“I didn’t know what you told my little girl. Wouldn’t make sense to upset her if there was no need, ya know?”
Duke rubbed his jaw. “I’ll ride out to Ole Lamplighter and see if anyone saw anything.”
“I doubt it,” Frank told him. “Place is closed until suppertime. There wasn’t a car in the lot even when Sam got there. Only vehicle there was Hank’s truck.” A beat later he said, “And Sam said his gun was in between the seats. Along with his cell phone.”
Now Duke was concerned. Hank seldom met strangers without his cell phone in his pocket. “Watch after Julie, will ya?”
“You got it,” Frank promised.
Duke hurried outside, yanked his phone free from his pocket, and dialed Hank. His voice mail picked up, and he dialed again, passing the time as he drove like a madman heading into town.
On the third try, he left a message. “Hank, so help me if you’re okay, I’m gonna hurt you myself for making me worry. It’s four o’clock and we should’ve heard something by now. Frank’s concerned.” Hell, he was worried, too. He picked up the phone and called him again. When he left another message, he said, “I’m concerned. Call me.”
Tossing the phone aside, he clutched the steering wheel and headed for Riverside. Minutes later, when he pulled into the parking lot, he was greeted by Sam McMann, and his suspicions rose from there.
* * * *
Yanking the keys from the ignition, Duke unlocked the glove box and retrieved a small pistol, which he stuck in his belt. Rolling down the window, he drove up to the Hinman vehicle Sam drove. “What brings you out here again, Sam?” Duke asked, studying him as he spoke. Had they hired someone who was hell-bent on harming Julie? Had they entrusted her care, the engineering of a car they’d insisted she drive, in her enemy’s hands?
“I need to talk to you,” he said suspiciously.
“So talk,” Duke said, placing his hand on the butt of the gun.
“We’ve got a problem.”
“You don’t say,” Duke said, glancing at his brother’s truck.
“It’s Frank,” Sam blurted out, hurriedly continuing with, “I know you trust him—”
“With my life,” Duke informed him, cutting him off. He wasn’t going to listen to this. If Hank were there, he’d cut the guy’s tongue out for trying to cast a negative light on someone who’d worshipped the ground Julie tread across.
“Then you may not live very long,” Sam remarked. “And as long as he’s around Julie, she’s in danger.”
“Man, you have no idea what
kind of accusation you’re making here. Julie and Frank are tight. They’ve been friends since she was a little girl, and he thinks of her as his own daughter.”
Sam reached across the seat for something of interest and Duke immediately went for his gun, tapping the butt of the piece so he could draw the weapon if he had to.
“I know you’ve got a pistol on your side, Duke,” Sam said regretfully. “I’m not gonna hurt you. I’m trying to help you.”
“Oh yeah?” Duke said, tilting his head toward the paper Sam passed his way. “What’s this?”
“Proof Frank doesn’t always have Julie’s best interest at heart. That’s the bill of sale on that Thoroughbred he just purchased. In the notes down at the bottom, Frank acknowledges the owner told him the horse was dangerous. Damn beast put three different ranch hands in the hospital out in Texas. The former owner wanted to put her down. She’s just stark crazy.”
Duke stared at the bill of sale. There had to be some explanation for this. Outside of the obvious—Frank knew what he was buying when he gave ten thousand dollars for a horse with a record for harming the innocent. He studied the acknowledgement at the bottom of the page. Frank’s handwriting was hard to forge. His signature was nothing more than a long line of chicken scratches.
“Duke, that’s not all,” Sam continued. “I’ve been real cautious about that car. I haven’t told you, but I do routine checks on all your vehicles daily, on the chance Julie decides she wants to drive. I wanted to be sure nothing was wrong, and well, I guess I’ve been a little obsessive about it. Now, I know why. Some brakes were tampered with last night. If Julie had gotten in her race car today, after hitting speeds of over ninety miles per hour, she wouldn’t have had any brakes.”
Duke shook his head. He tried to rationalize what he was being told, but there wasn’t any way he could explain the bill of sale. How could Frank fake the kind of love and concern he seemed to hold for Julie? He thought about the times he’d watched Frank and Julie together, remembered the way Frank was so compassionate whenever he spoke about or to the one he called his little girl.
“This doesn’t make sense. Why would Frank want to hurt Julie?”
Sam shrugged. “I don’t know. But I can tell you this right now, that horse he bought her? It ain’t fit for a man, much less a woman Julie’s size. As for the brakes, we’re probably all right on that. I’ll get everything tuned up and repaired tonight. I was just waiting until everyone went to bed so I could start repairs without an audience.”
“Are you trying to tell me you didn’t fix them yet?”
“I didn’t see the point. Julie wasn’t going to drive today. She was with you all morning. I figured after Hank went missing, there wasn’t any need to rush repairs.”