Dyer Consequences (12 page)

“Awwww, I sure wish I could come, Kelly, but I’ve scheduled tonight to start sorting through tax stuff. I’ve gotta get everything in order before I dump it all on your desk. I don’t want you to drop me as a client the first time out.” Her warm chuckle sounded.

“No hurry, Jayleen, it’s still February,” Kelly said, glancing at her watch. It was time to leave if she wanted to see Carl during visiting hours. “Give me a call after you and the guy take a look in the canyon. I’ll let Bobby know you folks will be there.”

“Will do. I think we’ve got a couple of days yet before the next snowstorm hits. Talk to you later.”

Kelly shoved the colorful scarf into her bag. More snow, huh? Boy, she definitely wasn’t used to these Colorado winters. It had been snowing nearly every week since before Christmas. Sounded like she’d need that knitted hat after all.

“What? Pepperoni is gone, again?” Steve cried as he reached toward the open pizza boxes scattered across the littered library table.

“Marty ate it all. I saw him,” Greg said before demolishing the last bite of a pepperoni-laden slice. Removing the evidence.

“Naw. I only ate half,” Marty replied with his good-natured grin as he leaned back in his chair. “Besides, what’s that you’re shoving into your mouth?”

Kelly noticed the casual way Marty draped his arm on the back of Megan’s chair as she sat beside him.
Atta boy, Marty,
Kelly thought with a grin. Earlier in the evening, Marty caught her eye and winked. Kelly gave the amiable redhead a surreptitious thumbs-up in encouragement.

“Folks, there are four more boxes of pizza, so not to worry,” Burt said from his spot at the end of the table next to Mimi.

Kelly was relieved to see Mimi relaxing around the crowded knitting table with shop family and friends. Burt was right. This was exactly what Mimi needed. She had even laughed out loud when tall, skinny Marty grabbed the first pizza box and started racing around the shop, Greg in hot pursuit.

“How many pizzas did you bring?” Lisa asked.

“Ten. Two for Marty, and the rest for us.”

“Two? That’s just an appetizer,” Marty said, playing along.

“Dude, you make a move toward those boxes, and I’m gonna pound you,” Greg threatened, reaching for a slice of double cheese.

Marty cackled, arms behind his head in a trademark pose. “Gotta catch me first.”

“You couldn’t catch him before you started eating, Greg. What makes you think you can catch him now?” Megan said with a laugh, cheeks flushed.

“Hey, I’m gaining my strength,” Greg replied, before gobbling the cheesy slice.

“Boy, I hope you guys saved some for Pete,” Jennifer said as she returned to the table.

Mimi glanced over her shoulder. “Where is Pete, anyway? Oh, dear, is he still working?”

Jennifer nibbled her half-eaten pizza before answering. “He kept promising to come and then he’d find something else to do. So I finally enlisted ‘Sheriff’ Curt’s help.”

Kelly drained her soda and leaned back against Steve’s arm, which was draped around her chair. “What’s Curt going to do, lasso Pete and drag him in?”

“Whatever it takes . . . hey, here he is,” Jennifer said, pointing toward the archway leading to the main room. Pete approached, Curt Stackhouse close behind. “You can remand him into my custody, Sheriff Curt. I’ll keep an eye on him.” She pulled out the chair beside her.

“Sorry, folks. It’s hard for me to get away sometimes,” Pete said with a sheepish grin as he sat down.

“Did you have to lasso him, Curt?” Kelly teased the silver-haired rancher.

“Nope, Pete was real cooperative. I told him everybody was waiting on him to start eating.” He cast an appreciative eye about the empty pizza boxes. “Looks like you folks just made a liar out of me.”

Pete laughed and reached for a slice. “I know this crew, Curt. When there’s food around, they wait for each other like one pig waits for another.”

“Hey, don’t get personal,” Jennifer said, giving Pete a gentle poke.

“Looks like we need more,” Steve said as he retrieved two additional pizzas from a corner table that had been temporarily cleared of winter yarns.

“Pete, you’ve gotta learn to relax,” Curt advised as he helped open the boxes. The heady aroma of oregano and cheese and pepperoni floated through the air.

“Well, I had promised myself I would, but that was before the chaos happened.” Pete accepted a can of soda.

“
You
, relax?” Jennifer looked askance. “That’ll be the day.”

“Hey, I was going to, honest.” Pete’s genial grin spread across his face as he brushed that wayward lock of blond hair off his forehead. “Incidentally, I want to thank you two again for all your help cleaning the café.” He held up his soda. “To Jennifer and Kelly. Cleaning supersquad. We couldn’t have reopened as soon as we did without you.”

“That’s what friends are for, Pete,” Kelly said, acknowledging the lifted soda cans.

“Kelly had even more incentive, Pete. The thought of doing without your coffee for another day struck sheer terror into her heart,” Jennifer said.

“Well, I want to thank all of you, too. For everything you did to put the shop back together again,” Mimi said when the laughter died down. “I cannot tell you how much it means to me.”

Kelly listened to the outpouring of affection directed toward Mimi, who sat, flushed with pleasure, as her friends spoke up. Draining the last of her soda, Kelly was about to ask Pete to hand her one from the box behind him, until she saw the look on his face.

Pete was watching Jennifer. But that wasn’t what caught Kelly’s attention. It was the expression on Pete’s face. It didn’t last long. Only an instant. But Kelly saw it. She’d seen that look on Pete’s face before. She’d caught him staring at Jennifer before with that same look. An unmistakable look of longing.

Fleeting and camouflaged well, it was gone in a second. Pete turned his attention to someone else around the table, joining in the fun.

Kelly reached for another slice of cheesy pizza and smiled to herself.
Well, well, well.

Burt’s voice broke through. “I guess this is as good a time as any to bring in dessert.”

“Please, no, I’ve gained enough already,” Jennifer said, before taking another bite of pizza.

“Dessert? Where’d you put it? We only cleared off that table,” Rosa said, pointing to the corner.

Steve grinned. “It’s outside in my truck, staying safe.”

“It’s freezing outside,” Kelly said, astonished. “What’d you bring, ice cream?”

“Nope. I brought our favorite. Chocolate raspberry torte from the French bakery.” He gave her a wink.

“Hel-
lo
!” Marty said, springing from his chair. “I’ll bring it in, Steve. Don’t lift a finger.”

“The hell you will,” Greg countered, dropping the pizza slice and scraping back his chair. “There’s no way we’re letting you within ten feet of that chocolate cake.”

“Two cakes, actually,” Steve said, egging them on for a second. “But since it’s my truck, I pick who gets to go. And I pick Curt and Burt to guard the tortes.”

“We’re on it,” Burt said as he and Curt headed from the room to the sound of laughter.

“Hey, Kelly, how’s Carl?” Rosa asked.

“He’s doing great. In fact, the doctor said I could bring him home tomorrow.”

“Really? Are you going to keep him inside?” Lisa asked.

“Absolutely. In fact, you may not see me in the shop as much for a while. I want to keep a close eye on him.”

“Why don’t you bring Carl over here, Kelly?” Mimi suggested, arms folded on the table. “He’ll be okay, I’m sure.”

Kelly rolled her eyes. “I’m sure he won’t. This is Carl, remember? He has no manners. He doesn’t know how to behave. He’ll be into the yarn bins, sniffing everything; he’ll jump up on customers with those big Rottie feet. I’m used to it, but other people . . . no way.”

Rosa leaned over the table and gave Kelly a warm smile. “Kelly, I can help you with Carl. I teach dog obedience classes, too. I’ll be glad to help train Carl. Once he learns to behave, he’ll be fine in the shop.”

Kelly stared at Rosa as if she’d sprouted another head. “Oh, I don’t know, Rosa . . . this is Carl we’re talking about.”

Rosa laughed indulgently. “Believe me, Kelly, I’ve trained some pretty difficult dogs. Carl is a sugar bear. He’ll be an easy train.”

“I don’t know . . . ,” she hedged again, trying to picture Carl obeying commands. It wouldn’t come into focus.

“Why don’t you give it a try?” Steve suggested. “Can’t hurt. Give the big guy a chance.”

“Trust me, Kelly, he’ll be fine,” Rosa promised.

Kelly was spared from answering by the arrival of the chocolate raspberry tortes and the chocoholic chaos that ensued.

“The squirrels have missed you, Carl. See, they’re waving their tails,” Kelly teased, watching the chorus line of squirrels scamper along the fence top, just out of reach.

Carl galumphed through the foot-deep snow in a valiant race to the fence, but the squirrels were quicker. They reached the ground and skittered across the snow, heading for the nearby cottonwood tree by the time Carl made it to the fence.

“It’s hard to chase squirrels in the snow,” Kelly commiserated as Carl stood barking at the cottonwood branches above. “Don’t worry. Spring will come one of these days.”

Kelly leaned her head back and let snowflakes fall on her face. Big, fat flakes—falling thick and fast. The storm front had moved in overnight, and she awoke to see at least four inches of new snow accumulated on the glass patio table, which served as her measuring stick. Of course, that was on top of the six inches or so of snow already on the ground. And it was still snowing. Kelly’s morning run had turned to a slog along the river trail.

She gazed about the golf course, the trees bordering the Poudre River, the buildings across the street—all blanketed in white. Smothered. She could barely make out the buildings along the edge of Old Town. The low ridge of mountains, or foothills, had disappeared completely. Swallowed up by the snow.

Standing on her patio, Kelly pulled her hood back and listened to the quiet. She barely heard the traffic from the surrounding streets. That was the most fascinating thing about snow. It smothered sound. Everything was suddenly peaceful.

Even Carl had stopped barking. Watching her dog sniff and poke his way around the snowy backyard, Kelly could tell he didn’t have his usual go-go energy. It would take a while for him to get his strength back, the vet had said. Right now, Kelly was simply happy to have him home. And if that meant she’d be standing in the snow, in the rain, and in the freezing cold countless times a day while Carl went outside, it was a small price to pay to keep him safe.

The muffled sound of her cell phone ringing from her coat pocket broke the blanket of silence. “Kelly here.”

“Kelly, this is Bobby. I figured I’d better call right away. I just got here to feed the animals, and I spotted some smoke coming from the barn—”

“Smoke! Oh, no...” Kelly interrupted. “Is there a fire?”

“It wasn’t a big one, so I was able to put it out. Looks like someone poured kerosene on hay inside the barn. It was mostly just smoking when I got there.”

The peacefulness was gone. “Did they leave a gas can, by any chance?” she asked, remembering the developer’s experience.

“Gas can? No, ma’am. Smelled like kerosene to me. There’s some on the shelf for the lanterns.”

The cold fist in her stomach tightened. She was right. All of this was linked to the canyon ranch. “Bobby, did you see anyone around when you came? Maybe parked along the road or something? Anyone walking along the road?”

“No, I sure didn’t. You know, ma’am . . . uh, Kelly, I think you should tell the police. I mean, considering all that’s been happening up here. What with that real estate fella and the nice lady from Ohio and her little dog. That liked to make me sick hearing about it. I . . . I don’t know what to make of it all.”

“Neither do I, Bobby,” Kelly confessed. “Listen, would you consider moving into the ranch house for a few weeks until I can sort this out and figure out what’s happening? That way you could keep an eye on the place. With this storm now, I won’t be able to get up into the canyon for a couple of days.”

“Sure, ma’am, I’d be glad to keep watch over the place for you. Matter of fact, it would save me on my rent. So it would help me out. I’d be able to get into town for my classes earlier, too.”

Kelly exhaled a relieved sigh. “Thanks, Bobby. I really appreciate it. And if you hear or see anything or anyone suspicious, call me right away, will you?”

“Don’t worry, I will. And don’t you even think about driving up here until this storm’s over and they’ve cleared the roads. It was slippery for me this morning, and I’ve got my truck.”

“Don’t worry. I know what those roads are like in the snow. The storm is supposed to be over by tomorrow morning, so I’ll see what it looks like by the weekend. And Bobby, thanks so much for agreeing to stay at the ranch. That makes me feel much better.”

“Glad to, ma’am. But I still think you should call the police.”

“I will, Bobby. You bet I will.”

Kelly sipped from her coffee mug, steam rising out of the small opening, as she stood by the edge of the snow-blanketed flower beds beside Lambspun’s front steps. Rosa was walking Carl back and forth along the front patio and porch, stopping every twenty paces, instructing him to “sit.”

At first, Carl seemed clueless as to the point of Rosa’s behavior. But after a few times around the porch and some quick tugs on the training collar, Carl got it. He sat. Every time Rosa stopped, Carl sat. Kelly was shocked.

Not only did Carl obey Rosa’s verbal commands, but he began watching her hand signals as well. He sat. And when Rosa began walking again, Carl was up and beside her left knee, whether Rosa had ordered him to “heel” or simply patted her left leg. He obeyed. Would wonders never cease? Carl was trainable.