracted since he’d come to the horse barn on Friday afternoon to demonstrate his confidence in her, and now she knew why.

“I’m not ready for that yet, Dillon. Shit, we haven’t even been dating for two months yet.”