Chapter 6 A Child’s Prayer
Daybreak
“There’s no cell phone service out here.” Halle walked around the site where Rex had manually landed the crop duster. She held her cell phone high above her head. “I’m getting no bars whatsoever.”
“Neither am I.” Owen had a bad feeling about it. They’d been waving their phones around for several minutes. “I know it’s a long shot to ask this, but do you know if this part of the farm has always been a dead spot for cell service? Or, is this something new?”
She shook her head. “Honestly? I’ve never tried to make a call this far away from the house.” The only reason they were doing it now was to determine what had interfered with the crop duster’s navigational system yesterday.
She moved his way, lowering her voice. “Do you believe Rex’s story about the controls glitching out on him?”
Owen had been asking himself the same question all morning. “I don’t have any reason not to.”
“That’s not a yes.” She scanned his features worriedly. Her high cheekbones and the curve of her chin remained in the shadows. Dawn was but a distant glow on the horizon. The boys were still asleep, but Owen had a monitor resting on the nightstand between their beds.
“It would be easy for me to give him the stink eye since your ex hired him.” He drank in her loveliness, understanding why Rex’s connection to James bothered her so much.
“But the easiest answer isn’t always the right answer.
” Someone like James House would’ve only been concerned about the bottom line.
If he’d determined he could squeeze more profit out of Garrett Farm by hiring an extra farmhand to plant and harvest the crops, then that’s what he would’ve done. It was one theory, at least.
“I like Rex Turner. I really do.” Halle spread her hands. “How could I not? He’s extremely likable, but he’s also way overqualified to be a farmhand. Doesn’t that bother you?”
“He has his reasons.” Owen gazed deeply into her eyes. “Reasons that passed the litmus test.” There were worse things than having an overqualified farmhand on staff. “I’m more inclined to give him a raise than to gripe about his qualifications.”
Her expression softened. “You always see the best in people, don’t you?”
He reached for her hand to tangle their fingers together. “I see the best in the best people.”
“What if someone’s watching us?” she whispered.
“Then they’ll see a chicken farmer kissing his girlfriend.” He brushed his mouth lingeringly against hers, adoring the breathy sound she made. She was so genuine. So responsive. So right for him.
“They might assume they’re watching a chicken farmer kissing his nanny, and that’s how juicy rumors get started.” She drew back, looking a little dazed beneath the golden glow of dawn. Streaks of light burst over the horizon, making the morning brighter with each passing second.
“That, too.” He kissed her again, reveling in the joy of sharing the sunrise with her.
“When people find out about our relationship, they may talk,” she insisted shyly. “Gossip travels quickly in such a small town.”
“Let them talk.” He wasn’t doing anything he was ashamed of.
She touched his cheek. “I’m glad it doesn’t bother you. I’m trying not to let it bother me, but it’s different for me since I grew up around these people.”
He turned his head to kiss her fingers. “Nope, it doesn’t bother me at all.” Neither of them had laid the L word on each other yet, but he was enjoying every second of working their way up to it.
An all-too familiar whirring sound overhead had them tipping their heads back to gaze upward.
The black circular drone they’d seen the day before was back, moving in a zigzagging pattern down the fence line. At one point, it dipped lower—almost low enough to clip one of the fence posts.
“New theory.” Halle’s gaze narrowed on the low-flying drove. “Drones have video recording capabilities, and still shots can be extracted from videos. Maybe your extra bubbly neighbor—”
“Hey, Owen! Hey, Halle!” Brooke Aspen’s singsong voice broke through the stillness of the morning and carried their way.
Owen kept his fingers laced around Halle’s as he pivoted with her to face his next-door neighbor. “How’s it going, Brooke?”
“Not too well.” She was standing on the other side of the fence, jimmying with the remote control clutched in her well-manicured hands.
Her fingernails were painted a bright shade of pink that matched the pantsuit she had on.
Her wavy blonde hair wasn’t moving much in the breeze, which told him it was loaded with hairspray.
She shoved a handful of it behind one ear and jimmied some more with the remote control. “Some nerdy guy at the electronics store talked me into buying this piece of junk. It was supposed to help me locate any fence damage that would explain how my cattle keep getting out.”
It was the first time Owen had heard anything about her cattle escaping.
They certainly hadn’t wandered onto his property.
“I’m sorry to hear about your herd getting out.
” He eyed the long aerial wire jiggling in the breeze above the remote control.
“Do you want me to take a look at it for you?” A close-up examination of the controls to her drone would help him rule her out as a suspect in his investigation.
“Thanks for the offer, but I’d rather keep plugging away at it.” She shook the controller in exasperation. “If it’s too complicated for me to figure out on my own, then I’ll return it.”
Owen glanced down the fence line to follow the progress of her drone, but it had flown out of view.
She groaned and dropped her hand to her side, still gripping the controller. “I think I crashed it. With my luck, I’ll be returning it to the store in pieces.”
Owen changed the subject. “Thanks again for all the pie you’ve sent over.” She’d made his family so many pies that he couldn’t help wondering if she was only doing it to be nosy. Her gifts gave her an excuse to knock on his front door and invite herself inside.
“My boys are suckers for sweets. All of them,” he confessed with a grimace. Himself, not so much. He was more of a beef jerky kind of guy.
Her expression brightened. “I’m really glad you’re enjoying the pie.” Her gaze danced curiously over his and Halle’s joined hands. “All four of you, I hope?”
“Yes, thank you!” To his relief, Halle jumped into the conversation and bailed him out with some small talk.
He took the opportunity to pull out the burner phone he used for situations like these.
Using his thumb, he typed the number of the person who’d been impersonating Jensen Carter.
Fortunately, it was an easy number to remember.
Then he mashed the call button and watched for any reaction from his neighbor.
Instead of the ringtone he was listening for, his ears picked up on a buzzing sound. Brooke’s hand flew to her pocket, briefly cupping it. She just as quickly dropped her hand, but not before he glimpsed the outline of something rectangular inside her pocket.
Gotcha! He disconnected the call and tucked the burner phone back into his pocket, not the least bit thrilled about identifying Jensen’s imposter.
Brooke had been inside their home, for crying out loud.
She’d visited with Halle and spoken to his kids during his absence.
That she was the sender of the threatening messages to Halle begged another set of questions.
What was her connection to James House? Was she the one trying to engineer a reconciliation between him and Halle? Was she the other buyer who’d wanted to purchase Garrett Farm? If so, why?
It wasn’t until Halle squeezed Owen’s hand that he realized how tightly he’d been holding onto hers. He immediately eased up on the pressure. “We need to head back to the house, but it was nice running into you, Brooke.” It was time to wake up the boys and get them ready for church.
“It was nice running into you, too.” Brooke’s million-dollar smile was one hundred percent fake.
As Owen strolled with Halle toward the farmhouse, he couldn’t help wondering if Brooke’s drone had captured a video of their second kiss.
“What’s going on with you?” Halle hissed as they neared the front porch.
Nothing you’re going to want to hear. “Brooke is Jensen’s imposter.”
“Are you serious?” Halle spun around to face him on the porch steps, halting his progress toward the front door. “What brought you to that conclusion?”
He filled her in about what had happened when he’d dialed the imposter’s number from his burner phone.
A sound of disbelief slid out of her. “I didn’t even notice you were doing it.”
He reached up to tap the tip of her nose. “That’s the whole idea.”
“So, Brooke Aspen is the evil villain.” She shook her head in confusion.
“One of them.” He doubted Brooke was working alone.
“She’s never been my favorite person,” Halle admitted, “but I would never have pegged her for something like this. I just assumed she was drowning us in pie to impress you.”
He gave her an incredulous look. “Romantically?”
“Well, why not? She’s single and beautiful.” Halle didn’t sound too happy about it.
“So are you.” He hooked an arm around her, cuddling her close. “A lot more beautiful, if you ask me. I’ve always had a thing for brunettes with windblown ponytails.”
“Haha!” She didn’t look convinced.
“Okay. Fine.” He nuzzled her temple. “There’s only one woman on my radar. You.”
She smiled and hugged him. “Good, because I might be falling for a certain auburn-haired chicken farmer.”
“Might be?” He waggled his eyebrows at her, trying to look outraged.
She chuckled and amended her claim. “I might be falling really hard for the guy.”
“Better.” He nipped playfully at her lips.
“Owen,” she sighed.
It was a sound that went straight to his heart. He never wanted the moment to end, but he needed to get to his office and make a few calls before heading to church. What he’d found out about Brooke was too important to sit on until Monday morning.