Last Stand Ranch

“You made it!” Claudia cried out in delight, wrapping her arms around her niece and rocking her slightly from side to side.

“Finally.” Olivia’s voice was muffled as she obediently stayed wrapped in her great-aunt’s enthusiastic embrace.

Elijah couldn’t see any resemblance between them. Claudia, with her big bones and impressive height, towered over Olivia, who was average height, but scrawny looking.

Ricky yelled out “good-bye” as he jumped back in his truck and headed for his garage with Olivia’s car.

Deputy Bedford got out of his patrol car carrying a clipboard.

“Good evening, Mrs. Sweeney.” He nodded at Claudia as he walked up. Claudia and Olivia were still at the bottom of the porch steps, each with an arm wrapped around the other. Elijah noticed Claudia tightening her hold on her niece as the deputy came closer.

“I saw some fresh skid marks on the road that came from wider tires than yours, just as you described,” Bedford said. Olivia nodded.

“Any chance there’s a bigger story you want to tell me?” Bedford added.

“What do you mean?”

Bedford looked at her for a moment. “Someone taps your bumper twice, passes you, then comes back and forces you off the highway. That doesn’t sound like an accident. That sounds personal. Who would do that? And why?”

Those were the questions Elijah wanted to ask.

“Someone threatened to kill me back in Las Vegas,” Olivia said. “Maybe the guy who drove me off the road tonight was him. Maybe not.” She glanced at Claudia, her eyebrows raised in an unspoken plea for understanding. “I’d hoped I’d get away from him here, but now it looks like I’ll have to move on.”

So that was why Olivia had come to Painted Rock. She was running for her life. And potentially putting Claudia in harm’s way.

Deputy Bedford cocked his head slightly to one side. “Who was the man who threatened your life?”

“His name is Ted Kurtz. He’s an attorney in Las Vegas.”

“The man you testified against? I ran your name through the computer. As soon as I saw the pictures, I recognized you from the news stories on TV.”

Olivia had been on TV? Las Vegas was less than three hundred miles away. If anything made the news there, it usually made the news in Painted Rock. But Elijah didn’t have much time for TV. “What happened?” he asked.

Olivia glared at him. Then she turned back to the deputy and lifted her chin, as if daring him to take his best shot. She was tough. Elijah had to give her that. She might have looked terrified crouching by her car out on the highway, but she’d looked determined then, too.

“I worked at a safe house for battered women in Las Vegas,” Olivia said, her voice flat and emotionless. “We had a woman stay with us on three different occasions over the course of about six months. Eventually she told us her name, Marion Kurtz, and that her husband was Ted Kurtz. He’s a big-shot defense attorney with links to organized crime.”

Her gaze shifted to something just beyond Elijah’s shoulder. Sorrow filled her eyes and the defiant line of her lips slackened. Elijah knew from experience what was happening. She was looking into the past.

“We tried to get Marion into counseling, get her out of danger, get her to file a police report and press charges. She’d show some interest, but then she wouldn’t follow through.” Olivia’s voice began to waver a little. “Finally, Marion came in with a black eye, a broken nose and a split lip. She said she was ready to press charges and leave her husband.”

Elijah dreaded hearing where her story might go.

“But she didn’t leave him and she never filed a police report. She decided to give him one more chance after he promised he would change. A week later Marion ended up in the hospital ICU, unconscious for two days.” Olivia’s voice caught, and she stopped talking for a few seconds to clear her throat. “When she regained consciousness, she claimed it had been a random attack. But later, she told me her husband had done it. She wouldn’t repeat that to the police, though, because Ted told her she wouldn’t survive if she did. He’d defended people in court who owed him favors. People who could make her disappear.”

Claudia reached over to brush the hair from Olivia’s face. “Honey, given the situation, no one can blame you for what you did.”

Olivia looked up at her. “If it hadn’t been for you...” Her voice trailed off and she shook her head. “I knew his alibi was a complete lie,” she continued. “I wanted to make any potential jurors question it, so when I testified before the grand jury, so they could determine whether the case would go to trial, I claimed I saw him at a time and place when I actually didn’t.”

“Oh, honey.” Claudia shook her head.

“I saw Marion in the hospital. I saw what he did to her. I was angry and I wanted to do something to make sure he wouldn’t be able to hurt her again.” Olivia shoved her hands in her pockets. “I regretted the lie almost as soon as I told it. A few days later I retracted my statement.”

She turned to Elijah. “Without enough evidence to move forward with the trial, the charges against Kurtz were dropped. Charges were filed against me, but they were eventually dropped, too. Marion had permanent hearing loss and some other physical issues, but she did file for divorce. Things looked like they were blowing over.

“Then three weeks ago Kurtz came up to me while I was walking down a sidewalk. I didn’t see him coming—he was just suddenly there beside me. He told me he was going to kill me. Things hadn’t blown over for him. Old rumors about him had taken on a new life. Stories that he was violent, that his hair-trigger temper made him unhinged. That he’d hurt people before.

“The law firm where he works has to maintain a thin veneer of respectability and they were angry with him for marring that. His future there is in question, even now. He told me that getting rid of me would send a message to the women he’s hurt in the past about the consequences of standing up to him.” Her voice was hard with bitterness now, and shimmering tears were forming in the corners of her eyes.

“That’s why you’re here?” Elijah asked. “To get away from him?”

Olivia nodded. “Aunt Claudia saw me on TV during the worst of it and called me. She invited me to come for a visit, but I could barely bring myself to leave my apartment.” She impatiently rubbed her eyes, smearing away the tears that lingered there. “I lost my job after I told the truth. I was hoping to start a new life here.”

Silence followed. Finally, Bedford spoke. “Are you sure you’ve told me the truth about what happened on the road?”

“I’m not making it up.”

“You do realize Ted Kurtz probably bills his clients in the neighborhood of a thousand bucks an hour? Can you really imagine him taking the time to personally trail you all the way from Las Vegas to Painted Rock just to bump your car a few times and drive you off the road?”

“I never said I was sure it was him. Maybe he hired someone.”

“What’s your theory?” Elijah asked Bedford. He wasn’t thrilled that Olivia had brought trouble to Claudia’s house, but it sounded as if she did have a good reason to fear for her life. Now Bedford wanted to dismiss everything she’d said, leaving her alone and vulnerable, just because she’d made a bad decision in the past?

Bedford held up a hand. “I don’t have a theory. I want to help.” He glanced at Claudia. “Right now I’m just collecting the facts. Trying to figure out what to believe. And Miss Dillon has a track record of not telling the truth.”

He was interrupted by a radio transmission and stepped away to respond through his collar mic. “Dispatch says a couple of calls have come in about someone driving erratically on the highway,” he said when he came back. “But given your history, I can’t ask Las Vegas PD to go to Ted Kurtz’s home to see if he’s there based solely on your word. Are you sure you can’t tell me anything about the driver or the vehicle?”

“It was a dark-colored truck. His lights were even with my back window. I don’t have any more details. I couldn’t see very well.”

“There’s not much I can do with that.” Bedford took a business card from his clipboard and jotted a number on the back. “Here’s your incident report number. You’ll be able to access the report by eight o’clock tomorrow morning.”

Olivia took the card.

“Good night,” Bedford said, and he left.

* * *

“I can stay here tonight if you’d like,” Elijah said to Claudia.

After Deputy Bedford drove off, they’d walked into the house. Olivia watched Elijah wrap an arm around Claudia’s shoulder as they stood in her kitchen. It was an easy gesture that made Olivia give herself a swift mental kick. She was the one who should have that relaxed, familiar relationship with her great-aunt. She should have visited Claudia years ago. She shouldn’t have waited until she had no other options.

“That’s okay, honey.” Claudia patted Elijah on the arm. “We’ve got the dogs, and they’re the best alarm I could have. Plus, Denise and Raymond are in the cottage out back.” She turned to Olivia. “They’re the couple I hired to help me run the place. Here, let me text them and tell them you’re here so you can meet them.” She picked up a phone and started tapping the screen. “Don’t worry,” she said, glancing up at Elijah. “We’ll be fine.”

“It wouldn’t be any trouble to stay,” Elijah said. “You know I’d like nothing more than to hang around here and take care of my favorite aunt.”

“Laying it on a little thick, aren’t you?” Olivia groused. She hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but where did he get off calling Claudia “aunt”?

Elijah grinned at Olivia and hugged Claudia tighter.

Seriously? That’s how it was going to be? After everything she’d been through tonight, he was going to needle her? He still looked tough, but now that they were inside and in better light, she could see a hint of mischief in his dark eyes. It was already getting on her nerves.

“I think we’ll be okay.” Olivia glanced at the windows she would lock and the shades she would pull before going to bed. She would go through the whole house, checking and double-checking that everything was secure. It was part of the ritual that helped her sleep at night.

“I don’t mind staying.” Elijah’s bantering tone was gone in an instant. The mischievous glint in his eyes was replaced with a look like cold black ice. “I’d love to be here if he decides to stop by.”

Olivia’s attention was drawn to the sound of a woman’s voice just before she heard a door open. It was followed by the sound of footsteps.

“That’ll be Denise and Raymond,” Claudia said, leading the way into the kitchen.

“I hope I didn’t interrupt your dinner,” Claudia called out to a woman with glossy, chocolate-colored hair, who stood holding a small basket heaped with corn-bread muffins. A man with shoulder-length, sun-streaked brown hair stood beside her.

“Oh, no.” The woman, who looked as if she might be a decade older than Olivia, smiled broadly. “Raymond and I finished eating a while ago. I baked a full dozen muffins when I made our supper and thought you and your guest might like a few of them.”

“Thank you.” Claudia took the basket and set it on the counter. “I’d like you to meet my great-niece, Olivia.”

“I’m glad to finally meet you,” Denise said. “It’s so nice of you to come for a visit.”

Olivia exchanged glances with Claudia. Apparently her aunt hadn’t felt the need to explain the real motivation for her trip to Painted Rock. “Nice to be here,” Olivia mumbled.

“Heard you had some trouble on the road,” the man standing beside Denise commented.

Olivia wasn’t sure what to say in response. It wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have with another stranger.

“Raymond keeps things up and running around here,” Claudia interjected.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the ranch in the morning,” Olivia said.

Claudia wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “I’ll bet right now you just want to take a nice hot bath, crawl into bed and get some rest.”

It was exactly what she wanted.

“Time for us to go,” Denise said to Raymond. She glanced at Olivia. “We just wanted to pop in and welcome you. We’ll see you in the morning.”

“You hungry?” Claudia asked after they left.

“Starved.”

“Denise made fried chicken for supper, but we put it in the fridge after you called from the side of the highway to tell me you’d run into trouble. Shall we have a cold supper and turn in?”

Olivia nodded.

“You go on home,” Claudia said to Elijah. “I’ll keep my phone turned on and by my side all night.”

Olivia frowned at Elijah, hoping he would leave. She wouldn’t be able to relax with him around. Not with those muscular arms under that black T-shirt distracting her. Plus the fact that just about every time she looked at him, he was already looking at her. The dream of finally being able to let down her guard, even if just for a short while, was what fueled her determination to leave Las Vegas and make the drive here.

“I live close by,” Elijah said to her after a long pause. “My family’s ranch borders Aunt Claudia’s property. I can get here fast if I need to.”

Olivia nodded. Good to know.

“All right, I’ll head on home.” He turned to Claudia. “Call me if you hear anything. And make sure you lock your doors.”

“Of course.”

Elijah headed out of the kitchen, across the dining area and toward the front door. The women walked with him.

He paused as he passed through the front room and glanced toward something on a bookshelf. Olivia followed his glaze and saw a framed photograph of an older gentleman with a long rectangular face, thick white hair and gigantic sideburns. He looked familiar. Olivia walked toward the picture.

“My Hugh,” Claudia said quietly, stepping up behind Olivia.

“Of course.” Aunt Claudia and Uncle Hugh had made a trip to Phoenix for a visit when Olivia was fourteen. She remembered now that Hugh was about a foot shorter than Claudia. She’d said hello to them and then scampered off to the mall with her friends. Hugh had died a few years later of a sudden massive heart attack.

“What’s this?” Olivia asked, pointing to something brittle and crumbling in the lower right corner of the frame, underneath the glass.

Claudia laughed softly. “Hugh picked that daisy and gave it to me the morning he passed away. Of course it came from a flower bed that I tended.” Claudia touched the glass. “He was something, all right.”

Elijah hesitated instead of continuing out the door. Olivia was afraid he’d change his mind and stay. “It was good to meet you,” he finally said to Olivia. “Sorry about the circumstances.”

She nodded, willing him to go. He might be Claudia’s protector, but he wasn’t hers.

The second he was out the door she snapped the dead bolt into place. The porch light was already on. In the gap between the curtains and the window frame she could see light reflecting off his motorcycle as he climbed on and cranked up the engine.

Let the knight in chrome armor go rescue somebody else. Olivia Dillon was on her own. Especially now that she knew leaving Las Vegas hadn’t made her any safer. She’d thought she could restart her life with a clean slate in Painted Rock, but that obviously wasn’t going to happen. And there was no way she would put her great-aunt in danger.

She needed a new plan. Maybe Ricky the mechanic would give her a few bucks for her car. She could buy a bus ticket to a bigger city. Get lost in the crowd and stay in a shelter until she could find a job. She needed to run farther. And the sooner she left, the better.

THREE

Elijah’s mom taught him to be respectful of the wishes of a woman, so when a woman asked him to do something, he always listened. But that didn’t mean he always did what she asked.

The morning after finding Olivia by the side of the highway, he steered his dirt bike toward the back of Claudia’s house. Just after sunrise most mornings, he could find Claudia there feeding her chickens, looking over her property and greeting the morning sun. He found her right where he expected, dressed in jeans and an orange-checked shirt and wearing an old pair of Hugh’s battered blue suede house slippers.

Olivia stood next to her, slump-shouldered, looking like a withered blade of golden grass. When he drove up she glared at him through bloodshot eyes. Probably the result of a sleepless night. And yeah, he’d gotten the message—she wished he would stay away. Too bad. Sorry, Mom.

“Morning, honey,” Claudia called out as he killed the engine. At least somebody was glad to see him.

“Good morning.” He got off the bike.

Claudia walked over to him, one of her chubby little beagles by her feet. “Have you eaten breakfast? Denise made a pineapple bread pudding.”

“Yes, ma’am, I already ate.”

He turned to Olivia, who’d sullenly followed her aunt. “How are you this morning?” He reached down to scratch Jasper behind his ears. “Did you get any sleep?”

“A little.”

A brittle spirit showed through in the pinched, angry expression on her face. Elijah knew that feeling well. He’d come home from Iraq and later Afghanistan fighting his own version of it.

It was likely she wanted to shove everyone away. It was a good thing she had Claudia, who was good at soothing hurts. Elijah’s talent lay more in the realm of poking at whatever hurt until the person realized they wanted to lay down the hurt more than they wanted to coddle it. They appreciated his help in the long run. In the short run, not so much.

“Ricky told me it would take him at least a couple weeks to fix your car. I thought you might have gotten a ride to the bus station and moved on by now.”

“It would probably be safer for your aunt if I did.”

Boy, that “aunt” thing really bothered her. Too bad. Half the town referred to Claudia as “Aunt Claudia.”

Claudia waved her hands. “That’s enough of that talk about moving on.” She turned to Olivia. “You’re staying.”

Elijah watched Olivia look down, then look off into the distance. She took a deep breath and her eyes filled with worry. Afraid to stay and afraid to go, most likely.

He turned his attention to Claudia. “I just stopped by to let you know I’ll be working on that section of fence damaged in that last storm.” He glanced at Olivia. “It’s right at the boundary between Claudia’s property and ours, not too far away.”

She shrugged as if it meant nothing to her.

Then he made a point of pulling the pistol out of the waistband at the small of his back, and replacing it, as if he’d just wanted to make the fit more comfortable. Olivia kept her gaze on the gun the whole time. When she looked at him, it was with just a little bit less hostility.

Good. He wanted her to know at least one person took her fears of being stalked by Ted Kurtz seriously. Even if that person happened to be a guy she didn’t much like.

“Before you got here, I was asking Olivia where she’d go if she didn’t stay here with us,” Claudia said.

“Good question.” Elijah nodded. “Where would you go and how would you know when you were safe?”

“Wow.” Olivia looked him up and down. “You really know how to make a girl feel better.”

“Running off in a blind panic could make things a whole lot worse for you.”

She hugged her arms over her chest. Elijah could see goose bumps on the surface of her skin even though she was standing in the sun.

“I’m so glad to have you here,” Claudia said, reaching out to squeeze her niece’s hand.

Oh, yeah, that. Sometimes Elijah forgot to say the warm fuzzy words. A fair amount of the time he couldn’t say them because he didn’t really believe them. But in this case he knew they were true. Claudia had been very excited about the visit.

“I’m glad to be here.”

In the bright sunlight, Elijah could see the purple half circles under her eyes. Probably been missing out on sleep for a while. She was pale for a woman who lived in Vegas. And her clothes hung loosely on her. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she needed all the help she could get.

“Your house is beautiful,” Olivia said to Claudia, scanning the yard. Elijah watched her gaze settle on the junipers planted at the corners of the small guest cottage fifty feet away, current home of Raymond and Denise Bauer. Then she looked toward the numerous wooden sheds on the property, their interiors darkened and impossible to see into.

“You looking for Kurtz?” Elijah asked.

She snapped her attention back to Claudia, ignoring his question. “Painted Rock is such a pretty, peaceful town. It’s everything I’d hoped for. I don’t want to stay and ruin it for you.”

“If you leave, you’ll break an old lady’s heart.”

Olivia let go a laugh. “Please don’t try to guilt me into staying.”

“I will if it works. And don’t forget about the job interview I lined up for you at the senior center. Are you going to throw away that opportunity after all the effort I put into getting it for you?”

“You’re merciless.” Olivia had already returned to scanning her surroundings. She looked toward Claudia’s corrals and stables, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.

“There’s nobody out here,” Claudia said, following her gaze.

For a moment, there was only the peaceful sound of the breeze rustling through the trees and chickens clucking as they moseyed around the yard.

“I’ve got too many dogs for anybody to sneak up on us,” Claudia added.

“I don’t know how much help Jasper, Feldspar and Opal would be as watchdogs,” Elijah said.

Claudia shot him a quelling look. Unfortunately, it looked as if today was his day to annoy Claudia as well as Olivia. Claudia obviously wanted to wrap her niece in comfort and reassurance. Elijah didn’t think that was a good idea. Not now. Not if it made her ignore the fact that she was still in danger.

Now that he knew more about the danger she was facing, he wasn’t so anxious for her to leave town. He still didn’t want Claudia at risk—but Olivia didn’t deserve to be constantly on the run, either. Not when her only crime was crossing the line to try to help someone who’d been hurt.

“If you stay here,” he added, “you’ll have quite a few people looking out for you. If you take off running, you’ll be alone. And it could be a very short run.”

Olivia’s eyes glistened. Claudia sniffed loudly and brought her hand to her mouth.

Oh, yeah, Elijah had quite the way with the ladies.

“I don’t want to go,” Olivia blurted out. “But I don’t want to stay, either. Not if Ted Kurtz has tracked me here. And yet I’m so tired of hiding. It feels like I’ve been hiding forever.”

“Right here, right this minute, we’re fine.” Claudia frowned at Elijah while she pulled a tissue out of her pocket and handed it to Olivia. “Sometimes we just have to focus on that.”

Olivia drew in a deep breath and wiped her eyes and nose with the tissue.

Both women were upset and on edge. Elijah’s work here was done. It was a shame doing the right thing didn’t always make people feel good. But it might keep them alive.

“I’ve got to get to work on that fence,” Elijah said to Claudia. “Call me if you have any trouble. Call 911, but have someone call me, too. I’ll be closer. I’ll get here faster.”

“Okay.” Claudia nodded.

Elijah climbed on his bike, cranked up the engine and headed back toward the Morales ranch. Mission accomplished. He’d found out what he’d wanted to know, he’d told the ladies what he’d wanted them to know and Olivia hadn’t killed him with a look.

* * *

“I’ve got eleven hundred acres, most of it heading due east from here.” Claudia pointed toward the far reaches of her ranch. “It joins up with federal parkland so there aren’t any public roads for a long ways. Ted Kurtz couldn’t sneak up on us from back here even if he was in the neighborhood.”

Olivia gazed at the grassy land closest to the house, with stables, corrals and fenced pasture fanning out in every direction. The land to the north was rocky, forested foothills heading up into the mountains.