Last Stand Ranch (16 page)

Claudia stepped through the front door a few minutes later with Julie beside her.

The deputies had left the light above the stairs on and someone had propped open the swinging door from the kitchen so light shone out from there, as well. The women looked at the damage inside the house while Elijah looked at the sad, stunned expressions on their faces.

Claudia slowly looked upward toward her bedroom.

“The dogs are fine,” Elijah quickly reassured her. The expression on her face shifted. He expected tears. Instead, he saw her brows lower and her chin jut out slightly. He knew that expression from the days when she was irritated with her husband. Claudia was itching for a fight.

“Where's Olivia?” Elijah asked.

“Right behind us.” Julie sounded puzzled, as if she couldn't accept what she was seeing as she glanced around the interior of the house.

He moved past his mom out to the darkened porch where Olivia stood staring at a broken window. Jonathan was beside her. When he saw Elijah, he raised his eyebrows slightly. Elijah gave a quick nod, and his brother turned and hurried back down the steps toward the parked trucks.

“You okay?” Elijah asked. He wanted to reach out and take her in his arms, promise her he would find whoever did this. He wanted to kiss away the worried expression on her face. But maybe she didn't want him to. Maybe after this she'd finally lost faith in him and his ability to protect her.

“Sometimes it takes a while to track down whoever you're after,” he said. “But it doesn't mean you give up. Or that you run away. You know that, right?”

She nodded, but she still wasn't looking at him.

Behind her, in Claudia's driveway, he saw Bobby's SUV. Mark and Linda were there, as well. Jonathan was helping Joe grab some tools and lumber from the back of his truck.

“Dad and Jonathan will have these windows boarded up in no time,” Elijah said. He needed to keep everybody's morale high. Whoever did this wanted to make everyone feel defeated. Elijah was not going to let that happen.

Olivia still didn't respond. This wasn't a good time for her to dive back into that pool of self-pity or regret or whatever dark emotion was beckoning her. They had things to do.

He crossed his arms over his chest. “So why exactly are we standing out here with the rain blowing on us?”

She took a deep breath and let her shoulders drop. “He was here. In Aunt Claudia's house. In the place that's my
home
now.” She lifted her hand, reaching forward past the point where the window used to be. “He's not going away. He'll be back.”

Elijah couldn't let her give up hope. And he didn't want her to even toy with the idea of leaving. He'd gotten used to seeing her every day. Missed her when she wasn't around. Whether she was smiling at him or telling him what for, she'd managed to open a heart that he'd thought was permanently closed off a long time ago.

As soon as he found who'd been tormenting her and he neutralized that particular threat, maybe he could start to act like a normal man trying to win over the woman he might have feelings for. Whether she'd be interested in that was still an open question.

But for now, he had to shove all of that aside and focus on holding everybody together.

“Aunt Claudia needs our help cleaning up.” He glanced at a truck as it pulled into the circular driveway. Raymond and Denise were finally coming back. “We need to get organized. We can wring our hands later. Right now let's get back inside.”

Olivia finally walked through the door, hesitating only slightly at the threshold. She squared her shoulders and said, “Where do you want me to start?”

SEVENTEEN

A
couple hours later Olivia couldn't get rid of the chill that had taken over her body.

The living room windows had been boarded up. Jonathan had made a quick trip to the store and returned with cleaning supplies and a boxful of lightbulbs, so the lights inside the house were mostly back to normal. And someone had turned on the furnace to heat up the downstairs rooms.

But none of that had managed to warm Olivia, who still felt ice-cold, even though she'd been busy cleaning alongside Claudia for a while now.

Try as she might to appear focused, calm and resolute, inside Olivia couldn't stop thinking chilly, frightening thoughts. Thoughts of a battered woman in Las Vegas, an innocent man in the hospital here in Painted Rock and Claudia's home defiled. She was losing the fight. Everyone good was losing the fight. Right now it looked like evil was winning.

“Here you go, honey.” Claudia, ever the observant, considerate soul, dropped a heavy sweater over Olivia's shoulders. It smelled like hay and kitty kibble. “It does feel a little chilly in here, doesn't it?”

“Yes.” Olivia forced herself to smile. “Thanks.”

The deputies were gone and the houseful of remaining helpers had fanned out. Most of them were in the kitchen, dealing with that powdery, sticky nightmare coating the floors. Maybe that's where Elijah was. She hadn't seen him in a while, which was a good thing. Watching him walk through the house, emotionless and unaffected, as if everybody had just stopped by for a little spring-cleaning, made her angry every time she looked at him.

Maybe he could turn off his feelings when they were inconvenient. Good for him. She wasn't the same way and she resented his implication that she just needed to pull herself together.

She swept harder.

What made her truly furious was realizing he was right. When she looked at Claudia keeping a stiff upper lip, how could she do anything else but follow her lead? As they worked their way through sweeping the living room, she found herself both wondering where Elijah was and wanting him to stay far away at the same time.

She didn't want to be strong, didn't want to hold herself together, didn't want to keep going. But it felt as if Elijah Morales was making her do just that.

She swept together a pretty good pile of glass and some dirt from an upended potted plant, then loaded the mess into a dustpan and emptied it all into a trash bag.

When she turned around, she saw Claudia standing completely still and staring at the ground.

“Aunt Claudia?”

She didn't answer. Olivia walked over to see what she was looking at.

It was a picture frame. The glass had been deliberately stomped, the picture torn underneath.

“That's Uncle Hugh,” Olivia said. She reached down to pick it up, but Claudia put out her hand to stop her.

And then Olivia saw the shape of a flower that had imprinted itself on the glass. It was
that
picture. The one with the flower Claudia's husband of fifty-two years had picked and given to her in a silly gesture of love on his last day on earth.

The flower, already dry and brittle after the passage of time, now looked like a mere circle of dust. Like an ancient artifact from a long-forgotten time, it would vanish the moment someone touched it.

Olivia swallowed thickly, trying to choke back her cold, hollow feelings of hopelessness, and desperately trying to think of something she might say or do to help.

The bare wooden floor squeaked as someone walked into the room.

“What's up?” Elijah asked, coming up behind them. Then he saw the picture on the floor. “Oh.” He hesitated slightly, then put an arm around Claudia's shoulder and bumped his head lightly against hers. “I'm so sorry the jerk who did this destroyed your picture. But you know, if Hugh were here he'd laugh at you for getting so worked up over a dried-up old flower.”

“Can't you show a little compassion?” Olivia asked tightly. His emotionless behavior added to her bottled-up aggravation.

“My Hugh was an odd mixture of practical and impractical, wasn't he?” Claudia said quietly.

Elijah nodded. “If he were here, he'd tell me to sweep up the mess and tell you to go get a new flower.” Elijah took the broom from her hands but he didn't start sweeping.

“You risk so much when you love something—or someone,” Claudia said. She finally looked up from the broken picture, her eyes damp with tears.

Olivia felt a wobbly sensation in the center of her chest.

“I really am sorry your picture got broken,” Elijah said to Claudia, his voice husky. “But this house is full of good memories of Hugh. If you try to hang on to this broken glass and dust, they'll just remind you of the night some idiot tried to take those good memories away from you.”

“You're right.” Claudia sighed deeply.

“Why don't you go see what they're doing in the kitchen? I'll help Olivia finish up out here.”

“All right.” Claudia took one last lingering glance at the broken frame and the flower, and then turned away.

“I've got to learn how to turn my emotions on and off like you do,” Olivia spat out after Claudia left. “That's got to be convenient.”

He tilted his head slightly. “Want to know a secret?”

“What?”

“I don't turn them on and off. I put them away so I can take care of things for the moment. I let myself feel things later. That's how I'm wired and I suppose it is convenient. But I don't recommend it.”

He started to sweep. Olivia watched him and thought about how much weight he willingly carried on his shoulders. She'd taken for granted that the things he did were easy for him. She'd gone out of her way to be annoyed with him because it was so much easier than feeling as if she was falling in love with a man who never seemed to let himself feel anything at all. Certainly nothing like love. And certainly not for her.

But that was probably all for the best. They'd been through a lot together, but he still had his unyielding sense of duty. And she still had one mess of a life she needed to clean up.

* * *

As the evening wore on, a few more people from Vanquish the Darkness arrived at Claudia's house to help with the cleaning. They brought hot food, dry goods to help restock Claudia's pantry, and assorted blankets and sheets to place over the ripped upholstery.

Mark and Linda rounded up a couple of other people to walk the grounds and make sure the horses were okay and no one was lurking in the barns or sheds. Raymond went with them and discovered the vandal had also struck the cottage.

It was all very helpful, but Elijah needed them to go home.
Now
. He nearly growled aloud. The shooter had intensified his game. Elijah needed to intensify his own efforts to catch the creep. He also needed to have a couple of potentially unpleasant conversations with people who actually lived in this house. That was hard to do with half the town jammed into the kitchen.

At the moment he and Bobby were the only people in the living room. Now that most of the lights were back on, the swinging door between the dining area and the kitchen was no longer propped open. It was actually quiet enough that he could think.

Bobby tapped away on his tablet, doing some research Elijah had assigned him. While waiting for him to finish, Elijah's dark thoughts turned to Olivia. She'd grown unnaturally pleasant and agreeable since their conversation after seeing the torn picture of Hugh with the crushed flower. Her demeanor felt false to Elijah. Whatever emotion Olivia felt, whether happy, sad or ready for a fight, it typically showed on her face. She expressed herself straightforwardly. That was one of the things that made him comfortable around her. Made him trust her.

He still trusted her. But he was also afraid for her. Underneath that slightly cynical facade she liked to show the world lay a warm, open, generous-hearted woman who cared deeply for others. He didn't want her to close any of that off, or hide it behind a false front.

He'd blown it when he hurried her into pulling herself together when they were out on the front porch. He still thought that it was a good idea to get her working, but he should have handled it better. Maybe listened to her for a little while. Now she was hiding something from him, and he very much wanted to know what it was.

“I've got everything we talked about in the shopping cart,” Bobby said, looking down at his electronic tablet. “Do you want to pay for next-day delivery? It's going to cost a bundle.”

Elijah nodded. “Do it.”

“Okay.” Bobby tapped the screen several times. “Done. Your entire security-camera system should be here tomorrow.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.” Bobby tapped the screen a couple more times. “As a token of your thanks, you just bought me a mystery novel I've really been wanting to read, too.” He lay the tablet down on the arm of his chair. “So, are we staying here tonight?”

“You head on home whenever you're ready.”

“I've got nowhere else to be.”

“I need you to get some good sleep so you can hook up the system when it gets here.” Elijah deliberately lightened his tone. He had plans for this evening. Potentially dangerous plans. He wanted Bobby safe at his own home tonight.

Elijah got to his feet. Maybe by the time he got to the kitchen he'd be able to think of a polite way to tell the remaining visitors it was time to go.

Fortunately, his dad walked in from the kitchen at about the same time. “What are you boys doing out here?”

“We ordered a security system for Aunt Claudia,” Elijah said. “I just have to convince her she wants it before it gets here.”

Joe sighed and looked around. “After all of this, maybe she'll agree to do it.”

“I want her and Olivia to stay at the ranch tonight.”

Joe raised an eyebrow. “You coming, too?”

Elijah shook his head. “I need you or Mom to take my truck home.”

“You want it to look like no one's here?” Bobby asked.

“Yes. After this house-repair party
finally
winds down, I'm going to replace a couple of the outside lightbulbs now that the storm has passed and it's safe to put up a ladder. Then I'll close up the place so it looks empty.”

“But you'll be here waiting.” Bobby said.

“Whoever did this is probably watching the house right now. He sees all these people showing their support and trying to put things back to rights. What better way to break Olivia's spirit than to sneak back tonight and tear it all up again? Make the damage even worse the second time.”

“But we'll be waiting for him,” Bobby said.

Elijah looked at Bobby, grateful for the gift of such a loyal friend, even if he couldn't accept the offer of assistance. “
I
'
ll
be waiting. It'll be easier and safer if I only have to worry about myself.”

“Why don't we ask Sheriff Wolfsinger to have one of his deputies watch the house?” Joe said, a worried expression drawing a crease in his brow.

“We're a small town in a big county. You know he doesn't have enough manpower to have someone watch an empty house all night.”

“Probably not.”

What if this kept dragging on until Olivia took off on her own and got hurt again? Or killed? Elijah was afraid that's what she'd decide to do. He thought of Mrs. Somerset back in Afghanistan.

“
I
have to take care of this, Dad, and I just want to get it done. Would you go back in the kitchen and get Mom to leave? Maybe that will get everybody else moving. And let Aunt Claudia, Olivia, Raymond and Denise know I need to talk to them.”

“I'll do that. But you and I will talk later. You aren't staying here alone.” He held up a hand as Elijah started to argue. “Son, you are
not
doing this on your own.”

Joe turned and walked back through the swinging door. Elijah heard him holler, “All right people, let's wrap this up and move out. We've been here long enough.” Like his son, Joe Morales wasn't exactly known for his subtlety.

People started spilling out from the kitchen, Olivia among them. Elijah couldn't take his eyes off her. She and Denise were deep in conversation. Olivia looked down and nodded, her focus on a topic obviously important to her. Denise leaned in close, gesturing with her hands and speaking intensely.

Elijah wasn't above eavesdropping, but the hubbub of the group as they headed for the front door drowned out their conversation.

Olivia glanced over and their eyes met. She raised her eyebrows slightly, her expression hopeful, but also haunted. All evening he'd ached to take her in his arms, never more so than now. He wanted to chase away everything that worried her and help her understand there were still good things ahead in her life.

The second their gazes locked, Elijah felt so connected to her it was hard to believe there was ever a time when they hadn't know each other. He needed to tell her how he felt. And yet in that same moment he saw her expression close down. She glanced away and then looked back at him. This time she wore a polite, distant smile. It was as if she'd slammed a door in his face.

Fifteen minutes later, all of the visitors were gone except for Bobby. Even Jonathan had left for the Morales house to help prepare for their overnight guests. Elijah still wanted to talk to Olivia alone, but first things first. He needed to sell Claudia on the idea of the security system.

Bobby hadn't moved from the chair he'd padded with thick, folded blankets and plopped down into when he'd first arrived. Now Denise and Olivia were sitting on the sofa which had also been padded with blankets. Claudia was sitting in a plain wooden chair, her hands tightly clamped on the arms as if she was trying to command the world to stay still.

Raymond stood muttering about all the cleanup he still had to do before he'd get to go to bed.