Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
“Stop!” Sully barked at the man named Rod Vaughn.
“Stay out of it,” the guy sneered at Sully.
“I don’t think so.” Dropping the reins to Storm, Sully walked toward Charley.
“I said let’s go, baby,” Vaughn insisted agitatedly. The way in which he was leaning over Charley, blocked her from getting up unless she took his hand.
“And I said leave me alone,” Charley repeated.
“Back off,” Sully barked, and watched Vaughn’s eyes shift from Charley to him as he reached them. Sully warned, “Do it or I’ll make you do it.”
Vaughn backed up a few paces and Sully was about to extend his hand to Charley, but she hopped up on her own. Sully understood why Vaughn wanted this gorgeous woman as his girlfriend. But damn, this was not the way to go about it.
Charlotte, or Charley, could run for Miss Universe and win by a landslide vote.
An October breeze, known as a Chinook wind, ruffled stray tendrils of the long, loose braid down her slender back.
Chocolate brown, her hair was glossy and made an attractive contrast against her daffodil yellow sweater.
She quickly brushed off the left knee of her yellow and brown leopard-print pants.
When she looked up, her royal-blue eyes instantly narrowed, and her dainty hands clenched into fists.
“Really Rod?” Charley asked, shaking her head. Sully followed her gaze to the pistol in Vaughn’s hand. “After what happened, you should know I detest guns. How could you?”
“It’s not pointed at you, Charley. It’s pointed at him,” Vaughn said. “We are out here in the country all alone and we don’t know this stranger. We need to leave together.”
“There is no we, Rod!” Charley spat.
“This guy could be the Cave Killer!” Rod shouted at her with a glare at Sully.
A month ago, Sully had read an account in the Colorado Springs Gazette about a young woman found strangled in Old Colorado City, a neighborhood within Colorado Springs.
Details were sketchy, but her body had been discovered in a cave-like, underground tunnel.
The local news had immediately dubbed the strangler as the Cave Killer.
As for Vaughn’s story, Sully didn’t know what it was, and he didn’t care. He took two steps forward, and as Vaughn focused on Charley, Sully grabbed the gun out of his hand. Vaughn’s mouth fell open, and he backed up several steps toward his car.
“If you ever pull a gun on me again, you’re a dead man,” Sully growled, holding the gun. “You got that?”
“You-you don’t know what Charley’s been through,” Vaughn stammered, raising his hands in the air. “I’m just trying to protect her. That’s all.”
“Not another word, Rod,” Charley told him.
“Yeah, well, he’s got a gun too,” Vaughn said with a dramatic nod, indicating the Ruger Redhawk .44 Magnum revolver holstered on Sully’s belt.
“Yeah, well,” Charley mimicked Vaughn. She was tough and sassy. Sully liked that about her. “He’s not pointing it at anyone.”
“Put your hands down, Vaughn,” Sully said with disgust as he looked at the older model gun he’d taken from him.
“This little gun can kill but there’s a problem, pal.
” Checking the magazine, Sully found it one bullet short of a full load.
He aimed the gun, but not in the air, because if and when a bullet landed it could potentially do damage he didn’t intend.
Pulling the trigger, the .38 caliber gun did not fire.
“This discontinued gun only works when it wants to. Typically needs cleaned after every firing. So, you’d better be a damn good shot or upgrade to a better gun.
” Putting the safety on, which it hadn’t been, he tossed the weapon back to Vaughn.
“Hey!” Vaughn yelped in surprise and juggled the gun in the air like a hot potato before fumbling it to the point he dropped it on the ground.
“Hay is for horses, right Captain?” Cash Cooper, owner of Triple C Ranch-East said as he rode up on his red dun stallion named Captain.
“Hi, Sully.” Tipping his dark brown cowboy hat to Charley, as Sully had earlier, Cash said with a smile, “Hi there, Charley Cooper.” Looking back to Sully with a frown at Vaughn, who was picking up his gun, Cash asked, “Who’s the tenderfoot? ”
“Don’t know him,” Sully muttered.
“Cash Cooper, this is Rod Vaughn. Rod was just leaving,” Charley said and slashed her finger, indicating Rod should get in his car. “Goodbye, Rod.”
Sully didn’t care for Vaughn one bit, and gut instinct said Charley had not heard the last of the guy.
What he did appreciate was Charley’s stand-up-for-herself-independent attitude.
Had Cash just referred to her as Charley Cooper?
If so, that explained a lot. And at the same time, not much at all.
Sully had grown up alongside the Triple C Ranches, attended most of the annual family barbecues, and thought he knew all the Coopers.
Cash dismounted his horse and jerked his thumb at Vaughn in a silent gesture for him to hit the road.
Outnumbered three to one, Vaughn didn’t utter another word.
He yanked open the driver’s side door of the Mercedes, started the engine, and slammed his car in reverse, out to the main road as discourteously as he’d entered the property.
Sully caught Cash’s eye and with a scowl, shook his head.
“Hi, Cash.” Charley returned his greeting with a smile and then said to Sully, “I’m sorry for the terrible first impression.”
“Actually, you made a really good first impression,” Sully said. “I’m always impressed by a woman who stands up for herself.”
“Thank you, Sully,” Charley said softly with a self-conscious shrug.
“Me too,” Cash agreed with Sully and chuckled. “As for first impressions, my adoring wife, Tracy, almost ran over me the first time we met.”
When Charley laughed, it was a lighthearted giggle and broke the tension. “I’d enjoy hearing that story, Cash.”
“Let’s take a quick look around the cabin and then go meet Tracy for supper at Coopers’ Lodge and she can tell you,” Cash replied. “Sully, you hungry?”
“Yes. Sundown means suppertime’s a comin’. At least it does this time of year when it gets dark early. I was cutting across Triple C-South to go eat at the Lodge when I met up with Charley,” Sully told Cash with a nod at Charley.
“Great,” Cash said, taking a key out of his pocket. After tethering Captain to the hitching post, Cash walked onto the porch and motioned to them.
“I haven’t been inside this cabin in years,” Sully commented and tethered Storm.
“We used to camp out here with my older brother, Chase, when we were kids,” Cash told Charley. “Sometimes Uncle Clarence would sneak over here and try to scare us.”
Sully chuckled at the memory. “And catch us sneaking a beer. But he never told my dad.”
“He didn’t tell ours either.” Cash swung open the door, letting Charley enter first.
“I really regret not having the opportunity to know him,” Charley said. “Clarence Cooper sounds like a great guy.”
“He was the best,” Cash said.
“Yes, he was,” Sully agreed. “My dad always speaks well of him.”
“Sully’s dad is a great guy too,” Cash said.
“Our families always voted for Owen Custis for El Paso County Sheriff back in the day. My parents knew Sully’s parents.
Anyway, Owen was a busy man when we were kids.
But we had the pleasure of personally working with him when he intervened a few years ago on Derek and Chloe’s behalf concerning their son Cooper. ”
“But Cooper is okay?” Charley asked.
With a nod, Cash replied, “A story for another day.” Then looking around, he said, “This cabin was a pet project of Uncle Clarence’s. I always suspected he’d built it with someone special in mind.” With a shrug, Cash continued, “The custom-made front door was his finishing touch.”
“The Rocky Mountain Columbine was my mom’s favorite flower,” Charley repeated.
“Maybe my uncle knew that,” Cash commented with a smile.
“Last week I had one of our employees from the Lodge give the cabin a top-to-bottom cleaning.” Cash stepped into the high-ceilinged combination living room and dining room after Sully and then pointed.
“Charley, the kitchen appliances, countertop, and big farm sink are kind of retro, but also hardly having been used, they’re like new. ”
“This cabin is beautiful, Cash. I looked through the windows earlier,” Charley said. “It’s a lot more modern and much larger than I expected. I spied a nice shower in the bathroom.”
“Are you guys selling this place?” Sully asked.
“We never felt like this property belonged to us, but that’s up to Charley now.” Cash said and looked at her. “As property lines go, Sully is your neighbor, Charley.”
“Yes, so he said.” Charley squared her shoulders, raised her chin, and explained to Sully, “The man you all knew as Uncle Clarence was my father.”
“Really?” Sully asked, looking from Charley to Cash. “I didn’t know he had any kids.”
“Uncle Clarence didn’t know either. So, none of us knew,” Cash said. “Until the headlines clued us in last month.”
Sully thought for a minute and realized why Charley’s name rang a bell. “The Charlotte Fleming murder?”