Page 19 of Reckoning with the Cowboy
“Did you believe him?” Josie asked.
“Isn’t that the same story Cordell told you?”
“I didn’t believe it, either.”
“I wonder if Iris knew more,” Goldie suggested. “She took them under her wing. The whole town did. I guess we all knew that they’d had a rough life before they landed here. But if they’re in trouble now, what can we do?”
“Pray for them to be safe,” Josie said. “And be careful ourselves.”
“That man in the mug shot gives me the willies. What do you think he was to them?”
“Someone who hurt them from their past who might be after them, might be headed for Dry Gulch. Max is worried that it has put the two of us in danger.”
Goldie frowned. “This man knows about us? How is that possible if he’s been in prison?”
“That’s what I want to know,” Josie said. “Someone has to know about their past and who might have told this man where they can find Max and Cordell.”
“I wish Iris were still alive,” Goldie said. “If anyone knew something that might help about Max and Cordell, it was her.”
“Or her sister,” Josie said.
Goldie looked up in surprise. “Esther?You think she knows something?”
“If there was dirt to be dug up, Esther would have been manning the shovel. She always was the worst old busybody,” Josie said.
“But if she’d found out, she would have told everyone. The only reason she wouldn’t was if there was something in it for her.” Goldie flushed and put down her half-empty wineglass. “I shouldn’t have said that, but that woman would have eaten her young. I was surprised that Iris put up with her as long as she did. You know that expression, ‘If you don’t have anything nice to say, then say nothing at all’? Esther wouldn’t have been able to get a syllable out.” They both laughed, but it sounded hollow. Max’s text, then his call had left them both subdued. Not even the wine seemed to help. “What was her problem, anyway?”
“I heard she got her heart broken when she was young and never got over it.” Josie’s sister had warned her that she was going to turn into Esther Mason if she didn’t get over Cordell. “I think I might drive down to Grass Range tomorrow and pay her a visit.”
Josie knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep—even after the wine. She kept trying to see into the darkness for what was coming. Outside, the town of Dry Gulch seemed unearthly quiet tonight. It unnerved her almost as much as the images she kept seeing. Flashes like in a dream on a dark highway, the rattle of a pickup, sagebrush and more darkness. She tried to see more but it made her head ache.
“Mind if I stay here tonight?” she asked, not wanting to drive in her condition out to the farm, but also not wanting to leave Goldie alone. “I’ll call Amy Sue and tell her.” She stepped away to make the call even though she’d told her sister she would be staying the night. What she really wanted to do was warn Amy Sue to keep the doors locked tonight.
When Josie returned to the couch, Goldie said, “Are you sure you want to drive all the way down to Grass Range? You know how Esther is.”
“I’m sure she’ll be happy to help,” Josie said sarcastically, and they both mugged faces. Esther had never made it a secret that she didn’t like Max and Cordell living in her sister’s boardinghouse. She’d started all kinds of rumors about the boys until Iris kicked her out.
But it would be just like the woman to want to prove she was right about the Lander men, Josie thought. Esther did love seeing the worst in everyone.
If she knew about this man from Max’s and Cordell’s pasts, she was keeping it to herself for some reason.
Josie was determined to find out.
* * *
Leaving his house again, Max patrolled the town as usual with his new deputy. He made a point of driving past Clancy Roberts’s house, glad to see both Goldie’s vehicle and Josie’s parked outside. All the lights were on inside. He told himself that both women were safe. At least for now.
“I was thinking,” Cordell said. He’d always needed to talk things out while Max preferred to mull them over silently inside his head alone. “We know Grimes stopped long enough to buy a van. Which means that he didn’t have everything he needed when he got out of prison. He had to pick up the bank robbery money, which probably means he has access to guns and ammunition. Maybe more worrisome, he might not be traveling alone.”
“I’ve already thought of that,” Max said. He could just imagine the kind of men Grimes befriended behind bars or out. Maybe even the men he’d pulled off the robbery with who hadn’t been caught.
“If there are two of them traveling together, then they can trade off drivers and make even better time than I did getting here. Maybe he is bringing some equally psychotic friend with him.”
Max had been worrying about the same thing. The last time he checked, no more of the stolen bank money had shown up and neither had Grimes or his van.
“Maybe he changed his mind or got picked up and his arrest hasn’t gone into the data bank yet,” Cordell said. When Max said nothing, he asked, “Going to the homestead when he might be waiting for us… That’s probably the worst idea ever, huh?”
“Nope, the worst idea was our mother letting that jerk into our lives,” Max said wearily. He drove in silence for a few blocks. His brother fell silent for so long, he wondered if he had fallen asleep. Cordell could sleep anywhere, under any circumstances, he’d proved that.
