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“Did he mention to you that they’ve identified one of the skeletons that was found here?”
Tony sat up straighter in the chair. “No, in fact I asked him if there was anything new on the case and he told me there wasn’t.”
“He must have gotten this news after he saw you,” Adam replied. “He was here at dinnertime asking if anyone remembered a fifteen-year-old boy named Tim Hankins.”
Tony frowned. “We’ve all told him over and over again that there were no other boys here other than the twelve of us.”
“Well, apparently Tim Hankins was here at one time or another, since his bones were found under the shed and his skull was the one Dusty fished out of the pond,” Clay replied.
Tony’s blood chilled as he remembered the day Dusty had brought his girlfriend, Trisha, and her young son to the pond for a day of fishing fun only to have it tainted by the gruesome catch.
When the bones had initially been dug up and studied by Dr. Patience Forbes, it had been discovered that a skull and finger bones were absent. Dusty had found the skull in the pond, but the finger bones had yet to be found.
“Was he a lost boy, too?” Tony asked.
Adam nodded. “According to Dillon he was a runaway from Tulsa.”
“I wonder how he got here from Tulsa,” Tony said.
“I wonder who killed him and all those others with an ax or a meat cleaver to the back of their heads,” Sawyer replied in a darkly somber tone.
The men were all silent for several long moments and Tony knew they were thinking about the seven boys who had been murdered right here on the property so many years ago.
The worst part of it all was the thread of suspicion that had been planted among the men who had basically grown up together, the men Tony considered his brothers. Everyone knew that Dillon suspected one of them of being the potential killer.
Tony had no idea what the others thought, but he couldn’t believe any of the other men who worked on the Holiday ranch were capable of such a heinous act. He definitely didn’t want to believe it.
“Did Dillon talk to Francine Rogers about him?” Tony asked. Francine had been a close friend of Cass’s and was the social worker who had brought all the boys to the Holiday ranch for a chance at a new life.
“I asked him that and he said Francine has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and has no real memories or notes from fifteen years ago,” Adam replied.
Tony sighed in frustration. Everyone wanted this solved to lift the pall that had settled over the ranch since the skeletons had been found.
“I think it’s time for me to call it a night,” Adam said and got up from his chair.
“Yeah, me, too. Morning comes early.” Mac stood from the sofa and grabbed his guitar.
Clay and Tony followed them out of the building and then Adam locked the door. Cord Cully, aka Cookie, would open the dining room door again in the morning when he came in to fix them all their morning meal.
They talked about chores for the next day as they went around the building and then each of them disappeared into their respective rooms.
Tony walked into his and spied a yellow baby blanket that must have fallen out of the suitcase before he’d packed it up to take it to Mary. It was a bright splash of sunshine against his dark brown bedspread.
He picked it up and then sat on the edge of his bed and thought about the baby who might or might not be his. He couldn’t quite believe Amy had gotten pregnant by him, although he supposed she could have lied to him about being on the pill and it wasn’t unheard of for a condom to break.
He’d never wanted to be a father, but if Joey was his, then Tony would man up and try to be a decent parent. It was the right thing to do.
What he didn’t want was in any way to get attached to him without knowing the truth. Amy could reappear at any moment and confess to him that the baby wasn’t his. She could snatch him away and Tony would never see him again.
First thing in the morning he’d make an appointment to take Joey into Dr. Rivers’s for a checkup, and while he was there, he’d have the doctor do a DNA test.
The odds were Amy would be back long before the test results ever came in, but at least Tony would have the peace of mind in knowing the truth.
If he didn’t hear anything from Amy by Tuesday night, then first thing Wednesday morning he’d have a talk with Dillon and see if he knew a private investigator who worked the Oklahoma City area.
He folded the baby blanket and placed it next to his hat and his gun and holster on the top of the chest of drawers, then took off his clothes and got into bed.
He stared up at the dark ceiling as his mind worked to process everything that had happened since the night before, when the frantic knock had sounded at his door.
An unusually high level of adrenaline had gotten him through the day and now his body relaxed into the familiar mattress as a wave of exhaustion overtook him.
He closed his eyes and was almost asleep when a disturbing thought stabbed through his brain. He hadn’t mentioned Amy’s parting words to Mary.
Protect him from evil.
* * *
“You are such a happy baby,” Mary said to Joey as she changed him into a clean white T-shirt and a pair of tiny jeans. Joey gurgled and cooed and then laughed in response.
Tony had called earlier to tell her that he’d made a four-thirty appointment with Dr. Rivers to give the baby a checkup. It was now four fifteen and she expected Tony to arrive at any moment.
First thing that morning Mary had gotten on her computer and printed off a sample sleep-and-feeding schedule for a three-month-old. None of them knew for sure exactly how old Joey was, but according to everything she had read he was doing things that a three-to four-month-old would do.
Halena had laughed at her for needing a piece of paper to take care of a baby, but Mary hadn’t been around many babies before and certainly had never been in charge of one. Even though this was a temporary arrangement, she didn’t want to screw things up.
She scooped up Joey from her bed and went into the kitchen, where Halena was on dinner duty for the night. Ground beef, onions and spices simmered in a skillet. “Hmm, something smells good.”
“Enchilada pie and it will be ready around five thirty,” Halena said and picked up a wooden spoon to stir the meat.
“That should be perfect,” Mary replied. “Tony should be back from the appointment by then.” She was unsurprised by Halena’s choice of a dish. Halena loved Mexican food as much as she loved action movies, and on the nights she cooked, the fare was always from south of the border.
A knock sounded on the door. “That should be Tony,” Mary said. Just knowing she was going to see him danced a bit of shimmering light through her, a light she didn’t want to shine at all.
She opened the door and Joey laughed and leaned out of her arms toward him. “Whoa,” she said and tightened her grip around his sturdy little body. “Hi, Tony. I know you need to get to the doctor’s office. The car seat is in the spare room if you want to get it.”
“I’ll just go grab it.” He swept by her and she caught the scent of minty soap and the pleasant cologne she’d noticed the day before.
He returned with the car seat in hand. “I’ll carry him out,” she said.
He stared at her, his dark eyes radiating both surprise and a touch of alarm. “You aren’t coming with me?”
“I hadn’t planned on it. Tony, I’m just the babysitter,” she reminded him.
“Of course,” he replied.
She carried Joey out to his truck, where he secured the car seat in the back of the king cab. “You’ll be fine,” she said as she handed Joey to him and watched as he buckled in the boy. “And dinner will be ready when you get back here. I hope you like Mexican. Grandmother made an enchilada pie.”
He nodded. “Sounds terrific. I’ll see you in a little while.” He got into the truck and pulled out of the driveway.
“It was a good decision for you not to go,” Halena said when Mary returned to the house. “It’s important for you to remember your place in all this.”
“I know.” Mary sank down in a chair at the table. “But it’s difficult to maintain distance when Joey is so beautiful and happy and obviously bright.”
“And he’ll be gone before too long.”
Mary eyed her grandmother with a touch of amusement. “But didn’t I see you leaning over his playpen at nap time whispering to him?”
Halena frowned. “You shouldn’t be spying on an old woman.”
Mary laughed and then sobered. “Don’t worry, I’m very aware that this is all temporary. In a couple of days things will be back to normal.”
Halena grinned at her, the familiar wicked twinkle in her eyes. “Normal has never had a place in our home.”
Mary laughed again and then together they made a big salad to go with the evening meal. Talk of Tony and the baby was replaced by conversation about the craft fair that was approaching far too quickly.
It was five fifteen when there was a knock at the door once again. Tony was back and Joey was asleep in the car seat. “He got a clean bill of health,” he said in obvious relief. “And I had Dr. Rivers do a paternity test.”
“How long does it take to get the results back?” Mary asked. How she wished being in his presence didn’t free more than a few butterflies to whirl around in her stomach. This whole arrangement would be easier if she didn’t find Tony so darned attractive.
“Four to six weeks,” he replied. “No matter what happens with Amy, I need to know if I’m his father.”
“Of course you do. Now, come into the kitchen. Grandmother has dinner ready to go on the table.”
He followed her into the kitchen, where Halena already sat in her chair. “I can tell by the light in your eyes that things went well at the doctor’s,” she said to Tony. “I could have told you there was nothing wrong with that child. His eyes are clear and his spirit is eager to embrace life.”
Tony nodded and sat down. “Dr. Rivers assured me of the same thing.”
Halena nodded. “The leaves on the trees told me the baby was fine. The tree leaves often tell me important things.”
Tony nodded and shot a quick, uncertain glance at Mary. She simply smiled. If he was around for any length of time, then he would quickly learn Halena’s quirks.
He eyed the food on the table. “It looks like Mary isn’t the only one who knows her way around a kitchen. Everything looks delicious.”
“Praise will get you nowhere with me,” Halena replied, but Mary could tell her grandmother was pleased.
What pleased Halena even more was that Tony was a movie buff, too. He told them that sometimes in the evenings the men at the ranch all gathered in the recreation room and watched DVDs until bedtime.
Mary listened in amusement as the two talked about failed plots, silly characters and unrealistic action scenes in some of the movies they’d both watched.
For the first time she saw Tony completely animated. The spark in his eyes and the wide smile that curved his lips drew her in. She shouldn’t enjoy looking at him so much, and she definitely shouldn’t be enjoying his company.
“Those kick-butt heroines they have in some of the movies today don’t have anything over this old woman,” Halena said. “I can use my broom as a lethal weapon against marauding raccoons and other wild animals. My shotgun stays next to my bed and I can hit anything I aim at.”
She turned to look at Mary. “Maybe I need to get me a pair of those stiletto heels that actresses wear in the movies.”
Mary looked at her in horror. “I’m not sure that’s a great idea, Grandmother. You rock your flip-flops and tennis shoes just fine.”
Halena lifted her chin proudly. “I rock everything I wear just fine.”
Dinner finished and, as if on cue, Joey cried out, ready for his bottle. While Mary cleaned up the dishes, Tony prepared a bottle and went into the living room and Halena went to her room to write her evening blog.
It would be easy to fall into a crazy fantasy of a strong, handsome male taking care of the baby in the evenings while Mary attended to the dinner dishes.
It would be far too easy to imagine the two of them tucking the baby into bed for the night and then going into their own bedroom to make love and sleep in each other’s arms.
Once upon a time Mary had entertained those kinds of dreams, but over the years they had been stolen from her by a ravaging disease and bitter life experiences.
She couldn’t fall into any sort of romantic fantasies. It would be foolish, and Mary was no fool. She knew who and what she was and it was nothing any man would ever want.
When she went into the living room, Tony had finished with the bottle and Joey was ready for a little playtime. She took the blanket from the back of the sofa and spread it on the floor and then put the boy down with a few of his toys in front of him.
“He doesn’t seem to miss Amy,” Tony said. Joey raised his head and looked at Tony, then grinned and released a string of jabber along with a bit of drool.
“He also seems to have bonded pretty quickly to you.” She sat down next to him on the sofa. “What made you decide you didn’t want children?” she asked curiously. He was a young, vital man who appeared to have all the qualities that would make a wonderful father.
“I don’t want to get married. That’s one reason why I never wanted kids. I also didn’t have a father when I was growing up, so I had no role model to know how to do it right. What about you? Are you close to your parents?”
She had a feeling he’d changed the focus from him to her intentionally. “My mother died of breast cancer when I was eight and then my father was killed in a car accident when I was nine. Halena raised me and she’s been like a mother and a father to me.”
“And now you’re raising her,” he replied.
She laughed. “Don’t let her hear you say that.” She sobered. “It’s the way it’s supposed to be. Our parents teach us to use a spoon to eat and how to walk and as they age into their twilight years it’s our turn to help them use a spoon and to walk. It’s a circle of love.”
He gazed back at Joey, a muscle ticking in his strong jawline. “He’s so small and helpless.”
“He’s like a blank page waiting to be written on,” she said softly. “If you’re his father, then what will you write in his book of life?”
Before he could reply, Halena came into the room and Joey fell back asleep for a quick nap. The rest of the evening passed quickly as Halena took center stage and entertained Tony with stories about her interactions with her blog readers.
“People just get crazy when they go on social media,” she said. “They post pictures and say things they’d never talk about in real life. It’s quite a strange phenomenon.”
“I don’t do social media,” Tony replied. “I don’t think any of us men at the ranch even own one of those smartphones. As far as I’m concerned, my phone is for calls and nothing else.” He frowned. “I wonder if Amy does social media.”
“She used to have a Facebook page,” Mary replied. She got up from the sofa and grabbed her laptop from the top of the nearby small desk. She sat back down next to Tony and powered it on.
As she logged in, he scooted closer to her side, so close that his thigh pressed against hers, so close that her heartbeat quickened and once again she felt as if she wasn’t getting quite enough oxygen.
“Hopefully she’s posted something that will give us some answers as to where she might be now,” he said.
Mary clicked on the site and then pulled up Amy’s page. There was the familiar picture of her friend, but there was also a notice that if she wanted to see any personal information about Amy she had to send a friend request.
“She must have unfriended me at some point in time,” Mary said with a sigh of disappointment.
“Why would she do that?” he asked, obvious frustration in his voice.
Mary shut down her computer and rose once again, needing to distance herself from his intimate proximity. “She’s done it before in the past. Whenever she goes off the deep end and starts using drugs again, she cuts off all contact with me.”
“Amy is by nature a people pleaser, and when she is doing things she knows Mary disapproves of, she hides,” Halena said.
