Chapter Twenty
Cordell wiped sweat off his face as he heard his name being called. He turned, hoping it was Josie, only to find her sister, Amy Sue, peering up at him on the scaffolding where he was standing. There was a man next to her all decked out in black leather.
“I want you to meet someone,” Amy Sue said, smiling broadly. She looked excited. In fact, Cordell realized he’d never seen her this excited.
Grabbing his T-shirt from where he’d discarded it on the rail of the scaffolding, he pulled it on, then swung down to the sidewalk.
“Nice bike,” Cordell said, nodding to the motorcycle parked in front of the café. He’d heard it roar into town, but he’d been too busy to pay much attention. Now, though, he was curious.
“Thanks, it’s actually a friend’s. I’m buying it from him.”
“This is Shane Wagner,” Amy Sue said with a proprietary sound in her voice.
Cordell wiped his hands on a rag next to his paint can and shook the biker’s hand. “Cordell Lander.” He saw the name recognition in Shane Wagner’s eyes for a moment. “Have we met before?”
“I don’t think so,” the man said quickly, looking over at Amy Sue and smiling at her. “I’ve never been to Montana before. Amy Sue must have mentioned you.”
“It’s a huge state with a lot to see,” Cordell said. “Are you here on vacation?”
Shane shook his head. “Not really. I’m thinking I would love to make Dry Gulch my home for some time to come,” he said, not taking his eyes off Amy Sue.
“That’s why we wanted to talk to you,” she said quickly. “Shane is looking for a job. I told him that you were going to be opening the hotel and might need some help.”
Cordell studied the man. “You ever do any painting, carpentry? I also need help hauling a lot of the old stuff to the dump that I won’t be able to use. You have a good strong back?”
Shane chuckled. “I can paint, handle a hammer well enough and I’m strong.” He did look strong, as if he worked out on weights.
“I’d ask what brings you to Dry Gulch, but I think I know.” He saw Amy Sue’s cheeks redden and wondered how these two had met. “I could use the help if you’re interested.”
“I’m definitely interested,” Shane said, his gaze on Amy Sue again.
“Great,” Cordell said, hoping this worked out for his sake and Amy Sue’s.
“You can start in the morning. I’m an early riser, so anytime after seven just come around to the back of the hotel and I’ll put you to work.
I probably don’t pay what you’re used to, though.
” He mentioned a sum and Shane seemed fine with it. “See you in the morning, then.”
As he climbed back up on the scaffold anxious to get back to work before his brush dried out, he couldn’t help wondering if Josie knew about her sister’s apparent boyfriend. Josie had been ignoring him since their dinner. Maybe he’d give her a call later and tell her about his new hire.
Josie thought about the times when she’d come home late as a teenager and found her grandmother waiting for her.
Nana would be sitting on the porch in the dark.
Josie remembered the first time she’d rushed up the steps thinking she could get inside before her grandmother caught her—and suddenly sensed her there in the dark waiting.
“You almost gave me a heart attack!” Josie had cried the first time.
“Oh, that is nothing compared to what I am going to give you, Miss Josie.”
Now, sitting on the porch, she knew what her grandmother had gone through. It was probably worse for Nana, though, because she had that second sight and knew before anyone else.
“That boy is going to break your heart,” her grandmother told her the first time she’d come home from spending the night at a friend’s.
She had started to correct the older woman. “I was at Goldie’s house. I don’t know what boy you’re talking about.” She’d been young enough that she hadn’t bought in to her grandmother’s ability to know things she couldn’t possibly know.
Nana had looked at her for a few moments. “Cordell is a sweet boy, but he’s not right for you. At least not right now. He’s going to hurt you, but one day you’ll get another chance. You’ll just have to decide if you can trust him with your heart again.”
“He won’t hurt me,” Josie had argued. “He loves me. Please don’t tell me I can’t keep seeing him.”
“I wouldn’t do that because it wouldn’t do any good and we both know it.
No,” her grandmother said. “You’re seeing Doc tomorrow.
I want you to know how to protect yourself other than your heart.
I can’t help you with that.” Nana had risen from the chair to pat Josie’s cheek.
“You’re going to be all right, Miss Josie.
Remember that and don’t close your heart off too much when he breaks it. ”
Josie wished her grandmother was here now. She would know what to say to Amy Sue. Nana had always worried about Josie’s little sister. Had she seen far into the future and known this was coming? What would she have done?
She heard the motorcycle long before she saw it. Her sister’s SUV came into view, the cycle some distance behind to avoid the dust. Josie wanted to sit here on the porch and be calm and controlled like her grandmother had always been, but it wasn’t her nature.
Josie rose and rushed down the steps, hoping to talk to her sister before the biker arrived. “Amy Sue, we have to talk before he gets here.”
Her sister looked startled, and Josie saw the walls go up. “I beg your pardon, Counselor?”
“How did you meet this man?”
Amy Sue looked away. “I don’t understand why you’re so upset. You’ve always said that I need to get out more, meet some nice man—”
“Some nice man, yes. Where is he from?”
“Who cares? All over.”
“No one is from all over. Where was he born?”
“Is that really relevant?” her sister demanded. “You haven’t even met him and you’re already sounding like an old mother hen. Shane is nice.”
“You’re avoiding my question,” Josie said, digging her heels in. “How did you meet him?”
“This is what I hate, when you go into lawyer mode. I’m not on the witness stand and I’m not going to let you treat me like I am. I’ve always known that you would be like this. It’s why I’ve never introduced you to anyone I dated.”
Josie tried to slow the frantic pounding of her heart. She wasn’t handling this well. She needed to calm down, go at this reasonably, or she was going to drive her sister even further into this man’s arms—and, ultimately, his control.
“He’s dangerous.”
Her sister’s eyes narrowed. “Have you been reading my letters?”
“Your letters?” The sound of the motorcycle grew louder. He would be here any moment. “What are you planning to do with him?”
“I don’t know yet, but in the meantime, he’s going to be staying over in the barn. I’m sorry if you have a problem with that.”
“You don’t know this man.”
Her sister shook her head. “I do and don’t you try to use that mumbo-jumbo voodoo stuff on me, I don’t want to hear it. If you don’t like him being here, you can stay at your office.”
He roared up in the yard and killed the engine on the motorcycle before dismounting and removing his helmet.
“And buy yourself a helmet,” Josie said before she came face-to-face with her worst nightmare.
* * *
“His name is Shane Wagner. He’s twenty-eight. He did eleven years of a fifteen-year stint in Florida State Prison in Raiford for manslaughter. Driving drunk, he hit a pedestrian and killed the man. Model prisoner.” Max looked up at Josie. “What else can I tell you?”
She’d caught him right before he was leaving work for the day and asked for his help.
“What’s his rap sheet like?” She saw from the sheriff’s expression that he didn’t want to say.
Josie had already done some digging on her own.
What she really wanted was for Max to be aware of the problem.
She didn’t expect him to be able to stop what was going to happen any more than Josie could herself.
“Fairly minor. Sounds like a troubled kid,” the sheriff said. “Arrests for breaking and entering, theft and several assaults, threats against bosses, couldn’t hold a job, that sort of thing. Why are you asking about him?”
Had Max really not heard? “Shane Wagner is Amy Sue’s boyfriend.
She’s been writing him while he was in prison and now he’s living over the barn out on the farm.
” It was just a matter of time before the man moved into the house with her sister.
“He’s done a number on her. I suppose she thinks she’s saving him. ”
“Are you talking about the biker who’s working for Cordell at the hotel?”
She nodded. “He’s bad news.”
Max studied her for a long moment. “I’m sure you tried to talk to your sister about him.” He nodded at the face she mugged. “Didn’t go well, huh?”
“I’ve never seen her more serious about anyone.”
“You know I can’t arrest him until he breaks the law. I checked like you asked. He’s not on parole. He’s out free and clear. But if you’re right about the man and since he’s only been out of prison for a short time, I wouldn’t be surprised if he went back pretty fast.”
“Doesn’t it bother you that he was at the same prison as Roger Grimes?”
The sheriff sat back in his chair. “What are you suggesting?”
Max hadn’t been the same since what had happened with Roger Grimes and the man Grimes had hired to try to terrorize his stepsons, Josie thought.
She blamed it on Max being wounded and almost dying.
Something like that could change a person.
She had to come to grips with the part she’d played and knew so had Cordell.
But the two of them were built differently from Max.
She wondered if it didn’t run deeper than Grimes, since Max had made no effort to get Goldie back into his life. In fact, from what Goldie had told her, it was just the opposite. For Max, their love affair was over.
“What if Shane knew Roger Grimes in prison, maybe got information from him, targeted my sister? Roger found out everything he needed to know about this town and the people in it through his pen pal Esther. Doesn’t it seem possible that Shane Wagner is doing the same thing?”
“For what purpose? Grimes was looking for Cordell and me. What connection does the biker have to Dry Gulch?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “Maybe only my sister.”
“Josie, that prison is huge. The chance the two men even crossed paths is rare,” Max said.
She shook her head, unable to put her fears into words. All she knew was that Shane Wagner was going to do something terrible that involved her sister. “The man scares me. He’s trouble and I’m afraid he’s going to hurt Amy Sue and not just break her heart.”
The sheriff sat forward, clearly anxious to go home and put the day behind him—Shane Wagner with it. “My hands are tied until he commits a crime.” He got to his feet. “Sorry. I can’t believe your sister would be interested in a guy like that. I’m sure it won’t last.”
“My sister has no idea what kind of man he is.”
“But you do,” Max said, eyeing her closely.
He let out a curse. “If she’s as enamored as you say, she won’t listen and I’m sure he’ll make excuses for his past behavior and swear he’s a changed man.
That’s how Roger Grimes convinced my mother that he was the answer to her prayers.
” He picked up his Stetson as he rose. “If I were to talk to him, I promise you, it would only make matters worse. Just try not to make it worse. Cordell and I told our mother what Roger was doing to us and she refused to believe it—right up until probably the moment he pushed her down the stairs and killed her.”
“Max, that makes me feel so much better,” Josie said sarcastically.