The Rancher & Heart of Stone (22 page)

Worse, people were gossiping about the two of them. Tess Hart had teased her about going out onto the patio with Boone and coming back inside flushed. She’d mentioned it to Cag. Probably he’d told his brothers and they’d told other people. So Keely got teased when she went to the grocery store, because one of the checkout girls had a boyfriend on the Hart Ranch properties. Then she got teased at the bank, because one of the tellers was married to Cag Hart’s livestock foreman. That teller’s married daughter worked at the 911 center with Winnie.

“You and Boone are the talk of the town, did you know?” Winnie teased her friend when they had lunch together at Barbara’s Café that Saturday.

“Boone’s going to kill me,” Keely said miserably. “Clark’s probably going to want to kill me, too, when he realizes that Boone knows what he’s up to.”

“Oh, Boone always knows,” Winnie said easily. “Clark can never hide anything from him—or from me. But just between us two, I don’t think this Nellie thing is going very much further. She got mad because Clark gave her the wrong color pearls. That, after he’s given her most of a jewelry store!” She leaned forward. “And it turns out that she’s married.”

“What?”
Keely exclaimed. “Does Clark know?”

“That, and more,” Winnie said. “When I left home, Boone was presenting our brother with a thick file on Miss Nellie Summers. He said Clark wasn’t leaving the house until he’d read every sordid detail.”

“Poor Clark.”

Winnie chuckled. “He was cussing mad after he read the first page,” she said. “He wouldn’t have believed it even two weeks ago, but apparently Boone picked just the right time to tell him the truth.”

“I’m glad,” she confessed. “It was putting me right in the middle, being used as Clark’s cover.”

“Clark shouldn’t have done that. Boone was angry. He said Clark had no right to use you that way.”

“Clark’s my friend. I could have said no,” Keely said softly.

“You never say no to anyone,” Winnie replied, concerned. “You’re too good to people, Keely. You won’t stand up for yourself.”

“I’m trying.”

“Clark walks all over you. So does Boone. I’ll bet Dr. Rydel does, too.”

“Dr. Rydel walks all over everybody,” Keely pointed out.

“Well, you do have a point there.” She sipped coffee and then her eyes began to twinkle. “So what was going on with you and my brother at the dance?”

“Not you, too!” Keely wailed.

“I’m your best friend. You have to tell me.”

Keely put on her best bland expression. “He wanted to talk to me about Clark without everybody eavesdropping.”

Winnie’s face fell. “Was that all?”

“What else would there be?” Keely replied. “You know Boone can’t stand me. Usually he ignores me. But he knew Clark was up to something and that I was helping him. He got it out of me.”

“He’s good at that,” Winnie had to admit. “They used to let him interrogate people when he was in the military.” She toyed with her coffee cup. “He’s changed so much since he came back from overseas. He used to be a happy sort of person. He’s not happy now.” She looked up. “He goes out with Misty, but he never touches her.”

Keely’s heart jumped. “How do you know?”

“He never picks up anything,” she said with affection. “He just leaves his clothes lying around in his room. I gather them up and put them in the hamper for Mrs. Johnson. There are never any lipstick stains on his shirts.” She paused, her lips pursed. “Well, that’s not quite the truth. Last Saturday night, there were quite a few lipstick stains on his collar.”

Keely’s face flamed and Winnie laughed triumphantly. Keely knew that Winnie would go straight to Boone and tease him if she guessed what had happened. She couldn’t let her friend know for sure. If Boone were teased about Keely at home, it would all be over before it had time to begin.

“No wonder he’s been like a scalded snake all week,” Winnie mused, watching Keely closely. “And he hasn’t even called Misty. Odd, isn’t it?”

“Just slow down, if you please. I danced with him,” Keely muttered. “Of course I got lipstick on his collar.”

Winnie’s happy mood slowly drained away. She frowned. “Are you sure that’s all?”

Keely gave her friend a speaking look. “Boone can’t stand me. He was just trying to find out why Clark and I had gone to a dance and Clark was missing.”

“Oh, Fish and Chips!” Winnie muttered.

“Excuse me?”

Winnie shifted. “Good Lord, I’m catching Hayes Carsonitis!” she exclaimed.

“What?”

“Hayes Carson doesn’t cuss like a normal man. He says things like ‘Crackers and Milk!’ and ‘Fish and Chips!’ It rubs off when you’re around him.”

“What are you doing hobnobbing with Hayes Carson?” Keely asked.

“On the radio!”

“Oh. Right.”

“He’s not bad-looking,” Winnie mused. “And he’s much friendlier than Kilraven. I should really set my cap at him.”

“You’d break Kilraven’s heart,” Keely teased.

Winnie wrinkled her nose. “Like he’d notice if I flirted with another man,” she said shortly. “He’s trying Boone’s tactics. He’s ignoring me.”

“He’s probably just busy.”

Winnie toyed with her napkin. “Men are not worth the trouble they cause,” she said irritably.

Keely laughed. “No,” she agreed. “They aren’t.”

“And don’t we both lie well?” Winnie retorted.

Keely nodded.

The little café was crowded for a Saturday, mostly with tourists trying to enjoy the last fleeting days of August. Jacobsville had an annual rodeo that drew crowds, because it attracted some of the stars of the circuit. The prize money wasn’t bad, either.

“There are a lot of cars with out-of-state tags,” Winnie murmured. “I guess it’s the rodeo that draws them.”

“I was just thinking about the rodeo.” Keely chuckled. “Great minds running in the same direction.”

“Exactly. I think—” Winnie’s voice broke off. She was staring at the front door helplessly.

Keely glanced toward the entrance. Kilraven, still in uniform, was standing just inside the door. He really was hunky, Keely thought; tall, handsome and elegant with silver eyes and thick black hair. He was muscular without it being blatant.

“Excuse me,” he called in his deep voice. “Is anyone here driving a red SUV with Oklahoma plates?”

A young man in jeans and chambray shirt raised his hand. “Yes. I am,” he called. “Anything wrong, Officer?”

Kilraven walked to his table, spotted Winnie and Keely and nodded politely before he stood over the man. “Did you pick up a deer from the side of the road, sir?” he asked.

The young man laughed. “Yes, I did. It was just killed by a car, I think, because it was still warm and limp when I picked it up.” The smile faded. “I was only going to take it home and cut it up for my freezer. Did I do something wrong?”

Kilraven cleared his throat. “You might want to call your insurance agent.”

The young man looked blank. “Why?”

“The deer wasn’t dead.”

“Wasn’t...dead?” He nodded.

“And it left the vehicle rather suddenly, through your windshield.”

The young man was still nodding. “Through the windshield?” He stiffened. “Through my windshield? In my brand-new truck? Aaahhh!”

He jumped up, overbalancing his chair so that it fell. He almost trampled a couple getting out the door. His scream of dismay could be heard even with the door closed.

Kilraven shook his head as he paused beside Winnie. “The deer was just stunned,” he said with faint amusement in his silver eyes. “We had a man make that same mistake about six months ago during hunting season. But fortunately for him, the deer came to before he could lift it into his truck.”

Outside the café, the screams were getting louder.

Kilraven glanced outside and chuckled. “He’ll want a report for his insurance agency. I’d better go write him up.”

“Have they found Macreedy yet?” Winnie asked with a drawl and a grin.

Kilraven groaned. “He surfaced over in Bexar County about five yesterday afternoon trailing forty cars in a funeral procession. They were supposed to be headed for a cemetery in Comanche Wells, where they were due at three o’clock,” he added, because Keely was looking puzzled. “He did finally get them to the right church...after several cars stopped to get gas.”

“That’s twice this month. They should never let Macreedy lead a funeral procession,” Winnie pointed out.

Kilraven chuckled. “I told Hayes Carson the same thing, but he says Macreedy will never learn self-confidence if he pulls him off public service details now.”

“Doesn’t he have a map?” Keely wanted to know.

“If he does, he can’t ever find it,” Kilraven said with a sigh. “He led the last funeral procession down into a bog near the river and the hearse got stuck.” He laughed. “It’s funny now, but nobody was laughing at the time. They had to get tow trucks to haul everybody out.”

“Hayes should cut his losses and put Macreedy on administrative duties,” Winnie said.

“Big mistake. Hayes put him in charge of the jail month before last and he let a prisoner out to use the bathroom and forgot to lock him up again. The prisoner robbed a bank while he was temporarily liberated.” He shook his head. “I don’t think Macreedy’s cut out for a career in law enforcement.”

“Yes, but his father does,” Winnie reminded him.

“His father was a career state trooper,” Kilraven told Keely. “He insisted that his son was to follow in his footsteps.”

“Hayes Carson is our sheriff,” Keely said, confused. “Macreedy’s a sheriff’s deputy.”

“Yes, well, Macreedy started out working as a state trooper,” Winnie began.

Kilraven was chuckling again. “And then he pulled over an undercover drug unit in their van just as they were speeding up to stop a huge shipment of cocaine. They’d been working the case for weeks. The drug dealers got away while Macreedy was citing the drug agents for a burned-out taillight. Macreedy’s dad did manage to save him from the guys in the drug unit, but he was invited to practice his craft somewhere else.”

“So Hayes Carson got him,” Winnie continued. “Hayes is his second cousin.”

“Sheriff Carson could have said no,” Keely replied.

“You don’t say no to Macreedy’s father,” Kilraven retorted.

“At least he’s learning all the back roads,” Winnie said philosophically.

Kilraven grinned at her. The look lasted just a second too long to be conventional, and Winnie’s delicate skin took on a pretty flush.

“Where’s my rifle?”
came a bellow from the parking lot. “Somebody stole my rifle!”

Kilraven glanced out the window. The young fellow who owned the red SUV was running down the street with a rifle, in the general direction that the escaped deer had gone. The gun’s owner was jumping up and down in his rage and yelling threats after the deer hunter.

“I’d better go save the deer hunter,” Kilraven remarked.

“I hope he has an understanding insurance agent,” Keely mused.

“And a good lawyer. Stealing rifles is a felony.” Kilraven nodded at them and went striding out the door.

“Well!” Keely teased softly. “And you don’t think he likes you?”

Winnie’s expression was so joyful that Keely envied her.

CHAPTER NINE

K
EELY
HAD
LAUGHED
at the predicament Hayes Carson was in with his cousin Macreedy, but it was impossible for her to talk about him or think about him without remembering her mother’s pained confession about Hayes’s brother, Robert.

She was feeling guilty about that when Clark phoned her.

“I’m sorry,” she said as soon as she recognized his voice.

“You are?” He hesitated. “Oh. I guess you mean about Nellie. Boone knew all along, Keely,” he added heavily. “I thought I was pulling the wool over his eyes. I always underestimate him. He’d hired his girlfriend’s father’s detective agency to investigate Nellie. I can’t say I’m really surprised at what he found out. Well, I’m surprised that she was married and...fooling around with me, I mean.”

“Boone is very intelligent,” she said noncommittally.

“Yes, and he knows how to make people talk.”

She grimaced. “I didn’t mean to...”

“No! Not you. Me! He asked me what the hell I thought I was doing, leaving you at a dance alone all evening. He was furious.”

“But I was all right.”

“He knows that your father and his partner in crime might make a grab for you, Keely. I knew it, or should have known it, and I put you at risk. Boone said anything could have happened. I’m really sorry, Keely. I was so crazy about Nellie that she was all I thought about. You’re my friend. I should have been looking out for you.”

It made her warm inside that Boone was worried for her safety. “It’s okay, Clark,” she said. “Honest, it is.”

“He gets hot about you,” he continued. “I’d almost say he’s possessive of you, but that’s ridiculous. He is fond of you, in his way, I think.” He paused. “There was some talk about the two of you at the dance. You went outside together...”

“To talk about you,” she countered. “He wanted to know where you were and what you were doing. He’s very insistent.”

There was a relieved sigh. “Yes, he is.” He paused again. “Keely, you don’t want to ever get mixed up with him,” he said, in a stumbling sort of way that made her heart fill with disappointment. “Something happened to him overseas. He hated women for years after that she-cat dropped him when he was wounded. God knows why he’s letting her lead him down the same path again. Maybe he wants revenge. He doesn’t like women at all. He just uses them. Sort of like me,” he added miserably.

Keely didn’t know what to say, how to answer him. “He’s not a bad person.”

“I didn’t say he was, just that he’s hateful toward women. He’s keeping Misty on a tight rein, and he doesn’t watch his words when he talks to her. It’s almost like he’s keeping her around for some mysterious reason, but he doesn’t really want to have anything to do with her. He couldn’t care less if he’s late for a date, or if he doesn’t even show up. She spends most of their time together complaining about the way he treats her, and about you.”

“Me?” she exclaimed. “But why? Boone doesn’t give a hill of beans about me!”

“I don’t really know. She’s jealous of you.”

“That’s one for the books,” she mumbled. “She’s beautiful and rich. I’m plain and poor. I’m no competition at all.”

“I could dispute that,” Clark replied gently. “You have some wonderful qualities.”

“I’m no beauty.”

“Neither is she.”

Keely laughed softly. “Of course she is.”

“She’s not a beauty inside,” he said doggedly. “You are.”

“Thanks, Clark. You’re nice.”

“Nice.” He laughed. “Well, at least we’re still friends. Aren’t we?”

“Yes.”

“Then you can go riding with me from time to time. At the ranch. When Boone isn’t around,” he added with a wicked chuckle.

“We both know you’re not afraid of Boone,” she chided.

“Not much, anyway.”

“What did you tell Nellie, about not seeing her anymore?”

There was a long pause.

Her heart sank. “Clark, you’re not still seeing her?”

There was a longer pause.

“Her husband might hurt you. Really hurt you,” she warned.

He sighed. “You don’t understand. It’s complicated.”

“I guess I don’t,” she replied. “Be careful. Okay?”

“I’ll be careful. I know I have to break it off. But we had something special—on my side, at least. It takes a little time to adjust.”

“You watch your back,” she replied.

“I’ll do that. See you.”

“See you.”

She hung up, but she was worried. Clark was playing with fire. If she and Boone were really friends, she’d tell him. But Boone hadn’t called or come near her since the dance, when he’d kissed her so sweetly. She’d dreamed about him, ached to see him, but she hadn’t had so much as a glimpse of him. Perhaps he’d just been leading her on, she thought sadly, to get information about Clark and Nellie. There was a miserable thought, and it kept her unhappy the rest of the day.

* * *

S
HE
AND
HER
mother were getting along better than they ever had, although Keely lived in terror that her father, or worse, Jock, might just show up at the door. Ella had talked to a Realtor about the house and land. She had to take Jock’s threat seriously, she said, and she didn’t want to go to jail. Keely was worried that the secret might come out anyway. She felt guilty just knowing about it.

Things got worse when Hayes showed up at the vet’s office where she worked in the middle of the next week. He was somber and worried. He asked Keely out into the parking lot, away from the crowd in the waiting room, where they could talk undisturbed.

“What’s wrong?” Keely asked him apprehensively.

“It’s about your father,” he began hesitantly. His face became hard. “I’ve heard something. A little gossip. It involves my brother...”

“Oh, heavens!” Keely ground out. “I’m so sorry!”

The expression on her face spoke volumes. She never could keep secrets, and this one had cost her many a night’s sleep. If Hayes pushed, she’d have to tell him. She went pale.

“You know, don’t you?” he asked quietly. “Tell me, Keely.”

She wrapped her arms tight around herself. “If I do, my mother will go to jail,” she said miserably.

“If you don’t, your mother may die,” he countered. “Your father was seen at a roadhouse over in Bexar County two days ago.”

She actually gasped. “With Jock?”

“The person who saw him didn’t know about the other man. Probably wouldn’t recognize him. What does Brent have on your mother, Keely, and what has it got to do with my family?”

She leaned back against his patrol car, looking at him with dead eyes. “My father was apparently dealing cocaine before he left here with me, and he had some pure stuff. He made a deal with...” She stopped and bit her lip. She hadn’t thought how it would sound.

Hayes seemed to know. He shifted his tall frame. “I know what my brother was,” he said quietly. “You don’t have to pull any punches on his account. He’s long dead and buried.”

She drew in a long breath. “Yes, but he was still your brother and you loved him,” she said gently. “I loved my father. I never dreamed...” She stopped. “Your brother saw my father make a drug buy. My father offered him a small fortune in cocaine not to tell you.”

“So that was it.”

“My father gave it to your brother. He didn’t tell him that it was a hundred-percent pure. Your brother had his supplier inject him with it. That’s why he overdosed.” She lowered her eyes. “I’m so ashamed!”

“No!” He moved forward and framed her face in his big, warm hands. “No, Keely, it’s not your shame or your guilt! You’re as much a victim as Bobby was. Don’t take that burden on your own shoulders. It’s their crime, not yours!”

Tears were rolling down her cheeks. Hayes felt for a handkerchief, but he didn’t have one. Keely laughed as she tugged a paper towel out of her jeans pocket. “I always carry them around,” she explained, dragging at her eyes. “We’re constantly cleaning up messes. Some dogs get sick when they’re brought here.”

“I can sympathize with them,” Hayes said with a forced smile. “I don’t like going to doctors myself.”

She blew her nose. “I wanted to tell you. I couldn’t. I haven’t been close to my mother, until the last few days, and I knew if I told, she could go to prison.”

“What for?” he asked heavily. “There’s no evidence. Everybody directly connected with the case is dead. The woman who gave Bobby the drugs was Ivy Conley’s sister, Rachel. She died of a drug overdose herself not long ago. She left a diary and confessed that she’d given Bobby the overdose,” he said surprisingly. Actually Keely knew Ivy, who had just married Stuart York, her best friend’s brother.

Hayes looked thoughtful. “Your father and Rachel handed Bobby the gun, but he pulled the trigger himself, figuratively speaking. Bobby was an addict from the time he was twelve. I knew and tried to stop him. I never could.”

“You mean, Mama won’t go to jail?” she worried.

“No.” He hesitated. “But your father will, if I can find one damned thing to pin on him,” he added in the coldest tone she’d ever heard him use.

She felt sad, because her father had been kind to her. She hadn’t known about his dark past, and she’d loved him. It was hard to know that he was one jump ahead of the law. She wondered why, what he’d done to get in so much trouble that he was running scared. “If he’s running, and he needs money,” she reasoned out loud, “he must be desperate to get away.”

He pursed his lips. “You think like a detective,” he mused.

“He’s done something bad,” she continued. “Or Jock has, and he helped.” Her eyes were sad as they met Hayes’s. “He was good to me, those two years I lived with him. If he’d never got mixed up with Jock again, he might have stayed changed.”

“Bad men don’t change, Keely,” Hayes said in a resigned tone. “A lot of them are easily led. Others are just lazy, and they don’t want to have to work for a living. Some have been so badly abused that they hate the world and want to get even. In between, there are good kids who use drugs or get drunk and do things that they regret for the rest of their lives.” He shrugged. “I guess that’s why God made lawmen.” He smiled.

She smiled back.

“If you hear anything from him,” he said, “you have to tell me right away.”

“Mama’s talking to Realtors,” she volunteered. “She’s really afraid of what he might do.”

“So am I,” he said. “I’ve got a friend up in San Antonio talking to the man who recognized your father. He’s got a lead, and he’s following it up. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

“What should I tell Mama to do?”

He thought for a minute. “Tell her to go ahead and put the property on the market.”

She opened her mouth to protest.

He held up a hand. “She doesn’t have to sell it. She just has to appear as if she’s selling it. It might buy us a little time. I’d bet money that your father or his partner is keeping an eye out around here.”

“I’ll tell her,” she promised.

“And keep your doors and windows locked, just in case,” he added grimly.

“We always do that.”

“Keep a phone handy, too,” he advised.

She nodded.

“I’m sorry you ever got involved in this,” he said.

“We don’t get to choose our families,” Keely said philosophically.

“Isn’t that the truth?”

* * *

S
HE
WENT
HOME
after work and told her mother what she’d learned from Sheriff Carson. Ella was obviously relieved.

“I was scared to death,” she confessed to her daughter. “Sheriff Carson isn’t going to arrest me? He told you that?”

“He told me,” Keely replied. “But he does want you to put the house up for sale.”

“I can do that.” Ella smoothed her hands over her silk slacks. “Yes. I can do that.” She looked her age. She hadn’t even put on makeup. “I’ve only had one drink today,” she said after a minute, and smiled at her daughter. “I’m shaky. But maybe I can give it up, if I try.”

Keely felt the beginnings of a real relationship with her mother. “Really?” she asked, and smiled.

“Well, just don’t expect too much.” Ella laughed. “I’ve been a heavy drinker most of my life. It isn’t easy to quit.”

“I understand. I’ll help. Any way I can.”

Ella studied the younger woman quietly. “You’re a good kid, Keely,” she said. “I haven’t been a good mother. I wish...” She shrugged. “Well, we don’t get many second chances. But I’ll try.”

“That’s all anyone can do,” Keely replied. Impulsively she hugged her mother. Ella hesitated for a minute, but then she hugged her back. It was a moment out of time, when anything seemed possible. But it only seemed that way.

* * *

K
EELY
HAD
HOPED
that Boone might call her, or bring Bailey by the office for a checkup or even be at home when she went riding with Winnie on the occasional Saturday. But he stayed away.

She accepted an invitation to go riding at the Sinclairs’, hoping for a glimpse of Boone. She knew it was pathetic, but she was hungry to see him, under any circumstances. Winnie led the way down a wooded path to the river that ran through the property. Keely started to get down off her horse.

“Don’t,” Winnie said quickly, indicating the tall grass. “Rattlers are crawling. One of the boys killed two of them near the river this week.”

“It’s really hot,” Keely said, unnerved by the mention of snakes. She was terrified of them.

“Yes, and they like cool places,” Winnie said. “We’d better get back,” she added, checking her watch. “I have to go in this afternoon. One of our dispatchers had a death in the family and I promised to fill in for her.”

“You’re a nice person,” Keely said. “I really mean that.”

Winnie smiled. “Thanks, Keely. So are you. I mean it, too.”

“How’s Clark?” she asked on the way back.

“Heading for tragedy,” Winnie said coolly. “He’s still seeing that woman.”

“How do you know?”

“He stuffed a jewelry box into his pocket when he thought I wasn’t looking last night,” she said.

“But she’s married,” Keely argued. “What if her husband finds out?”

“Clark will be very sorry,” she replied. “That detective’s report said that he was a truck driver who did long hauls, and he’s got a prior for assault.”