Heart of Gold

by B. J Daniels

  He hated that she blamed herself. Lindy’s bullying had led to her death. The parents held some culpability as well. They weren’t around enough to care about what was going on in their own home.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  Charlie hugged herself and nodded.

  “Let me see your phone.”

  She hesitated a moment before she handed it over.

  “I want you to have my number in case you ever need me.” He looked up at her. “And I want yours as well.”

  He finished with both of their phones and handed hers back. “It’s going to be all right.”

  She didn’t look as if she believed that. “Good night, Shep.”

  “Night, Charlie. Get some sleep.”

  Not ready for sleep, he picked up the pile of papers he’d cleared off the table earlier. The day’s newspaper on top opened to the horoscope page. He read his.

  Aries, it’s time for a change. Be careful how you react. Don’t be fooled by matters of the heart.

  He laughed as he took the papers to the couch. Don’t be fooled by matters of the heart. That was clear enough. Keep your distance from Charlie. Yep, he definitely needed to maintain his guard. But seeing her again had stirred up all those old feelings. He’d never forgotten her, had often wondered what had happened to her. Years ago, he’d given her his heart. He feared he’d never gotten it back.

  Focusing on the information about the murder, he read through everything again. Something was bothering him. Something he’d seen but hadn’t thought much of at the time.

  It was someone quoted in one of the articles. He found the article and the name. Paul Wagner. He had lived down the block and off the road, but he’d been in clear sight of the old Victorian apparently—and he’d been home that night. Shep made a note to try to find the man tomorrow—after he talked to the stepmother.

  But first, he had to make sure Charlie got to work safely the next morning and every morning. It would be tougher to tail her when she got off work since she seemed to work odd hours. He would figure something out. At least now she had his cell number if she needed him.

  He couldn’t let anything happen to her. Something bad already had—and long before the night Lindy was murdered. Maybe if he could get to the truth... Why was someone doing this to her? More important, what did they plan to do next?

  Finally exhausted, Shep put away the papers and lay down on the couch. As he stared up at the ceiling, he thought of Charlie in his arms, dancing to the radio in the kitchen.

  CHAPTER TEN

  KAT RAMSEY LIVED up Bridger Canyon not far outside of town. From her large home, she had a magnificent view of the snow-covered Bridger Mountains. Shep parked in front of the sprawling log house with its bank of windows and four-car garage. Christmas lights shone from the eaves and a large Santa complete with sleigh loaded with skis stood in the front yard.

  The drive and sidewalk had been plowed so he had no way of knowing if Kat was home. He’d thought about calling first, but had changed his mind. He wanted to see how she’d recovered after losing her husband and daughter. If the house was any indication, she’d bounced back—at least financially.

  The bell chimed out a tune he couldn’t quite place before the door opened. He’d been expecting Kat, who he figured would be an older version of her daughter Lindy. Instead, the leggy girl standing in the doorway was about twelve with dark brown hair streaked with blue. She had her mother and Lindy’s blue eyes, if not the blond hair. She wore ripped jeans and a short T-shirt that said she was cute.

  “I’m looking for Kat.” He cleared his voice. “Kathryn Ramsey.”

  The girl turned and yelled, “Mom!” over her shoulder. “There’s some man to see you!” With that, the girl turned and disappeared up the stairs.

  Shep stepped into the foyer from where he could see the massive living room under a huge vaulted ceiling. Everything was done in whites, grays and tans from the rugs to the fireplace to the furniture. The only splash of color came from the Christmas tree standing twenty-five feet tall at the other end of the room. An assortment of white balls and feathers adorned the limbs twinkling with tiny white lights. There were so many presents already under the tree that they spilled out onto the white furry rug.

  It took a few moments before Kat appeared. Like her daughter, she wore holey jeans with only a lightweight sweater that accentuated her slim body. He had to look closely to see that she’d aged at all from her wedding photo fifteen years ago. But on closer inspection, she appeared to be fighting aging with every procedure available.

  “Yes?” She didn’t look happy to see this stranger who’d come into her house and closed the front door behind him. He was sure her daughter would hear about it for having let him in.

  Now that he was here, he wasn’t sure how to approach the woman. “My name’s Westly Shepherd.” He decided to dive right in. “I’m here about your daughter.”

  Kat frowned. “My daughter?” She glanced toward the stairs before turning back to him. “Cara?”

  He assumed Cara was the one who’d opened the door. “No, Lindy.”

  Kat swayed slightly and frowned. “Lindy?”

  “If you could spare a few minutes?” He had taken off his Stetson and now wiped his feet on the foyer rug before he took a step toward her.

  She didn’t move, holding her ground. “Why would you want to talk to me about Lindy?” she demanded, crossing her arms over her chest, eyes narrowing. “You’re not a reporter, are you?”

  “No, ma’am.” It was clear he wasn’t going to be offered a seat on her expensive white furniture. “I’m a friend of Charlie Farmington’s.”

  The name instantly soured her expression. “I really have nothing to—”

  “You haven’t seen Charlie since the...incident.”

  “Incident?” she snapped. “My daughter was brutally murdered.”

  “And your husband was killed and you were injured. Still, I’m curious why you never reached out to Charlie. She was your stepdaughter.”

  Her voice sounded strangled when she spoke. “As you said, I was injured and in the hospital for—” She stopped herself. “I don’t have to explain myself to you, whoever you are. I lost my daughter.”

  “But not your stepdaughter.”

  She shook her head, anger flaming her cheeks. “Not a hair on Charlie’s head was touched, was it? I’ve never been able to get anyone to tell me exactly how that happened when the two of them were supposed to be in the house together. How my daughter died and Charlie survived. She didn’t even know that my Lindy was outside lying in a pool of blood.”

  If Shep had wondered how Kat felt toward Charlie, he knew now. “When was the last time you saw Charlie?”

  She looked surprised by the question and then angry. “The night my daughter was murdered. I left Lindy in the house with her and look how that turned out.”

  It was hard to hide his dislike for this woman. She wanted to blame Charlie? A fourteen-year-old whose mother had died and whose father had forsaken her for his new wife? He made a show of taking in the house with his gaze. “You seem to have done all right since then though.”

  Just as he anticipated, her anger reached the boiling point. She pointed toward the door. “Get out! You have no idea what my life has been like. How dare you judge me! That girl did nothing but cause problems in my marriage. She resented me and was jealous of Lindy and did everything she could to get her into trouble.”

  She was like a machine gun of resentment and bitterness. It was as if she couldn’t get the words out fast enough. “Charlie.” She said the name like a curse. “I want nothing to do with her or her...friends. Now get out before I call the police.”

  “Not a problem,” Shep said calmly as he started for the door. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the daughter, Cara. She’d come to the top of the stairs. “Now I have a pretty
good idea what the problem was in that house.”

  Breathing as if she’d run a marathon, Kat seemed to have difficulty speaking. “People wanted to blame me. That old bag down the block saying I was never home, that I let the girls run wild, that I was a bad mother.” She choked on the spilled words for a moment before she got control again. “As if they knew anything about what went on in that house.”

  “Did you?” He couldn’t help himself. He opened the door to leave but turned back to Kat, feeling his own anger bubble over. “Did Charlie’s father really know what was going on? Charlie was fourteen. She’d just lost her mother. And all the while, your daughter was tormenting her, making her life miserable to get back at you, I suspect. And you want to blame Charlie? Is that why you’re stalking her now?”

  “What? I’m not stalking anyone, certainly not Charlie. I haven’t given that girl a thought in fifteen years. How dare you come to my house and accuse me.” Kat jabbed a shaking finger at the door as she pulled out her phone. “I’m calling the police. If you ever come back here...” Her voice broke. “Or if Charlie ever comes here...”

  “Why would she?” With that, he turned and walked out, slamming the door behind him. He heard her rush to the door and lock it.

  * * *

  CHARLIE COULDN’T BELIEVE how well her design presentation had gone. She had breathed a huge sigh of relief when Greg had given her a thumbs-up at her conclusion. The client had loved it. She’d left Greg to finish the deal and had gone back to her cubicle, feeling as if her feet weren’t touching the ground.

  “How did it go?” Tara asked and then grinned. “Never mind, you look like the cat who ate the canary. You wowed them, didn’t you?”

  “I think it went well.”

  Her friend laughed. “Play it down, like you always do. What are you going to do to celebrate?”

  Charlie hadn’t even considered celebrating. Shep was staying in her house. Daniel was barely talking to her. Her dead stepsister was haunting her.

  Before she could answer, Greg appeared next to her desk. “I’m taking you to lunch,” he announced. “You knocked that one out of the park, Charlie. Come on, it’s a little early but we’ll avoid the rush.”

  Charlie hadn’t realized that Amanda was right behind him until the woman said, “We need to take her somewhere special.” Greg even seemed surprised that Amanda was tagging along.

  Lunch with Greg and Amanda. Charlie couldn’t imagine anything worse, but she also didn’t know how to get out of it without being rude.

  “Didn’t you have a lunch date with your boyfriend?” Tara spoke up and gave her an I’m-doing-my-best-to-save-you look.

  “She can go out with her boyfriend anytime,” Amanda said to Greg before turning to Charlie. “Wouldn’t it be more fun to celebrate with him at dinner tonight? Much more romantic, too. Let us treat you. You deserve it.”

  “Charlie?” Greg asked. “I understand if you have plans that you can’t change. I just thought since your presentation went so well...”

  She could see how disappointed he was. “No, it’s a great idea.” She looked to Tara, gave her a grateful smile, but couldn’t bring herself to tell a bald-faced lie. It would be too easy to get caught up in it since Daniel wasn’t taking her to lunch. “Daniel will understand.” That, too, felt like a lie though. He didn’t understand what was going on with her at all. Not that she could blame him. He didn’t have all the facts. “I’d love to go to lunch with you to celebrate. Let me text him.”

  As she texted a thank-you to Tara instead of texting Daniel, Charlie desperately wished her friend could come along, but Greg didn’t invite her. Finished, she followed Greg and Amanda toward the exit.

  “Won’t this be fun, just the three of us?” Amanda was saying as she hooked her arm in Greg’s.

  * * *

  SHEP LEFT THE Ramsey property and drove back to Bozeman half expecting to run into the police on his way. But Kat hadn’t called the cops. She’d lied about that. Just as he suspected she’d lied about her lack of knowledge about what had been going on in that house fifteen years ago.

  Had she also lied about not giving a thought to her stepdaughter in that same amount of time? What if she was behind the stalking? He suspected that if she’d found someone who resembled her daughter to torment Charlie, she would have lied about that as well. Which always came back to the question of what was the endgame?

  Somehow though, he thought Kat might be telling the truth about putting Charlie out of her life—and her mind. She’d obviously married well, even better than she had with Charlie’s father. She had a daughter with the man. She had a shiny new life. Why would she risk it to torture Charlie after all this time?

  He still felt angry. Kat had to have known what her daughter was doing to Charlie. Just as Charlie’s father surely had. Why else would he have pleaded with his daughter to get along with Lindy? Did he really think Charlie and Lindy could work it out among themselves? Lindy was older. Did he know his daughter at all?

  It made Shep want to punch something. But he couldn’t change what had happened to fourteen-year-old Charlie. All he could do was find out who was tormenting her again. From Kat’s reaction to his visit, he didn’t think she was behind it. She had too much pent-up anger. He figured if Kat ever let that fury out, she would do more than get someone to quietly stalk Charlie.

  Also, she had too much to lose for something so trivial as revenge—even though he wouldn’t put anything mean-spirited past Kat. He suspected that Lindy’s cruelty might also run in her mother.

  He decided to swing by Paul Wagner’s. Still, as he drove into Bozeman, he couldn’t quit thinking about how Kat had gone on with her life. She’d had another child. Another daughter. To replace the one she’d lost? Had Kat been disappointed when the girl had looked nothing like Lindy?

  Kat’s attitude toward Charlie though came as no surprise. The woman blamed her fourteen-year-old stepdaughter. He was just thankful that Charlie never told anyone about locking Lindy out of the house. She had enough guilt on her plate.

  * * *

  CHARLIE FELT AS if the lunch would never end. At first Greg and Amanda were in a celebratory mood. But the more Greg talked about what a talent Charlie was, the more despondent Amanda became. Charlie feared that Amanda would drink too much and then say or do something they all would regret.

  “How is your lunch?” Charlie asked her the first chance she got. Greg seemed determined to talk business. He apparently didn’t notice how many drinks his fiancée had consumed or how bored she had become. It had been Amanda’s idea to come along on this celebratory lunch, not Greg’s, although he’d accepted her inviting herself graciously enough.

  Amanda looked down at her nearly empty salad bowl, as if unable to remember tasting it. She reached for her drink.

  “I have another client I want you to work with,” Greg was saying. “Speaking of clients...” He put down his napkin. “Would you excuse me for a minute?” He rose from their table and worked his way through the restaurant to a table at the front that had just been seated.

  Amanda’s gaze had been on the liquid in her glass, but now it slowly rolled up to pin Charlie to her chair. “If I have to hear how wonderfully talented you are one more time...” She was already slurring her words and from the look on face, trouble wasn’t far behind.

  “This wasn’t my idea,” Charlie pointed out, then added, “And you didn’t have to tag along.”

  Amanda let out a brittle snort. “Aren’t you the innocent one. Like I’m going to let you have lunch with Greg alone.”

  “That’s your problem, not mine.” Charlie put down her napkin and rose. “I’m going to the ladies’ room,” she said, not wanting this to turn into an ugly scene.

  “Sure, why not? Maybe you and Greg can hook up in there and he can continue to tell you how wonderful you are,” Amanda muttered into her glass before draining it and look
ing around for the waiter.

  Charlie hurried toward the restroom. She had eaten way too fast, but she couldn’t help it. She’d been so nervous that she just wanted the meal to be over. Now she needed a quiet place to escape this endless lunch.

  Stepping into a stall, she sat down, wishing she could stay in the restroom until the restaurant closed. Knowing she had no choice but to go back, she took her sweet time washing her hands and drying them before she returned to the dining room.

  To her surprise, the only one at their table was Greg. She couldn’t help her relief even as she worried about why Amanda wasn’t there and where she might have gone. She hadn’t come into the ladies’ room or Charlie would have seen her. And she didn’t seem to be at the bar.

  “Amanda had to leave,” Greg said, no doubt seeing Charlie look around for her. He got to his feet to help her with her chair, always the gentleman. “Wait until you try this dessert.”

  Dessert was the last thing she wanted as she took her seat.

  “Chocolate mousse,” he was saying. “It’s the restaurant’s specialty and Amanda made me promise that I would make you at least try it.” He picked up his own spoon and waited for her to do the same. “I know she’s a bit...much sometimes. But her heart is in the right place.”

  Charlie nodded, seriously doubting that, and picked up her spoon.

  “Isn’t it delicious?” Greg said, smiling over at her.

  Charlie tasted hers. It was good. She could see that he was waiting for her to take another bite. She took a larger one, even though her stomach was still roiling from her lunch.

  Greg chatted about the company and his plans for the future as he finished his mousse.

  After another bite, she put her spoon down. The first couple of bites hadn’t been bad, but the last one had a strange taste to it she didn’t like.

  “Is yours all right?” Greg asked.

  “It’s really good, but honestly, I’m still so full from my meal. It’s going to be hard enough to stay awake at work this afternoon,” she said, making a point of looking at her phone and the time. “Which reminds me...”