Chapter Ten
Clancy stood at the edge of the barn door, trying to catch her breath.
She’d heard everything. Tanner was going to tell his father.
She listened to Dub trying to reason with his brother.
Dub had trusted her, believed in her. His father had given her a ride, brought her to the ranch, saved her from what could have happened to her that stormy night. He’d taken her in when she needed help.
But once he found out about Esther’s murder and her alleged involvement… She couldn’t bear to think of how deceived he and Dub would feel. She’d lied by omission to them all and now couldn’t bear to face them.
She had to get out of here, but how, she thought as she dropped the shovel she’d been working with and ran back deeper into the dark barn.
She heard one of the horses snort from inside its stall.
She’d ridden horses before, but was she really going to take one of their horses?
Being a thief couldn’t be worse than being a killer, right?
What choice did she have? She had to leave. Now! She had known that Max had put out a BOLO on her and that every cop in the state had been looking for her. She felt sick at the thought of how many people would believe she was a murderer, especially in the Crawford ranch family.
Worse, they would think she was guilty because she’d run. She realized she’d been running her whole life, trying to find where she belonged.
Not here, she told herself as she wiped her eyes and headed for the tack room.
* * *
DUB WATCHED HIS brother drive off, knowing that Tanner couldn’t wait to tell their father in person so he could see his shock. If there was one thing his brother loved more than anything, it was being proven right.
Except Dub refused to believe Clancy was a killer. She was lost, there was no doubt about that, and now he knew what she was running from. But he’d seen how vulnerable she was and believed in his heart that she just needed saving.
He turned back to the barn, anxious to hear Clancy’s side of the story. But as he entered the barn, he saw the shovel on the floor near the doorway where she’d dropped it. Had she overheard him arguing with Tanner?
“Clancy?” He swore as he called her name again, only to hear nothing but silence. She wasn’t fool enough to take off on her own on foot, was she?
As he moved through the barn, he thought he heard a rustling sound. Nearing the tack room, he found her pulling down his mother’s saddle, her back to him. He stopped in the doorway.
“Taking a horse isn’t a bad idea,” he said. “I’m assuming you know how to ride, but I’m afraid you wouldn’t get far.”
She swung around, startled. Her brown eyes were wide and full of tears. She looked scared, but also heartbroken. She’d clearly heard what Tanner had said. She met his gaze, holding it with her watery one. “I didn’t kill anyone. I swear.”
“Good,” he said. “You’ll have plenty of time to tell me all about it. But right now, we need to get out of here before Tanner and my father return.”
She stared at him, clearly surprised he hadn’t come to detain her until the law could arrive. “I thought we couldn’t leave with the bridge out?”
“Oh, there’s ways to leave the ranch other than the main road,” Dub said with a grin.
“They’re a little rough, but you forget, I grew up here.
How do you think I used to sneak off the ranch without anyone being the wiser in my wild youth?
I can get us away from here to somewhere safe.
If you trust me and you don’t mind a very bumpy kind of ride. ”
* * *
WHAT OTHER OPTION did she have, Clancy thought. But in truth, she did trust him, although she couldn’t bear dragging him into all this. “Are you sure about helping me?”
“You mean am I sure about throwing in with a murder suspect?” His grin broadened. “I’m a pretty good judge of character. I’ll take my chances with you. You willing to take your chances with a cowboy like me?”
Dub was offering to help her without knowing what he was getting into. She met his eyes and nodded as she felt warmth fill her heart to overflowing. She’d take a chance with this cowboy any day, she thought as she saw him grin.
“Then let’s get moving,” Dub said. “I don’t think you want to wait until my father and Tanner come back, right?”
The last thing she wanted was to stay here and see the disappointment and anger on John Crawford’s face. She’d already heard Tanner’s anger. But she hesitated. “I don’t want you getting in trouble with your family.”
He chuckled at that. “Right, I’ve never been before. Don’t worry about me. Let’s go retrieve your belongings from the house and hit the road.”
Hot tears filled her eyes. “I hope you’re not making a mistake helping me.”
“So do I,” he said. “So do I.” But he was still grinning.
It didn’t take her long to get her backpack. Dub watched her from the doorway. “Why are you helping me?” When he didn’t answer, she turned to look at him.
“I don’t believe that I’ve made any secret about that,” he said. “There was something about you from the first time I saw you. Nothing’s changed and nothing will.”
“What if you’re wrong?”
“About you?” He shook his head. “Hand me your backpack. I’ll carry it.”
She handed it over, thinking for a moment that he might want to search it to make sure she hadn’t stolen their silverware.
But he only put a strap over one shoulder and led her out of the house to his pickup.
Opening the passenger-side door for her, he handed her the backpack and walked around to get behind the wheel.
“It’s going to be quite the ride, so you’d better buckle up, buttercup,” he said before he started the engine.
They drove out past the barn, heading in the opposite direction Tanner had gone.
“You were going to Billings because your life had been dull and uninteresting, right?” She hadn’t said that, but it was true.
“Well, I’d say all that has changed, wouldn’t you? ”
They were soon driving into the mountains behind the ranch. She watched him, especially his hands on the wheel. Strong hands, she thought. Capable hands. She shivered at the growing desire this cowboy made her feel. “Aren’t you going to ask me about it?”
Dub glanced over at her as they took a road that looked more like a trail. When it got too muddy, he drove through the grass and sagebrush next to it, forcing her to hang on as it got more than a little bumpy. “You ready to tell me?”
She was. But where to begin? She thought about what Tanner was telling his father right now and felt sick.
“Dad won’t believe what Tanner’s telling him,” Dub said as if reading her mind. Or was it her worry he was reading? He shot a look at her. “Dad likes you too. Don’t pay any attention to Tanner. We don’t.”
“What he said about the sheriff looking for me, it’s true. But I didn’t kill Esther.”
“Who’s Esther?”
Clancy took a breath, knowing she had to start at the beginning for him to make any sense out of it.
“Esther is the meanest woman who ever lived.” He chuckled at that.
“I’m not kidding.” She proceeded to tell him all of it up until she threatened to come back that night and get her money one way or another.
He glanced at her for the first time during her story with worry in his expression, before quickly going back to his driving. “You went back that night.”
She felt tears burn her eyes. “I’ve regretted it ever since.
But I never saw Esther. When I went to her door, I heard voices and realized someone was inside with her.
I knew I could wait until whoever it was left and try again to get my money, but by then, I regretted sneaking back into the rest home. I left shortly after that.”
“So why are the cops looking for you?”
“Because of the argument I had with her and my threat to return and get my money one way or the other.”
“So no one saw you?”
“One of the residents, Jane Cooke, saw me. But I knew she wouldn’t tell. This morning at breakfast I heard that Jane’s been murdered.”
Dub looked startled. “Whoa. They can’t blame you for that one. You were here on the ranch.”
“I think whoever killed Esther saw her that night in the hallway, and that’s why she’s dead.”
He drove in silence for a few minutes as the road seemed to get worse. If there was even a road, since the truck was bucking large sagebrush bushes.
She thought about what Sarah had said. “I know it sounds like I could have stayed in Grass Range, told the sheriff what I knew and not left the way I did. But something else happened. That night as I slipped back out of the building, I noticed the time on my watch. It was a quarter past midnight. When I looked back, I saw someone in shadow watching me from Esther’s apartment window.
I thought it was her, but the morning after the murder, I heard from a friend that Esther was killed before midnight. ”
He slowed the pickup to stare at her. “When you heard voices outside Esther’s door, the killer was already in her apartment?”
“I think so. It could explain why Jane is now dead. But also why I ran. The killer saw me that night. I didn’t get a good enough look to identify the person I saw in the window watching me leave, but the killer might not know that.”
“You think the killer is after you now.” Dub sped up again, looking thoughtful. “You think the killer recognized you?”
“Grass Range is so small, it’s more like a wide spot along the highway. Even if the person didn’t recognize me, all he would have to do is ask around and someone would tell him where he could find me.”
Dub swore.
“You believe me,” she said, her voice cracking.
“Of course I do.” He seemed surprised that she would even question it.
“But you don’t know me.”
He glanced over at her. “I know you. I felt I knew you the first time I saw you. More importantly, I trust you.”
She had to swallow the lump in her throat. “I know it looks suspicious, me leaving Grass Range the way I did. But it’s also why I left my car beside the road and took off walking in the rain, hoping to catch a ride to get as far away as I could.”
He nodded, concentrating on his driving, before he said, “I hate to think what could have happened to you if my dad hadn’t picked you up. The killer could have been in the very next vehicle that came down the highway to offer you a ride.”
She shuddered, knowing how lucky she’d been and not just with John Crawford.
Now here she was with his son. John had saved her life that night and now his son was trying to help her as well.
“I’m sure the sheriff thinks I know something about the murders.
But I don’t. The killer has nothing to fear from me. ”
Dub was silent for a moment before he said, “Unfortunately, the killer doesn’t know that.”