Above the Bridge (17 page)

His mind raced through these new pieces of information, trying to formulate a plan.  For whatever reason he had overlooked Frank’s inner motives before, he now had his eyes wide open.  If Frank truly had plans to double cross him, he wasn’t about to let him get away with it.

He was going to need a way to hide information from Frank now, but without it seeming suspicious.  If he could keep two searches going – one the actual track he was on and another, a false one, to report to Frank - that could work to throw him off.  And considering Frank was unaware that Jake suspected he was up to something, Jake was at an advantage, something he owed to Paige.

Thinking of this brought Paige to mind.  He’d noticed her even before the awkward run-in at the library.  She’d been at the Blue Sky Café one morning, sitting in the far corner with her morning coffee, or one of those trendy coffee drinks that were so popular now.  Writing in a journal of sorts, she hadn’t appeared to see him from across the room.  But a pretty, new girl in town was hard to miss. 

He’d looked away before she could notice and had made a point of not looking back again, even when he walked out the door.  Women were always trouble of one kind or another.  Even when she bumped into him at the library he’d resisted the urge to talk to her more, though the temptation to ask her out for coffee or perhaps even dinner had crossed his mind at the time.

Now that she was somehow connected to this whole situation, he was worried.  It might not be enough to just keep his distance.  She was clearly the determined sort, not the type to give up on anything easily.  He was going to have to keep an eye on her now, to make sure she didn’t cause problems with his plans.  In addition, he realized he was starting to feel concerned for her safety, as well as his own.  It didn’t sound like Frank and Maddie were aware she had overheard them talking, but if they found out she had, she could very well be in danger.  He was going to have to figure a way to keep her out of the middle of all this.  The only question was how.

He stepped out onto the front porch and looked up at the sky, watching the sun continue to rise.  Everything had suddenly become complicated.  Now he’d have to juggle different people’s motives.  He’d also need to devise a decoy story, which was going to take careful thinking and planning.  What was also clear was that he’d have to deal with Paige one way or another.  This he contemplated the longest, leaning against a post at the edge of the porch and thinking over his options.  In the end, he realized there was only one way to really keep an eye on her.  He was going to have to be around her more.  Against his will, a slow smile came to his face.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Frustrated from the conversation with Jake, Paige drove back to the cabin and parked the car, slamming the door a little too hard and letting the front door of the cabin bang a bit too harshly, as well.  She had done her best to offer Jake help, but if he wasn’t going to take it, there was nothing she could do.

She built a fire and settled down in front of it, surrounding herself with notes and research.  A hearty session of writing rarely failed to take her mind off a stressful situation.  As the flames warmed the small cabin, she began to relax.  After all, she hadn’t come to Jackson to get involved with all this.  Nor was she here to save townspeople from other townspeople.  If Jake was going to be stubborn about things, that really didn’t have to be her concern.  A feeling of relief accompanied these thoughts.  She could choose whether or not to be involved.  The logical choice was to stay clear.  

Pulling out her laptop, she worked in front of the fire, outlining a basic article.  Hours flew by as Paige wove area history and culture together into chronological order.  Relaxed from the process of writing undisturbed, she was more than a little startled to hear a knock on the door.  Certain it was Dan, she set the laptop aside, rose to her feet and walked across the cabin to answer the door.

To her surprise, she found Jake standing on the porch.  He appeared a little bashful, a look she begrudgingly had to admit was appealing.  Unable to hide the fact that she was surprised to see him, she returned the slight smile and simply waited for him to speak.

“I was on my way into town and saw your car in the driveway here,” he said, crossing his arms across his chest and rocking back on his heels.  “So I thought I ought to stop and thank you, however wrong you were, for trying to help me or warn me or whatever it was you were trying to do earlier.”

Feeling a chilly gust of wind blow in from the porch, Paige waved him inside, indicating her work area in front of the fire.  He accepted the offer and stepped into the cabin, nodding with approval at its quaint, inviting atmosphere.

“I have a fireplace at the ranch, but I always seem to forget to use it,” he sighed.  “Just not in the habit, I guess.”  He leaned forward and rubbed his hands together, absorbing the warmth of the flames.

Paige smiled softly.  “I love the fireplace here.  It’s one of the reasons I took the cabin.  I’d been staying at the Sweet Mountain Inn, but this was more remote and more conducive to writing.”  She pointed to the floor, an unspoken suggestion to sit down, which they both did.

“I take it you’re a writer, then,” Jake asked, taking a seat on the floor.

“I do features about small towns for a newspaper back east.  Local stories, that sort of thing,” Paige replied, “And sometimes a bit of investigative reporting.”

Jake laughed.  “I see,” he said.  “Then that explains a few things.”

“Such as?” Paige answered, hoping she was about to draw him into revealing some sort of information.

Again Jake laughed.  “Such as why you would come up with crazy notions about mysterious local situations.”  He watched as she rolled her eyes, looking half annoyed and half resigned to him holding back.  Though she still firmly believed that her hunches were correct, she was willing to play along.  If he wasn’t going to open up to her now, she couldn’t push it.  When the time was right, she’d be able to break through his façade.

Noticing the fire was almost out, Paige stood up to put more wood on the glowing embers.  As she moved, her hair swung casually across her shoulders, something Jake didn’t miss noticing.

“Wait, I have an idea,” he said quickly, causing her to stop before setting the wood in the fireplace.  “I was just on my way into town to get a bite to eat.  Why don’t you ride along with me?  We could get something easy.”  He watched for her reaction.

Paige found herself taken by surprise at this suggestion.  Everything she had seen from Jake so far had indicated that he was a loner.  It seemed odd that he was suddenly expressing an interest in having a meal together.  At the same time, however, she had to admit to feeling a little flutter of excitement.  She set the wood back in the stack to the side of the fireplace and used a poker to move the embers around into safe positions.  She told Jake his suggestion sounded like a great idea.

Already growing familiar with Wyoming, she grabbed her heavy rain jacket from a hook by the door.  There wasn’t any way to predict the weather from one hour to the next.  Besides, it was already cool and, once the sun set, the temperature would drop rapidly.  Taking a warm jacket was a good precaution.

The drive into town was relaxing, aside from an unspoken current that ran between them.  With Jake at the wheel, Paige was able to see more of the landscape than she had been able to on her solo trips into town. The open land reached out across the valley with a serenity that ended in the splash of the mountain backdrop, a river of soft, brown grasses and wildflowers that turned dramatically into steep slabs of granite.

Talking seemed to come easily.  Jake told stories of growing up in Cody, the land of Buffalo Bill.  He had helped his father raise cattle and had attended local schools.  He’d learned to ride horses at an early age and had even tried his hand at bronco riding.  It was a life very different from hers and she found it fascinating.

Paige responded with descriptions of New York City, which Jake found almost impossible to imagine.  Each story she told of crowded streets and skyscrapers, of taxis and the melting pot of different people, brought a look of amazement to his face.  It was so different from anything he had known.

“Well, I guess you’d never feel alone in a place like that,” he ventured, trying to imagine the hectic pace of life that she had described.

“Actually, I think many people there feel very lonely,” she responded, to his surprise.  “There’s an impersonal feeling to city life.  There are so many people that it seems we all get lost in the crowd.  I think I’ve felt more alone there than anywhere I’ve ever visited.”  She stopped and thought about this, only realizing how true it was as she described it.

They found a parking space easily once they entered town.  Jake locked the truck and the two walked along the wooden sidewalk, debating options for food.  Finally deciding on a small Mexican restaurant, they were soon seated beside a wall covered with brightly painted hibiscus.   A basket of chips quickly landed on the table, two cups of salsa alongside – one mild and one referred to by the server as “fire,” which Jake pushed to the far side of the table as he quickly shook his head at Paige in warning.

Without looking at a menu, Jake suggested fajitas for both of them, an idea Paige agreed to readily.  Layering sautéed chicken, fresh chopped lettuce, grilled onions, peppers and guacamole into soft, warm flour tortillas, they continued to exchange stories about their very different lives, keeping the conversation casual.

Over coffee and flan, however, Paige pushed a little more about the conversation she had overheard between Frank and Maddie the night before.

“Really,” Jake responded, almost too abruptly.  “I think this investigative reporting has gotten a hold on your imagination.”  Seeing Paige’s injured look, he continued on quickly in a softer tone. “What I mean is that it has to be hard to separate what is real from what isn’t.  That must be one of the challenges of your type of work.”

On this Paige had to agree.  On more than one occasion she had fallen into conflicting information and had to sort out the truth from distorted facts.  However, she felt certain that this wasn’t one of those times.  Jake was obviously not going to reveal anything to her readily, but at least he was making an effort to be friendly, which could work to her advantage.  She’d have to be patient, but she had a hunch that she’d get him to cave in.  In addition, though she hated to admit it, she felt drawn to him more and more.

Finishing up, Jake paid the bill and they started back towards the truck.  But as Jake started to pull his keys out to open the door for her, he suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her back into the doorway of a small shop.  Surprised at the sudden movement, she looked at him for an explanation.  Silently he held one finger up to his lips, while cupping his other hand over her mouth.  Confused, but trusting that he knew what he was doing, Paige nodded, allowing him to lower his hands and pull her farther back into the shadows.

Huddling motionless inside the recessed doorway, Paige could now hear footsteps approaching.  It sounded at first like those of one person, but as the sound came closer it became clear there were two people walking together.  Hushed voices accompanied the sound of the feet on the sidewalk and both sounds were growing closer.

Paige cast a nervous glance at Jake’s face, just inches away from hers.  She could feel his breath against her cheek and his arm holding her close to his side.  He returned the look with an unspoken message that they needed to stay silent.  She followed his advice, which turned out to be a wise decision.  Even before the people came into view, she recognized the voices as those of Frank and Maddie.

“Damn it, Maddie,” Frank said angrily.  “I wish you’d get off my case.  I know what I’m doing.”

“So you say, Lou” Maddie snapped back.

“Don’t call me that,” Frank threatened. “You’re gonna slip one of these days and screw up your own plan.  So far this is working just fine. No one knows about Frank’s unfortunate accident.”  His voice stabbed sarcastically at each syllable.

“Of course not,” Maddie whispered. “That was four states and five decades ago.  Besides, Aunt Ruby was too clever for that, which is more than I can say for you.  I’m paying you well, so you’d better make this work.”

“Look, the map was passed down directly from Ruby herself, at least that what you claim,” Frank hissed in a hushed tone.  “There’s no better source.  Now hold your horses and let Jake finish up.  Then we’ll take care of him.  And that little out of town trouble-maker, too…”

The voices faded away as the footsteps continued on down the street.  When they could no longer be heard, Jake motioned for Paige to stay in the shadows while he walked quickly to the truck and opened the door, signaling for Paige to climb in.  As she did, he ran to the other side and jumped into the driver’s seat.  Silently, they both stared straight ahead, neither one saying a word.   Finally, Jake spoke up.

“I guess maybe I’d better tell you what’s going on,” he said quietly.

Paige nodded her head in the dark, still shaking from the close call.

“Yeah,” she replied slowly.  “I think that would be a good idea.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The moon was three quarters full, and shining brightly through the truck window, when Paige and Jake reached the ranch.  They’d ruled out stopping at The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar.  Conversation there was too risky, as Paige had found out so recently.  Instead they decided on the privacy of Jake’s place.