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We’d cleared the corner of the barn and Keefe’s cabin came into view. The police tape flapping looser after a day of Wyoming wind, the dog at the same spot on the porch.
“The one thing he’d want done would be to look after Suzie Q, but she won’t eat, won’t move.” Brenda shook her head. “Keefe always said that if they weren’t outside most of the day she was impossible to live with. Told how when he got the flu one winter, he dragged himself out of bed to make sure she got fed and watered and let out, but by the third day, she was standing on his bed, staring down at him, practically willing him to get up and get them both back to work. And now this...”
Another head shake.
“Gotta get her fresh water before I get back to work. See ya.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
We took the long way back to our vehicles by going around the barn.
On the far side, double doors in the lean-to attachment to the barn were open, revealing racks of saddles, harness, bridles, and other horse equipment.
Okay, not the technical name. My riding, which was nonexistent when I arrived in Cottonwood County, had improved under the combined tutelage of Tom and Tamantha sufficiently that I’d graduated from a sweetly sluggish creature named Babe to my Christmas present of Slinger. Also sweet, but not sluggish.
My knowledge of horse paraphernalia still lagged.
Wendy came into view from the left.
She frowned at us. “Oh, it’s you.”
Impossible to deny that.
“Suppose Brenda’s been bending your ear. It’s what she’s best at. All about how she’s lived here so long. Doesn’t make her the owner. I am. And she has no right to complain. Her family had a ranch. They sold it.”
Remembering Brenda said her parents died in a crash, that seemed harsh. I’d heard a lot of harsh from a lot of people over the years and I was confident I didn’t betray any reaction. Diana’s face was obscured by the camera and she kept her reactions professionally under wraps. So, perhaps Wendy’s conscience prompted the next words.
“Well, people sold it for her after her parents died. And I guess you could say that was understandable because she wasn’t that old, not nearly old enough to run a place — if she ever could have been. But that doesn’t mean she gets to come to this ranch and think it belongs to her.
“Besides, I earned this place. I worked, I learned, then I ran the place well before it was mine. And in the end, I cared for Uncle Chester. Me. Not some high-priced facility like my brothers put our father, then our mother in. I washed him and changed him and fed him, and put up with—. He was a disgusting old man. And being my uncle, too.”
“You mean—”
“No. There was never sex. No.” She pulled back from a near-shout. “He groped me. Hands on my bust. Tried it all the time. Trying to feed him or whatever and there those hands would be. All over. Had to slap them away. Wasn’t until the last couple days he was too weak to do much about it that it got easier. So, yes, I earned it. This ranch is mine.”
“What about your brothers? Do they have any part in ownership—”
“No. I said. It’s mine.”
“Do they visit or—?”
“No. They don’t ask and I don’t invite them. It’s too real, too rough for them. They have what they want around Jackson. Pretend they’re in the real west by looking out their windows at the mountains while they’re lifting their little fingers to drink tea or shove a little ball around an indoor putting green. Never get their hands dirty, never put their backs into it.”
With that she turned her back to us, prepared to get her hands dirty. Dirtier.
****
As we drove toward Sherman in our separate vehicles, Diana and I agreed we’d stop for lunch on the west side of town.
There we set out a plan for the rest of the afternoon, with messages to Mike and Jennifer for a conversation later. It would have to wrap up in time for me to pick up Tamantha — not after classes ended, but later, because she always had something extra going on.
That left a chunk of time now.
Jennifer sent back a message saying the Kenyons were staying at the B&B. Perfect timing.
A few phone calls set up our fortunate first stop. The second one would be made with no warning.
I won the next battle, so we left the NewsMobile at KWMT’s parking lot and Diana got into my SUV.
