A Basket of Trouble (30 page)

on Charley.

Jessica glanced at her and gave a nod. She stood and walked

toward Charley, so Unger’s attention would be directed there and

away from the door. “We’re going to petition for legal status for Jorge as an alien worker.”

Unger snorted. “That won’t do much good. He’s not in any of

the special job categories.”

Claire gently eased the trailer door open, just as Jessica slapped the reception desk, probably to cover the noise of the door opening. “This is just not fair, not fair to him, or to us. We need him …”

Claire didn’t hear the rest, as she eased the door closed then

high-tailed it down the stairs and to the barn. She didn’t have

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Jorge’s cell phone number, but she hoped that Brittany could con-

tact her mother, who would. If they could get word to him, maybe

he could hide out, stay away from his apartment.

She ran into the barn and yelled, “Brittany!”

With a startled expression on her face, Brittany came out of the

tack room.

“Quick, call your mother,” Claire shouted.

“Why?”

“Just do it and give me the phone!”

Brittany pulled out her cell phone, punched a button and

handed it to Claire. When Nancy Schwartz answered, Claire said,

“Nancy, I need to contact Jorge right away. Do you have his cell

phone number?”

“You don’t need it.”

“What?”

“He’s with me now.”

“Put him on the phone, then. I’m at Charley’s stable and—”

“You can talk to Jorge in person in a sec. I’m picking up Brit-

tany, and he’s with me. We’re driving into the parking lot right

now.” She hung up.

“No, no, no!”

She tossed the phone to Brittany. “Call your mom back and tell

her to leave right now!” Claire sprinted out of the barn toward the parking lot.

Sure enough, Nancy Schwartz was turning her car into a spot.

Jorge was sitting in the front passenger seat next to her. Nancy cut the engine, and Jorge got out and walked around to her side of

the car to open her car door. He offered her a hand as if she was a queen. Nancy stood, ignoring her ringing cell phone.

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Claire stopped in front of them, huffing and puffing. “You’ve

got … to leave … right now!”

“Not without Brittany,” Nancy said. “There she is.” She waved

at her daughter.

Strolling lazily toward the car, Brittany waved back.

“Run!” Claire shouted at her.

With a puzzled frown on her face, Brittany picked up her pace.

But it wasn’t fast enough for Claire. “C’mon, c’mon.”

Nancy stared at her. “What’s the hurry?”

“It’s ICE,” Claire said, “They’re here.”

“They’re here?” Jorge asked. “Is Charley okay?”

Brittany finally arrived. Nancy gave her a hug then held up her

left hand in front of Brittany’s face.

Claire stamped her foot and grabbed Jorge’s arm. “Damn it, it’s

not Charley we’re worried about, it’s you! They—”

Brittany shrieked. “Mom! What’s this?”

Nancy wiggled her left hand, showing off the shiny new gold

ring. She sidled up next to Jorge and clutched his arm. “We got

married this morning.”

He put a hand over hers and stood proudly with a huge grin

showing his white teeth.

Brittany looked from her mother to Jorge and back again.

“Ohmigod!”

Rendered speechless, Claire stared at them, too apoplectic with

worry to think of congratulating them.

The smile started to fade from Jorge’s face. “Are you okay with

this, Brittany?”

She flung her arms around his neck. “Yes, yes, yes. I’m just so

surprised. This is all so sudden.”

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“Sorry we didn’t tell you or take you with us,” Nancy said. “We

figured we had to move fast. When Jorge and I talked to the im-

migration lawyer, he said Jorge’s best hope for getting a green card was for a close relative to petition for him. When we asked how

close, he said like a parent, child, or sibling, which Jorge doesn’t have in the US, or a spouse. We just looked at each other and said,

‘That’s it!’”

Jorge put an arm around Nancy and smiled at her. “We went

straight to the courthouse to get a marriage license and had the official there marry us right away.”

Nancy returned his smile. “We were as giddy as two teenagers.”

Brittany let her arms slide off of Jorge. “Oh, so this is just so he can become legal?”

He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. “No, Brittany,

your mother and I love each other. This is forever.”

Looking worried, Nancy gave Brittany a one-armed hug and

peered at her daughter’s face. “So you’re sure you’re okay with having Jorge as a stepfather?”

“Of course, Mom! I really like him, and even better, I like how

you are with him.” She turned to Jorge and stage-whispered. “She’s been really bitchy since the divorce.”

“Brittany!” Nancy gave her a playful slap, then the three of

them embraced in a group hug.

Claire had had enough. “Okay, this all very nice, folks, but we

have a problem. ICE is going to lock up Jorge in detention if he

doesn’t get out of here right away.”

Jorge looked at Nancy. “We knew this would happen. Maybe I

should just let them take me now.”

“On our wedding day?” She clutched his arm.

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He sighed. “As the lawyer said, you can bail me out after you

file for a hearing. Then I will be free while we wait for the hearing.”

“What if it’s too late for all that to happen today?”

“I can handle one night in detention, especially if I can look

forward to being with you after that.”

The trailer door opened, and Sam Unger stepped out. He

scanned the property as if looking for Claire. He turned and his

gaze bored into them.

“Your decision has just been made for you,” Claire said.

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eighteen:

a horse knows

Claire turned her car into the parking lot in front of the busi-

ness office on the Glen Eyrie castle grounds Saturday morning

and stepped out. A cool breeze ruffled the nearby Ponderosa pines and carried their crisp scent to her. Her gaze rose to the top of the sandstone formation looming behind the building. She spotted the outline of a bighorn sheep standing on the ridge. It seemed to be watching her. She did the same for a while until it turned its massive curled horns and headed north along the ridge.

Back to business, Claire pulled a barbecue-themed gift basket

out of her trunk while thinking back on her early morning phone

call with Charley. He and Nancy Schwartz were splitting the cost

of Jorge’s bail. He said the immigration lawyer thought they would be able to get Jorge out of ICE detention that morning. If not, he would be out Monday at the latest. Then the slow and uncertain

process of trying to get him a green card would begin. Both Nancy and Charley were filing petitions, but Nancy’s, for an alien relative, 256

had the best chance of ultimately succeeding, though it could take months or even years.

Claire hoped the newlyweds would be able to enjoy each oth-

er’s company that evening. Brittany was right. Nancy was a dif-

ferent person with Jorge. Claire could no longer imagine Nancy

killing Kyle Mendoza.

Besides, all of the signs now pointed to Tom Lindall. She had

called Detective Wilson the night before to tell him about the

Peak View Stable company shirts and that she thought the scrap

from Gunpowder’s hoof matched last year’s pattern. He remem-

bered they had searched Charley’s employees’ closets for a shirt

with a matching pattern, but not Lindall’s. Given that Tom and

Vince were potential suspects, Wilson ruefully admitted that was

an oversight. After thanking her, he said he would obtain a search warrant to check Lindall’s, and all of his last year’s employees’

shirts, for a hole that matched the cloth fragment found on Gun-

powder’s hoof.

As Claire hefted the basket and walked toward the small office

building, a flutter of hope rose in her heart. Hope that the case would be solved, that the dark cloud of suspicion over Charley’s

stable finally would be lifted. And hope that her brother’s life

could return to some semblance of normal. But then she worried

her lip. She had been hopeful before and been proven wrong.

Juggling the basket, and avoiding the sharp barbecue fork and

tongs poking out of the top, she pushed the door open and walked

into the foyer. She found the office for the Executive Assistant to the Development Officer and knocked on the doorframe.

The middle-aged black woman inside looked up from her desk

and rose. She waved Claire in and focused her gaze on the basket.

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“Oh that’s lovely, just lovely. Here, put it on my desk and let me look at it.”

Claire set it down and stepped back. “You said your boss was a

gourmet griller, so I worked with a barbecue theme.”

The woman peered through the cellophane. “I see some inter-

esting spice rubs and marinades in there.”

“And a few local hot sauces for zip.” Claire had sorted through

her collection of hot sauces to make sure she didn’t include any

with lewd names. Glen Eyrie Castle was owned and operated by

the Navigators, a Christian mission organization. Sauces with

names like Ass Blaster, Screaming Sphincter, and Biker Bitch might be fun novelty items for some, but not for this group.

Claire pointed toward the back of the basket. “I included red

cedar grilling papers and wine-aged oak strips, too.”

“Oh, this is perfect,” the woman said while clapping her hands.

“He’ll be so happy with this birthday gift from the staff. Thank

you!”

Claire knew the man’s birthday wasn’t until Monday. “Should

we hide the basket somewhere?”

“No need,” the woman said. “He’s out all day scouting trails to

see which ones might work for horseback riding. Take a load off

while I write you a check.”

Her interest piqued, Claire sat in the visitor’s chair in front of the desk. “Horseback riding? So you’re going to allow people to

ride horses on your trails as well as hike them?”

The woman took a checkbook out of her desk drawer. “Not

quite. We don’t want private individuals bringing their horses in and wandering all over the place. We were thinking of offering or-258

ganized group rides instead, so we can keep the horses on separate trails from the people and control where they go.”

“So you’re going to build a stable on the property?” Claire was

concerned that this could pose even more competition for Char-

ley.

“Oh no.” The woman waved a hand. “We want to contract it

out, have a local stable bring in horses when we need them.” She

leaned back in her chair and furrowed her brow. “We don’t want a

corral on the grounds, but we may have to build one if can’t find a stable willing to work with us. We’d really like to find a way to offer horseback rides on the grounds. Our conference attendees keep asking for them. We’re just not sure about all the logistics.”

Claire scooted forward in her chair and tried to contain her

excitement. “I may have the answer for you then. My brother,

Charley Gardner, just opened a stable almost directly across 30th Street from your entrance. He’s running trail rides in the Garden of the Gods Park now. Visitors could do all the check-in and be

matched with horses at his stable, then he could bring in groups

from there.”

The woman’s eyes widened. “That sounds ideal!”

Claire warmed to the topic. “You wouldn’t have to worry about

a corral or barn on your grounds, just horses on your trails.”

The woman tore the check out of the checkbook. Before hand-

ing it to Claire, though, she paused. “Wait. I remember reading

about a murder and a suicide happening at a nearby stable. Is that your brother’s?”

Damn.
“The suicide was really murder, and the police have already apprehended that suspect.”

“Oh, dear.”

259

“He wasn’t an employee of the stable,” Claire added quickly.

“And the police are very, very close to solving the other murder.

Again, their prime suspect is not a stable employee. My brother’s stable has just had the awful bad luck to have been the location

where both of these killings occurred. They have no relation to

him or his business.”

The woman looked thoughtful. “I’ll talk to my boss about it.”

Claire’s heart sank. The phrase was a classic dismissal.

Then the woman smiled. “You know, I’m a firm believer that

if you pray about something, God provides the answer. I’ve been

praying about this, and here you are. Not only did you bring us

this wonderful gift basket, you may have brought us the answer to our problem.”

And to Charley’s problems competing with Peak View Stables
.

Relieved, Claire returned the smile.

She exchanged one of Charley’s cards for the check and left the

office with a spring in her step. She decided to immediately drive to his stable and deliver the potential good news.

———

While Claire was telling Charley and Jessica the exciting news out on the trailer porch, Tom Lindall’s blue pickup truck drove into

the parking lot. He got out and swung the door shut with a loud

slam. He marched toward the trailer, his body stiff with anger.

“Uh oh,” Charley said. “He’s probably found out about the

trick I played on him and he’s mad.”

When he moved toward the trailer steps, Claire stopped him

with a hand on his arm. “Remember Tom Lindall may be a mur-