Deadly Texas Rose

Especially the pretty blonde who’d only lived in Wildflower for a few months. Julia might be new to the area and new to the café, but she was already a favorite among the lunch crowd.

Eric liked Julia, even though he didn’t know that much about her. He surely wasn’t going to sit by and witness something horrible happening to a hardworking, quiet, pretty woman who didn’t bother anyone. No, sir. That wasn’t gonna happen. Not today, at least. And not before he’d had some of Cat’s famous hamburger steak and mashed potatoes.

Be still and know that I am God. That verse played through Julia’s head, so she stood still and decided to keep her eyes on the deputy sheriff. There was something about Eric Butler that made her feel safe. Maybe it was his quiet, controlled nature, or the way he tried to put everyone he encountered at ease. He had always been polite to Julia, in spite of his friend Adam’s jokes and flirtatious nature. Eric didn’t flirt. He just made small talk and asked her about Moria, his chocolate-colored eyes full of life and contentment. Eric had a secure, sure masculine presence that could fill a room. That presence, that security, such a contrast to her late husband’s passive personality, was the only thing keeping Julia sane right now. She said a prayer, silently and quickly. Please, God, help us. She hadn’t turned to God very much throughout the ordeal of her husband’s death. But she sure needed Him here today. Because of Moria.

Julia kept telling herself to stay calm, to do as the skittish robber holding her body in front of his as a shield had said, to not move. But it wasn’t so easy. She was worried about Moria. Her daughter was safe at school. She had to keep repeating that phrase inside her head, her heart pounding in cadence with the rapid breaths of the man holding her. Moria was safe; she had to be. Isn’t that why she’d taken Cat’s advice and left San Antonio to come to this nice, quiet little town all the way across Texas, near the Louisiana border? Moria is safe. Please, Lord, keep her safe.

Safe. Julia had brought her daughter here after her husband Alfonso had been murdered while he was working late one night. Murdered at his fancy desk in the high-rise De La Noche building in downtown San Antonio. And Moria had been there with him, hidden in the ladies’ lounge down the hall, dialing Julia’s number on her father’s cell phone even as the murder had taken place, from what the authorities could piece together.

“Tell Mommy to come right now,” Moria had repeated to Julia and the police after they’d found her sitting in a chair in the lounge, her doll Rosa clutched in one hand and the phone in the other. “Daddy said we were playing a game, like hide-and-seek. He said to talk to you and tell you to come and find me. Where’s my daddy?”

Julia hadn’t been able right then to tell the little girl that her daddy was dead. That had taken all of Julia’s courage a few hours later at home.

Julia and the therapists still weren’t sure what Moria had seen or heard that night. The little girl didn’t talk about it much and the therapists couldn’t agree on the validity of repressed memories. But her nightmares told the tale of horror Moria had gone through, sitting there all alone, waiting for her parents that night at the De La Noche complex.

Alfonso had worked for the Gardonez family since high school, only to end up dead.

Of the night. The La Flor De La Noche, or the flower of the night, was what had started the Gardonez family dynasty over one hundred years ago in Mexico. Night-blooming jasmine, moonflowers and the beautiful but deadly angel trumpet, started from seeds, and one woman’s determination, had created a legend within the floral industry. Now the Gardonez family not only grew beautiful flowers but also farmed and marketed vegetables and fruit, too. And they had worldwide distribution, with a trucking and shipping company that was the industry standard.

But someone within their ranks, or someone who wanted to do the company harm, apparently had a secret that had killed her husband. Did her child also know that secret?

Now, as Julia stood here in the bruising grip of an armed man, she had to wonder if that secret had followed her all the way across Texas. She didn’t know anything for sure; she only wanted to protect her daughter. But she did know that something had been bothering Alfonso before his death. Something that had him up at night and brooding all day long. Something that had told Julia not to let him pick up Moria from school that day. It was as if he’d also known something bad might happen to him. As if he’d known he’d have to take some sort of secret to his grave.

What if this man wanted that secret? What if this man hadn’t come here just to rob the café? What if he’d come for her, instead?

Eric sensed the war behind those pretty golden-green eyes. He knew that look. Julia was weighing her options. He’d seen that kind of confused, centered gaze before in the eyes of men who’d made the wrong choices and regretted them. He’d also seen it in the eyes of other victims, haunted and frightened, wondering and waiting. She was afraid, but she held her head up with a determination that caused him to admire her. The woman had so much to live for. She had a child. He only hoped that spark of spunk shining inside her eyes wouldn’t get her killed.

And he hoped this nagging feeling inside his gut would just go away, that it wasn’t a sign of things to come. He didn’t like this at all. The man had come in through the door and zoomed right in on Julia instead of the cash register. Now, why was that? Eric wondered.

“What now?” Adam asked as he watched Cat fumbling with the cash register.

“We wait,” Eric replied under his breath.

Cat started walking slowly back toward Julia and the man, her ever-present red cowboy boots clicking against the linoleum, her eyes slanting toward Eric and Adam. She knew they would stop this. She had to know. Cat trusted them, as did everyone else in this sleepy little town. Eric gave Cat a reassuring look, holding his breath as she neared the gunman.

The robber clutched at Julia and said the words no lawman ever wanted to hear. “I’m gonna have to take her with me. Just until I get down the road.” He pushed at Julia. “Hold the money.”

Adam shot Eric a look. The chances of Julia surviving this once the strung-out man took her to another location were slim to none. There was no apparent reason for this man to take a hostage. Well, except maybe that he knew the two deputy sheriffs staring him down would surely come after him. They had to do something before the culprit got Julia away from the premises, or this could go from bad to worse.

Cat shook her head, obviously thinking the same thing, her usually down-to-earth candor breaking. “You’ve got the money. Please let her go.”

But the man wasn’t listening. He kept pushing at Julia. “Take it, so we can get out of here!”

And then everything happened at once.

One minute Cat was stretching her hand out, pressing a wad of cash toward Julia, her gaze meeting Julia’s in a silent communication. Then Cat went into action, and instead of handing Julia the money, she dropped it just out of Julia’s reach, all around the robber’s feet. Adam took over, scraping his chair back with just enough abrasiveness to cause the robber to tear his eyes away from the fluttering money falling to the floor. The robber turned, yanking Julia around as Adam skidded his chair again, this time knocking it over and slamming his body behind it for protection.

Eric yelled, “Get down! Everyone get down!”

The frantic robber shook his gun in the air, giving Julia a split second to kick Eric’s gun back toward him. Watching the gun slide across the floor, the robber grabbed at Julia, holding her tightly as he spun around to shoot at Adam and Eric. Adam ducked low, while Eric slid his body across the floor in a drop and roll, diving for the gun Julia had sent his way. It landed right on his trigger finger.

Julia watched in horror as the two deputies went into action. Then Cat’s hand dug into her arm, pulling her free as the man waved his gun and dived for the fallen money all around his feet.

And then Julia heard the deputy scream again, “Get down! Everybody down!”

Julia saw Deputy Butler lift his gun and skid back toward the protection of his table at the same time the robber aimed his own gun toward the deputy.

Julia waited, her breath held, for the man to fire. Instead, he pushed Cat away and grabbed Julia again. “She’s going with me. Get it?” He had the gun back at her head, but he was shaking almost as hard as Julia. Maybe because Deputy Butler now had his own weapon aimed at the robber.

Julia looked at Eric, saw the message clear in his eyes. He wasn’t going to let this madman take her.

“Over my dead body,” the deputy said, his determined eyes centered on the criminal holding Julia. “Now do us all a favor and drop the weapon.”

Julia looked from Eric to Cat, wondering what she could do to get away. Then she remembered the swinging door. If she twisted ever so slightly, she could use it as leverage to make the man lose his balance. Mustering all her strength, she fought against the man holding her, twisting until she could see the door in her peripheral vision. Hearing her own scream locked inside her head, or maybe she was screaming out loud, she braced herself as the robber held her tight, dragging her toward the kitchen door. “I have to take her, man. I have to. I don’t want to hurt anyone, but I have to take her with me.” He held the gun close. Guiding Julia backward with him, he reached the swinging door, then stood inches away.

“Don’t do it,” Adam called, standing up. “Just drop the gun and we’ll get you some help.”

The man shook his head. “Can’t do that.” Then in one swift motion, he grunted, tugging Julia toward the rickety old door. Julia took one last look at Eric Butler, hoping to give him a sign that she wasn’t going to go willingly through that door.

But Eric was watching the man holding her. “Don’t make me shoot you. Because I can bring you down before you ever pull that trigger.”

“Try it,” the robber goaded, stepping back, the swinging door now inches behind him.

Julia knew if they got past the swinging door, she might not live to see her daughter again. She had to do something right now. With a grunt and all the force she could muster she pushed with one foot against the wobbly door, then grabbed the solid wood frame with both hands as she used her body to slam against the man behind her. When she felt him shifting backward, she held on to the frame so she wouldn’t fall with him, steeling herself against the chance of getting shot.

Shocked to find himself moving through the open space, the man had no choice but to loosen his grip on Julia and grab for a handhold. While Julia lunged back against the robber, Cat pushed at the door, causing the confused man to let go of Julia as he went falling through the open doorway. He hollered his displeasure, then lifted his gun in the air as he lost his balance. A round of shots rang out. Then the man grunted as he went flying into the kitchen. Scrambling up, he clutched his left arm, then ran out the back door of the kitchen, leaving Julia crumpled on her knees, shaking, as she clung to the door frame. The swish of the door banging back toward Julia’s slumping body echoed through the building, followed by the slamming of the metal back door. The man was gone and she was still alive.

And then silence, followed by a rush of action all around her.

“It’s over, honey,” Cat said, pulling Julia up to hug her close. “It’s all over.”

Adam jumped up, heading for the kitchen door. “I think you hit him, Eric. Everybody okay?”

People begin lifting off the floor. Julia heard women crying and saw a crowd gathered at the front door. A buzz of energy surrounded the screams still echoing inside her head. Her ears were ringing; her blood pressure was pumping inside her temple. But she was alive.

Thanks to Deputy Butler. He’d shot the man holding her. She knew, because she had splatters of blood on her white shirt.

“Where’s the other deputy?” she asked Cat as Adam brushed past her, her head coming up to search for Eric.

And then she saw him, lying behind an upturned table with blood covering his left shoulder. He wasn’t moving.

“He needs help!” Julia shouted, pointing toward Eric. “Somebody help him.”

“Eric?” Adam bolted around, then screamed, “Call 911, Cat. Eric’s been shot.” He headed past Julia and through the kitchen door, already talking into his radio about being in pursuit. “I’m going after him!”

The call was unnecessary. Julia could hear the sirens and the banging of the front door as the café became swamped with deputies and policemen and the lone reporter from the town newspaper, the Wildflower Gazette.

The first responders looked over the place and took in the grim scenario, then started moving people out of the café, which had now become a crime scene.