Dead Man's Rules (24 page)

Lottie put her hand on Bradley’s arm. “Hon, do you suppose the developers might change their mind and build a road from this side too? That would mean more tourists for Rio Rojo.”

Cere cringed at the touch and the word, “hon.” Why did her mother have to use the pet phrase she had once called her father?

Bradley cleared his throat and smiled at Lottie, issuing a wink that disturbed Cere further. “Well, I’ve been talking to them Tres Padres people. Big corporate bunch. Don’t you gals worry. I’m lookin’ out for this town. If there’s a way to get them to build from this side too, we will.”

“I hear there’s lots of new construction near Casitas,” Norm added, his thick fingers waving a fork at the table. “We could use some of that new business at the bank. Dick’s always complaining we need new customers.”

Dick was the oldest of the Winslows, president of the First Bank of Rio Rojo, but her mother had never been close to him. Lottie and Norm were the two youngest siblings and had been close from childhood, a relationship cemented even more when he married her best friend. Norm’s rotund figure and thick jowls made him appear the oldest. Black glasses gave him an owlish appearance. Together he and Millie resembled twin bowling balls on thick, stubby legs.

She nodded in agreement to his comments. “Then maybe we can convince whoever owns that old dance hall property to tear that damn building down.”

Lottie shoved back from the table with a loud screech of her chair. “Cere, let’s leave them to their discussion of town business and get dessert. I’ll call Ginny in.” Rafe had not made dinner and the little girl had been excused earlier to play with Roxie in the backyard.

Cere threw her mother a pained look, but Millie was already pushing her fleshy arms against the table and getting to her feet.

“I’ll help. I need to move.”

Lottie squeezed Cere’s shoulder enough to bring pain as she walked by and Cere rolled her eyes, but nodded in silent agreement.

Bradley turned to her as the two women disappeared into the kitchen. “I hear someone took a shot at you out at the Palladium.”

“I guess everyone knows about that.” She glanced at the door, wondering how much she could get away with before her mother returned. And he brought it up.

“News went around City Hall like wildfire,” he said with a growling laugh. “I hope you don’t think we’re inhospitable, but I don’t understand what you were doin’ out there.”

This was dangerous territory. Both men watched her with expectant looks and she couldn’t help herself. “I’m doing a story for
Scope
on Marco Gonzales.”

The room grew silent, like the emptiness after a bomb explosion.

She expected the reaction to come from Bradley, but though his jowly face grew florid, her Uncle Norm, the perfect banker who never displayed emotion, turned a dull shade of gray, eyes wide, lips thin and slack.

“My god, what would ever make you think of such a ridiculous thing? Don’t you realize how much damage you could cause? You’re going to drop this idea immediately! Don’t even think about it!” He looked toward the kitchen door and then leaned toward her, his voice low and shaking. “Don’t ever mention it again! Especially to Lottie!”

Chapter Twenty-Five

“Cere, you’re making something out of nothing.” Rafe shook his head as he sank onto a worn, brown leather chair. He took a sip from a mug of beer and leaned back with a sigh. Damn he was tired, probably too tired to be dealing with Cere, but she had brought Ginny home along with a welcome roast beef sandwich. She’d put the little girl to bed while he ate. Now they sat in the family room drinking beer when all he wanted to do was sleep. She’d insisted on talking so he poured them both beers.

“Is that why you never told me?” she asked

“It was a long time ago and it’s not related to the current case, but I knew you’d blow the whole thing out of proportion. Someone here right now killed Naldo.”

“Isn’t it possible there’s a correlation? Someone killed them both and took Naldo’s box to make it look like a robbery?”

“Why wait thirty-five years if Naldo knew something? It doesn’t make sense.”

“You think I’m trying to tie them together to embellish my story?”

He didn’t answer because that was what he thought and why he hadn’t told her. There was so much information she could spin in the wrong direction if he told her everything and he wasn’t going to help her. He was too damn tired. A swivel fan spun toward him, flicking warm air across his face and then back to her.

“Why do you suppose my Uncle Norm is opposed to my doing the story?”

Rafe squeezed his eyes shut and fought to keep them open. “I have no idea. Did you ask him about it?”

“I didn’t bring it up. Mr. Foster wanted to know about the shooting today so I mentioned my research. He didn’t seem surprised, but my uncle went ballistic. Even before they came over, Mom warned me not to mention it.”

“Who knows? Maybe ’cause Marco burned down his brother’s hardware store?”

Her gulp was audible. “What?”

“No one told you that, huh?”

“Well, no… Damn!”

He wanted to tell her she needed to do more research, but that would only make things worse. He twisted slightly in his chair and shifted. She was looking around the room and he could almost imagine what she was thinking. The sprawling ranch style house was fine for him and Ginny but it was probably different from home back in California. His mother kept the place neat, but the furniture was dated and thrown together for convenience. He’d never bothered to unpack personal effects, except Ginny’s toys that littered half the room.

“What did BJ think about the box? His father thinks an outsider killed Naldo, but if it was robbery, then why leave the money?”

“Bradley doesn’t like the thought of anyone in town doing it. I don’t either. The idea that someone I know might shoot at us... That’s not the Rio Rojo I remember.”

“This town isn’t as placid as you think,” she said softly.

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing really, though I’m curious about my uncle. I’m having my nails done at Aunt Millie’s shop tomorrow. I may ask her what she knows.”

“The intrepid reporter strikes again.”

“Did you have casts made of the footprints up on that hillside?”

He released a deep sigh. In a minute he was going to be rude and ask her to leave. “Are you trying to tell me how to do my job? Of course I did. But they may not be important. Lots of people hike in those hills. There’s a picnic and camping area up on the mesa.”

“I’ll know that print if I see it again. It was worn on the back left heel and had an oval in the center of the heel.”

Her words surprised him and he sat forward. “You noticed that much?”

She pointed at her head. “Very observant intrepid reporter here. What about the money box?”

“What about it?”

“What was in it besides the money?”

Rafe shifted, draining his beer. Enough! He lifted his arms and stretched. “I don’t mean to be inhospitable, but I need to call it a day. It’s almost eleven.”

“You should have called me to help you at the newspaper office. I’d have come down.”

Despite his exhaustion a smile creased his full lips. “The national TV star would lower herself to write for a local weekly?”

“Hey, Tafoya, I worked at my college paper. I know about newspapers. We probably put out more stories in a week than your uncle does...” She stopped as he shook his head and pushed to his feet.

“You have to keep putting down the town, don’t you?”

She drained her beer and stood, picking up his mug and walking toward the kitchen as she replied. “Actually I’m getting to like the town. When I walk down the street, people say hello even if I don’t know them.”

He followed her. “That’s why I came back. People reached out to me after Carmen...letters, condolences. Most of those people I hadn’t seen in years. When I heard they were looking for a sheriff, it seemed natural. This is the best place for Ginny too. I’d like to think that when she grows up, she can stop for a burger at one in the morning and not worry about random gunfire.”

At the sink she rinsed their mugs and put them in the drainer. He examined her for a minute in her slim fitting sleeveless dress. Despite being so tired, he found his earlier arousal returning. How the hell could she look so damn good this late at night? Or maybe because it was so late.

She approached him and stopped in front of him. Her eyes swept over his face and she reached up to touch where his beard met his cheek. “I’m sorry for keeping you up. You look exhausted.”

The touch was like a hot poker and he stroked the side of her face with his forefinger, making her tremble. “And you look fresh as a damned daisy.”

Her eyes focused on his lips, and she moved forward, her breath quickening. Her fingers rested on the hair at the top of his shirt and he shuddered.

He wanted her. And the realization shot through him along with a wave of guilt. He couldn’t continue. His finger dropped, and he stepped back. The moment, whatever it had been, was gone. He turned sideways, jamming his hands in his back pockets.

“Why don’t we talk in the morning?”

She stepped back, understanding. “Was your wife’s death the only reason you left L.A.?”

“Get me drunk some night, and I might tell you.”

****

“Still playing the role of city bitch, huh?” Freeda threw herself into the empty manicurist chair across from Cere.

“Well, nice to see you too. What are you talking about?” She hadn’t seen her cousin in days, but naturally Freeda would show up unannounced at The Mane Attraction and start lecturing her.

“Here you are getting your nails done instead of being with your mom. I’ll bet you’re here to pump Millie and her gals about your story.”

That was true—she’d been stewing all night about her uncle’s anger over Marco, and she had looked forward to questioning her aunt, but another manicurist stepped forward to help while Millie busied herself with another customer. The young woman spent most of her time talking on her hands free device while working the file.

Cere held up her drying nails. “I had a royal emergency. My nails looked like yours, all chipped and torn. You should see if they can take you while mine dry.”

Freeda curled her fingers into fists to hide her blue-black chipped and chewed nails.

“Later, maybe.”

“When did you get back? We were expecting you last night.”

“We didn’t get in until two or three so I stayed over at Daphne’s. I called
Tia
last night. She said you were over at the sexy sheriff’s house. I think she figured you might stay the night.” She leered, lifting and lowering her brows.

“As if.”

“How come you didn’t go out to the lake with her? Or are you afraid you can’t wear your spikey sandals?”

“Lake?” A sudden spark of annoyance pricked at Cere’s scalp and she jerked upright. “Did she say she was going to the lake?”

“Yep. She was putting a cooler in the car as we pulled up. Gave me a key and told me where you were.”

“Damn!” Cere shot to her feet. Having already paid her manicurist, she waved at Millie who was across the room putting a gray-haired woman under the drier. “See you, later.”

Freeda followed her to her car that was parked right outside. “What’s up?”

“She didn’t tell me she was going to the lake. She waited until I left. That means she didn’t want me to go with her.”

“Why?”

“I have no idea, but let’s find out. I was so focused on talking to Aunt Millie I didn’t pay attention this morning, but Mom did seem kind of spacey.”

“Sounds like you outsmarted yourself. What are we going to do? Follow her? Do we know where this lake is?”

“They said it was beyond the Palladium. That you follow that road, though I don’t remember a road beyond the parking lot.”

“Sure, I saw it the day I had to pee. It’s not much of a road, mainly ruts, but you can see there was something there. Tell me what’s been going on since I left. You and the sheriff, huh?”

“Forget the sheriff. Wait until I tell you what I found out about Marco.” As they drove to the Palladium, Cere filled Freeda in on her scary night at the dance hall, plus the shots that had been fired at her and Rafe.

“See that dust cloud?” Freeda shouted as they turned the corner that led to the dance hall.

The cloud was several miles ahead, rising against the backdrop of the foothills. It disappeared into a wedge in the line of hills.

“Do you suppose that’s her?” Cere picked out twin trails through the grass beyond the parking lot. What was once a road was now mainly patches of gravel overrun by grass. The going was slow as she dodged rocks and ruts that scarred the former road.

“Someone’s been driving along here.” She pointed to tire tracks in the dirt. “Besides Mom.”

As they neared the edge of the mesa, she could see the slice into the mountain and the beginning of a small creek bed wedged along one corner. Only a narrow ribbon of water meandered through it. She came around a corner and slammed on the breaks. Her mother’s stopped car was just ahead.

Lottie stood at the rear of her car. She walked toward them as Cere opened her door. “You damn girls! I don’t know whether to kick or kiss you for following me.”

Her car was parked at the edge of the road with the back tire entrenched in sand.

“Are you okay? What happened?” Feeling shaky from the close call of almost hitting the car, Cere climbed out and approached her mother.

“I was trying to get around a big rock in the road and got stuck.”

She waved a finger at Lottie. “This is what happens when you take off without telling anyone. I’ll bet your cell doesn’t work out here, does it?”

Lottie didn’t answer but her look of chagrin provided the answer. “See why I always tell you to let me know where you’re going?”

“
Tia,
what are we going to do with you? Oh, hell. Look at this.” Freeda frowned down at the side of their car. “For the past couple of miles I’ve felt like we were pulling to my side. I figured that was just the road, but the tire on your rear wheel is flat.”