The Mommy Mystery by Delores Fossen

Author:Delores Fossen [Fossen, Delores]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2010-12-22T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

“Hurry,” Gabrielle insisted.

Houston did. He caught on to her hand, and together they raced out of the sheriff’s office. They jumped into his silver Porsche and sped out of the parking lot.

This would no doubt be the longest twenty-five-minute drive of their lives.

Gabrielle took out her phone from her purse. Houston didn’t have to ask who she was calling. He knew. She needed to get in touch with Lily Rose.

“I don’t want to scare you,” Gabrielle said, when the nanny answered, “but I need you to keep Lucas with you at all times, and lock your door.” She paused. “I’ll explain everything as soon as I get there. Just don’t leave your room.”

After slapping the phone shut, she yelled “Hurry” to Houston.

“Remember, Cordell could be lying,” Houston reminded her.

“I know, but I can’t take that chance.”

Neither could he. Houston trusted Dale, or at least he thought he could. After all, he’d known Dale for the better part of twenty years; but Houston also knew his father, and Mack could be a persuasive man. It was possible that Mack had talked Dale into doing something stupid.

Like visiting Jay.

Still, even if Cordell had told the truth about that, it didn’t mean his foreman would have done anything to hurt Gabrielle, Lucas or him. But if that were so, Dale should have been the one to tell him about the visit to Jay. He shouldn’t have had to learn something that big from Harlan Cordell.

The anger slammed through Houston. He was damn tired of all the lies and lies by omission. One way or another, he would get to the bottom of this, even if it meant grilling his father and Dale.

Houston pressed harder on the accelerator, once he was beyond the town limits and away from other vehicles. Beside him, Gabrielle had a death grip on her cell phone, probably so she could answer it immediately, if Lily Rose called back to tell her of some problem that had arisen at the ranch.

“It’ll be okay,” Houston tried to assure her, but he knew there was no way he could guarantee that.

He considered calling someone else at the ranch, maybe one of the maids or another ranch hand, but he didn’t have their personal numbers. If he dialed any of the landlines at the house, Dale would be the one to answer, since all calls were routed through his desk phone or cell. Houston didn’t want the man to have any kind of heads-up or warning when he confronted him about what Cordell had said.

But there was one person he could call.

Houston took out his cell, scrolled through the numbers and made the call to his father. The phone rang and rang, and then went to voicemail.

That didn’t soothe Houston’s temper.

“I need to speak to you now,” Houston said, leaving the message for his father.

He hung up and was about to try yet again to comfort Gabrielle, but then he saw a white car in his rearview mirror.

Even though this was a country road that led primarily to the ranch, it wasn’t unusual for there to be other traffic.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.