At the Crossroads (Buckhorn, Montana #3)(43)
He’d stared at her. “Another threat?”
“I’m trying to protect you, you damned fool.”
Culhane had let out a howl. “Do. Not. Involve. Me. Whatever it is, do not drag me into it. I’ll get my lawyer to handle this. We’re done, Jana. I won’t be extorted, and I’m through being used.”
“You’ll regret this,” she’d screamed after him as he’d stormed out. He could hear her shouting at the top of her lungs and breaking things inside the house. As he’d started to get into his pickup, she’d come running out, yelling obscenities.
He’d stopped, surprised to see that her hair was wild, her T-shirt ripped and hanging off one shoulder. Blood dripped down her face from what appeared to be a cut on her forehead. What the hell? Several neighbors had come out. One was making a call on her cell phone, no doubt to the cops. The other was videoing both of them.
Culhane had seen at once what Jana was up to. She was setting him up. But for what? He’d shaken his head as he’d climbed into his pickup and driven off, knowing he’d be getting a visit from the law—and probably a lawyer. This wouldn’t be the last of it. Jana was going to make him pay, one way or the other.
It was the last time he saw her. Maybe the last time he would ever see her.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
VI MULLEN SAT in the back of a squad car in a daze—and it wasn’t the first time. She’d lost so much this year. Uniformed men and women scurried about in a flurry of activity. In and out of the café where crime-scene tape fluttered in the wind and blood stained the floor.
She’d finally quit crying and screaming for someone to find her daughter. The female deputy who’d been questioning her had informed her that Tina had been rescued, was in the hospital in the next town with minor injuries, but would soon be released and returned to Buckhorn.
Vi finished answering the deputy’s questions feeling empty inside. Tina was going to be fine. Chloe was fine, although with Lars. What had happened here today was over. It would dominate the news for a day or two, and everyone would forget. Hardly anyone even knew where Buckhorn, Montana, was—or cared.
“That will be all for now,” the deputy said. “You’re free to go home.”
Home? The deputy had gotten out to help her from the back of the squad car, making her feel old and weak.
She pulled free of the woman’s steadying hands, straightened her back, lifted her chin and reminded herself who she was. Vivian Mullen. She practically owned this town. Buckhorn needed her. She was just fine.
But she wasn’t. Even after she got the call from Tina. Her daughter was alive and well and getting her broken arm in a cast at the hospital. She hadn’t felt anything—it was as if the past year had left her unable to feel any emotions at all, except for anger.
“Vi? Are you all right?” Lars asked as he appeared next to her. “If you want, I could walk you home.”
She glanced at him and the baby. Not his baby. That much she knew now to be true. Yet seeing him standing there holding her granddaughter, Vi knew she was never going to be able to get rid of Lars Olson. Her daughter had forgiven him for his so-called indiscretions with that slut, Shirley Langer. The two had been humping like rabbits for months, and yet Tina had taken the man back.
Vi thought of her own husband who’d jumped ship the moment he’d found out about her own indiscretions. She hadn’t strayed with anyone. She’d only lied to help someone she loved, and Axel couldn’t get away from her quick enough.
She sighed. “Did you hear me, Vi?” Lars asked again.
“I heard you. Tina’s fine. I’m fine. We’re all fine.” She stood to her full height and took a deep breath of the warm fall air. Hadn’t she heard that the weather was supposed to change? Winter was coming, long months of darkness and cold. The thought made her shudder. “I should get down to the store and see how much of a mess you made down there.”
“Vi, you should come home with me and Chloe,” Lars said. “I’ll make us something to eat.”
With a huff, she told Lars what he could do with his suggestion.
“Well, I’m going, and I’m taking Chloe with me.” He held the baby closer as if worried that she would try to rip the infant from his arms. Not likely, Vi thought.
“Go, get out of my way. I have work to do.” She started down the street.
“Is there anything you want me to tell Tina when I go to pick her up?” he called after her, but Vi didn’t bother to answer. As she walked, she looked down the main drag of Buckhorn. The two-lane blacktop cut right through the heart of town.
As she walked toward the center of town and her store, she could smell the promise of snow on the afternoon air. Winter would come swiftly. A few clouds already huddled on the mountaintops to the west.
On the other end of town in front of the motel, Shirley Langer was loading her car as if leaving for good. Maybe something good had come out of this after all, Vi thought and was surprised that she didn’t really care anymore.
She surveyed her hometown. Some of the businesses were already boarded up. Most of the snowbirds had left. Soon only the heartiest and most determined of residents would be left in Buckhorn. She worried that Buckhorn would die. Her husband used to joke that they’d be the last ones left and would have to lock up before they, too, departed.