by B. J Daniels
* * *
“THE DOCTOR THOUGHT it was nothing more than an anxiety attack,” Jake told Blaze when he found her at the local café. He had slid into the booth, clearly surprising her. When she’d asked where he’d been, he’d told her and then ordered ham and eggs with a side of pancakes. A young waitress said she would bring their orders out together. There was no sign of Luella.
“Do you think Bud already knew?” Blaze asked after the waitress left.
Jake shrugged. “Hard to tell. He was so upset. I thought for sure he’d had a heart attack.”
Their orders came and they dug in, falling into a companionable silence for a while.
“Have you been avoiding me?” Blaze asked after finishing off half her breakfast.
He looked up in surprise. “Is that what you think? Sorry, I’ve just had a lot on my mind.”
“My father wants me to quit looking into Frank’s murder and leave,” she said. “I talked to WT. He’d thought I had already left.”
Jake put down his fork and leaned forward. “What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know. You were gone a long time last night. I thought you might have returned to the poker game.”
He shook his head, chuckling as he picked up his fork again. “I haven’t healed up completely from the last one. No, I went into town to get something to eat and then just drove around for a while, did a little stakeout here and there.”
She laughed and lowered her voice. “Whom did you stake out?”
“Lonny and Sandra Dean’s house.”
“Really? Why?”
Jake shrugged. “Just a feeling. Lonny didn’t get home until late. At eight, he was staggering as he got out of his car. He tried to kick the neighbor’s cat as he headed for his front door.”
“What was the cat doing?”
“Probably using his flowerbed as a toilet, but he seemed so...angry. Too angry. Once he got inside, he and Sandra had an argument and he ended up watching television alone from the couch.”
“Did you stake out anyone else?” she asked. He could tell that she was enjoying this.
“Everything was fine at Luella’s and at the Westlake house.” He saw that she was waiting, wanting more. “Okay, I did check on Tawny. She’s still at her mother’s house. LJ’s pickup was parked off the alley behind the hardware store so I’m assuming he was at the poker game.”
“Maybe Tawny’s come to her senses.” She frowned. “I just had a weird thought. LJ and Frank must have played poker together. Do you think LJ knew?”
Jake shrugged. “I doubt Bud told him.”
“That’s assuming Bud knew before you told him today.”
“He had to know. According to Luella, Lorna refused to have sex with him until they were married. Bud can certainly count to nine. If he didn’t know, he suspected.”
“The thing is, we don’t know that it’s even true. Luella might not have her facts straight.” He saw that she didn’t believe that any more than he did.
Blaze picked up her coffee cup but didn’t take a drink. He could see that she was deep in thought and wasn’t surprised that she was thinking the same thing he was. “Frank was apparently desperate for money to pay his poker debt from what we’ve learned. Hutch was putting pressure on him. Seems like he might have hit the deputy up for it.”
“And when LJ tried to brush him off, Frank told him that he was his father and, in Frank’s twisted way of thinking, he would feel that LJ owed him.”
Blaze met his gaze. “I’ve seen how protective LJ is of his father. He would have killed Frank rather than let the man hurt Bud. Or tell anyone else, something Frank might have been threatening to do.”
“Especially if Frank was threatening to go to Bud with his story?”
She nodded. “LJ idolizes Bud. He would have done anything to protect him—and his reputation. Jake, if LJ finds out that you told Bud, that we know the truth...”
“I think your father’s right,” he said as he reached for his wallet to pay for their breakfast. “I think it’s time you let this go.”
“Wait. Time I let this go?” She shook her head. “I’m not quitting and I’m certainly not leaving you here alone.”
He smiled across the table at her. “Is that all it is? Just worry about me? Or am I growing on you?”
She groaned. “You’re so full of yourself.” But she said it without rancor. “Maybe you are growing on me some,” she said, smiling at him.
“Then I’m making progress. So it’s worth it.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
BUD COULDN’T WAIT to get out of the hospital. A panic attack? He’d never heard of such a thing. Maybe in lesser men. But certainly not him. “It felt like a heart attack.”
“You know what a heart attack feels like?” the doctor asked him, clearly bristling to be called on his diagnosis. “Panic attacks are short bursts of intense fear often marked by increased heart rate, brief chest pain or shortness of breath.”
“Brief, my ass.”
“Usually lasting less that thirty minutes.”
Bud growled under his breath. “That was one long thirty minutes.”
“Should it happen again, just knowing what it is will help you calm down so it doesn’t last as long,” the doctor said.
“Well, if it’s no big deal, then sign me out of here,” Bud groused.
The doctor considered for a moment, sighed and then wrote on his chart. “Be sure to stop at administration to give them your insurance information.”
Bud cursed under his breath. He wondered what this was going to cost him out of pocket. Whatever it was, it was too much. A panic attack?
He thought of Jake Horn’s visit to his office and his heart began to pound. Calm down. He couldn’t afford another minute in this hospital. Calm down. How the hell had Jake Horn found out? Frank must have blabbed all over the place. That son of a—
“Dad!” LJ came running into the hospital room as Bud finished dressing. “I heard you’d been brought in here.” His son was breathing hard and was flushed, about to have a panic attack of his own.
“I’m fine,” he quickly assured LJ, touched by his son’s concern. “It was just a false alarm.”
“What happened? I heard at the station that they thought you were having a heart attack.”
“Like I said, false alarm. My heart is fine. Nothing to worry about.” He watched LJ rake a hand through his hair, still looking wild-eyed.
“I understand Jake Horn was with you? If he’s the reason you had...whatever you had...”
Bud chuckled. “Jake Horn? Not likely. I didn’t give him a second thought. It’s my need to find that damned car. It keeps me up at night.”
LJ nodded but didn’t look all that convinced. “We’ll find the car. I’ll find it, if it’s the last thing I do. I promise.”
He hated for his son to make a promise like that but wasn’t about to argue the point. “Let’s get out of here,” Bud said. “I hate this place.”
* * *
BLAZE WAS LEAVING the café, chuckling about something Jake had said, when her cell phone rang. “It’s Tawny,” she told him.
“Take it. I’ll meet you at home and we’ll talk about what to do now.”
Home. She was starting to think of the ranch as home instead of her small apartment that she kept in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. “Hello?”
“I need to see you,” Tawny said. Blaze heard the tears in her voice. She guessed this was about LJ.
“Where are you?”
“At my mother’s, but could we meet at the old mill?”
The old mill? “Is it even still standing?”
“Barely. I just thought we could talk there. I have some good memories from the time we used to hang out there.” So did Blaze.
“I’m in town so I can be there in less than five minutes,
” she told her.
“Thanks.”
Disconnecting, she walked to her SUV. As she started to get in, she saw LJ drive past. He didn’t see her as he sped by and headed out of town, definitely going over the speed limit.
The old mill had once manufactured carpets back in Saddle Butte’s short heyday. From as far back as Blaze could remember, the large old building had been empty. She remembered it as the perfect place to hang out and drink beer. Driving north, she hadn’t gone far when she turned off onto a dirt road that circled behind what was left of the building. The front had caved in, probably in the winter of 2011, when Saddle Butte had reported more snow than ever in its history.
But the back of the building was still standing. Tawny had parked next to the huge gaping hole that had once been the loading dock area.
Blaze parked and got out, joining Tawny in her older-model sedan. The heater was on, the air inside scented with onion rings from the only fast-food place in town, Jerry’s In and Out, and Tawny’s perfume, the same scent she wore in high school.
The familiarity of it made her feel nostalgic. She glanced into the dark of the old mill, remembering better times. At least more innocent times. “We used to have fun out here.”
As she turned, she was shocked to see her old friend was holding a gun on her. “What the—”
“It’s not loaded,” Tawny said.
“Then why are you...” She grabbed the barrel, pointing it away from her as she took it from the woman. Tawny was digging in her coat pocket. Cartridges for the .22 spilled out into her hand.
“I need you to show me how to use it,” the woman said.
Blaze stared at her. “Where did you get this?”
“It’s an old one my mother kept in a drawer by her bed.”
She removed the clip and saw with relief that it was empty and so was the chamber. “Tawny, what is this about?”
“LJ. He’s scaring me. Something’s going on with him. He’s so angry all the time. I have to be able to protect myself from him.”
“Why is he angry?” She suspected it probably had to do with her father being released from jail and his father’s need to catch Frank’s killer now more than ever.
“I don’t know. But now... Did you hear about his father? Bud had to be taken to the hospital after Jake visited him. LJ’s furious and blames Jake.”
Blaze recalled the expression on LJ’s face as he sped through town toward the outskirts, headed south. In the same direction as McClintock Ranch. She set the pistol on the floorboard at her feet and pulled out her phone to call Jake.
* * *
JAKE WAS HEADED back to the ranch feeling pretty good. His stomach was full, he’d just had breakfast with the woman he loved and he really did think he and Blaze were getting closer. Maybe there was hope yet.
But he worried that they might be getting too close to the truth about Frank’s murder. It felt more dangerous. Blaze wouldn’t leave unless he did. Maybe they should let this go, let the sheriff try to find the killer. Unless the sheriff was the killer.
Jake couldn’t help rebelling at the idea of letting the person who killed Frank get away with it. Even as much as Frank was apparently hated, Jake still believed in justice because of WT. The judge had changed his life. Jake couldn’t let this go. But how would he get Blaze to leave?
The road to the ranch was dirt with some gravel, narrow and winding. In some shady places, the ground was covered from the last snowfall. He realized that he’d been so deep in thought that he hadn’t been paying attention. The back of the pickup lost traction for a moment. He touched the brakes, got the truck under control again and slowed down.
He’d just come into a straight part when he looked back and saw a pickup roaring up the road behind him. Whoever it was, they were driving fast and furious, actually kicking up snow along with dirt and rocks.
As the truck behind him hit the straight stretch, he got a good look at it. LJ Fraser. Jake swore under his breath. He knew it was just a matter of time before the man heard who’d been with the sheriff when he’d had his attack. Jake wasn’t responsible. Fortunately, it hadn’t been heart failure, just a panic attack. Not that it would change how LJ felt about it. The deputy would blame him.
The truck was gaining on him fast. Jake thought about trying to outrun the man but knew that was suicide on this road, especially since there was ice in places under the snow and even where the snow had blown off, leaving dirt and rocks.
He was deciding where he wanted to have this out with the deputy when his cell phone rang. Blaze. She’d be worried if he didn’t answer it. He started to when LJ crashed into the back of his pickup. The jarring thud knocked the cell phone of his hand. It fell to the opposite floorboard as he grabbed the wheel and fought to keep his pickup on the road as LJ’s front bumper smashed into him again.
Had the man lost his mind? Quite possibly. Jake hit the gas just to put a little distance between them as he decided how best to handle this. His cell phone kept ringing from the floorboard as he roared down the road, looking for a place to end this before LJ ended it for him.
* * *
“JAKE’S NOT ANSWERING.” Blaze couldn’t help being worried. He’d been headed back to the ranch and LJ had taken off in that direction. Maybe there was nothing to worry about. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that Jake was in trouble.
“I have to go,” she said and started to open her door.
Tawny grabbed her arm and burst into tears. “You can’t. You have to help me. You have to show me how to shoot the gun.”
“A gun isn’t the answer, especially when you haven’t ever shot one. Get yourself some bear spray. Keep it handy so you can pepper spray anyone who tries to hurt you. Even better, stay away from LJ until all of this is over, at least.”
Tawny let go of her arm. “I thought he was the one.”
Blaze shook her head. “I went out with him because he felt dangerous. He is dangerous and at that time of my life, I thought I wanted that. You have to decide what you want. Trust me, he will continue to hurt you and ultimately might accidentally kill you. Is that the kind of husband you really want?”
Tawny wiped at her tears. “But when he’s nice, when he’s sorry, he’s so sweet.”
Blaze groaned. “Until the next time he comes home drunk and mad. Your decision, but I have to go.” She threw open the door and stepped out. The gun still lay on the floorboard where she’d dropped it. She grabbed it up along with some of the cartridges and put them into the clip before loading the gun. “This is the safety, see? When it’s off like this, it’s loaded and all you have to do is pull the trigger. Go into the mill and practice shooting it.”
Tawny nodded, eyes wide. “You think I’m going to need it.”
Her stomach roiled at the thought. “Get some pepper spray, but as a last resort...” She flipped the safety back on and dropped the gun on the passenger seat before closing the door and running to her pickup.
* * *
THE CRAZY BASTARD, Jake thought as he saw LJ coming for him again. The man’s pickup was fishtailing all over the road. LJ looked as if he might lose control at any moment. Ahead Jake saw a nasty curve that dropped down on the other side into a swell and rose at an angle. If he could make it without losing control himself...
He kept his foot on the gas. His phone had quit ringing, but was now ringing again. He didn’t need to check it to know it had to be Blaze. He barely heard it over the roar of his engine as he raced up the hill and dropped. He felt his stomach rise and come falling down along with the pickup under it.
For a moment he saw nothing in his rearview, but then LJ topped the hill. The man was going so fast that all four wheels came off the ground as the truck flew up and out.
Jake hit the bottom of the hill hard. The back of the truck fishtailed. He pulled it out by giving it even more gas. The tires finally caught
and he shot up the other side. He was almost to the top when he looked back.
LJ’s pickup had landed badly, almost sideways in the road. The man had overcorrected and shot across the other side. Jake could see the tracks in the snow at the edge of the road. Some of the snow still hung in the air. LJ had jerked the wheel back, but because of the incline of the hill, he’d probably done it too hard, too fast.
At that speed and those conditions, the truck did the only thing it could. It rolled. What Jake saw in the mirror was the pickup tumbling down the hill to come to a snow-boiling stop upside down at the bottom.
He threw on his brakes, parking at the rise of the hill. He turned on his flashers, hoping no one else was coming up the road right now, then grabbed his phone up from the floorboard where it had fallen and called 911 before he took off down the hill. Steam was rising from the wrecked pickup’s engine as he approached. The road down the hill was slick and he had to take it slow to keep from falling on his ass.
When the 911 operator answered, he told her there had been an accident. As he reached the pickup, he called out LJ’s name. The only sound was the truck’s engine, still running. He moved around to the driver’s side, glad to see that at least the fool had been wearing his seat belt.
LJ’s head was thrown back. Blood ran down the side of his face, but when Jake checked his pulse, he noticed the man was still breathing. He turned off the engine and relayed the information to the 911 operator. Then he disconnected and called Blaze as he used his gloves to stanch the bleeding on LJ’s head until the ambulance arrived.
* * *
“I GAVE HER the loaded gun before I knew about this latest incident with LJ,” Blaze said, throwing down her coat on the couch and joining it. They’d been kept at the sheriff’s department giving their statements while the sheriff was down at the hospital with his son. There’d been no word on LJ’s condition. Now she regretted telling Jake about meeting Tawny out at the old mill.
“Still, you loaded Tawny’s gun? Does she even know how to shoot it?” Jake demanded as he stalked around the living room at the ranch. He’d been worked up long before she’d told him about her trip out to the old mill.