by Stephy Smith
“Do y’all mind if I join this party?” Tansy placed her fisted hand on her hip.
“It’s another threat.” Gulch talked down at the note in front of him.
Tansy didn’t care for the attitude of the two men. They were so engrossed in the note they failed to acknowledge it was meant for her. “Well . . . what does it say? Is it addressed to me? Do I have the right to know? I mean, it was thrown through my window!”
The men looked up at her for the first time and then glanced at each other. “Oh sorry, Miss Adams. The note: Stand clear of Gulch. He’s a dangerous man. You could die. Ask around about Robin Whipple. She lost her life because of him.”
“OK. Gulch, since this is your fault, tell me about this Robin Whipple, whoever that is.” Tansy fixed her eyes on the handsome cowboy. Gulch shifted his gaze between her and the sheriff. His eyes widened and sweat popped from his forehead.
The sheriff broke the silence. “We need you to agree to our plan before anything is revealed to you.” He turned to Gulch. “Bait.”
The chair Gulch was sitting in bounced off the floor when he stood. “No Ken! We can’t! I will not allow you to do that. Something could go wrong.”
“She’s the best chance we have. He already knows we are involved in this.” The sheriff glanced up at Gulch.
“I said no! We are not going to involve her. This is evidently my fight.” Gulch paced around the table.
“He’s using her, Andi, and Jo. We can’t sit around and let him continue this pursuit.”
“No. We can’t use these women to draw him out.” Gulch placed his hands down on the table and leaned onto his stiffened arms, his face reddened.
Tansy listened to the heated discussion between the two men. She didn’t know what to think other than the problem between Gulch and the unknown suspect had been going on for a long while. Heat rose across her cheeks. She could feel her lips tightening in a straight line. They were talking about her as if she weren’t there, pushing her aside like Gulch always did. It was all she could take.
“Shut up!” Tansy moved between the two men. “What is wrong with you two? I am standing right here. I can hear every word y’all are saying and yet you both act like I’m a million miles away. I can decide for myself if I want to help take this guy down. And as for you Gulch, I’m not your puppet. When I’m off the clock, you have no right to make decisions for me. Now one of you had better tell me what I have inadvertently stepped into.”
Ken and Gulch froze. Their eyes grew wide and both had strange looks on their faces. Tansy could tell neither one of them were used to a woman putting her foot down in their presence.
Ken turned to her first. “I think we can catch this guy if you will agree to be the bait. Before you make any kind of decision, I want you to take in consideration the danger you would be in. He is capable of murder.”
“Tansy, you don’t have to do this. This man killed Robin. He’s a rustler stealing from the feed yard. We don’t know exactly who he is. What we do know is he works at the feed yard.” Gulch laid a gentle hand on her arm.
“First off, I’m assuming Robin was somehow related to Benny. Second, I want to know how you are involved.” Tansy poked Gulch in the chest with her finger.
“This is why I didn’t want to involve her, Ken.”
“She needs to know. Andi disregarded the warning. If the rustler thinks Tansy is doing the same, he’s more likely to slip up and make a mistake. We need to know if she’s willing to come on board and help us out.”
Gulch’s eyes darkened beneath the scowl on his face. He clearly didn’t want her involved. She was sure it had to do with the hatred he held for her.
“I’ll do it.” The words rushed from her mouth before she could stop them.
“What?” the men said in unison.
“I’ll do it with a few conditions.” Tansy flashed her prettiest smile.
“What are the conditions?” Ken asked.
“That I can have my life back after this is over. Gulch can go back to hating me and I can walk the streets without having rocks thrown through my window. My friends will be treated fairly and without criticism. And . . . I can ride pens three times a week.” Tansy folded her arms across her chest and straightened her shoulders.
There was a sigh from Gulch. “Oh, all right. I’m warning you though; if one hair on your pretty little head is hurt, you will be put on leave and not allowed to come back until we can catch this guy. There will be no argument from you or Ken.”
“Welcome aboard, Miss Adams.” Ken winked at Tansy.
“Tansy. Please call me Tansy.”
Chapter Ten
Gulch shook his head. “Dad, Andi didn’t know who the attacker was, but she gave a fairly good description of his build. The only thing wrong with it is it fits half the men out at the feed yard.”
“She said something about the man wearing aftershave. There is only one man that I know of that wears aftershave to work with a bunch of cattle.” Benny rubbed his hand across his short whiskers.
“Only one that has been here longer than three months anyway.” Gulch paused as his phone vibrated in his shirt pocket.
“Yeah, Tansy what’s wrong?” Gulch’s heart raced as he listened to Tansy’s short message.
“Sorry Dad, gotta go. I’ll call you later.”
“What about supper, Gage?” His mother called out from behind the grill.
“Keep it warm for me. Oh, and Ken will be late to.”
Gulch caught his breath when he reached his pickup. Since Tansy called him, he knew deep down it didn’t have anything to do with his wild and crazy kisses.
His parents didn’t live far from her house, even though she lived in Outlaw and they lived on the reservation section on Black Kettle Drive. A slight chuckle rose in his throat. Outlaws and Indians, his two favorite history subjects. Gulch thought it ironic that the one woman to heat his blood and drive his heart into a wild west frenzy lived in the Outlaw section of town. “Yep, she stole my heart and doesn’t even know it.”
He thought about the panic in Tansy’s voice when she called.
He wheeled into her driveway. The solid front door stood wide open. Either she was very brave or totally insane. Didn’t she realize she was in danger? He had heard Andi tell her the man was after her.
She was lucky he was just down the street a ways. Tansy mentioned the sheriff was on his way over, but he hadn’t noticed the sheriff’s vehicle in the area. Ken lived across town in the Orchard section. Gulch promised himself he wasn’t going to say anything harsh to Tansy. He had already said enough when they were at work.
Tansy had the gall of a rattlesnake and the sweet softness of a butterfly. He had pushed her every way he could and yet she showed up for work every day. If he were her, he would have taken a swing at someone who treated him the way he treated her. He didn’t have a good hunch about this meeting. Or how this would affect the strange fluttering in his chest every time he thought of her.
Was she setting him up on her turf? Not likely, he told himself. Tansy wasn’t the type to get revenge . . . was she? He jumped from the pickup and as soon as his foot hit the ground, he started griping at her. Once his mouth opened, he couldn’t stop what he said.
Luckily, Ken showed up before he had a chance to get near her. His lips seemed to have a mind of their own when she was too close to him. As soon as Ken suggested they use her as bait to catch a killer, Gulch thought he was going to punch Ken. How could he sacrifice her? Tansy meant too much to Gulch to use her on a dangerous mission.
He hadn’t quite figured out how to dodge the question of his identity. If she pursued the facts of Robin’s death, he would have to tell her. Ken worked a good diversion angle; even though she knew Gulch was working on the case, she still didn’t know he was Benny’s son. Nor did she know he was an agent investigating cattle rustling cases in the panhandle.
His assignments took him to many towns where he worked and solved cases over the years. He had been assi
gned to the Grow ‘em case because his dad had requested him. Gulch knew his way around, but hadn’t been there since Benny had bought it. Gulch had changed a lot since he was a kid and occasionally made rounds with his dad. The rustling business had settled down with the declining cattle prices and the drought. Everywhere except the Grow ‘em.
Tansy said she understood he had to continue his verbal assaults on her. Did she really understand? This was a bad and good idea. If he hadn’t let his heart stomp his mind into a mushy mud hole it would have been the perfect plan. Why couldn’t they substitute Jo to take Tansy’s place? Jo was the toughest woman at the feed yard. Guilt riddled his mind. It wasn’t fair to Jo. Like Ken pointed out . . . the killer was after Tansy.
After his wild reasoning to lay a kiss on her that she would never forget at the hospital, or he hoped, he wasn’t certain he could keep up his end of the bargain. Being in the same room with her to formulate the plan wore on him. When the sheriff stood to leave, Gulch breathed a sigh of relief. He followed the sheriff to the department to check the criminal histories on the suspects. Tansy didn’t know who she should look out for, but she understood she should trust no one until the case was solved. Especially the pen riders.
“Are you sure that’s him?” Ken glanced up from the computer.
“Andi said he was wearing aftershave. We only have one man working at the Grow ‘em that wears aftershave to go to work and that’s Edgar. Why would he assault Andi and kill Robin? Why would he be involved in rustling? What kind of vendetta is he hiding? His wife died of cancer. They only had one boy, who was killed in Desert Storm. I’m having a hard time of making any connections. Neither one of these deaths had anything to do with the feed yard.” Gulch paced back and forth in front of the sheriff’s desk.
“Edgar has been there for a long time. His actions may not have anything to do with either. What about hostilities toward Benny?” Paper started rolling out of the printer. Ken held up his hand. “Hold on there cowboy. Looks like we got something here.”
Both pair of eyes stared as the printer spit out a stack of pages on the suspect. Gulch let out his breath when the paper stopped. “Is that all there is? Edgar has no reason to persecute dad. They have been friends a long time.” He tried not to chuckle. Six pages was a lot, but Edgar Putnam was an old man.
Ken searched the first paper and handed it to Gulch. The information found on Edgar devastated both men. Gulch never would have suspected the sweet old man would have been involved in some of the things listed on the criminal history sheets.
The more Gulch read the less he wanted Tansy anywhere near Edgar. “Domestic assault, child abuse, burglary, cattle rustling, and murder. Murder? Who did he kill? I’m not seeing where he did time for these?”
“You want some more good news?” Ken waved the final paper in the air.
Gulch cast his eyes upward. “Give it to me.”
“The charges were dropped due to lack of evidence.” Ken had the phone in his hand and dialed a number. “Hold on Gulch. I’ll get the full story. Doesn’t appear that Edgar was as sweet as everyone says he is, even though no one has been able to prove otherwise.”
Gulch sat down in an empty chair by the desk. He fidgeted, crossed one leg over the other and then switched. There were a lot of uh-huhs, well-I’ll-bes, and you-don’t-says coming from Ken’s side of the conversation. He couldn’t wait for the call to end so he could find out what they would be dealing with.
Forty-five minutes later, Ken placed the phone back down in the cradle. “Sounds like it’s gonna be a long night.”
“Yep. We better get to Mom’s. If we don’t, she’ll pitch a fit. Ask dad. Mom is one woman whose bad side we don’t want to be on.”
Chapter Eleven
Tansy swiped the perspiration from her brow. The two city police that helped her board up the broken window had left. She picked up her broom and swept the shards on the floor. Her heart raced. What was she thinking by agreeing to the sheriff’s idea of her helping catch a killer?
She didn’t have the slightest notion of what she should do to draw him out. Ken and Gulch told her to do absolutely nothing except her job. For some reason, they seemed to think the killer would come to her. A shiver ran down her spine. Tomorrow would be a trial. It would be nice to put this all behind them. Then she would be able to work her job without the sarcasm from Gulch.
She placed the broom back in its place. The boarded window darkened the hallway leading to her bedroom. A black shadow crossed the wall outside her bedroom door. Tansy drew in a breath. It had to be her over active imagination causing her to see things that weren’t there.
As she walked toward the bedroom door, the shadow shifted. The pulse in her neck picked up a beat. The shape of a man backed away from outside the window. Tansy froze and swallowed the scream welling in her throat. A few eerie seconds past and then she ran for the window. There was nothing except tree branches fluttering lightly in a soft breeze.
Her hands shook as she clutched onto the curtains and pulled the thick material together. She slumped down on the bed and caught her breath. Slowly, she removed the gun from the waistband of her jeans.
The closet door rattled. Something pressed down on the end of the bed. It crept up next to her. A force pressed lightly against her back. Tansy reached over with her free hand and tapped the light on the bedside table. She jumped up and aimed the gun at the intruder. Her cat, Popper, mewed up at her.
“You bad kitty! You scared me.” Popper’s soft fur popped with static electricity as Tansy ran her hand down the cat's back. Popper arched and pushed herself forward under Tansy’s touch. The cat’s ears perked up, she turned her head toward the closet door.
Scratching on the wall sent goose bumps peppering Tansy’s skin. Her footsteps were light, halting as she started toward the small enclosure. The gun pulled the barrel down under its own weight. Tansy renewed her hold to keep it level. The wooden door was cool. She yanked it further open than the crack Popper had came from.
Tansy began to laugh. A whoosh of air flowed from her lungs as she gazed at the tiny kittens crowded together between the wall and a shoebox. Tansy’s arms dropped to her side. The muscles relaxed in her shoulders and neck. Tonight she would be alone in her bed. Popper would probably want to sleep with her babies. What more in her life could change in one day? She put the thought out of her mind as she readied herself for bed.
Every noise she usually ignored seemed twice as loud and menacing than ever before. She tossed and turned until the alarm went off at four in the morning. Her mind was boggled with horrid thoughts of facing the killer. She glanced at the closet and wondered if today would be the last day she would see Popper and her kittens.
If Ken and Gulch had intended to frighten her, they did a bang up job. She pushed herself up from the bed and padded across the room to the closet for clean clothes. She headed to the bathroom to shower. Before she entered, she reached in and turned the light on. Once inside she checked the window latch to make sure it was locked. For the first time since she had moved to Millstone, she felt watched, vulnerable, and scared.
Tansy closed the door behind her and twisted the lock on the knob. She emptied the dirty clothes hamper onto the floor and scooted the clothing against the edge of the tub. She didn’t want to pull the curtain shut while she was in the shower. She didn’t even allow herself to close her eyes and let the warm water massage her taut muscles. Nothing was going to sneak up on her. Her movements seemed robotic as she rushed through every chore before going to the feed yard.
If today was going to be her last day on earth, she may as well get it over with. Waiting and wondering had never been her strong points. Popper had plenty of food to last until someone came along to take care of her. The dishes were washed and put away in the cabinets. She swept, mopped, and let the floor dry on its own. Tansy drew in a deep breath as she silently said good-bye to Popper and the kittens and the quaint little house she lived in.
Her gun was snug again
st the small of her back. Tansy wasn’t sure, but she got the feeling that carrying a firearm wasn’t allowed at work. But then again, it wasn’t every day her life could be threatened with a severe beating or death. She clutched the metal case of her long flashlight.
In the dark, early hour of the day, she slipped out the door into the crisp morning air. An unexpected shiver ran down her spine. The eyes of something seemed to penetrate into her soul. Tansy ran across the yard to her pickup. Drops of dew formed on the surface. The wetness chilled her fingers as she slid them under the door handle.
The beam of her flashlight reflected from the window as she pointed it into the floorboard of her pickup. She quickly opened the door, climbed in, and locked the doors. According to Gulch and the sheriff, the monster man could be hiding anywhere waiting for an opportunity to get her. They didn’t seem to know who he was, but in her in her mind, she pictured a seven foot, half human, half cobra standing over her ready to swallow her whole.
Zillions of stars replaced the streetlights as she sped down the highway to what she was now referring to as her death row. Throughout her twenty-four years, not one time did she picture dying from anything except natural causes. The thoughts weren’t natural for a young person who had never been in trouble, never caused trouble, and never asked for it.
The lights of the feed yard came into view too soon. The breath caught in her throat as she grasped the steering wheel and turned in. A knot twisted in her gut. She wondered if it were the monster hiding in the bushes with some kind of voodoo doll, waiting to render her useless until he pounced on her. How many days would it take for the killer to strike with deadly force?
Tansy hoped it would be soon. She didn’t want days or weeks of being scared out of her wits while she waited for him. She backed her pickup into her normal parking space. The wild barn cats lined the cement walkway to the back door. The silence and stillness of the feed yard gave a lingering pause to the eeriness of the dark morning.
