The door creaked and cold air rushed in as if the barn were inhaling.
Yancy? a low voice called. You in here?
Yancy was so relieved that he almost dropped the hammer. Fifth, he answered as Deputy Weathers stepped through the opening. You scared the hell out of me, man.
The tall officer smiled. Sorry, I tend to have that effect on people. Its hard for me to sneak into a place. Ive tried lathering my whole body with lard because someone said it was shortening, but it didnt work.
Very funny. Yancy tried to calm his nerves, but they were still jumping under his skin. Sounds like a joke one of the old retired teachers would tell.
It is. Mrs. Ollie told it to me the other day.
Yancy forced himself not to look up at the loft. Rabbit wouldnt come down, and he had to act like it was just an ordinary night. You must be helping Mrs. Ollie practice so she can get her drivers permit back. She always tells jokes when shes nervous.
Yeah, shes doing better with her driving than she is with her stand-up comedy career. Drives fine, just cant remember if she should be in the right or left lane. Which complicates things on all these two-lane roads.
Yancy nodded. Hed ridden with her once. His life had flashed before him so many times he thought it was in permanent reruns.
Normally, he would have visited, but tonight all he could think about was saying goodbye to his friend. What brings you out this late, Deputy? Coming in from a date or on official business?
No date. I was just driving home and saw the light. Dont usually see you working this late. Thought something might be wrong.
No, Yancy said, Im just finishing up a project. I get out here working and forget about time.
The deputy pulled off his hat, leaned against one of the other tables and crossed his arms. He appeared to be planted there for a while. I almost had a date a few days ago. One of the OGrady clan. Tall and lean with the prettiest red hair youve ever seen. We had a lunch date.
Really? Yancy tried to act interested.
Weathers shook his head. I think I just wanted it to be a date. She was something, but I didnt get any signals that she was interested in me.
Why not ask her out again? Maybe youll grow on her. Yancy added, Shes still staying out at the Kirkland place.
Weathers laughed. This town is way too small. Howd you know?
Cap Fullers grandson waited on you at the window of the Dairy Queen. He told Cap you had a tall redhead with you. Anyone in this county with reddish hair is probably an OGrady and the only one visiting is Quinn Kirklands niece. Kirkland told his grandmother when he visited her that she was staying with them.
Fifth frowned and Yancy laughed.
That does it, Fifth swore. Im asking her out and taking her across the county line to eat. Nothing ever happens in this town that everyone doesnt know about. Weathers put his hat back on and headed toward the door. By the way, this is going to be one fine house when you get it done.
It keeps me busy. The last thing Yancy wanted to do was talk about his work, but he couldnt exactly tell the deputy to leave. Fifth was not only a lawman, but hed become Yancys friend. This is late for you to be out, Fifth. Dont you have to be in the office by eight?
Sure, but Im working on a missing-person case. You havent seen a woman around? Small build. Long black hair. Midtwenties.
Nope, Yancy lied. Whatd she do?
Nothing. Shes just missing. Has been since the end of January. Left her car at the bus station in Liberal. Woman matching her description bought a ticket to Santa Fe, but never made it there. Bus driver thinks she must have left the bus somewhere in Texas. He said he had a crowd riding that night and barely remembered her. Once she made the missing persons list, weve had reports of her buying a SUV in Waco and getting drunk in a bar near Amarillo. Thats what happens when someone puts out a quarter-million-dollar reward. She gets more sightings than aliens do.
If its illegal to get off the bus, Im a wanted man, too. Yancy kept his voice low and even, but it bothered him that someone was offering money for her. It made her sound like an outlaw.
What if the missing woman was his Rabbit? There were lots of small women in their twenties who had dark hair. Hundreds. Thousands in Texas.
The deputy shook his head. Shes not wanted, just missing. I dont know much about her except there are a hell of a lot of people looking for her. Theyre calling all the places where the bus stops, asking for information. Even got a few big-time private eyes tracking her, Ive heard.
There are dozens of bus stops in Texas. Yancy wanted to ask more questions, but he knew Rabbit was listening.
Weathers shoved the door open. Thats why Im not wasting too much time looking. If I were on that Greyhound route, this town would probably be the last place Id climb off the bus.
Maybe it was dark. The view of the water tower is better then.
Both men laughed as the deputy moved out into the night. Dont work too late, Yancy.
I wont, he answered. He stood at the door and waved as Weathers backed out. The moon was up and the rain had stopped, leaving a shine on everything. Folks laughed about how plain the land was here in West Texas, how the wind seemed to turn everything to shades of brown, but locals saw the beauty.
Yancy closed the barn door and threw the latch from the inside. Something hed never done before. You can come down, Rabbit. He kept his voice low, knowing that she could hear him.
She looked over the edge. No ladder?
Ill catch you.
And he did.
If he held on to her a little too long, a little too tightly, she didnt complain.
When he set her down, she took her time moving away. She was growing used to him being near and Yancy knew without a doubt that he was growing addicted to her.
They worked in silence for an hour. He had a dozen questions, but he didnt ask a one. She showed him a way to cut the poles that would become a railing along the staircase. The cuts were all different from each other, shaping the poles at various angles, and at first he thought they were mismatched. Only when she laid them out in a row he saw the pattern flowing like a wave up the stairs.
It reminds me of the way the wind makes the tall grass dip and flow, she said then bit her lip as if suddenly unsure of her work. You can change it if...
I love it. Hed never seen anything like it. The staircase seemed to move and flow as he crossed the room. Ill have a work of art in my house thanks to you.
Weve still got a lot of work to go before theyre sanded and stained.
Howd you learn to create something so beautiful out of blocks of wood? The question was out before he thought.
My dad taught me. I had a playhouse with a staircase like this.
Yancy smiled, glad he hadnt upset her with his question. I had a box in the vacant field next to our apartment once. I called it my hideout, until some homeless guy took it over.
They both laughed.
When she picked up his coat as if it were now hers, he knew their night was over.
Sorry about crying, she said. And for stealing your coat, which Ill give back as soon as the nights warm.
Sorry about crying, she said. And for stealing your coat, which Ill give back as soon as the nights warm.
No problem. He moved to unlatch the door. One thing I have to ask, Rabbit. Are you safe when you leave here?
She nodded. I stay in the shadows of the trees when I walk. I have a safe hideout to live in with no homeless folks nearby.
I hope its not made of cardboard.
Standing on her toes, she kissed his cheek. Its not. See you tomorrow night.
Yancy turned and let their lips touch, making the kiss more than a peck, but just short of passionate.
He felt her tremble again.
Without moving, he whispered against her moist lips, Youll always be safe here.
She moved away, but he saw the truth in her rainy-day blue eyes. She believed him. Maybe she wasnt afraid of him. Maybe she was more afraid of being close to anyone.
Standing in the open doorway, he watched her disappear into the night. Hed broken a rule tonight. Hed lied to the law and he didnt care. Hed do it again and again if the lies would keep her safe.
He had no idea why she wanted to step out of her life.
All he knew was that he was glad shed stepped into his.
CHAPTER TEN
Mauve Mondays indecision
FOR THE NEXT few days, Parker tried to come up with a plan to get to Tori without anyone following her. She worried that her gallery needed her at the helm, but deep down she knew that wasnt true. She left it often to visit artists and to travel with some of her collection. She went to other gallery shows all over the world. Shed set up the place to run as smoothly without her as when she was there.
Tori needed her. She had to find a way to get to the farm near Crossroads. The talented painter, like many gifted people, needed someone else to help her work through the everyday problems. Parker knew this firsthandshe had lived with an established sculptor her first year out of college who could demand six figures for his work, but couldnt remember to pay the electricity bill.
They hadnt worked out as lovers, but hed given her the direction for her career. Shed loved the business part of the art world. She was fascinated with the details it took to put a show together, with discovering new talent and directing their careers. She sometimes thought of herself as the director and the artists were the actors. They got the spotlight, but deep down, she knew that a little part of their success belonged to her.
This she could do. Organize. Polish. In a way, it was a safe career. She didnt have to prove her own talent; she simply had to show off others.
But with the travel and the late nights, shed never had time or any real desire to develop friendships or keep a lover longer than a season. Now, when she could really use someone she could trust, there was no one to call.
Tori must have felt that way in the airport that night. Parker knew she could be the artists friend, only who would be Parkers friend?
Each night she watched the news. There must not have been much going on, because a few of the stations were doing nightly updates on Victoria Vilanies disappearance. They had experts saying it was obviously a kidnapping. They interviewed Victorias high school teachers and her first art instructor in college. All said that Tori was shy. One of the anchormen said that Victoria was one of the best young painters in the country and the world couldnt afford to lose her.
Parker watched, knowing that when she disappeared to go check on Tori, no one would mention her on the news. More and more, she realized she had to step up and be a true friend. If she didnt, the public would eat the shy little artist alive if they found her.
So, to be that friend, Parker had to make sure that no one followed her. No one would think that she also was vanishing. She had to make her leaving look like it was simply a business trip, nothing more.
As she planned, she forgot about how her leg felt weak and how her back often hurt. She forgot how sad the young doctor had looked when hed stared at her. He hadnt said she had cancer. He hadnt had to. Parker had always known someday the curse of the Lacey clan would find her. I dont have time to die right now, she said to herself. Ive got too much to do.
She thought of calling Dr. Brown and telling him hed just have to wait a few weeks before he made her comfortable, but she guessed he would have figured that out when hed returned to her room and found shed gone. Shed seen his number on her list of missed calls, but she refused to call his office back. Right now she had to convince her staff that she was traveling for work while she made plans to get away totally unnoticed by anyone who might think that she had a connection to Victoria Vilanie.
To disappear, shed need some help from someone who either knew nothing about what she was doing or could be trusted completely. A saint or an idiot, she reasoned.
Slowly, she began compiling a mental list of all the people shed called friends over the years. One by one she made calls.
Her lab partner in college didnt remember knowing a Parker Lacey.
Her college roommate was eight months pregnant with her fourth kid and said she didnt have time to chat.
Two old lovers wouldnt take her call.
Her former boss had died two years ago.
The only neighbor she knew had moved a year ago, and Parker hadnt noticed.
Parker paced the room like a caged lion. Surely, in thirty-seven years, shed made one friend. She didnt need a kidney; she only needed a favor. Someone to loan her a car or pick her up from the airport after one of her staff thought they were taking her to catch a plane.
Someone she could trade IDs with, maybe? No, that would be too much like a spy novel.
Even someone to give her a ride would be nice. Surely she knew a friend who would do a favor without asking too many questions.
As the days passed she realized she was being watched. If she didnt plan carefully, shed lead the FBIor worse, the pressright to Tori.
Only Tori wanted her to come. Parker had to find a way. Once they were on the farm, theyd talk. Parker would help Tori plan; after all, planning was what she was good at.
Parker thought about how the brooding cowboy on the adjacent farm would react if press crews pulled up next to his land. He barely talked to heror anyone elsethe day shed bought her farm.
The good thing about living next to a loner like him was that she didnt have to worry about him spreading rumors of someone living at her place. She doubted hed even noticed Tori there. If he had, he would have thought it was none of his business.
That one trait just might classify him as a friend in her book.