Cowboy Cavalry. Alice Sharpe
bozo out of his car and punched him square in the nose. The desire to do just that was still there but time had tempered him. He stepped toward the curb and the car sped by.
Frankie retrieved his jacket from the fence and stood there awhile, sure Kate would come back outside and demand an explanation although he wasn’t sure what he could offer. The door stayed resolutely shut. She’d really meant that final shake of her head. He finally got back in his car and drove off toward the airport where he rented a room for the night.
Would Kate show up tomorrow? Doubtful bordering on hell, no. He didn’t have her phone number. Of course, he could call Gary and get it, but then Gary would sense there was a problem...no thanks, he didn’t want to start fielding questions, not yet anyway. Besides, part of him admitted he’d already intruded enough.
The older woman was obviously Kate’s grandmother but who was Dennis? Did these people have something to do with Kate’s desire to stop the filming of the documentary?
Why hadn’t he quit following her when it was obvious she wasn’t going to a business meeting? What had compelled him to know about her? Was he treating her like an adversary? That was fine if that was the case because she was an adversary, she’d chosen that role when she announced her intentions.
As he lay in bed that night, he knew that he had probably just sabotaged his own project and he swore under his breath. If Kate refused to talk to any of them again and went instead to the backers fueled by her anger with him, he didn’t think he’d have the stomach to try to stop her.
* * *
“IS THERE ANYTHING I can get you before I leave?” Rose McFadden whispered from the doorway.
Kate glanced from her slumbering grandmother to the retired nurse and shook her head. Her voice equally soft, she responded. “No thanks.”
“I’m going home to pack a bag but I’ll be back tomorrow morning bright and early, okay?”
“I don’t know,” Kate said. “I’m not sure—”
“Now, please, child, listen to me,” Rose said, stepping into the room. “I’d hate to see you cancel your trip because of what happened today. Anyone can make a mistake and forget to lock the door after themselves.”
“I never have before,” Kate said. She’d been preoccupied when she got home, her mind processing the lunch with Frankie Hastings, reliving the conversation, wondering if she’d slipped up anywhere. And as a result, she hadn’t relocked the door and her grandmother had walked outside into the middle of the street. If Frankie hadn’t been there who knows what would have happened?
“I’ll be here like we arranged,” Rose said. “I promised Mr. Abernathy I’d help you and your grandmother and I intend to keep my word. Try to get some sleep.”
Kate sat in the darkened room for what seemed like hours, the sound of her grandmother’s breathing the only noise in the whole world. Today was the longest she’d been gone in a year. How could she leave again? What had she been thinking to agree to this?
List your choices, her subconscious demanded. Easy: zero.
She glanced from the stack of bills on the corner of the desk visible through the open doorway to the unframed window she was in the process of replacing here in the bedroom. The house needed new plumbing, the roof was forty years old and she suspected termites had had their way with the foundation. She was going under, not slowly, but fast.
When Kate’s grandfather had died, Kate had cried for days. That was the last time she’d allowed herself tears. She didn’t even cry for Luke because she was afraid if she started she’d never quit. But now she felt them swell in her eyes and roll down her cheeks and she seemed unable to stop them.
“Dennis?”
Kate’s head jerked toward the bed where she found her grandmother staring up at her. “No, Gram, Grandpa isn’t here right now. It’s just me, Kate.”
Gram blinked a couple of times as though trying to process Kate’s words. She’d once had dark blue eyes like Kate’s but as the fire inside her soul slowly fizzled away, it seemed her eye color followed suit. Kate hastily wiped at her cheeks, but her grandmother caught a tear on her finger and touched it to her own lips.
“Oh, Gram,” Kate said. It had been two decades since Gram had done the exact same thing when Kate ran her bike into a mailbox and gave herself a black eye.
Kate scooted down on her chair until she could rest her head on Gram’s pillow. The old woman grasped her hand and Kate started talking in a soft, unhurried voice. “A week ago, I met an old friend of yours named Greg Abernathy,” she began. “He’s been abroad for years but he recently moved back to Seattle and came to see you. He was so sad that Grandpa had...well, he got all choked up. And then he told me something.
“He and Grandpa were coworkers a long time ago. He remembered Grandpa telling him about a long distant uncle who was a diamond merchant. When this guy stopped during his travels, he would put his diamonds in the bank of whatever town he was staying in. Well, it turns out that this one time, the bank was robbed and the diamonds were taken along with the gold. He never made a claim on what he’d lost because he didn’t want anyone to know what he did for a living.
“Now this is where fate takes a hand,” she continued. “Mr. Abernathy and Grandpa shared an office at the college. When Mr. Abernathy left to teach overseas, he stored a whole lot of boxes of books and papers. When he got back to Seattle recently, he decided to clean out the storage and it was while he was doing this that he found a file of Grandpa’s in with his things and in the file was a copy of a paper detailing where the diamonds had been hidden after the robbery. He came here to give the file to Grandpa and to ask if Grandpa had ever tried to recover them.”
Kate lowered her voice. “Mr. Abernathy could see that we’re...struggling. Those diamonds are yours now, and they could make all the difference in the world. It’s not a fortune, but it’s probably enough to get the house up to code so we can remortgage and get some of the bills paid. The trouble is, they’re on the land of a greedy, possessive man. If he were to claim the diamonds as his own and take us to court—well, how could we pay for that and, anyway, by the time it was settled it would be too late for you...for us. I have to find them, Gram. Mr. Abernathy said he would go but he’s old now and, besides, this is my obligation, not his. It’s an opportunity and I can’t think of anything else to do. Only thing is, it means I have to leave for a couple of days...”
Gram’s hand had grown slack. Kate turned her head to find the older woman’s eyes closed. Kate had a very strong premonition that if she left her grandmother’s side it would be for the last time. Of course, she felt that way every time she left the house, every time she kissed her good-night. It was always goodbye.
“I don’t know what to do,” she whispered into the night.
* * *
FRANKIE ARRIVED AT the car rental place early armed with coffee and a sheaf of papers Gary had given him to look over. He’d give Kate an hour to stand him up and then he’d hit the road.
A female shape pushed off from where she’d been leaning against a fence and he recognized Kate’s lovely face despite the huge sunglasses resting on her nose. As she approached, he reminded himself to close his mouth instead of gaping in shock. She’d come?
Why?
As he grabbed the door handle to get out of the vehicle and start the process of renting her a car, she opened the back door, shrugged off a backpack and set it on the seat where it clanked as it landed. A second later she slipped into the passenger seat.
Today she wore jeans and a black windbreaker. Her long, blond hair had been woven into a thick, loose braid that trailed down her back. She took off the sunglasses as she turned to face him. Dark smudges under her eyes were more pronounced than they’d been the day before.
“I can’t believe you came,” he heard himself say.
“Neither can