High Desert Detective, A Fiona Marlowe Mystery (Fiona Marlowe Mysteries) (31 page)

* * * * *

Sammie had tried to entertain Opal on the trip to town to keep
her mind off things. She had told Opal funny stories and sang songs to keep the
mood light after the scene with Tillie. Sammie was more than annoyed with her
sister. She’d have another talk with her.

In the house Opal said, “Sammie, I’d like to have a lie down.
Will you see if Jake and Fiona are around? That’s Doc’s rig out there. They
must have come to help. See if you can find them.”

Sammie helped Opal to her room, taking her purse and laying it on
the dresser. Opal lay back on the bed with a sigh. “I feel so tired.
So tired.”
She closed her eyes.

Sammie stood by the bed. “Don’t you worry, Aunt
Opal.
Just rest for now.”
She
closed the mini-blinds against the glare and shut the door as she left.

She was glad Doc had come to help. He was one of the more
dependable of the nephews, though he was no young man himself. The kitchen
seemed to be in order. Queenie had left a note on the counter to say she had
made beef stew that was in the crock pot for dinner. Rolls were in a bag in the
cupboard. She’d be back in the morning. Dinner, at least, was off the list of
things to do.

Sammie walked out the back door. In the distance she could hear
the sound of farm machinery. It sounded like a rake. She had grown up on a
ranch that her parents had tried to keep going for years while she and Tillie
grew up. As far as she was concerned they had worked themselves to death, her
mother teaching school and her father driving truck for a local business while trying
to keep a herd of cows fed and watered. Calving season was the worst in the
freezing cold weather of February and March.

How she detested the daily struggle of ranch life. It was the
reason she went off to college, working her way through, getting a degree in
computer science, ending up with a good job at Microsoft in Redmond,
Washington. Her mother had died of breast cancer. Her father followed soon
after of a heart attack. She and Tillie had had to sell the ranch to pay off the
debts. There was little left over. Tillie had bought a small, worthless spread
and married a small, worthless man.

Samantha shuddered. She wanted no part of any ranch. She was only
here because Opal needed help. Ranching brought nothing but bad memories. She
owed her allegiance to Opal. This dear aunt always was kind to her, always
provided a home for her after they had sold her parents’ ranch, always had seen
that she had a little extra spending money when she needed it. She wasn’t going
to let Tillie bully her way across the end of Opal’s life, not if she could
help it.

* * * * *

Two days went by without another dramatic incident. No angry
relatives showed up. No one tried to burn anything down. They didn’t lose any
more cows. Fiona had marriage to consider. Jake had a new ranch possibility to
think about.

Old man Lovejoy had found the deed while they were there, and
they discussed the extent of the property. Jake was thinking about having
someone survey the place. He was hoping to hear from the lady at the bank this
week whether he could get a loan on Opal’s ranch that might turn into a loan on
Lovejoy’s ranch. The sooner he could work out where he would live and ranch,
the better it would be for him and Fiona, the girl he didn’t understand
sometimes.

Curiously, old man Lovejoy had said he hadn’t leased the place to
anybody and couldn’t account for the equipment in the shed. He had discussed
this curiosity on the way home with Fiona. She came to the same conclusion he
had. The rustlers were using the Lovejoy ranch as a base of operation.

“We should be watching his place,” Fiona had said.

“I’m not a security service,” Jake had said. “I’m a rancher.”

“True, but someone’s stealing from you, and it’s hurting your
operation. We’re going to have to solve this mystery ourselves.”

“I’m already spread too thin.”

“True, again.”

They had left it there, but Jake had spent the better part of the
last two days thinking about the strange things going on at the H Bar O. That
was, of course, when he wasn’t thinking of Fiona.

On Sunday he invited Fiona to go to church with him. The pastor
from the cowboy church had called Saturday night and asked Jake to fill in on
the worship team Sunday morning since their regular guitar player was sick.
Even with all he had to do, Jake said yes, because sometimes it felt good to be
inside a church singing cowboy gospel songs. With the ranch and everything, it seemed
he never had time to get away for Sunday services.

“Church?” said Fiona. She looked like she hadn’t ever heard the
word before.

“Yes, church.
C-h-u-r-c-h.”
He spelled
it out for her. Maybe the word brought back bad memories.

“I haven’t been inside a church in years,” she said and made a
funny face that involved scrunching up her nose.

“It won’t bite or give you a disease,” Jake said. “I’m going to
play guitar, and I thought you might like to ride along. That’s all.”

She studied him. “I’m finding out new things about you all the
time.”

He shrugged. “This is part of ordinary living. People go to
church Sundays in a lot of places in this world. It doesn’t involve chasing
down clues to a mystery. It’s not some intense drama like finding Glory
unconscious in the pasture or what we went through back in Virginia. It’s just
plain ordinary living.”

Fiona smiled. “That’s why I didn’t recognize it. It’s too
ordinary. I never found church exciting even as a little girl. I suspect it
hasn’t changed.”

Jake smiled back at her. “I kind of like these last two days. No
excitement. I got a good night’s sleep last night. The hay is raked. We should
be able to bale this week. The cows are in their new pasture and have water.
Life is good. I’m going to church to celebrate.”

Fiona watched him with a smile. “Ranch life is back to normal.
Being with you I realize how important this way of life is for you.”

He nodded in agreement. “It’s not for everyone though.” He felt sad
saying that because she might not fit here. She might choose to go back to her
old way of life. She was the round peg in the square hole. But maybe she’d get
to like him more and want to stay. Being the practical man he was, he told his
hopes to be quiet and lie down.

Then she said, “What should I wear?”

He looked her over with a discerning eye. “What you are wearing
is fine. You never look bad to me. Jeans are always good here. This isn’t New
York. We’re going to church in rural America.
Nothing fancy.
I’m wearing what I got on.”

She looked him up and down.
“Pressed jeans.
Fancy cowboy shirt, black vest with bolo tie.
No
wonder you’re all duded up. You’re going to church. You look nice. You make a
fine cowboy.”

“Buckaroo,” he said. “I’m a buckaroo today. Are you going or
aren’t you?
 
If we don’t leave soon I’ll
be late, and I’ll have to drive eighty miles an hour.”

She smiled the pretty smile that he always fell for.
“All right.
I was telling Opal the other day that I have
more exciting adventures in me. Why not church?”

“
Attagirl
.”

They made it to the cowboy church outside of Rocky Point with ten
minutes to spare. Jake walked in with his guitar and amplifier. He was
particular about an amplifier and always travelled with his trusty Fender.
Fiona sat in a back pew. He couldn’t persuade her to sit up close to the
musicians. That was asking too much. Having his girl in the audience made his male
ego light up and glow with a thousand watts. He had the lead in all the songs, and
he sang them for her. Her smiling face made him sing all the better.

After the service she managed to smile her way through people
coming up to greet him and even participated in a conversation about how they
were going to start baling hay this week. He couldn’t help puffing up like the
proud, love struck buckaroo that he was, showing off his girl. Yes, he
certainly was showing her off.

After the service he loaded his instrument and amplifier back in
the truck. He said, “How about breakfast at Fast Freddie’s truck stop? They
have great steak and eggs.”

“Fast Freddie’s sounds like my kind of place.”

He smiled at her as they stood beside the truck. “Thanks for
coming. I loved showing you off.”

“Is that what you were doing?”

“You bet.”

They stood looking at each other. He wanted to kiss her but he
thought that might be going a bit too far since they were standing in the
church parking lot with people getting in their rigs and leaving.

Darn, if she didn’t come up and brush her lips across his.

“You’re a good man, Jake Manyhorses,” she said.

Didn’t she understand the effect she had on him? Even one little
kiss
like that made his jeans get tight. She was a tease,
and one of these days he was going to carry her cave man style to his bed and
satisfy the lust he knew they both felt. Love might have to come later for her.

Fast Freddy’s was hopping. The Sunday church crowd had descended.
They found one small table in the middle of the crowded restaurant.

Fiona studied the menu. “So you recommend steak and eggs?”

“They’re the best.”

“Then that is what I’ll have. I’m hungry, and it’s lunch time.”

A group of three men stopped by the table to say hello.
Three women
acompanied
them.
Jake
introduced Fiona.

“Pleasure to make your acquaintance,” said one man with husky
shoulders and a belly to match. He looked to Jake. “I heard about the trouble
you’re having. Have you found who stole your cattle?”

Jake shook his head and gave him the abbreviated version of the
trouble. “The doctor called yesterday and said that Glory’s vital signs are
improving. I’m going over to the hospital after we eat to check on him.”

“What a run of bad luck. You aren’t the only one missing cattle
though. I heard yesterday that the Simpson ranch has a few head missing.”

The men talked on and one of the women asked Fiona how long she
was staying.

“I’m not sure.” She explained about losing the bunk house.

“I’m sorry to hear that. And how is Opal? It is such a shame
about her illness and all.”

“She was feeling better yesterday. She started treatments, and
they make her very tired.”

“You tell her the
Marys
asked about
her.” The woman laughed and indicated the three of them. “We’re all named
Mary.”

Coming out of Fast Freddie’s they ran into Lauren coming in the
door with another gal, and Fiona stopped to talk.

Jake was polite and said hello, but he told Fiona he’d get the
rig. While he was waiting, he pulled up to a gas pump and had the attendant
fill the tank. He wasn’t a great admirer of Lauren, the furniture and decorator
whiz. She specialized too much in gossip for Jake’s liking, and he suspected
her of spreading rumors about him. Fact was one thing. Rumor and gossip
another.

 
When Fiona got into the
rig, she looked troubled. Jake suspected Lauren of spreading more gossip. He
pulled out of Fast Freddie’s and drove toward the hospital.

“Do you have anything else in town to do?” he said. “I thought
we’d go by and check on Glory.”

“Good idea. I don’t have anything to do that I can think of.”

“What’s wrong? You look worried or something.”

She was quiet for a few moments which increased Jake’s anxiety.

Keeping her eyes straight ahead she finally said, “I think it is
important to be honest with each other.”

“I’ve always been honest with you.”

She looked at him. “You never told me anything about your ex-wife
and little girl.”

“I don’t talk about it. The memories are painful for me.”

She sighed and studied the back of her hands. “Lauren warned me
about you.”

“Warned you about what?”

“She said to be careful. That you have a history of roughing
women up.”

“Me?
A history?
I can count on one hand
the women I have dated in Rocky Point. All of them are well known, and I’ve
never roughed up a woman in my life.”

“What about your former wife?”

Jake’s face turned to stone. He felt the hardness of it through
his frown. “My ex-wife found someone more to her liking and left with my little
girl. That was fifteen years ago if my memory serves me correctly. Lauren
wasn’t around then.”

“She said she heard that you drove your wife off with your raging
temper, and she ended up in the women’s shelter.”

Jake could feel anger squeeze his throat, and he struggled to
keep his voice calm. “Where she gets those lies, I don’t know.” He pulled the truck
over to an abandoned parking lot and turned to face Fiona. “I’ve never harmed a
woman in my life. Lauren is lying.”

Fiona looked him in the eyes. “I’m not saying you did. I’m
repeating something that one woman has told me which might be the source of
some unwanted rumors about you and your personal life that you might want to
get straightened out. Like I said, I discover new things about you every day.
But this is something I didn’t want to hear. Is treating your wife badly part
of ordinary living?”

Her look told him that the water had been poisoned. What was he
going to do now? He said very slowly, “Lauren doesn’t like me, and it probably
has something to do with a night in a bar when she came on to me. She isn’t my
type but she seemed to think she was. She wouldn’t let up, and I walked out.
She called me several times after that, wanting to know why I didn’t want to
take her out. I can’t tell you why, but I have never liked her and don’t trust
her. Now she has poisoned the water between us as a way of getting back. She has
done a good job because I can see the distrust in your eyes.”