Читать книгу Babe in the Woods - Caroline Burnes - Страница 7

REBECCA WAS GLAD she’d chosen the yellow sundress. Sitting on the dock of the restaurant with a gentle breeze from the Mississippi, she felt sexy and feminine. It was impossible not to, the way Dru Colson was looking at her.

“Why aren’t you married?” Dru asked.

Rebecca laughingly held out her wrists. “Are you going to arrest me before you interrogate me?”

Dru laughed too, but a little self-consciously. “Sorry. I guess that did come out a little on the gruff side.”

“Not gruff, just direct,” Rebecca said. She bit her lip as she decided how much to tell him. “I was engaged. Last year. The wedding was planned, everything.” She hesitated, but she could see in his eyes that he would ask. He wasn’t a man who held back on the questions. “I cancelled the wedding, but Mike didn’t object too strenuously. I think we’d both begun to see that we weren’t meant for each other. We just wanted different things.”

“Like children?” Dru asked.

“Yes.”

“I know exactly how that goes,” he said ruefully. “Celeste, the woman I was involved with for five years, finally gave me the ultimatum—marriage and kids or she was leaving.”

She could see that he still struggled with the loss. “Mike was the same way. He just couldn’t believe that I didn’t want to settle down and start a family.”

Dru’s eyebrows lifted. “You didn’t want the children?”

“Yes, that’s right.” She couldn’t help a wry grin as she realized how shocked he was. It was true. Most women wanted to start families when they were in their late twenties and early thirties. “It isn’t that I don’t like children, it’s just that…” She broke it off. It was impossible to explain. Mike’s mother had said she was unnatural. Mrs. Cuevas had been very angry with Rebecca, and she’d let everyone know it.

“Hey,” Dru said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “You don’t owe me an explanation. I understand. I love my nieces and nephews, but I’m just not ready to take on that responsibility. I don’t know that I’ll ever be, and I won’t be railroaded into something that important to please someone else.”

“Exactly!” Rebecca said, and she felt as if Dru did understand. She’d been the eldest of seven children, and all of her life had been spent taking care of others. Once she got out of college, she’d vowed to live her own life for at least fifteen years before she began living for someone else.

“Another drink?”

She looked at the empty Long Island iced tea glass. The drinks were delicious, but potent. She’d never been one to deliberately set herself up for a headache. “Better not.”

“Coffee?”

“That would be great.” She found she wanted to linger on the restaurant’s dock with Dru. They’d spent the entire evening talking about Natchez and Blackthorn and the mound-building Indians who were now the focus of Brett Gibson’s research in Natchez.

As the waitress placed the coffee on the wrought-iron table, Rebecca refastened the elastic band around her honey-colored hair. She’d begun the evening with it down on her shoulders, but the wind whipping off the water had sent it flying. The only solution was scissors or restraint.

“This has been the most relaxing evening I’ve had in months,” Dru said.

“Me, too. Thanks for asking me. Maybe Joey will let me borrow his newfangled kitchen to cook a meal for all of us.”

“I’d like that,” Dru said.

They sipped their coffee and let the warm night sounds drift around them. It was unusual to spend only one evening with a man and feel comfortable enough not to force the conversation. But Dru was different from most men she’d known. He had a quiet confidence that allowed her to relax—to drop the role of hostess and caretaker that had been hers since she was a child.

“Why don’t we leave here and go under the hill?” Dru asked with a grin.

“Under the hill?” Rebecca wasn’t certain what he was talking about. “A cave?”

“It’s a part of town that used to be wide open. Sort of the French Quarter of Natchez,” he said, “like the older part of New Orleans. Back in the days when Natchez was a booming river town, all of the best bars and gambling dens were located ‘under the hill’ or down on the water. It was a rowdy place known for its lawlessness and danger.”

“Until you were elected sheriff?” she asked innocently.

“I’m not quite that old,” he said, pretending to be wounded. “But if I can use my cane, I think I can dance a few numbers with you.”

“I haven’t danced in…a long time,” Rebecca admitted. How long had it been? College? Surely not, but she couldn’t recall another time.

“You don’t forget,” he said. “I have a dirty little secret to tell you if you agree to go.”

“My, my, a lawman who bribes,” she said. “Okay, let’s go. You’ve got my curiosity working overtime.” It was true. Just the hint of a secret was enough to whet her appetite. Dru was only jesting, but it was very effective.

They drove down a street that seemed to drop almost to the water’s edge. As Dru parked the car, Rebecca could already hear the music and laughter coming from several restaurants and bars.

“Sounds young,” she said, a little nervously. She wasn’t thirty, yet she often felt much older.

“Not where we’re going. That’s my dirty secret. When I broke up with Celeste, I was so depressed the deputies got together and paid for some ballroom dancing lessons. I discovered that I liked it.”

“No!” Rebecca was shocked. Dru, in his cowboy boots and jeans didn’t look a whit like someone who would tango or rumba. But then, what, exactly, would someone who could do those things look like? “I don’t know how to do those dances,” she said.

“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “I learned that the man’s job is to make the woman look good.”

They entered a restaurant and Dru led her down a flight of steps to a small bar where a woman in a sequined gown sang as a half dozen couples danced.

Before she could muster a protest, he pulled her into his arms and began waltzing her around the floor. “Relax,” he said. “Just relax, feel the music and let me lead.”

“Easier said than done,” she said, trying so hard to relax that she made herself stiff all over again. But in a few moments, she picked up the rhythm. When she did so, Dru began to move more freely around the dance floor with her. After one or two faltering steps, she adapted to his lead. In only a few moments, they were dancing like old partners.

“See, I told you it’s easy,” he said, putting her into a turn and bringing her back into his arms.

“Only because you make it easy,” she said, grinning widely. “This is great.”

Dru ordered drinks, and they sipped them in between dancing each number. Rebecca was shocked when she looked down at her watch and saw that it was after two in the morning. “I should go home,” she said a little breathlessly.

“Me, too,” Dru said reluctantly. “The night just got away from us.”

He was paying the tab when his cell phone rang. Frowning, he answered it, waving to Rebecca that he was going outside to talk. She should collect his change.

The expression on his face had her worried as she accepted the bills from the cashier and hurried up the steps and into the warm night.

“Ms. Barrett is with me,” Dru was saying. “I’ll escort her home and check it out. No, don’t worry about it. You did the right thing by calling.”

He put the phone away and turned to face her. “There’s been some trouble at Blackthorn,” he said. “I’ll take you there right away.”

DRU SAW the flashing lights of the ambulance and pulled up behind it. Beside him, Rebecca looked alabaster she was so pale. She didn’t even wait for the car to stop. She got out and ran to the back of the ambulance where two attendants were loading Joey Reynolds.

“Joey,” Rebecca said, grasping his hand. The young man was unconscious. “Joey!”

Dru put his hands on Rebecca’s shoulders and gently moved her out of the way of the paramedics as they prepared Joey for transport to the hospital.

“What happened?” Rebecca asked two officers who were standing nearby.

They looked at Dru, and he nodded.

“We got a call that Mr. Reynolds had fallen from the loft of the barn. It seems he may have been haying the horses when he tripped. I can’t guarantee it, ma’am, but he was breathing good and all. Once he regains consciousness, he’s probably going to be okay.”

Dru wanted to thank the man for his kindness. No one could guarantee Joey’s condition, but the deputy had seen enough accidents to be able to deduce a little something to set Rebecca’s mind at ease.

“Who called the ambulance?” she asked.

“I did.” Brett stepped into the circle of light thrown by the patrol car headlights.

“Thanks, Brett,” Rebecca said.

“Now maybe you’ll listen to me and get that…Joey off the property. He’s not responsible. He never should be allowed around those horses. Up in that barn fiddling around, nearly killing himself.”

“Mr. Gibson,” Dru stepped in. Now wasn’t the time to rant and rave about what should have been done. “How do you know Joey tripped and fell?”

“I don’t know for certain. Maybe Joey was trying to fly,” he said sarcastically. “Either he tripped or he jumped, officer. I was giving him the benefit of the doubt.”

“I should go to the hospital,” Rebecca said. “When he wakes up, I want him to see someone familiar.”

“I’ll drive you,” Dru offered.

“No, stay here and do what you can to find out what happened. I’ll take my own car.”

Dru didn’t like her pale complexion, but he knew it was pointless to argue with her. He’d known enough women in his day to realize that trying to stop one on a chosen path was about as effective as stepping in front of a train. “I’ll check with you as soon as I’m finished here,” he promised and watched her hurry off into the night.

With his two deputies, Dru began to look around the barn area. He found where Joey had fallen, and when he looked, it did appear as if perhaps Joey had stumbled and fallen from the loft into the center aisle of the barn. That raised several questions, one of which he asked Brett.

“What was Joey doing in the hayloft at two in the morning?” Dru didn’t mention that he’d known Joey all of his life. Joey was honest, hardworking and he slept the sleep of the innocent. He went to bed at ten and got up at dawn. He wasn’t inclined to wandering around in the dark.

“I don’t have a clue,” Brett said in a snappy tone.

The anthropologist had a sharp tongue and an acid disposition. If he’d ever been taught any manners at all, he’d forgotten them. “What were you doing wandering the premises at two in the morning?” Dru asked easily.

There was a pause as Brett considered the subtle implication that his early-morning wanderings might have some impact on Joey’s. “I heard something,” he said. “I was asleep in my tent and I heard someone rustling around in the bushes. I got up to see who it was. Then I heard this moaning sound and I went to investigate. Instead of questioning me, you should be thanking me. If I hadn’t stumbled on Joey, he’d have lain out there all night.”

Dru didn’t point out that it wasn’t his job to thank someone for acting like a civilized human. “Do you think maybe Joey heard something, too?”

Brett rolled his eyes. “Joey’s only interested in those damn horses and his plants. If the horses or plants were talking, he was probably out in the barn listening.”

“Thank you,” Dru said. He was tired and he had had just about as much of Brett Gibson as he could take. He spoke with the two deputies, and they began marking off the area. It looked like a simple accident, but where Blackthorn was concerned, Dru knew he couldn’t be too careful.

Rebecca had seen someone in the woods that very morning. It was possible someone was on the property with the intention of making trouble.

WHEN JOEY OPENED his eyes, he blinked and focused on Rebecca. “I knew you’d help me,” he said. “My head hurts.”

“I know,” Rebecca answered, sitting on the edge of the bed and taking his hand. No matter that the doctors had assured her he was fine. Now, with his gentle blue eyes focused on her, she could believe it. “You scared me half to death, Joey. You’ve been asleep for nearly twelve hours.”

“Twelve hours?” he said, his forehead furrowing. “I’m sorry. I was scared.”

“What happened?” Rebecca eased back, giving him some space.

“I was in my apartment,” he said, “looking at some seed catalogues. I think snapdragons by the foundation of the house, don’t you?”

“Perfect. What happened?”

“I heard someone in the barn.”

The words chilled Rebecca so effectively that she had to remember to draw in a breath. “Who? Did you see anyone?”

Joey shook his head. “I slipped out of the apartment, hurried down the stairs, and then I thought I heard some one in the loft. So I went to the feed room and climbed the ladder there. I was afraid they’d try to hurt one of the horses, so I was really careful.”

There was only one ladder into the loft. If someone was up there and Joey went looking, he’d essentially trapped that person.

“Did you see anyone?” Rebecca asked again.

“No. Someone hit me on the head with something. I lost my balance and fell.”

Rebecca forced herself to take a deep breath. The worst thing she could do would be to frighten Joey with her own panic. “Are you sure someone hit you?” she asked gently.

Joey nodded. “Feel.” He reached for her hand and put it on a big knot on the side of his head. “There.”

“Joey, do you know who did this?”

He shook his head. “I didn’t see who it was.”

“Did you notice anything else?”

“There was a red can in the loft. It looked like the can that goes with the tractor.”

“Diesel?” Rebecca couldn’t hide her fear any longer. Was it possible someone intended to set the barn on fire and that by some fluke Joey had prevented it?

“Yeah, the diesel for the tractor. It looked like that can, but it shouldn’t have been in the barn. It belongs in the equipment shed.”

“That’s right,” Rebecca said, eager to get to the court house and check with Dru to see what he’d found.

“Did I do the right thing?” Joey asked, a frown on his face. “I don’t want to disappoint Aurelia and Marcus. They said I should watch out for the horses and all the animals at Blackthorn.”

“You did exactly right,” Rebecca reassured him, squeezing his hand. “You did perfect, Joey. Now I’m going in to talk with the sheriff. Will you be okay?”

He nodded. “Can I go home soon?”

“As soon as they release you,” Rebecca said. “I’ll be back for you.”

Before she was at the door he had closed his eyes and had drifted into sleep. She watched from the doorway for a moment, wondering just how lucky he’d been to escape with his life.

WHEN SHE ARRIVED at the courthouse, she wasn’t surprised to see that Dru was in his office. It wasn’t quite noon yet, but the courthouse was emptying out. She walked into the sheriff’s office and saw Drew, backlit by a large window in his private office.

“How’s Joey?” he asked, his gaze lingering on her.

“He’s going to be okay. He said someone hit him.”

Dru stood up and walked around, assisting Rebecca into a chair. “I wish I had better news. We found a piece of lumber with blood and hair on it that I’m positive will be Joey’s. Someone struck him with that lumber.”

“And deliberately knocked him out of the loft? They could easily have killed him.”

“I can’t speak to their intention, but they surely meant to knock him out.”

“Joey said there was a can of diesel in the loft.”

Dru’s eyebrows shot up. “We searched the loft but we didn’t find any diesel fuel.”

“Maybe Joey frightened them away.”

“If he did, he’s a very lucky man to be alive. And so are those horses.”

“What’s going on, Dru?” Rebecca asked, trying hard not to let her voice tremble.

“I don’t know, but we’re going to find out.”