An hour later, they were both tired and sleepy. But Marco now had a better understanding of Kent Parker, and he had a clear plan of how to get this done. Amelia had told him all she knew, and he’d researched the rest.
“Daniel and I were always friends, but I didn’t go over to PMR a lot. Daniel’s mother just up and left one day when Daniel was in high school, and she never came back. I think that made Kent a hard man to live with. I will say Daniel loved his daddy and Kent was good to him, loved him so much, obviously. But something was always off between them. Daniel and I grew close since I’d lost both my parents. And you know the rest.”
“Did you ever feel Kent’s resentment?”
“Not at first, because he didn’t really notice us hanging out since we were usually in groups. But then when it became just Daniel and me, Kent’s attitude begin to change. After Daniel told his daddy he didn’t want to stay on the ranch, things got even worse. Kent began to brood and fuss at Daniel, and he implied I was a bad influence—I’d talked him into leaving the ranch. I’d never do that, but Daniel had always mentioned leaving. I think after his mother went AWOL, he wanted to just get away from the memories. But Kent blamed me and made sure I knew I wasn’t welcome in his home. So Daniel started spending more time over here and he and Leo became close. That only fueled Kent’s fire.”
“I can see now why he’d blame all of you for Daniel’s death. His wife left and now his son was planning to do the same. That had to be tough to accept.”
“Yes. In his grief, he had to blame someone. He’s not a believer, so he doesn’t have faith to fall back on. In his mind, someone had to pay for Daniel’s death.”
“But that doesn’t mean it was anyone’s fault.”
“Unless someone tried to harm Daniel on purpose.”
“And Leo, too.”
“I know I’ve fought you on your theories, but now I’m beginning to wonder.”
“Let’s see what we find.”
Now, after reading up on Park Meadow Ranch, Marco was impressed. A small cattle ranch, it was a nice spread but not in the grandiose way of Rio Rojo. And not nearly as large and predominant. Parker’s net worth was about a fourth of what Amelia had just inherited. The man had more than enough motive to want revenge on her. And possibly Leo, too.
But why? Because of Daniel’s death? Why try to get his hands on property he didn’t need and couldn’t afford?
He could only be antagonizing Amelia, trying to scare her away, just because he wanted to hurt her. But again, she wouldn’t have any reason to interact with him, so why the big production?
If he’d gone completely bitter, it would be the principle of the thing—he’d think she didn’t deserve the ranch. She wasn’t Leo’s flesh and blood. Again, that shouldn’t be Kent Parker’s concern.
Marco turned from his research to ask her a question, and found her curled up on the settee, asleep. Shutting the computer, he went over and put a soft chenille throw over her. Puff had followed them into the room and now lay snuggled up on the floor beside her.
Marco sat back in a recliner and thought through every moment since he’d found her.
Someone had either tailed him to her place or had found her and shown up at the same time as him. He’d checked his truck for any tracking, and he always made sure his phone didn’t track him. He’d checked her phone and this whole house for bugs. Could someone be feeding information to Kent Parker? Samuel, Ben, before he was killed, Gregory Tyson, in the hospital and silent, the kid who’d brought the photo? Someone controlled this whole thing.
He stayed there in the chair, watching Amelia sleep. Puff never left her side. The dog would be a good guard for her, too.
Marco thought about the man who was acting as Daniel. Earlier when he couldn’t sleep, he’d looked up all the news articles he could find on Daniel’s accident. They didn’t offer much more than the general details. But he did notice in one article, the reporter made a point of saying it happened on Rio Rojo land, and that the vehicle had swerved and hit a tree head-on.
What had caused that vehicle to swerve? That was the unanswered question.
They might not ever know, but Marco had a feeling someone had done something to cause that wreck. He’d gone online to get a traffic report, paying the fee with a secure card. He planned to check with the locals again. He might find someone who was willing to talk about it more, even though superiors didn’t like to let their first responders talk about such things unless they were in court. He also planned to pay Gregory Tyson another visit. The man would be released from the hospital soon and taken into custody. Marco wanted to have a chat with him before he went behind bars.
Glancing over at Amelia again, he thought about their kiss earlier. A kiss that had knocked him off his feet. His attraction to her made no sense, but that kiss had made it all fall into place. He needed her in his life. Unbelievable since he’d fought any kind of commitments for so long now, and he’d only met her a few days ago. He’d left more women angry at him than he cared to remember. Maybe it had something to do with his daddy. The man sure had made life hard on both Marco and his mother. But she was safe now and loved her life.
Why couldn’t he move on from the pain of having a father who didn’t love him? Amelia had abandonment issues, and understandably, and he had commitment issues.
What a pair we are.
He prayed, deeply and fiercely, for some relief from these people pursuing her. She’d done nothing wrong, and he should know. He’d learned a lot, searching for her. But she’d held out on the hurt and pain of what she’d had to endure. He also prayed for whatever seemed to be happening between them.
Lord, let this be right. Let us stay strong. Help me to put faith over fear.
On the verge of dozing off, he heard a noise coming from Amelia’s bedroom. Jumping up, Marco reached for his gun.
He’d left it in his room.
Not wanting to waste time, he grabbed a heavy decorative candleholder and headed for her room. Puff jumped up, sniffing, and followed, a low growl emitting as he went.
“C’mon, boy, let’s see who’s in there.”
Amelia woke up with a start, her nightmare full of fire and a man holding her down. She sat up and looked around. The sitting room. Marco and Puff were gone.
Then she heard a thud and a groan coming from her room. And Puff, barking.
She shot up, stumbled, got her footing and hurried around the corner. “Marco?”
“In here,” he called from her room.
Puff’s bark grew more distant.
Amelia rushed in, spotting him on the floor by the open door to the courtyard. “Marco? What happened? Where’s Puff?”
“You had another intruder,” he said, lifting up off the floor. “He tried to fight me, and I fought back with this.” He reached down and picked up a huge stone candleholder. “He hit me square in the gut, but I got in a knock to his right cheek. He left bleeding, and with Puff on his trail.”
He grunted and pushed up then went to the door, Amelia behind him. “Puff?”
The dog stood at the back gate, still sniffing. But he came running when he saw Amelia.
Amelia took the candleholder and guided Marco to a chair. “Are you all right?”
“I am. But he got away before I could get in another lick.”
“Did you get a good look at him?” she asked, dreading the answer.
The expression on Marco’s face said it all. “I did, Amelia. And since I’ve spent most of the night looking at articles containing pictures of Daniel, I have to tell you the man who slugged me in the gut kind of did look like him.”
Amelia sank down on the other chair and held her hands to her face. “This can’t be real. If Daniel is alive, why is he trying to scare me away and harm everyone I care about? You’d think he’d come to the front door and tell me he’s okay, just as you pointed out earlier.”
Marco gave her a glance filled with regret and confusion. “I still don’t think it’s Daniel. Someone could have found a look-alike who’s posing as him, though.”
“Did he say anything?” she asked, her heart being stabbed with what felt like jagged glass.
“No, and he wasn’t really bothering anything. Just standing inside the door, but I caught him before he had time to do anything. I grabbed the first thing I could get my hands on. Should have taken my gun. We need to call an alarm company tomorrow. We’re not waiting any longer on that.”
“Yes.” She looked at the old latch. “It’s on the list, the growing list, of things I need to do.”
“He definitely got inside this room.” Pointing to the double glass doors, Marco said, “The lock wasn’t secure to begin with, and he pried it right open. I don’t want to think about what might have happened if you’d been in here sleeping.”
She didn’t want to think of that, either. “I’ve never worried about locking doors or adding security here. Leo didn’t think about those things, either. We all felt safe here before. But I think things here have changed more than I want to accept.”
“Which means someone is helping this person to torment you. We thought it was Ben Nesmith, but he’s been eliminated. Someone who works on this ranch or has access to a lot of things around here is making it easy for this interloper to just walk right inside this house.”
“It’s like a needle in a haystack, but we’ve cleared most of the ranch hands. And I know Rosa and Alan can’t be behind this.”
“Tomorrow, we’ll check with Tommy. He seems to be honest and a good worker. Ask him if anyone new was hired before Ben was killed. He’d also know who was assigned to which pastures. We’ll double-check with the hired guards at the front gate. We should find some hired guards to watch out near the river, too.”
“Just more to add to the mystery,” she said. “I doubt I’ll sleep tonight. I might not ever get a good night’s rest if I live here again.”
“You can sleep,” Marco told her. “Puff and I will guard the door.”
“And how do you plan on doing that?”
“I’ll sit out there in the courtyard with my gun and your dog. Those cushioned chairs look mighty comfortable.”
“No, you won’t.” She got up and shut the door and locked it. “I can sleep here with Puff to warn me. And you can go back to your room and leave the door open.”
“I don’t like that. He’s long gone, but we’ll have to report this to the sheriff. Too late to get them out here now.”
“Well, I’m not letting you sleep out there with lizards and mosquitoes and the heat and...someone prowling around. Tomorrow, I’m going to conduct a meeting with everyone who works here and make it clear that their watchman techniques are not working and if I find out any one of them is messing with me, and this ranch, I’ll have them arrested. Then I’m going to go over and confront Kent Parker.”
“Not without me.”
“Then go to your room and get some sleep. I have my gun and I’ll be fine. Right, Puff?”
Puff barked in agreement.
“At least we didn’t wake Rosa and Alan,” he said, moving toward her.
“They can’t hear very well, and their apartment is on the other side of the house,” she said.
“Ah, good to know. We’ll need to warn them. I have some suggestions on how we might proceed, but they can wait till we start over tomorrow.”
“We will. Look, we’ve made progress tonight.” Then she turned and tugged at the heavy drapes. “Well, I thought we had. I just can’t believe that could have been Daniel tonight.”
“Me, either,” he said. He moved one of the heavy leather chairs to the slider, wedging the chair’s wooden back legs against the slider’s track. “That should hold enough to warn you if he tries anything again tonight.” Then he tugged her close. “I don’t wish anyone dead, Amelia, but I kinda want you to myself, know what I mean?”
“I do,” she replied. “I’d like that, one day, Marco.” Unable to stop herself, she pulled him close and kissed him, just so she could feel the warmth of his arms around her. “Stay safe, okay?”
Marco gazed at her, his beautiful eyes only for her, which made her feel safe and shivery all in one breath. But she’d never really be safe and free to explore her feelings for him until this was over. “You, too. I’m definitely keeping the door open and my weapon nearby.”
“Thank you. Again,” she said, thinking how much her life had changed because this man had found her. But she said prayers of gratitude for Marco. He was the only part of this whole weird nightmare that had kept her from screaming out in rage and pain.
He gave her a slight smile, then left her standing there with Puff. Standing there with her heart torn apart. She still loved one man, but she was fairly sure she was falling for another one. And he was alive and well and doing his best to keep her safe. If Daniel was alive, she’d have to make a tough decision. One that would change her life all over again, either way.