Forgotten Legacy

by Perini, Robin

  “I wish. A handful of possible scenarios have played in my head, but none of them are solid enough to even begin putting the pieces together.” She rubbed the bridge of her nose. “We’ve been investigating the Jordan case for about forty-eight hours. Two dead bodies, an unconscious twelve-year-old, and one very weak suspect—Chloe.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Though the afternoon sun glinted off the windshield, Riley knew if she rolled down the window, a blast of cold air would greet her. She flipped down the visor and squinted. The road was barely visible against the glare.

  “Good thing there’s not much traffic,” she said.

  The vehicle reached a fork in the road. Normally, they would’ve headed west toward the Blackwood Ranch. This time they took the eastern route.

  “We’re headed toward the Riverton place?” Riley asked, surprised.

  “According to Dad, this will get us closer to a dirt road leading to the disputed land. I called Cheyenne’s husband. Brett agreed to meet us to unlock the gate. Otherwise, we’d have to go on either horseback or ATVs.”

  Her entire body shivered at the thought. “The temperature is hovering around freezing. I prefer the SUV.”

  “My thoughts exactly.”

  “I’ve only spoken to Brett a couple of times, and the first time didn’t go so well since he was a suspect in Cheyenne’s kidnapping. As far as I can tell, he’s like the invisible man. Do you see him often?”

  “Nope. Cheyenne’s closed-lipped. I don’t even know if she’s living out here. It’s funny. They kept their relationship a secret for so long they can’t break the pattern. If Gram were herself, she’d knock some sense into the two of them. If it goes on much longer, I’ll have to do something. For now, we’ll have to wait and see.”

  “A modern-day Romeo and Juliet.” The cold battering the window chilled Riley’s shoulder, and she shifted away from the door. “I guess they love each other enough to try and make it work.”

  She had said it without even thinking and shot Thayne a quick glance.

  He flicked an unreadable expression her way. “I guess.”

  The highway veered to the right, and they sped along a metal fence. They’d reached Riverton Ranch, the largest in the county.

  Tension rippled over Thayne’s body. She couldn’t tell whether it was from her question or because they were now on Riverton property. “Tell me more about this feud.”

  He sighed. “No one in our families talks about it, but the past impacts our lives anyway. The Blackwoods and the Rivertons never got along. Not in Pop’s day, not in Dad’s day. And not now.”

  “Except for Cheyenne.”

  “Except her, but then she always did bring home unwanted animals.”

  Was he really equating Cheyenne’s husband to an unwanted animal? There was a story there, but all too soon they spotted a large black pickup parked on the side of the road. As they drew closer, she could just make out a dirt road leading off between two small hills.

  Thayne pulled up to a gate and turned off the engine.

  They both exited the vehicle and waited for Brett.

  He slowly emerged from his truck. The last time she’d seen him, he’d barely been able to walk. He still used his cane, but his movements were fluid, even graceful. A skeletally thin man rounded the front and stood beside his boss.

  Riley hadn’t seen Brett’s foreman for a while. His cancer had obviously progressed.

  Brett reached out his hand to Thayne, then to Riley. “I was surprised to get your call.”

  “No more than I was to be making it.” Thayne nodded toward the swath of land that ran the length between the ranches. “You ever step foot in the forbidden zone?”

  “Have you?” Brett chuckled. “But to answer your question, nope. Dad whipped the living tar out of my brother when he explored it. I decided the punishment wasn’t worth it. As far as I know, it’s been abandoned for decades. I’ve seen the cabin at a distance while riding fence, but I’d imagined it’s uninhabitable by now.”

  “Then why would Kim Jordan have a map?” Thayne asked.

  “Show me the drawing?”

  Riley pulled the copy from her bag and handed it to Cheyenne’s husband.

  He frowned as he studied the document. “I guess it could be my land.”

  “You mean my land,” Thayne quickly corrected.

  Brett ignored him as he twisted the map this way and that. “The focus is on the old cabin, but it also shows the Riverton Arroyo. It carries the water straight down the center of the land our great-grandparents fought over.” Brett dug his cane into the mud at the side of the road. “Conditions aren’t optimal for going out there.”

  “Are you trying to warn me off looking around out there? Makes me wonder if you’re hiding something.”

  “Just offering a general warning to be careful. I imagine you’ll see some remnants of last weekend’s storm.” He dug into his pocket for a key to the gate and passed it to Thayne. “You can give it to Cheyenne when you see her. I rarely use it.”

  “Thanks, Brett.”

  His brother-in-law stood there, silent, for a moment. “Maybe it’s time we put this feud to bed once and for all. Everyone who cared is dead and gone, and I sure as hell have no interest in prolonging anything. Marriage is hard enough without a whole Hatfield and McCoy reboot.”

  Brett held out his hand.

  Thayne took off his hat and stared at Brett. For a second, Riley thought he’d refuse. Instead he shook Brett’s hand.

  “I like the sound of that. I think I can convince Pops to let it go. I don’t mind sharing the land. These days, fighting a century-old battle wouldn’t even hit his radar. Every day he and Gram are fighting a war they won’t win. There’s not a lot of energy for anything else.”

  Brett frowned and glanced over at Shep, who appeared to sway just standing next to his boss. “I understand that.”

  Riley knew the bond between the pair was as strong as family, and it was hard to say which of the two men was luckier. Brett let go of Thayne’s hand. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.” He stepped close and patted the older man’s shoulder. “Let’s go, Shep. We’ll check the north pasture and then have a long, slow whiskey.”

  The ill man briefly nodded, doffed his hat, and shuffled back to the truck. Soon they disappeared down the road.

  “I feel badly for him,” Riley said. “He obviously cares about his foreman.”

  “When Brett’s father disappeared and left him to run the ranch, Shep was there. Brett was just a kid then. Losing that old man will be tough. Shep was the glue that held that ranch together for a lot of years.” Thayne looked up at the clouds forming above the mountains. “Isn’t it ironic? Shep’s body is eating itself alive while leaving his mind intact. Gram’s body is strong, but her mind is disappearing piece by piece. Do you think one is worse than the other?”

  “I don’t know.” Riley slipped her hand around his waist and hugged him.

  He pulled her close. “I’d give anything to talk to Gram, to ask her questions that I never got around to asking when I was a kid.”

  “You can still ask her, can’t you?” She looked up at him. “She still has good days.”

  Sadness transformed his face to reveal the heartache the family was going through. “I want to be confident the answers she gives me are based in truth and not something she’s made up so the world she lives in now makes sense.” He backed away and swiped his eyes. “This is ridiculous. She’s still here.”

  “I’m so sorry, Thayne. I didn’t recognize anything was wrong with her when I first met her a year ago.”

  “Most didn’t then. Now, I think most people know.” Thayne made a show of studying the key in his hand. “I see a flash of the Gram I knew most days, but I also see moments of this blank stare where she’s standing in front of me, and I know she’s gone.” His jaw tightened. “I’d give anything to help her, but there’s nothing to be done. Her medication makes it seem like she’s doing better, but
it’s just masking the destruction going on inside her head.”

  “How long does she have?”

  Thayne shrugged, but the pain he felt lingered in his eyes. “From what Cheyenne told us, when her medication stops working, she’ll deteriorate very quickly. From there, it could last a couple of years. Could be five years, ten, maybe longer. By the time it’s over, goodbye won’t mean anything to her.”

  “A long, slow goodbye versus a short, excruciating journey.” Riley didn’t know which was worse. She rested her hand on his chest. “I hate that this is happening to Helen.”

  “Me too.” He covered her hand with his and gave it a quick squeeze. “Sorry. I don’t usually let it get to me.” He let her go and walked over to the lock and chain. “Let’s see if we can’t figure out what’s so special about this land, and why Kim Jordan would have a map.”

  He slipped the key inside and turned. The lock popped open. “That seemed too easy for a lock that Brett implied he never used.”

  Riley studied the metal. “It’s a weatherproof lock. Not that old. He must’ve replaced it at some point.”

  They drove through the gate and stopped so Riley could jump out and relock the gate. Within a few hundred feet, the dirt road grew rough. Thayne hit one bump, and Riley jerked against her seat belt.

  “This road could scramble my insides,” she said. “This wouldn’t be my favorite picnic location, that’s for sure.”

  “But it might be a good place to hide something.”

  The SUV took a nosedive into a gully and splashed through some water. Thayne gunned the engine and they rumbled out, though their tires spun a bit before the front wheels gained traction.

  When they reached the top of a rise, he stopped the SUV.

  “Why’d we stop?” Riley asked.

  Thayne grabbed his binoculars from the back seat. “It’s a good vantage point for a look-see.”

  He and Riley exited, and while he surveyed the land surrounding them for anything suspicious, she gazed at the beauty in front of her. The Wind River Mountains loomed to the east, casting a shadow on the narrow valley. A deep intertwining series of trenches cut through the landscape. The dramatic scenery took her breath away. “Do you see anything?”

  “A lot of arroyos,” Thayne said. “The water runoff has cut deep into the earth. Those sides are steep and dangerous.” He pointed at a fence following just beyond the dramatic landscape. “The Rivertons’ fence keeps their livestock from getting stuck in a death trap. If a flash flood were to hit, anything inside the arroyos would get swept away by water moving as fast as nine or ten feet per second.”

  “No wonder the families tried to keep us away. It just doesn’t explain why anyone would fight over a parcel of land that’s basically useless.”

  He peered through the binoculars to the north. “I can’t see the cabin, but it can’t be too far.”

  “Can I have a look?” she asked. He handed her the binoculars, and the landscape rushed toward her. A few hundred feet ahead sat an oddly shaped pile of rocks. She returned Thayne’s equipment to him and searched behind them for the map.

  “Look directly ahead of us. There are two pyramids of stones,” she said, indicating both mounds.

  Thayne’s forehead wrinkled. “I see them. There’s a third farther up the hill.”

  “Markers?” Riley asked. “Maybe they’re the triangles represented on the map.” She pulled out the sheet of paper and pointed at the roughly drawn images and the cabin nearby.

  “You’re right,” he said. “Let’s get up to that cabin.”

  The cabin was right where the map showed it would be. By the time they reached it, Thayne had more questions than answers. Two more pylons signaled the trail. The fifty-year-old cabin should have been dilapidated and unusable. Instead, repairs appeared to have taken place in the last five years or so.

  As Riley took pictures of the outside, Thayne snapped on his gloves and stepped onto the porch.

  “Someone’s been using this place,” he said. “These replacement planks on the porch can’t be more than a few years old.” He ran his gloved hand along the cabin’s wall, surprised when his fingers edged a series of recent repairs. “Wood epoxy on the outside walls. This is definitely not an abandoned cabin.”

  “The Jordans built their home six years ago.”

  “It wouldn’t be them. It doesn’t make sense. Their house is in the middle of nowhere. It’s not like they needed a remote getaway.”

  Riley put on her gloves as she joined Thayne on the porch. She snapped a few more photos before giving the front-door handle a good tug. “It’s locked. If the Blackwoods and Rivertons don’t visit this land, someone else has definitely been using it.” She shook the door more violently. “For some reason, Kim had a map leading here. We need to get inside and search it.”

  Thayne scanned the front porch. No one who lived in Wyoming would leave a cabin like this locked without having a backup key. His gaze landed on a small iron pot full of decorative rocks. He picked up the pot and found a key hidden underneath. “Small-town living in the middle of nowhere. Can’t afford to break down doors when you forget your key.”

  “If I did something that obvious in DC, I’d get cleaned out,” she said as he picked up the key. She rubbed her hands together. The gloves they used so as not to leave prints were thin, and she looked up at the gathering clouds. The temperature had dropped drastically to just above freezing in the last few minutes, and the wind had picked up, whistling through the trees. Riley pushed away a lock of hair that blew across her face. “I just don’t get why you’d need a key in the first place. It’s not like this place has ‘easy access’ written all over it.”

  “I’m pulling Quinn up here to check for prints,” he said with a frown. The look on his deputy’s face this morning had made Thayne aware once again he needed to build a cohesive team here instead of going it solo. Well . . . as solo as Riley would allow.

  He unlocked the door and pushed inside, Riley a step behind him. The interior was simple but functional. A queen-size bed, a wardrobe with drawers, and a small table filled one side of the room. A rudimentary kitchen lined the corner. Utilitarian, simple, a way station. Not what he’d expected, and he recognized the surprise on Riley’s face as well.

  “Nothing fancy.” Thayne opened a door to their left. It led to a three-quarter bathroom. “It probably started out as an old hunting cabin.”

  Riley snapped several photos. “There’s a year or two’s worth of dust.”

  One by one he searched the cupboards. “Canned goods, powdered milk, basic staples. The expiration dates are still good. A well-stocked first aid cabinet. A few of these meds aren’t over the counter.” Someone had been using the cabin. Relatively often. But for what? A hideout? A lovers’ retreat? Brett’s name popped into his head, but his brother-in-law had handed over the key without blinking an eye, so he doubted he was using it.

  A loud rumble sounded outside, followed by a crash and an electric crack. Riley jerked her head up. “That doesn’t sound good.”

  It definitely didn’t. The weather report that morning had mentioned a storm, but not in this area. Another loud boom reverberated through the air. Weather report or not, there was no mistaking the tenor of the thunder. A frisson of foreboding skittered across the base of his skull. He tugged back the window curtains and looked outside. The wind had grown stronger, bending the tall grass. Black, angry clouds hovered over the mountain peaks. “The storm’s decided to come our way. It’ll be raining soon. Let’s search this place as quickly as possible. I don’t want to get stuck up here.”

  Riley gave him a nod of understanding, but instead of tearing through the room, she squatted in the center. He recognized the process. She was taking in each and every detail. He fought against the urge to prod her along. Right now this place was their only lead, and they needed a break in the case.

  “Perfectly neat,” she muttered. “As if it’s a guesthouse. Nothing out of place. Everything put away in its
location.”

  “No weapons or ammunition, either.” Thayne scratched his head. “That crosses out hunting.”

  Riley stood and opened the armoire. “Extra pillows and blankets.” She slid open a drawer. “Towels and sheets. Nothing suspicious except neither family who claims ownership of the land and the cabin is using it. Why did Kim have the map?” She gripped her camera. “While you finish searching the last of the kitchen, I’ll head outside to take a few more shots. Maybe Quinn will uncover some trace evidence he can process or that we can send to the state crime lab.”

  Thayne eased open the last kitchen drawer. “Riley. Check this out.”

  A stack of papers and several pencils lay in the drawer—but the paper wasn’t blank. At least a dozen maps, identical to the one from Kim Jordan’s box. With great care, Thayne removed several sheets and slipped them into an evidence bag. “Whoever drew these can provide information. If Quinn can pull prints—”

  “We’ll have an answer,” Riley finished the sentence for him.

  For the first time since he’d realized the Jordans had been murdered, Thayne could see a potential path for answers, even without Chloe’s help.

  Loud drops thwapped against the window. They’d run out of time. “Rain,” he said, his voice urgent. “And it’s coming down hard. We have to leave. I don’t want to get stuck.”

  “Just a few pictures.” Riley hurried out of the cabin and disappeared behind it so she could capture some images from the back. She stood beneath the roof’s eave, lifted her camera, and snapped twenty or so shots but saw nothing unusual.

  Lightning cracked across the sky and the clouds opened up. Sheets of rain poured down on top of them. “We’ve got to get out of here,” Thayne shouted. “Those roads will turn to mud fast.”

  Riley nodded. “Done.”

  They raced to the vehicle, and by the time they were safely inside the SUV, Riley’s hair and clothes had soaked through. She unzipped her coat and peeled it off. “That was fast.”