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“I do plan to contact a locksmith,” she assured him with a more serious look.
Colby liked her smile. “Did you have fun at my expense?”
“A little.” She reached for the doorknob, opened the door but paused. “You’ve been warned about me, haven’t you?”
He’d never put much faith in anything Henry said. My mother thinks you’re the best thing that’s happened to this town.”
A smile sprang to her face. “You’re kidding?”
“A breath of fresh air.”
“If only everyone thought that way,” she said wistfully.
“Tessa, is that you?” The blonde with the singsong voice charged into the storeroom. The moment she spotted him, she skidded to a stop. “Oh, hi.”
Colby grinned. She looked surprised and flustered. Hi.” He’d had his share of rodeo groupies. It harmed no one for him to be pleasant.
Tessa lifted a brow but said nothing about her assistant’s reaction. “I didn’t think you’d still be here, Marla.”
“Jolie and I were talking after I locked up. She wants to know if you think her ghost will like—”
Another voice interrupted. “Oh, don’t bother her now.” A carrot-colored redhead stood in the doorway that connected the storeroom to the front of the store. “Come on, Marla,” Jolie said, and snagged the younger woman’s arm to pull her into the store.
Colby waited until they were alone. “Her ghost?”
“She has a friendly one.”
“Is there such a thing?”
“Some spirits are malevolent.”
“How do you know if…” He stopped himself, not believing he was having a conversation about ghosts.
“I hope Marla and Jolie didn’t make you uncomfortable. They aren’t too subtle about their matchmaking. And they’re always trying to find me my soul mate.” A hint of humor sparkled in her eyes. “Regina, Marla’s sister, assured me that love would only happen if it’s in the stars.”
In the stars. That kind of thinking belonged to a romantic. He wasn’t one of them. “Isn’t there some guy somewhere?”
“No, there isn’t. Do you want to get the desk?”
“Sure.” Before stepping away, he touched a corner of the old desk. “What about this one?”
“I’m moving it outside behind the store. The neighbor two doors down wants it.”
Colby spent the next few moments transferring desks. After moving the new one inside, he left to take the other one to her neighbor. The man rattled off a dozen thank-yous before Colby left. Returning to Tessa’s store, he found her on the phone, frowning.
She set down the receiver, offered a weak smile. “Thank you for helping with the desks.”
“It’s okay.” She had trouble, had no good reason to share it with him, but she looked as if she needed a sympathetic shoulder. “You have a problem?”
“You’ll probably hear about it.” She set a cup with a whimsical drawing of a black cat on the desk. “That was my landlady. Esther Dugan.”
Esther had been his fourth-grade teacher. Never had he heard her say a harsh word to anyone. “I didn’t know she owned the place.” He wandered to a counter. “Sweet lady,” he said, staring at a deck of tarot cards.
“I always thought so. She’s also malleable.” She strained for a smile. “It’s not your problem.”
He turned and perched on the edge of the desk. “I asked.”
She shrugged. “She informed me that the rent is being raised and is due at the first of next month. I doubt I can pay that much of an increase. Perhaps six months from now when my business is more established and Mystic Treasures becomes known in Whitehorn and Billings.”
“But not yet?”
“No. Eventually I’d hoped to buy the house.” She plopped pens and pencils into the cup. “I’m sure that Leone Burton influenced her. She’s Esther’s sister-in-law. Leone came in to see me and—”
“She came in here?” He couldn’t hide his incredulity. Set in her ways, even a touch narrow-minded, Leone came across as a lot older than fifty-something. She looked old-fashioned from her hairstyle, something that resembled a bun on the top of her head, to the laced-up shoes she always wore. In Colby’s opinion, she’d be one of the last people in town to buy a crystal for seeing into the future.
“She’s on a crusade to close my business.”
Colby didn’t doubt Leone could manage to do that. Looking down, he stared at one of the tarot cards of two nudes. The Lovers was printed in bold black letters at the bottom of the card. Crazy. This was crazy. Too easily even he could fall beneath her whimsical spell. Annoyed, he dropped the lover’s card. He wanted no part of love again. And he couldn’t worry about her. He was here for his mother’s sake. She was the one he needed to think about. “What’s this?” He fingered a small vial of purple-colored liquid. “A love potion?”
“Are you in need of one?”
Over his shoulder, he sent her a you’ve-got-to-be-kidding look. “So what is this?”
“That’s bath oil. It soothes. Relaxes sore muscles.”
He grinned with a thought. “I’ve had more than my share of those.” Facing her, he fished in his shirt pocket to withdraw photographs. It was time to force the issue. “Here. Look at the photos of my aunt, see what happens.”
“Colby, I meant what I said earlier.”
“That was then. Now you have a problem. And I have a solution. Two weeks,” he said. He offered a generous amount of money for two weeks of her time, knew she needed it badly. “Think about it.”
He didn’t play fair. She could ignore his challenge but not the money. It would take care of the financial problem Esther had dropped in her lap. Still, during the two weeks he’d requested, her whole world could crumble around her. While she tried to identify Harriet’s killer, she’d give Leone an opportunity to criticize her more, convince people she was a bad element for their town.
She placed a Closed sign in the store window, then returned to the table and spread out the photographs. The possibility existed that she might not see anything. She never could be certain she’d be able to help and she never knew how much pain she might feel.
Why hadn’t she handed the photographs back to him? Why had she mentioned the mare, a pale beige horse with a white mane and tail? She’d made a mistake mentioning that horse. She’d had no reason to show off except to convince him she had power. Why was easy to answer. The attraction for Colby had descended on her so quickly, so intensely she’d had no chance to block it. It didn’t matter that she hardly knew him or that they probably had nothing in common or that he belonged to a different world.
Most of all, he belonged.
And she was an outsider. She’d hoped if she didn’t use her psychic ability she’d have a better chance at acceptance, would be able to stay in Rumor, make friends.
One of those friends was Louise Holmes, she reminded herself. How could she not help a friend? She placed fingers on one of the photos but felt nothing. She didn’t think the photographs were recent enough to give her a clue about Harriet’s killer.
If Winona Cobb and Crystal had been home, Tessa would have driven to Whitehorn to visit them, to see if they’d be more receptive. Like her, they’d weathered a storm of criticism because of psychic powers, but they and Crystal’s husband, Deputy Sloan Ravencrest, were on vacation in California. So she’d try again. Stare harder. Let emotions radiate from the photos.
One of them was of Harriet decorating a Christmas tree. The ornament in her hand was a brass horn with a red-and-green plaid ribbon. Tessa closed her eyes. A foggy vision appeared of a young woman in a Victorian dress. An heirloom, Tessa guessed about the ornament. She felt peace. Joy. Love.
Another photograph was of Harriet and Louise smiling, sitting under a patio umbrella, frosty glasses of iced tea on the round table before them. A warm summer’s breeze rustled leaves on the trees behind them. Tessa smelled lilacs, sensed affection and love between the sisters.
In the third photograph, Harriet and Henry, the town’s mayor years ago, stood before the library. It appeared to be a dedication of some sort. Harriet was distracted. Boredom? Tessa couldn’t pinpoint the woman’s feelings.
For forty minutes, she concentrated on the photographs, but nothing about them helped her name Harriet’s killer.
The roll of her stomach reminded her that she hadn’t eaten since breakfast. She gathered the photographs, set them on the kitchen table, then headed upstairs. She changed into a peach-colored, scooped-neck T-shirt, jeans and sneakers.
Half an hour ago, a drizzle had begun. Now rain plopped in a light but steady syncopated beat on the sidewalk outside her store.
After snatching her umbrella, she dashed to the van. Branches swayed beneath an angry wind. Storms rarely bothered her, but the day had carried more turmoil than usual. She was edgy. The moment she slid behind the steering wheel, she hit the button for her CD player.
As she drove, fingers of lightning reached downward, brightening the street with eerie flashes. Thunder rumbled, overpowering the lilting sounds of flutes and a Celtic melody.
She slowed the van, peered between the swishing windshield wipers, checked her rearview mirror for cars behind her. One followed at a distance. She passed the Calico Diner. Through one of the trailer’s windows, she saw a server. Her dark hair shone beneath the lights. Tessa had planned on going in for a hamburger, but judging by the cars parked in the dirt lot outside the trailer with its fifties decor, the diner was crowded. She wasn’t in the mood for that many people. She turned off the town’s main street. She’d head home and search her refrigerator for dinner.
The headlights of the car behind her glared in her rearview mirror. She squinted. Was that the same car? Why would it be?
In a test of sorts, she sped up. The car closed in. Tightly she clutched the steering wheel. As she turned down another side street, the car followed. Why was someone following her? Though some people indicated displeasure about her store, no one had ever threatened her.
Yet earlier, while she’d looked at antiques, an uneasy sensation had crept up her spine. Despite the congenial greetings and the laughter generously sprinkled among conversations, people had seemed jumpy. She’d tried to ignore the feeling. At the time, she’d thought she was feeling their apprehension. But now she knew. There had been more. More than once, she had sensed ill will from someone in the crowd.
Was that person in the car behind her? She maneuvered around another corner and toward Main Street. People. She didn’t want to drive all the way to the Calico Diner. But she needed people. Lots of people.
In the dark confines of the car behind her, desperation seized the driver. No chance could be taken. People were remembering how Winona Cobb’s niece, Crystal, in Whitehorn, who was supposed to be psychic, had helped authorities after the Montgomery girl’s death.
The possibility existed that Tessa Madison, too, had what people called sixth sense. Whatever was necessary had to be done to scare her off.
Her car stayed on Main Street, then turned into the parking lot adjacent to Joe’s Bar. It looked packed with the expected Friday-night crowd. Did she know she was being followed? That was good. If she was scared, she’d back off.
She’d better.
Chapter Three
Her heart pounding, Tessa rushed from her car with keys in one hand and her umbrella in the other. At the door of Joe’s Bar, she glanced at the street. The car drove by. Had she imagined she was being followed? No, don’t doubt yourself. She knew what she’d felt. She knew when to be afraid. And like it or not, she felt shaky. She needed to stay off the street until she’d calmed down.
Inside, the smell of stale tobacco and alcohol hung in the air. The dog greeted Tessa first. A black rottweiler named Joe who liked women. Tessa had gone to the bar with its rustic, dark wood decor only once before with Marla.
Wet from the run in the rain, Tessa dropped to her haunches to pet Joe. As she ran a hand over his silky black coat and patted his head, she scanned the noisy and crowded dimly lit room. She gave the dog a final pat, then weaved her way around tables toward an empty one near a dartboard and the pool table.
“Do you play?”
Instantly relief rushed through her. At the sound of Colby’s voice behind her, she stopped midstride. Until that moment, she hadn’t realized how much she’d needed some one familiar, a friendly face.
He flashed a smile at her. The rodeo champion smile, the smile that must have curled dozens of women’s toes. At the bar, two men whispered. Tessa raised her chin a notch when the buzz of voices increased. Wherever she went in town that happened. She hoped with time that people would get used to seeing her and the whispers would stop.
In a fluid move, Colby passed the end of the bar and elbowed the stomach of a dark-haired cowboy who was perched on a bar stool. He wore the usual garb, a black Stetson, Western work shirt and jeans, but instead of boots, he had on black sneakers with purple stripes. In response to Colby’s good-natured jab, his friend grunted instead of finishing what he’d started to say to his buddy.
“So do you play?” Colby asked again, bringing her attention to him.
Smiling over his friend’s look of surprise, Tessa nodded. She liked the unpredictable and never turned down a reasonable dare. Striding by, she slid the pool stick from Colby’s hand, then leaned over the green felt table. “Are we playing for something?”
Colby racked up the balls. “Beer and a pizza.” To her delight, his voice trailed off as she made the break and sunk a ball into a corner pocket. Two more dropped into a side pocket.
Bent forward over the table, Tessa angled a smile over her shoulder at him. His gaze lingered on her backside in the tight jeans. “If I lose, I pay?” she asked.
He was slow to answer, slow to meet her stare. A woman knew when she was presenting her best side to someone. “No, if I win, I pay,” he finally said.
Tessa couldn’t help smiling even though she missed sinking the next ball. “And if I win?”
“I pay.”
She laughed. “That’s not too logical.”
“Who said I have to be?”
You, she thought, but kept the seriousness at bay. She played to win, and lost only because she was distracted by a waitress and the smell of pizza on a tray. As the aroma of tomatoes and basil and sausage permeated the air, her stomach growled with hunger. “Is that our pizza?”
“You’re drooling,” he teased. “And yes, it’s ours.”
“You won, then.” Tessa was already trailing the waitress to a corner table.
Behind her, she heard his chuckle. “I think you let me.”
He had a nice laugh. A great smile. “How could I do that?” She decided she was definitely in trouble.
Lightly he placed a hand at the small of her back to urge her toward the table. “You didn’t distract me.”
Tessa stifled a pleased grin. “How could I distract you?”
“You moved.”
“That’s your excuse?” With a tsk, she settled on a chair. “What kind of pizza?”
“Cheese and sausage.”
“In Billings, there’s a place that makes tofu pizza.”
He straddled a chair beside hers. “Save me.”
“I guess you don’t like dim sum.”
His brows angled. “I’m a cowboy.”
She couldn’t help laughing.
“Bet you like arty-far—those foreign movies with subtitles, too?”
“Romantic comedies. Sci-fi.”
He made a face. If he’d been trying to find common ground, she thought he’d be wasting his time.
