His eyes lifted to meet hers. “I have to eliminate everyone that I can. Where were you, exactly?”
She took a deep breath, her heart picking up speed again. She couldn’t believe Rafe would think she’d try to hurt her own mother. “I was at the library, and before that, I was at Charlie’s garage getting the oil changed in the SUV. Lots of people saw me, if I need an alibi.” She had truly tried to keep the sarcasm out of her voice but she’d heard it creep in, in spite of her effort. “Are you sure this was more than an accident?”
He nodded. “I thought that’s what it was, too, when I smelled beer in the car. When you leave here, come by the office and I’ll let you see her car. Then see what you think.” He knew he probably shouldn’t have offered her that option, but she was Shirley’s daughter. Until he checked her alibi, she had to be one of his prime suspects, he reminded himself, as he watched her return to her mother’s room.
And the only woman he’d ever loved. That thought just popped into his head as he walked down the corridor of the small county hospital. Where the hell had that come from? He didn’t want to speculate about it. He couldn’t still be in love with Mesa. She’d kept his child from him for all this time, and now she was a suspect he would have to investigate in this attempt on her mother’s life.
It clearly was an attempted murder, as far as he was concerned. Looking at the skid marks along that stretch of the highway and those left on Shirley’s car, it was easy to see that the driver of the other vehicle had tried to scare Shirley into a panicked accident and failing that had forced her off the road, maybe hoping that her speed and impact with anything would cause her death.
His steps slowed and then he stopped. Rance’s accident had seemed so unlikely he’d had a hard time accepting it, too. Now he began wondering again. Had that been a bungled attempt on his life? Was someone targeting the owners of the Rocking H?
He went to the nurses’ station and was glad to see Levi’s greatest heartthrob and coincidentally, one of his distant cousins, working there. “Hey, Trish. Could you tell me what doctor would have been working the night Rance Howell was brought in here? Probably knowing what nurse was on duty would help, too.”
She smiled at him, her face reflecting her heritage as clearly as his did. “That’s an easy one, Rafe. I was the nurse at the ER that night and the doctor was…..” she thought back for a minute, frowning. “Yeah, it was Dr. Hodges. I’m sure of it. What do you need?”
He flashed a winning smile at her. “What are the chances that I could look at Rance’s file from that night?”
She rolled her deep brown eyes up and appeared in deep thought, and then she seemed to make up her mind. “Oh, about the same chance as a cow has of hatching a clutch of quail eggs, unless you got a warrant or something to show me. You know a patient’s medical records are private.”
A deep chuckle came from his throat as he tapped the end of her nose with one finger. “You’re so damn cute. I can’t imagine why you’re still single.”
“’Cause Levi hasn’t asked me to marry him, yet,” she shot back at him without even a moment of hesitation.
“I could put in a good word for you,” he suggested, a teasing grin melting across his generous lips. “If you’d let me take a look at that file.”
She smacked away the hand that threatened to tap her nose again. “I don’t need your help. I just need you to stop trying to find him some expensive heeling horse to buy. The county doesn’t pay him enough to have a wife and buy a heeling horse.”
Rafe smiled. “I see your point. Maybe the boy is due for a raise. I’ll have to find some time to check.” He started down the corridor again a smile on his handsome face, before he looked back over his shoulder at her. “You tell Aunt Letty to come see Uci. Uci misses her since your mama married that wasicu and moved down to Bluff Road.”
Trish nodded and waved him on his way.
When he called Raale later that evening, he was surprised when Mesa answered the phone. Raale was up at the big house with Jory and Shirley. The doctor had released her mother earlier and they’d brought her home.
Rafe’s heartbeat quickened. “Do you think that’s a good idea, considering someone apparently tried to kill your mom?” His child was the most important thing in his life. How could Mesa be so irresponsible? He didn’t even realize how harsh his voice had sounded.
“Do you really think my mother might be in danger?” she asked.
“Yes, and Raale, too, if she’s around at the wrong time. I thought you were going to come by the office and look at your mom’s car today. Maybe if you had, you’d recognize the danger.” Again his voice sounded cold and harsh, just like his heart. Then a thought blossomed in his mind. If Mesa had something to do with the attack on her mother, she would know that Raale wasn’t in danger at the moment. He hated to think that she might be involved in something so heinous, but he was a law enforcement officer and he couldn’t rule out anyone as a suspect. He couldn’t allow sentiments or personal relationships to get in the way of him doing his job, but he couldn’t make himself believe that Mesa had anything to do with the attempt on her mother’s life. He’d check with the library first thing in the morning.
“Rafe, if my mother is in danger, why isn’t there someone from your office out here making sure nothing happens to her?”
He frowned. Since she was a suspect he couldn’t divulge his assignments to her. But even with that thought, he heard the accusation in her voice and concern for her mother. The mother she’d only recently began to develop a relationship with. “I’ve got measures in place, Mesa. I’m not going to let anything happen to Shirley, but by the same token, I think it would be better if Raale doesn’t spend time with her, unless there are others around. Just to be on the safe side.”
“Jory is there, also, but I’ll go get her as soon as I hang up the phone.” She capitulated.
“Thanks, and then would you call me at the office so I can talk to her?”
Mesa agreed and was about to hang up when Rafe spoke again. “I think it’s a very nice thing you’re planning for Rance. Let’s just hope the weather cooperates and gives you a clear day.”
She shrugged. “Yeah, I sure hope so. He deserves it. Are you coming?”
“I’ll at least put in an appearance. I don’t know if I’ll be able to spend the day.”
“I’m sure Raale would love it if you could.” She turned and looked out the window at the sound of voices. “Here’s Raale and Jory now. Hang on and you can talk to her.”
After a conversation with his daughter, Rafe called the deputy he had stationed in the woods near Shirley’s house and learned that everything there was as quiet as a church on Monday morning.
The next morning he was at the library when Mrs. Haskins, the head librarian, unlocked the door. He couldn’t believe the relief that filled him when she assured him that Mesa had indeed been at the library and was there for well over an hour before her mother called. She couldn’t have been the driver that forced Shirley off the road.
Time passed quickly and Rafe was happy to learn that Beth had arranged work schedules so that he was off for the entire weekend of the celebration for Rance. Scheduling was a job he’d quickly delegated to Beth when he became sheriff, because it didn’t take long for him to realize that if someone else wasn’t responsible for that, he’d never have a day off. He knew John Montgomery would be perfectly capable of handling anything that came up, and if he deemed it necessary, he wouldn’t hesitate to call Rafe.
Chapter 8
It came as a surprise that the morning of Rance’s birthday celebration dawned clear and bright. The weather forecaster had been happy to predict a clear, sunny day for a welcome change.
Arriving at the ranch a couple of hours early, Rafe unloaded the sorrel colt he’d been working with for the last few months and quickly tacked him up. He cornered Bob in the barn and asked the old cowboy if he’d ride with him and show him the place where he’d found Rance.
“W
ell, I don’t see any point in it, but sure. Just let me tell Mesa I’m going with ya. She’s worried herself into a tizzy about something going wrong and ruining Rance’s shindig. I told her that Rance is just so damned glad that he’s home and looking forward to seeing all his old friends again that nothing short of the Second Coming could keep him…..hell, even if that happened, he’d enjoy it.” The old man wandered off looking for Mesa while Rafe quickly gathered the equipment he’d planned to take with him and secured it to his saddle.
When Bob appeared again, he was leading a saddled horse and Mesa was walking with him.
The sight of her quickened his heart. She looked so good in a pair of snug Wrangler jeans, her boots, a sleeveless tank top, with her hair pulled back in a ponytail that hung out above the snap band of her pink Duck Dynasty camo cap. He frowned at his dog who greeted her with a wagging tail. Traitor.
“You know Bob shouldn’t ride for very long,” she cautioned as the two approached Rafe, absently scratching the broad head of the friendly bulldog.
He nodded, and peeled the cap off his head to rake through the thick ebony strands with one hand. “Yeah, Mesa. I won’t keep him out long. I just need to check a couple of things.”
Her eyes swept over his horse, taking in the coil of rope attached below the saddle horn and the metal detector secured in a rifle case on the left side. She looked back at him, a question forming in her arched brows.
He chose to ignore it and turned, lifting himself into the saddle with practiced ease. “We won’t take any longer than necessary.”
She shrugged, knowing he wasn’t going to satisfy her curiosity. “Can I put these other two horses you brought in stalls? I have several empty and they’ll be more comfortable.”
He nodded. “I’d really appreciate that.” He reined the sorrel around and followed Bob down the driveway. Looking back over his shoulder, he frowned again. The traitorous dog was standing there beside her like he had no intention of leaving. He whistled softly and Spur obediently fell in behind the two horses and trotted along.
Mesa watched him ride away, her temper held in tight control. He should know that she wasn’t concerned about anything but his horses! She led his big buckskin heading horse and the beautiful palomino mare that she wasn’t familiar with into the barn and released them in adjacent stalls, her anger fading. Tossing them a small flake of hay, she smiled. There was something almost intimate in the simple act of tending to Rafe’s horses. Being a pretty traditional Lakota, Rafe didn’t trust just anyone to take care of his animals.
The two men rode at a steady pace and after about 30 minutes Bob reined his mount to a stop. “I found him right there on the edge of that sink hole. It’s just a miracle that he didn’t go down in the hole with his horse. If he had, don’t know that we’d ever have found them.”
Rafe dismounted and walked to the verge of the basin and looked over, relieved to see that the recent rain hadn’t filled it with water. He could see the remains of the horse Rance had been riding laying among a tangle of roots and brush at the bottom of the twenty-five foot drop.
“The horse was already dead?” he asked the older man. He could hear the squeak of saddle leather as Bob dismounted before answering.
The older man appeared at his elbow. “Yeah. I think he broke his neck when he fell. Probably hit that tree that had fallen over. Shame. That was a damn fine animal. Full brother to that blue roan that Mesa rides.”
“When did y’all get Rance’s tack?”
“Me’n Gibby came back the next day. I lowered him with a rope and he cut the girth to loosen the saddle and had to cut the bridle off, too. I had to use my horse to pull the saddle out, then I pulled Gibby up. We ain’t been back.” The old man backed away from the edge, the sight of the dead animal below obviously disturbed him. “Just a miracle that Rance didn’t go over, too,” he repeated again.
Rafe walked to his horse where he removed his rope and the metal detector. “When you were down there, did you see blood, or anything like that?”
“You can see where a tree broke off and penetrated the gut. There was blood alright, and intestines hung up on the part of the tree that was left standing.” Bob shook his head. “Sheriff, why are we here?”
Rafe shrugged. “I don’t know, Bob. Somehow it just doesn’t set right with me, that Rance would get close enough to the edge of the sink, to put that animal in any kind of danger, or that he’d just fall off and end up under that horse like he did. Rance is best horseman I’ve ever known. That accident has just never felt right to me.”
Bob nodded. He noticed that Rafe had slung the metal detector over his back like a quiver of arrows and was fashioning a rapelling seat around his legs. He wrapped the other end of the rope around his saddle horn and backed to the edge of the drop off. “Just hold him still while I go down. Hopefully this won’t take long.” He stepped off the edge and Bob watched as he backed down the perpendicular side of the sink hole. Spur trotted to the edge and whined worriedly, watching Rafe descend.
A half hour later Rafe called up. “Back my horse up, Bob. There ain’t nothin’ along the bank to use to pull myself up, and with all the rain we’ve been gettin’ the sides are slick as snot.”
Bob did as directed and soon Rafe appeared and walked back up to the top. After being greeted like he’d been gone for hours by Spur, he quickly undid the rope and recoiled it. He placed the metal detector in the rifle scabbard of his saddle and fastened the rope back in its place.
“Find anything?” the old cowboy couldn’t contain his curiosity any longer.
Rafe grinned at him. “I don’t think I can tell you. It’s an ongoing investigation.”
“Aw, hell. Now I know you found something and it’ll drive me crazy, not knowing.” Bob spit a stream of tobacco juice back toward the edge of the sink.
“If I hear one word, I’ll know where it came from,” Rafe said. Then he held up a small, clear evidence bag containing a piece of lead he’d dug out of the fragmented bone of one of the rear femurs of the remains of the horse. “Looks like it came from a 308 caliber rifle. Something that powerful probably knocked that colt’s hind end to the side when it shattered the femur and caused the fall.”
Bob frowned. “It’s a pure miracle that Rance didn’t go over, too. A pure miracle.”
Rafe scanned the area surrounding the scene of the shooting and spotted a couple of places that could conceal a gunman. Leaving Bob and Spur with the horses, he slipped on a pair of gloves and searched the closest place. It was to the left of where the colt went over the edge and consisted of a cluster of low growing scrub oaks on a small knoll. Moving the wet leaf litter carefully, he found no evidence, so he moved on to the other site. The bushes were thick on one side and was further away and Rafe decided it would require a pretty good marksman to accomplish the shot from there. Again he moved the leaf litter around carefully and found the wrapper off a granola bar crumpled and wedged against the trunk of one of the bigger bushes. He slipped it into an evidence bag and cast around a bit more before he found the brass shell casing that had been covered with fallen soggy leaves. He grinned and, using a stick, he lifted it from the litter and slipped it into an evidence bag, as well. Then he made his way back to Bob and the horses.
Rafe reminded the old man again about the importance of keeping the information to himself. “Don’t even tell Rance,” and Bob nodded his head, lifting his right hand as he did it.
True to his word, Rafe and Bob were back in less than two hours. By then several other rigs had arrived and some of the ropers were warming up their horses in the arena.
Gibby and Mesa’s other hands had brought in about thirty-five of the ranch’s small herd of Corriente steers.
The Corriente breed of cattle originated in Mexico but was quickly adopted as the premier cattle for team roping events. They were economical to feed, reproduced easily, were athletic enough to run, and had horns that were just right for a loop to settle around. Most people who competed in team
roping kept a few for practice and the Rocking H was no exception. The hands were running the steers into a chute and fastening on the thick leather guards that protected the animals head and horns from rope burns. Bob handed his horse to a young cowboy to put away and became the instant supervisor, making sure each horn guard was fastened snuggly into place. Spur trotted off looking for a water tank so he could get a drink.
Rafe led the horse he’d been ridding into the cavernous barn and moved his tack from the sorrel onto his powerful buckskin gelding, Dollar. He put the sorrel in the stall that the buckskin had occupied and led his heading horse out to his trailer. He couldn’t help wondering where Raale was as he returned to the barn to get the mare. Rafe was glad that Levi had hesitated when he’d mentioned that Henry Dunn had this mare for sale. She was outstanding and once he saw her and the way she worked, Rafe hadn’t thought twice about buying her. At eight years old, the beautiful palomino was a finished heeling horse, with arena presence rare in such a young animal and enough chrome to catch every eye. She was one of a kind and by the time Raale was old enough to rope, this animal would be seasoned enough to put her where she’d need to be. A grin spread Rafe’s generous lips as he pictured Mesa on the mare. Alright, he’d admit that had as much to do with him buying the mare as anything, but he just wasn’t strong enough to resist the temptation of seeing Mesa astride the mare, picking up the heels of the steer he’d just headed. He frowned. He had to stop fantasizing, especially about Mesa. Good Lord, hadn’t he learned anything about the trouble that could lead to?
“Daddy, are you in here?” Raale’s voice hailed him.
“Back here, sweetness,” he called back and then turned to watch her storm around the corner, rushing to greet him, the big bulldog leading the way.
“I was looking for you and then I saw Spur coming in here, so I followed him. Mom said you and Mr. Bob went riding. Why didn’t you wait for me?” She’d made a running leap and he caught her in his arms hugging her tight. “Mr. Bob lets me ride his old horse and I’m not a’scared anymore, you know.”
Sweet Talking Lawman Page 12
