“I can’t do that.” Landon was nodding even as
Doris was continuing. “I can barely afford this place, and it’s cheap. I mean,
we’re making money but…. We live upstairs so we can save money. I just want to
make enough to support me and my daughter. Taking that building would put me in
a deeper hole than I am in now.”
“I’m investing in your company, my dear.”
Landon stood up and walked around the room she was using. “You can hire some of
the people who work at the nursing home. My wife goes there once a week to do
crafts with them. Some of them are fantastic. Not on the level you are, but
they can do the small stuff. They could come here daily, work out a little,
then go back. Most of them would do it for little to nothing. Then there is the…”
Holly put her hand on his mouth, and he
grinned around it. “You’re making her insane. You know that, don’t you? Just
calm down and help her, not take over. What is your plan? I’m sure you have
one.”
“Yes I do. I want to invest, like I said, and
help you to grow big enough that not only are you saving a lot of money, but
you’re investing in your future too.” Doris did look scared, and when Tessa
came back to ask about a piece, she left with her daughter and Landon looked at
Holly. “I think I screwed up, didn’t I?”
“Maybe, but I’ll talk to her. The warehouse,
where is it?” He told her. “I have two buildings right around there. I’ve been
thinking of doing some renovating myself. I have a woman that wants to rent one
to sell antiques in it. Then the other I was thinking of studio apartments. Rent
them out to some of the urban up and coming that are working downtown. Did you
know that since we’ve reopened the bank and the other shops that Rogers was in
charge of, we’ve had an increase of ten percent of people moving in? Also five
new store fronts, including this one.”
He’d known that the town was coming from a
near death sentence…something else that he knew that the Douglas men were a
part of. The more he found out about them, the entire family, the more he was
glad that Emma was going to be taken care of by Mason. Landon sat down and
waited for Holly to do the same.
“I’m dying.” She nodded. “Yeah, I thought you
might know. Mason does as well. I think that’s why he tolerates me so much when
he wants more than anything to be alone. He’s a good man.”
“He’s the best, I think. All of them are. But
that’s not why you’re here making noises about investing, is it?” He nodded,
then shook his head. “My dad said you went by to see him yesterday. That you
were checking up on a few things. Anything I can help you with?”
“My son.” Holly didn’t say it, but he could
see that she was aware of what Dirk had been up to. “I’ve cut him out. Of
everything in my life. It was that or have him drag us down. The doctor told me
I needed less stress, and that was hard with him…I’m at fault, I know that, but
I really didn’t realize what I’d done until recently.”
“You had nothing to do with the type of
person he is, Landon. There are just bad seeds sometimes. And you might have
overindulged him, but you didn’t create the monster that he’s become.” Landon didn’t
even correct her. Dirk was a monster. “I heard about the hotel.”
“There was so much damage done to that single
room that they’ve had to have that room closed permanently. I went by and saw
it. It looked like he’d taken a hammer to some of the walls. Why? Why would he
do that?” She said because he could. “That’s no reason. And I never raised him
to be like that. Like you said, we overindulged him, but he’s just…just not
right.”
“Mason said that he tried to talk to him
about what was going to happen. He said Dirk never got it. He kept talking how
you were going to come around. He wanted to know where the rest of his money
was, and that he was going to give you a list of things he’d need weekly.” Landon
nodded and handed her the paper that had been delivered to his offices that
morning. Landon said nothing as she read it over. “I’m sorry, Landon. He’s out
of control.”
“He is. I’ve talked it over with my business
attorney. I didn’t want to involve Emma in this unless it came to that, but he’s
done. I’ve not disowned him, but unless things change and soon, he’s not
getting a penny from me. And I’ve made sure that he knows why, too, when it
comes to that.” Landon felt his heart twist in his chest over what he’d had to
do. “Mason is a good man, like I said, and he’ll make sure that my wishes are
carried out. He might not like being a ranch baron, but he’ll be good at it.”
“He will. Emma took us by her house today.
You’re getting it ready for them, aren’t you?” Landon felt his face heat up as
he nodded. “I think she’ll bring Mason around to living there as well. I’m sure
you know that he, like the rest of the Douglas men, aren’t used to having
money.”
“Hell, honey, they didn’t have a pot to piss
in, and now look at them. And that husband of yours, Jace, that boy has come a
long way too. And not a dime of the money he spends is spent on things that he
shouldn’t. Not only is he careful with every bit that he spends, but he’s
making real progress in making that ranch of his the model of all ranches. Mason
is helping him with that too.”
They both turned when Tessa and her mother
came back in the room. Landon stood up and watched the two of them. He’d bet
real money that the daughter was the real business sense in the family, and
that Mom trusted her more than she did money in front of her. “Ladies, I think
I owe you an apology. I’m a bit over excited when I see something that I like.”
“You are an overbearing turd is what you are.”
Doris flushed and Landon laughed. “I’m sorry. I’m trying my best not to be
terrified out of my bloomers, and my daughter said it’s good to be scared. But
I want everything you’re going to help us with in writing. And I want the
option of telling you to leave us alone if that’s what it comes to.”
“Deal.” Landon put out his hand and Tessa
took it with a grin. Doris only stared at it. “I promise you that I’m only
going to help you out. It’s what I do and enjoy doing. As for the warehouse, I’m
just trying to keep it from being taken over by the homeless. Not that they don’t
need a place to stay, but I’m working on that too.”
“You would be.” Doris sat down. “Now. About
these women you said that might be willing to come in and work for me. I need
to know how to contact them. And I’m not going to hire them just because you
say so. I’ve got to make money, and having bad stuff made isn’t going to cut
it.”
Three hours later, over dinner with his new
partners and his wife, Landon felt really good about what he was doing. He’d
been wrong about Doris. She had a good head on her shoulders and she was the
kind of person he liked…no nonsense, and straight up telling you when she didn’t
like something.
Landon and Katie left the little restaurant
feeling pretty good about things. When they got to their car and he put his
lovely bride inside, he fell to his knees. The pain, whatever it was, had taken
him to the ground.
“Dad, what are you doing to me?” He looked up
at Dirk and almost didn’t recognize him. It had only been a few days, three he
thought, and Dirk looked like he’d been out on the streets for months. “Give me
my money and I’ll forget this ever happened. And I want a key to the house. You
changed the locks. That wasn’t very smart of you.”
Landon looked in the car when he heard his
wife talking. He hoped she was calling the police, because when his head
exploded in pain again, he knew that he was going to die. Dirk was screaming at
him to give him what he wanted, and when Landon felt himself being flipped
over, he saw the bat that his son had been hitting him with. Landon closed his
eyes and knew there was no hope for his child after this. None at all.
Mason was in the emergency room when Emma
came in. His family was there as well, having been in town. Emma had been at
the mall when he’d contacted her, and she had to wait on the police to go and
get her. Mason hadn’t wanted her driving as upset as she was.
“Where is he?” Mason told her that her dad
was still in surgery. “My mom? Is she okay? Did he hurt her too?”
“No. She didn’t get out of the car and called
the police as soon as she saw what was happening. Then she called me. She told
me to get you but not to let you drive. She’s in the waiting room.”
Emma turned, then came back to him. Mason
held her while she sobbed on his chest, and then helped her sit down when her
knees seemed to give out on her. Holding her on his lap, he told her what he
knew and what they’d been able to find out.
“Dirk saw the car when he was roaming the
streets, we guess. He was waiting on them with a bat. Lucky for your mom, your
dad is a gentleman and put her in the car before he got in. Otherwise we’re not
sure what would have happened.” He knew as surely as he was sitting there that
Dirk would have hurt his mom as well. “He hit your dad several times, once in
the back and twice in the head. He’s got several broken ribs, as well as a
broken left arm. They’re not thinking there’s any permanent brain damage right
now, but they have gone in to relieve the pressure from the trauma. His leg, the
right one, is hurt. The knee is pretty bad, but they think that’s from him
falling rather than being hit.”
“Did the police catch Dirk?” He told her by
the time the police had arrived, Dirk was gone, but he’d left the bat with his
prints on it. “When they find him they’ll arrest him and put him in jail for a
long time. This is attempted homicide. Not to mention premeditated…he had a bat
with him. It’s not going to look good for him at all.”
“I’m sorry, honey.” She asked him why. “I
should have warned your dad to be more careful. I figured that Dirk would do
something like this, just not so…he could have killed him over money. How could
he…why? I thought he’d be on me, but not your dad. I just keep thinking about
what if your mom had been out there as well.” She shivered in his arms before
speaking again.
“Can you take me to see Mom? I think…I have
to be with her.” Mason stood up, but didn’t put Emma down just yet. “Mason, I’m
sorry you’re being brought into this. It’s not exactly a nice family that you’re
going to be a part of.”
“The only person I really care about is you.
I like your mom and dad a great deal, but it’s you I worry about the most.” She
nodded. “Emma, he won’t stop. You mom said that he kept telling your dad to
give him what he wanted and things would go better for him. And he tried to rob
him. He didn’t get anything but the car keys. I had no idea that your dad didn’t
carry a wallet.”
“No. It’s in the car all the time if he’s
driving. Or Mom would have had it in her purse. He hates the way it makes him
feel, he told me once. Like he was off balanced somehow.” Mason had heard him
saying something similar when he was on horseback. He liked his balance. “I’m
ready now.”
Mason took her to the waiting room, and Katie
and Emma held each other while they sobbed. He had no idea what to do now, and
stood there watching them as Jace came to stand beside him. He asked to speak
to him privately. They moved down the hall until they found an empty room.
“I have a buddy on the force, and they have
found Dirk’s prints all over the car as well as the bat. And two mornings ago
it looks like he might have caused a ruckus at one of the department stores on
Jelly Street.” Mason asked him what sort of ruckus. “He messed up one of the
clerks when he tried to tell him that he had no credit there. Dirk apparently
told him in no uncertain terms that he, Dirk McBride, was going to get some
clothing and he was taking it now. He also told them to bill his dad. There was
bloodshed…not like today, but enough that the young man is off for a few days.
He beat him with a mannequin arm.”
“How come we didn’t hear about it until now?”
Jace just shrugged. “They’re trying to keep the family out of it now, aren’t
they? I guess I’d do the same if I was them.”
“Pretty much. They know that Landon is trying
his best to handle this, and they know how much pressure the man has been under
lately. I’m thinking they’re hoping that one of them will run into Dirk and shoot
him dead for Landon.” That sounded like a good plan to him as well. “Mason, I’ve
been thinking, and I don’t think you should have much to do with Dirk from now
on.”
“Why the hell not? The man is a menace and he’s
hurt one of our friends. How can you even ask me to step down?” Jace looked
around, then back at him as his temper seemed to grab him by the throat and his
cat snarled at him. When he was pushed against the wall, Jace was almost nose to
nose with him. “You’re fucking with the wrong guy, little brother.”
“If you kill him or even take him down, what
do you think that is going to do with your relationship with Emma? I know that
she’s telling you to help her with this. And you told me that Landon pretty
much told you the same thing. But what will happen if you kill him?” Mason
started to tell him it wouldn’t come to that, but was cut off. “Yes, it will.
Dirk is going to provoke you until you have no choice. But I will say this…if
he touches Emma, then you can fucking do what you want to him. I’ll even help
you.”
“So, I just let this thing with Landon go?” Jace
told him to let the police handle it for now. “And what if they don’t do shit?
Then what? Leave him out there to hurt someone else? Like Holly?”
“No, that’s not what I’m saying at all and
you fucking know it. What I’m telling you is to try your best not to be the one
that kills him. You might have to, but I’d try really hard not to if I were
you.” Mason nodded but didn’t promise anything. “Mason, this guy, what the fuck
is wrong with him? I mean, how the hell could he do this to his own family? To
his own dad?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been looking things up.”
The two of them made their way toward the waiting room as they spoke. “I
thought he was a psychopath, but that’s not what he is. Not completely anyway.
He has the whole not being responsible for a thing going for him, and no
remorse or shame for what he’s done. Dirk has always been stubbornly contrary
to what most people would think is right and proper. So there is that. But I
don’t…it’s hard to say.”
“Is he a sociopath?” Mason told him no on
that as well. “But there is something wrong with him in the noodle, right? I
mean, who treats their family that way and thinks it’s all right?”
He told him he had no idea but that he was
looking up as much as he could. Mason told Jace he was exhausted all the time
lately. Not all of it had to do with Emma and that they couldn’t seem to get
enough of each other, but the simple fact that he was running two ranches as
best he could and it wasn’t easy.
“I know. I’m…we’re used to doing this all on
our own and it’s…I had to finally ask for help. I thought that I could do it
all too and, fuck, it was hard. But Palmer told me that he was waiting for me
to figure it out on my own. Damned near killed myself for him trying to prove a
point.”
They were both still laughing as they made
their way back to the waiting room. Mason was going to have to ask for help,
and soon. It was that or have a heart attack trying to keep up with Emma and
the ranch.
Emma was sitting with her mom and their aunt
when they entered the little room. Palmer was there, as well as the rest of his
brothers. The sheriff had shown up as well. Howard LeBlanc, who had started the
week after the mill was finally closed up, was a nice guy and Mason really
liked him. This guy was a man to fear if you were a fuck up, and one to trust
if you needed him.
“I’d like a word with Mrs. McBride if you
think she’ll be all right.” Mason wanted to shield the woman from any kind of
questions right now, but Emma came over and told him she was ready. Mason went
to the little room too, after it was established that he was the future
son-in-law. Also, that he wasn’t leaving. LeBlanc nodded once and told him to
behave if he was staying.
“Mrs. McBride, can you tell me what you heard
when your husband was hurt?” Mason started to tell him it was her son, but he
was pretty sure that he knew that. “We’re looking into all kinds of things that
might have led up to what happened, and we’re to understand that you and your
husband had a falling out, sort of, with your oldest child.”
“We’ve been having some problems with him for
some time now, and Landon—that’s my husband—and I talked it over and we decided
that he needed to learn to stand on his own two feet. The boy has been…well,
not draining us dry, but he’s going to if we don’t do something now. We had
some help there with Mason and we turned him out.” She looked up at LeBlanc. “Do
you think this is our fault? That my son is doing this because of us?”
“No, ma’am, I don’t. I think that your son is
out of control, if you want to know the truth of it, and has to be taught a
lesson. I’ve taken the liberty of going over a file that had his name on it
before I got the call about your husband, and it’s a small wonder he’s not done
something like this before.” LeBlanc sat down now and pushed a file at Emma. “You’re
an attorney, right? You’ve been helping your brother on a few things that
should have put him in jail.”
“Now wait a fucking minute.” Mason was cut
off when Emma lifted her hand up. She looked at the sheriff and nodded.
“I’ve gotten him time served on two things
that should have been serious jail time, and once…he murdered a man, and I was
able to get that brought down to a lesser charge. He never served any jail time
because…well, not to brag, but I’m that good. Or that stupid. Lately I’m not
sure I did the right thing.”
“It’s family, and you can’t help but be there
for them even when you think it’s not right. I know.” LeBlanc took the file
back and turned to something in the back. “This is from four years ago. Another
murder he wasn’t even slapped on the wrist for. The other sheriff gave him a
pat on the back for killing someone that was, in his words, ‘undesirable.’ I’m
still trying to figure out what that was supposed to mean. But the man is dead,
and now I have another problem on my hands. Your son is on a path that is going
to get him killed sooner rather than later, I’m afraid.”
“He kept telling my husband what he was going
to do. ‘Give me the keys. I want my money back. You’re going to let me come
home now.’ He was never loud until…until Landon wasn’t conscious anymore. Then
he was screaming at him.” Katie shivered and looked at him. “I called the
police when he hit Landon the first time. Then I called Mason here. He held me
on the line the entire time, telling me not to get out of the car. He was sure
that he would have killed me as well.”
“I believe he was right. And in the future, I’d
very much like for you to come and go off the ranch with someone like Mason or
one your hands every time until we can resolve this. He’s going to hurt you, of
that I’ve no doubt.” LeBlanc asked her again what had happened.
“We were coming out of the restaurant. I didn’t
see Dirk until his father went down. When I realized what was happening, I
started to get out but then thought that I needed to call someone. Like I said,
Mason told me to stay put. But Dirk was…I remember thinking the entire time he
was hurting his father, it was as if he had no clue that he was hurting him. His
face was as calm and as serene as if he were asking him for a cup of tea or
something. But his voice. It was so hard and cold. I’d never heard him speak
like that before.” She looked at LeBlanc before she continued. “I’d very much
like it if you were to find him soon. I’m not sure that he’s not going to hurt
someone else. Mason for sure. Dirk said a few times that Landon was going to
stop taking orders from him, and that he wasn’t marrying his sister. Dirk said
that Emma would die if she married him. I wondered at the time if he was
planning to kill her if she did.”
“Did he take his money, any credit cards?” Katie
told him her husband didn’t carry a wallet, that she’d had it in her purse. “Did
you know that your son had a gun, and that he planned on using it on one of you?”
“No. I know that he used to hate them. Once
when the kids were smaller, Landon took them hunting. He said it was for them
to learn how to live off the land. Emma loved it and got a deer, but Dirk had told
us that night that if he ever had to kill something and then dress it for his
supper, he’d just as soon kill a hunter than an animal.” Mason shook his head
at that. Katie started crying softly as she spoke again. “I only just
remembered something else he said. He told Landon that if he even heard that
Mason was in the will, that he’d kill him before his father was cold in the
grave. Why does it matter to him who we have in our will or not?”
No one answered her and after a few more
questions, LeBlanc left them. He said that he’d have someone outside the door
to Landon’s room, and that he was going to make sure that they did a few extra
drive-bys at the house too.
Mason sat down when he left them. Katie took
his hand in hers.
“I know that you’re not married and all, but
I’d very much like it if you moved in with us. I’d feel much better about it
knowing that we had someone there that’s a little above the normal police
officer. I suppose that I should have talked this over with Emma, but I’m
afraid of Dirk.” She laughed bitterly. “Who would have ever thought I’d say
those words about my own child?”