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Chapter Twenty-nine
Letting the animals out for the night, Kurt wandered into the shadows of the veranda with them. Pepper, the poodle, cautiously stepped into the grass near the side of the house while the two roaming cats streaked past him to make their usual prowl of the exterior boundaries.
In the distance, he saw Molly’s pony, Jupiter, perk his head up, his ears forward, listening as the two furballs did their usual surveillance of the property. He’d always found it a hoot that these animals had taken on the security of the place, and it gave him some comfort too. Molly wasn’t the type of woman one needed to be concerned about on a property outside of town, but in today’s world, with so much violence and drugs, he did worry.
Knowing that Ruby’s place had recently been violated added to his concerns. Tomorrow, he’d be calling his buddy in the private sector for the name of a good home security system. The time had come to provide his mom with extra protection. Especially when he was on an assignment.
Jupiter’s behavior suddenly aroused him from his planning. The pony was shaking his head nervously and prancing around his enclosure. Then Pepper pushed against his legs to stand shivering at the door, wanting to be let inside.
What the hell? Something was out there. In a few seconds, his relaxed enjoyment of the warm evening switched to high alert. Concerned for Jupiter’s safety, remembering there’d recently been a cougar sighting, he returned to the house and took the rifle from the closet where Molly kept it. Taking the bullets from the hidden shelf he’d installed, he loaded the gun and shutting off the lights, he returned outside.
In seconds, one of the cats, the female called Poppy, who was the larger of the two and the meaner, came up behind him. Her body stayed low to the ground as if she was on a quest to catch her prey. Taking that as a sign of danger, his instincts heightened considerably.
They closed in on Jupiter’s paddock, and he stepped inside the fence to calm the shaking horse. Before he reached the pony, Jupiter ran around him, out the open gate, and down the road. That’s when he saw the headlights of a vehicle turn on and the car start up. Jupiter reached the SUV before it could do a U-turn and blocked its path to get away.
What the fuck was happening? Why was someone sitting in their car on his property? He moved closer; rifle pointed at the windshield. “Get out of the vehicle.”
The car door slowly opened, and Jupiter began to close in.
“Get back you dumb horse. Come here.” Kurt voiced his order, worry making it hard.
Shaking his mane, Jupiter looked at him and backed away to let the person get out of the car. Poppy hissed but stayed glued to his leg.
The person began to exit the vehicle and kept her hands where Kurt could see them. “I’m sorry, I got lost and pulled in here to check my exact location.”
Kurt lowered his rifle slightly. “It’s a ways off the main road.”
“Yes, I realize that. It’s why I stopped.”
“I’m Kurt Storm. And you are…?”
“Lin Jing.” Appearing nervous, the slim-built Chinese woman cowered against the car. Her eyes were deep-set and her cropped black hair worn short. Dressed in matching gray suit pants and jacket, with a black tee inside, she seemed both young and modern.
When he saw her fear, he pointed the weapon at the ground rather than at her. “Where are you headed?”
“I’m new to Dallas and wanted to visit some of the outlying areas. I’ve spent most of the day on the outskirts of the city where I’m hoping to purchase property. But now I can’t seem to find my way back to the main highway.”
Kurt moved closer. “Where’s your map?”
She grudgingly showed him her phone where the location of the farm seemed to be highlighted. “What’s the name of your hotel? I’ll put it in Google and ask for the directions. It’ll give you instructions on how best to get there, right?”
“Yes. Thank you. I’m staying at the Holiday Inn, Dallas Market Center. I was going to do that next.”
Before handing back her Samsung phone, Kurt sneakily hit the gallery app and saw where she’d taken numerous pictures of the farm from earlier before the sun had begun to wane. “You’ve been here for some time?”
“Driving around the area, yes. It’s beautiful in this valley. I hope to be able to buy property. You know the next farm is for sale?”
Kurt had seen the sign on his way past. “Yeah, but it shows a sold sign under the Real Estate name.”
“Oh, I never noticed that. Well, thank you for your help. It’s getting late, I must be on my way. Can you ask your pony to move aside?”
Kurt saw that Jupiter had staked his position against the driver’s door, as if he wasn’t about to let anyone leave without his say so.
“Jupiter, come here.”
The light brown pony with his thick golden mane looked at him, shook his head at first but when Kurt didn’t give way, he slowly made his way over. He hesitated passing the Chinese lady until Kurt whistled. Then he kept moving.
Poppy, who’d stayed crouched beside him, hissed again as if to give warning on her returning and the intruder smiled and thanked him for his help. Then she returned to her car and slowly pulled out of the driveway.
Kurt had been around the block a few times when it came to interrogating people and knew when someone lied to him. He’d bet a full month’s pay that Lin Jing had been bullshitting.
He just wished he knew why.
