Confessing to the Cowboy

chapter 15



Mary spent most of the morning with her heart in her throat as her friends worked hard in her living quarters to turn things right again for her and her son.

The burnt sofa was dragged outside by the Taylor twins to the Dumpster and then the real cleaning began. Lynette and Ginger worked to clear the closets and drawers, carrying out plastic tub after tub of clothing to be washed. The plan was to take them to the local Laundromat where they could use eight washers and dryers to get the job done in as short a time as possible.

Everyone else worked on cleaning, wiping smoke from tables and chairs and from the countertop surfaces in the bathrooms. Each and every item on the bookcase was taken off and swiped clean. Mary was ordered to sit in a chair with a cup of coffee and do nothing other than supervise the job.

She didn’t have to do any supervising. Everyone worked hard at each task assigned by Lynette, who seemed to be in charge, leaving Mary nothing to do but think and thank her lucky stars that she was here in Grady Gulch, a town that held so many good, caring people.

At least if Jason killed her here there would be people who would mourn for her, she thought and then cursed herself for such morbid thinking.

The work going on in the back rooms came with plenty of chatter and laughter among everyone. Brandon jokingly appointed himself the low man while Junior was his partner, cleaning the areas Brandon couldn’t reach from his wheelchair.

Jeff and John Taylor began to sing “Taking Care of Business” and it wasn’t long before everyone who knew the lyrics to the old song had joined in.

Mary’s heart was so full at the moment there was no place for fear. She’d always seen herself as a local business owner, the woman who provided good food and good service, but it was obvious these people thought of her as much more than a waitress or just a woman who owned a place to eat.

They considered her a vital member of their community, of their lives. They thought of her as a friend. It both humbled her and awed her.

She’d never really taken the time to realize that Grady Gulch was the hometown she’d always wanted, a place of warmth and community pride and love.

She was afraid for each and every one of these people, but no matter where she went, no matter who she met, she’d be afraid. Cameron was right. It was time to take a stand against Jason here and now.

By noon Rusty was back on the grill with Junior at his side and the café was officially open for business. The smell of fresh paint drifted from the back rooms as several of the people remained back there to continue their work.

Mary manned the counter and realized toward the end of the rush hour that at some point during the afternoon the fear that had been a constant companion inside her for so long had finally vanished. Whatever happened would happen. Her dwelling on the fear didn’t help and wouldn’t stop it.

She poured herself a cup of hot cocoa and sat on the stool behind the counter. Her thoughts went to Cameron and the night before. He loved her. As he’d said the words she’d felt the emotion radiating from his body and shining from his eyes. She’d heard it in his voice, the softness, the want...the love.

Deep in her heart she’d always known that he loved her. For eight long years he’d sat across from her at the counter and they’d talked about life and dreams. She’d felt his love for her.

But how could she believe in that love? They hadn’t dated. They’d spent precious little time alone together other than those late-night talks. All they’d really done was tumble into bed and make passionate love one time.

And she’d love to do it again...and again, but shouldn’t love be about more than that? She shook her head, as if to dispel the thought. She couldn’t think about Cameron right now. Hopefully Cameron had been busy all morning finding the whereabouts of Jason or at least whoever was doing his dirty work.

She was sticking here until the bitter end. She just hoped when the end came she and Matt were together and both of them were still standing.

* * *

Thomas Manning eased down into the chair across from Cameron in the interview room. He’d finally shown up at his house at noon and Ben Temple had brought him in.

“I’ve been wondering how long it would take before I’d finally be sitting here,” he said as he shrugged off his gray tweed coat and hung it on the back of his chair.

Thomas was a thin, tall man with ordinary features and a facade of peaceful self-acceptance. He folded his hands in his lap and looked at Cameron with pale gray eyes.

“I’m assuming you want to know all about my marriage and divorce and if I’m hiding some kind of a killing rage that has made me take out that rage on the waitresses that work at the Cowboy Café,” he said.

“Something like that,” Cameron replied, trying to get a read on the man who appeared, on the surface, completely passive.

“My marriage was ill-fated from the beginning,” Thomas said. “Before I got married, I ate most of my meals at a truck stop near my home. That’s where I met Nancy who would become my wife. To be honest, I’d never much considered marriage. I was satisfied with my solitude. I liked fine wine, good books and educational television. Nancy was the exact opposite of me. She loved tequila shots, professed that the only book she’d ever read was How To Marry a Millionaire and she watched the Housewives of anything.” He frowned thoughtfully and unclasped his hands.

“So, why did you marry her?” Cameron asked.

A hint of a smile curved one corner of Thomas’s thin upper lip. “I’m not so sure that I married her as she married me. She was a force like a hurricane and she’d decided I was the man who would take her away from the truck stop and into the finer things of life. She was expecting good wine, classical music and faculty parties where she could reign as queen.”

“And that wasn’t the case?”

Thomas’s hint of a smile disappeared, leaving his features once again emotionless. “Nancy hated classical music and I didn’t attend faculty parties. We coexisted for about six months before she decided to go back to work at the truck stop. I knew then that our marriage was over.”

He said the words as if he were commenting that it might rain tomorrow. As far as Cameron was concerned the man’s lack of passion was as disturbing as an eruption of the emotion.

“The pretense of our marriage continued for another six months or so before Nancy finally took off.”

“And that didn’t bother you?” Cameron asked.

Thomas shrugged. “She wasn’t happy in my world and I had no intention of changing and she understood that. I’m the first to admit that I’m a selfish man, accustomed to pleasing nobody but myself. So, the easy answer to your question is no, it didn’t bother me when Nancy left me. I was perfectly satisfied to return to the way things had been before she’d come into my life.”

Cameron wasn’t sure if he believed Thomas’s assessment of the situation or not. “What brought you to Grady Gulch?”

“My sister had driven through here one time a couple of years ago and had been charmed by the slow-moving small-town life. Last year I had enough tenure to quit my job and enough money saved to make some changes. I remembered what my sister had told me about Grady Gulch, so here I am.”

“You haven’t made many friends while you’ve been here,” Cameron observed.

Thomas raised an eyebrow in apparent amusement. “I have found few dusty cowboys or cowgirls who appreciate the fine work of Shakespeare or the soul-moving music of Mozart. And as far as I’m concerned, friends are vastly overrated.”

Pretentious ass, Cameron thought. “I’d like to know where you were on these nights.” He listed the nights of the three murders and also the date of the fire in the café.

“On the nights those poor women were murdered I was at home in bed. On the night of the fire I was driving back from Oklahoma City in the middle of the snowstorm.”

“But you arrived back here in town around midnight and the fire wasn’t set until between the hours of two and three in the morning,” Cameron said.

Once again Thomas’s eyebrow rose. “Have you had me under surveillance? What a waste of resources,” he scoffed. “Do you really believe I’m the man you’re looking for?”

Cameron leaned back in his chair and eyed the man across from him with open speculation. “To be perfectly honest with you, Mr. Manning, I’m not sure what I believe about you.”

“After driving several hours in a snowstorm to get home from Oklahoma City I can promise you I went directly to bed. I have no motive to hurt those waitresses or burn down the café. I enjoy the meals I take there, but certainly haven’t formed any kind of a relationship with anyone there that would produce ill-feelings. You certainly have no evidence that ties me to any of this, so I’d say not only are you wasting your time here, but you’re wasting mine.”

There was a definite touch of arrogance in Manning’s voice that set Cameron’s teeth on edge. It was no wonder the man had made no friends since arriving in town. He might be able to sit in the café for an hour to eat and make nice with the waitresses, but there didn’t seem to be much pleasantness beneath the surface.

Thomas stood and shrugged on his coat, carefully buttoning each and every button as Cameron sat and watched. When he was finished he looked at the lawman and offered him a faint smile. “If you have any further questions for me, I’ll be more than happy to give you the phone number of my lawyer. And now I’m finished here.” He turned and walked out the door.

A half an hour later, Cameron sat at his desk writing notes to himself. A knock on the door sounded and Ben came inside the small office and sank down across from him. “Nothing from the local professor?” Ben asked.

“I don’t know,” Cameron replied truthfully. “We certainly don’t have any evidence that he had anything to do with the crimes, nor can we tie him in any way to McKnight, but there’s no question the man is an odd duck.”

“So, he’s still a person of interest?”

Cameron went through the high points of the interview with Ben and then hesitated a moment and slowly nodded his head. “Yeah, he’s still a person of interest. Something about his flat affect just seemed off to me. He talked about his wife like he was talking about a stranger he bumped into on the street. I don’t know, maybe he’s on some kind of medication.”

“Or maybe he’s just so much in love with himself there isn’t room for love or passion for anyone else in his life,” Ben said drily.

“In any case, he told me if I wanted to talk to him again I could get in touch with his lawyer.”

“Lawyered up already?” Ben frowned. “That’s a little odd.”

“And Denver still hasn’t delivered any paperwork to me to show that his sudden windfall is from any inheritance,” Cameron said, his mind whirling. Did they have the killer in their sights or were they completely off track?

He’d talked Mary into staying here, but had he talked her into staying in a place that would wind up to be her grave?

* * *

At four, Cameron entered the café not only with Matt in tow but with Jimmy along with them, the two boys asking Mary if Matt could spend the night at Jimmy’s house.

“But it’s a school night,” Mary protested as she looked at her son. “You know we don’t usually do sleepovers on school nights.”

“Mom always makes me go to bed on time on school nights, even when I have guests over,” Jimmy said. “She really wants Matt to stay with me tonight. She’s got a bunch of work to do at home and she tells me when I’m there by myself I’m always in her hair.”

Jimmy held out his cell phone to Mary. “She said for you to call her and she’ll tell you she wants Matt to spend the night with me.”

“Sheriff Evans isn’t some taxi service to be running you boys wherever you want to go,” she said.

“I don’t mind,” Cameron replied, his voice brisk and businesslike.

Mary took Jimmy’s cell phone and a quick call confirmed what Jimmy had said. With both boys and Jimmy’s mother’s pleas echoing in her ears, Mary reluctantly agreed to the plan. “Get clean clothes for school tomorrow and make sure you brush your teeth tonight before bed.”

“Will you kiss Twinkie for me tonight?” Matt asked.

Mary rolled her eyes and grinned. “Don’t push your luck. Go on, get out of here.”

“And I’ll be back here at closing to take you back to my place,” Cameron said as he ushered the two boys toward the front door. “Oh, and I just heard an updated weather report. It seems there is a bit of sleet forecasted for the evening.”

“I thought we were in for a warm-up,” Mary said, wishing there wasn’t any distance, any strain between them, but there was and she knew she’d put it there by not being able to accept what he’d offered to her with his heart.

“You know those weather guys, they don’t always get it right. I’ll see you later.” And with that the three of them headed out the door.

Instantly what flew through Mary’s mind was that without Matt at Cameron’s this evening there would be no buffer. The chasm between them would be more obvious, more uncomfortable than ever.

It was around six that the last of the workers, Brandon, Jeff and John Taylor, two of her off-duty waitresses and Junior left the backrooms. “By tomorrow the paint should all be dry and you will be good to move back in,” Brandon said.

They all looked happy and tired, with their faces speckled with beige paint.

“I can’t tell you all how much I appreciate what you’ve all done for me today,” Mary said, her heart once again filled to capacity. “However, I can tell you that you’re all my guests for dinner. Anything and everything you want is on the house.” She’d already fed them lunch, but they deserved another meal and so much more for their hard work and thoughtfulness.

They all gathered around one of the large tables in the center of the room and both Mary and Lynette took their orders, while other waitresses worked the other tables and the dinner rush. All around them people were dining and visiting with each other.

Laughter rode in the air and the warmth and friendship that filled the room once again humbled Mary. This was her place, among these hardworking, good people, not running from town to town, trying to stay one step away from a man who wanted her dead.

The sleet that Cameron had mentioned appeared just after seven, pinging against the café glass windows and shooting a restless energy through the place. People began to eat a little faster in order to get home before it got too slick outside.

By eight-thirty the last of the diners were preparing to pay up and leave and it looked like it was going to be another early closing night. She sent all of her waitresses home and then called Cameron on his cell phone and let him know that she’d be ready for him to pick her up anytime after nine.

He told her he was currently working a two-car accident and might be a few minutes late. She assured him she would be fine until he arrived.

At nine she went into the kitchen where Rusty had already shut down the grill and was seated on a stool drinking a cup of coffee. “You might as well head home, too,” she said as she pulled up a stool next to him. “I’ve put the Closed sign on the door and locked up for the night. The sleet is accumulating on the roads and I don’t expect anybody else to come in.”

“You sure Cameron will be able to come and get you?” Rusty asked.

“If he doesn’t I can always crash on my new sofa.” She shook her head. “I still can’t believe you all did that for me.”

“You have no idea what you mean to the people of this town,” Rusty replied.

She cocked her head and stared at him for a long moment. “Why aren’t you dating? Why don’t you have some nice woman in your life?”

He gave her his crooked half smile. “Who’d want to date somebody with such an ugly mug as mine?”

“Oh, Rusty, you have no idea how handsome you are. You can cook, you’ve got a soft heart and any woman would be proud to be with you.”

“I don’t know... I just don’t think about it much.” He took another sip of his coffee and stared off into the distance.

Mary guessed that he was probably thinking about the family he had lost in a home fire years ago. It had been an electrical fire that had taken place while Rusty was at work and it had killed his wife and son. It had also destroyed whoever Rusty had once been.

“They wouldn’t want you to grieve forever,” she said softly.

“I know. I’m working on it.” He got up from his stool and drained his mug. “You want me to hang around until Cameron does arrive?”

“Nah, I’ll be fine. I’ll just lock up everything tight and maybe make myself a quick cup of hot tea. You’d better get to the cabin before you have to ice-skate yourself there.”

Rusty gave her a flash of a smile. “I never was much good at skating. Oh, by the way, the kid left his cell phone here.” He pointed to Junior’s cell phone on the counter. “I imagine he’ll be in early in the morning to get it.”

“I’ll just lock it up in the register,” Mary replied.

“Then I guess I’ll see you in the morning.” He pulled on his big coat and disappeared out the back door. Mary locked up behind him and then placed a kettle on a burner to heat water for tea.

As she waited for the water to boil, she stood in the entry to the back living quarters. The new sofa was beautiful, made more so with the knowledge that her friends and customers had chipped in to buy it for her and Matt.

The walls were pristine and the smell of fresh paint permeated the air. One more night at Cameron’s and then she and Matt could resume their life here. She knew Cameron wanted them to stay with him until Jason was behind bars, but she couldn’t bunk in with him indefinitely. There was no indication that Cameron and his team would solve this case anytime soon.

The whistling kettle pulled her back into the kitchen where she fixed a cup of tea and carried it into the main café area. She placed Junior’s cell phone on the counter near the register to lock up before she left for the night and then sat at a table in the center of the dimly lit room and looked around.

Violet Grady had not only been a member of the founding family of Grady Gulch, but she’d also been Mary’s personal angel. The old woman had not only taken in Mary and Matt when Mary was destitute, but she’d also provided the means for Mary to give Matt a future.

She would dishonor Violet if she chose to run again. She would dishonor all the people who had worked here all day long today to give her back her home.

Where are you, Jason? How she wished she had the answer. How she wished Cameron and his men had some kind of clue to get her ex-husband behind bars.

She wanted this over. She wanted to be able to move back into her rooms, run her café and throw herself back into the life she’d had before murder and a monster had stolen away the joy.

She took a sip of her tea and then frowned as she heard a sound coming from one of the bathrooms. Was the women’s restroom toilet running again? She set her cup down with a sigh of irritation. It had been a chronic problem over the past couple of months.

Remaining seated, she decided she’d finish her tea and then go in and jiggle the handle and if that didn’t work then first thing in the morning she’d call Steve Taggart, the local plumber to come in and fix the darned thing for good.

As she sipped her tea she tried to keep her mind empty of thoughts of murder or Cameron. Both topics made her anxious in completely different ways.

Thinking about the murders and Jason created a block of ice inside her stomach where thoughts of Cameron created a pit of fiery heat.

She was too tired to entertain thoughts of either emotions. She just wanted Cameron to pick her up and take her to his place where she would withdraw into his pretty and peaceful guest bedroom until morning.

Once again she heard a strange noise, a whirring noise that didn’t belong above the soft hum of the refrigerator unit or the rhythmic faint click of the large clock that hung on a nearby wall.

Shoving her chair back she stood as she tried to identify the sound that appeared to be drawing closer. She gasped in surprise as Brandon Williams wheeled around the corner from the bathrooms.

“Brandon! Oh, my gosh, I didn’t realize you were still here,” she said.

He rubbed his stomach and smiled ruefully. “Apparently something didn’t sit quite right with me.” He looked around with a frown. “Looks like you closed the place down for the night.”

“I did. It’s sleeting outside, Brandon. Maybe you need to sit with me and wait until Cameron picks me up and we’ll see if he can get your scooter in his trunk or something. I don’t know if you can go in the scooter on the ice that is accumulating.”

“That’s not going to be a problem, Samantha.”

Samantha?

Mary stared in horror as Brandon stood up from the scooter and pulled a long knife from the side pocket of his motorized chair. “I don’t think there’s going to be much of anything left here for Cameron to pick up.”