Page 6

Sonny had been on-site for hours, and the truck bed was piled high with junk and bags of trash. As he tossed another garbage bag into the bed, he made a mental note to call the trashman to find out if he made special pickups.

He’d already uncovered a rattlesnake beneath some of the old trailer skirting that gave him pause. He’d been reaching down when the sound of the rattles warned him it was there, and by the time he saw it in the grass, it was coiled and ready to strike.

“You do not want to do that. It will get your head shot off. Get lost,” he muttered, and stepped back a good distance without taking his eye off the snake. Moments later, it slithered off into the high grass.

He wondered how long that snake had been living under the pile of trash, and how close the little Sutton boy had come to being bitten, and hoped the woman and her son had made it to their destination.

He worked until the area around the trailer was finally devoid of trash, and was getting ready to leave when a man in a big 4x4 dually pulled off the road, then got out of the truck and walked up to Sonny.

“I’m Kevin from Hopkins Trailer Service. Is this where Wade Sutton lived?”

“Yes, it is,” Sonny said.

“We have a work order from Yvonne Sutton to move it, and I need to disconnect the services and lock up the doors before we haul it out.”

“I’m Sonny Bluejacket. The prior owner was their landlord. Go ahead and do what you need to do to disconnect.”

“Excellent,” Kevin said. “I’ll get all this done now, and then we’ll be back tomorrow morning around 9:00 to haul it off.”

“I’ll be here,” Sonny said.

“You don’t have to be,” he said.

Sonny pointed to his truck. “See all that junk? That’s what was outside the trailer. When you move it, I suspect there will be more of the same beneath.”

Kevin nodded. “Understood. I’m not with the moving crew. I’m just the prep guy. Thanks for the info, Mr. Bluejacket. I’ll let the crew know you’ll be here.”

Sonny went back to his truck, but instead of leaving, he waited, watching as the man went into the trailer with a bag full of ties and bungee cords. While he was waiting, he called the trash man about the added junk.

“Yeah, sure, Mr. Bluejacket. I can pick it up this evening around six after I finish my other route. It’ll be sixty dollars extra for a junk pickup. I have to haul it to a junk yard rather than the garbage dump.”

“No problem,” Sonny said. “I’ll Venmo you the money after you pick it up, okay?”

“Works for me,” he said, and disconnected.

Now, all Sonny had to do was unload it by the gate. Satisfied he’d solved that problem, he sat back, waiting for Kevin to finish and leave.

A short while later, the man emerged and circled the trailer, then began removing the existing skirting to disconnect and cap off what was needed. By the time he was finished, the trailer was ready to roll.

Kevin gave Sonny a thumbs-up as he got in his truck and drove away. At that point, Sonny headed home. When he got to the entrance, he unloaded the scrap metal first, and then piled the trash bags on top before heading to the house. He was hot, tired, and hungry, and it was a while before sundown. Waiting for Magnolia Brennen’s arrival was welcome anticipation.

He parked in the back, walked into the little utility room, and stripped where he stood, and this time untied his hair. A few minutes later, he was in the shower, washing the dust and leaves out of his hair, and the filth of Wade Sutton’s trash off his body.

***

Maggie had never swept floors as fast as she did at closing. Pearl had the meatloaf dinners boxed and bagged, along with two containers of peach cobbler. She handed them over with a smile.

“Get on out of here. Say hello to Sonny for me, and take time to shower and change. We all smell like french fries.”

Maggie laughed. “We always smell like french fries at the end of a day. Thank you, Pearl. You’re the best.” And out the door she went.

Once she reached her house, she jumped out of the car on the run. Moments later, she was inside, stripping as she went. She took a quick look at her painting in progress, eyeing the shadowing below his cheekbones and shivered. He was coming to life beneath her brush, but she would see the real man tonight. She took a quick shower, dressed in jeans and a pink T-shirt, brushed her hair until it was shining, then headed to Sunset.

The sun was hovering above the horizon as she drove, but she was less than three miles from Sonny’s house. She wasn’t going to miss that sunset, after all.

***

Sonny was standing in his front yard with his hands in his pockets, watching the sky turning purple and pink. Emmit told him not to miss the sunsets, and now he understood why. He’d seen sunsets all of his life, but nothing to compare to the unfettered horizon of West Texas.

When he heard a car slowing down on the road, he turned to look and then took a quick breath.

She’s here.

He wasn’t going to admit, even to himself, how much he’d been looking forward to this.

***

Maggie’s heart skipped a beat when she saw him in the yard. The first thing she noticed was the wind teasing his hair, and it was the first time she’d seen him without it tied back. When the breeze caught it just right, it flared gracefully, like a crow’s wings in flight, and it crossed her mind to wonder what his hair would feel like on her bare skin if they made love. But the moment she thought it, he abruptly turned.

Her heart skipped, imagining that he’d heard her thought, when in truth, he’d simply heard her car. But now he was motionless, his expression inscrutable, his hands stuffed into his pockets as he watched her driving toward him. Her heart was hammering, and she felt awkward until he smiled and lifted his hand in greeting.

Suddenly shy, it took everything within her not to turn around and drive away. She was so attracted to him, and getting out of the car would be crossing a threshold she didn’t know if she was ready to face.

Come on, Maggie, quit acting like you’re fourteen. This is no big deal.

But she was lying to herself, and she knew it. It was a big deal, because there was no one to buffer the space between them. Seconds after she parked, Sonny was at the car and helping her out.

“Magnolia, you are the best for coming out here after a hard day’s work. Can I carry anything for you?”

She opened the trunk. “You can get that carry-out bag.”

“My pleasure, and it does smell good,” he said. He picked up the brown bag with both hands and carefully balanced it as she closed the trunk, then in true indigenous fashion, pointed with his chin. “A beautiful sunset for a beautiful woman. Just look at that!”

Maggie’s gaze shifted from his face to the sky, and all of the tension of her day slipped away.

“Nothing more magnificent than a West Texas sunset,” she said, unaware that Sonny was watching her and not the sky.

“Magnificent,” he echoed, and then looked away before she caught him staring, and waited with her until the sunset began to fade. “Feels like we just got our food blessed. After you,” he said, and let her lead the way into the house.

His words of the sunset blessing wrapped around her like a hug as they went inside. The house that had once been so familiar to her felt different. Sonny’s energy had changed the feel of the place. She couldn’t help but notice his housekeeping was far ahead of Emmit’s, too. The floors had been swept. Everything was put away or in its place. And there was a bouquet of small yellow sunflowers and red butterfly weed on the table, with an empty pasta sauce jar serving as a vase. Emmit had been all about reusing and recycling, and she’d washed that same jar countless times when doing his dishes.

“Sonny! The flowers are beautiful!”

“They’re in your honor. Not as beautiful as your namesake, but they’re doing their best.”

“I am unaccustomed to such an honor, and I thank you. I know you have questions, but can we eat as we talk? We were really busy today. I missed lunch and I’m starving.”

“Absolutely!” he said, and pulled out a chair at the table that he’d already set. “You sit. I’ll serve you.”

She wasn’t about to deny the offer. Within a couple of minutes, he had cold sweet tea in their glasses, and the food unpacked from the bag.

Sonny picked up his glass. “A toast to new friends, and to Pearl for the food.”

Maggie smiled as their glasses clinked. “I’ll drink to that,” and then was the first with a question as they began to eat. “Are you settling in okay?”

He nodded. “Sutton’s wife hired someone to haul off their trailer. They’re moving it tomorrow.”

She frowned, nodded, and took another bite, but Sonny could tell she was bothered about something.

“What?” he asked.

“What happens if Wade gets out of jail and comes back and finds it gone? Will he blame you?” she said.

“I don’t know, but my first thought is that with his wife gone, that man won’t have the money to bond out. There are so many charges against him that the bail is likely to be high, and unless he has a buddy somewhere he can call to make bail for him, he isn’t going anywhere.”

“Oh, I didn’t think of that,” Maggie said. “I just know Emmit would be so bothered that all of this is happening with your arrival.”

“Magnolia, there is a reason Emmit trusted me with this place. I’m nobody’s fool, and I’m not afraid of shit.”

She paused, studying his calm demeanor. “I guess I should have known that when Pearl told me you rode bulls.”

He shrugged. “That was all about trying to prove I was not my father’s son. I should have focused on women more and bulls less, but here we are.”

She laughed, and when she did, the sound of her joy rolled through him. He pinched off a tiny piece of his hot roll and threw it at her, which made her laugh even more. It was the best feeling he’d had in years.

They were down to the last bites of peach cobbler when Sonny started quizzing her.

“The reason I wanted to talk to you is that I found everything Emmit left for me in his safety deposit box, including a personal letter. He mentioned I would find everything I needed in the box, and the rest would be in his vault. I thought he meant the vault where the safety deposit boxes were kept, but they weren’t in it, and I have looked this house over from top to bottom. Do you have any idea what that meant?”

Maggie rolled her eyes. “Oh my gosh! Yes! I completely forgot to show that to you when we did our walk-through. Are you through eating?”

“Yes.”

“Then follow me,” she said, and got up and headed to the bedroom, talking all the way. “When Emmit bought the property, there was an old dug cellar behind the house, but when he added the addition, he had a stone mason remodel his cellar, and then he built the addition over it. The door to the vault is one of the panels of wood in your bedroom wall.”

She bypassed his bed and went straight to the corner of the room nearest the foot of the bed and pushed on the panel. It popped open.

“I’ll be damned,” Sonny muttered, watching as she flipped a light switch on the wall at the top of a set of stairs, and then followed her down.

“As you can see, it’s an actual room now. About a ten-by-ten-foot square. After the stone mason cemented the walls and painted them with some kind of water repellent stuff, Emmit didn’t like the looks, and had it bricked over. The light fixtures are LED. They’ll last a long time without burning out. He had shelves put on the walls for his keepsakes. His bullfighting outfit is in that little trunk. He showed it to me once. Those file cabinets are full of info about the horses he’s raised and sold, and the two ledgers on his desk have extensive breeding and foaling dates in them.”

Sonny saw tears in her eyes. “You really liked him, didn’t you, and he obviously thought a lot of you. How long was he sick with cancer?” Sonny asked.

Maggie ran her hand down the sleeve of an old denim jacket hanging from a hook on the wall. It still smelled like Emmit’s cigarettes, which ultimately caused the lung cancer that killed him.

“Longer than we knew. By the time he announced it, he said the doctors had given him two months. He refused to go to the hospital, and stayed on Sunset for the horses until the last day. He called for an ambulance just before sundown, but he was gone by the time they got here. I like to think he stayed for that last sunset.”

Sonny handed her his handkerchief. She took it without looking at him and wiped her eyes.

“Thanks,” she said, and handed it back. “Besides being the place where he kept his treasures, it’s a really good storm shelter, too.”

Sonny nodded. “I can see that. I have other questions. I’ve seen the roping arena. It’s quite a setup. Did Emmit break his own horses?”

“No. There’s a guy he used. I don’t know the name but that green ledger was his Rolodex. He wasn’t much for technology and there’s a long list of contacts and what he uses them for in that ledger,” she said.

“Did he train the cutting horses here, and if he did, what happened to the steers he would have used in training?” he asked.

She frowned. “He trained here, but I think he had a guy bring about a couple dozen or so half-grown steers to the ranch when he began training them for cutting or roping. I’m probably not using the right terminology, but you know what I mean. And when he had horses ready to go, he would hold a roping event, or take them to one, and compete to let people see them working and let them know they were for sale. If the horses did good, he got offers from buyers. But I think it all got too much for him after he was diagnosed.” And then she looked up at Sonny. “I’m really glad you’re here.”

Sonny sighed. He could still see a faint shimmer of tears in them. “I’m glad I’m here, too. And thank you so much for all this. I know it’s getting late. I’ve intruded into enough of your personal time and you must be exhausted. Next time you eat with me I will come get you, and you will not be driving about on your own in the dark.”

“There’s going to be a next time?” she said.

“I will ask. You have the option of refusing,” he said softly.

“Well, that’s unlikely. Now let’s get out of here. I keep feeling like Emmit is watching us.”

Sonny shook his head. “I’ve already sent Emmit on his way. Once I set foot here, he knew the place was safe.”

Maggie frowned. “How do you know he’s gone? What if—?”

Sonny shrugged. “I just know. Up you go, Magnolia. I’m right behind you.”

Maggie climbed up quickly, well aware of Sonny’s presence only two steps behind, and came out into his bedroom. She had one quick glance at the bed and then kept going all the way to the kitchen and began carrying dishes to the sink.

All of a sudden, Sonny was behind her, reaching around and taking a plate from her hand.

“No, ma’am. You were my guest. Will you please give Pearl my thanks for the food, and text me when you get home so I’ll know you’re safe?”

She had the strongest urge to turn and slide her arms around his neck. Instead, she nodded, relinquished the plate, and felt him step away to give her space.

“I’ll walk you out,” he said, as she slipped on her jacket and got the keys from her purse. When they reached her car, she opened the door, and then turned around. He was just a looming shadow now between her and the porch light. “Thank you for the visit and the sunset,” she said.

He cupped the side of her face. “Thank you, pretty lady, for helping me. Remember, I will be waiting for that text.”

“And I’ll be waiting for another invitation,” she said, then ducked into her car and closed the door. She didn’t have to look to know he was still standing where she’d left him as she drove away. She could feel it.

***

Again, Sonny watched until he could no longer see the taillights of her car before he went back into the house, but this time, a piece of her had already settled in his heart. He wanted her. He wanted her to love him. But she still didn’t quite trust him. Time would take care of that, and he was willing to wait as long as it took. He already knew she was worth it.

He began cleaning up the kitchen and gathering up the trash just to stay busy, but there weren’t enough jobs left on earth to make him forget Magnolia Brennen. She was under his skin in an achy, yearning kind of way. For years, he’d had nothing to offer a woman. Emmit had given him more than a horse ranch. He’d given Sonny prospects, and the rest was up to him.

***

Maggie was running when she entered her house. She’d watched every expression on his face as they’d talked, until she knew exactly what had been missing that would bring his face to life. It was late, and she should have gone to bed, but she needed to fix this first, or she’d never sleep.

She took off everything but her underwear, and then sat down on her stool at the easel, uncovered her palette, and reached for a brush.

***

Once Matt Reddick received the pictures and tattoo numbers Sonny sent of the stolen horses, he applied for search warrants.

He’d already run a search on Delroy Kincaid days ago, but to his surprise he learned there were two men named Delroy Kincaid. A father and a son who did not live together, but both had horses and cattle on their properties.

Reddick’s knee-jerk reaction to solving this problem was to go to talk to Sutton first. He went straight to the jail and had Wade Sutton brought into an interrogation room.

***

Wade was being removed from his cell and walked back to interrogation, and nobody would tell him why. He entered in cuffs with a jailer behind him, half-expecting it to be his lawyer, and saw the sheriff instead.

“What the hell do you want?” Wade muttered.

Matt Reddick didn’t hesitate. “Information. But before I wade further into the mess you have made of your life, I’m hoping you’ll be honest with me and save one family from more shame and embarrassment than is necessary.”

Wade flushed, but said nothing.

Reddick felt the emotional wall between them, and was already wondering if this was a mistake, but he was here and so he asked.

“I’m here about the horses you sold. I’m going after them and returning them to their rightful owner. So, here’s what I know for a fact, and I’d like your take on it. It might help your cause for the judge to know that you assisted in this endeavor.”

Wade was still glaring, but he was listening as Reddick continued.

“We know Delroy Kincaid is the man who bought the four horses. It is a given because Vonnie told us. We know he paid you cash. We know you did not give him a bill of sale. We also know that you sold four registered Quarter Horses already trained as cutting and roping horses, for five hundred dollars apiece, which means he conned you up one side and down the other, considering the going rate for animals of that caliber is eighteen to twenty-five thousand dollars apiece.”

Wade grunted as if he’d just been punched.

“I’m guessing Delroy laughed all the way home. I’ll bet he had a good laugh with his old man, too,” Reddick said.

Wade had heard all he could take. “His old man doesn’t approve of him or know the half of what his precious, lyin’ son is all about.”

Matt had struck the right nerve. He’d gotten everything he needed to know, and driven a wedge between Delroy and Wade, which might come in handy down the road, but he continued for more verification.

“I don’t know. How would Delroy senior not know?” Reddick asked.

“They are estranged… I think that’s the word Junior uses. I don’t know the family secrets, but they haven’t communicated in some years.”

Matt began gathering up his things. “Okay, I’ll take all that into consideration. I do appreciate your input, and I am truly sorry for the mess you have gotten yourself into, Wade.”

“So, Vonnie snitched on me?” Wade muttered.

Matt frowned. “Snitched? Are you serious? You beat her to hell and back every day and kept her and your boy in that rotting piece of tin. You gambled and chased women all the way to Amarillo and back, and you expected loyalty? She honestly answered the questions I was asking to clear herself and your son. Would you have rather she wound up in jail for lying for you, and Randy wound up with no parents and a ward of the court?”

All the color washed out of Wade’s face. “No. No, I wouldn’t want that to happen,” he muttered. “Is Vonnie okay? And Randy? She doesn’t answer her phone when I call. I guess she’s pretty mad at me.”

“Mad doesn’t even come close. She’s gone, Wade. All I know is that she and your boy left the night you were arrested. I heard her apologizing to Mr. Bluejacket profusely, then saying she was leaving that night, and would see to having the trailer hauled off as soon as she could.”

Wade blinked. “You mean they aren’t even in the state anymore?”

Reddick shrugged. “I don’t know where they are. She asked me if she was in trouble because of you, and when I told her that she was not, she cleared out. I’m sorry to be the one to give you this news, but you can’t blame her. You put her in a terrible situation. There was no way she could hold her head up, and still stay in Crossroads knowing Randy would be laughed at in school. She did what any rational parent would do. She saved herself and her child.”

“She’s still my wife. He’s my son, too,” Wade said.

“But you broke every wedding vow twenty-times over, and let’s be honest with each other. She ran when she got the chance to get away from you. You did this to her. And you can’t fix it. You showed her time and again what you thought of her, and she has the scars and bruises to prove it. As for that trailer, I’ll be surprised if it holds together when they try to move it. You failed your family. You failed yourself. Own it, mister, and do better.”

Matt Reddick signaled to the jailer, and then walked out of the interrogation room, leaving Wade to consider the life choices he had made.

As for Matt, he had all he needed to know to get his search warrant.

***

Delroy Kincaid’s thirty-sixth birthday had just passed, and he was feeling good about himself. He was muscled up from years of hefting hay bales and roping cattle. He broke his own horses by riding them into the ground, wearing them down both physically and mentally, until they submitted to his commands.

He’d walked out to the barn this morning to feed and water his new horses, thinking what a deal he’d made. Wade Sutton didn’t know squat about ranching, but he talked big because his old trailer was parked on a ranch, but likely not for long. Everybody knew old man Cooper had finally succumbed to cancer and the ranch was just sitting there, going downhill fast.

A horse nickered at him as he entered the stable. “I know you’re there. You’ll get your feed soon enough,” he said, and went about scooping feed and filling water reservoirs inside each stall.

When he got down to the end of the stables where he’d put the new ones, he leaned over the door and looked in. They were fine-looking animals, especially that black, and the black with white stockings. He wanted to have the two mares pregnancy tested, but that would involve a vet knowing he had the animals, and that couldn’t happen. He needed to get them sold and off his property. He had a man coming to get them in four days, and haul them to Amarillo. He had it all set up to sell at auction through a dealer, and would have fake Bills of Sale for all four ready to go with them.

He’d been careful not to leave a paper trail when he bought them off Wade Sutton, and considered himself in the clear. He didn’t know Wade was already in jail, or he wouldn’t have been so cocky. But the strut was just about to get kicked out of his step.

***

Matt Reddick was heading west with lights flashing and a deputy riding shotgun, and two more deputies in a second car behind him. They were on their way to Delroy Kincaid’s property with a search warrant and an arrest warrant, and if the missing horses were still on Kincaid’s property, he had copies of the registration papers and numbers of the lip tattoos to prove the man was in possession of stolen horses. When they finally reached the turnoff at the highway, they headed down the long drive to the house with lights flashing.

The single-story ranch house sprawled a half a football field in length across the land among a large scattering of outbuildings. As they drew nearer, they saw a man walk out of a barn and start toward the house.

Matt recognized him from his photo and accelerated as he grabbed his radio to notify the deputies in the car behind him. “Move it! That’s our man in the yard!”

***

In the five seconds it took for the flashing lights and the county sheriff logos on the approaching cars to sink into Delroy’s reality, they were in his yard and then in his face, and Sheriff Reddick was coming toward him with handcuffs.

“Delroy Kincaid, you are under arrest for buying stolen property valued in excess of seventy thousand dollars. We have a search warrant for your entire property.” Then Matt ordered his deputies to search the barns and stables. “You have photos of the stolen horses. Go see if they’re there.”

The moment Delroy felt the cuffs lock around his wrists, his shock turned to panic, but before he could say anything, his wife, Heather, came running out of the house with their baby daughter in her arms. The fear on her face tightened the knot in his gut.

“Del, Del, what’s happening?” she cried.

Sheriff Reddick handed her a copy of the arrest warrant and the search warrant. “We have a warrant for your husband’s arrest and a search warrant for the property.”

Heather gasped. “Arrest for what?”

“Knowingly buying stolen property,” Reddick said.

“I don’t understand. If he did buy something, he would have had no way to know it was stolen,” she cried.

“Eyewitness testimony named him, and the cash money he knowingly paid a thief for four stolen horses,” Matt said.

At that point, the two-way radio clipped to the sheriff’s belt crackled, and then a voice. “All four of them are here. Want us to check the tattoos, sir?”

“Yes, and photograph the horses as you found them, and also photograph the tattoos,” Reddick said.

“On it, sir. Out.”

Delroy started backtracking. “I didn’t know they were stolen. I play poker with the guy. He just mentioned he had some horses to sell. I checked them out. They looked good, so I bought them.”

“You bought four trained and registered Quarter Horses for five hundred dollars apiece and left without a bill of sale for any of them. You knew they were Emmit Cooper’s horses, and you knew Emmit Cooper was dead. You were trying to hide your tracks. Sutton’s wife gave the both of you up, and his little boy, in his innocence, verified it without even knowing it. Delroy Kincaid, you are under arrest for…”

Delroy glanced at his wife. “Heather! Call the lawyer.”

Heather was wild-eyed and motionless, staring at her husband as if he was a stranger, while the baby she’d made with him was fussing to be put down.

Before she left, Matt gave her a stern warning. “Ma’am, we will be removing these horses today. Do not interfere in any way during this process. Understood?”

She nodded, gave Del a last wild-eyed look, then turned and ran, unwilling to watch her husband being loaded into the back of a police car.

Matt buckled Kincaid in and shut the door, then got inside and drove to the barn to talk to his men.

“These cuffs are hurting my wrists,” Kincaid whined.

“You’re fine,” Reddick said. “And while you’re waiting on a lawyer, you might want to have a talk with your Maker, too,” he said, and locked the doors on the cruiser before walking inside the barn. His deputies were coming out of the last stall as he approached. “Which stalls?” he asked.

A deputy pointed. “All the way to the end, last two on either side.”

Once Reddick was satisfied that they had the right horses and the guilty man, they headed back to their cruisers.

Matt pointed out two of the deputies. “I need you two to stay here on guard. I’m going to try to get in touch with the owner, Sonny Bluejacket, to haul these horses back to the Sunset Ranch. I’ll be in touch.”

“Yes sir,” they echoed, and proceeded to get in place as the sheriff drove away.

Matt glanced up in the rearview mirror as he drove toward the highway. Kincaid was pale and silent. Today, it sucked to be him. Satisfied that Kincaid was secure, he called Sonny as he drove, then listened to the rings as he waited for the call to be answered.