High Desert Detective, A Fiona Marlowe Mystery (Fiona Marlowe Mysteries)

by Thelen, Marjorie

  * * * * *

  Jake was working in the shop the next morning, trying to get a motor working, when Tillie and Howie pulled up in their old truck. He wiped his oily hands on a rag and walked out of the shop to the front of the house to greet them. Tillie hadn’t ever been friendly to him. She never had approved of his interfering in the ranch, as she called it. He always treated her with a degree of cordiality he didn’t feel. Her husband, Howie, was a mean drunk. Jake suspected he beat up on Tillie, but he never left any marks, and Tillie never complained or let on that he was abusive. At least, she never said anything to Jake and if she let on to Opal, she wasn’t saying. They lived a good ways off, so he wondered what brought them all this way today.

  “Good morning,” Jake said. “I’d shake hands but mine are filled with grease.”

  Tillie waved him off. Howie studied the far horizon like Jake didn’t exist.

  “Is Opal around?” Tillie asked. She held one of her endless cigarettes in hand and took a long drag.

  “She’s in the kitchen.”

  “I heard you’re having cattle problems over here.” She looked up the knoll. “And someone didn’t like that ugly old bunk house and burned it down.”

  Jake nodded, fingers caught on his hips. “We’ve had our problems. Hoover is on the case.”

  Tillie’s laugh lead to a coughing fit. “Hoover ain’t worth a damn. He hasn’t solved a crime in years. I heard they haven’t found out anything about those bones in the hot springs. He still hasn’t found out what happened to Hank Little’s wives and cattle rustling is at an all time high. I say it’s time to vote him out of office.”

  Howie grunted. “Son-of-a bitch ain’t worth nothing.”

  That was about all Howie ever said. His brain was so alcohol soaked he spoke only in short phrases.

  Jake shrugged. “You’ll have your chance in the election next year.” He waited for the real reason they came.

  Tillie ignored Howie like she usually did. “I heard Opal went to the doctor yesterday. How’s she doing?”

  Jake shrugged. “I guess okay. She went to bed early, said she was tired. She seems okay this morning. She didn’t say why she went.”

  “I heard it was cancer.”

  Jake looked past Tillie to where he saw two riders coming in the road out in the distance. Sweet was bringing the goats in today. The two huge white Great Pyrenees trotted along beside them. Cancer wouldn’t register in his brain. He was having trouble processing the word in relation to Opal. He wanted to think about goats and fixing motors. He didn’t want to think about cancer. He didn’t want to think that his life was about to turn upside down.

  “Did you hear me, Jake?” said Tillie. “A friend of mine works at Dr. Martinez’s clinic and she said Opal was in there yesterday and starts chemotherapy on Wednesday. She works in scheduling, and she saw Opal’s name on the list.”

  Jake looked back at Tillie. Howie spit a stream of tobacco juice into the dirt.

  “I hadn’t heard,” said Jake. “Opal didn’t say anything to me.”

  Tillie crossed her arms and glared at Jake. “She’s going to need help. I came to volunteer my services. She’s going to need help driving into town for treatment. Is that girl still here? Opal doesn’t need the extra work of company. She should leave. She doesn’t have a place here. I’m going to move in to help out.”

  Jake could feel his carefully constructed world shattering and huge chunks breaking off and falling on his head. “We better talk to Opal.” He turned and led the way to the kitchen. Opal was standing at the sink and looked up when he came in. Tillie and Howie were right behind him.

  “Hello, Tillie. Howie.” Opal wiped her hands on a kitchen towel. “Good to see you. Have a seat. I’ll fix you a glass of iced tea.” She looked from one to the other of them. They hadn’t spoken.

  Tillie came forward and hugged Opal. “I’m here to help. I can move in and take care of you while you get the treatments. You’ll need someone to take you to town. I don’t mind. Howie and I have talked it over, and I can stay as long as you need me.”

  Opal pulled out of the embrace. “Tillie, whatever are you talking about? I can manage just fine. Jake’s here. Fiona is going to help out. You don’t need to worry.”

  Tillie frowned. “You mean you’d let strangers help out and not your relations.”

  “They are hardly strangers. Don’t be absurd. I’ve always had outside help.”

  Opal looked at Jake. “I was going to tell you. I just haven’t had time to process this myself.”

  Jake walked to Opal and pulled little her into his big arms. “I’m here for you. We’ll get through this. We’ll get through all of this.”

  Tillie scowled. “I’m not leaving. This is my aunt, my blood relation, and I’m taking care of her.”

  Opal said, “Tillie, I appreciate the offer, but I’ll take care of myself in my way.”

  “That’s something I never understood about you, Opal. Why you depend on other people and don’t let your relations help you.”

  “You know very well that the nephews have helped out. You and the other girls help when you can with branding and parties and the like. I depend on outside help because I know all of you have your own places to run and your own lives to live. It has always been that way, and you know it.”

  “It’s not like you’ve ever given me a chance. You’ve always favored the Crawford boys and Cody Lodge and look how he turned out.”

  “Cody is what he is. He’s a good buckaroo. He got in with the wrong company.”

  “There you go defending him again. He’s a loser, and you know it. You can’t save everyone, Opal.”

  She smiled. “I can try. None of us can ever guarantee that the help we give will turn out like we want. That’s not why I help people. I don’t have expectations. I trust in the Lord to do his work and if I can help Him out, so be it.”

  Jake stood in the background watching the exchange. Tillie could get into a temper. He decided to leave the room. His presence wasn’t helping anything. He turned to leave and was almost out the door when Opal called him back.

  “Don’t leave Jake.”

  He stopped and sighed. He turned back and walked slowly to the table and took a seat. He was afraid she was going to tell them about the ranch deal. That would be a disaster. He sincerely hoped she would not. Not now. Not before they had gone to settlement. He was waiting to hear from the bank about the mortgage he’d applied for.

  “Sit down Tillie, Howie. I want to talk to you.” She pulled a pitcher of iced tea from the refrigerator and handed each of them a glass. “Help yourselves.” She sat down at the head of the table and placed her hands flat out on the table like to steady them.

  Here we go, thought Jake, and steeled himself. He’d much rather be working on that motor or putting up the goats. This was not going to be pretty.

  Opal raised her head and looked at them. “I have something to say, and I want you to let me finish before you say anything.” She took a deep breath as if to gather wind for the journey she was about to embark on. “I’m eighty-four years old. The Lord has given me a good life, and now I have leukemia. With chemotherapy there is a slim chance development will be arrested.”

  Tillie started to protest, but Opal held up her hand to stop the interruption.

  “Let me finish.” She took another deep breath and sighed.

  Jake’s heart dropped. She was going to tell them about the ranch. Dump everything on them at once. He knew this wasn’t easy for her. He wouldn’t have done it this way, but he knew how much the ranch meant to her and how much she wanted to keep it intact and not divide it up. Thank the Lord, he didn’t have any relations to worry him to death. The face of a dark haired little girl flashed momentarily in his thoughts. He gently pushed her memory back into the walled up section of his heart where he stored her memory.

  “You and the others, Tillie, understand that this is my ranch. I married Henry. He is gone. I make the decisions. Is that understood
?” She looked directly at Tillie.

  Tillie sat grimly at the table her arms folded across her chest. She said nothing.

  “All right,” said Opal. “I want this ranch to stay intact. I don’t want it broken up in a bunch of pieces to satisfy my bickering relatives.”

  “Bickering relatives?” said Tillie, rising from her chair.

  “Hush, Tillie, and sit down. You know that is the truth. I’m going to have my say. I’m going to say this to you and the rest. Henry started this operation and after he died I was the one who built it into what it is today. Henry wanted that, and I know he’d be proud of me.”

  She paused and helped herself to a sip of tea. Tillie looked like she was about to explode, and Howie sat sullenly, not touching the glass of iced tea sitting in front of him. He probably needed a drink, Jake thought. As a matter of fact, he did, too.

  Opal continued after looking around at all of them again. “I worried about what was going to happen to the ranch. I knew I wasn’t going to live forever, and I wanted to get everything made legal. So I am setting up a trust for my nieces and nephews who will get the proceeds from this ranch. You see, I’m selling the ranch.”

  Tillie jumped up. “You’re selling this ranch? You’re selling it? To who? Who?”

  “Jake,” said Opal.

  Tillie erupted. “You’re selling this beautiful ranch to that bastard Indian? I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it.”

  Jake sat stone faced. He had heard Tillie blow up before though this was one of her better explosions. He and Opal knew this would happen. He had hoped it wouldn’t come right yet when they had a host of other problems to deal with. And they hadn’t settled. Opal had to deal with her problems the best she could. Maybe she was worried about the upcoming treatments and what they would do to her mind.

  Uncharacteristically, Howie spoke up. “Shut up, Tillie. Just shut up. Let Opal have her say.”

  His outburst surprised Jake. Howie always sided with Tillie. He wondered how much he understood behind the alcohol fog he was always under.

  Tillie turned on Howie. “Don’t tell me to shut up, you drunk.”

  She started to say more but Opal rose and confronted her. Emphasizing each word she said, “Tillie, sit down. I am not finished. Your behavior is one of the reasons none of you will get this ranch. I’m selling it lock, stock and barrel to Jake. You, however, will benefit from the trust fund.”

  Tillie whirled around, her chest heaving like she had just chased some mad cow. “What trust fund?”

  “Sit down,” Opal said again to her.

  Tillie, seeming deflated from the outburst, flopped down on the chair.

  Opal stayed standing and put a hand on Tillie’s shoulder. “After I die, you and the others will get monthly incomes from a trust fund that I have set up for that purpose. I want you to have an income, no matter how small, because I know how hard ranching is, and it will give you at least enough to put food on the table every month, maybe a little more.”

  Tillie buried her face in her hands. “I need money now, Opal. I love this ranch as much as you do. Why-oh-why are you selling it to that bastard when we all want it?”

  “I’ve already explained why I’m selling the ranch. I’ll not go into it again. I got a lot on my mind, and now I have these treatments to worry about. I’ve made up my mind about the ranch.”

  “What about the bulls? What about the cows?”

  “Jake is buying the whole shooting match. He’ll be the boss. I get to stay on until I pass which we know will come soon enough. I appreciate his generosity in letting me stay on.”

  Tillie started to cry. She jumped up, found a paper towel, blew her nose and wiped her eyes.

  Opal eyes softened. “What’s this about needing money?”

  Jake shook his head. It wasn’t the first time Tillie needed money, and it wouldn’t be the last. He didn’t know how many times Opal had helped them out but it was a lot more than he would have. The others, too, always saw Opal and her operation as a cash cow to be milked when hard times found them. He wondered if there’d be any ranch left to buy when they finally settled.

  “Forget it,” Tillie said, “I got to have a smoke.” She banged out the kitchen door to the back patio. Opal followed her, leaving Jake and Howie by themselves in the kitchen.

  “Care for a beer?” said Jake.

  “You bet,” said Howie.

  Ten

  Fiona had halted outside the kitchen entrance from the living area when she heard the arguing. She was afraid to turn back and leave for fear they’d hear her, and she was too curious not to stay. After Opal and Tillie left, she heard Jake go outside. She made for the front door and walked around to the side of the house. He was striding toward the workshop, and she hurried to catch up. Inside he leaned against the work bench instead of getting back to work.

  “I heard,” she said by way of greeting.

  His face was impassive. He took a long swallow of beer then said, “Yep.”

  “I didn’t realize the amount of animosity Tillie had toward you.”

  “Yep.”

  He crossed his arms and stared at the shop wall lined with shelves which were filled with the necessary tools and spare parts needed to run the modern day ranch. The place smelled of oil and metal and things men liked to do.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Not your fault. I knew this would happen. The animosity has always been there. I’m used to it. That was nothing new, but I didn’t know about Opal. That took me by surprise.” He looked at her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “It wasn’t my place.”

  Jake smiled wryly. “I’m glad you’ve come to know what your place is here. I’d like you to elaborate on that sometime.” He took off his baseball cap, ran a hand through his hair, and replaced the cap again. “This is a mess.”

  Fiona leaned against the workshop bench beside him. “Do you think I should leave? Tillie sounded upset about my being here.”

  “I don’t want you to leave, but it’s your decision. You are welcome to stay as long as you like.”

  Fiona didn’t know what to say. Jake had never given her an option about staying. He had always pressured her to stay. Now it was her decision. That was a relief, but the confusion in her mind whirled around like a dust devil. “Maybe I could have a life here, at least part of the time. I still have to work. I’m not independently wealthy. Opal told me she didn’t want to spend a lot of the money fixing the house up since you were going to buy it and maybe you liked it the way it was.”

  “You know about the ranch deal.” It was a statement not a question.

  “Yep.” Fiona smiled at him.

  “I can’t say as I want any decorating done. It’s all the same to me. My life is cows, hay, and irrigation pivots. A house is someplace out of the weather, where I eat and sleep and stay warm on a cold winter night.”

  “I understand.” She hesitated then said, “It could be more than that.” She wasn’t sure why she said that. It was out of her mouth before she realized what she was saying.

  Jake looked at her sideways. “Are you interested in homemaking?”

  She shrugged. “It’s what I do. I try to make houses, homes.”

  “I didn’t grow up in a home, so I wouldn’t know. We were always moving from one ramshackle place to the next. I appreciate Opal sharing her home with me.” He turned and looked at her full on. “Are you saying you want to make a home here with me?” A windswept strand of hair fell across her cheek, and he brushed it away. “What is it that you’re saying?”

  “I don’t know,” she said in a small voice, not returning his gaze. He could do the smallest thing like that, and she could feel the electricity arc between them. “I don’t know what I want right now. I do know that I want to help Opal.”

  He lifted her chin with a finger so she had to look into his eyes.

  “What about me? You have a home here. You could stay on in the house with me. No commitment asked.”

&nb
sp; He had deep, dark, inviting eyes. The intensity of his gaze mesmerized her. He looked down at her lips. Then his arms encircled her back, and he pulled her to him. Without any further thought her arms went around his neck, and they sank into a long, deep, bottomless kiss.

  She pulled back to catch her breath. “Jake, Jake, Jake,” she said in a whisper then looked into his eyes again. “I don’t know what to do about you. I need to think about that offer.”

  That’s all the hope she could give him. She couldn’t deny the chemistry between them. Her body wanted to sink to the floor with him, and let nature take its course. But her emotions were a wild horse stampede, galloping from one extreme to the other. She could go to bed with Jake. It could be a casual affair. But Jake was not a one night stand, and she knew it. He wasn’t that kind of man. She knew Jake would be a lifetime, if she said yes to his offer.

  He smiled like he could see the galloping horse stampede. “No rush. I’m going to be right here for the rest of my life, if the ranch deal goes through, and the relatives don’t fight it. I wish she hadn’t told them today, but she has her reasons. She’s looking death in the face, and it has her rattled.” He rubbed her arms softly then sighed. “I need to get back to work. There’s this ranch to run, you know.”

  He seemed reluctant to let go of her. He stroked her cheek. “You are so beautiful. You are something else, Fiona Marlowe. This will be continued.”

  She knew that was a promise.

  He let her go and stepped back. “Do you know any details about Opal’s health you’d like to share with me?”

  Fiona smiled. His concern for Opal touched her. She really did care for this man, and she was afraid she was beginning to care too much.

  “She starts chemotherapy Wednesday. She asked me to drive her back and forth to town. I said I’d be glad to. That’s why I bought the truck.”

  He nodded like that made perfect sense. “Tillie will be real happy with that arrangement.”

  “I feel an obligation to Opal. She’s been good to me. She made good on the deed for my knoll. I might rebuild and make it a bed and breakfast. Would you mind a bunch of strangers going back and forth on your ranch roads?”