Circumstantial Evidence

by Annette Broadrick

  Ashley studied the bathroom, still unused to the luxury of her surroundings. Had she given much thought to the idea, she would have imagined that kidnap victims would be forced to endure privation and severe discomfort, not to mention starvation. If the previous night's meal was any indication, severe dieting would be a necessity after a lengthy captivity around Mrs. Krueger.

  Ashley faced an empty bedroom when she came out of the bathroom, and she set off in search of her new family.

  She heard Tysinger's voice and halted. "I realize you young people plan to save the world, and I admire that. Why, I'm well known for my interest in the environment and the preservation of our natural resources." Ashley stepped to the door of the living room, Tysinger paced in front of the fireplace as Rafe sat on the sofa bouncing Josh in a gentle rhythm on his knee. "I'm not against what you're doing and what you stand for. I want you to understand that. I admire you tremendously." Ashley's movement at the door caught the pacing man's notice and he stopped abruptly. She walked into the room, her eyes trained on Tysinger's face.

  "Good morning." She stopped behind the sofa, her hand resting lightly upon Rafe's shoulder. Rafe reached up and pulled her hand against his cheek. We can't look any more domestic than this, she thought. She was weary of the role playing, regardless of how helpful it was supposed to be to Rafe. She just wanted to go home.

  Tysinger stared at her with a hint of surprise and she acknowledged to herself that her casual outfit gave an entirely different impression from the business attire of the evening before. "Good morning, Mrs. McCord. I trust you spent a pleasant night."

  She stared back at him, her eyes blue in the morning light. "Yes, Mr. Tysinger, I did. However, I do want you to understand that I don't intend to stay here any longer. I didn't appreciate your high-handed attitude last night, but you got your way. Hopefully, that's satisfied whatever quirk caused you to drag us up here in the first place."

  Tysinger's glance veered to Rafe with what could have been sympathy in his eyes. "As I attempted to explain last night, Mrs. McCord, I've been trying for some time to meet with you and your husband and discuss his recent activities. The matter was too important to postpone any longer. I thought I made that quite plain."

  What was the use in trying to make him understand that she wasn't Mrs. McCord? And did she even want to at this point? After all, she'd just spent the night with the man. Ashley attempted a smile. "Well, then, why don't I leave you two men to discuss whatever, and I'll just get back to town." She smiled down at the top of Rafe's head in what she hoped was a wifely expression of encouragement.

  As Rafe moved to stand up, Tysinger exploded his next little bombshell. "Unfortunately, I'm a little short on transportation at the moment, Mrs. McCord. Mrs. Krueger sent for some supplies, and I'm not sure when the car will be returning."

  "Well, then, call a cab or something," Ashley suggested, trying to hang on to her hard-won composure. "I can't believe we're just stranded up here."

  A wary smile appeared as Tysinger explained. "I don't have phone service up here. I don't want to be bothered by all the so-called emergency interruptions when I manage to get away." Rafe walked around the sofa and placed his hand at Ashley's waist. He had a pretty good idea how she was taking this latest piece of news. Tysinger continued. "I sincerely thought you and your husband would enjoy being up here."

  The man was incredible, Ashley thought with amazement. He actually looked and sounded offended. The stage had lost out when he chose politics.

  Rafe pulled her closer to him. "Tysinger mentioned that some of the trails around here have spectacular views. He thought we might want to go for a walk-enjoy the sunshine and get a little exercise." He squeezed her waist as she looked up at him. "Perhaps by the time we get back, the car will be here and we can get back to town." Glancing back at Tysinger, Rafe continued. "My wife still gets upset rather easily. You have my word that we won't be flying East if you'll just get us back to Portland."

  The two men stood there in silent communication. Then Tysinger smiled. "Fine, McCord. I knew you'd see things a little more clearly if I just had a chance to discuss them with you. The car should be back in a couple of hours, so why don't you take that walk you mentioned? I know you'll both enjoy it." He left the room with a definite bounce to his step.

  Ashley noticed that the baby in Rafe's arms had fallen asleep. "What about Josh? We can't just go off and leave him."

  "I suppose we could, but I don't intend to. I'll take him with us, but let's get you some coffee and a piece of Mrs. Krueger's coffee cake. You'll need strength for that hike." He took her by the hand and led her into the kitchen.

  Rafe was right, she decided as she viewed the glistening day from the kitchen window. She might as well relax and enjoy the next few hours, since there was little else she could do.

  After a generous helping of coffee cake and several cups of coffee, Ashley felt ready to hike back to town, but decided she might be a little overambitious. She went looking for Rafe and found him dressing the baby for the outdoors. When Josh saw her he gave her one of his exuberant smiles.

  "What a flirt you are. Almost as bad as your father."

  Rafe ignored her comment. Not that he didn't deserve it, she decided some time later as she set off behind him on one of the trails. However, she couldn't fault him as a father. Rafe appeared familiar with Josh's routine and made sure all his needs were met.

  In the serenity of the mountain forest, Ashley began to relax. The scent of cedar pleased her. Whenever she smelled cedar she thought of her mother and her treasured mementos stored in an old cedar chest.

  A ground squirrel caught her eye, and she stopped to watch his antics as he flitted around, then paused to scold her. Somehow she lost track of Rafe. When she glanced back at the trail he was no longer in sight. She stopped, concerned; the trail branched off and she was unsure which direction he'd taken. Eventually she chose to follow the trail going downward, hoping he'd opted for the same one. Ashley had no desire to try to find her way out of there on her own. She quickened her steps in hopes of catching up with him.

  The trail made a sharp turn, and Ashley gave a quick sigh of relief. Rafe stood on a ledge overlooking the lake. The sun had burned off the early morning haze and left the air clear. A windfall tree, no doubt a casualty of the winter, lay alongside the trail. Rafe sat down and propped Josh up against him. Josh found his favorite fingers and enjoyed the view from the security of Rafe's arms.

  Ashley noticed that Rafe's shoes were not the handmade Italian leather shoes he'd worn the day before. "Where did you get your sneakers?"

  He glanced down at his feet and smiled. "Tysinger had several pairs in his closet for 'drop-ins' and suggested that I make use of them. These aren't climbing shoes, but they beat the ones I wore yesterday."

  Ashley had already noticed the snug-fitting jeans he wore with a yellow knit pullover shirt. The color enhanced his dark attractiveness.

  She turned away from him to explore the edge of the bluff. The ground dropped about five feet to the edge of the water. She knelt at the edge and watched tiny fish feeding along the top of the water.

  Rafe cleared his throat. "I thought if we could get away from Tysinger I'd try to fill you in on why Tysinger wants us here." He watched her as she peered over the side of the ledge, her profile defined by the thick shrubs bordering the path.

  She made a gentle correction. "Why Tysinger wants you here, not me."

  "Actually, it isn't me he wants, it's Raul."

  She turned to look at him, then sat back on her heels. "That's right. He called you Raul last night, didn't he? So he really wants your brother?"

  "Yes, my brother and his wife Jeanine."

  Her eyes widened. "You mean Jeanine is married to Raul, not to you?"

  He was amused at her reaction. "That's correct. And Josh is their son. I'm just baby-sitting for the weekend."

  She tried to sort through the confusion in her mind.

  "I wanted you to understand t
hat I wasn't trying to play some kind of game with you this morning. I'm not married."

  She schooled her face to show no reaction to his news. "The whole story was sheer fabrication, wasn't it?"

  He nodded. "As I explained last night, it wasn't one of my better ideas."

  She shook her head in confusion. "Okay, so Tysinger thinks you and I are Raul and Jeanine, and he wanted to talk to them before they went to D.C." She looked up at him. "Do I understand so far?" She was more curious than angry at this point.

  "Yes. Jeanine and Raul arranged to fly to Washington to meet with Senator Hensley this weekend. Tysinger made it obvious yesterday that he didn't want them to contact Hensley until he talked to them."

  Ashley moved from her position on the ground and joined Rafe on the fallen log. "Where does Senator Hensley fit into all of this?"

  "Raul and Jeanine became friends with W.A. Hensley when they helped with his campaign for the senate a few years ago. When they stumbled onto some unexpected information during a recent survey they were doing, Raul wasn't sure who to talk to about it. It touched several people involved in Oregon politics, and he decided to talk to someone he could trust."

  Ashley waited for him to continue. She noticed Josh draped across Rafe's arm, fast asleep. When Rafe glanced down he smiled and placed the sleeping infant on his shoulder.

  "Raul and Jeanine were helping a group of conservationists with a survey in southern Oregon designed to determine the effect of the herbicide sprays being used in that area."

  "Now that's one controversy I've heard of. The media mentions it on a regular basis."

  "I know. While in the midst of the survey, Raul and Jeanine discovered a group within the conservationist movement that had strong reason to fight the use of herbicides. It killed their prolific crops of marijuana."

  Ashley sat next to Rafe, contemplating the tranquil scene before them and trying to understand how the growing of marijuana in southern Oregon was responsible for her spending the weekend with Raphael McCord.

  "Does Tysinger have something to do with the marijuana?" She watched the shifting leaves shadow Rafe's face as he admired the view.

  "From his actions this weekend, I'm very much afraid that Tysinger is up to his neck in the mess. Otherwise, why would he take such drastic action to stop Raul and Jeanine from taking their information to Hensley?"

  "Why would a politician jeopardize his career like that?"

  Rafe stood up and began to follow the trail that paralleled the lake. Ashley wandered along beside him as he pondered her question. Eventually he shook his head. "I don't know. There could be several motives: greed, the desire for ever more power, who knows?" He paused as they reached a clearing and looked around. From this view they could see Tysinger's home perched on the ridge above them; the Kruegers' quarters were clearly visible. "Maybe he needs money to support some of his more expensive habits, such as his home up there."

  "I wonder what Tysinger is going to do when he finds out that he didn't stop them from going to Washington."

  Rafe's eyes reminded Ashley of arctic glaciers as he continued to stare at the house on the ridge. "That's what concerns me at the moment. Why don't we head back? The car should have returned by now, and I'd prefer to be away from here when Tysinger gets that piece of news."

  "Do you think he's going to let us go?"

  "He's an intelligent man. If he's thinking at all, he knows he can't keep us." He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her toward him. "I can't get too angry at the man. Because of his little plot, I had this chance to meet you."

  Ashley started at the personal turn of the conversation. Why had she thought his eyes looked cold? At the moment, the warm regard in his eyes caused a definite skip in her steady pulse. His lips touched hers with gentle pressure, giving her the opportunity to pull away. She had no intention of getting involved with this man, but inertia seemed to have set in. It was far easier to stay in the circle of his arm. As he felt her relax, his arm tightened, pulling her hard against his chest. Her hand came up to rest against Josh's back as he lay curled on Rafe's shoulder. Somehow it felt right to be in the circle of his arms with the baby. Rafe deepened the kiss and Ashley could no longer think.

  His gentle insistence as he explored her soft lips affected her more deeply than a passionate kiss could have done. This man was rapidly reaching a part of Ashley that she had never known existed, and she wasn't at all sure she could handle the emotions he was provoking.

  Chapter Four

  Their return to Tysinger's home took place in silence. Mrs. Krueger met them at the door. "Why don't I take this young man and let you enjoy some time alone together?" She took the slumbering baby from Rafe's shoulder with a smile. "My supplies arrived. I ordered more baby food to be on the safe side. I also had them bring more disposable diapers. That's something they didn't have when I was raising mine, and I have to admit they're convenient."

  Ashley followed Mrs. Krueger into the house. "You shouldn't have gone to so much trouble, Mrs. Krueger. Now that the car is back, we'll be leaving."

  Mrs. Krueger turned a puzzled face to Rafe and Ashley. "I didn't realize you planned to leave so soon. Mr. Tysinger must have forgotten. When the men came back they brought him a message that caused him to rush right out of here. He didn't say when he'd be back."

  "They left?" Ashley repeated in disbelief. "But they couldn't have!"

  "It looks as if we're stranded for a while, Ashley." Rafe's voice held a warning note in it.

  Mrs. Krueger nodded uncertainly. "Let me put this little fella down. Lunch is ready whenever you are." She disappeared with Josh.

  Ashley whirled to face Rafe. "Do you think they learned something about Raul and Jeanine?"

  Rafe seemed to ignore the urgent question for a moment; then he spoke. "It's a possibility. I don't particularly want to face him if that's the news." He crossed to the front door and stepped through, eyeing the trail they'd taken the day before.

  "Is there any way we can follow that trail back down to the highway?" Ashley peered around his shoulder.

  Rafe's hands rested on his slim hips as he stared out over the thousands of acres around them, the dense forest covering the mountains with a mantle of green velvet.

  "I probably could, but not with you and Josh along." He turned to her and noticed her expression. "Look, I don't intend to go anywhere and leave you or Josh, so quit looking at me like that. I got you into this mess and I intend to get you out." He leaned against the rail for a few moments in deep thought.

  Mrs. Krueger appeared at the door. "I have lunch set up for you on the deck. The weather's too nice to waste inside." Ashley responded to her thoughtful-ness with a smile, then turned to Rafe.

  "Let's get something to eat. This mountain air has made me ravenous—you'll think of something." She heard her reassurance with some astonishment. She had no idea what to do, so why did she feel confident he'd find a solution? It was certainly out of character for Ashley to rely on anyone but herself.

  They ate lunch in silence. Ashley's few attempts at conversation were answered with absentminded replies, and she soon gave up. Besides, when had she ever had a better opportunity to enjoy the Cascade Mountains? When she moved to Oregon one of her first plans had been to join a hiking club and enjoy the outdoors that were such a contrast to the ranch she had called home. Instead she became absorbed in trial work and the weeks, months, and eventually years slipped away unnoticed as she began to make a name for herself in the legal field. She learned to accept that a woman in the profession had to work twice as hard as a man, in order to prove herself capable.

  Watching the silent Rafe methodically eat his fresh fruit salad and man-sized sandwich, Ashley recognized with some surprise that she'd spent more consecutive time with this man than she'd spent with any man since she had left Texas. She had dated occasionally at first, but then found she didn't have time even for that. She had given up dating with no regret. She could not ask for more from life than to pursue th
e career that fulfilled and sustained her.

  Early in her life, Ashley had come to believe that love for a man became a sort of bondage for a woman. Her father and her four older brothers had run the family cattle ranch and, while there was no doubt in Ashley's mind that her dad loved her mother dearly, he gave no thought to the countless demands ranch life made on her, trying to keep five hungry males fed and clothed and cared for. Ashley grew up with the belief that love and marriage, for a woman, meant never having any time for herself and her own needs.

  The piano had always been her mother's escape, but Ashley was in her teens before she discovered that her mother had been offered a scholarship to the Fort Worth Conservatory of Music. Ashley's father, afraid he would lose her mother if she went away to school, had convinced her to marry him instead of going to the conservatory. When Ashley learned of this, she decided that she would never make that mistake. She had her mother's support when she decided to study law. Marriage would never hold any appeal for Ashley!

  "What a ferocious expression you have on your face." Rafe must have been watching her for some time. She flushed with embarrassment.

  "Well, did you come up with a solution in all of this quiet?" She hoped her change of subject would allow her to avoid having to explain her thoughts.

  "I guess I've been thinking more about what Tysinger is going to do when he finds out this visit didn't accomplish what he'd hoped it would."

  "He'd better not try anything else. He's already in enough trouble because of kidnapping us. That's certainly not going to increase his political popularity."

  "In the first place, he's going to deny any accusation of kidnapping; he made that clear last night. His story is going to be that it was all a misunderstanding, and how do we disprove that? Have we been threatened, mistreated, abandoned? We're going to look foolish accusing him of forcing us to have a luxurious and secluded weekend together in the mountains."