It Takes Two: Deep in the Heart, Book 1 (21 page)

She shrugged with a stoic smile. “You did what you could. It might have been the house and worse, had the wind changed.”

“Thanks, Annie. You know how to make a man feel better when he’s got bad news to share.”

“Bad news?” Zach and Annie repeated the words in unison.

“I’m afraid so,” Jim said, nodding. He pointed toward the fields. “You were luckier than you think. That fire was set on purpose.”

“Oh, no! Are you sure, Jim? I—”

Annie stopped speaking. Zach felt her horrified stare clean through to his soul. He waited for her to accuse him, to damn him out loud. The weight of Jim’s stare was on him too, but Zach never released Annie’s gaze.

“We smelled gasoline, Annie,” Jim stated, “so we know that was what was used to ignite the fire. You got any idea who?”

Annie was silent for a long minute. Zach waited, counting the thundering heartbeats he heard in his own chest.

“I couldn’t even begin to guess, Jim,” she said quietly. “High school prank? Some mean-spirited person with an appetite for starting fires? I’ve never heard of anything like this happening in Desperado, so I’m pretty much at a loss myself.”

“Well. That’s that, then.” Jim stepped back a pace before patting Annie on the back. “You let me know if you think of anything. We’ll have the sheriff out here today. In the meantime, I’d put in a call to your insurance company.” He turned, then turned around again. “By the way, where did you say you were from, Zach?”

He hadn’t. But the fireman wasn’t about to forget Zach’s name on his possible suspect list. “Austin,” Zach replied shortly. “You can find me in the phone book if you have any further questions.”

The fireman nodded, his steely gaze hard on Zach’s face. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

When Jim had walked away, Zach turned to look at Annie. She was staring out at her beloved fields, her eyes glittering with unshed tears. He would have tried to offer some piece of condolence, superficial as it would have sounded considering the situation. But she turned almost at once and hurried back toward the house.

Fortunately. Because he didn’t know what the hell to say to her.

Zach ground his teeth. Somehow the web was growing tighter and tighter around him. Somehow he was coming up aces in an accursed hand that bore his name. He walked into the burned-out devastation, kicking at the blackened stalks bitterly. The fire truck pulled away, rumbling down the lane. Zach imagined every one of those men’s eyes were focused on him, assessing him.

He wanted to shout that he didn’t do this deed, but his gut told him no one would believe him. Cody certainly had his doubts. And Annie, although she wasn’t admitting it out loud right now, wondered too. Once she got past the moment of crisis, she too was going to look at him with accusing eyes.

“Damn it!” Zach kicked over another ruined clump of cornstalks. “Damn it to hell and back!” He let out another, more furious swear word, then stopped dead in his tracks. Crouching down, he stared for a moment at the ground. Carefully, he picked up a piece of ruined corn and pushed at something in the charred earth. When it rolled over, soggy and half-smoked and nearly indistinguishable in the muddy blackness, Zach could only stare in disbelief and amazement.

It was a cigar. A big, fat Mexican cigar. Exactly the brand Carter kept on hand.

Chapter Thirteen

“What do you know about Zach Rayez, Cody?” Jim Crier asked.

Annie watched Cody close his eyes wearily. She wished he didn’t have to answer any questions and could recuperate instead. The man had nearly sold his life to save her cornfields, and the debt of gratitude she owed him was too great to ever repay.

“Does he have to talk right now, Jim?” she asked. “I think Cody ought to be resting.”

“It’s just one small question, Annie. I’ll be okay.”

Annie shook her head at the gritty, painful sound of Cody’s voice and sat down in one of the plaid chairs. Mary promptly crawled into her lap, and Annie began the comforting motion of drawing her fingers through her daughter’s long, dark hair while she listened.

“We don’t know much about Zach, to tell you the truth, Jim. He came out here a few weeks back to buy Annie’s land. Couldn’t finish working the deal because Travis had a heart attack just looking at ‘the snake-eyed varmint’, as he calls him.”

“No love lost there, eh?”

“Naw. But Travis is a mean son of a gun himself. Cares about two things in this world, and that’s Annie and Mary.”

“Not true,” Annie murmured. “He’d give his right arm to help you, Cody.”

A small smile flitted over Cody’s smoke-grimed face. “Yeah. But his two girls are the only thing your ragged old man is living for. And when Slick appeared, well…”

His raspy voice fell silent. Annie leaned over to examine his face worriedly.

“Jim, he’s so exhausted. Can’t this wait until later?”

“The sheriff’ll do plenty of talking this afternoon,” Jim said, nodding. “What I want to know from Cody here is if he thinks Zach was involved in the fire in any way?”

The room fell completely, ominously silent. Annie looked down to see Mary’s eyes, huge and questioning. She shook her head so her child wouldn’t be concerned, but Mary pushed herself up in her mother’s lap.

“No! Mr. Zach wouldn’t do that!”

Jim stared at Mary, then at Annie. “I’m sorry, Annie,” he said. “I didn’t realize the man had such a staunch supporter in the room. I’ll be more careful.”

Annie nodded. Cody took a deep breath, which sounded winded and drawn. “You know, Jim, I had my doubts about Zach in the beginning. But, like with Mary, he started to grow on me. Truth is, I’m having real trouble fitting Zach into the scene of the crime.”

“Really? Based on what?”

“Nothing but a country boy’s gut feeling.”

“Oh, hell, Cody, tell me what you’re thinking.”

A small, amused chuckle escaped Cody. “You remember those guys in high school who thought they were the big kings of testosterone, strutting and shooting off their mouth all the time?”

Jim scratched his head with his pencil. “Ah, yeah, I do, Cody. You were sitting on the testosterone throne.”

Annie smiled at the sudden frown on Cody’s face. “Come on, Cody,” she said gently, “don’t waste what little breath you’ve got denying it. I remember our high school years the same way Jim does.”

The frown lifted a little. “My brother never was that way, you know,” he said. “Carlos wasn’t any more a farmer than I am a rock musician. But once he married Annie, he worked like an ox to make this place the next King Ranch.”

He met Annie’s dismayed gaze and she couldn’t tear her eyes away, although what Cody was saying was tearing her heart into painful ribbons

“He loved you, Annie. Whatever it was that made you happy, that was what he was going to give you, no matter what.”

Cody rubbed at his wrist absently, as if the skin there had been seared by the fire’s heat. “Some men are born salt of the earth, I guess, or somehow their character ends up that way. Others are big wheels, testosterone kings. That’s what Slick reminded me of when he first came here. Kinda cocky, real sure of himself.”

“Very masculine and aware of it,” Annie murmured, earning a dark look from Cody.

“I’ll tell the story, if you don’t mind,” Cody stated.

“I get the picture, Cody. So what’s the point?” Jim interrupted.

Cody leaned back, closing his eyes. “Well, here was this guy who acted like he had the world by the tail and I’m thinking ‘what a jackass’. I was ready to ship him back to Austin via Seattle in a car trunk. It was clear that he had the hots for Annie, and I wasn’t going to stand for some sidewinder moseying in here and—”

“Sh!” Annie commanded, her eyebrows raised to indicate Mary’s listening ears.

“Sorry.” Cody looked sheepish. “Well, safe to say I didn’t like Slick much at first.”

“I see that,” Jim agreed.

“He called Annie one night. I knew he’d be back, like a fox to the henhouse. So, I did some checking up on him.”

“You did what?” Annie was astonished.

“I feel like it’s my job to look out for you occasionally, Annie.”

“Was this before or after you proposed to me, that you thought Zach needed some ‘checking up on’?” she asked, feeling wrathful and strangely flattered all at once.

“You proposed to Annie?” Jim asked, happy interest lighting his eyes. “I’ve been wondering if you’d ever get around to that.”

“Why?” Cody and Annie asked at the same time.

Jim hastily pulled his pencil down from his ear. “Seems like the sensible thing to do, is all,” he muttered.

Cody shook his head with a wry grin. “Well, Annie turned me down, and I’m glad she did. I want to help Annie any way I can, but I love her like a sister. I hope she loves me like a brother. I want Mary to always count on her Uncle Cody.”

Annie smiled and nodded. “We all love you, Cody. But I’ll keep the tractor keys from now on. You took your protective instincts a little too far for my comfort.”

“Okay, okay, so no wedding,” Jim prodded. “Let’s get back to Zach. You’re starting to look white as that pillowcase, Cody.”

Cody placed a hand on his chest, as if he was feeling some pain there. “Well, I discovered he’s engaged to be married. Soon,” he qualified, giving Annie a this-hurts-me-more-than-it-hurts-you look.

When she didn’t look surprised, he continued. “And his daddy owns the property south of here. Even though the name on the deed wasn’t Rayez, I had a hunch. Called Zach’s office and asked the secretary for the correct spelling of Zach’s father’s name for my company’s mailing list.” Cody smirked. “Sure enough, my hunch was right.”

Jim looked up, startled. “Let me get this straight. Zach wanted to buy Annie out, but she wouldn’t let him. Then her cornfields get set on fire, which I imagine is going to set you back a piece.” He looked at Annie for confirmation.

“That would be putting it mildly,” she said.

“So, are we talking motive here, Cody?” Jim asked.

Cody sighed. “You know, Jim, Slick could talk the worm out of a tequila bottle. He came in here yesterday, all fired up about getting Annie set up in a salsa-making business, and the next thing I know, I’m hearing him loud and clear. I’m actually ready to offer some rattlesnake fangs to toss in some of the jars as a gimmick, maybe in a sales promotion of some kind.” He snorted.

“And now?”

Annie waited for Cody’s answer, her heart thumping nervously in her chest. She knew exactly what Cody was talking about. Yesterday, Zach Rayez had actually made her start spinning fantasy dreams about her own fancy business—and being solvent. Making it on her own, after all.

Today, reality had come crashing in upon her. But until yesterday, she’d forgotten how to dream.

She’d never forget again.

“And now,” Annie looked up as Cody spoke again, “I still think he’s slicker than a cow’s teat. But being slick and being out to hurt Annie don’t jive in my book. Something’s not making sense here, but I haven’t figured it out yet.” Cody looked at Jim tiredly before closing his eyes again. “However, since you’re looking for my advice, I’d say to look elsewhere for a suspect.”

“That’s pretty strong support, Cody, considering Zach’s probably the only likely suspect,” Jim said.

“That’s part of what’s bothering me,” Cody stated without opening his eyes. He turned his face away toward the window, obviously too exhausted to continue. Annie leaned forward over Mary to catch his next words.

“It’s all too convenient,” he whispered. “Too damned convenient.”

The sight of the cigar held Zach transfixed. It was the expensive brand Carter smoked almost constantly. Of course, anybody could be smoking a cigar.

No. Not on Annie’s fields.

It might have been there for a long time, Zach theorized. Still, Cody smoked only cigarettes, Travis smoked nothing, and who the hell would venture this far onto someone’s property to sneak a smoke?

The brand bothered Zach the most. Why did it seem odd that the local fellows would choose such an expensive brand, if everyone in Desperado struggled as hard as Annie did to make ends meet? Seemed like chewing tobacco would be the more popular choice.

Zach frowned, digging into his thoughts for logical answers. Carter was a sneaky, selfish man at the very least. But for him to go to these lengths to get Annie’s land was too preposterous to think about seriously. Burning out a family would take a criminal mind.

He crossed his arms, staring up at the now-serene blue sky. In the distance, mockingbirds scolded each other for thievery and other imagined slights.

“Carter came out here to talk to Annie, before I let him talk me into doing this job,” Zach said softly to himself. “He never mentioned the property owner was female, or anything else about the deal. He acted like it was easy pickings, when he knew that wasn’t true.”

Still, buying out the Aguillars was for the sake of Ritter International and perhaps some future commercial sales deals. It wasn’t a personal vendetta.

It wasn’t supposed to be personal. But at some point Carter had begun subtly pressuring him about the deal. Zach had just as subtly ignored the pressure, using his upcoming wedding as a shield against Carter’s machinations.