“I’ll tell her,” she promised.
“And keep your doors and windows locked, just in case,” he added grimly.
“We always do that.”
“Keep a phone handy, too,” he advised.
She nodded.
“I’m sorry you ever got involved in this,” he said.
“We don’t get to choose our families,” Keely said philosophically.
“Isn’t that the truth?”
* * *
SHE WENT HOME after work and told her mother what she’d learned from Sheriff Carson. Ella was obviously relieved.
“I was scared to death,” she confessed to her daughter. “Sheriff Carson isn’t going to arrest me? He told you that?”
“He told me,” Keely replied. “But he does want you to put the house up for sale.”
“I can do that.” Ella smoothed her hands over her silk slacks. “Yes. I can do that.” She looked her age. She hadn’t even put on makeup. “I’ve only had one drink today,” she said after a minute, and smiled at her daughter. “I’m shaky. But maybe I can give it up, if I try.”
Keely felt the beginnings of a real relationship with her mother. “Really?” she asked, and smiled.
“Well, just don’t expect too much.” Ella laughed. “I’ve been a heavy drinker most of my life. It isn’t easy to quit.”
“I understand. I’ll help. Any way I can.”
Ella studied the younger woman quietly. “You’re a good kid, Keely,” she said. “I haven’t been a good mother. I wish…” She shrugged. “Well, we don’t get many second chances. But I’ll try.”
“That’s all anyone can do,” Keely replied. Impulsively she hugged her mother. Ella hesitated for a minute, but then she hugged her back. It was a moment out of time, when anything seemed possible. But it only seemed that way.
* * *
KEELY HAD HOPED that Boone might call her, or bring Bailey by the office for a checkup or even be at home when she went riding with Winnie on the occasional Saturday. But he stayed away.
She accepted an invitation to go riding at the Sinclairs’, hoping for a glimpse of Boone. She knew it was pathetic, but she was hungry to see him, under any circumstances. Winnie led the way down a wooded path to the river that ran through the property. Keely started to get down off her horse.
“Don’t,” Winnie said quickly, indicating the tall grass. “Rattlers are crawling. One of the boys killed two of them near the river this week.”
“It’s really hot,” Keely said, unnerved by the mention of snakes. She was terrified of them.
“Yes, and they like cool places,” Winnie said. “We’d better get back,” she added, checking her watch. “I have to go in this afternoon. One of our dispatchers had a death in the family and I promised to fill in for her.”
“You’re a nice person,” Keely said. “I really mean that.”
Winnie smiled. “Thanks, Keely. So are you. I mean it, too.”
“How’s Clark?” she asked on the way back.
“Heading for tragedy,” Winnie said coolly. “He’s still seeing that woman.”
“How do you know?”
“He stuffed a jewelry box into his pocket when he thought I wasn’t looking last night,” she said.
“But she’s married,” Keely argued. “What if her husband finds out?”
“Clark will be very sorry,” she replied. “That detective’s report said that he was a truck driver who did long hauls, and he’s got a prior for assault.”
“Oh, boy,” Keely muttered.
“One day we’ll get a call for Clark at work, you wait and see,” Winnie said grimly. “He won’t listen. He thinks he can win her away from her husband. He’s in love.”
“That woman hasn’t left her husband for a reason,” Keely agreed. “She’s probably afraid of him.”
“That would be my guess.”
They rode in silence until they were within sight of the barn.
“Boone’s doing a stupid thing, too,” Winnie said after a minute.
Keely’s heart jumped. “What?”
“He’s bringing that Misty person home for the weekend,” she said tautly. “God knows why. He treats her badly, but she hangs on. I don’t understand what’s going on.”
“Revenge,” Keely guessed.
“That’s what I thought, too. But Clark wasn’t the only one hiding jewelry from me. Boone had a jewelry box in his pocket, too, just like Clark,” she said, glancing worriedly at Keely. “I saw it. A little square one, like a ring comes in. He was hiding it.”
Keely’s world was ending. She tried to smile. “I guess he discovered he really does care about her, huh?”
Winnie looked worried. “My brothers are both
idiots,” she muttered.
“Love doesn’t make people rational,” she said, glancing around at the parched pasture. “If we don’t get some rain, even the animals are going to go loco,” she added, trying to change the subject. “This drought is terrible.”
“Worse for small ranchers than for us,” Winnie replied. “We can afford to buy hay to feed our cattle. Now, this corn thing for fuel is pushing those prices even higher.” She shook her head. “You try to fix one thing, and it damages another thing.”
“That’s life, I suppose.”
“Don’t look so glum,” Winnie said gently. “Maybe it was a lapel pin or something that Boone bought for a friend. It might not even be a ring.”
“Of course.”
Winnie knew the other woman was hiding a big hurt. She changed the subject as they rode back toward the ranch.
They met a furious Clark at the barn. He was pacing, steaming. He saw the women ride up and went to meet them, along with a wrangler who took the horses to unsaddle and stable.
“What in the world is the matter with you?” Winnie asked her brother when the horses had been led away.
“That damned private detective who works for Boone’s girlfriend’s father, that’s what’s the matter!” he raged. “Boone set me up!”
“Set you up? How?” Keely wanted to know.
“Nellie is not married,” he ground out. “I was suspicious, because she lives in an apartment in town. None of her neighbors have ever mentioned that she had other men coming and going, much less that her so-called husband was parking his semi
