Murderous Secrets: A Shandra Higheagle Mystery #4

by Paty Jager

  He pulled out his phone and called Shandra.

  “Are you stuck?” she asked.

  “Not yet. Where’s the key to the tractor?” He hoped it wasn’t in the house. Stepping into the warmth again would make it hard to walk back out in the cold.

  “It’s hanging on a hook in Lil’s room. It’s to the right of the door.”

  “Thanks.” He pushed the phone back in the case and headed to Lil’s room in the barn.

  At the door, he heard movement inside. He listened with his ear to the door. There was definitely someone moving around in the room.

  He pulled his backup firearm out of the holster in his left boot. He stood to the side, grasped the handle, and shoved the door open.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  No one shot or ran into the barn.

  The room was dark.

  “Police. Come out with your hands up,” he said loudly.

  Nothing.

  He didn’t like going into a dark room, it brought flashes of walking down the dark alley in Chicago the night he was jumped and beaten to within an inch of life. There had to be a light switch inside the door. His heart raced and sweat moistened his brow and palms. He wiped his gun hand on his pants, wrapped it around the revolver, and used his other hand to swipe the inside wall, feeling for a light.

  The light flashed, blinding him with its brightness. He blinked three times and stepped into the doorway.

  He scanned the room. Nothing. I know I heard something in here. There wasn’t a closet or other exit in the room. After the day I’ve had, I probably didn’t even hear anything.

  Ryan spotted the key on the hook and stepped forward to grab it. Something orange and hissing, leaped off a top shelf and landed on his shoulder before scurrying out of the room.

  Lil’s cat!

  He should have asked about the creature.

  The barn doors were wide open.

  Damn! He didn’t think the animal was allowed out at night. There were too many predators in the woods.

  “There’s nothing I can do about it now.” He left the door to Lil’s room open enough for a cat to get through and started up the tractor. Getting his car out of the drive was more important than finding a cat at the moment. If the animal wasn’t back in the barn when he put the tractor up, he’d call for it.

  The tractor purred to life and he headed down the driveway.

  ***

  Shandra heard the tractor leave and fifteen minutes later it returned. Poor Ryan had to be freezing.

  Hazel and Lil sat in the dining area playing cards.

  “I heard Ryan come back. I’m going in the kitchen to get some cocoa for him,” she said, pushing to her feet. Hazel had found a stretch bandage in the emergency kit and wrapped Shandra’s ankle. The support from the bandage made it bearable to put a little weight on it.

  Lil stuck out a crutch. “Here, use this.”

  “Thanks.” Shandra found using the crutch helped. In the kitchen, she poured fresh milk into the small pan she used for warming milk.

  Scratching on the window above the sink caught her attention. The glare of the overhead light made it hard to see anything outside. She flipped the light off. A round orange face with shining eyes stared in the window.

  Shandra screamed and jumped back, crashing the crutch to the floor.

  Ryan burst through the back door at the same time Hazel raced in from the other room.

  “What was it?” Ryan asked, pulling her to him.

  “An orange...” Her mind recognized what she’d seen. “It was Lewis. Staring in the window.”

  “I’ve been trying to find him. He ran out of Lil’s room when I got the tractor key.” Ryan released her and ran back outside, calling, “Lewis, here kitty, kitty.”

  He’d left the backdoor open. Lewis ran in the door and through the kitchen.

  “Hazel holler at Ryan that Lewis is safe.” Shandra couldn’t stop the giggle bubbling up. The incident wasn’t funny. Giggling settled her nerves.

  Hazel called out the back door, “We have Lewis. Come in.” She shook her head and wandered back into the other room.

  Shandra stifled her giggles and finished making Ryan’s cocoa.

  The door opened. Ryan and a burst of cold air entered.

  Shandra shivered and wrapped her sweater tighter around her.

  “The driveway is clear of my car. I hope you don’t mind, I put it in the barn. That tarp top doesn’t hold up well under too much snow.” Ryan hung up his coat on the rack by the back door and bent to take off his boots.

  “That’s fine. There’s plenty of room.” She held out the cup of cocoa when he walked over to her.

  “Thanks.” He took a sip. “That’s good. I’m freezing. Mind of I take this with me to the shower?”

  “Go ahead. I knew you’d want to get warmed up.”

  Ryan glanced at the crutch still on the floor. “Need help?” He picked up the crutch and handed it to her.

  “No. Lil lent this to me and it works good.” She put the crutch under her arm and headed to the great room. Ryan followed.

  “Hazel, the driveway is clear. You can head home whenever you’re ready,” Ryan said, picking up his duffel bag.

  “When I finish this hand of pinochle, I’ll head home.” She glanced from Ryan to Shandra and back to Ryan. “Unless you want me to leave sooner?”

  Ryan laughed. “Hazel, you can spend the night if you want. But I get the couch. You’ll have to bunk with Lil or sleep in the easy chair.”

  Shandra watched the bantering between Ryan and Hazel. How could he joke and laugh when there could be someone lurking outside?

  Ryan winked at Shandra and left the room.

  She didn’t know what to make of any of this. Pulling out a sketch pad, she started writing down everything she knew. Then she began drawing the dreams with Ella in them. There had to be a clue in the dreams.

  “Honey? Honey? I’m leaving now.”

  Shandra glanced up from the sketch she was working on. She’d traveled into the dream as she drew it. Hazel’s voice pulled her back to the present.

  “Okay. Drive careful.” She put her sketch pad to the side and started to stand.

  “Don’t get up. I know my way out. Thank you for thinking of me. I’ve enjoyed visiting with Lil.” Hazel turned to Lil. “When this snow is gone, you and I will get together for lunch every week.”

  “It’s a date,” Lil said, from the easy chair, her foot propped up on a stool.

  “Tell Ryan good-night.” Hazel pulled the collar of her coat up and headed out the door.

  “Good night!” Shandra called as the door closed.

  “What you drawing that you didn’t hear Hazel talking to you?” Lil asked.

  “Just some dreams I had. Nothing important.” She closed the sketch pad. “I’m going to take a shower. Ryan should be done by now. Keep him company until I get back.” Shandra needed some space from her drawings. Hopefully, when she came back and looked at them, she’d see what she couldn’t see right now.

  ***

  Ryan finished his shower, shaved, and put on his lounge pants and T-shirt. He didn’t have any slippers with him, so he put on a pair of socks to keep his feet warm. He’d drank all the cocoa and was hoping for another cup when he wandered out to the great room.

  He found Lil leafing through what looked like a sketch pad.

  “Shandra know your look at her drawings?”

  Lil jumped and tossed the sketch pad to the side. “I’m not looking at her drawings.”

  Ryan laughed. “I caught you red-handed.”

  “Just like a cop. Always expectin’ everyone to be doin’ wrong.” Her cheeks reddened in color.

  She knew he had her. Ryan sat on the couch on the other side of the sketch pad. “Why were you interested in Shandra’s drawings?”

  “She said they weren’t anything, just drawings of her dreams. But she’d been so absorbed in drawing it that she didn’t even hear Hazel when she was telling her good-bye.” L
il ran a hand over the sketch book. “It was as if the drawings held her captive.”

  The hair on the back of Ryan’s neck tingled. The dreams did have a hold on Shandra. He just hoped they didn’t get her killed. And he hoped Shandra would share her drawings with him. Maybe he could help her sort them out.

  “I’m through in the guest bath. You can go to bed if you want.” Ryan smiled, hoping his comment didn’t sound like he was throwing her out of the great room.

  “I can take a hint.” Lil pushed up off the couch and hobbled down the hall toward the guest bedroom. “You might want to follow me and get your blankets.”

  He stood and carried his cup into the kitchen before stepping into the guest bedroom.

  “Up there. The top shelf of the closet. Them pile of blankets is for the couch.” Lil pointed to the closet in the room. Lewis was curled in a ball on the bed.

  Ryan retrieved the bedding.

  Back at the couch, he dropped them on one end and returned to the kitchen to make more cocoa.

  “You must be starving.”

  He turned at Shandra’s voice. “It’s been a while since lunch.”

  “Let me make you a grilled cheese and soup.” Shandra hobbled over to the refrigerator.

  “No, you sit. Tell me where things are and I’ll make us both a grilled cheese and soup.”

  “But you’re my guest,” Shandra protested.

  “I’m the only one in the house not injured. Sit.” Ryan maneuvered her over to a stool. He returned to the fridge and extracted the items that he needed.

  “Do you think that truck tried to run us off the road?”

  Her voice was so low, Ryan barely heard her question.

  He placed the cheese, bread, and butter on the counter across from Shandra. Keeping his voice low as well, he answered, “I can’t rule it out. Though why… as far as I know we haven’t any solid proof who murdered your father. And there was no way Melody called in a hit on us. She was too forthcoming with her answers.”

  “But her niece didn’t want us talking to her before she even knew what we were talking about.” Shandra picked up a piece of the cheese he’d sliced and nibbled on it.

  “I’m going to look into who is paying for Melody’s room at the nursing home. That’s one of the upper scale places. She couldn’t afford that as the widow of a rodeo clown.” While he was in the shower, Ryan had made up his mind to look deeper into Melody Dean Harmond.

  “Who could the niece have called?” Shandra picked up another piece of cheese. She waved it instead of eating it. “For the truck to have been stolen in Missoula, I’d bet my money on someone from the M Ranch Rough Stock Company.” She shuddered. “It can’t be Adam’s father, he’s dead. That leaves Adam. From what Melody said, they were both in the room at the time of the drawing.”

  “But what would the older Malcolm have to gain from killing your father?” Ryan had been hashing that over in his mind on the drive from Sunnyside.

  “As far as I know, nothing.” She sighed heavily. “Adam had a lot to gain. My mother and his pride.” She shook her head. “All these years I knew he didn’t like me. I thought it was because I was half Nez Perce. But I was a reminder that Mother had bedded an Indian to spite Adam.”

  Ryan rounded the counter and pulled Shandra into his arms. “Don’t let his sick mind change who you are. You’ve been strong for this long, don’t allow his negativity to pull you down.” He tipped her face up. “You have grown into a wonderful woman who is embracing your heritage. His hatred of that couldn’t stop you.”

  The sadness left her eyes. Strength and determination stared back at him.

  “If he killed my father, we have to find proof.”

  He kissed the top of her head and returned to the sandwiches. “We will. We just have to gather all the evidence we can and confront him on Saturday.”

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Shandra picked up her sketch pad to make a bed on the couch for Ryan while he cleaned up the dishes. She flipped through the pages. Each dream had to mean something. She understood the first one. Her father’s death and that he was too good a rider to fall off Loco on his own. The second dream with the tornado of heads. She still didn’t know if Charlie Franks had anything to do with her father’s death. Had Coop discovered anything in the tribal records? All the other people in the tornado had something to gain or prove from Father falling off the horse.

  And then there was the third dream. Being chased and Ryan saving her. Shandra shook her head. Grandmother wanted her to continue digging and she had faith Ryan would keep her granddaughter from harm.

  “What are you looking at?” Ryan asked, walking up behind her.

  “Sketches I made of my dreams. It’s confusing because there are so many that had, in their minds, a reason to kill him.” She closed the pad before Ryan saw the sketch of him saving her.

  “Maybe I can decipher their meanings. I’m not as close to them as you are.” He held out his hand.

  “Let me think about it.” She placed the pad on the table and finished making the bed on the couch. “Are you sure you’ll be comfortable here?”

  “It’s warm and soft. I’ll be fine.” He put an arm around her shoulders. “I checked all the downstairs doors and windows. The house is locked up tight, and I’ll be right here.”

  “I know. I won’t worry tonight. But tomorrow when you go to work, I have to go out and feed the horses. I can’t hide in the house all the time.” She didn’t want to sound like a paranoid chicken, but the incident with the truck was still fresh in her mind.

  “I’ll feed the horses in the morning before I leave, and I’ll be back after my shift. I don’t feel they’ll try anything in the daylight.”

  “They tried to run us off the road in the daylight,” she countered.

  “But they bungled it. We’re still alive and now know something is up. They’ll have to be sneakier. Don’t open the door for anyone who drives up here unless you know them.” Ryan pulled her into a hug. “Promise?”

  “Yes. Thank you for believing in me. I know we haven’t found any positive proof of anything, but we will and you can take the information to whoever will prosecute the murderer of my father.” Even though, all these years, she knew her father hadn’t left her on purpose, it would help her finally put him and her grandmother at peace.

  “When we have enough to convict, I’ll take all the information to the D.A.” He hugged her tight. “It’s been a long day.”

  “Yes, you were trudging around in the cold of hours.” She kissed his cheek. “Good night.”

  He released her. “Good night.”

  Shandra walked over to her bedroom, opened the door, glanced back at Ryan watching her, and stepped into the room, closing the door against temptation.

  ***

  Ryan woke, dressed, and fed the horses. He did a quick reconnaissance of the area around the buildings to see if there were any new footprints. The snow wasn’t disturbed. Returning to the house, he stepped into an olfactory heaven. The spicy scent of yeast and cinnamon and the greasy tang of bacon.

  Shandra was busy flipping eggs and rearranging bacon on a cast iron griddle.

  “You work that turner like a pro,” he said, pouring a cup of coffee.

  “One of my part-time jobs in college was a short-order chef.” She wrinkled her nose. “I didn’t like leaving every shift smelling and feeling like grease.”

  “Don’t you know men prefer bacon perfume?” He grinned and kissed her cheek.

  “Not all men.”

  Her tone made him stare at her. “What man doesn’t like the scent of bacon?”

  “It was another lifetime. Never mind.” She turned from him and set plates and silverware on the counter.

  “There’s only two. What about Lil?” Ryan asked, placing his cup by a plate and sitting down.

  “She was up before you went outside. She’s had breakfast and is working on a puzzle in the other room.” Shandra slid over-easy eggs on to his plate. She repla
ced the pan and plopped three slices of bacon, and a hot gooey cinnamon roll beside the eggs.

  “You weren’t up making these when I left,’ he said, pointing to the cinnamon roll with his fork. The scent from the sweet roll make his mouth water.

  “I keep some in the freezer. I pulled them out last night and put them in the refrigerator to thaw overnight. Then I did a quick rise method and you have fresh cinnamon rolls.”

  Ryan forked a bite into his mouth. The flavors made his tongue sing. “I’ve never tasted anything this good before.” He hadn’t. Even his mom and grandmother’s cinnamon rolls didn’t compare to these.

  “Thanks. They are my specialty. I made them for the café where I worked.” She put an egg and one slice of bacon on her plate along with a cinnamon roll. Before sitting, she replenished her tea.

  “These are insane,” Ryan said, ignoring the other food on his plate as he devoured the cinnamon roll.

  “Glad you approve.” She grinned and put a bite in her mouth.

  The talents Shandra had amazed him. His first encounter with her, he would have never guessed her to be so down-to-earth and able to do so many things he’d witnessed in their short relationship.

  “Remember, don’t open the door today to anyone you don’t know. Tell Lil too. She could let someone in when you’re in another room.” Ryan wasn’t about to have anything happen to Shandra. Every day he spent with her, he could see them growing old together when they were ready to commit.

  “I already told her to stay inside and not let anyone in. I think I’ll put up some Christmas decorations.” Shandra’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

  “No climbing up on things with that ankle,” he reprimanded and kissed her cheek to soften his words.

  “Not me, Lil.”

  Ryan started to comment and Shandra burst into laughter.

  “You think you’re funny.” He stabbed his fork into the remaining half of Shandra’s cinnamon roll. “You lose this for making fun of me.”