Читать книгу Cowboy Secrets - Alice Sharpe - Страница 9

Chapter Two

They entered the house as the family almost always did, through the mudroom into the huge kitchen that, as usual, smelled of wonderful food. Roast chicken today, Pike thought, the aroma as welcoming as a holiday hug. From there, they walked into the dining room, and then on to the entryway, where the front door was framed by glass panels. Double doors opened from the entry into the den or office, called different things by different family members but well accepted as the spot where most family discussions took place.

Today a fire burned in the rock fireplace in an effort to stave off the cold air pressing against the windows. For Pike, the chatter of those gathered was like any other sound on this ranch—from the running water of the river to the wind in the tree boughs, the thunder of horse hooves against the summer earth or the faraway braying of cattle. They were the sounds of his past and future, his home.

What did Sierra think of all this? Probably found it confusing as hell. He could picture her in a SoHo loft or a Park Avenue condo, but he couldn’t quite fit her into this ranch. He knew there were few things more confusing than meeting a roomful of people who knew each other very well and of whom you knew practically nothing. He also got the feeling that Sierra wasn’t the shy type and would cope just fine.

But Sierra pulled on his arm. “Whatever Frankie wants to tell you has nothing to do with me,” she said. “I want to see Tess.”

“I’ll take you to her room,” Pike said.

“But your brother is waiting.”

“He’ll make it a while longer. Let’s go see if Tess is awake.” He took her muddy jacket and laid it across a chair while quietly perusing the trim white blouse with an almost men’s-wear starkness that gave way to some kind of sheer material around the hem. The shirt fit Sierra like a glove and revealed she was much curvier than he’d first thought.

He motioned for her to go ahead of him up the broad staircase leading from the foyer. “The room at the end,” he said, directing her to the bedroom in which he’d spent his childhood. They found the door ajar, but the room was dark because the shades had been pulled. It was also warm and steamy. The hum of a humidifier in the corner explained that. The congested sound of Tess’s breathing drew Sierra to cross to her sister’s bed and stand looking over her slumbering body.

Pike watched her for a minute or two until he felt a hand on his arm. He turned to find Gerard’s soon-to-be wife, Kinsey, standing beside him. She jerked her head toward the hallway and he held up a finger. A second later, he touched Sierra’s shoulder. She looked beyond him to Kinsey and followed them out into the hall.

After a hasty introduction, Kinsey brought them up to speed on Tess. “I imagine you’re disappointed to fly all the way here and find your sister asleep. Dad insisted we call the doctor this morning. Of course, the doctor said you can’t really treat a head cold except with steam and acetaminophen and stuff like that. By the time I got back upstairs to start the humidifier for Tess, she’d fallen asleep and didn’t even open her eyes as I set things up. She really needs this rest. I could hear her pacing in the guest room half the night.”

“I’m not disappointed,” Sierra insisted. “What guest room are we talking about?”

“The one at our house,” Kinsey said. “Pike and Tess came for dinner last night and Tess wanted to lie down. When she dozed off, I told Pike I’d look after her and he should go home. Unfortunately, she didn’t stay asleep long.”

“I see,” Sierra said. “And you live close by?”

“About a half mile up the river.”

“Come downstairs with us and hear what Frankie has to say,” Pike suggested.

“No, I’d rather stay here in case Tess wakes up. I have some emails to write, anyway.”

“I’ll get your suitcase,” Pike said.

“Thanks.”

“She has a very interesting face,” Kinsey said as they walked down the hall. “Good bones, great eyes.”

He knew her comment referenced the fact that Kinsey had spent most of her life painting portraits. Since moving to the ranch, she’d developed an interest in still life and scenery as well, and the house she shared with Gerard was filled with her work. She was a small woman with light brown hair and an easy, engaging smile. Come June, she’d marry Gerard.

“She’s gorgeous,” he agreed. “She doesn’t look anything like Tess, though, which I expected but still came as a surprise.”

“She doesn’t act like Tess, either,” Kinsey said.

“Well, she’s twelve years older and they haven’t lived together for even longer than that. Besides, remember, Tess’s latest female role model was my mother.”

Kinsey rolled her eyes. She hadn’t met Mona, but Gerard had obviously filled her in. All four brothers had different mothers. In fact, Grace, his dad’s wife of less than a year, was actually number seven, or lucky number seven as the patriarch of the family fondly called her.

“Do you know what Frankie wants?” Pike asked as they started down the stairs.

“No, but I get the feeling your father does.”

She continued into the den while Pike dodged out to the kitchen where they’d left Sierra’s suitcase. He lifted it easily and ran up the stairs.

He found Sierra sitting on an upholstered chair in the darkened room, one long leg folded up under her, head resting on her fist. Their hands touched as he gave her the suitcase and she smiled up at him as she murmured her thanks.

He left without uttering a word, but he didn’t want to. Instead, he kind of wanted to stand in the doorway and keep watch. He’d spent his entire life around men until the last year or so. He’d always considered himself a man’s man, happiest out on cattle drives, sleeping under the stars.

However, even though Tess had brought tension into his life, he also found her company refreshing. And now Sierra was here and he’d known her all of three hours, but there was something about her, too. Something competent and self-assured, qualities he responded to in anyone and that were downright sexy in a beautiful woman. He knew his link to her was flimsy at best and she’d be gone in a day or two, but he could already feel that he would miss her. For a few moments, while walking down the stairs, Pike wondered if anybody kept her warm at night.

Frankie sat on the fireplace hearth, but as soon as Pike finally entered the room, he sprang to his feet. It was obvious he was excited and Pike took a deep breath, hoping it was for some positive reason and not because he was about to go to jail for something.

Like all the Pike men, Frankie was tall, but his build was a little more wiry than the others and his hair was lighter, especially in the summer. Now, in the midst of winter, it had darkened to Pike’s color, but he wore it longer. He also tended to dress a little more GQ than anyone else, and today wore dark gray slacks and a light gray shirt that mirrored his eyes.

“Dad has an announcement to make,” Frankie said, but Harry Hastings shook his head.

“This is your show, boy. You’re the driving force behind it all.”

Frankie made eye contact with everyone gathered around him. “I wanted to reveal all this after calving season and before summer work piles up on us, but the producers are anxious to do a little preliminary work. Besides, there’s never a time where everything gets quiet and boring around here, especially not lately, right?”

He paused to grin and glance at each of them in turn. Pike had to agree it had been a hectic few months.

“What producers? What are you talking about?” Chance asked from his seat beside Lily. Charlie, her five-year-old son, was still at kindergarten, but Chance gripped Lily’s hand in his and it appeared he wasn’t letting go. Good for him. When your soul mate comes along, what else can you do but grab on to her and hold tight?

Frankie took a deep breath. “As you guys all know, November is the one hundredth anniversary of the incident at the hanging tree.”

He was referring to the bank robbery of the ghost town, or what was left of it now, and the subsequent capture and execution of three of the four thieves. They had paid for their crimes with their lives by dangling from the end of ropes strung up to the big oak tree out on the plateau. The fourth robber had disappeared along with the spoils and had never been identified or caught.

“About a year ago, I met this guy in Pocatello,” Frankie continued. “I mentioned the ghost town on our land and the robbery. He’d actually read a diary written by someone who used to live in Falls Ridge, as the town was called back then. He confessed he’d had a life-long fascination with the events that had the killed the town almost overnight.

“Anyway, it turns out he makes documentaries and he wants to do one about Falls Ridge and the bank robbery and the tree and all that. He says there’s been some discussion about the mystery guy who got away, so they’d cover that aspect, as well. Originally, they were going to come on out and start filming in late April, but their backers want winter shots and interviews with all of us so the release can be timed to coincide with the anniversary of the events.”

His announcement was met with studied silence. “Dad?” Gerard said at last. “This sounds like a good idea to you?”

Pike watched as his father stood up and walked over to Frankie. It crossed Pike’s mind that his father probably couldn’t have cared less about hosting a bunch of television people and raking up the past. It probably didn’t seem like a good idea at all to him, but on the other hand, when was the last time anyone saw Frankie get interested in anything but making trouble? Consorting with legitimate filmmakers was a far cry from his usual scenarios. Assuming they were legit, of course.

“I don’t think it will have much impact on most of us,” his dad now said. “I researched the company—it’s won a couple of awards and is respected within the industry. They showed us a tape of a show they did on a nesting pair of bald eagles—looked like high-quality work and they’re bonded and have the right licenses. They’ve got network backing... Anyway, unless someone can point out some reason to walk away from this that I haven’t seen, I say we get Frankie to give them a call.”

“I agree,” Pike said, throwing in his hat. Not for a minute did he think having movie types around wouldn’t get in the way of ranch life and schedules, but so what? “Let’s shake things up a little,” he added when he glanced at Chance and Lily. After what they’d gone through back in October, he knew the last thing in the world they would want is any kind of stress, but Chance rallied and threw in his agreement.

Lily, however, had a question. “Did you tell them part of the ghost town burned down last year?”

“Yeah,” Frankie said. “It’s not a problem. Before the real filming takes place, I’ll take some machinery up there and move stuff around. Frankly, what happened there adds to the drama of the place.”

At this Gerard stood up. “What do you mean ‘what happened there’?”

“Not about your wife and daughter, Gerard. That will get mentioned because it’s part of the history of the place now, but no one wants to dwell on a personal tragedy like that.”

“And what about what happened to Lily up there, and Kinsey?” Chance asked.

Lily shifted in her seat. “Jeremy died there, Frankie, and Jeremy was Charlie’s father. Do we have to muck up all that again?”

“Listen,” Frankie said as things began to slide south. The ambience of a moment ago had begun to sour. “What happened here in the last year is part of this family’s story, but it’s not part of the bank robbery. Our experiences have to be acknowledged but they don’t have to be the focus. No one wants that.”

Harry Hastings clapped Frankie on the shoulder as he looked at each person in turn. “The production people will be here in a couple of days. They want to scope things out. How about we go that far and if issues arise, we reassess things. I personally think Frankie is right. This show will not be about our recent tragedies.”

They all agreed that sounded reasonable. Everyone obviously liked the idea of an escape hatch, a back door, so to speak.

“Gary Dodge, he’s the documentary guy I told you about, is interested in Kinsey doing some artist renditions of how the town looked and how an angry posse might have appeared.”

“I’ve done a little commercial work,” Kinsey said. “This sounds exciting to me.”

“And Dad has agreed the crew can stay in this house with him and Grace.”

“We have room at our house, too,” Kinsey said as Gerard put an arm around her. They looked at each other and exchanged silly grins, then Kinsey spoke again. “Since everyone is here, it might be a good time to tell you that we’re getting married a lot sooner than we originally planned.”

“But I thought you wanted a late spring wedding,” Frankie said.

“We did. But since our baby is due in June—”

She didn’t get any further than that. It seemed to Pike that everyone in the room started speaking at once. Half of them were on their feet, slapping Gerard on the back or hugging Kinsey.

Pike took a vacant chair. The house vibrated with the winds of change, from the two women upstairs to all the news and excitement downstairs. He didn’t usually dislike change, but he had to admit that today there was a chill inside him that he couldn’t explain. He thought of the way Sierra had turned at the airport to look behind them as they drove away and the chill deepened. As if paralleling her unease, he turned now to face the door and found Sierra standing in the opening. She gestured at him and he immediately went to join her.

“Finished emailing?” he asked.

“Finished before I started. My phone doesn’t work, just as you predicted, and I don’t know the password for your Wi-Fi.”

“The password is ridgeranch, all lower case, one word,” he said. “I know, it’s not terribly original. How long have you been standing there?”

“Most of the time,” she said. “I didn’t want to bother you.”

“So, you heard Frankie’s plan?”

“I did. It sounds pretty exciting.”

He narrowed his eyes as he gazed down at her face. She was only half a head shorter than he; a tall, shapely woman who he suddenly realized had not come down here out of curiosity or boredom. “What’s wrong?” he said quickly.

“Tess’s breathing is really loud. I’m worried about her.”

“Head colds aren’t any fun,” he said.

“I tried to wake her and she was limp and didn’t even open her eyes. Kinsey said she hadn’t given her any medications, right?”

“Beyond acetaminophen, no.”

“She spent the night at their house,” Sierra said, a new element of fear in her voice.

“Yes, but—”

Kinsey walked into the foyer followed, closely by Grace. Though a generation apart, both women were small of stature, dainty and pretty in their own way, which made sense because they were related. In a twist of fate, mother and daughter had been reunited. Sierra towered over them. “Is Tess all right?” Kinsey asked.

“I don’t know,” Sierra said. “She seems so out of it. Did you talk to her this morning?”

“Of course. Like I said, she had a restless night. I drove her over here late this morning because Pike had left early to get to the airport. She didn’t have a lot to say, but she was awake and coherent.”

“What are you thinking?” Grace asked.

“I don’t know for sure,” Sierra said. “She was alone while you were on the phone, right?”

“Yes. By the time I found the humidifier and got upstairs, it had been about thirty minutes,” Kinsey said. “She was sound asleep and then you guys arrived.”

“If she took something it must have been within that thirty-minute window. But where would she find something to take?”

“I’m pretty sure she didn’t bring anything with her from LA,” Pike volunteered. “She was traveling light and didn’t have any money. She didn’t even have the car Doug gave her. God knows how she got here. She wasn’t saying.”

“Who would know if she found something at this house?”

“I would,” Grace said.

“We’d appreciate it if you could look,” Pike said.

“Of course I’ll look. We’ll all look. Come on.”

They hurried up the stairs. “We’ll start with the bathrooms,” Grace said. As the three women started their search of drawers and cabinets, Pike went into his old bedroom and opened the drapes. He sat down beside Tess and picked up her limp hand.

He’d had a college roommate years before who partied himself into a stupor every single weekend, and that was the last time Pike had seen someone so oblivious. He shook Tess’s fragile shoulders and called her name. Her eyes opened briefly, she sort of smiled and faded back away. He searched the garbage can and the night table for some indication of what she might have taken.

And then he picked up the phone and called the doctor. By the time Sierra, Kinsey and Grace arrived with ashen faces and a brown prescription bottle, he had already lifted Tess into his arms and was exiting the room.

“An ambulance is on its way,” he told them. “I’m going to meet it on the road to cut down travel time. What did you find?”

“Some of your father’s sedatives are missing,” Grace said with a concerned face. “I don’t think very many, but I don’t know for sure.”

“We’re not taking any chances,” Pike said. “She’s going to get her stomach pumped.”

“I’m coming with you,” Tess said. He nodded once and they all descended the stairs in a hurry, Tess stopping to accept the blanket and pillow Kinsey pushed into her arms. A moment later, in Kinsey’s car now since Pike’s still had a saddle in the back, they tore up the hill and down the long, long roadway, Tess prone in the backseat, her head on Sierra’s lap, the blanket tucked around her still body.

* * *

THEY MET THE ambulance in a pull-off. The EMTs were at the door with a gurney within seconds, hooking up Tess to bags and drips, calling her name. Sierra stood off to the side with Pike, both of them trying to stay out of the way. Pike handed over the prescription bottle and soon after the ambulance took off with sirens wailing while Pike and Sierra climbed back in Kinsey’s car and followed behind.

“Where are they taking her?” Sierra asked.

“The urgent care center in Falls Bluff. The doctor will meet us there.”

“Why would she do this?” Sierra asked as tears burned her eyes. She didn’t know if they were tears of anger or hurt. “She asked me to come, so why would she choose now to drug herself? Is it to punish me?”

“Don’t borrow trouble,” Pike said, sparing a hand to cover her arm. In the rush to leave the house, she’d forgotten to put her jacket back on and now, with the warmth of his touch, she realized how cold she’d become. “Tess did know you were coming, true, but she also knew it would take most of three hours to get to the ranch from the airport. Kinsey said she heard Tess pacing all night. Maybe she just wanted to get some sleep. If her motives were any more than that, wouldn’t she have emptied the bottle?”

Sierra stared at him for a few heartbeats. “I guess so,” she admitted. She rubbed her forehead with her fingers. It was difficult to believe that it had been less than twenty-four hours before when she followed Natalia Bonaparte out of New York to that bar and waited for her companion to show up.

A sudden thought popped into Sierra’s head, a flash of intuition, perhaps. Was it possible the man last night had been Spiro Papadakis, after all? What if he’d recognized Sierra that first time she walked past their table? Hadn’t she detected a glimmer of recognition on his face when their gazes met? Perhaps he’d been spying on his wife spying on him! He could have seen Sierra and his wife meet somewhere. Could it be that he’d learned to hide his accent and sound like he was fresh from the Atlantic City boardwalk at least for a second or two? Had he, in fact, fooled her?

As a non sequitur went, this one was a doozy, but it often happened that way: get your mind flooded with one problem and an insight into another problem floats in to announce itself.

Her laptop was in her carry-on. As soon as they got back to the ranch, she could download the photos onto the computer and then email the images to Savannah. All she’d told Savannah last night was that she wasn’t sure if it was Spiro or not and to be prepared for photographs. She’d also asked about accents but hadn’t gotten a response yet.

“You’ve gotten kind of quiet over there,” Pike said as they finally left the riverside road and drew close to a small town proclaiming itself Falls Bluff. Icy rain slithered down the windshield as Pike drove to the urgent care center. The town hardly looked big enough to support such a thing, but that’s probably the exact kind of community that needed an emergency facility the most.

“I was thinking,” she said. “Not just about Tess, but about a case.”

“Does that case have anything to do with why you looked over your shoulder this morning at the airport?” he asked.

She turned to face him as he pulled into a parking spot. “I’m not sure if it does or not,” she said, then opened her door. She couldn’t believe how her knees wobbled when she stood or the way her heart suddenly raced.

What if she lost her little sister before ever really finding her, or ever really helping her? The thought was intolerable.

Pike shrugged off his jacket and slipped it over her shoulders as she stepped onto the sidewalk. His arm around her suggested he saw or sensed this sudden bolt of numbing fear, and she welcomed his support as they hurried inside.