Last Stand Ranch (9 page)

“Have you asked her out?” Arthur pressed.

“You know I don't date.” Elijah said.

“I still don't understand why not.” The old man just would not give it up.

Elijah stared wordlessly at his normally well-mannered friend.

Olivia finally came to Elijah's rescue. “I just moved here from Las Vegas. Right now I'm not looking for a romantic attachment, either.”

Arthur looked at each of them and shook his head sadly. Then he turned to Elijah. “Are you a complete fool?” He glanced down at the money still in his hand, then back at Elijah. “Life's for living, not for waiting around. When you aren't too busy to live a little, you come get me and bring me into town. I'll pop in my choppers and we'll get us a steak.” He hooked his thumb toward Olivia, who was standing in the threshold of the outside door, admiring the view. “Maybe we'll invite her along, too.”

“Deal,” Elijah said. Anything to put an end to this topic of conversation.

Larry said his goodbyes and headed back to his office. Arthur drove his wheelchair to a window and pulled a sketch pad and some pencils out of a side pocket. Elijah was about to ask Olivia if she was ready to go when he saw something through the window behind Arthur. Something on the lightly forested hill just past the facility campus.

“Get inside,” he barked out to Olivia.

She stepped back in the room. “What is it?”

“Maybe nothing.” He strode to the window for a better look, mentally kicking himself for wandering off into “relationship land” and letting his feelings cloud his thinking about Olivia. There was no question as to whether they should date or have a romantic future together. He couldn't afford to be distracted like that.

Light flashed on the hill. A few seconds later he saw it again.

“You watching that light out there?” Arthur asked. “Probably just somebody driving on that old loop road.”

“Probably.” Elijah still didn't like it.

“I don't know why anybody would be out there now,” Arthur continued, organizing his sketching supplies. “Nothing to see. Just a short drive around some trees. You wait until dusk, then you might see some critters coming out.”

“You don't miss much,” Elijah said, squeezing his friend's shoulder.

“These are for close up.” Arthur tapped his glasses. “My distance sight is still pretty good.”

Elijah got out his phone and hit a speed dial button while he walked outside for a better view.

“I called Jonathan and my dad,” he explained to Olivia when he came back inside. “It might not be anything to worry about, but I don't want to take any chances. They'll be here in a few minutes to check things out before we leave.”

The color had drained from Olivia's face and fear filled her eyes. Witnessing her beaming happiness just a few minutes ago made the return of her sadness even more punishing. Elijah hoped her tormentor was up there on that hill so he could track down the creep and end this nightmare for her today.

Arthur turned his chair and looked at her. “Why exactly did you move here from Las Vegas?”

Olivia reached over to rub her injured shoulder. “I made a mob attorney very angry with me.”

Arthur raised his bushy white eyebrows and whistled. Then he shook his head and smiled wistfully at Elijah. “Boy, can you pick 'em.”

NINE

“W
e spotted fresh tire tracks in the dirt up there,” Joe Morales said through the rolled-down window of his truck, “but we didn't see anybody. Whoever made those tracks was already gone.”

Jonathan sat in the truck beside him, scanning the hillside with a pair of binoculars.

Olivia sat beside Elijah in his truck in the Golden Sands parking lot. She looked through the windshield at the hill behind the senior center where they'd seen the flash of light just twenty minutes ago. “Thanks for looking,” she called over to the other truck. She wished she could think of the words to express the real depth of her gratitude. The Morales family had done so much for her.

“Let's head back to the ranch,” Elijah said.

Joe nodded. “Your brother went into town this morning and bought some heavy-duty locks. Make sure you grab them before you head to Aunt Claudia's.”

“I will.”

Joe wheeled his pickup truck around and headed out of the parking lot. Elijah followed.

“I don't suppose this rig has bulletproof windows,” Olivia muttered as they picked up speed.

She looked at the passing landscape. In spite of the fear nipping at her, she could still see the beauty in the towering pines and the vistas of red mesas haloed by bright blue sky in the distance. She'd been shot, but she'd lived to see another day. She could let that drag her down or lift her up. Which was it going to be?

“If I spend much more time with you, I might have to get the whole truck armored,” Elijah said.

She turned to him, her gaze tracing the strong line of his jaw. There was no hint of a smile, but she could hear the attempt at humor in his voice.

Her shoulder ached a little and she reached over to rub it.

“I'll do my best to keep you alive,” Elijah said quietly.

“I know. And I'll do my best to keep myself from getting killed.”

This time there was a smile on his lips. Just a little one.

They drove for a few more miles until he made the turn onto the Morales Ranch property.

Joe drove his truck toward the stables. Elijah steered toward a work shed near the house. “I need to grab a few tools before we head over to Aunt Claudia's.” He cut the engine and climbed out of his truck.

“Can I help?” Olivia asked, climbing out, too.

“No, thanks. I've got it.”

A few minutes later he loaded various pieces of equipment into his truck. Olivia's gaze lingered on one sharp-toothed, particularly mean-looking hunk of metal and plastic. “A chain saw?”

“I need it to clear away some of the hedges and tree branches around Aunt Claudia's house. Get rid of any good hiding places.”

“Are you sure she'll be okay with you chopping up her plants?”

He turned to her. “You can't really think she'd value her plants more than you.”

“I guess not.” Olivia shrugged. “I just don't want to assume too much. I don't want her to be sorry she invited me to stay with her.”

Elijah shook his head. “You don't know your aunt at all.” He picked up a couple more power tools and put them in the truck. Olivia couldn't help admiring the muscles in his arms and across his chest as he moved with such easy strength.

“It's none of my business,” he added, “but why didn't you or your family ever visit her?”

You're right. It isn't your business
. Defensiveness burned through her like a flare and the harsh words were right there on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't bring herself to say them. Not after all he'd done for her.

“Your family seems close,” she said, diverting the conversation to a safer topic.

“Oh, we have our moments like any other family. Believe me.” He slammed the tailgate shut. “Some days this ranch doesn't seem nearly big enough.”

Jonathan exited a barn and walked toward them, pushing a motorcycle with a cardboard box balanced on the seat. When he got closer he picked up the box and dropped it into the back of Elijah's truck with a loud thud. “The locks,” he said by way of explanation. “And Dad told me to wrap it up for the day and head over to Aunt Claudia's with you.”

“Okay,” Elijah said. “Let's go.” He and Olivia climbed back into his truck.

Jonathan cranked up his bike and started out toward the road. Elijah followed.

By the time they reached Claudia's house, Olivia had turned Elijah's question about visiting Claudia over in her mind so many times that she wanted to say something. Just spit out a response and be finished with it.

“My parents weren't close to their families,” she finally said. “I never heard of any particular reason why. Mom's family lives in California. Dad's family is scattered across Arizona. Claudia is his aunt. My parents never invested much time in visiting anybody, and by the time I'd grown up it seemed too awkward to try and track down any of my relatives.”

“That's a shame. You missed a lot not coming up here for a visit. Uncle Hugh and Aunt Claudia always had time for kids. They were a lot of fun.”

Olivia took a deep breath. Might as well get it all out there. The more she was around the Morales family, the more stories of her own life experiences stuck in her throat. And the more she missed being part of a family. “My family life disintegrated after my dad left my mom for another woman when I was seventeen.”

“I'm sorry.” He turned to look at her. “That had to be tough.”

Funny how it still hurt all these years later. Just mentioning it, she felt the exact same sensation she'd felt when her parents first broke the news to her. As if she was falling and there was nothing she could grab hold of to stop the fall.

“Mom found someone and got married again a year later. I was eighteen. An adult. So they both had new lives, and I was on my own.”

“You moved out of your mom's house?”

“Not right away. But it felt like I was by myself. I didn't have any brothers or sisters. Both my parents had started new relationships, gotten married, moved on.”

“Without you?”

“I can't blame them. It wasn't like I was a kid anymore.” But she'd still needed them.

“I still rely on my parents,” Elijah said. “I doubt I'll ever outgrow that. It must have been lonely, not having that family connection to turn to.”

She looked at him. Hard to believe that depth of understanding was coming from a tough-looking biker like him. “It was very lonely. I was desperate for company and started dating a man who seemed wonderful at the beginning,” she continued. “After a while, I started to see flashes of temper in him, but I rationalized them away. Told myself everybody has their faults.” She took a deep breath. Even now she didn't like thinking about Daniel and how bad things had gotten.

“I'm sorry,” Elijah said. His voice was soft, but she could see the muscles flex in his jaw.

She shrugged off his sympathy, wanting to finish the story. “He shoved me a few times. Hard. I knew something was wrong, but at the time I felt like any connection with another human being was better than feeling alone.”

“But you broke up with him.”

She sighed and nodded. “Eventually. I worked hard to rebuild my life after that. To make things better.” She glanced out the side window. “I should have come out here. But Aunt Claudia didn't even cross my mind at the time. Instead, I prayed more than I ever had in my life. Eventually I found a therapist and that helped, too.”

“So that's how you chose your career path?”

“I wanted to help people who were stuck in the same place I had been. Plenty of people say ‘Let me know if you need anything' to someone in an obvious bind. They sincerely mean it, but you know what you really need if you're in serious trouble? You need someone to say ‘here's a safe place to stay' or ‘I brought you some groceries.' Something practical like that.”

She turned to him. “You need someone to say, ‘here's my cell phone and I'll wait with you until the tow truck comes.'”

He was quiet for a moment. “That's what Vanquish the Darkness does,” he said.

And there it was. That emotional step back.

Subtle, but it was there. She got the hint. His help wasn't anything personal.

So be it. If Elijah wanted to keep her safe until the cops found whoever was after her, and then disappear from her life, that was fine with her.

Raymond walked up to the truck as they pulled into Claudia's driveway.

“What's going on?” he asked as Elijah grabbed the chain saw from the bed of the truck and set it on the ground.

“Just going to do a little trimming.”

“I take care of that around here.” Raymond frowned. “Tell me what you need and I'll get it done.”

“It's not for looks. I want to make sure there's no place for anybody to hide. And it needs to be done before it gets dark.”

“I can do things to help look out for the ladies, too, you know.” Raymond crossed his arms over his chest.

“I'm sure you can,” Elijah said. “What I need you to do right now is check all the outside lights. I've brought a few spare bulbs if we need them. And we're going to install some stronger locks on all the house's exterior doors.”

Jonathan, who'd arrived just ahead of them, grabbed a box of bulbs from the back of the truck and handed it to Raymond.

Raymond looked at them with a slight frown still on his lips.

“What can I do to help?” Olivia asked.

“Go inside.” Elijah gestured for Jonathan to go with her. Then he scanned the area around the front of the house while he grabbed a pair of leather work gloves from the truck and put them on. He picked up the chain saw. “Rest your arm and shoulder.”

“He's a real charmer sometimes,” Raymond groused as Elijah strode toward the thick hedges where Claudia's property met the road.

“Yeah.” Olivia watched Elijah walking away.
Yet he does have his moments
.

But then her thoughts drifted to the reason for all this activity. The shooter was still out there. And she didn't even know who he was. She didn't want to think about who might want to kill her other than Ted Kurtz, but she had to consider all the possibilities. The familiar feeling of claustrophobic panic she'd had while hiding in Las Vegas began to worm its way into the back of her mind, speeding up her pulse and making her feel as if she wanted to jump out of her own skin. She needed to get moving. Get her mind off herself.

“Maybe this is a good time for me to help clean up one of the sheds,” she said. She gestured toward a wooden shed close to the house. “Organizing things helps me calm down when I have the jitters.”

Raymond looked at her shoulder. “I don't think that's a good idea.”

“I still have one good arm. At the very least I can take a look inside and come up with a plan to put things in order. And you and Elijah are right here. I won't be out here alone.” She understood she needed to be careful. But she couldn't live with being caged up, spending her days hidden indoors. She'd promised herself when she left Las Vegas that she'd never put herself through that again.

“Well, if you want to clean up that dusty old shed, I'm not going to stop you,” Raymond said.

Elijah powered up the chain saw, gunning the motor until the high-pitched whine sent Claudia's cats running from the flower bed.

“Those cats have the right idea,” Olivia hollered above the noise. “Let's get away from this racket. I'll change clothes, then if you'll help me find some gloves I'll get to work.”

* * *

“The outside lights are taken care of,” Raymond reported to Elijah as the afternoon sunlight began darkening into early evening. “I've walked by every light fixture equipped with a motion sensor and made certain they all work.”

“I upgraded all the locks,” Jonathan said. He handed a ring with several keys over to Claudia.

Elijah nodded. “Good.” He'd feel better when everyone was safely inside the house for the night.

It was almost dinnertime. Everyone was milling around in Claudia's kitchen. The tossed salad and a basket of rolls were already on the table. The only thing left was for Denise's tamale pie to finish baking in the oven.

“I got a few things straightened out in that shed by the north end of the house,” Olivia said as she washed her good hand in the kitchen sink and splashed a little water on the other hand to rinse off the dust.

Elijah caught her eye as she dried her hands on a dish towel. He didn't smile at her. They'd already had one short, sharp conversation about her cleaning out that shed. He thought it was a foolish thing for her to do.

“I barely remember what's in that shed,” Claudia said.

Olivia turned to her. “Let me go back out after dinner and finish it up before you look. I need to get the gloves I left out there, anyway.”

“I'll finish it and I'll get your gloves for you,” Elijah said.

“If you think it's dangerous for me to be out there, come with me.”

Elijah nodded. He'd slip out there and take care of things for her after dinner.

A kitchen timer went off. Denise grabbed a couple of pot holders, took the tamale pie out of the oven and set it on the counter.

“Hiring someone to help with the cooking around here was one of the best decisions I ever made.” Claudia leaned toward the casserole dish on the counter and sniffed. “It smells delicious.”

“Oh, and here are the vitamins to take with your supper.” Denise handed her a bottle.

“Oh, yeah. I'd forgotten about those.”

“We all need reminders sometimes.” Denise gave Elijah a significant look behind Claudia's back.

Elijah wasn't sure what it meant. Was she telling him Claudia had memory problems? He'd never noticed that. He glanced at Claudia. The passage of time demanded its toll from everybody. He should probably keep a closer eye on her.