Lee retrieved a bottle of water from the cooler, took a long drink and gave Chowser some, too. She walked Texas down the road to a shady oak tree. After loosening the cinch, she pulled his bridle, and tied him with the halter rope. Help would be at least an hour, so she laid down in the cool shade next to him, hugging Chowser close.
She kept her eyes wide open, knowing what would happen if she closed them. The sight of the girl's body had hurt her on a deep, yet familiar level, and she dealt by casting her eyes for squirrels, birds, insects, even snakes—anything to distract her mind.
It took nearly two hours for the posse to arrive. By then, her emotions had worn thin.
The sheriff drove his patrol car, but he also had a bad-ass, four-wheel-drive truck following him. The chassis must have been three feet off the ground. Lee shook hands with him. "Howdy, Cody. Is the ambulance coming?"
"Not right away. We've got a body bag. I told them I'd call when we have the body out. They can be here in about thirty minutes."
Lee nodded. "I can ride up front and give directions. Hopefully that monster can take us where we need to go."
He said, "That'll work."
As they walked around to the passenger side of the big, lifted truck, Lee spied a man she detested sitting in the seat.
Cody opened the door. "Lee, I guess you remember Tyler."
Hell, yes, she did. As if her day hadn't been bad enough, that asshole showed up. The jealous son of a bitch never had a good thing to say about her since she took the sheriff's deputy job he’d thought certain was his.
Cody continued. "Tyler came along to help because Sonny's running a prisoner up to Wichita Falls today." Cody gestured toward the driver. "And you know my son, Trace." Then he said, "Get in the back, Tyler. We've got a ways to go yet, and Mrs. Granger will show us where we’re headed."
The truck pitched and bumped so hard over rocks and stumps that Lee's head almost slammed into the dash before they finally arrived at the arroyo. Turning to Cody, she pointed. "The body is right under that high point. Somebody sliced her up bad."
"Oh, Lord, Lee, I'm sorry you had to see that."
"Yeah, me too."
The sheriff took a digital camera from its bag and stepped out of the truck, then turned back to her. "Don't mind you coming over, Lee, if that's what you want to do. Could always use another set of eyes."
"Sure." She prayed she could keep her shit together better this time. Her sour stomach rolled as she got out.
They walked over to the wall of the arroyo, eyes scanning the ground. She said, "I tried to keep the scene clean."
They knelt, and Cody looked the body over. "Jesus, Lee. This is terrible. Who would do something like this? And what is a girl like her doing way out here all alone?"
"I was thinking the same thing. You know, I sold some land to that church group, and it's just a couple of miles through the pasture here. I wonder if she's one of them?"
Cody nodded. "I'll drop by there tomorrow and see if they know anything."
He took pictures, and they loaded the girl's body and headed back.
By the time they got to the truck, night had fallen. In the moonlight and keeping an eye out for snakes, Lee walked over to the oak tree where Texas was tied. He rested, head down, and she untied him. "Come on boy. Time to go home." They wove their way around brush and rocks, Chowser's white and black coat a ghost beside them.
After loading him in the trailer, she threw a flake of hay into the feed box. Dusting her hands off, she headed over to talk to Cody. "Ambulance on its way?"
"Yep, they should be here in a little while. Thanks for your help today."
"You bet. Say, will you keep me posted on how this thing turns out? I'm kind of invested in seeing that she finds her way home."
"Sure, thing. I'll give you a call as things move along. And I'll lock the gate when we leave."
Lee climbed into her truck and swung it in an arc back toward the highway. Though she turned the radio volume on high and opened the windows, she couldn't distract herself from the image of the poor girl's body. Memories of her daughter flitted before her as the mile markers whipped by her window. Too much had been coming at Lee in the past few days.
She drove into the lot in front of the barn, worn out and emotionally drained. Jesse's truck was still there. Damn, maybe she should have called him and told him she'd be late. When she opened her door, Jesse hotfooted it her way.
As he neared her, he said, "Dammit, Lee, where have you been? I've been worried sick about you. Thought you'd been thrown or snake bit—anything!" Jesse's anxious face loomed at her through the open truck door in the light of the outdoor barn fixture.
This she did not need tonight. She went immediately on the offensive. "Who died and made you my keeper? Last I knew I was your boss, not the other way around." She jumped down out of the truck, making Jesse hop back a couple of paces, and slammed the door. Walking to the back of the trailer, she unloaded Texas.
She strode to the tack shed and unsaddled him, dropping the reins on the ground.
Jesse walked over, hands in pockets, watching her, and she ducked her head, realizing she'd been way out of line. If the shoe had been on the other foot, she'd have been worried, too. Shutting the door, she led Texas over to the trough for a quick drink. Ground-tying him, she headed over to the silo for a bucket of horse feed, and led him to the corral.
Jesse yelled, "I'll unhook," and backed the truck over to the side of the barn, parking the two-horse trailer by the others.
She met him as he got out. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't get in touch. I'll see you in the morning."
She'd just unloaded her saddlebags when she heard a knock at the mud room door. Oh Lord, she was not up to company tonight, especially Jesse. She wouldn't answer the door.
Jesse was prepared for her, however. He barged right on in, walked past her through the kitchen and into the living room.
Chowser looked up at him from the couch, grinned and wagged his tail once.
Traitor, she thought at the mutt as she headed into the living room and turned to her unwelcome visitor. His earnest face peered down at her, those brown eyes searching her with an intensity she felt down to her toes. Broad, muscular shoulders spread across her vision as she dropped her gaze, unable to stand the question in his eyes.
Jesse put his hands on his hips. "Lee, you've got my cell number. I want yours, too. I wouldn't have worried my fool head off if I could have called and found out you were okay."
She nodded and headed toward the kitchen for a piece of paper, hoping he'd take the hint and follow.
Jesse reached out and held her arm, pulling her gently back to face him. "And, no, nobody died and made me your keeper. But I do think working together has at least made me your friend. I imagine those are few and far between for a tough lady like you. I also want to talk to you about your afternoon at the pasture. How did it go?"
Her heart jumped. Oh, hell no. No way could she talk about that. "It was fine. Just took longer than I thought it was going to take, is all."
"Oh, so you found all the cows, did you?"
Damn, in all the mess she'd forgotten about the rest of the cows she'd particularly gone out there to find. Why'd he have such a good memory? "No, never did locate all six of them. I'll need to go back in a week or two, I guess."
Jesse looked her up and down, studying her clothes, hair—everything. "Uh-huh."
She didn't at all like the speculative look on his face. She couldn't bring herself to talk about what happened. Spinning around, she crossed her arms on her chest, and looked down at her toes. "Okay, so now you know. How about letting me grab some shut eye?"
Jesse eased her back around, and said quietly, "Look, I think something went on out there today. I'm not leaving till I find out. So, if you want to get any sleep tonight, you may as well tell me."
Her throat closed up tight. She didn't want to talk about it—about the girl's body, her Megan, any of it. Jesse's sympathy would be her undoing.
He pulled her closer and folded her to his chest. She didn't step nearer or change positions. Silence settled on them. Sliding his hand to the center of her back, he patted softly.
Uncrossing her arms, she hooked her thumbs on his belt, pushing her forehead into his shoulder and whispered, "You're right. Something did happen out there. Terrible. Chowser. We found a b-b-b ... found a body. A girl."
Jesse tightened his hold on her. "My God. What did you do?"
"Called the sheriff. He took her away."
Jesse patted her. "I can't imagine how terrible that must have been for you."
"It ... was awful." She shivered. Then she began to shake uncontrollably. A short, quick sob escaped, and she jammed her face into his chest. The slashes. She must have suffered so.
Jesse waited, completely still, for her to continue.
Lee's voice quavered. "She was naked. Lying in a gulch. Been there for days, probably."
Jesse pulled her rigid body closer and kept silent.
"I saw my share of death as a DPS Trooper but this was the worst." A tiny moan escaped her, and she shook harder.
Jesse squeezed her and said, "Come on, let it out. Just let it go." He nestled her head under his chin and kissed it. Cupping her head, he rocked her side to side.
The dam broke, and sobs wracked her body.
In silence, he continued to rock her, patting her back, and murmuring reassurances in her ear.
She ground her head deeper into Jesse's chest, sobbing harder. In a small, sane part of her mind it shocked her that she'd fallen apart. All sorts of grief leaked through her damaged defenses.
A few minutes later, she pushed away from his gentle embrace, took a deep breath and looked down at her toes. Thank God she didn't have holes in her socks.
Jesse got out his handkerchief and gave it to her.
She wiped her eyes and blew her nose. Lord, she couldn't breathe. She'd never be able to look him in the eyes again.
He tilted her chin up. "Hey there, no nonsense now. We're friends, and this is what friends do." Kissing her on the forehead, he released her, whispering, "I'll see you in the morning."
Without waiting for her to follow him—he opened the mud room door and headed out to his truck.
She watched him drive out. He'd gotten to know her pretty well in the last few days. She sure didn't have much to say after this disaster.
HEART HEAVY, JESSE leaned on the open window as he drove toward home. His thoughts were of Lee, facing everything that life could throw at her alone. How hard could life get for one woman?
He was glad he'd followed his instincts and gone on up to the house. Lee had needed to be held so she could let loose the devils pent up inside her. Living by herself the way she did, he was sure she seldom made time for her feelings. At least, that was the habit he'd gotten into.
It had been a while since he'd held a woman in his arms, and she'd felt good. He loved tall women, and Lee fit him just right. Tucking her head under his chin had been so natural. Maybe she could sleep tonight now that she'd had her cry.
As he pulled into his drive, he realized something important. He anticipated seeing Lee the next day more than anything he'd wanted in a great many years.
Chapter Five
THE NEXT DAY, THE SOUND of Texas's hooves clacking off the rocks vied with the pounding of her heart. She approached the rim of the arroyo where the girl’s body had lain, whistling up Chowser from somewhere off to her right. He came bounding into view. Aiming her horse at the edge of the gulch, she nudged him with her heels, and they jumped to the other side. The dog yipped and crossed over, too.
Dismounting and ground-tying the horse, she kept her eyes down looking for the girl's footprint. Eventually, she found one.
"Come here, boy." She snapped her fingers and Chowser trotted over, nuzzling her hand. "Looky there, boy. Looky there." Squatting and pointing her finger at the footprint, she said, "Come on, boy, Looky, looky." He panted excitedly, looking at her and then snuffing at the footprint. She walked backward in the direction the girl would have come and threw her hand where the tracks led. "Git her, boy. Git her!" Knowing Chowser was an excellent tracker, she'd previously offered his services to locate a missing toddler on a local ranch and found her dog was just as good at tracking humans as tracking cattle.
Chowser stuck his nose to the ground, snuffled the print, and headed off, following the girl's tracks. Lee mounted Texas and went after him. Her goal—finding a way to send that girl home to her momma by finding where she’d come from.
Jesse had been none too thrilled with her plan for the day and let her know it. "What the hell, Lee? We don't even know what happened to the girl. Anyone could be hiding out in that country."
"I'm taking my rifle and gun. I told you the other day to quit babying me."
"Dammit!" He'd kicked a rock across the road. "You're so freaking hard headed!" He strode to the barn without a backward glance, grabbing the pitchfork on his way in.
She'd already hooked up the horse trailer and was ready to leave when Jesse had come striding toward her and handed her a slip of paper. "Here's my cell number again. From now on, if you're going to be later than you tell me, call. I'll do the same for you. We're all we've got out here."
He was right, they did need each other. She'd nodded, taken the paper, and headed down the drive.
Chowser had gotten quite a ways ahead of her. She needed to keep her mind on business. Nudging Texas into a faster jog, she wove her way around the brush and larger rocks and caught up.
The dog traveled at times head up, following the scent, and then head down, following the trail through the mesquite trees. A bundle of energy, he moved steadily forward through the afternoon. Occasionally, he took a side bar as though checking out a stray whiff of something. Head down, he searched one direction after another. Finally, he whined and waited for Lee to come to him. He'd lost the scent.
She dismounted and kneeled next to him. Ruffling his ears and patting his ribs, she crooned, "What's wrong, boy, lost it have you? That's okay. You did a good job, a good job, boy." They were within ten feet of the religious compound's fence and the grass where they sat had recently been mowed. The girl had to have come from the place.
Lee decided they wouldn't go back through the rough country the way they'd come. Instead she'd cut across southwest and head back to the truck from the road.
It took longer than she expected to make her way through the pasture. Sweat soaked her hair and her arms burned despite her sun screen, from the raging orb overhead. Once on the dirt road, she put Texas to a long trot. It ate up the distance, and he could keep it up for miles. Chowser gamely kept up.
She couldn't forget Jesse's face when she'd jumped down his throat about coming out here today. Maybe she was a little hard on him. He meant well, but damn it, when he told her what to do it got on her last nerve.
At last, breathing a sigh of relief, she pulled Texas up behind the trailer. Exhaustion and heat stress sat heavily on all three of them. After loading the horse, she and Chowser soaked up the air conditioning in the cab as she drove toward home.
Next, she would examine the photos she took of the body and put together a description, then go on by and talk to Theron. Cody said he was stopping by today, but she'd feel better if she went herself. She wanted to ask her own questions and get her own answers. Old law-dog habits died hard.
Lee pulled into the barn drive before sunset. Jesse's truck was still there along with the Sheriff's cruiser. She stopped in front of the tack shed and let Chowser down from the truck. She walked back to unload the horse as Jesse came toward her. He had gone back to Abilene today to get the last hunting blind and also taken care of the other chores around the place.
He came over and reached for the saddle. "Why don't you let me do that? You must be bushed."
Smiling, she scanned the area for sign of Cody. "Sure, I'm tired. It was a long ride."
"Well, did you find out anything?"
"
Yeah, I'm pretty sure my girl came from the religious group I sold land to. Chowser trailed her to a few feet of that place before he lost the trail."
Jesse glanced over his shoulder as he put up the saddle. "So, I guess you're planning on going over to the compound to check up on it?"
"Well, yes, as a matter of fact I am," she said, daring him to say otherwise.
"You don't think that might be a little bit dangerous? I talked to Cody. He assumed that you'd told me about the slash marks on the girl's body. I'm not real comfortable with you going over there. Especially now that you think she came from that place. How do you know somebody from the church group didn't do that to her?"
Lee turned her back and counted to ten. There he went again. He wasn't comfortable? Like it was any of his damn business what she did with her damn day! Keeping her back turned, she said, "I don't believe I asked you whether you thought it was a good idea. I will be going. Period." She climbed into the truck and backed it up to unhook.
As she pulled away from the trailer, she saw the sheriff coming her way from the barn. After parking, she stepped out, offering him her hand. "Hey, Cody, how are you?"
"Fine, Lee. Just came by to visit a bit about the stop I made over to the church compound today. Not quite what I was expecting. I hadn't had the pleasure of meeting Pastor Rubek yet, but I'd heard plenty good about him. I don't know if you knew, but in early spring he purchased a haul of garden seeds from the AP. He also ordered the supplies there for that ten-foot fencing, which you can imagine was a huge expense, and he told people that, being neighbors, he wanted to keep his money in the county."
Cody continued, "Rubik said this first year the compound ordered most of its food from a grocery wholesaler. But I know someone comes into town each week and places a big order at Carter’s Market. My impression was that the Church being in the community was a plus so far."
He set his hands on his hips. "So, it surprised me that things didn't add up over there. For instance, the gate is kept locked and there's no keypad. I just don't see them going to the expense of buying several hundred remotes for everyone in the compound. Though Rubek said residents can come and go as they please, they'd have to ask permission to do it. And that fence is capped with barbed wire and slanted toward the inside on top. In other words, it's to keep things inside the fence. They don't have exotic game on the property, so, it begs the question, what, or who, are they trying to keep in that compound?"
True-Blue Texas Cowboy Page 4
