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Wade shrugged. “I’m being careful, that’s all. Just because she’s out of prison doesn’t mean she didn’t do what put her there in the first place.”
The sheriff grunted and looked over his shoulder. “Just keep your suspicions to yourself. The women in this town will have my badge if they hear I let you get away with that kind of talk. Besides, Jasmine told me about the postcard. She wouldn’t do that if she was planning something.”
Wade picked his hat up from the seat beside him. “The real message Lonnie sent was probably in code so it wouldn’t matter if you did read it. And she probably figured you would find out about the postcard and she told you so you wouldn’t think anything of it. She was just playing it safe. That’s all.”
“But the people in Dry Creek like Jasmine.”
Some people had probably liked Al Capone, too. “Of course, they like her. Nobody plans a robbery by going around making themselves unpopular with folks. It attracts too much attention. People watch unfriendly people. They write down the license plate number for their car. They remember where they’ve seen them. No, nice is a much better cover if you’re up to something.”
“I think you’ve been in this business too long. Nobody is planning anything.”
“Does Elmer still have that fancy white Cadillac car of his?”
The sheriff narrowed his eyes. “That car is old as the hills by now. No self-respecting criminal would want to steal it.”
“Well, let’s hope not,” Wade said as he pushed his chair back.
“She joined the church, too, you know,” the sheriff added.
Wade nodded. That’s just what someone would do if they wanted to gain people’s trust, but he couldn’t say that to Carl. His old friend had never been as cynical as he was. “I’ll bet she’s joined the choir, too.”
The sheriff’s jaw dropped. “How’d you know that?”
Wade just smiled as he stood up. He’d seen some sheet music in the bag the woman had on her shoulder, but he didn’t mind looking mysterious to Carl. “Just doing my job.”
The sheriff and Wade walked out of the restaurant together.
The cold wind hit Wade in the face and he pulled his hat down a little farther over his ears. The sheriff nodded and walked to the side of the café where he’d parked his car. Wade had to walk in the opposite direction.
It had been a long time since Wade had been in the town of Dry Creek. Back then the homes all looked like mansions compared to the weathered old house on his grandfather’s farm. He’d spent his childhood feeling second-rate around the other kids here, especially at Christmas. His mother died when he was four and his father went to jail shortly after that, so the only one left to give Wade a present had been his grandfather.
Wade knew a gift was never coming, but it took him years to stop hoping. In the meantime, he was embarrassed to have anyone else know he spent his barren Christmases out in the barn while his grandfather drank himself into a stupor in the house. Maybe that’s why he made up stories about imaginary Christmas dinners he claimed his grandfather used to make for them.
Wade smiled just remembering. Every Christmas, he had gone out to the barn and planned the stories he’d tell the other boys about those dinners. He didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for him so he climbed up to the hayloft where he kept his mother’s jewelry box and her old magazines. That’s where he found the picture of the coconut cake with raspberry filling that he said was his grandfather’s specialty.
Wade had made it sound so mouth-watering the other kids practically drooled; he’d even agreed to copy the recipe for Carl one year.
But now, looking around at the houses, Wade wondered if some of those kids wouldn’t have understood a hard Christmas. The town was very ordinary, maybe even poor. None of the houses were new and, even though each was set back from the main street with a fenced lawn, it was winter and no grass was growing. It felt strange to remember how he used to envy the kids who lived in these houses.
Fortunately, by now he knew a man could have a good life without a family. And Christmas passed just fine with a drive-thru hamburger and fries.
He shook his head slightly so the memory of the red-haired woman wouldn’t sit so clearly in his mind. He didn’t need to mess up his life by dreaming about her. She was like that coconut cake. Something nice to dream about, but nothing that was likely to ever come his way. He was glad the sheriff had tipped him to the fact that the women around here were planning for her to marry Conrad—that is, if the sheriff wasn’t wrong and she didn’t end up back in jail instead.
He stopped a minute; he didn’t like thinking of her in a place like that. Then he sighed. His radar was good. That probably meant she was guilty as sin. Fortunately, it must also mean the church going was only a façade. If it was, he would have more in common with her than he thought. Suddenly, he was glad he was picking her up for dinner. It wouldn’t hurt to get to know her a little bit better. Maybe she wasn’t as much of an angel as she wanted people to think she was.
Chapter Three
Jasmine pulled the white curtain back from the kitchen window and looked out at her father’s farm. She wished she could just forget about Wade Sutton. The view out this window usually soothed her. Late-day shadows made the deep red barn look almost black. Even though it was winter, there was very little snow. Behind the barn, a mixture of dried wheat stalks and tall weeds spread over the slight hill. Night would be here soon, but she could still see well enough.
Just looking out that far made her eyes feel restful after being in prison for so long. There were no concrete buildings or search lights in sight. Unfortunately, what her eyes kept coming back to was the new post on the hill. She could barely see it in the gathering dusk, but she knew it rose up in the area to the left of the barn where the barbed-wire fence trailed up the hill.
Most of the wire fence on Elmer’s ranch sagged comfortably, but that particular section was stretched tight and kept in good repair. He said he wanted the divide clear between his land and the Sutton place.
Her father was a stubborn man. Clarence Sutton was another.
Several weeks ago, Clarence’s old donkey had wandered out of its barn, down the road and into her father’s lane. The animal had probably been looking for something to eat, but her father believed his neighbor had deliberately sent the donkey over to do mischief. Clarence, he said, always knew where his animals were and the donkey had a reputation for biting people. It had taken a bucket of oats to lure the donkey back to her barn and Clarence hadn’t even come out of his house to say a proper thank-you.
Last week, in retaliation, her father had dug a hole and put a twelve-foot metal cross on the top of the hill that divided the two ranches. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, today he’d taken several heavy-duty electrical cords and ran them from the barn up to the cross so he could wrap strands of Christmas tree lights around it. Now, in the evening, he could walk out to the barn and flip a switch and the cross would flash with white and yellow and clear lights. It would all look like a big golden cross that some televangelist would use.
Jasmine shook her head as she heard footsteps behind her. She turned to see her father walk into the kitchen from the living room. He was wearing jeans and a dark denim shirt with snap buttons. His white hair was plastered back and he had a look of glee on his weathered face. “Time to turn on those lights.”
“Maybe you should wait and talk to Mr. Sutton before you do that,” Jasmine said. “He might not like them and—”
She’d told her father she was going to dinner at the Walls’, but she hadn’t told him she was being picked up by Wade. The way her father fumed about that donkey of Clarence’s, she doubted he’d be any more welcoming to the man’s grandson. If everything stayed calm, though, there was a chance her father wouldn’t see who was driving the car. He might just assume it was the sheriff behind the wheel.
“I’m celebrating Christmas. If old man Sutton doesn’t like the lights, he can just look the other way.” Her father picked a jacket off the coatrack by the door. “I got those special outdoor bulbs and I intend to use them—outside where they belong.”
It suddenly struck Jasmine that the reason the people of Dry Creek might be so excited she was in the pageant was because they hoped she’d work a miracle between these two men. Maybe she should give it a try.
“It’s not right,” Jasmine declared when her father had his hand on the doorknob. “Christmas should bring people together. Decorations aren’t something you use to annoy your neighbors.”
Elmer turned to her. “Of course, Christmas brings people together. That’s why I put the thing up there. Besides, an old sinner like Sutton should get down on his knees instead of complaining about Christmas anyway.”
“You’ll be using a lot of electricity with those lights.” Jasmine tried a different argument. She didn’t want to hear another list of Mr. Sutton’s shortcomings. “And they’re not energy-efficient bulbs.”
“I’ve got nothing better to do with my money than pay the electric company,” Elmer said as he opened the door. “I’ve already bought you that Christmas present and you won’t take the rest.”
Cold air came into the room.
“I’m practicing poverty,” she said. She was working on all of the attributes of the Christian life. She’d found a pamphlet and she was targeting the hardest ones first. “I don’t need more money.”
Elmer had started to walk through the door, but he turned around to look at her. “That’s why I’m buying you—”
“I don’t need jewels, either,” Jasmine added quickly. Her father had shown her the picture of a ten-thousand-dollar diamond-and-ruby necklace that he said he was buying for her. Ten thousand dollars! She hoped it was an empty promise.
“Every woman needs jewels,” Elmer snapped back. “It gives her security. I should have given some to your mother. And my wife, too.”
With that, he stomped out into the darkness.
Jasmine looked up at the clock on the wall. She didn’t want to argue with her newly found father again tonight. She knew it was guilt that was driving him and she’d have a hard time making him understand.
She didn’t care what holiday it was, real people didn’t wear necklaces like that. Not unless they wanted thieves to buzz around every time they walked out of their houses. Besides, she wanted to walk by faith. Her father was wrong; a woman wasn’t pushed to have as much faith when she had that many diamonds hanging around her neck.
She’d have to talk to her father later just to make sure he understood. In the meantime, Wade would be here in five minutes. She had planned to do a quick check on her lipstick so she stepped to the oval mirror hanging in the hallway.
She didn’t know why she was making such a big deal of her appearance since this wasn’t a date, but she wanted to look her best. Not that Wade would care if she wore a brown paper bag over her head. Her hand stopped. She wondered if she was guilty of the sin of vanity.
She sighed. She’d never thought there were so many pitfalls in the Christian life. Trying to make oneself worthy of God’s acceptance was not easy. People kept saying God didn’t care if she was an ex-con, but she just didn’t see it that way.
Jasmine took her perfume bottle out of her purse before she realized. Of course, that was it. It was amazing that she hadn’t seen it. No wonder Wade didn’t offer any friendliness. She was an ex-con. He was a lawman. He probably saw them as oil and water; sin and righteousness—good and evil.
Well, that was probably best for both of them.
She went ahead and sprayed perfume on her wrists. She was determined to be like the other women in Dry Creek and she looked to Edith for inspiration. The older woman wore rose-scented perfume, so Jasmine kept with a light scent. Since Edith wore dresses, Jasmine had bought a couple of plain shifts at a thrift store in Billings. She no longer wore clothes with much color and she kept her shoes sensible.
Jasmine had started to go back to the kitchen when she saw headlights flash through the window. At least her father was still out in the barn. Hopefully, he’d stay out there until she was gone.
She pulled her coat off the back of a chair where she’d placed it earlier. Her coat was the one thing she hadn’t been able to replace yet. Oh, well, she thought as she turned to the kitchen door, it would have to do. She shouldn’t care what Wade thought about the way she dressed anyway.
Wade wondered what was wrong as he drove up to Elmer’s house. On the drive out here, he’d thought nothing had changed in the decades that he’d been gone. The land was just as dry as it had always been and the gravel road had as many ruts. But he’d barely gotten out of Dry Creek before he saw a glowing light in the distance. When he turned off the main road to go down Elmer’s lane, he saw that someone had put what looked like Christmas lights on a cross standing on the hill that divided Elmer’s land from his grandfather’s place.
Wade wondered why anyone would bother with lights way out here in the middle of nowhere since not that many people drove down this county road. The one person who would see the cross most often would be Wade’s grandfather. Those lights must shine right in front of the porch where his grandfather sat every evening about now.
Wade started to chuckle as he stopped his car in front of the house. So that was it. The cross would make his grandfather crazy. No doubt about it. The two old men had never gotten along. They must still be going at it.
The back door to the house opened and Wade saw Jasmine standing there. The day had grown darker and light streamed out the door behind her. Her red hair was spikier than it had been earlier and her black leather coat had what looked like metal rivets along the sleeves. She stood there a minute and Wade almost wished he could keep an eye on her like Carl wanted. Guilty or innocent, she was definitely his kind of woman. It would be a pleasure to watch her awhile.
He sat there, just enjoying the sight of her when—without any warning—a gunshot ripped through the silence. Wade looked over at Jasmine. She seemed frozen in place. With all of the light behind her, she made a perfect target.
“Get inside!” he yelled.
The sound of the shot had come from the north, so Wade bent down and drove his car as close as possible to the doorway where Jasmine had been standing.
“Lose the lights,” he ordered when he saw they were still on in the kitchen. He didn’t want someone shooting at the windows. He wondered if Lonnie had a problem with Jasmine and had sent someone to—
He shut off his car and opened his passenger door. Then he folded himself down and slid across the seat, stopping to pull his gun from the glove compartment as he passed.
Another shot rang out. That one sounded like it came from the direction of his grandfather’s back porch and Wade relaxed a little. His grandfather was probably just shooting at a coyote or something. But a wise lawman didn’t assume anything.
The night was dark and now that Wade’s car lights and the ones in the house were off, he had to rely on his memory as he tried to sprint to the kitchen door. He hadn’t run anywhere since he’d started therapy and his whole leg was throbbing in protest.
Wade twisted the knob and opened the door.
He stepped into the dark kitchen and something soft wrapped around his neck.
“A-a-rgh,” he gurgled in protest. The only light in the room was an illuminated clock that hung on the wall and it didn’t make anything but itself visible. The band around his neck loosened and he could tell it was an arm encased in leather.
He leaned back a little, preparing to make one of his defensive moves, when he realized he was settled into a womanly softness that was kind of nice. He was breathing better and, now that the lights were off, there was no reason to move. Besides, he could smell the perfume.
Maybe he got a little too comfortable in the dark leaning against her, because she whispered suspiciously. “Is that you?”
Now how did a man answer that? “Depends on who you’re expecting.”
He felt Jasmine shift her body as she took a step backward. Unfortunately, she didn’t warn him and his body twisted to go with her. A muscle cramp in his leg seized him and he could hardly breathe. He clenched his teeth to keep from hissing in pain.
A small glow of light entered the room. Jasmine had reached back and opened the refrigerator door.
“Are you all right?” she asked now as she moved away from him slightly. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was just—”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said hoarsely as he reached out to put his gun on the counter so he could massage his thigh. Now he could see why no one wanted to hire him until he’d conquered his leg spasms. He wasn’t healing as fast as a younger man would. If a killer had been in the room, Wade would have been helpless to stop him.
“I’m sorry,” Jasmine said as she moved closer.
The pain was leaving and in the light coming from the refrigerator he saw her misery. In the darkness, her eyes were pools of worry. He reached out and brushed her cheek, thinking to comfort her. “Who taught you about that defense hold anyway? You’re pretty good at it.”
“My old boyfriend, Lonnie,” she whispered.
He could feel her breath on the back of his hand and it sent shivers down his spine. Then she looked up at him. She was beautiful. Without thinking, he bent his head down. She raised herself up on her tiptoes. He dipped farther down. He knew they were strangers and it was only the relief she was feeling that drew her close. But he was going to kiss her anyway. He just wanted to look at her a second or two longer before he did.
Then, without warning, the kitchen door opened with a crash.
Wade lunged toward his gun. He barely felt the pain in his leg, because of the panic inside. He’d grown soft. He’d assumed his grandfather had been behind the gunshots, but this wasn’t the old man. He and Jasmine were going to die and it was all his fault.
“It’s okay,” Jasmine said quickly.
Wade thought she was talking to him until he saw the man in the doorway more clearly. Even with all of the shadows, Wade recognized Elmer as he stood there, looking ready to do battle, with a barnyard shovel in his hands.
“You all right?” Elmer asked as he flipped on the overhead light switch.
“We’re fine,” Jasmine answered as she stepped a little closer to Wade.
Elmer arched back like an attack cat.
“Who’s he?” he demanded.
The older man didn’t sound the least bit friendly, and Wade couldn’t blame him. He carefully moved his hand away from the gun on the counter.
“He came to take me to dinner,” Jasmine explained.
“He needs a gun to do that?”
“No, of course not.” Jasmine took a step away from the counter as though she’d just realized a gun sat there.
“I’m sorry to disturb—” Wade began.
Then Elmer’s fierce scowl disappeared. “Why you’re little Wade Sutton! I haven’t seen you since—”
Elmer stopped and had the grace to look flustered.
Wade nodded. “Since the day my grandfather drove my dad and me away with enough shotgun blasts to rattle the entire county. As I recall, you were mending fence and had a first-row seat.”
When he was fifteen, his father had come back from prison. He had lasted two weeks on the farm before he had a knock-down fight with Wade’s grandfather. When his father left, Wade had gone with him. He’d never returned to the farm, not even to see if the new wheat he’d planted that spring had yielded the harvest he’d expected.
“Well,” Elmer murmured. “You were a good kid even if you and your friends were messing with my Cadillac.”
“You knew?”
Elmer grinned. “I could hardly blame you for wanting to sit inside. That Cadillac was something back then.”
