Love on the Buchanan Ranch (A Romance Story) (11 page)

Stacey’s heart was warmed by his generosity, but she would have never asked for, or accepted it. She thanked him, shook the Police Chief’s hand when Ted introduced him as Chief Hale, and gratefully took the cup of steaming coffee that Mauve seemed to appear out of nowhere holding.

“Chief Hale,” she asked, “what is the plan?”

“Ted and I were talking about that lawyer fellow, Grunwald, is it? I think he definitely knows more than he is letting on. We need to talk to him. I also have my tech guy here to try and trace the call when this “Ray” person calls you back. He is probably using a throw away phone, but it’s worth a shot.”

“Okay, good,” Stacey said. “I think that you’re right. Grunwald definitely knows something. I tried to get him to tell me what, but he wasn’t going for it.”

“I’ve got my…let’s say…tech guy on that one,” Buchanan told her. From the look Chief Hale gave him, she surmised the officer didn’t agree with Mr. Buchanan’s tactics.

About that time, they heard the front door open. There seemed to be somewhat of a commotion, and to Stacey’s surprise, it was Owen…and Lucious Grunwald. As a matter of fact, it seemed that it was Owen…dragging Lucious Grunwald.

“Owen! What are you doing?”

Owen grinned, “I brought company.”

“I can see that,” Stacey said. Lucious had what appeared to be the beginnings of a black eye. His suit was disheveled and covered in dirt on the back side as if he had been dragged through it. His nose had dried blood around the nares and his signature eyeglasses were missing.

“Good work, son,” Mr. Buchanan said to Owen, and then to the chief, “Are you going to question him?”

“This isn’t the right way to do things Bobby, Owen, you both know that.” The chief said.

“I just offered the man a ride out here, Chief,” Owen said with another grin.

“Right,” the chief said. “Why don’t you show him into the kitchen where
Mike is setting up the tech equipment. I’ll be right in.”

Owen took off his hat and said, “This way please, sir...”

Lucious gave him a look that said “Go to Hell,” but followed him anyways.

“I’ll deal with you and the boy later, Bobby,” Chief Hale said before leaving the room. Mr. Buchanan only chuckled and didn’t appear frightened of the Chief’s weak threat.

“How did Owen know?” Stacey asked.

“He was here, talking to his Daddy when I came up to tell him what was going on. I didn’t even know ya’ll was acquainted, but he sure seemed hell bent on helping. When I got to the part about Grunwald, he asked me to look up the address for him and said he’d be right back. That was about three hours ago.”

“He’s a good boy, Stacey,” Bobby Buchanan said, real pride coloring his face.

“I know,” she said with a smile, “Thank you all so much for helping me.”

The C
hief’s “tech officer,” Mike, came in and plugged a device into Stacey’s phone just before noon. He said it was in hopes of tracing where the call was coming from. Vicki smiled at him, and from the look on his face, Stacey was afraid he wouldn’t be able to keep his mind on the task at hand. Fortunately, the chief came back into the room, and Mike snapped back to attention.

“Grunwald says this man “Ray” is a small time hood that loaned your late husband some money. Apparently, Mr. Martinez won a large lump of cash, about a hundred and fifty grand in a poker game a week or two later. He told Ray he had put the money in a safe place and would get it to him soon, and then he died. Grunwald was contacted by Ray the next day, and agreed to work with the man…for a fee of course. He says he doesn’t know if this man has Emma or not, but he can take us to the warehouse the man does business out of.”

Stacey’s phone rang before anyone could ask any questions. She looked towards Mike and the Chief and when they nodded she picked it up, and pushed speaker.

“Hello?”

“Mrs. Martinez?

“Yes.”

“It’s Ray, you got my money?”

“I want to know where my daughter is first, and that she is okay.” Stacey told him.

“She’s fine. She’s here with me, and like I said before, she’s quite comfortable…for now.”

“I want to talk to her,” Stacey told him.

“Do you, or do you not, have my money!” the man demanded.

Stacey looked at the Chief. He nodded his head slightly at her. Owen stepped back into the room then, and he too nodded at her.

“Yes, I have it.”

“Good, you get it on over to Lu Grunwald, ASAP!! Then, I’ll send your little girl on home.”

“Wait! I want to…” the line went dead.

Stacey looked up at the Police Chief with tears in her eyes and said, “What now?”

Owen came over and sat down next to her. He put his arm across her shoulders and pulled her into him.

“Now,” the Chief told her, we wait an hour and have Grunwald call and tell him he has the money.

“Do you think he’ll hurt Emma?” Stacey asked him.

“I don’t think so. He only wants the money. From what Grunwald tells me, he’s just a nickel and dime loan shark. Has no experience with kidnapping or extortion.”

Owen kissed the top of her head and whispered, “It’s going to be okay.” The others in the room looked surprised to see them so close, but Owen didn’t seem to care, and neither did Stacey. It felt good to have him to lean on right now.

Officer Mike had left the room, and he came back in a few minutes later, Grunwald in tow. “He’s agreed to work with us, Chief, but in true lawyerly fashion, wants to know what’s in it for him.”

Stacey could feel the muscles in Owen’s arms tense up and he tried to stand. She grabbed on to his arm and guided him back down next to her. “How about a clear conscience, Lu?” she said.

“Stacey…I didn’t know anything about his plans to take Emma…I swear. He said he was only going to try and intimidate you, and the mistress.”

At the word mistress, Victoria sat straight up and gave Lucious an evil look. “Watch who you’re calling a mistress,” she said.

“We’re going to take him back to the office and stay with him until he makes the call and sets up the pick-up. In the meantime, we’ll alert the State police to where this warehouse is that Grunwald says Ray does his business out of. I’d be willing to bet that’s where Emma is,” the Chief told them.

“I want to go too,” Stacey said.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Mrs. Martinez. If Ray sees you there, he will know something is up. Please, sit tight and let us do our job. I will bring your girl home to you, okay?”

Stacey looked at Owen, “He’s right, Stacey. We should wait here.”

She reluctantly agreed, asking the Chief, “Please call me the second you know anything about Emma, okay?”

The Chief patted her shoulder, “I will, Mrs. Martinez. Please try not to worry.”

Owen sat with her while they were gone. He had his arm around her, and she laid her head on his chest and closed her eyes. She wasn’t sleeping; she just wanted to be alone in her thoughts. She was grateful to Owen for letting her do that. He didn’t say a word, just sat and held her.

Victoria was still being fussed over by Mauve, and Mr. Buchanan and Ted had moved into the study. The time passed slowly, each minute like a dagger being slid into Stacey’s heart. She really didn’t think she could live if anything happened to Emma. The world without her, as Stacey imagined it, would be a world without sunshine or fresh air. Stacey would suffocate, and wither away.

Sometime after they had all gone, maybe an hour or so, the front door opened and they all sat up at attention. It was Nate, and he was as surprised to see all of them, as they were disappointed that it was him and not someone who had news.

“What’s going on?” he asked, looking from Mauve, to Owen and Stacey, and then at Victoria.

Owen squeezed Stacey’s shoulder and said, “I’ll be right back.”

She nodded, and he got up and led his brother into the other room. Owen came back after a while, without Nate. Sitting down with Stacey he said, “I told him as much as he needed to know,” putting his arm back around her shoulders and pulling her into him.

The time continued to stand still, until at last Stacey’s phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hi Mama.”

“Oh my God, Emma! Are you okay, honey? I was so worried! Where are you?”

Emma said, “I’m fine, Mama. I’m with the Police. They’re bringing me out to see you.”

“Oh thank God! I love you, baby!”

“I love you too, Mama. See you soon.”

Stacey hung up, she was crying almost hysterically now. Victoria rushed over and asked, “What happened, honey? Is she okay?”

Stacey tried to smile, but was sure it wasn’t a pretty sight. “She’s fine, perfect, on her way here.”

“That’s great, sweetie!” Victoria said. “But why are you crying now?”

Stacey just patted Vicki’s tummy and said, “Someday you’ll understand.”

She hugged her, and then Owen, and then with a sudden burst of energy stood up and told them she had to go let Mr. Buchanan and Ted know, and call the diner to tell the rest of her “family.”

After Stacey told everyone the good news, she went to one of the seven bathrooms in the house and washed her face. It had been streaked with mascara, and to her surprise, she wasn’t the least bit embarrassed by that. On her way back to the main room, she ran into Nate.

“Hi, I’m glad to hear your girl is okay,” he said.

Stacey smiled at him and said, “Me too! Thank you. About me and Owen…”

Nate shook his head and held up his hand to stop her. “Please, you don’t need to explain anything to me. My brother’s a good guy. I think the two of you would be great together. I could tell the other night at the dinner that my usual crowd wasn’t really your type of people. That’s okay, it actually speaks volumes about your character,” he said the last with a grin.

“Thank you,” she said again.

“Your welcome, I’m glad everything turned out okay.”

***

Finally, about an hour after her call, Emma and the police officer, Mike, arrived. Stacey was waiting and watching out one of the large windows, and ran out to meet her when she saw them drive up. She and Emma embraced, and Stacey began to cry all over again.

“Don’t cry, Mama,” Emma told her, “I’m right here, I’m okay.”

“They’re happy tears now,” Stacey told her.

They stood there like that for a long time, and finally, taking her by the hand Stacey led her over to a bench near the door and they sat down. “Tell me what happened. What did they do to you?”

“I got a call last night from a man. He said that you were in trouble, and I needed to come home. He told me that you had arranged a flight for me, and would be sending someone named Ray to pick me up at the airport. He said not to call you. He told me that you would get in worse trouble if anyone knew you had asked me to come, that’s why he was calling instead of you. I feel so stupid now, Mama. If I had only called you, none of this would have happened.”

“Hush!” Stacey told her. “You are not stupid. I talked to him too. He was very convincing.”

“Well, anyways when I got to the airport in Dallas, he picked me up and took me to this warehouse. I’ve just been sitting in a locked room this whole time. I didn’t know what was going on, or that you thought I’d been kidnapped. I’m sorry you went through that, Mama.”