You're Not Safe (Texas Rangers) (25 page)

Turning, he picked the balled letter off the floor and read it again.

 

He’d worked for that company for eight years. He’d brought in more business than many of the partners. He was a goddamned rising star. And because some asshole couldn’t add numbers, he was being accused of theft.

He hadn’t stolen a dime. Not a red cent. And he’d fight these charges as long as he had breath in his body.

Pressing the cup to his throbbing temple he closed his eyes. He’d been fired. Was being sued. And his fi-ancée had returned the ring. Even his old man wasn’t speaking to him.

Fuck.

Life was crushing him to death.

He couldn’t go on like this.

But he would. He would find a way.

 

 

Bragg left Jennifer’s annoyed. He wasn’t sure if he was irritated because she’d been difficult or her warning about Greer had struck a nerve. Like it or not, Greer had struck a nerve. Not good.

As he pushed through the doors of Ranger headquarters and made his way to his office, he put a call in to Winchester. The call landed in voice mail, so he left a message requesting he find Michael Sycamore. As he gave what details he had on the man, he tossed his hat aside and then ended the call. He shrugged off his coat before sitting behind his desk and opening Greer’s accident file Deputy Eric Howell had given him.

Bragg opened the file and studied the photos of the mangled car. He cringed and wondered how Greer could have survived the accident.

This accident didn’t relate to the cases on his desk. It was over a dozen years old. And yet it had been the catalyst for the events that drove Greer to Shady Grove and for someone to kill two people in Greer’s pod.

David Edwards had been clear he didn’t like Greer’s association with his brother. But it was Sydney Dowd’s brother, Rick, who’d confronted her. Rude and pushy didn’t necessarily make him a killer, but he was the lone person now linking the present to the past. And the man had hassled Greer, which in his book was reason enough to pay the man a visit.

It didn’t take much checking to discover Dowd now worked as a vet and ran a large animal clinic ten miles outside of Austin. Dowd’s practice was successful and enjoyed a solid reputation. His clinic cared for many of the area’s most elite thoroughbreds.

Bragg drove west until concrete transformed to rolling green hills. He followed directions through a couple of small towns until he found the white building and barn at the edge of town.

The freshly painted building had a bright bold welcoming sign. He parked in the small gravel parking lot and moved down the sidewalk to the main door. Inside he found a receptionist, a young girl about fifteen years old. Dark hair swept up into a thick ponytail accentuated wide brown eyes and high cheekbones.

She grinned up at him. “How may I help you?”

He softened his expression, which on a good day could pass for a scowl. “I’m looking for Dr. Dowd.”

Bright eyes flickered with recognition. “That’s my dad. You have an animal that needs tending?”

“No, ma’am. I’m with the Rangers and have a couple of questions.”

“Is it a question I might be able to answer? I’ve been working here since May.”

“I appreciate the offer, ma’am.” He touched the brim of his hat. “But your dad is the fellow I need to see.”

“Dad’s in the barn out back. He’s the only one out there now so he won’t be hard to find. I’d go with you but I’m answering phones now.” On cue, the phone rang.

“I should be able to find it if you point me to the right path.”

“Sure.” The young girl directed him to a barn where he’d find Dowd in a back stall examining a black gelding. She then picked up the phone. “Dowd Animal Clinic.”

As Bragg left the clinic and walked toward the barn, he thought about Greer’s caller last night. A woman. Sounded young. Could Dowd have put his daughter up to the call?

Frowning, he found Rick Dowd in the barn exactly where his daughter had described. The vet had light hair that brushed the top of his collar and his skin was fair, leaving Bragg to assume the little girl up front favored her mother. Dowd wore dark glasses and a jean jacket smeared with mud.

Waiting until the vet stepped away from the animal, Bragg said, “Dr. Dowd?”

Dowd grabbed a rag from his back pocket and wiped his hands. His expression was mild, his smile genuine when he met Bragg’s gaze. “Yes, sir. What can I do for you?”

Bragg waited until the man had exited the stall and closed the gate behind him. “Name’s Ranger Tec Bragg. I’m with the Texas Rangers.”

Dowd nodded as he wiped his hand on a rag. “I saw the star right away. What can I do for you?”

“I wanted to ask you questions about Elizabeth Greer Templeton.”

The doctor’s expression hardened. “Did she send you to talk to me? Be like her to stir up trouble.”

Whatever goodwill Bragg had mustered vanished. His gaze sharpened. His stance tensed. “She mentioned you’d had words at the feed store the other day. I thought I’d ask you about it.”

Shaking his head, he shoved the rag back in his pocket. “I probably shouldn’t have said anything to her. Christ, it’s been twelve years. But seeing her took me by surprise. I guess because she looked so good. Pretty and happy. Suddenly it didn’t seem right she’d be moving around, laughing and smiling, and my sister was dead and buried in the ground for more than a dozen years.”

“I’ve read a good bit about the accident. According to the medical examiner your sister had well over the legal limit of alcohol in her system.”

Dowd shook his head. “She might have had a beer or two at the party, but the fact remains she did not get behind the wheel of the car.”

“She’d been drunk enough to let a fifteen-year-old drive.”

His face crumbled with the kind of blame rising from too many nights of second-guessing and
what ifs
. “I told her not to drink that night.”

“But she did.”

“She wasn’t driving,” he insisted.

“No, sir, but her judgment was impaired.”

“Where the hell is this going?”

“I did a little digging. Your sister worked for you here at the clinic?”

“That’s right. I’m eight years older than Sydney and with Mom and Dad’s help I had set up this place. Sydney knew I couldn’t afford an assistant so she volunteered to help out.” He hesitated, as if emotion clogged his throat. “I always looked out for Sydney. She followed me everywhere, always chewing on my ass.” The words were spoken with tenderness, not malice. “That summer she was working here, mucking stalls and helping me with the animals.”

“She’d been a student at the University of Texas.”

“That’s right. Biology. Honor roll. She’d talked about going to vet school and joining me in my practice.” As he recounted the facts of his sister’s life, his jaw set as if the telling stoked the embers of his anger.

“And she dated Jeff Templeton?”

“That’s right. For about six months. Our family didn’t have the kind of money his family did. They ran in the highest circles. We warned her his kind used girls like her, but she always defended him. She said he loved her.”

“How’d they meet?”

“At UT. She’d taken courses at UT the spring of her senior year of high school. She was pretty smart. He was a junior.”

“You were vocal after the accident. You pressed for the lawsuit against the Templetons.”

His jaw hardened. “Not right she’d just get away with it. Her bullshit story about another driver was an insult. I wanted her to feel my loss.”

“She lost her brother.”

He shook his head as if he didn’t want to hear. “She was reckless. I’ve seen how it goes with the rich. I’ve worked with enough of them. Money can buy you out of all kinds of trouble.”

He rested his hand on his hip. “You think money bought Greer out of trouble?”

“I think she’d been drinking. I think she shouldn’t have been behind the wheel, and I think she made up the second driver to cover her tracks. And her family backed her up.”

His index finger tapped against his belt. “Did you know she’d stayed in Austin after the accident?”

“I know after she tried to kill herself she vanished. I asked around but wherever she went no one was talking. Eventually, I had to give it up and move on with my life.”

“And you ran into her by accident at the feed store?”

He shook his head, astonishment evident. “Yeah. Like seeing a ghost from the past.”

“And you confronted her.”

“She’d been laughing. And it made me mad. I can promise you if my sister had been driving that car twelve years ago and she’d killed Elizabeth and her brother she’d have done jail time.”

“Greer was fifteen and sober.”

“Sober. Right. Families like the Templetons can make donations to the sheriff’s reelection campaign and ugly facts like a drunk daughter vanish.” His fingers curled into fists before relaxing a fraction.

“She was about the age of your daughter at the time of the accident.”

Dowd paled. “Don’t compare Jenna to Greer. My girl is a hard worker. Makes good grades and is a straight shooter. She doesn’t run around with rich country club kids. I won’t allow it.”

“You know about Greer’s time at Shady Grove?”

“No. Why would I? I do know it’s a place for rich kids who can’t cut it.”

“You ever know anyone who stayed at Shady Grove?”

“Like I said many of my clients are rich. If they or their kids spent time at the place, I didn’t know about it. I keep it polite with that kind because they’re my bread and butter, but I don’t mix with them.”

“Greer received a call the other night at the Crisis Center. The caller was female. She said some mighty nasty things to Greer.”

“So?”

“She said the caller sounded young.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

“Your daughter is young. Would you have put her up to the call?”

The color drained from his face. “How dare you drag my daughter into this. She was just a baby when Sydney died.”

“She loves you very much. Maybe you put her up to the call.”

“No. Never.”

Bragg looked around the barn, absorbing details. “I’m going to have to ask you to stay away from Greer Templeton.”

“Why, Ranger? I was mad and I told her so. Last I checked it’s a free country.”

He bared white teeth into a smile that was not a smile. “Yes, sir, it is. But I’m offering you a friendly warning where it comes to Ms. Templeton. Leave her be.”

“What’s she to you? She your girlfriend?”

He had no idea what Greer was to him, other than a name in an investigation or a mentor to his nephew. He’d known her all of five days, but it was enough to care. To protect. But Dowd didn’t need a speech on the matter. He took a step toward Dowd. “I don’t need to explain myself to you, Dr. Dowd.”

Dowd took a step back but mutiny burned in his gaze.

 

 

A blistering headache pounded behind Jennifer’s eyes as she moved across the parking lot toward her car. She clicked the entry and moved behind the wheel, savoring the heat of the seats. She’d been cold all day, unable to shake the chill slithering into her bones the moment she’d stepped into the shop today. The shop had felt off, wrong. She’d searched for signs of a break-in or trouble, but when everything checked out she’d attributed her unease to Greer’s visit.

Greer had stirred the cauldron of her emotions. She’d rattled her. Made her edgy. And then that damn Ranger had arrived. He’d reminded her of an ancient barbarian. No conscience. No concern. Even the thought of the man made her stomach churn.

The afternoon in the shop had been crazy busy and she’d set a record in sales. Any other day and she’d have been brimming with satisfaction, but today panic burrowed as if the foundation under her feet crumbled.

Needing to connect to the present, she dialed her fiancé. He picked up on the third ring. “Hey, babe,” she said.

“You headed home?” His soft smooth voice soothed her. Unlike Bragg, Adam was a sweet, kind man.

She wasn’t sure how she’d gotten that lucky, but she’d landed a great guy. She’d do anything not to lose him. “Yes. We were late closing. Couldn’t get rid of some customers. One didn’t buy a single item, but the other bought a nice Vera Wang. The sales justified the extra half hour.”

“Good job.”

She traced the steering wheel with a manicured finger. The day’s stress ebbed from her muscles. “So what are you doing?”

“Hanging out by the pool waiting for you, babe. Hurry home. We can go skinny-dipping.”

She laughed, reaching for her water bottle. “Sounds fun. See you in a few.”

She drank deeply from the bottle, savoring the cold water. It refreshed her. Fuck Greer and all the bullshit from the past. She was in a good place now, and if someone really did figure out the truth, what could be proved? Nothing.

She yawned as she backed out of her spot and headed down Congress Avenue. She was glad Adam’s house was a couple of miles from her store. She was more tired than she’d thought. At a second stoplight she closed her eyes determined to rest them for only a minute. The honking of a horn behind her startled her awake and had her shaking her head. What was wrong with her? She’d not experienced this kind of bone-weary fatigue since . . . since the night she’d taken that bottle of her mother’s pills.

Fear rose up from a hidden part in her, and she gripped her steering wheel. She’d not touched a drug in twelve years. Not even an aspirin. And she’d not had a drink of alcohol in over a year. But she felt drugged. Panic growing, she pulled her car over to the side of the road and reached for her cell phone. Her vision blurred as she stared at the numbers that now danced and spun. Just like before, she panicked after taking the pills and dialed 911.