Saddled With Trouble (9 page)

I bet she does. Summer knows she had a good thing.
“Yeah, well, you can stay here as long as you need to, as long as you promise me you’ll think about this thing with her. I’m begging you.”

“
I told you that I would. I promised. I’ll pinky swear if you want.”

She laughed, remembering how when they were kids they would always pinky swear on secrets of the utmost importance, like the time they were playing with Ethan’s G.I. Joes in Ethan’s backyard, and they’d taken a gas can from his mom’s garage and dug a trench, placing the figures down in it, pouring the gas into the trench and lighting it on fire. What they hadn’t realized was that their fun and games would “backfire,” as they just about caused Ethan’s house to burn as a
poof
of flame shot out from the fumes and caught one of the trees in the backyard on fire. It had been horrible at the time, and they were questioned by Ethan’s mom and her parents but they’d pinky sworn never to tell, and to this day their parents figured they’d done it, but because there was room for doubt on their innocent-looking faces, they hadn’t been punished.

“
No need to pinky swear. I believe you.”

“
Thanks for the couch, but I think I’ll camp in the tack room. That way I’ll be close to Leo and you won’t have to worry. Did that cop find out anything?”

“
We found the pitchfork out by the bales of hay . . . and a chewing tobacco wrapper.”

“
That’s odd. Have you hired any help lately? Someone who might chew?”

“
Nope. I am an island unto myself. In other words, with the lawyers tying things up between Brad and me, I’m too broke to hire help.”

“
Well, you know that I’ll be here if you need me.”

She kissed him on the cheek. Tears stung her eyes as she walked down the hall. She didn’t know if the tears were for Lou, the thought that Ethan was about to make the biggest mistake of his life, or for the fact that a manipulative woman like Summer was pregnant, and she was still paying bills to doctors who, no matter what they’d put her through, hadn’t been able to make her fertile.

TEN

MICHAELA SLIPPED OUT OF HER JEANS AND donned a long T-shirt. She brushed her teeth and splashed her face. No time for nightly rituals. She could hear Camden’s muffled voice on the phone in the next room.

She picked up her own phone and dialed Lou and Cynthia’s number. A man answered. “Oh hi, Michaela. It’s Dwayne. Sam and I pulled back onto the ranch not too long ago. I cannot believe this. I plan to stay here with Cynthia until she feels it is okay for me to leave and go back to the rodeo. Bean is here, too.”

Dwayne Yamaguchi was one of the best working cow horse trainers around and he’d worked for Lou for almost eight years. He was also quite the calf roper. Not Michaela’s favorite rodeo event— maybe it was something about running down the calf and flipping him over and tying his hooves. Although her dad and uncle always told her that it wasn’t cruel. Ranchers did it all the time. And, Dwayne was one of the best at his sport.

His cousin Sam, a
paniolo
— a Hawaiian cowboy— had come over from the islands a couple years after Dwayne had joined on with her uncle, to help out temporarily, and wound up never going back. He wasn’t the rider that Dwayne was. He carried quite a bit more weight on him than his younger cousin. But from everything Michaela knew about him, Sam did a good job with the horses.

“
Thanks, Dwayne, for coming back. Is Cynthia okay?”

“
As good as you might expect. You know, she had a terrible blow, losing a loved one. Lou was a good man. Did not deserve this fate. She is resting now.”

Michaela could hear him choke back emotion as she felt it rise again in her own throat. “I was hoping to speak to her. But it’s good she’s sleeping.”

“
You going to come by in the morning for a coffee, right? Maybe she be up to talking then. I hope I can get back to the horses in a day or so. Lou would want that.”

“
You’re still going to ride?”

There was a pause on the other end. “You know, Michaela, I run it through my brain the whole drive home about what is right thing to do, or how it looks if I am still in the rodeo. I talk about it with my cousin Sam on the drive and he say to me that Lou was a cowboy. He was a horseman. He did not raise the animals and make investment in them without want of an outcome. He raised champions and I have to go and get a championship again. You know that is what he would have me do. Sam be right. I have to ride.”

Dwayne was correct: Uncle Lou had never been a glass-half-empty kind of guy. “You’re probably right. Yes, I’ll stop by in the morning.”

“
Good. Get some rest and we will talk tomorrow.”

Michaela hung up and turned off the light. She sat in the dark for several minutes, trying to clear her mind of the image of Uncle Lou lying dead on Loco’s stall floor. But she couldn’t. After a few minutes she decided to get a glass of water.

She passed Camden’s room and could hear her still talking. Probably to Kevin. She reached for the doorknob, thinking she’d say goodnight, but before she could turn it, her friend’s words came through the door.

“
. . . with him gone it will be a lot easier acquiring that land. I understand you don’t want to look suspicious, but I seriously doubt it. You’ve been trying to get your hands on that property for a while now. Besides, you don’t exactly have a killer instinct. You know how to get people eating out of your hands. It’s one of the things I love about you. But we both know just what a killer you are, don’t we?” Camden laughed. “Listen, I better go, I need to check on Michaela. Today has been rough on her. Tomorrow night? Yeah. Sure. Well, maybe I should stay home and take care of her. No, she won’t want to come. Even when she isn’t down in the dumps she’s not exactly a party girl. Okay, I’ll try. You’re right, maybe it would help. Yes, and it would be good if she had a different impression of you. I know. I won’t. Okay, sweetie. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Camden hung up the phone. Michaela hurried back to bed and slid under the covers. A few seconds later she heard her door open. Camden whispered her name and stood over her. She reached out and rubbed Michaela’s arm. “Poor kid. Get some rest.”

After Camden left she lay awake for quite some time, her friend’s conversation playing over and over again in her mind. She
had
been talking to Kevin. The way it sounded, they were talking about it being much easier now for Kevin to get his grubby hands on her uncle’s land. Granted, Camden hadn’t mentioned her uncle’s name, but it made sense. The scenario about the killer instinct, the land being easier to acquire, all of it. Her stomach took a turn for the worse as she couldn’t help wondering: Did her best friend have something to do with her uncle’s murder?

ELEVEN

ETHAN WAS GONE BY THE TIME MICHAELA MADE it out to the barn the next morning, but he’d fed the horses and left her a note that said he’d stop by later on or give her a call. She knew she’d been hard on him the night before, but she wanted to protect him from getting hurt again— if that was at all possible.

She decided to head over and check on Cynthia, but first she needed to stop by her parents’ place. They hadn’t called last night, and she’d figured that maybe they had been so caught up in their own grief that they couldn’t muster the energy. Whatever it was, she needed to make sure they were all right. She also knew she had to work her horses. Dwayne had hit it on the nail last night: Lou would expect nothing less from her than to move on, take care of her animals and keep working toward her goals, which the two of them had discussed time and again. Still, she knew it would be painful.

Camden was making coffee as Michaela walked in from the barn.

“
Want some?” she asked. Her naturally curly hair was frizzed out from sleeping on it, and she wore a pair of men’s black silk boxers, which Michalea assumed belonged to Kevin, and a T-shirt that read MASTER OF MY DOMAIN.

Only Camden. “No,” Michaela replied curtly. “I’m going over to see my folks and then Cynthia.”

“
Oh. You want me to come?”

Michaela shook her head. “I’m fine.”

“
Okay. Well if you need me, call. I think, I’m gonna stay around today. So I’m here for you.” She paused. “You know, hon, I was talking to Kevin last night.”

“
Were you?”

“
Yes, and we thought it might be good for you to come out with us tonight. We’ll have some Mexican food, maybe a few drinks. Why don’t you ask Ethan to come along?” Camden raised her brows. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say the two of you could wind up together . . . but what do I know? Look at
my
last three marriages.”

“
Exactly.” Michaela was about to say something even more smart-assy and bring up the fact that her new boyfriend looked like a pretty good suspect in her uncle’s murder, especially since he’d tried to purchase Lou’s land not too long ago and had received a big fat no from Lou. But something stopped her. “Maybe I will go out with you tonight.”

“
Good,” Camden replied, wide-eyed. “That’s . . . great. I’m telling you that getting out will be good medicine. It will. You’ll see.”

Michaela said goodbye and headed to her truck. Tonight wasn’t going to be about good medicine, but rather about fishing for answers. Maybe she’d get into that brain of Kevin Tanner’s and find some hint that he might have been behind Uncle Lou’s murder, or— and this was a thought she hated entertaining, but after last night had no choice— to see if she could also figure out whether or not Camden had somehow been involved.

* * *

ANOTHER CAR STOOD PARKED NEXT TO HER mom’s Trail Blazer. It took her a minute to recognize it, but she quickly realized that it belonged to Detective Davis. Something made her uneasy about him being there. Though likely routine, she just didn’t like the idea of her parents being questioned by the police. Stepping out of her own vehicle she could smell her mom’s famous cinnamon rolls. Janie Bancroft enjoyed cooking and always made major meals for her family, but in times of stress she went into overdrive. Michaela was sure to find a kitchen filled with baked goods and casseroles. For all she knew, her mom had been up all night cooking.

She came into the kitchen through the back door. Her mother and Davis were seated at the table, each with a cinnamon roll and a glass of milk.

“
Hi, honey. Good to see you. Get a roll and come sit with us. I understand you’ve met Detective Davis already,” her mom said. She fiddled with the cross around her neck, a habit she had when she was nervous. “I insisted that Detective Davis have a cinnamon bun. I fixed a little bit of food, I guess.” Her face appeared strained, as if she hadn’t slept, and her eyes were bloodshot. She
had
been cooking. There were brownies, the rolls, cookies, and when Michaela opened the refrigerator door to get a glass of milk she found it filled with a fruit salad, two covered casseroles that, if she guessed correctly, were a taco casserole and a lasagna. Oh boy, Mom was taking this really hard. She’d expected that to happen with her dad, but her mom was always the grounded one.

“
Mom, who’s going to eat all of this?”

Her mother shrugged. “I’m sure Cynthia could use some, and after the funeral there will be plenty for all who come. People loved Lou, so I suspect there will be quite a large number of folks. I think we should have the reception here. I think it’d be too much right now for Cynthia to deal with. I told her that yesterday that we would take care of the arrangements for a reception, but I’m not certain she heard me. Poor girl. She’s beside herself, as expected. So having people here after the funeral, I think would be a nice idea, and as you pointed out, we’ll have plenty of food.”

“
It’s a lovely gesture, Mama.” Mom was acting nervous, but it wasn’t every day that a detective sat in your kitchen, trying to solve the murder of a loved one. Michaela looked at Davis, who smiled. “Good morning, Detective.” It irked her to see him sitting in her mom’s kitchen all warm and fuzzy like, kind of like a flipping cover of
Good Housekeeping.
Then again, she knew her mom, Janie Bancroft, was one woman who didn’t take no for an answer. More than likely she’d practically shoved the roll down the poor man’s throat.

He nodded. “Ms. Bancroft. How are you?”

“
That’s to be determined.”

Davis stood. “Mrs. Bancroft, I should be going. Thank you for answering my questions. I may have more as the investigation progresses and as I said, I do need to speak with your husband again.” He handed her his card. “Please have him call me.”

“
Certainly,” Janie Bancroft replied.

Michaela noticed that her hands were trembling as she took the card from Davis.

“
Thank you for the rolls and milk. It was completely unnecessary, but certainly delicious, and very kind of you.”

“
Oh, gosh,” her mom said, a pink hue coloring her cheeks. “My pleasure, Detective.”

“
Thank you. And, I can not express how sorry I am for your loss.” He turned to Michaela. “You, too.”

She nodded. “I’ll walk out with you, if that’s okay?”

“
Sure.”