Castle Rock

by Carolyn Hart

  Later, she would wonder if it would have made a difference if she had confronted Will? Would her questions have changed the future? Or was that future already certain, machinery once put in motion doomed to a foreordained end?

  But she didn’t ask. Will’s happiness at being with her, the wonderfully warm sense of comfort she felt at his nearness, were too precious to risk. So she drew out the interlude, talking of this and that, of the ranch, of Will’s paintings, of anything and everything but the strain and fear that permeated Castle Rock. When they went upstairs, after she helped set up a cot for Will by Danny, when she stood once again outside Danny’s door, Serena smiled at him then stood on tiptoe to lightly kiss his lips. “Goodnight, Will.”

  In her room, she undressed quickly, slipping into her gown. She kept thinking of Will. If Jed Shelton had never come to Castle Rock . . .

  The soft knock on her door startled her. She hurried to her door. It must be Will. There was no one else upstairs. She yanked open the door, “Will.”

  It wasn’t Will.

  Jed stood there. He had heard her call Will’s name. His eyes dropped to her gown. Serena flushed and drew the negligee closed.

  “Sorry,” he said sardonically.

  “Will’s staying with Danny tonight. I was afraid something might be wrong,” and she hated the defensive tone in her voice.

  “Sure.”

  She could have slapped him.

  “Look, I’ll only take a minute,” he continued. “I thought you might like to know about the rope.”

  “The rope?”

  “The rope that was holding up the gunny sack.”

  She forgot her anger. “Yes,” she said eagerly, “what about it?”

  “Somebody burned it.”

  “Burned it,” she repeated blankly.

  And burned it he meant. After bringing Danny up to the house, Jed had taken a flashlight and gone in search of debris from the swing. Millie told him it had all been dumped right inside the door to the tack room, but when he went to look he found only the gunny sack. He searched among the ropes coiled in the tack room and even looked in the stables.

  It was the smell that led him to the incinerator out behind the stables.

  “You know how hemp stinks when it burns,” he explained.

  Anybody could have done it. It took only a minute to shove the rope into the incinerator, douse it with gasoline, and toss in a match. Will could have done it. Or Julie. Or Peter. Or the Minters. Or the professors. Anybody at all.

  “You don’t seem shocked,” Jed observed.

  “I told you when we flew home,” she said quietly. “I never thought it was an accident.”

  “But a little kid,” he objected. “Who the hell would try to kill a little kid?”

  The same person who killed Uncle Dan, she thought. Who tried to kill me. But she didn’t say it. She just looked at him.

  Jed frowned. “I don’t understand why. I don’t see it.”

  “Don’t you? What would happen if Danny died?” she asked sharply.

  He looked at her.

  Serena laid it out. “Castle Rock would belong to Will and Julie, for one thing. For another, I would be booted out. That’s what the murderer wants.”

  There. She had said it. Murderer.

  “Murderer?” he repeated. “Danny’s going to be okay.”

  “Uncle Dan is dead.”

  “That was an accident.”

  “Funny, isn’t it? So many accidents. All in a row. Uncle Dan’s horse bolts. A rattlesnake shows up in Hurricane’s stall. Danny’s swing falls. Funny, isn’t it?”

  “No,” he said harshly, “it isn’t funny. Not a damn bit. My God, Serena, if that’s what you think, why don’t you get out of here?”

  “I can’t.”

  “Sure you can. Take a trip, Serena. Take Danny with you. Say you think he needs some sea air. Go to Galveston. Get the hell out.”

  He leaned forward, his face intent. He really wanted her to go, she was sure of that.

  It would certainly simplify things for the smugglers if she left. Then there wouldn’t be anyone trying to trap them, no one at all to stand in their way.

  Wasn’t the possibility that Uncle Dan had been killed as obvious to him as it was to her? Wasn’t it Jed who warned her that accidents came in threes? If Jed were behind the accidents, he would make sure the rope was destroyed so there could be no evidence to take to the sheriff. Then he could use the very act of the rope’s destruction as a way to try and frighten her more and drive her from the ranch.

  “I’ll fly you down to Padre Island tomorrow,” he said eagerly.

  “No.”

  “Serena, you have to get out of here.”

  “No,” she said defiantly. “I belong here. I’m going to stay here.”

  He glared at her. “You little fool. I tell you I know what I’m talking about . . .”

  He broke off and they stared at each other, Serena in shock, Jed in confusion.

  “What do you know?” she asked steadily.

  His mouth twisted. “I know stupidity when I see it.”

  Suddenly Will loomed up behind Jed. “Hey Serena, is everything all right? I heard loud voices.” He looked from her to Jed and Serena knew he would love to manhandle Jed right out of her room. She saw, too, the flash of anger in Jed’s eyes. He would explode if Will touched him.

  Serena stepped between them, put a hand on Will’s arm. “Everything’s fine. You’d better get back to Danny. Is he sleeping all right?”

  “I just checked him,” Will said, not taking his eyes off Jed.

  The two of them glared, much like angry dogs circling in a barnyard.

  “It’s all right, Will,” she said insistently. “You go back to bed now.”

  He left finally, his face still truculent. When Danny’s door shut behind him, Jed asked abruptly, “Is he why you’re staying at Castle Rock?”

  “Will?” Serena said in surprise. “What makes you think that?”

  “I was coming up the stairs to tell you about the rope and I saw you kiss him.”

  He didn’t go on to say that then, at his knock, she had opened her door in her negligee saying Will’s name, but she could read it in Jed’s eyes.

  Serena lifted her chin. “I grew up with Will,” she said steadily. “I care very much for him. I see no reason why I shouldn’t kiss him goodnight.”

  “Do you call that a goodnight kiss?” Jed said derisively. He stared down at her, then, abruptly, he pulled her into his arms and his mouth sought hers. She struggled, trying to turn away, but he held her immovable against him, and his lips found hers in a violent, demanding, explosive kiss. She responded, her mouth opening, her heart beginning to pound.

  When he let her go as abruptly as he had pulled her close, he glared down at her. “That’s a goodnight kiss,” he said angrily, then turned on his heel and was gone.

  Julie wore white walking shorts and a crisp blue cotton blouse. Her shining blond hair swung in a ponytail. She looked about sixteen and, Serena thought enviously, absolutely beautiful. Serena felt like warmed-over cat food. She had slept poorly and her head throbbed.

  Julie perched on the edge of Uncle Dan’s desk. “Serena, you hardly seem to come out of the office at all anymore.”

  Serena leaned back in her chair. “There’s so much to take care of,” she said wearily.

  Julie lifted her hands above her head, stretched like a lithe kitten, then smiled. “I have a marvelous idea. Let’s get away for a while.”

  “Get away?” Serena put down her pen and stared at Julie.

  “Yes. You’re working too hard and I’m bored to pieces.” She clapped her hands together. “I know what let’s do. Let’s fly to Dallas and go shopping.”

  A shopping trip did, for an instant, sound absolutely lovely. To wander about Neiman-Marcus and all the small specialty shops. To eat dainty lunches and drink white wine and be far away from the sullen brooding atmosphere of the ranch. Getting away did, for an instant, so
und grand.

  Then Serena asked quietly, “Who put you up to this, Julie? Was it Jed’s idea?”

  A look of pure surprise washed over Julie’s face. “Oh no, Serena. What makes you think that?”

  Serena looked at Julie’s lovely face and remembered how Julie excelled at acting. She was perfectly capable of lying while looking like an angel.

  “I don’t know,” Serena said slowly. “I thought he might have suggested it to you.”

  “Why should he care what you do?” Julie asked innocently.

  “No reason at all,” Serena said quickly.

  Julie tilted her head. “He’s cute, isn’t he?”

  “I suppose so,” Serena said woodenly. “I hadn’t really noticed.”

  Julie laughed at that, lightly, charmingly. “Oh my dear, hadn’t you really?”

  After Julie left, Serena stared at the letter she was writing for a long time. She started over twice, crumpled up each sheet in a tight ball, threw it viciously at the wastebasket. Her head was killing her. Abruptly, she shoved back her chair. Usually she worked in the office until ten, then saddled up Hurricane. This morning she wanted out in the open now to try and ease the tight muscles in her neck. She would ride Hurricane like the wind. Fresh air sweeping against her face would make her feel good again, banish the tight hard knot of anger.

  Serena hurried down the path to the stables, not making any effort to be quiet but running lightly on the gravel. She decided to check Hurricane before she went into the tack room. She plunged into the dim light of the stables and it was like diving into a pool of dark water. She loved the quiet and the smell of horses and hay. Hurricane looked over the edge of his stall and whinnied. She realized she had forgotten to bring a carrot. She slipped her arms around his neck and pressed her cheek against his head. Dear, dear Hurricane. He stood very still, welcoming her caress.

  She heard voices then and realized somebody must be in the tack room.

  “Damn,” Serena said softly.

  She didn’t want to talk to anyone. Not now. She wanted to be alone on the trail. Then she stiffened and strained to hear.

  Julie’s voice carried well. “But Jed, why did you want me to ask her? It wouldn’t be any fun if she came along.”

  “Peter wouldn’t think anything of it if you and Serena went shopping and I flew you. He might look at it a little differently if you and I went alone.”

  Every word carried clearly, devastatingly. Every word made it clearer and clearer that Jed and Julie knew each other better than anyone guessed. The arms that had held Serena, the mouth that had pressed against hers, knew Julie too, knew her well.

  Julie’s voice was muffled now. “Jed, it couldn’t be that you are just the teeniest little bit interested in Serena, could it?”

  Serena heard his answer and her face flamed in the dim stable light. “Hey Julie, are you jealous? I’ll have to spend more time with Serena if it has such a nice . . .”

  His voice broke off and Serena knew Julie was kissing him.

  That was when Serena turned and fled. She burst out of the stables and ran toward the hacienda. She gained her room without seeing anyone, but she found no peace there. She paced up and down the long lovely room, past the row of Kachinas and back again. The devils that rode her clung and pained. Abruptly, her mouth thin, she lifted her small traveling case down and quickly packed. Still moving fast, wild to be gone, she pulled off her boots, kicked off her Levis and shirt, and dressed for town.

  In the hall, she paused at Danny’s door, opened it to look in. He was asleep, sandy lashes dark against his pale face. The cast looked huge. Serena gently closed the door. It was good for him to sleep. She would call and talk to him when she reached Santa Fe.

  Before she left, she must talk to Joe Walkingstick.

  She found him in the west pasture, working on a leaky stock tank. He saw her Mustang coming and climbed down to wait. When she pulled up, he was mopping his face. “Hot,” he said simply.

  “Is it coming okay?” she asked.

  “Sure. I’ll have it fixed by this afternoon.” He looked at her curiously. “You going into town?”

  “Yes. I have some things to attend to. I’ll stay at La Fonda.”

  “When will you be back?”

  “In a day or two. I’ll pick up the fireworks for the Fourth and the prizes for the rodeo.” But she made no move to go. Joe waited, his dark eyes alert. He didn’t ask. He never wasted words.

  “Joe.”

  He looked at her intently, realizing from her tone that she had something out of the ordinary to say.

  “Joe, I want you to promise me that you will look after Danny.”

  “Danny?”

  She told him then, everything she knew or surmised. His face never changed expression but, when she finished, he nodded once and she knew, without question or comment, that Joe would do his best, that Danny would be safe.

  So she didn’t worry, not all the way down to Santa Fe, not during a peaceful afternoon as she wandered down narrow streets, looking at paintings and sculpture and pottery. She didn’t worry and she tried very hard not to think about Castle Rock. She made several calls, arranging for shipment of the fireworks and ordering a silver-trimmed saddle as the grand prize and a number of bridles and belt buckles as secondary prizes. She enjoyed her dinner at the old hotel, enjoyed being alone and watching the other guests, wondering where they came from and what brought them to Santa Fe, an old city that had seen conquistadors and friars, outlaws and lawmen, peaceful Indians and warriors, and, of late years, artists and writers of all persuasions, many superb, many mediocre. After dinner, she stopped in the bar for one more drink then walked slowly upstairs to her room.

  She lay sleepless but dry-eyed for a long time, watching the arc of the moon in the movement of shadows across her ceiling, and thought of herself and Peter and Will and Jed.

  Twice now, she had opened her heart to treachery. Did she have a weakness, a lack of judgment that doomed her to betrayal?

  Trusting the wrong man could happen once to any woman. Once, perhaps, it must happen to every woman. She had been lonely when Peter came and he was handsome. But she had not, in any real sense, committed herself to Peter so his annexation by Julie hadn’t broken her heart. It did make her doubt her own perceptiveness because she had thought, until the very end of the summer, that he cared for her. She knew that Peter’s choice hadn’t been Julie’s doing. Oh yes, she had flirted with Peter. Julie flirted with any man, every man, but somehow Peter had cared for Serena one day and the next for Julie.

  Was the true attraction Castle Rock? Had Peter discovered that Serena was only Dan McIntire’s ward, that she had no claim on Castle Rock?

  Serena bunched a pillow behind her head and watched the shifting shadows above her.

  If that had been the case, then Dan McIntire’s will must have infuriated Peter.

  Although that could have been the reason for Peter falling away, how did she account for Jed?

  She had been so sure, so positive, that Jed cared for her. So certain.

  Once again in her mind she heard Julie’s soft husky voice, the rustle of her dress, and the sudden cessation of Jed’s words because Julie was kissing him.

  So she had been wrong. One more time. Maybe Jed liked to kiss all the ladies, although she could have sworn . . . But, obviously, she had pretty lousy judgment as far as men were concerned.

  Well, she had a ranch to run and a boy to protect. Horrible to think that someone at Castle Rock, someone she knew, would be willing to sacrifice Danny’s life to get Serena off the ranch. At least Danny was safe for now, secure in his room.

  Serena sighed. She couldn’t hide here in Santa Fe, grieving for a love that hadn’t been. She must go back to Castle Rock and try to meet the threat that moved unseen across the ranch.

  Will would help her. She could count on Will. With Will and Joe, she would face the danger down, keep Danny safe, make Castle Rock the happy haven it had always been.

 
; She would leave love for another time, perhaps another place.

  Will would help her . . .

  So sleep came finally and, deep in her mind, she clung to that thought. Will would help her.

  The phone rang shrilly.

  Serena struggled against the heavy hotel spread and came flailing awake, uncertain for a moment where she was, frightened by the loud demanding ring in the dark room. She reached up, grabbed up the receiver, and came wide awake at the sound of Will’s voice.

  “Serena, oh Serena, I hate to tell you this.”

  “What?” She forced out the word. She could scarcely manage to ask because she knew in her heart that something dreadful, something hideous, had happened.

  “Danny’s gone.”

  She didn’t answer. She couldn’t. The enormity of his words left her stunned.

  “There isn’t a trace of him,” Will continued in a rush. “We’ve looked everywhere, upstairs, downstairs, in the cellar, in the outbuildings. God, we’ve looked everywhere!”

  “Oh no. Will, no.”

  “Serena, I’m so sorry. I never thought . . . I didn’t stay with him last night. I wanted to but he said no. I guess he thought it was babyish. I knew his head was okay. He hadn’t had any trouble all day. I told him he could call me on the house phone if he needed anything and he said sure. He was so chipper. He’d been around on his crutch all day like a monkey. God, I never thought . . .”

  “He can’t be missing,” Serena insisted. “He can’t.”

  “He is.”

  Millie had taken in his breakfast tray and wakened everyone when she couldn’t find him.

  “When you say everyone got up,” Serena said sharply, “was everyone in bed?”

  “In bed? Oh, I guess not really. Joe was already up and down at the corral. Jed, too. They were getting ready to take some hands and go check the cattle in Big East. Instead, they helped search the house.”

  “Where were Julie and Peter?”

  “Asleep. But they got up and helped look. So did the Minters and the professors. We all looked. Everybody’s still looking but I came in to call the sheriff and you.”

  The sheriff. She must talk to him, tell him what she knew, what she guessed. She had no proof of anything. But wasn’t the fact that Danny was missing a terrible kind of proof that something was wrong at Castle Rock?