Stuck Together (Trouble in Texas Book #3) (11 page)

“You can come up now.” Melissa went back in.

Vince climbed the stairs and went to Mother’s room and knocked on the door.

“Come in,” Melissa said.

Vince went in to find Mother in her nightgown, her hair down and braided. Melissa might pass as a lady’s maid, but to Vince it seemed like someone putting a child to bed.

“I’ve come to say good-night, Mother.”

Mother looked nervously around the room. “Aren’t we leaving, Julius? Why would we sleep in this place?”

Vince just didn’t know how to handle this. Was he to
pretend to be his father? Did he have to spend the rest of his life being taken for Julius Yates? That was Vince’s own idea of hell. He didn’t know what was best for Mother, so he just tried to be honest.

“It’s me, Mother. It’s Vince. Your son Vince. This is my house. You’re staying with me now, and this is your new home.” Bought and paid for by Father. And Vince had found such a generous amount of gold coins that Judas Iscariot would have been green with envy.

Mother’s delicate brows lowered. “Vince? My son Vince?” She wrung her hands together in agitation. Her voice rose. “Julius, what do you mean by that?”

Vince exchanged a glance with Melissa, who stood quietly beside Mother. Melissa turned to her charge. “It’s time to get to bed now, Virginia Belle. It’s been a very long day. You must be exhausted.”

“Well, bless your heart, Missy.” Mother spoke to Melissa as if she’d never been worried by Vince, as if he weren’t in fact still in the room. “You are such a sweet thing. Yes, I am so tired. I believe I will turn in.”

“Good night.” Vince stifled the urge to add
Mother
. He needed to give this time. He’d find his way through this mess somehow. He’d bought a lot of books. He’d read them all to find out how to get Mother to come to her senses.

Melissa had been dealing with this for a while. He needed to talk to her, see what advice she had.

“Good night, Julius dear.” Mother reclined.

“I’ll just sit with you awhile.” Melissa drew the covers up and tucked Mother in as gently as she would a child. Melissa looked at Vince and whispered, “I’ll stay until she’s asleep, and make sure the door is secure when I leave.”

Nodding, Vince stepped back out and pulled the door shut, wondering how he was going to manage. Wondering why it felt so wrong to lock Mother in a room overnight.

He’d been assigned the room to the west of Mother’s. Melissa was on the east. They had her surrounded. He went in and got ready for bed.

Then he lay awake, so mixed up he was afraid his thoughts would churn all night. But his exhaustion caught up with him and he was asleep in minutes.

And dreaming of becoming his father.

Of being hunted by a pack of slavering hounds.

Of kissing a blue-eyed picketer.

Two of those dreams were nightmares. The last one was bliss. And that might be the biggest nightmare of all.

Vince was in the middle of the sweetest dream of his life when the pounding started. He jerked awake.

“Vince, get out here!”

Vince was on his feet, his pants on, dragging his shirt on before Luke’s fist hit the door for the fifth time, and his friend was pounding hard, so that was saying something.

“What? Is Mother missing?” That was all Vince could think of. Well, that and Tina Cahill, but unless it was Jonas, come to shoot Vince for kissing his sister, there was no reason for door pounding.

Luke stood, chest heaving, furious. “Get dressed and get out here. This is business for the town sheriff.”

Vince had forgotten he had that job. “I’m coming.”

The door next to Vince’s rattled. “Julius, why is this door locked?”

Mother’s sweet Southern voice sounded frightened. Melissa came out wrapped in a dressing gown. She took one look at Luke, squeaked, and darted back into her room.

“I’ll mind your mother, Vince,” Melissa called from her room. “Can you and your friend please leave? I’m
not decent and I need to see to her. I dare not wait until I get dressed.”

Mother shook the door. “Someone help me!” Her voice broke, and through tears she cried, “Someone get me out of here.”

Vince would rather take a beating than listen to his mother cry. Nope, Melissa didn’t dare wait. “Yes, we’re going.”

“Sorry, miss,” Luke said. “I’ll wait outside.” He sped down the stairs.

Feeling like a coward, Vince darted into his room. He grabbed his boots and gun and coat and anything else he thought he might need, while Mother wept and Melissa fumbled with the key to Mother’s door.

Vince was right behind Luke. He stopped at the front door to pull on his boots, then hollered up to Melissa, “The house will be empty now. Do you need help? I could send Dare over.”

“No, just go. I’ll be fine on my own.”

“Glynna’s going to send breakfast over, so you don’t need to go out.” With that, Vince stepped outside and faced his furious friend. Vince did a quick search of his brain and knew that, though Luke had a sister, she lived far away in Colorado and was married, and Vince hadn’t done a thing to offend her.

“Dare’s waiting at his house.”

Vince stopped short. “I’ve got to see to Lana. Stoke the fire, get her some breakfast.”

“Dare already did both of those. He filled me in on your ma and your move to Asa’s. Dare’s got coffee brewing at his place.” Luke strode away, not waiting for Vince to say yes, no, or maybe.

“What’s going on?” Vince buttoned up his shirt while he walked and hooked on his gun belt. He didn’t bother pulling on his coat, even though the morning air was sharp. They’d be inside again about the time he got it on. He’d lace up his boots once he could quit jogging to keep up with Luke.

“I’m only telling this one time.” Luke picked up the pace and jerked Dare’s door open without knocking. Glynna wasn’t there, nor were her children. No Tina.

They were all busy running the diner. No one to help Melissa with Mother.

“Did you bring your wife along?” Ruthy didn’t like being left behind.

“She’s in the diner. I hope she’s not helping cook. We didn’t get much sleep the last two nights, and I don’t like seeing her get worn out in her condition.”

“Glynna convinced Ruthy to go abovestairs at the diner.” Dare gestured them in, then went into his kitchen. “Come on back. I’ve got coffee ready.”

Jonas was already there.

Dare shoved a cup into Luke’s hands. “Ruthy hasn’t come back down. Glynna checked on her and she’s asleep. Ruthy must’ve been plumb tuckered out.”

“Thanks.” Luke settled into a chair. “Glad to hear Ruthy’s resting. Doubt it’ll last long.”

Dare poured coffee, then handed a tin cup to Vince. “I got Lana’s breakfast, too.”

“Thanks, Dare.” Vince took a long sip of the coffee, hoping it would get his brain started.

“Tell us what happened, Luke.” Vince set his cup aside and crouched to tie his boots.

Dare paced. Jonas sat down and held his cup in two hands, drawing the heat from it.

Luke tipped his chair onto its back legs. “Someone took a shot at me two nights ago.”

Vince finished with his boots, rose from his crouch, retrieved his coffee, and took up a position by the door. Mostly there wasn’t a thing to watch for. Broken Wheel had gotten purely peaceable lately, not counting mothers who were tetched in the head and runaway fathers and unexpected full-grown sisters and pretty little spitfire neighbors.

But there hadn’t been much shootin’ trouble for quite a while. Until now. Vince looked at Luke. The man looked as grim as the Reaper.

Not purely peaceable anymore.

“Who was it?” Dare quit pacing to pay attention, though he never stood still for long.

“One of my hired men said he saw an Indian,” Luke began.

The coffee steamed in Vince’s cup, but he felt so cold that none of the warmth reached his insides. He knew Luke considered some of the Kiowa people as personal friends, and he’d never had much trouble with them. No one wanted that to change.

“He might be tellin’ the truth,” Luke continued, “but he has reason to lie, too. Whoever did it, those gunshots could’ve hit Ruthy. They came within inches of hitting me and Dodger. I’ve got to get to the bottom of it and quick. I spent yesterday tracking, figured I could get to the truth myself, but now I’m asking for help.”

“We’ll help.” As he said it, Vince thought of Mother.
How could he help Luke when his life was chock-full of problems already?

Luke had probably barely heard that Vince’s life had gotten so complicated, and he wasn’t paying much attention right now. Luke surged to his feet, strode out of the room, and returned with a burlap bag. The bag made a sharp clinking sound.

“After my cowhand told me he saw an Indian, I went tracking. I found what might be a boot track in one spot. It’s rocky, and not much sign is left of a man passing through on foot, even less if that man was wearing moccasins. I just can’t be sure of what I saw. There was definitely someone out there, but then I knew that from the bullets. What trail I could pick up led me to a small canyon where I found this.” Luke upended the bag, dumped its contents onto the floor. Whiskey bottles tumbled out. Too many to count at a glance.

Jonas set his coffee cup down on the table and leaned forward to take a look.

Frowning, Vince stared at the bottles. “Some are caked with old dirt. Whoever dropped them out there has been drinking for a while.”

“Yep, and if it’s one of my men, he’s been drinking steady while he’s working my cattle and riding my horses. He’s going around armed doing dangerous chores, and he’s supposed to be ready for trouble.”

“No man who’s a steady drinker can say he’s thinking right.” Dare stopped pacing and crouched down beside the bottles. He picked them up and studied them.

“Which might explain a gun going off accidentally, or a man taking a shot at a house without considering why that
was a mighty bad idea.” Luke sat back down and took a long swallow of his coffee.

It occurred to Vince that a lawman ought to be studying the evidence, so he left his position by the door and came up to look at the bottles.

Vince knew his friend Luke real well. He took a deep breath, thinking to learn all he could from a man who could read sign like the written word.

At that moment the door swung open in the other room, and Janny, Dare’s eight-year-old stepdaughter, came running in. She skidded to a stop in the kitchen doorway. “I took breakfast over to Missy and Vince’s ma. There’s trouble. Not serious, but Missy asked if someone could come lend a hand.”

Vince wheeled to head out.

“Wait.” Jonas’s voice stopped Vince in his tracks.

Vince turned impatiently and saw those bottles again. He needed to go to his mother. He needed to help his friend.

“I’ll go.” Jonas rose from the table and went for the back door, so Vince didn’t even have to get out of the way. “Luke’s trouble is a job for a lawman. I can be of more help with your ma, Vince. I’ll come a-runnin’ if it’s something I can’t handle.”

The door opened and closed so fast that Vince didn’t have time to stop Jonas. Caring for Mother was Vince’s responsibility. But for now, Vince turned back to Luke.

“Dare said your ma came to Texas, Vince, and that she’s not well. I’m sorry to bother you right now while she’s visiting. I don’t think this can wait, but I’ll understand if you don’t—”

“Waiting won’t help. Mother’s not here for a visit; she’s
here to stay. I’ll help unless Jonas comes for me. But he oughta be able to do whatever Melissa needs.”

“Who’s Melissa?” Luke paused from scowling at the bottles.

“She’s my sister.”

“You have a sister?”

“She’s an adult woman, and the first I ever heard of her was two days ago. My father had a child he kept hidden, but he brought her along on his trip to see me.”

“Your pa’s here, too?”

“Nope, he’s long gone now. He dropped Mother and Melissa off, waited until we weren’t looking and took off.” Vince decided maybe Luke didn’t want to think about his own problems, so he was questioning Vince about his. He explained quickly what had happened.

Luke immediately jumped in to offer his help. “Ruthy and I can come in and see to your ma if you need us. All you’ve gotta do is ask. I won’t soon forget you took a bullet for me fighting to get my ranch back.”

“All I remember about that fight is I let myself get bushwhacked and wasn’t there to help you in the final fight.”

Luke gave a humorless laugh. “Not surprised you’d see getting shot as a failure to your friends. You ask a lot of yourself, Vince. Just remember I’d be proud to help out, and you know Ruthy. She’ll probably be in here organizing things. I doubt I can stop her.” Luke smiled, but the smile didn’t last. “She might be safer in town until I get to the bottom of who’s behind this shooting out at my place.”

That turned Vince’s attention back to why Luke had
come. Vince could be his usual calm-in-the-face-of-trouble self when it was someone else with the problem.

“It’s unlikely that whiskey came from somewhere other than here in Broken Wheel.” Vince’s head cleared from his family woes as he thought about how to track down whoever had fired the shots at Luke’s place.

“Duffy sells it,” Luke said. “That’s the only place in town you can get a drink.”

“It’s gotta have come from his saloon.” Vince straightened and set his empty coffee cup down on Dare’s kitchen table with a sharp click. “Let’s go talk to Duffy. We’ll get a list of every man who buys whiskey by the bottle. Then we’ll have a long talk with each of them.”

“Shouldn’t take long,” Dare said. “It might not even be a list. Not too many hombres around here who buy this much whiskey. They’re a lot more likely to have a drink or two in the saloon and have done with it.”

Vince gave a nod at the empty bottles. “Bag ’em up and bring ’em along.”

Glass clinked as Luke put the bottles back in the sack.

“Duffy stays at the diner as long as possible,” Vince said, leading the way out of Dare’s house, “but he oughta be done with breakfast by now and be alone. Not much business at the saloon in the morning hours. I’d as soon not have this talk in front of a crowd, especially if someone there’s got something to hide.”

The three of them trooped out of the house and went around the row of buildings. That row on the east side of Main Street had the diner at the far south end, an empty shop, the general store, and Duffy’s Tavern. There was a matching row of buildings straight across on the west side
that had five small buildings with shared walls, except for a thin alley midway down the row. An empty building anchored the north side. Then came the jailhouse, two more empty buildings separated by an alley, then Vince’s law office. There was a small bedroom upstairs, which had been his home in the months since he’d come to town to back Luke in his fight.

Now he had possession of the law office and the former boardinghouse. If you added in that he was the sheriff with the only set of keys to the jail, Vince figured he was the biggest landholder in town. Not sayin’ much.

Those buildings were about all Broken Wheel amounted to. The blacksmith had a big barn on the north end of town, set at an angle. The burned remnants of Dare’s old house sat straight across from the smithy.

There were scattered buildings behind the row of businesses on the east side, including the church, Jonas’s house, Dare’s, the house Duffy and Griss shared, and about a dozen others. The men who lived in them were trappers and hunters mostly, those who’d found a reason to live way out in the middle of nowhere.

Broken Wheel was in Indian Territory. There was almost no law here. Vince being sheriff for no pay and against his will was proof of that. And the folks who came and stayed were a scruffy, disreputable lot—barely civilized, most of them. Vince liked to think that his Regulator friends were the exception, but it sounded like Luke’s father was an old curmudgeon who fit in pretty well in this wild land. And because his pa had liked it here, Luke ended up out here, and that had brought Vince and his friends.

Indian Territory . . . had one of Luke’s hands really seen one of the native folks running from the shooting?