“Hot, dry and miserable. You have no idea how lucky you are to grow up in such a beautiful place. The children are poor and most are uneducated. Many of them are at the end of their ropes. Life will never get better there no matter how much we try to help.” Ashamed of his depressing description of Iraq he added, “They live their lives the best they can. Family is important. Faith is also a big part of their life and that is why they never give up hope.”
His aspirations had been to change things while he was there. In the beginning he was optimistic and hopeful that America would make a difference. It didn’t take him long to realize he was beating his head against a rock. Too much bureaucracy kept them from making progress. No one would listen to the people doing the fighting. Soldiers would eliminate an area of the Taliban and move on to another area only to have the territory they just cleaned up infested with the Taliban again. It was an unending circle of death. A lot of tax payer money was being wasted, not to mention the men that gave their lives.
“How long have you been a Marine?” Juan sat back on his haunches and looked Grant in the eye.
“Nine years. I was signed up and ready to go the day I graduated from high school.”
Grant wiped the sweat from his brow and peered at Nina. She had her backside toward him bent over gathering tomatoes from the vines. A stab of desire shot through him. Long bare thighs and a delectable backside held his attention. He was having a hard time keeping his eyes off her. Hard work and sunshine had her looking healthy and fit.
He had to draw his attention back to Juan who was still asking a million questions. “How long you staying?”
At this rate, Grant would never get close to Nina. Secluded on the farm with only two females, the boy was starving for male attention. “Two weeks.”
“You going back to Iraq?”
Nina admonished, “Juan, stop asking so many questions.” It was the first time she had spoken since they started gathering the tomatoes. “I think he came here to forget the war for a while. Let’s not keep reminding him.”
“It’s okay, Nina. I don’t mind.” In the distance Grant could hear Shadow barking. It sounded like he was in pursuit of something. “What’s Shadow chasing?”
She stood, stuffed her hands into her back pockets, and listened for a few seconds. Again his eyes drifted to her tempting, round derriere. “There’s no telling. He chases squirrels, rabbits, about anything that he comes across in the woods.” At that moment she turned around and caught him staring. Pink color tinged her cheeks. It was obvious he made her nervous.
Ashamed to be caught looking at her with lust, he knelt to the ground, reached for a tomato, and placed it in the basket which was already just about full. After adding a few more, he hefted it to his shoulder and placed it on the back of the truck. He lingered by the truck for a few minutes sipping on a bottle of water. He needed to get a handle on his emotions. If he kept gazing at Nina as if he would devour her, he would scare her away. He would have to use finesse and not come on like some sex starved soldier.
He grabbed two more bottles of water from the cooler on the back of the truck and made his way to where Nina and Juan had moved to the middle of the row. He handed Nina one and replied, “It’s hot. You’d better keep hydrated.”
She took the bottle being careful not to touch his hand. “Thank you.” She unscrewed the cap and took a deep swallow. Sensual lips touched the top of the bottle and he wondered how they would taste.
Eyes glued on Nina, he flinched when he felt a tug on the other bottle of water still in his hand. Juan smiled when he took the bottle from Grant. “I have a baseball game Monday after school. Why don’t you come watch me play?”
He shifted his attention to Juan and answered, “Sure, sounds like fun.” Maybe Nina and Maria would be going to the game. He could search the house for any evidence that might implicate her to the drugs being grown on her land. Guilt slid over him. Here he was acting as if he cared about them but in reality he was being friendly to gain information. He wondered how undercover cops got close to their suspects without becoming emotionally involved. Already he liked Nina a little too much and felt that was clouding his judgment.
****
Grant had just stepped out of the shower and dried off when he heard a knock at his bedroom door. He wrapped the towel around his hips and cracked the door to find Juan on the other side. “Hey, Juan. How was school today?” By his sour expression, Grant knew something was wrong.
“Can I talk to you for a few minutes?”
“Sure, let me get dressed and I’ll be right out.”
Grant hurriedly threw on some clothes and entered the living area of the barn and plopped onto the sofa beside Juan. “Shouldn’t you be getting ready for your game?”
Juan eyed him steadily. “I have a few minutes.”
“Did something happen at school today?”
The young boy chewed on his bottom lip. A few seconds of silence followed before he told Grant what was bothering him. “Three boys at school are bullying me. They call me wetback and Chico. When we are changing clothes during gym class they shove me around.”
Rage consumed him. The last few days of working beside Juan he had come to admire him. He had the urge to protect him but Juan wasn’t his responsibility. “You need to tell your mother.”
He gripped his hands into fists. “Mama will go to school to talk to the principal and then everyone will call me a snitch.” Dark, sad eyes peered up at him. “I’m between a rock and a hard place.”
“How can I help?” Juan was confiding in him for some reason. If he didn’t want his mother to go to school to talk to the principal, then he must have some other plan.
“I want you to teach me to defend myself.” His words came out in a rush.
Grant gave him a sympathetic smile. “If I do, and you stand up to these boys then you might get suspended from school. Your mother will kill me. If she doesn’t, Nina will. I don’t think I want to get involved.”
“It’s my only option. Someone is always picking on me at school because I’m so small.” His eyes dropped to his hands. “Sometimes I’m bullied because I’m Hispanic. I’m the only Hispanic at my school which is mainly white. I want to be able to take care of myself.”
Grant placed his arm around Juan’s shoulder. “You’re not always going to be small. You’ll be a big man someday.” He raked his fingers through his hair and took a deep breath. He had never been around children before. He didn’t know how to handle the situation. “School can be tough. I promise things will get better.”
Now angry, Juan’s eyes turned stormy. Grant had never seen him get mad. He had always been easy going. “Look, you can help me or I can get my ass beat. I’m not going to take their bullying any longer. I’m going to stand up for myself.”
He let out an oath under his breath. He hoped he wouldn’t regret his decision to help. “We’ll start tonight after your game. Tell your mama we are going to watch the football game on TV.”
Grant wasn’t ready for the show of gratitude. Juan wrapped his arms around his neck and squeezed. “Thanks.” He stood and ran for the door. Over his shoulder he shouted, “I’ll see you at the game.”
What in the hell had he gotten himself into? Four days at Twelve Oaks Farm and he felt a connection with Juan. The emotional tug-of-war he was waging caused his heart to constrict. How would the boy feel when he discovered the real reason he had come into his life?
****
Dressed in his uniform, Juan headed toward the barn. Grant shut the door behind him and waited for him on the porch. “Are you coming?”
“I’ll be along shortly. I have a few phone calls to make.” Immediately, he saw the disappointment in Juan’s face. “I promise I’m coming. I wouldn’t miss it.” He placed his hand on his shoulder. “Nice uniform.” White with red stripes and a red hat to match, the uniform looked great on his dark skin.
His cleats clicked on the cement porch as he turned and hurried for the truck where
Nina and Maria waited for him. Over his shoulder he shouted, “Don’t be late!”
“I won’t. I’ll be leaving in a few minutes.” Since he played baseball when he was a kid, he knew how it worked. They would get to the game an hour early so they could warm up before the game began. That would give him enough time to search the house. Feeling a little uneasy, Grant raised his hand in the air and waved at Nina. He felt like a hypocrite smiling at a woman when he was about to go through her personal things.
She threw up her hand before they all piled into the front seat and started the engine. Shadow chased the truck barking and jumping several yards before Nina stopped and ordered, “Go back to the house, Shadow. Watch the animals.” Head close to the ground he slunk back to the yard and lay down.
Grant watched until they were out of sight before he jogged to the front door of the house. He lifted the pot of geraniums on the front porch and retrieved the key. He slipped it into the lock. Before he opened the door, Shadow whined from behind him. He turned and looked at the dog sitting there wagging his tail. He tipped his head sideways and looked at him as if to say, “What are you doing?”
“Thank goodness you can’t talk. Want to come in the house with me, Shadow?” He pushed open the door and held it while the dog went in first. The first place he went was to the white leather sofa and stretched out. Head on his paws, the dog watched his every move which didn’t help his nervousness any.
Where should he start? It was a big house so he assumed Nina had an office. The first place he wandered into was her bedroom. A full size bed with a colorful quilt sat in the middle of the large room. Curtains of the same cloth covered the top part of the window with a view of the pool. He rummaged through some of the drawers on the nightstand but found nothing. Various framed pictures of Nina and her sisters sat upon the nightstand. Three gorgeous women who looked very happy and content. He picked up the frame holding a picture of her father and mother. A very striking couple seemed to be looking back at him. It’s a shame their father left them in such awful financial troubles. Jason Reynolds should have had a life insurance policy big enough to take care of them. He placed the picture back on the nightstand. He didn’t have time to dally.
He opened the top drawer of her dresser revealing various colors of panties. He almost laughed because he expected her to wear white granny panties since she was such a prude. He clutched a pair of black, lacy panties and lifted them to his nose and sniffed. He saw his reflection in the mirror and froze. He wasn’t a detective. He shouldn’t be in her house going through her things, especially not her underwear drawer. At the moment he hated himself for invading her privacy. With jerky movements he placed the panties back into the drawer and closed it.
Crossing to the door, he turned to make sure everything was just as he left it. Again his eyes shifted to the bed. He could almost imagine her laying there asleep, her blond hair draped over the pillow, a long leg peeking out from under the cover. He swore. He couldn’t let his desire for Nina get in the way of why he was there. He had a job to do.
Grant closed the door and went in search of her office. It took a while but he finally found it. Papers littered the huge oak desk and he riffled through them. He found her ledger and after a quick perusal he knew she was in some serious financial troubles. Under the ledger was her checking account information. If she was getting money from the drug operation taking place on her land, she wasn’t putting the money in her bank account. After thirty minutes of searching, he had found nothing that would implicate her. But then she would be stupid to leave any evidence where someone might stumble upon it.
He looked at his watch. If he was going to make it to Juan’s game on time, he had to hurry. He replaced everything as it was before he came in, turned off the light, and closed the door. By the time he returned to the living room, Shadow was sound asleep on the sofa. He slapped the side of his hip. “Come on, Shadow.” The dog jumped off the sofa and followed him outside. He locked the door and placed the key back under the pot of geraniums. He couldn’t shake the feeling he had done something terribly wrong.
Chapter Four
The next afternoon Grant and Juan were in the front yard playing catch. Since Grant helped with the chores, they finished their work early. The sound of a car caught their attention. Juan tugged off his glove and threw it to the ground with the ball. He ran out to meet the small, silver compact car. A beautiful red head stepped out of the car and engulfed him in her arms. She leaned back and caught his chin in her hand before planting a kiss on his cheek, then wiped the red lipstick off with her thumb. She whispered something in his ear, but Grant couldn’t hear what she said.
Her flamed tipped hair came alive in the evening sunlight. Grant recognized her at once as Nina’s sister, Beth from the folder Uncle Tate gave him. The pictures hanging on the living room wall, nor the one his uncle gave him, did her justice. Tall and slim like Nina, she sashayed right up to Grant and stuck out her right hand that sparkled with several rings. From her left wrist dangled a royal blue gift bag.
“You must be Grant. Nina can’t seem to stop singing your praises. I’m her sister Beth.”
He took the offered hand and smiled. Unlike Nina, her sister had soft hands proving she didn’t do any work on the farm. Her attire, her stance, everything about her screamed confidence.
Mischievous blue eyes started at his head and stopped at his tennis shoes. The complete opposite of Nina, she was bold and sure of herself. He wondered what Nina had said about him. She was still standoffish and he couldn’t seem to get close to her. But then she was always too busy to spend any time with him.
Loud barks filled the air as Shadow raced across the yard toward Beth with his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. She squatted to her haunches and tried to hug the squirming dog but she couldn’t quite get a hold on him. He ran several circles around her before dropping onto his back to let her rub his stomach. “Aren’t you a good boy?” Her well manicured fingernails scratched his belly causing his tail to thump the ground with excitement.
Attention back on Grant, she stood to her full height. “Where is that sister of mine? I suppose she is knee deep in horse manure.”
Juan took Beth’s hand and tugged her toward the porch. “She’s in the house helping mama bake her birthday cake.”
Not once had Nina said anything about it being her birthday. Beth shouted over her shoulder as Juan led her inside, “It’s nice to meet you, Grant.”
“Likewise ma’am.” Since he hadn’t been invited inside, he headed to the barn. It would be a good time to call his Uncle Tate and let him know he had made no progress with his mission.
After three rings his uncle answered the phone. “Grant, how’s it going?”
“It’s not.” Grant walked to the front window and opened the blinds so he could peek out to make sure Juan wasn’t going to pop in unannounced. He and the boy had practiced defensive moves last night after the game and it was possible he would wish to do so again.
“I haven’t made any progress. The woman works all the time and I can’t get her talking.”
“I expected her to fall head over heels in love with you and confess all her sins.”
Grant laughed. “Maybe I’m not as charming as you thought. Could be I’m losing my finesse with the ladies. I have been out of practice for a while.”
“That’ll be a cold day in hell. Why do you think I asked you to spend some time with Miss Reynolds? You’re so handsome the women fall at your feet.”
“Not this one.”
“You’ll just have to find a way to get her talking.”
Grant crossed the room and plopped onto the bed. “Have you had any progress with finding out who might have had Officer Shaw murdered?”
“No, whoever is in charge is staying in the shadows. We have a chance to turn the tragedy of Shaw’s death into something good by getting the man at the top. We need some viable evidence.”
Grant pulled the map out of the folder of the Reynolds
’ land. He studied it for a few seconds before he replied, “I think I’ll go out to the site and have a look. I see it is secluded but I think I can get there in a few hours with a four-wheeler from this end. Nina has one and I’ll see if she’ll let me borrow it tomorrow. I’ll tell her I’m going to go on a camping trip.”
“Be careful, Grant. They have already killed one undercover officer. I’d hate for them to discover you snooping around. If something happened to you, your mother would never forgive me.”
Grant thought of his mother and brother. When he was fifteen, his father was killed in a secret mission to free five Americans held captive in Egypt. If not for the strength of his mother, they would have all fallen apart. She kept things together and they remained a strong family. Still she never got over his father’s death. Only a few years from retirement, he had promised her they would travel and see the world. For all the years of loneliness spent while he was deployed, she ended up with more years of loneliness. But that is the life of a woman married to a Marine.
In fact, his mother pleaded for him not to join the Marine Corp, but it was in his blood. The trouble was after nine long years of seeing men die, he wondered if he had made the right decision. His last mission might have broken him. Time was what he needed. Time to heal and decide what he was going to do with the rest of his life.
“I’ll be careful. Catch you later.” Grant hung up the phone and moved back to the window. He wanted to believe Nina was not involved with the marijuana being grown on her property. Deep in his heart he felt she wasn’t the type of woman to allow such evil to touch her or her two sisters. But then when faced with losing her home and land she may have had a moment of weakness. She said herself selling the farm wasn’t an option. Once drug dealers had someone in their clutches they didn’t let them go.
****
Nina licked the spatula covered in cream cheese frosting before dropping it in the sink. She couldn’t wait to have a piece of the homemade chocolate cake Maria baked. Five eggs, two cups of sugar, buttermilk, and three cubes of chocolate, it was the most decadent dessert she ever tasted. Maria placed the scrumptious cake on the counter so she could prepare dinner.
Whispers of the Falls: Book one (Twelve Oaks Farm Series 1) Page 4
