Rustled

by BJ Daniels

  She frowned, realizing he must be delirious and talking nonsense.

  As the patrol car raced to the emergency room, sirens blaring, the staff came running out with a gurney. Jinx had to let go of Dawson as he was loaded onto it and wheeled into the emergency room.

  She stood just inside the draped room, watching the doctor and nurses rushing around. “Is he going to be all right?” she asked, hating that she couldn’t control the tears streaming down her face.

  “He’s lost a lot of blood, but it looks like a clean wound,” the doctor said. “The bullet went right through the shoulder. This wound,” he said, probing at the blood-dried injury on Dawson’s forehead, “appears to be a graze, but you can never tell with a head wound. Are you next of kin?” She shook her head. “Family should be notified.”

  She watched them wheel Dawson down the hall, her heart in her throat. She realized the deputy was still waiting as well and wondered now why two sheriff’s deputy patrol cars had been racing into the ranch this morning.

  “What was going on at the ranch as we were riding in?” she asked the female deputy.

  “I’m not at liberty to say. I am going to need your statement, though,” Deputy Robinson said. She pulled out a notebook and pen.

  “The doctor said I should notify his family.”

  “I already did. I’m engaged to Dawson’s brother Colton.”

  Jinx nodded as she recalled that one of the brothers had gotten engaged to a sheriff’s deputy.

  “Why don’t we start with your name?”

  “Brittany Bo Clarke.”

  “Can you tell me what happened?”

  “He was shot by rustlers,” Jinx said. “Could you check with the doctor and ask how he is? Please. I’m so worried about him.”

  “You’re the one who brought him out of the mountains?”

  “Yes. I was afraid he wasn’t going to make it. When I saw your patrol car…”

  “How was it you were up there?”

  Jinx had known that question was coming. She turned to look down the hallway. “Please. The doctor might tell you how he is. I have to know.”

  The deputy gave her a sympathetic nod, got up and, pocketing her notebook and pen, went to check on Dawson.

  Jinx stood watching her go, thinking that she already had Rafe’s blood on her hands. Not that she could do anything for Dawson now anyway. He was in God’s hands—and the doctor’s.

  Suddenly Rafe’s last words seemed to echo in her ears.

  I see why he called you Jinx.

  Her heart began to pound harder. She saw the deputy talking to a nurse, then heard the nurse say Dawson had regained consciousness, his wounds didn’t appear to be life-threatening and that they were getting fluids into him and he should be fine. Dawson’s words came to her. Why did they change their pattern at your ranch? Yes, why had they?

  She said a silent prayer for Dawson, then made sure no one was looking and slipped out the back of the hospital. Once outside, she took a deep breath and ran.

  MCCALL TURNED THE KNOB and eased open the door to the upstairs room in the old farmhouse. Aggie’s back came into view, then the corner of an old mattress lying on the floor and finally Emma.

  She appeared to be fine, though McCall couldn’t tell if Aggie was holding a gun on her or not.

  Easing the door open a little more— The hinges creaked and Aggie started to turn. McCall raised the gun as the former insurance investigator swung around in surprise.

  “Don’t move!” McCall ordered, relieved to see that Aggie was unarmed except for the pistol sticking out of her waistband. She quickly took the pistol and forced Aggie deeper into the room. “Emma? Are you all right?”

  “Glad to see you,” Emma said.

  Aggie stood looking defeated. “Agatha Wells, you are under arrest,” McCall said as she cuffed the woman and read her her rights.

  “I only took Emma to protect her,” Aggie said. “You don’t understand. Her life is in danger.”

  McCall said nothing as she radioed for backup. “It’s the old Harrington place. We’ll be waiting outside for you.” She helped Emma to her feet and led the two of them outside. She’d expected to see Deputy Robinson first, since she’d been the closest, and she was suddenly worried something had happened. She tried to radio Deputy Robinson and couldn’t get through. Her concern grew.

  What if Aggie hadn’t been working alone?

  “Where’s Deputy Robinson?” McCall said when one of three deputies came racing up in a patrol SUV. She was anxious to get Emma back home and Aggie behind bars. A second patrol car roared up the road in a cloud of dust.

  “Deputy Robinson was called away on an emergency,” the deputy said so the others couldn’t hear. “There’s been a shooting. No details yet.”

  “Emma, you have to listen to me,” Aggie was saying. “I know you all think I’m crazy, but the only reason I took you was to—”

  McCall reminded Aggie that anything she said could be used against her as the deputy loaded Aggie into the back of the first patrol car. She asked the second deputy to please take Emma home and stay with her until one of her stepsons returned.

  “Thank you,” Emma said, giving the sheriff a hug before climbing into the patrol car.

  “And if you wouldn’t mind,” McCall said, “return this horse to the Chisholm corral.” She handed the deputy the reins once he was behind the wheel.

  Climbing into the patrol car with Aggie Wells locked in the back, she told the deputy to take them to Whitehorse and the county jail.

  “You’re making a terrible mistake,” Aggie said from behind the wire divider. “You’re going to get Emma killed. If you’d given me just a little longer, I could have proved… Never mind. You wouldn’t believe me.” She fell silent, slumped in the backseat as the patrol car headed for Whitehorse.

  “WHERE’S JINX?” They were the first words out of Dawson’s mouth when he opened his eyes again.

  “Jinx?” Deputy Robinson asked from the chair next to his bed. She appeared to have been waiting there for him to wake up.

  “The woman I was with,” he told his brother’s fiancée, then registered her expression. “What did she do?”

  “She asked me to check on you and when I turned around…”

  He nodded. “She was gone. That’s Jinx.” He closed his eyes, hiding his disappointment. He’d hoped she would be sitting beside his bed. He should have known she would go after the leader of the ring on her own. She had before and nothing had really changed.

  That wasn’t true, he realized. At least not for him. He’d thought not for Jinx either.

  “I need to ask you some questions,” Halley said. “That is, if you’re up to it. The sheriff should be here soon.”

  Dawson opened his eyes again. His shoulder was bandaged, and so was the spot on his forehead where a bullet had grazed him. There was an IV hooked to his arm.

  The last thing he wanted to do was talk about what had happened up on the mountain. He was sure Jinx had felt the same way. He thought about her talking all the way from the ranch to the hospital. He’d been in and out of consciousness, but he could remember most of what she’d said.

  “Dawson?” Halley asked.

  “Sorry, I’m not sure what I can tell you.” He touched the bandage on his forehead, stalling.

  “The doctor said the bullet creased your forehead, but warned that there might be some memory loss.”

  He wished that were the case. He could remember everything—the way it had felt to lie naked with Jinx in the tall summer grass, the sound of her laugh, the feel of her touch. He closed his eyes again at the memory, reminding himself she was gone.

  “Maybe it would be better later, Halley,” he said without opening his eyes. The rustlers would be long gone by now, except for Rafe, even if the sheriff could get together a posse to ride up there.

  He heard Halley rise from her chair.

  “Do you have any idea where we can find Jinx?” she asked.

  “No.�
�� He realized the moment he heard her leave his room that he was wrong. He did know where to find Jinx.

  He remembered in the patrol car on the way to the hospital when she’d stopped talking. She’d been talking about the Double TT where she’d grown up, where her father had been ranch manger, where he’d died. She’d been talking about Lyndel Thompson, the new ranch owner.

  “What are you doing?” the doctor demanded as he came into the room after the deputy had left, to find Dawson disconnecting the IV from his arm.

  Dr. Brian “Buck” Carrey wore a cowboy hat over his long gray ponytail. His face was tanned and weathered with deep lines around his bright blue eyes. “You’re still too weak to be going anywhere, son.”

  “You patched me up fine, Doc.” Dawson swung his legs off the gurney and stood. He felt a little light-headed, but not bad. “Where are my clothes?”

  “Your family is on the way to the hospital,” the doctor said, shoving back his cowboy hat. His look said he’d dealt with his share of stubborn cowboys in his day. “Anything you’d like me to tell them when they get here—other than the fact that you’re a damned fool to be taking off right now?”

  “Tell them our summer range cattle need to be rounded up. Oh, and have them give this to the sheriff.” He scribbled a note on the pad by the bed and handed it to the doctor.

  Buck sighed. “And as your personal secretary, what would you like me to say when they ask where the hell you’ve gone?”

  “The Double TT Ranch in Wyoming. Just tell them I’ve gone after a woman. They’ll understand.”

  EMMA WAS WAITING on the front porch when Marshall brought Hoyt home. She told herself she wasn’t going to cry, but of course she did.

  He stepped from the pickup and she ran to him, throwing herself into his arms. The sheriff had called earlier, saying Hoyt had made bail after the county attorney had heard about Aggie Wells’s arrest. Hoyt’s call to the governor hadn’t hurt either.

  “Emma,” he said as he hugged her so tightly she couldn’t breathe. Then he held her at arm’s length and looked her over. “Are you all right?”

  She nodded, unable to speak around the lump in her throat.

  “God, I’ve missed you,” he said and pulled her to him again. “I was so worried.”

  “But you knew I would never leave you.”

  He drew back to smile at her. “I knew no one could run you off, so something had to have happened.”

  “Aggie happened. She’s crazy, Hoyt.”

  He nodded. “I guess when she couldn’t prove I had something to do with Laura’s death, she tried to frame me by killing Tasha and Krystal.” He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe it himself. “I’m just so glad she didn’t hurt you.”

  “She seemed to really believe that she was saving me from harm by abducting me. I feel sorry for her. That perfume she was wearing—”

  He glanced away for a moment. “I should have told you right away. I recognized it. It was Laura’s favorite.”

  Emma felt a cold chill snake up her spine. “Aggie said when she investigated a case, she tried to become the victim to understand what had happened to her. But wearing her perfume?” She shuddered as she realized just how sick Aggie really was and how lucky she was to be free from the woman.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you when you said you smelled the perfume that day,” Hoyt said.

  Emma nodded, barely registering what he said. She was thinking about Aggie. “I wonder if she didn’t want to become Laura? That is what must have happened. In her mind, she became Laura and couldn’t bear to see you married to anyone else.”

  “Well, the sheriff told me they are planning to send her up to the state mental hospital in Warm Springs for a psychiatric evaluation. I’m not too sure she will ever stand trial.”

  “What does your lawyer say?” Emma asked, still worried.

  “He thinks with Aggie’s arrest I will be exonerated.”

  Emma let out a relieved sigh. “Oh, Hoyt, then it’s finally over.”

  He smiled down at her, then swung her up into his arms and carried her into the house.

  “Don’t mind me,” Marshall called after them, a laugh in his voice. “I’ll just be going now,” he said as the front door closed behind his father and stepmother.

  LYNDEL THOMPSON LOOKED UP as Jinx walked into the main ranch house at the Double TT without knocking. He was standing behind the large breakfast bar in the kitchen about to pour himself a cup of coffee.

  Surprise registered in his expression. He let out a soft chuckle as he finished pouring his coffee and put the pot back. “Didn’t expect to see you.”

  “Why is that, Lyndel?” She’d had a lot of time between retrieving her pickup where she’d left it on the edge of Whitehorse and the long drive to Wyoming to think. The pieces seemed to be falling into place and she wondered why it had taken her so long to figure it out.

  Dawson was the one who’d made her realize she hadn’t been thinking clearly since her father’s murder. All the other rustling jobs had been about the cattle. Her father’s had been different for a reason.

  Why had the rustlers changed their pattern?

  “I thought you had moved on since the funeral,” Lyndel said. “Didn’t think you’d have any reason to come back here.”

  She smiled at that as she took in the ostentatious living room. Lyndel had built the house when he’d inherited the ranch. His father had cut off supporting him years ago but on his deathbed had relented and left the ranch to his only child—except it came with a small string attached.

  He’d set up the inheritance where everything had to be run through Jinx’s father, a man he trusted after all these years. The only way Lyndel would have full control was when he reached forty—or when her father died. Apparently Lyndel couldn’t wait the eight years.

  Her father had told her that Lyndel had been spending money as if there was no tomorrow—no doubt more money than the ranch had been taking in. And now he had the ranch up for sale. Her father had been fighting him—and losing. Under a clause in the inheritance, Lyndel could have lost the ranch if her father had taken legal action.

  Her father had always been a fair and understanding man. He hadn’t wanted to take legal action unless necessary, thinking Lyndel would come to his senses and settle down. If her father had, though, the ranch would have gone into state conservation land and Lyndel would lose everything.

  “I didn’t see any cattle on the way in to the ranch,” she said as she ran a finger along the expensive marble countertop.

  “After the rustlers hit us, I decided maybe it was time to just lease the land and get out of the cattle business.”

  “That right? Well, you never did have any interest in the day-to-day running of a ranch.”

  His smile never reached his eyes. “Jinx, I have a feeling this isn’t a social call. Why don’t you just spit it out?”

  “I’ve been doing some thinking.”

  He chuckled and leaned against the breakfast bar. “You sure that’s a good idea, High Jinks?”

  “High Jinks?”

  “That’s what my old man used to call you. Somewhere along the way it got shortened to Jinx.”

  She hadn’t known where she’d gotten the nickname, just that everyone had called her Jinx as far back as she could remember. But, she reminded herself, Rafe had known where she’d gotten the name.

  “What’s on your mind?” Lyndel asked impatiently.

  She studied him, remembering the mean, selfish boy he’d been and how he used to rub it in her face that she was just the ranch manager’s kid while his daddy owned the ranch. He used to brag that someday it would be his and he could kick her and her daddy off it if he wanted to.

  Well, now it was his and he was selling the ranch that had meant so much to his father—and to her own.

  “I know how angry you were when you found out the ranch came with strings,” she said.

  “Is there a point to this?” Lyndel asked, putting down his c
offee cup. He hadn’t offered her a cup, but then that was no surprise.

  “I met a friend of yours recently,” she said. “Rafe Tillman.”

  He frowned and shook his head. “Doesn’t ring a bell.”

  “Think harder. He knows you. That is, he knew you. He’s dead.”

  Lyndel lifted a brow. “If I’d known him, maybe that would mean something to me. But—”

  “That’s funny, since he knew about my nick name.”

  “Maybe he knew my father.” His voice had taken on an irritated clipped tone.

  She slipped out of her jean jacket and casually hung it over the back of one of the breakfast bar’s chairs. “He had something interesting to say before he died.”

  She had Lyndel’s attention now. “You were with him?”

  “Oh, didn’t I mention? I hooked up with the rustlers.”

  “Why would you do—” The rest of his words seemed to catch in his throat. So he hadn’t known that Rafe had let her join the gang. That shouldn’t have surprised her. Rafe wasn’t completely stupid. Lyndel wouldn’t want him adding another rustler without his permission—let alone a woman. Any fool would know how much trouble that could cause among the gang of men.

  But if Lyndel hadn’t known, then that meant none of the other rustlers had told him. Because they hadn’t known who was behind the rustling ring.

  “They killed my father,” she reminded him.

  “So why would you have anything to do with them?”

  “To get to the ringleader. I knew eventually Rafe would tell me who was behind it.”

  Lyndel had gone stone still.

  “You killed my father.”

  “What are you talking about?” He picked up his coffee cup again and took a sip, avoiding her gaze. “Too bad this Rafe character is dead, because without him to verify your story…”

  She shook her head. “I was so upset about what happened I wasn’t thinking straight at first, but as someone pointed out to me, everything about the rustling on the Double TT didn’t fit the rustlers’ normal pattern.”

  “You’re talking foolishness. If you had a shred of proof you wouldn’t be standing here, you’d be talking to the sheriff.” He was back to his usual cocky self as he came around the end of the breakfast bar. “Now, get the hell out of my house.”