Alone and Afraid (Rocky Mountain Home Series Book 1) (2 page)

The man two doors down from Brooke’s motel room left early while the night was still dark.  Along with his bag, he took the woman’s dead body, wrapped in the shower curtain
, and put both in his trunk.  He laughed to himself.  The dumb cop didn’t even notice that the woman in his bed, his so called wife, wasn’t breathing, or that the connecting door to the room between his room and the lady next to Brook’s room was unlocked from both sides.  He felt lucky that their plan worked.  It almost didn’t, thanks to that nosey woman in room 106.  He would fix her later, but for now, he needed to get rid of the body.

Brooke was unaware of her neighbor
’s early morning excursion.  She was surprised that she slept a few hours, and was glad to finish her trip to her Great Aunt Sylvia’s cottage.

Brooke was certain that no one from her recent past knew of her aunts passing, or that her aunt left her the cottage, along with a very hefty inheritance.  She felt confident she would be able to have a new life.  Due to the money left
to her by her aunt, she didn’t have to apply for work, therefore she didn’t have to have anyone do a background check on her and have that suspicion carried over into her new life.  She was sure the police from her old life found all that information, but it wasn’t made public.

With her mind and body rested, she
dressed, and re-packed her overnight bag, and smiled to herself.  She was now ready to continue the last leg of her drive.

Brooke actually enjoyed the short drive to her aunt’s cottage.  She drove through t
he small town of Red Cliff, noticing the shops and people who walked down the street.  She knew her turnoff was just up ahead, and smiled again, knowing this was her new beginning.

She hadn’t been to her Aunt Sylvia’s cottage in over seven years, but she remembered how safe and loved she felt spending time with her aunt.  She also remembered how nice the cottage was back then, and hoped it was still in the great shape her aunt kept it in.

When she drove up the dirt road and parked in front of the cottage, she sat in her car for a few moments admiring the surrounding trees, plants and the mountains in the distance.  She told herself, she would be very content living here.

The first thing Bro
oke wanted to do was check out the cottage, then she would unload her car.  After she found the cottage keys in the bottom of her purse, she entered the front room.  She was amazed at how clean everything looked.  She hired a cleaning company to clean before she arrived, and she was grateful for the great job they did.  She walked through each room and except for the empty refrigerator; it looked like she wouldn’t have to take on too much in order to spend her first day here.  She could fill up the refrigerator after she made her list of what she needed.

A
s she drove through town, she saw a large grocery store down one of the side streets, and pulled her car into the parking lot. The cabin was clean but still held a musty smell, and she knew better than to leave windows opened and unattended.  So she decided to shop first, then air out her new home when she returned from the store.

Brooke had such a carefree attitude while she went down each aisle in the store. 
She hadn’t felt this free in a while, and knew she made the right decision moving to this quaint little town.  Although her aunt left some furniture in the cottage, Brooke arranged to have her things from her old apartment sent here.  They’d arrive tomorrow, and then she’d be kept busy arranging and putting things up until she was satisfied that everything was the way she preferred.

She got more things at the grocery store than was on her list, but
that didn’t bother her.  What she did mind though, was the man who stared at her as she walked to her car.  He had a baseball cap pulled low over his forehead so Brooke didn’t get a good look, but the goose bumps on her arm told her to be careful.

She
forced herself to forget about the strange man, telling herself that she was the stranger in this town and would probably receive many stares over the next few months.

Before she unloaded her car,
Brooke went inside and opened all the windows in the cottage.  She wanted some of the fragrance from her aunt’s jasmine and gardenia bushes to float inside.  Brooke always loved that delicate smell when she visited here long ago.  She also purchased some fabric freshener that she would spray around to help cover up the mustiness of the place. 

After she put away everything she bought and made herself a ham and Swiss cheese sandwich with tomatoes, she sat in the dining room
to eat. 
Yes,
she thought,
this is going to be my home. And she was already enjoying it.
  Her aunt had all the modern conveniences installed a few years ago.  There was an almost new dishwasher, as well as washer and dryer, and a new air conditioning unit.  Her aunt also had a new gas stove put in with double ovens.

Her thoughts
took her to the times spent here with her aunt.  She regretted not visiting her more often.  She was the only living relative Brooke had, and now she, too, was gone.

Brooke
sat there for a while, then got up and decided to explore more.   Her aunt always had a large garden behind the cottage, and Brooke planned to keep it.  She felt the need to look in every nook and cranny of the cottage and the three acres of land that surrounded the cottage, which was now all hers. After Brooke accomplished that task, she’d work on clearing out some of the things in the cottage.  The movers promised to arrive early and she knew there was not enough room for her things and most of her aunt’s belongings.  Some things would have to be stored in the shed out back.

As she walked
, her mind went back to the last time she was here and she and her aunt walked the land.  She remembered how beautiful it was then and was so glad it was just as beautiful now.

Stopping
at her aunt’s garden, she was surprised to see some vegetables poking up from the ground.  Determined to keep her aunt’s garden alive, she made a mental note to work on it after the movers left.

Brooke continued her exploration until she realized she had been outside for more than two hours.  She had so much that needed her attention indoors.  As she walked back to the back door of the cabin, she heard a dog bar
k in the distance.  She closed and locked the door while she wondered how far away the closest cottage was.  She wanted to be alone, not made to entertain neighbors.

Cooking was one of the many things Brooke loved to do.  She put pork chops, seasoned only with salt and pepper into a skillet with very little hot oil
to brown them, before transferring them to a baking dish.  Then she mixed a can of cream of mushroom soup with some ketchup, chopped onions and some Worcestershire sauce, then poured the mixture on top of the chops and put the dish in the oven.  When forty-five minutes were up, she would add a vegetable and a small salad to her dinner.  Until then, she made herself busy moving furniture around and planning where her things would go when they arrived.  She finished an hour after she ate dinner, and since her body felt unusually tired, she prepared for bed and a good night sleep.

What was all that pounding?  Slowly she got out of bed
, grabbed her robe, and followed the noise.  She was taken aback when she saw the moving van backed up to the cottage.  Surely it wasn’t even eight o’clock yet.  She opened the door and frowned as she greeted the men who were ready to unload the van.

“When you say early, you do mean early, don’t you?” Brooke said.

“Yes Ma’am, if you’d tell us where you want everything, we’ll get this van unloaded,” the man replied.

In between supervising the placement of her things, Brooke made coffee and grabbed a quick cup to help wake herself.  She offered
a cup to the three men, but they turned her down.  She guessed they were anxious to finish and get back on the road.

They took hardly any time at all unloading the van
, and after she signed their papers, they were gone.  When she turned around from closing the front door, she was reminded of all the boxes she’d have to go through, but it wasn’t like she had much else planned for the day.

The men had placed all the furniture exactly where she told them to, so all she had left were the tons of boxes to unpack.  Before she started on any of them, she poured more coffee and sat at the kitchen counter.

Since she finally felt awake, she walked to her bedroom, threw on some jeans and an old t-shirt, and planned her day.  She was anxious to get started in her aunt’s garden.  She found some seeds in one of the kitchen drawers the night before and knew from the directions on the package, that she still was within the time period for planting them.  Her aunt loved having her own fresh vegetables and Brooke thought a nice garden would keep her busy.

The shed out
back held most of the tools she needed to prepare the ground and remove the weeds that already grew wild here and there.

She spent the next two hours weeding and digging, until she felt confident that the ground was ready to be seeded.  She’d seen her aunt do it a few times, and was happy that her effort
s looked almost as if her aunt worked the ground.  After she planted the seeds and covered them up, she watered the garden and stood back, admiring her work.  She smiled, knowing the benefits she’d reap in a month or more.

She also smiled when she realized how dirty she was.  Her next plan was a shower and clean clothes.  She closed the garden gate, and walked the perimeter of the garden
, as she checked for holes in the fence.  She might be new to gardening, but she knew how all the critters loved to eat the newly grown vegetables and wanted to make sure her garden was protected. Satisfied that the garden would be safe, she replaced all the tools in the shed and locked it, then went inside after she removed her dirty shoes.

Brooke felt refreshed and rejuvenated after her shower and the salad she fixed for lunch, so she decided to tackle the boxes next.  She had only just started, when she remembered she needed to call the satellite company to get the service started for her television and computer.  She wanted to be alone out here
, but didn’t want to lose touch with the world.

Satisfied that she’d get her internet and television on by t
he next night, she again tackled some boxes.  As she worked, she heard a dog bark in the distance. Again, she wondered how close the nearest neighbor was.  But she dismissed her thoughts, as she had no plans of getting to know her neighbors or anyone else for the time being.

Brooke hummed along with her portable radio that she turned on for company while she worked.  She had forgotten how
many kitchen things she had in her small apartment and it seemed the kitchen was what took her the longest to arrange.  Finally, she was finished organizing her cupboards and drawers, and took a much needed break.  She poured some freshly made lemonade over ice in a glass, and went out front and sat in her aunt’s porch swing.  She immediately thought how beautiful the mountains looked and wondered how many times her aunt sat where she sat now and admired the view.  She also told herself that she would be very happy living here and that she made one of the best decisions of her life, when she decided to move here instead of selling the cottage.

When the sun started going down in the sky, Brooke knew she sat outside long enough.  She still had
many boxes to unpack, but first she wanted dinner. As she looked inside the refrigerator, she got hungry for fruit and cheese, so that’s what she fixed herself, along with some crackers.

A few hours later, Brooke felt like she really accomplished something.  She had the kitchen arranged nicely and both bathrooms, as well as her bedroom.  She also placed her knickknacks around her
e and there, and the cottage took on a lived in feeling.  It felt like home.

She stacked the empty boxes on the back porch by the back door and locked up for the night.  She was tired and headed to her room for some much needed sleep.

Brooke placed a pillow over her head and tried to shut out the noise.  She thought living here, she’d get peace and quiet, but so far, she’d been woken up each morning to some noise or other.  Why couldn’t she at least be allowed to sleep until eight or nine in the morning?  Was that asking too much?

She gave up trying to sleep and sat up as she realized the noise was a d
og’s constant barking.  Putting on her robe, she ran her fingers through her tangled hair, and walked to the back door and pulled the curtain back.  Looking out the window, she saw a large tan dog digging next to the garden fence. The dog stopped and let out a few more barks before he continued his clawing at the earth.

Brooke opened the door and yelled, “Shoo
! Who do you think you are?  That’s my garden.  Where did you come from?”

“Digger, stop that.  Come here boy,”
said a very masculine voice.

Br
ooke whirled around to the right and saw a man standing there dressed in jeans and old blue shirt, with a leash dangling at his side.

Brooke felt her face turn red as she said, “Can’t you control your dog?  Why isn’t he on the leash?  I’d appreciate you getting your dog and get
ting off my property.”

“I apologize for Digger’s rudeness, but there’s no need for you to yell.  After all
, we are neighbors.  I’m Chase, by the way.  Chase Swanson and I live to the left of you,” he said.

Brooke noticed the dog continued his digging.  She really got angry
with the man since he made no effort to stop the dog from digging a large hole in her yard.  But before she got out the strong words she was prepared to throw his way, she watched Digger drag something out of the ground.

“What is he doing?” 
She asked impatiently.

The stranger walked over to where
Digger stood, proud of his find.   “I think we have a problem here,” he said, worried of the reaction he’d receive.

Brooke walked closer, but kept her distance from the stranger, as she looked at the object on the ground.  It resembled a sheet of plastic but had dark brown blotches on it.  She saw nothing odd about it. “Your dog dug up the plastic that was probably put there to help keep the weeds from growing through.  Why do you say that’s a problem, unless you don’t know how to replace the plastic sheet and fill in the deep hole your dog is responsible for,
” Brooke told the man as she crossed her arms in front of herself.

He laughed nervously before he said, “I can fill in the hole
, and I can probably lay plastic down, but I can’t answer the question of where the blood came from.”

“Blood?  What
blood?  I don’t see any blood,” Brooke said almost hysterically.

The man pointed t
o the dark brown stains and said, “I may not be able to control my dog sometimes, but I do know what dried blood looks like, even when it’s covered up in dirt.”

Brooke looked stunned.  This had to be some kind of trick that this stranger was trying to pull on her.  There was no way that a bloody piece of plastic had gotten in her yard.  She stood there and tried to make some sense out of the situation, but had no luck.

“I think we need to get the sheriff out here,” the man said as he pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket.

Brooke still assured herself that this
was some mean trick being played on her.  She listened while the man spoke to someone, or at least pretended that he spoke to someone.

“The sheriff will be here in a minute.  Do you want to sit down?  You look like you’re going to fall
over,” he told her.

Brooke had enough and told him so, “I don’t know what sort of game you’re playing, but I’d appreciate you leaving my property and never returning.”

The man named Chase frowned at her before he said, “I can’t do that.  The sheriff said to stay right here, both of us.  But afterwards, I’d be more than happy to leave and promise to never set foot on your precious property again.  Shame on your parents for not teaching you kindness towards others,” Chase was also angry.  He wanted to be left alone himself, but he refused to give in to someone so rude.

Before Brooke formed a come
-back for this, she heard the gravel crunch as a vehicle pulled up out front.  She walked around the cottage to the front yard, as her mind filled with unpleasant thoughts.  She vaguely noticed that the man named Chase followed her with his dog now on the leash.

The sheriff stepped up to the two and said, “I understand some bloody plastic was found in your back
-yard.”

“Sheriff, I think you were misinformed.  It’s plastic with dirt.  I’m not sure where this guy gets the idea that there’s blood on the sheet of plastic,” Brooke said
, as she pointed towards Chase.

The sheriff let go of a short laugh before he said, “
Might be because Chase has seen his share of dried blood splattered on objects.  If you don’t mind, I’d like to see for myself.”

“Right this way,” Chase said as he led the sheriff around the back
-yard and to the garden.

Brooke joined them soon after.  She was still digesting the words spoken by the sheriff.  What kind of man saw lots of blood splatter in his life?  Was Chase a cop?

The sheriff bent over to inspect the piece of plastic.  As he stood up, he said, “I think you’re right, Chase.  Looks like blood to me, but I’ll get it to the lab and see if they confirm my finding.”

Brooke gave Chase a confused look before she asked, “Are you a cop too?”

The sheriff chuckled, and Brooke noticed the man’s large belly jiggled when he did.  He looked like any other rural area sheriff, over weight and laid-back, but not dumb.

The sheriff stopped laughing and
answered for Chase, “Naw, Chase here isn’t a cop.  He used to work in forensics until he got tired of all the evil in the world and came here to get away from it all.”

“Sheriff, I worked in this garden yesterday
, planting, and there was not any plastic here then.  I thought maybe my aunt buried some in the garden to keep the weeds out, but I now remember there wasn’t any plastic when I planted.  Where did it come from?”  Brooke asked.

“You can see the ground is disturbed in this whole area,” Chase answered.

“Yes, from your dog.  It wasn’t this way yesterday,” Brooke stated.

“I’ll take a look around and then I’ll bag up that plastic and take it with me to the lab
,” the sheriff told Brooke and Chase.

As the sheriff walked around
, Brooke felt worse by the minute.  She never in her life intentionally treated others unkindly.  She knew she owed Chase an apology, but found it stuck in her throat.

She tried harder and finally forced the words out, “Chase, I’m sorry for the way I spoke to you.  It’s just that I moved here to get away from everyone, and
to be left alone.  I wasn’t happy to have my short-lived peace and quiet ruined by a strange man and his dog.  But, please accept my apology.”

Chase smiled as he said, “I, of all people can understand
. But please, when our paths cross..,and I know they will, be kind. And also, you might want to smile occasionally.  I find it helps.”

“
Ms. Laine, do you keep the shed locked?” the sheriff interrupted.

“Yes, and I know I locked it yesterday when I placed all the tools I used inside.  Why are you asking?”  Brooke asked.

“The lock is busted and lying on the ground.  Could you check and see if anything’s missing?” the sheriff asked.

“Sure, but I didn’t take inventory of the shed.  I only used the ho
e, rake, and shovel that stand right inside the door,” Brooke answered.

When Brooke lo
oked inside the shed, she saw that the shovel was placed to the back of the shed, not right inside the door as she left it.  “I put all three of them right inside the door, standing up.  The shovel is not where I put it when I finished with it yesterday.  Who would break into my shed, and why would they break into it?” she asked.

“Guess we’ll have to wait to answer those questions till later
.  I’ll be on my way now.  Good to see you again, Chase.  I will see you again, Ms. Laine,” the sheriff said before he picked up the brown bag with the plastic sheet inside and walked back to his car.

“Well, Ms. Laine, or do you have a first name that I can call you?”  Chase asked.

“It’s Brooke.  My name is Brooke,” she said.

“Well, Brooke, I guess mine and Digger’s damage here is done for the day.  I’ll fill in the hole and get this unmanageable four
-legged beast back home.  I’m sorry if we ruined your morning,” Chase said, as Brooke walked back inside her cottage.

She wasn’t sure what
to make of Chase. He seemed to be smiling as he teased her, before she left him in the yard to repair the damage his dog had caused.  She wanted no complications in her life.  Although she admitted to herself that Chase was very good looking, in a rugged sort of way, she wanted no part of him or his dog.  She hoped he got the message.