Lady Luck (Colorado Mountain #3)(181)

I didn’t ask.

He didn’t tell.

The next day at the salon, as it does, word spread that someone torched that hunting cabin in the night. Luckily, they doused all around with water so the flames didn’t spread and it was so old, it went up like a light and burned fast.

And then it was gone.

An ugly piece of history, up in smoke and generations to come would never know it existed at all.

It would be a long time later, at his pace, when Ty told me what he did and explained he wasn’t alone. Dewey, Tate, Deke, Wood, Pop, Shambles, Ned, Irv and Jim-Billy went with him.

So did Chace Keaton.

Yes, straight-arrow Chace Keaton.

Then again, Chace was a man in the business of righting wrongs, he’d put his ass out there to do it before so I guess it wasn’t surprising he’d do it again regardless of the methods he needed to use.

I thought the building might be gone but the ghosts probably remained.

I also thought those ghosts probably got a kick out of watching those men burn that shithole to the ground.

* * * * *

Ty talked to me, Tate talked to me, Chace talked to me, even Officer Frank popped by the house one afternoon to talk to me about shooting Arnold Fuller. They thought I’d freak considering the fact that I did at the hospital. Delayed reaction to Irv going down, me being kidnapped and me taking Arnie out.

I was fine.

Until one day, I wasn’t.

Driving home from the grocery store on my Monday off, I got the shakes.

And my hands on the steering wheel guided the Charger to Carnal Police Department. I walked on shaky legs inside and asked to talk to Detective Keaton.

He came right out.

He held me while I lost it in an interrogation room and when I say lost it, I mean I lost it. Then, when he calmed me, he got me Kleenex. Then he sent an officer out to get me a latte from La-La Land.

Then he sat with me while I drank it.

Then he followed me home to make sure I got there okay.

Then he went straight to the garage and told Ty what happened. He also explained to Ty that I didn’t go to him because I didn’t want him to see that, that last piece of me that Fuller took since Fuller took so much from Ty already.

From the time Chace left me to the time Ty got home, I was a nervous wreck. I thought he’d get pissed, thinking I’d gone behind his back, not liking that I shared that with another man. I was such a mess, I didn’t even phone him to attempt and detect his mood because, if he was going to lose it, I didn’t want it to come sooner rather than later.

But Ty didn’t get pissed.

He just came home from the gym as usual but did a thorough scan the minute he saw me. I knew he saw I was anxious and my anxiety had hit the red zone. But he just walked to me, wrapped his hand around the back of my head, gave me a kiss, touched my forehead with his and asked me to make him a shake. Then he went up to take a shower.

I made his shake and I did it grateful that he got it and didn’t get pissed.

He never spoke of it, neither did I.

But he watched me closely after that and he did it for weeks. He didn’t hide it but I didn’t mention it. Our daughter was growing inside of me, he was concerned and he kept his finger on the pulse.

So did Tate. So did Chace. So did Officer Frank. Jim-Billy. Deke. Wood. Pop. Krystal. Laurie, Maggie, Stella, Dominic… everybody.

But I got rid of it that day. I gave it to Chace and he took it from me.

He’d taken his own load from Fuller so I knew it was selfish.

But I also was grateful and would be eternally.

To let me show this, Chace allowed me to buy his lunch one of the days we shared it at the diner instead of what usually happened, him buying mine.

He allowed me to do this once.

It wasn’t much but at least it was something.

* * * * *

Three and a half weeks after my kidnapping, Rowdy Crabtree was detained in Arizona on the US side of the US/Mexican border trying to cross. He was arrested and transported back to Carnal.

He stood trail in Chantelle for Misty Keaton’s murder. He was not offered bond because he was a flight risk.

He was acquitted and instantly moved out-of-state. I didn’t know where.

I also didn’t care.

Misty Keaton’s murder was never solved.

Chace Keaton may not have liked his wife but he liked it less the way she died.

So her murder had not been solved but that didn’t mean Chace still wasn’t looking for her killer.

* * * * *

Shift, being Shift, therefore stupid but not knowing it, tried to cop a plea

Yes, he was a drug dealing pimp who ordered the hit on his best friend and personally executed a drive-by that killed one and wounded three and he tried to cop a plea.

The DA drove a hard bargain.

Shift’s currently enjoying his stay in a Texas penitentiary and would until he died. Life with no chance of parole.

It was up in the air whether it was a good bargain or not that the DA didn’t push the death penalty.

* * * * *

And thus endeth the shadows.

Now it’s all sunshine.

* * * * *

And two hours after Angel and Rosalia arrived, I sat at my dining room table which was stuffed full of the people I loved, my hands slightly out to the sides, my wrists resting on the edge of the table, my right fingers curled around Angel’s, my left fingers curled around Irv’s as I listened with bowed head to Ella saying our Thanksgiving prayer.