Mattie felt sorry for her. Her father certainly appeared to be inattentive and self-involved. “Then let’s go ahead and load up. Robo’s coming, too. We’ll load your bicycle into the back and he can sit up front with us. I’ll take you home after we eat.”
Mattie flipped on the porch light as they left the house. Robo dashed ahead while Riley wheeled her bike out to the Explorer. It felt strange to act so normal after the day she’d had. Whenever she’d been faced with a homicide before, she’d focused on nothing but solving the case.
She knew she needed to learn how to do this—compartmentalize her life—and perhaps she could develop that skill in time. But as she helped Riley load up her bike, the grim memory of a half burned corpse slipped into her mind to haunt her, its charred fists poised and ready to strike back.
TEN
When they arrived at the Walker home, Sophie and Angela hugged Mattie and welcomed Riley. Mattie hoped Riley would find a new friend in Angela, but knew better than to push.
After Cole greeted Riley, he gestured toward the next room. “Let’s go into the kitchen, so you can meet Mrs. Gibbs. She cooked quite a dinner for us this evening.”
The girls led the way while Cole pulled Mattie aside. “I rescheduled my day tomorrow so that I can ride up with you,” he said.
She thought she could tackle her qualms about riding Mountaineer in the morning by herself, but she was relieved she wouldn’t have to. “We appreciate your help.”
“I aim to please.” Cole gave her a look that tugged her heart, and she turned away to follow the kids.
Mrs. Gibbs had set large bowls of salad and spaghetti on the table alongside a basket of freshly baked French bread, but when Mattie entered the room, the housekeeper turned away from her preparation to greet her with a hug. After they were seated, Sophie appeared delighted to have Riley as a guest and dominated the conversation, sharing a multitude of details with the newcomer about her half grown chickens. The girls made plans to go see them after dinner.
“Slow down, Sophie-bug,” Cole said, as he helped himself to more bread. “Let our guest get a word in edgewise.”
Used to gentle reprimands about her chatter, Sophie pretended to lock her mouth shut.
“Thank you,” he replied, with a quick smile. “So, Riley, where did you live before you moved here?”
“In L.A. It’s so different from here in Timber Creek.”
“I should say. How do you like living in the boonies of Colorado?”
“It’s okay. Kinda hard to find things to do sometimes. I went to the opening of Happy Shack. That was kinda cool.”
Cole’s brow wrinkled. “What’s Happy Shack?”
Angela jumped into the conversation. “It’s a new place in town. They have ice cream, video games, and a pool table.”
Riley nodded. “They have about ten flavors of ice cream, and the video games were free today. I hung out there all afternoon.”
Mattie doubted that playing video games every day was a good habit for Riley to develop. “Who runs the place?”
“She said to call her Violet.”
“I’ll stop in and meet her when I can. Sounds like fun,” she added, trying to disguise her real motivation of wanting to check things out.
“What’s your dad’s name, Riley?” Cole asked. “I don’t think I’ve met him yet.”
“Bret. Bret Flynn.”
“What does he do?” Cole asked.
“He has a couple jobs now. He’s working with the county road crew, and he tends bar in Hightower at the Hornet’s Nest.”
“Whoa, I bet that keeps him busy,” Cole said.
“Yeah, he’s not home very often.” Riley looked down at her plate and used her fork to push around the last of her spaghetti. “He was around a lot more when we lived in L.A. Back then he stayed home to help my mom when she got sick. We both did.”
“Gosh, I’m sorry your mom was sick,” Cole said. Both Sophie and Angela were watching her with wide, sympathetic eyes.
Riley laid her fork on her plate. “Mom had cancer. She got treatment at first, but then … it just seemed like there was nothing more the doctors could do. She died in October.”
Sophie made a quiet sound of sympathy while Angela narrowed her eyes against welling tears.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Cole murmured.
“Our mom lives in Denver,” Sophie chimed in, as if that counted for something.
Riley nodded at her, and Mattie realized that in the minds of kids, maybe it did.
“After Mom died, Dad seemed in a hurry to move out here. I don’t know why he picked Timber Creek. It seemed like we had a lot more money back in L.A., and he didn’t have to work as much.”
That statement tweaked Mattie’s attention. Whenever anyone mentioned a lot of money, her mind shot straight to the drug trade. Occupational hazard. “What did your dad do in L.A.?”
Riley averted her eyes. “I don’t know really. Something to do with business. Like selling and trading on eBay, but not that. Just something like it.”
Her answer didn’t satisfy Mattie’s curiosity, but she decided to let it go. “I’d better take you home soon, Riley. You girls have school tomorrow. Maybe we should help Mrs. Gibbs clean up and get ready to leave.”
“Oh, come now. I can clean up the kitchen me own self.” The housekeeper’s Irish brogue colored her words. She glanced at Sophie whose face was etched with disappointment. “Why don’t you all go to the clinic to see the new coop and those chickens before you leave?”
Sophie jumped from her chair, gathering Riley’s dishes with her own to carry to the sink. “There’s three of them. Chicken Little is the smallest one, and there’s Tootie and Buck. We thought Buck was a boy, but it looks like he’s a girl. Dad and I built their chicken house.” She looked at her sister. “You’ll come with us, won’t you, Angie?”
“Sure.”
His eyes twinkling, Cole sent Mattie a quick smile.
“Thank you for dinner,” Riley told Mrs. Gibbs as she helped clear the table.
“Why, sure. I hope you’ll come back and eat with us again some time.”
“Let’s all go,” Cole said. “Those chickens are probably inside on their roosts, but we’ll take a couple of flashlights so Riley can see them.”
Although the body up on the ridge had surfaced in her mind several times throughout the evening, it felt good to have something wholesome like caring for animals to focus on for a while. Mattie cleared her dishes and joined the others, reveling in the sense that she had become a solid part of this group—this family—that she loved.
Early Monday Morning
Mattie startled awake. Drenched in sweat, she sat straight up in bed and her heart raced as she glanced toward the window. It was cracked open an inch, allowing a breeze to flow gently into the room, chilling her damp skin. Allowing escape.
Robo raised his head, ears pricked, immediately awake and alert.
“It’s okay, buddy. Just a nightmare. You can go back to sleep.”
He continued to stare at her, vigilant. She had no doubt that he would protect her from this enemy if he could.
A quick glance at the clock told her it was 4:16 AM. With a pang of regret, she remembered that she’d forgotten to return Willie’s girlfriend’s call. She couldn’t call Tamara in the middle of the night, so she switched on her nightstand lamp and reached for her dream journal.
She’d been haunted with nightmares for months. Her counselor had prescribed using a dream journal to capture the details of the night terrors when they occurred, so that she could analyze them later during the light of day.