Zane flipped up the collar of his jean jacket. Then he picked up his coffee cup from the porch rail where he’d set it, wrapped both hands around the comforting warmth and lifted it to take a sip. He gazed up at the darkening indigo sky over the mountain peaks behind the Rocking Star Ranch.
“You drink too much of that coffee this late and you’ll never get to sleep tonight,” his uncle, Jack Henderson, warned as he settled a faded green corduroy barn coat over his broad shoulders.
“Oh, I’ll sleep tonight. Don’t you worry.” By the time Zane had driven his truck back to the ranch earlier today he could barely keep his eyes open. He’d made it up to his room on the top floor of the old ranch house, kicked off his boots and then fallen face-first onto his bed.
The only reason he was awake now was because Aunt Rose got him out of bed by waving a plate of fried chicken and mashed potatoes with cream gravy near his nose. She’d told him she didn’t want him sleeping all day, only to wake up and stomp around the house in the middle of the night and disturb her sleep.
She’d said it with a smile on her face. Plus she’d made his favorite dinner and favorite dessert. Once he was fully awake, he’d realized he was ravenous. And that he owed it to his aunt and uncle to finish filling them in on the details about what had happened at the lakeside office complex.
Dinner was finished, concluded with a big slab of huckleberry pie. Now Zane was stepping outside with his uncle to check on the buildings on the property. He wanted to take an inventory of what needed to be done before freezing weather set in. There were also a couple of chores left to be handled.
An unexpected cold front had barreled down into Idaho from Canada around noon, chasing away the earlier warmth. It just proved that despite the best technology you couldn’t predict everything. Now, with the sun gone, it definitely felt like winter wasn’t far away.
If Zane took a look now at what needed to be repaired, replaced or wrapped up for the season, he could make his plans tonight. Then he could buy supplies and get started on Monday. It would likely take about a week to get it all done. Maybe this planning would get his mind off of Caroline.
Tomorrow, Sunday, would include church. Time spent with family, including church family, meant a lot to him. And if past regrets started haunting him again, he’d be able to find someone to talk to. His congregation included men and women who’d served in the armed forces. They got together once in a while for coffee and to talk. Just to remind each other there were other people who understood what they’d been through. And all of them were available to talk anytime one of them started feeling isolated or just needed to be lifted up.
Zane’s efforts when he’d first arrived at the ranch last year had been focused on infrastructure. Completing some repairs in the house. Rebuilding the stables and a couple of barns. Doing what he could on his own and hiring help when he needed it with tricky plumbing and electrical work.
Next spring they would start buying horse stock. Right now they just had the three horses Jack and Rose had owned for years. They were sweet-natured riding horses, but they weren’t going to be producing any future generations of solid work horses.
Zane’s long-time dream of living on a horse ranch was coming true. He was blessed, and he would be grateful and happy with that. His life was here and now, and it was a good life. Caroline was his past.
Several outside lights burned, but there was still plenty of ground between the buildings that was shrouded in darkness. “Forgot my flashlight. Be right back.” Jack went back into the house.
One of Jack’s ranch dogs, a speckled old hound with a sweet demeanor, meandered up and pressed her nose into Zane’s hand, looking to be petted. As he scratched her head he couldn’t help thinking of Millie and the little boy that dog obviously adored.
Owen’s son, Dylan, was a cute kid. The spitting image of his dad. The kid shouldn’t be forced to spend time with a mother who didn’t want him. A woman who only wanted the money attached to him.
But that was none of Zane’s business. He reminded himself yet again that Caroline had made it clear she didn’t want him back in her life. So he would help protect her and catch the bad guys if he had the opportunity, but he would also stay out of her way and stay focused on his own life at the ranch.
“Now I’m ready.” Jack reappeared on the wraparound porch with a yellow legal pad and a pen, along with the flashlight. “I don’t know why we have to rush and check on all this tonight, but if you really want to do a walk-through that badly, it’s okay by me.” He handed the pen and paper to Zane and kept the flashlight.
They walked across the thick grass in front of the house to the gravel path Zane had put in as soon as he’d arrived and then toward the state-of-the-art stables he and Jack had recently finished after working on them for nearly a year.
“So, why exactly are you in such a hurry to do this tonight?” Jack asked.
“Maybe I’m inspired. Maybe seeing the business Owen Marsh started got me fired up.”
Jack chuckled. “You’ve been fired up since before you even got here.”
Jack and Rose knew all about Zane’s past, including his broken engagement with Caroline, thanks to the email correspondence Rose had started while he was still overseas. Through the emails he’d also gotten reacquainted with the uncle he hadn’t seen since he was a small boy.
Jack had gotten injured in a car accident a few years ago and needed one back surgery after another. He hadn’t been able to do everything himself, as he’d intended, in order to develop the ranch property he’d bought as an investment and a place to retire, but at least he was finally on the mend. When Zane arrived for a visit the ranch was in obvious disrepair. He’d immediately gotten started with helping however he could. Then he’d bought into the ranch and put all of his energy into rebuilding it.
“How was it seeing Caroline again?” Jack finally asked.
Zane guessed he’d been dying to say something since Zane arrived at the ranch this morning. Rose probably had told him not to.
“Given the circumstances, I’d call it an emotional roller coaster.”
“I’ll bet.”
Zane couldn’t help smiling a little. “She seems to still have that strong will she always had.”
Jack nodded. “Do you think her brother got involved in something he shouldn’t have?” In a more gentle voice he added, “Do you think Caroline could have gotten dragged into it? We all make mistakes. People can change over time. Not always for the better.”
The beam of Jack’s flashlight caught on eyes looking back at them. A doe. She froze. Jack turned the light away from her and she took a little leap before running off into the woods.
“I don’t want to believe the worst of either of them,” Zane said. “But it’s crossed my mind. I thought about it when I was in the Wilderness Photo Adventures office today. Maybe there’s a file in a computer, an image captured in a picture or even some physical thing tucked away in the office that could explain what’s happening.”
Maybe Owen had taken a trip into the back country and he’d witnessed something somebody wanted to keep secret. Or perhaps he’d uncovered something they’d wanted to keep buried. And maybe that person decided to permanently silence Owen and his sister to keep the truth from getting out.
Zane felt sick just considering the possibility.
Cobalt PD detectives were already hard at work on the case, but maybe Zane could do something they couldn’t. He could try to find out if his dad still lived in Cobalt. If so, his old underworld connections might be a source of information. Maybe they’d tell Zane things they wouldn’t tell the cops.
Lee had told Zane to leave him alone when he wrote to his dad in prison. But that was a couple of years ago, and he might have softened his stance since then. Zane was determined to help Caroline and her family. And there were questions of his own he wanted to ask his dad. Things he wouldn’t have understood when he was younger.
When he had time, he’d start asking around in town and see what he could find out.
“Are you planning to see Caroline again?” Jack asked.
“If the police department wants me to help protect her, then of course I’ll be there. Otherwise, no.”
They stopped in front of the stable door. While Jack pulled it open, Zane glanced back at the golden lights spilling out of the windows of the ranch house. It looked warm and cozy, like home. And that’s what he wanted. His own home. With his own family waiting for him at the end of every day.
Even if there was something intriguing about Caroline, pursuing that would be a waste of his time. She’d let him know that loud and clear. Besides, he’d worked hard to get his head on straight and learn to focus on the future instead of the past. He wasn’t going to mess that up now.
* * *
The squeak of a floorboard sent Caroline sitting bolt upright in bed. Heart hammering in her chest, she tensed her muscles, ready to spring into action, and turned toward the source of the sound.
“Millie!” The dog lazily wagged her tail, padded the rest of the way into the room and rested her chin on the side of the bed, waiting to get her head patted.
Caroline blew out a sigh of relief and ran her fingers through her own tangled hair. If the dog was happy and relaxed, that meant her mom and Dylan were safe. For now. That was not a situation she could take for granted.
She rolled to the side of the bed and patted the dog, got out, stepped toward the window and moved the curtain slightly aside. The patrol car was still out there, but when the officer’s shift ended at 8:00 a.m. that would be the end of twenty-four-hour police protection for the Marsh family.
It had been five days since the attack at the office complex, and everything had been quiet. No new attacks. No fresh leads. No proof of a connection with Owen’s murder. The Cobalt chief of police himself had called last night. He’d been apologetic, explaining that they’d put as much extra effort and resources as they could into protecting the daughter of a fallen officer.
Starting today they would keep a patrol car in the neighborhood as much as possible, with frequent drive-bys. But that was all they could offer for protection. And that was probably why she’d been having one of those bad dreams about Owen when the dog walked in and woke her up. For several nights after her brother’s body was found, she’d dreamed about Owen floating in water and calling out to her for help. That dream always made her feel helpless. And scared.
Enough.
She called the dog over to her where she stood by the window and gave her a few more pats on the head. Then she walked over and reached for her Bible, sitting in the bookcase shelf built into the bed’s headboard. She sat on the edge of her bed and flipped the pages over to Psalms to read several familiar verses about David encouraging himself and shoring up his faith. She lingered over the words, thought about them and prayed.
Then she got up, squared her shoulders and put on her aqua-colored terry cloth bathrobe. She stepped into her slippers. It was chilly this morning. She headed down the hall to check on Dylan. Seeing him reminded her that there was still good in the world and that life goes on.
She and her mom gave Dylan the choice of where he wanted to sleep each night, and the last couple of nights he had chosen to sleep in his grandma’s room. It was probably more peaceful there. Each day, Caroline had tried her best to hide her anxiety after the attack at the complex, but at night it all came back to her. Each night, her sleep was fitful and when she woke up the covers were tangled. No wonder her nephew didn’t want to sleep in the same room with her.
She peeked into her mom’s bedroom. Lauren opened her eyes and stretched out an arm, careful not to jar her grandson sleeping next to her. “Good morning, honey,” she whispered. “How did you sleep?”
Caroline gave a slight shrug. At least her injured shoulder wasn’t bothering her much anymore. “Sorry I woke you.”
“I was already awake. And thinking about making a quiche for breakfast and brewing you some real coffee.” Mom had to drink decaf. She claimed the smell of regular coffee, brewed for someone else, made hers taste better.
A short time later Caroline walked into the kitchen freshly showered, hair still damp, dressed in jeans and a long-sleeve T-shirt. Her mom was busy at the stove. Caroline grabbed a mug and filled it with drip coffee. She walked over to look out the window. The patrol car that had been in front of the house was gone. Caroline couldn’t help feeling like they were on their own, though she knew that wasn’t true.
“Mom, do you think we made a mistake coming here?”
Her mom put the quiche in the oven, closed the door and turned to her. “Where else would you want to be?”
“I don’t know.” Where she wanted to be was probably not so much a place as a time. Back in the past, when her father and brother were alive. When she felt safe. “I’m just thinking out loud.”
It probably hadn’t been smart to let her pride get in the way and goad her into telling Zane she didn’t need his help. She hadn’t been thinking. She should have known the police couldn’t trail her every move for the rest of her life. Criminals knew how to bide their time and wait.
“I’m hungry.” Dylan walked through the doorway of the kitchen with his favorite plastic toy, some kind of green robotic man, dangling from his hand.
Mom tightened the belt on her bathrobe. “Well, let’s get you something to eat.”
Dylan stumbled over and wrapped his arm around his grandmother’s leg. She leaned down to kiss him.
“Morning, buddy. Can I have a kiss, too?” Caroline asked.
He walked over to her and she got down on her knees to give him a proper hug. She held him for a long time. Finally, she let him go.
Caroline had been amazed at her mother’s emotional strength after two tragic deaths in the family and now the attack on Caroline. Mom leaned into her faith and that had helped her tremendously. Yet it was only recently that Caroline truly understood the stresses her mother had lived under for a long time. Living with the daily uncertainty of being a cop’s wife while raising two kids couldn’t have been easy.
The saying that you didn’t really appreciate your parents until you became a parent yourself was true. Now that Caroline was a kind of parent to Dylan, she was much more aware of the sacrifices her parents had made over the years. And much more appreciative of them.
She would do everything she could to keep Dylan safe. And her mom. If that meant moving back to California or somewhere else, she’d do that. If it meant swallowing her pride and asking Zane to personally help her look after her family, she would do that, too.
Her phone rang and she went to pick it up on the counter where it was charging. She looked at the screen. “Rowena Sauceda again,” she said in response to her mom’s questioning look.
The executive who managed operations at the Cobalt Resort was part of a committee looking to expand the resort’s offerings. So far, the resort focused mainly on providing room accommodations and conference facilities, with a couple of bars, three restaurants, a few small shops and a day spa. Now they were looking into marketing “stay and play” packages that offered outdoor recreation arranged by the resort. At the moment they offered tennis, golf and activities on the lake accessed by the resort’s limited dock facilities. Rowena had called Caroline weeks ago, offering to buy Owen’s business. Wilderness Photo Adventures was located on a prime piece of property on the edge of Lake Cobalt. Owen had mentioned he’d gotten it at a good price because the family selling it had known their dad.
Caroline let the phone call roll to voice mail. “Well, selling the business and leaving town is an option,” Caroline said to her mom, keeping her tone light in front of Dylan. Mom was aware of Ms. Sauceda’s keen interest in acquiring the business, specifically to get its lake access with the nice sandy beach. Much of Lake Cobalt’s shoreline was too rocky to develop.
Caroline thought the best decision would be to stay in Cobalt. The Marsh family still had a strong social network in town which would be good for Dylan. And for Caroline’s mom. The beautiful mountain town was a good place for her nephew to grow up, and Caroline wanted to keep Dylan connected to the wilderness Owen had loved in hopes that it would help Dylan feel a bond with his late father.
Several of Owen’s friends from the local nature conservation groups, along with some of his photographer friends, had offered to lead the tours at Wilderness Photo Adventures for the first few months until Caroline could get a handle on running things. Having these generous people around Dylan seemed like another way to help the young boy keep his memories of his father alive.
But what if she was wrong? What if staying wasn’t the best decision?
“I know you’re under a lot of pressure,” her mom said. “But this might not be the best time to make a life-altering decision. For now, let’s just have a nice breakfast and maybe you can get a little work done here at home on your computer.”
By midafternoon Caroline’s eyes were getting bleary as she sat at the kitchen table staring at the screen of her laptop. If she was going to stay on schedule and get Wilderness Photo Adventures back up and running in little over a month, she needed to get a lot done in a short amount of time. And she really needed to get back to the office to do some of it. Dottie was good with greeting customers and selling them photo adventure packages, but she couldn’t take care of the financials.
Caroline looked away from the computer screen and out the window to rest her eyes for a minute. A vehicle pulled into the driveway, and she got out of her chair and grabbed at her phone so quickly that she knocked it to the floor.
“What’s going on?” her mom called out.
“You and Dylan stay in the living room,” Caroline answered in a shaky voice. And then, so Dylan wouldn’t be frightened she added, “I’m coming in there to watch the rest of that movie with you guys in a minute.”
Trying to stay out of sight while keeping her thumb poised over the phone in anticipation of dialing 9-1-1, Caroline hurried to a spot where she could take a look out the window.
A dark green pickup truck loaded with lumber and various other building supplies sat just a few feet from the door.
The cab door opened and a long leg wearing a cowboy boot stuck out, the heel resting on the driveway. Then she saw Zane sitting behind the steering wheel, talking on his phone.
Burning with fury, Caroline slid the locks on the front door, yanked it open and stormed out. “Do you have any idea how badly you scared me?” she hollered as she walked toward him. She didn’t care that he was still on the phone.
He gave her a long look. “No, I can’t say that I do.” He said something into his phone, disconnected and climbed out of the truck.
His measured response made Caroline realize she looked and sounded like a mad woman. And even though she was still livid at being frightened by him, she knew it was a blessing that he was there. She had been planning to call him anyway—to swallow her anger and ask him for the favor of helping to look after her family. His coming before she had the chance to ask was more than she could have hoped for. She took a breath. That didn’t calm her down so she took another. “Why didn’t you call me before you drove up to the house like that?”
“You didn’t know I was coming?”
“How would I know?” She threw up her hands. She knew she was overreacting, but now that her anger was fading she realized how scared she was.
“I’m sorry,” Zane said. She could see in his eyes that he truly meant it. “I was in town getting some supplies when Matt called and asked if I’d pick you up and take you to the station to look at some more photos and answer a few more questions based on new leads. They want me to look at the pictures, too. He thought it would be a good idea for us to ride to the police station together.”
She shook her head. “Why didn’t Matt call me?”
Her phone started to chime and she looked at the screen. Matt. She took the call and disconnected a couple of minutes later.
Zane had been keeping his eyes on the street while she talked on the phone. Now he turned back to her. “Until I talked to Matt I didn’t know that they’d taken away police coverage here at the house. Budget issues and any sign of police favoritism are real concerns. But I know I can find people, some of them through my church, who would be happy to come out here and keep an eye on things on their own time.”
Caroline took a deep breath and nodded. “Thank you.” She wished all of this fear and anxiety would go away. That she could go back to being her old calm and balanced self. But wishing wouldn’t make it so.
Facing everything head-on, starting with a trip to the police station, was the only way to get through this nightmare and get the bad guys locked up.
“Come into the house for a few minutes so my mom knows everything is okay,” she said. “Then we’ll go.”