Holiday Secrets

They trotted down the familiar drive until the two-story home with a long porch holding strings of garland and colorful Christmas lights came into view. Lights glowed from the lower windows, which meant his family was gathered in the living and dining rooms that faced the front of the house. A patrol car sat at the end of a circular drive—Matt’s car, Gavin presumed.

He veered off shy of the house and dismounted at the corral abutting a large barn and stable. “We’ll leave the horses here. I’ll make sure someone takes care of them.”

Gavin thought to help Lexie dismount, but he knew she’d balk, so he secured the reins and they made their way up an incline to the house. They’d barely stepped onto the porch when the door flew open and his mother barreled out like a bronc in a rodeo shoot. She was thin and tall, with leathery skin from time spent outdoors, and had a solid look about her as if she’d sunk her roots into the ground like the mighty cypress trees in the area. She’d always worked the ranch with the hands and kids, and never taken a day off.

“Welcome home, son.” Her arms outstretched, she jerked him to her as if he was a rag doll, and he went willingly.

After getting her fill, she set him away and stepped to Lexie. “You poor dear. Come here.”

His mother’s strong arms swallowed Lexie and she started to cry.

Gavin’s heart ached, and he felt like a dolt standing there when he knew if he hadn’t moved to Houston, she would be crying on his shoulder, not his mom’s. But he didn’t have long to dwell on it as his grandmother burst through the door and made a beeline toward him. She wore a gingham top over a T-shirt, and when she pulled him close, she was soft and squishy and smelled of baking spices. She did all the cooking, and he’d never found a better meal than the hearty ones she served up.

“Nana.” He hugged her back.

A clap on his shoulder had him pulling back to look into the sharp blue eyes of his granddad’s lined face. “About time you got here. S’posin your daddy kept you sitting around all this time.”

“Crime scenes take time to process.” Gavin was surprised he was defending his father.

His granddad hooked his thumbs in his red suspenders. “In my day, we wouldn’t make a little bit of a thing like Lexie wait around. We’d drive her home and have a civil conversation over a cup of coffee.”

“Coffee sounds like a good idea.” Gavin’s mother took Lexie’s arm. “We’ll settle you and Adam in the dining room by yourselves, and the two of you can take as long as you want.”

“Dad will likely have additional questions for Lexie when he gets here,” Gavin said.

“Then he’ll just have to wait.” His mother’s jaw firmed, meaning his dad would indeed be kept waiting, as Winnie McKade was the only person with the power to make that happen.

“I’ll see to the horses,” Granddad said.

“I appreciate that.”

“Don’t worry so much, Grandson,” Nana murmured. “God is faithful and He will work all of this for Lexie’s good.”

If only Gavin could be certain about that, but he hadn’t been certain about anything since Emily had been shot other than needing to leave town. He followed his family into the wide foyer holding a towering Christmas tree filled with handmade ornaments dating back as far as his granddad’s childhood.

Lexie glanced back at Gavin and, if he didn’t know better, he’d think she was begging him to join her to help break the news to Adam. But Gavin did know better. She didn’t want his help. She’d made that perfectly clear. Besides, he’d given up the right to sit by her side in good times and bad, and no matter how much he hated seeing her pain, he wasn’t a comfort to her now.

He closed the door behind them and headed across the house’s original wide-plank floors. Through a wide archway, he saw the other family members settle in front of a roaring fire, the woodsy campfire aroma he loved mingling with the scent of pine.

Matt stepped out to meet Gavin in the foyer. Though an investigator, Matt still worked patrol when needed and was dressed in the department’s basic navy patrol uniform. He looked tired and concerned, but had a ready smile.

He gave a light punch to Gavin’s arm. “You sure do know how to make an entrance in town, bro.”

“I’m surprised to see you here. I’d have thought you’d be out investigating the murder.”

“You know Dad. He has to make sure the department is fairly represented. So he’ll be in the thick of this one to make sure we don’t garner any bad press.” Matt frowned, disturbing his pretty-boy face that assured he always had his share of women to date. “And if you must know, I am involved. I’ve been tracking the suspect’s dirt bike.”

“Any luck with that?” Gavin asked.

“You know Dad wouldn’t want me to share investigative details outside the department.” A single eyebrow arched, looking so like their dad’s mannerism.

Gavin had to work hard not to comment. “And I also know you’re going to tell me everything, so why hassle me in the process?”

“I am, am I?”

Truth be told, Gavin wasn’t as confident as he’d once been that Matt would spill the beans. His brother had grown up a lot in the last few years. He’d be making a run for sheriff when their dad retired, and Gavin honestly believed Matt, who’d just turned thirty-one, could handle the position.

“Okay, fine,” his brother said without further prodding. “There’s no harm in telling you that ATF investigators arrived on scene and have taken over. They shooed Tessa away and I hear tell she’s hopping mad.”

“She had to know it was coming.” Gavin imagined their youngest sibling, who was a sworn deputy along with being a top forensic crime scene investigator for the county, facing off with an ATF agent. She was a nurturer at heart, but let anyone threaten her work domain, and she turned into a tiger.

“Knowing is one thing. Having a Fed toss you off the scene in your own county is another.”

“Hey, now. It’s awfully soon in my homecoming to be bashing the Feds, isn’t it?”

Matt frowned. “Dad said you wouldn’t tell him why you were in town.”

“I’m here on an investigation that involves Dr. Grant.”

“For real?”

Gavin nodded. “I cleared it with my supervisor to fill you and Dad in, but you’ll have to wait until I get Lexie settled and make sure we’ve made a protection plan for her and Adam.”

“Then in the spirit of cooperation, I can tell you that I located the dirt bike abandoned a few miles from the airfield.”

He narrowed his eyes. “How can you be so sure it’s the right bike?”

“The envelope with Lexie’s name on it was in a saddlebag. Empty, of course.”

“She told me the shooter has been incarcerated before. So any prints Tessa lifts should return an ID in the database.”

“Don’t hold your breath, bro. Lexie also told Dad that the suspect wore gloves. I doubt we’ll get prints.”

“What about the bike’s registration?”

“Bike’s not street legal, so no plates, but Kendall’s looking up the VIN number as we speak.” Their other sister, Kendall, had worked part-time as a deputy for nine years while she’d worked on her degree in information technology and was now a full-time deputy.

“Okay, so say this is the bike ridden by our suspect,” Gavin said. “No way if he owns the bike that he would abandon it and let us run the title to discover his identity.”

“So it’s likely stolen, but we haven’t had any dirt bikes reported stolen.” Matt frowned. “We’ll just have to wait on Kendall.”

Gavin didn’t want to wait. He’d rather log in to the database and get an instant answer. But taking over someone’s work was the kind of thing that drove others crazy. He would hold off for a bit, but if they didn’t hear from his sister soon, he would take charge and deal with the consequences later. “People around here don’t always register new bikes. It could also be secondhand and not registered to begin with.”

“Then if the VIN leads nowhere, we’ll need another way to find the owner.” Matt hooked his thumbs in the corner of his pants’ pockets.

His brother might be taking the wait-and-see approach, but Gavin wasn’t about to take the laid-back approach. “We need to figure it out ASAP so we’re ready to act if needed.”

“Whoa. When did you become such an all-fire control freak?” Matt shook his head. “City living, I suppose, but you’re back home now. You’ll need to learn to relax again or you’ll tick people off.”

Gavin wouldn’t admit the incident with his dad had changed him. Better to let Matt blame it on the city and move on. “You’re running the envelope for DNA, too, right?”

Matt crossed his arms. “We may not be a big, fancy department, but we do know how to investigate a crime.”

“I didn’t mean it that way, and you know it.”

Matt continued to eye him.

“I’m gonna grab a cup of coffee. You want one?” Gavin asked before saying something else to make his brother mad.

“Yeah, sure.”

Gavin led the way to the kitchen. He glanced through the dining room’s French doors to see Lexie with her arm wrapped around Adam’s shoulders. Dark pain lingered in her eyes and cut Gavin to the quick. Adam, the teenager Gavin had come to care for, darted his gaze around the room, as if looking for a way to flee or for help in dealing with his grief.

Lexie met Gavin’s gaze and frowned before looking away. He sighed. He hadn’t meant to hurt her. He’d asked her to move to Houston with him, but her dad had forbidden her to move Adam out of town. Made no sense. Not when her father had little to do with either of them, but still, he’d had legal custody of Adam. Which meant she’d be stuck in Lost Creek for years. Gavin had suggested a long-distance relationship, but she’d shut him down fast.

Although a part of him wished he could go back and change things, he’d been right to move to Houston. Confirmed it, too, the minute he’d talked to his father tonight. But, no matter what, Gavin wasn’t going to flake on her now. He wasn’t going anywhere. At least not until he was confident she was safe.

FOUR

Lexie tightened her hold on Adam’s hand, but he was trying so hard to be a grown-up that he shrugged free and jumped to his feet. He marched across the room and lifted a stuffed Santa Claus from an antique sideboard to stare at it.

“I know Dad has been a loser father,” Adam said, “but I can’t believe he’d get involved in something illegal.”

“We don’t know that he broke the law,” she said, wishing the same comfort she’d once offered for skinned knees would work for Adam tonight. “Just that he was involved with a syndicate of some sort.”

He spun around. “Sounds bad, though, right?”

She got up to join him but shoved her hands in her pockets to keep from reaching out to him. “That’s because in our world the word ‘syndicate’ often refers to a group involved in illegal activities.”

Adam’s eyes, blue and large like their father’s, narrowed. “Yeah. Dad getting shot makes it almost a certainty.”

“Perhaps.”

He set down the Santa and it toppled to the floor. He stared at it. “What do you think he was mixed up in?”

“I don’t know.”

“Had to be drugs.” He grabbed the Santa Claus and settled it on the shelf with great force.

Due to his grief, she ignored the way he manhandled the keepsake item the McKades had owned for generations. “Why would you say drugs?”

“Dunno. Just sounds likely is all.” He chewed on his lower lip. “Do you think I’m in danger, too?”

“I hope not.” She played it down so she didn’t terrify him more. “Either way, we both need to be extra careful. As of this minute, there’ll be no going anywhere without me at your side.”

An impish grin lit his face. “Cool. That means no school.”

“You wish.” She knuckled his head. “I can’t have you fall behind.”

“But I’ll be alone.”

“I’ll see if Gavin or the sheriff can arrange to have someone go to school with you.”

“Gavin. Pfft. Why’s he even here?” Adam dropped onto the nearest chair, sliding down so far, she thought he’d slip off.

“I don’t know, but he can help us, so we have to give him a chance.” She couldn’t believe she’d not only downplayed their father’s actions, but now she was standing up for Gavin. What was next? Welcoming Gavin back into their lives?

No. No way.

“Like you’re happy to see him,” Adam muttered.

“I was when he came to my aid at the airstrip,” she admitted and left it at that. The last thing either of them needed was to get into a heated discussion about Gavin. “Let me see if the sheriff arrived and we’re cleared to go home.”

“Home?” His voice squeaked. “Is it safe?”

Gone was his bravado. Sitting before her was the little boy she’d held during crazy Texas thunderstorms. Comforted after their beloved pets had died. When he’d gotten his immunizations...and on and on. Her anger flared. How could their father put them in this position? Easy. He thought only of himself.

She squeezed Adam’s shoulder. “If Sheriff McKade or Gavin say it’s not safe, we won’t go there. Okay?”

“But where will we stay?”

“Let me talk to them and we’ll figure something out.”

She stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her. Walt had returned from the crime scene and he sat with Kendall on the old plaid sofa. Gavin and Matt both leaned against a wall as if they planned to spring into action. His mother and grandparents sat in side chairs, both ladies crocheting.

“Can I speak to you a minute, Sheriff?” Lexie called out as soon as there was a break in the conversation.

She felt Gavin’s gaze on her, but she wouldn’t make eye contact. His father got up and strode toward her, no questions asked. Gavin pushed off the wall and tagged along. Walt frowned at Gavin, but he held his ground as if he’d been standing up to his father all his life, when in fact all of the McKade siblings tried not to buck Walt’s decisions unless it was of utmost importance.

“I told Adam about Dad,” she said to them both. “But I didn’t want to terrify him, so I didn’t share details like Dad’s warning. I’d appreciate it if you all kept it to yourselves, too.”

“Makes sense,” Gavin said. “But he needs to know the suspect is looking for something and will likely come back. And that he might have seen you, too.”

“I made sure Adam understands enough to know he needs to be careful. For the most part, he’s trying to act tough, but I can tell he’s afraid.”

Walt offered a kind smile. “Nothing to worry about. Gavin here has insisted on personally seeing you home tonight.”

Gavin nodded and met her gaze. “I just want to be sure you’re safely settled in, is all.”

“Thank you,” she said instead of trying to argue when she was so wiped out.

“We’ve got a deputy stationed outside your house for the night,” Walt continued. “Kendall will drive Adam to school in the morning and spend the day with him. After we have a clearer picture of what happened at the scene and have processed any recovered evidence, we’ll make a long-term plan.”

Her heart dropped. “Do you really think this will go long-term?”

Walt rubbed his forehead lined from hours of working the ranch beneath the hot Texas sun. “Can’t rightly say. Not when I don’t have enough information.”

“Regardless, it’s best to be prepared,” Gavin said.

She firmed her jaw, something she often felt like her slight stature forced her to do to be taken seriously. “I’d like to be in on all discussions about our protection.”

Walt nodded. “Let’s plan to meet over lunch here tomorrow. If you have to go anywhere before then, our deputy will follow you. That work for you, sweetheart?”

At his tender tone, she almost lost it. Walt was a hard taskmaster with Gavin, but once she’d started dating Gavin, Walt had in many ways become the father she’d always wanted. Until Gavin had left. Then she’d made a point of trying not to run into any of the McKades if she could help it.

“Can we meet at one? Adam only has a half day tomorrow, so I’ll need to pick him up from school early.”

“Kendall can bring him home.”

“I know, but I want to try to keep as much of our routine as possible to reduce his turmoil over losing Dad.”

“I completely understand,” Walt said. “Adam can have lunch in the kitchen with my parents while we talk. Mom will fill him up with her famous Christmas cookies.”

Lexie smiled her thanks.

“Are you ready to go?” Gavin asked.

She nodded. “Let me get Adam.”

She went to the dining room door and motioned for her brother to join her in the foyer. He started off at a good clip, his untied sneakers slapping on the floor, but then he spotted Gavin and slowed.

Gavin smiled. “Good to see you, bud.”

“We’re not buds.” Adam jerked open the front door and bounded down the stairs.

“Hey, wait up!” Gavin went charging after Adam to grab his arm.

The teen shook it off.

“Look, I get that you’re mad at me,” Gavin said. “You have every right to be, but I need you to stick close by me or any deputies escorting you. For safety reasons. Can you do that?”

Adam nodded, but his sullen expression remained. “Let’s just get going.”

“My car is over there.” Gavin gestured at his black SUV backed into a small parking area next to the house.

When they were on the road, Lexie glanced over the seat to where Adam glared at the back of Gavin’s head.

How had their lives come to this? To the point that she and her little brother were in serious danger? Bad enough that she had to deal with it, but Adam was just a kid.

Adam slammed a fist on his knee and jerked his head toward the window. She caught a glimpse of pain mingling with anger in his eyes. He’d taken the news of their father’s death harder than she’d expected, but part of the pain, and she suspected all of the anger, was her fault. Her breakup with Gavin had devastated Adam. He’d lost the male role model that he’d bonded with most. And now he had to deal with the emotions of losing a father who should have been that positive role model in the first place.

Lexie sighed. She would just have to limit Adam’s exposure to Gavin to make things easier for him. Just like she needed to limit her own exposure.

Right. Easier said than done when her gaze kept drifting to him. Settling on his broad shoulders and strong jaw. His long, masculine fingers as he rested his hand on the gearshift. And then there was the scent of his woodsy cologne, now mixed with the smell of hay and horses. At their lunch meeting tomorrow, she’d make sure he understood that he didn’t owe her anything and that if he wanted to go back to Houston, that was fine with her. But even as the thought popped into her head, she doubted it was okay.

“Grrr,” she said without thinking.

Gavin glanced at her. “Everything okay?”

“It’s nothing.” A big, fat nothing that was everything to her at the moment. She followed Adam’s lead and peered out the window, too.

The SUV rounded a narrow curve to where she’d parked her truck and trailer. Gavin pulled into the boarded-up gas station. The station had gone out of business when Mr. Engles had closed down his airstrip and barricaded access for vehicles beyond this point in an effort to keep out trespassers.

Gavin angled his vehicle to shine headlights on her truck before shifting into Park.

Exhausted, it took all her strength to push open the door and climb down, but she wouldn’t let Adam or Gavin witness her fatigue. It was a good thing Gavin had such a considerate grandfather who’d bedded Misty down at the ranch for the night. Lexie loved her horse, but was glad not to have to take care of her on top of everything else.

Gavin headed straight for her truck. Why, she didn’t know, but she didn’t have the energy to question him. She opened the SUV’s back door for Adam. He slid out, his shoulders sagging, his face downcast.

“I know this is hard.” She forced out a smile. “But we’ll get through it just like we get through everything else life throws at us. With our faith.”

Right. Faith. She felt like a hypocrite. Hers had pretty much been put on the back burner since their mom died, but she didn’t want to impact Adam’s faith journey by letting him know she had doubts on God’s faithfulness, so she put on a good front.

He gave her another sullen look and leaned against the SUV.

She stifled a sigh, something she’d been doing since he’d become a teenager and spread wings she’d had to clip at times. Aunt Ruth was a great mother figure, but Lexie felt pressure to fulfill her mother’s dying wishes. She’d known their father could get wrapped up in his practice and forget everything else, so she’d asked Lexie to make sure Adam was happy and well looked after.

She’d kept that promise and wasn’t about to let a killer or even Gavin’s attention make her shirk her responsibilities. She dug out her keys and started for the truck. She heard Adam’s shoes thumping on the concrete behind her.

Gavin approached the passenger door. He spun around, his gaze intense. “Back to the car. Both of you.”

Lexie looked past him to see her truck window shattered and the door standing open.

Her heart racing, she grabbed Adam’s arm and dragged him back to the SUV.

Gavin eased forward, his feet crunching over glass. She noted her truck’s dome light was out, so the person who’d broken the window had either turned it off or shattered it, as well. Lexie still had her hand on Adam’s arm, which shook under her grasp. Stepping closer to him, she slid her arm around his waist. He was nearly six feet tall now and she couldn’t place an arm around his shoulders or she’d do so. He started to shrug her off, maybe thinking he needed to be that tough young man again, but then stopped and moved a bit closer.

Gavin drew out his phone and turned on the flashlight app while still balancing his gun. He crept quietly around the truck, shining the beam in the surrounding shrubs and dense foliage. Then he moved to the horse trailer hitched to the back of her truck and peered inside.

He faced them. “Looks like they’re gone.”

Adam let out a long sigh and pushed free of Lexie’s hold.

Gavin holstered his weapon. “I’ll take you home, then come back to handle the scene with Dad and Tessa.”

“That’s fine.” Lexie shouldn’t let him take over for her, but she didn’t want Adam to stand around looking at the destruction. “I picked up a prescription at the pharmacy and need to grab it from the glove box.”

“Is that really necessary tonight?”

She nodded, thinking he didn’t need to know that the doctor had put Adam on ADD medication.

“Then I need to warn you. The inside of the truck is trashed, and the medication could have been stolen.” Adam got in the SUV, and Gavin walked her to the truck. He shone his light inside.

Lexie gasped and forgot all about the prescription. In the bright beam, glass sparkled from the slashed-open seats. The mats had been jerked out and the carpet torn up. The glove box hung open and items she’d stored in the jump seat were scattered across the floor and ground.

Gavin leaned in behind her, focusing his light in the cab. She felt the heat of his body, but forgot even that when the light landed on a piece of paper lying next to a cell phone on the seat.

“That’s not my phone.” She reached for it.

“Don’t touch it,” Gavin warned. He focused the light on the paper with its big bold letters and read the message.

“‘I want the information. Give it to me before I have to take more drastic actions. Keep this phone with you at all times. I’ll call with further instructions.”’

“The killer?” She spun to look at Gavin, finding him even closer than she thought. She could easily imagine his strong arms going around her right now, offering the comfort he’d so often provided in the past. For that very reason, she pushed him back. “The killer must have seen me and didn’t trust that Dad was telling the truth.”

“So he thinks your dad gave you the information.”

“But what could it be?”