by Regina Duke
Clayton frowned at it. “What the heck?” He reached in and grabbed a handful and jerked it loose. When the first one dislodged, the entire contents of the tire well emptied onto the ground.
Kenzie shone the flashlight on it. “Oh my God,” she whispered. “No wonder he’s having a fit.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Bundles of money!” Kenzie picked up two from the pile that had fallen from the trunk. She felt like her eyes might pop out of her head. She aimed the flashlight at the rubber-banded bills in her hand. “These are hundreds.” Her voice dropped to a low murmur. “Hundreds of hundreds. That means thousands. That rat was hiding money in his car, but still took out credit cards in my name.”
Clayton peered about. “It’s getting pretty dark. How long does twilight last here? I can see some stars in the east.” He touched her hand. “Does that watchman work every night?”
Kenzie understood what he was saying right away. She turned off the flashlight, and they gave their eyes a chance to adjust. While they waited, she tucked the stack of bills she was holding inside her shirt. After a few moments, Clayton spoke in a hushed tone.
“If that watchman finds this car…” He left it hanging. “We need to hide this money until we figure out what’s going on. We can’t carry all this back to the Mercedes, especially since we’ll need to use the flashlight to make our way up that switchback.”
As Kenzie’s eyes adjusted, she could see his worried expression. “Do you think it’s illegal? I mean, maybe it’s drug money or something.”
“I thought weed was legal in Colorado.”
“Don’t be silly. I mean like heroin. I never saw Todd use it, but I’ll bet his motorcycle buddies did all kinds of stuff.”
“That might explain why he’s worried about his welfare. Although, it would make more sense if these bundles were drugs. If he were selling for someone, he could be in big trouble for losing the goods.”
“Maybe he’d made the sale and hid the money. Maybe he hadn’t had a chance to move it yet.” Kenzie cupped her hand around the bundle under her shirt. She chewed her bottom lip. “I don’t think he was robbing banks or anything.”
“Would he have told you if he was?”
“No. He called me ‘eye candy’ and ‘booty call’ when his friends were around. I guess he never really returned my feelings. I mean, my original attraction to him. That bad boy thing they talk about? It must be real. I had it really bad for a while. But when the haze began to clear, I realized he was using me. I don’t think he would have told me anything like that. Who knows? Maybe he’s one of America’s most wanted bank robbers.”
Clayton said, “Let’s hide this stuff. There’s a slag pile between us and the main entrance. We can scoop out a hole and shove these bundles in it. At least until we figure out what to do about all this.”
Kenzie’s heart leapt. “Can I keep it? Lord knows, he swindled me out of thousands and ruined my credit. The only thing worse than his texts are the calls from collection agencies that I keep ignoring.”
Clayton was already moving bundles of money. “Let’s get it hidden. If it’s from a robbery, he might claim you’re an accessory or something.”
Kenzie followed him to the slag pile, her arms full of money. Her bitterness was evident in her voice. “Don’t tell me. That jerk has messed with me again. How much trouble am I in this time?”
Clayton began scooping out rocks and dirt from the side of the slag pile that loomed above them in the dark. Kenzie went back to the car for more bundles. When they had transported the last of the money to the slag pile, Clayton began shoving it into the hole. Then he pushed the stones and dirt back up the side of the pile, covering the money. “Let’s not forget where we hid it.”
“Oh, that would be just perfect, wouldn’t it?”
“Nice sarcasm,” teased Clayton.
“It’s one of the many services I provide,” Kenzie muttered. She froze as Clayton’s arm slipped around her shoulders.
“It’s getting cold,” he said. “I think we should get out of here and figure out what to do next.”
“I have to get home and feed the animals.”
“I’ll help you. And then, if you’ll let me, I’ll take you out to dinner.”
Kenzie was cautious. He was so darned nice, and she still had to suck in air when he smiled at her. His sensitive mouth and his boyish expressions warmed her heart…and other things, too. But could she trust him?
As if sensing her concern, Clayton added, “We need to talk about the ramifications of what we’ve found. Do you have a lawyer?”
“Do I need one?”
“Let’s figure that out over dinner. Come on.” He took her hand and tugged her gently away from the slag heap.
Kenzie tugged back. “You don’t have a great sense of direction, do you? The trail is this way.”
“See? We need each other.”
Kenzie could hear the smile in his voice. She couldn’t help but smile back, even though he probably couldn’t see her face. “Wait! If we use the flashlight to light the path, anyone at the front gate might see us.”
“Was there anyone in sight when you shoved the car over? Did anyone come running when it hit bottom?”
“No. I mean, I didn’t stay around very long, but I think I would have noticed, right?”
“So we’ll use our flashlight. If anyone sees us, we’ll just say…we’ll say we wanted to look at the stars.” He squeezed her hand.
That gesture sent a shiver of pleasure through Kenzie. “All right,” she said. She would have cupped both her hands around his, but one was cradling a bundle of cash inside her shirt. Then, “Have you ever done farm chores?”
“No. Why?”
“This should be fun.” She grinned in the chilly night air.
* * *
Clayton stuck to the inside of the trail and did not relax until it widened into a dirt road as they approached the rim. He still had Kenzie’s hand firmly in his when he opened the passenger door of the Mercedes for her. She got in and turned off the flashlight.
Clayton got behind the wheel and started the car. The interior lights came on for a moment, and he found Kenzie watching him. The look in her eyes made him feel like a white knight saving a damsel in distress. Of course, he figured if he told her what he was feeling, she would punch him. They both looked away at the same moment. Then he turned the car around carefully and drove slowly back to the gravel road. The dashboard lights cast an eerie glow over the interior of the car. They hardly said a word all the way to her house. It looked uninviting. No lights were visible from the car.
Once there, she said, “I have to run upstairs for a moment. Check on my folks. Let them know I’m finally home.”
“Okay. Want me to wait out here?”
“No, silly. You bought me flowers. I’ll introduce you.”
Clayton laughed softly. “It’s good to have a pay scale. Let me carry those in for you.”
“Thanks.”
Clayton was out and around the car in a flash, although she’d already exited.
“Oh,” she said. “That was very sweet.” She just wasn’t used to being treated nicely. “Thank you.”
“I didn’t do anything.” He shrugged, taking the roses.
“You were thinking about it, though. Come on. Watch your step. Mom forgot to turn on the porch light. She’s been so preoccupied lately. Dad still isn’t feeling well.”
From inside came the barking of the dogs. “Well, they know someone is here.” The first thing she did when she opened the front door was reach in and turn on the porch light. Two overweight Australian shepherds greeted them. “This is Caleb. That’s Cotton. They’re pretty much retired now that we don’t have sheep.” She shook her head sadly. So much had changed since she went away to college. Her parents had barely mentioned any drastic changes. Or had they? Had she just been too wrapped up in her own life to notice?
She swallowed a dose of guilt. She tended to rush through their letters b
ecause they were always bragging about one of her siblings. Promotions, deployments, foreign ports of call. Did she miss the important parental changes because she resented all the attention her siblings got?
She flipped a second switch, and two lamps glowed softly in the living room. She led Clayton into the room. “They must be upstairs. Mom? I’m home. Sorry I’m late.”
Right on cue, there was a shuffling sound from upstairs.
“Wait here, Clayton. I’ll be right back.” She took the stairs two at a time. Her parents’ bedroom was at the back of the house, at the opposite end from her own. She saw the door open as she approached. Her mother’s hair looked unkempt.
“Mom? Is everything okay?”
“Hi, Kenzie.” Marigold kept her voice down. “Your father is still resting. I lay down beside him for a few minutes and must have fallen asleep.” She patted her hair. “I can make soup for dinner.”
“No worries. Clayton is downstairs. He’s going to help me with the chores, and then he invited me to dinner in town.” Kenzie peered past her mother. All she could see was her father’s bare feet on the foot of the bed. “His feet look cold. Maybe he needs a blanket.”
“I’ll take care of that. Is this the same Clayton who’s been driving you to and from work?”
“Yes.” Maybe now was not the time to introduce them. “You relax, okay? I’ll make sure you’re properly introduced in the morning. How’s that?”
Marigold nodded. She looked distracted.
“Dad still refuses to call the doctor?”
“Oh, honey, you don’t call them out anymore.You have to drive into town with an appointment.”
“Clayton could take you.”
“Nobody has office hours now.”
“How about the hospital?”
Marigold shushed her. “Don’t say that word. I tried at lunch, and he got so upset. He claims he’ll be fine. He said he can’t even catch a bug around here without me nagging at him.” Her eyes glistened. “You got a pain?” She glanced at the hand Kenzie was still pressing against her shirt.
“No, I’m fine.” Kenzie frowned. “Are you all right?”
“Just worn down, honey.” She lowered her voice to a murmur. “Men are lousy patients.”
Kenzie smiled. “I’ll remember that,” she said. “If you hear a commotion out back, Clayton is going to help with chores, and the pigs haven’t met him yet. I shouldn’t be too late.”
Marigold nodded. She looked a tad more alert, so Kenzie planted a soft kiss on her forehead and waited until her mother closed her door before stepping quietly into her own bedroom. She opened the top dresser drawer and deposited the thick bundle of bills there. She took a moment to cover them with her clean underwear, then stifled a giggle. Miss Rich Britches. She shut the drawer and headed back downstairs.
She found Clayton examining the school pictures and family portraits hanging on the wall.
“Your siblings?” he asked.
“Yep. All three of them went into the service right after high school. I went to college. Lot of good it did me.”
Clayton looked confused.
Kenzie said, “Never mind. Come on. You can shove your feet into my dad’s barnyard boots so you don’t ruin your shoes.” She led the way through the kitchen, turning on lights as she went, and stopped in the mudroom to change into her muck-encrusted rubbers.
“I don’t remember it raining recently.”
Kenzie looked at him in disbelief and laughed. “You never know what you’re going to step in,” she teased. “We’ll feed the pigs first, because they’ll make a racket if we don’t.”
Forty-five minutes later, Kenzie was still giggling as they arrived at the Cattleman’s parking lot. “The look on your face when Emma demanded her Fig Newton!”
Clayton was smiling. “I swear, I never knew bacon came from an animal with so much personality. I don’t think I can ever eat pork again.”
“Giving it up is the least you can do,” said Kenzie, “after you said to her face that she was the ugliest thing you’d ever seen. That was harsh.”
“How was I supposed to know she’d understand me?”
“Pigs are smart,” said Kenzie.
“And huge.”
“How come you know nothing about animals? Axel Garrison runs an animal sanctuary, and your aunt Polly has a huge ranch in Texas.”
“My father has an estate in east Texas, but the closest thing he has to a barn is an eight-car garage. And then, when I was about ten, I was shipped off back east to an expensive boarding school.”
Kenzie made a mental note to delve into that later. She could tell from the change in his voice that it bothered him a lot. Her smile faded. “My folks used to have twenty-two sows and a couple of boars. They sold baby pigs every year. They used to keep a hundred goats. Now they have ten. And when I left for college, they had three hundred head of cattle. Now they have six.”
Clayton killed the engine. “You’re really worried about them, aren’t you?”
Kenzie nodded. She took a deep breath. “Dad claims he has a bug. He wants us to quit talking about doctors and hospitals.”
Clayton took her hand. “My dad is the same way. He got sick a couple of years ago and claimed he’d be fine in the morning.”
“Was he?”
“Sure. They took out his appendix at two a.m., and by eight, he was feeling much better.”
Kenzie made a disgusted noise. “You’re supposed to be cheering me up! Besides, my dad had his appendix out in his twenties.” She chewed her thumbnail.
“Il Vaccaro?”
“Hmm?”
“For dinner,” said Clayton.
“We have stuff to talk about,” said Kenzie. “Let’s do the Itty Bitty. It’s quieter.”
She was pleased by Alice Kate’s effusive greeting. “There you are! Twice in one day. How do I rate?” She opened her chubby arms and embraced Kenzie.
“Hi, Mrs. McAvoy. It looks like I’ll be sticking around, so you’ll probably get tired of me before long.” When the hug ended, she dropped her head shyly. “This is my friend, Clayton.”
“Clayton Masters.” He smiled and extended a hand.
Alice Kate shook it warmly. “Austin and Erin were here for dinner last night. They told me his brother was in town. You’re a might taller than Austin.”
Clayton chuckled. “I love that little guy, but yeah, we’re a little different.”
“Are you taking Kenzie to the party Sunday?”
Kenzie looked a question at Clayton. “What party?”
“I was just about to ask the same thing,” he said.
“Sorry,” said Alice Kate. “I hope it wasn’t a surprise. Austin said Thor and Ashley are having a barbecue for you on Sunday, but if it keeps getting colder, they’ll do dinner indoors instead.”
“Thanks,” said Clayton. He slipped an arm around Kenzie. “Shall we make it a date?”
Kenzie was pleased, but she wondered if she’d be able to leave her parents for that long. “I’d love to,” she said. Then she added, “Let’s see how my dad is feeling.”
They took a corner table, the one farthest from the door. Alice Kate brought them a menu.
“Two choices tonight. Prime rib or roasted salmon.”
Kenzie ordered the salmon and Clayton ordered the prime rib. When Alice Kate left, he leaned toward Kenzie and said softly, “I’m glad the cattle don’t have as much personality as the pigs do.”
Kenzie grinned.
They let the waitress bring coffee and water. Once she left, Kenzie leaned her elbows on the table. “Okay, let’s get down to it. Am I going to need a lawyer?”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Clayton looked into Kenzie’s dark brown eyes and felt himself falling into them. The intensity with which she repeated her question brought him back to the surface.
“Do I or don’t I?”
“Hmm?”
“Need a lawyer?”
He reached for her hand and was pleased when she l
et him caress her slender fingers. He wanted to make everything okay, he wanted to fix it all. He wanted to erase everything about that lousy Todd from her mind. But how? He sipped at his water.
“I think getting a lawyer is a great idea. My father has tons on the payroll. Hmmm. On second thought, I’m not sure we need that kind of muscle yet. Besides, they’re mostly corporate attorneys, and it sounds like Todd is dragging you into a more mundane mess. Is there a law office in Eagle’s Toe?”
“I left for college at eighteen and the last thing on my mind was legal services, so I have no idea.”
“Shall I Google it?”
Kenzie tweaked his hand gently. “Small town, remember?” She held up a finger and caught Alice Kate’s attention.
“What can I do for you, sweetheart?” Alice Kate’s gaze moved back and forth between them, including them both.
When Kenzie hesitated, Clayton spoke up. “Mrs. McAvoy, if a person needed a lawyer in this town, where would he go?” He phrased the question carefully to keep Kenzie’s name out of it.
Someone at a different table piped up, “Pueblo.” The other twenty customers laughed.
Clayton realized he’d better be careful about what he said here. Kenzie wanted a quiet place to talk, but now they had such a quiet place that everyone in the room could probably hear them. He looked up hopefully at Alice Kate.
She wiped her hands on her apron. “Ignore them. There’s a nice young man, only been here a couple of years, getting his own practice started. He married a local girl, Jasmine. In fact, she used to waitress for me. Now she runs his office.”
Kenzie perked up. “Jasmine Angel? I went to school with her.”
“Well, it’s Hutch now. Jasmine’s brother and his family moved back here from Pueblo, so she didn’t want to leave, and Ryan Hutch was tired of dancing to the tune of a big firm, so he opened his office here. I’ll write down his number. You’ll know him when you see him. He has dark blond hair, he’s six foot three with blue eyes, and he still dresses like a city boy. But I guess he wants to look the part.” She scribbled on a napkin and added his office address. “He’s just on the south side of this block.”
