The Deputies: 3 Novella Box Set (17 page)

“This is wonderful,” Tabby crowed, not heading for Mrs. Wheeler’s front door. Instead she turned straight for the adjacent cemetery, dying to explore every nook and cranny. She might not be sure ghosts truly existed but it didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate a place as perfectly eerie as this one.

A large hand clasped her shoulder before she could get very far. “Easy there. Let’s go talk to Addie first. Then we can walk around the cemetery. If you’re not too scared by then.”

A smile was playing on his handsome lips. He was teasing her but he didn’t really have a clue about the places she’d been. This was simply one of many. She didn’t frighten easily.

“Scared in broad daylight?” Tabby put her hands on her hips. “I don’t think so. Paranormal is my business, Sam. I’m not going to scream and run like a little girl.”

Sam threw back his head and laughed. “I like you, Tabby Bartlett. You’re a brave one.”

His laughed sounded rich and deep, sending a shiver up her spine. “I like you too. Now introduce me to Adelaide Wheeler.”

He did just that. Soon they were ensconced in her sitting room with the plate of cookies they’d brought with them and a tray of hot chocolate. Sam and the older woman chatted for the first few minutes about the weather and local politics. Tabby nibbled at an oatmeal cookie and took the opportunity to study her hostess and the surroundings.

Adelaide Wheeler looked to be in her late sixties or early seventies by the lines on her face and the gray in her hair. Surprisingly, she moved about easily, seemingly in good health for her age. She was currently lamenting not being able to take her bicycle to the store because of the cold and snow.

The house was well-maintained and decorated in what Tabby would have called “old-fashioned and traditional.” The wallpaper was flowered, the sofa overstuffed, and the wood heavy and dark. Even the mug she was drinking her hot chocolate from seemed like it was from another era with its large cabbage roses on the exterior.

It looked exactly like Tabby’s grandparents’ home. In fact, if she replaced this woman with her own family, it was Thanksgiving all over again.

“So Tabitha, I’m so excited that you’re here.” Adelaide was speaking to Tabby now. “Are you going to put the Heartbroken Cowboy on your show?”

Tabby set her cup down on the table. “Possibly, Mrs. Wheeler. Not every story gets to be on the show. I’d like to hear more about this cowboy and then go take a look myself. Do you mind if I record our conversation?”

She had long since given up taking notes and found it easier to record her conversations.

“Not at all, and please call me Addie. Everyone does.”

“Addie. Thank you.” Tabby pressed the record button on her cell phone and set it on the table between herself and Addie, who was seated on a love seat opposite Tabby and Sam. “Go ahead and tell me the story, if you will.”

The older woman paused for a moment, and then pursed her lips. “The story begins in the 1870s. A young boy and girl, teenagers really, from neighboring ranches fell in love. Normally this wouldn’t be anything all that interesting but the girl was from a successful family and the boy was poor. He had nothing to offer his love and her father wouldn’t consent for them to marry. The father wanted his daughter to marry another boy in the area so they could consolidate their ranches.”

“That’s terrible,” exclaimed Tabby, already engrossed in the tale that surely ended badly. “Her father doesn’t sound very nice.”

Addie tut-tutted and sipped her cocoa. “It was very common in those days to marry ‘well’, I believe was the way they put it. Love wasn’t a huge consideration, if at all. It was assumed love would come eventually.”

“That’s so sad.” Tabby was a die-hard romantic. The thought of a loveless marriage made her stomach turn. “To spend your life with someone you might not even like.”

“My grandparents had an arranged marriage. They were married for sixty-three years and appeared to be deliriously in love.” Addie set down her mug and picked up a cookie. “They died within a month of each other. Grandfather simply didn’t want to go on without his wife.”

Addie’s eyes were far away for a moment before shaking her head and coming back to the present. “Sorry about that. I do miss my family from time to time. Anyway, the boy had nothing to offer the girl so he set off to make his fortune, wringing a promise from the girl that she would wait one year before marrying the other young man. And wait she did. She waited eighteen months and then finally gave up. She married the young man and became a happy, contented wife. From all accounts, it was a good marriage.”

“But the other man came back?” Tabby prompted.

Addie smiled sadly. “Yes, five years later. It had taken him that long to make something of himself. He came back richer than God. Gold, they said, although I’ve also heard a story that it was cattle. It was so long ago, it’s hard to tell. He came back and immediately went to see the girl. Of course she tried to turn him away. She wasn’t in love with him anymore and she was angry that he’d come back and tried to interfere. The young man didn’t take it well and they argued.”

“And something happened? Something bad?” Tabby whispered, feeling a sweep of cold run through her as she always did when hearing a sad story like this one.

Addie nodded. “The husband came rushing in at the noise. The young man panicked, pulled his gun and shot the husband. The girl was angry and grabbed her husband’s gun and shot the young man.”

“Within seconds she lost the two men that loved her,” observed Tabby.

Addie shook her head. “Not quite. Both men were rushed to the doctor. The husband had his wife’s love to live for and pulled through. The young man…well…having lost the love of his life, he didn’t want to live. He died leaving all his wealth to the girl in his will.”

“So the young man haunts the cemetery?”

“It’s said he keeps watch over the woman he loves. The homes surrounding the cemetery were once part of the girl’s ranch and the Heartbroken Cowboy comes out each night to make sure his one true love is safe. He only comes out for females. Males have never seen him.”

Tabby blinked back the tears that hovered on her lashes. She should be used to stories like this but they got to her every time. She was a mushy mess. Sam patted her knee and she sniffled, trying to get a hold of herself.

“That’s so romantic. And tragic at the same time. It’s a moving story, Addie.” Tabby turned to Sam. “So you’ve never seen him then?”

Sam shook his head. “No, but I know of a few people who have. Or at least they’ve heard him.”

“Heard him? Does he talk?” This was sounding better and better. It would make a great show.

“People can hear the whinnying of a horse and the pounding of hooves in the cemetery.”

“Spooky. I love it.” Tabby tapped her chin. “Is there anything else?”

Addie clasped her hands together. “I almost forgot. I have pictures.” Addie bustled over to a large secretary desk and dug into a drawer before coming back with three old Polaroid photos. “These were taken several years ago but you can clearly see the outline of a cowboy up on a horse.”

Tabby squinted at the dark picture and the glob of mist that if you looked at very closely could possibly be in the aforementioned shape. She definitely wouldn’t say it was clear at all though. Placing the pictures out on the table, she snapped photos of them one by one. She’d let her parents decide whether it would be anything they’d want to show. Personally, she didn’t think it added to the validity of the claims.

“I can’t thank you enough, Addie. If I have any more questions, can I give you a call?”

Beaming, Addie nodded. “Of course, dear. Do you think you’ll be putting our cowboy on television?”

Tabby had been in this business too long to be committed to something before she did her homework. Even if the person asking was a kindly old woman who had fed her cookies and hot chocolate.

“I’m not sure yet. Only a small percentage actually get on the show due to time constraints. So far things look promising but I have more research to do.”

“I watch your show every week. And all the re-runs too,” Addie said. “Tim and Tina are such a charming couple. They seem like nice people.”

“They are. Actually, they’re my parents,” Tabby admitted. She didn’t like people thinking she’d gotten her job because of nepotism but the paranormal was the family business. It had been ever since her grandmother has seen a ghost right after moving into a haunted house in Baltimore.

“I can see the resemblance now that you say it. How exciting!” Addie was smiling but Sam was looking at her strangely. Tabby always dreaded this moment. Her family’s strange proclivities had gained and lost her several friendships over the years.

“Very,” Tabby agreed. “Would you mind if we looked around outside and took some pictures?”

“Anything you need.” Addie stood and Tabby and Sam followed. She thanked Addie again and they stepped out into the cold, the wind curling around her and whipping her hair around her face.

“Now can we go see the cemetery?” Tabby nodded toward the graveyard. “I’m
dying
to get a closer look.”

She pressed her lips together waiting for Sam to get the joke. He didn’t for a moment and then groaned at her lame attempt at humor. “Dying to get in? I get it now. And the answer is yes, we can go see it. No dying required.” He tilted his head and smiled. “You’re a funny kid.”

“I’m not a kid. Geez, I’m twenty-nine. Soon I’ll be the big three-oh.” The way he was looking at her made her feel warm despite the frigid temperatures.

“You don’t look it. You look young. You look—shit, I don’t know what I’m saying. Let’s go.”

He put his arm around her shoulder to help her over the uneven terrain and her stomach twisted into a series of intricate and painful knots. She wanted to stop right then and there and hear what he’d been about to say. Instead she meekly followed him to the gates of the Springwood cemetery.

Because she was a big old chicken. A gigantic, lame fraidy-cat. She could handle ghosts, demons, and even UFOs. But not this man. He was scary in a completely different way.

Chapter Five

S
am and Tabby had spent quite a while at the cemetery walking around and snapping pictures. He hadn’t talked much unless it was about places people had seen or heard the cowboy. He didn’t really know what to say. They’d had a moment back on the porch of Addie’s house and it had turned him on his ear.

He’d been able to keep her at a distance by telling himself that she was only passing through and she was too damn young. Now he knew she was almost thirty which wasn’t that bad really. Ten years wasn’t a big deal. He knew people who had married someone with even more of an age difference.

Not that he was thinking of marriage. In any way.

So the only thing standing between them was geography. It wasn’t a small thing but it wasn’t insurmountable either.

Not that he was thinking about them having a future.

Now they were tucked into a back booth at the Springwood Diner and Tabby was chewing on her pink lips while she studied the menu.

“So are you going to put the cowboy on your show?” Sam asked. Tabby looked up from the menu, her eyes wide with surprise at the abrupt question.

“I’m not sure yet. I’d like to go out there tonight and see if I can get a glimpse of him or maybe hear something.”

“You’re supposed to be taking it easy on that ankle, remember? Besides, it’ll be about zero degrees tonight. It should be warmer in a few days.”

“Twenty degrees instead of zero?” she teased, a smile spreading across her pretty face. “It’s practically a heat wave.”

“Trust me. As someone who is outside quite a bit. Twenty, or even ten, feels warmer than zero.”

“Have you folks decided?” Sandy, their waitress, was standing by the table with a harassed expression on her face. It could only mean one thing and that was Cindy had called in sick. Again. Cindy had just turned twenty-one and was celebrating that fact in every watering hole for miles around. Sam knew that because he’d broken apart a few fights between her adoring suitors. She liked to play them off one another just for kicks.

“Cindy out again?” he asked, looking around the diner. “Rod should help you out.”