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Jim interrupted her. “But you did.”
“I couldn’t get a read on it.” Evelyn wrapped her hands around her cup as if to warm them. “And then it was stolen from me.”
“I stole it.”
The cup in Evelyn’s hands jerked, sloshing the tea inside. “You took the ribbon?”
“I couldn’t understand why you wouldn’t let me keep the ribbon, so I snuck into your knitting basket and took it back.”
“How do you know this—” Jim twirled his finger in the air “—pink ribbon had something to do with the Timberline Trio case?”
Evelyn wrinkled her nose and screwed up her eyes as if looking into the past. “I didn’t at first. I just wanted to protect Scarlett from any visions she wouldn’t know how to handle. But then the gossip started up about the kidnappings. I’d heard from someone who’d heard from someone else that a pink ribbon was taken from one of the little kidnapped girls—Kayla Rush. When I heard that, I went to retrieve the ribbon, but someone had taken it.”
Scarlett raised her hand. “That would be me.”
“I suppose it’s too much to hope for that you still have it somewhere.” Jim blew out a breath.
“Yeah. I mean, I have some trinkets and mementos from my childhood, but I can’t imagine I still have a ribbon.”
“You never showed it to anyone, did you?” Evelyn struggled to sit forward, and Jim reached over the table to take her hand.
“Maybe a few friends. I don’t remember.” Scarlett dipped next to the table and gathered Jim’s glass and her own mug. “Do you think that’s why I’m involved now? Somebody thinks I know something?”
“Perhaps.” Evelyn reached for her knitting in the basket at her feet. “A few of that bunch have returned to the reservation recently, including Danny.”
“That’s interesting.” Jim moved the basket within Evelyn’s reach. “A few of the Lords of Chaos have returned to Timberline, too. Is someone or something calling them home?”
Evelyn’s hand trembled slightly as she picked up her needles. “I hope not.”
“We’ll get out of your hair, Granny. If you think of anything else, let us know.” Scarlett stroked her grandmother’s head.
“Thanks, Evelyn.”
She aimed one of her knitting needles at Jim. “You have nothing to feel guilty about, young man.”
He winked at her and followed Scarlett from the house. “That was enlightening but not useful.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I could look for that pink ribbon and try to get something out of it.”
“That’s a long shot.” As he approached his bike parked outside Evelyn’s house, his spine stiffened and then he cursed.
“What’s wrong?”
Jim strode to his bike and dropped to his knees. “Someone slashed my tires.”
Chapter Eleven
Goose bumps raced up Scarlett’s arms, and she jerked her head to the side to scan the road. Was this malicious mischief because someone didn’t want Jim Kennedy here or was it because someone didn’t want them talking to Granny about the Timberline Trio?
“I’m pretty sure someone did this with a knife.” Jim ran his hands along the shredded pieces of his tire.
Crouching beside Jim, her shoulder bumping his, she asked, “Who would do something like this here?”
“Either it’s someone on the reservation with an old grudge against Slick or someone with a new grudge against me.”
A truck rolled up, spewing exhaust, and Scarlett rose to her feet and covered her nose and mouth with one hand.
Her cousin Jason waved through the window. He parked next to Jim’s bike and hopped out of his truck. “I thought it was my turn to look in on Granny.”
“I had something to drop off.”
Jason’s eyes widened as he took in Jim examining his bike’s tires. “What happened?”
Jim cranked his head around. “I guess someone wanted to keep me on the reservation.”
“Someone here did that?” Jason scratched his head beneath his black beanie.
“Did you just get here? Did you see anything?” Scarlett studied her cousin’s face.
