Wild Horses (18 page)

Glancing around to make sure Castaña wasn’t within hearing, Jake dialed Kelso and filled him in on the day’s events.

“What kind of hole have you fallen into up there?” Kelso demanded after a stunned silence. “Have you seen the Mad Hatter yet? What about the Queen of Hearts?”

“Funny.”

“It’s freakin’ hilarious,” Kelso said. “You were sent up there to do a simple collar and it’s turned into a three ring circus.”

“Has Staton said anything about pulling me off the case?”

“Not yet,” Kelso said. “But you’re running out of leash real fast.”

“I know. But this thing just gets weirder by the day.” Jake watched as another harried couple rushed into the lobby. “Can you find out if Briar Rose’s sisters were in Arizona making a break from the Family of the Sun compound? It strikes me as strange that they were within a few miles of Briar Rose, but haven’t shown up.”

“Anything else?”

“Have you had time to do any checking on Axell Tsosie or Nascha Nizhoni?” Jake dug in his pocket for change and dropped a few quarters in a soda machine. Popping the lid on a cola, he sipped as Kelso answered.

“Yeah. Nothing interesting on the Delacourte broad, by the way. Anyway, Axell and Nascha both went to Diné College at the same time, even dated for a while. After graduation, they went their separate ways. He moved to Santa Fe for a while, starved nearly to death and ended up as Caroline Delacourte’s stud muffin. Nascha ended up in Payson. Neither has anything illegal in their background. Not that they got caught for anyway.”

“Any other connection?”

“One.”

Jake tried to curb his impatience. He only had a few minutes before Castaña returned. “Are you going to make me climb through the phone and drag it out of you?”

“They both belonged to the Environmental Club.”

“So?” Jake didn’t bother to hide his irritation now. Why was Kelso bringing this up? What difference did it make?

“Although neither of them were ever arrested, both were well known for taking up environmental causes. Marched in demonstrations, picketed the oil rigs on the reservation, that sort of thing.”

“Did either of them ever have anything to do with wild horses?” Jake’s mind began to race. He set his cola aside, forgotten. Martin had dated Nascha and his cause was the wild horse plight. Axell knew Nascha. Axell had been photographing the mustangs when he was killed. What connected them? Jake had to find a way to talk to Nascha again.

“Not that I could dig up,” Kelso said. “But that doesn’t mean they didn’t. It just means I couldn’t find anything useful.”

“Do you know how Martin and Nascha met?”

“No. Didn’t dig that up yet.”

“Probably when she moved to Payson.” Jake thought out loud. “If she was into causes, Martin would be a natural draw. He’s fairly well known around here for his activism.”

“This is all interesting stuff,” Kelso said. “But what difference does it make?”

Jake didn’t know. The pieces weren’t quite fitting and he couldn’t see what he was missing. “Just that this girl was involved with two men. One’s dead and the other’s missing and probably dead, too.”

“Yeah, I see your point.”

Jake spotted Castaña coming toward him. “I have to go. If you learn anything more let me know.”

“No prob — ”

Jake hung up and slipped his phone in his pocket before Castaña spotted it. Time to puzzle over Nascha, Axell and Martin’s connection later. He smiled at her. “How’s Briar Rose?”

“Worn out, but ecstatic.”

“Did she like her presents? What about all the baby clothes? Was she pleased?”

Castaña’s eyes lit up. “Loved them so much she cried. Hormones, I guess.”

“How’s baby?’

“Perfect.” She gnawed her lip.

“You saw her?”

“Better. I held her for about ten minutes,” Castaña said. Her eyes glowed. “Oh, Jake, she’s the most perfect little thing.”

“But?”

“You’ve got to go see her before they take her back to the nursery.” She gave him a little shove. “Go.”

He did as she asked, but he wasn’t in a hurry to hold the baby. The idea scared him to death. Knocking on Briar Rose’s door, and after being told to come in, he entered. She sat propped up in a narrow bed, the baby nestled in a cradle beside her. For as bad as Briar Rose looked the last time he’d seen her she had made a remarkable recovery. Her hair shone under the bright lights and her cheeks glowed a rosy pink. “Hi,” he said softly. “How are you doing?”

“Good, thanks to you.” Her smiled rivaled the sun for brightness.

“You did all the work.” He sat on the chair beside her bed. “How’s the little one?”

“Wonderful.” She looked at the sleeping infant with pride. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

“Gorgeous,” he agreed, although all he could see was a tiny bundle wrapped in a pink blanket. “Have you picked out a name?”

“Arielle Grace,” she said proudly. She stroked the sleeping baby with a tender touch. “I’ve always loved names of princesses whether they were real or make believe. So I used one of each. Arielle is from a Disney movie and Grace from Princess Grace of Monaco. She was so beautiful and elegant.”

“Pretty.” Not sure what else to say, he watched her hand smooth over little Arielle Grace’s back. “Castaña is so proud of her niece. I’m sure her daddy will be, too.”

A flash of something — fear? — darted across her face before she hid it with a smile. “I can’t believe everything she bought. And you, too. No one’s ever done anything like that for me before.” Her eyes filled with tears and she rubbed them with her fists. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He waited a minute. “What about your family, Briar Rose? Won’t they want to see little Arielle, too?”

Her happy expression turned sullen. “No.”

He pressed her. “But doesn’t she have grandparents? What about aunts and uncles? They might want to get the chance to know her.” His sister flashed through his mind. His family would give anything to see Nikki again. The drug abuse, the agony she’d put them through, it would all be forgotten if only they could see her one more time. He’d bet his last dollar Briar Rose’s family felt the same way.

“I don’t want them here.” She twisted the white sheets in her hands. “They’ll just try to take my baby away from me. They’ll say I’m crazy or that I can’t be responsible for her. But I can.” Her voice rose to a near shriek. “I can.”

“Okay,” he soothed. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“Martin and me are all she needs. The three of us are a family,” she said. “When he comes back he’ll be so excited … so proud.” Arielle made a mewing noise and waved her tiny hands. Briar Rose reached for her. “I need to feed her. If you don’t mind …”

“Of course.” He stood. “When will you be released?”

She hesitated. “Tomorrow.”

“We’ll come pick you up,” he offered.

“Around ten.” Her mind was obviously on the squirming infant.

“See you then.” He let himself out.

• • •

Because she was in a hurry to return to the ranch to meet the farrier on time, Castaña suggested they pick up a bucket of chicken. Jake agreed and they swung through a popular fast food joint. The heavenly smell made her mouth water and she realized she hadn’t eaten all day. Jake didn’t seem to be in a talkative mood, and that suited her fine. She was content to sit in his comfortable leather pickup seats and inhale greasy chicken fumes.

While Jake lugged in the boxed up crib and her pile of packages, Castaña retrieved plates and silverware from the kitchen. “Would you like to eat out on the porch? It’s cooler out there.”

“Sounds good.”

Handing him the kitchenware, she carried the bag of food out to the front porch and placed everything on the small, glass topped wicker table. Castaña poured them each lemonade, added a slice of lemon, and placed the glasses at their places. Her cheeks heated when she thought about their night on the couch. The sun hung low in the western sky, the trees silhouetted against the orange sunset. They sat and dug into the food with little or no conversation. The radio sent soft county music floating over the evening air.

A wave of nostalgia washed over Castaña. Her mother had done everything in her power to make a nice home for her family. Once in a while Ramon and Martin had participated in family times, and those rare events had been etched into Castaña’s mind like acid on glass. More often, the male Castillos had been preoccupied with their wild horses.

The chicken suddenly didn’t taste as good and she pushed her plate away.

Jake looked at her with an odd expression. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She sipped her tart lemonade. “I’m just not as hungry as I thought I was.”

“Something’s bothering you, besides the obvious.”

She toyed with her silverware. “This is going to sound weird — ”

“Try me.”

Her words came in a rush. “The baby doesn’t look like Martin at all.”

A cloud of dust alerted them someone was coming. The farrier. Right on time. Jake waved her away. “I’ll clean up.”

“Thanks.” She rose and walked to meet the blacksmith. He rolled down his window as she approached and she recognized a man she’d gone to high school with. Tom Sullivan.

“Castaña Castillo.” His friendly brown eyes crinkled at the corners. “Long time no see. Where’ve you been keeping yourself?” Before she could answer he threw open the door, jumped out and enveloped her in a bear hug. “I hoped it was you who called. I don’t know too many girls with your name so I figured it was.”

Surprised by the sight of an old friend, she couldn’t speak for a long minute. “Tom, I didn’t realize it was you I talked to on the phone.”

“It wasn’t,” he said. “I took over my dad’s business when he got too down in the back to shoe horses any more, but he takes appointments for me when my mom has other things to attend to. You talked to him.”

“Oh,” was all she said. “I didn’t realize he had retired. He didn’t say anything.”

“Yeah, well. Too many horses wore down his back. Speaking of, where’s your shoeless beast?”

She gestured toward the barn. “In there.”

“I’ll drive my truck over there.” Tom jumped in the pickup and drove it the few yards to the barn.

Following at a walk, Castaña tried to gain her bearings. She wouldn’t have recognized Tom in a lineup. In high school he’d been short with a cherubic face, and in the last six years he hadn’t grown much except around the waist. A thick mustache now disguised his boyish features. She’d attended school since Miss Millie Clark’s third grade with him, been in virtually every homeroom with him, and gone to her Freshman Fling with him. When she’d made the appointment, she’d never thought about Tom Jr. taking over his dad’s business.

He followed her inside the cool, dim barn and when she led the dun gelding out of his stall Tom whistled. “Man. Nice piece of horseflesh.”

“Thanks. I’m proud of him.” Gato was worth several thousand dollars, but because she had spotted his potential as a weanling and spent hours upon hours training him herself, she hadn’t broken the bank to buy him. After she won some substantial prizes with Gato, she’d been able to purchase Rojo, a much more expensive horse. “Where do you want him?”

“How about right here?” Tom indicated the barn alley. “It’s cool in here.”

While he turned his truck around and backed it into the breezeway, she tied the gelding to the stall and flipped on the overhead lights. With a no nonsense manner Tom picked up the horse’s hoof and ran a rasp across it. “So what brings you back to these parts? I haven’t seen you since your mother’s funeral.”

A lump immediately formed in her throat and it took a minute before she could answer. “I came to look for Martin. He’s missing.”

Tom looked at her with disbelief. “What do you mean?”

“No one’s seen him in close to two weeks.”

Tom grinned as if she were joking. “That’s all?”

“Yeah. He became a dad today. He has a little baby girl.”

The silly grin faded from Tom’s face. “No way.”

She nodded solemnly. “Way. I was there, but he wasn’t anywhere to be found. Story of Martin’s life, I guess. But he’s a father now and it should matter to him.”

Tom shook his head. “I can’t believe it. The last time I saw Nascha, hell that was only a month ago, she didn’t look pregnant to me.”

“Nascha? No, they broke up. His girlfriend’s name is Briar Rose.”

Tom burst out into laughter. When he saw she wasn’t laughing with him, he abruptly stopped. “Well, that beats all. I thought he and Nascha had a thing, you know?”

“Apparently, that’s what everyone, including Nascha, believed. But I came home and found this girl standing in my mother’s kitchen claiming to be carrying Martin’s baby. She gave birth to a little girl this morning. Honestly, I don’t know if she’s my brother’s daughter, but I don’t know why else Briar Rose would claim she is if she’s not.”

“Damn.” Tom picked out a horseshoe from a box in his truck and lifted Gato’s foot. He held the shoe to the hoof, shook his head and went back to retrieve another shoe. This one seemed to please him and he nodded as he held it to the gelding’s sole. Then he carried it to an anvil bolted to the bed of his truck and shaped it with a few loud bangs of a large, shaping hammer. Choosing a smaller hammer, he stuck several nails in his mouth and lifted Gato’s foot again. With efficient hits, he drove the nails through the shoe and hoof.

Castaña waited for him to finish hammering before she asked, “Do you know anything about the murders that were committed a couple of weeks ago?”

He took a pair of hoof nippers from his back pocket. “Just what the newspaper said. Why?”

“Martin’s accused of it.” She let the words hang, waiting for his reaction.

“What?” He looked as if his stomach hurt and all the air had rushed out of his lungs.

“You heard me. The police and some FBI honcho think Martin killed those men.” She stroked Gato’s warm, slick neck for a minute. “The thing is Martin loves those horses so much he might have been driven right over the edge by this new change in the law that allows them to be sent to slaughter.”

Tom didn’t immediately disagree with her. “A lot of people are upset.”

“Yeah,” Castaña said.

Moving to his tools, Tom chose a rasp. For a long moment, he stood and looked at it. When he spoke, his voice filled with anguish. “There was almost a riot when the BLM announced a public contract on the horses. Martin had to take it hard.”