Chapter 8
As Crystal headed back to the barn, she didn’t even want to think about somebody from here being involved in Grandpa’s disappearance. She walked into the barn, saw John up ahead, leaning lazily against a stall, giving her a side-eye. John didn’t like horses—or work—so why was he here?
“So, he really has returned, huh?”
She asked him, “Haven’t you talked to him yet?”
“No, don’t want to either.”
“Why not?” she asked. “He’s your cousin.” She almost added how he owns the place, but she couldn’t imagine John would be happy about that.
He laughed. “Hell no. He’s always been one of those workaholics, where everybody pulls together and gets the job done, that kind of BS.” He shuddered. “Yeah, that’s not happening. Let me know when he leaves town.” He sent a smug smile in her direction. “That’s much more my style.”
She shook her head. “I don’t understand that. He’s family.”
“Yeah, well, he’s not any family that I want anything to do with,” he declared. “He’s always been a bit arrogant, that gone to war, did something to be proud of type. That doesn’t sit well with me. He acts like the rest of us are just lazy slugs.”
She didn’t want to get into an argument, but it was on the tip of her tongue to ask just what did John do for work because, as far as she understood, he didn’t do anything and was part of the problem Ashton was dealing with here. And to a certain extent, so was she.
Dismayed at that realization, while totally ignoring John, she set about getting two of the horses saddled up.
John came closer and asked, “You taking him out riding?” Something in his tone she didn’t recognize.
“Yeah, he wants to look for Grandpa.”
He laughed at that. “Well, that’ll be fun.”
She turned on him and stated, “We should all be out looking for Grandpa every day.”
“We did look the first day,” he noted lazily. “No way that old man survived anything after that, and you and I both know it. So why should we waste our time on that? I got better things to do.”
“Like what?” she asked, raising her hands. “What exactly do you do?”
He glared at her. “I do lots of things.” He was flushed, his temper flaring, but, unlike Glenn, John was never one to show his anger lightly. “Don’t go getting smart and snippety with me.”
She stared at him and smirked. “Right, of course not. I mean, I’m just the hired help after all.”
“Well, you’re an adopted cousin who’s living here on borrowed time,” he clarified, with a sneer. “Best you remember that.” With that, he turned and walked out.
She stared after him, and, when Ashton called out to her, she was still standing with the horses.
“What was that all about?”
She turned around to see Khan racing toward her as if he hadn’t seen her in days and not just a short hour earlier. She shrugged at Ashton. “I don’t know,” she muttered, her voice quiet. “That’s the first time he’s ever said that.”
“Said what?”
“That I’m the hired help and that I am living here on borrowed time. He’s implied it many times before, but this is the first time he’s come out and told me so directly.”
“He’s a lazy entitled ass. Just another symptom of things going on under the radar here,” he pointed out, with a smile on his face, “more things that we won’t like. You’ll need to have a thicker skin than that if you want to survive out in the world.”
She closed her eyes and whispered, “Please don’t tell me that they’re involved too.”
“I don’t know whether or not they’re involved because I don’t know what all is going on here yet, but you can see why I’m concerned.”
She nodded. “Here,” she said, as she handed him a set of reins. Khan stepped forward confidently and exchanged sniffs with the big gelding. “I was hoping you could handle this guy. He hasn’t been out in a while.”
“Well, I haven’t been out in a while either,” he quipped, “so we’ll make a good go of it together.
” He smiled up at the gelding. “I haven’t ridden Mirage in, what, six years?
” he asked, with a laugh. The horse nickered and nuzzled his hand.
“Yeah, I remember you always liked your treats beforehand too, didn’t you? ”
“No, he just likes treats,” she corrected, “before and after.”
With a smirk, Ashton swung up on the horse’s back with ease.
That made her feel better. “I guess you haven’t forgotten anything, have you?”
He smiled at her. “I haven’t forgotten a thing.”
Enough of an innuendo was in that statement for her to realize he hadn’t forgotten something she wasn’t sure she ever wanted to remember—a blazing hot kiss they’d shared six years ago, when it felt like it was completely wrong, as if they were truly related.
She had to remind herself that she had been adopted and not born into the family.
His comment just brought it all right back.
Ashton probably shouldn’t have made that comment, but seeing Crystal here in the barn with the horses just brought back so many feelings.
Then there was everything else, simmering under the surface—so much intrigue, nonsense, and entitlement.
It was making them both angry and depressed, and—at least for him—wanting to blow the lid off everything, just to have it all come to light and to hold people accountable for their actions.
The fact that John had come right out and said what he did to Crystal was a huge concern.
In Ashton’s mind, he was encouraged now that Grandpa was out the picture—or now that Grandma had promised him whatever.
Add that to the fact that the twins hadn’t come forward and even said anything to him?
They were definitely hiding something too.
Like Grandma, like cousins—at least Ashton’s male cousins.
What were they up to in the background?
And did it have anything to do with his grandmother? His missing grandfather?
It wouldn’t surprise him at all that the twins were helping Grandma, as she’d always favored those two among the four cousins.
After all, Glenn and John and Ashton and Crystal were cousins, whether blood relatives or adopted.
They had lost all four parents within a short time frame, and all the cousins had lived here together, raised by Grandma and Grandpa.
The losses were a blow that almost took out his grandfather.
His grandmother had been affected, of course, but it was almost like she blamed Ashton, maybe even wishing Ashton had died, instead of Grandma’s own son dying.
Grandma had never been very easy on Ashton, even after his own father’s death, but then he’d never been easy on her.
She probably was well aware that Ashton was the one fighting her constant gambling, whereas John and Glenn probably didn’t care, especially if she had some money for them.
The new reality here at the Nelson estate would be eye-opening for them at some point.
Ashton didn’t expect to say anything to Crystal about that kiss they’d shared a few years back.
Well, six years back, to be honest. He’d left soon afterward, and there hadn’t been a word shared between them since.
He’d been injured in the line of duty not long after that.
Ashton had been busy, trying to heal and to push through rehab and to adjust to his new life.
So he had chosen to let that opportunity slide, thinking Crystal would probably have found a better partner on her own.
But then he’d come back, only to discover that she wasn’t hooked up with anyone. He glanced at her and asked, “How come you’re still single?”
She looked over at him, a blush on her cheeks. “Because I haven’t found anybody. Why are you still single?”
“Because I spent the last six years trying to save this place,” he replied.
“Not to mention the obvious injury too. There was no time for socializing, no time for dating or anything else while I was on the job. I took on as many extra shifts and missions as I could, doing the only thing I knew how to do.”
“And yet you were already a financial planner, an investor,” she noted.
“Yes,” he confirmed, “and I still do that, and, for the most part, I’ve done well. However, this place has been sucking me dry, mostly because of our dear beloved grandmother.”
“What do you want to bet that your cousins think they’ll inherit all this?” she asked.
He nodded. “I wouldn’t be at all surprised. The surprise is going to be when they realize there’s nothing for them to inherit.”
“And yet they’re likely to fight for possession,” she suggested.
“They can try,” he muttered, slowly navigating as he rode Mirage. “And, yeah, I’ll go to court over it, but they’ve done nothing here in the way of supporting the farm, have they?”
She shook her head. “No, they don’t help at all. I look after all the animals. I do the shopping as needed. I arrange for the hay and stuff,” she pointed out. “But I guess you’re paying the bills, aren’t you?”
“Yep, I sure am,” he said, as he smiled and reached down to rub the horse’s neck.
“Some of these horses,” she began, not sure how to say it, “they’ve been here a very long time.”
He nodded.
“Will you keep the place?”
“I don’t know yet,” he muttered. “It’s a little too early to sort all that out.”
“I’m sorry,” she replied. “That has got to be hard.”
“It is, but not as hard as it’ll be when the deputies come to interrogate Grandma,” he added.
“I already told Richard about Grandma’s gambling addiction and taking money from the investor accounts.
I’ve got to get access to that secret bank account of hers before Grandma finds out that I know about it, before the sheriff spills the beans too.
I don’t know anything about it yet. And where the hell did she get money from? And a big chunk of it?”
“Why does that affect you?” Crystal asked.
“It affects all of us. If the twins have access to that big chunk money, that’s even worse.
That’s three people who can possibly withdraw that money before I even find out where it is,” he explained.
“If I can’t recover that money, I can’t replace the remaining balance on the stolen investment money that is still unpaid.
So far, I’ve somehow managed to stay ahead of it all, putting in money before the client gets a withdrawal, but it’s not been easy.
It’s about to wipe out the last of my savings and my own investment portfolio. ”
She grimaced. “I’m so sorry, Ashton. It all fell on you.”
He nodded. “Not your fault. Given enough time, I could take care of this. But with Grandma’s antics getting worse, I had to call in the sheriff.
So I’m outta time. I wish Grandpa was here.
As for me, I’m on disability from the military, and it’s just the financial and advisory money that’s keeping us going right now.
” She sucked in her breath, and he sighed. “Yeah, confusing so far, I’m afraid.”
She shook her head. “I just don’t get it. How did it all end up on your shoulders?”
“Well, if Grandpa could be found alive and well,” he replied, “then I could possibly get more answers, but I’m not at all sure just what’s going on here.”
They rode on in silence for a while, until Crystal spoke up.
“Let me tell you where I’ve looked,” she began, as she pointed off in the distance.
“I rode that section on the first day. I rode that section, north and onto the other forty, and there was nothing. I mean, I feel like I’ve covered every inch of the place, but there’s been no sign of anyone out there.
And nobody, outside of that first day, cares to even ride out anymore. ”
“Who went with you on the first day?”
“Everyone. Me, Glenn, John, and two deputies. The twins were out here riding, but they don’t ride much,” she shared. “So, they were complaining constantly the whole time, but I wouldn’t listen to it. It was all about making sure everybody was out looking for Grandpa.”
“And did they go one direction and you and the deputies went another?”
She nodded. “Yeah, … they did, over toward the neighbors. The twins checked those acres to the south,” she explained, frowning as she tried to recall where they went.
“And have you been back over where they went since then?”
She seemed surprised at the question.
A sinking feeling took over his gut.
She frowned, shaking her head. “No.”
He nodded and turned the horse. “Then that’s where we’ll start.”