Operation Cowboy Daddy

“Did he mention to you that they’ve identified one of the skeletons that was found here?”

Tony sat up straighter in the chair. “No, in fact I asked him if there was anything new on the case and he told me there wasn’t.”

“He must have gotten this news after he saw you,” Adam replied. “He was here at dinnertime asking if anyone remembered a fifteen-year-old boy named Tim Hankins.”

Tony frowned. “We’ve all told him over and over again that there were no other boys here other than the twelve of us.”

“Well, apparently Tim Hankins was here at one time or another, since his bones were found under the shed and his skull was the one Dusty fished out of the pond,” Clay replied.

Tony’s blood chilled as he remembered the day Dusty had brought his girlfriend, Trisha, and her young son to the pond for a day of fishing fun only to have it tainted by the gruesome catch.

When the bones had initially been dug up and studied by Dr. Patience Forbes, it had been discovered that a skull and finger bones were absent. Dusty had found the skull in the pond, but the finger bones had yet to be found.

“Was he a lost boy, too?” Tony asked.

Adam nodded. “According to Dillon he was a runaway from Tulsa.”

“I wonder how he got here from Tulsa,” Tony said.

“I wonder who killed him and all those others with an ax or a meat cleaver to the back of their heads,” Sawyer replied in a darkly somber tone.

The men were all silent for several long moments and Tony knew they were thinking about the seven boys who had been murdered right here on the property so many years ago.

The worst part of it all was the thread of suspicion that had been planted among the men who had basically grown up together, the men Tony considered his brothers. Everyone knew that Dillon suspected one of them of being the potential killer.

Tony had no idea what the others thought, but he couldn’t believe any of the other men who worked on the Holiday ranch were capable of such a heinous act. He definitely didn’t want to believe it.

“Did Dillon talk to Francine Rogers about him?” Tony asked. Francine had been a close friend of Cass’s and was the social worker who had brought all the boys to the Holiday ranch for a chance at a new life.

“I asked him that and he said Francine has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and has no real memories or notes from fifteen years ago,” Adam replied.

Tony sighed in frustration. Everyone wanted this solved to lift the pall that had settled over the ranch since the skeletons had been found.

“I think it’s time for me to call it a night,” Adam said and got up from his chair.

“Yeah, me, too. Morning comes early.” Mac stood from the sofa and grabbed his guitar.

Clay and Tony followed them out of the building and then Adam locked the door. Cord Cully, aka Cookie, would open the dining room door again in the morning when he came in to fix them all their morning meal.

They talked about chores for the next day as they went around the building and then each of them disappeared into their respective rooms.

Tony walked into his and spied a yellow baby blanket that must have fallen out of the suitcase before he’d packed it up to take it to Mary. It was a bright splash of sunshine against his dark brown bedspread.

He picked it up and then sat on the edge of his bed and thought about the baby who might or might not be his. He couldn’t quite believe Amy had gotten pregnant by him, although he supposed she could have lied to him about being on the pill and it wasn’t unheard of for a condom to break.

He’d never wanted to be a father, but if Joey was his, then Tony would man up and try to be a decent parent. It was the right thing to do.

What he didn’t want was in any way to get attached to him without knowing the truth. Amy could reappear at any moment and confess to him that the baby wasn’t his. She could snatch him away and Tony would never see him again.

First thing in the morning he’d make an appointment to take Joey into Dr. Rivers’s for a checkup, and while he was there, he’d have the doctor do a DNA test.

The odds were Amy would be back long before the test results ever came in, but at least Tony would have the peace of mind in knowing the truth.

If he didn’t hear anything from Amy by Tuesday night, then first thing Wednesday morning he’d have a talk with Dillon and see if he knew a private investigator who worked the Oklahoma City area.

He folded the baby blanket and placed it next to his hat and his gun and holster on the top of the chest of drawers, then took off his clothes and got into bed.

He stared up at the dark ceiling as his mind worked to process everything that had happened since the night before, when the frantic knock had sounded at his door.

An unusually high level of adrenaline had gotten him through the day and now his body relaxed into the familiar mattress as a wave of exhaustion overtook him.

He closed his eyes and was almost asleep when a disturbing thought stabbed through his brain. He hadn’t mentioned Amy’s parting words to Mary.

Protect him from evil.

* * *

“You are such a happy baby,” Mary said to Joey as she changed him into a clean white T-shirt and a pair of tiny jeans. Joey gurgled and cooed and then laughed in response.

Tony had called earlier to tell her that he’d made a four-thirty appointment with Dr. Rivers to give the baby a checkup. It was now four fifteen and she expected Tony to arrive at any moment.

First thing that morning Mary had gotten on her computer and printed off a sample sleep-and-feeding schedule for a three-month-old. None of them knew for sure exactly how old Joey was, but according to everything she had read he was doing things that a three-to four-month-old would do.

Halena had laughed at her for needing a piece of paper to take care of a baby, but Mary hadn’t been around many babies before and certainly had never been in charge of one. Even though this was a temporary arrangement, she didn’t want to screw things up.

She scooped up Joey from her bed and went into the kitchen, where Halena was on dinner duty for the night. Ground beef, onions and spices simmered in a skillet. “Hmm, something smells good.”

“Enchilada pie and it will be ready around five thirty,” Halena said and picked up a wooden spoon to stir the meat.

“That should be perfect,” Mary replied. “Tony should be back from the appointment by then.” She was unsurprised by Halena’s choice of a dish. Halena loved Mexican food as much as she loved action movies, and on the nights she cooked, the fare was always from south of the border.

A knock sounded on the door. “That should be Tony,” Mary said. Just knowing she was going to see him danced a bit of shimmering light through her, a light she didn’t want to shine at all.

She opened the door and Joey laughed and leaned out of her arms toward him. “Whoa,” she said and tightened her grip around his sturdy little body. “Hi, Tony. I know you need to get to the doctor’s office. The car seat is in the spare room if you want to get it.”

“I’ll just go grab it.” He swept by her and she caught the scent of minty soap and the pleasant cologne she’d noticed the day before.

He returned with the car seat in hand. “I’ll carry him out,” she said.

He stared at her, his dark eyes radiating both surprise and a touch of alarm. “You aren’t coming with me?”

“I hadn’t planned on it. Tony, I’m just the babysitter,” she reminded him.

“Of course,” he replied.

She carried Joey out to his truck, where he secured the car seat in the back of the king cab. “You’ll be fine,” she said as she handed Joey to him and watched as he buckled in the boy. “And dinner will be ready when you get back here. I hope you like Mexican. Grandmother made an enchilada pie.”

He nodded. “Sounds terrific. I’ll see you in a little while.” He got into the truck and pulled out of the driveway.