The elderly woman turned off the television that was blaring with a game show, and into the silence that followed, she said, “Can I get you both some thing to drink? Coffee? Tea? A glass of wine?”
Josh and Megan declined the offer and it occurred to Megan that Josh was unusually subdued, taking the role of observer until he knew exactly what was going on.
“What did you want to talk about?” Mabel asked then, settling into her over stuffed lounger as Megan and Josh sat on the couch—Megan on the very edge of the cushion as if she didn’t have the right to be more comfortable than that.
“I spoke to my mother just a little while ago and some things she told me started me to thinking,” Megan began.
She told both Mabel and Josh about her conversation with her mother, about learning that some of Elk Creek’s residents had been in financial trouble when her family had left town but had been unable to sell their property even when they needed to. That the Murphys in particular had wanted her family to buy them out.
“My folks just thought that you and Mr. Murphy had reached a time in your life when you didn’t want to work as hard as you needed to to keep the place going. But after I got off the phone I started wondering if maybe that wasn’t true. If maybe you’d been in financial trouble, too.”
Megan waited and watched Mabel. But the elderly woman’s expression was perfectly calm.
Hoping she was wrong in what she was thinking, Megan continued.
“Then I remembered some thing else. Two things, actually. I remembered that the man who’d sold the gold doubloons in Cheyenne eighteen years ago had been an older man with a limp, and I remembered you showing us the hall tree my dad had carved for you, that antique umbrellas weren’t the only things you kept in it.”
Megan pointed to the seated hall tree that was visible through the archway to the living room. “I recalled also seeing walking sticks in it. And then it occurred to me that walking sticks and canes are basically the same thing. And that canes are used by people with limps.”
Megan felt rather than saw Josh’s interest pique at that.
“You don’t need any help getting around,” Megan observed. “So when I saw the walking sticks—the canes—earlier, I assumed you just collected them. But now I’m wondering if Mr. Murphy needed them.”
Mabel took a deep breath that raised her frail shoulders and lowered them again when she sighed it out. Then she smiled. Still perfectly calmly. As if she’d been waiting for this to happen for a long while and was well-prepared.
“Horace fell from the barn loft the year before that year you’re so interested in. Broke his hip. We hadn’t been doing well financially for a few years so we’d dropped our medical insurance coverage and without it we couldn’t afford the hip replacement surgery he should have had. The hip just had to heal and it left him with a limp. He also ended up not bein’ able to work the place the way he had. Which left us in very hard times.”
“And you were going to lose everything when along came Pete Chaney and his gold doubloons,” Megan guessed.
“Yep. But it wasn’t what you’re thinkin’. Pete Chaney came by here after you and your folks left town. Offered to work in exchange for food and sleepin’ in our barn. We had some things needed doin’ that Horace couldn’t take care of, thought maybe if we spruced up the place we’d have a better chance of finding a buyer before the bank left us with nothin’. So we made the deal with Chaney and set him up in the tack room. Next morning Horace went lookin’ for him when he didn’t show up for break fast and there he was, dead in his bunk. Must have had a heart attack or a stroke or some thing while he slept.”
“Nothing that would show up in what was left of his remains eighteen years later,” Megan pointed out for Josh’s benefit, refraining from gloating over the fact that that’s what she’d suggested at the start of this.
“We’d heard—same as every body had—Chaney’s stories about the gold coins he claimed to have,” Mabel continued. “Nobody—us included—believed he had any such thing. But after Horace found ’im, we went through his knapsack and, sure enough, he had two gold doubloons. So there we were, faced with a man who’d died of natural causes, who’d just told us how he was all alone in the world, how he didn’t have a single bit of kinfolk, and us with two gold doubloons in hand and the bank barkin’ at the back door. What would you have done?”
But Mabel didn’t wait for an answer to that before she went on. “Not a soul in town would’ve—or did—think a thing about a drifter being here one day and not the next. If we’d of called the sheriff he’d have taken the coins, used ’em to bury the man and who knows what would have happened with anything left over. And we’d of still lost our home. So we decided there was no harm doin’ the burying our selves and keepin’ the coins for our trouble.”
Simple enough.
“But why bury him in my family’s backyard?” Megan asked.
Mabel shrugged. “We were afraid of buryin’ him here. Afraid if he got dug up somehow nobody’d believe we didn’t kill him. It didn’t seem like your family’d ever come back or that anybody’d be able to track ’em down if the body showed up on their property. So we took Chaney over to your place late that night and dug him a grave there.”
“And then your husband took the coins into Cheyenne, sold them, and that’s how you saved the farm,” Megan concluded unnecessarily.
“That’s the whole of it.”
“Why not just keep the coins no one believed Chaney had in the first place and call the sheriff to report the death?” Josh asked then, sounding slightly more conversational than officious, which helped ease some of Megan’s fears for Mabel.
“We knew we’d have to sell ’em,” the older woman said matter-of-factly. “And when we did, if word got out somehow, it’d be easy to figure that we took them off of Chaney and someone might take the money away from us. But doin’ it the way we did—with Horace using Chaney’s name when he sold them—if word got out, folks would just think he’d sold them himself after leavin’ here and nobody’d be the wiser.”
“And the bank didn’t question where you’d all of a sudden come up with the money to pay them?” This from Josh.
“It wasn’t like we walked in and plunked down enough to pay off the mortgage—although we could have. We just caught up on the payments and went on making them from there as if we didn’t have a whole lot of cash we were diggin’ into.”
Mabel took another deep breath, apparently signaling that her story was over. Then she said, “So, Josh, go ahead and arrest me if that’s what you have to do.”
This time Megan did turn her head to look at him.
Josh’s eyes went from her to Mabel in a slow pivot as he seemed to ponder what had just been laid out before him.
Then, after a long moment, he said, “I’m obligated to write this up and talk to the District Attorney but I don’t know what action he could take. There’s no evidence that what you’re saying isn’t true, and, beyond unlawful disposal of human remains, I don’t know where taking the coins stands. But no matter what it might qualify as, the statute of limitations has likely expired on that. So no, I’m not taking you in. But you sure could have saved me some time tellin’ me this when we were here before.”
Since Mabel hadn’t shown any signs of alarm from the beginning, she didn’t seem relieved to hear that she wasn’t under arrest. All she said was, “I’m sorry for that. But I didn’t know where I stood and I thought I was better off not tellin’ some thing that might never come out at all.”
Josh shook his head again, returning his midnight-blue eyes to Megan. “And you. You could have told me what you’d found out before we got here.”
“I didn’t want you barreling in here and doing something harsh if I was wrong.”
“Oh right, because I’m known for being harsh with little old ladies. Pardon me callin’ you that, Mabel,” he added without looking at the elderly woman.
Then his gaze went back and forth between them as s
ome thing else seemed to occur to him. “The two of you didn’t cook this up to get your parents off the hook, did you?”
“I beg your pardon,” Megan said.
“I still have the pa per work for the sale of the coins if you’d like to see it,” Mabel offered in Megan’s defense.
“I’ll definitely need that,” Josh said, still looking at Megan while Mabel got up and went to a rolltop desk in the corner of the living room.
From there she produced a yellowed paper Megan could only assume verified the sale of the gold doubloons when the elderly woman handed it to Josh.
He finally glanced away, reading what was written on the paper.
When he was finished he looked to Megan again. “Okay, so you’re just good at playing Nancy Drew and you didn’t concoct this whole thing.”
He refolded the paper and put it in his breast pocket, getting to his feet as he did. “Well, Mabel, you never fail to amaze me.”
“This was a trick I wished I didn’t have to have up my sleeve,” she said. “But it was all that saved us back then.”
Josh nodded, solemnly but with a resigned sort of understanding. “I’ll get back to you with what the DA has to say.”
“It’s all right if you have to arrest me. I won’t hold it against you.”
“Good. But don’t pack your tooth brush just yet.”
Megan had stood, too, and she couldn’t help apologizing to Mabel for having to reveal the long-kept secret. “If it hadn’t been for my parents—”
“Don’t fret about it,” Mabel said as she stood, too, to walk them to the door. “What was done was done. I wouldn’t have let it get so far that your folks had to answer for it.”
Megan believed that but she still felt guilty for having had to be the one to air the elderly woman’s dirty laundry.
“It’d be nice if word didn’t have to get out around town, though,” Mabel commented pointedly as they went into the entryway.
“I’ll do what I can,” Josh said. “Can’t say I’d be thrilled myself if news spread that the acupuncturist here solved my first big case before I did. But I can’t control what comes from the DA.”
“I guess we’ll just let the cards fall where they may,” Mabel said. Then, in an aside to Josh, she added, “But you might try some sweet-talk with Megan to keep her quiet.”
They all laughed at that and ex changed good-nights. Then Megan and Josh went back outside.
As they retraced their path down the porch steps to the waiting cars it finally sank in for Megan that her parents were free and clear of any criminal charges. And that, coupled with the likelihood that there also wouldn’t be any repercussions for her neighbor, made her feel an enormous relief.
“This all must have been bothering me even more than I thought. I suddenly feel as if a weight has been lifted from my shoulders,” she confided.
“I have to admit I’m glad it didn’t turn out to be your folks. Even though I spent all day today finding out how to go about getting them back here, I wasn’t happy to have to do it.”
“Do you think it’ll be all right for Mabel?”
“I wouldn’t have told her so if I didn’t.”
They’d reached Megan’s car by then and it struck her like a thunder bolt that they’d just lost any excuse for seeing each other. That for all intents and purposes there was no reason not to say see you around sometime and go their separate ways. Forever.
But Megan didn’t say it and her stomach clenched at the thought that Josh might.
Then, before she even knew she was going to make the suggestion, she said, “I think we should celebrate.”
“Well, it is Friday night,” he agreed, welcoming the idea with enough enthusiasm to make her think he’d been as reluctant as she was to have their being together end so abruptly. “The Buckin’ Bronco has dancing to a live band. Will that do?”
Anything would do as long as it meant she wasn’t suddenly faced with saying goodbye to him. “Sounds like fun.”
“I need to shower and change clothes. How ’bout I pick you up in half an hour?”
“Make it an hour so I can shower and change, too.”
“You got it.”
Josh went on standing there a moment longer. And it occurred to Megan as she watched his expression that he knew—just as she did—that despite the fact that she’d superficially tied this evening to the tail-end of the investigation, the truth was, if they spent tonight together there was only one reason for it. And that reason was that they wanted to spend tonight together.
But neither of them mentioned that.
And although Megan had no idea what was going to happen once this evening was over, she gave herself permission to have these next few hours free of all the shoulds and shouldn’ts she’d struggled with since meeting this man. The specter of some thing bad happening to her parents had been lifted and she was just going to let herself enjoy that fact without a care in the world.
She was just going to let herself enjoy what would likely be her last night with Josh….
Chapter 10
MEGAN WORE THE TAKE-ME DRESS. That’s what Nissa called it, anyway.
It was a black slip dress with spaghetti straps. That’s all there was to it. One slinky length of fine silk that fell in curve-kissing perfection to just above her knees. She’d bought it with her honeymoon in mind then hadn’t had the honeymoon and so had never worn it.
But tonight she just had to break out the black dress.
She knew that if Nissa were there her sister would tell her she was just asking for trouble. That it was hardly honky-tonk attire. That it really was a take-me dress and that she might as well just meet the man at the door in her birthday suit.
But Josh had only seen her in jeans or in dresses Noel had said belonged in a school yard. And tonight that wasn’t the impression she wanted to give. If this was the last concentrated time they ever spent together, she wanted to leave him with just one knock-out vision of her.
So she’d opted for the slip dress. And a pair of three-inch-high heels that were held on her feet by nothing more than a single strap across the top of each foot.
She left her hair straight after shampooing it, letting it hang loose around shoulders she dusted with glitter. Then she applied a little blush and a bit more mascara than usual, and judged herself ready for a night of celebrating.
She was ready to go and waiting at the living room window when Josh pulled up in the squad car. That was all it took to make her heart beat double-time and for butterflies to take flight in her stomach. But tonight, she decided, the same way she wasn’t going to torment herself with shoulds and shouldn’ts, she also wasn’t going to fight what seeing him, being with him, did to her. Tonight they were two people out on a date, celebrating, and she was going to go with the flow.
In keeping with that, when Josh did get out of the car, Megan allowed herself to feast openly on the sight of him.
He was dressed in cowboy boots and black jeans that fit him just snugly enough to hint at the glory of his tight derriere and immense thighs without being so tight they looked as if he’d been poured into them.
Gone was the uniform shirt and in its place was a bright red Western shirt with a black collar, cuffs and placket. It was fitted so that it rode his broad shoulders and chest and then hugged his narrow waist. And maybe Megan was only projecting her own thoughts onto him, but she had the impression that that shirt said that he was cutting loose tonight, too.
She left the window and went to the door to open it before he had the chance to ring the bell. Although she wasn’t sure if he’d intended to because Josh already had the screen open when she did.
“Wow!” he said with one look at her. And if eyes really could pop out she thought his might have.
Mission accomplished.
“You approve?” she asked with a smile she couldn’t suppress.
“Holy cow, you look incredible.”
“Thank you,” she said as if it didn’t thrill her
to her toes to see how stunned he was. “You look pretty good yourself.”
And he smelled wonderful, too, as he stepped inside and the scent of his after shave wafted all around her.
“Am I really going to have to share you with a bar full of other guys?” he asked then.
“Celebration dancing—that’s what you promised and I’m going to hold you to it.”
“I’d like to be held to you,” he muttered under his breath.
The comment and the way his eyes were devouring her tempted her to consider agreeing to cancel their plans and make some entirely new ones that didn’t involve leaving home. But wearing the take-me dress was as daring as she was ready to be, so she said, “Uh-uh. Dancing at the Buckin’ Bronco. That was the deal.”
“Then tell me you’ll only dance with me,” he ordered.
“I’ll only dance with you,” she complied perfunctorily to conceal the fact that she didn’t have any inclination whatsoever to dance with anyone else.
“This is still going to be tough on me,” he said with yet another glance that ran her up and down.
“You’ve been tough on me all week,” Megan countered.
“All I did was suspect your parents of murder,” he said as if it were no big deal. “But you lookin’ like that and gettin’ my blood boiling when we have to be out in public—that’s more payback than I deserve.”
Megan just gave him a Cheshire cat smile and handed him the matching shawl wrap that went with the dress.
Josh draped it around her shoulders but once he had he kept his hands on them for a moment before he took them away and sighed. “Oh, yeah, this is way more payback than I deserve,” he said as he held the door open for her and ushered her to his car.
On the way into town Josh let her know that he’d gotten hold of an assistant district attorney who had confirmed that there wasn’t anything to charge Mabel Murphy with and that beyond filing a report, the matter would be closed.
Megan told him how happy she was to hear that and that she’d left a message for her parents telling them they’d been cleared.
On Pins and Needles Page 16
