In the silence after they’d gone, Kirstie felt her spirits sink lower than ever before. There didn’t seem to be a move she could make without Leon Franks suddenly appearing. Then all her good intentions toward Donna Rose would vanish and she was left only with the sour taste of disgust.
And now the man had hurt Lisa with his bad-tempered shove.
“Let’s get you back to the trailer park,” she offered, untying Rodeo Rocky and waiting for Lisa to join her on the jeep track. “Can you get up on his back?”
“No, I’m fine, thanks.” Lisa’s tense, pale face suggested otherwise.
“You’re not fine. I’ll walk you to the gate at least.” That’s where they would split up and Kirstie would begin to make her way back to Half Moon Ranch and who knew what new problems there. By then it would be around about five, the time when her mom was due back from her trail ride.
Nodding grimly, Lisa agreed to the plan. They set off slowly together, Kirstie leading Rocky, each dreading what would greet them when they got home.
“Look on the bright side.” After half an hour’s mostly silent walking, as the entrance to Lone Elm came into view, Lisa managed a faint smile.
“What bright side?” As far as Kirstie could see, there was none. “We’re both about to be grounded for the rest of our entire lives, and here’s you telling me to think positive!”
Clutching her arm, trying to smile, Lisa looked back the way they’d come at the hillside deep in shadow. “The sun’s still shining on Angel Rock,” she murmured.
“Yeah?” Not enough to make her feel better.
“And Midnight Lady is still up there somewhere!”
“Yeah!” Kirstie nodded. The light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Midnight Lady. Still free.
Kirstie had to keep that in mind as she and Rocky retraced their steps to Half Moon Ranch. A horse like Midnight Lady could survive quite well in the mountains, even though she was alone now. She would forage in the small meadows she would find by wandering down culverts. There would be plenty of clean water in the rushing streams. Come October, when the snow began to fall, it might be a different matter. But winter was a long way off.
Deep in thought, she rode Rocky along Meltwater Trail. She was managing for the first time to picture a long-term future for the brave gray horse, reassuring herself that there was no animal living in the Meltwater Range that would pose any real threat to Midnight Lady so long as the horse managed to stay healthy and uninjured. Coyotes and wildcats would keep their distance. A bear and her cubs that had been sighted in the area earlier that year had since moved on.
True, Midnight Lady would be lonely. A herd animal needed others around it, so maybe she would move on before winter came and blocked the mountain passes. Ancient instinct might tell her of wild horses on the Wyoming plains and lead her far away. Kirstie might never see her again.
Sadly she rode Rocky down from the hills and onto the jeep road that crossed Meltwater Trail. They were only about half a mile from home when she noticed clear tire marks in the dust, a sign that this was probably the route chosen by Leon Franks with the two recaptured horses. The tracks snapped her back into the present. Where was the pickup truck now? Had it already reached the main route into San Luis? Were Moonpie and Skeeter still safe?
“Call it premonition!” Kirstie said later.
It was dusk. The vet, Glen Woodford, had raced out to the scene as soon as Charlie had called him. Kirstie was standing next to her mom, gazing at the smashed pickup, its front end buried into a rock at the side of the road.
“I just knew they were never gonna make it!”
She and Rocky had come down to Five Mile Creek, on the last stretch before they reached the ranch. Something had made her turn and glance up a steep track to the right, the one that Leon Franks would have to have taken to get to Route 5. And there they were. The wheels of the half-upturned truck were still spinning, Leon and TJ were climbing out of the cab, going around the back to check on the injured horses.
Without stopping to find out the details, her heart practically bursting through her ribs, she’d turned and raced for the ranch house. Charlie had met her in the yard and managed to calm her down. She’d pleaded with him to call the vet.
“It’s Moonpie and Skeeter! They’ve been in a crash. I think they’re hurt real bad!”
It had seemed like forever, but had only really been half an hour before Glen had gotten here. Sandy Scott had arrived back from her trail ride to find chaos: Charlie giving orders to Leon and TJ that no way should they try to get the horses out of the back of the truck before the vet came, Hadley riding up and demanding what the hell was going on, Kirstie still shaking and faint with shock.
But now things were under control. Kirstie watched Glen climb into the truck with a syringe full of sedatives for the horses. It was difficult to see in the fading light, but he seemed to be calming Leon and telling him that the injuries didn’t look too bad after all, that it was mostly shock, together with minor cuts and bruises. The drug was beginning to take effect. Soon it would be safe to get Moonpie and Skeeter out of the truck onto firm ground.
Sandy Scott heard and took a deep breath. She strode over to Leon and reminded him that he should call Donna with the news about what had happened. “Tell her the horses are gonna be OK,” she insisted. “And Kirstie, go with him to show him where the phone is.”
“Yes, ma’am.” That was it, an order not to be disobeyed.
Scowling, feeling the skin at the back of her neck prickle, Kirstie led Leon Franks toward the ranch.
9
“It was a busted tire,” Leon reported, glaring at Kirstie as he spoke into the phone. It was as if he was daring her to contradict. “That old truck is a deathtrap. We’re lucky it didn’t turn into something worse.”
A busted tire—not! Inwardly Kirstie fumed. More like dangerous driving by Leon, showing off in front of TJ. His carelessness made her blood boil.
“It’ll take a heap of money to fix it,” he went on. “Then there’s gonna be Glen Woodford’s bill on top of the garage repair bill.”
Don’t listen to him! Kirstie paced up and down the porch, hearing Leon pile on the agony for Donna’s benefit.
“And hey, we don’t know yet if the horses are gonna have to be destroyed. It looked to me like Moonpie got a busted leg. He could end up at Arnie’s place, and maybe Skeeter, too.”
Over my dead body! For every lie that Franks told his boss, Kirstie had an instant, furious but silent comeback.
“… No, don’t you do that, Donna.” Leon’s tone changed. He grew more cagey and shielded the receiver with his hand. “No way. You stay right where you are!”
Kirstie stopped to one side of the doorway, listening hard.
“… No, listen. What’s the point of you driving all the way out here? I can handle things.”
Yes, come! Kirstie thought. See for yourself what’s happening and find out the lies Leon tries to push.
“… OK, OK! I hear you. Sure, they’re your horses. You have every right to see them.” Leon gritted his teeth. “Only, you have a whole heap of things on your mind right now, and I reckon I can handle things here.” He tailed off and put the phone back on the hook. “Suit yourself!” he muttered.
Staying out of sight, Kirstie heard Leon’s footsteps set off across the kitchen, then halt. There was a pause, before he hurried back to the phone, picked it up and dialed.
“Arnie? Hi, it’s Leon.”
Pressing herself against the wall, Kirstie leaned closer toward the open door. This was obviously something he didn’t want anyone to hear.
“Yeah. You want the bad news first? Well, Madam Rose still hasn’t made up her mind to sign the paper. Will I? Won’t I? ” He mimicked a high, fussy voice, then went on with a mocking tone. “You know how she is. But the good news is: today she has more bi-ig problems!”
Kirstie frowned as he described Donna’s latest troubles, making light this time of the damage to both truck and hors
es.
“It couldn’t have happened at a better time if we’d actually planned it!” Leon laughed. “It’s gonna push her closer to the edge. She won’t get any sleep tonight, so tomorrow morning, when you show up waving a nice fat check in her face, you can bet your life she’ll sign that old contract!”
Yeah, it was as Kirstie had suspected. Leon was in league with the abattoir owner. And there was more to come.
“You want some more good news?” he gloated. “Remember the gray mare I was gonna bring in first thing this morning? Yeah, the one that those two kids wanted to rescue. You were gonna pay Donna peanuts for her, selling her the story that the horse would end up on the butcher’s slab? Yeah, that one.”
In the pause that followed, Kirstie’s brain raced. It sounded as if Leon and Arnie had been up to more crooked stuff.
“What happened to the real buyer on the cattle ranch out in New Mexico that you had lined up?”
She narrowed her eyes and tried to work it out.
“Is he still interested? Yeah? You get a good price and we split the profit two ways? …OK, well the deal’s on again!”
How come? It was impossible. Midnight Lady was still missing.
Leon laughed at what must have been a puzzled response from Arnie Ash. “Listen. I was up at Angel Rock. We got word that’s where we’d find the other two broncs. And sure enough, we found ’em and loaded ’em into the truck. The fool kids got in the way again, but we soon got rid of them. Anyway, it must be my lucky day! We’re shooting off down the track, with old Moonpie and Skeeter kicking up a fuss in the back. We come around this bend, through some trees and along Miners’ Ridge. Hey, and guess who we nearly ran into?”
“Midnight Lady!” Kirstie whispered out loud.
“You got it!” Leon drawled into the phone. “The gray mare. She rears right up and turns down into the canyon, full gallop. First chance I get, I’m heading back there to throw a rope around her pretty neck and bring her in!”
As the sun went down and a pale half moon rose in the clear sky, Kirstie stayed in the background.
She’d slipped away from the house at the end of Leon’s gloating conversation with Arnie Ash, so that the ranch manager had no idea that he’d been overheard. And she’d kept quiet as Charlie and Sandy had brought Moonpie and Skeeter into the corral, supervised by Glen Woodford, with TJ hanging back at the rear. She’d watched the vet rub an antiseptic cream onto the horses’ cut knees and faces, shuddering slightly to see blood still oozing from the raw gashes.
Then, when Donna Rose had driven up to the ranch and stepped out of her car, Kirstie still said nothing. She was watching, listening, waiting for her chance.
“Gee, I’m sorry!” Sandy greeted the older woman with genuine sympathy. “So much has gone wrong these last twenty-four hours, you must feel as if the whole world is against you!”
“Pretty much.” Donna looked worn out. She walked over to Glen Woodford, who was packing his bag, ready to head on to his next call.
“You can breathe again,” he told her gently. “As far as I can tell, there are no bones broken and only superficial traumas.”
Donna nodded and sighed heavily, going across to Skeeter and patting his neck.
“I’ve given them a couple of shots: tetanus and an antibiotic. But really, all these guys need from now on is a big dose of TLC!”
“So how much do I owe you?”
Glen waved the question to one side. “Later.”
“No. I like to pay my debts right away,” Donna insisted.
“OK, I’ll get my secretary to write you a bill. Meanwhile, you check your veterinary insurance. You’ll probably find you’re covered.” Glen zippered his dark green jacket and smiled kindly. He shook hands with Donna, then Sandy, before climbing into his black jeep. He leaned out of his window. “Hey, and make sure it’s Leon who drives that beaten-up old truck back to Renegade!” he warned. “Charlie and TJ managed to get it back onto the track a while back, but if anyone’s gonna break his neck after the way he must have driven that thing, let it be Leon!”
Donna managed a smile. “You’ve been great, Glen. Thanks.” As the vet drove off, she went to pass on his message to her manager, who nodded dourly and began to search in his pockets for the ignition key. Meanwhile, Donna went around the dark yard thanking Charlie and then Sandy.
“We’ll keep Moonpie and Skeeter for a couple of days until their cuts heal up,” Sandy suggested. She insisted on Donna, Leon, and TJ coming into the house for coffee. When Donna protested, she overrode her. “No, really. You keep Johnny Mohawk, Silver Flash, and Yukon at Circle R. That’ll work fine, I promise!”
“But I’ll send Leon over in the morning to drive the truck back, if that’s OK,” Donna told her. “The headlights are all smashed, so no way can he drive it in the dark. He and TJ will have to come home with me tonight.”
It was all fixed in a friendly way while Sandy asked Kirstie to serve the steaming coffee.
And still Kirstie waited and listened. Good! she thought, when she heard the plan. That gave her a few hours’ grace. For though her body went through the motions of pouring coffee into cups, her mind and heart were out on the moonlit mountain with Midnight Lady.
“I don’t mind admitting, I’m whacked!” Donna sighed, staring at her own reflection in the dark window, trying to tidy up her lank hair by pushing it behind her ears.
“It’s been quite a day,” Sandy murmured. Then, “Has it altered how you think about Arnie Ash’s offer?”
“Some,” Donna confessed. “I tell you, Sandy, if that pen had been in my hand and the contract on the table in front of me when Leon called and told me about the accident, I’d have signed it then and there!”
Kirstie stood with coffee pot poised over Leon’s mug. She noticed a nerve flick under his eye. Yet he tapped the table casually with his forefinger, pretending to play the drums, as if he was no part of the ongoing conversation.
“But?” Kirstie’s mom prompted. “How do you feel now?”
“Better,” Donna sighed. “So now, half of me is saying, yes, sign the deal with Arnie. It makes sense to give up the ranch rather than struggle on. And yet …”
“I know. There are memories wrapped up in the old place.” Sandy interpreted the pause.
“Don loved Circle R,” Donna said simply. “It was his life.”
She stood up from the table and walked to the door, lost in thought. Letting her go, Sandy turned to Leon and TJ to arrange the details of picking up the truck next morning.
“If we still have a boss!” TJ said, sourly pointing out that by then everything could have changed.
Leon said nothing, but kept on drumming his fingers on the table.
Kirstie watched Donna drift out onto the porch, then down into the yard. The moon shone bright as she crossed slowly to the corral and Kirstie followed. She came up beside the old lady as she looked in on Moonpie and Skeeter, then up to the horizon and the dark summit of Eagle’s Peak.
“Memories!” Donna whispered, as she grew aware of Kirstie at her side. Evidently she held no grudge for the trouble she and Lisa had caused. “At my age, that’s pretty much all you have!”
For a few moments, Kirstie hardly dared to break the silent moonlit spell. Then the dream she’d been nursing since she’d overheard Leon’s talk with Arnie Ash, broke through. “If …” she began softly, then paused.
Donna smiled down at her. “If what?”
“If I could bring Midnight Lady back and make everything right again…if I could turn things back to the way they were before all this happened, would it make you decide to stay on at Circle R?”
10
“That daughter of yours is a sweet kid,” Donna told Sandy. She’d cried a little, told Kirstie that it was a kind offer, but not one that she could fulfil. The horse was missing, and anyway she was too hard to handle. No way could anyone bring her back without using force. She’d sighed, squeezed Kirstie’s hand, and gone back into the house.
&nb
sp; “Sweet?” Sandy echoed, raising her eyebrows but sounding grateful as well as surprised. “Since when?”
Kirstie gave an embarrassed grin as she cleared away the coffee cups. Her mom was right, “sweet” was definitely what she was not!
But the two women were getting along great. Donna more or less admitted that the original problem over Midnight Lady was partly her fault; she hadn’t supervised Leon’s breaking in methods closely enough, had left the running of the ranch too much in his hands. And, to Kirstie’s surprise, she didn’t seem to care that Leon was overhearing this. The ranch manager scowled but didn’t dare to protest, since for the first time Donna demonstrated who was boss.
It was Sandy’s idea that Donna should stay over at Half Moon Ranch. “You’re tired,” she reminded her. “Let Leon and TJ drive your car back to Circle R, help Jesse look after things at that end. They have to come back in the morning to collect the truck. By that time, you’ll have had a good night’s sleep and things may look a little brighter.”
There were more scowls from Leon as a grateful Donna accepted the offer. “Arnie Ash wants an answer early tomorrow,” he reminded her.
“I’ll call from here.” Donna’s mind was made up about the overnight stay. She waited for Leon to follow orders.
The arrangement gave Kirstie the space she needed to put things right once and for all. She wouldn’t try to explain or persuade; instead she would act!
First she had to wait for Leon and TJ to drive off and for Donna and her mom to finish chatting and go to bed. She had to fight off her own exhaustion, splashing cold water over her face and leaning out of the window to gulp in fresh air after she’d said her good nights and gone up to her room, where the bed in the corner had looked soft and tempting.
Hunting through her closet, she chose a thick fleece and a baseball cap to protect her from the chilly night. But she shouldn’t leave her room too soon. She must wait until her mom and Donna were asleep. The minutes seemed long as she checked the clock: half after ten, ten forty-five, eleven.
Midnight Lady Page 8
