Levi was already there. He met them with a quiet “hello.” The horses were saddled, tails swishing. The trailer would have already been dropped at their end point by a stable hand. The teen boys perked up from their sullen contemplation at the sight of the horses. Laney hid her smile at the joy that lit their faces. She wanted to shake them and say, “You have two parents who love you. Don’t you know how precious that is? Put down your phones and revel in it.”
Laney had been taken from her drug-addicted mother as a toddler and had landed in the foster care system. The family who she’d finally settled with at age eight was supportive, but not particularly warm. She’d mistaken that support for love. After their biological daughter went off to college, they’d summarily asked Laney to leave when she turned eighteen. It had started a tailspin that had taken years, and the timely rescue from Aunt Kitty, to save her from.
“Awesome,” one of the teens said, pulling her from her reverie.
After Levi delivered a quick safety-and animal-behavior lesson, Rita and the family mounted their horses. Levi waved at Beckett and Laney. “Meet you later.” He guided the eager visitors along a narrow trail.
She sighed. Now she would be left alone with Beckett to make their way to the Harmony Borax Works and wait until the guests arrived for dinner. Though she was glad not to be in the saddle in the hot remnants of the day, it was still going to be a long couple of hours. What in the world were they supposed to talk about?
Beckett was silent the first few miles and she kept her gaze fixed solidly out the side window.
“Do you believe her?” he said abruptly.
“Rita?” Laney mulled it over. “I’m not sure. Do you?”
“No, but I don’t believe much of anyone. In jail, the only way to stay alive was to distrust everyone.”
“I think that started before jail.” She regretted her words immediately.
He shot her a look. “How do you mean?”
Why not tell him? He would be stepping out of her life anyway. “High school, what happened in the wrestling match… I think that might have been when you changed.”
He shifted. “The world changed. It was like everyone suddenly saw me differently after what happened with Dan, like I was a bad person.”
“And you started seeing yourself that way.”
He shrugged.
“Aunt Kitty told me one time it was like you began to believe what your naysayers said. Their labels became your identity.”
“I…I ruined Dan’s life. Hard to forget that.”
“Dan Wheatly is a successful man, a practicing attorney.” Who had, in fact, reached out to contact Beckett a few times, but Beckett had left the phone calls unanswered.
He shook his head. “Let’s not go into that.”
Laney sighed. Some things had not changed, no matter how many times she’d prayed about them.
Beckett went on. “I’d feel better if Jude could confirm some facts for us. He’ll call when he can.”
“Do you think they’ve caught Kenny?”
He didn’t reply, which was answer enough. Kenny was still out there somewhere, planning his next move. They arrived at the Harmony Borax Works.
Beckett unfurled the pop-up canopy and set up a folding table underneath. Laney spread it with a gingham tablecloth and set out plates, cups, insulated pitchers of ice water and lemonade. She checked on the tamale casserole, still warm in the baking dish, and the side salads, chilling in their second cooler. They used to provide a cut of beef, cooked on a portable grill right on the spot. After Beckett went to jail, Laney had incinerated several rib-eye steaks before she hung up her tongs and switched to casseroles.
It was nearing seven now, and the sun sank into a bronze puddle behind the crumbling brick building. William Coleman, who’d built the facility in the 1800s, had found the Death Valley temperatures to be a struggle too. When the processing water was too hot to allow the borax to crystallize, he moved operations. The only animals strong enough to haul the borax to the new site were mules, and the legendary 20 Mule Team Borax was born.
Laney had always loved the story, romanticizing the crumbling brick structures, imagining she could hear the long-ago braying of the rugged animals. At the moment, the quiet struck her as sinister. Shadows gobbled up the landscape. But the old borax works were the perfect place for stargazing and a starting spot for the night photo activity Willow would conduct. Though the temperatures had only just begun to dip back down into the high seventies, she put on her sweater anyway. Pulling the lighter from her pocket, she lit the small oil lantern. No one used oil lanterns anymore, but she loved the old thing she’d found in the basement and it set just the right tone in this aged place.
When Beckett’s phone vibrated, the quiet noise made her jump. He put it on Speaker. “Laney and I are here, Jude. Go ahead.”
“Here where?”
“In the park, borax works, waiting for the hotel guests.”
Jude paused. “Kenny got past us.”
Beckett’s knuckles whitened on the phone. “How?”
Jude’s tone was defensive. “Any number of ways, but we don’t think he’s left the area. I had roadblocks in place immediately, so he’s found someplace to hole up. Maybe doubled back to town and called on a friend. We’re canvassing. We’ll find him.”
“He’ll call his uncle for money, supplies,” Beckett snapped.
“Got that angle covered already, Beckett. They taught us that in cop school. We have an officer watching the trailer.”
Laney jumped in quickly. “Jude, Beckett said he told
