Tempting Chase_Burlap and Barbed Wire

by Shirley Penick

  She looked at her window then back at Chase. “Do you think it has something to do with my window? It’s been over a week, but we don’t normally have these types of crimes in our town.”

  He looked at the window too. “It does seem to be a little coincidental. We’ll see what Drake says, he’s on duty this morning as is my brother. I’m sure they’ll have plenty to say about it.”

  She nodded. “Most definitely.” She looked around the store. “Even though I don’t have any customers, I should probably stay in here. The pharmacy doesn’t open for another hour. Once Drake and Drew give you the scoop, will you come back in and tell me what they said? Oh, and I have an air compressor in the shed out back you can use to re-inflate your tires providing they didn’t slash them. Did they?”

  “No. I didn’t see any damage, so they must have just let the air out. That would have taken a long time, those are big tires. So, whoever it is must be a very patient person.”

  “Or have nothing to do.”

  Chase walked back out to his truck just as two black SUV’s with stripes and decals that proclaimed them as official vehicles, drove up. Drake climbed out of one and his brother Drew got out of the other one.

  Drake walked over and around Chase’s truck while Drew started asking questions. The questions were asked in a police capacity, but he still felt like some of the information was private.

  Yes, he’d spent the night at Katie’s. No, they didn’t hear anything. No, he hadn’t pissed anyone off. No, they couldn’t think of anyone who would do this. He didn’t like voicing the exact hours he’d been here with her. It wasn’t anyone else’s business but the two of them. But this prank now brought more attention to their private lives than he wanted. And that was more irritating than the actual act.

  Drake came over to them, nodded to Drew who went over to look carefully at the truck tires and the area around them. “I don’t see any damage.”

  Chase put his hands on his hips. “No, I didn’t either. I could have just pumped them up with Katie’s air compressor, but with her window getting broken last week, and now this. I figured you would want to know.”

  Drake nodded. “You figured correctly.”

  “Those guys are still locked up correct?”

  He nodded. “Yes, they are so, it can’t be them.”

  “I suppose not but it all seems to be too coincidental that both Katie’s window got busted and now my tires are flat since those guys went to jail.”

  “I don’t believe in coincidences. But I can’t put them here doing this, unless they have a third guy we don’t know about.”

  A third guy? Now that was an interesting idea, but if there was a third guy, why would he stick around. His friends were not nice men and he could go to jail for being an accomplice. Chase was certain that if it was him, he’d have been on the road within the hour of the police taking the guys to jail. “That’s an idea I hadn’t thought about. Guess that’s why you’re the Sheriff and I’m a cowboy.”

  Drake guffawed. “Not that it’s doing a lot of good. I have no idea where to look for someone. With them not doing any real damage to your truck this is more of a nuisance report, but it might all go together in the end, so I’m glad you called.”

  “I hope it does some good. Now I better get my tires filled up and get home. I have work to do today.”

  “Chase, if you’re not going to spend the night tonight you might want to try to convince Katie to go with you out to the ranch. I still don’t like her being alone here at night with these things going on. If it was a normal neighborhood it would be one thing. But she’s all alone on Main street. George has living quarters above the bar, but that’s all the way down the street.”

  Chase nodded. “I hear you and I will do my best. She’s a stubborn woman.”

  Drake grinned. “That she is.”

  Chase filled up his tires and then went inside to tell Katie what Drake had said. He tried to convince her to come out to the ranch tonight, but this was her late night keeping the store open, so she said she didn’t think she would feel up to driving out after she’d worked twelve hours.

  She shook her head at his expression. “And no, I don’t think I’ll have the energy to entertain you here. I’ll be fine. I’ll call someone if I hear anything.”

  He couldn’t think of anything else to say so he gave her a long hot kiss. “If you change your mind call me, and I’ll come running.”

  She looked a little dazed but nodded her head.

  He grinned and walked out the door. He had a full day’s work to do, too.

  Chapter 22

  Katie thought about the flat tires and her broken window and what Drake had said about a third person all morning, while she went about the day’s work. It seemed pretty far-fetched to her. Even if there had been a third person, why would they still be hanging around? She also couldn’t imagine sitting out in the dark for hours to let the air out of all his tires. Who had that kind of patience? Cutting off the valve stems would do the job and be faster. Plus, it was less likely to get caught that way. Not that a lot of people went out into her back area, and it wasn’t visible from the street. But people did use the alley and Chase might not have spent the night. It was just plain odd.

  When Gwen came in for her short work shift she looked tired. She was still mostly clean from her bath yesterday except her hands were dirty.

  “Good morning Gwen. Oh, I didn’t have time for laundry last night a friend stopped by and then I kind of forgot about it. I’ll get them back to you tomorrow.”

  Gwen looked at the floor as she answered. “That’s okay I’ve got these that you gave me for now.”

  “I’ll get them to you tomorrow. Did you finish the shelves yesterday?”

  Gwen still didn’t meet her eyes. “Not quite, I have two more to go.”

  “When you get them done, let me know.”

  Gwen walked off still without looking at her, which seemed kind of odd. Usually she looked right at her but didn’t talk much. She’d talked more today but wouldn’t look at her. Some customers came in, so she didn’t have time to dwell on it.

  When lunch time rolled around Katie thought she might be able to get Gwen to talk over fried chicken, all kids liked chicken, didn’t they? When she had the food in her hand she called out to Gwen. “I got a bucket of chicken with all the fixin’s for lunch, come eat.” She saw Gwen look up quickly and then she looked back down just as fast. But she did start walking toward the break room.

  She got some plates, napkins, and plastic silverware out while Gwen washed her hands. When she sat at the table Katie noticed her hands still looked dirty, almost like they were stained.

  “Would you like a leg, a thigh or a breast?”

  The girl looked at her through her lashes and said, “A leg, please.”

  “Good, are you not feeling well today, you seem a little down.”

  Gwen wrapped her arms around her waist and her shoulders drooped. “J-just tired.”

  Katie wasn’t sure she believed that, but she wasn’t going to argue or push, much.

  Loading up Gwen’s plate with a leg, a biscuit, mashed potatoes and coleslaw, she then repeated the same process with her own, choosing a breast and said cheerfully, “Maybe the food will help.”

  She couldn’t help but notice that when Gwen took a bite of her chicken leg that her hands were shaking. She waited until Gwen had eaten most of the food on her plate. The girl was eating, but not in her normal youthful fashion. “Gwen honey, it looks more than tired to me, are you sick or hurt?”

  She shook her head and pushed her plate away. “I think I should go get some sleep. Thanks for lunch. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Why don’t you take some of the leftovers with you and let me pay you for today.”

  Gwen shook her head. “I’ll get it tomorrow.” Then she scurried out of the store.

  Katie sat back in her chair, well that was a disaster. She just couldn’t figure out what the problem was. She hadn’t r
eally acted tired or sick, or hurt for that matter. But something was wrong, that was for certain. She’d acted almost like Katie was angry with her, but there was no reason why she would be upset. Yesterday they’d had a good afternoon and Gwen had acted excited to be clean. Then Gwen had left right after Chase had walked in.

  She remembered the mean look on Gwen’s face when she looked at Chase, and then she’d just disappeared. Katie couldn’t think of anything Chase had done to upset the girl. He hadn’t even looked at her or spoken to her.

  Her thoughts turned a new direction and she didn’t like it one little bit, but it was about the only thing that made sense. Was it possible Gwen wasn’t feeling scared, that she was feeling guilty. Her hands were dirty, and she wouldn’t look at Katie. Maybe she was building a mountain out of a molehill but as she thought about it she wondered. Was Gwen the one who had flattened Chase’s tires? Tire dirt was almost impossible to wash off your hands, and she might be feeling guilty this morning.

  She needed to talk to someone about it, but she wasn’t ready to talk to the Sheriff or Chase. Perhaps she could talk to Summer. She sent Summer a text asking her if she could come by after she closed up the feed store.

  Chase was a little disappointed that Katie didn’t want to see him later, but he had to admit they very rarely got together on her night to close. In the summer she stayed open until nine or sometimes nine-thirty, if she was busy, and then once she locked the door she still had to close out the register, put the money in the safe and whatever else closing entailed. So, they normally didn’t get together, but that’s when they’d just been friends. After his first night in her bed he had to admit he would have been happy to have a repeat, even if it was later in the evening.

  When he saw Cade the first thing he did was say, “I slept with Katie last night and if you punch me over it I will punch you back.”

  Cade shrugged. “Yeah, I figured that, when you didn’t come home last night. Since it was clearly at her invitation, there is no reason to punch you. It doesn’t exactly thrill me to pieces, but if she’s happy then I’m good.”

  “What am I? Chopped liver?”

  “I suppose I can be happy for you too. But I will punch you if you hurt her.”

  “If I hurt her, I’ll let you.”

  “Good to know. We need to get to work. Since you spent all morning with Katie we’re behind. I thought you were just going to be a little late.”

  Chase nodded. “That was the plan. But when I went out to come back all my truck tires were flat.”

  Cade frowned. “All of them, that’s ridiculous no one gets four flats. Unless…”

  “Yeah, unless it was deliberate. Which it had to be, but they weren’t slashed, or the valve stems cut off. Someone apparently sat there and deflated all of my tires.”

  “But that would take a lot of time unless they had one of those quick deflate tools people use for off-roading.” Cade tipped his head to the side. “I can’t imagine sitting there patiently letting the air out of even one tire on a car, let alone all four on a truck, that’s a hell of a lot of air even with one of those tools.”

  “Exactly my thought. I can’t figure it out. Anyway, I called Drake and he and Drew came out and did an incident report. Between that and the picture window it seems a little shady to me.”

  Cade put his hands on his hips. “Did you convince Katie to come back here?”

  “Not yet. She has to close tonight, and she said she didn’t want to come out or have me sleep over again. But I may not give her that choice. Once we get done here and it starts getting dark I plan to head to town, whether she wants it or not I’m not leaving her alone.”

  “Good. I could come with you to convince her.”

  Chase nodded. “I’ll think about that.”

  “Just let me know and I’m there.”

  “No plans with Tanya tonight?”

  Cade crossed his arms. “This and Katie are more important.”

  “I don’t think Tanya would agree.”

  Cade shrugged.

  Chapter 23

  Summer tripped into Katie’s store that evening with a huge grin on her face. She glanced around the store, which was empty, and called out, “I’m here.”

  Katie laughed at her friend, silly girl, it’s not like Katie could miss the fact that Summer had arrived, since Katie was standing less than eight feet from the door. Every time she saw Summer she wondered why the woman played down her assets, she had long blond hair that she kept in a tight bun at the back of her neck. Her bright blue eyes she hid behind glasses that did not suit her face. She had a nice shape that was always camouflaged in bulky clothes and a shop apron. And no makeup, ever. Katie itched to doll her up, instead she shook her head. “Are you sure about that? You might still be outside.”

  Summer laughed. She had a big laugh, that made it so that a person couldn’t help but smile when they heard it. “Yep, here I am as requested. What’s the scoop?”

  Katie frowned when she thought about why she’d asked Summer to come over that night. “I need an opinion on something and I didn’t want it to be from Chase or the Sheriff.”

  “That sounds ominous.”

  She couldn’t help the big sigh that escaped her, so she nodded. “It is a little bit. And it’s going to take a while. Did you eat? I have cold fried chicken in the fridge.”

  Summer grinned. “I love cold chicken. I would be happy to take a piece or two off your hands. Do you want me to bring you out some?”

  “Yeah a thigh. We can talk here at the register in case someone comes in. It’s been pretty slow tonight so there probably won’t be anyone, but I need to stay open just in case.”

  “I understand. The hours are clearly written on the door. So, unless there is an emergency it’s best to follow them.” Summer turned and walked back to the break room.

  Katie didn’t think what she wanted to talk about was an emergency, but it was kind of a critical discussion, so she hoped no one would come in.

  Summer put the paper plates with food down on the counter with two bottles of water. “Okay, enough hedging, spill.”

  “I think we’ve got a homeless girl here in town.” Summer looked shocked, so Katie continued to tell her everything she’d observed and done, since Gwen had first walked into her store.

  “Wow, you’re a very generous person, but she’s so young, don’t you think you should call CPS or something.”

  Katie felt her stomach drop, she did feel like she should do something but was afraid for Gwen. “Probably, but she was so skittish at first, I was afraid she would run. But now I’m really concerned and that’s what I asked you over to talk about.”

  “Okay, I’m listening.”

  “This morning, when Chase left to go home—”

  “Wait. What? Chase spent the night? Here with you?”

  Katie blushed. “Don’t tell me you are the only person in town that did not hear about me practically propositioning the man at Karaoke the other night.”

  “Of course, I heard about it, but I just thought everyone was reading more into a song and a kiss than was warranted. So, you two?” Summer circled her finger in the air.

  “Yes, we talked it over and decided to move our relationship up a notch, from best friends, to friends with benefits, even lovers.”

  “Wow that’s very brave of you to risk your forever friendship. Sex changes things, sometimes good and sometimes not so good.” Summer shook her head and Katie wondered what the other woman had been through to make such a statement.

  “We made a pact. That regardless of how things turned out we were still going to be friends.”

  Summer grimaced. “I hope you guys are strong enough to do that, if things go south.”

  “I’m hoping they don’t go wrong, but anyway, back to Gwen.”

  “Oh, right, sorry I interrupted, but this is kind of a huge deal, you and Chase. Wow.” She tapped her chin and just looked at Katie.

  “I suppose, but I need you to focus. This
is important.”

  Summer shook her head like a dog. “Fine. I’m ready.”

  Katie explained about the tires and then told Summer how Gwen had acted completely different from her normal self. When she finished speaking she just waited for Summer to speak.

  “Hmm, skittish, wouldn’t look at you, hands shaking and dirty, didn’t wait for her pay. Sounds like guilt to me.”

  With a huge sigh, Katie said, “Darn it, that’s what I thought too. But why would she do that. She doesn’t know Chase.”

  “Was she jealous? Do you think?”

  “I don’t think so, she started glaring at him from the moment he walked in. Before he even talked to me.”

  “That’s odd, why would she do that? It’s not like he’s in town all the time. How could he make anyone mad at him when he spends all his time on the Rockin’ K. He was in town to fix your window. And of course, the night you were accosted he punched those guys. But what would that have to do with Gwen, you hadn’t met her yet, had you?”

  “No, I didn’t meet her until a couple of days after the window was broken.” Katie thought back to the day of the attack. Now that she was far enough away from it she could think about it more clearly. The guys had come into the store to pick up a few things and had been trying to come onto her even then, but she’d ignored them and rung up their purchases. Beer, jerky, chips, three frozen dinners, wait three… and a pink lemonade frozen drink, for their little sister. Well, hell.

  “Those guys—” the door chimed, and she stopped speaking until Chase walked in. “Chase, I just remembered. Summer, Chase, those guys that attacked me, they have a sister. A younger sister.”

  Summer gasped and whispered, “Gwen.”

  Katie nodded and grabbed Summer’s hand. “Exactly. We have to do something.”

  Chase frowned. “What do you mean we have to do something? Who’s Gwen? And why do we care?”