Tempting Fate

by Stacy Finz

  “Uh, she wasn’t feeling well and went upstairs.”

  “I’ll go up, see how she’s doing.” He started to walk away, but Gabe grabbed him by the shoulder.

  “Let her be, man. This is…a lot, Jenk. People here have long memories.”

  “Yeah, well, she left a lasting impression. But she’s changed. She’s really trying.”

  Gabe wondered. Helping her late father set up an innocent man on a murder rap was pretty unforgivable in his book. But she was Logan’s blood, and Logan was Gabe’s brother from another mother.

  “She’ll be fine,” he told Logan. “I’ll handle Raylene. You focus on the wedding and Annie.”

  Logan’s face lit up. It usually did at the mere mention of his fiancée. The man was smitten.

  The party wound down and, as Gabe had predicted, people started heading out not long after Raylene went to bed. Most of the folks in Nugget were either ranchers, farmers, railroad workers, or business owners. It was that whole early to bed, early to rise thing, which took some getting used to. Then again, Reno was only forty-five minutes away.

  He helped clean up and took off to his duplex apartment in town. He rented the place, a no-frills cabin that had been divided into two separate one-bedroom apartments, from the police chief and his wife, Maddy. The other apartment was vacant for the time being, so it was nice and quiet. Sometimes too quiet.

  He pulled down the driveway and did a three-point turn so his SUV faced the road. That way, if he had to go in a hurry, he could rocket out of there. A habit he’d picked up in the military. The minute he walked in, he jacked up the heat. It had to be twenty degrees, meaning there was a good chance of snow. Luckily, the wedding would be indoors.

  It was too early to sleep and too late to do anything else, at least in this town. Gabe plopped down on the couch, propped his feet up on the coffee table, and channel surfed. There was nothing good on. He wound up watching a program about a couple who’d won the lottery. They were shopping for homes in Tuscaloosa.

  Around two in the morning, he fell asleep in front of the TV and was up by nine to take his run. Afterwards, he headed to the Ponderosa for breakfast.

  “No snow yet.” Sophie, one of the owners, led him to a table near the fireplace.

  “Nope, but it’s coming. I can feel it.”

  “Great party last night.”

  “Sure was.” Only a rehearsal dinner and a wedding left to go, then Gabe could hang up his party hat.

  A few tables down, Gabe spotted Clay, Emily, their baby and two boys, and the girl, Hope—now Harper—having breakfast. He nudged his head their way. “How’s that going?”

  “Baby steps, but I think there’s progress. She’s finding her way, not easy for a thirteen-year-old whose whole life has been turned upside down.”

  All Gabe knew was that she’d been abducted when she was six. Over Christmas, the FBI found her, safe and sound, living with a woman who’d died shortly after the discovery. He and Logan had just come back from an overseas assignment and had missed much of the news reports about it, but he’d gotten some of the story from Annie.

  “I can’t imagine,” he said. “I hear the ex-husband bought a place here.”

  “Over at Sierra Heights. He and his wife are planning to live here part-time so Harper doesn’t have to travel back and forth to the Bay Area. Emily is over the moon about it.”

  Gabe wondered if the same went for Clay. Being part of a blended family, he knew firsthand the travails of divorce. The good news was that he, his steps, and half brothers and sisters all loved each other like crazy.

  “That’s good,” he said. “I’m guessing the kid could use some stability.”

  Sophie nodded in agreement. “You want coffee?”

  “Yes, please. And eggs over easy, bacon, and those biscuits Tater makes.”

  “Coming right up.”

  He checked his phone while he waited for his food and returned a quick email to a tactical equipment manufacturer that he and Logan were doing business with. Things were slowly getting back to normal after the holidays. Before he knew it, it would be February. Tonight, he was joining Logan and his parents for dinner. It had been a year since he’d last seen Nick, Logan’s stepdad. The guy, a kickass former frogman, had good stories about the teams back in the day. Gabe never tired of hearing that shit.

  Friday was the rehearsal dinner, and Saturday the wedding. After that, Raylene would go back to LA and his chaperone duties would be officially over. So far, it hadn’t been too terrible. For all her faults, she made him laugh with that attitude of hers, especially the way she poked fun at his accent.

  Logan said she was talking about starting some kind of horse ranch in SoCal, which would suit her. Supposedly, she was quite an equestrian and a former rodeo queen. Gabe didn’t know how someone went about getting the title, but he figured it had something to do with her riding skills. Or maybe it was based on beauty. She had that, too.

  His breakfast and coffee came and he devoured the entire meal. He was just about to pay his bill when Rhys came in and grabbed the seat next to him.

  He waved to the McCreedys, then said, “You have time to take a ride with me?”

  “Sure. What’s going on?”

  “Not sure yet but I’m a little short staffed. The flu…vacations.”

  “Dude, you’ve got to hire more cops.”

  “Working on it, but it’s not easy getting good people up here.”

  No question the town was isolated, but it was a fine place to raise a family. That had to be a good selling point, Gabe thought. “Let’s go.”

  He slapped a twenty down on the table, shrugged into his coat, and followed Rhys outside. The temperature had dipped ten degrees since yesterday, too cold to snow.

  Rhys led Gabe to his SUV. All the officers in the Nugget PD drove one. They were all-wheel drive, with plenty of bells and whistles. For a tiny force, the equipment was top of the line.

  “Where we going?”

  “You’ll see,” Rhys said. “You carrying?”

  “Nope. Should I be?”

  “Maybe,” was all he said, then he started his engine.

  Chapter 4

  Raylene walked into Nugget Realty and Associates. The office had been there since before she was born, but she’d never been inside. It had a professional appearance—new carpeting, taupe walls, a few plants, and a television screen that played a loop of house listings. She stood in front of it for a few minutes, watching. There were a couple she recognized, homes of kids she’d grown up with who had since moved away. Their parents probably wanted to be closer to them and the grandkids.

  After Ray was busted, her own mother had relocated to Denver, just a few minutes from Raylene. Why, she never knew. It wasn’t as if they were close. When Raylene left Butch, it was Logan and Gabe who came to help her put all her things in storage. Her mother had been too busy pretending that everything was fine. Raylene supposed that’s what weak women did when they were married to cheating, abusive husbands. She ought to know, having been married to one and the daughter of another.

  “Raylene?”

  Raylene recognized the woman from the dinner party the previous night, though they hadn’t been introduced. She wasn’t much older than Raylene. Maybe in her mid-thirties. Very polished in a black pantsuit and a red silk scarf.

  “Yes. Are you Dana?” Raylene had hired Dana over the phone to sell her property.

  “That would be me,” Dana said, then stood up to shake her hand. “I meant to introduce myself last night but the time got away from me. I’m glad to finally meet you in the flesh.”

  Dana was a newcomer, otherwise she wouldn’t have been so friendly. Then again, she stood to make a great deal of money from Raylene.

  “Come sit down. Can I get you a cup of coffee…a soda?”

  “I’m fine, thank you. I figured yo
ur message to meet you here was because you want to lower the price.” They’d listed the land last summer and hadn’t gotten so much as a bite.

  “No.” Dana grinned. “We actually have an offer. Apparently, the interested party talked to your dad about buying the parcel before he…”

  “Went to prison,” Raylene finished. There was no need to protect her delicate sensibilities, because she had none. The ranch, the Rosser legacy, had to be sold to pay Ray’s legal bills. And, to be fair, the leftover money had made them all wealthy. Raylene hadn’t been too smart with her share, though, and now it was gone.

  “Right,” Dana said. “But he wouldn’t sell.”

  No, because he’d promised the two hundred-acre parcel to her and Butch along, with Levi’s Gold—if they could find it. “How much are they offering?” she asked and took a deep breath.

  “Full price, as long as the environmental impact report is approved and the well is still good.”

  “How long will those tests take?” She desperately needed the money, but she also needed time to search the place, something she should’ve done when Ray died. But she’d been too busy fighting Butch for full ownership of the land in the divorce.

  Now he wasn’t entitled to one red cent of it, though she’d paid dearly to win that battle.

  “They want to do this quickly. And I suspect you do, too,” Dana said, but she didn’t seem particularly enthusiastic about the deal. Or maybe, like everyone else, the real estate agent was unenthusiastic about Raylene. She’d like the big fat commission she got, though.

  “They’d like a thirty-day escrow,” Dana continued in the same dour tone that was starting to annoy Raylene. “They’re willing to lift their inspection contingency in ten working days. It’s an all-cash deal so nothing’s hinging on the financing.”

  An all-cash full offer sounded a little too good to be true. But the price of the land was nothing compared to Levi’s Gold. If the legend was true, she’d never have to worry about money again.

  “Ten days. Does that mean they’d start with their inspections right away?” She didn’t want anyone mucking around on the land until she’d examined every acre with a magnifying glass.

  “As soon as you accept their offer.”

  Raylene didn’t want to lose the deal, but she needed a few days. “Can I sleep on it?”

  Dana seemed surprised. “Of course.”

  “It’s the only thing I have left of my daddy,” Raylene said by way of an excuse, deciding that she’d start digging first thing in the morning. Ray had sworn by the legend and had considered the gold his secret reserve, telling her and Butch that when the crash came and the banks failed, like they had during the Great Depression, he’d have Levi’s buried treasure to save him.

  It’s safer in the ground than it is in a savings account.

  Her father had always harbored a distrust of financial institutions. Still, Raylene suspected he simply hadn’t wanted to turn over a big chunk of the gold to the IRS. And it wasn’t as if Ray had needed the money. Growing up, Raylene had never wanted for anything other than her parents’ hard-won affection. Her mother was too caught up in her own misery to give Raylene a second thought, and her father was difficult to please, always pushing her to meet his ever-increasing expectations. She’d convinced herself that making him proud was synonymous with love. Only now did she realize that a parent’s love should be unconditional.

  “Are you interested in who the buyers are?” Dana asked, and Raylene got the sense she was being tested.

  Her mind had been spinning so fast she hadn’t thought to ask. She assumed it was a cattle rancher. It was just bare land, after all. Albeit prime usable land with Feather River frontage, but little else to recommend it other than an excellent well that would support an agricultural venture and a good road close to the highway. There was already one of those golf course communities in town. From what she’d heard, the owner was having trouble unloading the homes. She doubted a developer wanted her land for the same purpose. Or any purpose, for that matter.

  “Who are they?” she asked.

  “Moto Entertainment. They develop motocross parks.” Dana let that sink in for a second.

  “They want to turn the land into a racetrack?” What the hell did she care? As soon as Raylene got her gold, she was leaving. The land was far enough away from Logan and Annie’s place that it wouldn’t impact them. As far as the others…not her problem. “Isn’t it zoned for agricultural use only?”

  “Nope. Your father got a variance after he annexed the parcel from the rest of Rosser Ranch.” Dana rolled a pen back and forth on her desk. “It’s my job to represent you and get you the best price possible but…I’m glad you’re sleeping on it.”

  Several seconds of silence stretched between them. Raylene needed this deal—she’d promised a sizeable chunk of the sale to Lucy’s House—and told herself that a motocross park would be good for Nugget. It would bring people and money. Progress. And who was she to stand in the way of progress?

  Raylene put the sale out of her mind and took her time driving back to the farm, wanting to give Logan and Annie some private time before the hordes descended. Today, Logan’s mom and stepdad were due in. They were driving their Winnebago from Las Vegas. Raylene was nervous about the meeting. Even though she hadn’t been born when Maisy and Ray had had their affair, coming face-to-face with the “other woman” would be weird and awkward.

  She thought about Gabe a few times and wondered what he was doing today. He seemed to keep his own hours and didn’t talk much about work. Most of what he and her brother did wasn’t for public consumption. And because she didn’t pay much attention to the news, she probably wouldn’t have understood it anyway.

  As much as she gave him a hard time about being her constant shadow, a secret part of her was thankful. He’d become her security blanket through this whole ordeal. Unlike most men she knew, he didn’t demand anything from her. And even when he was trying to keep her in line for Logan’s sake, she felt in control. Which was a first.

  And for a guy who could have any woman he wanted, he was pretty self-deprecating. More importantly, that New Jersey accent kept her entertained for hours.

  She got off the highway and made her way to Rosser Ranch like a homing pigeon. It’s someone else’s now, she thought as she passed the large iron gates and felt a wave of melancholy settle over her. The ranch had been her hell and her haven and her family’s pride and joy since the Gold Rush. Her great-great-grandfather had built the house with his own two hands after making his fortune, selling beef to the miners. Her grandfather had brought the house into the twentieth century, and her father had turned it into a showstopper. Ray Rosser had always lived large, and the ranch exemplified his excesses. The Olympic-size swimming pool, the two-story stable fit for the best horseflesh money could buy, the wraparound porch with its sixteen ceiling fans. Ray never did care much for the heat.

  She continued to drive, taking the paved road toward the mountains, past McCreedy Ranch and Lucky’s burgeoning cowboy camp. Ray must be rolling in his grave knowing how well Lucky Rodriguez had done for himself. Even in Los Angeles, she’d kept up with his progress. Sports Illustrated had done a spread when he’d hung up his bull riding spurs. And God bless Facebook, where you could stalk a person from the comfort of your own living room.

  When she got to her destination, she pulled off to the side of the road. Nothing but fields and trees and mountains for as far as the eye could see. At night you could hear faint sounds of the highway. But in the light of day, only the birds and the breeze and the river.

  A motocross track, huh? Her gut told her Clay, Lucky, and their neighbors would fight it tooth and nail. Both men held a lot of sway in this town. They’d get the variance undone.

  See, not my problem.

  But finding the gold was. Ray had left detailed instructions, but Raylene had never been good at
reading maps. And the only person she trusted enough with the information was Logan. But the timing was bad. If she signed off on the deal—and she’d be crazy not to—Moto Entertainment would send their environmental engineers to examine the land just as Logan was going on his honeymoon. She wouldn’t ruin it for Annie. Her soon-to-be sister-in-law had made enough concessions by accepting the dangers of Logan’s profession and the frequency in which he’d have to leave the country. No way would she ask them to put their Hawaii trip on hold.

  And, hopefully, they’d return to a big pile of money. Annie could get that new living room set she wanted, and Logan that stupid hot tub he kept talking about. Best of all, the new baby would have a college fund.

  She zipped her jacket up to her neck and scanned the land. It was a lot of earth to cover in a short amount of time. And God help her if it snowed. But she’d power through. What choice did she have? The money from the property wouldn’t be enough to get her business off the ground and honor her commitments. And she’d be damned if she let a motocross company find the gold after losing everything else to Butch. Just the image of her slimy ex-husband made her whack a tree with her handbag.

  “Hey, ma’am, are you okay?”

  Raylene spun around, startled, and found a young girl standing there, staring at her as if she were a lunatic. “You scared me.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Who are you?” The closest neighbors were the McCreedys, and Raylene had a sneaking suspicion who the girl was.

  “Harper Matthews. You probably know me as Hope.”

  Raylene didn’t know her at all, but she was Emily’s daughter, the one who had been kidnapped and rescued.

  “Who are you?”

  “Raylene Rosser. Does your mom and stepdad know you’re out here?” When she was the girl’s age, she used to run wild through these fields. But it was ten degrees out, and frankly the child looked lost. And dirty, like she’d been dragged through a mud puddle.

  “No. I fell off my horse.”