Official Duty

“Yep. Judging by the way the place was messed up, Jim put up a pretty good fight. He didn’t go down easy.” He swallowed hard. “We think Mabel was killed in the hallway. Looks like she was trying to make a run for it when he caught up with her.”

She shuddered, her face pale. “Didn’t you find anything that might help find out who killed them?”

“So far we’ve got nothing to go on. Without a motive it’s hard to know where to start.” He thought about getting another beer, then decided against it. “The worst part is knowing that maniac is still running around out there. I need to stop him before he gets his hands bloody again.”

She seemed to think about it for a long moment or two, then said quietly, “You’re right. He has to pay for what he did. I’m not sure how much help I can be but I’ll take a look at the house if you think it will help.”

It wasn’t until he relaxed his muscles that he realized just how tense he’d been. “Thanks, Ginny. I sure appreciate your cooperation.”

Her face was bleak when she nodded. “I guess I can stop by to see the Corbetts’ lawyer, then I’ll go with you to the house.”

“Great. I’ll pick you up at eight-forty-five.”

“I have a car. I’ll find it.”

“I have to be there, too. I might as well pick you up.”

Her indifferent shrug stung his pride. “If you like.”

She reached for her purse and he said quickly, “I’ll take care of it.”

She gave him a tight smile. “Thanks. You were right. The steaks are still good here.”

“My pleasure, ma’am.” He pushed his chair back. “Can I give you a ride back to the Sagebrush?”

She stood with him, avoiding his gaze. “Thanks, but I have my car. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He watched her leave, cursing the ache under his ribs. He knew better than to let his emotions get the better of him. She was even more out of his reach now than she’d been twelve years ago, when he’d watched her march away from him and out of his life.

She’d taken his heart with her that day and she’d cared so little about him it had taken her exactly ten months to forget him and find someone else to fall in love with. Ten months, while he’d waited and hoped. What a damn fool he’d been.

He picked up his hat and jammed it on his head. Well, there would be polar bears roaming the desert before he let anyone make an ass out of him again. He turned his back on the table and headed for the door.

GINNY CLIMBED into her car and gunned the engine. She was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go back to the motel and fall into bed. She couldn’t do that just yet. She couldn’t go to sleep in this town without having visited the graves of the people who meant the world to her. She couldn’t rest easy until she’d said her goodbyes. She deeply regretted having missed the funeral. This was all she had left. This last final farewell over their graves.

Cully had told her the Corbetts were buried in the cemetery on the hill. It was a beautiful spot, shaded by cottonwood trees, with a clear view of the mountain range in the west, where the sun had already dipped below the peaks.

In the shaded light of dusk the haphazard rows of gravestones rose and fell like undulating waves of a silent ocean. Her sneakers made hardly a sound on the pathway as she hurried past bouquets of roses and lilies of the valley, their sweet fragrance blending with the pungent smell of the pines.

She found the graves, freshly dug and with a gleaming white headstone with both their names carved on it. The coarse grass felt prickly beneath her knees but she knelt for a long time, allowing the bittersweet memories to take her back to a happier, carefree time, when she was loved and protected and safe from the world.

The darkness settled around her and the rustling of night creatures whispered among the trees, disturbing her thoughts. A cool breeze wafted a lock of her hair across her forehead and sighing, she climbed wearily to her feet. “Goodbye, Jim,” she whispered. “Goodbye, Mabel. Thank you for the love you gave me and for the ten years of happiness I’ll never forget.” A sob choked her words and she struggled for a moment, striving to control her grief.

In the silence she thought she heard Jim’s voice, whispering urgently in her ear. The words weren’t clear to her but the message was.

“Cully will find out who did this to you,” she said, her voice loud in the darkness. “I promise you both that Cully will hunt him down and see that he pays. No matter what it takes. Then you’ll both be able to rest in peace.”

The whispering stopped, bringing her the first small measure of peace she’d felt since hearing Cully’s voice utter the inconceivable. With an ache in her heart she headed back to where she’d left the car.

The night had drawn in now, with only a tiny sliver of moon in the starlit sky to light the way. Below her she could see the lights of the little town, glowing like the embers of a dying fire. She shivered in the desert breeze that had suddenly grown cool.

She had neared the end of the path when without warning the shadow of a man crossed in front of her. For a startling second he was illuminated between her and the flickering lights below. Then, almost at once, he vanished.

Feeling cold and shaken, she assured herself her eyes were playing tricks with her. A deserted graveyard at night was no place to hang around on her own. No wonder she was seeing things.

She started walking…faster…and then she heard them. Distinct footsteps, echoing from behind her, keeping in time with her own.

Heart pounding in her throat she spun around, her gaze probing the shadows for a sign of movement. The footsteps had stopped, too. All she could see were the branches of the cottonwoods swaying gently in the night wind.

She started off again, running now. There they were again…the footsteps…running with her, closer than before. A man’s voice, low and guttural, laughing softly, the sound barely audible above the pounding of feet.

The terror gripped her like hands of steel, closing around her lungs, making it hard to breathe. Only a few more yards to go. Could she make it? Her legs were already trembling and weak. She had to make it, for she knew as sure as she knew her own name, that if those footsteps caught up with her, she’d end up just like Mabel and Jim, buried deep in the dark, cold ground.

Chapter Three

Reaching the car, Ginny fumbled in her purse for her keys. Her hand shook so badly she couldn’t fit the key into the lock. He had to be right behind her. He had to be….

With a sob of relief she got the door open and slid inside. It was then that she realized the footsteps were no longer echoing out of the darkness. She slammed the door and locked it, then struggled to fit the key into the ignition. The engine fired and the beams from her headlights poured a wide swath of yellow light across the road ahead of her.

As she pulled out onto the road, she glanced into the rearview mirror, fully expecting to see her pursuer standing there, watching her leave.

There was no one there. No man, no other car, no lights, no movement, nothing. Had she imagined it? But she’d heard the footsteps, the ugly, taunting laugh…hadn’t she?

The thought that the whole thing could have been nothing more than a wild flight of fancy terrified her almost as much as the reality of a stalker. For weeks now she’d been afraid that the long months of hiding had taken their toll and that she was losing her mind. It was getting to the point where she couldn’t be sure anymore what was real and what was in her imagination.

Thoroughly shaken, she drove too fast, taking the curves down the hill at a speed that rocked the car from side to side. She couldn’t outrun the cold feeling of dread that gripped her. Taking a long, deep breath, she made herself slow down. She wouldn’t be much help to Cully if she landed in hospital.

Cully. Her mouth curved in a wry smile. What would he think of her if he knew the turmoil going on inside her? If he saw her fleeing from a monster that existed only in her troubled mind?

She’d always been so strong, so sure of who she was and what she wanted. The night she told him she had to get out of Gold Peak or she’d suffocate, he hadn’t even tried to change her mind. He’d known it was useless. Once Ginny Matthews had her sights set on something, she didn’t let go.

The trouble was, she didn’t want to let go of him, either. She’d asked him to go with her. He’d told her in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t city folk.

She could still hear his voice, harsh with bitterness, as he’d paced back and forth across the dingy living room of the apartment he’d rented above Bailey’s Garage. “I lived in a city once. I know what it’s like. People don’t care a damn about each other. They’d watch their neighbor die on the street without lifting a finger to help.”

“They can’t all be like that.”

“Well, they are. Take my word for it. It’s a whole different world out there. There’s a thief hanging around every dark corner and con artists just waiting to clean you out of your life savings. Folks trample all over each other to get their hands on stuff they don’t need or want and all they care about is making more and more money. If that’s what you want to be like, well you’re welcome to it.”

“I don’t have to be like them. I’m who I am. No one’s going to change me.”

“Believe me. The city changes everybody.”

She’d been close to tears, angry at him for bursting her rosy bubble. “You’ll never understand. I need to make something of my life. I don’t want see it waste away in this boring little backwoods town.”

“This boring little backwoods town was good enough for you when you were a kid looking for a home.”

“Well, I’m not a kid anymore. I’ve grown up. And you’re jealous because you don’t have the guts to leave town. I’ll be in Phoenix, making a new life for myself, while you’re stuck here day after day mucking out Judd Taylor’s stables. And you know what, Cully Black? It’s no more than you deserve.”

Maybe, if he’d begged her to stay, convinced her that he loved her as passionately as she loved him, she might have stayed in Gold Peak. She might have borne his babies and been content to make a home for them all.

But he hadn’t said a word about love. He’d stood looking out through the dust-grimed window, his back as stiff and straight as a flagpole and his thumbs jammed into the pockets of his jeans.

She’d seen him only once more after that night. He’d stopped by the Corbetts’ house, a couple of days before she planned to catch the bus out of town. At first, dizzy with hope, she’d thought he’d come to tell her he loved her and wanted her to stay. When she found out he’d stopped by to return a couple of books he’d borrowed from Jim, she’d finally faced the truth. She was good enough to lie in his bed but she wasn’t good enough to share his life. Same old story.

She’d caught up with him as he was leaving and told him goodbye. Keeping the fence between them, she’d let all her pain out in a stream of accusations and criticism. He hadn’t even flinched. That was how little he’d cared.

The blaze of lights from an oncoming car lit up her windshield, dazzling her. Realizing that her eyes were filled with tears, she dashed them away with the back of her hand. She’d done crying over Cully Black a long time ago. If she had any sense at all, she’d get right back on that plane tomorrow at noon and turn her back on Gold Peak forever.

She pulled into the parking lot of the Sagebrush Motel and cut the engine. Trouble was, she never did have any sense where Cully was concerned. It wasn’t until she married Brandon that she realized what she’d truly lost.

Wearily she climbed out of the car and slammed the door. To hell with Cully Black. She’d talk to the lawyer in the morning and then go straight back to the airport. It had been too many years since she was in the Corbetts’ house. How was she going to remember what they had enough to know it was missing?

Her sneakers made only a slight scuffling sound on the hard ground and she caught herself listening for the sound of echoing footsteps. Angry with herself, she closed the door of her room hard behind her. This is what Brandon had done to her. Turned her into a quivering mass of nerves.

If she didn’t get it together, she’d start messing up at work and that could spell disaster. The board members of Whitman’s Department Store had no patience with incompetent personnel.

She had her hand on the bathroom door when the harsh jangle of the phone made her jump. Frowning, she moved to answer it. She hadn’t told anyone where she was staying, since she’d be there just for one night. The only person who knew she was there was Cully.

Her hand trembled as she lifted the receiver and muttered a cautious, “Hello?”

She waited for an answer that never came. The silence on the end of the line unnerved her and she repeated, louder this time, “Hello? Cully, is that you? Who is this?”

The room seemed to be closing in around her. Hastily she dropped the receiver onto its stand. It must have been a wrong number. Or one of those automatic sales calls that didn’t go through. Anything. After all, she didn’t hear any heavy breathing. It was nothing.

Even so, she found it hard to fall asleep. She kept hearing unfamiliar noises and her body tensed with every sound. After watching a meaningless movie on TV, she turned on the radio, buried her face beneath the sheet and concentrated on visions of quiet lakes and soothing waves breaking on a sandy shore.

She awoke in the middle of the night, heart thumping, a sheen of sweat prickling on her forehead. Unsure of what had disturbed her sleep, she lay awake for an hour or more, before falling once more into a fitful sleep. When she woke up again, sunlight filtered through the gap where the cheap curtains didn’t quite meet.

A quick glance at the clock radio told her she’d slept later than she’d planned. Thankful that the nightmare had stayed away, she showered and pulled on the jeans she’d worn the night before. Her sleeveless blue shirt was the last clean item she had left. She packed the rest in a plastic laundry bag and stuffed it into her garment bag, then gathered up her stuff from the bathroom.

She had just finished checking out when Cully’s Jeep pulled into the parking lot a little later. She watched through the window as he climbed out and headed for the door, his hat pulled down low to shade his eyes. She’d forgotten how good he looked in a cowboy hat.

Hastily, she pulled her gaze away from him and pretended to be studying a faded map on the wall when she heard him come through the door.

Her skin tingled as he came up behind her, his deep voice penetrating every nerve in her body. “Morning! Hope I didn’t keep you waiting.”

She plastered a smile on her face before turning to greet him. “Not at all. I’ve just checked out.”

She thought she saw a shadow cross his face. His mouth tightened just a fraction. “Have you had breakfast yet?”

“Coffee and a bagel. In the coffee shop next door.”

He gave her a brief nod. “Then I guess we’re ready to go.”

She squared her shoulders. “I’ll follow you in my car. Then I can go straight to the airport after I leave the lawyer’s office.”

There was no mistaking the disapproval in his dark eyes now.

“I thought you were going to take a look at the house with me.”

She lifted her wrist and concentrated on her watch. “I changed my mind. After thinking about it, I really can’t see that I’d be much help. After all, I’m sure the Corbetts must have bought many things since I left, I wouldn’t know what was missing. In any case, I’m needed back in Philadelphia.”

She looked up in time to see his eyebrows rise. “Philadelphia? I thought you were in Phoenix.”

“I was.” She started toward the door, putting an end to the conversation. This wasn’t the time for explanations. It was doubtful there would ever be a time when she could tell him the truth about Brandon.

Outside in the parking lot the sun warmed her shoulders as she made her way to her car. Even so, she detected a faint chill in the wind blowing in from the mountains. Before long the fall would bring the winter rains and then the snow. How could she have forgotten the clean, fresh smell of the open land and the feeling of losing oneself in the wide expanse of blue sky? It was such a far cry from the burning Philadelphia sidewalks and suffocating buildings that shut out the sunshine.

As she climbed into her car she noticed the dark gray minivan that had followed her out the night before, sitting just a few spaces away. She stared hard at it, wondering what it was about it that had unnerved her the night before.

The Nevada license plate was faded and dented and there were gouges on the door on the passenger’s side. Apparently the owner was a lousy driver.

Looking at the van in daylight, however, her fears of last night seemed ludicrous. She had to get control of her nerves, before she did something really stupid.

The roar of Cully’s engine made her jump and she started her car. He was already out on the road, heading toward town before she had backed up enough to swing the car out of its space. For a moment she thought he wasn’t going to wait for her but he slowed enough for her to catch up before he turned the first corner.

Somehow she got the idea he was mad about something. Well, let him be. She hadn’t made any promises. For two cents she’d turn around and head for the airport. After all, there was no law that said she had to go to the reading of the will.

Even as the thought occurred to her she glanced in her rearview mirror, tempted to slam on the brakes and turn around. Her hands froze on the wheel. The minivan was right behind her.

It seemed as if all her breath had suddenly deserted her body. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead and the feeling of suffocation was almost unbearable. She clawed for the air conditioner and turned on the fans full blast.

Whoever was driving the van had to have been sitting there while she had been staring at it just a few moments ago. Why hadn’t she noticed a driver in the front seat? Had he been hiding, waiting for her to move before pulling out to follow her?

A screech of brakes to her right jerked her gaze from the mirror. To her horror she realized she’d driven right through a stop sign. Cully must have noticed. The driver who’d been forced to brake gestured at her as she went by him, a little too close for comfort.

Thoroughly shaken, she thought about pulling over until she could calm her nerves. Cully’s Jeep, however, turned another corner a block away and she had no choice but to follow him, or she’d lose sight of him. Nervously she glanced in her mirror again.

The minivan was gone.

She blinked, staring in disbelief at the empty road behind her. Had she imagined it? No, it must have turned the corner back there, at the stop sign. She followed Cully into the side street and slammed on her brakes as he pulled to a stop in front of her.

Heart pounding, she waited for him, expecting him to climb out and walk back to her car. He was going to give her a ticket. She’d sailed through a stop sign right in front of his eyes.

To her surprise, he jumped down from the Jeep and sauntered over to a faded brick building she remembered was once a warehouse for distributing cut boards from the lumber mills. It had apparently been turned into offices, with new glass doors built into what had once been a solid brick wall.

Cully paused in front of one of the doors and looked back at her, obviously waiting for her to follow.

She pulled in her breath and let it drift out again before shutting off her engine. Either he hadn’t noticed her mistake, or he planned to ignore it. She hoped it was the former. Just to make sure, she scanned the street both ways as she climbed out of the car. There was no sign of the minivan. Surely, surely, she hadn’t imagined it? Her hands felt clammy as she went through the door that Cully held open for her.

The lawyer’s office was a little too cool for comfort and she wished she’d brought a jacket with her. The room smelled of lemon polish and new furniture. An eager young receptionist sat behind a highly polished desk, which was bare of anything except a telephone, a computer and a flashy sign that announced her name was Tanya.

She greeted Cully with an ease that implied she knew him well. Her disapproving glance at Ginny when Cully introduced her suggested Tanya would like to know the town’s magnetic sheriff a whole lot better and didn’t welcome competition.

She needn’t worry, Ginny thought wryly. It was odd that Cully had never married. Mabel had told her he lived alone on his ranch, with just a housekeeper and a couple of ranch hands to help out. She wondered if he had a girlfriend.

She was still wondering about that when Tanya ushered them into a quiet room with somber dark paneling that Ginny found oppressive. The seconds ticked by as she sat with Cully in awkward silence. More than ever now she wished she’d obeyed that impulse to turn her car around and head for the airport.

Would the minivan have followed her out there?

The unbidden thought disturbed her and she clamped her hands together in her lap. This was a very small town but common sense told her there had to be more than one gray minivan being driven around.

“Don’t look so worried. Paul’s just going to read the will. As soon as he’s through you’ll be free to go.”

At the sound of his deep voice she’d jumped. She tried to dismiss her ridiculous fears with a careless shrug. “I’m not worried. Just impatient.”

“Yeah, I can tell you can’t wait to get out of here. I should’ve remembered how much you hate this town.”

For some ridiculous reason she felt like crying. “I don’t hate it. I just have things to take care of back home, that’s all.”

He nodded, his mouth a thin, straight line. “Right.”

She was saved from saying anything else when the door opened and a thin, gray-haired man wearing a dark blue suit scurried into the room, murmuring apologies.

Again Cully introduced her and she shook the lawyer’s proffered hand, surprised by the strength of his grip. Sharp blue eyes regarded her from behind gold-rimmed spectacles as she sat down again.

“Ms. Matthews, I understand you were married several years ago. Am I right in assuming that Matthews isn’t your married name?”

She hesitated, wondering how much she needed to reveal in order to listen to a will being read.

“Ginny’s husband died recently,” Cully said smoothly. “She’s using her maiden name for now.”

The lawyer’s eyebrows lifted a fraction as he glanced at Cully. “I see. Well, in that case…” He sat down and opened up his briefcase.

Ginny sent Cully a grateful glance, which he barely acknowledged with the briefest of nods.

“Now,” Paul Bellman said, smoothing out the sheaf of papers in front of him, “the situation is this. Jim and Mabel Corbett left everything they owned to each other, with provisions in the event of the survivor’s death.” He began to read the terms of the will, in a dry, unemotional voice.

Ginny tried to follow the legal wording, understanding only the pertinent facts. Jim and Mabel had left certain items to several people, of whom Ginny recognized only three, all of whom had been living with the Corbetts during the years she was there.

The lawyer read out the list of items, some of which Ginny remembered. The pair of silver-plated candlesticks that always stood on a shelf above the fireplace. A white china cat that had lost an ear when one of the kids had thrown a football across the living room. The ancient cuckoo clock that never kept proper time and had to be wound every single day.

Cully sat taking down notes. Now Ginny realized why he was there. If any of those items were missing, it might give him a lead in the investigation. Then again, who would want them? As far as she knew, nothing in that house was worth stealing. Certainly not worth the death of two people. It just didn’t make sense.