by M Elle Kelso
David looked at him in amazement.
“I guess I’d better thank the guys for getting it ready. I never even thought about it until yesterday.”
“Don’t be thanking any guys. They had nothing to do with it.”
“Then who?”
As he asked, he knew.
“Your wife did it. She also traded in your truck for this year’s model, bought a van and had both conversions done. All you have to do is take the test and get the endorsement for hand controls on your license. Oh, yeah, she even made renovations in your barn. You can reach everything you need to work with your horses. Mac Blade told me she even lowered all the gate latches. By herself. She sat on a chair and put them where you could reach.”
David was speechless.
She’d done that for him, after the way he’d treated her? His groan was loud, filled with pain.
“What’s the matter, do you hurt someplace?” A worried Matt stepped closer to the bed.
“Yeah, Doc, I do. But there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s a self-inflicted wound.”
His derision of himself was evident in his tone of voice. Matt looked at him, then pulled up a chair.
“Okay, now that you’ve said that much, maybe I can help. What do you want to do about all this David?”
He was silent for so long that Matt thought maybe he wasn’t going to answer. Then he drew a deep breath.
“I’d like to find her, tell her how sorry I am for the things I said. Tell her I love her and that I need her.”
He waved his hand before Matt had a chance to speak.
“Not that kind of need. The kind of need a husband has for the woman he loves.”
“So why can’t you have all that?”
“Doc, you were here. You heard what I said. I went out of my way to destroy her. I thought she’d lied to me. I wanted her out of here. I didn’t want her being a martyr for my cause.”
He stared at the ceiling for a moment before continuing.
“I’m the one that told her to get out. Then told her not to try coming back. Ever. That’s what would have destroyed her.”
He looked at Matt again before he spoke.
“Now, I don’t know where she is. I don’t know what she’s doing. She won’t answer her phone. Annie told me she left the house more than a month ago so I won’t find her there. I don’t know what else to do.”
“For a man with such an intelligent brain, how can you be that dense?”
Matt’s question was asked with a smile, taking the sting out of the insult.
“What do you mean?”
“You are an investigator. Your partners are investigators. Those three guys you have working for you who showed up here regularly are investigators. That tell you anything?”
David’s smile grew, as he answered the question.
“Investigate! Why the hell didn’t I think of that?”
“Probably because you’re so close to the situation, you forgot what it was you all do.”
David was dialing his cell phone before Matt had finished speaking. When he got the office voice mail, he left a brief, terse message.
“Blake, Jared, it’s David. Anyone. Somebody call me.”
He punched the button to end the call.
“Thanks, Doc. I appreciate all this. Can I let them know to pick me up on Monday? For sure?”
His eager smile made Matt wish all his patients could recover as well as David had. Sure, he still had a long way to go, but he was over the worst hurdles. He’d accepted that his life would be different. He’d learned to handle some of the problems and he’d learn to overcome the rest.
When Mac got back to the ranch, he retrieved the messages from their voice mail, surprised to hear one from David.
It wasn’t the message; it was the tone of voice that surprised him.
Calling David’s cell phone, he hoped nothing else had gone wrong.
“Yo, it’s David. Talk to me!”
This kind of attitude from David completely floored Mac. He actually wondered if the man had been drinking. Since he was in a hospital, probably not.
“Hi, David, it’s Mac.”
“Thanks for calling back so soon, Mac. I’m on pins and needles here, waiting to tell someone my news.”
Mac heard him take a deep breath and let it out in a huge whoosh.
“What news? What’s up?”
“They’re letting me out of here. Monday!”
David’s happiness was screaming down the lines, his voice telling anyone who heard how really happy he was.
“Way to go, David. So what do you need?”
“I need you. Here. Like yesterday. I’ve lined up a job that has to be done right away and I need an investigator. You’re it. How soon can you be here?”
“Well, I can probably drive there as fast as I could get a plane lined up, and that way I have a car. I could be there by supper time tonight.”
“Great. But I don’t want you to bring your car. If you’re going to drive, bring that minivan I hear is sitting there waiting for me. You can take me with you if you find any leads to follow.”
“What’s the job, David? Want to let me in on the details?”
“Not until you get here. Just get yourself down here, fast. I’ll be in my room when you get here. I washed out of rehab today, pulled a shoulder muscle. I now have a few days off coming. So get here, fast. The sooner you’re here, the sooner we can start.”
When David hung up on him, Mac just stared at the phone. This certainly sounded like a different David. Maybe he had finally turned the corner. Maybe he’d be an easier person to live with now he was coming home.
He left a note for Blake or Jared. He couldn’t remember who was here this week. Wouldn’t do to disappear without letting them know. He was on his way across to his trailer when he saw Jared’s SUV pull in. He stopped and waited, wanting to tell someone the news in person.
Jared was out of his car and running toward him before the motor had quit turning.
Grabbing Mac’s hand he started pumping it. Mac just looked at him as if he’d taken leave of his senses.
“Congratulate me, Mac, I did it!”
“Congratulations... you did what?”
“I caught them in the act. Those guys that have been rustling cattle. I caught them!”
Jared was so high on excitement, Mac just shook his head. This was beginning to be a very strange day.
“So, how? Where? Tell me everything. Then I can relay it to David when I see him tonight.”
Jared immediately forgot about the rustlers, focusing on Mac who had news about David.
“Why are you seeing him tonight? What’s happened?”
“He phoned here today, looking for an investigator. I was the first one back and when I called him, he told me to get myself down to Cheyenne, in the new minivan that’s been fixed up for him, he had a job for me. Want’s something done but wouldn’t say what it was.”
“Well, as soon as you know what he’s up to, you phone here and let us know. This isn’t like him. He hasn’t shown any interest since the accident in anything we’ve been doing around here.”
“Maybe it has something to do with him coming home on Monday.”
When he dropped that tidbit into the dead silence it sounded like a twenty-one gun salute.
“What? He’s coming home? They’re letting him out?”
“So he said. He wasn’t real forthcoming with details, he was too busy giving me directions. He sounded a lot like the David we all used to know and love.”
Jared was on his way back to his SUV at a run.
“Jared, stop! You didn’t tell me about how you caught those cattle thieves.”
“Oh, yeah. Sorry, I just wanted to get home and let Annie and Kaycee know. She’s at our house, and Blake will be there for dinner. Sorry. Guess I just got carried away.”
“I don’t blame you, but tell me about the rustlers.”
Ten minutes later, a smiling Mac pulled ou
t, on his way to David’s ranch to pick up the new minivan. He had all the details of the big bust, which Jared had helped plan. He had enough clothes for three days. And he figured if he couldn’t find a hotel room close by, he could always spend the night in the hospital’s family room. Wouldn’t be the first time.
Annie heard Jared’s car speeding down the driveway and wondered what was wrong. When Kaycee registered the speed the vehicle was moving, she, too, looked up.
“That’s Jared, and he’s in an awful hurry. Wonder what he’s up to.”
By the time she finished speaking, she was outside, waiting for him on the top step of the porch. What she saw made her smile. A leaping, laughing Jared came bounding up the steps and grabbed her, swinging her around until he made them both dizzy. He set her down gently, then kissed her.
“Oh, Annie, I’m so happy I could burst. Today has to be the happiest day I’ve had since I married you.”
Kaycee had been watching all this with interest, wondering when he’d finally get around to telling them what had happened. She’d better ask, or they’d never hear.
“Okay, Jared, you’re happy, it’s a good day, what on earth has happened?”
“I found the cattle rustlers, they’re under arrest and all eight of them are in jail.”
“Whooeee!”
Kaycee’s leap and whoop of joy echoed through the trees.
“How? When? Come on, tell us.”
Annie was just about as exuberant in her actions, but she was still locked in his arms so couldn’t leap around.
“I started, about a week ago, working out some trajectories. I started watching all the roads leaving ranch properties that lined up with the path David took in the helicopter. They’re all part of that network of roads the oil and gas companies built, just like C.J. figured out. I figured that whoever shot him, had to be on one of the ranches that surrounded the crash site. Since it was all mountains on one side, it made it easy. All the roads led to a hub, one spot in the middle. Will, Paul and I have taken turns staking out that area on the off chance that cattle-hauler would show up again. The police knew what we were doing, they just didn’t have the manpower to help us; but as soon as that truck pulled out of there today, I phoned and they came running. I followed the truck and let the police know where we were. They set up a roadblock and we caught them. It was Gus Lowden and John Williams who organized it, so we’ll have to keep an eye on Mike. I don’t want him to suffer for what his dad did.”
Annie reached up to pull his head down. She planted one kiss, then another.
“Okay, you two, you can save that for later. Have you told Blake yet?”
“No, he’s out of phone range. I’ll just wait until he gets back here.”
He swung Annie around again. Then he remembered.
“Man, I nearly forgot the other news. David is being sent home on Monday. They’re letting him out. Mac’s on his way to Cheyenne right now; David has some job he wants him to come for. Then on Monday, they’re sending him home! I told you this was a good day.”
His news left the two women speechless. They had all known this day would come, they just hadn’t thought it would be this soon.
Kaycee became quiet and when she spoke, it was a solemnly asked question.
“Does C.J. know?”
“How could she? No one knows where she is. I’ve looked. I know Blake has looked. We’ve gone back and talked to that salesman of hers who took her into town and he hasn’t seen or heard from her since. I keep phoning her cell phone, but all she has to do is use the call display to know who’s calling and she doesn’t bother answering. I’ve left messages, but she never returns them. Until we can find her, or she returns one of our calls, she isn’t going to know.”
Jared dropped Annie to the porch floor, then took off running, calling over his shoulder as he went.
“I’ll be right back. There’s something I have to do back at the office before Mac leaves. Annie, phone him and tell him not to leave until I get there. I’ve got something he needs to take with him.”
By this time he was in his SUV. As long as Annie caught Mac before he left, this might just work out.
Annie and Kaycee stood watching his dust, then Annie ran to the phone and passed the message along to Mac. He had been on his way out the ranch road when Annie caught him. He would wait for Jared at the gate.
“What was that all about, do you suppose?
Kaycee’s curiosity was killing her. She just hoped that when he returned, Jared shared whatever had just happened.
“Who knows? Sometimes these guys of ours are just too secretive for their own good. Or is it our own good?”
She was thinking, and thinking hard. Whatever Jared was up to it would be for the good of someone, probably David. As the idea grew, she knew she was right.
He was sending C.J.’s rings and the letter to David, using Mac as the delivery man.
Good idea, Jared; a very, very good idea.
Turning to Kaycee, she wondered how much she should say.
“I think I know what he’s up to, and it has to do with David and C.J.. I think he’s trying to right a very grave wrong. If he wants to tell you any more than that, he will. But I think he’s right. I just hope it works.”
Knowing nothing more than she had when Annie had started speaking, Kaycee shrugged. When Annie decided she had said enough on a subject, you didn’t hear any more. She’d have to wait for Jared to return, and then either she’d hear or she wouldn’t.
Mac was waiting at the ranch gate when Jared pulled up beside him. He got out of the black minivan and moved over to stand at Jared’s open window.
“What’s up?”
Mac’s red hair appeared when he bent over. From his six foot two height, he fit right in with all the others at the agency, but things built low to the ground frustrated him.
“Follow me back to the office, I have something I need to get for you, to take to David. It’s in the safe. And I have to tell you a few details he’ll need to know so he knows how to use it.”
With that rather evasive remark, Jared continued up the road to the office.
When Mac caught up to him, he had opened the safe and was removing a letter and a tiny envelope that held a bulge. When he turned, he held them out to Mac, indicating with a nod of his head that he should take these.
“What’s this?”
Mac could see David’s name written on the envelope, but he didn’t recognize the writing.
“These,” he indicated the smaller envelope, “are C.J.’s wedding and engagement rings.”
He saw the moment Mac understood.
“Oh, man, that explains it.” Another pang of sympathy for this woman was added to his feelings for her.
“Explains what?”
Jared’s frown told Mac that he’d better tread carefully, or he’d be giving away secrets that he wasn’t ready to disclose.
Mac had taken a definite liking to C.J. while he’d been helping her renovate the house for David’s return. Not the kind of liking that would leave anyone with a broken heart, just the liking of one human being for another, based on respect. He had watched her at the hospital through all the weeks she’d lived there; he’d watched her with the other men and women who made up David’s world and knew that she had been looking out for all of them. It wasn’t until she had returned to the ranch in such a pitiful state that he had realized that they had all needed C.J. and she’d been there for them; but when she must have needed someone, nobody had stepped forward to be her support. Sure, they’d all helped her, but had any of them really tried to understand everything from her point of view? Had they tried to offer her the support she needed to continue to support David? He was pretty sure they’d all done a piss poor job there. He knew he had.
Tired of waiting for a response that didn’t seem to be forthcoming, Jared asked again.
“Explains what, Mac. What do you know about all this?”
“I really don’t know anything. Just what
I saw and made guesses at. Nobody told me anything.”
He was walking toward the meeting room, looking over his shoulder.
“Come in here and sit down. I’m not sure how to explain all this so it might take a while.”
Jared frowned at his disappearing back. What did this man know? He worked for the agency as an investigator. Nobody had really had a chance to get to know him well before David’s accident, then everything they did revolved around the hospital. Mac had been included because he had come the first night to give blood when he found out the agreement the others had. His was the same type and he admired David. He insisted on helping if he could. Because of that, he’d been around the hospital and they had learned more about him. But still not enough to be able to guess what he was up to.
Once Jared was seated, Mac started pacing.
“I don’t know what you know, and I know something that none of the rest of you know. So, if we share some of the information we have, maybe we can come up with a plan.”
“A plan for what?”
“A plan to get David and C.J. back together.”
“That’s a nice idea, Mac, but there’s just one problem. We can’t get two people back together if we don’t know where one of them is. None of us knows where C.J. has disappeared to.”
Mac stared at Jared for so long, that Jared began to feel uncomfortable.
“Come on, Mac. You said you knew something. Want to share whatever it is?”
Still no response.
“Mac?”
About the time Jared’s patience ran out, Mac spoke. Slowly and quietly, as if not sure that what he was doing was the right thing.
“I know where she is.”
“You what?” Jared didn’t believe he’d heard him right. He couldn’t have. It had sounded like he’d said...
“Mac, say that again. I think I misheard you.”
