Duncan

by Jo Jones

  “Is she asleep?” Lainey asked, easing into traffic.

  “Aye.”

  “Good. Then do you want to tell me what’s going on? What happened in there? Who were those men?”

  “I’m no’ exactly sure,” he began, wondering how to warn her of the danger, without frightening her overmuch, if such a thing was possible. “I should have caught and beaten the blackguards into a confession. Then ye’d know for sure.”

  “Know what?” Lainey glanced quickly at Duncan, before shifting her attention back on the road. “What are you talking about?”

  He took a long drink of water. “‘Tis worrisome news. What I ken of it, anyway.”

  Her hands tightened on the wheel as her shoulders stiffened. “Go on.” She ordered.

  “Mayhap ye could stop at one of these carparks while I tell ye what I overheard in there?” He didn’t like giving her bad news while she was weaving around through traffic. “Then I’ve a request to make.”

  Lainey pulled into the next parking lot, but left the lorry running, mayhap to keep the cool air on Molly, and shifted to face him. “Okay. I’m listening.”

  He started with a confession of his plan to find Mark and determine, one way or another, the man’s guilt or innocence. He finished with a recount of the conversation he’d overheard at the hardware store.

  Her face had paled as he’d talked, her panic clearly visible in her eyes.

  “I wanted to protect ye and Molly, but I didna. I’m sorry.”

  “Those were gas cans they bought. He intends to burn me out.” Her voice had risen in pace with her anger.

  Duncan nodded. “‘Tis what I believe.”

  “Knowing we’d be there. That his child, would be there.”

  She released a shuddering breath. “All the times I told myself it was Mark, I don’t think I truly believed it. Not really.” Tears swam in her eyes, brimming at the edges of her lashes. “How could he do this to Molly? Go this far?”

  Duncan waited a few seconds, knowing she didn’t expect an answer. “I’d ask ye and Molly, both, to stay in town while I deal with these scoundrels, but I need ye to drive me back out there so I can catch them before they do their dirty deed. Is there someone…someplace, Molly could stay ‘til ‘tis over?”

  She shook her head, raking her bottom lip with her teeth as he pondered. “No. No place. We’ve stayed to ourselves so long, we’ve lost touch. I couldn’t possibly trust any of Mark’s friends. Anyone I knew years ago would be total strangers to Molly, even if they’re still around. I’d never get her to stay with them without completely terrifying her. Besides, if Mark has truly gone to these lengths, I’m afraid he’d find out where she was and use her some way to get what he wants. No, I’m the best person to protect her.”

  She tapped her fingernails on the steering wheel. “The police aren’t going to come out there on nothing more than a partially heard conversation.” She stared, blankly, out the window. “Mark knows if I’m burned out I’d never be able to rebuild. I’ll lose the ranch for sure.” She gnawed on a fingernail, eyes darting everywhere and nowhere. “What can we do?”

  “Everything we can.” Duncan said, reaching across Molly to take Lainey’s hand. “After ye take me back, I need ye to take Molly and go someplace safe. Away from the ranch.”

  She gave him an incredulous look. “While you…?”

  “Catch them.” He gave her the same look in return.

  “How? Exactly?”

  Her eyes searched his for answers he didn’t yet have. “Ye’ll have to trust me, lass. I’ll catch them, I promise ye.”

  “And then?” She challenged.

  “And then,” he replied with utmost confidence, “I’ll get the truth from them about yer ex-husband. Ye’ve no need to doubt me on that.”

  “You’ll beat it out of them.”

  She made it sound like more of an accusation than a question. “Aye,” he shrugged a shoulder at the obvious. “Were ye planning on servin’ ‘em tea and just waiting for a confession?”

  He regretted the sarcasm in his voice, but blast it, what did she want from him? Did she want answers about Mark, or no’?

  Her hand slipped from his as she leaned back against the seat and gripped the steering wheel with both hands. “Wherever you’re from – Scotland, I assume – the customs and the way the law operates, must be quite different from America. Here, you cannot beat a confession out of someone without going to jail yourself. And quite frankly, I can’t believe you can in Scotland, either.”

  Resentment bubbled in his throat. “So ye’d have me sit back and let ‘em burn yer place down around ye, and put ye out of house and home? The verra place ye claim to hold so dear?”

  “Of course not. That’s absurd.”

  He threw up his hands. The lass could drive a man mad!

  Before he could say anything, she turned a look of furious determination on him that would have done any of the 79 proud that sixteenth day of April in ‘46. ‘Twas a look of no surrender.

  “I want the evidence of what they’re planning, to be irrefutable. I want it to be so incriminating they’ll beg to testify against Mark, for a plea bargain. I want to be finished with him, once and for all. This might be my chance.

  “But ye doona plan to capture this evidence by force?” The bit of mockery was clear in his voice, but he couldn’t help it. “How then?”

  This time she grinned openly. “Nanny cam.”

  He didn’t even try to mask his confusion. “Nanny…who?”

  “Nanny cam. You know, record them. Catch them in the act as they’re getting ready to start the fire.”

  He still didn’t understand. “Record them?”

  “Yes, on a hidden surveillance camera.”

  He felt the dawning realization of her plan and he liked it. A lot. “Ayyye.” He grinned. “The guards have such a thing at the visitor’s center. I’ve seen ‘em watching the pictures. Ye’re brilliant, lass.”

  Her smile transformed her face, erasing the worry and strain he’d seen too much of.

  “It feels good to be on the offensive, for a change.” She pulled the lorry back onto the street and headed back the way they’d come. “There’s an electronics place not far from here. I’m hoping they’ll have what we need. It’ll have to work in the dark and self-record, with a battery pack.

  “Otherwise,” she said with an edge to her voice, “we’re back to your original plan of beating it out of them, after which, you and I go to jail, and Mark gets Molly.”

  She turned a stricken look on him. “I meant that factiously, but…what if something goes wrong and that really happened? What would happen to Molly? Mark doesn’t want her. Where would she go?”

  “I’ll no’ let that happen. No’ ever.” He vowed, feeling the conviction of his words, in his core.

  The look of anguish she gave him twisted his gut. “Please don’t do that, Duncan.”

  “What do ye mean, lass? I meant it. Every word, I swear.”

  She pressed her lips into a thin line as if trying to hold something back. “It’s cruel to say things like that when we both know you’re leaving tonight,” she finally said. “For all I know, you won’t even be there to see this thing through to the end. I know you don’t owe us anything and you’ve been very clear from the beginning about your intention to leave and that you couldn’t change it. And that’s okay. Just, please, don’t say things you can’t possibly mean.”

  A hot flash of realization speared through his chest. Not since that first scrap of grapeshot had ripped through his flesh, and later, the killing stab of a bayonet, had he experienced such tearing pain. How in heaven and earth could he have forgotten?

  For a brief, blind moment, it had been as if he were actually alive, with a family, hopes, dreams and choices and most of all, a tomorrow. He had none of those. For a few ticks of his imitation heart, he’d truly forgotten he was nothing but a ghost on borrowed time.

  ~

  Lainey glanced at the storm cloud
s still clinging to the surrounding mountains as they left St. George. Those to the west of her place, had been dumping a steady volume of rain since yesterday and still looked menacing. They couldn’t hear the thunder from here, but the lightening sparking through the leaden mass promised even more to come.

  Once they’d climbed to higher elevations, a light sprinkle dotted the windshield, just enough to keep Lainey busy flipping the wipers on and off.

  Water ponded in the low spots and sides of the dirt road, slowing them down. “Blast this rain,” Lainey muttered, swinging wide around a large puddle.

  “Nay, lass. ‘Tis a good bit of fortune that ye’ve had such a long, hard rain,” Duncan said, studying the roadside and the areas beyond. “Taking a vehicle off the road into that mess would be folly, indeed.” He grinned slyly. “Not exactly the bogs of Scotland, but may serve us well, today.”

  He was right. It would narrow down the places someone could approach the ranch without getting stuck.

  She could be grateful for that, if she could just get in a grateful mood.

  Actually, she still couldn’t believe her luck finding three cameras that worked in the dark, were self-contained and operated on battery packs. She had no idea they came in such clever disguises. If she didn’t know better, she’d think the rounded rock, birdhouse, and electrical breaker box, were real. She’d bought them all, telling herself the exorbitant price couldn’t matter. She’d have to find a way to deal with her mounting credit card balance later.

  The greater portion of the ride home had been spent discussing the best places to put the cameras, from which direction the men might approach, and how far to let them get in their arson attempts before stopping them.

  She had no idea how much recorded evidence was enough to hold up in court. How close to letting her ranch go up in smoke did she dare get?

  She’d promised Duncan she’d take Molly somewhere safe after they had everything set up. Her safety had to come first, of course, but the idea of leaving Duncan to face everything alone, was tearing her apart. If Duncan failed, everything would be gone and how could she put that kind of burden on Duncan in the first place?

  Molly stirred, shifted and resettled against Duncan as they drove past the spot where Lainey had first seen him, standing in the road like an apparition. He’d looked like a wild Highland warrior out of some old history book.

  That seemed like a lifetime ago.

  She hadn’t meant to chastise him today. He’d been amazing from the very moment she’d jumped out of her truck to yell at him. She knew she’d keep the memory of him tucked close to her heart the rest of her life. Was it really possible to care about someone so quickly? Maybe it was just the fantasy she’d grown so attached to. No matter. Fantasies always ended. And in her personal recollection, never well.

  What she was facing now terrified her and she just didn’t have the energy to pretend it was all going to work out fine, just because she wanted it to. Or that he would stay, just because she wanted him to.

  They drove the last few miles in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. The closer they got, the more anxious she became. “I know you said they weren’t coming until after dark, but do you think they might be here anyway? Waiting, maybe?” She eased the truck to a stop on the rise above the ranch.

  Duncan glanced at her, worry lines etched deep on his face. “I doona think so soon, but to be sure, stay here and keep the lorry running. I’ll go see.” He eased Molly’s weight off of him and got out. “I’ll wave to ye if ‘tis safe to come down. If ye doona see me in five minutes, leave. Take Molly away from here.”

  She held his gaze for a long moment, wondering if she could actually drive away and leave him. Finally she agreed, so he would quit staring through to her soul with those intense blue eyes. “Be careful.”

  “Lainey, I…” He gave her a slow smile and a wink. “Take care of the both of ye.”

  She watched him disappear into the trees. Yesterday he’d been a stranger. Today he was willing to fight her battles for her. What might more time have given them?

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Duncan watched for any new tracks in the mud on his way down the hill. The rain pelted his plaid as he surveyed the ground surrounding all the buildings. Even though he found nothing, he checked inside each structure, needing to be sure.

  A few hours of daylight remained. He could get things set up if he made haste. For a moment, he considered not waving the all clear to Lainey so she’d take Molly and leave. He’d wished them to be far away before things started to happen, but he didna ken how to set up the camera-things and…he’d left them in the lorry. Lainey was counting on the wee implements to solve her problems with Mark and he couldna take that from her.

  Molly’s safety weighed heavily on his mind, as it did Lainey’s. Saving Molly or saving the ranch was no’ even a choice, but he wasna ready to sacrifice Lainey’s ranch just yet.

  He hated the burden Lainey carried on her slim shoulders. If anyone needed a heroic deed, ‘twas she. He prayed Soni would grant him the time needed to give her one.

  At his signal, Lainey came down the hill and parked the truck next to the porch. She helped Molly out as he reached for the camera sacks.

  “Are you feeling better, sweetheart? How is your leg?”

  Duncan heard the anxiety in her voice despite pretending to Molly that all was well. His failure to capture the swine earlier today, angered and shamed him. ‘Twas no’ just his duty, as a man, to protect Lainey and Molly, ‘twas a need burning inside him. One he knew wouldna go away when ‘twas time to leave them.

  “I’m fine, Mama. My leg feels better. I’m going to the barn to look for Patches.”

  “No! No,” Lainey’s tone softened as she brushed Molly’s curls back. “I don’t want you out in the rain. And besides, I…bought a birdhouse. I thought you could help me put it together.”

  “Okay. But can I look for Patches later?”

  Duncan watched her reach for one of the sacks and peek inside.

  “Sure,” Lainey replied, looking at him over the top of Molly’s head. “Later.”

  She handed him a couple of bags as well. “Let’s sit on the porch, out of the rain.”

  Duncan took the pieces and parts from one the boxes and happily handed them over to Molly who busily removed the bubble wrap. He shook his head in frustration. “I doona ken anything about these.”

  “Luckily,” Lainey said, checking the battery pack for the birdhouse, “the guy at the store gave me a short-hand version of the instruction manual.”

  Puzzled, Duncan watched what she was doing. “Short hands? I doona ken that, either.”

  She flashed him an incredulous look, before going back to fitting the camera into the base. “You know, like an abbreviated version.”

  He decided to just let her do whatever she was doing and go do what he did best. “While ‘tis still light, I want do a wee bit of…” he looked at Molly then back at Lainey, “…exploring, to see where…mayhap, if I wanted to surprise ye sometime, I’d want to know the best way to approach. Some places might be too difficult to get through. Especially if ‘twere raining, as it is now.”

  “I’d like to drown a certain person in it,” Lainey muttered through gritted teeth, struggling to put the top on the birdhouse.

  “Who, Mama?” Molly asked.

  Lainey sighed. “No one, sweety. Well,” she smiled at Molly. “Maybe the man who made this birdhouse so hard to fit together. Duncan, there’s a small set of tools in a black case beneath the seat in the truck. Would you hand it to me? I need a different screwdriver.”

  “Aye.” He fished around under the seat, pulling out several items, grumbling when some of them caught in the door-jamb or rolled into the mud. None of them in a black case. Stretching further, he felt something and pulled it out. “Finally.” He looked around, frowning at the mess he’d made.

  “Don’t worry about all that now,” Lainey said from the porch. “Just grab what’s on the ground an
d we’ll deal with the rest later.”

  Duncan tossed the muddy items onto the floor, pushed at the door and took the case to Lainey. “Ye’ve got half yer barn under that seat,” he teased.

  He left them to work on the birdhouse and headed for the trees behind the barn. He needed a clear picture of where the enemy might emerge.

  ~

  When he returned, Lainey had all three cameras put together, ready to install. He stepped onto the porch and shook the rain from his plaid.

  “Mama put a camera in the birdhouse.” Molly said, excitement rushing her words. “It’s going to take pictures of our house and barn and stuff, like a movie. I get to watch it sometime. But birds can probably still live in there to get out of the rain, or have babies if they want.”

  He pinched his lips to hold his grin back as he reached for the birdhouse. “Then I’d best get the thing hung, so those birds can stay dry tonight. I think I know the very tree. If I place it high enough, ‘twill give ye a nice wide view of all the buildings and windmill. Perhaps, ye’ll even see Patches amble across the yard, in one of your movies.”

  “With her kittens?”

  “Well, no’ just yet. They’ll no’ be strong enough to be up and about for a few weeks after they’re born.”

  “Oh,” she muttered, dejectedly.”

  Duncan filled his gaze with Molly’s pretty face and bouncing curls, wound even tighter with the rain, and wished he could hug every worry from her. “Would ye do me a kindness, Sweeting?”

  “Uh-huh,” she brightened.

  Could ye go inside and fetch me a glass of water? I’ve worked up a powerful thirst.”

  “Okay.” She slid off her chair and disappeared inside.

  As soon as the door closed, he turned to Lainey. “I found but two places they could travel any distance in a vehicle and not get bogged down. They’d have to walk the last half mile or so of either, totin’ those big containers. They’ll no’ be travelin’ fast and light. I’ll know when they’re comin’.”