A Dangerous Inheritance

by Leona Karr

  “This isn’t over,” Josh promised.

  “Well, it is for now,” Ted said firmly. “If you’re not leaving, then how about some breakfast? I think you’ve bit on enough nails for one morning, Josh.”

  STACY WAS HAVING tea and toast when the phone rang. She expected it to be Josh, but it was Mrs. Crabtree.

  “I’m trying to reach Josh,” she said in a strained voice.

  “I’m sorry, he’s not here. He went into Timberlane early. Is something the matter?”

  After a moment of hesitation, the woman said, “His grandfather hurt himself a few minutes ago.”

  “Badly?”

  “I don’t know. He insisted on going out to the barn with Billy this morning.” She added defensively, “And it wasn’t Billy’s fault that it happened.”

  “That what happened?” Stacy asked, her heart quickening.

  “He fell, hit his head and passed out. Billy brought him back to the house. He’s conscious now, but his color isn’t good.”

  “You need to get him to a doctor right away,” Stacy said firmly. “Can you do that?”

  “It’ll mean a drive into Pineville. Old Doc Withers died last winter, leaving Timberlane without a doctor, but there’s a good hospital in Pineville. I guess Billy could drive us.” Her voice faltered. “But I’d rather have Josh take him.”

  “It’s important to have someone look at him right away,” Stacy insisted. “Can you leave now? I’ll find Josh and have him meet you there.”

  “All right,” she said, but she didn’t sound too sure.

  “Wait, before you hang up, can you give me the telephone number for the sheriff’s office and Alice’s Pantry? I don’t have a directory.”

  As soon as the woman gave her the numbers, Stacy hung up and tried Mosley’s office. Irene told her Josh had been in earlier and might still be at the café. The sheriff had already returned to the office. “Looking like a thunder cloud,” Irene had quietly added.

  Alice answered the restaurant’s phone. In a tired voice, she said, “Yes, Josh was here. He had a little to-do with the sheriff.” She sighed. “I just wish Josh could get on with life. He deserves a little happiness. It’s that blasted hotel that keeps everybody stirred up.”

  Stacy tried to ignore the censure in her tone and quickly explained why she needed to talk with Josh. “His grandfather has taken a fall, and Mrs. Crabtree is taking him to the Pineville hospital.”

  “Oh, my goodness,” Alice exclaimed, suddenly contrite. “I hope it’s nothing serious. Josh idolizes his grandfather.”

  “Do you know where Josh might have gone after he left the restaurant?”

  “Back to the hotel, I think. He said something about wanting to make sure his workers weren’t goofing off. He should be there any minute. Poor guy,” she sighed. “Tell him to let us know if we can help in any way.”

  Stacy hung up and went out on the balcony, keeping her eyes focused on the road winding up to the hotel. In a few minutes, she saw Josh’s pickup come into view, and she hurried down to meet him. She stood on the front steps, waiting.

  When he saw her waving to him, he stopped in front of the hotel instead of driving round to the back door. He could tell from her expression that something was wrong, and he was out of the car in a flash.

  “What’s happened? Are you all right?”

  She reassured him quickly. “I’m fine. It’s your grandfather. He had a fall and Mrs. Crabtree and Billy are taking him into Pineville to the hospital.”

  Josh went white. “How bad is it?”

  “They don’t know. He hit his head and passed out briefly. I told her that you’d meet them at the hospital. They should be there by now.”

  “All right, let’s go.” He started to turn away, but she stopped him.

  “I’ve had time to think about it, Josh, and I think I should stay here,” she said firmly. “It’s important to keep Chester and Rob working. We can’t trust them not to loaf around the rest of the day if we’re both gone. Besides, the locksmith is slowly making his way around to all the doors. He needs somebody to stay on him until the job is done.”

  He could tell that she’d made up her mind and arguing was going to be a waste of time. Even though she looked a little peaked, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that she would be able to supervise the three men and get the work done.

  “I can handle everything,” she insisted. “You need to find out what the situation is with your grandfather.”

  Reluctantly, he nodded. “I’ll call you when I know something.”

  “I’ll be waiting.”

  He pulled her close then and kissed her with a fervency that left them both breathless. As he reluctantly lifted his lips from hers, he promised, “Honey, that’s just the down payment.”

  “Okay, but I’ll be expecting to collect interest,” she teased.

  She watched until the taillight of the truck disappeared around the first curve and was lost from view. Some undefined intuition warned her that she’d be sorry she hadn’t gone with him.

  IT WAS GETTING DARK when Josh telephoned her from the hospital. The news wasn’t good. His grandfather wasn’t responding well and they’d moved him into intensive care.

  “There’s no way I’ll be able to leave him tonight.”

  “You should stay with him,” Stacy said firmly in a tone she hoped hid the sudden plunge of her stomach. Even though the locksmith had changed some of the locks, including the apartment, she still felt vulnerable, but she wasn’t about to saddle Josh with her fears. He had enough to worry about. “Your grandfather needs you to be there.”

  “I don’t want you spending the night alone, but I—”

  “I’ll be fine,” she said, cutting him off. “You’ve got enough to worry about.”

  “Yes, I do,” he agreed gruffly. “And that’s why I want you to spend the night in town. I called Alice and arranged for you to stay with her and Ted at their place. She said she’d make up the spare room for you. There’s gas in the Jeep and it shouldn’t give you any trouble. Leave now. I want you on the road before it gets any later. Don’t give me any argument, sweetheart. Just do it.”

  “Are you sure I can just fall in on them like this?” she asked, even as she felt a warm rush of relief.

  “Honey, that’s what friends are for,” Josh reminded her. “Alice was worried that you might not feel comfortable about coming. They’re good friends and they want to help.”

  Alice was so protective of him, she’d do anything he asked, but Stacy wasn’t so sure the welcome mat was out for her.

  “They’ll leave the apartment door unlocked in case they are still busy in the restaurant when you got there. I want you out of the hotel as quickly as you can leave.”

  Responding to the urgency in his voice, she said, “I’ll throw a few things in a bag and be on my way.”

  “Promise you’ll be careful.” His voice softened. “I’ll be thinking of you tonight and wanting to be with you.”

  She already felt abandoned and lonely. “You know that I love you—”

  “And I love you.” The admission rang real and true to the depths of his being. “We can work everything else out, can’t we?”

  “Of course we can,” she promised, without having a clue as to how it could be done.

  It took her longer to get away from the hotel than she had expected. Not knowing what the bathroom and sleeping arrangements were going to be at Alice and Ted’s apartment, she decided to shower and changed into a clean pair of jeans and a blue knit sweater that would keep off the night chill. She packed one change of clothes and toiletries. Since it would still be dinnertime when she reached Timberlane, she decided to wait and eat something at the café.

  Chester and Rob had left lights burning on the ground floor. She made her way down the stairs and out the back door where Josh had parked the old Jeep.

  A chilling night wind sent scudding dark clouds across a half moon and slipped down the mountainside with a high-pitched wailing. A
night bird disturbed by her presence spread his dark wings and made a wide circle over her head before disappearing into the high crown of a tall pine tree.

  Stacy drew her sweater closer, climbed into the Jeep and settled her small bag in the seat beside her. Josh was the only one who had driven the Jeep and she held her breath as she inserted the ignition key. What if it didn’t start?

  “Thank God,” she breathed when the engine turned over, but in her nervousness to keep the Jeep running, she flooded it with too much gas. It jerked forward a few feet and died.

  Caught between the shadows of the dark hotel and the mountainside, every minute seemed like an eternity as she tried to get the engine started again. Her hands were moist with nervous sweat when she finally was successful.

  Carefully she shifted gears, held her breath and headed down the hairpin road that seemed much steeper than when Josh was driving. Heavily wooded hillside on both sides enveloped the road in shadowy darkness. She would have much preferred to be driving on a crowded California interstate at rush hour than to be leaning forward, navigating dangerous curves in the pale radius of a single pair of headlights.

  When she drove into Timberlane, she felt drained from making a drive that had seemed pleasant and so easy when Josh was at the wheel. She wondered if she could ever get used to the high mountain roads that seemed to threaten danger at every turn. The answer opened up too many uncertainties, and she shoved the thought away. Thinking about the future held too many emotional potholes.

  When Stacy drove into the Pantry’s small parking lot at the back of the building, it was crowded with cars and trucks. She found a place at the far end and sat there for a moment, letting the tenseness of her body ease. She missed Josh so much it hurt.

  Why had she let him talk her into coming to Timberlane for the night, instead of going to Pineville where she could be with him?

  For a foolish moment, she was tempted to turn around and make the drive to Pineville. Common sense reminded her that Josh’s attention should be given to his grandfather and not her.

  She took her bag and walked around to the front of the building. She could see that the restaurant was full of customers. Alice and Ted were having a busy night, all right. She’d learned already that anything out of the ordinary was fodder for the grapevine. She didn’t want everybody in the place to see her with an overnight bag; better to leave it upstairs, and then come back down to eat. There would be questions enough about where Josh was.

  She climbed the stairs and found the apartment door was unlocked as promised. They’d left on a light in the living room and hall. Josh had said that Alice was going to make up the spare room for her, so she headed down the hall. As she passed their bedroom and bathroom, Stacy wondered if the spare bedroom was the same one that Glenda had occupied during the three years that she’d lived here with them.

  The only other door was at the far end of the hall. Stacy peered in the door of a small room, sparsely furnished with a daybed, a vanity and a chest of drawers. It looked as if it had been unoccupied for some time.

  Stacy walked in, set her bag on the bed, and then swung around as a movement of air hit the back of her head. At the same time breaking glass flew and the stench of Glenda’s perfume rose in suffocating sweetness.

  Stacy stared at Ted in disbelief. Her startled gaze fell from the purple scarf in his hand, down to the shattered bottle he had dropped.

  “You shouldn’t have startled me,” he said with mesmerizing calmness, walking over to her as she stood there stunned.

  “It was you!” she gasped.

  In one swift movement, he brought his fist against the point of her chin in an uppercut and then caught her by the shoulders as she slumped.

  A fiery explosion in her head faded away into darkness.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Sitting in the hospital dining room, Josh drank his umpteenth cup of black coffee. It had been touch-and-go all night. Only a tough old bird like his grandfather would have survived the severe concussion he suffered when he fell in the barn. Josh had stayed at his bedside until Gramps had opened his eyes and demanded weakly, “Ain’t you got something better to do?”

  “Nope. Keeping you in line is my main job,” Josh had answered, hiding a smile of relief.

  Now, he glanced at his watch. Eight o’clock. Was it too early to call Stacy? During the long night hours, he’d replayed everything that had happened between them since he’d found her in the storm. From the beginning, he’d failed to detach himself from feelings that made no sense at all. His way of life was completely at odds with hers. Under different circumstances, they might never have been drawn to each other, but the situation at the hotel had thrown them together, causing them to share heightened emotions that were completely out of the ordinary. He couldn’t help but ask himself if the love and passion between them had just been born out of the circumstances and nothing more. Once she claimed her inheritance, would everything change?

  These were the uneasy thoughts in his mind when he called the Pantry, knowing that Alice and Ted were up at the crack of dawn, getting ready for their busy breakfast trade. Alice answered the phone.

  “Oh, Josh,” she said, anxiously, “Ted and I were just talking about you. We’ve been worried. How is your grandfather?”

  “The doctors seem to think the worst is over.” He gave her a quick update. “He’s cranky this morning, so I guess that’s a good sign.”

  “What a relief. Have you called Mrs. Crabtree? She was in the restaurant earlier. I think she feels responsible for what happened, Josh,” Alice told him in a confidential tone. “I reassured her that you don’t blame her or Billy. You don’t, do you?”

  “Of course not,” Josh said, rather impatiently. He was tired, strung out from a night of worry, and he really had more things on his mind than blaming anyone for his grandfather’s fall.

  “Well, you need to call her,” Alice said in a motherly tone. “I could tell she’s really upset.”

  “All right, I will,” he promised quickly. “Is Stacy up and about?”

  “What?” Alice asked.

  “I’d like to talk to Stacy. Is she up and about?”

  “Oh,” Alice said. “Stacy’s not here. She must have changed her mind about coming in to stay with us.”

  “What?”

  “She never showed up here to spend the night,” Alice explained.

  “Stacy didn’t drive into town or call to tell you she wasn’t coming?”

  “No, I guess she decided she’d be more comfortable at the hotel.” There was a touch of criticism in Alice’s tone. “Our place isn’t exactly what she’s used to, I guess. She’s welcome to stay here, though.”

  “Thanks, Alice. I’ll give her a call at the hotel.” And a piece of my mind!

  “Give our best to your grandpa.”

  Josh fumed as he dialed the number of the hotel apartment. Stubborn and independent, that’s what she was. He should have known when Stacy argued about staying so she could supervise the men that she’d already made up her mind.

  He waited until the phone had rung a half-dozen times before he hung up. Frowning, he glanced at his watch. She was probably downstairs with Chester and Rob. They should have shown up for work by now. Nothing was wrong, he told himself as an unbidden uneasiness began to surface.

  Or was there?

  Josh checked with the doctor and was told that his grandfather’s prognosis was good. He was assured that there was nothing Josh could do and the hospital would contact him if there were any changes. He quickly got in his truck and headed out of Pineville.

  On the drive back to the hotel, Josh’s thoughts wavered from one end of the scale to the other. One minute he was ready to light into her for not doing as he’d planned, and the next moment, he only wanted to pull her into his arms and assure himself she was safe.

  He drove up in front of the hotel just as Chester and Rob came out of the front door. Chester waved a hand in greeting as Josh got out of the truck. “We�
�ve been waiting for you.”

  “We’d have started without you iffen you’d told us what you wanted done next,” Rob added in his usual cantankerous tone.

  Josh brushed aside their explanations and tried to keep his voice even as he asked, “Where’s Stacy?”

  “Have you lost her?” Chester’s expression was more of smirk than anything until something in Josh’s eyes made him add quickly, “Haven’t seen her this morning, boss. Did you two have a fight or something? I guess you spent the night some place else.”

  “At the hospital. My grandfather fell and has a concussion.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry, boss,” Chester flushed. “We didn’t know.”

  Josh ignored the apology. “Have you started work on those back platforms? The same height as the front ones?” When Chester shook his head, Josh ordered, “Well, get on it.”

  He brushed by them and hurried into the building and up the stairs to the second floor. He felt a momentary sense of relief when he tried the apartment door and saw the new lock in place. He knocked briskly and called out. “Honey, it’s me. Open the door.”

  He shifted impatiently as he waited and when he didn’t get any response, he knocked and called out again. Still no response. Maybe she was somewhere else in the hotel? The kitchen? The laundry room? He spent the next few harried minutes checking out the downstairs rooms. His search was fruitless.

  He was about to leave the kitchen when he heard knocking at the back door. Had she locked herself out because of the new lock? The hope died when the wizened face of the locksmith met his through the half-door glass.

  Josh let him in, and as the man began to recite his plans for changing the rest of the locks, Josh abruptly interrupted him. “I need to get into the upstairs apartment, but I don’t have a key, and Miss Ashford doesn’t answer.”

  Only half listening to the man’s recital about people locking themselves out, Josh hurried the locksmith up the stairs and waited impatiently as he went through a couple dozen dangling keys on a metal ring.