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“Did he give his name?”
“Not that I heard.”
“Any idea of what sort of car I should watch for? Did he say where he was going?”
“I just saw him from a distance for the second time this morning,” she murmured. “Odd though, I think he was driving a rusty, beat-up Ford pickup. Why would a tourist drive long distances in something like that?”
To blend in better with the locals. “Maybe it’s a loaner while his own car is in the shop.”
For almost two months Zach had tried to recall the events of that last evening in his condo. A face...or anything out of the ordinary, beyond the black Mustang. Now and then pieces of that day returned, like brief flashbacks, but never enough to go on.
Could this be the guy? “Any idea where that truck was headed?”
“I was outside the drugstore, talking to Fern Jones...” Martha thought for a minute. “West. No, east. I think he was headed east.”
East. Toward the little blue house, and Dana’s ranch. A coincidence, or something more?
“Thanks for the information.” Zach glanced at his watch, then stood and dropped a five and several ones on the table. “I completely forgot about promising Katie we’d go out to Dana’s clinic to visit her puppy before supper. Will you excuse us?”
“Of course.”
Even with the prospect of seeing Buffy again, Katie thrust out her lower lip as he scooped her up and strode for the door, but at least she didn’t start a scene.
If this guy was lurking around Dana’s place, Zach wanted to get there, fast. El Cazador had been on the loose long enough.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“I can’t wait to get away from here,” Alex grumbled as he hauled the last of the trash to the back door of the clinic. “It’s not like this ranch has been in the family for generations or anything.”
Francie looked up from the cocker puppy nestled in her arms. Too weak to nurse and rejected by his mother, he’d been on formula at the clinic for a week now and was doing much better. “So what’s your latest plan?”
“College. A regular job someplace cool, in a big city where there’s lots to do.”
“In three years you’ll finish high school and can do anything you want.”
“Yeah, right.” Keeping the clinic and the ranch running took endless hours with Dad gone. If Alex left home, what would Mom do?
