She made her way over to him. He noticed her deliberately looking at the muddied body, as if daring herself not to look away. It was as if she wouldn’t allow herself to be soft. She wasn’t an easy person to read, he thought.
“Sheriff’s on his way,” she told him. Then she finally looked at him instead of the dead man. “You all right?”
“Better than he is,” Sully answered, nodding at the dead man. “By the way,” he asked as an afterthought hit him, “where’s Rawlings?”
She had to think. It seemed like it had all happened a hundred years ago.
“I left him in the stable and told him to feed the horses.” She laughed drily. “He’s probably still there. That man can draw out any chore to make it last all day.” She looked over toward Warren’s body again. Seeing him like that didn’t get any easier, she thought grimly. “Rawlings wouldn’t have been any help digging Warren up,” she said, thinking that was why Sully had asked about the wrangler’s whereabouts.
“Oh, I’m sure of that,” Sully agreed. “I just thought he could have gone after that runaway.”
With all of this going on, she had completely forgotten about the yearling.
Rae flushed. “Oh Lord, he’s still out there.” Getting up, she made a futile attempt to brush the mud off her legs, then gave up. “I’d better go try to find him before he gets lost.”
Sully was on his feet instantly and got in front of her to keep her from leaving.
“I don’t think that’s a very good idea,” he told her. “It’s getting darker, and I don’t think you should be out there by yourself right now. Not until we find out exactly what happened to Warren.”
She didn’t like being told what to do, but for now she ignored that reaction and focused on something else. “Then you do think it’s foul play?”
He wasn’t about to let himself be pinned down just yet. “Like I said, right now we don’t know what to think, but the man didn’t just bury himself, which means that foul play is a very real possibility.” He looked at her sternly. “Which in turn means being cautious.”
Running the ranch had her always putting her own needs last and focusing on what needed to be done. “What about the yearling? There are wolves out there, and he could become some wolf’s dinner.”
Sully could see that if he didn’t do something about the missing horse, she was going to take off looking for it.
“I tell you what. As soon as the sheriff gets here, I’ll fill him in and then go look for the runaway.” He looked to see if that worked for her. “Okay?”
“If you insist on going to look for the yearling, why don’t you go now?” she asked. “I can tell the sheriff how you found the body, and I’m not afraid to sit watch over a dead man.” To her that was a simple solution.
But Sully had no intention of budging. “I don’t want to leave you alone out here, either.”
She thought she heard something ominous in Sully’s voice. “Do you know more than you’re telling me, Cavanaugh?”
“No.”
Her eyebrows drew together as she tried to fathom his thinking. “Then why—”
Anticipating her question, Sully cut her off before she could say anything further. “It’s my background. It makes me cautious, all right?”
His answer didn’t go down well with her. “I don’t need you being cautious for me, Cavanaugh.”
He pulled his lips back in a smile she found patronizing. “Consider it a bonus for letting me work here.”
Her dark look continued. “That wasn’t up to me,” she told him. “That was all Miss Joan’s doing.”
The last of his patience evaporated. “Damn it, woman, does everything have to be an argument with you?” he asked, struggling to get his temper under control again. It wasn’t working. “You would really fit in with my family, especially my sisters. All of you could readily argue the ears off a brass monkey.”
Sully was about to say something else when he looked at her more closely. Leaning in, he saw that there were tears in her eyes.
“You’re crying,” Sully realized, instantly regretting his tone. “Hey, I didn’t mean to—”
Unable to speak for a second without having her voice break, she gestured for Sully to stop talking. Rae waved her hand before his face until she could finally get herself under control.
“No, it’s not you,” she managed to get out. “I was just...just thinking about Warren. I never got to know...to know anything about him and now he’s dead.” She paused for a second to get herself further under control, then went on. “I don’t even know if he has any family, or who to notify that he’s...that he’s...”
She couldn’t bring herself to finish.
Sully started to take her into his arms, just one human being attempting to comfort another. But she fought him, putting her hands up again, this time against his chest, to hold him at bay.
“I don’t need you to comfort me,” Rae protested, an angry hitch in her voice.
“Maybe I need you to comfort me,” Sully told her quietly. Then his arms closed around her.
She made a noise, and it sounded like she was going to tell him off. But she didn’t. This time, she didn’t even try to push him away or to block his arms from closing around her.
Resting her head against his shoulder, she struggled to keep her sobs back. “This isn’t...a sign...of...weakness.”
“No one said it was,” he replied quietly.
Sully stood there holding her until she stopped crying.
Once she did, Rae drew back and then drew in a shaky, stabilizing breath.
“This is just between us,” she warned him.
He cocked his head, as if considering her words. “I guess I’ll just have to skip my byline in your weekly newspaper,” he replied.
A laugh almost escaped her lips in response. “Anybody ever tell you you’re a smart-ass?” she asked, secretly very grateful that he wasn’t going to say anything about her temporary break to anyone.
“Only on days that end in a y,” he told her.
“Well, then allow me add my voice to that.”
The rain was finally beginning to let up when they heard a horse whinny. At first Sully thought the sound was coming from his stallion, but then he saw that there was a shadow just beyond the perimeter of the area.
It looked like the yearling.
Getting over his surprise, Sully told Rae, “Looks like I’m not going to have to go looking for your runaway in the dark after all.”
Rae stared, trying to make out the horse’s shape. It was really murky out.
“Why did he come back?” Rae cried softly, almost afraid of spooking the yearling.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with us,” Sully said. “It looks like he just might be showing off for the stallion I rode.”
Sully looked around for the rope he’d brought with him. Finding it on the ground, he picked it up, intending on using it the way he’d initially meant to—as a lariat.
But when he turned in the direction of the yearling, he saw that Rae was already walking toward it, talking softly and coaxing the horse to remain still.
She drew closer and closer until she was finally next to the yearling.
Patting its muzzle and still talking softly to the horse, she used the same tone addressing Sully. “Now would be a good time to bring over that lariat, Sully.”
It took his a second to realize that she was talking to him. Surprised, Sully picked up the rope again. He caught himself just in time before he started to hurry over to Rae.
Keeping his gait subdued, he crossed slowly over to Rae. When he reached her, he handed her the lariat. She in turn slowly slipped the rope over the horse’s head, all the while continuing to talk to the yearling in a quiet, reassuring tone.
“Good boy,” she purred against the horse’s ear. Raising her
eyes until they met Sully’s, she repeated the words. “Good boy.”
Hearing her, the corners of Sully’s mouth curved in a deep smile, letting Rae know that he understood.
Just as the yearling was secured, the very distinct sound of an approaching sheriff’s department vehicle pierced the air.
He had almost forgotten that he’d had Rae call the sheriff, Sully thought.
Looking at her now, he said, “I guess you did get through.”
“I said I did,” she reminded him. “Reception now is a lot better than it was even five years ago. Ten years ago you were better off beating a drum and trying to communicate that way than trying to reach someone over your cell phone.”
Bringing his car to a stop near Rae and Sully, the sheriff looked grim as he got out. His face grew even grimmer when he saw Warren’s body.
“Looks like you found your missing wrangler,” he commented, squatting down and taking a better look at the mud-caked body. “Any idea what happened to him?” he asked, directing his question at both Sully and Rae.
“Not a clue,” Sully answered. “Thought we might have a better idea about that once the medical examiner brings Warren in, washes all this mud off him and does an autopsy. Once we have the cause of death, we might be able to go from there.”
Rick rose to his feet and turned toward Sully. “There’s one problem with that—we don’t have a medical examiner,” he told Sully. “The closest one is about fifty miles away, and I’ve got a feeling that he won’t be coming out until sometime tomorrow morning. Possibly later.” He saw the surprise on Sully’s face. “This is a very quiet town. There’s no work for a medical examiner,” he explained.
“You can’t leave Warren lying out here all night,” Rae protested. “The animals will start in on him.”
“I’ve got no intention of leaving him out here,” Rick assured her. He looked at the body and said grimly, “I’ll put his body in my car.” He frowned. “Even wrapped up, that back seat is going to be hell to get clean,” he predicted. “You sure neither one of you has any idea how he wound up like this?”
“No,” Sully told the sheriff. “I wouldn’t have even found him except that I literally stumbled over his body. My horse nearly tripped over the mound of dirt created by someone burying him out here.”
Rick slowly circled around the body on the ground as if that would somehow make him think of something. It didn’t. He raised his eyes to look at Sully. “I take it you haven’t checked for bullet holes or stab wounds.”
“We were barely able to dig him up out of the ground,” Sully said, including Rae in the effort even though he had done all the work. He’d never been the type to demand the spotlight. “Without a shovel, this mud you have out here isn’t exactly compliant, especially when there’s rain still coming down.”
“It’s a wonder you got him out at all,” Rick marveled. “Well, we’d better get him into my car if we’re going to bring him back to town. We’ll put him in the trunk,” he decided. “Grab his legs.”
Sully went to the dead man’s legs while Rae went toward the sheriff’s vehicle to open up the trunk. But before Sully bent down to pick up Warren’s legs, he suddenly asked the sheriff, “You’ve got a doctor out here, don’t you?”
Rick looked at him uncertainly. “Yeah. Two, as a matter of fact. Why? Are you feeling sick?”
“No. But one of the doctors could do the autopsy,” Sully said. “Doctors work on cadavers in medical school, right?”
Rick smiled as he nodded, then looked toward Rae. “Looks like the city boy’s right,” he said with satisfaction. He was going to get his answers faster than he had reckoned on, Rick thought.
Chapter 12
Dr. Daniel Davenport drove his nine-year-old silver Toyota SUV into the parking area located behind the medical clinic. The area was almost deserted, a rare phenomenon since twelve hours a day—if not more—the clinic was open for business and usually packed with patients. It had been that way ever since Dan had arrived in Forever from New York City and reopened the medical clinic in tribute to his late brother.
Prior to that point, the clinic had been shut down for over thirty years. If anyone had needed or wanted to see a doctor, they had to travel some fifty miles to get to the nearest doctor.
Coming out to reopen the clinic had only been meant as a temporary thing at the time, until he could get someone permanent to come out. But somewhere along the line, it had turned into his life’s work—and Dan did it happily.
These days Dan ran the clinic with another doctor, Dr. Alisha Cordell, two nurses and a receptionist who was herself training to become a nurse. The clinic was always busy.
The residents of Forever viewed Dan as their savior and he credited them for having saved his life, because being here gave him a purpose he had never really had before.
Despite the fact that he had a family, also thanks to Forever, Dan always considered himself to be on call, and he never turned anyone away. However, he had to admit he’d really been surprised by the urgency in the sheriff’s voice when he’d called.
Getting out of his car now, Dan walked over toward the only other vehicle in the lot.
Because the rain still hadn’t entirely abated, the sheriff had remained in his vehicle. Seeing the doctor, he got out now. As did the two people who had accompanied him. They got out of the back seat.
“Thanks for coming out, Doc,” Rick said once Dan had reached him.
“Sure.”
Dan hadn’t realized that anyone else would be coming. He looked now at the other two people with the sheriff. He knew Rae, but he had just made the other man’s acquaintance at Murphy’s the night of Miss Joan’s party. His eyes shifted back to Rick.
“Am I missing something here?” Dan asked.
Rather than answer him, Rick went to the rear of his vehicle and popped open the trunk. Dan followed him, then took a step back, all but colliding with Rae and Sully, who were right behind him.
“Whoa.” Dan looked at the sheriff. “You really need to warn a man before springing a sight like that on him.” He stared at the muddied body of what apparently was a dead man. All Rick had told him at the time was that it was an emergency and he needed to come as soon as possible. “Who is—was,” Dan corrected himself, “that?” he asked, nodding at the body.
“That’s what’s left of John Warren after we dug him out of what we assumed was supposed to be his final resting place,” Sully explained. “It was on the north end of the ranch,” he added for good measure.
“Miss Joan’s ranch?” Dan asked, trying to clarify things.
Rae nodded. “He’s been missing since the night of that party at Murphy’s.”
Dan looked back at the body in the trunk, shaking his head. Given just the moonlight, it was hard to make out the body’s features. “How did he wind up like this?” he asked incredulously.
“Well, we were kind of hoping you could tell us,” Rick said.
Dan made the obvious leap. “You want me to do an autopsy?”
Rick could hear the reluctance in Dan’s voice. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but yes, that’s what I’m asking you to do,” he replied.
Dan scanned the faces of the three people in the lot with him. “You do realize that I’m not a medical examiner, don’t you?” he asked, still having trouble believing all this.
“We know that,” Rick replied, “but you are a doctor. The closest medical examiner is fifty miles away, and to be really effective, an autopsy needs to be done as close to the time of death as possible. Warren’s already been dead for a few days, maybe longer,” he guessed.
Dan sighed, nodding. “I get it. All right, let me open up the clinic.” He glanced toward the sheriff. “You and Sully can carry Warren into the back. We can get him cleaned up in the last exam room and then I’ll get started. You planning on waiting?” Dan asked just as he was abou
t to open up the front entrance.
“For as long as it takes,” Rick answered the doctor grimly.
“Me, too,” Sully said, adding his voice to the sheriff’s. Everything about this case had him curious, and he wasn’t about to check out now. Turning toward Rae, Sully told her, “I’ll let you know what the doctor finds out.”
“The hell you will,” she told him tersely. “I’m going to be right there in the waiting room with you.” She saw Rick and Sully exchange looks and put her own interpretation to it. In their minds, they were trying to protect her. “Look, I’m not going anywhere until I get some answers,” Rae informed them.
“You heard the lady,” Dan said to the others. “The sooner we get this started, the sooner I can have some answers for you. Hopefully,” he added. Although Dan was an optimist these days, he was a practical one and didn’t allow his optimism to carry him away.
The sheriff and Sully carefully lifted Warren’s body out of the trunk and carried the dead man into the clinic. Rae moved ahead of them to hold open the clinic door and then the door to the examination room.
* * *
“How long does it take to do one of these things?” Rick asked the other two people in the waiting room with him.
By his count, it had been over an hour and a half now. Restless, he had begun pacing around in circles, growing progressively more restless as the time passed.
“Between two and four hours,” Sully answered automatically.
Rick and Rae both looked at him in surprise. The sheriff’s question had been more or less rhetorical.
“One of my cousins is an ME,” Sully explained.
“Too bad we couldn’t have sent him the body,” Rae commented.
“Her,” Sully corrected. “And this is actually faster. Kristin said they usually have their hands full. Kristin’s the medical examiner I mentioned,” he explained further.
“I guess we’re lucky to be this peaceful,” Rick decided, sitting down again on one of the chairs. “Two to four hours, eh?” he repeated. It was obvious that although he was resigned, he wasn’t happy about it.
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