Page 70 of Texas-Sized Secrets

“Do you need a ride back to the diner?” William asked.

“No, I’ll walk. It’s not that far.” The mile would give him time to digest everything they’d told him. As he strode along the street, passing wood-framed houses dating back to the early fifties and some newer brick homes, he mulled over what had happened.

That snake, Jeffrey Kuhn, the man who’d threatened to foreclose on Mona’s property was the same man who’d raped Reed’s mother over thirty years ago. His father. By blood only. The man could never be a good father, he didn’t have it in him. Rage burned inside Reed and he wanted to pummel the man into a bloody heap.

The sound of sirens wailed ahead of him, jerking him out of his rage. What now?

Mona? His footsteps increased until he was running on the pavement, wishing he’d worn tennis shoes rather than cowboy boots. When he turned the corner onto Main Street, an ambulance pulled away from the front of the Prairie Rock Bank. Sheriff’s deputies climbed into their cars as the small crowd dispersed.

Reed skidded to a stop next to Deputy Phillips’s car, his breathing ragged. “Steve, wait.” He doubled over and sucked in a deep breath. “What happened?”

The deputy shook his head and tucked a pen into his shirt pocket. “Jeffrey Kuhn shot himself.”

“What?”

“Yeah. Right after a talk with your boss lady.”

“Mona?”

“Yeah.”

“Where is she? Is she okay?”

“She’s fine. Left about fifteen minutes ago saying she’d be at the diner. She should be over there with the sheriff. He had a few questions for her.”

“Did he cover the shooting?”

“No, he had a stop on the way back from delivering his mother to the hospital.”

“Mother?”

“The Teague woman. Funny thing. I never knew it was his mother until I heard him and Toby talking about her. I didn’t think much of it until I saw them together today at the diner. They look so much alike. Dangedest thing, those two never acted like mother and son.” Steve glanced up at Reed. “I gotta go file my report. Did you need anything else?”

“Yeah, a ride over to the diner.”

“Hop in.” He cleared a space on the front seat.

Reed climbed in, wishing he was the one doing the driving. When they came in view of the diner, Mona’s truck was gone.

“This is your stop.” Steve shifted into park and waited for Reed to get out.

“Hold on a minute.” He dialed Mona’s cell phone, but she didn’t answer. When he closed his phone, he noticed the message icon blinking. She must have left it while he was running and he hadn’t heard it. He quickly called his voice mail and listened.

“Reed…on…way headed…Palo Duro Can—” What sounded like a siren whined in the background and the message ended.

“Steve, can your report wait? I think Mona might be in trouble.”

“I’m with you. Anything to put off writing those reports.” Steve shifted in Reverse and pulled out of the diner parking lot. “Where to?”

* * *

WHEN THEY REACHEDthe hunter’s cabin tucked between rock outcroppings in a lonely section of the canyon, Sheriff Parker Lee climbed out, opened the back door and pointed his service weapon at Mona. “Get out.”

She sat still, afraid that if she got out, it would be all over. He’d kill her, and her baby would die as well. “I don’t get it. Why?”

“It’s not for you to understand. Just get out.” He waved the gun impatiently.

“You were the ringleader of the cattle rustling all this time?” She’d figured Parker Lee was a horse’s butt, a selfish, egotistical man with no thought to anyone but himself. But she’d never pegged him for a criminal. He was a sheriff. “You killed Dusty and Gil, didn’t you?”

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