Ask Me Why (18 page)

He shook his head. “Not a chance.”

She petted her two old cats. In a minute she'd have to deal with the reality that part or all of her house was on fire, but somehow she knew it would be all right. Sam and Molly were with her.

Once Sam and Molly were safe and calm in their hospital cages, McCall took her hand. “Whatever's out that back door, Lizzie, we'll deal with it. Right?”

“Right.”

RICK FLOORED THE
gas pedal and raced toward Lizzie's place. He could hear the ambulance and fire truck behind him.

“She's all right,” Trace announced. “She made the 911 call. She's safe at the doc's place.”

Rick didn't want to talk. They'd been working leads since dawn. Trace's contacts had learned that two men had rented a hotel room near Bailee two weeks ago. One paid cash while the other signed in. The hotel was a dump off the interstate thirty miles away, and the manager couldn't read the signature well enough to get more than a last name of Rogers. He did say they looked enough alike to be twins, but one did all the talking. Kind of a nervous guy. The other didn't say a word, but he was the one who always drove the tan pickup.

There were probably a dozen tan pickups at the rodeo last night and maybe thirty more in town. All had Texas tags. The cowboy who'd given the orders to move the bulls didn't stand out, either. Medium to short in height, slim build, white hat. Lizzie had talked to a man matching that description, but the sun had been in her eyes and she only remembered his hat.

Rick guessed the two men at the hotel was just a lead. Probably wouldn't go anywhere. But the pieces seemed to fit with what Lizzie had told them last night. If he and Trace were getting close to the truth, the bad guys might be getting too close to Lizzie.

As they crossed the railroad tracks, Rick saw smoke billowing from behind the clinic. It hadn't been five minutes since she'd called, and Lizzie's house already looked like a skeleton fighting flames that danced on the roof.

“Park at the clinic,” Trace shouted. “She called from the doc's phone. If you'll check on her, I'll check on the house.”

Rick nodded. “Be careful.” There were a hundred things he wanted to tell her, wanted to promise her, but he knew she had to do her job. If he really loved her and they were going to ever have any kind of future, he'd have to accept that.

When he cut the engine, she was gone before he even unbuckled his seat belt. He ran for the clinic door as the sheriff pulled up beside his car.

“Stay with Lizzie,” Alex yelled as she climbed out.

Rick just nodded. He'd heard those same words in the same bossy tone one minute earlier.

He watched Sheriff Alex Matheson run toward the fire as Harmony's volunteer fire department began unloading their gear. Without bothering to knock, Rick crossed the clinic's foyer and walked into the vet's office.

Lizzie was sitting on a desk with her back to him while the vet pulled off her top. For the first time Rick saw all of his cousin's tattoo. Ivy running over one shoulder and brushing along her neck. His first thought was how pretty it was, then embarrassment took over and he backed away.

Lizzie looked over her shoulder. “It's all right, Rick. Brandon was just checking my stitches.”

Rick didn't move for fear he'd see more of his cousin than he should.

McCall glanced up at Rick as she pulled an old sweater over her.

“She's fine.” The vet's voice was low. “All stitches in place.”

Rick didn't miss the fact that Dr. McCall was brushing his fingers along his cousin's shoulders, touching the tattoo. He thought of telling him to stop, but she must know the man well if she'd learned his first name when no one else in town knew it. Maybe his fingers had played along the ivy before?

Rick thought of hitting himself in the head for worrying about that, when she could have died in the blaze burning out of control yards away. Before he could ask any questions, the side door of the office, big enough to haul a horse through, opened.

Trace and Alex pulled a cowboy, shorter than either of them, through the opening. The little man looked terrified and somehow guilty at the same time. Rick had a sickening feeling he'd be appointed to defend him any minute.

“Lizzie, do you know this man?” Alex asked calmly.

“No. Who is he?”

“We don't know, yet, but Trace found him running along the inside of your back fence. With the fire, she might not have seen him right away if he hadn't been screaming for somebody named Fred.”

Trace looked at Rick. “We found an old Colt and bomb-making material in his backpack, along with maps of everywhere Lizzie's been the past two weeks, including the Matheson ranch.”

The man was shaking. “This isn't my fault. Fred was supposed to wait for me, but he wasn't there to pick me up.”

“Is Fred your brother?” Lizzie asked. “That'd make you Johnny, my cousin. Your mother left me a message last week that if I was ever in trouble I need to get in touch with her. She said her sons Fred and Johnny would help me out. I didn't think my granny would have wanted me to call, so I ignored her message.”

The little man cracked. They knew his name. “We didn't want to kill you, Lizzie. I just wanted you hurt so you'd need us. We're family. We'd come help you if you needed us.”

To everyone's surprise, Lizzie jumped off the desk and walked to stand in front of the little man. “But why?”

“Mom said you ain't got no relatives. No one who cares about you. If you was hurt, you'd come to us for help. She says the oil money you get belongs to all us, not just you, and you'd see that once you got to know us.”

“You're wrong,” Rick snapped. “She has the whole Matheson family who cares about her and most of the people in town.”

The little man looked scared. He'd said too much, but he couldn't stop. “I didn't mean to burn down her house. I was just going to bomb the shed out back. Only this fat cat ran out of the bushes and frightened me. When I fell, the bomb hit her porch and went off.” He gulped down air and cried. “It's not my fault. Fred was supposed to wait for me. He said we'd never get caught.”

“As a lawyer, I'd advise you to stop talking, Mr. Rogers.” Rick thought of adding that everyone in the room, except Lizzie, was probably thinking of beating the guy to a pulp. Lizzie, on the other hand, looked like she felt sorry for her brainless relative.

Alex cuffed Rogers while he asked Rick, “How much trouble am I in?”

“Ten years, maybe five if you have no priors.” Rick wanted to say something, like a dozen Mathesons would be waiting for him when he got out, but Rogers looked like he was already on fire with fear. There was no need to toss matches.

Alex and Trace ushered Rogers out. As Trace passed Rick, she whispered, “See you tonight. I want in on this case.”

He saw the excitement in her eyes. She loved her job and if he was going to love her, he'd have to understand. “Tonight,” he whispered back, wishing he could touch her just once before they were pulled apart. But there was no time.

A dozen things seemed to be happening at once. Firemen put out the house fire, but the place looked like a total loss. Rick, Lizzie, and the vet watched it all from the porch of his clinic. To his surprise, his cousin took it all with only a few tears.

When the vet went in to answer the phone, he hugged her. “You all right, Lizzie Lee?”

She nodded. “I learned a long time ago not to get too attached to things.”

“You want me to take you over to the Matheson ranch? I'm sure the aunts will take you in for as long as you want to stay.”

Lizzie shook her head. “I got an offer to stay here, and I think I'll take Brandon up on it.”

“How'd you get him to tell you his first name?”

She giggled. “I asked him.”

Rick left her in good hands as he drove back to his apartment. Trace had called in saying they'd picked up the other Rogers brother, and both were claiming the other was the mastermind of the plot to frighten Lizzie.

To Rick's way of thinking, there was no mastermind. The Rogers boys didn't have enough brain cells between them to think up this plan. He'd bet that because their address was still their mother's home, she'd thought it up. Dear old invisible Aunt Alice was probably at home in Dallas, waiting for her sons to call in with good news.

By the time he finished taking a shower, Trace was crawling through the window. “Evening, dear,” he said as he handed her his cup of coffee. “Have a good day at the office?”

She kissed his cheek. “I had a great day.”

They sat down on the two end tables that had been left in his living room and talked. Then, like an old married couple, he went to bed while she took a shower. When she cuddled beside him, he turned to face her.

“Somehow, Trace, we have to make this work. I can't do without a heart, and it leaves every time you do.”

“I know. After today I think Harmony might be a fascinating place to live.”

He pulled her closer. “After tonight, you'll know it for certain.”

AS THE WESTERN
ended, Lizzie clicked off the TV and glanced over at McCall's two dogs sleeping on the kitchen rug; her two cats were two feet away in the kitchen chairs. McCall had been asleep since the middle of the movie they'd both already seen. She'd spent the time thinking of all the ways she'd color his world.

They'd spent an hour eating pizza, planning how she could fit into his already small space. Since she had no clothes or furniture, it wouldn't be too hard.

There were so many things yet to talk about. So many days to share. She thought it strange that he'd been right in front of her, waiting for her to see him. Now that she had, she couldn't imagine a day in the future without him.

As he slept, she snuggled close and saw their future. They'd build a house in the pasture beside his clinic. They'd work together most days. She'd always cook supper, and he'd probably always fret over her. He'd try to boss her around and she wouldn't listen. They'd have a big wedding and maybe children. They'd grow old together. They would never stop loving each other.

She poked his side. “Come to bed, dear.”

“Why?” he said, still half asleep.

“Because I want you, Brandon McCall. And I need you to know that I'm going to want you close to me every day for the rest of my life.”

“I'll be here,” he answered. “It sure did take you a long time to find me.”

“I know. Funny how love was right in front of me. I just had to open my eyes.”

He leaned down and kissed her tenderly with just the right kind of kiss she'd been waiting for all her life. “Marry me,” he whispered against her lips.

She whispered back. “I don't know you well enough yet, Doc, but maybe I will by morning.”

Shirley Jump