A Little Texas Read Free Page B

employed by you. My focus is on the center.”
    “I can’t trust anyone else.” The old man rolled even closer. So close Rick could smell his Aramis cologne, see the deep grooves around his shocking blue eyes. “Please.”
    “I have to focus on Phoenix.”
    “You must do this for me, Enrique. This is all I shall ask. One last favor and I will sign the land over to the foundation. Think about it. The center would be secure.”
    Rick felt his heart pound. Mitchell did not part with much in life. The center was funded through Ryan’s foundation. They’d received some federal money, but much of it came through the foundation. Justus was now offering something more. “All for finding this woman and bringing her to you?”
    The old man smiled. White veneers flashed, a gold crown winked. “Finding the girl won’t be hard. She used a post office box. Probably thought I hadn’t kept tabs on her, but, of course, I always have.”
    Rick glanced at the folded note in his hand. It had not been signed. Just a post office box number given. The girl lived in Las Vegas. “Of course you would. You always know your enemies.”
    Something flashed again in Justus’s eyes. It was an emotion Rick had seen before in those blue depths, and he knew it well. Regret stared at him in his mirror each and every morning.
    “She’s not an enemy. There is much of me in this girl. She’s determined.”
    “And underhanded,” Rick said. “How can you admire a girl who would threaten to ruin you unless you give her money?”
    “It’s not so different than what I would have done once. She’s got her back against a wall. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have heard from her. Besides, there’s not much left to ruin, is there? Other than the money, of course.” The smile Justus gave reminded Rick of a clown in a fun house. He supposed the atrophy on the man’s right side was to blame, but still, he couldn’t help the prickles that crept along his skin.
    The only sound in the room was the hum of the restored soda machine in the corner. Rick wasn’t sure he wanted to tangle with this woman, but the allure of owning the hilly land surrounding the center won over the doubt embedded in his gut.
    He’d started trusting Justus Mitchell long ago and hadn’t regretted it yet. The man had been ruthless, conniving and dangerous, but the day Ryan died had changed everything about Justus.
    Nothing defeated a man like the death of his son. And nothing gave a man purpose like finishing the job his dead son had started. Justus had lost Ryan but found Jesus, and he’d declared himself transformed. From that day on, he had tried to perpetuate Ryan’s legacy of seeing value in helping others.
    “Fine. I’ll go to Vegas, but it has to be tomorrow. The center opens next week and I’ve got five guys coming. That’s more important than this girl.”
    Justus frowned but didn’t disagree. “Good. I’ll arrange for the flight. She’s expecting me to send the money with no questions, but she’ll have to give me more than some contrived claim. When you show up, we’ll see how serious she is about this venture. The girl will dance to my tune if she wants something from me.”
    “Don’t we all?” Rick said.
    A laugh blasted past Justus’s lips. “You learned long ago, didn’t you? I’m a hard man, there’s little doubt of that, Enrique, but I have a heart somewhere in here. I think.” The old man moved his left hand jerkily toward his shrunken chest.
    Rick nodded. “What’s her name?”
    “Kate Newman.”
    “She’s gonna be trouble,” Rick said, slipping off the pool table.
    “All women are.”

    K ATE BALANCED ON HER TOES in order to check the box at the post office. Why they’d given her one in the highest row she couldn’t guess. At barely five feet, it was obvious she’d have a hard time obtaining the mail. Must have been retaliation from the clerk, whose invitation to the movies she’d turned down. Some guys couldn’t handle even the