The Defender

by Lindsay McKenna

Stumbling around the first floor, Janet growled, “It’s just menopause. Just wait. All I do is sweat like a damn pig. I hate it!”

  Katie followed her mother around, watching her walk the perimeter. Sometimes, her hand would snap out and she’d anchor it against the wall. Fearing for her safety, Katie searched her memory for menopause. She’d never seen a woman drunk and staggering around like Janet. Sweating? Hot flashes? Janet could have been menopausal. Yes, Katie had heard Donna griping about it from time to time. But Donna didn’t act drunk like Janet. Fearing she was ill, Katie walked up and touched her mother’s elbow as she leaned heavily on the wall for support.

  “Janet, let me get you to a doctor, you’re—”

  Jerking her arm away from Katie, she stood up and yelled, “Dammit, don’t touch me! What’s the matter with you? I’m fine!”

  Katie stepped back. “You’re not well. I’m worried.”

  “Well, I’m not sick, dammit. And stop acting like a damn wimp.” Breathing hard, Janet glared up at her tall, willowy daughter. In her heart, she felt the anxiety in her girl’s expression. “Look, I’m okay,” she said, lowering her voice. “Just menopause is all. Come on, I gotta check out the back. You got a pad and pen?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Go get it. I need an office assistant.”

  Eager to do something that wouldn’t upset Janet, Katie retrieved the pad and made notes. By the time they were done, half an hour later, they ended up at the front door of the building.

  “I never realized there was so much to setting up a business,” Katie said, handing her mother the notes.

  “It’s a helluva lot of work. You gotta know plumbing, electrical, drywall and a ton of other stuff. It ain’t easy,” Janet grumbled.

  “No,” Katie agreed, “it’s not.” She liked the redbrick walls. The structure had been built in 1900. The oak floors creaked but she liked the sound. “Do you have to hire people to do all of this?” She pointed to the paper in Janet’s shaky hand.

  “Yeah. I got Eduardo coming in. I’m on a deadline to get this place up and runnin’.”

  “Is there anything else I can do to help you?” Katie was desperate to prove she was worthy to her business-minded mother.

  “You don’t know nothin’.”

  “Do you have a computer? Surely you keep track of all your clients and their packages?”

  Janet nodded. She opened the door and stepped out. The coke was starting to wear off and she was thinking a bit more clearly than before. “Yeah, I have a specially written software I use. My computer guy, Kyle, will be bringin’ it out in three days. We gotta be on the same page insofar as routing the packages, boxes and envelopes.”

  “Is that what you want me to train on?”

  “Yes, it is.” Scratching her head, she said, “I’ll give you a call. You can meet Kyle and he can train you.”

  “Great, I’d love to do that,” she said. Janet’s eyes didn’t look so bleary as before. They were bloodshot and Katie wondered if she had trouble sleeping.

  “Okay, I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later.” She locked the door, wobbled off the porch and headed for her car.

  Biting her lower lip, Katie waved goodbye to her. Why couldn’t she hug her long-lost daughter? Sure, Janet didn’t seem like a touchy-feely type, but Katie wanted so badly to touch her mother, to feel her love and arms around her. She watched Janet drive away. Katie battled her disappointment as she went to her truck. She reminded herself that Janet had asked her to meet her. Maybe it was the only way her mother knew how to deal with people. She had a hundred questions to ask the woman and didn’t dare ask even one.

  * * *

  JOE SAW KATIE DRIVE into the facility parking lot. He was sitting at her desk and had just taken a message from Dr. Shep Baldwin, the vet. Katie’s expression was one of concern. She had left earlier full of life and excitement. Now, her face showed disappointment and worry. What had happened? He rose and met her as she walked into the facility.

  “Hey, how did it go?” he asked.

  Katie rallied when she saw Joe. There was care burning in his eyes—for her. She remembered kissing him, and how he’d returned the spontaneous embrace.

  “I’m okay. I’m learning a whole lot about setting up a business.” She opened the drawer to her desk and placed her purse inside it. Shutting it, she straightened and forced a smile she didn’t feel. “My mother is keen on getting her courier business up and running. I really liked the building she leased. The oak floors are a honey-gold color and I love the redbrick exterior.”

  Joe poured her a cup of coffee and handed it to her. “So why the look on your face?” Their fingers touched momentarily. His heart lurched. Trying to ignore how she affected him, Joe held her gaze.

  “Thanks. Coffee is just what I need, Joe. You’re a mind reader on top of being wonderful at falconry.” Katie sat down at her desk. “My mother is a corporate tiger.” She managed a one-shoulder shrug. “And why wouldn’t she be?” She told Joe about the meeting and the building premises.

  “Has she hired anyone but you so far?” Joe asked. He placed his hands on his hips and watched her face.

  “Yes, she has. Some guy...Eduardo.” Katie sipped the coffee, grateful for Joe’s care. Her mother could have at least had coffee with her over at Mo’s place. It was half a block from the building she’d leased. Katie cautioned herself she was expecting too much too soon from Janet.

  “You’ll meet him soon?”

  “Probably.” She told Joe about Kyle, the computer nerd coming from Cheyenne. Joe seemed very interested, his gaze narrowing speculatively upon her. “My mother said she’d call me when he arrived. He’s going to train me on the software system.”

  “I see.” Joe pursed his lips as he watched Katie enjoy the hot coffee. Color had come back in her cheeks and the sparkle in her eyes returned, too. He wondered if it was in reaction to him. Maybe. “What did you look so worried about when you came back?”

  “Oh, that.” Katie waved her hand dismissively. “My mom was sweaty and she was having trouble walking a straight line. I asked her if she was okay and she said it was just menopause.”

  Joe compressed his lips and said nothing. “Iris was over here earlier. She wanted to see you when you had time.” He pointed to the message on the desk. “Dr. Baldwin called and said the red-tailed hawk went through surgery fine and he’s ready to be picked up and brought here. Do you want me to do it?”

  Brightening, Katie said, “That’s great! Yes, could you? I’ll go find Iris. I need to tell her about my mom’s business, anyway. It was kind of exciting. I learned a lot.”

  Nodding, Joe took the keys to her truck. “I’ll get the travel case ready and take off.”

  Katie stood. “Everyone okay here?” She peered down the aisle at the mews. The raptors were all sitting on their perches and most of them were sleeping after their midmorning feed.

  “All’s well,” Joe assured her, picking up the travel case from below the weigh-in desk.

  “I’ll be back in a little while, Joe.” Katie exited the facility.

  Scowling, he retrieved his falconry gear and picked up the carrier. He was bothered by Katie’s reactions. She seemed so enthusiastic, so oblivious to her mother’s flaws. Janet Bergstrom was probably high when she met with her daughter. It made Joe uncomfortable that Katie would get involved in the woman’s business venture. Joe felt edgy as he left the facility.

  Once in the truck and driving toward Jackson Hole, Joe called his boss on the phone.

  “Hager here.”

  “Boss, this is Joe. I’ve got some more info for you.” He told the FBI boss about Katie’s second meeting with her mother.

  “Sounds good,” Hager said, congratulating him. “It’s vital we get in to look at the computer setup. I’m sure it will prove key in finding those guns and
drugs over time.”

  “I’m worried about Katie. She knows nothing of what’s going on. Furthermore, she couldn’t even tell her druggie mother was high this morning. She believed Janet when she told her it was menopause.”

  Laughing heartily, Hager said, “That’s a new one for the books! Okay, so the girl is naive. She knows her mother was in prison for running drugs and guns. Don’t you think she’d put it together?”

  “Not necessarily,” Joe said, frustrated. “Katie was raised in foster homes where there were no drugs.”

  “Can’t be helped. Eventually, she’ll figure it out. It’s not your job to educate her. We want her to get close to Janet. We want her to retrieve what’s in the computer database. We’ve had our people trying to hack into her computer system in Cheyenne repeatedly without success. Whoever Kyle is, he damn well knows how to throw up a security wall. This guy is a premier hacker, no question. We desperately need Katie on the inside.”

  “Do you really think the computer geek is going to show her how to find the real truth of what’s hidden in the database?”

  “No, but once she’s in and Janet trusts her in the position, you can then work with her to find out. I’ll be sending out one of our top geeks to train her when the time’s right.”

  “Okay,” Joe said. His brow wrinkled. “The guy Janet has hired is named Eduardo. No last name yet. I think he’ll be a key player and I hope we’ll be able to track him to Los Lobos.”

  “I agree,” Hager said. “Our man inside Xavier’s organization has compiled a list of names of everyone he’s met or heard of in the cartel. If we get lucky, the dude’s name might be on the list.”

  “I still worry about Katie’s safety.” Joe tried to keep the force of his concern out of his tone. He knew his boss wasn’t one for emotional displays, warranted or not. “Do you have anything on Garcia’s cartel?”

  “Nothing. It’s quiet. Since the float-plane incidents on Long Lake, the cartel’s gone underground.”

  “What about Curt Downing?”

  “He’s doing his trucking. And he’s got that endurance horse ranch where he spends most of his time.”

  “Maybe that’s a good thing,” Joe said. “I just don’t want Katie caught in a crossfire between the two cartels.”

  “None of us do, but for now, Joe, maintain. Be her friend and listen to her. You’re asking good questions and you’re on top of things as they’re breaking. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

  Unable to still his aggravation and worry over Katie’s potential danger, he said, “All right, I’ll call you whenever I find something new. I’ll send a report to you tonight.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  OUTSIDE THE FACILITY, Katie saw Iris’s truck approaching. The morning was clouding up, as if rain would arrive by midday.

  Spotting Katie near the front entrance, Iris plopped her straw hat on her head and made a beeline toward her. “Good morning, Katie,” she called, and the two of them went into the building. Katie busied herself making a second pot of coffee. She wore a dark green T-shirt and jeans. Her shoulder-length hair was gathered up in a ponytail.

  Grinning, Iris took off her hat and placed it on a wall hook. “I just dropped over for a few minutes to see how things are going.” It wasn’t a complete lie, Iris told herself. She walked over to the desk and sat down.

  “Things are going great,” Katie said over her shoulder. “You look pretty in your bright yellow blouse and purple slacks. Are you all gussied up to go into town and have lunch with one of your friends?” She flipped the switch on the coffeemaker and then opened a cabinet above, removing two white ceramic mugs.

  Iris placed her colorful gardening gloves on the edge of the desk. “Where’s Joe?”

  “He’s in town to pick up an injured raptor at Shep’s vet clinic.”

  “And how are the two latest injured raptors doing?”

  Katie brought the cream and sugar over to the desk. She knew Iris liked both in her coffee. “Great. We have two wonderful vets who have hearts of gold. If they didn’t volunteer their time, these birds would have been put down.”

  “I’ve been meaning to donate some money to Randy and Shep,” Iris said. “I’ll put it on my memory list and get it done. They should be at least paid in part for what they do for free. What goes around, comes around.” She watched Katie pour the hot brew into the mugs. Katie was happy this morning. She decided to broach the serious talk with some lighter topics first.

  “Here you go,” Katie said, handing Iris a mug. She sat down and watched Iris place the cream and sugar into her coffee.

  “You know about the summer armory dance coming up?”

  Katie nodded and sipped her coffee. “Yes.”

  “The whole Mason family will be there, and I was hoping you and Joe might come along, too.”

  Katie smiled wistfully. “That would be wonderful.”

  “You’re so busy taking care of your raptors that I just don’t see you getting out too often, Katie.” Iris smiled. “It’s good to be social.”

  “I don’t have a dress,” Katie said, thinking out loud. “Most of my clothes are T-shirts, jeans and one winter jacket.”

  “Well, I was going into town after lunch to shop for a dress. How about you come along?”

  “I don’t want you to buy it for me, Iris. You do so much already....”

  Holding up her hand, Iris said, “You forget, you get a salary.”

  “Yes, and I definitely have enough saved to buy me a dress.” Katie brightened. “I’d love to go in with you. It’s about time I got something girly, huh?” She laughed.

  Iris grinned. “Yes, we ranchers sometime forget we’re girls, too.” She’d not seen Katie this happy—ever. Did it have to do with meeting her mother? Or Joe? Iris hoped it was Joe. She liked the young man and knew he was a good citizen. Someone who was safe in comparison to Janet.

  “What time are you going in?”

  “One o’clock? Does that fit with your schedule?”

  “Yes, Joe will be back in about an hour. We have to prepare for a talk at the Soroptomist Club in town tomorrow. I’ll give an educational speech and we’ll bring along three of our raptors for show and tell.”

  “Keep spreading the word,” Iris agreed. Setting her cup down, she said, “Do you remember meeting my grandson, Zach Mason?”

  “Sure.” Katie saw Iris become serious, her brows drawing down. Reaching out, she whispered, “I’m so sorry he’s in prison. I know how hard this is on you and Rudd. It’s heartbreaking.”

  Iris squeezed Katie’s hand and released it. “I knew Zach was into marijuana and with him living under our roof from the time he was born, I saw the boy go from a beautiful baby to a drug addict.”

  “So much has happened in your family since Kam came home,” Katie quietly agreed. There was real pain in Iris’s eyes.

  “Do you recall, when you met Zach, the look he had on his face?”

  Thinking, Katie said, “What do you mean?”

  “It’s pretty easy to spot people on drugs. Their eyes can be unfocused. He sweated a lot. And he couldn’t sit still. He was always tapping his foot, drumming his fingers on the table, twitching or twisting around, more than what the average teenager might do. When he’d come to dinner with the family, he’d be irritable, defensive and just plain rude at times—again more than just a rebellious teenager. Also, he suddenly became secretive. He developed this new personality. Over the years, I realized those were more serious symptoms of a drug problem. I tried to stop him. I talked to the sheriff and I got the boy to a good drug counselor.” Opening her hands, she said sadly, “All for naught. The drug counselor had warned me beforehand that if Zach didn’t want to stop doing drugs, there was no way to force him to stop. And she was right.”

  “It’s so sad,” Katie said
. She sat thinking about Zach’s symptoms. “It’s funny you should tell me this, Iris. When I met my mother earlier, she acted a lot like how you’ve described Zach.”

  “Is she on drugs?”

  Shrugging, Katie rolled her eyes. “Oh, Iris, you know I’m such a dummy when it comes to this stuff. I really don’t have that much experience. I’ve been focused on other things. I should know. All three of my past relationships were with drug addicts. I just shrugged it off as they were having a bad day or didn’t feel well. Sometimes I think I subconsciously don’t want to see it. I guess it’s a flaw in me. I always want to see the best in people.”

  “Surely you saw drugs in school?”

  “Yes, in high school. But I was a loner and I didn’t run with a crowd.”

  “Do you remember seeing some kids in school acting or behaving like Zach?”

  “I did, yes.” Frowning, Katie brushed some strands of hair away from her brow. “Iris, I think my mother has a problem.”

  Gently, Iris reached out and touched Katie’s hand. She had wrapped them around the mug as if to anchor herself symbolically against the answer. “It sounds suspicious. Remember Norah said she’d been in prison because of drugs and gunrunning. So many of those people get caught up in drugs.”

  Katie glanced at the older woman. Fear moved through her. “But...she’s a businesswoman, Iris. She’s creating a second courier business.” Katie gave her a searching look. “Can someone on drugs be in business? I mean, can they run one successfully?”

  “Sure they can,” Iris said. Seeing the pain flit through Katie’s eyes, Iris felt badly for the young woman. “I’m just worried for you, is all. I feel you need to be more aware.”

  Katie sat back in her chair and felt her heart rip a little. “How do I deal with Janet, then?”

  “You need to study her, study the symptoms,” Iris counseled in a gentle tone. Katie’s mouth drew downward as she considered the advice.

  “Did it help you with Zach?”

  “Yes,” Iris said with some finality. She finished her coffee and folded her hands in her lap. “When I knew Zach was high, I knew the behavior he’d exhibit. You become somewhat of a psychologist, Katie. It doesn’t fix the problem, but more importantly, when Zach was acting out at the dinner table, we knew not to take what he said or did personally.” She held Katie’s worried gaze. “And that’s as good as it gets. Not taking their abrupt, angry, irritable behavior toward you personally. They’re high on a drug, and they aren’t socially responsible. They say a lot of mean things and it can hurt.”