Almost Forever (14 page)

“Let's just say that I have good reasons for wanting Johnny not to come home anytime soon,” Billy told them. Again he glanced forward and back as if his brother might somehow be able to hear.

“So if I don't get convicted, he stays locked up?” Lori summarized.

“Exactly.”

“So, where do we go from here?” Justin asked.

“First, talk to anyone else who knows Johnny. You'll find out that he's a lazy son of a bitch and would cheat anyone on anything. Everyone knows you hired him to clear the land and haul it all away so you could plant your orchard.”

“I did.”

“Well, he never hauled it away, ma'am. He came back bragging about how he just pushed it off your land and out of sight.”

“And in the process he buried Mark's body,” Justin concluded.

“He had no idea there was a grave there. He was just excited that he saved a hundred bucks at the dump.”

“A hundred bucks?” Lori repeated incredulously.

“Johnny was always cutting corners. Anyway, all you have to do is prove he never took your stuff to the dump.”

Lori looked at Justin. “How do you prove that?”

“I'll check it out.”

“And one more thing, ma'am,” Billy said. “You remember when your new olive trees all started to die?”

“Sure do…less than six months after he helped me plant them. For no reason they started getting brown leaves. The county agent couldn't figure it out.”

“Well, check old man Winston's checkbook, 'cause he cut Johnny a check for five hundred bucks to kill those trees.”

“Jerry!” she exclaimed. “He never wanted me to plant them. He told me Mark was going to sell him that land to expand his vineyard.”

“You saw the check?” Justin asked.

“We did. We drove Johnny to pick it up and go to the check-cashing store.”

“Why didn't he drive himself?” Justin was taking mental notes and making lists of leads to follow.

“He lost his license for driving drunk, and the sheriff was watching for him. That's why Johnny moved to Houston.”

“And you won't testify about any of this?” Justin thought it was worth asking again.

“Fuck, no,” Billy snorted. “Johnny almost killed a man in Houston over a pool game. Think what he'd do to us if he found out we ratted him out.”

“Noted. We'll check the rest out,” Justin assured them.

“Just don't try to find us,” Billy stated firmly.

“Hear my brother?” Jimmy leaned forward and wagged his finger at them.

“Got it. Thank you…gentlemen.” Lori watched as their window crept up as slowly as it had gone down. The two men pulled away and headed back in the direction they had come from at a much higher speed than seemed possible for the ancient vehicle.

“Winston!” Lori repeated his name. “I should have seen that coming.”

“It's not enough to get a warrant for his checking account, and I'm sure he'd deny everything. It's going to be tough.”

“But it's another lead, right?”

“Right,” Justin agreed.

Just after Jimmy and Billy took off, another pickup truck pulled off the road and stopped at the marker. Justin watched it out of the corner of his eye. Suddenly, a fireball streaked over the cab of the truck just as it peeled out and took off in a cloud of smoke. The Molotov cocktail bounced off the hood of Lori's truck. Luckily, it rolled off, but it left behind an oily trail of burning fuel. As it hit the ground, the dry brush next to the parking lot exploded in flames.

“Get out of here…fast!” Justin yelled.

Lori started the truck and gunned it onto the highway until safely away from the roadside brush fire. She pulled off onto the shoulder and shoved the gearshift into park with a hand that was visibly shaking. Justin jumped out of the truck, ripped off his shirt, and began to beat the remaining flames off the hood and fender. He checked underneath to be sure the fire hadn't reached the engine or undercarriage.

He got back into the truck. “Follow them!”

“We should call somebody,” she said, glancing at her phone on the console.

“I'll call while you drive as fast you can. Maybe we can catch them.”

Justin dialed 9-1-1 as Lori sped around trucks and tractors like the white flag had been waved on the last lap of a stock-car race. When the operator answered, Justin told her, “There's a brush fire at the historical marker on the county road about a mile and a half south of 290.” He closed the phone.

“I'm not seeing the truck,” Lori said as she passed a truck pulling a load of hay. “Make a wish.”

“I wish we'd catch up to those dudes. That couldn't have been random,” Justin told her, his gaze moving down all the little county roads and driveways they passed.

“You wasted your wish on that? I had at least a dozen things I wished for.”

He glanced at her briefly.

She focused on the road as she passed a very surprised Mercedes driver.

Justin picked up the phone again and dialed. “Hey, can you look up a black Dodge Ram 2500 crew cab, probably 2011 or 2012. Texas plates ending in four five.” He listened to his brother laughing at him. “Right, I know, I'm the Ranger. I was just too busy watching Lori's truck burn.” He went on to tell Nick what had happened. “Yeah, I know there are about a million black Dodge Ram crew cabs in Texas, but do your best to narrow it down.” He listened again, then added, “Thanks,” and hung up.

“Brother?”

Justin nodded. “Hopefully the list won't be too long.”

“How do I explain this to the insurance company?” Lori asked.

“Without using my name.”

They had gone about ten miles without any sign of the black truck. Lori glanced at Justin uncertainly. “They could have turned off anywhere.”

“I know. We should have caught up to them by now. Guess we should head back to your house.”

She nodded and at the next driveway made a U-turn and headed back. They were alive and had one more clue. Now all they had to do was find someone on the list who had known Mark and owned a black Dodge pickup.

Justin frowned as he tried to put all the pieces together. “You know what bothers me?”

“That my paint job is blistered off?”

“It doesn't look like it's too bad. A little sanding and paint, and it'll be good as new. What I was thinking about is what if those Grand boys knew that firebomber was coming?”

“They sure did act nervous.”

“Like they were being followed,” Justin concluded.

“Sounds like Winston knows more than he's admitted. Do you think he's behind this?”

“If he killed Mark and kept it covered up for eight years, it could be difficult to prove. He's not a stupid man, but even smart people leave clues.”

“At least we have Nick to help us.”

“Nick will do all the office part of the investigation for us. Tell me again why Winston would want Mark dead.”

“It could be he was pissed at Mark for bailing out of their partnership and crushing his potential profits.”

“How close were they to actually finalizing that partnership?” Justin asked.

“They had a name.” She rolled her eyes, then added, “Robston.”

“Really? That's the best they could do?”

She laughed. “You're a guy. You know how they are.”

“I am, but I'm not sure how that relates.”

“Men are like dogs. You know, they piss on poles to mark their territory and make the woman change her last name when they marry.”

“I don't think that's true about dogs. They rarely change their names,” Justin teased.

“My point is that Jerry and Mark weren't going to let the other one piss on their boots, so they decided to blend their names so no one would have the advantage. Robston was the best of the options.”

“Mark got top billing,” Justin pointed out.

“But Jerry got four letters. Believe me, they went through all the combinations. It took them a week to agree to that. There's a box with drafts of the agreement, financial projections, and other correspondence in Mark's office.”

“Given there were email and cellphones and they lived less than a mile apart, you'd think they could have worked it out.”

“That pretty much says it all.” Lori shrugged.

“But?” Justin could tell there was more on her mind.

“Jerry's pretty wealthy. Worst case, Mark hurt his pride. I think his biggest motive would be that he hoped I would run back to the city and he could buy the winery from Mark's estate.”

“That would only make sense if they found Mark's body so he'd be declared dead. It seems unlikely that Winston would kill him—or have him killed—then hide the body so no one would find it for years.”

“I can't believe he sabotaged my trees. It cost me thousands of dollars to replant and it took me another year to save that much.”

“I think it's pretty clear that Winston is a jerk,” Justin said. “I'm just not sure he's a killer.”

She turned into the Crystal Springs driveway and stopped in front of her house but didn't shut off the engine.

“Are you still going to town?” Justin asked.

“I've got some things I have to get for tomorrow. Are you coming?”

“I think I'll stay and go through Mark's files. I'm sure Tyler will be out here soon to take them.” He picked up his ruined T-shirt off the floorboard. “Besides, I need to put on a shirt.”

Lori's gaze swept slowly over his bare torso, and her eyes twinkled. “Oh, I'm okay with you just like that.”

“Don't start something we can't finish,” he warned playfully.

Sexual tension crackled between them like dry lightning on a hot Texas night. The thought occurred to Justin that Mackenzie wasn't home and likely wouldn't be for hours. But he had promised it wouldn't happen again, and as tempted as he was, he knew the time wasn't right.

“You go get your shopping done. I've got lots to do here,” he told her, effectively breaking the spell. “You don't mind if I go through Mark's office, do you?” It was a purely rhetorical question, because he knew that the documents would be confiscated soon anyway.

“Of course I don't. I hope you find something that I overlooked.”

Justin got out of the truck. Lori's smile was wistful, but she knew it was wiser to finish her chores than to stay and help him dress…or undress. She shifted the gears into reverse and backed out of her driveway and onto the horseshoe drive in front of the winery. He watched as she headed toward the main road that would take her to Fredericksburg.

Justin spent the rest of the afternoon in Mark's office, digging through files, searching his computer, and looking in boxes. There were piles of unpaid bills that must have taken Lori months to pay back. He found cookies on Mark's computer leading to dozens of hard-core porn sites and old documents from Mark's parents' and grandparents' eras as owners of the winery. What he didn't find was anything that could either prove or disprove Lori's innocence.

He finally gave up and went back to her spiral-notebook diaries. He'd looked through them several times, but instead of giving him any clues, they only provided him insight into the soul of the woman herself. There were passages that made him want to tear Mark's throat out. He had run her down in both public and private, he had cheated on her countless times, and there was a repeated threat that he was going to kick her out on the street. Some of the ink had run, as if she'd been crying as she was writing. He saw a woman who desperately wanted a home, so much so that she had been willing to put up with Mark's many transgressions.

Justin found plenty of reasons why she would want him dead but no evidence that she was capable of actually doing it. However, he also found even more reasons to fight for this woman and free her from her past. Above all, he wanted to give her a future. Hopefully, it would include him.

He couldn't remember ever being in love. He'd loved his parents, his grandparents, and even a great Australian shepherd he'd grown up with. He'd cried his heart out when that dog died, but none of his past relationships had brought any sadness when they ended.

His feelings for Lori grew stronger every day. They had known each other for only a short time, and the conditions were certainly not normal. But the one thing he knew was that when it was over, it was going to hurt to walk away.

Feeling uncharacteristically domestic, he found some steaks in the freezer and thawed them out for dinner. He wrapped a couple of baked potatoes and fixed a salad. Then he took a long, hot shower and had just taken a beer out on the porch when Lori returned.

“You look cool and comfortable,” she said as she walked up on the porch and collapsed on a chair.

“Here, I think you need this more than I do.” Justin handed her his beer, and she took a big drink.

“I'm exhausted. I'd rather work in the vineyard all day long than go shopping.”

“In just a little more than twenty-four hours, it'll all be over,” he said, trying to comfort her.

“Then I can start making plans for prison.” She leaned back in the chair.

He could tell she was trying to treat it lightly but that she was truly worried. He dared not admit it, but so was he.

She downed the rest of the beer and stood. “I've got to take the supplies to the kitchen. Want to help?”

“I was just sitting here hoping someone would ask. I'm an old Eagle Scout, and part of our oath was to help other people.”

Lori tilted her head and studied him thoughtfully. “Now I get it. That's really who you are. You changed out of your scout uniform into a cop uniform and then into a Ranger uniform. It must feel odd for you to be just hanging out in jeans and a T-shirt.”

He stood and stretched. “I'll admit that I've never been a vacation kind of guy. But I'm sort of getting used to it. Working at my own pace. Living out here.” He waved his arm to include the whole vineyard. “I can see why you like it.”

She looked around, her gaze softening at the sight of the rows of vines striping the gentle hill. “I love it. More than I've ever loved anything except my daughter. I'd do anything to stay here and help it thrive.”

“Don't say things like that in public. It makes you sound like you might have killed Mark if you thought he was going to sell this place.”

She dropped her head, and her hair, like liquid gold, fell forward to hide her expression. “I wanted him dead,” she admitted in a voice so low he had to strain to hear it.

“Wanting someone dead and killing him are two different things.” Justin pushed her hair back and caressed her cheek until she looked up at him. “My job is to find out who didn't know the difference.”