Montana Connection

by B. J Daniels

  He shook his head, still smiling as if he found her amusing. “Why did you?”

  “Why did you lie to Emily about being a friend of my father’s?”

  “What makes you so sure it’s a lie?”

  She reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone and started to dial the sheriff. He reached across the table and gently touched her hand holding the phone. She met his gaze.

  “Can you sit still long enough for me to tell you my way?” He shook his head, answering for her. “Then I’ll try to make it quick. I was twenty-four when I wrote the article about your father’s photographs.” She did the math. That made him thirty-six now, eight years older than she was. “It wasn’t just about your father. There was someone else with him when he took those photos.”

  “John Wells.” Her father’s friend.

  Ford nodded. “His name is John Ford Wells. He’s my father.”

  Her jaw dropped. “How could that be since his name is Wells and yours—”

  “My parents divorced when I was four. My mother remarried. I hardly ever saw my biological father—just enough to…resent the hell out of him.”

  She felt her eyes widen with understanding.

  He nodded. “It wasn’t your father I was going after in that article. It was mine.”

  She was dumbstruck. “You did that to your own father.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m a jerk, but you already know that about me.” He met her gaze, his eyes the color of a warm Caribbean lagoon she’d once photographed for one of her books.

  “That makes it easy for you, doesn’t it.”

  “No, actually, nothing has been easy.” He seemed to turn serious and she felt her breath catch at his next words. “John Wells hadn’t been well. I was with him the day Liam called.” He nodded. “I took the call. Liam sounded…scared. He wasn’t making a lot of sense, almost as if he’d been drinking.”

  She was shaking her head. “My father never has more than a glass of wine with dinner.”

  “You want to hear this or not?”

  She made a face at him and he continued, “He sounded as if he’d been drinking. He said he couldn’t get through to the sheriff, that he was in trouble, that he’d found something. I thought he said bones.”

  “Bones?”

  Ford nodded. “Then he said what I thought was, ‘John, they’re trying to kill me’ and we were cut off.”

  She felt a shiver but couldn’t help being skeptical given who was telling the story. “Why would my father call you?”

  “I answered the phone. I guess I sounded enough like John Wells, and that Liam just assumed—”

  “Why didn’t you give the phone to your father?”

  Ford chewed at his cheek for a moment, glancing out the window before settling that blue-green gaze on her again. “Because John Ford Wells had died just minutes before Liam’s call.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Ford watched her eyes fill with tears. “I’m so sorry about your father,” she said and reached across the table to cover his hand.

  “It’s all right,” he said taking back his hand. He didn’t want her sympathy. It made him feel guilty and he felt guilty enough already. “We were never close.”

  “That’s too bad.” She looked down, her brown eyes swimming in tears, as she cupped her coffee mug.

  He could see that she was thinking about her father, worrying that she might lose him. They were obviously very close. Or had been before his recent marriage, Ford guessed.

  Her gaze lifted to his. “Why didn’t you call the sheriff right away?”

  “I thought your father was drunk. But the more I thought about it… So I came up here determined to get to the bottom of it.”

  She was eyeing him suspiciously, obviously realizing there was a lot more to it.

  “Look, I called your father’s house. I talked to Emily. She told me everything was fine, that she expected to hear from Liam at any time and not to concern myself.”

  “Emily,” Rozalyn said under her breath like a curse.

  “My old man said Liam Sawyer was one of the toughest men he ever knew and one of the best.”

  Hope shimmered along with her tears now. “He is something for his age, isn’t he?”

  Ford nodded.

  She shook her head as if she found it all too unbelievable. “Why would anyone hurt him?”

  “If he really did find bones—”

  “What kind of bones would be worth trying to kill a man over?”

  Ford hesitated, then lowered his voice. “Given what Liam had been doing up in the mountains, I’d say Bigfoot bones.”

  Roz stared at him as if too shocked to speak. “Excuse me? You scientists have discredited the thousands of Bigfoot-like creature sightings around the world saying that if such a beast existed, then why hadn’t a skeleton ever been found. Are you telling me now that you think it’s possible he could have found a Bigfoot skeleton?”

  “Possible. Not probable.” Hadn’t he been waiting most of his life for this? He didn’t believe and yet, God knew, he wanted to.

  Roz eyed him, trying to put her finger on her misgivings about Ford Lancaster. Misgivings, hell. She didn’t trust him. He was the enemy. Wasn’t he?

  “Why would anyone try to kill my father over Bigfoot bones?” she asked, still wondering why he hadn’t gone to the sheriff.

  “You aren’t really that naive, are you? A Bigfoot skeleton would be an incredible find. It would set the scientific world on its ear.” Excitement crept into his voice and his sea-green eyes shone in the café lights. “The bones could prove to be hominid, a subspecies of us, human.”

  “You make it sound as if you believe they exist,” she said, surprised by the enthusiasm she heard in his voice.

  “It’s possible,” he said slowly. “After all the Ishii, the last of a Stone Age Indian tribe, had remained hidden in a canyon only eight miles from Oroville, California, in the early 1900s until they voluntarily came out and made themselves known. The mountain gorilla wasn’t proven to exist until 1902. It would make the person who found the bones famous. Not to mention rich.”

  “Rich?”

  “Those bones are worth a fortune,” he said. “Not just in the rewards being offered for definitive proof that such a creature exists, but to private collectors.”

  She’d never thought of a find like that in monetary terms because she knew her father wouldn’t have, either. “My father would never have sold them. He would have donated them to a museum.”

  “But that doesn’t mean that someone else out there doesn’t realize their value and intends to cash in on the find.”

  “You’re saying that someone found out about the bones and—” A sob choked off her words.

  “Liam sounded like he was running scared when he called.”

  Running scared. That’s how she felt right now. “And you think he’s still in danger?” she said, brushing at her tears.

  “If the bones are Bigfoot bones, then your father is in danger as long as someone thinks he is going to tell about the discovery.”

  He reached over and touched her hand, sending a jolt through her. He jerked his hand back, looking embarrassed as he picked up his cup, his gaze set on the coffee.

  She stared at him, her heart beating too fast, and all he’d done was touch her. Who was this man who could be so kind one moment and so awful the next? And why did her body have to react this way with Ford Lancaster of all people?

  He must feel the same way, she thought as she watched him stare into his coffee. Touching her had been a mistake. No kidding.

  She took a drink of her own coffee and realized her hands were shaking.

  He didn’t look up as he said, “Until the bones are found—”

  “But by now, wouldn’t the person have gotten the bones out of the woods?”

  “I don’t think so or we would have heard about it. The bones could be too large to move. Or embedded in the rock. I don’t know. Maybe your father found something portabl
e like a skeleton and hid it. But if someone had the bones in their possession, they would have made the announcement by now.”

  “You think my father might have hidden what he found?” Roz realized her dad had been making some really bad decisions lately. Marrying Emily. Bringing her to the house here at Timber Falls. Maybe he had hidden the bones, knowing someone was following him. She just hoped it wouldn’t cost him his life.

  “Until Liam regains consciousness we have no way of knowing,” Ford was saying. “Or until I find the bones. The sheriff told me where Liam was found. At least I have a place to start looking in the morning.”

  “I’m going with you.”

  His gaze locked with hers. “It’s too dangerous. If I’m right and your father’s fall wasn’t an accident, then whoever did it won’t hesitate to do the same thing to you if given a chance.”

  “You don’t know this area like I do,” she argued. “My dad has taken me up in those mountains since I was old enough to ride in a backpack. I probably know more about Bigfoot hunting than you do and I know my father. You need me.”

  She wanted to find those bones before whoever had hurt her father profited from them. She also wanted to find the person who’d done this to her father. If his fall really hadn’t been an accident. If Ford Lancaster was telling her the truth. “I am going with you,” she told him. “So don’t even try to stop me.”

  She caught something in his gaze just an instant before he said, “I should have known I couldn’t talk you out of it.” What was it that she’d seen in his eyes? Relief? Or triumph?

  She took a sip of her coffee, watching him over the rim of her cup as he ate. “What I don’t understand is why you would risk your life to help my father.”

  He smiled as if he’d been expecting the question. “Let’s just say I owe him for the article I wrote on him.”

  “You could just write a retraction,” she said. “Instead of risking your life.”

  He shook his head. “The photographs your father took were too blurry to prove anything one way or the other. The experts I had look at them were as convinced as I was that they’d been faked.” He held up a hand quickly to keep her from biting his head off. “Look, I didn’t know your father. Or mine, for that matter. And yes, I did have an ax to grind. I’m not proud of it. But like I said, that’s the past. There’s no going back and changing that.”

  That seemed a bit too simple, but she let it ride. After all Ford’s father had been Liam’s best friend—and had been hurt by the article as well. Maybe Ford also wanted to make up some things to his own father.

  “I think we should keep this just between the two of us,” Ford said, looking up at her. “It sounds like there are enough people out there searching for Bigfoot as it is without word of this getting out. If we stand any hope of finding the bones—”

  “And the person who injured my father,” she said.

  “Yes. If we announce what we’re looking for, we’ll scare him off. Or force him to move quicker to get the bones out before we can find them.”

  Their food arrived. To her surprise, Roz realized she was hungry after all. She’d felt so helpless at the hospital but now there seemed to be something she could do besides pray and wait beside her father’s hospital bed for him to recover.

  They ate in silence, wolfing down their meals as if neither had eaten in weeks. By the time they finished, it was getting late.

  “I want to stop by the hospital and see my father again.”

  “I thought you might. Mind if I go with you?”

  She didn’t mind in the least. In fact, she was glad for the company. Ever since he’d told her about the danger he thought her father was in, she’d found herself looking over her shoulder. She wanted to make sure Liam was safe—and hoped he’d be conscious by the time they got there.

  Jesse Tanner was sprawled in a chair in the hospital room when she walked in. He nodded at her as she entered the room. Ford stayed in the doorway.

  Roz pulled up a chair beside her father’s bed. “I’m here, Dad,” she whispered and squeezed his hand. No response. She began to talk softly to him, talking about the past, reliving memories she’d buried ten years ago when her mother died. He never moved, never gave any indication he heard her.

  She was crying softly by the time she finally stood and let go of his hand. “I’ll be back.” She needed to find out what had happened to him. Ford was right about that, she thought, glancing toward the door.

  But even as she thought it, she wondered again at Ford’s motivations. What was it about the man that made her so suspicious of him? Was it just the article he’d written so many years ago or something else? Something she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

  Roz hadn’t realized how tired she was until she and Ford walked out of the hospital. The night was dark, the clouds damp and low. In the distance lightning flashed above the tree line.

  “I’m going to walk back,” Ford said and handed her the keys as thunder rumbled softly to the west. “Will you be all right?”

  “It’s only a few blocks,” Roz said, surprised she was a little disappointed he wasn’t coming with her.

  “I’ll see you in the morning. Good night.”

  When she drove away, he was still standing in front of the hospital. She wondered if he was worried about security for her father or if he just wanted some time alone. She could understand that.

  Roz thought of her father and felt a chill. Who was it he had to fear? It could be anyone…

  Even Ford Lancaster?

  * * *

  AS A CAR came around the dark corner at the end of the street from the hospital, Ford stepped back into the shadows. A sports car pulled up next to the emergency room entrance. Drew Lane got out and looked around before walking to the passenger side and opening the car door. His mother emerged, also glancing around before rushing inside.

  Drew held the car door open as Suzanne Lane stumbled out from the small space in the back. She shoved away his offered hand for help, obviously intoxicated, and wound her way toward the hospital entrance. “I don’t know why I had to be here,” she said to her mother.

  Emily said something under her breath that Ford couldn’t make out but whatever it was, it wasn’t nice.

  Drew followed the two women inside. Neither noticed Ford in the shadows watching them. Or heard him enter the hospital a few minutes later behind them.

  “Who are you?” he heard Emily exclaim from Liam’s room.

  Ford smiled to himself as he quietly stepped into the room after the trio. Jesse was still sprawled in the chair in the corner of Liam Sawyer’s room but Ford didn’t doubt from watching the man move that he could spring from that chair in a heartbeat if he needed to.

  “Haven’t you met Jesse Tanner yet?” Ford asked behind them. “He’s the sheriff’s brother.”

  Emily spun around, breathing heavily with obvious surprise and displeasure. “What is he doing here?” she demanded, then lowered her voice to add, “Liam needs his rest.”

  Ford nodded. “The deputy is here to make sure he gets it.”

  “Deputy?” Emily was visibly trying to calm herself. “I’d like a moment alone with my husband.”

  “Jesse doesn’t leave the room,” Ford said. “But don’t worry. He won’t disturb you.”

  “On whose orders?”

  “Rozalyn’s,” Ford said, knowing that he carried no weight at all in this matter. But Rozalyn did. She was the man’s daughter, his blood, although legally Emily could put up a fight. But it would take time and a lawyer. “She just wants to make sure her father is safe.”

  “Safe?! He’s in a hospital! What is wrong with that girl?” Emily snapped with disgust. “The sheriff told me that she thought she saw someone jump from Lost Creek Falls?” She was shaking her head as if the idea was ludicrous. “You know her mother committed suicide. Jumped from the widow’s walk in the attic.”

  He tried not to show his shock. No wonder Rozalyn had freaked out at the falls like she h
ad.

  Emily nodded, obviously pleased that she’d shocked him. “I have to live in that house knowing what that poor deranged woman did just upstairs….”

  “You can’t get me near that attic,” Suzanne said, slurring her words.

  “The worst part is that this sort of thing runs in Rozalyn’s family,” Emily said with a shudder. “I’m sure she just imagined seeing someone jump from the falls. It wouldn’t be the first time. Her father told me she heard voices and music all the time after her mother’s death.”

  Ford wished now that he’d seen the jumper. He didn’t want to agree with this woman that Rozalyn had just imagined the whole thing. “Losing a parent like that has to be a shock,” he said, thinking of his own father’s quiet death and how it had affected him.

  He couldn’t imagine what Rozalyn must have gone through after her mother’s suicide.

  “Rozalyn is unstable. Why else would she think she saw a jumper at the river? Or that Liam was in danger?” Emily demanded.

  “I’ll leave you alone to visit with your husband,” Ford said. He glanced in Jesse’s direction, their eyes meeting in silent understanding. Nothing could get Jesse Tanner out of that room short of a stretcher.

  “I just wanted to tell Liam good night,” Emily said and went around to the side of the bed to pat her husband’s pale hand. Drew and Suzanne hadn’t moved from their spots near the door.

  As Ford headed down the hall, he passed Dr. Harris and heard Emily greet the doctor with, “Oh Mark, I’m so worried about Liam.” Ford heard the doctor reassuring her in a soft caring tone. “Is there any way you can get that awful man out of Liam’s room?”

  “I guess the sheriff insisted at the request of the daughter. My hands are tied, Em.”

  As Ford left the hospital, the sky to the west glittered with lightning. He could practically feel the low rumble of thunder echo in his chest. It wouldn’t be long now before all hell broke loose, he thought, thinking of the coming storm—and the one inside him.

  * * *

  ROZ PARKED in front of the house noticing that, while a couple of lights burned inside, Drew’s car was gone. Were they still at the hospital?