High Desert Detective, A Fiona Marlowe Mystery (Fiona Marlowe Mysteries) (17 page)

He stopped and faced Jake. “You’ll want to take precautions.
Someone is still snooping, looking for something. Watch your back.”

Jake nodded. He watched Hoover drive down the road, dust trail
blowing to the east. He was going to have to watch more than his back. The
rustling was going to cause a real ruckus in the family. And wait till they
heard that he was buying the ranch. One thing did occur to him. Maybe some of
the family already had gotten wind of his deal with Opal, and maybe they were
trying to scare him off.
 
He couldn’t
rule that option out.

* * * * *

Dinner that night was a quiet affair with only Opal, Fiona and Olympia
at the huge kitchen table. Jake had gone to bed after doing chores and cleaning
up. He had hardly spoken to her. Fiona wondered if he was mad about something.
Maybe he was too tired and too worried to talk, and she was imagining things. Opal
was more reticent than usual. She and Jake had withdrawn to the ranch office
after he got back and had had a closed door session while she and Olympia had
enjoyed happy hour on the front porch.

After they finished eating, Olympia said, “Are there any good
movies on TV? I’m having movie withdrawal. I need a regular dose. I so love a
good movie. Some of my books have been made into movies, you know. Maybe one
will be on tonight.”

“Fiona’s told me about your books and movies,” said Opal. “Help
yourself to the big screen TV in the corner in the family room. There are lots
of DVDs there if you don’t find a movie on TV you like.”

Olympia moved off in search of a movie, and Fiona helped Opal
clear the table and put the dishes in the dishwasher.

“I really want to thank you,” Fiona said, “for putting up with
both of us, Opal. I know Olympia can be a pain. She has a good heart though.”

Opal looked at Fiona as she wiped down the kitchen counters.
“Everybody’s got something good in them. She is a world famous author so I
guess those folks are more eccentric than most of us. She’s pretty wild even
for here.”

“She lives life on the edge, that’s for sure.”

“How long is she going to stay?” Opal asked with what seemed like
a studied casualness.

Fiona hesitated because she wasn’t sure what to say. “I’m sorry.
I don’t know. If you want, we can both move into town. That bed and breakfast
would probably be delightful. I know you must have a lot on your mind. I hate
to be causing you more problems.”

Opal stopped what she was doing and sighed. “Fiona, all hell is
going to break loose here anytime. Some of the family may be involved in
stealing cattle from us though I hope to God they aren’t. Or it could be
someone who worked for us. And pretty soon I got to tell the relations that
Jake is buying the ranch.”

Fiona put her arm around Opal’s shoulder. “You have a lot
weighing you down. Is there anything I can do to help?”

Opal patted Fiona on the arm. “You’re a sweetie. I’m telling you
this because you might want to find someplace safer to stay. Somebody torched
that bunkhouse, stole our cows and took a whack at Jake. Maybe you could find a
short term rental in town till all this blows over. I’d hate for something else
to happen to you. Have you decided what you are going to do?”

“I’ve given it serious thought. I had a chance to talk to Lauren Brooks
last night, and she gave me some good ideas. I talked it over with Olympia this
afternoon. I think I’m going to rebuild, so I’d like a clear title to the place
on the knoll.”

Opal studied her and nodded. “I know that little piece of paper I
gave you isn’t going to hold up in a court of law and with the coming battle over
the ranch that I’m sure will develop, you will need it all legal like.” She
made herself a whiskey and water. “I need a drink to calm my nerves. Can I get
you anything?”

“I’ll take one of those. I feel on edge tonight myself. You were
awfully quiet over dinner. You didn’t laugh at Olympia’s jokes.”

“I’m sorry. I was shaken up after talking to Jake. That list he’s
putting together will include some of my relations, but it can’t be helped. The
economic loss of the cows will put us back at a time we need the money. I’m
upset that Jake got hurt. And I lost prime cows from a bloodline that has taken
years to develop. Ranching is a hard business in a good year. In this day and
age you have to keep up with what’s happening in the global market because it
affects prices we get for beef and hay. Heck, some of our alfalfa hay goes to
feed dairy cows in Japan.” She shook her head. “I feel like I’m falling way
behind.”

She handed a fresh drink to Fiona, and they sat down across from
each other at the kitchen table. A cool breeze came through the screen door with
the setting sun. Fiona liked that. No need for air conditioning. Close the
house up in the hot weather during the day. Open it up at night. There was a
lot she liked about this country.

She was sad for Opal who looked all of her eighty-odd years
tonight. Her pert pixie haircut drooped, and the spidery lines in her face
seemed deeper. This next year was going to be hard on her, and Fiona hoped
she’d make it through okay. If there was anything she could do for Opal, she
would.

She put her hand over Opal’s lying on the table. “I want to help.
What can I do to help you?”

Opal looked at Fiona’s hand on hers then looked away. She
smoothed her eyes with her fingertips.
 
“Just
look at me, getting all teary. I feel pretty alone right now. I got the family,
but I can’t ever confide in them. They’d be at each other throats thinking I
was playing favorites. Of course, if it wasn’t for this ranch, I don’t know
that they’d be so interested in me. It’s been helpful having you here to talk
to.”

Fiona smiled, but it was a sad one. “You know, we haven’t known
each other a year, and you’ve been through a lot in that year. Your brother
Albert
dying,
you having to deal with his relations
and the estate, and Cody serving time now for illegal gun dealing. I know you
were counting on him, and he didn’t turn out so good. You’re not young, Opal.
This would be hard for a younger person.”

Opal’s smile was bittersweet. “To tell you the truth, Fiona, I
know I’m slowing down. I look around at all there is to do on this place, and I
feel overwhelmed. I didn’t used to feel like that. I’ve been feeling really
tired lately. My energy has gone off somewhere and left me. I used to glory in
making this a prime cattle production ranch. Henry would have been so proud.”

“I know him only from the photos you’ve showed me, but he looked
like a man who would want his wife to enjoy her golden years.”

Opal laughed at that one. “Hay farmers and cattle ranchers never
retire.” At that she launched into a rich cowgirl tenor of the old cowboy song,
I Ride an Old Paint
. “When I die,
take my saddle from the wall, put it on my pony, and lead him from the stall.
Tie my bones to his back, turn our faces to the west, and we’ll ride the
prairies we love the best.”

Fiona laughed and clapped. “You have a beautiful voice, Opal.”

She laughed, too. “Music has helped keep me sane all these years.
I always enjoyed playing guitar with the Old Time Fiddlers in town when I could
get to their jam sessions. The older I get the more I seem to have to do, the less
time there is for fun. Having to deal with Albert’s estate has put me on tilt
this past year, I swear.” She looked around like she’d find help for all her
problems coming through the door at any minute.

“Listen,” said Fiona, “I know something about computers. I could
help with that.”

Opal got up to fix another drink. “Jake’s pretty good keeping our
records on the computer. You wouldn’t know it to look at him, but he’s real
good with numbers. He’s been keeping the books for this place for a long time.
I look them over, and he tells me what he’s been doing. But he does the bulk of
the computer work, and he’s good.”

“I’ll ask him if he needs help. There must be something I can
do.”

Opal smiled. “You do that. He likes your kind of help.”

She put another drink in front of Fiona, who hadn’t finished her
first yet, and sat down. “Gracious, I’m tired. I just can’t seem to get my
strength back. It’s all this worrying. It’s worse than calving and branding.”

Fiona slid her drink glass in circles on the table then looked up
when Opal didn’t say anymore. She sat looking out the screen door into the
descending night. Cows were mooing in the distance, and one brayed in an other-worldly
bellow.

“What’s that noise? It sounds like something from the living
dead,” asked Fiona.

“That braying?
That’s a bull telling the
cows what a stud he is. Fortunately for us the cattle thieves didn’t get any of
our bulls.” She paused.
“Yet.”

“Those bulls look mean and dangerous. Wouldn’t they be hard to
handle?”

“You bet, if you don’t know what you’re doing. We lease them out,
and we have a pretty good line. They bring good money. I may have to sell off
some to cover the loss on the cows.” She heaved a mighty sigh.
“Another thing to worry about.”

A flock of birds buzzed the door and set up an angry chatter.
Opal rose to let in one of the ranch cats. “Those King birds devil the life out
of the cats. Of course, the cats deserve it because they kill the birds’
young.”

A big black fluffy cat meowed its way into the kitchen and
promptly jumped up on the table to investigate.

“Off of there, Midnight,” said Opal, swatting the cat from the
table. She reached down to rub Midnight’s
head,
and
the cat
yeowed
her contentment. She bumped and rubbed
against Opal’s leg.

“I like it here,” said Fiona, watching the antics of the cat.

“It grows on you, the high desert does. What about Jake?” asked
Opal, sitting down again. The cat had moved on, probably to see if there were
any mice that needed catching.

That question caught Fiona off guard. She reflected and then said,
“I like Jake, too.”

“He wants to marry you, you know.”

“He hasn’t said anything to me.”

“I know him. He hasn’t said it outright, but I know he wants a wife
even though his first one was a disaster.”

“Jake’s been married before?” said Fiona. “I didn’t take Jake as
the marrying kind.”

“Yes, he was married. It didn’t last long. She left him for a
carnival operator.”

“You’re joking.”

“I’m not. She got in with one of those fly-by-night boys that
come through with the fair and just up and left.
Took the
little girl with her.
Jake has tried to find the girl, but they seemed
to have evaporated into thin air.”

“How sad.
He never said anything about
his family or having a family for that matter.”

“What relations he has are back in Oklahoma. They don’t bother
with him. Jake was pretty wild and unruly before he came here to work. I think
the family disowned him. He had another gal he liked a while back, but that one
didn’t last long either. She was from the city and couldn’t adjust to life in
the country. You remind me of her. That’s why I said I didn’t want you breaking
his heart.”

Fiona finished the first drink and started on the second. This
might be a drinking evening for both of them. She could hear the faint noise of
the TV in the background and every once in a while a loud laugh from Olympia.

“Opal, I can’t give him a family and a happily-ever-after kind of
life.”

Opal smiled and picked up the cat that had come back for more
attention. “I don’t think he’s looking for that anymore. It’s just that, well,
rural life can be lonely, and Jake isn’t the recluse type you often see out
here. He genuinely likes people. He likes ranch life, and he’s a hard worker. He’s
come a long way from the cowhand with a chip on his shoulder like he was when
he arrived here. He’s my biggest success story. He has turned his life around
and made something of it.” She
paused,
scratching the
cat’s ears then lowered her voice. “I’ll tell you a little secret. He’s saved
up enough money to put a nice down payment on a place of his own. He’s good
with money, not extravagant. You could get a lot worse.”

“I’m not looking for better or worse.”

“What are you looking for?”

“I’ve been asking myself that same question for a while now. I
must be having a mid-life crisis or something.” She looked into her drink to
see if the answer was in a bunch of ice cubes and a little whiskey.

“I can tell you one thing,” Opal said. “Ranch life can be lonely,
and it’s nice to have a partner. There isn’t anything better than sitting on
that porch in the evening and gazing out over land that you own and a place
that you have worked and nourished and made grow. There’s something
tremendously fulfilling in that. You aren’t going to find that in the city.”

“I’m getting a sense of that. I’m beginning to see what a place
like this means to someone like you.
And Jake.
I just
don’t know if I could take it for the rest of my life. I mean there are places
to see, people to meet, new projects to design. I love to travel. I love the
excitement.”

Opal smiled. “You know I remember telling my Henry the same
thing.”

“You?
I thought you were from a ranching
family.”

“No, I married into it. I was a school teacher in Portland. I
grew up there. I met Henry at a rodeo, and that’s how it started. I adapted. I
loved Henry so much I would have followed him to the end of the Earth. And then
some.”

“Didn’t you want to marry again?”

“No, it took me years to get over losing Henry, and then it was
too late to have kids, and I never found that kind of love again.” She smiled
impishly. “Not that I didn’t have offers. So you and Jake might have a future
together.”