by Vikki Walton
“Oh good, I hate sweet tea.”
As she and Stewart argued the merits of sweetened and unsweetened tea, Anne spied that Sam’s focus was clearly on Mary. The young woman had changed out of other clothing and now wore a tank top covered by another top and a pair of shorts. Her legs, like Sam’s, were brown from being out in the sun and were as muscled as her upper arms.
Anne realized she was pouting with a little bit of jealousy over Sam’s obvious infatuation with the woman.
Argh. You don’t want him when he wants you. Now you want him because he’s interested in someone else? Make up your mind, woman.
The woman quickly downed the tea. I’m out for a run. I heard there’s a trail close to the house I can take?”
“Yes. I can show you.” Hope stood.
“Don’t worry, Hope. I’ll show her.” Sam smiled at the woman and she smiled back.
Then Anne remembered Ruiz being out at Sam’s. It didn’t look like he’d come to fish but more like he was visiting her. One thing Anne did know was that she didn’t want Sam to get hurt. “Oh, Sam?” She stopped the pair as they made their way to the door.
He turned back. “Yes?”
“We saw Ruiz over at your place the other day.”
A swift glimmer of emotion passed over the woman’s face. Anne wondered if she’d opened up a relationship the woman wanted to be kept secret.
“Yeah. He sometimes goes out there to go fishing.”
The woman visibly relaxed. “Ready?”
After the pair had left the house, everyone turned back to Anne. “What?”
“Always on the lookout for clues, huh, Ms. Marple?” Hope replied.
“I hope you don’t consider me as old as Ms. Marple, and I don’t knit, so…”
Hope laughed. “Anyway, what was the point of all the questioning?”
“When Kandi and I went out to Sam’s to visit Mary, Ruiz showed up.”
“That is interesting. I know that I caught them talking to each other after my shop was damaged.”
“You did?”
“Yes. After I went over to the ambulance to stay with Mom, I saw that she was standing over by a tree. They were talking but very quietly. I thought it was strange at the time but then I figured I was in some shock, so I didn’t think to say anything about it.”
“Where would they have even met? Did she know him before coming to the Springs or meet here?”
Kandi sat down next to Stewart. “Maybe he went out to Sam’s before and they met then.”
“I guess, but they acted like they didn’t know each other when we were out there.”
“Hmm, that’s true. Maybe, they wanted to keep it on the, you know, the down-low.” Kandi sipped her sweetened tea.
“I guess, but really, what difference does it make to anything? Just trying to figure out if there’s anything that can help us get Carson out of jail.”
Hope clasped her hands around the glass. “I expect he’ll be out today sometime.”
“Really? Why’s that?” Anne poured some more tea and drizzled a bit of honey in it.
“I told them I wasn’t going to press charges.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I know he didn’t do it.”
“You don’t know. He even told me himself that I didn’t know him.”
“Okay, we’ll have to agree to disagree.” Hope laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“You are, you nit.” Hope shook her head. “Quit trying to push the best thing that could happen to you away.”
Kandi started and turned to Hope. “What? Are you talking to me?”
Hope sighed. “No. I was talking to Anne. And yes, to you too. Oh, forget it. Stewart, you were going to tell us something before everything went haywire. What was it?”
Stewart held up his glass as Kandi poured him more tea. He added three heaping teaspoons of sugar to it. “Not sure what I was saying,”
“You were disappointed about something,” Anne replied.
“Oh, yeah. That.” He ran his hands through his hair. “I figured that the Bennett job would offer a lot of us in town work, but they’ve brought their own crews in.”
“That is a bit strange but not unheard of, I guess.”
“I went out to see if they had any work and they’ve got lots of RV’s parked around where the guys sleep. It just seems really strange.”
Anne emptied her glass. “What did they say when you talked to them?”
“I never even got a chance. They’ve fenced it in, and they were putting up a gate, so I couldn’t drive onto the property.”
“Not surprising. If it’s going to be a big event center, they’ll need to keep people from coming in when it’s not open.” Hope stretched her back and changed positions in her chair.
“I guess. I don’t know. Just seems weird.” He rubbed his beard again. “I was eating dinner at the new hamburger place on Poplar when a group of them came in. They sat in the booth behind me, so it wasn’t like I couldn’t hear what they were saying.”
“What did they, like, say?” Kandi rested her head on her hand and looked up at Stewart.
“What?” he gulped.
“What were the guys saying?” Anne grew frustrated.
“Oh, they weren’t happy about having to sign an NDA.”
Kandi bobbed her head. “A what?”
He turned to her. “A non-disclosure agreement. One of the guys said it’s the first time he’s ever signed such a thing.”
“Well, I can probably understand it. One of those guys goes out into the community and says what they are building, and it kills the marketing buzz.” Hope stood up and took her glass over to the dishwasher.
Anne also stood. “That does make sense.” She looked out the window and caught a glimpse of Sam coming back up from the trail. Had they been talking for that long?
“I’m going home. In case anyone needs me—that’s where I plan to be for a while.”
She hugged Kandi and kissed her forehead. She shook Stewart’s outreached hand before grabbing him up in a hug too. Hope came over and they were hugging when Sam came inside.
“Is this a hug-fest? Can I get in on that?”
“Sure.” Anne and Hope both gave him a hug.
“Later.” Anne waved at the group and enjoyed the short walk back to her house. She checked Mouser’s food and water and kicked off her shoes. She was dozing when the doorbell rang.
Who could that be?
Chapter Twenty
Officer Dale stood in the doorway.
“Officer Dale, hello. Can I help you?”
“Ms. Freemont. You were very helpful in giving us information before and I wanted to stop by and see if there was anything else you wanted to share that might help.”
“In what way?”
“As you probably know, Ms. Boswell has said she won’t be pressing charges.”
“Yes, she told me that. I don’t understand it but that’s her decision, not mine.”
“I think people want to believe the best of others, even when it’s not true.”
“You’re right.” Anne stepped back from the door. “Did you want to come in?” She stifled a yawn.
“No. Thank you. We’re just continuing to look into the fire at your friend’s shop and also the attack over at Bill’s. I heard they released him from the hospital.”
“Yes. He’s doing better. But…” Anne decided not to say anything about Bill’s decision to buy a gun.
“I hate to bother him. First, his wife’s cancer. Then the attack. It’s a lot for them.”
Anne nodded her head in agreement.
“Did he see anyone, hear anything that could help us find who did this?”
“No. He thinks it was kids and that the attack wasn’t planned.”
“Good. Good to know. That’s helpful. Anything else?”
“Do you know what’s going on at the Bennett place?”
He looked down at her, but his sunglasses obscured his eye
s. “Like what? Why do you ask?”
“Stewart was just saying they are making the workers sign an NDA and now they’re putting up a gate. Seems fast for all this to happen right after the fire and the… “
“Yes, it was horrible about Ray Lawrence, but you know he was in with bad company. I’ve seen it happen before. People think they can make an easy buck and they don’t know how entangled they can get with criminals.”
Anne nodded her head. “Spencer told us that Ray was always trying to sell pot to the foster kids and at the high school.”
“Sad, isn’t it?” He stuck his thumbs in his gear belt. “You try to put people on the straight and narrow, but sometimes you can’t help them. Then someone gets it in their head to get justice.”
“You mean, like, a vigilante?”
“Well, it’s not my place to say, but think about it.” He ticked a list off his fingers. “Ray Lawrence—sold pot to kids, the Bennetts—pot growers, Bill Connor—pot in his greenhouse.” He shrugged.
The idea of a vigilante against drugs hadn’t occurred to Anne before. Maybe that was the thread that tied everything together. But who would…? She gasped.
“Yes. I see you’ve got there. Who would think they’re doing the world a favor by getting rid of—”
“But he could just arrest them.”
Officer Dale shook his head. “Unless he had caught Ray in the act of selling to minors—no proof.”
“I don’t know. Lori’s his cousin and I can’t see him hitting Bill over the head.”
“Maybe he thought it would cause a divide in the family? Maybe it was an accident?”
“I don’t see how it could have been an accident. Plus, being against drugs doesn’t mean you’ll burn down someone’s house and kill somebody.” She crossed her arms.
“Again, this is all supposition on my part. Ray could have just been at the wrong place at the wrong time. The coroner said he had drugs in his system when he died, so maybe he fell asleep in the greenhouse and whoever torched it didn’t know he was in there.”
“Yes, that’s plausible.” Anne nodded in agreement. “But hadn’t he been shot?“
“How do you know so much?”
Anne ignored Officer Dale’s question. “What about Hope’s shop? Hope doesn’t sell pot. In fact, she’s said she’ll never include it as she doesn’t know it enough to feel that she can prescribe it medicinally.”
“Could be a mistake. Could be to scare her—or you—off.”
“Scare us off?”
“The rumor mill says you all like to play private detective.” He crossed his arms and his shirt strained against his arm muscles.
“Only when I have no other choice. We were just talking about how nothing makes sense. This one looks like we won’t be able to help the police.”
“I like to hear you want to help the police. But with information only. It’s our job to keep you safe and to find the bad guy. Anyway, if you think of anything… no matter how insignificant, you call me.” He tipped his fingers to his glasses and headed down the steps. “Oh.” He turned around. “Carson is being released. You be careful.”
A week of calm came after Officer Dale’s visit and Anne was looking forward to the next week’s activities. They’d set up another beehive visit with Bill after he assured her he had enough help to show honey extraction. The guests for that tour would also get to take home a jar of honey. Even people from the town and the state who were not staying at the bed and breakfast had signed up for it. The bed and breakfast was continually full of people arriving even before others left. Often, Anne would hear laughter through her open windows, and it made her smile.
Ralph’s old house—rest his soul—seemed to have put aside its past bad experiences and now thrived with life. Anne smiled as she hummed a tune. A warm and gentle breeze floated inside as she opened her upstairs bedroom window. She spotted Sam’s truck next door. He seemed to spend quite a lot of time over there with Mary lately. When Anne had gone over to help Kandi with breakfast in the morning, Sam and Mary would often be stretching and gearing up for a run. Anne desperately hoped that Mary wasn’t stringing both Sam and Ruiz along for a short ride during her visit.
Anne spoke aloud, “Quit being a mom. He’s an adult.” That’s when the dots connected. She liked Sam but more like a son or a friend than anything more. Maybe this was the confirmation she needed to forget that part of her life.
She pulled the top sheet from the dresser and waved it over the bed. The doorbell rang.
“Not now,” Anne muttered. It better not be some solicitor.
Anne let the sheet fall and then jumbled it up onto the bed.
She had made it halfway down the stairs when the bell rang again. “I’m coming!”
She threw open the front door, ready to send the caller packing.
It was Carson.
It still startled Anne when she saw him out of his normal sheriff’s uniform. Today he wore a navy blue tee-shirt and a pair of blue cargo shorts. On his feet, he wore the ubiquitous pair of REI hiking boots seen on many people around Colorado. Even after his stint in jail, he still looked healthy and sported a golden tan.
“Anne.”
“Oh, we’re back on first names? Or at least my first name, not yours.”
“You’re right. My apologies. Ms. Freemont.”
Anne huffed and crossed her arms. That man. Why wouldn’t he just tell her his first name?
“Yes, Sheriff Carson?”
“I’m on leave pending further investigation so we can leave off the sheriff part for now.” He made a motion with his hand. “Can I come in?”
She nodded yes and as she closed the door, she noticed Mary crossing the street. Anne waved, but the woman appeared not to notice her.
What’s up with her? I know she saw us.
She motioned for Carson to sit in a large overstuffed chair across from the sofa. When he didn’t take a seat, she plopped down on the sofa. “Okay. I’m all ears. What’s up?”
He sat down opposite her on the couch, which gave her a start. He appeared contrite when he said, “I know you’re going to give me a hard time on this—”
“I don’t—”
He held his hand up to silence her. “Yes, you do. But that’s another story. As much as I hate to say this, I need your help.”
Anne wanted to gloat, to react in ways that were payback for all the times he’d made jokes at her expense. Instead, she simply replied, “How?”
Carson took a deep breath. “Thank you.”
“Something to drink?”
“No. I— well, as you know, they arrested me in connection with Hope’s arson. I didn’t do it.”
“Why did you act like you did to me in the jail?”
“I wanted you to back off. I didn’t know who I could trust, and I didn’t want you, Hope, or Kandi getting hurt.”
“You mean Ruiz?”
Carson sat up. “What makes you say that? Do you know something?”
“I know he’s the one that arrested you.”
“He was doing his duty. Although, technically it was Sam.”
Anne made a face. “Sam? What do you mean?”
“The coroner is the only one who has the power to arrest the sheriff. He’s acting coroner until the next election when Doc Reynolds retires. Ruiz was there but under Sam’s orders.”
“Okay, whoever arrested you, Hope is not pressing charges, so it should be good now.”
“It’s not that easy. I’m being told that other charges may be pending. Serious charges.”
“You mean like Ray’s death?”
“Yes. Possibly looking at manslaughter from what I’m hearing.”
“How do you know that?”
He zipped his lips. “Can’t reveal my sources.”
“I’ll bet one of your sources has permed gray hair.” Anne laughed. “Okay, so what do you need my help with?”
“I can’t sit around waiting for others to seal my fate without a fight. However,
if they do think I’m doing that, then they’ll be less inclined to keep me in their sights.”
“Who’s they?” Anne leaned closer.
“I don’t know. But I’ve been listening to anything and everything around town. I also spoke with Stewart.”
“About the Bennett place?”
“Not exactly. He told me that he overheard some guys talking down at the Hall about El Toro.”
“El Toro? Doesn’t that mean the bull?”
“Yes. That name is popping up a lot lately.”
“Do you think it’s the cartel?” Anne shivered. “Here, in Carolan Springs?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. But something’s going on and they’re trying to keep me out of the way.”
“That’s really scary,” Anne commented.
“I know. That’s why I didn’t—I still don’t—want you involved.” He stood up and jammed his hands in his pockets. “But I need a cover, and you would make a good one. Plus, I know you won’t stop meddling.”
Anne sprang up from the couch. “That’s—”
“True?”
She sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “Okay, possibly. What do you need from me?”
“Remember the opening of the B-n-B?”
Anne nodded. How could she ever forget that kiss?
“We need to put on an act again. And make it good.”
“Meaning?”
“Dating. Us. You and me.”
Anne laughed, “What?”
He shoved his hands in his pockets. “In some ways, I’m worried it could make you more of a target. In other ways, I think it could keep you safer. I’ve just got to take that chance.”
Anne realized he was speaking more to himself than to her.
“Well, that’s probably the most unromantic date request I’ve ever had.”
He stopped and put his hands on her upper arms. “I’m serious, Anne. This is—could be—a deadly proposition. Are you willing to take the risk?”
A shiver went down Anne’s spine. For the first time since she’d known him, she saw fear in Carson’s eyes.
She gulped. “Yes.”
He let go of her arms. Sighing, he pointed to the back. “Bathroom?”
“It’s being worked on, but you can use the bath upstairs. What’s your plan?”
“First, we need to go out around town, let people see us. Maybe dinner out tonight?”