“What?” said Jake.
“It’s Fiona.”
“Come right in, sweetheart.”
Fiona considered the invitation. “Are you presentable?”
“I’m always presentable for you.”
She cautiously opened the door and peeked around. He turned off the water and stood grinning at her in all his naked, water streaming glory.
“Jake, stop that!” She ducked back out. What a time to play games. But she liked what she saw.
“Don’t be bashful,” Jake called through the door. “It isn’t every day a pretty woman interrupts my shower. Come back.”
“Jake, be serious. There’re four men to see you.”
He opened the door wearing a towel wrapped around his middle. “Who is it?”
“Mac, Bobby, Doc and Billy.”
“I figured they’d be around.”
“Are you all right?” she asked.
“Great, for a man with three hours sleep in the last forty eight.” He yawned. “One of these days I’m going to get a decent night’s sleep. Tell them I’ll be out in a minute.”
Fiona backed out of the room and away from temptation. Jake looked good, smelled good, and she could feel her hormones stand up and salute.
“What’s the hurry?” he said. “Don’t you want to help me dress?”
She turned and fled and heard him laughing all the way down the hall.
* * * * *
Having Fiona find him in the shower put a smile on Jake’s day. He felt better than he should have by the time he got to the kitchen.
“Morning, boys,” he said, accepting a glass of tea from Fiona and to her he said, “Would you mind fixing coffee?”
Fiona went to work on the coffee pot. She’d make some guy, maybe him, a nice ranch wife.
Doc spoke up. “We thought you might need some help and me and the boys have talked it over and Bobby and Mac will be able to fill in for you. Billy here is good with haying so me and him can help with that.”
Jake turned a chair around and sat down straddling it. “You heard about Glory. The situation might be a dangerous, you got to understand. We don’t know what is going on, but it appears someone is trying to run us clear off the ranch. You boys wouldn’t have any ideas about that would you? Heard of anything?”
Bobby said, “I only heard that cattle rustling has been a problem, and we’ve been on the lookout. My boss hasn’t lost any yet, but he has a guard posted now at nights. We have them on pasture close to the house so it’s easier.”
“Our close in pasture is about all chewed down,” said Jake. “We lost some of the cows we had in the little valley beyond the ridge. Brought them in and tried to move them to that BLM lease but I found the stock pond empty, and Glory out cold. We’ll wait till the pond fills to move them there. I don’t want to have to start feeding this early in the year. I’ll need a guard up there. If one or two of you could help with the hay I’d be grateful. I know you got your own ranches to run.”
“A few days won’t make no difference,” said Doc. “Billy here has his own haying operation now. He rents a piece and does his own irrigating and hires out as a baler.”
Jake smiled. “How old are you, Billy?”
“I’m eleven years old. I got my hay up, so I can help you.” Billy was a straight forward little guy, all business.
Doc said, “He’s been changing wheel lines since he was eight years old. He’s a good hay farmer and has three of his own cows for 4-H.”
“That a fact,” said Jake, nodding his head, impressed. Billy was the kind of kid that had ranching success written all over him.
The conversation turned to the drought, hay prices, problems at the other ranches. Fiona served coffee and refills on tea. She found homemade chocolate chip cookies to serve. Jake motioned for her to sit down beside him at the table. It would be good for her to hear what was going on.
Doc said, “I heard that Tillie and Howie are in trouble again.”
Jake nodded, waiting to hear what Doc had to say.
Doc continued. “I heard Howie has been spouting off in town about how they are going to get the ranch when Opal passes.”
Jake raised his eyebrows. “Is that right? I was unaware of that.”
Doc shrugged. “You know Howie. Can’t keep his mouth shut after a few drinks.”
When Jake didn’t say anything, Doc said, “He’s big on this wind power stuff. Seems to think that high ridge line on your west side would make a great wind farm site.”
Jake carefully sipped his coffee. He had heard the controversy over putting wind farms in Harney Valley. The ranchers who had good locations were for it, but the environmental people were up in arms about the wind mills destroying the pristine quality of the landscape and wildlife habitat. He had tried to stay out of it, and he knew wind power was not on Opal’s radar. Now he wondered. If Howie thought the ranch was a good location for wind power, whoever owned the ranch would benefit. If Tillie and Howie owned the ranch, they stood to gain. Could they be paying Glory to set fires, steal cows, try to make life difficult for Opal so she’d throw up her hands and get out? Would they stoop that low? They had misjudged Opal Crawford if that were the case.
Jake finally said, “That ridge isn’t high enough.”
“You’d be surprised where they put those wind mills,” Doc said. “What it depends on is wind, and I’ve been up on the ridge. The wind never quits up there.”
Doc and the boys continued talking about the pros and cons of wind farms. Jake glanced toward Fiona. She was looking at him. She was thinking the same thing. Someone might think the real value in the H Bar O was in that tall northwest ridge. The ranch could be divided and whoever got the ridge would have a sweet set up. Fiona’s knoll was on the south end of that ridge. You didn’t need that old bunk house if a wind farm was going up.
She leaned over and whispered in his ear. “Are you thinking what I am thinking? That we’ve found out why the relations want the ranch.”
He made one slight nod. “Have any more coffee? And maybe some lunch for us? I’m starving.”
Fiona looked at him like he had asked for the moon. “Me? Make lunch for five hungry men?”
“There’s nothing to it. Just drag out some lunch meat for sandwiches. The refrigerator is always packed with sandwich supplies. Chips are in the cupboard.”
“That’s a tall order for a woman who makes popcorn and beer for dinner.”
Jake gave her an encouraging smile. She rolled her eyes and made her way to the coffee pot. He wasn’t sure if he’d get something to eat or not. Maybe she wouldn’t make such a good ranch wife. They might have to hire a cook if things ever got that far.
Doc turned to Jake. “I don’t know exactly what’s going on with Opal and the ranch and everything, but Howie could be a real problem for you. I’m not trying to meddle but the more I think about it, if someone sees this ranch as a money maker wind farm that could spell trouble.”
Doc’s words put a lot on the table.
Jake said, “Opal hasn’t given any thought to the possibility of a wind farm. You know she wants to keep the ranch together. Tillie and Howie want a piece. I’m not sure who else does.” With his eyes he gave each man a sharp appraisal.
Doc shook his head. “I got my own place, and I don’t begrudge Opal any of this.”
Jake looked at Bobby and Mac.
“I’m out of the loop,” said Bobby. “I never thought I’d be on the inheritance list for Henry’s ranch.”
“Me, neither,” said Mac, the man of few words. He rose. “I’m going to step outside for a smoke.”
“I’m right behind you,” said Bobby.
Little Billy rose, too, and said, “I’m going over to the corral and check out your horses, Jake, if you don’t mind.”
Jake smiled and nodded at the boy. “Go right ahead, Billy.”
Fiona busied herself pulling plastic wrapped lunch meat out of the refrigerator. She sat a jar of mayonnaise on the table with the
stacks of lunch meat, pulled chips out of the cupboard along with a loaf of bread which she added to the lunch meat in the center of the table. She smiled like she had done her good deed for the day.
“Plates and hard ware?” Jake asked.
“Right,” she said and opened cupboard doors until she found the requested items and sat them in the middle of the table.
Doc, still sitting across the table, cleared his throat and said, “I saw you down at the bank the other day, Jake, talking to the loan officer.”
Jake smiled and nodded. “That you did. I’m looking for a loan to buy a ranch.” He had known Doc for years and always liked the man. He had to know what was going on in the family and with Opal and her illness. He wondered what he was fishing for.
Doc nodded, too. “That right. Going to go out on your own then?”
“That’s what I’m thinking. I haven’t heard one way or another if I’ll get the money.”
“Have a place in mind?”
Jake nodded. “But it doesn’t look like it will go through. Do you know anything for sale around here?”
Doc rubbed his chin. “Actually, I do. Old Jim Lovejoy is thinking to sell out. You might want to talk to him before anyone else gets wind of it. He mentioned something to me yesterday when he stopped by on his way into town. His health isn’t good, and his mind is kind of funny. He hasn’t been well since his wife died. It worries me that he still drives. He’s awfully tottery.”
Jake nodded. “His place is a little rundown, as I recall, but he has some good pasture.”
“Good pasture for a small herd, and he’s got that one section you could put a pivot on. He also has a good size field of meadow hay. He told me he’s head over heels in debt, and if he doesn’t find a buyer the bank might foreclose. I thought I’d mention something to you.” Doc sat there, smiling. “It might be a win, win situation.”
“It just might be,” said Jake, “I’ll look into it.”
Fourteen
“Why is it that when we are together things get so intense,” asked Jake, as they were driving along in his truck on the way to Jim Lovejoy’s place. Jake had suggested the drive after he got his new help squared away on their jobs. “It’s like mayhem follows you around. Or is it me?”
“I guess it’s my fault,” Fiona said. “I can’t seem to stay away from a mystery. Or I attract them. Maybe you should re-consider your offer.”
“Which offer is that?”
“I’m thinking of the offer to move in and live with you.”
He glanced over. “You know the deal on Opal’s ranch is dead. There’s too much baggage attached to the ranch. I have no place for you to move into. If you stay here, you have no place to live since yours burned down.”
“That is why we are on the way to visit Mr. Lovejoy, who has a ranch for sale.”
Jake smiled out the window, watching the gravel road that led to Lovejoy ranch. He liked when she used we. It had a future in it. He liked the situation of the ranch. It was several ranch road miles off the highway and in an isolated setting. Maybe there was a future waiting for them here.
He pointed a finger off to the right. “This is part of his ranch. That field of rock and brush is where Doc said he thought a pivot would fit. Looks like mighty poor soil though. See all the greasewood, the tall, spiky stuff? Greasewood likes alkaline soil and alfalfa doesn’t. The soil would have to be amended and that will take some prep to get it to something that alfalfa likes.”
“Do you have to grow alfalfa?”
Jake shrugged. “Not necessarily. Could grow timothy or try meadow hay but it will all take preparation.”
“I don’t see how ranchers make any money.”
“Family ranchers often don’t. Most have second jobs and ranch at nights and on the weekends. Or the wife works or something like that. Opal is an exception. She’s worked years to get the H Bar O to a prime production ranch. That is why it is so valuable. Let me tell you, in her younger days Opal was a formidable worker. She’s slowed down a little now. I don’t know why I thought I might be able to work a deal with her. Half of the cattle on the ranch belong to me. Opal let me start my own herd years ago. At least, I’ll have some cows and bulls to start a new place.”
He stopped the truck. “It’s pretty along here. See the green along the base of the ridge? Those are cottonwoods, Russian olives, and river willows following that small tributary that runs through the ranch. It comes down off the mountains. That is the plus about this ranch, though it’s smaller than what I had in mind.”
Fiona followed his gaze. The green strip ran along the bottom of the ridge as far as the eye could see. “I don’t know much about ranch land but the green against the back drop of the buttes is beautiful. Are you giving up on the H Bar O entirely?”
Jake nodded, keeping his eyes on the vista. “You heard what Doc said. If Tillie and Howie entertain the thought of wind power on the ranch, I’ll be waiting three life times for the law suits to end. I’m not going through that. I’ll see what kind of a deal I can work with Lovejoy. Maybe he doesn’t want to sell. I’ve known him to run hot and cold.”
“At least we know the motive for driving Opal off her own ranch. Wind energy. We just don’t know who.”
“I don’t want to overly alarm you, but the situation is real dangerous. I’m going to put two guys out with the cows. We’ll move them tomorrow.”
He started up the truck again. “This is a quick trip to see Lovejoy. I want to sound him out. I would like to buy Opal’s bull breeding operation and take the bulls with me as well as my cattle. I love those bulls, and I don’t think Tillie or any of the rest would be interested in them.”
“The men who came this morning don’t seem interested in the H Bar O.”
“That’s what they say. Mac is a free loader and would latch onto anything he could. Doc isn’t. He’s got a nice ranch. I’m not sure about Bobby. He’s pretty far down the inheritance list.”
Fiona pulled a slip of paper out of her purse. “What about Reese Crawford?”
“What about him?”
“He’s one of the three guys on the unsavory list of employees and the only relative.”
Jake glanced at the list. “You’ve been doing your homework.”
“This morning while you were sleeping.”
He smiled. “Good girl. I haven’t heard of Reese in a while. I’ll ask Doc when we get back. Maybe he knows.”
They drove into a circular drive that swept along the east facing front of an old manufactured home.
Jake looked at Fiona. “The house isn’t much.”
She laughed. “No, it isn’t. I can’t say that I’ve ever even thought about tackling such a place.”
Jake laughed with her. “It is a little run down. Let’s see if Mr. Lovejoy is in.”
They got out of the truck and surveyed the setting. A pair of goats bleated at them from an enclosure to the left that led to a series of sheds open on one side that could be used for animal shelter or hay storage.
Fiona said, “This place could use a little fixing up.”
Jake smiled. “I can see you burning it down and starting over.”
“Please, no more mention of fires, I’ve had quite enough.” She walked back and forth in front of the house. “I’d have to bone up on manufactured home renovation.”
Jake smiled. “I like the sound of that statement. Maybe we could form a partnership.”
Fiona smiled back at him. “Maybe we could.”
A fixer-upper ranch might be the best thing that could happen to them.
A man appeared at the front door and peered out, cocking his head at an odd angle like he couldn’t see that well. Jake walked toward the door. “Hello, Mr. Lovejoy. It’s Jake from over at the H Bar O.”
Old man Lovejoy eased open the door and came out, leaning on a cane. “Jake, you say? I can’t walk so good. Come over so I can get a look at you.”
Jake and Fiona mounted a couple of steps onto an unpainted deck extendin
g across the front of the house. The old man shuffled over to peer into Jake’s face.
“Now I recognize you. You’re Opal’s ranch hand.”
“That’s right. This is Fiona. She’s here visiting.”
The old man swung his squinty gaze in Fiona’s direction. “I see. Young thing. Pretty, too, far as I can tell. This your wife?”
“No, not yet.” Jake smiled at Fiona. “She’s visiting.”
“That’s right. You said visiting. I forgot.” He swiveled his gaze back to Jake on a head too stiff to turn. “What brings you over here?”
“I’m looking for a ranch to buy, and I heard you wanted to sell yours.”
The old man looked down at a splintering deck board. “I’m an old man. I can’t seem to keep things going like I used to, especially not since my wife passed.”
Jake waited. Sometimes it took patience listening to an old man. It took time to organize your thoughts, especially when they were colored by illness and old age. Fiona crossed her arms and looked at the weedy flower beds. Off to the south was a rusted fence around a weed grown garden that didn’t look like it had been worked in many years.
The old man’s head nodded like he might have fallen to sleep.
“Mr. Lovejoy, are you okay?” asked Jake.
He slowly raised his head. “I’d be more okay if I were six feet under.”
Jake didn’t know what to say. Fiona spoke up. “It must be hard living out here by yourself. Do you have anyone helping you?”
The old man looked in Fiona’s direction. “A neighbor boy comes over in the mornings to feed the goats. I should get rid of the goats but I like them, and they keep me company.” He turned stiffly to look at the pair of goats who bleated at him. “I try to keep the house going but my arthritis keeps me immobile most days.”
“Have you thought about moving to a smaller place?”asked Fiona.
“I’m too old. I’m going to die here, but it seems to be taking an awfully long time.”
Fiona crossed to where the old man stood and put a hand on his shoulder. “Maybe you could work out a deal with Jake to buy the ranch, and you could continue to live here.” She looked at Jake as she spoke the words.
High Desert Detective, A Fiona Marlowe Mystery (Fiona Marlowe Mysteries) Page 23