Page 50 of Reckoning with the Cowboy
“I’m familiar with Shane Wagner. Seemed to be a model prisoner, recently released. He already in trouble?”
“Not yet.”
“I can do some checking for you. I’ll let you know what I find out.”
Max thanked him and disconnected. As he did, he saw Goldie crossing the street on the way to the hotel. He hadn’t been down there to see how his brother was doing. Truth was, he’d thought Cordell would have lost interest by now. Maybe his brother had changed. Or maybe he’d never really known his brother.
He thought of Cordell stepping up down in Wyoming. His brother had saved them when Max couldn’t. Otherwise, they would all be dead.
Not wanting to think about how impotent he still felt, he busied himself with paperwork, but he found himself looking down the street toward the hotel. Goldie didn’t look miserable. Every time he’d seen her passing by, she’d been smiling. She looked happy. He told himself it was because she was free of the black cloud he’d been born under. She was better off without him. She definitely deserved someone without so much baggage.
Late in the afternoon, he got a call back from the warden.
“Your instincts were right,” the man said. “Grimes and Wagner did know each other. They were set to get out at the same time, but Wagner’s release was delayed. I asked around and the guards said that the two of them had their heads together a lot just before Grimes was released. They could have been up to something.”
Max felt sick to his stomach. It hadn’t been his instincts—it had been those of Josie and Cordell. Grimes had been corresponding with Esther, who was telling him about everyone in town. It might have even been Grimes’s idea for Shane to target Amy Sue just as Josie thought, the two of them sharing information as they made their plans. But other than settling the score with him and Cordell, what had been Grimes’s plan? More important, what was Shane’s now that Grimes was out of the picture?
He swore, hating that he was going to have to give Josie the news. Worse, what it could mean. How many more parolees were headed up here because of the prisoner pen pals? It probably seemed safe writing to a man behind bars—even one allegedly locked up for life. But what if he got out? Lonely criminals getting letters from equally lonely women who had no idea whom they were corresponding with, both making promises they had no intention of keeping. What could possibly go wrong with that?
* * *
After getting thenews from Max, Josie couldn’t stand another minute in her office. She’d known Grimes and Wagner had to be in on it together once she’d heard they were from the same prison. If Shane Wagner’s release hadn’t been held up, he would have been here at the same time as Grimes.
She shuddered at the thought of the two of them working together. It was bad enough that Grimes had involved his friend Dave. Would she and Goldie even be here right now if there had been three of them?
Josie hadn’t seen Goldie for a few days so she made a point of having lunch at the café before she was to leave with Cordell. The noon rush over, the place was empty except for Goldie, so she took a seat at a corner booth so her friend could join her. Josie knew that Maggie, who was filling in until Ronnie could return, always went out back for a smoke break after the lunch rush.
“How are you doing?” Goldie asked, keeping her voice down even though it was only the two of them in the café. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Amy Sue’s new boyfriend.”
“I saw him. He’s adorable. I wanted to ride off into the sunset with him.”
Josie leaned toward her friend. “He was in the same prison in Florida as Roger Grimes.” Goldie’s eyes widened as her expression filled with horror. “They were supposed to get out at the same time. Grimes could have told Shane about Amy Sue since we know they were both involved in some kind of prisoner pen-pal group.”
Goldie looked as sick as Josie felt as she leaned back in the booth. “What does this mean?”
“I don’t know exactly—just that Shane Wagner could have always had his own plan involving my sister that Grimes didn’t even know about. Or they were in it together.” She shrugged. “Goldie, he’s only pretending to care about Amy Sue. Max thinks he could be after the farm.”
“Butyouown the farm.”
“Yes, but it would go to Amy Sue if anything happened to me, and I didn’t have an heir.”
“What are you saying?” Goldie demanded, looking even more stricken.
“He has to get rid of me to get the farm, and if he plans to sell it, which, of course, he does. Amy Sue would have to go, as well.”
“Oh, you can’t be serious,” her friend said, looking around the café as if not sure what to say or do. “Can’t you change your beneficiary?”
“My grandmother put the farm in a trust so it stayed in the family. She’s the only one who could change it.”
“You need to get pregnant and quick,” Goldie said, only half joking.
“Then I suspect Shane Wagner wouldn’t hesitate to take us both out.”
Goldie rubbed a hand over her face. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. I’ve tried to talk to Amy Sue…” She shrugged. “She thinks I’m jealous because she is finally serious about someone. There is no getting through to her.”
