Cowboy Up

by Stacy Finz

  Aubrey had no idea where to go or where Cash and Ellie would be. No sense asking the woman to hang around while she searched through the building. “You said the other station is only five minutes away, right?”

  “By car,” the Lyft driver responded.

  Aubrey sucked in a breath. “I’ll take my chances. Thanks for the ride.”

  She checked her phone again just in case she missed a text from Cash, but there was nothing. For a second, she considered hightailing it back to the airport to catch a flight to Sacramento, where her car was parked.

  You’re here, she told herself, at least try to find them.

  She asked the first person she saw for directions to where the Greyhounds came in. He stared at her with a vacant expression in his eyes and she moved on. There was a woman by the vending machine who was kind enough to point Aubrey to the location. But when she got to the bus stop, there were only a few people milling around the platform. Ellie’s bus would’ve come in more than an hour ago.

  Stupid idea, Aubrey.

  She wandered the halls of the station, hoping to spot a tall cowboy with a petite twelve-year-old. There were lots of cowboys, but none of them were Cash.

  She was just about to give up when a high-pitched voice shouted her name.

  “Aubrey! Aubrey!”

  Next thing Aubrey knew, Ellie was wrapping her arms around her. Cash, who she’d never seen in a suit before, stood there with an oversize grin on his face, looking better than any man had a right to.

  “I can’t believe you’re here.” He blinked at her a few times, like he wasn’t quite certain she was real, then took her in—all of her—until she felt butterflies in her stomach.

  “I’m here,” she said in a rush. “Group hug.” She pulled him against her, sandwiching Ellie in the middle, and they just held on to each other for what felt like forever.

  Ellie eventually squeezed out of the circle. “Do you guys want to like kiss or something?”

  In a deep baritone voice that gave Aubrey goose bumps, Cash whispered against her ear, “Later. Thank you for coming. It means a lot to Ellie and me.”

  “You’re welcome,” she whispered back.

  Sensing that they were probably making a spectacle of themselves, they pulled apart, and Aubrey instantly missed having Cash’s strong arms around her. A second passed, the two looked into each other’s eyes, and then the moment was gone.

  “What do you say we go home?”

  Aubrey nodded and Ellie took each one of their hands. The three of them headed for the sidewalk, swinging their arms. They did that all the way to Cash’s SUV. Aubrey suspected that to anyone walking by they looked like a family.

  “Ellie’s decided to put her move to Boston on hold,” Cash announced as they piled into the vehicle.

  “I’m glad to hear that,” Aubrey said.

  “What about you?” Cash waited for everyone to buckle in, then turned to her. “Vegas bound?”

  “Uh, we’ll see if they make me an offer.”

  “They will,” he said with total confidence.

  It wasn’t the words Aubrey wanted to hear. In fact, she kind of wanted to slug him and say, “Wake up, you idiot. I don’t want to move to Vegas.”

  She didn’t of course. Instead, she pasted a smile on her face. “They seem really enthusiastic about me, so, yeah, I think so.”

  Cash didn’t say anything, just started his engine and nosed out onto the street with one hand on the wheel. “Where’s your car?”

  “Sacramento International Airport. Kind of out of the way.” It would take an extra two hours. The logistics had escaped her when she’d dropped everything to go to Reno.

  He caught the freeway and glanced in his rearview mirror at Ellie. “How would you feel about me taking you tomorrow to get it? I’d like to get Ellie home.”

  “That works.” She twisted around to smile at Ellie, who appeared to have nodded off, and turned back to Cash. “Running away must have been exhausting. Ellie’s out. Finish telling me what happened in court today?” With all the chaos, she hadn’t gotten any of the details about Whiting.

  All the way home, he told her about the plea bargain, how the Farmingtons had asked to meet with him in private, and how they’d thanked him for bringing Whiting to justice for Casey. He said it all very matter-of-factly, but he seemed more at peace with the case than he had before he’d left for San Francisco. The edge was gone, replaced by a sense of calm.

  A drowsy Ellie pressed her face between their seats. “What are you guys talking about?”

  “How your dad solved a big case for the FBI and how he’s a superhero.” Aubrey poked Cash in the arm. “Isn’t that right, Superman?”

  Cash shook his head, ignoring Aubrey’s teasing. “Sawyer wants to go on a night ride, a Dalton family tradition. You two up for it?”

  “Tonight?” Aubrey didn’t know if she had the stamina and was surprised Cash did after the day he’d had.

  “I’m in!” Ellie said, showing a new, enthusiastic side of herself that Aubrey had always known was lurking in the girl.

  “Really?” Aubrey groaned. “You don’t want to stay in? We could paint our toenails and make s’mores.”

  “S’mores sound good,” Cash said. “Painting my toenails? Yeah, not really feeling it. I could probably talk Sawyer into postponing until tomorrow, though.”

  Cash’s cell rang and Jace’s number lit up on the dashboard display before Aubrey could interject that she was willing to go tonight if everyone else was.

  Cash answered on Bluetooth and told Ellie to say hi.

  “Hi, Uncle Jace.”

  Cash slid her a sideways glance. “Tell him you’re sorry you ran away and you’ll never do it again.”

  “I’m sorry I ran away and I’ll never do it again, Uncle Jace.” She sounded truly contrite.

  “We love you, kid. Travis and Grady want you home; they missed you today.”

  “Sorry,” Ellie said, her voice full of shame.

  “We’re on our way home,” Cash said, saving Ellie from having to grovel for forgiveness on speakerphone.

  “Good. Because we got a break in the case.”

  “The cattle-rustling case?” Cash came to attention, practically vibrating with interest.

  Aubrey noted that he appeared pretty invested for a man who’d given up law enforcement. Then again, the Bealses were neighbors, and the theft probably felt like an invasion to everyone in the area.

  “What’s going on?” Cash asked.

  “Thanks to you, I made four arrests about an hour ago.”

  “Me? I didn’t have anything to do with it. Inside job?”

  “Oh yeah,” Jace said. “Jill and her brother Pete.”

  Cash didn’t appear the least bit surprised, but Aubrey felt like she’d had the wind knocked out of her.

  Jill Tucker?

  “What about Mitch Reynolds?” Cash glanced over at Aubrey, whose mouth fell open.

  “Up to his eyeballs in it,” Jace said, and Aubrey’s mouth fell wider.

  She remembered the plat map and how secretive Mitch had gotten when she’d seen it. Still, she didn’t understand how stealing cattle had anything to do with developing the Beals Ranch. “How was Mitch involved?”

  “Aubrey?” Jace’s voice filled the Ford’s cab. “I thought you were in Vegas, doing an interview.”

  “Took a detour on my way back to the ranch. How is Mitch wrapped up in this, and why would Jill and Pete steal from their own family?” It didn’t make sense, none at all.

  “It’s a long story,” Jace said. “You can read all about it in the papers.”

  Typical tight-lipped Jace.

  “Hey, I’m a material witness,” she said, trying to pry the information out of him.

  “Tell Cash to explain it to you. Hey, Cash, come over as soon
as you get home. We’ve got stuff to discuss.”

  “Let Sawyer know I got Ellie, okay?” Cash hung up, and Aubrey regarded him suspiciously.

  “How is it again that you’re part of this investigation?”

  “I’m not.”

  “What’s a cattle rustle?” Ellie asked.

  Cash reached between the seats and tweaked Ellie’s nose. “It’s when someone steals someone else’s cows. Or, in this case, their own.”

  It sounded as if Mitch had really landed himself in some serious trouble. Jill and Pete too. The cattle weren’t theirs; the herd belonged to their parents, and last Aubrey looked, it was still a crime to steal from your parents.

  “Are you going to tell me what this is all about?” she asked Cash. “Does it have something to do with that plat I told you about?”

  “I’m pretty certain it does. But I won’t know for sure until I talk to Jace.”

  It seemed to Aubrey that Cash was being intentionally obtuse. By now, all of Dry Creek probably knew. It wasn’t every day the town’s golden boy was implicated in grand larceny.

  * * * *

  Jace held a big noisy dinner at the ranch house for Ellie when they got home. Grady hugged her so many times, she was probably bruised by now. Even Travis, who was less demonstrative, had showered her with attention.

  A smile bloomed in Cash’s chest. Just like him and his cousins, the next generation of Daltons would grow up together, thick as thieves.

  After dinner, the kids went off to play a game of horseshoes while the adults settled in at the dining room table so Jace could give them a detailed account of the arrests.

  Cash was anxious to hear the particulars. Between Ellie’s misadventure, Cash’s recounting of Whiting’s plea bargain, and Aubrey’s summary of her interview, they hadn’t had time to discuss the Bealses’ cattle.

  “Spill,” Aubrey ordered. “Tell us everything.”

  “It’s all going to be in the paper tomorrow, so I don’t feel like I’m divulging anything that should be kept under wraps,” Jace said.

  Sawyer grabbed a bottle of wine from the counter and refilled everyone’s glass. “Let me guess: Jill and Pete were a little low on cash, so they waited until Mom and Pop went to Disneyland and slaughtered themselves two hundred cattle to sell on the black market. What I don’t get is how Mitch the Bitch fits in.”

  “That’s because the only thing you got right was the low-on-cash part.” Jace flicked the wine cork at Sawyer. “Jill and Pete were looking for a much bigger payoff than two hundred head of cattle.”

  “Like the profits from a high-end real estate development,” Cash interjected.

  “Bingo.” Jace pushed away his plate.

  Aubrey began clearing away the dishes, and for a second, Cash got lost in watching her. She’d come all the way to Reno and ditched her car in Sacramento just to be with him and Ellie. A pang of longing hit him so hard, he was momentarily paralyzed by it.

  “Is that how Mitch fits in?” she asked. “And how exactly does Jill and her brother benefit from a high-end real estate deal when it’s their parents who own the property, not them?”

  It was a good question, one Cash was about to ask himself. Though he was pretty sure he’d already figured out the answer.

  “Mitch conspired with Jill and Pete,” Jace said. “Basically, they were trying to put Randy and his wife into a situation where they were forced to sell.”

  “I get how Mitch the bottom feeder profits from this. but what’s the benefit to Jill and Pete? Their parents are the ones who would get the proceeds from a sale, not them.”

  Cash couldn’t help it: he rested his forehead against Aubrey’s. “You should’ve been a cop because you’re asking all the right questions. We call it motive. What was Jill and Pete’s motive?”

  “Well,” she crossed her arms over her chest, “what was it?”

  “Mitch planned to give them a piece of the action,” Jace said. “A big piece, because without their role, the Bealses never would’ve been desperate enough to turn half their property into a golf-course community.”

  Aubrey let out a gasp. “A golf course? That’s what that plat map was?”

  Cash was a little stunned himself. But it was kind of genius. Retirees were already flocking to nearby Grass Valley. Dry Creek was a world of untapped potential.

  “Shit,” Sawyer said. “We could’ve been living next to Leisure World.”

  “You’ve got that right,” Jace said. “A three-hundred-home planned community for seniors.”

  Cash let out a low whistle. Three hundred homes. “Are the Bealses still planning to sell?” Arrests were good, but the Bealses weren’t getting their cattle back. “How else will they pay their note?”

  Jace shrugged. “Dunno. But get this: they’re not pressing charges.”

  “What?” Sawyer jerked back in surprise. “Their kids cost them their livelihood, possibly their family ranch, and they’re just going to let it slide?”

  “Apparently, Pete’s startup is about to file for Chapter 11 and Jill and Brett are having financial problems. Randy’s willing to forgive,” Jace said. “I don’t agree, but it’s not my call.”

  Would Grandpa Dalton have been as forgiving as Randy Beals? Cash didn’t know. Which brought him back to the question that continually haunted him: Would his grandfather turn over in his grave if they sold Dry Creek Ranch? They weren’t selling—at least not yet—so Cash didn’t have to face that conundrum. Not now anyway.

  “What about Mitch?” Sawyer took a sip of his wine. “Are you pressing charges against him?”

  Jace began loading their dinner plates into the dishwasher. “Without Jill and Pete, I don’t have a case against Mitch. He wasn’t directly involved with stealing the Bealses’ cattle, though there’s no doubt in my mind he knew about it. His defense will simply be that he entered into an agreement with Jill and Pete to build a development on their family’s property with their parents’ consent.”

  “Consent?” Sawyer scoffed. “More like coercion.”

  Aubrey rested her face in her hands. “I can’t believe this.” She turned to Jace. “But you arrested them anyway?”

  “They were arrested and released. I don’t have a case to submit to the district attorney without the Bealses’ cooperation. What galls me is the fourth person in this enterprise getting away with it.”

  Six pairs of eyes stared Jace down. Cash had almost forgotten that Jace had mentioned a fourth person. “Who is it?”

  “Red. The son of a bitch arranged for the mobile slaughter operation and for the sale of the meat in exchange for a cut of the proceeds. The whole time we were out there, combing the fields for clues, he knew. The SOB knew. It makes me sick. He’s supposed to be one of the good guys.” Jace pinned Cash with a look.

  Yeah, yeah, Cash read him loud and clear. Jace wanted Cash to be a cow cop.

  “You’ve got to go to the California Department of Food and Agriculture,” he told Jace. “The taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay his pension.”

  “I’ll do what I can,” Jace said but didn’t sound confident. “It’ll be tough without a conviction. The good news is that by tomorrow, the whole county will know what the four of them did. I made sure a few good reporters got the police reports.”

  “How’d you put the pieces together?” Cash wanted to know. For him, it had started coming together at Jill’s surprise party, but at that point it was only a hunch.

  “Brett,” Jace said, and again six pairs of eyes snapped to attention.

  Aubrey reared back. “Brett!”

  “Apparently, Jill was so racked with guilt, she told Brett everything.” Jace put his hand on Aubrey’s shoulder. “Everything.”

  “Oh boy.” She grimaced.

  “He came to me, and I suspect he’ll be calling you tomorrow,” Jace continued.

 
Aubrey glanced at Cash, let out a long breath, and asked Jace, “Is he mad that we didn’t tell him?”

  “Nope.” Jace rubbed his eyes. “Right now, he’s got enough to deal with.”

  “Poor Brett.”

  Cash reached for Aubrey’s hand under the table. “Does Brett know who sabotaged Aubrey’s car and painted the graffiti?”

  Jace slowly nodded his head. “Joanne, according to what Jill told Brett.”

  “Joanne!” Aubrey nearly came off her seat.

  “Who’s Joanne?” Cash had never heard her mentioned.

  “Mitch’s sister,” Aubrey answered. “Seriously, the woman can’t spell whore?”

  Sawyer threw his head back and laughed. Jace didn’t appear to think it was funny, though. Truth was, he looked weary as hell. There probably hadn’t been this much drama in Dry Creek since 1976, when Jimmy Carter visited on a campaign stop. Grandpa Dalton had gotten to escort his detail around town and used to talk about it every chance he got.

  “Do you want to press charges?” Jace asked Aubrey.

  “Damn straight she wants to press charges,” Cash answered for her. “The damage cost Aubrey a pretty penny, not to mention the aggravation.”

  “I don’t,” Aubrey contradicted Cash. “I’d have to testify, right? I won’t be here. I’ll probably be living in Vegas by then.”

  The room got instantly quiet, and both Jace and Sawyer stared daggers at Cash.

  What did they want him to do, tie her to a hitching post on the ranch?

  Chapter 24

  Aubrey put off getting her car the next day. Brett wanted her to meet him at the coffee shop, and she suspected whatever he had to say would take some time. She hitched a ride into town with Jace and a commitment from Cash that he’d pick her up later.

  Commitment? A funny word to use in the context of Cash—at least where she was concerned. It was for the best, she told herself. The timing was all wrong, and if she got the job in Las Vegas, she’d be starting a whole new life. A life in a big glitzy city. Wouldn’t that be exciting? She suppressed an eye roll.

  She passed Wren on her way inside the coffee shop.