And then she’d met Bobby.
He’d been undeniably good-looking, and if her reaction hadn’t been anywhere near as strong as what she’d felt the first time she saw Matt, she’d definitely felt a spark. Frankly, it had been a relief, because, yes, it was the first time in nearly a year that a man had affected her in any way. She’d clung to that feeling, so glad to be feeling anything at all. Bobby had been the opposite of Matt in many ways, outgoing and happy, and it had been nice to be around someone who didn’t remind her of him at all. It was only later that he’d changed. He’d been good to her, they’d had so much in common, and everything had seemed so easy between them. And when he’d asked her to marry him, she’d set aside her misgivings, telling herself she wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice and let the man she loved get away.
Later, she’d come to the painful realization that it wasn’t so much that she’d loved him, it was that she’d
wanted
to love him, wanted to love someone so she wouldn’t hurt so much anymore because of Matt Alvarez.
God, she’d been so young. And stupid. Stupid most of all.
She’d made foolish decisions for all the wrong reasons, and caused them both so much unhappiness.
And all these years later, she was still here, still in this town, still paying for those mistakes the way she was afraid she would be the rest of her life.
Chapter Nine
Contrary to what he’d told Elena, Matt didn’t head into town, deliberately turning in the opposite direction once he left the ranch. He wasn’t ready to deal with the townspeople and their suspicions. More than anything he needed to get away from all of this mess for a while.
Especially Elena.
Elena.
The memory of the way she’d looked when he’d pushed her to confess, when she’d finally blurted it out, loomed in his mind, haunting him.
He was the first man who made me feel anything after...
After Matt. It was the only possible answer, the only thing that would have gotten that reaction from her, caused the look of horror at having spoken it. Letting him know that losing him had hurt her so much she hadn’t felt anything for a year, that she’d married a man simply because he’d made her feel something, anything, again after Matt had walked away from her.
He’d hurt her that much. Just as he’d hurt her today.
The sad thing was, at one point he would have believed he wanted to hurt her, just as much as she’d hurt him. But knowing that he had, not even realizing he had or how much, he would give anything to take it back.
What’s more, everything he’d assumed about her relationship with Weston had been wrong. He’d figured either she truly had loved Weston or it really had been for the money, seemingly the only possible explanations. Either way, he’d just wanted her to admit it, needed her to say in plain words the reason she’d chosen another man when she hadn’t chosen him.
She finally had. But even with the possibilities he’d considered, he hadn’t expected the answer.
He should have known better. He should have known her.
Matt kept driving aimlessly, trying to sort through his thoughts, trying to work out his mixed emotions. He passed by the Nolan spread where he’d worked the summer he’d met Elena. She’d said they weren’t there anymore. He half wondered where they might have gone and who owned the place now. Not that he really cared or that it mattered.
It was the name of the next ranch he passed that truly caught his interest, providing a welcome distraction from what had happened with Elena.
Marshall Ranch.
The only Marshall he’d heard of in the area was Glen, the man he’d met at Elena’s yesterday. The man whose eagerness to buy the ranch out from under her still struck him as suspicious.
Matt considered where he was, gauging his distance from her ranch. Yes, it was far enough from her property to be the one she’d described, and sure enough, it seemed unlikely Marshall could want a spread so far from his own for any reasons but the one she’d given. But at the moment, Matt wasn’t inclined to believe anyone would be willing to pay a sizeable amount for a ranch simply out of the goodness of his heart.
He’d figured he’d like to talk to Marshall at some point, try to suss out the man’s actual motives. As long as he was out here, this seemed as good a time as any. And now that he knew Carter Baines was working out here, he couldn’t help wonder if Marshall had something to do with the man’s unexpected appearance that morning.
Making the turn, he thought about how he was going to approach this. By the time he pulled up in front of the house, he had a workable plan.
He was in luck. Marshall came striding out of the barn just as Matt put the truck in Park. Whether it was because his arrival had already been noticed or the man just happened to be coming out at that particular moment, Matt didn’t know. Either way, Marshall looked up and spotted him as Matt stepped out of the truck. Marshall headed toward him, his movements unhurried and relaxed.
“Mr. Alvarez,” Marshall called out. Somehow, Matt wasn’t surprised the man had remembered his name. “What brings you here?”
“We had some trouble out at Elena’s place last night and I was hoping to get your help.”
Matt didn’t miss the way the man’s mouth tightened slightly when he referred to the ranch as “Elena’s place.” Apparently, Elena should consider herself part of the Weston family, but the ranch was in no way hers as far as Marshall was concerned. Matt had to wonder whether he truly thought of her as a Weston, or if it had been a line he’d been feeding her to butter her up.
“Why don’t you come in?” the man said. He nodded toward the house, then turned and led the way, leaving Matt to follow.
Once inside, Marshall led Matt down a hallway to the rear of the house, opening a door on what was obviously his study. It was a comfortable, masculine space, with a fireplace, dark wood paneling and brown leather chairs. A big desk sat along the far edge of the room.
Marshall motioned for Matt to enter first, then followed him in, closing the door behind them. “Now then,” Marshall said, turning to face him. “What is it you think I can help you with?”
“Like I said, we had some trouble last night. Vandalism. Somebody painted the word
Murderer
on the front of her house.”
Marshall swore lightly under his breath. “This town just won’t give her a break, will it?”
“But you will?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Elena said you made an offer on the ranch, said you’d advance some of the money from the sale for her so she could use it for her defense if she needs it. That’s a very generous offer.”
“It’s the right thing to do,” he said modestly.
“So you don’t believe Elena killed her husband?”
The man hesitated for a split second—long enough for Matt to notice—before shaking his head with a sound of exasperation. “No, not at all. She wouldn’t have it in her.”
“Sounds like you’re the only person around here who believes that.”
“Yes, well, the Westons are—” he cringed “—
were
highly regarded around here, and Elena’s folks weren’t. Unfortunately, most people are inclined to expect the worst of her. Plus most of them just want somebody to be held responsible for Bobby’s murder, and she’s the most obvious person to have done it.”
“But not you?
“I’d rather have the right person charged than just anybody.”
Marshall was saying all the right things and sounded genuine enough, but Matt couldn’t decide if he believed him. He wondered if his inclination to be suspicious was getting the best of him, leading him to read things into nothing.
But then there was Carter Baines’s presence at Elena’s place. Why had he really been there, and had Marshall known about it?
“Elena said you were close with the Westons.”
“I knew Bobby all his life, and his brother, Jim Junior, too. Their daddy, Big Jim, was like a brother to me.”
“And that’s why you want the land?”
Marshall nodded. “I’d hate to see it sold off and broken up, which is what might happen if the bank takes it. That was a real possibility for Bobby, though he’d never admit it, and it won’t be any easier for Elena.”
“I’m sure Big Jim would have appreciated the gesture.”
Marshall smiled faintly. “I doubt it. Jim always intended the land to stay in the family. Talked about how it’d always been owned by Westons and always would be.” He shook his head sadly. “Of course he had no way of knowing how things would turn out for him and his boys. The past twenty years it’s been one bad thing after another. It’s almost like they’re cursed or something.”
“What do you mean?”
With a sigh, Marshall turned and moved over to a wall covered with framed photographs. He stopped in front of one of them, staring at it hard. “I don’t know how much you know about the family. First Jim died so young. Heart attack at forty-two. Then his older boy, Junior, got sick. Now Bobby getting killed. Twenty years ago there was every reason to believe the Westons would be around for generations. Now they’re all gone.”
Marshall’s voice was heavy with pain. Wanting to see what he was looking at, Matt came and stood beside him. The photo showed a group of people, a few parents and several children, at what looked like a picnic, posing for the camera. The two men were younger versions of Marshall and Big Jim, whom he recognized from pictures he’d seen on the walls of the Weston house. Based on the pose, the women were their wives, with their respective children all around them, as if they were all part of one family. Elena had said Marshall was close to the Westons and cared deeply about the family. That seemed apparent enough from the fact that he’d kept this photo, hung it on his wall.
Matt raised his eyes to scan the other pictures. Most featured children he assumed were Marshall’s at various ages. One photo in particular caught his eye. Three men with their arms slung around each other, grinning at the camera. To the left was Marshall, with Big Jim in the middle. And on the right—
“Is that the sheriff?” Matt asked, pointing toward the third man in the photograph.
Marshall looked where he indicated. “Yep, that’s Walt. Of course, he wasn’t the sheriff back then. He was fresh with the department. But that’s him.”
“So Big Jim was friends with Walt, too.”
“Oh, yeah. Jim and Walt went way back. Used to go on hunting trips, fishing trips together every few months.”
“You didn’t go with them?”
Marshall grinned. “My wife didn’t look too kindly on the idea of me taking off and leaving her with five kids to handle so I could go out and shoot things. Jim’s wife passed when Bobby was still young, but he had a housekeeper who could watch over the boys for a few days, and Walt never married. It was easier for them.”
Matt nodded, staring hard at the image of Walt with his arm around Big Jim’s shoulder, a big grin on his face. This was the man in charge of Elena’s fate, Big Jim’s old hunting buddy. So Travis wasn’t the only one who might have a personal stake in the case. He wondered why she hadn’t mentioned it. Then again, given how long Big Jim had been dead, it was possible she didn’t know. She would have been just a girl back then. Or maybe she just didn’t consider it a strong enough motive for the sheriff to be taking the case personally.
Which he probably was. Great. Something else standing in the way of Elena getting a fair shake around here. No wonder they were gunning for her so hard. They were all letting their personal feelings get in the way of conducting an honest investigation.
The picture was a potent reminder of just how badly he needed to get to the bottom of this before Walt could railroad her into jail.
“By the way,” he said, changing the subject. “Did you hire a man named Carter Baines?”
Marshall nodded. “Sure. I knew he’d worked for Bobby for years, and after Elena couldn’t afford to keep him on anymore, he came looking for a job so I hired him. What about it?”
Another good deed for the Westons and their friends?
Matt couldn’t help thinking. “He showed up unexpectedly at Elena’s place this morning, popped up in the bunkhouse claiming he left something there and wanted to go through the place. And when Elena noticed he was there and turned up, he insulted her.”
Marshall grimaced. “I’ll talk to him, make it clear I don’t want anyone working for me to go bothering people like that.”
“I appreciate it. Actually, he seemed to really dislike her. I was wondering if he was the type to go running around vandalizing somebody’s house?”
“Carter? Nah,” Marshall scoffed. “He’s not the kind to go sneaking around pulling stuff like that. If he doesn’t like somebody, he’ll tell them to their face, as you unfortunately saw today.”
Having seen the man’s behavior toward Elena today, Matt could see Marshall had a point. Still, he wasn’t quite willing to dismiss the possibility that a man with a nasty streak like Baines had shown would be above some dirty tricks.
“Well, you know this town better than I do. Any ideas who might be angry enough to have done that to her?”
Marshall sent him a wry look. “Pick up a telephone book.”
“It’s that bad?” Matt said, saying it as a question even though the man was only confirming what he already suspected.
“People are upset. Upset that nobody’s been arrested, upset that she’s still running around free. And they’re only getting madder. I’ve never seen things this bad around here. I’m afraid until an arrest is made, things are only going to get a lot worse before they get better.”
“You mean until
Elena
is arrested?”
Marshall gave a light shrug, his expression slightly regretful. “Somebody. I don’t know if it has to be her, but somebody has to pay.”
* * *
T
HIS TIME WHEN
E
LENA HEARD THE
sound of an engine approaching the house, she felt no anticipation, only the familiar dread. Matt had been gone only an hour, and she wasn’t expecting him back so soon. If it was him, she wasn’t quite ready to face him, not sure what she was going to say.
As soon as she saw who it was, every thought of her conversation with Matt faded away, overshadowed by what faced her in the immediate future.