Chapter 15
Two days later,Naomi had just set her steaming cup of coffee on her desk at work when her cell phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number, but answered it anyway.
“Hello?”
“Is this Naomi Alcott?” a woman asked.
“Yes, who’s calling please?”
“This is Colleen with Dr. Hillard’s office. She asked me to call to see if you could come into the clinic after hours on Monday.”
“What time is after hours?”
“After five at night. Can you make it say, around five-fifteen?”
“I can, and I’ll have someone with me,” she answered, immediately thinking that she would like to ask Clark to be with her.
“Wonderful, that was going to be my next thing. Dr. Hillard wants you to bring someone with you. We find it better if someone is with the patient when they are receiving news and they might have questions you forget.”
“What kind of news?”
“I don’t know. All I know is Dr. Hillard asked me to call to see if you can come in after five Monday afternoon.” Colleen then gave the address, and Naomi knew it was the doctor’s office. She had said she’d bring Clark because she didn’t know if this was someone after her trying to get her alone. They hung up, and she sent a quick text to Clark to call her. He did so immediately.
“What’s up?”
“Are you free Monday evening?”
“I am, why?”
“Dr. Hillard’s office just called. She wants me there after hours on Monday.”
“What time?”
“Five-fifteenish.”
“I’ll mark it down. Do you want me to contact Jake?”
“Please.” She gave him the address she’d been given, and after she confirmed it, she told him that she had asked the others that she wanted a pot luck dinner at her house on Sunday.
“You’ve contacted everyone?”
“Except for the guys, you know, Wendel, Floyd, and Virgil. Oh, and Reid, he’s not here today.”
“Yeah, he’s out in the sex barn with Tom.”
“If I didn’t know what you were talking about, that would have been a bad sentence to say.” She laughed and enjoyed Clark’s laughter in her ear. They rang off, and Naomi went back to work. While she did, in the back of her mind she thought what she could make for the dinner on Sunday. Hours later, that decision was taken out of her hands when everyone working at Broken stopped in sometime during the day, and asked if she could make the dish she’d made for Thanksgiving. She did a mental list of her pantry, and knew she had the supplies to make it. Feeling better, she was able to concentrate on her paperwork, getting everything ready for the end of the year taxes coming up.
Around mid-morning on Sunday,Naomi opened the door to Clark, and sighed in relief that he was there. She took in his appearance and liked what she saw.
“Thank you for coming early. I’m so nervous.”
“You have nothing to be nervous about.”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Tell me,” Clark said as he stood from removing his shoes, and squatted down to take both her hands in his. “Why are you so nervous?”
“I think I should reveal everything.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“My legs, and the tests I had done. I have never told anyone here on this ranch my story. But everyone saw what was on the internet.”
“Ah, so now you have to get into the nitty gritty of what happened, and we’re going to reveal what we’ve learned. Do you really think you should tell them about the tests and doctor appointments?”
“Yes.”
“Give me one good reason why.”
“What if I hit my knee again, and feel it? What if I fall out of my chair and cry out? Last night it was hell trying to fall asleep.”
“Why?”
“The ants are back.” She kept her answer short, and then sighed when she saw his confusion.
“Come again?”
“Remember? I told you it felt like ants were crawling all over the bottom of my feet.”
“Ah, now I do.”
“I also think with the full-disclosure for what Clem told us, then I should also do the same for the doctor.”
“Okay, I’ll let you call the shots, but I want you to know that I will be there with you every step of the way. No matter what you have to go through. Before everyone gets here, can I ask you one question?”
“What’s that?”
“Did you ever have an operation on your spine because of your injury?”
“No. The doctors said there was nothing they could do, so they didn’t even try.”
“Okay, one more question.”
“Shoot.” She wheeled herself over to the counter and plugged in the large coffee pot that Reid had brought over that morning from Erin’s house. It was the one they used when they all got together. It saved a lot of time brewing forty cups at a time, rather than the regular smaller one. She turned to him when he didn’t say anything. “Clark? What is it?”
“I know this might be out there, but what if your doctor lied to you? Not this new doctor, but the one back when the accident happened. What if, somehow, your father paid that man off to tell you that you were paralyzed for life? What if that was part of his scheme all along to make you helpless and at his mercy?”
“But then I left the ranch after I got out of the hospital, and didn’t tell him where I was going, so he had to resort to the life insurance policy. I can see Benson doing that. Let’s look at the date the policy was filled out.” She got out the papers and they quickly went through them.
“Six months ago, when Clem said he started looking for me.”
“How would you feel about calling the ranch to talk to the foreman?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because for one, Grandpa and Benson got in a gigantic fight.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Because Grandpa found a bug in the phone. Benson admitted putting it there, because he wanted to listen into the conversation Grandpa had with his banker. Benson whined that he didn’t know how much money his father had. Grandpa told him it wasn’t any of his business. After that, Grandpa went out and got some equipment he would use to scan the entire house for bugs.”
“Damn, and we don’t know if he’s done it again.”
“Correct, our only contact with the Double A would have been Clem.”
The two of them stayed in the kitchen, both deep in thought until Clark shook his head. “We’ll figure this out. Do you have a grill?”
“No, but Adele has one. Why?”
“And Adele is dating Perry, correct?”
“Correct. Why do you need a grill?”
“Reid and I were thinking that it’s in the fifties today, and that’s unusual for the beginning of December. Why not grill some steaks?” He shook his head and held up his hand when she went to say something. “Erin got a call yesterday that she can pick up the meat from the butcher on Wednesday. She cleaned out her freezer to make room for the new batch. I suggested she let the old steaks thaw for today.”
“Wow, she didn’t have to do that, but that was nice of her. Do you want me to call Perry?”
“Let me, if you don’t mind. Wait, which house does he and Adele live in?”
“Last one on the right.”
“Okay, I’ll drive down there and ask. I would love to have one of Perry’s steaks.”
She laughed and rubbed her stomach. “He does cook a mean steak.” At his look, she explained how Adele had thrown a BBQ on his second day there. After he left, Naomi made sure she had enough cups and silverware for at least twenty people. Not that that many people would be there, but it was better to have too much, than not enough. Thirty minutes later, she looked up when Clark walked in with Perry close behind. She watched as Perry immediately started doctoring the steaks, and Clark got the grill going. Twenty minutes later, everyone started showing up for the pot-luck dinner. At one point, Naomi had to wheel herself off to the side to get out of the way as everyone took over her kitchen. She didn’t mind it one bit.
They spent the next three hours enjoying the meal, talking, laughing, and drinking coffee with their dessert. The men cleaned up the dishes, and as they settled back down, Naomi put the file on the table and there was a knock at the door. Clark frowned and went to answer it. He stood there and shook his head, then stepped back and in walked five people.
Naomi recognized Jake, Sparrow, and Stone, but not the other woman, and another man.
“Welcome,” Naomi said, and everyone hurried around to get them chairs and coffee, but Clark told her to stay parked at the head of the table, and he waited on them. The newcomers turned down the offer of dessert, but readily accepted the cups of coffee.
“Have you started yet?” Jake asked.
“No, who do you have with you? I know Sparrow, Rucker, and Stone.”
“This is my wife, RJ.” Jake introduced the woman beside him to the people who didn’t already know her.
Introductions were made, and then Sparrow spoke. “You all know I’m a deputy sheriff, but this part of Riceman ranch isn’t in my jurisdiction. After we met with you earlier last week, I reached out to a detective in your jurisdiction. He’s here to let you know who to contact if anything happens.”
“I’m Detective Brick May. I work white-collar crimes out of this jurisdiction.”
“What’s going on?” Erin asked in dismay as she looked around, and saw that only the five new people, Naomi, and Clark were the only ones without any confused looks on their faces.
Naomi drew in a deep breath, and let it out in a rush. She looked around the table, and breathed easier when Clark took her suddenly cold hand in his. “It’s time I tell you my story.”
Clark laid his hand over hers, and when she looked at him, he shook his head. “No, tell them about the other stuff first, then we can get into this.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
As the two of them talked, they didn’t notice that the men and women from the Broken Wheel exchanged grins with one another at how the couple interacted. Pru was the one with the widest grin.
“Tell us what?” Erin asked quietly.
Naomi looked at Clark for reassurance, and when he nodded, she gripped his hand tightly and looked at the others. “For the last couple of weeks, I have been experiencing some weird things. The first time it happened was the morning of Clark’s arrival.”
“What happened?” Pru asked as she leaned forward, and took Naomi’s free hand in hers.
“I wheeled away from my desk, and I didn’t get far enough away when I swung my chair around. I hit my knee on the side of the desk and I have a gigantic bruise. If I push on it, I feel pain.” She shook her head sadly when she looked at all her friends. “I think it all started when Miller knocked me out of my chair when they tried to take over Broken.”
“Really?” several of the women asked in excitement and leaned forward.
“Yes, but on Wednesday, I came home from work, made the dessert for Thanksgiving, and went to shower. I fell getting out of the shower and lost consciousness for several hours.”
“You didn’t call the hospital?” Detective May asked in shock.
“No, on the way to the main ranch house with Pru driving, I kept that dessert on my lap. It’s a five-mile drive. By the time we arrived, I felt the coldness from that dish on my lap.” Naomi drew in a deep breath and let it out in a rush. She refused to look at anyone, as she finished quickly, “I did contact the doctor, and they asked me to go in for more tests. Clark went with me this past week to have them. I got a call a few days ago that she wants me to come in after work on Monday.”
“There’s one more thing,” Clark said as he held her hand firmly. He looked at the others and nodded once. “She’s experiencing the sensation of ants crawling all over her feet.”
“Holy shit,” Reid said as he sat up straighter. “Are you saying that you might get the use of your legs back?”
“I don’t know if I’d go that far, but I thought because of why I asked you here, you needed to know what was going on with me.”
“What exactly is going on?” Denver asked.
Naomi looked at Clark, and at his nod, she looked around the table at everyone and nodded once.
“I have a bounty on my head.” She sat back and let her words register with the others, and waited for the bomb to go off. She didn’t have long to wait before the men started throwing out ideas. It was Jake that reined them in.