She said sharply, I havent decided whether I want to tell you that yet. But if were going to discuss it, you should probably come up to the house. Its too hot to stand here in the road.
She turned and walked away, back up the lane, and behind her she heard him say, Yeah-okay. Sure. And then the car door closed and the engine fired. A moment later, the sedan came prowling slowly past her.
She gave him points for having the good sense not to stop and offer her a ride.
The house was stone, like most Tonyd seen in the Hill Country so far-the older ones, anyway. It sat on a little rise and had a wide front porch that looked out toward the lane and the live oaks and the paved road below. But the real view, he saw when hed parked beside the pickup truck and gotten out of his car, was in back of the house. From here he could see the barn, of newer vintage than the house and built of wood and metal; several other storage buildings, which might or might not have been garages; a couple of feed storage tanks and some animal pens. These were all off to one side, while directly in back of the house a wide meadow swept down to a creek bed, which was dry now, in September, like most of the Southwest watercourses he was familiar with, and studded with granite outcroppings and copses of still more live oaks. The meadow was dotted with oak trees-not live oaks, but the big, spreading kind-and bordered by a fence rampant with fading sunflowers. A couple of horses and an assortment of brown-and-white goats and some llama-looking creatures occupied the shade provided by the oak trees. Beyond all that, the rolling Texas hills stretched away to distant blue haze.
Nice, he said to the views owner as she came to join him. The dog, he noted, was still glued to her side, and the boy had come now to the back-porch door and was watching him intently, arms folded and feet planted firmly a little apart. Like a sentry, he thought.
You should see it in the spring when the bluebonnets are in bloom. It was a pleasant remark, but her face and her eyes reflected no joy or pleasure.
As if, Tony thought, all the light in her life had been snuffed out like a candles flame.
She turned and went up the steps to the back door, indicating with a slight movement of her head that he was to follow. Squelching the empathy for her that kept intruding on his objectivity, and with the dog padding silently at his heels, he did, pausing to wipe his feet on the mat outside the door the way his mama had taught him. He entered the kitchen, and the dog squeezed past him and went to assume her Sphinx posture on a rug near the door that led to the rest of the house, making it clear to him his admittance went only this far and no farther.
A wave of his hostesss hand indicated he should sit down at the kitchen table, so he did. He felt as if hed been called to the principals office, which had the effect of rendering him, for one of the few times in his life when in the presence of a beautiful woman, at a loss for something to say.
Since he didnt seem to be much good at talking to Brooke, he looked across the table at her son, who had hitched himself halfway onto a chair and was studying him solemnly, with his head propped on his hands. Youre Daniel, right? Tony held out his hand. Hi, Im Tony.
I know. Daniel ignored the hand and, without actually pointing, indicated the laptop computer lying open but dormant on the table. I Googled you.
Ah. Tony shifted so he was facing the boy more directly, though he was intensely conscious of the kids mother drilling holes in the back of his head with those dark blue eyes. Then you know, he said earnestly, that Ive done photo essays of all kinds of animals. Wolves, elephants, gorillas
Daniel nodded. Youve been all kinds of places, in wars and disasters and stuff. So how come all of a sudden you want to do a story about one little mountain lion?
Tony sat back in his chair, and all he could think was, Wow.
Behind him he heard, softly, Id like to know the answer to that, too.
He turned halfway around in his chair, ready to launch into the story he and Holt had concocted, which he now had no real faith was going to hold up under the scrutiny of these two. Mrs. Grant-
Her eyes squinched as if shed felt a sharp pain. Oh, please dont call me that. Brooke is fine.
OkayBrooke. Actually, he said, glad that this was at least partly true, Ive been interested in doing a story on exotic animal smuggling and illegal breeding for quite a while. Like, what happens to these animals after their owners decide they cant or dont want to take care of them anymore-
Thats not- Daniel began, but a gesture from his mother silenced his protest.
Tony glanced at him, then forged ahead into the part of his story that was somewhat less than truthful. I was doing research-yeah, okay, I Googled-and the news story about what happened to your, uh, with your cougar came up. At that point it was supposed to have been a case of- he threw the boy a look of apology -an unprovoked attack by a wild cougar whod been raised as a pet.
This time it was he who held up a hand to hold off Daniels furious denial. So, since I was in Arizona, visiting my mom at the time, and thats right next door by Texas standards, I decided to come and see if youd let me use your lion as the focus of my story. I didnt know until I got here aboutwhats been going on.
He sat back, relieved that he could at least end on a note that was Gods honest truth. Look, Im truly sorry. I know this is a bad time for you. But like I said to Daniel, if doing a story on your cougar can help keep her from being put down
Will Lady be on Animal Planet or something like that? Daniels face was flushed and eager, though his eyes remained wary.
Yeah, thats what Im hoping for. Or National Geographic, maybe. I dont know at this point. He didnt add that if the story was big enough and went the wrong way, it could wind up on some of the crime shows and even on TruTV.
Daniel looked past him and said, Mom?
Tony turned to look at her, too, and they both waited for her to say something.
For a long moment she didnt and just stood there leaning against the kitchen sink, with her arms folded, gazing at her son the way hed seen his own mother do when she couldnt think up a good enough reason to tell him no. Finally, she hitched in a breath-the decision had been made-and Tony held his until she said, Daniel, why dont you go see if Ladys up for visitors? When Daniel seemed about to argue, she added in a firmer tone, Well be out in a minute. I have some questions I need to ask Mr. Whitehall first.
Daniel slid out of his chair and was out the door in the shot-from-a-cannon manner of little boys everywhere, and the dog rose to her feet, then sat back down and watched him go, clearly torn by this division in her flock. Tony braced himself while Brooke turned her intent gaze his way.
Mr. Whitehall-
Please, he said, with a teasing parody of her own wince, call me Tony.
She didnt smile-okay, so evidently she wasnt going to be affected by his charm-as she pulled out the chair her son had just vacated. She sat in it, then once again fixed him with that stare.
He looked back at her, trying to look guileless and all too aware that hed never been much good at guile, anyway. The air around and between him and the woman seemed to quiver with suspense, until he couldnt take it anymore and finally had to break it. Well, okay, you said you had questions.
Actually, she said, with a defensive little jerk of her head, Im waiting for you. So go ahead-ask it. The question I know youre dying to ask. When Tony just looked at her in a lost kind of way, she gave an impatient wave of her hand. Oh, come on. Of course, its why youre here. Did I or did I not kill my husband? She closed her eyes briefly and corrected herself. Ex-husband. Thats what you really want to know. I can practically hear whats playing inside your head. Did she really shoot her husband with a tranquilizer gun, then put him in a cage with a mountain lion, frame the lion for the killing and arrange it so her nine-year-old son was the one to find his fathers body and provide her with an alibi?
Jeez, Tony said under his breath, unexpectedly shaken.
She clasped her hands together in front of her and leaned toward him across the table. Look, I dont know if I believe your story about Animal Planet and all that, but what you told Daniel is true. You are in a position to maybe save an animal we love from being destroyed. So, Im willing to let you do your story-or whatever you call it when its photographs-as long as you understand its to be about the cougar and only that. Nothing else. Not one word or picture of me or Daniel-
He sat back and let out a breath through pursed lips. Maam, I dont think thats possible. Its your lion. You and your son raised him, you said. I cant very well leave you out.
He sat back and let out a breath through pursed lips. Maam, I dont think thats possible. Its your lion. You and your son raised him, you said. I cant very well leave you out.
She put a hand over her eyes. Oh, hell. No. I suppose not. The eyes hit him again, fierce and bright. You know what I mean. You are not to make this about what happened to Duncan. What they say I did. Understand? She waited for his nod, then sat back, looking like shed just run a race.
She wasnt ready to trust him.
Hed had some experience coaxing wary creatures into an acceptance of him and his cameras, and he realized that was how hed begun to think of her-as someone who needed to be wooed. Not as he would a beautiful woman, but as if she were one of the shy, wild things hed stalked and filmed in their natural habitat. That experience had taught him that the way to win such a creatures trust was not to press, not to move too fast, but to hold back and let her come to him.
So, instead of accepting her invitationdemandchallengeand asking her the questions shed obviously prepared the answers for, he pushed back from the table and asked softly instead, Can I see her-your lion?
Oh, Brooke said, and he felt hed won a small victory when she looked taken aback. Okay. I guess so. Sure.