“Oh. And why’s that?”
“Because then it won’t be so awkward for you to date her. Sheriff and a deputy? Can’t be done. Detective and a deputy? That’s doable.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Wolf said.
“Of course you don’t. Hey, phone call.” Rachette held up a finger and pulled his phone from his pocket. “What’s up, Patty?…okay, he’s right here…yeah”
Wolf sucked in a few breaths with little success of calming himself.
Rachette spat into his Red Bull can and lowered the phone. “Rick Hammes woke up. Surgery went well, apparently.”
Wolf nodded. “We’ll head back to HQ and you and Yates can go talk to him.”
“Yates and I will go talk to him,” Rachette relayed into the phone. “What’s that? Yeah, they confirmed Hammes was with them Friday night at a bar here in Edwards until 1:30 a.m., and then he was back on the job working bright and early the next morning…yep…that’s what I said…All right, talk to you soon.”
Rachette clicked off the phone and pocketed it. After a few minutes of silence he said “Okay, so Yates and I will head up to County. And what are you going to do?”
“I’ll return this call to Jackson Hole this afternoon, see what I can learn about our three miners from the Teton County sheriff. Then I may go back up to Dredge.”
“Yates and I will go with you.”
“You’ll be up at County. I’ll go it alone.”
Rachette nodded, spitting in his can again. “Yes, sir. You could always get Cain to help you out, anyway.”
Wolf eyed him. His detective hid a smirk under a thin layer of serious contemplation as he stared out the passenger window.
“One of these days you and Patterson will mind your own business.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Rachette said.
Chapter 20
Piper Cain parked her Jeep in the driveway next to Stacy’s pickup truck and looked in the rearview mirror. Her eyes were sore and bloodshot from the two hour drive down from the Vail Valley, all the while repressing the urge to break down into a sobbing mess.
She was never one for crying, never had been, and she’d managed to make it home without doing so this time.
“Good job,” she told herself in the mirror.
Through the windshield she saw her father standing on the front porch, leaning against the railing and gazing out over the valley like he loved to do for hours a day. That was all well and good, but he looked like he was getting wet.
She turned off the wipers and let the vision of her father standing out in the rain with that lost look blur behind the drops spattering the glass.
“Buck up.” She gripped the mirror and twisted it sideways, then got out and shut the door.
When was it going to stop raining every afternoon? Obviously not today. Her shoulders were soaked through to her skin by the time she hopped up onto the porch.
“Hi Honey Bear,” her father said.
“Hi Dad.”
Her father looked at her with surprise, and she knew he had thought she was her mother again.
“What are you doing?” she asked. “You’re getting wet.”
Stacy came out the front door, wiping her hands on a towel. “Oh, geez. I was doing dishes. I’m sorry I didn’t notice he was out here. Back up, Peter. My gosh.”
Stacy steered her father to the side and into a dry spot. Her father just shrugged her away and went to his favorite spot again.
“Don’t worry about it,” Piper said. “The rain’s letting up.” Piper pulled out a hundred dollars in twenties and handed it over. “Here. Thanks so much for coming. That’s all I have for now. I know I was gone longer than five hours. I’ll pay you more next time. Okay?”
Stacy stared at the money. “That’s okay, Piper. Look, why don’t you just keep it?”
“What?” Piper stepped forward and shoved the money into Stacy’s pants pocket. “Here.”
“But it was your day off again, wasn’t it?”
“So what?”
“So you won’t get paid for those hours.”
Piper walked up next to her dad. “I told you, Jake’s been helping out.”
“Jake?” Her father’s eyes lit up, as they always did at the mention of his deadbeat son. “When is he coming home?”
“Good question,” she said.
Although her brother had been sending two thousand a month in guilt money, the truth was he’d missed his payment last week. She only hoped he would keep his word and help out this month, too. Piper’s earnings and the county aid only went so far.
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning, right?” she asked.
"I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” Stacy said, “And you're not giving me this much. I told you, I have a pension already from the hospital. I don’t need this money as much as you do right now. I’m not taking this from my best friend’s daughter when she needs it the most, and I don’t want to hear any more about it.” She came over and pushed money into Piper’s back pocket as she walked by.
“Hey.” Piper dug out sixty dollars. “What the heck?”
“See you tomorrow!” Stacy was already down the stairs and ducking into her pickup. For a plump woman in her seventies, she moved like a cheetah.
Fighting back yet another urge to break into tears, Piper waved with the money and put it back in her pocket. Stacy responded with two honks as she drove down the driveway.
The rain all but stopped, turning into a faint sprinkle as they watched the pickup rev down the dirt road and out of sight behind the trees.
The curtain of low fog and rain parted, revealing the panorama ahead. A spear of sunshine lanced down through a hole in the clouds on the other side of the valley, lighting a swath of forest a dozen or more miles away. She couldn’t help but notice the direction the light drew her gaze—thirty to forty-five minutes of driving, depending on the weather, the Chautauqua Valley and Rocky Points huddled on the other side of those peaks.
"Let me tell
