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Jess explained the situation as briefly as possible.
“Yes, Ruth called me,” Sharon said. “She has an appointment tomorrow.”
“But her husband could be coming to find her. She needs to know about this right away.”
“Of course, she does. We might want to get a restraining order, or at least move her and the little ones somewhere safe. I’ll call her at her sister’s right now. Don’t worry, Jess, I’ve got this.”
“Thank you, Sharon. That frees me to go to Branding Iron and check on her son. She left him taking care of the house.”
“Go. You can call me later.”
Jess ended the call, gathered up a few necessities, and hurried back outside. The parking strip along the front of the motel units had been salted, which served to melt the slush around the wheels of her car. She was about to open the door and climb into the front seat when she noticed it—the head of a nail sticking out from the tread of a sagging tire. Her heart sank.
No! Not now! Of all the times for this to happen—
She had her AAA card with her, but on a day like this, rife with dead batteries, slide-offs, and stuck vehicles, she’d be lucky to get a service truck here in the next hour. At least she knew how to change a tire on her own. But it would be a cold, wet, dirty job. And once she got the mini-tire in place, she’d have to find a shop to patch or replace the damaged one.
Meanwhile, with Ed McCoy out of jail, his whole family could be in danger.
With a sigh, Jess opened the trunk of the Taurus. Shoving her shopping bags aside, she raised the liner to get at the jack, the lug wrench, and the spare tire.
* * *
By midafternoon, Cooper had finished his article and emailed it off, with photos, to the editor ofWestern Sportsman. It was time to take the two horses, Spot and Dusty, over to Abner’s to try them with the sleigh.
He couldn’t help feeling uneasy. A lot of years had passed since he’d handled a team of horses. And pulling a sleigh on snow would be different from pulling a hay wagon. The big geldings were gentle and well-trained, but this would be a new situation for them. Even the brass jingle bells on the fancy harness might be enough to spook them. The parade situation, too, could be stressful, with so many people around. Cooper could only hope the man Sam had asked to handle the team was good at his job.
The horses would be left at Abner’s until after the parade. The mysterious driver would be responsible for trailering them to the high school, hitching them to the sleigh, and bringing them home to Cooper’s barn. The hardware store owner, who had a low flatbed trailer for hauling lumber, would transport the sleigh. Cooper had offered to help him load and unload. Sam would be responsible for getting Santa to the parade and back.
The whole situation was a white-knuckle gamble. If everything went well, the Santa sleigh would give the children a magical experience and put Branding Iron on the map as a go-to place for pre-Christmas festivities.
But if even one thing went wrong, the whole production could fall apart. And no one would be more devastated than the three young people who were trying so hard to make it happen—Maggie, Trevor, and Skip.
In the barn, Cooper got the two horses into their halters and attached lead ropes. By now the road that connected most of the properties had been cleared by passing vehicles. But the shortcut between fields that led to Abner’s place was still blocked by snow. Cooper had planned to walk the narrow lane, leading the animals, but he’d decided instead to hitch them to the Jeep’s rear bumper and drive slowly ahead of them to break a path through the snow. As he drove, he could see the tracks where Trevor had gone that way a few hours earlier. With luck, the sleigh would be ready to move into position and hitch to the team. Then, if all went well on the first run, he could take the three youngsters for a short sleigh ride.
A few minutes later he pulled into Abner’s yard and parked next to the barn. The older man, trailed by his big dog, came out to meet him. He was dressed for the weather in a red-and-green plaid mackinaw and a knitted cap of thick red wool.
“Bring the horses into the barn,” he said. “I’ve got hay and water all ready for them.”
Cooper went behind the Jeep and untied the lead ropes. Glory, who’d hitched a ride, jumped to the ground and ran to play with her friend. As the two dogs frisked in the snow, Cooper led the horses to their stalls. The sleigh still rested on the two sawhorses. There was no sign of Trevor or the other two children.
“Where are the kids?” Cooper asked. “Are they in the house?”
Abner shook his head. “Your sister dropped Maggie off about forty-five minutes ago. She and Trevor waited for Skip to get here, but he never showed up. Finally they decided to go to his house and look for him. I told them to come right back, so they should be here soon. I’d have gone myself but I can’t walk that far and my old truck’s on the blink.”
Cooper tried to ignore the unease in his gut. He’d never been to the McCoy house, but he didn’t like what he’d heard about Skip’s home life, and he didn’t have a good feeling about the situation.
“Which way did they go?” he asked. “I didn’t see their tracks on the way here.”
“There’s another road that cuts off just past my property. That’s where the McCoys live. Maggie said she knew how to get there. Otherwise, Trevor probably would have gone without her.”
“They’ll be getting cold,” Cooper said, hiding his anxiety. “Point me in the right direction. I’ll go and pick them up.”
Abner gave him some directions. “I’m sorry,” he said. “If I’d given more thought to it, I probably wouldn’t have let them go. But they were worried about Skip. And you know kids.”
“I know. It’s not your fault, Abner. I’m sure they’ll be fine. Just cold.” Cooper climbed into the Jeep. Glory, seeing that he was about to leave, rocketed into the back.
Telling himself he was worried for nothing, Cooper drove out of the yard and headed up the snow-packed road.
