Cowboy Up

by Stacy Finz

  “Of course, Cash. I’ve got at least five deputies fanned out across town. She couldn’t have gone far.”

  By his calculation, more than ninety minutes had elapsed since she left the pool. She could be in Nevada by now. He prayed she hadn’t hitched a ride with a stranger or anything else equally stupid.

  “Are you sure Travis or Grady don’t know where she is? Maybe she confided something in them, something that could help us find her.”

  “I tried that already. Nothing. I know my boys, Cash; if they were keeping something from me, I’d see it in their eyes.”

  Cash peeled out of the parking lot and hopped back onto I-80, cursing himself for pulling over in the first place. Too much lost time. But when Jace had first told him, he hadn’t been able to focus on the road, just on Ellie. Then he’d tried a dozen times to call her.

  “What about her phone?” Lord knew she didn’t go anywhere without it. “Are you tracking that?”

  “Yep. I’ve got one of our techs on it. You wouldn’t happen to have one of those apps on your phone that shows where she is at all times, would you?”

  Cash pressed a hand to his temple and rubbed. He should’ve done that. A good father would’ve thought of it. “No.”

  “That’s okay. We’ll find her, Cash. You take it easy; don’t drive recklessly. All we need is for you to wind up in the hospital.”

  Cash signed off with Jace and broke every speed limit there was. He was approaching Roseville when Jace called again.

  “We found her phone. It was at the Greyhound station. The woman at the counter isn’t from around here, says she’s filling in for Phyllis while she visits her kid in Portland. She doesn’t remember a twelve-year-old coming through here, but I think she’s lying.”

  Cash loosened the tie around his neck, finding it difficult to breathe. “Why the hell would she lie?”

  “Because minors traveling alone need a guardian to fill out a permission form at the counter. My guess is, the clerk was too busy watching her soap to give a shit and doesn’t want to get fired. Do you have a recent picture of Ellie you can send me?”

  “Hang on a sec.” He fumbled with his phone, trying to access his photo gallery while he drove with one hand. “Better yet, I snapped one of her on Sugar with her phone. Show that to the clerk.”

  “I would if I could get in. Her phone is password-protected.”

  That’s right. Cash had been meaning to tell her to change the code. It had been something obvious, like a person’s birthdate. He searched his memory, saw the numbers clearly in his head, and called them out to Jace. “Try that. Maybe there’s a clue in there of where she went.”

  Cash’s biggest fear was that she’d struck up a relationship with a predator on the Internet. Please, please, please, don’t let that be the case. “She’s been begging me to let her go back to Boston,” he said…to thin air.

  Jace was no longer on the phone. Cash could hear him in the background talking to the clerk and assumed he’d gotten into Ellie’s phone. He came up behind a Prius doing fifty-five in a sixty-five-mph zone and laid on his horn before passing him in the right lane.

  Greyhound.

  How the hell had she even afforded a ticket? He didn’t want to contemplate the alternatives, like a pedophile buying the fare for her. Over the years, Cash had seen a lot of bad things, and every one of them was playing out in his head right now.

  Jace came on the phone again, sounding out of breath. “She suddenly remembers her. She says she originally said no because she thought Ellie was eighteen.”

  Ellie didn’t even look twelve. The clerk was covering her ass. He’d deal with that later. His immediate concern was finding his daughter.

  “Did she take a bus to Boston?”

  “The 8302, which is bound for Reno, where she has a two-hour layover before she catches the next bus to Salt Lake City. The bus is running on time, which means it’ll hit the Reno Amtrak station in approximately twenty minutes.”

  Shit, it was more than an hour to Reno from where he was, and he was closer than Jace. “Can we have someone from Reno PD pick her up?”

  “On it, but we’re cutting it close. Just in case, I’ll call Greyhound to see if someone will hold on to her until an officer arrives.”

  Cash let out a breath. If all went to plan, Ellie would be safe until he got there. But when the hell had everything gone to plan? Not in Cash’s lifetime, that was for sure.

  “Did she get on the bus alone?” he asked.

  “As far as the clerk could tell. She hasn’t been the most reliable witness, though. But Cash, it’ll be fine. Ellie will be home, tucked safe in her bed, by tonight.”

  Except Ellie would rather travel across the country, alone, on a Greyhound bus, than be with him. That was how bad he’d screwed this up.

  “Call me if there are any updates,” he told Jace and flew past the exit to Dry Creek, his boot heavy on the gas pedal.

  Weaving in and out of lanes, he told Siri to call Aubrey and was surprised when she picked up.

  “Hey. I didn’t expect to hear from you today. Have you testified yet?”

  “Whiting asked for a deal and they dismissed the jury. I’m on my way to Reno. Ellie ran away. She’s on a Greyhound bus, presumably to Boston via Reno.”

  “What? Hang on a second. I’m in the airport and it’s noisy.” There was rustling, and a few minutes later, she came back on the line. “Sorry. Ellie ran away? When? Why?”

  “This morning, Mrs. Jamison took them to the pool. Ellie said she was going to the bathroom and never came back. She lost her phone and Jace traced it to the Greyhound station in Dry Creek, next to the high school. Jace is getting a Reno cop to babysit her until I can get there.”

  “I can’t believe it,” Aubrey said. “You must be freaking out.”

  “Freaking out” didn’t begin to describe it. But hearing Aubrey’s voice had taken the edge off.

  “What’re you doing in the airport? You’re done with your interview?”

  “Yep,” she said. “We’ll talk about it later. Should I catch a plane to Reno and meet you there? I’m right here. I might even be able to beat you there.”

  He hesitated, because he wanted her to come, to drop everything, including the job in Vegas, and be with him. It was selfish, because she had her own life to deal with. And he needed to do this on his own.

  Stop being a fucking island. Sawyer’s words rang in his ears, but he pushed them away.

  “Nah, you should go home. It’s been a long day for you, right? Have a glass of wine…celebrate.”

  There was a long silence, then, “You’ll call me to let me know Ellie’s okay, won’t you?”

  “You bet. Hey, Aubrey, let me ask you something: Am I a lousy father?”

  “What? No, of course not. You’re not blaming yourself, are you? Cash, she’s been talking about going back to Boston from the moment I met her. She’s a kid who lost her mother and is acting out. That’s all. You’ll work through it.”

  “I hope so,” he said. “I love her.” The words startled him, but they were the truth. Despite twelve years of lost time, she was a part of him, and he felt it down to his marrow.

  “Of course you do. You’re sure you don’t want me to come? Or should you do this yourself?”

  Ellie probably would’ve preferred to see Aubrey, but he should do this by himself. He was Ellie’s father…and Aubrey was leaving. “Yeah, I’ve got it,” he said with more confidence than he felt.

  “Cash…” she faltered, then quickly amended, “Good luck with Ellie. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  The second Aubrey hung up, he experienced a depressing sense of loneliness that seeped into his bones like the chill of a foggy Sierra morning. He tried to shake it off, telling himself it was ridiculous, because he liked being alone. He thrived on it. He was a cowboy at heart, only comfortable i
n his own company. But with Aubrey it was different. She finished his rough edges and made him feel like he was part of a whole, instead of solitary but incomplete.

  He squinted into the glare of the sun on his windshield and forced himself to focus on Ellie. Ellie, he sighed. Would she run away again as soon as he got her home? Would he have to handcuff her to the cabin?

  Cash took off his tie, threw it in the back seat, and checked the time. He’d hit Reno right around rush hour. A text from Jace came in. The police were sending an officer to the bus/Amtrak station. Cash felt a modicum of relief but wouldn’t be completely reassured until he had Ellie safely where she belonged.

  His cell rang. It was Thing Two.

  “Hey, Sawyer,” he answered, hands-free.

  “You almost in Reno?”

  “About thirty minutes if I don’t hit bad traffic. Reno PD is sending someone.”

  “Good. Ellie will be fine. It’s a three-hour bus ride where she can’t get herself into trouble. What can I do? You want me to meet you in Reno?”

  By the time Sawyer got there, Cash hoped to be halfway home. “Nah. I’ve got it covered. Thanks, though.”

  “Just say the word and I’ll hit the road. Jace said Whiting took a plea. Are you cool with that?”

  “The son of a bitch will never see the outside of prison walls, so yeah, I’m okay with it.”

  “Uh…how did it go otherwise?”

  They both knew what Sawyer was dancing around.

  “Better than I thought,” Cash said and changed lanes. “The Farmingtons met with me. They’ve made peace with the Bureau…with me.”

  “That’s good. Healthier. Did you hear about Crandall?”

  Crandall was Cash’s former boss, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Northern California division. “No. What about him?”

  “According to the LA Times, he announced his early retirement today. He’s leaving to ‘pursue other interests.’” Sawyer let out a loud belly laugh. “Pursue other interests. Yeah right. The asshole was canned.”

  “Sounds like it,” Cash said, surprised that Sully hadn’t mentioned it at court that morning. He tried to summon his inner schadenfreude but came up dry. Crandall’s resignation/firing wasn’t going to bring back Casey Farmington. And the time had come for Cash to let it go. He also had what suddenly felt like much bigger problems to solve.

  “I bet you can get your job back.”

  “That ship has sailed, Sawyer. I don’t want my old job back. It’s time to do something different.” Cash was still working on what that something different was. But this morning he’d been able to lay the case that had haunted him for more than a year to rest. Tomorrow was time enough to start thinking about his future.

  Sawyer didn’t say anything at first and was probably cooking up a new way to entice Cash into running their nonexistent cattle operation. “Gotcha. Let’s do something when you get Ellie home. We could do a night ride and a bonfire, like we used to do with Grandpa, and make her an official Dalton.”

  “I’m down with that, depending on how it goes with her. I’m wagering a guess she’ll be pissed off at the world and not feeling family friendly. But we’ll see.”

  “Call me when you get her.”

  “Will do,” Cash said and clicked off.

  For the next thirty minutes, he watched the clock as he maneuvered through traffic, breaking a number of traffic laws on the way. There was a parking space on Center Street. He wedged his SUV between a Ram pickup and a Chevy Volt and ran in search of the bus stop.

  Amtrak and the Greyhound depot were housed in the old Southern Pacific Railroad station, a historic landmark that had been completely renovated to include a new building. And though it was nicer than most transit terminals, an air of desperation hung over the waiting room like a gray cloud. Perhaps it was the aura of gamblers down on their luck. Or maybe it was his own desperation to find his daughter.

  He cut in line at the counter and explained to the clerk about Ellie. The clerk had a guard escort him through a wing of offices in the new building to a small conference room. When he opened the door, Ellie came rushing at him and threw her arms around his waist.

  “Daddy, you came.”

  Cash held her so tight, he was afraid he’d crush her and loosened his arms, backing away just enough to have a look at her. Ellie’s face was streaked with tears and grime. Her bathing suit cover-up was torn and one leg of her shorts was smudged with dirt.

  His chest constricted, making it difficult to breathe. “Ah, sweetheart, I was so worried about you.”

  “I’m sorry, Dad.” She hiccupped on a sob and pressed herself against him, hanging on to his shirt like it was a lifeline.

  Cash’s hand brushed the back of her hair, trying to soothe her. “What happened to your shirt, honey?”

  “I tore it when I got off the bus, trying to get away from this disgusting guy who sat next to me.”

  “But you’re okay?”

  “I am now. I wanted to call you from the bus to come get me, but I lost my phone.” She started crying again and between sobs said, “I changed my mind. I just wanted to go home to Dry Creek Ranch.”

  A female police officer came forward. Until now, Cash hadn’t noticed her. She stuck out her hand and introduced herself. Cash managed to shake it without letting go of Ellie.

  “I just got a call,” the officer said, indicating that she had to leave. “Just need to see some identification.”

  He flipped open his wallet and showed her his driver’s license. She nodded and headed for the door.

  “Thank you,” he told the officer, then kneeled and wiped Ellie’s face with his handkerchief. “Who was the disgusting guy?”

  Ellie shrugged. “Just a creep. Officer Hu was waiting for me in the station. As soon as he saw her, he took off.”

  “Let’s sit down for a second.” He led Ellie to a chair and joined her at a round conference table. The room was likely used for staff meetings. Other than the black-and-white pictures of old trains from the 1920s, the space was mostly utilitarian, with no windows.

  “I know we don’t know each other well,” he started. “And I know you don’t want to like me. But I love you, Ellie.”

  “Only because you have to, because I’m your kid,” she interrupted.

  “Nope. I’m supposed to love you because you’re my kid; I don’t have to. But the thing is, I do. From the moment I saw you, I knew. It was like something deep inside me busted wide open. And right then and there I knew you were a part of me. And that I wanted to watch you grow up and take care of you. Do you hear what I’m saying, Ellie?” He tilted his head so they were eye level. “I want us to make up for all the time we lost together. Nothing makes me happier than to be your dad, and I don’t ever want you to run away again. Can you promise me that?”

  She nodded, swiping at her eyes.

  “Say the words, okay?”

  “I promise.” She sniffled.

  “I love you, Ellie. I may not be good at saying it, but I do. And I always will. Always. Even when we don’t agree, even when I do something to make you angry and vice versa…even when I want to beat up your boyfriends.”

  “I don’t have any boyfriends.”

  Not yet, thank God. “You will, and I probably won’t like them.” He winked, and Ellie broke into a smile that spread through him like warm liquid.

  “Well, you might like them,” she said. “I like Aubrey.”

  He pulled her onto his lap. She was still young enough not to resist her old man. “Life’s not fair and Aubrey’s not my girlfriend.” But he’d fallen for her, hard, no doubt about that. “You hungry, kid?”

  “No, I just want to go home.”

  “Then let’s giddyap.”

  Chapter 23

  The flight from Vegas to Reno was only one hour and nine minutes. Aubrey didn’t have
the first clue where the Greyhound station was, but if she didn’t find it soon, there was a good chance she’d miss Cash and Ellie.

  Of all her crackbrained schemes, this one could seriously backfire. It was pretty damn presumptuous. She and Cash weren’t a couple and she wasn’t family to Ellie.

  But the kid and the kid’s father had wedged their way so deep inside her heart, even a crowbar couldn’t get them out. So here she was, sticking her nose where it didn’t belong, prepared to be rejected.

  “Do you know where the Greyhound bus station is?” she asked the Lyft driver as she scooted into the back seat of the woman’s compact car.

  “There are more than one. There’s one on Stevenson and there’s one at the Amtrak Station on Center Street, which is just a bus stop. Which one do you want?”

  Aubrey didn’t have the foggiest notion. Despite wanting it to be a surprise, she dashed off a text to Cash. After a few minutes had passed and the driver grew impatient, she asked, “Which one is closer?”

  “They’re about the same distance, fifteen minutes. They’re only five minutes apart. You want me to go to the one at Amtrak first?”

  “Sure,” she said, hoping Cash would see the text as they crossed town.

  She stared out the window, watching buildings and an occasional casino go by. It wasn’t like Vegas, with its glittery strip of luxury hotels. It was more like rows of strip malls and big-box stores.

  Her phone hadn’t chimed with a return text from Cash and she was beginning to fear that her coming here like this was a giant mistake. For all intents and purposes, Cash had told her to stay away.

  You should go home. It’s been a long day for you, right? Have a glass of wine. Celebrate.

  Yet she continued to insinuate herself where she didn’t belong, knowing full well that Cash was a heartbreak waiting to happen. Her throat closed up just thinking about leaving. How had she let this happen? Not only had she fallen for her unavailable neighbor, she’d fallen for his sweet little girl.

  “This is it,” the Lyft driver said as she pulled up next to the Amtrak Station. “You want me to wait?”