Page 14 of The Honorable Texan
“Okay,” she agreed.
“Come on, Curt, I’ll show you around the rest of the operation,” the older cattleman beckoned.
“See you later, Violet,” Curt murmured.
She nodded, smiling.She watched them leave,frowning.Libby was crazy about Jordan Powell, and Curt had worked for him for years.What in the world was going on?
* * *
Curt came byjust as she was getting her things together.“I suppose you’re wondering how I landed here,” he said.
She nodded.“It’s a bit of a surprise,” she replied.
“Have you talked to Kemp lately?”
Her heart jumped just at the sound of his name, but she recovered quickly.“No.I haven’t spoken to him for a week or two, I guess.”
“There’s been some unpleasantness, shall we say, between Libby and Julie Merrill.”
Violet looked blank.“I wasn’t aware that they even knew each other,” she replied.
“They’re not even acquaintances,” Curt agreed.“But Julie wants Jordan, and Libby was getting in the way.”
“I see.”
“Anyway, Julie attacked Libby and Jordan didn’t stand up for her.Jordan made some nasty remarks to Libby.”He shrugged.“I’m not working for any man who bad-mouths my sister.”
“I don’t blame you one bit.Poor Libby!”
“She can take care of herself on good days,” he said.“But Julie has some unsavory friends.Sadly for her, she walked into Kemp’s office while Libby was there.”
“Excuse me?”
He smiled.“You don’t know, do you?There’s bad blood between Kemp and Julie.She had a party at her house eight years ago and invited Shannon Culbertson, who was all but engaged to Kemp at the time.There was a rivalry between Shannon and Julie for a classoffice at school.Somebody put something in Shannon’s drink.She died.Julie got the office.”
“She was poisoned?”Violet exclaimed, fascinated by this private look at her taciturn boss’s life.So he had a woman in his past after all.Was that why he didn’t have much to do with women now?It made her sad to think there was another woman in his life, even a ghost.How could a living woman compete with a perfect memory?
“She wasn’t poisoned.She had a hidden heart condition,” he corrected.“Anyway, she died.Kemp never got over it.He did his best to have Julie tried for it, but her father had plenty of money and plenty of influence.It was listed as a tragic accident with no explanation, and the case was closed.Kemp would hang Julie if he could ever find an excuse to get her in court.”He leaned forward.“Just between you and me, that might happen.Senator Merrill got busted for drunk driving.Now he and his nephew the mayor are trying to get the arresting officers fired—and Chief Cash Grier, too.”
Violet’s mind had to jump-shift back to the subject at hand.She was still taking in Kemp’s secret past, one that she hadn’t even expected.“That’ll be the day, when Chief Grier will let his officers go down the drain without a fight.”
“Exactly what most of us think,” Curt said.“Grier is hell on drug traffickers.Which brings to mind one other rumor that’s going around—that Julie has her finger in a nasty white powder distribution network.”
Violet whistled.“Some news!”
“Keep it to yourself, too,” he admonished.“But the point of the thing is, I was without a job and Duke said I could work for him.”
“Welcome aboard, as one refugee to another.”
“That’s right, you and Kemp had a mixer, too, didn’t you?”He smiled wryly.“Libby told me,” he added when she looked surprised.“But I heard it from three other people as well.You don’t keep secrets in a town like Jacobsville.We’re all one big family.We know all about each other.”
She smiled.“I suppose we do.”
“How’s your mother taking the exhumation?”
The smile faded.“She says it’s not bothering her, but I know it is.She’s very old-fashioned about things like that.”
He looked angry.“We feel the same way.But we had to let them exhume Dad, too.Nobody wants Janet to walk away from another murder.”
