Renegade's Pride

by B. J Daniels

  “Did she have her hair done here?”

  “Daisy was just talking earlier about the last time Jenna was in.”

  “Anything unusual happen?”

  “Kind of. She was a walk-in. So that was odd. She always made an appointment way in advance. Also, when she sat down in the chair, she said she wanted a new do, which might mean absolutely nothing. Except that she’d had the same hairstyle as long as I’ve known her. I don’t think it was an impulsive decision. I think it had been coming for some time.”

  Flint nodded. “Jenna was one of the least impulsive people I’ve ever known. Isn’t that what you got from her?”

  Maggie chuckled. “I’d put her in the top five for sure.” She could tell that he was worried. “If I hear anything...”

  He smiled. “Thanks.” He had a great smile that made his gray eyes crinkle. She was almost sorry he was so handsome. Wasn’t there a country song about why a man should marry an ugly woman? She thought it might go both ways.

  Daisy returned with her milk shake and Flint left after saying, “See you tonight.” His stopping by, even on sheriff’s department business, made her day. See you tonight. She smiled as she began to clean up around her workstation. Angie still hadn’t shown up.

  When she’d finished, she glanced at the clock on the wall. “Maybe I better call Angie. It isn’t like her to forget a hair appointment,” she said, picking up the phone.

  “Mine’s late too,” Daisy said. “Maybe there’s a traffic jam.” They both chuckled at that, since they didn’t even have one stoplight in town and most people felt stop signs were just suggestions. Gilt Edge was a small town with small-town problems. Traffic wasn’t one of them. Daisy sucked on her straw. “Oh, this shake is to die for.”

  Maggie dialed the number. It rang four times before voice mail picked up. “Just wanted to remind you about your hair appointment, Angie. You’re probably on your way.” And yet, as she hung up, she had a bad feeling that something must have happened.

  * * *

  DARBY TOOK ONE look at Lillie the next morning when she came down to the kitchen at the back of the bar and let out an oath. “Rough night?”

  He had no idea. “I had trouble getting to sleep.”

  “Probably worried about that bear you thought you saw.”

  Something about the way he said it put her on alert. “Probably. I’m just glad I have the day off. I think I need it.”

  “I looked around out back this morning when I got here,” he said, his gaze intent on her face. “I didn’t see any tracks. At least no bear tracks.”

  “That’s good to hear. I’m sure I imagined it,” she said, trying to laugh it off. “It was probably just the stress of Dad being arrested and all that.”

  “Lillie, if there’s more bothering you—” Darby handed his sister a cup of coffee. “Seriously, if you aren’t feeling well—”

  She cut him off with a shake of her head as she took the coffee. “Thanks. I’m fine.”

  “Flint called earlier,” her brother said.

  Her pulse thundered in her ears. She tried to keep her face blank. Her first thought was that Flint had caught Trask. Which meant he was either behind bars or possibly dead.

  “What did Flint want?” She hated that her voice broke.

  “Said he wanted to get together soon and talk about Dad. It felt more like he was checking up on one of us than Dad, though.” She saw worry in Darby’s expression and knew at once which of them might cause a person to worry.

  Lillie wasn’t sure if she should be relieved or not. At least Flint hadn’t been calling about Trask. “Did you tell him we’re all fine and we don’t need him checking up on us?”

  “No, I saved my breath, since we both know it wouldn’t do any good.” He frowned and studied her openly. “You did have a rough night, huh? You should try to get a nap today. Otherwise, I pity Wainwright.”

  She stared at him, uncomprehending. “Wainwright?”

  “Your big date with him tonight. Don’t tell me you forgot.”

  “That’s tonight?” She let out a curse and slapped her palm against her forehead. Just when she thought things couldn’t get any more complicated.

  “You can always renege on the bet.”

  The one thing a Cahill never did was renege on anything. Even a stupid bet. “You know I can’t do that. Maybe he had enough to drink that he won’t remember.”

  “I wouldn’t count on that,” Darby said. “He likes you and has for some time, but I think you already know that.”

  Junior Wainwright had asked her out several times over the past few years. Then he’d caught her at a weak moment a week ago when he’d suggested they let fate decide if she should go out with him. He was in the bar drinking with friends and everyone was having a good time.

  “One date, dinner, maybe dancing, definitely champagne,” Junior had said. “Your luck against mine.” He had rattled the leather container with the dice in it that was kept behind the bar to roll for drinks or money for the jukebox.

  “And if I win?” Lillie had asked.

  “I promise to leave you alone.”

  She’d laughed. “You’re on!”

  He’d looked a little crestfallen as they shook hands on it.

  She’d always had good luck when it came to the dice. She’d rolled and damn fickle fate, she now had a date with Wainwright. The timing couldn’t be worse.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  FLINT WAS SMILING to himself as he left the beauty shop. Seeing Maggie always brightened his day. She made him feel good. Nothing like he felt around Celeste.

  Running into Celeste last night hadn’t just ruined his sleep. It had given him vivid, disturbing nightmares. In the only one he remembered before he’d awakened, he was in the woods with a shovel in his hands. When he looked down, he realized that he’d dug a grave. He hurriedly started to fill in the grave, when suddenly the earth under his last shovelful of dirt moved. A hand poked out, then a head.

  He shuddered even now at how real it had been. But he remembered the overwhelming sense of relief and then horror when he realized it wasn’t Celeste in the grave. It was Jenna Holloway. The right side of her head had been caved in and her right eye dangled from the socket.

  But as he’d stared down at her, her face began to change... Suddenly, it was Celeste. Her face had contorted into a smile, that one green eye on him as she said through dirt-crusted lips, “You did this. You aren’t any better than the people you put behind bars.”

  Any dream of Celeste was a nightmare, but this one had rattled him more than he wanted to admit. His ex-wife had always made him feel he wasn’t good enough for her. That her beauty demanded someone more...important. Apparently, it had demanded a man like Wayne Duma.

  He tried to put all thoughts of Celeste out of his mind as he pictured Maggie and felt himself smile again. Maggie, tall and pretty with her long, curly natural hair the color of burnished mahogany. Maggie with her sweet disposition. She always had a kind word for everyone, a ready smile. And her laugh? It was like sunshine after a rain shower. If anything, Maggie seemed unaware of how attractive she was. So completely different from Celeste.

  Still, remnants of the nightmare seemed to follow him like a dark cloud as he walked down to the library. He didn’t believe in omens, but that dream...

  Clearing his head, he told himself he had to find out what had happened to Jenna Holloway. He was worried about Anvil and what he might have done. This morning, with Anvil still not hearing from her, Flint had put out a statewide alert on her car, along with a description of Jenna. Without her having a credit card that could be traced, it would be more difficult to track her down. Hopefully, she would call home.

  If she was alive, he needed her found. Otherwise, he would have to begin treating the Holloway farm like a crime scene.
Right now, he still held out hope that Jenna would turn up alive and well.

  With her still missing, Flint decided to follow up on his computer theory. The cool library with its wonderful smell of books was exactly what he needed this morning, Flint thought as he stepped inside. Deirdre “Drey” Hunter greeted him from behind the main desk as he entered. They’d gone to school together, often in the same classes, though they never dated. She’d dated his brother Hawk. He still wondered why they’d broken up.

  Drey’s long dark hair was pulled into a ponytail. She wore a white tank top over jeans with a navy blazer. She was still as pretty and slim as she’d been in high school.

  He wondered if the reason she’d never married was because she hadn’t gotten over his brother. They’d dated for over two years. Had she been more serious than Hawk had been? Hawk refused to talk about it. Strange that neither of them had tied the knot with anyone else.

  “How are you, Flint? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in here before,” she said.

  “It isn’t that I don’t read,” he said, quickly feeling as if he was being called on the carpet. “I like my own books.” He shrugged, feeling embarrassed.

  Drey laughed. “And I thought you were just avoiding me. A joke,” she added quickly, no doubt feeling like he did and that they’d gotten off on the wrong foot. “Can I help you find something?”

  “I’m here on sheriff’s department business,” Flint said, finding safe footing behind his star. “I need to ask about one of your possible patrons. Jenna Holloway. Have you seen her in here? Possibly on one of the computers?” He motioned to the three computers in the corner with the free-Wi-Fi sign over them.

  Drey shook her head. “Sorry, but I’ve never seen Jenna in here ever. I can check, but I don’t believe she even has a library card with us.”

  It had been a thought.

  “Did you try the internet café uptown? They have computers. Maybe she used theirs.”

  He nodded. “I’ll do that.” He glanced around the library at all the books. “I do love books,” he said, his gaze coming back to her. “I don’t have much time to read and on top of that I’m a slow reader. My books would always be late. I’d owe you money all the time if I borrowed books from the library.”

  “I’m sure we could work something out,” she said. “You could fix my parking tickets. A joke,” she added, making them both laugh.

  He thanked her and left, realizing how much he liked Drey. Too bad it hadn’t worked out between her and Hawk. She would have been a good addition to their family.

  At the internet café, he got the same answer. Jenna Holloway hadn’t used their computers.

  So that meant that if she’d met “someone” it must have been the old-fashioned way.

  He glanced toward the grocery store, the only one in town. From what Anvil had told him, there were only a few places in town that his wife probably went: the grocery store, the gas station, the beauty shop—but only for special occasions—and the dress shop.

  Anywhere along the way she could have run into a man who, seeing a vulnerable woman, had taken advantage of her. He couldn’t imagine that the love had been mutual. Was it possible a man as vulnerable as Jenna might actually have fallen for the farmer’s wife? Anything was possible, he’d learned in law enforcement.

  What bothered him was that Jenna hadn’t turned up yet. It had been almost thirty-six hours. And yet she hadn’t called. And no one had seen her. That didn’t bode well.

  Flint hadn’t gone but a few blocks from the café when his cell phone rang.

  “Sheriff Cahill.” He listened to the dispatcher for a moment, then said, “Patch him through.” It was Bob North calling. Hadn’t Maggie just said that Bob’s wife, Angie, had a hair appointment and was running late?

  “I can’t find Angie,” a distraught Bob cried without preamble.

  “What do you mean find her?”

  “She isn’t in the house. She isn’t at her hair appointment. It’s like she disappeared out of thin air.” Or was abducted by aliens, Flint thought, keeping the family joke to himself.

  “I’ll be right there.”

  * * *

  HER BROTHER, LILLIE REALIZED, was still studying her. “Where are you off to so early, anyway?” Darby asked. They’d shared the same womb together and had always been close. He probably knew her better than anyone—except Trask.

  She realized she had her truck keys in her hand. “I’ve got an errand I have to run. You need anything from town?”

  “We have a food delivery this morning, so I’m good. If you aren’t going to try to get out of your date with Wainwright, then you’d better be thinking about what you’re going to wear. Do you even own a dress?” he joked. “As I recall, he said he was picking you up at six. Dinner, possibly dancing and champagne.”

  “I own several dresses, for your information.” Not that she wanted to wear any of them for a date with Wainwright. “I don’t know why he wants to go out with me anyway.”

  “Because you’re beautiful, Lillie, inside and out.”

  She loved her brother for saying so, but as she glanced in the mirror behind the bar, she would definitely have argued that. Her gray eyes were huge and there were dark spots under them, her skin pale. Her dark hair was pulled up in a ponytail, loose hair escaping to fall in dark wisps against her skin. She’d pulled on a pale green Stagecoach Saloon T-shirt and jeans that hugged her slim curves. She looked young and vulnerable and...scared. Trask was back and she was terrified what would happen next.

  “Really, if you aren’t feeling up to it, call Wainwright,” Darby said.

  “No, I lost the bet. But Junior is going to regret this. I will be the worst date he’s ever had. He’ll never ask me out again.”

  “That’s the attitude,” he said sarcastically. “Come on, is he really so bad? He’s crazy about you. Anyone can see that. I thought one day...” He shook his head. “You’re sure nothing else is bothering you other than this date?”

  “Nothing that this coffee won’t cure.” She took another gulp.

  “I didn’t mean to yell at you yesterday about Dad.”

  She’d forgotten, given what else she’d had on her mind. “What if he really can’t live alone?”

  Darby rubbed a hand over his face. “Then you might as well put a gun to his head. Nothing could be worse than keeping him from what he loves. I think he’s fine.”

  “Are you just saying that because you don’t want to deal with it any more than I do?”

  He smiled. “I’ve never thought of Dad living long enough to have to make decisions for him.”

  Lillie moved behind the bar to see what was on the menu for today. They would be opening soon. She wondered where their cook, Billie Dee, was this morning. She didn’t want to have to fill in for her. In her state of mind, she would burn everything.

  “Maybe I’ll stop by the old man’s place and see how he’s doing tomorrow,” her brother said.

  “Good idea. If I go, he’ll swear I’m checking up on him.” They would be opening soon, which meant that their alternate bartender should be arriving any minute, as well.

  When they’d first hired Kendall Raines, Lillie had thought for sure that Darby would end up falling for her. Kendall was cute, with blond hair and big blue eyes. She was also sweet, stacked and funny. She was the whole package. But Darby, while joking with Kendall and seeming to like her, had never made the first move.

  At one of their after-hours talks, Lillie had asked him why he wasn’t interested in the young woman. “She’s perfect.”

  “Perfect for someone. Just not me.”

  “I will never understand men.”

  “Apparently not,” Darby had told her, and that had been the end of it.

  Kendall breezed through the door all smiles wearing a tan Stagecoach S
aloon T-shirt, jeans, boots and some kind of nice-smelling perfume. She was fifteen minutes early for her shift. On top of everything, she had turned out to be the perfect employee and patrons of all ages loved her. Lillie could tell that they weren’t as happy on the nights that she worked instead of Kendall.

  “What is that you’re wearing?” she asked the young woman. “I love that scent.”

  “Here,” Kendall said, digging a small spray bottle out of her purse. “You can wear it on your date tonight.”

  Did everyone know about her date? Lillie almost told her to forget it, but the scent felt so fresh and actually made her feel better.

  “There’s only a little left,” Kendall said. “It’s all yours.”

  “Thank you.” She spritzed some on and breathed in deeply. Last night’s lack of sleep after her “visitor” seemed to fade a little along with the other perfume scent that reminded her so much of Trask.

  She fell silent for a moment as she heard a vehicle approaching. Her heart did that crazy lurch in her chest. Would Trask have the all-out gall to just walk into the bar in broad daylight?

  But as the vehicle neared, she recognized the bad tailpipe and sighed in relief. She wasn’t going to have to cook. Billie Dee had arrived.

  Kendall went in the back to put her things away and get ready for her shift.

  The back door banged and a moment later a short, heavyset middle-aged women with bright red dyed hair came through the door whistling the tune “Dixie’s Land.” She grinned broadly when she saw Lillie.

  “I don’t really wish I was in Dixie,” she said in her Texan accent. “My car started and it’s not snowing.” She stopped in the middle of the room and held out her arms as she did a little soft-shoe and then took a bow. “The day can’t get any better than this.”

  Lillie hoped Billie Dee was wrong about that as the cook laughed and headed for the kitchen. “I’m making myself an omelet. Ya’ll want to join me?”

  “Why not?” Darby said.

  Kendall declined, saying she’d already eaten.