Turkey Ranch Road Rage (41 page)

“Yes,” they said in unison.

I frowned. “I haven’t burned anyone at the stake since the nineties and my last beheading was a good five years ago. What is it that you can possibly fear about telling me these things?”

“I’m moving to Texas when the semester ends,” Sarah blurted out. “And I’m changing schools.”

“That didn’t exactly answer my question, but okay,” I said simply. “And really, after everything that’s happened here in the last few days, you moving to Texas and changing schools doesn’t even flicker the dial on my anxiety meter.”

Sarah frowned, either confused because I wasn’t mad or disappointed that she didn’t have to fight with me for acceptance of her decisions.

“We’re getting married,” Rick added, eyeing me to see how I’d react to that one.

“I kind of guessed that one at this point, Richard. And a hearty congratulations to you both. I’m thrilled. Now, what else is there you’ve neglected to tell me?” I asked, wondering if there was a grandchild in my future.

“I’m not pregnant if that’s what you’re fishing for,” Sarah said. “I don’t even know if I ever want kids.”

“Then pray tell, what is the big problem with talking to me about this? Did you think I’d say no?” I stared unblinking at my daughter. “And so what if I did? It’s your life, not mine. You get to make your own choices. Whether I am happy about those or not isn’t your problem. And, by the way, aside from this little undercover operation, you make great choices.”

She had a deep frown that said “well, when you put it that way” then an obvious “but” occurred to her.

I knew right where she’d gone. “Nope, being afraid that I would get mad isn’t an excuse either. If, as your mother, my love is conditional on you doing what I want you to then it isn’t really love, now is it?”

I let them both stew on that for a few long seconds then added, “Right.” I pushed myself up out of the chair and slid it back to its place then gave them each a hug. “I’m happy for you and will no doubt be ecstatic after I’ve had a few hours sleep, which I plan to take care of over there in that corner. Wake me if there’s news on your grandmother.”

“That’s it?” Sarah said, standing.

“That’s it. I can see that you two are head over heels in love and I’m thrilled. I’ll admit I’m not crazy about his occupation,” I said, nodding toward Rick, who’d also stood. “But I have my own issues in that department so we can all just deal with them together.” I walked over to the corner and began arranging myself a sleeping spot. “Besides, Sarah, I knew him and liked him before you did. He was really sort of pre-approved.”

“I think she’s delusional,” Sarah said to Rick. “She’s not going to remember any of this and then we’ll have to go through the whole thing again when she’s back to her old self.”

“Oh, for godsakes, I can hear you.” I sat down in the corner, propped my feet up in the chair across from me, crossed my arms and leaned my head back. “I am not sleepwalking and I don’t have dementia. And Sarah, I’m not the same person I was when were kids together.” She looked confused, of course. “I was a kid even in my thirties. I think I’ve grown up some now.” I grinned a little. “I will, of course, insist on sharing my hard-earned wisdom with you both.”

“Okay, then,” Sarah said, eyeing the door and plotting escape. “We’re going to go get a bite to eat. Can we bring you something?”

At the mere mention of food, I realized I was starving. But I wasn’t likely to know it in about thirty seconds when I passed out. “No, go on. I’ll get a bite later.”

“I love you, Mom,” Sarah chirped, grabbing Rick’s hand to drag him out the door.

Rick waved then said, “Fritz is here. He’s been walking the halls. He’ll probably be by before long.”

I nodded and let my eyes close.

Chapter
Thirty

“
Jolene? Is that you, Jolene?”

“Yes, Mother, it’s always me,” I muttered.

What did she want now? Couldn’t the woman let me sleep just this once? Whatever stupid thing she wanted me to do this time, I wasn’t going to do. That seemed like a really good policy that I should have instituted a long time ago. I growled and turned over, my face smashing into something.

“Jolene,” she called again. “I need help. Help me.”

Help? What? Reality slowly crept in through my delirium, and when it did, I automatically jumped to my feet. “Mother?”

Once I got my bearings, I realized I was in a hospital room, one with glowing lights and beeping noises coming from a bank of monitors. Other bits of memories drifted by and I vaguely recalled Jerry leading me here and putting me in some kind of reclining chair. I stumbled to the side of her bed and grabbed the rail. “I’m here, Mom. I’m here.”

Tubes and wires connected her to a variety of machines that monitored blood pressure, pulse, oxygen level and about five other things I had no idea about. They didn’t seem to be flashing warning signs, so I figured she was at least stable. She was also asleep so I guess I’d just dreamed that she was calling to me.

She’d indeed broken her hip and a bone in her foot, and her shoulder had a hairline fracture as well. But there had been no internal injuries, which was amazing, and she’d only come away with a mild concussion. She really was going to be okay.

As I stood there, staring down at her, it hit me again how very close she’d come to being killed. The only reason she hadn’t been was because she’d still been behind the door, not in the doorway, when the blast went off. If the door hadn’t taken the brunt of the blast, she’d have been in pieces across the grass.

She made me crazy without even trying, I wouldn’t deny that. And when she’d done it on purpose, I’d entertained thoughts of killing her myself. And now, standing here facing that reality, the thought of losing her shook me to my very core.

I didn’t want to lose my mother. I actually loved her. And no matter how I might wish it to be true, my twisted little psyche wasn’t going to automatically untwist, according to whether or not she was breathing. My mother might have been the architect of some of my issues, but they were mine now and mine to dismantle. And, as she’d said to me before “everybody has a bad childhood, that’s what childhood is for.” I think some comment about me “sucking it up” had been involved as well. “You know, Mother,” I said softly. “Just because you got yourself wounded in the line of duty doesn’t get you off the hook for anything. You’ve still got a lot to answer for.”

She didn’t answer, of course, but I kept talking anyway.

The light was dim, but I thought I saw her lips move slightly. I also thought I heard a faint whisper that sounded like “I’m sorry.” One of us was delusional, and I figured it was me, so I went with it and reached over and squeezed her hand lightly. “It’s okay, Mom, you’re okay.”

I don’t’ know how long I stood there, staring and thinking, but a hand on my shoulder broke my trance.

“Come on,” Jerry said, gently patting my shoulder. “I’m taking you to get something to eat. She’s stable and on high dose pain medicine. She probably won’t wake up for a while.”

Jerry led me through the maze of hallways and elevators to the hospital entrance. “Lucille didn’t tell you, did she?” he asked, guiding me out the door and toward the parking lot.

“Tell me what?”

“Anything. Did she tell you anything at all?”

“No, nothing. Well, I thought she said she was sorry, but I think I just imagined it.”

Jerry sighed and groaned all the same time. “Wow, where to start,” he said then didn’t say another word as we walked across the parking lot. When we got to the Expedition, he opened my door and I hopped inside. He stayed there for a few minutes, just looking at me. “People do crazy things, Jo. They do really crazy things for love.”

Did he mean him, or me, who? I waited for him to respond, but he didn’t, he just shook his head and closed the door. Once he was seated behind the wheel and the car was running, he said, “Let’s start with the land behind your mother’s house. You were right. There is toxic waste buried there.”

“That can’t be good.”

“No, it isn’t. But it is why Tiger, Bobcat and Lily were in town—to try to fix it.”

“I was really rooting for the horny toad excuse.”

“Tiger worked at Bob Little’s plastic factory and was one of the ones who buried waste there years ago. He believed the chemicals he was exposed to at the factory, which are what’s buried in the drums, to be the cause of his cancer so he came back to right a wrong. He left a pretty good map of the locations with your mother. It won’t be cheap to clean up, but Tiger’s work will help a lot.”

“Wow. So there is groundwater contamination?”

“Not sure yet.”

“So I get that Tiger was on a mission, but what about Lily and Bobcat?”

“Lily was his daughter,” Jerry said, “which is why she was crying most of the time. Bobcat was an old army buddy just here for support. Tiger got the FBI interested, and Iris, AKA Agent Irene Bedford joined the group.”

“My God, what a mess,” I said. “Well, I guess that puts an end to the park plans.”

Jerry sighed. “Probably, although it was actually Bob Little who was behind that to begin with.”

“What? How could he be behind it? He was fighting it, along with Mother.”

Jerry put the car in gear and backed out of the parking space. “That was your mother’s version of the story.”

“Yes, well, there would be that.”

As we drove, Jerry said, “Apparently Bob hadn’t directed the dumping, but found out about it and knew it was going to come back to bite him and your mother since some of it is on her property. He thought if he could sell all the property, including your mother’s, he could relieve them all of the liability.”

“That seems doubtful,” I said, the words “Superfund site” jumping to mind. “I’m guessing Mother knew nothing about any of it.”

“Nope. And Bob was trying every angle he could think of to generate cash from the property.”

“Why? Was he in debt?”

“Quite the opposite,” Jerry said. “Best I can figure, it was just his way of estate planning. He was trying to get your mother set up for life financially and make arrangements for his heirs before he died.”

“Interesting approach, I guess.”

As we came to a familiar intersection, Jerry pointed to the Settler’s Restaurant where we’d had our incident with Damon Saide. “It could be fun.”

I laughed. “I think I’d prefer a quiet corner somewhere.”

Jerry pulled in to a Denny’s just down the road, which was a good thing since I was absolutely starving.

Luckily, we were seated immediately and within minutes had ordered and were sipping coffee and hot tea. After the gassing incident, I was pretty sure that water and tea would be the only two beverages I would ever touch again. “So how does Saide figure into this?” I asked.

“Bob hired him to front the deal, make it look the way he wanted it to for appearances. Once Saide learned about the potential gas field, he pushed Bob to drill. Bob did, of course, for his own reasons, and they both realized there was way more potential in gas profits than liabilities in cleanup.”

“Only Bob had already signed papers, agreeing to sell,” I said. “But surely he hadn’t included the mineral rights too.”

“No, he hadn’t, which is why Saide was after your mother. He thought he could trick her into selling her part.”

Okay, that much made sense. “Wait a minute,” I said. “Didn’t we find out that Mother owned mineral rights on Bob Little’s property too? Is that what Bobcat told me?”

Jerry shook his head. “No. Since the property she owned looked like it was still part of the ranch—and she does own mineral rights on that—it could have been misinterpreted. And that really wasn’t Tiger’s concern anyway. He was here to force Bob Little to clean up what was buried there no matter who owned it because his company was responsible for putting it there.”

“And if that happened, there wouldn’t be any gas production for quite some time. So Saide had to push things through. But he couldn’t get Mother to sell.” Something still didn’t fit. “All that’s well and good, but why kill Bob Little?”

Jerry took a deep breath and sighed. “We think he went to force Bob to sign over the mineral rights to him. And when he couldn’t, Saide killed him.”

I frowned. “Couldn’t or wouldn’t?”

“Couldn’t. Seems Bob had transferred everything he had besides the ranch, including the mineral rights, into a trust for his heirs.”

I tried to pull together the bits and pieces of things people had said and who had done what to whom, but the thread was just out of reach.

Jerry realized that I was trying to make sense of the nonsensical and reached over and squeezed my hand. “Saide intended to force an heir to sell to him.”

“Dumb plan.”

“True enough. But he thought if he could kill you, Sarah would be easily swayed to sell.”

“Say what?”

“There are papers in that box your mother had that will clear all of this up for you.”

“Then I’d say now would be a good time to trot them out because I’m a few steps behind in this dance.”

“Yes, Jolene, Bob Little left everything he had to you.”