For Love of Charley (17 page)

This was no one she’d ever met before, and
yet…there was something about the child that seemed familiar. He couldn’t have
been more than two in the picture, but there was no expression on the tiny
face. No child-like innocence, no laughter. His hair was shaggy and unkempt,
even whiter than his mother’s. Even though he was standing in front of the
woman there was no motherly hand to his shoulder, no sense of closeness between
the two.

Charley shook her head in perplexity, then
put the picture aside and reached for the papers under it. With a deepening
frown, she scanned the thick sheaf, flipping pages rapidly. They made no sense.
As far as she could tell, it was the result of a very thorough blood test. Row
after row of mysterious figures marched down each page. Concern stole over her.
Could Uncle Victor be ill and hiding it from her? It was just one more thing she’d
have to ask him about.

Frustrated at her inability to read the
medical jargon, she refolded the papers and returned them to the desk. The next
item was a single sheet of paper and obviously a copy. “Bureau of Vital
Statistics” was stamped across the back in bright red. A birth certificate?
Whose?

Douglas Victor Ashton. The name leaped off
the page to her startled gaze. His mother was listed as Marie Elizabeth Ashton,
and the father… Her heart faltered in her chest and her breath caught. Victor
James Channing. Douglas was Uncle Victor’s illegitimate son.

“Oh, my God.” The words escaped her in an
exhaled rush.

She hadn’t heard the office door open,
hadn’t heard him cross the room. Didn’t know he was there until he spoke.

“Well, cousin, aren’t you going to welcome
me into the family?”

Charley’s eyes snapped upward, unable to
focus on anything but the barrel of the gun pointing at her.

Cole’s chair groaned in protest as he
shifted his weight restlessly. He’d been staring at the open folder on his lap
for at least an hour and still hadn’t made it past the first page. In disgust,
he closed it and tossed it to the desk, watching it slide a little before
coming to a stop next to his booted feet.

“I take it you aren’t going to the Red Dog
today?”

He looked up at Kristy’s voice. She was
leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed in front of her.

“No, I’m not. At this point, I have no idea
when or even if, I’ll ever go back.”

Uncrossing her arms, she moved to the chair
across from him and propped her feet on the desk, mimicking his position. “Want
to talk about it?”

Cole shrugged. “Not much to talk about.
Charley left. I don’t know when I’ll see her again.” He gave a wry half-smile
that didn’t reach his eyes. “She said she’d call me. But it felt like a
don’t-call-us, we’ll-call-you kind of thing.”

“You told her everything?”

“Yes.”

Kristy sighed. “And she didn’t believe
you.” It was more statement than question.

Cole glanced out the window, unconsciously
checking for any sign of a silver Blazer. “Yes, she did believe me. At least
she said she did. And I don’t doubt she still loves me.”

Kristy was looking more confused by the
minute. “Then I don’t understand. Why did she leave?”

“Victor Channing.” He took his feet from
the desk and allowed his chair to ping upright. “Even though she’s willing to
concede that he’s manipulative enough to keep us apart for ten years, she
refuses to believe her uncle might hate me enough to want me dead.”

“Dead? You mean what happened at Duncan
Mills?”

“Not just that. Someone tampered with the
Jag. What happened to Charley and me yesterday was no accident. That’s what Ben
Zimmerman was here for earlier. He wanted to find out who hated me enough to
want me dead.”

“And you told him Victor Channing.” Kristy
groaned. “In front of Charley.”

“I didn’t have much choice, Kristy. She
might have gotten suspicious if I’d ask her to leave first.” He shook his head.
“Besides, there have been too many secrets, too many lies. Either Charley loves
me and trusts me, or she doesn’t. I’m not Channing. I can’t and won’t ask her
to choose between the two of us.”

“That’s very noble and self-sacrificing of
you.”

Viscously, Cole slung the ink pen he’d been
holding across the room and shot to his feet. “Noble? Self-sacrificing?” His
face was twisted with anger, but pain glittered from his eyes. “Do you know how
much I’d like to strangle Victor Channing? Do you have any idea what it’s
taking to stop myself from dragging Charley back here and forcing her to stay?”

The anger drained out of him almost as fast
as it had started, and he ran his hands over his face tiredly. “Do you think
I’m looking forward to spending the rest of my life alone because the only
woman I’ll ever love can’t bear the thought that I might think her uncle is a
murderer? It’s killing me, Kristy, but there’s nothing I can do about it. What
if Victor keeps trying and Charley is really hurt in his attempts to reach me?
She could have been killed yesterday. I can’t take a chance on that happening
even if it means losing her.”

“I know.” Kristy’s voice was soft. “I just
wanted to make sure you did. But Cole, what if it wasn’t Victor? What if
Charley is right?”

He turned his back to her, leaning one
shoulder against the glass as he stared out at the dry Nevada landscape. “Then
I’ve probably lost her forever, anyway. I’m not sure she’d ever forgive me. But
who else could it be? There’s no one who hates me that much but Victor.”

“What did the sheriff think about it?”

“He’s talking to Victor today, but without
proof, Ben can’t do anything. And I really doubt Victor will be gracious and
offer up a confession.”

The phone rang and he looked over his
shoulder as Kristy picked it up, hope flaring briefly that it might be Charley.

Kristy must have seen the look in his eyes,
because she shook her head gently. “Hi Roger.” She listened for a second. “No,
he’s here. Hang on and I’ll let you speak to him.”

Cole strode to the desk and reached for the
phone. Maybe the head of Jordan Enterprises security had discovered something
about the Duncan Mills accident that would help. “Roger? What’s up?”

Roger was a bull of a man and his voice
reflected it, coming across the line in a deep bass. “Not sure how much help
this info is going to be Cole, but I did find one interesting little item.”

“About Victor Channing?”

“You could say that. I have to tell you, I
only discovered this during a routine check on the names you gave me. Channing
himself seemed to be squeaky clean. At least ‘til I found this.”

“Spit it out, Roger.” He nodded when Kristy
gave him a brief wave and left the room.

“Douglas Aston? The guy you said was
Channing’s personal assistant? Well, turns out he’s a little more than that.
I’ve got his birth certificate here in front of me. He’s Channing’s son.”

Cole went still. “Are you sure?”

“Well, Ashton’s mother sure as hell thought
he was. She listed Channing as the father.”

A feeling of urgency gripped Cole. “Listen,
Roger, I want you to fax me a copy of that birth certificate right now. And
keep digging. I want anything you can find on Ashton.”

“Will do.”

Cole hung up and redialed the phone, his
eyes on the fax machine. It began to hum at the same time someone answered the
phone he was holding. “County Sheriff.”

“This is Cole Jordan. I need to speak with
Ben Zimmerman.”

“One moment.”

While he waited for Ben to pick up, he
grabbed the paper from the fax and scanned it. “Ben? Are you still talking to
Victor Channing?”

There was a slight hesitation. “Yeah, he’s
still here Cole, but I was just about to let him go. There’s nothing I can hold
him on.”

“Do me a favor. Keep him there for a little
longer? Something’s come up.”

“What?” Ben suddenly sounded interested.

“I’ll tell you when I get there. I’m on my
way.” He lowered the phone with a click and jogged out of the room.

* * * * *

Ben must have been watching for him. As
soon as Cole walked through the door, the sheriff appeared from a side office.
“This had better be good, Jordan. I’ve reached the point where it’s either
arrest Victor and let him call his lawyer, or release him.”

Cole thrust the birth certificate into his
hands. “Take a look at this.”

Ben glared at him for an instant then
glanced down at the paper. And did a double take. “Son of a…” He stopped and
took Cole’s arm. “Let’s go in my office.”

Once inside he shut the door behind them
before facing Cole. “Okay, I’ll admit this is a shocker, but it still doesn’t
give Victor a motive to try and murder you.”

Cole’s agitation was increasing with every
moment. “What if we were wrong, Ben?” He began to pace up and down in the small
room. “What if the accidents weren’t aimed at me? What if Charley were the
intended victim?”

“That’s crazy. Everyone in this town knows
how Victor feels about Charley. He wouldn’t harm a hair on her head.”

“Not Victor!” He made a valiant attempt to
control his anger and fear. “Ashton! Think about it, for God’s sake! He had the
opportunity, and now we have a motive. Charley is Victor’s sole heir. And
you’re right. Victor loves her like she’s his own daughter. Can you imagine how
that felt to Ashton? Instead of being the prodigal son, the favored child, he
was given a menial job, forced to keep silent about his relationship with
Victor. And he was forced to watch while all the love that should have been his
was showered on Charley. He must hate her.”

Ben glanced back at the birth certificate
and then headed for the door. “I think it’s time to have another talk with
Victor. Come on.”

* * * * *

The room where Victor Channing sat was
typical of every interrogation room Cole had seen on television cop shows. A
long table occupied the center of the room, several tattered chairs scooted up
under it. The only other item in the room was an old water cooler burbling in
the corner.

Victor looked up when they entered, his
gaze going immediately to Cole. “What is he doing here? I demand you either
release me or let me call my attorney.”

“Soon, Victor. I’ve got a few more
questions for you.” Ben sat down across from him. Cole remained standing near
the window.

“Look, Jordan, I never claimed to like you,
but we both know I’m not a killer. You’re just doing this to get even with me.
For God’s sake, tell him.”

Cole shoved his good hand in his pocket. He
wasn’t sure he trusted himself not to deck the man. “You’ll be pleased to know,
Victor, that Charley agrees with you. She doesn’t think you’re capable of murder,
either.”

“You told her.”

“Yes,” Cole agreed. “I told her all of it.
Right from the beginning.”

The man in front of him aged ten years
right before his eyes. Lines appeared on his face that hadn’t been there only a
second earlier. He almost felt sorry for Victor. Almost, but not quite. “You
were wrong about one thing, Channing. She believed me. She knows that I didn’t
leave her for revenge.”

Victor slumped in his chair. “I guess that
means you win, Jordan.”

“I only wish you were right. Unfortunately,
I don’t think anyone is going to win in this situation.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means,” Ben interrupted, “I want to
know where Ashton was late Sunday night.”

Channing’s confusion was apparent as he
looked from one of them to the other. “Douglas? I don’t know. I suppose he was
in his room. He retired around ten that night. What’s going on? Why do you want
to know about Douglas?”

Casually, Ben tossed the birth certificate
to the table. “Why don’t you tell us about this, Victor?”

“Where did you get that?” Channing’s skin
went a pasty gray.

“The where doesn’t matter. What matters is
that he may be trying to kill Charley.”

“Oh, God.” Victor wrapped his arms around
his middle and rocked back and forth. “What have I done.” He looked up
pleadingly at Cole. “You have to stop him. If you love her, don’t let Douglas
hurt her. I’ve always known he wasn’t quite right, but I’d hoped…”

Ben reached for the paper and folded it.
“Why didn’t you ever acknowledge him, Victor?”

“His mother…” Channing paused and covered
his eyes with a palsied hand then started again. “I met his mother when I was a
young man and in love with someone else. Someone who didn’t love me. I thought
Marie would help me forget, and for a while she did. She was such a shy,
fragile little thing, and from a good family. But after four months I knew it
wasn’t going to work, so I stopped seeing her.”

He took a deep breath and lifted his gaze
to the two men watching him. “I never knew she was pregnant. She didn’t tell
me. Not then or later. I would have done something if I’d known. I found out
that when her family discovered her condition, they threw her out. Marie wasn’t
capable of supporting herself, much less a child. I still don’t know how she
survived as long as she did, and Douglas won’t talk about it. She died when he
was eighteen. That’s when he found me. I know I reacted badly. I made him take
blood tests to prove his claim, but it was true. He is my son.”

Victor shook his head. “I didn’t know what
to do. There was Charley to consider, and my standing in the community. It was
also clear that Douglas wasn’t mentally capable of finding meaningful
employment. So I gave him a job and made him promise to keep silent. It was
wrong of me. I realize that now. But I did try to love him. He rebuffed all my
attempts. It was almost as if he didn’t know how to feel.”

“How does Douglas feel about Charley?”

“I don’t know. They’re both polite when
Charley is around, but he doesn’t have a lot to do with her. And he’s certainly
never said anything derogatory to me about her.”

“He’s never shown any hostility toward
her?”

Victor shook his head at Ben’s question.
“Douglas doesn’t show emotion of any kind.”

“Do you know where he was Friday between
about five and seven?” Cole asked. Ben glanced at him. “Duncan Mills,” he
explained to the sheriff. “The men leave at five and Charley and I arrived
around seven. Whoever sabotaged the stairs had to do it during that time
period.”

Ben nodded. “Answer the question.”

“He was running some errands for Lettie
about then, I believe. Although it does seem strange that he’d do them during
the dinner hour.”

“He knows a lot about mechanics?” Ben
continued.

“I’d say he’s almost a genius where
automobiles are concerned. He provides the maintenance on all my cars.”

“Okay.” Ben stood. “Do we have your permission
to search your house, Victor?”

“Of course.”

The sheriff glanced at Cole. “I’m going to
get some men together, just in case we find something, then I’ll head out to
Victor’s. Victor is going to stay here until we have Ashton. I don’t want him
getting in the way.”

Victor lifted a hand in a silent plea.
“Don’t hurt him, Ben. Please. He’s still my son and he needs help.”

Ben nodded. “We’ll try to do this easy,
Victor.”

Cole pushed away from the window ledge.
“I’ll go stay with Charley. I don’t like the idea of her being alone while
Ashton is loose.”

“Good idea. I’ll call and let you know what
happens.”

“Thanks, Ben.” He paused in the door and
looked back at Victor. “It seems I owe you an apology, Channing. Looks like you
weren’t trying to kill me after all.”

Channing appeared stunned, but finally
found his voice. “I guess you had a reason to believe it, after the way I
treated you. Just promise me you’ll take care of her until this is straightened
out.”