And now she had to give him up.
Chapter Fourteen
Zach eyed the unfinished deck and Piper’s farm the next morning, mulling his options, then he set off across the yard at a quick clip. “Hey.”
Piper turned quickly, but not so fast that he didn’t see the pain in her eyes. When she swung back his way, it was gone, and for just a moment he wondered if he saw it at all, but Zach was quick on the uptake. Something put that in her eyes. Or someone. He needed to know who.
“Good morning, Investigator.”
He smiled. “It sounds good, right?”
“Excellent.” She sent him a pert smile that didn’t reach her eyes and finished lacing her work boot.
“I was hoping we could celebrate tomorrow.”
She made a face at him and started walking toward the John Deere. “I’m tied up this week. Maybe you could celebrate with your dad and Julia.”
A not-too-subtle brush-off. He wanted to wave it off as nerves, but his heart told him otherwise and his senses rarely misled him. “What’s going on, Piper?”
“Nothing.” Face flat, she faced him as she started to climb aboard the tractor. “You know how farming is, Zach. I’m just crazy busy right now. And I’ve got a lot going on.” She jutted her chin toward the house and dairy. “But we’re all truly happy for you. The whole neighborhood will be thrilled to have their very own investigator on hand.”
“You’re upset.”
She shook her head. “Not at all.”
“But you’re treating me like I’m just another neighbor.”
She stared right at him. And in that moment he knew that was the very message she wanted to send. They were neighbors with two property lines in common and that was that.
His heart slowed. His breathing did, too.
Because when he’d talked with her eighteen hours ago she sounded normal. Happy for him and with him. So what messed that up?
She tapped her phone. “I’ve got to get going. I heard your sister has an interview this afternoon. Wish her well for me. I hope they grab her and you guys can have a double reason to celebrate.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
She started the engine, gave him a friendly wave, shoved the big rig into gear and rolled toward the back cattle barn.
He stared after her, trying to reason things out, and got nothing.
She was under a lot of pressure. Surrounded by emotional situations between her sister’s return and her brothers’ animosity.
He’d give her time. Cut her some slack. And track her down again in a few hours. She probably just needed breathing room.
He called her just after twelve noon.
No answer.
He tried again before going in to work.
Same result.
If he had time he’d find her and extract the truth, but what if the truth was nothing he wanted to hear? What if she just plain didn’t care? How dumb would he look?
You’re afraid to look stupid? It’s time to grovel. Get with the program or you’ll never get the girl.
He kicked the tire on his SUV, left the puppies for someone else to handle because tiny, sweet, baby creatures only frustrated him right now, and went to work, a lot less happy than he’d been twenty-four hours ago.
* * *
Two days of no contact.
That was forty-seven hours too long for Zach, and he was determined to have a face-to-face with Piper by Wednesday night. One way or another he’d find out what went wrong and fix it.
His father had been running countless errands the past several days.
His sister had landed the job with a local OB practice and would move here permanently in three weeks. His nephews were excited about living near the twins, and he couldn’t argue the fact that a certain McKinney fascinated him, too.
Except she was stonewalling him and wouldn’t say why. He crossed the yard, went up the steps and knocked on their back door.
“Zach.” Lucia answered the door. “Piper is not here.”
“Yes, she is.”
Lucia’s expression said whether she was or wasn’t didn’t matter. Piper McKinney wasn’t available to talk to him.
Period.
“Tell her I’m not leaving until we talk.”
Lucia acknowledged his words with little expression. “I will pass along your information. When she returns.”
She dipped her gaze south. At the tip of the farm lane, Zach caught sight of the big blue New Holland tractor lumbering down the hill. “My father got it running.”
“Like new. He is very good at machines. Piper is fertilizing the cornfields on the county road. Rain is forecast. Maybe this time they will be correct.”
The forecast might be right this time, Zach thought. Clouds, dense and dark, had been gathering over Lake Erie. A west wind would push them up and away. But a quirk to the northwest would bring them right here, with the promise of a daylong rain.
A rain that would ease worry for a lot of folks. It wouldn’t be fair to bother her now, but he wouldn’t be put off much longer. Not when so much was at stake.
He didn’t make promises lightly. Neither did Piper. A man knew these things about the woman he longed to make his wife. The mother of his children. No matter how long he’d known her.
Rainey came down the steps at a quick clip as he turned to go. “The girls are asleep and I’m heading to the dairy.”
Lucia sent her a look, an expression he remembered from that first meeting weeks ago.
Nervous. Mistrustful. Uneasy in his presence.
Which meant Rainey’s arrival had changed things. Determined, Zach turned on his heel and left. Piper might be maintaining a vow of silence. She might be giving him the cold shoulder. But he was a cop and if Rainey’s reappearance put his life in a tailspin, he’d find out why.
* * *
Moose Braeburn’s number popped up on Piper’s phone as she angled the tractor out of the first cornfield. “Moose. What’s up?”
“I’ve got news, Piper. Big news. The kind of thing your father and I prayed for. It’s here, finally.”
Piper’s mind went straight to the town controversy. “About Palmeteer and his buddies trying to take over the world as we know it?”
Moose laughed. “No. We’ll show them who runs this town Thursday night. This is different. I’m across the lake at the Elliots’ place. I can be your way in five. Where are you?”
“On County Road 18 side-dressing corn. Meet me here.”
“Done.”
Piper’s mind ran in several directions as she watched Moose’s pickup turn into the farm lane. She swung down from the tractor and headed his way. “I can’t imagine what’s got you this wound up. Did you and Ginny win the lottery?”
He shook his head. “No, ma’am. Money comes too hard to let it go that freely. No, this is better. Much better.”
She made a face and lifted her shoulders. “I’ve got nothin’. Tell me.”
He held out an official-looking document. Piper scanned it quickly, then went back and read more carefully. “They’re building a new Greek yogurt facility between here and I-90?”
“And they want our milk,” Moose exclaimed.
This was a dream come true. To make Greek-style yogurt, workers double-pressed pasteurized milk, making the end result thicker and drier. Fewer calories, higher protein, Greek-style yogurt had become the “it food” of the moment, and the chance they’d collectively prayed for.
Pressing required four times the milk needed for ordinary yogurt. That meant the manufacturing plant needed local milk for optimum profitability. Which meant she could drive her milk production up and stay in business. If she could defeat the town and keep her farm. “When did they approach you?”
“Fri
day. We had Diana’s wedding on Saturday, or I’d have gotten the word out sooner. Then your news about the town broke on Sunday, and that’s all anyone could talk about. I wanted to talk to you alone. Get you in on the ground floor. Your daddy and I knew farming would pay off one day. The right time, right product, right place. This is it, Piper. This is that day.”
Moose’s words reflected her father’s beliefs. He’d prayed for that very thing. During every hard time Tucker McKinney shrugged his shoulders and reminded everyone that good things happen to those who wait on the Lord.
Chas and Colin got tired of waiting long ago. Not Piper. She’d always believed.
She hugged Moose, then stepped back. “Do you want to tell Berto and Lucia with me?”
“No time.” He moved toward his pickup, more relaxed than she’d ever seen him. “I promised them figures by next Tuesday. We’re meeting tonight at my place. Come see what things look like in black-and-white. What kind of production numbers we need to have. And then tomorrow night we’ll face down the town together. All of us.”
Not all of them. After pushing Zach aside the past three days, she was pretty sure he’d be a no-show. And she couldn’t blame him.
“I’ll be there,” she promised. “What time?”
“Seven.”
Perfect. Zach was off tonight. If she was gone, he couldn’t track her down. Wrangle the truth out of her.
She thought it would be hard to shrug him off. Turn her back. Go about her business as if he were any old guy.
She didn’t know it would be impossible.
* * *
“What did Moose want?” Lucia looked up as Piper entered the kitchen once she finished the second field. “He called here looking for you, then said he’d try your cell. He sounded anxious.”
“Not anxious. Happy. If we’re willing to work together, we could have a milk contract in place by October. A contract that offers top dollar for all the milk we can produce.”
“God be praised, this is what we’ve been hoping for, Piper!” Lucia grabbed her into a big hug, then twirled her around the room. “A contract for more milk, guaranteed. How happy you must be! For this, your father dreamed and planned many years. And now we see his dream come true. You. Me. Berto. Why are you not more happy?”
Piper shrugged. “I want to be thrilled. But what if tomorrow night doesn’t go our way? What if Palmeteer gets his way and makes our land town property? No matter how they reimburse us, once land is gone, it’s gone. And every time I look downhill, I see my heritage. I see my grandparents and great-grandparents carving this place out of dense forest. I don’t want to give that up, no matter what the supervisor thinks is best. Or how much they pay.”
“And there is the matter of the policeman next door.”
Tears pricked Piper’s eyes. She blinked them back and turned away, but Lucia moved closer. “You worry that if you care for him, it will hurt him. That your family will be bad for him.”
“No.” Piper bit her lip and grabbed a wad of tissues. “Well. Maybe. But if life’s a jigsaw puzzle, we’ve got some weird pieces on the table, and sometimes you just can’t make them fit. And that’s how it is with Zach.”
“Does he fit you?”
“Well, yes, but—”
“Then nothing else is of consequence.”
How Piper wished that was true. “Life doesn’t come with carefully orchestrated happily ever afters.”
“It does for those who embrace God’s plan. You think too much, Piper. Always you think, you plan, you schedule, but then you are thwarted by rain or snow or illness and you get angry. A plan is better written in sand than stone. That way it can be adjusted with greater ease.”
“You think I should tell Zach about Rainey.”
Lucia stared out the window. The slanted light backlit her concern, but brightened her eyes. “I think in this case it might be good to have a friend who knows police things. A person we can trust.”
Piper couldn’t imagine anyone more trustworthy than Zach, but telling him...that meant they’d have to face decisions immediately. Was Rainey ready for that? Were they?
“He was here before. Looking for you. He said he will not stop until he speaks with you.”
Three days of avoiding him showed her the foolishness of her actions. How many times a day did her eyes dart to his home?
More than she could count.
How often did her hand reach for the phone?
Constantly.
She sighed and looked west. Dishonesty didn’t sit well with her. While she watched, Zach came out of his house, his tool belt slung around blue-jean-wrapped hips, topped by a smudged white T-shirt that said he’d been working on the half-finished deck.
Hands in her pockets, she pushed through the screen door, chin down, longing to see him, hating confrontation. But Lucia was right. Honesty was always the best policy and she was foolish to think otherwise.
* * *
Piper was heading his way.
Zach’s heart tripped in his chest.
His hands itched to gather her in and promise everything would be all right, except he couldn’t make rash promises. Not as a man, not as a cop. But right now he wanted to do whatever he could to put joy back in her step. To see a smile that touched her eyes when they met his. Her gaze said they had a long way to go.
He straightened, folded his arms and angled his head. “You finally decided to talk to me.”
She indicated the picnic table under the tree with a thrust of her head. “Can we sit?”
“Sure.”
She sank onto the seat, studied the deck and sent him a look of appreciation. “It’s coming along. And it’s beautiful, Zach. I knew it would be.”
“I’ve had plenty of time to work on it these past few days,” he reminded her.
She flushed, her eyes cast downward, then shrugged. “We need to talk.”
“So I gathered.”
He hadn’t meant it to sound so cryptic, but when she flashed him a heated look he realized that maybe shaking her out of her emotional funk wasn’t a bad thing. He held up a hand and ticked off his fingers. “You wouldn’t talk with me, celebrate with me, answer my calls or acknowledge my presence on the planet. Yeah. I’d say we’re overdue for a conversation.”
She hesitated.
A part of him longed to help. Another part wanted to shake sense into her. A true heart was nothing to be taken lightly, and she should know that better than most after dealing with Reilich’s duplicity.
“You’re a great guy, Zach.”
“That’s the line women use when they want to let a guy down easy. Cut to the chase, Piper.”
His tough voice put her back up and it heartened him to see it. “I don’t use lines, Zach. I don’t mince words and I don’t play with people’s feelings. Ever.”
“Could have fooled me.”
“Which is why I’m over here, you big lug,” she stormed. He couldn’t deny it made him feel good to see that sizzle in her gaze. “If you’d just keep your comments to a minimum, I might be able to explain myself.”
He didn’t dare smile outwardly, but inwardly?
Joy eclipsed pain.
Her little tirade said more than any explanation could. Her look? Her angst? Her quick reply?
Said he mattered. A lot. And that’s what he was hoping to find out. “Go on. Please.”
She made a face and sent him a look, then shrugged. “My family has issues.”
“Don’t they all.”
“Mine go beyond emotional and financial. Mine go to criminal.”
“Rainey.”
“Yes.”
He met her gaze head-on. “Tell me what she’s done, and then explain why you didn’t come to me right away. I may be a cop but I’m also a guy who knows
the system. I get help for people every single day. It’s what I do, Piper.”
“She broke parole.”
“She’s not on parole,” Zach noted. “That was years ago.”
“She broke it then. She found out she’d been double-crossed and that the girl she took a rap for didn’t really have a kid and so she went out drinking and Hunter saw her and used it to blackmail her later.”
“Let’s back up slowly. What do you mean, Rainey took a rap for someone?”
“She didn’t hold up that convenience store.”
“You’re sure about that?” Years of experience put doubt in his voice.
Piper nodded. “Yes. The girl who robbed the place was pregnant and Rainey took the heat off her, figuring she’d get charged as a juvenile.”
“She didn’t.”
“No. But she still didn’t tell because she didn’t want Chloe to be pregnant in prison. But then Chloe terminated the pregnancy and pretended to have a kid so Rainey would take the heat.”
“Why would anyone give up part of their life to do that?”
Piper’s expression said she wondered the same thing, but then she shrugged. “Because she’s Rainey. She’s got a sacrificial nature. She thought she was saving a friend. And the friend’s baby.”
“But why would Reilich blackmail her? What was in it for him?”
“She saw him at a shakedown with his crooked friends. And he saw her.”
Now things were starting to make sense. Reilich had a lot at stake back then. Rainey was lucky they didn’t just put a hit out on her and be done with it. Reilich loved power. That lust for control had done him in. “So she ran.”
Piper nodded. “Yes. But she’s tired of running so she’s come back. And before she left town she called in tips to multiple agencies, wanting to get Hunter and his gang off the streets.”
“You’re telling me Rainey was the informant?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, man.” He scrubbed a hand to his jaw and stared at her, mystified. “Do you know how much she helped with those calls?”
Piper shook her head.
“She named four separate men that she recognized. She gave the date and time so their presence could be verified. The investigators tracked their cell phones to back up her assertions. Those phone calls gave them hard, fast evidence of the meeting. A street camera gave additional info. And the timing fit with a major drug score outside Buffalo, which meant they were involved. Her phone calls didn’t just set up the investigation, they nailed it for the prosecution. But she used a burner phone and no one could ID the caller.”
Falling for the Lawman Page 17
