Читать книгу Reining In Trouble - Tyler Anne Snell - Страница 13

The Wildman County Sheriff’s Department was in need of a paint job. For whatever reason, the previous sheriff had painted the once copper-and red-toned bricks light blue. Since then the weather had changed that to a worn and chipped muck gray. Forget a happy-looking place, the one-story building now looked like a depressed cloud. And that was on its good days.

Yet peeling paint couldn’t squelch the pride Caleb had in the department and the work he and his brother had done during their time there. He still felt it the next morning when he began his day. His metal desk with a perpetual stack of papers in the out tray, a framed candid picture of him and his siblings and the one empty coffee cup that always rested on a coaster felt as much of a home to him as the ranch.

Even on mornings where frustration clung to him like a second skin.

“Hodge said he’d call as soon as he was done talking to his boss,” Jazz reminded him from over the tops of their desks. The fronts were pushed together leaving no space between. It made working together easier than having to hunt each other down. She didn’t look up from the paperwork she was filling out as she continued. “I know patience isn’t always your strong suit but that’s what you’re going to have to wear until he calls.”

Caleb pulled out a stress ball Madeline had given him when he’d been promoted to detective. He squeezed it once, hard.

“Would you practice patience if some creep had sent that email to you?” He shook his head, answering for her. “You should have seen her, Jazz. It scared her and it happened on my land.”

Jazz paused, her pen midword. She sighed.

“Just because someone sleazy did a sleazy thing on the ranch doesn’t mean it’s your fault,” she said. “It’s the fault of the sleazy person. Plus, you’re trying to help catch that very same sleazy person. That counts for something.”

Caleb snorted.

“You just said sleazy four times.”

Jazz shrugged.

“If the shoe fits.”

She went back to the paperwork. Caleb glanced at the clock above the closed door of the sheriff’s office. Declan wasn’t in and probably wouldn’t be until they knew if there was an arsonist running through town. Caleb had decided to keep the incident with Nina under wraps for the time being. Partly because he could handle it, thanks to having no actively open cases, and partly because of Nina.

He had no doubt that his mother wouldn’t have given the woman any grief over what had happened. Almost everyone at the ranch had, at one point or another, used one of the ponds or streams to cool down after a long day of work or exercise. That was nothing to be ashamed of, definitely not to be punished for. Yet the way Nina’s words had hardened as she declined his offer to eat at the main house the night before had made him feel oddly protective. Not just of her physically, either. With a start, Caleb realized he wanted to help alleviate the embarrassment and worry that had colored her cheeks rosy.

He wanted to keep her safe.

He wanted to make sure she felt it, too.

“What about that list of people she gave you yesterday?” Jazz continued, pen moving across her paper. “Did you finish going through it?”

Caleb put the stress ball down and eyed the list in question. There was an X next to each name.

“Yeah. I talked to everyone she could remember the names of already this morning. Everyone had a solid alibi.”

“Did you tell them what was going on with Nina or did you use that Nash family charm I keep hearing about to trick them into talking?”

Caleb chuckled. Jazz was trying to keep him busy, he knew, but she’d been giving him grief about the so-called Nash family charm since she’d moved to Overlook. She never saw it, she’d said time and time again. To be honest, neither did he, but that hadn’t stopped the women in town from bringing it up to each other.

“Since I view you as a brother, does that mean I’m a part of that family charm, too?” she’d asked one day.

Caleb had chuckled then, as well.

“You know how small towns work by now, Jazz,” he said. “All you have to do is say ‘yes ma’am’ and ‘no sir,’ and compliment their pecan squares.”

Jazz snorted but didn’t disagree. Caleb had gone back to squeezing his stress ball, distracting his hand from texting Hodge again, when his phone finally went off.

“Talk to me, Hodge,” Caleb greeted him.

Hodge Anderson, the king of IT in town, answered in his usual gruff tone.

“Good news, bad news,” he said. “Tracked the IP address to one location in Overlook.”

“Bad news?”

“It’s at Claire’s Café.”

Caleb grumbled. Claire’s Café sold coffee, pastries and a small selection of books. It also had free wi-fi. It wasn’t unusual for locals and out-of-towners alike to make the trek to Arbor Street with their laptops. Fast internet wasn’t always easy to find in Overlook, and at the café it came with Claire’s homemade pecan squares.

“Could you track it to the computer that sent it?” he asked, hopeful. Sometimes they couldn’t get an exact location but just a general area.

“That is the bad news,” Hodge persisted. “I think it’s Claire’s computer. It seems to be stationary, the best I can guess. It hasn’t left the address in over a week.”

Caleb felt his eyebrow rise, confusion pulling the strings.

“Are you sure?”

Hodge sighed.

“That’s where the computer is that sent the email. You’ll have to figure out the rest.”

Caleb thanked the man before both said their goodbyes. He’d known Hodge since they were teens. Caleb questioning him had been more out of the need to be thorough. He trusted Hodge and his skills. However, that didn’t mean he thought Claire Jenkins was the culprit behind the email. She’d been friends with his mother since they were teens. She didn’t exactly strike him as the malicious type. Still, he put his stress ball back into its drawer and put his badge around his neck. He glanced at Declan’s closed office door and then was in his truck, pointed toward the heart of town.

* * *

THE AIR WAS cool and the breeze was gentle. There wasn’t the smell of salt water from the sea clinging to it like her childhood home, but the freshly mowed grass and the promise of rain was still a nice tradeoff. Nina picked her way along the manicured trail that led to the stables, trying to savor the charm of the ranch while pretending she wasn’t tired to the bone. Falling asleep had been hard. Once she’d managed it, it had been restless. When Molly had shown up that morning, eager to run a fine-tooth comb over every inch of the cabins, Nina had welcomed the distraction.

Now that it was almost lunch, she decided that she didn’t want to be alone just yet and took up Molly’s offer to show her the horses. The manager, like most of the employees on the ranch, had soft spots for them. Because of this, Nina didn’t mention that the last time she’d ridden had been when she was ten...and that she’d been terrified every minute of it.

“I hope this rain business keeps well enough away when we open,” Molly said, clipboard checklist for the cabins beneath one arm. Her blond hair was braided tightly against her scalp. She’d left her cowboy hat in the office. Nina knew she’d need to get one soon. She needed to help sell the idea of a ranch getaway. She needed to look like she belonged and buying a Stetson seemed to be the easiest way.

“If it does end up raining, what do you think about taking the guests out to the barn near the trails?” Nina thought out loud. “Dorothy said it was once used for storage but is now empty, right? Maybe we could set something up in there to make them still feel like they’re getting a camping or outdoorsy-type of experience without getting soaked. Maybe set it up to look like a makeshift campsite. Just a bit more comfortable.”

Molly’s brow scrunched in thought but her lips pulled up into a smile.

“You know, that could work,” she said. “We could put in lanterns and decorate the barn like one of those old Western town attractions. I have to meet with Dorothy this afternoon. I’ll run it by her and see if we can’t go ahead and start working on the backup plan tomorrow.”

Nina felt a swell of pride.

“I’ll see if I can’t come up with some activities, too. Maybe I can arrange something in town with one of the bars.” As soon as she said it Nina’s stomach clenched.

She had spent the night going over every person she had given her email address to but still couldn’t pinpoint anyone who had seemed off. Her gut hadn’t yelled or even whispered through meeting or talking with the locals. No red flags, no strange behavior. Yet that email was still in her inbox, taunting her.

Nina had decided not to bring it up with Molly or anyone on the ranch. Not when Caleb already knew. She was sure it was only a matter of time before the news was out and she was let go for being so careless. That had been half the reason sleep had evaded her for so long the night before. Between the memories she had tried to leave behind to the very real possibility that she’d have to move back to her childhood home and live with those same memories again had almost put her in a cold sweat.

This had been her best chance at moving on. Starting over. Yet less than a month had gone by and her fresh start was being soured.

“That’s a good idea,” Molly responded, unaware that Nina had fallen back into a seemingly unending loop of memories and fears. “You should talk to the Nash triplets. They’ve spent their lives on this ranch. I bet they know how to keep entertained during every season around here.”

“I can’t imagine having triplets,” Nina confessed, thankful for the slight distraction from her darker thoughts.

Molly laughed.

“Amen. Poor Dorothy has only been pregnant twice and yet has four children. Have you met any of them yet?”

Nina didn’t want to lie as much as she didn’t want to talk about the email. She nodded and went with a vague in-between response.

“I’ve only met Caleb, briefly.”

Molly lifted up four fingers and ticked them off as she began.

“We have the eldest, Declan, who’s the sheriff. He lives on the ranch in a house that used to belong to Dorothy’s in-laws before they passed. He’s a nice man but lets his work consume him. Which I guess you have to if you want to keep your community safe.”

“Dorothy mentioned him. She said I wouldn’t have to worry about any flak for throwing large scale events from local law enforcement since her son was the sheriff.”

“A definite perk! Though, let me tell you, he’s an intense fellow but it’s just his way.” Molly held up three fingers. “Then we have the triplets. Desmond, Caleb and Madeline. The only triplets born in Overlook in seventy years.” Her smile disappeared. Her humor fell away. It was such an abrupt change that Nina wondered if they should stop their walk. But, just as quickly, Molly reverted to normal. “Desmond is a businessman, as best as I can describe him. He lives here on the ranch in a house built right behind the main one. He has a bit of money beneath his belt that he’s made outside of the ranch. He’s usually out of town on some work trip or another. Madeline lives there, too, since he’s hardly ever home. She works with him, but last I heard she was trying to find something else to do. Then there’s Caleb.”

Obvious affection threaded around the detective’s name. It prompted a flutter in Nina’s stomach.

“I know you’ve already met him but, as a local gal, let me be the first to tell you that he spelled trouble when we were younger. Kids are kids, sure, but Caleb was an absolute wild child. Fearless. I was better friends with Declan yet I still have several stories of Caleb being a little daredevil.” That change passed across Molly again. It was like the air deflated from her words. This time the change was slower to leave. “He’s a detective now, one of the best Overlook has had, if you ask me. He lives on the ranch, too, in a cabin the triplets started to build after their father died.”

Nina thought of the cabin she’d seen the day before with new attention. She didn’t interrupt to say she’d already seen where the man lived.

A wistful smile lifted the corner of Molly’s lips. “I once thought it was a bunch of bull-hockey that twins and triplets had a different kind of bond between them than other siblings—I mean, I have a sister who’s my best friend—but once you see them together you’ll understand it to be true. Maybe it’s just genetics or maybe it’s what they went through back in the day, but either way, once you meet the Nash triplets, you don’t forget them easily.”

They were getting closer to the stables. Nina could make out Molly’s husband, Clive, with a beautiful almost-silver white horse in a pen. He waved at them, cowboy hat in his hand. Molly returned it with a wide smile. An ache of loneliness joined the ache from last night still radiating through Nina. Still, she didn’t want the conversation to end.

“What they went through back in the day?” Nina repeated.

Molly gave her a sheepish look.

“I didn’t mean to bring it up,” she hurried. “It’s just one of those things that I assume everyone in town knows.” A haunted feeling crept over Nina. It pulled at the hair on the back of her neck. “When the triplets were eight someone abducted them from a park in town.” Nina felt her eyes widen. She stifled a gasp. “That triplet connection they have saved their lives, at least that’s how it was told to me by my mom when I was older. They were held for three days. Three. Can you believe that? Then, by the grace of God, they helped each other escape. Sure, they got hurt in the process, but all things considered it was a miracle. One the town still likes to talk about today, especially since the man who took them was never caught. And, believe you me, they looked for him for years.” She shook her head. Her frown managed to pitch lower. “Honestly, since you’re now employed by the Nash family, I’m sure someone in town will try to get more information out of you about it. Some insights they’d never heard before or, maybe, just some kind of theory they have about who was behind it. Still, it’s not something the family likes to talk about so, please, keep it to yourself. The Nash family is a lot more than their tragedy.”

“I won’t say anything,” Nina promised.

Molly gave her a polite nod. Her history lesson and rundown on the Nash siblings transitioned into talk about the stables and the horse Clive was with. It wasn’t until Molly and her husband started talking about their daughter’s latest homework assignment that Nina excused herself.

She walked along the side of the barn until she was at the wooden fence a hundred or so feet behind the stables. It encased a long-stretching field. A few horses were grazing in the distance, cresting along the curve of a hill. Nina watched them with admiration, and a small amount of dread. The last time she’d ridden a horse had been with her mother. She’d been terrified. Her mother had made her a promise.

“I won’t let anything happen to you, Nina. Trust me.”

Nina had still been terrified but nothing bad had happened. She’d been convinced her mother had worked some kind of magic. A spell.

Nina wished her mother had used that same magic on herself.

She placed her hands on the twisted wood of a fence post and took a long, deep breath. Caleb’s face appeared in her mind as clearly as the green grass and gray, cloud-filled sky. She felt herself soften.

She often forgot that, just because she’d lived through something traumatic, didn’t mean she was the only one who had.

Tragedy had a way of taking a person and changing their shape. Nina found herself wondering how it had affected one detective in particular but she finally came out of her thoughts enough to realize the cloud she’d been looking at in the distance wasn’t a cloud at all.

It was smoke.

“Hey, Molly?” she called over her shoulder. Geography had never been Nina’s strong suit in school but she was pretty sure the only building in that direction belonged to the same man she had been thinking about. Maybe they were doing a burn pile? But why there?

Nina ducked between two wooden posts and stepped out into the field. She glanced down at her watch.

Did Caleb take normal lunch breaks?

Was it her imagination or was the smoke cloud becoming larger?

Unease started to kick up in her stomach. Then Nina was running.