Page 3 of Silent Deception
“His vision upsets him the most. He’ll spend hours in his office in the house poring over bills and reports, but I can tell he’s struggling. It’s no wonder he didn’t catch what was going on—he can barely see to read. I made him a checkup appointment tomorrow, but I’m not sure I can make him go. Maybe you’d have a better chance.”
Ryan sat back in his chair trying to absorb the enormity of that news. Clint was well-known as a powerful force in state and local politics; a wheeler-dealer who was ruthless in his business dealings and who carefully cultivated a broad spectrum of cronies to help him meet his ends. What was it like for him now that he faced the potential loss of his independence?
“Shouldn’t Leland be helping with all of this?”
“He’s still just on retainer. Dad consults him on financial matters—investments and so on—and he has limited power of attorney to oversee business decisions if Dad becomes incapacitated or is out of town. But he doesn’t cover day-to-day management. It might be different if Leland was always in town, but he’s at his satellite office in Homestead a day or two a week at most.”
“Wouldn’t it be worth his while to have a local full-time office here?”
Trevor laughed. “I doubt it. He must have a lot of wealthy clients around San Antonio, because he’s got a huge home there.”
“So the other options...”
“Dad refuses to even discuss them. And I can’t do it all, no matter what Dad thinks.” Trevor sighed. “So we’ve had some overdue loan notices because Dad isn’t open with me about all of his dealings. Our hunting lease program is a mess. Records are missing. Dad is land-rich and cash-poor right now, and last winter he missed a chance to pick up a big piece of property that borders the Four Aces.”
“He needsmoreland?”
“You know Dad.” Trevor shook his head. “Money. Power. Land. He wants it all, but nabbing the K-Bar-C meant far more than that because it controls the aquifer that supplies a large percentage of our land. It was tangled in foreclosure for over a year. When it suddenly came up for sale, he couldn’t pull enough money together in time. That still rankles him to no end.”
“I’ll bet.” Ryan gave a short laugh. In Texas, prime access to a substantial underground aquifer could mean the difference between bankruptcy and success. “He’s never been one to accept defeat. What about Nate—has he been caught?”
“He died a few months after being fired. Leland worked for a couple of weeks on his bookkeeping disaster, then gave up and hired a forensic accountant and a private investigator. They discovered that money had disappeared through cash withdrawals and large checks to fictitious companies in San Antonio and Dallas. Some were filtered into an account in Llano in the name of a nonexistent crop-spraying service. That doesn’t account for all of it, though...not even close, from what we can tell.”
“Was any of it recovered?”
Trevor snorted. “Very little.”
“Do you have a copy of that report?”
Trevor hitched a thumb toward a bank of file cabinets behind the desk. “In there—top drawer. But it really doesn’t say any more than we already knew.”
Ryan rose and started thumbing through the file folders. “What about the sheriff? Didn’t he investigate?”
“Dad wanted to keep this quiet until he has enough evidence.” Trevor lifted a brow. “Personally, I think he’s more worried about the election year ahead. He doesn’t want voters thinking he mismanages his own business. And knowing Dad, he probably has other financial affairs he doesn’t want brought to light, either.”
“But when Nate died, surely—”
“Nope. The PI discovered Nate had quite a gambling problem, so a lot of the money probably disappeared on the gaming tables.”
“Then what about those big checks and withdrawals?”
“There was no paper trail proving that he’d been the one embezzling, so he must have been craftier than we thought.” At a sharp rap on the doorjamb, Ryan looked over his shoulder.
Clint stood there, as tall and imposing as ever, his lean, hard face reddened and his eyes flashing with anger. “This ismyranch. I should be part of this discussion, wouldn’t you say?”
Nohello,nogood to see you.Which was, Ryan reflected, no surprise at all.
“Adelfa said you two were out here.” Clint glared at his sons. “You should have come to my office.”
Trevor cleared his throat. “I just—”
“I haven’t seen my brothers in a good long while, Dad.” Ryan turned and met Clint’s steely expression head-on, knowing that any show of sympathy for the old man would likely spark a tirade. “When I run into Garrett, I plan to have a good, long visit with him, too.”
An uncomfortable silence lengthened until at last Clint muttered under his breath, stalked farther into the room and scraped the desk chair against the floor before dropping into it. He gave Trevor a narrowed glance. “I understand you and Garrett sent for Ryan. It wasn’t necessary.”
“Sounds like it was,” Ryan said mildly, leaning a shoulder against the wall. “I understand y’all need some short-term help to get everything back in order. After that, you can bring in a new business manager, and I’ll be out of here.”
“Interference, that’s what it is,” Clint snapped, glaring at Trevor. “You had no right.”
