Montana Connection

by B. J Daniels

  “This is my daughter Suzanne and my son Drew,” Emily said. “Mr. Lancaster has graciously accepted my invitation to dine with us tonight.”

  “Lancaster?” Rozalyn said behind him in the doorway.

  He turned to look at her and felt himself tense at the frown on her face. Clearly, she was trying to place the name.

  Drew, who appeared to be a few years older than his sister, had gotten to his feet and was holding out his hand. Ford took it but noticed the young man’s attention was more on Rozalyn.

  “Mr. Lancaster is staying in our guest house for a while,” Emily was saying.

  “Really?” Suzanne was a younger version of her mother. Slim, blond and blue-eyed. Her eyes seemed a little glazed, and he noticed that not only was her dirty wineglass empty, but also the bottle in front of her was almost spent.

  “Lancaster?” Rozalyn repeated from the doorway.

  “Why don’t you sit by my daughter,” Emily said to him.

  He went around the table, aware that Rozalyn still hadn’t joined them. Emily had left a chair between Suzanne and Drew for her other guest.

  “Rozalyn, if you’d care to join us,” Emily said, her tone as sharp as a glass shard. “Let’s not have a scene in front of Liam’s friend and our dinner guest.”

  Rozalyn didn’t seem to hear her. Nor was she looking at the older woman. Instead, her gaze was locked on Ford. “I missed your first name, Mr. Lancaster.”

  He met Rozalyn’s brown-eyed gaze, almost afraid to tell her but not sure why. Emily hadn’t even raised an eyebrow when he’d told her. “Ford. Ford Lancaster.”

  “Ford Lancaster?!” Roz spat and stepped toward him as if she planned to leap the table and go for his throat. She definitely looked like she wanted to. “You lying bastard. You’re no friend of my father’s. What the hell are you doing here?”

  * * *

  SHERIFF MITCH TANNER sat in his patrol car outside the Timber Falls Courier trying to decide what to do about Charity. A few weeks ago he’d almost lost her to a killer. Bud Farnsworth was dead, but Mitch feared that the man who killed him was even more dangerous.

  Whatever Charity wrote in her newspaper would set Wade Dennison off. The owner of Dennison Ducks was a powerful man in this town and he used that power and money to get his way. Men like that often thought they were above the law.

  One thing was for certain, Bud would never have come up with the idea of kidnapping the Dennison baby by himself. Mitch suspected he’d been paid. That’s why Mitch had subpoenaed Wade Dennison’s and Bud Farnsworth’s financial records. Wade’s attorney had held up the process for two weeks, arguing the case was closed. The kidnapper was dead.

  But Mitch wasn’t giving up because he knew in his heart that the true kidnapper, the person who’d planned the whole thing and paid Bud Farnsworth to snatch Angela Dennison, was still out there. Still walking around thinking he’d gotten away with it.

  A tap on the glass made Mitch jump. “Jesse,” he said rolling down his window. “I wish you’d quit sneaking around in the dark.”

  Jesse’s smile was all Tanner dimples. He was just a little shorter than Mitch, stockier though, with long black hair pulled back in a ponytail, a gold earring in his right ear and handsome to a fault. “Hey, little bro. Spying on your woman?”

  Mitch shook his head, not wanting to talk about Charity, especially with his brother. It was no secret that Jesse wished Charity had fallen for him. Mitch was just getting used to having his brother back in town. There’d been a time when he believed his wild, older brother was headed straight for a life of crime.

  But Jesse had come back to Timber Falls a few weeks ago and really seemed to be trying to make up for his past mistakes. Mitch couldn’t help but respect his brother for that. Jesse had also brought Mitch and their father closer.

  “I thought you’d like to know,” Jesse said now. “I just saw Wade Dennison move lock, stock and barrel into one of the units out at Florie’s.”

  Mitch stared at him. “Nina’s old unit? Aries?” Florie, a self-proclaimed psychic, had turned her motel into bungalow rentals years ago and named each of the twelve for the signs of the Zodiac. “What’s up with that?” Mitch asked.

  “Looks like Daisy threw him out.”

  What were the chances of that? Nil. Unless Daisy had something on Wade that she was holding over his head. Like she knew he was behind the kidnapping of their daughter, Angela. Or Daisy and her lover’s daughter.

  Mitch looked at Jesse, both of them no doubt thinking the same thing. If Angela had been a love child, then the father of that baby might very well be their own father, Lee Tanner. Lee and Daisy had had an affair in the year before Angela was born.

  “How’d Wade seem?” Mitch asked, even more worried about Charity now.

  Jesse shook his head. “He didn’t look good. I’d say the man was about at the end of his rope. Can you imagine what will happen when this gets around town?”

  And it wouldn’t take long for that to happen given that Charity’s Aunt Florie was one of the biggest gossips in town. And then there was Charity.

  Mitch groaned at the thought of Charity’s newspaper hitting the streets in the morning. There would be fireworks, sure as hell. He just hoped no one got killed.

  “Damn,” he swore, wondering if he should pay Wade a visit tonight. By the next day, Mitch was pretty sure he’d have the financial reports on Wade Dennison and Bud Farnsworth. And he figured he’d be paying Wade a visit once he had proof in hand anyway. No reason to court trouble tonight.

  The patrol car radio squawked. Mitch took the call. A man had been found unconscious at the bottom of a cliff, not far from the recent Bigfoot sighting spot, and dropped off at the hospital. No ID.

  Mitch turned to his brother. “Sounds like one of those damned Bigfoot hunters fell off a cliff and is over at the hospital.”

  “You need any help? I was headed home but I could tag along.”

  Mitch shook his head. In remote areas of Oregon, sheriffs worked alone—unless they needed to call in state investigators for help—or they could deputize someone locally for the short term.

  “Later, then,” Jesse said and headed toward his motorcycle parked in the alley.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “Rozalyn! Have you lost your mind?” Emily cried.

  Roz stood glaring at Ford Lancaster, so angry she couldn’t speak.

  This man sitting in the house that had once been her home was Ford Lancaster, the man who had ruined her father’s reputation. The man who had almost killed her at the waterfall. The man who had lied about being Liam’s friend. The man who had finagled his way into the guest house.

  And if that wasn’t bad enough, he’d…kissed her!

  “Do you have any idea who this man is you’re letting stay in the guest house?” she demanded, turning her hard-eyed gaze on Emily.

  “Of course I do. Ford Lancaster. He’s a scientist up here doing some research and a friend of your father’s.”

  Emily never ceased to amaze her. “This man is no friend of his. Quite the opposite.”

  “Wait a minute,” Ford interrupted loudly. “Who the hell is your father?”

  “Liam Sawyer,” Rozalyn snapped. “But if you really were his friend, wouldn’t you know that?”

  “You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” Ford stared at her. And just when he thought his luck couldn’t get any worse. Liam Sawyer’s daughter. I’ll be damned.

  His gaze went to her lips. Her mouth was a wide, full mouth, sensual. He wished he’d taken more time with that kiss in the garden. All that kiss had done was whet his appetite. But if he got another chance—

  Then his gaze drifted up to her eyes. He couldn’t help but chuckle. If looks could kill, he’d be pushing up daisies right now. He didn’t even want to think about his chances of ever getting to kiss this woman again.

  “You think this is funny?” she demanded.

  “Not really.” Ironic? Tragic? Just his luck that this crazy doe-eyed strawberry
blonde was Liam Sawyer’s daughter.

  He couldn’t help but think about earlier when he’d had her in his arms. Unconsciously, he rubbed his shin and saw the hint of a smile curve her lips. No question about it, she was a menace and now she was his.

  Why hadn’t someone told him Liam had a daughter? Didn’t he remember Rozalyn saying something about it having been years since she’d been up here? Yeah. So maybe that was the reason he was taken completely unaware.

  He knew the old man had remarried and had a couple of adult stepchildren—but a daughter who looked like this? Worse, a daughter who was obviously going to make things harder for him? Oh, hell. This changed things considerably.

  “I can’t believe you’d be so rude to our guest,” Emily said, sounding close to tears.

  “This man is not our guest,” Rozalyn said, narrowing those eyes at him with obvious venom.

  He figured her bite was probably worse than her bark—or her kick. Clearly, Rozalyn was a woman to be reckoned with.

  “Why don’t you tell us, Mr. Lancaster, what you’re really doing here?” She glared at him as if she hadn’t missed him giving her the once-over. Those big brown eyes were hot with anger and a clear warning.

  This wasn’t going to be easy. But there were ways. Even with a woman like her. A woman who thought she didn’t need a man.

  “I guess the cat has his tongue. Mr. Lancaster here is the man who wrote the article about my father, calling him a liar and a fraud,” Rozalyn said, still glaring at him.

  “What article?” Emily asked.

  “The article that accused him of faking photographs of Bigfoot and perpetuating a hoax,” Rozalyn said. “It was my father’s word against Ford Lancaster and his so-called experts.”

  Not exactly, Ford thought. There’d been another man with Liam Sawyer, another witness, who had also been discredited. And that article had been years ago. “I need to talk to you,” he said to Rozalyn as he got to his feet.

  She shot him a when-hell-freezes-over look.

  “Maybe it was another Ford Lancaster,” Emily suggested.

  “How many Ford Lancasters do you think there are?” Rozalyn demanded.

  A maid appeared in the doorway behind Rozalyn. “Excuse me. There’s someone here to see you.”

  No one seemed to hear her.

  “Wasn’t that article years ago?” Drew asked.

  “Yes,” Emily chimed in. “Who would even remember, let alone care—”

  “I remember and I care,” Rozalyn shot back. “So does my father. Do you know the man you married at all? Or what matters to him? Do you have any idea what that article did to him?”

  “I’m sure Mother didn’t know Mr. Lancaster wrote the article when she offered him the guest house,” Drew said.

  “Of course not,” Emily said. “I would never do anything to hurt Liam. Or you, Rozalyn, dear. He told me he was a friend of Liam’s, and since there was no place in town to stay…”

  “Excuse me. There is someone here to see you,” the maid repeated.

  “Ilsa, can’t you see we’re about to have dinner?” Emily snapped. “Tell whoever it is to come back some other time and close the doors behind you.” She shot Rozalyn a look as if to say now everyone in town will be talking about your behavior.

  “It’s the sheriff. He wants to speak to Rozalyn,” Ilse persisted.

  “Rozalyn? Why would the sheriff want to talk to her?” Emily said as if it was the prince at the door with a glass slipper. “Oh Rozalyn, you didn’t already involve the sheriff in our affairs, did you?”

  “What do you want me to tell the sheriff?” the maid asked nervously. “Should I tell him to come back?”

  “No, Rozalyn and I will both see him,” Ford said. The maid turned tail and disappeared down the hall. “If you will excuse me,” he said to Emily and the others. “I apologize, Emily, but Rozalyn and I really do need to talk to the sheriff.”

  Ford took Roz’s arm and practically dragged her out into the hallway, closing the French doors firmly behind them.

  “We have to talk,” he whispered. “I had no idea Liam had a daughter. But now that I do… I’m here because I think your father is in trouble.” He held up a hand to ward off her questions. “I will explain later. Right now we need to see the sheriff. I assume you called him about earlier and that’s why he’s here?”

  She jerked free, but he could see her anger deflating at his words. “My father’s in trouble?”

  “Possibly. Look, you called the sheriff about what you thought you saw at the falls, right? Let’s get this over with, then you can tell me what you think of me at length,” he said reasonably. “And I’ll tell you everything I know about your father.”

  She obviously didn’t feel like being reasonable. “I want to know why my father is in trouble and what that has to do with you and I want to know now,” she said, keeping her voice down.

  He groaned. “There isn’t time now.” He looked past her to where the sheriff was standing and watching them, then lowered his head and said quietly, “If you say anything to the sheriff, I’ll deny it and you will never know why I’m here.”

  Her eyes flared with anger.

  “Let’s tell the sheriff what you saw,” he added, loud enough that the officer of the law could hear.

  Her body trembled with obvious rage as he took her arm and drew her toward the front door and the sheriff.

  “Mitch,” she said when she saw the uniformed man at the door. She broke free of Ford’s grasp and rushed toward the sheriff.

  Mitch? She knew him? Of course she might. She must have lived here until her mother had died. Sure. The conversation he’d overheard in the garden was starting to make sense. So was her relationship with the people in the dining room.

  Ford met the sheriff’s interested gaze, and felt his insides tighten. The sheriff had come for more than just a statement from Rozalyn about a possible suicide at Lost Creek Falls. Ford stood back, watching the sheriff’s face and Rozalyn’s body language. She hugged the cop and they exchanged a few pleasantries, then Ford heard the words he’d been dreading.

  “A fall? Is Dad all right?”

  The sheriff had taken off his hat. “He’s in a coma, Roz.”

  “We have to get him flown out to Eugene, to the hospital there—”

  The sheriff was shaking his head. “His condition is such that the doc says he can’t be moved right now.”

  “I’m going to the hospital to see him,” she said, pushing past Ford as he joined them. She ran up the stairs, no doubt to get her purse and car keys.

  Ford found himself under the sheriff’s intense scrutiny.

  “I don’t believe we’ve met,” the lawman said.

  “No, I’m Ford Lancaster.” From the sheriff’s negative reaction it was obvious Ford’s reputation had preceded him.

  The sheriff started to ask him something, but behind them, the dining room doors burst open. Ford was surprised it had taken Emily this long.

  “What’s going on?” she demanded.

  As the sheriff filled her in, she burst into tears and called for Drew. Suzanne finally came out seeming more irritated than anything else. “Liam’s been hurt,” Emily cried. “Drew, will you drive me to the hospital?”

  “Of course, Mother,” he said.

  “I just need to change,” she said looking down at her shoes. Ford would guess she didn’t want to get them wet.

  “I’ll stay here, Mother,” Suzanne said. “In case anyone calls.”

  Why would anyone call? Ford wondered. Suzanne still held her wineglass. She drained it and turned back to the dining room. A look passed between Suzanne and Emily before a tearful Emily ascended the stairs with Drew following after her.

  Ford noticed that Emily hadn’t asked about Liam’s accident. “Where was he found?” he asked as the others left him and the sheriff alone.

  “Up Maple Creek. When did you get to town?”

  “Rozalyn followed me in from Oakridge.”

  “T
hen you saw the jumper at Lost Creek Falls?” The sheriff sounded surprised.

  Ford shook his head. “I’m not sure there was a jumper. I think she might have…imagined it. She’s been pretty upset about her father—and with good reason it seems. Who found him?”

  “Some Bigfoot hunters. They dropped him at the hospital.” The sheriff glanced up the stairs as Rozalyn hurried down.

  Ford reached for the keys dangling from her fingers. “I’m driving you.”

  “I’d like to have a few words with you at the hospital,” the sheriff was saying to Ford.

  “No problem.” He took the keys from Rozalyn before she could protest. The sheriff raised a brow, probably expecting Rozalyn to put up a fight. “We’ll see you at the hospital, Sheriff,” Ford said.

  Roz let Ford open the passenger side door of her SUV for her, then watched him hurry around to slide behind the wheel.

  She leaned back against the seat, fighting panic, as she gave him the four-block directions to the Timber Falls hospital. Her father was in a coma. Mitch said he’d fallen from a cliff up Maple Creek Road and had been found by some Bigfoot hunters. Hadn’t she known something had happened to him? If only she’d come sooner. If only—

  Her gaze swung to Ford, suddenly remembering what he had said. “What did you mean when you told me my father was in trouble?” she asked as they neared the hospital.

  He shot her a look, then turned back to his driving. “Let’s just go to the hospital and find out what we can for now, all right?”

  “No,” she said, sitting up a little straighter. “You said it was the reason you were here. Did you mean Timber Falls? Or the house?”

  “There isn’t time to get into this right now. I’ll tell you everything,” he said, meeting her gaze. “After you see your father.”

  Ford swung the SUV into the hospital emergency entrance. Roz closed her eyes tightly for a moment, trying to hold it together. She had to be strong—for her father. She’d deal with Ford later.

  Before he had the car parked, she was out and running toward the emergency room door. He caught up with her in time to open the door for her.