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“Ditto.” Kate chuckled. Her head resting back against the seat, she took in the spray of pinks and reds and oranges splattered across the sky as the sun lowered itself behind the treetop canopy ahead. The little detour had taken them far from the freeway and deep into the countryside. It had been ages since she’d seen so many stars in the evening sky. Light pollution in Houston had hidden the stars for as long as she could remember.
Keeping her gaze on the treetops under the moonlight, a bird in flight caught her eye. The wingspread was impressive and the graceful movement of the bird soaring about brought a smile to her face. For Kate, watching nature’s animals roam, or in this case fly, free in their natural habitat was as relaxing as the time they’d spent soaking in the natural hot springs. Her heart beat happily when what she now realized was an owl, landed on a low-hanging branch down the road.
“Did you see that?” Joan waved an arm in the direction of the owl.
“I did. Magnificent.”
As they grew closer, Joan’s car was nearly underneath him when Kate realized which species of owl had been putting on a show for them. If she wasn’t mistaken, this particular owl was one of the endangered breeds on a protective list in Texas. Mostly because to the best of her knowledge, these guys rarely ventured west of Louisiana. As if the birds had a visible map to follow, they almost always stopped at the state line.
“Ooh, there he goes.” Arm extended, Joan’s finger dangled in the direction the bird had flown.
Taking in a deep sigh, Kate knew she needed to follow up on the bird. Every instinct she had, and she had good ones when it came to wildlife, she knew she needed to determine where this bird was calling home. Her arm straight and her finger extended, she pointed at a dirt road just beyond the tree. “Follow that bird.”
Joan slowed and for the first time since turning off the freeway onto the lonely, dark, unlit country road, turned to Kate. “You’ve got to be kidding?”
Shaking her head vehemently, she continued to point ahead. “I have to find out of he’s tagged and protected.”
Joan’s deep sigh filled the small car. “I guess I should be thankful you didn’t find any endangered animals before we crossed the state line. I mean, I’m assuming the reason we’re following that poor bird is because it’s endangered?”
“Maybe.”
This time deep creases filled Joan’s forehead as she turned off the two-lane road. “Please don’t tell me you feel like bird-watching for the heck of it?”
“Of course not.”
“You do know that you’re off duty, right?”
“No such thing.” Saving the planet was not a nine to five job like a receptionist at a law firm. She cared about all the animals everywhere, even if she couldn’t help them all.
“Right.” Joan winced as her budget sedan bounced over the unleveled dirt. “Oh, I hope we don’t need AAA. They’ll never find us out here.”
For a moment, Kate lost sight of the owl and then, as if he knew she was looking for him, the bird did a near dive and flew across the front of their car.
“I’m guessing this is private property.” Joan practically hugged the steering wheel as she scanned their surroundings and winced louder with each pothole they hit. “If some old geezer comes out and shoots me, you get to explain to my parents why this bird is so important.”
For a brief moment the visual of an aging rancher with a corn-cob pipe, overalls, and a shotgun the size of Texas almost had Kate reconsidering the folly of their pursuit. Almost. “I’m sure we’ll be fine. Any self-respecting rancher or farmer went to bed with the chickens.”
“I sure hope they know that.”
“There!” Kate pointed to cluster of buildings across an overgrown field that the owl had disappeared into. “That must be where she’s nesting.”
“I thought it was a he?” Joan’s voice squealed as her car did another bounce.
“He, she, does it matter?”
“Only to its mate.” The tease was back in her friend’s banter.
Now all she had to figure out was how in the heck were they going to cross the field and find his or her nest in the pitch of night? And more importantly, without Joan killing her!
Chapter Two
Folder open in his lap, Craig shook his head. “Notes? The Governor is certainly the master of understatement.”
Having joined them late last night, his cousin Devlin chuckled from behind the wheel of the ranch jeep. “I gather our beloved grandfather didn’t mention that he’s had me working on this for over a week.”
“All he said was you had some notes.” The stack of properties that Devlin had mapped out for them to visit was more like an encyclopedia. Reading the information on the listings, it had been easy for Craig to discard at least a handful. So far they’d walked two vacant warehouses in an older section south of downtown and too close to hurricane country for his liking. Not that hurricane season hadn’t been a fact of life during his childhood. One that most folks ignored much the way North Texas failed to harp on tornado alley or California on the San Andreas Fault. Weather happened. Still, he didn’t want to test Mother Nature’s temper.
“Exactly how far outside of the loop do you want to venture?” Dev glanced at his GPS. The next property was in an underdeveloped part of old Klein. What must have once been the center of the small community had fallen into disrepair. The one building that was potentially large enough for the basic studio facilities he’d need to move some productions to his home state was appealing, but so were some of the other vacant locations. Even though he couldn’t buy a property or start a venture over one potential film deal for one Texas star, if he wanted to win her over, none of the city warehouse locations would be diverse enough for the kind of film he knew the diva wanted.
