by Leigh Hearon
“Remind me never to be on your bad side.”
It was the first thing Marcus had said since greeting her after she’d approached the group of deputies. He hadn’t said a word throughout Annie’s harangue of the sheriff, and she appreciated his willingness to let her fight her own private battle.
“Well, he deserved it. I can’t imagine you ever doing anything as heinous as he and his henchmen tried to do to me.”
“I certainly hope not.”
Two cell phones buzzed simultaneously, and both Annie and Marcus each scrambled to find his or her device.
Marcus peered at his phone’s screen. “It’s Dan.”
“Mine’s from Jessica.”
“Let me talk to Dan first. He’s less up-to-date.”
Annie nodded, and flashed her outstretched fingers to Jessica in her rearview mirror, indicating she’d call her back in five minutes or so.
“Put it on speaker,” she urged Marcus. “And let’s be circumspect. We don’t want Dan and Kim to come roaring back here, which they will if they know the whole truth.”
“Agreed.” He pressed a button, and Dan’s booming voice filled the cab.
“What in the Sam Hill is going on? I’m about to head up the pass and hear on the radio that there’s a bomb scare on a road I passed through just a few hours ago.”
Marcus cleared his throat. “Yes, well, thankfully, we missed the worst of it.” Annie realized this wasn’t far from the truth.
“Well, thank the Lord for that. I’m assuming all roads are closed for the foreseeable future. Where are you now?”
“We’re inching our way to I-90. The roadblock set us back a few hours, but at least we’re moving.”
“Of all the damn bad luck. So what happened? When I first got the news, I thought it might have something to do with Annie or the horses.”
“We really don’t know much about it. There’s apparently an IED in the middle of the road, but that’s about all we know.”
Annie was impressed by the way Marcus had adroitly not answered Dan’s implied question.
“Who’s in charge? State patrol or Mullin’s gang?”
“It started with Mullin, but the state patrol is now out in full force. We’ve seen several of their vehicles zooming by in the last half hour. I’m assuming they’re in charge of dismantling whatever is in the road.”
“Annie, you there?”
“I’m here.”
“Keep your head down. The last thing you need right now is for Sheriff Mullin to realize you’re in the backup line heading out of town.”
She crossed her fingers. “Will do.”
“Well, glad to hear you’re both all right. I should sign off now. I’m going up a mountain where cell reception is iffy.”
“Sounds good,” Marcus said. “We’ll keep you updated on our progress. And please let anyone else who hears about the bomb threat know that we’re perfectly fine.”
“Ten-four, good buddy.”
He’d done it. He’d actually said “good buddy.” At least it hadn’t been directed toward her. Marcus, she knew, was far more tolerant of Dan’s speech patterns than she would ever be.
Her phone call to Jessica was also on speakerphone, and was short and sweet as well.
“Annie! You know that mysterious rider who came to your rescue?”
Annie had given Jessica a broad outline of what happened. But she’d decided the rider’s identity was on a need-to-know basis, and so far, she couldn’t think of a single person who needed to know. Besides, Jessica had never met the young man or even known that he existed.
“Yes?”
“Well, I’ve been seeing a guy on a black horse, a stallion, I think, following our trek out of town. He’s on the left, and every so often he appears.”
“Is he wearing war paint?”
“Don’t be silly, Annie. If it is the same rider, how do you think he knew what Andy was up to?”
“Hard to say. I can’t figure out why Andy went after us at all. I guess the IED means he was behind the plane crash, too, but that’s as far as I can get. Andy must have thought I knew something—something that persuaded him I had to be eliminated. Pretty terrifying, when you think about it.”
“Indeed. Let’s just hope he acted alone, and no one else is out to get you.”
“Thanks, Jessica. I know I can always count on you to cheer me up.”
Both Annie and Marcus kept a lookout for Colin, but neither of them saw so much as a glimpse of the stallion or the boy. And after twenty minutes, their creep to the freeway eased into a more normal rate of speed, which made outside gazing, at least for Annie, impossible. But even though Colin remained hidden from sight, he was very much on both of their minds.
“That young man is going to need a lawyer.” Marcus’s pronouncement sounded unequivocal.
Silently, Annie agreed. But what she said was different. “How could he be charged with anything? He saved our lives. We would all be blown to smithereens if it weren’t for Colin’s bravery.”
“Sheriff Mullin already asked me what I observed. I didn’t name Colin, but I could see where he was headed, and if he asks me point-blank, I’m not going to lie.”
“No, I know you won’t. Neither will I. I just wish I knew how he happened to arrive in the nick of time.”
“That, and the answer to about a thousand other unanswered questions.”
The only thing Annie knew for sure at that moment was that fifty-plus horses were about to start enjoying a completely different kind of life. And that made her very happy.
* * *
As Annie had predicted, they pulled into Running Track Farm just before midnight. Marcus had phoned ahead, and so Patricia was waiting by the electronic gate, ready to buzz them in. All the other transport vans had preceded them by several hours, and Patricia assured her that after each trailer unloaded she had sent all the weary drivers home. The twenty-acre plot was almost a mile beyond the boarding and training facility Annie and Jessica had visited earlier this year but easily accessible by a well-kept road. Patricia had hopped into Jessica’s van for this final step in the horses’ journey.
“Wow, it looks fantastic,” Annie exclaimed, after seeing the neat white cross fencing that surrounded the pasture. It was about all she could see at this time of night, but it was obvious that even the seldom-used areas of Running Track Farms were kept in immaculate shape.
“Wait until you see it by day,” Patricia told her. “The work crew is fantastic. They’ve already erected six run-in shelters, and their super assures me they’ll have a dozen more completed by the end of the week.”
Annie was just glad no escapes had been reported. But then, eighty-five cents an hour was not an income jail inmates would sneeze at. And the scenery was certainly a lot better than what they saw from the confines of the Suwana County pokey.
“At the moment, there are three secure pastures.” Patricia extended her arm into the darkness to designate fenced-in areas Annie could only guess were present. “We’ve put the stallions in one, the mares and foals in the other, and the rest in the biggest portion. That’s where we’ll unload yours, Annie.”
Fortunately, there were three overhead lights constructed on the pasture poles, so leading the horses out of the trailer was not entirely done by feel. She thought the horses must be exhausted after the eight-hour drive, although she knew Jessica’s trailer was a far better accommodation than what they would have had if their destination had been to the north instead of west. All of them were shiny with sweat, but thankfully not overheated. They were simply glad to be let out of their giant crate, no matter how much orchard grass had been given them.
Patricia showed her exactly where the horses would stay their first night.
“I’ve cordoned off that small bit to the right, so none of them have to worry about making friends with everyone else until tomorrow.”
“You’ve thought of everything,” Annie said gratefully. Now that the numbing drive was over, she real
ized just how tired she was, too. She did not look forward to the hour-long drive home, which would be in pitch-darkness. But at least she had succeeded in getting here, and that was the most important thing.
“Patricia, how about my load?” Jessica sounded a bit anxious. “You may recall that I’ve got the sick and injured horses.”
“Oh, how remiss of me.” Patricia made a small tsk, tsk, as if she were reprimanding herself. “The existing stalls have been allocated for them, so we can keep them separate from the rest of the herd. They’re on the other side. Let’s get Annie’s herd settled, then we’ll take them over there.”
When the last horses had been shown to their stables, Patricia led the group to the conference room Annie recalled from her first visit here, when she’d first become acquainted with the rich lineage of Hilda Colbert’s horses. An assortment of beverages, both hot and cold, were laid out on a cart beside it.
“Please help yourself to refreshments,” she told her very tired visitors. “And congratulations on a job well done.”
Annie noted that, for reasons beyond her ken, Patricia looked remarkably well rested, considering she’d been up at dawn and had overseen the arrival of several dozen horses over the past several hours. Perhaps she’d popped into the built-for-horses hyperbaric chamber on-site as a pick-me-up. Either that, or there had been a massage therapist on board the Running Truck van who’d soothed away Patricia’s aches and pains as she drove. Whatever it was, she looked twice as alert as any normal person had a right to be. Annie reached out to grab a Red Bull. She was going to need it for the drive home.
“Before we go any further, I do insist that all of you spend the night here instead of returning to your own homes tonight.”
Jessica and Annie immediately began to protest. Marcus was strangely quiet.
Patricia put up a hand. “I know you’re all anxious to see your beds, but it’s now nearly two o’clock in the morning, and you’re all exhausted. You’ve all been to Running Track before and know that we have guest accommodations at the ready. So, please, think about it rather than heading off in the middle of the night. Besides, I’ve already been in touch with both your caretakers, and they’ve happily agreed to stay at your clinic, Jessica, and your stables, Annie, for another night. So if you went home now, you might not find an empty bed to sleep in.”
“Excellent idea, Patricia.” Marcus reached around to the beverage cart and selected a beer from a local microbrewery. “I accept your gracious hospitality with heartfelt thanks.”
Annie eyed her companion, put back the Red Bull, and reached for a microbrew herself.
* * *
The cabin given to Annie and Marcus was close to the pasture where most of the horses had been unloaded. Walking outside in the crisp but clement summer air, Annie craned her neck over the fence line to see if she could espy the four horses she and Tony had originally agreed to save, or Eddie the Thoroughbred, or the horse with one blue eye and one-and-a-quarter ears, whom she’d secretly named Lefty. She could not. It was simply too dark to make out anything but the shape of horses clustered together. But she could hear, if not see, horses quietly munching on rich, green grass. This might be a new experience for many of them, she thought. Green grass was a rare commodity where they’d just been. A breeze floated through the trees, and the smell of Douglas fir wafted over her. It was good to be home.
EPILOGUE
SUNDAY AFTERNOON, SEPTEMBER 17
“It’s about time we did this,” Jessica told Annie, who was dragging all of her mismatched lawn furniture over to her new barbecue pit. The pit had been a surprise gift from Travis Latham, to thank Annie for her above-and-beyond efforts in bringing fifty-eight horses safely back to Alex’s Place. Annie really thought Travis was the one who deserved the honors since it had been his forty thousand smackers that had bailed out the equines, but she wasn’t going to argue whether she liked the gift or not. It was a sight better than the small Coleman grill that she’d used for the past two decades.
“I agree.” Annie was now casting a critical eye at her two picnic tables, recently purchased at a garage sale, and trying to decide how to prop one up a half inch to make it level with one another. Or not.
It was a lovely September afternoon, warm and dry and utterly devoid of the prescient air of autumn that often appeared this time of year. After eyeing Annie’s new outdoor pit, Dan had suggested she host a party for all the members of the rescue team, to “get the official update,” as he put it, on everything that had unfolded in all the homicide cases since they’d left eastern Washington, and she’d happily agreed. Marcus had flown in yesterday and was now picking up Travis at his home. All of Annie’s friends had accepted her invitation on the spot. Even Maria Hernandez would be here; she was driving down from Browning at that very moment. And Kim Williams, Dan’s new second-in-command at the sheriff’s office, had said she wouldn’t miss it for the world.
Annie had gone all out on the menu. It was easy to do, since she knew she wouldn’t be cooking most of it. Barbecuing was man’s work. You couldn’t pry a grilling fork out of a guy’s hand if you tried. And who would want to? But at least she’d contributed a succulent assortment of pork, beef, chicken, and sausage for them to work with—them meaning Marcus and Dan, who she suspected would turn into dueling chefs over their coveted rubs. Marcus had brought several he’d purchased from Williams-Sonoma. Annie knew that Dan would be fiercely defending his own personal concoction, made up of who knows what, but definitely good. She’d tasted it before at the annual community barbecue the sheriff’s office hosted each July.
Eddie the Thoroughbred had been renamed Eduardo, in honor of Tony’s Hispanic heritage, and was now living at Annie’s ranch. He’d been a mess when Jessica had first inspected him; his hooves had looked as if they hadn’t been touched in a year, he’d badly needed a dental, and every single one of his ribs had been visible to the naked eye. Annie’s farrier was doing her best to reconstruct feet that any Thoroughbred would be happy to walk on, but for the moment, he usually wore therapeutic boots to protect his soles and frogs from deteriorating further. It would take several months, her farrier warned her, before he was truly sound and could be ridden.
In regard to the weight issue, Eduardo was doing fine. He zealously cleaned his feed bucket morning and evening and was now munching on good Timothy hay. No longer starved, he looked more like the lean racing machine he’d once been, although that part of his life was over forever, in Annie’s book. Examining his teeth had been a rather fraught experience for both Jessica and Annie. They’d quickly learned Eduardo did not like to be tied. Period. He also was nervous about having anyone touch his face. But Annie was working on both of these issues, and she could now stroke his cheek without him flinching. Best of all, Trooper and Eduardo had turned into best pasture buddies almost upon meeting. Their combined high energy was a lovely sight to behold, although Annie realized the time she now spent grooming these two tall horses was twice what she spent on the rest of the herd. The boys just wanted to be boys, and dirt, apparently, was their friend.
Annie’s guests had started wandering in around midafternoon, and by six o’clock, the party was in high gear. Marcus and Dan had outdone themselves on the grill, and just seeing the meat piled high on several platters made Annie’s mouth water. Everyone had dug in with gusto, and although the levels on the platters had been greatly diminished, Annie was content to see that several days of good leftovers were in store for her, Marcus, and, of course, Wolf.
Completely sated, Annie sprawled on her one good chaise longue. She tried to reach for another beer, but the effort was simply too difficult. Her stomach was strongly urging her not to move for several hours. Fortunately, Marcus swooped in with a replacement before sitting down beside her, so the need for any exertion of energy was thankfully thwarted.
“Thank you, darling,” she said. The phrase was becoming easier to say every time she used it.
“My pleasure.”
“Have yo
u seen Colin?”
Colin was the surprise guest who’d accompanied Maria today. Yes, school was officially in session, but, as Maria had reminded them, she was the tutor for Colin’s sophomore class, and she planned to grill him on Washington state history all the way back to Browning tomorrow. Colin had disappeared after feasting on barbecue and hadn’t been seen since. Annie suspected he was off in the field, communing with the horses. Patricia had promised to show him and Maria their rescued herd tomorrow, before they left. All the horses were at the tail end of their quarantine experience. They’d be transported to Alex’s Place before winter officially began, when the barn and stables would be complete.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Colin wending his way back to the crowd. He was essentially a shy boy, Annie knew, not unlike herself at that age. But he interacted well with adults, far better than she had as a gangly, tongue-tied adolescent. And she was glad that he was here today. He was such an essential part of the story that Dan was about to reveal. Dan could be a great storyteller at times, but Annie knew that Colin, who’d lived through his experiences, could best express them.
Sunset was spreading over the ranch. It came more quickly these days, and Annie realized, with a tinge of sadness, that soon the nights would be nearly as long as the days, and the amount of sun seeping through would often be fleeting. Hadn’t some poet written “gather ye rosebuds while ye may,” or some such line? That was how she felt about today.