Official Duty

by Doreen Roberts

  It had taken him no more than a minute or two to amend that. She’d probably hire someone to sell it. Then again, there was stuff to dispose of. The place was chock-full of furniture. Not to mention shelves and cupboards full of knickknacks. Then there was the stuff Mabel and Jim had wanted to go to some of their former foster kids.

  He didn’t know how he felt about having Ginny around for a while. She’d made it pretty obvious she was anxious to leave. Seeing her around would only make it harder on him. Too many memories that were best left buried. He’d spent an awful long time learning how to forget.

  Deep in thought, he didn’t hear her come out of the office until she spoke behind him. “I guess this changes things,” she said, in a flat tone that didn’t give him any clue as to how she was feeling.

  He took his time before twisting his head to look at her. “Congratulations,” he said gruffly. “I reckon the Corbetts must have really cared about you.”

  To his dismay he saw tears glistening on her lashes. An almost uncontrollable urge to take her in his arms made him sound more abrupt than he intended. “I suppose you’re going to put the house up for sale.”

  “I don’t know what I’m going to do.” She looked down the street and the lost, helpless look on her face squeezed his heart.

  “You need some time.” He took hold of her arm and led her to his Jeep. “We’ll go take a look at the house and you can decide later what you want to do with it.”

  To his relief she didn’t give him any argument. She seemed dazed, as if she were walking in a fog, without knowing what she was doing or where she was going.

  He settled her in the passenger seat and then climbed into the cab next to her. “We can pick up your car later,” he said as he fired the engine.

  She gave him a vague nod then leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes.

  He checked his side mirror, waiting for a dirty-looking minivan to roll slowly past him. When it was clear he shifted into gear and glanced at Ginny to check if she had a seat belt on.

  His stomach took a nosedive when he saw her expression. She was staring straight ahead, eyes wide, mouth open as if she were uttering a silent scream. He followed her gaze but the road was empty, except for the minivan, which was turning the corner at the end of the street.

  “What? What is it? Are you sick?” He leaned over and grabbed her arm and let it go when she flinched so violently he thought he’d hurt her. Now he was really worried. “Ginny? For God’s sake tell me. What’s the matter?”

  She was tempted to tell him about the van. If only she could be sure it wasn’t just her mind playing tricks, the way it did in her nightmares.

  She shook her head. “Nothing. I’m just in shock, that’s all. It just blows my mind that Jim and Mabel wanted to leave the house to me.”

  He had to be satisfied with that answer, although he knew it was a lot more than that. He’d seen fear on her face. Real, intense fear. Something was going on with her and he wasn’t going to rest until he found out what it was.

  Chapter Four

  The Corbetts’ house lay half a mile back from the road, hidden by a heavy thicket of pine, alder, cottonwood and dense undergrowth. The hot, dry summer had dried out the uneven trail and the tires of Cully’s Jeep bounced over the crusty ruts in the baked earth when they approached the sprawling yard that surrounded the house.

  Ginny’s jaw ached with tension as they came to a halt in front of the gate. She had been a different person the last time she’d stood at that fence. Eager to begin her new life, determined to put the past behind her, she’d had such momentous expectations. The entire world had beckoned to her with a promise too exciting to comprehend.

  Anything and everything had seemed possible. She was going to show Cully and everyone else in that little backwoods town that she, Ginny Matthews, would be someone to look up to and admire. She was finally going to escape the stigma that had poisoned her entire life.

  Only it hadn’t happened the way she’d planned. She’d made mistakes. Big mistakes. And she’d paid dearly for them.

  “I hope Paul gave you the house keys,” Cully said, breaking into her thoughts. “I never thought to ask back there.”

  She scrambled in her purse for the unfamiliar key ring that held a half dozen keys. “This still feels like a weird dream. I’m looking at the house but I can’t believe it actually belongs to me.”

  “It’s in pretty good shape. Jim took good care of it.” He opened the driver-side door and hopped down.

  Following more slowly, her throat ached with the effort to control her emotions. It didn’t seem right to walk up the path to the weather-beaten door knowing that Mabel wasn’t there to open it. It was too quiet, too empty without the laughter and shrieks of a half dozen kids swarming around.

  The key turned easily in the lock. She had to stop and take a deep breath before she could push the door open. The silence inside the house unnerved her. She couldn’t remember a time when the house had been this quiet.

  Memories washed over her as she walked into the spacious family room. The silver candlesticks still stood on the shelf above the fireplace, which had been readied for the cold fall evenings to come with a neat stack of paper, kindling and logs.

  Tears pricked her eyes. Jim would no longer sit in that creaking old rocker, with the paper on his knees and his glasses sliding down his nose as he peered at the television set in the corner. Never again would Mabel sit in the comfortable armchair opposite him, busily clicking away with her knitting needles.

  How many winter nights had they all knelt in front of the fire, fighting for a space to roast fat, squishy marshmallows on the end of a stick? Too many to count.

  Behind her, Cully cleared his throat. “Look, if you want some privacy—”

  “No!” She couldn’t be alone in this house. Not yet. “Let’s check out the list of items mentioned in the will. The candlesticks are still here. They’re only silver-plated, but a bum wouldn’t know that.” She turned to face him. “Wouldn’t he have taken something like that?”

  Cully pulled the list he’d made from his shirt pocket. “That’s why I wanted you here to check things out. As far as I can tell nothing’s missing. At least, not the usual stuff thieves haul away. The TV set’s still here, the stereo and Jim’s video camera. The kind of stuff that’s easy to sell.”

  “What other reason could someone have to kill two harmless, elderly people?”

  Cully shrugged. “There are a lot of reasons people kill. Revenge, power, money, to cover up another crime, or just the thrill of killing. Someone high on booze or drugs, someone with a vicious temper, who knows? Like I said, without a motive we’re more or less dead in the water. But we have to start somewhere. So let’s take a tour of the house and maybe you can see something I missed. Something that’s out of place, or just looks wrong.”

  She shook her head. “Cully, it’s been at least ten years since I was last here.”

  “I know how long it’s been.”

  His dark gaze locked with hers and it seemed as if her heartbeat filled the room. The look in his eyes reminded her of that night long ago, when she’d gone to his apartment to ask him to leave town with her and explore the big wide world out there together.

  He’d pulled her into his arms the moment he’d opened the door, his eyes dark with a hunger that had consumed her, as well. They’d fallen onto the bed, their passion wiping away everything in her mind. Until later. Half-asleep, she’d told him of her plans, expecting him to be as thrilled as she was with the idea.

  It wasn’t as if she hadn’t mentioned it before. She’d talked of little else in the days leading up to that night. She’d taken his silence for his usual reluctance to act impulsively. Cully always took his time making decisions, thinking things out, weighing the consequences.

  Never for one moment had she doubted his willingness to go with her. It had been the biggest shock of her life when he’d told her his life was in Gold Peak and if hers wasn’t, she’d have
to move to the city without him.

  “Let’s get going then.” Cully moved away, breaking the spell.

  “The cuckoo clock is still there,” Ginny said unsteadily.

  “Yeah, I noticed.” Cully moved around the room, checking his list. “Did Mabel have any jewelry that she might have hidden somewhere?”

  Ginny frowned, trying to remember. “Only dimestore stuff. She kept it in a box in her bedroom. I don’t think they ever had the money for expensive jewelry.”

  “Guess we’d better check the bedrooms, then.”

  She didn’t want to be in a bedroom with him. Right now she really didn’t want to be in the house with him. “Look,” she said quickly, “I know you must have other things to take care of in town. Why don’t you give me the list and if I find anything missing I’ll let you know.”

  He stared at her for far too long, making her uncomfortable. “Will you be checking back into the motel?”

  “I don’t know.” She looked around, as if seeking an answer there. Someone must have cleaned up. There was nothing out of place. No smashed lamp, no overturned chairs. She shivered, in spite of the musty warmth in the room. “I might stay here until I decide what to do. I have to call Philadelphia and explain what happened.”

  “The power’s been cut off, and the telephone.”

  “I have my cell phone.” She frowned. “No, I don’t. It’s in my car. With the rest of my stuff.”

  “I’ll take you back to it, then you can drive back here.”

  She nodded. “Right. I’ll have to buy some clothes if I’m going to stay for a couple of days, anyway. Maybe I will check back into the motel. But I’ll come back here first to check out the rest of the list.”

  To her relief, he gave her no argument. The truth was, she needed to be alone in the house for a while. There were too many ghosts that needed to be laid to rest, too many questions in her mind to be answered.

  “I guess the only thing I can do is sell the house,” she said, as the Jeep jolted over the ruts on the way to the road. “I’ll need a real estate agent to do that for me. Do you know of anyone?”

  “There’s a couple of good ones in town.” He was silent for a moment, then added slowly, “I think Mabel and Jim hoped you’d stay. I figure that’s why they left you the house. So you’d have some security. Though I guess your husband must have taken good care of that. Mabel said he was a civil engineer. Made a pretty good living, I reckon.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. “Yes,” she said shortly. “He was and he did.”

  “Sorry. None of my business. I was just trying to make sense of everything, that’s all.”

  “Well, you’re right. It’s none of your business.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  He didn’t speak to her again all the way into town.

  The mountain road wound down in sharp curves and bends as it dipped into town. She wanted to ask Cully where Jim’s truck had gone off the road but one glance at his forbidding expression, the hard set of his mouth and the frown half-hidden by the wide brim of his hat was enough to make her hold her tongue.

  It seemed as if they were destined to be at odds with each other. Not that it mattered. She wouldn’t be around long enough for it to escalate into out and out war. She’d talk to an agent, make arrangements to sell the house, gather up the items that the Corbetts had bequeathed in their will and drop them off at the lawyer’s office, then she could go back to Philadelphia and forget she was ever in Gold Peak, Oregon.

  Her rented car still sat outside the lawyer’s office and Cully pulled up behind it and killed the engine of his Jeep. The sudden silence seemed unusually dense.

  “Thank you,” she said stiffly. “I’ll let you know if I find anything that might be useful.”

  “I’d appreciate that.” He tipped his hat back with his thumb. “If you want a good agent, try Neil Baumann on Madison. Next to the old movie house.”

  Once more memory knifed through her. The back row, in the dark. Cully’s arm about her shoulders, his warm lips nuzzling her neck. “Oh,” she said faintly. “It’s still there?”

  “The building is, but it’s not a movie house anymore. Someone bought it and turned it into an antique store. Pretty fancy one, too.”

  She wrinkled her brow. “Neil Baumann? Didn’t he used to live with the Corbetts?”

  Cully gave her a look through half-closed lids. “Yep. I reckon half the town used to live with the Corbetts at one time or other. Neil’d know the house as good as anyone. He’s been in the business awhile now. Seems to know what he’s doing.”

  “Thanks. I’ll talk to him.” She opened the passenger door and swung her feet out to jump down.

  “What are you doing for dinner tonight?”

  The question took her by surprise. “I don’t know… I haven’t thought about it… I mean…”

  “I’d thought you might want to come out and see the ranch. Lyla, my housekeeper, she’s a real good cook. She’d love to show off for somebody other than me and the dogs.”

  She looked at him, intrigued in spite of herself. “You have dogs?”

  “Two of them. A black lab, goes by the name of Rags, and a mutt we picked up off the highway a while back.”

  She had to smile. “Rags?”

  He nodded. “When he was a pup he’d swing on the drapes by his teeth. Tore them to shreds before I broke him of the habit.”

  “I see.” She was still smiling. “And what about the other one? What do you call him?”

  “Puddles.” His face remained perfectly straight.

  Her laugh bubbled out, surprising even her. “I hope you’ve broken him of that habit.”

  “Lyla took real good care of that.”

  “I bet she did.” Ginny dropped to the pavement then, on some wild impulse, poked her head back in the door. “I think I’d like to meet your housemates. They sound like an interesting pair.”

  His mouth tilted in a smile and her treacherous pulse leaped in response. “I’ll pick you up at the motel. Five-thirty sound good? It’ll give us time for the grand tour before we eat.”

  She felt a little breathless when she answered. “I’ll be ready.”

  He tipped his hat forward again, gave her a brief salute then backed up with a roar of his engine, made a U-turn and headed back up the street.

  Ginny stood for a moment, watching him disappear in a haze of dust. That was stupid. She should have told him she had other plans. But the thought of a nice meal in a cozy house complete with a housekeeper and dogs had seemed infinitely preferable to a hamburger in a cold, lonely motel room. The temptation had been too great to resist.

  Right now, however, she had things to do. She’d worry later about spending the evening with a totally engaging cowboy who had a disconcerting habit of making her forget all the reasons why she shouldn’t be enjoying his company.

  By early afternoon she had accomplished everything she needed to do. She’d booked into the Sagebrush Motel again, put her return flight on hold and notified Whitman’s that she was taking some emergency time off to settle her affairs.

  Neil Baumann, the real estate agent, remembered her, although they had spent only a short time together at the Corbetts’ house. She remembered him vaguely as being a skinny kid and a pest, always tormenting the girls and occasionally disrupting the meals by violently arguing with anyone who dared disagree with him.

  He’d put on weight and had prematurely lost some hair but he was courteous and charming as he assured her he would have no trouble selling the house. “Such a dreadful thing to happen,” he said, as he escorted her from his office to her car. “There couldn’t be two nicer people than Mabel and Jim. I just can’t figure out why anyone would want to hurt them.”

  “I know. It’s all very difficult to understand.” She fished in her purse for her car keys.

  “Well, if anyone can find out what happened, it’ll be the sheriff. He’s a good guy and sharp as a tack. He’ll find who did this, you can bet your life on that.
”

  She smiled. “I think you’re right.”

  “I don’t suppose he’s told you if he’s got any ideas about who did it? I heard you had dinner with him last night at the Red Steer.”

  She had forgotten how easily talk got around in a small town and wondered how long it would take for the gossips to find out she was having dinner at the ranch tonight. “I really wouldn’t know,” she said, as she unlocked the car door. “I’m sure if he did know something he wouldn’t be telling me about it. Cops don’t usually talk about a case they are working on.”

  Neil’s light blue eyes regarded her curiously. “I heard you got married to some rich dude in Phoenix.”

  “That’s right.” She opened the car door, eager to escape the inevitable questions. “Thank you, Neil. I’ll wait to hear from you.”

  “So how come you’re living in Philadelphia now?”

  “I like the weather better.” At the risk of seeming rude, she pulled the door closed and fitted the key in the ignition. As the engine sprang to life, she raised her hand in farewell, barely waiting for him to acknowledge the gesture before pulling away from the curb.

  Her mind on the question of where to eat lunch, she slowed to turn the next corner, which would take her into Main Street. Normally her glance would automatically flick to the rearview mirror. Her reluctance to do so now warned her that she still didn’t have her jumpy nerves under control.

  It had to be all the upset of learning about the Corbetts’ deaths and then finding out they’d been murdered. She needed some quiet time, to get her thoughts together.

  Changing her mind about eating in a restaurant, she stopped off at the strip mall and bought underwear, chinos, three tops and a cream cotton sweater with a low scoop neck to wear out to the ranch that evening. She refused to admit that for a fleeting moment she’d envisioned Cully’s reaction when he saw her in the sweater.