AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The sheriff gestures and Georgie looks in my direction now: ‘This is Addison Clarke. She’s currently staying with Mr. Wilder. Bit of trouble with someone in Denver, apparently.’
Georgie smiles at me. ‘Come and sit by me, dear,’ she says, patting the empty wooden chair next to her.
I hobble over and gratefully take a seat.
‘Your poor foot,’ says Georgie, giving my thigh a brief squeeze. ‘Are you alright, dear?’
‘Just a sprained ankle,’ I tell her softly, not wanting to take up Sheriff Potts’s time or worry anyone here.
My eyes rest on the Sheriff’s desk in front of me. He’s got one of those gold plaques with his name on it, a mug with the name of the sheriff’s department, a pile of business cards, and many, many stacks of papers. I feel like I’ve stepped into an episode ofTwin Peaks. The Sheriff takes a seat at his desk, and Finn remains standing.
‘I’ll get straight to it, Mr. Wilder. This morning, around ten o’clock, Georgie received a couple visitors in red baseball caps. They started off friendly enough, telling her they had aerial photographs of her ranch for sale.’
‘I invited them in,’ says Georgie.
When she says this, I see Finn’s posture instantly change. It’s like every tiny hair on his body is standing on end. He’s always so wound up, so ready to react. What happened to him?
‘Well, once I saw what they were trying to sell to me I told them I wasn’t interested. I was after some real photographs — high quality images — but these were just screen shots printed off Google Earth. I might be getting on a bit, but I’m no fool!’ She chuckles, but there’s a sadness behind that laugh.
‘Mrs. Brown told the fellas they weren’t interested, and that’s when they started to change tack.’
‘They said the reason they’d got a hold of those images is because they were interested in my land. Said they wanted to purchase it off me. Now, call me a snob, or whatever you like, but I couldn’t help laughing. I own two thousand hectares of land. That’s almost five thousand acres. That kind of land doesn’t come cheap. And these boys looked like they were thirty at most. Now tell me, how do a couple of young boys afford a seven-million dollar chunk of land?’
When I hear Georgie’s price tag, I almost fall off my freaking chair. Sevenmilliondollars? Finn is watching over a piece of land worth seven million dollars?
‘Now, as you know, Sheriff, Ihavebeen thinking about what to do with my land lately. Since my husband Rick died, eight years ago, God rest his soul, it’s been a lot of work for me, looking after the ranch, and overseeing the land. I’ve been having problems with poachers, lately, and I’ve been wanting to sort out the trout fishing facilities and the hiking trails for years now. But I don’t have any family to pass the place on to, and if Ihaveto sell, I don’t want to hand it over to just anyone.’
‘Least of all two grifters who trick their way into your home and try to intimidate you into handing it over to them,’ growls Finn. There are deep furrows on his brow. He looks fit to burst in a terrible rage.
‘Well, that’s exactly what they did,’ says Georgie, glancing at Finn. ‘When I politely declined their offer, telling them I wasn’t selling, they tried to bully me into it. Said they knew that I lived on my own. That I was vulnerable. And that I wouldn't live for much longer.’
The Sheriff is watching all this with keen, black eyes. He’s clearly hanging on her every word. I get the feeling he’s hunting around for clues, which is a bad sign. I think that means they haven’t caught the guys yet.
‘That’s about the time that one of them pulled a gun out on me,’ says Georgie. She turns to me and apologizes, as if I’m the one suffering here. ‘I’m sorry you have to hear all this, darling, but Mr. Wilder needs to know.’ What a sweet lady.
Finn turns to Georgie now, his blue eyes suddenly frosty. ‘What did they say, Georgie?’
‘They said if I didn’t hand over the land, they were going to start making things difficult for me. Said if I didn’t sell it, they’d go after everything on it. The trees. The wildlife. And… you.’
Finn gives one, solitary nod. ‘Blackmail.’
‘Exactly. So I told them I’d go and get the paperwork. Played up the little old lady act. Said I had to go get it out of my safe. Scared the assholes half to death when I reached into the safe and pointed a rifle at their open mouths.’
Sheriff Potts stands and walks around his desk over to Finn. He places a hand on Finn’s shoulder. ‘Unfortunately, the two fellas ran off Georgie’s property long before we got out there… Do you need a safe place to stay tonight, Mr. Wilder?’
Finn runs his fingers through his hair. The fingers that were onme, on my face, my hips, my ass, just a couple hours ago. ‘If my property’s at risk, I want to be there to protect it,’ he says, with a steely determination.
It sounds half mad, but I understand it. He built that cabin with his bare hands. Besides, Eric is there right now. We left him sleeping by the fire.
Oh god. Eric. I hope he’s okay.
‘That’s my boy,’ says Georgie proudly. She turns to me. ‘You know, Finn has been like a son to me, these past few years. Watching my land. Checking on me now and then to make sure I’m alright.’
It’s hard to believe that someone thinks of Finn in this way when he’s been so moody and difficult with me. It makes me wonder about him again, though. Whether he doesn’t have hidden depths that I’ve barely begun to discover yet.
‘We have strong reason to believe that these two men started the wildfire this afternoon,’ says the sheriff.
‘But…’ I stammer, surprising myself by cutting in. ‘If these men want the land so much, why would they destroy it? Surely they want to keep the forests and the wildlife, or it’ll be worth a lot less to them?’
