My sisters glanced at me.
“No one knows what to say,’’ Belle continued, “so they say nothing. Except for some sympathetic words and a lot of staring, everyone on the trail has been staying away from Trey and me. People act like we’re carrying the plague.’’
Marty bit her lip, looking guilty.
Maddie said, “We’re sorry, Belle. We know you’ve had a tough time.’’
Carlos glared at me until I chimed in.
“Maddie’s right,’’ I said. “We’re sorry.’’
Belle clamped her lips shut and smoothed her curls. Our encounter wasn’t proceeding like I wanted it to.
“Everybody’s been under a lot of stress,’’ Carlos said. “Fortunately, Rosalee’s doing fine, Belle. She’s bruised, and her ankle’s hurt. But why don’t we talk about something else?’’
“Good idea,’’ Maddie said. “What do y’all think of Sheriff Roberts?’’
I saw that little vein in Carlos’ temple start to pulse. Maddie couldn’t have raised a worse topic if she’d studied on it. His lips looked glued shut.
“Carlos and the sheriff don’t see eye-to-eye on investigations,’’ I answered for him.
“I’m out of my jurisdiction,’’ Carlos raised his palms in a shrug. “It’s different up here, that’s for sure.’’
Belle said, “But it’s different in good ways, too, isn’t it?’’
“Amen, Belle,’’ Marty said.
“Like our family land,’’ Belle continued, her eyes all dreamy and distant-looking. “There’s such beauty and peace there. It’s like nowhere else in the world, at least not for me.’’
She reached out a hand to Carlos, laying it just above his knee.
“I just know you’ll love it as much as I do. I want to take you there sometime, show you the creeks and the birds and the trees. The trees will knock you out. You’ll see a million shades of green.’’ She looked into his eyes. “I want you to see what I see there; feel what I feel.’’
Carlos placed his hand over hers. “I’d like that, Belle,’’ he said softly. “I’d like it very much.’’
The two of them seemed lost in each other’s eyes.
Marty shook her head at me, and worked on chewing a hole through her lower lip. Maddie mimicked holding a tiny fishing rod in her hands, casting out the line and reeling in the fish.
Frank Sinatra’s voice floated toward us on the evening air. “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.” A moment later, Sal tapped the horn on his Caddy a couple of times, spooking whatever horses weren’t already nervous about all the whip-cracking in camp.
“Yoo-hoo, girls!’’ Mama waved from her backseat throne. “Please tell me dinner is on.’’
“Just about, Mama,’’ Marty answered. “Johnny’s crew is setting out the steaks now.’’
“Thank goodness! I could eat a cow, hooves and all.’’
I guess the bag of Wynonna’s cookies Mama had polished off earlier had worn off.
Once we all had our dinner plates and Mama was settled comfortably by the fire, Sal went off to find his New York buddy. My sisters filled her in on my near-mauling by Austin.
Mama speared a piece of steak and a stray green bean on her fork and pointed it at me: “I knew that girl was trouble!’’
She’d conveniently forgotten she invited Austin into my life by chatting her up on the trail and welcoming her—and her bottle of wine—into Camp Cadillac.
“Mace says that Austin and Trey deserve one another.’’ Marty delicately bit a green bean in half. “I think she’s right.’’
“As far as I’m concerned, that whole Bramble family is a nightmare,’’ Maddie said. “If I had them as students, I’d put the whole lot in permanent detention.’’
I figured it was a good time to tell them about the scene Austin and I had witnessed at Wynonna’s RV. I looked for eavesdroppers. Most people were hunkered over their plates. Dinner was just an hour late, but you’d think we were lost for weeks in the woods without food.
“Speaking of the Brambles,’’ I began in a whisper, and Mama and my sisters crowded closer to listen.
“Did you stay long enough to see if the RV started rockin’?’’ Maddie asked when I’d finished.
Mama slapped her wrist. “That’s just crude!’’
Marty said, “It may be crude, but Maddie raises a good point. There’s clearly something between Trey and his daddy’s widow. They could have conspired together to get rid of Lawton.’’
“I don’t buy it,’’ Mama said firmly. “That boy is purely grieving over his daddy. As for Wynonna, I’ve gone back and forth on the way I see her. But I’ll tell you one thing: Her mourning strikes me as more for show than for real.’’
All of us were quiet for a bit, thinking. I played back in my mind the way Wynonna had been after she found Lawton’s body. I saw her climbing that log again, and crying as a sympathetic crowd surged forward. I heard her screams after Doc was shot, and saw the shock on her face again and her hands smeared with his blood.
I remembered how hurt and disappointed she’d seemed when I confronted her about rubbing Trey’s chest at the ranch house. Talk about acting!
“I don’t know, y’all,’’ I finally said. “Maybe she’s a sex addict.’’
I must have said those last two words louder than I meant to, because the conversations around us suddenly stopped. I looked out the corner of my eyes, and actually saw people holding their forks in mid-air, quiet as barn mice, to see what I’d say next.
“Who’s a sex addict, Mace?’’ Sal boomed, as he returned to the campfire.
I cringed. It got so quiet around us I could hear Maddie chewing her steak.
I raised my voice, “We were just talking about something I saw on TV, Sal.’’
“Cable, huh?’’ He stole a buttered roll off Mama’s plate.
“Sal, honey, would you mind an awful lot finding me a jacket?’’ Mama asked. “I’m getting a bit chilled out here.’’
Mama watched him go then whispered, “Big pitcher and big ears.’’
I took up where we left off before she banished Sal. “I wish we knew who left me that note about Lawton being murdered. That might tell us something.’’
“And I wish we knew who came along afterwards and stole it from your Jeep,’’ Maddie added. “That’d tell us something, too.’’
My thoughts went back to Carlos, and our search for the note. When I thought of how closely he’d trailed my footsteps through the pasture, I could almost smell his familiar scent. Had that only happened this afternoon? So much had changed in the hours since then.
As if my head were attached to strings, pulled by a force beyond my control, I turned to the spot where I’d glimpsed Belle earlier. Sure enough, she wasn’t alone. Carlos the Protector was by her side. Even in the firelight, I could see she looked pale and shaken. Fragile. Carlos, his muscled arms and broad chest stretching the fabric of his denim shirt, would have to be strong enough for the two of them. He’d love that.
“Mace, we’re talking to you!’’ Maddie’s sharp voice interrupted my mental pity party.
When she noticed where I was staring, she said, “Uh-oh.’’ Mama’s and Marty’s eyes followed hers.
Carlos leaned close to Belle, his head cocked to catch her soft voice. Her hair glowed like autumn leaves in the firelight, a tumble of golden red curls. I ran a hand through my own greasy snarls, and clamped the cowboy hat in my lap back onto my head.
“I’ll tell you what you have to do, Mace . . .’’