Sammie said, “Tillie and Howie have made their choices. They need to pay the consequences.”
“They’ll be out on the street, did she tell you that?”
“We both know Tillie is a drama queen. They’ll find something or someone to bail them out. You’re an easy touch, Aunt Opal.”
She sighed. “You’ve told me that before. Can I get you something to drink?”
“Do you have any white wine?”
“I have a boatload of wine. Fiona and Olympia are wine drinkers. Did you hear about them?”
“Only what Tillie tells me, and she’s never complimentary.”
* * * * *
Opal was sitting at the kitchen table with Samantha when Jake came into the kitchen after dark with Fiona. Sammie went to Jake and hugged him.
“Good to see you, Jake. Opal and I have been solving the problems of the world.”
Jake smiled. “Have you met Fiona? She’s good at world problem solving.”
Sammie gave Fiona a hug. She was that kind of girl. “I’m Samantha, one of Opal’s endless relations but, hopefully, one of the nicer ones.” She turned to Jake. “She’s been telling me the problems you guys have been having. I’m sorry to hear it.”
“Yep, it’s been one thing after another,” said Jake.
Fiona sat down at the table with Samantha and Opal. Jake slid a glass of wine in front of her, mixed a whiskey for Opal and himself, and poured Sammie another glass. He figured this would be a long night. When this family got to talking and drinking it could go on until the wee hours of the morning.
They exchanged small talk for a while then Fiona said to Samantha, “I have to ask a question that’s been bothering me. Do you think Tillie would set fire to the bunkhouse to scare me away?”
Samantha took her time replying, sipping her wine. None of the three of them spoke while they waited. Jake had to admire Fiona. She had the gumption to ask the tough questions. She could be the dispassionate observer and investigator.
Finally, Sammie said, “Tillie is all bark. She makes threats, says awful things, but I don’t think she’d carry out the threats.” She paused. “Howie is another story. He is sometimes so far gone on alcohol he gets violent, and then remembers nothing the next day. Tillie has the bruises to prove it. I think he could do something like that in a drunken rage. But I’m not sure he would have the smarts to pull off such a slick deal as the fire. Opal said it happened fast. Howie is not fast when he’s drunk.”
Fiona said, “I had to ask. I don’t mean to cast blame, but I’m determined to find out who’s behind this. I’m looking under all the rocks.”
Jake smiled. “She’s a pretty good detective so you better watch out.”
Sammie said, “I’m glad someone is using a scientific approach. Frankly, I’d say Tillie and Howie are right up there at the top of the suspect list. She’s my own sister, but I’m tired of trying to cover for her. That’s another reason I decided to drive down here and see what was going on for myself.”
Fiona filled up the glasses again, and they launched into a serious who-done-it discussion.
About midnight Jake stepped out onto the back patio. One of the dogs was barking in the distance, and he wanted to investigate. The girls were still going strong. Olympia had come back about an hour ago and was regaling them with stories of fabulous ranches for sale, some for millions of dollars. She had also brought a new friend along, a man she introduced as Paul, who she had found somewhere in town.
He headed for the corral and the hay shed and the sound of the barking dog. The way was lit by starlight and a half moon. Glory was supposed to be on watch tonight. Jake needed to turn in pretty soon since there’d be another long cattle drive in the morning, except it was already morning.
All was still and silent except for the lone barking of the dog. The wind had died down. Jake circled the corral, and the smell of the horses drifted by. They had only two horses in training, since they were cutting back on the horse operation. They used fewer these days now that ATVs could go just about any place a horse could go, and they were much less temperamental. He liked horses but he liked bulls better, and he loved the bull operation. He used to bull ride in the rodeos in his younger days. The last rodeo he had gone to with his buddies was back east last year and that was when he had met the amazing Ms. Marlowe. His life had not been the same since. He had spent the year pining for her. Now she was back, and he was lusting after her. He shook his head. He had a bad case, and he knew it, and he hoped it wouldn’t be his ruination. Half the time he couldn’t think straight when she was around.
The dog seemed to be at the hay shed beyond the corral. It was a pretty night, and it felt good to stretch his legs. The barking kept on, and he followed the sound. He spotted the white outline of one of the Pyrenees standing in the corner of the hay shed where there was a stack of old hay. The barking settled into low growls, and the dog turned his massive head toward Jake.
Jake broke into a trot and pulled out a LED flash light from his second best vest since his favorite was now burned tatters. The dog pranced back and forth. It was Earl the sniffer, ever on the scent of things. Jake hoped it was just a rabbit having a little feed on old alfalfa.
But it wasn’t. His flashlight caught sight of an overturned can of gasoline on the ground in front of Earl. He flashed the light around the shed.
“Where’d he go, boy?”
Earl growled. He wished he could understand dog growls better.
He flashed the light to the top of the hay bales but saw nothing. He walked around the back of the shed and flashed the light into the brush. Nothing. Whoever it was hadn’t had a chance to set a match to the gasoline before he took off.
Twelve
Fiona cleaned up the kitchen while Opal went off to find Sammie a place to lay her head. Olympia had retreated with Paul and a nightcap to the TV room to watch Hallmark re-runs of her novels. Fiona worried her way along the kitchen counters, wiping them down and collecting glasses for the dishwasher. In her opinion Opal was overdoing it. She had another treatment in the morning, but it was already morning. Opal wasn’t getting enough sleep. She wouldn’t slow down, and she had a truckload of worries of her own. Fiona chided herself. She wasn’t Opal’s mother. She should stop worrying.
Sammie was a sweetheart. Amazingly different from her sister. Fiona had no siblings and had always found sisters in her friends. Olympia was a prime example. She could be over the top sometimes, but Fiona loved her like a sister. They had met when Fiona had redesigned Olympia’s sprawling house in McLean, Virginia. In the years since they had shared many adventures, but this one might make number one on the list.
What had happened to Jake? Another person to worry about. He had gone off to see why the dog was barking. She turned off the kitchen lights and went out on the back patio to see if she could see him. Maybe he had gone to bed.
The stars overhead were incredible. There were millions, billions of them. She arched her back looking at the display. Points of light like a bristling pin cushion covered the heavens. What a place this was. She never saw the stars in the city. Why would anyone ever want to leave here? Why would she want to leave? Because she needed to work and there wasn’t much here. She could always take Jake up on his offer though he might not get this beautiful ranch and then what. Would she want to stay up on her little knoll looking down on Tillie’s house? She realized then that overlooking Jake’s house had been part of the attraction of having the place on the knoll.
A horse out in the pasture whinnied. Another answered. Was that the sound of a horse’s hooves on the gravel lane? Had one of them gotten loose? She hurried around the side of the house and in the light of the stars she saw a man coming in the lane on horseback. At this time of night? She waited, watching, unsure what to do. Then she realized it was Jake on his pinto and behind him trotted one of the big white dogs. He pulled up beside her and dismounted. He was riding bareback with nothing more than a rope on the horse. The big white dog stood
by, sniffing the breeze.
“What are you doing?” Fiona asked.
“I’m investigating why someone wanted to set fire to our hay shed. The dog was barking over a spilled can of gasoline.”
“Oh, no,” said Fiona. “Was there fire?”
Jake shook his head. “No. Whoever it was didn’t have time to strike the match. I’ve been riding around trying to find tracks or a rig or horses or an ATV. I’ve found nothing. I’m beginning to think this is an inside job. I haven’t been able to find Glory, and the other dog is missing.”
“This is awful,” Fiona said. She went to Jake and put her arm around his waist. “I’m so sorry. This is terrible. Do you think Glory tried to set the fire and ran off? Maybe someone paid him to do it. He doesn’t seem the type that would think that up by himself.”
“I don’t know. Most of these guys really need a job. If someone is paying him, it’s worth more than a job here. I’m on my way to the new bunkhouse to see who is there. I’ll have a serious talk with the three of them, that is, if Glory is still here.”
“What do you know about Glory and his background?”
“He’s a good worker. He came recommended from another rancher who had hired him as temporary labor. He’s been with us since the beginning of the year. It’s hard to get good background on some of these guys. They drift from ranch to ranch, coming and going for a variety of reasons. They range all over the region from California to Nevada to Idaho.” He ran a hand around his face. “I don’t know what to think.”
“Do you want me to go with you?”
He smiled at her. “No. This is a man’s job. You might not like the talk. And besides they all sleep naked. It’s a cowboy thing. Why don’t you get some sleep? You take Opal for treatment this morning.”
“I don’t feel sleepy. And now I don’t think I could sleep. There was the fire back in Virginia at Albert’s mansion, then the bunkhouse, and now this. I must attract firebugs.”
He turned to face her. “You sure attract me.”
He pulled her into a full embrace. She buried her face in his neck and inhaled the man smell of him. He could be hers, if she wanted. And all the problems that came with him.
He pulled back and lightly brushed her lips with his. “I got to wake those boys.”
“Right,” she said, kissing him back.
He mounted the pinto and steered him toward the new bunkhouse. She watched Jake ride away, the dog trotting after him. If only she could be a fly on the wall. Naked cowboys might be an entertaining sight.
* * * * *
Jake walked into the living room of the bunkhouse without knocking. He wanted the element of surprise to be on his side. He now had doubts about all three of them. This wasn’t a time to trust anyone. He found the switch to the over head light and flipped it on. A quick glance around the room showed him that no one was sleeping on the old couch. He walked over and saw among the clutter on the couch the old gun that Fiona had described to him. It was lying on the couch like someone had tossed it there and forgotten it. He picked the gun up and examined it. He was no expert, but the gun wasn’t collector quality in his opinion. He laid it back down in its resting place and decided it was time to wake up the buckaroos.
“Sweet, Glory, Tommy. Time to get up,” he shouted to the closed doors.
He opened one door and saw Sweet sit straight up in bed.
“What?” said Sweet. “What’s going on?” He looked wildly around the room and grabbed under his pillow.
“Leave the gun under the pillow, Sweet, and get up. Get some clothes on. Come out to the living room. We need to talk.”
Sweet took a deep breath and let it go. “What time is it?”
“Middle of the night,” said Jake, and he walked on to the next room.
The door was closed. He opened it. Tommy Hide was sitting in the dark on the side of the bed fully clothed.
“What’s up?” Tommy asked, blinking into the light.
Jake looked around the spare room. The dresser had a few personal items. The closet door was open and two shirts hung there. A pair of boots stood neatly on the floor.
Jake said, “Did you go to bed?”
“I was so tired I fell asleep with my clothes on. Is it time to leave on the cattle drive?”
“Not quite yet but soon. Come out to the living room. I need to talk to you. Have you seen Glory?”
“Wasn’t it his turn to be on watch?”
“Yes, but I can’t find him.”
Jake went on to the next room, which he found empty. The bed was made. No one had slept there. Several flasks of empty whiskey bottles stood on the dresser. A pile of clothes in the corner was the only other sign of habitation.
Jake tapped his leg and shook his head. Now they were going to have to search for Glory. He could be on a drunk somewhere or he could be long gone.
Tommy was in the tiny kitchen fixing a pot of coffee. Sweet came out of his room, buttoning his shirt. They didn’t say anything. Sweet went into the kitchen and pulled mugs out of the cupboard. Jake followed him and leaned against the kitchen counter, arms crossed.
“Glory is gone,” said Jake.
“He rode out to check the fence and pond,” said Tommy. He had a slight build, strong hands, and didn’t like to talk.
“Did you see him come back?” Jake asked.
“Now that you mention it, I didn’t,” Tommy said. “He wasn’t here for supper. But that’s not unusual. He doesn’t always eat. He drinks his dinner.”
“He doesn’t sleep much that I’ve noticed,” said Sweet. “He’s been hitting the bottle hard these last few weeks.”
“Do you know why he’s drinking so much?” asked Jake.
Both boys shook their heads.
“He doesn’t talk about himself much,” said Tommy. “Not like some people I know.” He gave Ruben Sweet a pointed look.
Sweet shrugged. “Some people have interesting lives, you know. Other people might want to hear about them.”
Jake interrupted their banter. “There’s an overturned can of gasoline in the back hay shed. You two wouldn’t know how that happened, would you?”
Tommy frowned, and Sweet’s look registered his surprise. They both shook their heads.
“No, sir. I wasn’t anywhere near that barn today,” said Tommy. “I bet I was in bed and asleep by eight o’clock. I was out cutting hay in that hot sun and all that dust, and I was beat. I never noticed who was here when I turned in.”
Jake looked at Sweet.
“I finished up mending fences so the goats wouldn’t get out like you asked me. I came back here after dinner, watched a movie and turned in. I wasn’t near the hay shed.”
Jake looked from one to the other. “I went out when I heard Earl barking around midnight. He was guarding the overturned gas can. I rode around looking for tracks, vehicles, you name it. I haven’t found anything. No Glory. And Lester is gone.”
Tommy poured each a mug of coffee and handed them around. “Guess we better go looking then.”
Jake said, “There’s the outside chance that Glory might not have come back from checking the stock pond and fences on the BLM pasture, so I’ll ride out to the pond to see if something happened to him. Maybe he got drunk and passed out and didn’t make it back. I hope Lester is with him if that is the case. I would hate to lose that dog. You two get your overnight gear and horses and start moving cows. I’ll call Rosemary and Esme and have them come over. I’ll meet you out there.” He walked toward the door, paused and looked back. With a nod of his head he indicated the gun on the couch. “Who does the old gun belong to?”
“Glory,” said Tommy.
* * * * *
Fiona gave up trying to sleep, dressed in jeans and long sleeve blouse, and went to the kitchen to make coffee. She heard the TV and went into the living room to discover Olympia’s new friend stretched out sleeping on the couch. Olympia was nowhere to be seen. She must still be on the new side of the leaf and opted to go to bed by herself.
Fiona found the remote and powered off the large screen TV. Paul didn’t make a move or a sound from the depths of the couch.
Fiona shook her head and walked back to the kitchen. This was getting to be more like the H Bar O Resort and Hotel. Olympia had a lot of nerve dragging one of the gold miners home. She was sometimes all nerve and little common sense.
Fiona poured coffee and checked the time. Five o’clock in the morning. The sky was bright in the east, and here she was doing nothing. It was driving her crazy that she couldn’t solve the mysteries. There were too many unsolved oddities and too many leads that seemed to go nowhere. She took the mug of coffee and walked out to the back patio.
Where had Jake gone? Had he found who had tried to start the fire? She rubbed her arm against the chill. Heaven, she never was up this early in the city. Never. She didn’t understand what was happening to her, what magic this isolated spot was having on her sensibilities. She sipped coffee and listened. The silence was broken every once in a while by the yipping of coyotes. They sounded like pups. The rooster in the chicken yard where Opal penned the chickens for the night crowed. Maybe the rooster crowing kept her awake and unsettled. She wasn’t used to the sound. But she doubted it.
Way off she heard the sound of cattle and remembered that Jake wanted to move the herd to new pasture. Where could he be? Was he moving the cows this morning after all? She wished she knew how to saddle a horse. She’d ride out to find him. At least she would be in motion and not sitting around waiting for something to happen. She liked to be the one who made things happened.
She mused over a few more sips of coffee. She had the Ford 150, and it had four wheel drive. She hurried inside, fetched her purse and headed for the truck. She didn’t want to be left behind.
* * * * *
Jake debated putting in a call to the Sheriff before he found out what happened to Glory. He should report a suspected arson attempt, but they wouldn’t be able to do much about it until daylight, and it may have been an accident. If Glory had accidently overturned the can in a drunken stupor, then it was Jake’s problem to deal with, not the Sheriff’s. If he found Glory on the trail drunk and passed out that was his problem. If Glory was nowhere to be found, that was another. If Glory was hurt, he might need an ambulance, and it took a while for an ambulance to come this far from Rocky Point. He didn’t want to send an expensive ambulance on a wild goose chase. He decided against calling anyone until he knew for himself what had happened.
High Desert Detective, A Fiona Marlowe Mystery (Fiona Marlowe Mysteries) Page 20