Texas Lawman (8 page)

used that signal many times before her and after. It wasn’t anything special.

She started for the maila doors of the barn. “Jodie?” he said, still keeping his voice low. “You won’t tell anybody until after you’ve et me know, will you? You’ll at least give me a head start?”

She waited long seconds before replying. “You’re just going to have to trust me about that, aren’t you?”

Then she walked away.

SURPmSINGLY JODIE SLEPT soundly once she got into bed, and when she awoke the next morning, her mind was made up. She believed him. She would help. His feelings for the girl had rung true, and that was what had finally convinced her.

Of course they had to continue to keep his presence a secret. That he knew the ranch and the ranch hands’ schedules like the back of his hand was an advantage. They would find some out-of-the-way place for him to stay while she. That was where her plans got a little sticky. While she what? How was she going to find this Joe-Bob? West Texas was huge. The ranch where this cowboy was employed could be nearer to El Paso than Del Norte. Or closer to New Mexico than the Big Bend area.

She checked for the coin after awaking, and checked again after she’d showered and dressed. It wasn’t there. So it was with a mild start—part of her still wished his return had been a bad dream—4hat she saw it upon returning to her room after breakfast.

For years she’d felt somehow inadequate because Rio had rejected her. She knew it was silly—she had

nothing to feel inadequate about! —yet still she had. Then last night, in that odd reality in which she’d seen him stripped bare of artifice, her lingering doubts about herself had disa]bpeared.

She retrieved the coin, slipped it into her pocket, then started off for a seemingly casual stroll near the work area.

There was no need for stealth in the daylight. If anyone saw her, she’d stop and talk. Jodie, home from college and her year’s vacation, exploring her old stomping grounds.

No one was about, not even Rafe in the office. From the sounds of activity in the corrals and pens beyond, some of the cowboys were there, but most were out tending cattle or seeing to the upkeep of the fence–both never ending activities. Still, she tapped lightly on the storage-room door, in case someone might hear.

Rio was waiting for her, looking more exhausted than he had the night before, as if he hadn’t slept. He had a lot to think about, though he didn’t know the worst. From what Tate had said, Crystal was in worse condition than Rio understood. Besides losing the baby, she was in a fight for her own survival, and Jodie wondered whether or not it would be kinder to tell him.

“First,” she said, handing back the coin, “I’ve decided to help you.” At his quick release of breath she cautioned, “Wait. You may not like what’s coming. You know the old adobe schoolhouse? That’s where I think you should hide. It’s out of the way, yet close enough I can get to it on horseback in under an hour. It’s in

“It’s rubble!” he burst out.

“It’s a place where no one would think to look. That’s what you want, isn, t it? Until you can turn yourself in when you prove yOur alibi?”

“It doesn’t have a roof! And the walls” — “Forget it, then! I’ll call Tate and he” – “No, no. The schoolhouse’ll be fine.”

“Next,” she continued, “you have to wait for me to contact you. No more of your coming here on your own. If you keep it up, someone’s going to spot you.”

“They haven’t so far.”

“Which could be pure luck.” She frowned. “How did you get here, anyway? Did you hitch or drive or what?”

“I have a pickup truck.”

“Where’s it now?”

“Hidden away a mile or so from here. I borrowed from a friend up in Colorado. Brought my gear with me just in case. Sounds like it’s gonna come in handymsleepin’ out and all.”

“I’m sorry the accommodations aren’t perfect,” she murmured dryly. “How about supplies?”

“I have enough food to last a couple of days. After that…” He shrugged.

“I’ll bring you more if this drags out.” She hesitated. “There’s something else. Last night when we talked about Crystal, I told you she’d lost the baby,

but . her condition is more serious than you think. ” ” How bad is it? ” he asked quickly. ” Tate said ‘touch-and-go. ”” Rio groaned.

Jodie offered impetuously, “If you want, I’ll go with you to see the sheriff up in Colorado. We’ll make sure

he listens. I can even get Rafe and Aunt Mae to”– When she realized what she was saying, she stopped.

Rio laughed. “Yeah, right. Your cousin and aunt are gonna see to that I get justice. Most likely they’ll just find a nice strong limb and hang me themselves, save everyone else the trouble. The tree in front of the bunkhouse still looks pretty sturdy.”

They heard Axel whistling as he walked by on his way to the cook house and they instantly lowered their voices. Jodie didn’t want to be caught with Rio any more than he wanted to be caught himselfi She could just imagine what the family would say if they knew. Especially Mae.

“What are you going to do?” she whispered, anxious to be back in her father’s house. “Wait until night to make your way to the schoolhouse?”

“That’s what I thought. I’ll probably stay put here until then. Unless you think Axel’ll come in. He hasn’t started using this place for everyday storage, has he?”

Jodie shrugged. “I have no idea. I just got back myself. if you’d showed up last week, you’d’ve missed me. I was in New York.”

“Ahh … so you finally got what you wanted. To escape from the Parker Ranch.”

Somehow when Rio said it, the notion grated. She lifted her chin. “Actually I was away for a year.”

“How’d you get Mae to let go for that long? Or did you just run off again?”

“Run off” was a little too close to the truth for Jodie’s liking. She straightened to her full height, which was only an inch or so shorter than Rio’s and chose not to respond. “One more thing,” she said.

“Can you give me a little more information about this Joe-Bob? About the ranch he’s working on? Are you sure it’s in West Texas?” 3

“That’s what he said. And that’s all I know.”

“His last name?” she tried again.

Rio shrugged. “Like I said, I don’t know that.”

Jodie grumbled, “What you’re asking for is a miracle.”

He smiled. Much like one of his old cocksure smiles. “If anyone can do it, you can, Jodie. You’re a Parker. And that counts for something’ out here.”

Jodie frowned and shook her head, but she didn’t try to convince him otherwise. The effort would have been futile. And maybe he needed that kind of faith in her to hold on to at present. The magic of the Parker name. Just ask and all doors open to you.

“I’ll try to ride out in the next day or two to see how you’re settling in,” she promised.

He nodded and she turned away.

As she was about to let herself outside, he said quietly, “Hey Jodiethanks.”

And he sounded sincere.

TATE’S ORIGINAL PLAN to drop by Jack’s place Saturday afternoon had to be postponed. Late in the morning, two teenagers, joyriding in a stolen car, had missed a turn and plowed straight into a parked eighteen-wheeler just outside the town limits. Both boys had been hurt, one seriously, and it had taken hours to get everything sorted out and the parents notified. Then a call came in from someone who thought he’d seen Rio Walsh a few days before. A deputy wasn’t available, so Tate went to interview the man himself.

“Sure looked like him,” Stan Dodson, a part-time gas jockey at one of the local service stations, said. “I’m pretty good at rememberin’ faces. That and license-plate numbers. Not a lot else to do when I’m on duty. Didn’t see him at the station, though. Wasn’t actually in Del Norte, either. Off in Fort Stockton. I had to go up there to pick up a special order. And while I was there, I stopped by to visit a cousin of mine who works at one of those chain grocery stores. That’s where I saw him.”

“And you’re sure it was him?” Tate pressed. “Fairly sure. He has a mustache now, otherwise he’s pretty much the same. He used to come in here to gas up that old pickup truck of his. The one with the cow

horns for a hood ornament. “When I heard you was on the lookout for him, I thought I better give ya a call.”

Tate smiled. “You’ve been a big help, Stan. You, ah, didn’t happen to see which way he headed when he left, did you?”

Stan admitted sheepishly, “My girlfriend says I’m too curious sometimes for my own good, but I stepped out to watch him leave. He took off this direction down the highway.”

Tate clapped the man on the shoulder, thanked him again for his help, then went back to the office.

Several administrative matters had to be attended to, but once he’d dealt with them, he put a call through to Bill Preston in Clayborne County.

“Can’t say for sure,” he told the other sheriff, “but I think we’ve had someone spot Rio Walsh. Not in this county, but coming this way. Person knew him from before and recognized him.”

Tate could hear the squeak of the other sheriff’s chair as he Sat forward. “Best news I’ve had all day!”

“We’ll step up our activity, see if we can catch him for you. From what I know of him, he’s not the kind of person to keep to himself. He may lay low for a while, but he’ll surface sooner or later.”

“That’s what I think, too. Man, Rufus Hammond is gonna be glad to hear this.”

“Rufus Hammond?” Tate echoed

“Crystal Hammond’s daddy—the girl Rio Walsh beat up.”

A whisper of unease moved along Tate’s spine. “It might not be a good idea to say anything to him yet.

Not until we know for sure . have your man in custody and all. “

“Girl’snot.” getting any better,” Sheriff Preston said gruffly. ” In fact, she’s failing fast. Got all kinds of complications. Do Rufus good to hear some positive news for a change. “

Tate offered no further advice. It wasn’t up to him to tell another sheriff how to run his county.

After hanging up, Tate composed a bulletin to be passed along to his deputies and to the Del Norte police chief,” alerting them to the sighting. He also sent a notice to the law-enforcement agencies in the surrounding counties. If Rio Walsh showed his face anywhere in the vicinity, he wanted him detained.

Tate’s thoughts swung to the Parkers. Their ranch would be a high-priority destination for the cowboy. Tate was in accord with the sheriff in Colorado that Rio might think he had friends there, at least among the hired hands. But unlike the Colorado sheriff, “Fate had drawn no conclusions about the man’s guilt. The fact that he was fleeing, though, spoke volumes. Out of curiosity Tate had run a check on Rio Walsh’s prior record and been surprised there wasn’t more. A few traffic warrants, a drunk-and-disorderly, participation in a couple of bar fightsmpretty clean for an itinerant cowboy. Still, there was that trouble with Jodie, which showed a history of involvement with susceptible young women.

Tate stood up, retrieved his hat from the antler prong, jammed it on his head and strode into the hall.

“Get this out right away,” he said, stopping by the dispatch office. “Top priority. I’m off to the Parkers.”

He weathered his mother’s rised eyebrOw. “Read that and you’ll see why,” he instructed brusquely before continuing to his patrol car. “

JODIE SET THE STAGE for what would be for her, as an adult, a new endeavor. Shortly after lunch she announced to Mae that she planned to start tiding again. Like every other Parker on the ranch, she’d learned to sit a horse almost before she learned to walk. Riding had been like breathing to her. Then her favorite horse had died at about the same time she’d begun to question her place in the world, and she’d stopped. If she were to saddle up now, without preparation, it would be sure to draw attention. Exactly what she didn’t want.

As it was, Mae looked at her suspiciously. “Why?” she demanded.

Jodie answered with clear-eyed innocence. “I thought you’d be happy about it. Aren’t you the one who’s been going on at me about connecting with the land? I thought I’d try, but if”

“Are you up to something?” Mae countered. “No. I just I used to love to tide, remember?”

“I remember.”

Jodie shrugged. “I won’t do it if you don’t want me to. It was only an idea.”

Mae continued to look at her, a woman who until recently had always been a full two steps ahead of everyone else. Now she was only one step ahead; and the shortcoming obviously irritated her. She could see no reason for Jodie’s determination other than the one she claimed, so at last she gave her approval. “No,

you’re right. It,il do you good to get out and about. Help you to think. Figure things out. “

Jodie felt a small easing of pressure. It was her plan to fide eve0y day so that everyone would get used to it, and when she needed to contact Rio, her motives wouldn’t be suspect.

“Would you like to have company?” Mae asked. “I’m sure there’d be any number of volunteers. Shannon loves to ride now, too.”

Jodie shook her head. “I’d rather be on my own, Aunt. Mae.”

Mae nodded, then sighed. “I wish I could do what you’re doing. Getting out on the land isn’t the same from a truck.”

Mae had ridden well into her seventies, until an old leg injury and advancing age prevented her. When she wanted to visit sites on the ranch, Rare or Morgan, sometimes both, would drive her.

“Be sure to take a rifle with you,” Mae directed. “You never know what you might run into.”

“I will,” Jodie promised. Shooting accurately was something else Jodie had learned at a young age, but that, too, was another ranch activity she’d put aside as she’d grown older.

Word must have filtered out about her decision, because when she went to the corral later that afternoon to pick out a horse, one was already waiting.

Cecil, the shyest of the ranch cowboys, said quietly, “Rare told me to pick a good ‘un for ya. This here’s Tony.”

He blushed as he spoke and shrugged with, a loose-limbed awkwardness that belied his thirty-some years.

Jodie conplimented him on his choice of horse, her practiced gaze going over the animal.