Restless Hearts

by B. J Daniels

  “Blaze,” Jake said. “Tell me what’s happened.” He lifted her to her feet. This time she let him take her in his arms. She leaned into him, thankful for his strength. As she buried her face into his chest, she could hear the sound of sirens headed their way.

  * * *

  “WHAT’S HAPPENED?” Jake cried as he saw all the color drain from her face. One minute she’d been on the phone, the next on the floor.

  “My mother’s car,” she said in a ragged breath. “Bud found it in an abandoned building down south. Tawny said they found her body in the trunk.”

  He stared at her, his heart breaking for her. Earlier she’d been so happy, he thought. She’d actually been making some progress in getting close to her father again. She’d confided in him yesterday that she felt at home on this ranch after so many years of avoiding it.

  A bad feeling sent a stab of dread through him as he heard the sirens and looked up to see four sheriff’s department rigs come roaring up.

  He pulled out his phone and called Monte as the sheriff and his deputies began to pour out, headed for the house with guns drawn. “I called your father. There’s no answer.” He left a quick message on her father’s cell phone and disconnected. Had Monte and Allie left the country? Had the man known when he’d seen the sheriff’s plane searching the area what they were looking for and feared that if they found it—

  The pounding on the front door pulled him back. “I’ll answer it,” he told Blaze as he helped her onto a nearby couch. “Let me handle it.”

  “They have to be mistaken. It can’t be my mother’s car.” He doubted that was the kind of mistake the sheriff would make at this point. But when Blaze looked up at him, her blue eyes huge with shock, all he could do was nod.

  He strode to the door, feeling helpless. If her mother’s car had been located in the Breaks and they’d found a body in the trunk... His mind fought the obvious conclusion as he opened the door.

  The sheriff thrust a handful of papers at him. “These are warrants to search the house and the premises, as well as a warrant for Montgomery McClintock’s arrest. Please stand aside.” Jake noticed the lump on the sheriff’s forehead and wondered who’d put it there.

  Bud pushed past him. “Where is your father? And don’t lie.”

  “He isn’t here,” Blaze cried, but they paid her little mind as they all filed down the hallway, guns drawn.

  “Sheriff’s department!” they yelled, racing through the house.

  When they came up empty, the sheriff told two of them to go to Allie Anson’s house. He snatched the warrants back from Jake, taking the one for Monte’s arrest and handing it to his two men. “I want that man in handcuffs within the hour.”

  The men left and only minutes later, Bud’s radio squawked. “Tell me you have him.”

  “No sign of McClintock or Anson. But Hutch Durham is here.”

  “What?”

  “He’s drunk and tearing the place apart. I’ve never seen him like this. He keeps saying that Allie owes him and that he’s going to collect or kill her.”

  The sheriff swore. “Arrest him and take him in. Is there any indication where McClintock might have gone?”

  “Not that we could find. But it does appear that they left in a hurry.”

  * * *

  BLAZE FELT NUMB. This wasn’t happening. She watched the deputies going through the house and searching the barn and bunkhouse. She couldn’t believe any of this. She stared down at the search warrant Jake had handed her as the deputies began to search the property.

  “What are they looking for?” she’d asked Jake as he joined her on the couch and took her free hand in his. “If they have my mother’s car and her...body.”

  “I have no idea. I heard him put a BOLO out on your father and Allie.”

  She looked over at him, feeling some of her strength come back as anger. “He’s wrong. My father had nothing to do with this.” She felt it heart-deep. She couldn’t be wrong. She was just starting to get close to her father again. He couldn’t have done this. “This is just part of Bud’s vendetta against Monte.”

  When Jake said nothing, she felt the weight of the news. The ramifications punctured her heart like a knife. Her mother had never left. All these years, she’d been in some old building. Dead.

  “The crazy thing is that I knew she was dead. I mean, she had to be. I kept thinking that she wouldn’t leave me behind. She just wouldn’t have.” She met Jake’s gaze. “I had to believe that.”

  He pulled her to him, cradling her head as she buried it against his chest. She listened to the steady beat of his heart, felt his strong arms around her. Her eyes filled with tears, but she couldn’t cry. She was too shocked, too shaken, too scared.

  She pulled back to look outside. The deputies were all standing around their vehicles. Whatever they’d been looking for, they hadn’t found it. “They made it sound as if my father and Allie ran away. I don’t understand why they came back for church. I thought they were trying to find a way that they could stay here and be part of this community.” Still, Jake said nothing. He didn’t have any more answers than she did.

  She’d put the past behind her, believing what her father had told her was true. That her mother hadn’t been happy, that she’d wanted and needed another life, that he’d never forgiven her for hurting Blaze by not sending for her daughter as she’d promised.

  Blaze shook her head as she watched some of the deputies climb back into their cars and the sheriff headed back toward the front door of the ranch house.

  She tried to swallow but her throat closed. Jake put his arm around her and pulled her closer. She was afraid his comforting gesture would only make her cry, so she pulled free and stood to let the sheriff in. But he didn’t bother knocking. He stepped in, anger and disappointment in his expression.

  “When you hear from your father, you tell him to come back and face what he’s done,” Bud said, his voice cracking with emotion. “He can’t hide. If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll find him.”

  “You don’t know that he’s done anything,” she said, surprised how calm she sounded. “He and Allie didn’t run. They came home for church and then were going to take a few days to themselves.” She could see that the sheriff didn’t believe that any more than she did.

  She remembered how worried her father had looked when he’d seen the sheriff’s department plane flying so low over the ranch. He’d known that Bud wouldn’t give up until he found something on Monte.

  “What is it between you and my father?” she asked. The sheriff started to open his mouth, no doubt to say he was the law and Monte was a killer. “I know it’s more than your need for justice.”

  Bud seemed to consider that for a moment. “I knew your mother. She was sweet and beautiful and she deserved better.”

  Blaze nodded in surprise. “You had a crush on her.”

  The sheriff scoffed. “It wasn’t a crush. I would have done anything to make her happy. That’s more than your father did.”

  She stared at him. He really believed that everything would have been different if her mother had married him. “Did you even ever ask her out?” She saw the answer on his reddened face. “She didn’t know how you felt.” A thought struck her. “But if you had the night she left, she might have laughed in your face.”

  “I see where you’re going but I had nothing to do with your mother’s death.” He looked down at his boots for a moment before raising his head again, his eyes narrowed and moist. “And your mother wouldn’t have laughed. She was a lady. She would have let me down easy. She was a class act.”

  His devotion to her mother surprised and worried her.

  “Like I said, when you hear from your father—”

  “We’ll let you know,” Jake said, joining her. “But I do have one question. After all this time, sixteen years, how is it that you suddenly f
ound her car?”

  For a moment, she thought Bud wouldn’t answer. When he did, she couldn’t believe his answer. “I got an anonymous call.”

  “Anonymous call?” she cried. “That’s your story?”

  “It’s true.” He had taken off his hat when he’d stepped in and now worked at the brim with his fingers. “Someone who’d seen an old car in a building but hadn’t put two and two together.” As if seeing how disbelieving they were, he let out a growl. “At least, that was the caller’s story. Whoever it was, they were in church Sunday. That’s right. They were there to take the money I left them in the collection plate. You were there, both of you, and your father and his girlfriend. So before you start giving me those disbelieving looks, maybe you should think about that.” He turned and stormed out.

  * * *

  “YOU HEARD ALL THAT, right?” Blaze demanded after the sheriff left.

  Jake nodded. “I have to admit it’s a little hard to swallow. But I don’t think he was involved in your mother’s death.”

  “After sixteen years, he suddenly gets an anonymous phone call and finds her car? Seems a little coincidental, wouldn’t you say? Especially since he thought he had Monte on Frank’s murder. And right after that he finds the car and another reason to want to put him behind bars.”

  He rubbed his jaw for a moment. “Sounds like he paid the anonymous caller at church.”

  Blaze’s eyes widened. “I saw him at the bank. He was acting odd. I was right behind him. He took out five hundred dollars in one-hundred-dollar bills and quickly pocketed them instead of putting them in his wallet. I thought he was involved in that poker group. I said something about him throwing his money away as he left. He looked so surprised... Now he’s trying to make it seem like one of us was the caller?”

  “Did you have any idea that your father was coming back just for the church service?” Jake asked her.

  “You can’t possibly think he—”

  “I don’t know what to think, truthfully. Just that it doesn’t look good for your dad.” Tears filled her eyes. He pulled her to him. “He needs to come back and face this.” She nodded against his shoulder before drawing back to meet his gaze. “You’re worried that he did it.”

  Jake shook his head. He was thinking about the people he’d seen coming out of the church. One of them was the sheriff’s anonymous caller? “I think there is more to all this. We’ll know more once the report comes back on the car—” he didn’t add the word remains “—from the crime lab. In the meantime, let’s try not to jump to any conclusions.”

  “No, the sheriff is doing that.”

  “If you hear from Monte, try to talk him into coming back,” Jake said, but he could tell from Blaze’s expression, she hoped he kept going.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  JAKE FELT CONFLICTED as he disconnected from the call. He didn’t want to leave Blaze alone. He’d heard earlier that a storm was blowing in. Rain turning to snow at midnight. Outside, the day had darkened from the low clouds. He glanced at the time, knowing he probably wouldn’t get back until after dark. After the rain had begun.

  “Tell me that wasn’t my father,” Blaze said.

  “It was Herb Perkins from the hardware store.”

  She groaned. “You are not even considering another poker game.”

  Jake chuckled. “Don’t worry. He asked if I could stop by. I think he feels bad about what happened. But he said he might have something for me.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Something about Frank’s death.”

  “You should go,” she said at once. He started to argue, but she cut him off. “I’m fine. This might be the break in the case that we’ve been looking for.”

  He still didn’t want to leave her. She’d had a horrible shock. He doubted she’d even started to process it. “Come with me.”

  She shook her head. “I want to stay here in case my father comes back. We don’t know that they ran. They could be anywhere.”

  Blaze was clutching at straws, but he wasn’t going to argue the point.

  “Anyway,” she said, “I want a hot bath and some time alone. All of this just came out of nowhere.”

  He nodded and pulled her to him to place a kiss on the top of her head. “Keep your phone handy. Call me if—”

  “I’ll call if I need you.” She leaned back to smile at him. “I’m going to be okay, really.”

  He returned her smile. “I never doubted it. I won’t be long.”

  * * *

  BLAZE WATCHED JAKE drive away. The days were so short this time of year. It was already getting dark outside. The wind had come up and there were dark clouds scudding toward the ranch.

  She stood at the window hugging herself as she thought of her mother and how much she’d hated winter in Montana. What had happened the night she’d left the ranch? Had she driven off, as her father had told her? Or was she already dead?

  When she lost track of Jake’s pickup’s taillights, she shook off the thought that plagued her. Was Allie wrong? Were they both wrong? Was her father a killer?

  She turned back to the empty living room, feeling shell-shocked. She tried her father’s cell phone number again. It went straight to voice mail. She left a message for him to call, that it was urgent. Then, remembering her promise to Jake, she carried her phone down the hall toward her bathroom.

  She’d known that Jake hadn’t wanted to leave her alone, but she needed some time to herself. Maybe Herb Perkins did know something about Frank’s murder. She had a sudden wish that she and Jake had left before this happened. She felt overwhelmed. It was bad enough hearing the news from Tawny. But then she had to watch the sheriff’s department cars racing into the ranch yard, deputies pouring out as they began to search the house and property.

  At the bathroom, she started to reach down to turn on the faucet to fill the tub when the lights went out. She froze. Earlier the wind had been blowing. Blowing hard enough to knock out the power? Losing electricity was common out here in the country. She wondered if her father still kept the candles in the bottom kitchen drawer? The thought of a hot bath in candlelight made her turn toward the door.

  But she took only a step before she heard a familiar sound that made her freeze. Had someone just opened the back door? As she thought it, a gust of wind seemed to skitter across the floor. She shivered, listening, telling herself the wind had blown the back door open. Just like the wind had taken out the electricity? Except that she was sure she’d locked the back door, hadn’t she? Maybe not, given her mental state.

  Blaze realized she’d brought her cell phone into the bathroom with her. She could use the flashlight to find the candles—and close the back door. She felt around in the pitch-blackness for her phone, all the time listening to the howl of the wind outside. She’d laid the phone down when she was getting ready to prepare for her bath.

  She froze again as she heard the creak of a floorboard in the hallway.

  Had Jake come back? He would have come to the front door, which she was sure she’d locked. He wouldn’t sneak up on her. She caught a whiff of men’s aftershave. Nothing Jake would be caught dead wearing. Her pulse leaped as she heard another floorboard creak, this one closer. There was no denying it.

  Someone was in the house and was carefully moving down the hallway.

  * * *

  JAKE HAD TIME to think on the way into Saddle Butte. He kept going back to what the sheriff had said about putting money in the collection plate for his anonymous caller. It had a ring of truth to it.

  If Blaze was right, it had been five one-hundred-dollar bills. He remembered seeing an envelope folded in half. But how had the person picked up the money without being noticed?

  He mulled that over as the lights of the small Western town came into view.

  Herb Perkins was just closing up. He opened the front door to
let Jake in and locked it behind him.

  “Come with me,” Herb said.

  Jake felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. “If this is another ambush...”

  The man stopped walking to turn to him. “I’m sorry about that. I knew they planned to take your money, but I had no idea they planned to beat you up and steal it. I should have. I would have called the law when I found you in the alley—”

  “But what would have been the point, right, since the sheriff’s son was the instigator?” Herb looked embarrassed. “If it makes you feel better, they didn’t get all the money—just a small part of it.”

  The man nodded. “I heard,” he said with a wry smile. “You were expecting the ambush.”

  “I’m just not in the mood for another one.”

  “That isn’t why I called you.” Herb headed to the counter in the back. “I’ve been doing some thinking.”

  “It must be going around.”

  The man ignored that as he pulled out an old calendar. “I keep track of our poker games. I like to see how much I’ve won—and lost. I also keep track of the others who won and how much.”

  Jake frowned, waiting for the man to get to the point.

  “I was looking over the last few months,” Herb continued before glancing up from the calendar. “Frank Anson lost a lot of money. We shouldn’t have given him any credit. He was desperate to win back what he lost, but he only dug himself into a deeper hole.”

  “I heard that. He owed Hutch Durham money.”

  “Not just Hutch, though Hutch was the most vocal.” Herb shook his head. “Frank was desperate. He hit me up for a loan. I turned him down. He was furious. He said he’d already gone to the bank and had asked everyone else he knew. He left here, saying that I’d given him no choice. I had no idea what that meant, but it scared me. Then I heard that he’d gone to Pastor Westlake. They’d called the sheriff’s office and LJ was off duty, but he told the dispatcher he would handle it.”