“Sorry,” Hank said. “There’s a real good reason we’re here.”
Grady scowled at the pair of them, but his gaze rested longest on Karen. There were dark smudges under her too-bright eyes and her complexion was still very pale.
“What might that be?” he asked.
Karen looked from him to Jesse and back again. Whatever had brought her running over here seemed to have been forgotten. She faced her longtime neighbor.
“Did you do it?” she asked bluntly.
Jesse returned her gaze uneasily. “Like I told your friends here, I haven’t left the house all night.”
“Unfortunately, he’s not quite as capable of accounting for his son’s whereabouts,” Grady said.
Karen looked shocked. “Kenny? He used to sit in my kitchen and eat cookies while I visited with his mother. Surely he wouldn’t set my house on fire.”
“He would if he was real anxious to get his daddy’s approval,” Dooley said, speaking up for the first time since Grady’s interrogation had begun in earnest. “That boy’s always been crying out for some man to look at him like he’s worth something. Jesse here’s been too busy to give him the time of day, since he’s not big enough or strong enough to play football, isn’t that right, Jesse?”
Even as Dooley made the accusation, Grady thought he saw movement on the stairs. He glanced up and caught sight of Kenny, hovering on the landing. Given what Dooley had just said about the teen’s relationship with his father, he felt a stirring of pity for him.
“Come on down here, son,” Grady said.
Kenny crept down the stairs, his terrified gaze locked on his father. As Dooley had said, he was slight for sixteen, his body not yet filled out. At the foot of the steps, he instinctively edged closer to Karen. She reached out and took his hand, then gave it a squeeze.
“Kenny, did you start that fire?” she asked, her voice filled with hurt.
Tears welled up in the boy’s eyes, but he nodded, his gaze never leaving her face. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t know it would be so bad. I swear I didn’t. I just thought it would scare you, the way Daddy said. He said we had to have that land or we’d never be certain whether our herd would have water. Mama argued with him. She told him you would never cut us off, but he said you’d be selling out soon enough and the new owner might not be nearly so concerned with an old piece of paper drawn up between friends. It wasn’t even notarized.”
Even as she held the boy’s hand, Karen scowled at his father. “You coward,” she accused. “You didn’t even have the guts to do the job yourself. You counted on Kenny’s need to please you. What kind of father are you? You’re not even a man. You’re scum. And if you were worried about those water rights before, you’d better be on your knees praying now, because I’ll see you in hell before I ever let your herd near that creek again, paper or no paper. I’ll find some way to see that it’s voided.”
When she swayed on her feet, Grady stepped closer, but she steadied herself, then took one last, scathing look at Jesse Oldham and turned to leave.
“Let’s get out of here before I’m sick to my stomach,” she said. She touched Kenny’s tearstained cheek. “Thank you for having the courage to tell us what really happened tonight.”
“Hank, how about sticking around here till we can get the sheriff over here?” Grady asked. “Somebody ought to keep an eye on things.” He lowered his voice. “Make sure Oldham doesn’t do anything to that boy, all right?”
“I’ll stay with him,” Dooley said. “He’ll need a way home.”
Grady nodded. “I’ll call the sheriff. Then I’m taking Karen home with me.” He glanced at her for a reaction, but her face was expressionless. He took that for agreement, or maybe she was simply too wiped out to object.
“We’ll see you in the morning,” he told the two men. “And, Dooley, thanks for helping me out tonight. You be sure and tell the sheriff how helpful Kenny was.”
“No problem. I just hope a court can distinguish between a mixed-up boy who set that fire and the man who put the notion into his head.”
Grady nodded. “We’ll see that they do.”
He led Karen to the car and settled her inside, then felt his heart clutch at the despair on her face. He couldn’t help feeling he’d set all of this into motion by making it so plain to one and all that he intended to buy her ranch. Maybe that was what had set off Jesse Oldham’s paranoia about those water rights.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
She glanced up, clearly startled. “Why? You didn’t have anything to do with this.”
“Jesse might not have tried anything if he’d thought his water rights were safe,” he said.
She shook her head. “This started long before you came into the picture. He didn’t trust Caleb to honor them either, remember?”
That was true enough, Grady supposed, but it didn’t seem to lessen his own sense of guilt. He was silent for the entire drive to his ranch, though he couldn’t help sneaking a glance at Karen from time to time. He’d never seen her looking quite so lost.
At his house, he led her inside, then pointed out the master bathroom. “Take a warm bath, why don’t you? I’ll call your friends and let them know what happened and that you’ll be staying here for a bit. There’s a robe on the back of the door. It’ll be too big, but it’ll keep you warm enough.”
She nodded, then retreated into the bathroom and closed the door. Feeling unbearably tired, he stood there listening to the sound of water running. Only when it had cut off and he heard the subtle splash suggesting that she’d climbed into the deep tub did he go back to the kitchen and put a pan of milk on the stove. Maybe
