He . . . didn’t have a ring in his nose . . . “I was actually talking about Liz.”
“Oh!” Jaclyn relaxed back into her chair as though nothing whatsoever had just happened. “Liz is a sweet girl. She’s been working here for the last few years and always stops by to see me when she’s on this side of the ranch. She makes the best Sprite you’ve ever tasted.”
“She makes Sprite?”
“That’s right, and I don’t know how she does it, but it’s amazing. You should ask her to make one for you, too.”
“I’m more of a Coke person.”
“And that’s why you’re going to die young!” Jaclyn slapped the arm of her chair again.
Jack was starting to get a headache. “So, what advice do you and the fairies have for me, Jaclyn?” He needed to get out of there, and figured that just giving in would probably be the best solution to this interesting problem.
She sat back and thought for a minute. “As far as finding yourself goes, you’re almost there. Fact is, you aren’t all that lost. And for Liz, all systems are go. She hasn’t dated anyone in a really long time, and I bet she’d love to have a beau.”
“Okay. That’s great to know.” Jaclyn would tell him if Liz had any murderous tendencies, wouldn’t she? She seemed pretty open about everything else. He came to his feet. “This has been a great visit. Let me know if you have any other messages for me from the fairies, would you?”
“Oh, I won’t come to you. You’ll come to me.”
He blinked. “I will?”
“You will. They all do, you know. I think it’s on account of the rabbits.”
He wasn’t even going to try to figure that out. “Most likely. Well, have a good day.”
He backed up carefully to avoid any more gnome accidents and then drove away from there as fast as he could without being even more careless.
Chapter Four
“Honestly, Liz, I’ve told you all I can.” Gwen clicked a key on her computer, and the reservation screen went black. “There are privacy laws and stuff, you know.”
“Yeah, I know, but I was hoping that maybe you could let something slip.”
“Nope, sorry. Not if I value my job, and like, obeying the law and stuff.”
“Fine. Whatever. See if I choose you for my zombie apocalypse team.”
Liz left the bunkhouse and walked around the building, then entered the spa. Angie was behind the counter, as she nearly always was, and greeted her.
“I have an appointment for a massage,” Liz said, and Angie nodded.
“Yep, I’ve got you down. Still having problems with your wrists?”
Liz flexed them back and forth. “Yeah, it’s all the typing, plus all the waitressing. It’s hard on the body.”
“Well, come on back, and let’s have Maddie do her thing.”
Maddie was a fairly new member of the River’s End Ranch family. She’d come on board as the massage therapist when the spa opened the month before. Despite the fact that she was new, she fit in like she’d always been there, and Liz hadn’t been on the massage table for five minutes before she was spilling her guts.
“So, he’s come into the diner three times now, and he’s hot. Like, really hot. But he’s cagey with his answers—I asked him where he was from, and he said California. Do you know how many towns there are in California? I googled and found a list, and I was on one hundred before I stopped counting and I was only in the Cs. But if I kept scrolling, I was going to get motion sick.”
Maddie’s hands stilled for a moment on Liz’s shoulders. “You were actually counting how many towns there are in California?”
“Yeah. I know that sounds crazy.”
Maddie’s hands began moving again. “Oh, no. Not at all. I’m sure everyone has done that at one time or another.”
Liz grinned into the towel covering the headrest. “Okay, I know. It’s crazy. But this guy . . . I don’t know. There’s something about him. He’s hot and intriguing and I just want to know more about him.”
“Have you googled him?”
“What? No, of course not. I don’t want to be all stalkerish.”
“And you don’t think you’re being just a little stalkerish now? You asked Gwen about him, you’re counting how many towns there are in California—I think you jumped the shark a long time ago.”
Liz sighed. “You’re right. But I can’t just pretend like he doesn’t exist or doesn’t interest me. Seriously, there’s something . . . he could totally be in my next book, and what if I miss out on learning what makes him tick?”
“I have the weirdest idea ever.” Maddie pushed a little harder on the muscles leading into Liz’s right shoulder blade. It was needed, but it was pretty tender.
“Yeah?” Liz asked when she no longer wanted to yelp.
“Why don’t you spend some time with him? I don’t know—actually talk to him?”
Liz thought about that. She’d planned to write on her time off, but this was book research, right? So it totally counted. “That’s a pretty good idea.”
“It just might give you some insights you couldn’t get from Gwen or the Internet.”
Maddie had Liz roll over and then started to work on her neck. Oh, yeah—that was the good stuff right there. “I’ll go find him when I’m done here,” Liz said drowsily. “If I don’t fall asleep.”
***
The mountains had been calling to Jack ever since he arrived at the ranch. This afternoon would be a perfect time to explore them—the skies were clear and the temperatures were just cool enough to keep him from overheating. He went to the general store and checked out their selection of hiking gear. This place really thought of everything.
He ended up buying a backpack, six water bottles, a box of granola bars, a few sticks of beef jerky, and a small first aid kit. Heidi once again didn’t say anything as she rang him up, although he sensed that she was almost exploding with curiosity. He wasn’t in the mood to explain himself to a total stranger. He thanked her, gathered up his things, and left after putting his purchases on his card. He had quite a bit in savings—he was going to do whatever he needed to in order to get past this, and he’d do it without feeling as though he had to watch his budget every minute.
He had just crunched his way across a patch of gravelly road leading toward the mountains when he heard a voice. He turned to find Liz running toward him, her blonde ponytail swinging back and forth.
“Hey, wait up!”
He paused until she reached him.
“Where are you going?
He motioned with his head. “Hiking. You’ve got some great mountains here.”
“Yeah, we do, but you can’t just take off by yourself.”
“I can’t? Why not?” Being alone was what he wanted most in the world right then.
“Haven’t you ever watched the news? Every single time a hiker goes missing in the woods, what do they say? That they were alone. Use the buddy system, dude. Don’t be a statistic.”
Jack shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “You’re right, of course. It’s just . . . well, I have some stuff to figure out, and I do that best when there’s no one around.”
Liz nodded. “I get that. So, listen. I know this area pretty well. Give me ten minutes to run back, change my shoes, and grab my pack, and I’ll come with you. I’ll be your resident tour guide, and I’ll be as quiet as you need me to be. I’ll even follow behind you at a discreet distance so you’ll have the illusion of being alone while still having the security of not being alone. Okay?”
Jack had to chuckle at the earnest look on her face. “All right. Ten minutes. I won’t leave without you.”
“Great! Be right back.” She turned and bounded away, and Jack shook his head. He hadn’t wanted or expected a shadow, but he supposed that as far as shadows went, he could have it worse.
While he waited, he took a few deep breaths of the fresh mountain air. That was one thing he hadn’t been able to get over—he was so used to the smog
of a big city that to be out here in a rural area with clean air was like going to a whole different planet. And the clouds were white instead of gray—he’d never noticed that gray tint in the clouds that hung over the city until he was out here.
Within minutes, Liz was back. She’d grabbed a backpack and a light jacket, and she wore a pair of sturdy hiking boots.
“Do you live on the ranch?” he asked as she joined him.
“Just about, but not really. I have an apartment in Riston. Why do you ask?”
He motioned to her feet. “Wondering where all that came from.”
She laughed. “I’m out here so much, I keep a change of clothes and all kinds of stuff in my locker at the diner. I’ve got to be prepared for every contingency, right? Now, I hope you brought a camera because you’re going to see some beautiful scenery.”
“There’s a decent camera on my phone.”
“Great. Let’s go. You lead out, and I’ll just mosey along behind you. Forget I exist. I’m not even here.”
Jack shook his head as he started to walk. This girl was a nutcase. But was she enough of a nutcase to kill someone?
He’d arrested plenty of murderers in his day. Some were blubbering messes, racked with guilt. Others were stone-cold sociopaths who honestly didn’t care about what they’d done and stated freely that they’d do it again. Of course, there were those who didn’t fit either of those two molds, but Liz didn’t belong anywhere. If she was a killer, Jack was a ballerina.
But what was she really talking about when she said she needed to hide a body? He tried to remember exactly what words had been used. Yes, she needed to dispose of a body—she’d said that as plain as day.
He’d been hiking along for about twenty minutes, noticing the greenness of the trees and the blueness of the sky, when he finally turned around. “Liz, this is silly. Just come here and hike with me, would ya?”
She caught up to him from several paces back. “I thought you wanted to be alone.”
“I do, but I don’t.”
She nodded as if that made perfect sense. “Okay.”
They started out again side by side, neither one speaking. Jack found that he liked having her there. Her presence was calming, not at all murderer-like, and he decided to get her talking and see if she’d spill her guts.
“So, you said you like working at the café,” he said. “Like a big family.”
“That’s right.” Her ponytail flicked from left to right as she walked. “It’s been the best possible place for me to be while I’ve . . . well, while I’ve worked on some other things in my life.” She paused and glanced over at him. “You know, there might be a job somewhere on the ranch for you, too. I don’t suppose you ride horses, do you? We can always use trail guides.”
“Um, no. I rode a horse once at a birthday party when I was five. Someone held the reins, and I fell off after about thirty seconds. That’s the extent of my experience.”
“Oh.” She seemed disappointed. “Rappelling?”
“Sorry. And I have no experience waiting tables, either, even if the pink apron is cute.”
She threw her head back and laughed. “That’s too bad. They don’t wear pink aprons in the dining room, if that makes any difference.”
“Not at all, but it’s nice of you to clarify.” He studied her for the next few steps. She had the smallest smattering of freckles across her nose that he hadn’t noticed until they were out here in the sunshine. It made her seem a little younger all of a sudden. “How old are you?”
She flashed him a smile. “I thought you weren’t supposed to ask a woman her age, her weight, or her political affiliation.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” That didn’t keep him from being curious, though.
“That’s all right. I’ve never played by the rules either.” She nudged his arm with her elbow. “I’m twenty-five, I weigh one thirty, and I’m a Lizitarian.”
“I . . . you’re a what?”
She laughed again. “I’m a Lizitarian. Or a Lizocrat . . . I haven’t decided. Anyway, I haven’t found a political party that exactly lines up with everything I think and feel, so I sort of have my own. And when it comes to voting, I read all the candidates’ pamphlets and choose the one that resonates with me. I don’t think I’ve ever voted a straight party ticket.”
“That makes sense.”
“Politics are kind of crazy anyway, you know that? My grandma was a staunch Democrat until the day she died, and my grandpa was as conservative as you could get. One year for Christmas, as a joke, my grandma cross-stitched a picture of Ronald Regan for him, and he hung it up on the wall over his recliner and kept it there for twenty years until he passed away. My grandma said she’d never regretted doing anything so much in her life, but he said it was the best present he ever got.”
Jack laughed. “That’s great. They sound like the perfect grandparents.”
“They really were. Now it’s your turn.”
He blinked. “To tell you about my grandparents?”
“No, silly. Your age, weight, and political beliefs. I did it, so you have to.”
“I’m twenty-nine, I weigh one eighty, and I’m pretty conservative. I don’t have any pictures of Ronald Regan, cross-stitched or otherwise, but I think your grandpa and I would get along.”
“It’s too bad you couldn’t meet him. I’d love to take you over there.”
They stepped over a fallen tree that was blocking the trail, then Liz paused. “Let’s break for a few minutes. The trail gets steeper from here, and I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry.”
Jack slipped his pack from his shoulders and brought out his granola bars. Liz also opened her pack, but she’d brought full-out sack lunches.
“How’d you manage that in the ten minutes you were gone?” he asked.
She grinned. “They were already in the diner’s fridge. In the back, where our personal stuff is.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You keep sack lunches in the fridge just in case you’re going to need one?”
She took a seat on the log and patted it, inviting him to join her. “Well, I have a confession.”
Words every FBI agent longs to hear, but in this situation, they made him smile. “Yes?”
“I packed the lunches and then I came looking for you. I wanted to take you four-wheeling or just on a picnic or something. You know, hang out together. And then when you just happened to be heading out on this hike, it was perfect, like the whole thing had been planned.”
He nodded. “So I basically fell right into your trap.”
“Yeah, something like that.” She blushed, and it was adorable. Jack paused—did he really just think the word “adorable?” What was this girl doing to him? Or maybe it was the mountain air. He was losing his objectivity.
“So, why did you want me to come hang out with you today?”
“Well . . .” She looked down at the ground and drew a line in the dirt with the toe of her boot. “It’s been a little while since someone so . . . interesting has come to the ranch.”
He liked this side of her, this embarrassed side. He liked her friendly, spontaneous side too, but this would be fun to explore. Knowing full well what he was doing, he said, “Interesting? That’s all I am . . . interesting? Like a new variety of bug or something?”
“Of course not! I mean . . . fascinating. Intriguing.”
He grinned.
“And maybe handsome, too.”
“Oh, I see. I’m handsome and intriguing.” He nodded several times. “And now you’ve carted me off into the woods to keep me from being seen by the other females.”
“Exactly.” She met his gaze with a sparkling one of her own. “I can’t let you wander all over the ranch on your own where you might fall into just anyone’s clutches.”
“It’s much safer if I’m in your clutches?”
“Of course.” She unwrapped her sandwich and took a bite. After she swallowed, she said, “I hope you like mustard. That’s someth
ing we didn’t discuss yet at the diner.”
“I do like mustard. Quite a lot, actually.”
Liz had packed a pretty nice lunch for him. Ham and cheese on rosemary bread—he wouldn’t have come up with that combination on his own, but it was delicious. He also had a brownie, a banana, and a bag of Doritos. They didn’t speak as they ate, the only sounds being the crunching of chips and the occasional chatter of a squirrel in the trees, and then they gathered up their trash and stretched.
“There’s a restroom in about fifteen minutes,” Liz said, nodding toward the trail.
“Restroom? Out here in the wilderness? That sort of shatters the illusion, doesn’t it?”
“Well, it’s not a super fancy one or anything. The Westons put it in because we get a lot of visitors from all over the place, and some aren’t used to being out in the woods without proper facilities.”
They resumed walking. “You mean you get a bunch of uptight city folks here?”
“I wouldn’t call them that necessarily.”
“Because you’d get fired?”
She smiled at him. “More like, I’d get reprimanded, but yeah.”
He’d gotten seriously off track in this little investigation. This seemed like a good segue. “Do you really get along with everyone at the ranch? Isn’t there anyone who gets under your skin, makes you want to kill them sometimes?”
He watched her closely for a reaction, but she just laughed. “Of course. I could happily strangle Joni half the time, and she’s my best friend as well as my roommate. And don’t get me started about Bob. When you work with someone in such close quarters, it would be unnatural not to get on each other’s nerves. Everyone has my back, though, and I have theirs. That’s why I think you should come work here.”
There she went again, trying to offer him a job. “You seem pretty eager to keep me around. I thought you wanted me out of all the other women’s clutches.”
“That too. I can have two motivations, can’t I? Keeps things more interesting in the long run.”
“I suppose so.” Through the trees up ahead, he could see a small shingled roof. Must be the restroom. “But you haven’t answered my question. Why do you want me to work here?”
Accidental Agent (River's End Ranch Book 3) Page 3