Kelly was about to ask Lisa to run into the café when Julie appeared with a fresh mug of coffee. Talk about special service. “Whoa, Julie. You’re a sweetheart. Listen, Burt’s in the café with Connie. Would you tell him I need to speak with him after he’s finished? It’s about Tracy.”
“Sure thing, Kelly,” Julie said.
“What’s this about Tracy?” Lisa interrogated, looking up from the turquoise and gray yarn in her lap. “Wait a minute, don’t tell me. You’re sleuthing again, aren’t you? I swear, Kelly, what does it take to get through to you? You’ve had a serious accident, for heaven’s sake. You need to take it easy.” Lisa glared at her.
“I am taking it easy. Check it out.” Kelly pointed to her leg propped on the chair. “I can barely get to the bathroom, much less get into trouble.”
Clearly dissatisfied with Kelly’s reply, Lisa gave a disgusted snort. “Then what was all that about Tracy a minute ago? You’re still poking into things. Sleuthing around.”
“Hey, I can still ask questions, can’t I?” Kelly affected a wounded tone. “What’s wrong with that? And if I learn something that could help solve Tracy’s murder, you bet I’m going to tell Burt. Tracy’s death has too many loose ends to suit me.”
Kelly picked up her knitting where she left off, but her concentration was still with Tracy and the cell phone and the mysterious boyfriend.
“You’re impossible, you know that?” Lisa accused, not looking up from the sweater that dangled from her needles.
“I know. That’s one of my better character traits,” Kelly said with a smile, then dodged the ball of yarn that sailed past her head.
Six feet away. Three more crutch steps to her chair. Kelly gritted her teeth as she continued her agonizingly slow progress back to the knitting table. Her nearly sprained right ankle sent another stab of pain shooting up her leg. Protesting. How would she get across the driveway if she could barely make it from the bathroom? She wondered. She sank heavily into the chair.
“Wow, I’m beat,” she admitted to Megan, who was watching her with a worried frown.
“Have you had that painkiller yet?” Megan asked as she helped Kelly lift her leg onto the chair.
“I don’t like those pills. They make me loopy. Like I’m drunk,” she protested, despite the fact that both of her ankles—broken and sprained—throbbed unmercifully.
Megan grabbed Kelly’s bag and retrieved the pill bottle. “Too bad. You need these, Kelly. I can see how much it hurts from the look on your face. Take these right now.” She shook two pills into her hand and held them out. “No excuses.”
“Okay, okay,” Kelly acquiesced and tossed down the pills with the rest of her coffee. “Boy, you’re getting more and more like Lisa.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Megan teased, imitating Lisa’s frequent reply.
“Hey, Kelly, how’s that foot doing?” Steve’s voice sounded behind her.
Oh, great. She’d just taken the loopy pills. In a few minutes she’d start talking stupid and acting funny. In front of Steve, yet. She didn’t mind acting stupid in front of Megan. Megan just laughed. Like she had last night when Kelly started singing along with the television commercials.
“Good thing you showed up now, Steve,” Megan said as she settled on the other side of the table and picked up her knitting. “Kelly just took her pain pills, so she only has a few minutes of coherent thought. After that, she’ll start singing and then fall asleep.”
“Gee, thanks, Megan.”
“Just telling the truth,” Megan said with a grin.
Steve pulled up a chair beside Kelly. To her surprise, he picked up her hand and held it between both of his. “In that case, I’d better talk fast while you can still understand what I’m saying.” He looked into her eyes. Kelly was startled to see the concern there. “Kelly, I just came from the dealership that has your car—”
“I bet it’s totaled, right?” Kelly cut in anxiously.
“Yeah, it is. And it wasn’t an accident, either.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your brakes were cut. As soon as the mechanic called me, I went over to see for myself. No doubt about it, Kelly. Someone cut your brakes before you drove out of the canyon. Probably while you were checking the ranch.”
Kelly heard Megan’s sharp intake of breath across the table. Meanwhile, she tried to process what Steve had said.
“Wh-what? Someone wanted me to crash? Who would do that?”
“I don’t know, Kelly, but until the police find out, you’ve got to be extra careful. I’ve already talked with Burt, and he’s alerting the police.”
“Oh, my God, Kelly,” Megan gasped. "That . . . that person who tried to kill Carl is after you now!”
Kelly stared at Steve, then Megan. Were they serious?
“Meanwhile, we’re going to make sure you’re not alone at any time. You can work here in the shop during the day, and Megan or Lisa or Jennifer can help you in the morning and evening. I’ll handle guard duty at night. I’ve got my sleeping bag in the truck.”
Kelly stared, still not comprehending all that she was hearing. Someone cut her brakes in the canyon. Someone wanted her to crash. Someone wanted to kill her?
"Wh-what . . . what do you mean ‘guard duty’?”
Megan leaned over the table, face sheet-white, blue eyes huge, but her voice was firm. “Kelly, someone’s after you now! You can’t be left alone. We have to protect you.” Turning to Steve, she continued. “I’ll work out a schedule with the others for dinner, Steve, and we’ll take turns staying with Kelly until you can take over at night. I know you have to work late. We can come early in the mornings, too.”
Kelly listened to Megan and Steve plan out the next few days of her life—schedules for meals, sleeping, getting dressed in the morning. Their conversation swirled around her, and she wanted to jump in and protest all these arrangements, but her thoughts were having trouble traveling from her head to her mouth. The loopy pills were starting to work, and bringing their fog with them.
“Hey . . . wait a minute. . . . I don’t need someone to . . . to guard me at night,” she managed to protest.
“Yeah, you do,” Steve said, reaching over to brush a lock of dark hair from her face. “No arguments, sweetheart.” He placed a finger against her lips.
The warmth of Steve’s hand and the loopy pills started to mess up her mind. Now she really couldn’t think straight. Did Steve just call her sweetheart? He’d never called her that before. Kelly tried to remember, but her memory cells weren’t responding. They’d gone off-line already. Loopy pills at work.
“I think we’re losing her, Megan,” Steve said with a crooked smile.
“Ohhh, yeah, she’s going fast.”
“I’m still here...” Kelly said through the fog.
“Listen, Kelly, before you check out entirely, Burt wants to know if you saw any cars parked near the ranch when you went up there.”
Kelly blinked through the rapidly thickening fog. “Cars? Just my car . . . I parked . . .”
“Yeah, up at the ranch. But did you see anyone parked on the road?”
“Me . . . I parked on the road . . . driveway snowed in.”
“The driveway was snowed in? It wasn’t plowed?”
Kelly shook her head slowly. “Nope... footprints in snow . . . so I walked . . . deep snow . . . real deep.”
“And you didn’t see anybody around?”
She shook her head again. “Nobody . . . nobody there . . . no cars . . . no trucks, either.”
The fog had taken over entirely now, leaving behind that delightful euphoria. She couldn’t even feel the pain in her ankles. Heck, she couldn’t even feel her ankles. Did she have ankles? Just the sound of Steve’s voice close by and his warm hand on hers.
Steve was there. What did he say? He was going to guard her? Watch over her. That’s good. She’d like that. She’d like that a lot.
Kelly smiled crookedly at Steve. “You’re staying the night with me?”
&
nbsp; Steve grinned. “Yep. I’ll be watching over you.”
“That’s good. . . .” Kelly reached out her hand to Steve’s cheek. “I’ve wanted you to stay over . . . lots of times . . . but I just didn’t say it.”
Steve captured her hand against his cheek. She could feel the stubble on his chin. He smiled into her eyes. “Yeah, I know. I figured you’d get around to it when you were ready.”
“I’m ready.”
Steve laughed softly. “Not tonight, tiger. Not while you have that cast on your foot.”
“What cast?”
Cast? How could she have a cast? She didn’t even have feet, did she?
The sound of Megan’s snickering across the table didn’t bother Kelly. She glanced at her friend and saw Megan holding her hand across her mouth, shoulders shaking with nearly silent laughter. It didn’t even register on Kelly’s distorted radar screen. She was oblivious.
“But I’ll take that as a formal invitation, okay?” Then Steve kissed her palm.
Oh, boy. That felt really, really good. “Do that again,” she whispered.
“Uhhhh, better not,” Steve said, laughing as he released her hand. “We’d better get you back while you’re still awake.” He leaned over and brushed his lips against hers before he rose.
Rats. Just when it was starting to get interesting. But Steve was coming home with her. Warm Steve. Good. She liked that.
Kelly glanced up and spotted Burt leaning on the doorway into the yarn room, smiling at her. “Hey, Burt, where did you come from?” she chirped.
“Ohh, I’ve been here a few minutes. Making sure you’re all right. It looks like you’re in good hands.”
“Steve’s coming.”
“That’s good, Kelly.”
“He’s staying the night.”
“It’s about time,” Burt said, chuckling.
Both Steve and Megan ducked their heads, laughing. Kelly joined in. Everyone else was laughing. Why shouldn’t she?
“Steve’s going to tuck me in tonight,” she announced. Was that a giggle? She never giggled.
“I’m going to tuck you in, Kelly,” Megan said authoritatively as she helped Kelly on with her jacket. “Steve does the guarding. I do the bedtime shift.”
Well, damn. That wasn’t going to be any fun at all. “No, I want Steve,” she protested.
“You got me, Kelly,” he said as he helped her to her feet. “Now we’re going to get you home.”
Suddenly upright, Kelly felt the room spin, and she reached out. “Whoa . . . everything’s moving.” Steve caught her and quickly lifted her into his arms.
“Here, I’ll get the door,” Burt offered, heading to the front.
Kelly waved at Burt as Steve carried her out, Megan following behind. “No cars, Burt. No cars at all . . . ,” she called over Steve’s shoulder.
Thirteen
“Is the café still open? I thought Pete closed at three o’clock.” Kelly maneuvered her crutch carefully around the yarn tables.
“He said he was staying open especially for you,” Megan replied as she followed behind. “Pete made his bourbon pecan pie. He said it will help your ankle heal faster.”
Kelly gave a short laugh as she carefully put weight on her abused right ankle. It sent a short spasm of pain up her leg. Not as bad as yesterday, though. It wasn’t much, but it must be progess, Kelly decided.
“Help me gain weight, you mean. I swear, I’m going to weigh a ton by the time I get rid of this cast and can start to run again.” She slowly made her way down the hallway to the café.
“I told Steve about the pie, and he’ll be over, too,” Megan added with a devilish grin.
Fragments of memories darted in and out of Kelly’s mind, fleeting, elusive. "Boy, I must have said something really dumb to Steve last night, because you’ve been teasing me all day.”
“You weren’t dumb, you were cute. And honest,” Megan said, as they entered the back alcove of Pete’s café.
Honest. Oh, great. No telling what she said. Damn. She wished she could remember. Glancing around as she entered, Kelly noticed Jayleen and Curt Stackhouse sitting at a small corner table. It looked like they were sampling the pie already. “Hey, Jayleen, Curt. Is that pie any good?”
“Delicious as always,” Curt replied from behind his raised coffee cup. “How’re you doing, Kelly girl? Looks like you’re moving pretty slow.”
“Afraid so,” Kelly said as she negotiated her way to a nearby table.
Jayleen watched her with a worried frown. “Damn girl, you are in bad shape. I sure would like to catch whoever messed up your car. Wouldn’t you, Curt? We’d show him a thing or two.”
“Damn right,” Curt said in a low voice. “We used to deal with bad hombres in our own way years ago. Frontier justice.”
Kelly had to smile. “Now, don’t you two go rounding up a posse, okay? That canyon road is too slippery to be chasing bad guys.” She leaned to the side so Pete could pour her a huge ceramic mug of Eduardo’s coffee. He placed the pie on the table with a flourish. “Thanks, Pete, that looks delicious. You didn’t have to stay late for me. Pie could have waited until tomorrow.”
“There were a lot of folks waiting for this pie, Kelly,” Pete said, his round face spreading with his familiar grin. “I’ve had calls all morning.”
“I can believe it,” Kelly said, lifting a forkful to her mouth. The heavenly combination of brown sugar, pecans, and syrup melted on her tongue. Delicious didn’t even describe it. “Ummm, yummy,” she said when speech returned.
“Where’s that pie, Pete? I smelled it all the way across town,” Jennifer said as she walked in. Shedding her winter coat, Jennifer retrieved a slice while Pete poured her a cup of coffee. “Ahhhh, sugar. I need this. It’s been a rough afternoon.” She settled at the table with Megan and Kelly and dove into the pie.
“Boy, you weren’t kidding, Pete. That pie will be gone in a few minutes with us—”
“Hey, what’s this I hear about pecan pie being dished up?” Marty demanded as he rounded the café corner. “Whoa, now you’re talking.” Marty headed straight for the pie counter and snatched two slices.
“Uh-oh. Here comes trouble,” Jayleen teased. “I hope you made a lot of pies, Pete.”
“You’re looking right spiffy, nephew. You been arguing a case in court?” Curt asked the lanky redhead.
“Yep, in court all day. That’s why I’ve gotta up keep my strength,” Marty said as he pulled out a chair next to Megan, then tossed off his black overcoat.
“Well, sugar does it for me,” Jennifer said, licking pie remnants from her lips. “Pete, I swear you’ve outdone yourself this time. I may have to arm-wrestle Marty for the last slice.”
Marty uttered a sound of enjoyment as he savored the pie. “Give it up, Jennifer. You wouldn’t have a chance,” he said before he took another huge bite.
“Don’t be so sure. I fight dirty,” Jennifer threatened as she polished off the last morsel on her plate.
“I believe that,” Steve said as he entered the café. “Whoa, Marty’s here. I better grab some pie before it’s gone.” He strode over to Kelly’s table and gave her a quick kiss. “How’re you doing?”
“Better. My right ankle doesn’t hurt as much.”
“That’s good, because it’s the only thing holding you up,” he said with a grin as he headed toward the counter.
Kelly finished off her last bite of pie and toyed with the thought of asking for another piece. This pie was too good, and it was late afternoon. The dangerous time for hungries. She’d better wait until someone else got seconds.
“Uh-oh, looks like Marty beat us here,” Greg announced as he and Lisa appeared around the corner. “Quick, Lisa, go sit next to Marty so you can trip him if he makes a run for the pie. Steve and I will stand guard.”
Marty grinned before demolishing the last morsel on his plate. “Speaking of seconds, I’m ready, Pete.”
“Dude, no way are you getting seconds until I have firsts.�
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“Relax, guys,” Pete said, chuckling as he handed Greg and Lisa the pecan delicacy. “I made four pies. There’s plenty for everyone.”
Greg dove in as he stood guard, clearly enjoying the pie, while Lisa settled at the table beside Jayleen and Curt.
“I hate to be the one to squeal, but Marty’s already had seconds. He started out with two slices,” Jennifer said after licking her fork. “So you’re already behind, Greg.”
Kelly glanced around at her friends as they all laughed and joked and exchanged insults with Marty, who deftly fended them off with a nonchalant smile. All the while, Kelly noticed that Megan looked as relaxed sitting next to Marty as she did sitting across the knitting table.
Meanwhile, Kelly’s little buzzer inside went off. There was no way everyone would suddenly show up to sample Pete’s pie at the same time. What was up? She searched for possible reasons but her memory had a few blank spots thanks to the pain pills from last night. Maybe that was it. Megan had been acting funny all day and teasing her. She knew she’d acted dumb, but . . .
“Well, well, the gang’s all here,” Burt announced as he and Mimi entered from the shop doorway. “I see Marty licking his fork. Any pie left, Pete?” He and Mimi settled at a nearby table. Mimi cast a sly glance at Kelly before accepting Pete’s offer of pie.
Okay, that’s it. Everybody but Carl is here. No way this was accidental. Pete’s pie was good, but...
Kelly drained the last of her coffee and held out her mug for Pete to refill as she leaned back in her chair. “Steve, I know those loopy pills made me stupid last night, but what the heck did I say to you to cause a ‘gathering of the clans’?”
All conversation ceased with the exception of Burt’s chuckle. “Sharp as ever, Kelly.”
Steve leaned against the wall as he lifted another pecan-filled forkful. “You didn’t say anything I didn’t already know, Kelly.” He winked then devoured the morsel.
“We’re here to talk about something else, Kelly. Something important,” Burt told her, his smile fading.
Kelly glanced around the cozy alcove. No smiles to be seen anymore. A second ago everyone was laughing, and now . . .
Dyer Consequences Page 12
