Rancher's Dream

by B. J Daniels

  “What did the sheriff say?” she asked, sounding breathless.

  Jet blinked. “The sheriff?”

  “Jet, where is the thumb we found in the disposal? I looked in the freezer but it’s not there. I thought you must have taken it to the sheriff.” He gave her a confused look. “Was that you I passed on the road?”

  She took a step toward the elevator because it was the quickest way out of the basement. It felt so cold and dark down here. Earlier she’d thought she had dreamed the thumb in the disposal, but seeing Jet, she was sure it was a memory. Just as she was sure the frost impression had been a thumb. Why was he acting like he was confused?

  He opened the elevator door for her. She stepped in and swallowed as he joined her.

  “Did you talk to the sheriff about Ethan? What about the thumb you took from the freezer?”

  He pushed the elevator button. “A thumb? In the freezer?”

  “Don’t pretend that you don’t remember. You’re the one who reached in and got it out of the disposal. It was your idea to put the thumb in the freezer until Ethan returns.”

  Jet chewed at his cheek as the elevator began to rise. She saw that he’d pushed the button for the kitchen–dining room level. “When did this happen?”

  She felt her face heat with anger. “Yesterday after I made the two of us something to eat.”

  The elevator whirred as it moved upward through each level.

  Was he just teasing her? “Stop acting as if you don’t know what I’m talking about. I made egg-and-ham sandwiches—”

  “Drey, I remember. When I got here, we searched the house looking for Ethan. We had a meal together. I cleared the dishes. You were exhausted from worry about my brother. I called the elevator for you so you could go up and lie down. I didn’t talk to you again until just a few moments ago.”

  She took a step back, suddenly feeling trapped in the elevator with him. “Why are you doing this?”

  He shook his head as the elevator stopped, the door opened and he stepped out to hold the door for her.

  She stormed out, heading toward the kitchen counter. “Are you going to tell me that you didn’t make me two drinks, your specialty, as you called them?”

  “No, I did make you two drinks. But after that—”

  “We found the thumb in the disposal. You bagged it. You opened this drawer...” She grabbed the drawer to reach in and show him where he’d gotten the plastic sandwich bag. But when she looked, the drawer was full of dish towels. No plastic bags. She closed it and opened the one next to it, thinking maybe she’d been off one drawer. No bags.

  Her heart began to pound. When she looked up to find him standing in front of her, all she saw was sympathy in his gaze.

  “You put something in my drinks.” Her voice trailed off as she looked around for their glasses. There might be a residue in her glass that would prove... No glasses on the counter by the sink. She stepped to the dishwasher and pulled it open. Empty. “Why else would you run the dishwasher but to hide the evidence? You drugged me.”

  He laughed. “I’m sorry, but that’s crazy. I ran the dishwasher and put everything away after you went upstairs, trying to be a good houseguest,” Jet said reasonably. “The last time I saw you, I put you in the elevator. You looked dead on your feet.”

  She was shaking her head.

  “Okay, look, there was nothing in the drinks I made you but fruit juices—and maybe just a little vodka to help you relax.” He held up both hands. “I’m sorry but you were wound so tight... I guess the drinks were stronger than I led you to believe. My bad. I’m assuming you’ve been asleep all this time?” he asked.

  “I saw the thumb,” she said stubbornly.

  “Drey, it must have been a bad dream.”

  Drey? He called her Drey. How did he know about her nickname? Would Ethan have mentioned it? She stepped away from him to go to the freezer. “No,” she said, shaking her head as she opened the freezer door, ready to point inside at the impression in the frost that the thumb had left. But like everything else, it was gone. “There was a thumb.” She could remember it clearly. The hairs spiking out of the knuckle. The bloodless gash from the disposal blade.

  “If we really had found a thumb in the disposal, wouldn’t we have taken it to the sheriff straightaway?”

  That was exactly what she had wanted to do, she thought as she slammed the freezer door and turned toward him. “You were the one who said it might be a joke and...” He was staring at her with concern. She thought of how late she’d gotten up again. She had been exhausted from all the emotional turmoil, the wedding, the news that they would be living in this house. Had it just been a bad dream? But it had felt so real, standing here, she and Jet, discussing what to do with the thumb from the disposal.

  She took a breath and let it out slowly. He was lying for some reason. She began to tremble inside. She was in danger as long as he was in this house with her. “Pretty crazy dream, huh?”

  “I’d say.” He laughed again and seemed to relax. “You had me worried there for a moment.”

  “You said the thumb looked nothing like Ethan’s but I...” She shook her head.

  “You thought it was Ethan’s thumb and we didn’t go to the sheriff?” He sounded incredulous.

  “I know how it must sound.” And to think she’d come down here earlier to see if the thumbprint unlocked Ethan’s phone. She’d been so sure it would open the phone. She pulled Ethan’s phone from her pocket. “I found Ethan’s phone.”

  “Really?” Jet seemed as startled to see it as she had been. He took a step toward her. “Where did you find it?”

  “On the balcony off our bedroom. It must have fallen out of his pocket when he was out there.” She frowned, still wondering when he’d been on the balcony outside their bedroom. She felt so confused, a constant ache in her head as if she had a hangover. She hadn’t tasted any alcohol in the drinks Jet had made her and wasn’t sure that was what he’d put in her drinks. Another lie? “I tried to unlock it...”

  Jet let out a chuckle. “Which explains the dream you had, don’t you see? You needed Ethan’s thumbprint. See? Mystery solved.” His gaze softened. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. You’re under a lot of strain right now. The whole new bride and all that. It’s understandable. I don’t want you worrying about Ethan, though. I told you that business always comes first with my brother and since he lost his phone... He’ll turn up, I promise. Can I see his phone?”

  She hesitated before she handed it over. But the phone was no good to her without the thumb. “Like you said, it takes a thumbprint to open it.” He’d already known that, though, didn’t he?

  “I know my brother. He’d have a backup pass code, as well. Let me fiddle with it. Maybe I can find out if he had a meeting he’d forgotten about and had to fly off to New York.”

  “Actually, the phone rang earlier. I saw part of the message someone sent. It seems he was expected at a meeting somewhere but he hadn’t shown up. I called his New York office. They haven’t seen him and there are no meetings scheduled. Don’t you think it’s time we notified the sheriff?”

  “Let me try to get into his phone first,” Jet said.

  She stared at him, one clear thought in her dull brain: if the thumb had been Ethan’s and Jet had taken it, he would be able to open the phone. She shivered, hugging herself at the crazy thought that felt so true. She tried not to look at Jet for fear he would see that she didn’t trust him.

  “I’m going to go lie down for a while. You’re right, I’ve been under a lot of strain. I think it’s getting to me.”

  He studied her openly and at that moment, he definitely looked like Ethan. She could feel him searching for something? The truth? Then he grinned and he was all Jet again. “Have you had anything to eat? I could make you a drink if it would help you relax.”

  She felt a chill. “Your
specialty?”

  Jet smiled. “Hair of the dog, so to speak. No alcohol this time, I promise.”

  “Thanks, but I’ll pass. Maybe just a bottled water if there is any.” She opened the refrigerator, not surprised to see that her favorite brand was in the door. She hadn’t noticed them earlier.

  Jet shrugged as he went to the bar to make himself a drink. “I hope you get some rest. Don’t worry about anything. And, Drey?” She stopped to glance back at him from the stairs. “Sweet dreams.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “GIGI’S,” GEORGIA ANNE BUCHANAN said into the phone as she stepped down a hallway at her Houston restaurant away from the kitchen noises.

  “Why aren’t you answering your cell phone?” Ashley Jo could hear the clatter of dishes in the background and realized the restaurant was getting ready to open for dinner. She often forgot the difference in time zones.

  “AJ? I have been worried to death about you. Where have you been?”

  “I told you I was going to be gone for a while, had some business I needed to tend to.”

  “What’s going on?” her best friend asked, stepping out the back door so she could hear better. “If you’re in trouble—”

  “I know you said you didn’t want this...”

  “AJ, what have you done?”

  “I found your birth mother.”

  Silence.

  “I know you said you weren’t interested, but I had to find her. I had to find out what she was like because I love you like a sister...”

  “Honestly, I can’t talk to you right now.”

  “She’s delightful. You would love her—”

  “AJ, I’m going to hang up.”

  “She’s been looking for you. She’s going to hire a private investigator to find you. I’m so sorry, but once you meet her...” Ashley Jo realized that her best friend had just hung up on her.

  She disconnected, telling herself she’d done the right thing. Gigi needed to know her birth mother—now more than ever.

  But what if she didn’t come around?

  She put her face in her hands for a moment, fighting tears. Since coming to Montana and finding Billie Dee, she’d fallen in love with the older woman. She could see so much of Gigi in her. Yes, she’d overstepped. But her friend needed her birth mother no matter what she said. The two had so much more in common than either of them would have guessed. And last year, Gigi had lost both of her adoptive parents. She’d been having a terrible time since.

  No tears, she told herself as she took a deep breath. Gigi would come around. In the meantime, all AJ could hope was that the private investigator Billie Dee planned to hire wouldn’t find Georgia Anne Buchanan. At least not yet. Her friend would balk even worse if a complete stranger contacted her about her birth mother. And to think this was all because of the prize money from the contest Ashley Jo had insisted Billie Dee enter. She’d never thought the cook would want to use her winnings to hire a PI to find the daughter she’d been forced to give up all those years ago.

  She looked up to see Darby Cahill come through the door.

  “Everything all right?” asked the co-owner of the saloon—and the twin brother of Lillie Cahill.

  “Just having one of those days.”

  “Already today?” Billie Dee said as she came into the bar part of the Stagecoach Saloon. The cook smiled at her, making AJ feel even worse.

  “Did you hear?” AJ asked, smiling back at the cook before turning to Darby. “Billie Dee won the recipe contest!” There were more high fives, more cheering, more back slapping. She watched from the sidelines, keeping a smile on her face.

  She would call Gigi back tonight after the restaurant closed. Maybe after putting her feet up with a glass of wine her friend would be more ready to hear what she had to say. She could only hope.

  * * *

  DREY CLIMBED THE stairs to the bedroom, trying not to run. Nor did she turn around, knowing that Jet would be watching her. Jet was a liar. She was sure of it. Worse, he wanted her to believe that she’d dreamed the entire thing.

  Either that or she was losing her mind because she’d seen the thumb. Worse, even then she’d feared it was Ethan’s. Now Jet had it. He could unlock Ethan’s phone. She shuddered.

  Doubt made her weaken her resolve. What if she was wrong about all of it? She’d had awful dreams lately, some of them hanging over her all day. She wanted to lie down because she felt sick. Not that she needed more sleep. It made no sense. She felt as if all she’d done was sleep. To keep from worrying while she waited? But her head ached and she felt groggy. Was it exhaustion? In her bathroom, she opened the medicine cabinet and shook out a couple of aspirin from the bottle and downed them with the water she’d brought up from the refrigerator.

  It wasn’t until she was back in the bedroom that she noticed another control panel next to the one that opened to the elevator. She went to it, pressed, and the wall opened to reveal a small bar complete with a refrigerator and ice maker. Ethan had thought of everything, she thought.

  There were several bottles of champagne in the refrigerator portion, along with soda pop, beer and more of the sparkling water she liked. She closed the door, having already gotten a bottle from the kitchen. As she walked back over to the bed, she wondered, was this to be her life—spending so much of it sleeping out of boredom or mental exhaustion?

  Just the thought of Ethan made her furious. Not to mention Jet. She couldn’t get the so-called dream off her mind. It was too detailed, but then again weren’t most of her dreams? The big question was why would Jet lie? What would he have to gain? It made no sense.

  She sat on the edge of the bed, feeling foolish, embarrassed and lost. She was out of her element, adrift without Ethan here. Since meeting him, he’d taken care of everything. She hadn’t even had to think about what to do next. So why did that not seem like such a good thing now? She shook her head and took a long drink of the water.

  Her gaze went to the panels that hid the elevator and bar. Was there any way to lock the elevator so no one could come up? She rose to walk to it. She could lock the double doors into the bedroom from the stairs, but the elevator... She didn’t like the idea that someone could come up and, at the touch of a button, be in her bedroom. Was that what Ethan had done the night he lost his phone out on the balcony?

  He’d come up to check her, gotten a call, stepped out on the balcony and... And then what? Dropped his phone and then left?

  She shivered, feeling scared. What was it she thought she had to fear, though? The thought made her laugh. Her husband was missing. She’d either had a man’s thumb in her disposal or she’d had a very disturbing dream. She was alone with a stranger who she didn’t trust in her house. And right now she was about to lock herself in her room.

  Her cell phone rang as she closed and locked the bedroom doors. She expected it would be Lillie and she wasn’t sure she was up to talking to her. But when she checked, she didn’t recognize the number. Something told her to pick up anyway. “Hello?”

  “Drey, it’s Jet. I hope you weren’t already lying down.”

  “No, what?” She wasn’t in the mood for chitchat. She rubbed her temple, feeling oddly dizzy again. Maybe she was catching something.

  “Ethan just called me. Apparently he’s been having trouble getting through to you since he lost his phone and had to borrow a phone and, like a lot of international calls—”

  “Where is he?”

  “Mexico City. At least that’s where he said he was. He said there was an emergency at one of the plants down there. I didn’t know we even had plants down there, but anyway, he had to leave right away and he wanted me to tell you that he feels really bad about it, but that he would—”

  “Why didn’t he call me himself?”

  “I told you, he said he was having trouble getting through. More than likely, he didn’t want to
take the time to apologize. With me, he can be brief and won’t hurt my feelings.”

  She tried to feel relieved, but all she felt was sick to her stomach and angry. “Still, if he could get through to you—”

  “I told him I was staying here. He told me go stay at the hotel in town and leave you alone, so that’s what I’m going to do first thing in the morning. He also told me to tell you to change the pass code on the gate at the bottom of the mountain. The book, he said, is in his nightstand to tell you how to do it.”

  “This sounds like a pretty long phone call.”

  “I’m just telling you what he said. I thought you’d be relieved with me gone.”

  She didn’t deny it. So she said nothing as she sat down on the side of the bed because her knees had gone weak. With relief? Or the dull throb in her head as if she’d had another couple of Jet’s specialty drinks?

  “Anyway, he said he would make it up to you when he gets back. A real honeymoon anywhere in the world you want to go. You know my brother. He’ll pull out all the stops to make it up you. It’s what he does best.”

  That did sound like the Ethan she knew. She reached over and opened the drawer on his nightstand. Sure enough, there was a notebook called Mountain Crest Codes. So why was she still having trouble believing Jet?

  “Did he mention when he’d be back?”

  “Sorry. Sounded like it would be a few days. I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but it’s got to be a relief. I know it was for me. Ethan just being Ethan. Look, if you want me to move out tonight—”

  “That’s not necessary. Thank you for letting me know.” She disconnected and lay back on the bed. Her relief chased away some of her disappointment. But she wished Ethan had called her instead. She needed to hear his voice. But also she wanted to ask him why he’d never mentioned his brother, Jet. There were a lot of things she wanted to ask him. But it could wait until he got back. What were a few more days in the grand scheme of things?