Yarn Over Murder (A Knitting Mystery) (3 page)

Glancing around, she spotted Jim Carson standing beside the corral fence closer to the ranch house. He looked kind of lost, Kelly thought, and had the distinct feeling that all this ranching activity was new to him. Clearly he was waiting for directions from Andrea so he’d know what to do. A fish out of water up here in the canyon. Ranching of any kind in the West demanded special skills and a definite hardiness. Only the tough survived in Colorado’s ranching community, whether it was cattle, sheep, or alpacas.

Andrea walked over to Greg and Lisa and spoke with them, probably giving them the same instructions she’d given to Steve, Kelly surmised. Greg and Lisa walked around to the back of the trailer, as Andrea walked over to Megan and Marty.

Kelly glanced up at the sky. Still lots of daylight left even though it was nearly six o’clock at night. Another gust of wind blew Kelly’s hair across her face, causing that fearful clutch in her gut again. Wind-whipped wildfires were their worst nightmare.

Steve came to retrieve the second alpaca in their trailer, and Kelly watched her friends go through the same routine of off-loading alpacas. The herd in this section of corral was starting to grow.

Kelly watched the animals react each time an alpaca was set loose in the corral; all the others gathered around it, sniffing, looking, nudging each newcomer. It was as if they were checking to make sure the newcomer was still the same member of the herd they remembered. One of the family.

Dennis came out of the barn, dragging a big bag of feed with a rope. Andrea rushed up to him and held the corral gate open so he could drag it into the corral. The alpacas watched with huge eyes, clearly encouraged that dinner was being served.

From the corner of her eye, Kelly noticed Jim Carson approach the periphery of the corral gate. Kelly sensed he wanted to help out but didn’t know what to do. Dennis was clearly the more experienced and capable former spouse. She wasn’t sure, but Kelly thought she spotted a scowl on Jim’s face as he watched the activity.

“Okay, you can close it up and snap the lock,” Steve said. “I’ll get this one into the corral then see what else Andrea needs.”

“I wouldn’t make the offer if I were you,” Kelly advised, nodding her head toward Andrea, Dennis, and Jim. “It looks like Andrea has already got two guys at her beck and call.”

Steve glanced over to the threesome. Dennis was holding open the gate for Marty to bring an alpaca into the corral. “Yeah, Dennis said he and Andrea had divorced about three years ago. Curt told me on the side that Dennis drank too much years ago, that’s why he and Andrea split up. But Jayleen got him to join her AA group and he’s been sober ever since.”

“Wow, this soap opera is starting to sound like one of those on television. There’s an ex-husband who clearly wants to get back with his wife—”

“How do you know? Did he say that?”

Kelly smiled at her boyfriend. “I can just tell.”

Steve laughed softly. “Well, he’s got competition now. And
I
can tell that the other guy, Jim, is getting kind of steamed that Dennis is being super helpful.”

“Oh, yeah.” Kelly nodded, watching Jim approach Andrea as Greg brought another alpaca into the corral. Then she noticed movement along the driveway to Andrea’s ranch. A car was approaching, not a truck. A smaller black car. Kelly thought she recognized it . . . Oh, no.
Connie
.

“Good Lord, that’s Connie coming.” Kelly pointed.

“You’re kidding!” Steve stared down the road. “Damn, you’re right. Let me get this alpaca into the corral in case I have to play Curt’s role.” He beckoned the caramel-candy-colored alpaca forward toward the corral.

Kelly quickly closed the back gate and snapped the lock, then headed straight for Megan and Lisa. They, too, had noticed someone else arriving. “Hey, guys,” Kelly said as she hurried over to them. “That’s Connie coming.” She pointed.

“Oh, no!” Megan looked shocked. “That’s definitely not good, considering what you told us.”

“Oh, brother,” Lisa said, frowning. “She definitely doesn’t want to let this go.”

“We’re gonna have to make sure she doesn’t start another scene like before,” Kelly said, glancing toward Andrea, Dennis, and Jim. Apparently they had recognized the small black car, too.

Connie pulled her car beside Marty’s blue pickup, then she lifted a box from the back seat and started walking their way.

“Hey, maybe she’s just here to bring some of Jayleen’s things and that’s all,” Megan observed.

“Let’s hope,” Lisa said, walking toward the approaching Connie.

Kelly joined her and pasted a big smile on her face as they walked up to Connie, who was not smiling. “Hey, thanks for bringing more of Jayleen’s things, Connie. I can take them into the house for you,” Kelly said, hoping to divert Connie from Andrea.

“That reminds me. We’ve got a bunch of boxes in our truck,” Megan said cheerfully. “Why don’t you grab one of those, Kelly, then we all three can take them inside the house.”

Great idea, Kelly thought, and was about to add something when Andrea walked up to them. “You can just put them beside the steps. I’ll take them inside later. There are a lot of steps to climb.”

“Fine!” Connie growled, then stalked over toward the house.

“Go on, you guys,” Andrea directed Kelly and her friends. “Bring the boxes from your trucks. The sooner we get everybody out of here, the better.” She jerked her head in Connie’s direction.

“You got it,” Kelly said, then accompanied her friends to their trucks as they all loaded as many boxes as they could carry. As they walked back toward the house, Kelly noticed Jim talking and gesturing to Andrea. Dennis was approaching them on the left.

Kelly deliberately dropped back a few paces behind her friends to watch the intense conversation going on. Then, from the corner of her eye, Kelly spotted Connie approaching the threesome from the right, stalking toward them like she had at Jayleen’s earlier that afternoon.

Oh, brother
. Sure enough, Connie started cursing at Andrea all over again, gesturing and getting in Andrea’s face. Kelly dropped both boxes and started toward the foursome. Dennis had his arm in between Andrea and Connie, trying to calm both women. Jim, on the other hand, was yelling at the top of his voice. Chaos in a ranch yard all over again.

“What are you doing over here?” Connie wailed, tears coming close, face beet red. “You belong at home with me!”

“You’re crazy! I can’t stand being there with you! Don’t you understand!” Jim yelled, gesturing with both hands as he screamed at his wife.

“Hey, hey, that’s not helping,” Dennis interjected as Connie began to sob.

“
You, shut up!
I’ve had enough from you!” Jim yelled in Dennis’s face, shoving him in the chest.

Dennis jerked back, then grabbed Jim by the shirt and yanked him forward. “Don’t you lay hands on me!”

“Stop it! Both of you!”
Andrea screamed at them.

Kelly was trying to figure out how to help when Steve and Greg both ran up. Steve shoved his arms between Dennis and Jim as Greg yanked Jim away.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough, you guys!” Steve barked, stepping completely between them. “We’ve got wildfires over the ridge and they may spread this way. Save your energy for fighting the fire, not each other.”

Kelly reached over and slipped her arm around Connie, whose sobs had lessened as the violence had ensued. “There, now, Connie. You’ve got friends here. You’ll be okay.”

“No, I won’t,” she whined, wiping the back of her hand across her wet face. “I need Jim. I want Jim back. He’s my husband.”

Kelly had no answer for that. Lisa rushed up then, and took Connie into her arms.

“Come over here with me, Connie. Let’s talk where it’s quiet.”

Kelly watched both Dennis and Jim quickly regain control of themselves as Steve and Greg hovered on the edges. Megan walked up beside Kelly.

“Boy, you weren’t kidding,” she said, eyes wide. “Those two were really getting into it.”

“Yeah, it seems to have escalated, not calmed down. Maybe Lisa can work some therapist magic with Connie before we all leave.” The wind blew Kelly’s hair across her face again.

“Let’s hope. I have the feeling we won’t be leaving here for a while yet.”

Kelly simply nodded as she watched the participants in the mountain soap opera try to pick up the pieces of themselves. Chaos came in many forms.

Saturday
night

“I
can’t believe you all are just getting back into Fort Connor now.” Mimi’s voice came over the cell phone. “Those roads must be awful!”

“Yeah, they are,” Kelly said, walking away from the splashing fountain in the middle of Fort Connor’s Old Town Square. The square was Saturday-night busy, and every café was packed. Even the intense close-to-one-hundred-degree daytime heat earlier didn’t keep people from sitting outside. The mountains always cooled down at night, no matter how hot it got during the day. Now, temperatures were pleasant.

“Are you finally at home?”

“No, not yet. We all decided we deserved real food and cold beer for dinner. We’ve been driving all day. So we’re over in Old Town Square at our favorite café, relaxing.”

“Well, you folks deserve it. Jayleen wouldn’t have gotten her animals out without your help. All of your help. She told me so on the phone a little while ago.”

“I’m sure she’ll be staying over at Curt’s ranch now to take care of the alpacas, hers and mine. They’ll probably gather all her herd there since Curt’s got plenty of extra space. He can run a temporary fence off a portion of his pasture for the alpacas.”

“Yes, it took them forever to get there, as you can imagine. Thank goodness Curt’s family was there to help with the animals.”

“How’s Jayleen doing?” Kelly asked. “I haven’t talked with her since we drove off.”

“She’s holding up pretty well. And she sounds okay. Worried, of course, poor dear. Her whole livelihood is wrapped up in those animals.”

“Well, Andrea has enough space at her place in the Poudre Canyon to keep the alpacas we brought over today.”

Unless that fire spreads,
a fearful thought intruded.

Kelly pushed that thought away and walked toward a quieter spot in the plaza near the bronze sculpture of a child on a swing.

“I still cannot believe Connie would lose control of herself like that,” Mimi said, in the worried tone Kelly recognized. “And to actually try to hurt Andrea . . . that’s simply dreadful. I mean, Connie’s got a bad temper. Burt and Rosa and I knew that. It was never an issue at the shop or with the customers. But she and her husband have had problems for as long as I can remember.”

Kelly leaned back against a stone wall that edged one of the raised gardens situated around the square. “Yeah, Lisa told us that she would see Connie pacing around the parking lot yelling at her husband over the phone. Lisa tried to get Connie into individual counseling several times, she said. But Connie never would.”

Mimi’s long sigh sounded louder over the phone. “I know, I know. I suggested counseling to Connie years ago. She didn’t want to do it. She was convinced the joint marriage counseling would work. But it never did. Oh, things would calm down for a while, but then boom! They’d have another big fight and go into it all over again.”

“Yeah, it got pretty ugly up at Jayleen’s. Curt had to grab hold of Connie and pull her away before she could push Andrea again.”

“
Again?
Oh, no! What’d Connie do? Hit her?”

“No, she pushed Andrea so hard she stumbled, but regained her footing. And it looked like Connie might try it again, so that’s why Curt grabbed her.”

“Oh, Lord have mercy!”

“Yeah, she created another scene up at Andrea’s when we all were off-loading alpacas. Everybody got hot then. Both Dennis and Jim Carson got into it as well, in addition to Connie and Andrea yelling.”

“
Oh, no!
Did they start hitting each other?”

“They wanted to, you could tell. But Steve and Greg pushed in between them, and the guys settled down. Lisa took Connie under her wing and tried to calm her down. Connie was crying. I really felt bad for her. Jim yelled that he couldn’t stand being with her. That was pretty harsh.”

“Ohh, poor Connie.” Mimi made some sympathetic sounds, sort of like a mother hen. Mother Mimi. “Is she back at home? I’ll give her a call.”

“Well, I certainly hope she is. We took Connie aside before we drove off from Andrea’s and talked to her, made sure she was calm enough to drive back down the canyon. She had calmed down and seemed okay. Then we suggested she drive back with our little group. She was right behind Marty, then he said she stopped at one of the turnoffs with outdoor toilets.” Kelly looked up at the tree branches swaying in the evening breeze. Wind was still blowing. “So, let’s hope she went straight home.”

“Please, Lord.”

Changing the subject from that afternoon’s soap opera, Kelly asked, “How are the kids doing? Cassie and Eric? Did they help with the animals? Burt’s not an alpaca guy, so I imagine he was handing out Jayleen’s cards to interested buyers.”

“Oh, yes. But Eric and Cassie were actually a big help. They stayed in the pen with the alpacas, keeping them calm and showing them to anyone who was interested. Eric is really quite knowledgeable about the animals. And I was amazed how much Cassie remembered from her visit to Jayleen’s ranch. That girl is sharp as a tack.”

Kelly laughed softly. “That’s exactly what Jayleen and Curt say about her. And I’m glad Eric has turned out to be so reliable.”

“It’s not surprising. Eric’s mom is Curt’s daughter and has sheep and alpacas of her own. She and her husband operate their own business and then breed both sheep and alpacas as well. So, ranchers’ kids become savvy early on.”

“The animals are all put up safely for the night?”

“Oh, yes. Burt made sure of that. And Rosa and Sophie closed up our Lambspun booth in the Exhibition Hall a little earlier than usual. That way all of us could go to dinner at the same time. We took everyone to a nice dinner at the Swiss Inn. Cassie and Eric had a ball dipping into the cheese fondue.” Mimi’s light laughter sounded.

It was good to hear her laugh. Kelly hadn’t heard laughter since early that morning when they were all up at the Wool Market enjoying the animals, blissfully unaware of the disaster that was at work in the canyon closer to home.

“If they liked the cheese, I imagine they loved the chocolate fondue.”

“Oh, mercy, yes.” Mimi laughed again. “They had so much fun dipping marshmallows and fruit. Their faces were smeared with chocolate. We all got a kick out of it.”

“I can picture it now. Were you able to get an extra room at the hotel? Wool Market is a busy time.”

“Actually, we traded up to a suite. Cassie and I took one bedroom, and Burt and Eric took another. Rosa and Sophie stayed in a separate room. So everyone was taken care of. In fact, Burt’s inside with the kids now watching television. I’m outside here on the balcony. Looking out on these beautiful, dark, quiet mountains.”

There was a wistful sound to Mimi’s voice that couldn’t be missed. “Well, I have to admit, our mountains here don’t look quiet anymore. Black clouds of smoke are billowing up from even more places than before. More fires haves broken out. That blasted wind has whipped the wildfire, and it’s spread like crazy. You can see red flames at the ridge tops. We heard on the radio driving back that it’s gone from about two hundred acres this morning to eight thousand this evening. And they think it’ll be even more by tomorrow morning. If the wind doesn’t stop, the fire can’t lay down and get quiet at night. And the firefighters can’t get on top of it.”

“If only that awful wind hadn’t picked up. Awful, awful. And Burt says we’re seriously shorthanded with firefighters, even though they’ve come in from all over northern Colorado.”

“Apparently the fire authority has called for national help, so we’re hoping some Hot Shot teams will arrive maybe by tomorrow night. We seriously need them.”

“I think Burt said he heard that. One of the breeders at the livestock barns was keeping in touch with the police scanners all afternoon and spreading the word.”

“That’s good. I didn’t want you guys to be totally shocked when you finally drive back into town tomorrow. It’s bad, Mimi. All of us saw the red and orange flames burning as we drove back into Fort Connor from the Poudre Canyon. It’s scary, really. It’s spreading fast . . . and everything is so dry.”

“It’s the drought. Or, that
damn drought
, as Burt says.”

Steve walked up to her then and pointed toward the street edging Old Town Square. Then he walked in that direction. Curious, Kelly started to follow him. She noticed several people standing on top of some planters, staring and pointing westward toward the mountains.

“Well, I’d better get back to the others. Give Burt a hug for me, and the kids, too. We’ll all see you guys tomorrow afternoon to load up the last of the alpacas.”

“Take care of yourselves, Kelly. All of you. You folks have saved the day for Jayleen. See you tomorrow.”

Kelly clicked off the phone and caught up with Steve. He was staring westward, too. “What’s happened?” she asked, anxious.

“Wildfire’s spread. The wind’s thrown it all over. See, it’s spread up onto that ridge. It wasn’t there when we were driving over.”

Kelly stared westward, but the buildings of Old Town were blocking her view. She saw the billowing smoke of before.

“I can’t tell.”

Steve climbed up on one of the nearby tall planters and offered Kelly a hand. She scrambled up quickly. “You can see better now,” Steve said, pointing. “There . . . see that red orange glow near the top of the ridge?”

Kelly stared toward the mountains, and her heart sank. There was the red orange glow. Flames burning. Burning hot. Burning trees, spreading. Spreading farther.

“Oh, no . . .” she breathed, watching the glow. Dark smoke was billowing from more places now. “It’s close to the top of the ridge.”

“And the other side of that ridge leads down into Poudre Canyon,” Steve said in a quiet voice. Even so, two people who stood nearby turned and stared at him, clearly horrified.

“God, no,” the man said while the woman clamped her hand over her mouth.

Kelly felt a cold hand grab hold of her heart this time.

Sunday, June 10

Kelly
and Steve wove a path through the crowds of people walking around the Wool Market fairgrounds. Everyone seemed to be eating, Kelly noticed. Either late lunch, early dinner, or snacks. Hot dogs, roasted turkey legs, corn dogs, ice cream. If it was edible, someone was eating it.

“I wish we hadn’t gotten separated from the others,” Kelly said, glancing toward a livestock corral filled with curly-haired gray Wensleydale sheep. “They haven’t been to Jayleen’s stall, so it will take them longer to find it.”

“Yeah, it seems more crowded today, so parking was a bear,” Steve said, creating a path for them between two couples. “But they’ve been up here before to see Jayleen, so they know where the livestock pavilions are.”

“Boy, you forget how large and spread out these stalls are. And we parked toward the back today. Yesterday we came in from the front part of the fairgrounds.”

“We’re almost there. In fact, I think that’s Jayleen’s stall up ahead. Isn’t that Curt?”

Kelly peered around the moving heads and shoulders in front of her and thought she spotted a familiar Stetson hat. “Yeah, I think it is.”

“Okay, let’s go,” Steve said, shouldering his way between several people. Kelly maneuvered herself right behind him, until they broke free of the crowd and hurried toward Jayleen’s stall. There was Jayleen, rubbing a gray alpaca’s back. Cassie was brushing another alpaca in the far corner. Eric was raking up some hay. Curt was talking to a man in the next stall.

Jayleen looked up with a big grin as Kelly and Steve approached. “Hey, you two! You made it through the crowds.”

“Oh, yeah, it’s getting packed out there,” Kelly said as she reached out to give Jayleen a big hug. Jayleen hugged back hard. “We heard about the wildfire spreading to the Poudre Canyon. Steve and I wished we could have gone back up there and taken out some of your alpacas to move to Curt’s, but the roads are closed now.”

Curt clapped Steve on the back as they shook hands. “We can’t thank you folks enough for all you did yesterday,” Curt said. “We couldn’t have gotten all of the herd out if not for you.”

“Lord-a-mighty, that’s the truth,” Jayleen said, reaching over to give Steve a hug. “Thank God for good friends.”

“What have you heard from Andrea or Dennis?” Steve asked. “We’ve all been glued to the radio, waiting for updates. Last we heard was this morning on television, the sheriff said the wildfire had come over the ridge into Poudre Canyon last night. Police have evacuated everyone in the Lower Poudre Canyon around Poudre Park.”

“Not a word from either of them so far,” Curt said, shaking his head.

Kelly recognized his worried expression. She didn’t see it often. Her mentor-advisor was an experienced rancher and had seen just about anything that happened in these northern Colorado mountains; the foothills, as the locals called them.

“Their phones are probably out of signal range. You know how that happens when you get into that canyon.”

“I sure hope so,” Jayleen said, her face revealing her concern. “Someone told us they heard from the police scanners that the fire came down right around Poudre Park. And there were only five volunteer firefighters on duty. Everyone else had gone into Bellevue Canyon where they were needed.”

Kelly and Steve looked at each other. “Does anyone know how far it spread?”

“Not yet. They have another briefing tonight. Good thing Andrea’s place isn’t right in Poudre Park. It’s a few miles away, so she should be okay. But we’ll all feel better when we can hear something.”

“Amen,” Jayleen said.

“Hey!” Cassie called out, as she scrambled over the stall fence. Dropping to the ground, she ran over and threw herself into Kelly’s embrace. “So glad you’re all right! Jennifer and Pete said you were okay.”

Eric climbed over the fence and dropped easily to the ground. He walked up beside his grandfather and smiled. Steve reached out and gave Eric’s hand a firm shake, man to man.

“I hear you and Cassie held down the fort here for Jayleen. Burt says all he did was hand out cards to customers, but you were able to answer their questions. Good job, Eric.”

Curt reached over and touseled his grandson’s light brown hair. “Eric’s got the makings of a good rancher. Gotta be able to talk about the livestock, right, son?”