Chapter 9
The world beyond the compound is a kaleidoscope of overwhelming sensations, vibrant colors of a world we had almost forgotten.
—Ghost Lake by Ava Howell Brooks
The drive out to the Lancaster sheep farm the next morning was quiet and lovely, with bucolic views and few other cars on the road.
The sun was beginning to crest the mountains when Luke picked her up in the vet clinic pickup truck. She handed him a go-cup of coffee, which he accepted gratefully.
“Thanks. How do you always seem to know when I forget coffee?”
“Maybe I’m psychic.” She smiled, though it really didn’t take any sort of extrasensory perception. He was always forgetting to turn on the coffee machine at his place the night before. He usually slept in and didn’t have time to brew it in the morning.
“You must be.”
“Lucky guess. Even if you already had coffee, I figured you might need extra this morning. You’re not used to partying late into the night.”
“Right. I’m such a stodgy old man these days.”
“I didn’t say that.” She sipped to hide her smile. “I meant you don’t spend a lot of time hanging out at the Burning Tree. You’re out of practice.”
“I’m not that out of practice. And it’s not like I partied until 3 a.m. anyway. I was home by eleven and sound asleep by midnight.”
She had not been asleep by midnight. Instead, she had spent a restless night. Somehow she couldn’t seem to get the memory of dancing with him out of her mind.
He turned on a gravel road that led to the Lancaster farm. Morning dew gleamed on the fields around them, glistening in the sunlight like scattered gems. Some of the neighboring farmers had already cut their first crop of hay and it still lay in geometric rows, waiting for the balers.
Madi knew if she rolled down the window, the air would smell of cut alfalfa, new leaves and earth, fresh and clean and dearly familiar.
“What time did Nicole wander home from the bar last night?” Luke asked.
“Shortly after one.”
She didn’t think it appropriate to inform Nic’s brother that when Madi had been awake to let out her dogs around that time, she had seen her roommate making out in the front seat of a Jeep that had a roof but no doors.
“She seems to be getting along well with the new river rat. What’s his name again? Houston? Dallas?”
“Right state, wrong city. I believe his name is Austin.”
He sighed. “Right. Dallas was a few years ago, right?”
She didn’t remember all the names, but it wouldn’t surprise her.
While they both dated widely, the main difference between them was that Nicole was hoping to find lasting love with one of them while Madi only wanted a nice, temporary guy who was fun and charming and, most important, didn’t treat her like all the local guys did. Like she was some kind of fragile figurine who would crumble into dust if someone touched her.
“Are you coming to my mom’s place for dinner tomorrow?” he asked. “I was supposed to ask you yesterday and I forgot.”
“It’s on my calendar. I was planning on it.”
The big Sunday dinner was one of the highlights of her month. Tilly was an amazing cook and the meal was always wonderful. The company was even better. She and Leona weren’t the only strays Tilly invited. There was usually a revolving door of friends or relatives, both local and from out of town.
“I don’t know Leona’s plans for sure, though,” Madi said. “Ava is with her now, so who knows?”
He sent her a sideways look across the cab of the pickup truck. “Ava has an open invitation from my mom. Your grandmother can bring her along if she wants to.”
She gave him a polite smile, fighting the urge to cross her arms across her chest and sulk like his young niece did if the marshmallow she was roasting fell into the fire.
“That’s fine. Tilly can certainly invite anyone she wants to. Just as I can choose with whom I want to spend my Sunday afternoon.”
“Are you saying that if Ava goes, you won’t?”
She remained stubbornly silent and he gave her another sideways look.
“Don’t ask my mom to choose between you and your sister. That’s not fair. She loves you both.”
She glowered at him, annoyed that he once more seemed to treat her like a pesky little sister.
“Tilly doesn’t have to choose between us. If Ava is going, I will choose for everyone by skipping it.”
He frowned. “You’re being unreasonable, Mad. If your sister plans to enjoy an extended visit with Leona here in Emerald Creek, chances are good you will have to spend time in the same room with her at some point. You can’t avoid her all summer.”
“I can sure as hell try,” she muttered.
He opened his mouth to respond but closed it again as they pulled into the driveway of Lancaster Sheep Farms, a low-slung house surrounded by barns and silos.
Paul Lancaster trotted out to greet them, wearing his traditional denim overalls and plaid shirt, rolled up at the sleeves. In his late seventies, Paul was a hardworking farmer, who along with one of his sons, ran a herd of around five hundred sheep.
He was meticulous and fussy and preferred to have vaccines administered by the veterinarian rather than do it himself or have his workers handle it, like most producers did.
He greeted Luke with a handshake but only gave Madi a stiff, rather cool nod, something dark crossing his expression so quickly, she wondered if she had imagined it.
Odd. She and Paul usually had a cordial relationship. He was friendly with her grandmother and always seemed comfortable enough with her as well.
“We’re ready for you, Doc. Glad you could make time for us. We’re about to take the herd up to our summer grazing allotment. We’ve got our herders in place and the trucks are coming this afternoon.”
She knew he moved his sheep to the mountains during the summer and that transporting them was always a big production.
“Good thing you remembered your lambs need vaccinating before they take off for the hills,” Luke said mildly.
“In the old days, your dad used to call me when it was time for the boosters.”
Luke’s jaw tightened for a brief instant. How difficult it must be for him to constantly be compared to his father. Yes, the previous Dr. Gentry had been a wonderful veterinarian, from all she had heard of the man, but Luke was amazing, too. He shouldn’t have to constantly prove himself to the people of Emerald Creek.
“Yes, I checked on that after you called yesterday. According to our records, we mailed a reminder postcard three weeks ago that it was time to schedule, but they can be easy to miss. I’ll make a note in your chart to have the office staff give you a call next year.”
“Thank you. Appreciate that.”
Without further ado, he led them around the barn to a large pen where around a hundred ewe-lamb pairs milled.
She loved seeing the lambs, so gangly and adorable.
With the herders and Paul’s help, over the next hour, they were able to separate the lambs and drive them through a chute to where Luke could quickly check them each out for disease or injury, vaccinate them, then return them to the pen where the ewes bleated in confusion and concern.
Madi’s job was mainly to hand him the next vaccine and discard the used one. Nothing too demanding, which gave her time to watch Luke’s gentle competence with the animals as well as the drama playing out as the lambs were returned to the pen.
She was invariably amazed at how the ewes were able to effortlessly find their own lambs in the crowded pen. She saw a few stray lambs who weren’t immediately reunited with their mothers, but things were soon sorted.
Paul Lancaster joined them as Luke was putting away his medical bag and removing his surgical gloves.
“There you go. That should cover you for now.”
“Thanks.”
They chatted about the herd’s upcoming trip to the mountains as Paul walked them back to Luke’s truck.
Only when they reached the pickup did the old farmer turn to Madi.
“I hear your sister is back in town,” he said bluntly, without a segue, as if he had been stockpiling the topic and now realized he had almost missed his chance to bring it up.
Madi could feel herself tense. “Yes. That’s right.”
“That book of hers. Why’d she have to go and stir up all that ugliness again? She ought to have let sleeping dogs lie.”
Madi couldn’t disagree with the man, though she knew they had very different reasons. It must be hitting very close to home for him, she suddenly realized, annoyed with herself for not connecting the dots earlier.
His daughter Mariah and her husband, Benjamin Woodley, had been active members of the Ghost Lake Survival Coalition fifteen years ago. For all she knew, Paul had as well. She knew there were other followers of the Boyle brothers who had never been caught, others who had bought into their combination of conspiracy theories wrapped up in mystical prophecies and pure hogwash.
Both of the Woodleys had served prison time, though they had cooperated with authorities and testified against the leaders of the group. Last she heard, they had moved to Nevada somewhere.
She was able to give them more grace than some who had been there, as Mariah Woodley had always been kind to her and Ava and used to sneak them food when she could. Madi had the impression Mariah and her husband had been trying to extricate themselves from the group prior to the events of that summer.
“I d-don’t know why Ava wrote the book now. That’s a g-good question. One you’ll have to ask her. I can’t answer for my sister.”
“When you see her, tell her she should have left well enough alone. Nothing good comes from raking up the past, digging up old bones,” he muttered.
Madi found herself in the uncomfortable position of feeling as if she had to defend her sister against something she agreed with one hundred percent.
Before she could find the words, Luke spoke up.
“Ava has every right to publish her story.”
While his words were said in an even tone, Madi could see heat kindle in his eyes.
“Not when it doesn’t only affect her. There are people involved like my daughter and son-in-law who have paid their debts to society, changed their ways. They don’t need everybody pointing fingers at them and whispering. My son-in-law is worried about losing his job. How’s he supposed to support his family if that happens?”
Maybe he should have thought of that before becoming tangled up with men who twisted logic and reason into something hideous and evil, she thought.
“I’m sorry that’s happening to Benjamin,” Luke said, his voice careful and without expression. “That’s nothing to do with Ava or her book.”
“He and Mariah have spent years trying to put everything behind them only to have that woman go and dredge it all up again.”
“That woman was a child when she and her sister were dragged into a situation they didn’t choose. When they refused to go along with abhorrent plans for them conceived by twisted, evil men, they were locked up, tortured, starved. When these young girls finally found the courage to escape, they were pursued by heavily armed men with vicious dogs. I’m sorry your son-in-law and daughter are upset about the book. But Ava had every right to tell her story, to let people know about what happened in the mountains near here while others did nothing to help them.”
Madi caught her breath at his vehemence, the harsh tone she never heard from Luke.
Paul said nothing, his features dark with anger. When he spoke, his voice was low. “I’m sorry to hear you say that. I hear there’s a new vet up Hailey way. I always liked and respected your father and was sorry as could be that he was killed. But maybe it’s time I look elsewhere for my next round of vaccines.”
“That’s certainly your choice,” Luke said, his voice even. “Let my office know whatever you decide so someone else can handle your next round of vaccinations.”
He nodded to the man and climbed into the truck. Madi, still stunned from the argument, climbed into the passenger seat. She had barely closed her door before Luke drove away, leaving Paul Lancaster to watch after them with a dark expression on his weather-beaten face.